Is this Combo Viable?
Standard forum
Posted on April 8, 2015, 5:25 p.m. by HolyFalcon
Is the Enduring Scalelord combo viable in the current meta? There's a lot of good prot cards floating around, such as Gods Willing and Center Soul, and it's fairly easy to combo off.
HolyFalcon says... #3
April 8, 2015 5:28 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #4
Infinite +1/+1 counters, and then probably swing game because of Feat's protection.
April 8, 2015 5:29 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #5
Well, I mean good luck trying to land two 6 drops and then having some third card and not dying or being disputed by the time you do. I don't think that it's terrible, but it certainly isn't competitively viable. It might work out at an FNM though if you want to give it a shot.
April 8, 2015 5:30 p.m.
I think it costs too much mana to be able to pull the combo off, and that there aren't enough tutors, ramp, and card draw in Scalelord's colors to assist in the formation. It's why the Descent of Dragons + Dragon Tempest combo isn't that popular either.
April 8, 2015 5:31 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #7
Ok, was mainly trying to picture it as an FNM deck. Might build that and take it to FNM in a couple weeks.
April 8, 2015 5:31 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
If you're running all 4 scalelords in some GW aggressive build, I can't really see you not standing a chance at all unless you're up against UB control, so like I said, it might be worth trying out.
April 8, 2015 5:33 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #9
MisterMayhem: There's Commune with the Gods and Shaman of Forgotten Ways, which both help the combo a lot.
How's this look?
All of the Counters Shall Belong To Me. Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 5 | 8 COMMENTS | 537 VIEWSApril 8, 2015 5:34 p.m.
See the Unwritten could help you get both scarlelord on the board, but really it's not close to viable. easy to disrupt, expensive, and requires 3 cards. In most cases, you'll be dead before you pull it off.
April 8, 2015 6:50 p.m.
Having Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit out would be a way to combo off and make all your dudes infinitely huge on the same turn you cast the second Enduring Scalelord but their is still the issue of needing two other six drop creatures in play which is the main issue with this combo. If their is a way to cheat both dragons out at the same time then this combo becomes a ton more viable. Some multiple target reanimation spell would do wonders for this combo. Rally the Ancestors comes close but it costs 8 mana to revive the dragons and would require another creature that could attack which is kind of slow and conditional for a combo kill. If their is a better spell for reanimating multiple scalelords in standard than I think we could have a deck here but as is it just seems kind slow.
April 10, 2015 3:53 p.m.
actually it would only make your Enduring Scalelords big but that still might be worth adding Anafenza for the potential to combo off when the second one comes into play. For some reason I thought the bolster would repeat infinitely as well not sure why I thought that when it is quite clear that it wouldn't.
April 10, 2015 4:02 p.m.
@nfcnorth like I mentioned before, See the Unwritten could put both on the battlefield at the same time for a single cost. The problem is that both need to be within the top 8 cards of your library for it to work. I do suppose with one in play you could cast See the Unwritten and find a second dragon and anafenza. It's still a lot of work for very little consistency though.
April 10, 2015 6:03 p.m.
Hmm. Perhaps the best approach is just to make a good cards deck which happens to use the scalelord as a supplemental win-con. I think something like Inspiring Call in a G/W manifest-bolster deck would be more stable and not break your mana curve.
April 10, 2015 7:04 p.m.
I've been trying to sort out the Enduring Scalelord puzzle since I got home from the pre-release event. It seems to me like the way to do it would either be Bant with Artisan of Forms, Polymorphous Rush, and /or Mercurial Pretender; or Naya with Flamerush Rider, Twinflame, and / or Felhide Spiritbinder.
Bant also offers options like Anticipate, and Dig Through Time to help you find your combo pieces and, of course, countermagic to buy time to set up the combo and protect it once you've assembled everything you need.
Naya offers Tormenting Voice and Outpost Siege/Chandra, Pyromaster to help you dig and in lieu of countermagic you can use things like Generator Servant and Xenagos, the Reveler to ramp into the combo sooner, hopefully before your opponent can disrupt your plan.
Overall, I think the Bant shell is probably the stronger of the two options, but since I've been trying to get Island banned since the mid 90's I'll probably try the Naya route. ;)
April 11, 2015 9:58 p.m.
I almost forgot, the Bant option also gives you Sage of Hours, and the possibility of infinite turns with Artisan of Forms or Polymorphous Rush, you know, just in case they have flying blockers and such.
April 11, 2015 10:05 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #18
Wow guys, so many ideas! Can someone think up a budget option? (in terms of color, midrange/control, etc)
April 11, 2015 10:36 p.m.
magnetcrocodile says... #19
Splashing Red might help
maybe Sarkhan's Triumph?
April 13, 2015 9:44 a.m.
So I've been thinking on how I would do this. I can't make it competitve; the best I think you can do is tier 2 with a full set of scry lands.
The real problem is that to actually end the game you have to give the Scalelord TRAMPLE. If you don't, they'll just sideboard in fliers and chump-block it. There's only one instant or sorcery in standard which both gives trample and a +1/+1 counter, which means this is basically a 4-step combo. (Scalelord, Scalelord, Trigger, Trample).
What I would actually do is run primarily blue, splash WG. This way you can run cards like Fated Infatuation and Clever Impersonator, which are all useful even if you never draw Scalelord. You would only need to draw and hard-cast one Scalelord. You can also run slow-downs like Voyage's End and Swan Song and replace trample with unblockable like Aqueous Form.
The problem is that a 4-step combo is just a deal-breaker. There's no way to fire-off consistently when you need that many pieces. Cramming scry into every card possible will help...a little, but it won't actually make it work 100% of the time.
April 13, 2015 10:09 a.m.
While I agree with you on adding blue, I think Fated Infatuation is a bad choice due to it's restrictive casting cost. There are much easier to cast options to get the same effect, which I mentioned in my earlier post.
I don't know why you would need trample, and why you would only consider instants and sorceries as ways of granting it. Unless your opponent has flying creatures in multiple colors, Feat of Resistance does a really good job of making your Scalelord unblockable, and it gives a +1/+1 counter. You also have Gods Willing, and Center Soul to get the same effect sans the counter.
If you really feel like trample is needed, I would probably go with Tuskguard Captain. He can generate a counter, if needed, for a single green mana. I would assume in building the deck, most people will utilize some of the other "+1/+1 counters matter" cards like Avatar of the Resolute, High Sentinels of Arashin, Hardened Scales, Gleam of Authority, Inspiring Call, and so forth, so his effect would be relevant beyond just the Scalelord.
If you're going more of a green devotion route, Nylea, God of the Hunt is a solid option for trample as well.
P.S. LOL at MisterMayhem for saying there is not enough ramp in green.
April 13, 2015 1:09 p.m.
Cards I would look at if I were considering trying to play with Enduring Scalelord:
Ajani's Pridemate
Dromoka's Command
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
Sunscorch Regent
All of these would be quite synergistic with each other.
April 13, 2015 4 p.m.
Swetybalzack says... #24
I love how everybody completely overlooked that this infinite combo would force you to surrender the game. It is an infinite combo unless you had a way to counter a creatures ability (theres a card in the kamigawa block that will allow for this), or if you kill your own creature after it gets big enough for your liking. I will explain why it is you will be forced to surrender. If your enduring scalelords are each getting infinitely bigger, then there is at no point where the +1/+1 counters dont stop getting applied to either. And since you can't begin the combat phase (declare attackers) until all effects from the main phase resolve, you can't attack. If you attack with the enduring scalelords and then make them infinite after the opposing player declares defenders, they still wont do damage since the creatures can not deal damage until all effects resolve in that step. That being said, it looks like a fun loop! Just remember to pack a doomblade just incase!... Sorry to rain on your guyses parade...
April 22, 2015 9:08 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #25
The Scalelords ability says "you MAY put a counter on it."
Servo_Token says... #2
What is this combo?
April 8, 2015 5:26 p.m.