神河当時 - ドラフトで何取る？への反響

As far as I can tell, Scuttling Death is easily one of the most under-rated commons in the format right now. Not because it’s really powerful, but because it’s a lot more powerful than people think it is. Even if you ignore all of the colour-signalling reasons Scuttling Death is still very close to being the most powerful card in the pack. Blood Rites is ahead of it and Blademaster is at a similar power level but Scuttling Death is definitely ahead of both Sakura-Tribe Elder and the Honden.

Scuttling Death is basically the equivalent of Annihilate from Invasion. It’s a five mana black spell that can kill a creature and generate card advantage. In some ways it’s worse; it isn’t an instant, and you have to be in a position to block the creature you kill, although you can sometimes take down one of the blue flyers instead. In other ways though, it’s better; you can sometimes kill two creatures, it can kill black creatures and it "draws" you a useful spell more often than Annihilate might have. It also happens to function as a four-power attacker, which is great for its cost.

Chad Ellis, whose opinions I respect highly, commented on the message board:

"I have a definite bias here towards flexibility and against expensive spells early in the draft…Scuttling Death is a good card but it’s not so hard to pick up that you need to first-pick one, IMO."

Now I don’t disagree with either of those comments. This format is about tempo and your bias should be towards cheap spells, but let’s look at the common black creatures that are playable:

Wicked Akuba, Nezumi Cutthroat, Cruel Deceiver, Nezumi Ronin, Villainous Ogre, Kami of the Waning Moon, Gibbering Kami, Scuttling Death.

(Cursed Ronin and Ashen Zubera also make the cut sometimes.)

The important thing to note is that it’s very easy to pick up two-drops and three-drops in black but there’s nothing that replaces Scuttling Death. Indeed, many of those two-drops will go ’round late as the black removal spells get drafted over them. If you don’t take a Scuttling Death when you see one there is no guarantee you’ll get another passed to you. Just because you might get a powerful card later on doesn’t mean you should pass up on the chance of getting multiples.

As I said, the only other card in the pack that beats Scuttling Death in terms of power is Blood Rites; Sakura-Tribe Elder and Honden of Cleansing Fire are significantly worse picks than Rites or Death. The problem I have with Blood Rites is that it has a double-coloured casting cost, which makes it unsplashable, as well as being in one of the shallowest and most over-drafted colours. I stand by last week’s choice and I think if you draft Scuttling Death in spirit-focused decks more highly you’ll see just how powerful it really is.

引用元
CREATURES? WHY BOTHER? Posted in Limited Information on December 6, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/limited-information/creatures-why-bother-2004-12-06

以前の記事（※１）で、ドラフトの何取る？問題を取り上げました。

記事では、《小走りの死神/Scuttling Death》を選択しましたが、反論も少なくなかったようです。

テンポ重視で軽いカードをとる方針にも理解は示しています。ただ、同じ黒には２・３マナの優良生物が多いので、急いで取る必要はない、というのが《小走りの死神/Scuttling Death》を選ぶ理由の様です。

もっとも、こうした方針は、その時の人気のアーキタイプにもよるので、一概にどれが正解とも言いにくいでしょう。

※１
神河当時 - ドラフトで何取る？
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202010272202216499/