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Thread: Hardened Scales

  1. #1
    What Would Ravenous Baloth Do?
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    Hardened Scales

    I've wanted to build a deck around Hardened Scales and Winding Constrictor ever since Constrictor was spoiled. This could be legal in Modern or Legacy depending on your manabase and whether or not you use Forgotten Ancient. Personally, I like to play this deck at my kitchen table during a casual multiplayer game. You'll almost always end up with the biggest creatures on the board (even bigger than your buddy's stupid Slivers). I doubt this deck will have much game against fast combo but hopefully none of your friends are bringing fast combo to the casual table...


    I am well aware there is a version of Affinity that runs Scales and Constrictor. I would consider that deck to be competitive as opposed to casual and should probably not be discussed in this thread. It's a fun looking deck but I'm just not into Affinity and never have been (also Arcbound Ravager is really expensive nowadays)

    Core

    4 Hardened Scales
    4 Winding Constrictor
    4 Birds of Paradise
    4 Hangarback Walker
    4 Walking Ballista
    4 Managorger Hydra
    2-3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade


    Spells and Planewalkers

    2-4 Abrupt Decay
    2-4 Dromoka's Command
    0-2 Inspiring Call
    0-2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar


    Other Creatures

    0-4 Forgotten Ancient
    0-3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
    0-3 Verdurous Gearhulk
    0-3 Primordial Hydra


    Lands
    You should run about 22 Land of this deck. This will vary based on your budget, format of choice and whether you choose to go BG or BGW.


    Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista are both great early and late in the game. Walker grows itself and makes little friends when it dies. Ballista is machine for killing creatures or pinging your opponent if you can't attack directly.

    Managorger Hydra gets ridiculously huge and also has trample. If you opponent can't deal with this threat within a couple turns it's game over. if you're playing multiplayer you friends will probably form temporary alliances until someone can deal with it.

    Rishkar, Peema Renegade[/cards] allows you to turn any creature into a manadork. You can use this mana to cast giant Walkers, Ballistas, Mikaeus, the Lunarch, Primordial Hydras or add counters to Ballista.

    Bird of Paradise provides acceleration and can become a threat itself if you want to load it up with counters. If you need more creatures with flying you can find a way to sacrifice Hangarback Walker and get a swarm of Thopters.

    If you're running Forgotten Ancient you can do ridiculous stuff even with just one Hardened Scales or Constrictor in play. He gets extra counters whenever anyone casts a spell and can also transfer those counters during your upkeep to other creatures. You will also gain an additional counter each time one of Ancient's counters is moved to another creature. The only drawback is he doesn't have evasion.

    Nissa, Voice of Zendikar makes plants and then pumps those plants as well as your other creatures. This is perfect for when you need to swarm your opponent with an army out of smaller creatures or chump block for days.

    Mikaeus, the Lunarch serves a similar role to Nissa but can also become a huge body later in the game when you have access to a lot of mana.

    Dromoka's Command permanently pumps your creatures and allows you remove an opponent's creature by fighting it against one of your (usually much larger) creatures. It can also remove pesky enchantments that may be preventing you from attacking.

    Abrupt Decay is solid removal for just about any situation. It's a no-brainer to run this if you're already playing BG.

    Inspiring Call is something I'm currently testing out. So far it has been great in multiplayer when an opponent is attempting to sweep the battlefield. It will also let you reload your hand to find answers late in the game.

    Verdurous Gearhulk is seeing a lot of play in Standard. Pumps up to 4 other creatures and has trample.

    Primordial Hydra is a big fat green Timmy card that will help you brush up on your addition and multiplication.

    If anyone is interested in seeing a sample decklist for Modern or Legacy let me know and I can write one up. Also, let me know if there are other cards that might be good in this type of deck. There's so many cards that take advantage of +1/+1 counters I doubt I've examined all of them. Lastly, make sure you have a lot of dice/counters if you decide to try out this deck.
    Fools dig for water, corpses or gold
    The ice in my teeth keep the Cristal cold
    I be shoot'n lava around like an uzi
    Watch me turn this glacier into a jacuzzi
    I'm so hot people standing around me, just to stay warm
    Castin' so many spells looks like I'm playin' Storm
    I fuck all your creatures without any lotion
    Skeet in yo face, Erratic Explosion
    Every time you look I'm doing 2 to your dome!
    So scoop up your cards and take your broke ass home

    -G.L.M.

  2. #2
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    Re: Hardened Scales

    Avatar of the Resolute is great in a scales shell; Servant of the Scale isn't too bad either, and Experiment One can sometimes work well but just as often do next to nothing.

    Going multicolor is great when you're splashing for things like Abzan Falconer and 3-4 Dromoka's Command, but I think the way you're setting it up now you might be able to get away with mono-green - basically taking a mono-green stompy shell (like the Modern version) with emphasis on the +1 counters instead of just big green idiots.

  3. #3
    What Would Ravenous Baloth Do?
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    Re: Hardened Scales

    Quote Originally Posted by RobNC View Post
    Avatar of the Resolute is great in a scales shell; Servant of the Scale isn't too bad either, and Experiment One can sometimes work well but just as often do next to nothing.

    Going multicolor is great when you're splashing for things like Abzan Falconer and 3-4 Dromoka's Command, but I think the way you're setting it up now you might be able to get away with mono-green - basically taking a mono-green stompy shell (like the Modern version) with emphasis on the +1 counters instead of just big green idiots.
    Great suggestions! Thanks, RobNC.
    Fools dig for water, corpses or gold
    The ice in my teeth keep the Cristal cold
    I be shoot'n lava around like an uzi
    Watch me turn this glacier into a jacuzzi
    I'm so hot people standing around me, just to stay warm
    Castin' so many spells looks like I'm playin' Storm
    I fuck all your creatures without any lotion
    Skeet in yo face, Erratic Explosion
    Every time you look I'm doing 2 to your dome!
    So scoop up your cards and take your broke ass home

    -G.L.M.

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