Scam Modern: The Nadu-Orvar Combo Disrupting the Meta
Scam Modern is one of Modern’s most disruptive decks — a Dimir-colored disruption engine built around pitch Elementals that simultaneously removes opponent threats and develops your board, all while assembling the Nadu-Orvar infinite combo in the background. The core idea is simple: cast one-mana Elementals on turn 1, remove their best card, apply pressure with a body, and combo off before they recover. According to recent MTGGoldfish archetype data, the deck sits comfortably in the Tier 1-2 bracket while costing roughly $1,400 in paper.
This guide walks through the 75-card Modern list, the 10 cards that make the deck work, how it wins through the Nadu-Orvar combo line, the matchups you need to know, and what a proxy-first version looks like for players who want the experience without the $1,400 price tag.
| 📋 Table of Contents | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Deck Identity |
| 2. | The Decklist |
| 3. | The 10 Key Cards |
| 4. | How Scam Wins Games |
| 5. | Matchups: The Ones You Need to Know |
| 6. | Sideboard Strategy |
| 7. | How to Get Started |
Deck Identity
The Decklist
The 75-card Modern list breaks down as:
Source: makeproxycard.com · Modern 2026 build · View on MTGGoldfish
The list runs 4 Grief, 4 Fury, and 2 Solitude as the pitch Elemental core — spells that function as one-mana hand disruption on the evoke half and 3-power threats on the body half. The combo engine centers on 4 Orvar and 4 Nadu, which together generate explosive card advantage once assembled. Dragon’s Rage Channeler and Murktide Regent provide early pressure and a fast clock. The 15-card sideboard is tuned around the metagame’s artifact and enchantment permanents — Chalice of the Void, Blood Moon, and leyline effects — with Leyline of Sanctity for combo-heavy formats.
- Mainboard (60): 4 Grief · 4 Fury · 2 Solitude · 4 Orvar, the All-Forming · 4 Nadu, Winged Wisdom · 4 Dragon’s Rage Channeler · 4 Murktide Regent · 4 Counterspell · 2 Force of Negation · 4 Consider · 4 Fatal Push · 1 March of Otherworldly Light · 1 Cling to Dust · 1 Shoot the Sheriff · 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Sideboard (15): 4 Leyline of Sanctity · 3 Faerie Macabre · 2 Engineered Explosives · 2 Wear // Tear · 2 Boseiju Who Endures · 2 Brazen Borrower
The 10 Key Cards
Grief — The Turn-1 Disruptor
Grief is the deck’s signature one-mana play. Casting it for its evoke cost on turn 1 forces the opponent to discard their two best cards before they even have a chance to play them — a devastating opening that can strand a player with uncastable hands for the next three turns. The 3/2 flying Spirit body applies immediate pressure, forcing the opponent to block or take damage.
The evoke cost {3}{B}{B} is deliberately expensive — you will never pay it. The one-mana evoke mode is the entire point: Grief is a one-mana Thoughtseize that also leaves a body. The deck runs 4 copies specifically because the opening-hand power level is unmatched in Modern.
Source: Scryfall — Modern Horizons 2 #107, illustrated by Nicholas Gregory.
Fury — The Pressure Card
Fury is the deck’s two-mana pitch Elemental and the card that turns Scam from a disruption package into a genuine clock. Evoking Fury removes a non-Eldrazi blocker while leaving behind a 3/2 double-strike body that closes games fast. Against Murktide Regent decks, Fury removes the only blocker and then swings through for 6 damage in one hit.
The double strike keyword is particularly potent in a deck that also plays Chalice of the Void. If you land a Chalice on 1, your opponent cannot cast Spell Queller or Ledger Shredder — but Fury can still attack through anything they do resolve. The 4/3 body is also a clean answer to Dragon’s Rage Channeler and DRC-adjacent one-drops.
Source: Scryfall — Commander Collection: Black #107, illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez.
Solitude — The Flash Answer
Solitude rounds out the Elemental core as a three-mana flash removal spell with a 3/2 body. Its evoke cost {2}{W} is paid in the early game to answer a creature threat while developing a board presence. The flash ability lets you cast it during the opponent’s end step — removing a blocker before your combat step or disrupting a cascade trigger.
Unlike Grief and Fury, Solitude’s evoke cost is {2}{W} — still too expensive to realistically pay in most games. The free evoke makes it effectively a one-card removal spell that also applies pressure. The deck runs 2 Solitude specifically because white is a secondary color in the mana base; the deck is primarily Dimir with a light white splash for the evoke package.
Source: Scryfall — Modern Horizons 2 #33, illustrated by Evan Shipard.
Orvar, the All-Forming — The Combo Engine
Orvar is the card that transforms Scam from a disruption deck into a combo deck. The ability to copy any permanent you control is deceptively powerful — when you have Nadu, Winged Wisdom on the battlefield and cast any nontoken creature, each Orvar trigger copies Nadu. This means every creature you cast triggers Nadu’s surveil ability twice (once for the original Nadu, once for each Orvar copy), generating explosive card advantage in a single turn.
In the endgame, once you have assembled 3-4 Nadu copies via Orvar, you can cast a single creature and draw your entire deck by repeatedly copying Nadu’s surveil triggers. The deck runs 4 Orvar because the combo is fragile — having multiple copies increases redundancy and allows you to hold up countermagic while keeping combo pieces in hand.
Source: Scryfall — Modern Horizons 2 #288, illustrated by Martina Fačková.
How Scam Wins Games
The deck wins through a two-pronged approach: early disruption backed by pitch Elementals, transitioning into the Nadu-Orvar combo once the opponent’s hand and board are stripped.
1. Early game (turns 1-2): Lead with Grief or Fury on the play — strip two cards and establish a 3-power body. Follow with Dragon’s Rage Channeler or Chalice of the Void to apply layered disruption. 2. Mid game (turns 3-5): Resolve Nadu, Winged Wisdom and begin surveiling. Play around removal carefully — hold Orvar until the opponent taps out or you have enough protection. Start copying Nadu with Orvar to generate card advantage. 3. Late game (turns 6+): Once Nadu is copied 3-4 times, cast any creature and loop Nadu’s triggers to draw your deck. Attack with an army of Nadu tokens and close the game.
Most games end with the opponent unable to answer the layered disruption of early Elementals followed by the inevitability of the Nadu-Orvar combo. Games where the combo is disrupted fall back to Murktide Regent beats and Orvar copies as secondary win conditions.
Matchups: The Ones You Need to Know
Against Hammer Time (50/50): Your pitch Elementals answer their Sigarda’s Aid + Colossus Hammer combo cleanly — Fury removes a Smitten Sword bearer, Grief strips the Hammer from their hand. Chalice on 1 shuts off their one-mana creatures. The matchup is skill-intensive; mulligan aggressively for disruption hands. Sideboard in Engineered Explosives and Faerie Macabre.
Against Burn (slightly unfavored): Burn’s fastest draws pressure your life total before you stabilize. Grief buying back a Solitude is the cleanest out, but a clean Burn hand with Swift Spear + Guide + Lightning Bolt is difficult. Keep Leyline of Sanctity in for the discard-heavy variants. Sideboard in Dragon’s Claw and Boseiju Who Endures for extra lifegain.
Against Murktide Regent (favored): Your disruption package lines up perfectly against their threats. Fury removes Murktide cleanly, Grief strips Ledger Shredder before it flips, and Chalice on 1 shuts off Dragon’s Rage Channeler. Apply pressure with Murktide of your own while they scramble for answers. Sideboard in Faerie Macabre as a flyer that dodges their removal.
Against Tron (favored): Tron is too slow to answer turn-1 Grief. Once you disrupt their Expedition Map with Chalice and Grief, they cannot assemble their turn-3 Tron. Apply pressure with the Spirit body while they durdle. Sideboard in Engineered Explosives for Oblivator strategies and Wear // Tear for their Wurmcoil Engine.
Sideboard Strategy
The 15-card sideboard is built around three core plans:
The key is sequencing your fetchlands to find the right answer. Flooded Strand can search for Waterlogged Marsh or Sunken Hollow depending on whether you need white (Solitude) or blue-black fixing. Boseiju Who Endures is a flexible tutor target — fetch it when you need a one-shot answer to a Blood Moon.
- Plan 1 (Anti-Discard / Combo): Leyline of Sanctity (4 copies) — shuts off Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and hand-disruption strategies. Boseiju Who Endures protects against surgical extraction.
- Plan 2 (Anti-Artifact / Enchantment): Engineered Explosives (2), Wear // Tear (2), Mystical Dispute (1) — handles Chalice of the Void, Blood Moon, and other permanent-based tax effects that disrupt your mana base.
- Plan 3 (Control / Midrange): Faerie Macabre (3 copies) — a 4/4 flyer that draws cards when it deals combat damage. Excellent against decks that rely on single blockers or don’t play sweepers. Brazen Borrower (2) provides additional flash interaction.
How to Get Started
Building Scam in paper costs roughly $1,200-$1,500 in October 2026. The most expensive cards are Grief ($80-120 per copy), Nadu Winged Wisdom ($60-80), and Orvar ($30-50). For players who want the experience without the price tag, proxying the entire 75-card list costs about $80 at MakeProxyCard — Grief, Orvar, and Nadu all print at tournament quality with sharp text and accurate colors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
Related Reading
- Murktide Modern: The Delve Threat Reshaping the Format — A Tier-1 Modern deck that plays similar Disruption + Delve threats.
- Hammer Time Modern: The One-Turn Equipment Combo — The format’s other one-mana combo deck and Scam’s most common matchup.
- Living End Modern: Cascade Combo That Wins Turn 3 — Another Tier-2 Modern combo deck with similar disruption angles.
- Why Are cEDH Decks So Expensive? A Complete Price Breakdown — The cost analysis that explains why Modern staples like Grief and Nadu cost $80+ each in paper.