Scornful Egotist

Scornful Egotist was released in the 2003 Magic: The Gathering set Scourge, the final expansion of the Onslaught block. The set focused heavily on the concept of high mana costs, with this card serving as a quintessential example of the 'morph' mechanic, which allowed players to cast it face-down for three generic mana before turning it face-up later for its full eight-mana cost.

The card was illustrated by the artist Greg Staples, who captured the haughty and grandiose nature of the creature to match its mechanics. While initially viewed as a curiosity or a draft-filler due to its prohibitive cost, it later gained a cult following in the community as a meme card and a specific engine piece for niche combo decks that sought to exploit its high converted mana cost for effects that cared about such values.