Also 3 Wingmate Roc s are very iffy in a deck with 20 lands. don't rely on it.

@sharang3 If you read closely, the Wingmate Roc only lets you gain life 1 time during the attack (your not attacking multiple times), since you only gain life once at one time, its only going to provide 1 +1/+1 counter on the ajani, it doesn't matter how much life you gain.

I just liked it with agent of fates well... I got some options to explore if I remove them.

I dig it. I have a deck abusing the scales as well but have been tinkering with an abzan deck im not ready to take off of private mode just yet. i am really liking the Mer-Ek Nightblade in that build ...maybe it can find a home in here . Possibly sideboard?

Just added disowned ancestor and trying brave the sands for playlists. Thoughts

Another slow creature, unfortunately you can't outlast as an instant, so it won't be effective if you try to block and tap after. I'm pretty sure the creature was made for blocking, which is weird since it should be a blue creature. brave the sands is interesting, but this deck isn't build around blocking, if you play against control or burn decks, it will already very be difficult to get a creature down and start pumping it up.

I made room in mine for brave the sands. Its amazing to be able to swing and still block plus be able to block two guys with one. I dont think of it so much as a defensive card as i do as a card that allows me to swing away and still protect my ass. I like the card in this.With mer ek on the board you are taking down two creatures really making them hesitate to even swing. Over the Ivory tusk fortress i would go with a smaller casting cost creature that still benefits you. Like the Siege Rhino use one of those feats on him putting a counter and with mer ek you are dealing almost full damage anytime they decide to block him plus when he enters he triggers the pridemate. I see why you have the ivory tusk but hes not really needed with brave the sands in here.

Mer-Ek Nightblade is a bad card. Let's assume I'm playing a tier one deck - ANY tier one deck, it doesn't really matter. On my fourth turn, I'm either playing Polukranos, Kiora, Sidisi, Siege Rhino, Flamewreath Phoenix, hasted Savage Knuckleblade, Sorin, etc. On my third turn, I'm playing Ensoul Artifact on a Darksteel Citadel or Ornithopter, Brimaz, Mantis Riders, Savage Knuckleblade, Anafenza, Courser of Kruphix, Goblin Rabblemaster or leaving mana open for a counterspell.

All of these things will kill Mar-Ek failboat in combat on whatever turn they come down, with the sole exception of Courser, who doesn't actually play very much like a creature. Most of them - Ensoul Artifact, Brimaz, Siege Rhino, Sidisi, Phoenix, Mantis Riders, Anafenza, and Rabblemaster - will not only kill your 2/3 in combat, they'll either survive or leave behind a token which will continue to contribute board presence. Some of them do BOTH for less mana than your (again, completely failboat) four CMC 2/3. Let's say you make it to turn 5, and then tap your (almost completely useless) 2/3 with no evasion and no protection in order to make it a 3/4 with Deathtouch. It's not blocking this turn. It's not attacking this turn. Finally, it's turn six; and you have a 3/4 Deathtoucher with (hopefully) vigilance from Brave the Sands. The other side of the table has either Sarkhan, Elspeth, Hornet Queen, or some other creature that isn't the worst creature in standard. This is very, very close to your optimal plays with this card. To recap.Assuming perfect mana and perfect draws every turn:

Turn 1. Plains. Soldier of the Pantheon.

Turn 2. Forest. Ajani's Pridemate. Swing with Soldier for 2; unless they've got Sylvan Caryatid. Let's assume they don't. Let's assume they play a multicolored spell, you gain a life off Soldier, Pridemate gets +1/+1.

Turn 3. Hardened Scales, Blossoming Sands. Pridemate's getting two counters now, making a 5/5. Swing with Pridemate and Soldier for 7.

Turn 4. SPEND YOUR WHOLE TURN PLAYING MAR-EK POOPCARD (?).

Now, the lead you generated by playing a 1 mana 2/1 and a 2 mana 5/5 has completely vanished as the opponent plays cards that affect the board while you spend two turns setting up a very bad creature. And then you're done. That's your whole curve, topping out at four with this PoS. Your best, most expensive creature does nothing when you play it, dies to any removal spell in the format short of Magma Jet, and in the best case scenario, blocks and kills two creatures after you've wasted two mana on an enchantment which, likewise, does nothing. Vigilance doesn't even combo with Outlast, since you can only outlast on your turn as a sorcery. So, what, you're attacking with a naked 2/3 on turn 5, then giving it a +1 counter and deathtouch after the opponent decides not to block with any of the many great creatures available at the 5 mana slot?

I'm not saying this to be mean. I playtested this multiple times, with multiple hands. Every game where you're playing a turn 4 Mar-Ek, you'll wish it was Sorin. Or Siege Rhino. Or Whip of Erebos. Or some other card that interacts with the board in a fashion that means anything. This is because creatures are generally bad unless they cost less than the cheapest removal spell that can kill them, so you can bottleneck the opponent on mana, or the creature has an enter/exits the battle field effect or has haste, or if the creature is somehow impossible to kill (Aetherling, regenerators, large hexproof targets).

I'd rather play a 56 card deck than risk drawing Mar-Ek Raiders.

@sharang3 I somewhat disagree. by the time this guy falls there should be some board presence of creatures that ALREADY have counters on them. Yeah he may pretty useless in at that time but all the entire boardstate will have deathtouch. And i am pretty sure it will become problematic for attackers. At the very least it warrants a removal spell that i am sure the OP would have rather spent killing off his biggest threat. I have been testing a deck with a 2x of him in it and he is a major pain in the ass late game if you have creatures with counters. I do agree though that Ajani or the ascendancy should be somewhere in here to drop those counters a little easier. Maybe in the spot of reap what is sown (though that takes away from heroic triggers)

Again, what the hell do you need to block for in an aggro deck with nothing past 4 cmc? What do you need deathtouch for when your 2 drops are 5/5s? What do you do against a creatureless control deck, of which there is ALWAYS one?

@sharang3 mine is Broken Scales I wouldnt be running soldiier of the pantheon because i would miss him with the reap what is sown. Also deathtouch helps when you are swinging as well. Whatever they block bites the dust. I get that you dont like the card and its moot anyway hes already dropped it and added removal which i think was a good choice as well.

I also notice even you don't play the terribad card in your deck. Which is because you also realize how terribad it is. :\

Deathtouch is irrelevant when you swing with creatures who always beat opposing creatures in combat. Deathtouch is for bad creatures; good creatures just kill things.

Ajani Mentor of Heros would be amazing for this, along with High Sentinels of Arashin, Abzan Charm, and Anafenza.

Anafenza, the Foremost has no effect on your creatures, graveyard, or recursion.

Actually she does. Everytime she swings she drops a counter on a creature of his that is tapped. That would add up quickly with the scales out. Plus she just wrecks Delve/Dredge style decks that might be relying on creatures hitting the graveyard for say Nighthowler s not to mention being a 4/4 three drop is nice. Legendary is a bit of a drawback. @sharang3 what is your take on that card i am wondering?

I was saying that Anafenza, the Foremost doesn't have an effect on his creatures going to his graveyard so that he could recur them with Whip; which is what another comment seems to be afraid of. If you scroll up, you'll see that I recommended Anafenza a couple of days ago because it's very good in this deck and doesn't exile your own creatures, only opponent's. It's ambiguously worded in my previous post, but when I said 'it doesn't affect creatures, graveyard, and recursion' i meant that he should play it because it doesn't affect recurring his creatures from his graveyard.

Weird. The comment I was replying to seems to be gone?

After some more testing; Abzan Charm is insane. Removal, heroic and +1 enabler, and when you draw it after a board wipe, it can dig you out of a hole. That's a LOT of power on one charm.

On the other hand, Hopeful Eidolon is not very good in testing. It usually is worse than a soldier of the pantheon; which you could make room for another one of; and with 20 lands I'm having real trouble getting to play it as a Bestow creature. Ajani Steadfast has a similar role to bestowing Eidolon, but with a ton more power. Also, since the lifelinker gains first strike as well, it pumps your Ajani's Pridemate before it deals or takes combat damage. Unfortunately, again, it's really hard to hit 4 lands within 5 or 6 turns with only 20 in the deck. You could probably safely make the changes below.

-3 Hopeful Eidolon

+1 Mana Confluence +1 Soldier of the Pantheon +1 Ajani Steadfast

Removed my comment because I was wrong and there is no edit option. Thank you for playtesting and giving strong advice +1 to your soul.

Abzan Falconer sideboard if you need the evasion? Giving all your stuff flying could be huge if you need it.

Ordeal of Heliod is one of the best heroic triggers. Gain a ton of life and you buffer your guys.

It feels to me like this deck doesn't run enough land. 20 is what burn decks that top their mana curve at a couple 3-drops use. I'd recommend at least using 22 lands here, given how multi-colored your mana base is, and how many 3-drops you have.

I would still side board Hopeful Eidolon . T1 Hopeful Eidolon T2 Ajani's Pridemate , ping for 1T3 Nyx-Fleece Ram , ping for 1 + 3T4 Bestow second Hopeful Eidolon to Ajani's Pridemate , swing for 1 + 6 with lifelink.

Turn 4 6/6 with lifelink is tough to deal with. Add Spectra Ward and your opponent has a real problem to deal with.