Magic: The Gathering has no shortage of graveyard mechanics. From Flashback to Unearth to Escape, Wizards has given us plenty of ways to make sure the graveyard is never really just a discard pile. But while many of these graveyard-centric mechanics scream "Reanimate," the mechanic we're talking about in today's Mechanics Overview Segment, Scavenge, takes on a different approach. Let's get digging.

What Is Scavenge?

Scavenge [cost] (Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a sorcery.)

In layman's terms, Scavenge is an activated keyword ability that lets you squeeze more juice out of a creature after it's already died.

So, say, you've got Varolz, the Scar-Striped, on the battlefield, and you've got yourself a Phyrexian Dreadnought in your graveyard. And would you look at that? Dreadnought's got a whopping base power of 12. Now, since Varolz gives all your creatures in the graveyard Scavenge, this means you can exile that hefty Dreadnought for a single colorless mana and just slap 12 +1/+1 counters onto whatever creature you want! That's right; let's make them regret not bolting that Birds of Paradise you got lying around since turn 1!

The History Of Scavenge

When Wizards first unveiled Scavenge in Return to Ravnica (2012), it felt like a natural fit for the Golgari Swarm. After all, if your guild's whole philosophy is "nothing truly dies," then turning graveyard critters into fuel for bigger monstrosities is about as on-brand as it gets.

There was a grand total of ten Scavenge cards in that set, ranging from tiny pests like Slitherhead to hulking beaters like Deadbridge Goliath. On top of that, in Dragon's Maze (2013), Wizards also printed the aforementioned Varolz, the Scar-Striped, a legendary troll who hands out Scavenge more optimistically than Oprah handing out cars. ("You get Scavenge! And you get Scavenge! Everyone gets Scavenge!")

After its initial run though, it took Scavenge almost an entire decade before seldomly popping up again in supplemental products like Modern Horizons (2019) and certain Commander releases.

Scavenge Rulings

Let's get to Scavenging up them rules!

Exiling Is Part of the Cost

This one's actually a pretty big deal. When you activate Scavenge, you exile the Scavenge card as part of paying the cost. That means if your opponent was planning to Surgical Extraction or Agatha's Soul Cauldron it out from under you, it's already too late. Once you've announced, "I'm Scavenging," the Scavenge creature is exiled as part of the ability's cost, and the ability goes on the stack.

Counters Checking Power

Scavenge cares about the power of the creature in the graveyard at the moment you exile it. That includes any static abilities or characteristic-defining abilities still in effect.

• Example: Death's Shadow's in your graveyard and you're Scavenging it while you're at 25 life. Congratulations, you're still getting 13 +1/+1 counters.
• Example: Lord of Extinction's in your graveyard and you're Scavenging it while there are a total of 30 other cards across all graveyards. Congratulations, you're getting 30 +1/+1 counters.
• Example: Nighthowler's in your graveyard and you're Scavenging it with 20 other creatures across all graveyards. You still get no +1/+1 counters since Nighthowler's power remains zero at the time of it being exiled from the graveyard.

Scavenge Still Targets

Remember, at the end of the day, you're still trying to put +1/+1 counters on a target creature. If your opponent removes that target in response, the ability will fizzle. You still paid the cost and exiled your Scavenge creature, but you just get zero counters. All of this to say you can't just Scavenge, pick a target to put on counters, opponent removes the targeted creature, and then you go and put the counters on another creature.

Is It Worth Scavenging?

So, where does Scavenge sit in the grand pantheon of Magic mechanics? Probably somewhere in the middle of the compost heap. It's not as flashy as Dredge, not as efficient as Escape, and definitely not as universally beloved as Flashback. But in the end, it's flavorful, distinct, and undeniably Golgari.

At its best, Scavenge embodies the resilience of the Golgari Swarm: your creatures may die, but their strength lives on in new forms. Now, that's powerful storytelling baked directly into gameplay. When your Slitherhead's final act is pumping up your board's remaining defender, it feels like the guild motto, that death is only the beginning, made manifest.

At its worst, Scavenge is super clunky. Six mana to bulk up a creature at sorcery speed just to watch it get hit by a one mana Path to Exile is the kind of play that makes you wish you had just jammed a reanimation spell instead.

Will Scavenge ever return in force? I highly doubt it. But it's important to keep in mind that Magic is cyclical, and Wizards has shown they like dusting off "mid" mechanics for supplemental sets time and again. So, if a graveyard- or counter-focused set comes along, I wouldn't be surprised if Scavenge randomly crawls out of the dirt for another round.

With that, I've probably already Scavenged more words out of this topic than even the Golgari could recycle, so let's go ahead and bury it for good here. As always, happy brewing, and may your opponents never forget why you're playing Varolz, the Scar-Striped, as your commander and you've just self-milled Phyrexian Dreadnought, Death's Shadow, Baloth Prime, and Souls of the Lost. Until next time.