Boo! Hope you didn’t have a Jump Scare. Sorry, that was bad. I’ll see myself out. Oh wait I can’t because we are tapped in Duskmourn, House of Horror. Well, I guess you will just have to deal with it. As you can guess, this blog is for Jump Scare. As always, we are on a budget, so we want 10 new additions for less than £10. At least at the time of writing, these prices can get hot, with everyone else grabbing up copies to add to their decks. Hopefully, these new cards will give you that edge, showing you can power up a deck without breaking the bank.
This deck has Zimone, Mystery Unraveler as the commander. She uses the morph style effects, including her landfall ability, to have your cards come in face down. While having instant speed spells to mess with your opponents. If you get a second landfall trigger you get to turn up a face down permanent. This allows you to seriously cheat on mana, turning up large mana cost permanents. Do note that this won’t cause any enters (previously 'enter the battlefield') triggers, though. As the permanent isn’t entering the battlefield, it is just changing states. Think of it like tapping or untapping.
Another thing to note with manifest dread, is you get selection as you look at 2 cards. But you can run this as a mini recursion deck too. As the other card goes to the graveyard, turning Zimone into a reasonably slow self mill engine. Let's split up the gang and search for some upgrades.
Table of Contents
Budget Upgrades
Upgrade 1/2
I will use the first two upgrades as a catch all for the landfall ability. We have had so many landfall commanders that I want to try to focus on the face down side of the ability/deck. Skyshroud Claim is my first card; this is just premium ramp. For 4 mana, you get two forests; these don’t have to be basics so you can get dual lands like Breeding Pool. The other thing to note is that these don’t enter tapped, so you can use them immediately. This will also trigger Zimone for both effects. Each land will cause a separate trigger. If you haven’t played a land for the turn then you will get to manifest dread, then turn a permanent face up. All in one. I went with Skyshroud Claim over a 3 mana ramp spell like Kodama’s Reach because of how Zimone's trigger works. While you only get to manifest dread once per turn, you can trigger her as many times as you like. Just any subsequent triggers will only turn a permanent face up. Likely, you will already have cards in play, so you get 3 landfall triggers with Skyshroud Claim if you have a land to make your normal land drop.
OUT: ForestIN: Skyshroud Claim
My next card is also similar, being a catch all for all the fetchlands. This is a term used for land that you sacrifice to search your library for land with a basic type. There are quite a few. Strictly speaking, fetchlands refers to the cycle of land from Onslaught and Zendikar, e.g. Misty Rainforest etc. But these are currently priced at my full budget. This is because they are played in every format they are legal in. The reason for this is because of the selection you can get. These don’t state basic so you can have one of these be all 5 colours if you pair them with the appropriate dual lands. However, there are plenty of budget options. Most recently, the New Capanna lands - Brokers Hideout is the best for this deck as you can get an Island or a Forest. Unfortunately, these are limited to basic, but for cheap and effective upgrades with little deck cost, then these are great. They do also get a double trigger as you will have 2 lands enter. You can run all of the other lands from New Capanna: Riveteers Overlook, Cabaretti Courtyard, Maestros Theater & Obscura Storefront. But these are more limited as you won’t get to pick which basic you want. An alternative is using the Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse. And a super sneaky one would be Myriad Landscape to get 3 triggers, or you can hold this one up to get both the manifest dread version on someone else's turn. I may have gone overboard with the suggestions here, but I don’t like filling out my slots with lands as that's boring. But they do work well in a landfall deck and are sort of necessary to pull extra value.
OUT: IslandIN: Brokers Hideout
Going to start out with my almost guaranteed land cut, at least until Wizards stops adding SO MANY LANDS to the precons. I'm also dropping an Island to go with the Forest. But that evens out as I'm adding a land back in. The reason why I cut at least 1 land from these decks is that they always overstock the decks with lands to make sure, straight out of the box, the player doesn’t mana screwed. Of course, this allows you to hit those big, flashy spells. I find that with better tuning you can afford to drop a land to avoid the opposite, a flood of mana. Getting too many lands and not enough to do with them. I get that this is a landfall deck, too but there are only so many ways to play those extra lands in the stock list. But that is also why I'm not trimming more land.
Upgrade 3
Cloak and disguise was Wizards' previous take on facedown cards. Manifest dread is Duskmourn's take on the idea. Previously, manifest and megamorph were keywords that achieved this. These three mechanics create the same sort of facedown creature as the original morph - just a vanilla 2/2. A cloaked or disguised creature has ward 2, which gives them a little more protection. The difference between the two abilities is similar to morph and manifest. While only permanents can have morph or disguise, you can manifest or cloak any card. Manifest or cloak aren’t printed on a card as an ability; they are instead 'keyword actions', just like mill. This is also the same for manifest dread. Thus allowing you to have any card facedown, including instants and sorceries. Rules warning! Skip to the next paragraph if you don’t care for this. These are stuck as creatures and you can’t cast them from the battlefield or turn them faceup as per rules 701.34g and 701.56g. These state that if you have to turn an instant and sorceries face up, you instead reveal it and leave it face down. It's not triggering any abilities from turning a permanent face up. So the only way to cast a face down instants and sorceries would be to either cast them from the graveyard once the creature dies or return them to you and then cast them usually.
OUT: Cackling CounterpartIN: Cryptic Coat
So enough about all those rules. My card is Cryptic Coat. This card advantage engine allows you to repeatedly cloak the top card of your library, as you can return it to your hand for (1)(U). While also giving you a 3/2 unblockable creature. Even though Cryptic Coat is equipment, it doesn't have an Equip cost. So you can’t reequip it to another creature to make it unblockable. However, if you turn the permanent face up either through the cloak ability or from Zimone, Mystery Unraveler, Cryptic Coat will still be equipped, so you could have an unblockable Blightsteel Colossus. *Shudder*. However if you turn up a non creature, Cryptic Coat will fall off as you can’t have equipment on non creatures.
Sorry for this, but we have another rule dive, though it also covers why I'm cutting Cackling Counterpart. If you don't care, I do have TL;DR at the end if you want a quick reason. This rule dive covers tokens, copying face down cards, and transforming cards. With the release of New Phyrexia, Wizards changed how tokens work, enabling tokens to transform. Transform, however, is different to facedown cards. A transformation card has a face “card” on both sides. So, a transformation card has no backside and thus can't be facedown, such as a double faced card (DFC). They can still be manifested, though. But by themselves, they can't be faced down.
An example would be werewolves like Hunt Master of the Fells. So if Cackling Counterpart makes a token Hunt Master, it can also transform into Ravager of the Fells. Do note this only works with the token version of a clone effect. If you use a real clone like Clone, then that copy will be stuck on whichever face it is copied. They only changed the rules for tokens, mostly so Incubator tokens worked. This is primarily a long winded explanation as to why it doesn't work for face down cards. You won't be able to turn it face up. You will still get a 2/2 body as that is the creature. But it's stuck like that. A clone effect works by copying the original card. You don’t get any modifications. So no counters, auras, or equipment attached get copied either. It's basically like you get a second copy of the printed card. Just like a Clone should be. So it sees a DFC has two faces and can swap if it a token. This is where face down cards are different, though. The game treats them almost like there isn't another side to them. It's just a 2/2 creature. This is also why the rules treat morph and now disguise as special actions and not abilities of creatures. Because the face down 2/2 has no abilities. So, to work with the rules, it needs to be a special action to allow it to work as you are activating the ability from a hidden zone. It's sort of like activating an ability from a creature in the library. Not sure if any silver bordered cards have this, but it could be a funny idea. But back to Cackling Counterpart. This doesn't see the face down card as a Magic card, just a 2/2.
So the TL;DR. Cackling Counterpart doesn't work with facedown cards and is only really good for copying flipped creatures. This will probably get people messing it up or having to check rulings. It makes it almost a win more card, so I'm cutting it.
Upgrade 4
To pair with all this facedown nonsense, we have the only Lord for facedown creatures, Ixidor, Reality Sculptor. While it’s able to bluff all of your facedown creatures, that isn’t the main reason to play this card. It's for the second ability - being able to turn face up any of your creatures. You can turn up any of your permanents with this ability. As I have already talked about trying to turn up instants and sorceries with Cryptic Coat, I won’t rehash it.
OUT: Body of KnowledgeIN: Ixidor, Reality Sculptor
Body of Knowledge is a decent creature, but it is better in this deck because it can flip it up into a ‘block a big attacker’. Although the card draw is a trigger, the damage will happen before you draw your cards. So if the Body of Knowledge isn’t big enough to survive the attack, it will still die. You will, however, still get to draw the cards even if Body of Knowledge dies. This is because the trigger doesn't require a Body of Knowledge to be alive and will resolve without it. While power and toughness are CDAs (character defining abilities), they are not fixed. So it won't be a big boy unless you can keep a decent hand size. Also, the lack of a card draw could make it hard to get this going, especially if you are running low on cards. While Ixidor, Reality Sculptor isn't as flashy, you can always depend on it to do what you want.
Upgrade 5
I heard you like big creatures, so I made your giant creature even bigger. That's exactly what Experiment Twelve does. The Simic scientists have come a long way from their first trial with Experiment One. Twelve simply adds value to what you are already doing in this deck. All while being a 8/8 trampler if you turn it face up. Even if you don't flip it, it's not bad. 4/4 for 4 mana with this ability is a decent body if you are in a pinch and want that other giant creature sooner.
OUT: Giggling SkitterspikeIN: Experiment Twelve
Giggling Skitterspike reminds me of Babyface, the leader of the mutant toys made by Sid from Toy Story. Looking at the pictures side by side, I'm sure that was an influence, at least for the art direction. From an MTG perspective, it's reminiscent of Stuffy Doll. An indestructible 1 toughness creature that deals damage to your opponents. However, this is where the similarities end. Giggling Skitterspike triggers attacks, blocks, and being targeted. With monstrosity 5 that can help do some serious work. As the damage dealt is based on the power. I'm cutting this because it doesn't fit the theme. It also doesn't synergise with any other card. While individually powerful, I'm trying to streamline the deck and get more focus.
Upgrade 6
On a similar note, I'm cutting Citanul Hierophants. This works better as it does work with any creature, turning them all into mana dorks. It allows you to get some severe mana going potentially. My problem with this is it's sort of a win more card in this deck. Jump Scare isn't a token deck, so all the creatures will be creatures or face down cards. This means that any large amount of ramp you have relies on a decent board. Instead of using them for mana, you could swing at your opponents. Citanul Hierophants is far better in a token deck. It can turn all the random 1/1 into mana and power out some big spells.
OUT: Citanul HierophantsIN: Threats Around Every Corner
Speaking of powerful spells, we have Threats Around Every Corner. I don’t like adding cards from the main set as the price can be volatile, but this one is uncommon, so it is reasonably safe based on the price. While some older uncommons can go for over £10, standard-set uncommons probably won’t. Some of the more desirable ones spike to £2-£3. So unless this manifest dread deck suddenly takes off, Threats Around Every Corner should be a cheap pickup. Either that or get in fast. This one fits so well into this deck, though. It does look like it should be in the commander deck rather than the main set. Feels more like a Commander card. It is, however, very similar to an older card, Trail of Mystery, which is already in the deck. Threats cost 2 more, and you lose the buff when you turn a creature up. I still think it's worth it as you initially get a creature off this and all the lands which enter the battlefield, rather than go to hand. So you immediately get to 5 mana, and if you have Zimone, it's Mystery Unraveled. Then you either get a second creature or get to turn one of the cards face up. Also, any future Zimone trigger will trigger threats and let you get the second trigger off.
Upgrade 7
Hide in Plain Sight is a way to get even more creatures on the battlefield. It lets you look at the top 5 cards, allows you to get a decent selection and gets the right cards you need. There isn’t anything special about this addition. It just does more of what this deck already wants to do.
OUT: Retreat to CoralhelmIN: Hide in Plain Sight
I have Retreat to Coralhelm as a combo card. It pairs with cards like Knight of the Reliquary. In Jump Scare, there is cute synergy with the scry ability, which lets you check the card before resolving the trigger off Zimone. While this is useful, it's not useful enough to keep in the deck. Also, manifest dread checks the top 2 cards and gives you the card selection it gives.
The other use I can see for Retreat to Coralhelm is that it gives sudo vigilance by untapping after combat. This hasn't changed my thoughts on this being a combo card. I feel like the effects aren't good enough with a combo to cut a deck.
Upgrade 8
Speaking of doing more, we have Flourishing Bloom-Kin. I kind of lied when I said we were done with the ramp. But in my defence, Flourishing Bloom-Kin isn’t just a ramp. It's also a facedown creature. This is a flimsy excuse, but I think Flourishing Bloom-Kin fits this deck too well. If you turn it face up from Zimone, Mystery Unraveler, you will get two more triggers as you can get 2 more Forests with Bloom-Kin. Otherwise, you can just use the disguise ability to turn Bloom-Kin up on another turn to get 2 fresh Zimone triggers. You might even be able to ambush an attacking creature with a giant surprise blocker.
OUT: Skaab RuinatorIN: Flourishing Bloom-Kin
I am cutting Skaab Ruinator. While it can cheat the casting restriction of exiling 3 creatures from your graveyard through manifest dread, you are only left with a flying beat stick. Don't get me wrong, this is a reasonable threat, being a 5/6 flyer. But that's just it. I much prefer the utility and ramp of Flourishing Bloom-Kin. While it doesn't have any evasion or even trample, just being able to ramp and possibly flip more creatures makes it more appealing to me. It has versatility while also being a big body.
Upgrade 9
I am cutting Wilderness Reclamation. I find this one a little bit of an odd inclusion. To fully utilise this card, you need stuff to do on your opponent's turns. This usually comes in instants, but this deck only has 9. Again, I could see this if there was a lot of morph/disguise to use the mana to flip up your cards, but there is only Deathmist Raptor and Kheru Spellsnatcher. Even with the handful of activated abilities, I can't justify this card taking up a slot in the deck. If you focused harder on the instants, I'm cutting it as it's currently built.
OUT: Wilderness ReclamationIN: Ghostly Flicker
Ghostly Flicker is another card I'm using as a catch all card. Ghostly Flicker allows you to exile two artifacts, creatures or lands and return them to the battlefield. If you flicker a facedown card, it will re-enter faceup. There are many of these blink/flicker effects, so I chose Ghostly Flicker to represent them as it can get two creatures. Most only let you do one. The best ones are permanent ones that can keep triggering like Conjurer's Closet or Thassa, Deep Dwelling, but both are out of budget. With any of these, just make sure not to target instants and sorceries; otherwise, the card will be stuck in exile as they can not exist on the battlefield as a spell. So they will be left AWOL.
Upgrade 10
The final card I am adding is Secret Plans. This was such a fun archetype in Khan's draft, especially if you managed to get a couple of these, which was pretty easy as only that deck wanted them. The reason why this card was good was the value it generated. This carries over to Commander, being able to draw a card for doing what you are already doing - turning permants face up. In Khan's draft, this was done using morph and megamorph abilities. However, you can just get free value in Jump Scare from Zimone.
OUT: Rashmi, Eternities CrafterIN: Secret Plans
The final card I am cutting is Rashmi, Eternities Crafter. This is another value engine. It was hard to cut this because of that, but I needed to make room. The reason why I prefer Secret Plans over Rashmi, is Rashmi is a creature. Thus making it easier to deal with. However, Rashmi is a better value engine, making getting the extra card easier. I could keep this in and cut another card. It just doesn't directly fit the face down theme I'm leaning on. It does for the instant side of the deck, though.
Final Thoughts
Jump Scare suffers a bit of an identity crisis, like the Most Wanted deck did, too. While thematically, the idea of pairing instants with flipping up creatures works, mechanically, they don't tie in nicely. There is a limited number of good morph creatures and there are not many, if any, that care about instants. While you can argue about holding up mana for flipping your creature or casting an instant, there are only 2 creatures with the ability to turn themselves over. I think the deck can still work out of the box. But with greater fine tuning it can lean harder into these or, like I have done, condense it further down one route. I chose the morph route as it's a less explored space, and with Zimone ability to flip up some big monsters and not purely rely on your creature's ability, you can do some tricky shenanigans.
Another upgrade path is to pick up Deadly Disguise from the Murder at Karlov Manor Commander Precons. Mash them together in some unholy mess and see how it turns out. However, you will have to find a new commander or be careful about the colours, as they only share Green. But just remember, good luck, and have fun. I hope to see you again.
Non-Budget Upgrades
Looking for even more upgrades? Try these cards that were out of our budget:
Looking to pick up a Magic: The Gathering commander deck?
