Retribution Hurts

Sometimes it takes a change of scenery to discover the great things you’ve left behind.

Think of a road trip you’ve been on, or think of a previous place you’ve lived. In both instances, seeing somewhere new is thrilling and exciting, but the
roads, buildings, and people that you leave behind keep doing their thing, making the place you’ve left just as exciting and interesting as when you left.
If you’ve had your head elsewhere for a while, you may forget all the great things you’ve left behind. But when you see where you’ve come from with a
different context, you can be quickly reminded.

When a new format begins, aging cards in the format tend to bubble up from binders, year-old articles, and outdated decklists. Today’s featured card has a
story like this, but we’re giving it a bit of a spin to spice things up.

Now, Hardened Scales is not a hidden gem, at least not anymore. Since Battle for Zendikar released, Hardened Scales has already helped decks and
their pilots to Top 16 finishes, and I’ve even discussed a Naya
version of the deck as a possible aggressive option. Cards like Hangarback Walker and Undergrowth Champion rekindled interest in this one-mana enchantment,
and although the Naya path I’d chosen and the more successful, tuned lists of others were exciting to consider, it wasn’t enough for me. There has to be
something to help this deck, typically in a low-removal color, have enough board manipulation to combat the lategame, large monsters, and fast starts all
in one. And no, I’m not talking about adding some Valorous Stances or Ultimate Prices.

Retribution of the Ancients lets you cash in +1/+1 counters for combat manipulation or, if you have sufficient quantities of it, just actual removal. Its casting and activation costs are enticingly low, and with Hardened Scales, you should have more than enough counters to completely
dominate the board.

This was not my first foray with this one-mana black gem. If you flip through previous articles, though, you won’t find it. Shortly after the card
released, I thought it’d be fun to make a combo deck with it and a card that rotated with Theros Block and M15: Eternal Thirst.

Cute, right? Kill something with the Retribution of the Ancients, it dies, you get a +1/+1 counter, repeat! The plan, which included cards like Kheru
Bloodsucker, Disowned Ancestor, and even Swarm of Bloodflies was hilariously, hilariously bad. The creatures were embarrassingly weak, I had no
real win condition, and as cute as the concept was, very few kill-worthy targets ended up having one toughness. Who woulda thunk, huh?

Just one test match was enough to put me off that plan. I was so embarrassed, I sold the playset (yeah, playset) of Retributions I had as
bulk, something I never do for a Standard-legal rare.

Now I realize my goof; you need Hardened Scales and a better creature suite to complement the reduction. So green and black were a given and, with today’s
fetchland/Battle land combination, we can splash a third color. As you might expect, white was the best option with cards that also cared about
+1/+1 counters.

Abzan Hardened Scales

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 10-20-2015

Standard

Creatures (28)

Lands (23)

Spells (9)

Creatures

Servant of the Scale is one of those cards that I thought was a huge gimmick. I get it, Wizards, it’s +1/+1 counters so it works with all the Abzan
mechanics. But this green Arcbound Worker does do some work. With a turn 1 Hardened Scales, it’s a 2/2, and when it dies, it will bestowthree +1/+1 counters. That’s a great return on your one-mana investment. Honored Hierarch is a nice choice to get you that boost in mana and early combat presence. Having a 3/3 vigilant early in the game can bum out aggressive strategies, and being able to cast a four-drop on three
or, more likely, more than one spell is right where this deck needs to be. It also makes Hardened Scales more attractive, as casting it does not even throw
you off-curve. In two-mana land, you can’t forget Hangarback Walker. This card does so much in this deck if you’ve got Hardened Scales out, and having a
bunch of 1/1 flyers isn’t bad for most decks if things go south. Avatar of the Resolute can be one of the most explosive two-drops in the format if you
support it, and having ten one-drops that could have a counter by the time you cast this is insane.

Endless One helps get you there. With the help of Hardened Scales, you’re always getting a good rate on your creature. Moreover, Endless One is a great
battery for Retribution of the Ancients. Sometimes you want to cash in a 5/5 for a cheap, instant-speed removal spell or two. Undergrowth Champion and
Drana, Liberator of Malakir each manufacture their own +1/+1 counters. One fetchland and a Hardened Scales gives the Undergrowth Champion four counters to
use in combat or with the Retribution. Ever killed an Anafenza, the Foremost with a fetchland? Now you have! A couple Den Protector make for solid
synergies and card advantage, something you need in a heavily green deck. A single Daghatar the Adamant acts like Endless One #5, but it also has the fun
ability to move counters and, like Servant of the Scale, the amount of counters doubles upon movement. You’re moving two +1/+1 counters with each
activation now!

Spells

This is a creature deck, so we gotta keep it simple. Three Hardened Scales seems correct, and it took me a while to get to that number. On one hand, you
never want too many if you’re in topdeck mode, but you also need to have it pretty much all the time. They’re also not bad in multiples as long as
you have creatures to cast. Past the triplicate Hardened Scales, two each of Dromoka’s Command, Retribution of the Ancients, and Abzan Ascendancy round out
the deck’s castable cards. Dromoka’s Command is a no-brainer; in today’s format, two-mana removal is at a premium, and if it actually synergizes with your
deck’s theme, all the better. It feels good to tap to add two counters to Hangarback Walker, cast this to add two more counters and then fight something
like a Dragonlord Ojutai or a Siege Rhino. The Retribution of the Ancients can be typical removal, but it also makes combat a big mess. If you have a
Hardened Scales, a Servant of the Scale, the Retribution and any combatant, you can attack without reservation. If they block either, you can make sure
that any blocker dies in combat. Or, you can kill your own Servant, have its counters move to an unblocked creature, and hit them harder! Neat, right?
Abzan Ascendancy, while being an enormous gain with a Hardened Scales out, also gives me some gas in case of Languish, End Hostilities, or Radiant Flames.
Follow the Wrath up with another Ascendancy for extra value!

Land

The landbase was difficult, as you need to be able to cast Avatar of the Resolute, Drana, Liberator of Malakir, and Abzan Ascendancy with relative
consistency. I still stuck with a green base, but I angled a bit to make my mana more diverse with four copies of Llanowar Wastes and a couple tapped
Sandsteppe Citadels, a bit of a no-no in an aggro deck. I did play a Flooded Strand, as it can grab any Abzan-colored land with the inclusion of Sunken
Hollow.

Against my friends I went! How’d it do?

It did…fine.

The deck was surprisingly clunky, and it relied heavily on my naturally large creatures like Avatar of the Resolute and flipped Den Protector to push
damage through. Hardened Scales made every game better, but I did tend to run out of gas. The mana also proved to be challenging, and there were lots of
games where more than one card sat stranded in my hand as I stared at just one Swamp or no white mana. Undergrowth Champion was just okay, but Drana was
pretty poor. I couldn’t find a time where I needed her. Connecting with her and even one or two creatures was pretty much game over, but then I
didn’t really need Drana at all.

I tuned the list down to its core and fixed the mana and mana requirements a bit.

Abzan Hardened Scales

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 10-20-2015

Standard

Creatures (29)

Lands (22)

Spells (9)

This was a little smoother and in practice, it played a bit better. Abzan Falconer was an innovation developed by G/W Aggro aficionados before rotation,
and it holds true as a great way to close a game. When I got either Hardened Scales or a Falconer in play, my chances to win greatly increased. Endless One
and Honored Hierarch was especially brutal in the air. Speaking of which, Honored Heirarch was actually really good. Turns out that, without a lot
of Dragon Fodder and Fleecemane Lions running around, you can actually get the jump on your opponent, even on the draw. I also found that opponents were
still tempted to block it lategame, as they didn’t want to face down a 3/3 vigilant creature that ramped me. Honestly, it was kind of the breakout star for
me, as evidenced by its presence as a four-of in this version of the deck.

This version was sweet, and I got to test this one a bit harder, both against aggressive Ally strategies and slow, ramp-based strategies, and in both
cases, Retribution of the Ancients underperformed. My creatures were too small to be relevant in combat if I drained their counters, and often the targets
I wanted to kill were too big. If we kicked that out, along with any of the black, as well as the Undergrowth Champions, we don’t really need the
fetchlands. Dromoka’s Command wasn’t that great, and there is a green analog for Abzan Falconer. Why not just move entirely into green?

Mono-Green Hardened Scales

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 10-20-2015

Standard

Creatures (31)

Lands (21)

21 Forest

Spells (8)

Straightforward, aggressive and, honestly, probably the best build of the lot anyway. And look how cheap! If you replace the Hangarback Walkers with
something like Rot Shambler and the Protectors with Ainok Survivalist or even Ainok Guide, you could really be in business!

Hardened Scales is fun, but finding the ways to leverage it is tricky and technical. As is the case with Retribution of the Ancients, sometimes it’s right
to trust your gut. Still, you should never forget where you came from!

Building a budget version was just as much fun as the first two lists. Maybe that’s a fun place to explore? Hmm…

Hardened Scales is riddled with combo potential. I’ve even heard it’s sneaking into some Modern decks. What do you think the card’s potential is outside of
the mainstream G/W decks?