Winding Constrictor and Conclave Mentor make 12 Hardened Scales effects.
this is one of the decks i'm leaning towards building for the pioneer format. the other being Pioneer Jund Tramplers.
most of the deck seems to build itself, so for now i'll only explain the less-obvious choices. Favored Hoplite and Lagonna-Band Trailblazer are cheap creatures that both work well with some of the counter-generators i was already planning on using. even a single "scales" effect means 4 counters off a Snakeskin Veil (or similar card). they also both make excellent blockers.
Light of Hope: of the top 8 decks currently on mtggoldfish, 6 of them have enchantments of some sort.
maybeboard: the (mostly) 1 mana instants that give counters. for now, only considering instants since they can be used as combat tricks, or in response to removal.
Boon of Safety: only gives +1/+1 counters to the heroic creatures, but gives double shield counters when Winding Constrictor is out. this "might" give it an edge over the other removal-protection cards against decks that are very removal heavy.
Burst of Strength: surprise blocker.
Fleeting Flight: evasion while attacking, protection while blocking.
Light the Way: basically a strictly better Burst of Strength. gives me the option of bouncing a permanent that would otherwise be destroyed, or even "converting" white mana into another color by bouncing and replaying a land.
Professor's Warning: protection from removal.
Stony Strength: same as Burst of Strength. maybe even better due to the effect being 2 separate sentences as opposed to 1. depends on the ruling in situations where counters can't be placed.
Solidarity of Heroes: the only 2 mana counter-generator i'd currently consider. doubling the counters for 2 mana seems really good.
