MTG Hardened Scales Archetype Has Appeared in Standard!

After the release of Wilds of Eldraine, the Standard format began to settle around three main archetypes. These include multi-color control decks utilizing Leyline Binding Leyline Binding Flash
Domain — This spell costs {1} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. , Azorius Soldiers, and Esper midrange. While other decks like mono-red aggro would pop up, these three decks dominated a very push-pull metagame. Azorius Soldiers was generally favored against control, while Esper midrange had a strong matchup against Soldiers but a weak matchup to control. Over the past few weeks, most Standard events have been heavily centered around these decks, without much room for innovation.

One player in Saturday’s Magic Online Standard Challenge, however, brought a very unique deck and had a decent amount of success with it. This archetype is none other than Gruul Artifacts. The strategy utilizes a lot of the same elements that Modern Hardened Scales Hardened Scales If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead. decks use. The more Artifacts you play, the better, as your Creatures begin to grow larger and larger. Let’s take a closer look at this strategy and see how it stacks up against the top tier decks of the format.

Growing Your Creatures

The main goal of this deck is to make use of a handful of Creatures that grow over time as you play more Artifacts. The best of these Creatures is Patchwork Automaton. Not only does Patchwork Automaton grow every time you play an Artifact spell, but it also has built-in protection thanks to its Ward 2 ability. This deck is fully capable of chaining multiple Artifacts together in a single turn, and Automaton will just continue to grow.

While not quite as strong as Automaton, Teething Wurmlet Teething Wurmlet This creature has deathtouch as long as you control three or more artifacts.
Whenever an artifact you control enters, you gain 1 life. If this is the first time this ability has resolved this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. plays a very similar role. Wurmlet doesn’t have Ward and can only get grow once each turn. However, the life buffer it provides against aggressive decks is quite nice, and the ability to gain Deathtouch against Esper Midrange’s high-toughness Creatures, such as Raffine, Scheming Seer Raffine, Scheming Seer Flying, ward {1}
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature connives X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. (Draw X cards, then discard X cards. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each nonland card discarded this way.) , can be important.

Finally, we have Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender Syr Ginger has trample, hexproof, and haste as long as an opponent controls a planeswalker.
Whenever another artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Syr Ginger and scry 1.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice Syr Ginger: You gain life equal to its power. . Syr Ginger specifically grows when Artifacts you control leave the battlefield. Luckily, this deck has plenty of Artifacts that are easy to get into the graveyard and generate value. You even get a Scry bonus, helping you find more action.

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Playing Lots of Artifacts

With all of these Creatures that grow whenever you play Artifact spells, it’s important to have access to lots of cheap Artifacts. Both Syr Ginger and Patchwork Automaton are indeed Artifacts, but there are plenty more. Gingerbrute Gingerbrute Haste (This creature can attack and {T} as soon as it comes under your control.)
{1}: This creature can't be blocked this turn except by creatures with haste.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this creature: You gain 3 life. is an aggressive one-drop that can be very difficult to block. Gingerbrute happens to synergize quite well with Monstrous Rage Monstrous Rage Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Create a Monster Role token attached to it. (If you control another Role on it, put that one into the graveyard. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.) , making Gingerbrute an even scarier threat on subsequent turns.

Two of the most important Artifacts in the deck are Experimental Synthesizer Experimental Synthesizer When this artifact enters or leaves the battlefield, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
{2}{R}, Sacrifice this artifact: Create a 2/2 white Samurai creature token with vigilance. Activate only as a sorcery. and Mishra’s Research Desk Mishra’s Research Desk {1}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile the top two cards of your library. Choose one of them. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
Unearth {1}{R} ({1}{R}: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.) . Both of these Artifacts help keep card advantage flowing while also being easy to put into the graveyard to maximize Syr Ginger. These cards act sort of as the glue that holds the deck together.

None of these Artifacts compare in power level, though, to Ozolith, the Shattered Spire Ozolith, the Shattered Spire If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on an artifact or creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.
{1}{G}, {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact or creature you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
Cycling {2} ({2}, Discard this card: Draw a card.) . Ozolith acts as this deck’s Hardened Scales variant, allowing your Creatures to grow twice as fast. Wurmlet, Syr Ginger, and Automaton all become significantly scarier with Ozolith in play. Not to mention, Ozolith can be used as a mana sink to put additional +1/+1 counters on Creatures you control. Pairing this ability with Gingerbrute can help you win even through a stalled out board.

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Removal Package

As mentioned, Experimental Synthesizer and Mishra’s Research Desk are vital pieces to the deck. Part of what makes them so strong is that they help enable two key removal spells for this deck. Both Voltage Surge and Torch the Tower Torch the Tower Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.)
Torch the Tower deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker. If this spell was bargained, instead it deals 3 damage to that permanent and you scry 1.
If a permanent dealt damage by Torch the Tower would die this turn, exile it instead. are capable of killing small threats without any extra effort, but they are both capable of killing larger threats if you have Artifacts lying around to sacrifice. Both Synthesizer and Mishra’s Research Desk provide value even if they get sacrificed. Synthesizer earns you a card right away, while Mishra’s Research Desk can be Unearthed later in the game.

Voltage Surge in particular is very important to enable given the high density of four-toughness Creatures in the format. Getting to kill Raffine, Scheming Seer or Adeline, Resplendent Cathar Adeline, Resplendent Cathar Vigilance
Adeline's power is equal to the number of creatures you control.
Whenever you attack, for each opponent, create a 1/1 white Human creature token that's tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control. for only one mana is fantastic, especially in a deck that relies on efficiency. Notably, these removal spells do not interact favorably with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life. , hence why there are copies of Witchstalker Frenzy Witchstalker Frenzy This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature that attacked this turn.
Witchstalker Frenzy deals 5 damage to target creature. and Rebel Salvo Rebel Salvo Affinity for Equipment (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each Equipment you control.)
Rebel Salvo deals 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker. That permanent loses indestructible until end of turn. in the sideboard.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

This Gruul deck is in an interesting spot in the metagame overall. Some of the benefits of playing an archetype like this is that other players are simply not prepared for it. Esper midrange decks, for example, have a playset of Go for the Throat Go for the Throat Destroy target nonartifact creature. as their primary source of removal. Go for the Throat importantly only kills non-Artifact Creatures, though, making it significantly worse in this matchup. The cards in this deck are also very efficient, giving it a chance to race against the multi-color control decks. Additionally, the fact that this deck’s Creatures can grow extremely large potentially gives you an edge against aggressive decks, especially when backed up by cheap removal like Voltage Surge.

Where this deck does falter, though, is against board wipes. The fact that multi-color decks generally play a playset of Sunfall Sunfall Exile all creatures. Incubate X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Create an Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it and "{2}: Transform this token." It transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.) can definitely be problematic. This deck doesn’t have much in the way of reach outside of Gingerbrute, and the threat count in the deck is relatively low. Cards like Temporary Lockdown Temporary Lockdown When this enchantment enters, exile each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. are nightmares for this strategy, since they also remove your non-Creature Artifacts. As strong as this deck can look when its Automatons and Syr Ginger grow freely, the lack of threat density makes this archetype a bit vulnerable to cheap removal from the opponent as well.

Fortunately, with Go for the Throat being mostly a dud against this deck, Gruul does seem fairly well positioned. Both Azorius Soldiers and Esper midrange have minimal ways to efficiently interact with your gameplan, and when things get going with the Ozolith, this deck can get out of control quickly. It’ll be cool to see if this deck begins to pick up steam, and if you’re a fan of Hardened Scales-style decks in other formats, definitely give this deck a shot.

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