A combo-driven Simic deck that stalls and controls the battlefield until it can combo out, generating massive amounts of +1/+1 counters.
The Basics
This deck is quite similar to the very strong
Hardened Scales
Affinity archetype, replacing the artefact synergy with a Simic-style package. The draw in this deck is extremely strong once it gets rolling, and it's fairly reliable to do so due to the abundance of +1/+1s and the effect of Incubation.
The mana base of this deck is fairly strong - while it can function quite well on as little as three mana (though you of course want to curve out as much as possible), it also benefits from excesses of mana that enable it to fully abuse the activated abilities of the Guildmages and of the Walking Ballistae.
The Cards
At the core of the deck is
Hardened Scales
, and its big brother
Corpsejack Menace
. A turn 1 Scales into a turn 2 Walker doubles its effectiveness, and only becomes more potent with the addition of Graft. In addition, there is a disruption package via counterspells as well as Incongruity.
Walking Ballista
is especially effective at shooting down threats.
Gameplan
Typically, your game will divide into two parts; generating counters and spending them. To avoid parasitic reliance, many cards in the deck are both.
Hardened Scales will turn your Simic Initiates into much larger creatures, enabling them to Graft further. The Initiates and playset of Llanowar Reborn serve as the core of your early-game counter generation. Later on, Tezzeret's Gambit refuels and proliferates for a double hit of value.
Excess mana is channelled into the Guildmages. Simic Guildmage is a counter generation engine, moving around counters that multiply thanks to Hardened Scales. If low on cards, Zameck Guildmage can take excess counters and convert them into vast amounts of draw. Plasm Capture, while an unusual choice for a counterspell, synergises perfectly with this gameplan.
There are two typical win conditions for this deck; swinging over the top with massive creatures, or placing dozens upon dozens of counters onto Walking Ballistae and shredding your opponent with those. Ballistae are both generators and spenders of +1/+1 counters, and are easily the most powerful individual cards in the deck.
When mulliganing, look for Hardened Scales, Hangarback Walkers, Simic Initiates, Sylvan Caryatids, and Walking Ballistae in your opening hand. The added ramp from Caryatids goes a long way, as well as providing a sticky 0/3 body against small attackers. Good hands can begin to combo out by turn 3 or 4, and swiftly escalate into an utterly terrifying lategame. This is a deceptively fast deck.
Card Replacements
The counterspells and disruption cards aren't set in stone, and are very flexible slots. Any disruption package, be it counterspells, bounces, removal, or whatever you want, will accomplish similar results - it's mainly insurance to allow you to stall in case you got bad luck on the draw.
Sylvan Caryatids, likewise, aren't essential to the deck and can be replaced with whatever mana dork you want - or even drop the mana dorks entirely, and run more combo material.
Other potentially replaceable cards:
-Master Biomancer. This is... a very slow card. It has extremely powerful synergy with Graft, but oftentimes there are simply better plays to make. It's definitely powerful, but there are plenty of other options you might prefer.
-Tezzeret's Gambit. Like the Biomaster, it's slow, but its biggest weakness is its Sorcery speed. In a deck that likes to hold up mana for counterspells and the large slew of activated abilities, the inflexible casting of this spell can be a rather large detriment. That said... it's really, really good when you do get it off. Like, instantly-win-the-game good.
-Corpsejack Menace. This card is godly with Hardened Scales, as it doubles the counters after Scales adds one. It's also the only Black card in the deck, and necessitates a splash. Cutting Corpsejack reduces explosive combo potential, but also makes the mana base easier.
