You should slip in an Anafenza, the Foremost into your sideboard to deal with graveyard decks. Plus, it's pure utility and an ideal target for Snakeskin Veil

Thanks for your suggestion Quicksilver! Anafenza seems like an efficient answer to graveyard decks, though her mana cost might be too prohibitive to be fast enough to deal with such decks. I'll keep her in mind, though a Grafdigger's Cage might be a more reliable hate piece.

Could you maybe elaborate on why Anafenza is an ideal target for Snakeskin Veil ? She doesn't seem to have any synergy with the card other than that she is a creature?

With Anafenza, she provides +1/+1 counters to everyone else, but never herself. The benefit is more that using Snakeskin Veil on her keeps her power going up at the same rate as your other creatures, and once she has a +1/+1 counter on her, you can follow through with proliferate. In my experience it doesn't take long for her to be left behind in power. Plus hexproof/protection on a hatebear for a turn often makes or breaks modern decks, especially ones that rely on t4 wins.

Ah I see, its not so much a synergy, its more extra mileage from both anafenza and the snakeskin veil since the graveyard decks will be targeting the hatebear. That makes sense, thanks!

Hardened Scales is much better than either Conclave Mentor or Winding Constrictor . That should be a 4 of. I would just cut black as Mentor + Scales is enough of that effect and it helps the mana base a lot. I have a pioneer hardened scales deck where everything is 2 cmc or less and can thus play Lurrus for some added longevity. Dromoka's Command is also a key 4 of in the deck as it does so much for so little. Leave the graveyard hate for the sideboard and maindeck should focus on the main gameplan.

Some thoughts. I think you want to build this as an aggro stompy deck - as it’ll want to close the game out early.

From a competitive modern standpoint, i don’t think the following cards you’re running are worth it:

• Inscription of Abundance is kindof good but maybe better as a sideboard option against decks where you need to fight creatures to death. I think this mostly just doesn’t get enough value.

• Selesnya Charm doesn’t do enough for you.

• Inspiring Call gets you good card draw, but doesn’t apply pressure, and will likely give your opponent enough breathing room to stabilise

• Incubation / Incongruity isnt good imo, you want to be applying pressure every turn in the form of creatures.

• Tezzeret's Gambit is again, useful, but slow. I don’t think its worth it in this build.

• Hardened Scales i don’t think fits here, just cause its not a creature that can swing for damage.

• Ordeal of Nylea ... if it’s not Rancor it ain’t worth running. Auras are generally bad cause they turn your opponents killspells into bombs. Play Rancor instead cause you get it back.

• Ajani, the Greathearted it waaay too slow to be useful.

I think what you want is more creatures that can threaten the opponent, as well as trample in the form of Rancor , and a quick-finish combat trick in the form of Aspect of the Hydra

I think you want to run Avatar of the Resolute in here also, just for more face-beating potential.

You prolly want to, for your manabases sake, choose either Conclave or Constrictor, and ditch the other also. 2 colours will play better into your budget, but I also think you don’t want more than 4 cards with this kind of effect, as drawing additional copies doesn’t help you and just slows you down.

Hi BubonicPlague7 and wallisface, thank you both for your thoughts, I really do greatly appreciate them. I agree the deck would function as either GB or GW and that it would greatly reduce the strain on the mana base, but for now I would really like to make a build work with the full 8 copies of constrictor and mentor.

BubonicPlague7, Hardened Scales is sadly out of my budget range for now (though I own one copy). I agree Dromoka's Command works wonders for the deck, though I think as a 4 of its too often a dead card (2cmc put 2 counters on a creature is not worth it). I'll scale up to 3 to test it out, I think it might be a meta call.

Hi wallisface, I agree with most of your comments. Inscription of Abundance might indeed be better fit as a sideboard card, I'll move 2 to the board to try it out. I'll replace the charm and Incubation / Incongruity by 2 more Huatli's Raptor though that will be 2 flex creature slots, since I'm sure there's better cards fit there.

Between harsh mulligans and a desire for more protection spells and creatures, I'm looking for a solid source of card draw. Gambit and Inspiring Call are slow and awfully clunky spells, any recommendations on keeping the hand filled without them?

Rancor would be nice! I've also been toying with Felidar Umbra and the likes, any thoughts on that?

I hard disagree with your take on Ajani though, on a budget the card does exactly what the deck wants, and often ends the game when it lands or buys an extra turn with the lifegain. Lurrus seems fun, I just don't think playing the 2 drops without actually getting counters makes it worth it in this deck. With Avatar of the Resolute it would be better, but I don't think the deck affords another prohibitive 2 drop (that works poorly as a 2 drop as none of the one drop creatures enter with a counter).

wallisface I've done lots of goldfishing today and Lurrus is actually great, I'd even put it in the mainboard. I didnt realise theyre 8 a piece though, they're sadly not in my budget.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/hardened-scales-selesnya/ You can check out my decklist for pioneer. I know you're building a modern deck and the metagame is different but maybe you can look through my card choices. Lurrus can be very good as companion. Another good one I haven't seen mentioned here is the new card from Zendikar Rising Luminarch Aspirant . Free counters every turn. This archetype is called Hardened Scales for a reason. It is key to the deck and imo should be a 4 of. If you're on a budget, those are the cards I would save up for.

NoopyNolife Lurrus is for sure good, but he’s not the reason I suggested dropping Ajani. I think, if you try gearing this as a fast aggro deck, then for 4 mana you’re better off playing two 2-drops. Especially when a lot of 2-drops can get you counters just as well. Something like Grateful Apparition , or maybe even Rishkar, Peema Renegade (which is possibly the strongest 3 drop creature for counters).

I think Rancor is a lot more practical than Felidar Umbra just cause its 1 mana. If the game goes on long, most modern decks are going to crush this, so you want to apply pressure quickly and win. Imo the ideal turn structure is:

• Turn 1: play Pelty/Oozeman

• Turn 2: play Conclave or Constrictor, swing for 3.

• Turn 3: another 2-drop, one mana for Rancor , Snakeskin Veil or the likes. Swing for at least 7, possibly 11.

• Turn 4: either two 2-drop creatures, or one alongside some 1-drop cards. Potentially swing for lethal, or if not represent a boardstate that wins next turn on its own.

In that respect, you just want to be dropping threat after threat. Stuff like card draw sounds good on paper, but in reality if you’re investing that time to draw, you’re giving your opponent precious time to stabilise and beat you - aggro decks want the game to be over really fast. Tezzeret's Gambit might be the best available card draw just cause it also might give you enough power to win on turn 4... but i think you’d still be better off just running a card thats sole purpose helps you get that win, instead of dragging the game out.