I remember when this hit. I was working at my FLGS at the time. This card was impossible to keep in stock. I couldn't believe how much it was going for as an uncommon. People tried to jam this into every every deck they could. If Affinity wasn't so broken in Standard/Type 2, I think the Sceptre would have easily cleaned up there too. (Remember when Broodstar could go as high as $30 as a brand new card 20 years ago? I certainly do...)
Glad to hear this series is continuing. It's pretty enjoyable as it deep dives into some of my favourite cards. Lightning Helix and Lightning Bolt are my favourite cards to put on it.
A lot of talk in the video about how good scepter was with Orim's Chant or Fire/Ice on it, but if you played with that card back in the day, you really appreciate how obnoxious it was with a lightning helix or boomerang on it.
@@andygoody2599it's interesting that a card that is hyper dependent on other cards to work is still playable imo. It's been in standard for a while now but never really saw play because there's no cheap way to make it flip 100% of the time.
When this card came out, i made a 60card deck around it. 4 Scepters, the rest filled with counterspells, diabolic edicts, Lightning Helixes, Terrors etc. Once we played a game with three, the scepters out, the two others battleing each other, not even looking in my direction. I was sitting there like the king. I had to dismantle the deck because nobody wanted to play with me anymore :D
When I first saw the card I instantly fell in love, back when it was released. Imprint in general looked busted... and it was... there is another sweet card with imprint... a little mirror..
I played Scepter in a big red deck back in the day. I could imprint burn spells to get around the local Iona meta or turn it into a mana rock with Desperate Ritual to get to my big threats like Chandra Ablaze early which was quite the turn three bomb in 2012.
I still have my 4 from 2003, thw day my buddy dropped the scepter n the table with a counterspell under it and a arcane laboratory next to that, i was sold
(0:52) Isn't this the 5th episode, not the 4th? (6:24) Actually, 8th Edition forward is what Modern is, not 9th Edition forward. (10:37) Fortunately, I already own 4 Isochron Scepters, since I bought them way back then for much cheaper than they go for nowadays.
one of my all time fav cards, not only bc of the many creative ways me and my friend tried out to use imprint while playing among us, but also bc of the stunning art that always fascinated me so much. the original Mirrodin block really snapped with its artistic direction.
High format speed and Boseiju probably limit scepter chant in modern at this point, but it’s neat that they’re throwing the option in. I was in middle school when this card was printed, but it pretty much single-handedly got me interested in control decks. Even as a terrible player in the pre-internet days where nobody could suggest imprinting Fire/Ice, I had tons of fun with counterspells and echoing truths on it.
Im def looking forward to at least trying some kinda silly Scepter/Chant deck in modern soon. I actually run Scepter in my modern R/W burn deck. It's cool with Bolt, Lightning Helix, Boros Charm and the Path To Exiles I run in my own quirky take on the deck.
@@cax1175 ah, yes. Gotta love Chandler and his artifact bias. Well, it's pretty cool that you're into a set for reasons other than just "OMG power creep." I may sound like an old man yelling at clouds, but I really liked how Magic was early on, the fact that you had to kinda work around more downsides to balance a deck into something fun that might win a game occasionally. I know there have always been broken things, but early on there were just tons of janky, slow and hard to balance stuff, that made any deck you had refined into something playable feel like a huge accomplishment. I think lore wise, Mirage and Visions were the first ones that I started to realize were connected with a real narrative. This game has gone through a lot since then, but there's something special about those early sets, when it could stand on its own concepts and ideas... For the most part.
Heya just a thought, would you consider doing a leadberboard at the end of each ep? Maybe total the points from each vid in this series and rank them against each other. Sorta like Economics Explained if you've ever watched that channel.
One of my favorite Magic cards. I used to play it in Legacy. There are so many cheap and reliable ways to hate on the scepter in Modern that I really can't see Orim's Chant having much of an impact in the format.
Great video! Small visual mistake at 6:00, it shows 4 “Savannah Lions” in the land section of Holman’s Zoo deck in addition to 2 in the creature section. Either he ran an illegal 6-of, or that should be just Savannah
I used to put boomerang on it, end of my turn play stasis, then before my turn, bounce stasis back to my hand and replay it again before end of my turn....lol
Boomerang was so obnoxious on a Scepter, even if you weren't stasis-locking your opponents.
5 หลายเดือนก่อน
Yeah Boomerang is just nutty. I have a tendency to use it with Delay or Suspend because denying a deck cards in the graveyard is quite valuable, especially being able to keep cards in exile with repeated use.
I used this both on Psychatog & later in Scepter Chant, I had a twist in my scepter chant though, I played with Memory Lapse & it was at times even more annoying than Orim's Chant!
I rememver using it in Multiplayer games when commander didnt exist. I used it with Negate and when Planar Chaos came I put a Dawn Charm in it. The idea was that players watch your Scepter and think that it doesnt worth attaking you and you just watch how the kill between them without cuestioning you. The see your dawn charm printed in scepter as a prorection for yourself and they didnt realize that from that thing you manipulate them to attack between them and not you. Sometimes some people use something to destroy it so I used negate not only to protect scepters but anything dangerous s wraths. Niza you forgot to talk the great combo with Dramatic Reversal. Really used in Commander those days lets you get infinite colored mana and infinite activated abilities.
Very interesting. I am primarily familiar with the card via the Dramatic/Scepter combo in commander and had no idea it had a legacy in competitive play.
One of my favorite things to put under Scepter is Legacy CounterTop was Lim-Dul’s Vault. 😂 What’s the mana value? Okay, in response to Counterbalance, give me two minutes while I look at the top 20 cards of my deck.
Boseiju’s channel ability really hurts scepter/chant combo in today’s modern. If that weren’t, you know, everywhere, it would be a lot more exciting :(
I played a lot of Vintage at that time, and people were LOSING THEIR MIND when they saw it. Calling for bans, saying that Wizards were insane, etc. After a few months of people trying it out, turns out it wasn't really that good in Vintage as there is tons of artifact hate because of Moxen that could also disrupt the Scepter.
Burning Wish, Chrome Mox, and Lion's Eye Diamond weren't restricted in Vintage until over a month after Mirrodin's release. During that short window, Todd Rogers used that in combination with the now-infamous Isochron Scepter/Time Walk lock to devastate a Vintage tournament. Can't believe you guys forgot that one.
The Scepter certainly had it's heyday. But in the current landscape, the fact of the matter is this.. You have to imprint a card and then tap it TWICE just to break even on cards. With the speed of legacy and modern nowadays that is an incredibly tall ask. And with the printing of Force of Vigor and Boseiju, it's harder than ever. I doubt we'll ever see the resurgence of Isochron Scepter. Still good with Dramatic Reversal in edh though.
Yes, but the ways the rules worked back in the day you technically only imprinted one side of the split card, but then because you imprinted that card, either side could be cast. It’s kinda like when people would cascade in Valky but then cast Tibalt in Modern.
Technically works, but you’d have to pay the Spree costs much like you do with kicker, so while having that modality is nice, you’d have to be sitting on a lot of mana to make it worthwhile.
I drafted 5 Juggernauts in a fairly recent Dominaria Remastered draft, and they certainly put in good work. Ended up taking first place there! (Also, I pulled a foil retro-bordered Force of Will from one of my draft packs, and got Vampiric Tutor from one of the packs that I won. That was simply amazing.)
Isochron Scepter + Boomerang = Me, the most annoying guy at the table. Wild Magic Surge is another good target for the Scepter. Sure, your opponent is getting something back, but you can keep blowing up the field until they have no field or a library.
Back when I had a physical playgroup for casual games - about 12 years ago give or take - I loved doing various "fair but strong" stuff with Isochron. Counterspell was a given (is that really "fair but strong"? But if you were in blue and running the scepter you basically had to run Counterspell), but other ones I enjoyed were Fire/Ice (just strong utility) and Manamorphose (basically turns Scepter into a 2 mana artifact that draws a card for free each turn; still a better rate than many cards today). Edit: probably shouldn't have made this comment pre-watch, given that the first deck mentioned did two of the three things I mentioned. 😅
@LordOfCrabz it was a simple "yes, and?", take it down a notch dude.
5 หลายเดือนก่อน
Its a weird quirk of split cards before the rules change. You imprint it as the >=2 mana instant, thus fulfilling the condition for it, but can copy either half of the card because it's treated as one card. Its incredibly stupid and should've been nipped in the bud way earlier. Though the card just asks you what you're imprinting, it doesn't care what you copy after you do so.
@@davidlundquist1979 there’s a local LGS owner around here still that won’t allow affinity 20 years later. And I had a red/white scepter deck that if you didn’t do anything on your first turn, forget about it. The whole rest of the game was mine. You gotta remember people were not as good at magic cards then either so when that came out, everybody freaked the hell out too!
Scepter sees play in some commander decks. Specifically, imprinting dramatic reversal on the scepter gives infinite mana if they have enough mana rocks or dorks. Just another reason to hate blue players in EDH...
One of my most hated Magic cards of all time. I loved Extended and the Sceptre deck was a pain to play against. With Orim’s Chant it could be gg on turn 1. Awful design imo. Just recurring value at no extra cost.
This card single-handedly won me a Mirrodin pre-release event
This card "single-handedly" is worthless
I remember when this hit. I was working at my FLGS at the time. This card was impossible to keep in stock. I couldn't believe how much it was going for as an uncommon. People tried to jam this into every every deck they could. If Affinity wasn't so broken in Standard/Type 2, I think the Sceptre would have easily cleaned up there too. (Remember when Broodstar could go as high as $30 as a brand new card 20 years ago? I certainly do...)
Glad to hear this series is continuing. It's pretty enjoyable as it deep dives into some of my favourite cards. Lightning Helix and Lightning Bolt are my favourite cards to put on it.
A lot of talk in the video about how good scepter was with Orim's Chant or Fire/Ice on it, but if you played with that card back in the day, you really appreciate how obnoxious it was with a lightning helix or boomerang on it.
Only instants. With sorceries too would have been even more toxic
Yup, thinking of Sinkhole...🙈🙈
Not really
Demonic tutor, reanimate, all the good 2 mana ramp spells, grapeshot. Thank goodness it didnt let sorcs imprint.
@@stigmaoftherose Only a matter of time
Time walk…yikes
I used Scepter in Mirrodin/Kamigawa standard with Goryo's Vengeance in a Yosei reanimator prison deck. It was so flippin busted.
I use the Isochron Scepter/Dramatic Reversal combo for my EDH Storm Deck. I didn't know about its history. Nice video.
I really want see delver in this series
Why? It's ALWAYS been good and keeps seeing play.
@@andygoody2599 Exactly, I wanna see the history of such a power house card
@@andygoody2599it's interesting that a card that is hyper dependent on other cards to work is still playable imo.
It's been in standard for a while now but never really saw play because there's no cheap way to make it flip 100% of the time.
@@andygoody2599 do people still play it? I thought it is considered a worse DRC and it dies to bowmasters?
Calm down izzet nerd, no one cares
When this card came out, i made a 60card deck around it. 4 Scepters, the rest filled with counterspells, diabolic edicts, Lightning Helixes, Terrors etc. Once we played a game with three, the scepters out, the two others battleing each other, not even looking in my direction. I was sitting there like the king. I had to dismantle the deck because nobody wanted to play with me anymore :D
Don't believe you
@@antonisashitteragain6993 and?
But lightning helix had not even been released.
@@kimbach1824 that's true, i confused that. But i had a deck with the Isochrones and the Helixes :D
made scepter chant/boomerang deck and won tournament in my city, good times
When I first saw the card I instantly fell in love, back when it was released. Imprint in general looked busted... and it was... there is another sweet card with imprint... a little mirror..
I played Scepter in a big red deck back in the day. I could imprint burn spells to get around the local Iona meta or turn it into a mana rock with Desperate Ritual to get to my big threats like Chandra Ablaze early which was quite the turn three bomb in 2012.
I still have my 4 from 2003, thw day my buddy dropped the scepter n the table with a counterspell under it and a arcane laboratory next to that, i was sold
This artifact has always been one of my favorites!
Yes! I'm so glad you kept the streak of one card videos!!!
(0:52) Isn't this the 5th episode, not the 4th?
(6:24) Actually, 8th Edition forward is what Modern is, not 9th Edition forward.
(10:37) Fortunately, I already own 4 Isochron Scepters, since I bought them way back then for much cheaper than they go for nowadays.
one of my all time fav cards, not only bc of the many creative ways me and my friend tried out to use imprint while playing among us, but also bc of the stunning art that always fascinated me so much. the original Mirrodin block really snapped with its artistic direction.
High format speed and Boseiju probably limit scepter chant in modern at this point, but it’s neat that they’re throwing the option in.
I was in middle school when this card was printed, but it pretty much single-handedly got me interested in control decks. Even as a terrible player in the pre-internet days where nobody could suggest imprinting Fire/Ice, I had tons of fun with counterspells and echoing truths on it.
Isochron scepter reminds me of high school cafeteria and playing cards
Those were the days
counter on it was crazy
Memory lapse is worse
Put a mana drain on it in vintage way back in the day. 😂
I love that you include deck lists from those events.
Im def looking forward to at least trying some kinda silly Scepter/Chant deck in modern soon. I actually run Scepter in my modern R/W burn deck. It's cool with Bolt, Lightning Helix, Boros Charm and the Path To Exiles I run in my own quirky take on the deck.
Headstone from Homelands, my favorite set. INFINITE Cantrips.
Homelands is your favorite set?! Man, you must love a challenge when building decks 😂
Headstone is a damn good card though...
@@TheHive616 I really like the lore and setting of Ulgrotha. Plus it has a Legendry Creature I use as a commander that shares my name: Chandler.
@@cax1175 ah, yes. Gotta love Chandler and his artifact bias.
Well, it's pretty cool that you're into a set for reasons other than just "OMG power creep."
I may sound like an old man yelling at clouds, but I really liked how Magic was early on, the fact that you had to kinda work around more downsides to balance a deck into something fun that might win a game occasionally. I know there have always been broken things, but early on there were just tons of janky, slow and hard to balance stuff, that made any deck you had refined into something playable feel like a huge accomplishment.
I think lore wise, Mirage and Visions were the first ones that I started to realize were connected with a real narrative. This game has gone through a lot since then, but there's something special about those early sets, when it could stand on its own concepts and ideas... For the most part.
@@cax1175 do you use Mycosynth Lattice and just start dropping creatures every turn? That sounds like it could be fun
Going first, slapping mox chrome scepter with counterspell and oppo concedes.
Heya just a thought, would you consider doing a leadberboard at the end of each ep? Maybe total the points from each vid in this series and rank them against each other. Sorta like Economics Explained if you've ever watched that channel.
I remember when mirroden came out and seeing the scepter a lot. Everyone almost always had a mana leak on it when I played standard back then.
One of my favorite Magic cards. I used to play it in Legacy. There are so many cheap and reliable ways to hate on the scepter in Modern that I really can't see Orim's Chant having much of an impact in the format.
Great video! Small visual mistake at 6:00, it shows 4 “Savannah Lions” in the land section of Holman’s Zoo deck in addition to 2 in the creature section. Either he ran an illegal 6-of, or that should be just Savannah
Saw that as well and wanted to comment on it, but someone already noticed :D
I used to put boomerang on it, end of my turn play stasis, then before my turn, bounce stasis back to my hand and replay it again before end of my turn....lol
Boomerang was so obnoxious on a Scepter, even if you weren't stasis-locking your opponents.
Yeah Boomerang is just nutty.
I have a tendency to use it with Delay or Suspend because denying a deck cards in the graveyard is quite valuable, especially being able to keep cards in exile with repeated use.
Great video! Sorceries can’t be imprinted on the card tho, as you said a couple times 😄
I love these old cards many players i go up against don't see these coming.
You should add a points calculation in the resume as if it was part of a top ten.
27 points
I’m glad this series is continuing.
I used this both on Psychatog & later in Scepter Chant, I had a twist in my scepter chant though, I played with Memory Lapse & it was at times even more annoying than Orim's Chant!
I rememver using it in Multiplayer games when commander didnt exist. I used it with Negate and when Planar Chaos came I put a Dawn Charm in it. The idea was that players watch your Scepter and think that it doesnt worth attaking you and you just watch how the kill between them without cuestioning you. The see your dawn charm printed in scepter as a prorection for yourself and they didnt realize that from that thing you manipulate them to attack between them and not you.
Sometimes some people use something to destroy it so I used negate not only to protect scepters but anything dangerous s wraths.
Niza you forgot to talk the great combo with Dramatic Reversal. Really used in Commander those days lets you get infinite colored mana and infinite activated abilities.
Very interesting. I am primarily familiar with the card via the Dramatic/Scepter combo in commander and had no idea it had a legacy in competitive play.
One of my favorite things to put under Scepter is Legacy CounterTop was Lim-Dul’s Vault. 😂
What’s the mana value? Okay, in response to Counterbalance, give me two minutes while I look at the top 20 cards of my deck.
This is my favorite series by far! Would you consider doing a flash in the pan competitive card like Waylay?
Boseiju’s channel ability really hurts scepter/chant combo in today’s modern. If that weren’t, you know, everywhere, it would be a lot more exciting :(
I played a lot of Vintage at that time, and people were LOSING THEIR MIND when they saw it. Calling for bans, saying that Wizards were insane, etc.
After a few months of people trying it out, turns out it wasn't really that good in Vintage as there is tons of artifact hate because of Moxen that could also disrupt the Scepter.
5:45 SAVANNAH LIONS is my favorite land! 🤣🤣
I was always surprised that the combo with Dramatic Reversal never seemed to take off in 60 card. Sure it's vulnerable but it's also 2 mana.
Would be interesting if this was in Standard right now considering all the two-mana removal Black has.
its such a cool card, really one of my pet cards, love playing it in commander
Burning Wish, Chrome Mox, and Lion's Eye Diamond weren't restricted in Vintage until over a month after Mirrodin's release. During that short window, Todd Rogers used that in combination with the now-infamous Isochron Scepter/Time Walk lock to devastate a Vintage tournament. Can't believe you guys forgot that one.
Didn’t happen. Scepter only casts instants, time walk is a sorcery
Scepter-Chant is going to be mine for my 60 card fun deck :)
Loved that particular pairing.
How to lose friends fast lol!!
Wait, with split cards both sides are added together when determining converted mana cost 🤔 was that not the case when Scepter came out?
No, it wasn't. As explained in the video.
Video title: This new, INSANE card can go INFINITE!!!!
* clicks
Video: First you use Isochron Scepter...
* unclicks
That's not the video title.
I used to see this card in MTGO with Boomerang or Remand on it, and it would be a nightmare to play against.
Isochron Septer: Everybody Lives! Just this once, Rose! EVERYBODY LIVES!
Excellent video! What is the asking price to get that Erhnam Djinn video? :-P
I always ran muddle the mixture with mine cause the transmute grabbed it or anything I wanted to imprint on it.
Imprinting Sorceries into Isochron is a mistake everybody did make 0:02 ;)
This series is the fucking best!
6:25 *8th Edition and forward (not that it matters much since 8th and 9th share a lot of reprints but still. Lol)
The Scepter certainly had it's heyday. But in the current landscape, the fact of the matter is this.. You have to imprint a card and then tap it TWICE just to break even on cards. With the speed of legacy and modern nowadays that is an incredibly tall ask. And with the printing of Force of Vigor and Boseiju, it's harder than ever. I doubt we'll ever see the resurgence of Isochron Scepter. Still good with Dramatic Reversal in edh though.
Loving this series!
The new Spree cards have a lot of 1-mana instants that are actually more powerful! Surely being able do some of them every turn has to be good
Running copy spell cards would go hard like a better? Dual casting
Love the episode, love the series!
more of this series! i demand it!!!!!
I bet SaffronOlive will give Orim Scepter a shot. He loves that kind of stuff
Royal Assassin vs Nettling Imp
Hey Inst it only for instans?
Yes, but the ways the rules worked back in the day you technically only imprinted one side of the split card, but then because you imprinted that card, either side could be cast.
It’s kinda like when people would cascade in Valky but then cast Tibalt in Modern.
Anyone stick one of those Spree spells from Thunder Junction on the Stick?
I also wonder about some of the spree cards with the scepter.
Technically works, but you’d have to pay the Spree costs much like you do with kicker, so while having that modality is nice, you’d have to be sitting on a lot of mana to make it worthwhile.
@@argentfang Right, but you have to do that with the kicker of Orim's Chant. I'm saying that it might be a reason to play Scepter in Modern.
„Dramatic Reversal“ left the chat…
Adorable you use the word "was" absolutely cute.
It is really cruel that Orim's Chant gets to come into modern at the same time that Vexing Bauble does.
I am once again requesting Black Knight/White Knight for the series.
Uh....error in the first 10 seconds of the video... with the correct text on screen...
How good was JUGGERNAUT!! That alpha card was a bogeyman that never saw play for all but the most seasoned players
I drafted 5 Juggernauts in a fairly recent Dominaria Remastered draft, and they certainly put in good work. Ended up taking first place there! (Also, I pulled a foil retro-bordered Force of Will from one of my draft packs, and got Vampiric Tutor from one of the packs that I won. That was simply amazing.)
I need me one of those.
Imprint Final Fortune, cast Sundial of the Infinite take infinite turns.
Do you watch False Swipe Gaming?
Im stoked about Chant combo. I see Sethron played it recently. His build wasn't really that good either.
Three Steps Ahead might be the best card for the scepter.
Prodigal Sorcerer??? My brother hated the wizard.
A card so good, you get told by play groups to stop bring it.
Isochron Scepter + Boomerang = Me, the most annoying guy at the table. Wild Magic Surge is another good target for the Scepter. Sure, your opponent is getting something back, but you can keep blowing up the field until they have no field or a library.
Going to bed, this video comes out…. I need to know and sleep is for the weak
Back when I had a physical playgroup for casual games - about 12 years ago give or take - I loved doing various "fair but strong" stuff with Isochron. Counterspell was a given (is that really "fair but strong"? But if you were in blue and running the scepter you basically had to run Counterspell), but other ones I enjoyed were Fire/Ice (just strong utility) and Manamorphose (basically turns Scepter into a 2 mana artifact that draws a card for free each turn; still a better rate than many cards today).
Edit: probably shouldn't have made this comment pre-watch, given that the first deck mentioned did two of the three things I mentioned. 😅
Boomerang somehow is still legal in modern....that is all.
A Boomerang every turn *will* keep them from getting new lands... but what Modern deck needs more than three?
Modern starts at 8th Edition, not 9th Edition
Will it see play? No. Boseiju exists.
Top 10 imprint
Isochron Scepter/Orim's Chant....you will have no more friends. 😂
Its Powerful asf
8th Edition not 9th for Modern
Why were so many Isochron players Japanese
It says instant specifically...
Yes, and?
@@PhoenicopterusR Had you seen the video you would've noticed multiple times the mistake of "Sorcery" being added.
Watch the video before you comment.
@LordOfCrabz it was a simple "yes, and?", take it down a notch dude.
Its a weird quirk of split cards before the rules change. You imprint it as the >=2 mana instant, thus fulfilling the condition for it, but can copy either half of the card because it's treated as one card.
Its incredibly stupid and should've been nipped in the bud way earlier. Though the card just asks you what you're imprinting, it doesn't care what you copy after you do so.
Aaaaaand again at around 2:30....bro...
It was good enough that older magic players at the time we’re like yeah this is bullshit and stop playing.
In the same set that gave us affinity? I'm calling B.S. on that claim.
@@davidlundquist1979 oh people bitched about that too
@@davidlundquist1979 there’s a local LGS owner around here still that won’t allow affinity 20 years later. And I had a red/white scepter deck that if you didn’t do anything on your first turn, forget about it. The whole rest of the game was mine. You gotta remember people were not as good at magic cards then either so when that came out, everybody freaked the hell out too!
any card that you can replay spells indefinitely is broken
Scepter sees play in some commander decks. Specifically, imprinting dramatic reversal on the scepter gives infinite mana if they have enough mana rocks or dorks. Just another reason to hate blue players in EDH...
So good it should have never been printed
Hated this card. People would put mana leak under it and keep it up the entire game
One of my most hated Magic cards of all time. I loved Extended and the Sceptre deck was a pain to play against. With Orim’s Chant it could be gg on turn 1. Awful design imo. Just recurring value at no extra cost.
not very
Woot Woot!