I love hardened scales! Had a blast with it as my standard deck for a while and looking to use it as my gateway into modern.
The goal for this deck is simple: Build counters either directly or indirectly no matter the situation. Synergy is key to any hand you draw and any creature/instant you play.
Average CMC is 1.26! This low mana curve makes comboing plays much easier and explosive with Hardened Scales, especially with Gyre Sage - she's crazy with all the counters.
Creature breakdown:
Simic Initiate: I like him as the 1 drop here because of graft. I can move counters whenever I cast a creature which can kill it but then I can cast Hunger of the Howlpack for three counters (+1 more counter with each Hardened scales for 1 G mana) on another creature to either build up an Avatar, Gyre Sage, Hangarback Walker, or Primordial Hydra; depends entirely on the hand and board state. The beauty here is in the immense choice that all achieves the same goal: Making your creatures huge!
Gyre Sage: Serves as my mana dork to feed the X costs of most of the other creatures which also triggers her evolve ability to get even more counters and mana the next turn! She can add quite a lot of mana to your pool to pull of some fun combinations with the other cards in the deck.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch serves as another way to continuously service counters to each and every creature at little to no cost and the reason we splash white in this deck. He only costs 1 white plus X that can be played as a huge total at any turn. He really defines casting on a curve with hardened scales in play. Combining with Burst of Strength, he can move and trigger more counters multiple times for no mana other than 1 for the instant itself. Just a thought.
Avatar of the Resolute: Super powerful and a great value creature with trample that can be huge for only 2 green when every creature in this deck operates off of +1/+1 counters. Just get the chance to have the board a little full and he can be a game wining threat.
Hangarback Walker: A threat that gets huge and costs next to nothing in this deck with the help of Hardened Scales, Mikaeus and Simic Initiate. Makes your opponent think twice before throwing a kill spell at it.
Primordial Hydra: An absolute powerhouse that can end the game quickly. He has trample but is another X cast creature. Using him in combination of the others in this deck, its possible to get him out turn 4 with 19 counters on him.
Instants: No time for Sorcery here.
Savage Summoning really is fun. The biggest draw back is that it puts you at card disadvantage but casting anything at your opponents end step for an X creature without paying for X is pretty fun. Also this deck is aggro, you'll want to win before turn 7 at the latest. There are some cool combos that can be pulled off with this card, too. Here is a great example: Hardened Scales + Savage Summoning into Hangarback Walker for 2 counters then graft 1 off of Simic Initiate for 2 more counters all at instant flash speed that is immune to counter spells. This means you could play a 4/4 Hangarback Walker during the end step of your opponents turn by their 2nd turn and it would only cost you 1 G mana and not the normal 8 it should. Another example is when 3 mana is available on your board. You could do the same but with Primordial Hydra. This puts a 4/4 Primordial Hydra on the broad right before its ability triggers growing it to an 9/9 trampler on turn 4 by only paying its 2 G to cast it and nothing for X! Value! Combine that with Solidarity of Heroes and a 'kicked' Vines of Vastwood, you're looking at a 23/23 trample Hydra swinging in only for 4 mana.
Solidarity of Heroes: Doubles counters; enough said. Use it on Primordial Hydra before your next upkeep to double double those counters on him! Or make your Hangarback Walker twice as big before a kill spell would take him out. Or double the counters of Gyre Sage to tap her for all the mana you probably would need in a turn.
Vines of Vastwood: Protection to stop against exile spells and to give some creatures an extra 'kick' to get a killer blow in.
Hunger of the Howlpack: Another value card that puts three counters on another creature if you lose one. Was thinking about using it in combination with my Simic initiate. Have him graft until dead and then slap down Hunger of the Howlpack for some added counter goodness.
Enchantment:
Hardened Scales, duh.
Lands: 9 fetchlands between Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills and Flooded Strand to grab anything you would need at any time. There are then 11 fetch-able target lands with 1 plains, 3 forests, 4 Canopy Vista, 3 Temple Garden. 2 utility lands, namely in Gavony Township because we'll need access to more counters, right?
Currently play testing this version but looking for suggestions! Need help with the sideboard, too, since I'm still very new to modern. Not entirely sure where to start. My big question I'm trying to figure out is if I need to drop a land or two since my cmc is so low.
, Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, you always have a constant flow of counters beefing your creatures. Solidarity of Heroes and Hunger of the Howlpack were good but in comparison to a hard-to-remove recurring threat such as a Plainswalker on the board, its hard to compete when you can only cast it once.