Cursed Scroll
Mana cost {1}.
{3}, {T}: Choose a card name, then reveal a card at random from your hand. If that card has the chosen name, this artifact deals 2 damage to any target.
Cursed Scroll is legal in Premodern, shown in its old-frame Tempest printing.
Price and printings: Cardmarket (€74.71) · TCGplayer ($91.8) · Scryfall
Tracked daily since 28 July 2026: on Cardmarket between €71.97 and €85.10 in that time.
Also printed with a gold border in World Championship Decks 1998 and 1999, for less. Gold-bordered copies aren't tournament legal, but some Premodern events allow them: where, and what they save.
How often Cursed Scroll is played
Cursed Scroll is maindecked in 23 of 131 tournament decks in this archive (18%), averaging 1.7 copies; kept in 6 sideboards (5%); used by 4 of 33 tracked archetypes.
See how it compares on the Premodern staples list.
Premodern archetypes that play Cursed Scroll
- Sligh: Pay {3} and tap: name a card, reveal a card at random from your hand, and deal 2 damage to any target if it matches. With one card in hand it always hits, with two different cards half the time. With an empty hand there is nothing to reveal and it does nothing, so keep one card, a spare land if necessary.
- Mono Black: For {3} and a tap, you name a card and reveal a card at random from your hand; if it has that name, Scroll deals 2 damage to any target. It always hits with one card in hand (or a hand of identical cards) and never with an empty hand, so keep one card back, a spare land works, and it deals 2 damage in every turn you can pay {3}.
- White Weenie: It deals the last points of damage when your attacks stop getting through. It reveals a card at random from your hand, so with exactly one card in hand you always name it right and deal 2 damage a turn for three mana, to a player or a blocker. With an empty hand it does nothing.
- Pit Rack: {3}, tap: name a card and reveal one at random from your hand; if it matches, 2 damage to any target. With exactly one card in hand it always hits. With Bottomless Pit out and at most one card in hand at your upkeep, the card you draw is your whole hand: name it. In almost every list, two or three copies.
Sideboard plans with Cursed Scroll
- Sligh vs. RG Zoo and White Weenie. Against RG Zoo, in: both Lava Dart and the third Cursed Scroll; out: both Goblin Patrol and Reckless Abandon. Against White Weenie, in: Anarchy, the third Cursed Scroll and Flaring Pain; out: the same three cards. Anarchy destroys every white permanent, Silver Knight, Soltari Priest, Absolute Law and Circle of Protection: Red included, Cursed Scroll is colorless and still kills a protection-from-red creature, and Flaring Pain gets your damage through the Circle for a turn.
- Sligh vs. Landstill, Psychatog and Stasis. Against Landstill also Anarchy, Flaring Pain and the third Cursed Scroll; out: both Goblin Patrol, three Jackal Pup and Reckless Abandon, since Wrath of God punishes extra creatures, while Ball Lightning is never on the battlefield when they cast it.
- Sligh vs. UG Madness, Replenish, Gro-a-Tog and Aluren. Against UG Madness also the third Cursed Scroll for Reckless Abandon; the Blasts counter Circular Logic and destroy Aquamoeba and Wonder.
- Sligh vs. Mono Black, Pit Rack and The Rock. Against Mono Black, in: two Overload and the third Cursed Scroll; out: both Goblin Patrol and Reckless Abandon. Overload destroys their Cursed Scroll for one mana, and your own Scroll keeps dealing damage in the late game. Against Pit Rack, in: all three Overload; out: the same three cards, since Overload destroys The Rack and Cursed Scroll. Against The Rock, in: the third Cursed Scroll and Price of Progress; out: both Goblin Patrol.
- Sligh vs. Contamination and Turbo Lands. Against Contamination, in: the third Cursed Scroll; out: Reckless Abandon. Cursed Scroll keeps working under the lock, since its {3} can be paid with black mana.
- White Weenie vs. Sligh, Goblins and RG Zoo. Against Sligh, in: Absolute Law, Circle of Protection: Red and the second Cursed Scroll; out: both Armageddon and a Tithe, keeping Disenchant and Seal of Cleansing for Seal of Fire, Cursed Scroll and Sulfuric Vortex. Cursed Scroll picks off Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic and Grim Lavamancer.
- White Weenie vs. Elves and Rebels. Against Elves, in: Cursed Totem, the second Cursed Scroll and a Reprisal; out: both Armageddon and a Tithe. Cursed Scroll kills one-toughness elves, Reprisal kills Masticore, and Disenchant and Seal of Cleansing stay for Survival of the Fittest and Masticore.
- White Weenie vs. Landstill, Tron, BW Control, Dromar Control and The Solution. Against Landstill and Tron also bring Cursed Scroll and Winter Orb; out: Worship, Glorious Anthem and two Silver Knight. Against BW Control and Dromar Control also bring Spiritual Focus and Cursed Scroll; out: Worship, two Silver Knight and a Tithe, keeping Glorious Anthem against their Engineered Plague.
- White Weenie vs. Psychatog and Gro-a-Tog. In: both Tormod's Crypt and the second Cursed Scroll, plus Winter Orb against Psychatog or Absolute Law against Gro-a-Tog.
Tournament decks with Cursed Scroll
- Moneyball: 4th Place at 4Seasons Summer Edition (3× main + sideboard)
- Pox Aggro: 1st Place at Magic Beijing #59 (3× main + sideboard)
- White Weenie: 8th Place at PMPMPMPM XLI (2× mainboard)
- Contamination: 6th Place at Premodern & Hooters 9 (2× mainboard)
- Madness Tribe: 1st Place at Premodern Granducato (2× mainboard)
- Mono Black: 1st Place at MTGO Premodern League (2× mainboard)
- Broccoli Soup: 4th Place at Premodern Beijing (1× mainboard)
- Perros de Avellaneda: 7th Place at Technoliga Valenciana (1× mainboard)
- Mono Black Clerics: 3rd Place at IX Torneo Mensual (2× sideboard)
- Rogue: 1st Place at Secrets Makuhari 2026 (1× mainboard)
- Moneyball Red: 2nd Place at 2026 Nantuko League (3× mainboard)
- Goblins: 3rd Place at Midwest Championship Open (3× mainboard)
- Mono Black Aggro: 4th Place at Lega Milano 3/12 (2× mainboard)
- Sligh: 1st Place at BCDL Open 5 @ The Warp Gate (2× mainboard)
- White Weenie: 1st Place at MTGO Premodern League (3× sideboard)
- Moneyball: 1st Place at LPP x Trial Épico (2× mainboard)
- Ponza Red: 1st Place at MTGO Premodern League (1× mainboard)
- Mono Black Aggro: 1st Place at Mogg Monthly: Sligh July (3× main + sideboard)
- Machine Head: 4th Place at Premodern Mainz Monthly (1× mainboard)
- Pox: 3rd Place at Liga Premodern Alicante 2026 9ª Jornada (1× mainboard)
- BG Rack: 3rd Place at Lega Milano 3/12 (1× mainboard)
- Moneyball Black: 2nd Place at Liga Paulista de Premodern 2026 (2× mainboard)
- Mono Red Burn: 1st Place at The Old Skull La Plata (2× mainboard)
- Covetous Control: 6th Place at LWPP Maio/2026 Top8 (1× mainboard)
- 5 Color White Weenie: 4th Place at Grand Pre Louisville (2× sideboard)
- Mono R Ponza: 1st Place at Chile Premier League – May 2026 (1× mainboard)
Spicy brews with Cursed Scroll
- Hypnotic Wurm (1×)
