Sultai Scavenger is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for.) Flying
Complete guide
Sultai Scavenger is a powerful common that allows you to turn your graveyard into a resource to accelerate your board presence. By utilizing the Delve keyword, this Bird Warrior can enter the battlefield much earlier than its mana cost suggests, providing an evasive threat that flies over ground blockers.
What it Does
Sultai Scavenger is a 3/3 Bird Warrior with Flying that costs six mana. However, it features the Delve mechanic, which allows you to exile cards from your graveyard to pay for the generic portion of its mana cost. Each card you exile this way counts as one generic mana ({1}) toward the total cost.
How it Resolves Step by Step
When you cast Sultai Scavenger, you first announce the spell and put it on the stack. Next, you determine the total cost, which is {5}{B}. During the step where you pay costs, you can choose to exile up to five cards from your graveyard to reduce the generic mana required. You must still pay at least one black mana ({B}) using a mana source like a Swamp. Once the costs are paid, the spell is officially cast and will eventually resolve, entering the battlefield as a creature.
Common Mistakes
A common misconception is that Delve changes the mana value (formerly converted mana cost) of the spell. Even if you exile five cards to cast Sultai Scavenger for just {B}, its mana value remains 6. Additionally, you cannot exile more cards than there are generic mana requirements; for this card, you cannot exile more than five cards unless an external effect has increased the spell's cost.
When to Play It
This card is best used in decks that frequently put cards into the graveyard, such as those featuring self-mill or high creature turnover. It serves as a mid-to-late game threat that can be deployed cheaply while leaving your lands untapped for counterspells or removal.
Interaction examples
Syr Konrad, the GrimIf Syr Konrad, the Grim is on the battlefield while you cast Sultai Scavenger using its Delve ability, Syr Konrad's ability will trigger for each creature card you exile from your graveyard. Because Delve involves cards leaving the graveyard, Syr Konrad deals 1 damage to each opponent for every creature card removed to pay the cost.
Gray Merchant of AsphodelWhen Gray Merchant of Asphodel enters the battlefield, it checks your devotion to black. Even if you cast Sultai Scavenger for only one black mana using Delve, it still contributes exactly one {B} to your devotion. The cards exiled from the graveyard do not affect the permanent's mana cost once it is on the battlefield.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Sultai Scavenger
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Delve doesn't change a spell's mana cost or mana value. For example, Treasure Cruise's mana value is 8 even if you exiled three cards to cast it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
You can exile cards to pay only for generic mana, and you can't exile more cards than the generic mana requirement of a spell with delve. For example, you can't exile more than seven cards from your graveyard to cast Treasure Cruise unless an effect has increased its cost.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Because delve isn't an alternative cost, it can be used in conjunction with alternative costs, such as flashback. It can also be used to pay for additional costs that include generic mana.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Sultai Scavenger
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