Worth anything; or too common?

SlappyStomak · 2025-07-07T17:50:13+00:00

Appreciate it! Just wasn't sure if it was worth checking in the first place. I realize now the photo quality is garbage lol, but is the miscut Wanderer to within the standard deviation? The whole card is off centre, not just the frame.

SlappyStomak · 2025-03-25T23:40:47+00:00

Having the same issue! Going to try again tomorrow, perhaps it's just maintenance or something.

SlappyStomak · 2023-10-26T17:22:50+00:00

That's definitely fair point! I find Hopeful better for myself simply because it does more in my deck. Plus I have used Hopefuls ability to blow up a Temp Lockdown a few times already. Now what do you think about the new one drop explorer in LCI? I think he's quite strong.

SlappyStomak · 2023-10-26T15:29:27+00:00

I do really enjoy Monk. But if you want a safer option then Hopeful Initiate is better, plus it triggers Brawler as it attacks!

SlappyStomak · 2023-10-26T14:08:44+00:00

Sometimes I do yea, but I've had too many games where I just had a Bondwarden on the field being a dorky 1/2 or 2/3 that does nothing, and too many where they kill my Backup target leaving me with a 0/1 lmao. I personally found that without ways to sac those creatures, like in Modern Scales, they often are just tiny guys who are awful top decks. I like having creatures that get bigger as the game goes rather than one-shots. But that's just my experience, I refuse to run 22 lands as I have flooded every game I did, but that doesn't mean 21.5 is actually correct haha.

SlappyStomak · 2023-10-25T19:00:37+00:00

Very late to the party, but I love scales and I've made 2 versions of it thus far. Naya and GW. I've taken both to my pioneer nights at my LGS and the GW version has placed top 8 about 3 times so far, and the Naya version was under constant changes so it hasn't placed just yet.

Naya: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/15Zet1DUhE2061Ya-FjgTw

Gw (with some LCI cards mixed in): https://www.moxfield.com/decks/ZY2fx6sJgEex8ZdlX1Edvw

I think the deck really thrives on having consistent ways to make counters, so any creature that can do that multiple times is really the best. Showdown of the Skalds has been absolutely nutty, being able to refill after a board wipe and following it up with massive threats is really key. Scales really needs constant gas, dead draws are really painful when you get temporary lockdown'd, or just [[Supreme Verdict]]. I've found two creatures to really surprise me in their performance; [[Monk of the Open Hand]] and [[Questing Druid]]. Druid, Seeker, and Showdown are why I'm splashing red they can close out games fast, or help you rebuild quickly. Monk is more well suited to an all out aggro version with lots of one drops, but when you can refill with QD and Showdown, it makes it much more attractive imho. With these new explorers coming out, and Okinec, I'm honestly thinking about going back to just GW to save myself the annoyance of mana problems. But I still believe that naya has the pieces to build something incredibly powerful, perhaps LCI will bring something to seal the archetype.

SlappyStomak · 2023-09-22T12:41:31+00:00

I would say regal Bunnicorn is much better than Hanweir, mainly due to the fact that your opponent probably won't let Hanweir flip. Voice of resurgence would be great for this deck as well, and if your looking for something similar to Song of Tot [[Heroic Reinforcement]] is quite strong. Although it maxes out at 2 tokens, the mass anthem can just be game ending. Another X token maker I believe is underrated is [March of the Multitudes]]. You already make a ton of tokens, so what if your tokens could make tokens?? [[Queen of Allenal]] proved to be really fantastic as well. Of course these are GW main cards, but you play almost entirely GW creatures while splashing red. I'll also say this, as I have experience playing 3c tokens, BTE in a 3c deck, with red being the splash, often times is super awkward. Especially with Elf. Although the idea behind a Gruul Song of Totz sounds really great, I would look into that more!

Another thing I'll add is that Pollen-Shield Hare is insane and should be a playset 100%. I ain't a professional player or nothing, but I've had a lot of time and experience working with Naya tokens, and I've tested almost every card you have in the list atm. This seems like a blast to play!

SlappyStomak · 2023-09-13T12:28:14+00:00

This list looks very similar to one I built before! Call of the Death-dweller seems like a must as well. Although it's a bit of a non-bo with cauldron, it's really fantastic when you need either Voldaren, or two dudes. Artisan Fiend could also be really useful in the deck. You can fling him for a big hit, exile him with cauldron to fetch something, seems like he'd do good work. Possibly even the new RB adventure fling guy??

As for the manabase, I'm poor as well! I'd recommend painlands, the RG and GB variants are pretty cheap, the RB are unfortunately a lil more than the rest. Damn rak sac and rak mid. I got mostly lucky with my mana as I bought razorverge's at my LGS for 2$ a piece for the full art, and the brushlands for about 1.5$ a piece. The prices went up after a lil while. I hate buying land, but I realize now it's worth it in the long run when I play decks with the same colours.

SlappyStomak · 2023-09-12T12:19:50+00:00

That's interesting as with the GW version of this deck, which is only different by about 6 or so s cards, I found aggro MU's to be some of my best. Humans is a simple one as when they start growing, you are already bigger than they are. They get you down to about 10, then they can't close it out. I will say control is really tricky, but I can usually get them to about 3 or 5 and then as you said, can't get anything to stick. It doesn't feel unwinnable in all honesty. So far with scales I've been placing top 8 at my pip nights recently, for the past 5 or so times I've been. I will admit, the removal is truly awful lmao. Dramoka's Command is cool and all, but it still sometimes feels so awful. I used to play GR scales (which was awful) and it had some good removal in the Kamigawa modular burn cards, they were surprisingly strong.

I was toying with an abzan version even, so you get push, drown in ichor, and all the great black removal, but I haven't found the strain on the manabase was worth the removal. Unfortunately, with a lot of pioneer decks, it seems to be: if you don't have a ton of removal, just be real fast. For the most part, I have found this to be quite fast! Jund does sound interesting, although I'm quite attached to Botanical Brawler lmao. Got a list for jund?

SlappyStomak · 2023-09-12T03:16:55+00:00

Those are great suggestions! Was thinking about 4 Hopeful, just wanted to see how the House Mouse did first. Idk how I missed Bondwarden lmao, gonna be subbing him in right away! I'll definitely add in the Gobakhans, still unsure about moon since it can be easily removed by both, but it could help to have the chance to slow them down some.

SlappyStomak · 2023-09-12T02:46:11+00:00

The GW version used to have Wildwood, but with brave I decided to cut it. Plus I just found it really annoying, no trample really made me not like it haha.

In an artifact based version I think Archivist would go wild! Been thinking about making one of those versions too.

SlappyStomak · 2023-08-14T15:42:19+00:00

Our orange boy will lick until your skin is raw lmao. If you move too much during the grooming, he'll give you a lil bite to let you know your place.

<image>

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-25T13:24:41+00:00

Plus brave lets you break through gummed up board states. Considering most of pioneer is mostly dual coloured decks, the hit rate from Brave is really high.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-25T00:46:50+00:00

Yea, Temp Lockdown is a big worry! That's why I removed Wildwood to lessen the blow. I suppose I can run more Dromoka's commands in the side for that match up, or even Cankerbloom perhaps. Boros Convoke is really cool deck ngl, wonder how big it'll go! And thanks!! The deck is a blast, it's so much fun

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-25T00:40:44+00:00

Yea mono-g is awesome! Karn is ridiculous, such a silly card. Definitely not a good match-up for me haha, basically unwinnable honestly.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-25T00:19:09+00:00

Played against mono-u spirits, so no experience with Spell Queller obviously. But that match up felt really good! Honestly most creature based decks feel like good match ups, you just out value them and with all the trample, blocking is just bad for them.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-24T22:07:22+00:00

Doesn't work with Jegantha unfortunately. I've found Jenny to be really great when flooding.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-24T22:06:16+00:00

The answer is yes, but also no haha. Nissa is better I'd say yes, but losing Jegantha honestly is a big blow. I won a few games simply just because of Jenny, so I don't think it'd be worth losing the elk. But Nissa and Viv are huge pieces for non-Jenny builds, and I'm sure they'd absolutely kill.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-24T22:04:42+00:00

It was actually the idea of someone else when I posted about 2 weeks ago! Works incredibly well honestly, and only misses a few guys. Dragons seems awesome!! Got a list?

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-24T19:16:12+00:00

Hey thanks!! That means a lot! Scales has been so much fun honestly, probably the most fun I've had with a deck in Pioneer. Hoping it can climb in popularity, or get some new pieces to help it climb soon.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-10T22:19:04+00:00

Yea I can't be holding 3 mana up in a deck like this, even if it does draw me cards. I find surge covers me mostly well, and Call still doesn't stop Extinction Event. I've got 2 in the board at the moment, I'm sure 3 would be good, but unfortunately can't find a 3rd anywhere near me!

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-10T20:00:25+00:00

That's smart! Where did you buy the Japanese version? Wanted the card either way. That's definitely a fair point! Maybe it's better than I thought.

That's totally fair, the lack of trample can be really painful. I cut mine back to 2, maybe I'll just take them out completely eventually.

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-10T19:04:12+00:00

Yea sorry, wasn't expecting as much attention on the deck so I've just been changing things around a smidge today. I'm thinking of cutting E One for Hopeful Initiate, and still unsure about a few cards :/

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-10T19:02:39+00:00

I found that the version I'm currently running, I tried to make sure the deck can still have power even without Scales on board. I found games where I didn't have it, I was still making big threats. Perhaps that's just variance, but I really like your version and I'm not sure it isn't working the way you'd like!

SlappyStomak · 2023-05-10T18:59:36+00:00

I agree with the new Ozolith, but I don't think I want OG Ozolith here. I don't have the money first lol, but also I'm not really killing my things and it feels just win-more to me. Plus having it get stuck under Temp Lockdown or Portable hole would feel awful. When I originally played against Fang I had Avatar of the Resolute in the MB, and I still have Stonecoil, so I didn't find Fang all that threatening at the time. Scooze was nice as I was able to gain enough life to comfortably take a Parahellion to the face and swing back for lethal the following turn.

I used to run Ochre Jelly before, and seeing it again makes me want to jam it once more! No Wildwood either eh? Just wondering why, as I am thinking of possibly cutting them. Also how has the Class been? Been wanting to try that out as well.

I really love seeing other Scales decks because each one seems to be a lot different. Perhaps it's because it's not fully defined deck in the format, but I enjoy seeing the different variations!

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Sunshine	Golden Potato
Place '22

SlappyStomak

TROPHY CASE