TheSamasaurus You make a good point about Abzan Falconer that I didn't realize before. Thanks for that! I will keep that in mind and look for a fix for it or a good replacement. Any thoughts on replacements for him and Honored Hierarch?

You could do Warden of the First Tree for another 1-drop. For mana fixing Map the Wastes would be okay for the theme. For a mana-producing creature however, you might have to throw in Elvish Mystic or Sylvan Caryatid, even though they're rotating soon. Mystic or some other 1-drop green dork is likely to see a reprint in the next set, but right now there's no real option post-rotation less situational than Hierarch. Also, might I suggest Mage-Ring Network for an expansion to your mana base? It's typically used for Clash of Wills, but you can save up charge counters for a bigger drop into Hangarback Walker.

AndWelcomeToTheJam I've been looking at Warden of the First Tree a little bit. I've considered Leaf Gilder as an alternate to Honored Hierarch. I know it's a two drop for one green mana but it's something.. I have Elvish Mystics and am running them in my main for now until I figure out the best replacement for them. Maybe we'll see something better in BFZ. How manny Mage-Ring Networks would you run? Maybe two in place of a couple of my scry lands since those are phasing out?

Yeah, I would go with two as well. You wouldn't want too many because you need your colored land drops.

Honestly I think Tuskguard Captain is faster than Daghatar the Adamant not only because he's cheaper but because he affects the board immediately. Playing him pre-combat mid-game ruins all of your opponent's plans. (Daghatar the Adamant seems like a sideboard card for the mirror to me.) Tusk could be too high of a set-up cost for this deck, however. It is kind of dead in your opening hand if you are trying to beat down. I'm figuring you tested that already, but I don't see it in the previous comments.

+1 from me btw. I'v been tinkering with a budget homebrew of this deck thinking it might be how I get back into playing standard. I like your build a lot!

For a large/endgame bomb, I suggest playing Enduring Scalelord because if you have a Hydra or a Walker out, that thing is going to get very big, very fast. I do like some of your ideas and I am in the midst of brewing my own Hardened Scales type deck so let me also just list off a few cards I was looking at that you might like. Citadel Siege might be nice for even more counters or you can tap down their board. I was also thinking about Elite Scaleguard for that same reason I just love tapping down their board. But yeah thanks for this it's nice bouncing ideas off of people.

This has come together as a very solid deck. The Heir of the Wilds though doesn't really play to the theme. It's nice to have the deathtouch, but I think you may be better of with maybe some Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit to even out the colors and give you another way to get counters onto creatures. I also still think Scale Blessing can be a serious game ender for this kind of deck. The Abzan Battle Priest in the maybeboard is also pretty nice when pretty much all the creatures will end up with counters on them.

a fun deck. Probably needs 3-4 Abzan Falconer as this is quite important evasion.

I like the dominant green in this build great ramp in here, how fast are the morph creatures in this type of deck? Do they usually get to flip up with ease with the amount of mana ramp here ?

Gop I actually ran 4 Abzan Falconers in an earlier build and I removed a couple of them. I felt like other cards were more essential to the build but I always have an extra one of two in the back of my mind. I have yet to play this deck non-casually, I'm taking it to FNM this week and will be reevaluating things like that after the tournament.

devinwr85 I haven't had any problems flipping my morph creatures. Both are megamorphs and give me extra counters as well as giving me an upper hand in some other way (use Den Protector to bring back a card from graveyard like Hardened Scales or if I'm struggling with mana Windswept Heath or get rid of a major threat with Hidden Dragonslayer) so they have played really well and I'm never at a disadvantage when I draw one.

Ok that is good to know because I was looking into Ainok Survivalist and Hidden Dragonslayer for my build Growing Pains :)

devinwr85, Ainok Survivalist is definitely a good sideboard card. Some people play Hidden Dragonslayer as a sideboard, however I feel like enough decks get at least one creature out that can be targeted by him and a little bit of lifelink is sometimes just enough to give you the edge you need to pull ahead in a close game.

I like your deck, +1. It's similar to my G/W Counters deck, here's the link if you want to check it out...

Arithmetic Lesson -- 1st Place: Origins Game Day Playtest

Standard darleen

SCORE: 29 | 58 COMMENTS | 6341 VIEWS

darleen I've actually looked at your deck before! How do Salt Road Quartermasters work out for you? I've thought of experimenting with them.

Salt Road Quartermasters is pretty slow. 3 Mana to move to confer one counter, or more with Hardened Scales, is nice but the cost is high, especially if you do it before turn 5. Moving a counter before that turn leaves your creatures open for direct removal since you wouldn't be able to pull off Feat of Resistance. I think there would be more value pumping Hangarback Walker and leaving those 2 mana aside. Just my two cents.

Thanks for the pointers polity4life, that helps a lot and reflects my suspicions.

meddler91 Salt Road Quartermasters is fantastic in the deck. It enters the battlefield with counters which helps trigger Avatar of the Resolute's enter the battlefield effect. When Harden Scales is in play, you can add one +1/+1 counter to Salt Road Quartermasters itself by activating its ability to remove one counter from it and then add the counter back onto itself which triggers Harden Scales thus gaining one additional +1/+1 counter. It's a good combat trick your opponent won't always see coming. Plus the ability to put counters onto other creatures is great as well. Even if you have to use Salt Road Quartermasters to chump block, you can still move +1/+1 counters off of it and onto something else before sending it to the graveyard.

I would definitely recommend running it or at least testing it out.

darleen I never thought of putting the counter back on it, that's pretty cool.

Daghatar the Adamant is very similar to Quartermasters if someone (either OP or meddler91) wants a creature with counter mobility. Daghatar is arguably better, he enters as a 4/4 (without Scales) with vigilance for 4, and deson't necessarily have to hurt himself to move counters around. He can transfer counters off any creature that may be about to die or is just irrelevant, all for the same CMC. The problem is what polity4life stated; both creatures are slow and mana intensive for their respective abilities. It doesn't help that Bioshift is non-Standard, but if you still want a creature with that ability, Daghatar is that way to go IMO.

Wouldn't Daghatar the Adamant be a better choice than Salt Road Quartermasters? It starts with more counters, and allows you to shift them from anywhere (including an opponent's creatures). You would lose the battle trick to pump itself, but gain a stronger creature to start, plus vigilance and more utility for just one more mana. You could move the counter from anywhere to pump itself though instead of targeting himself twice for the battle trick. Or just shift tokens and pump depending on how the opponent blocks.

AndWelcomeToTheJam you must have just beat me. Your comment wasn't there when I started commenting lol.

Harbynger, Daghatar the Adamant is a better than Salt Road Quartermasters but, at least in my G/W counters deck, too many 4+ CMC creatures really slow down the deck.

Also, since Salt Road Quartermasters isn't Legendary, you can have up to four in play and you'll be moving counters all over the place, lol.

meddler91, one more suggestion. Feat of Resistance plays great into the counters them, but through playtesting I have found that Valorous Stance works better in its place. You don't get counters but it can still save your creature or destroy threats.

Harbynger and AndWelcomeToTheJam yeah, Daghatar the Adamant is probably a little stronger but it is higher cost than Salt Road Quartermasters. Honestly I think the mechanic is a little too spendy and slow for my deck on both cards the more I look at it and think about it. It might come in handy once or twice but I can't see myself using it too often when I have other places I could put my mana.

meddler91, one more thing, lol. I just noticed you have 7 lands that enter tapped. This style deck tends to be more on the aggressive side... Do you feel like those tapped lands are slowing you down?