Exor Games Modern Tournament Report 
February 1st, 2023 

I wanted to start this off with a quick shoutout to Exor Games in Truro. It was a great event they put on. Great advertising, great hosting, overall a very fun event.

There were a few decks I was on the fence about playing for this event, Death's Shadow, UR Murktide, Hardended Scales, and Grixis/UR Wizards. Ultimately I decided on Scales because I’ve been performing well with it and I had a general feeling of confidence playing it against many of the decks I expected to see at this specific event. Some of the decks I expected to see include, Temur Rhinos, Burn, RB Scam, and various UR focused decks such as Murktide, Shadow, and Wizards.

I was hoping to dodge Amulet Titan and Yawgmoth decks because those combos are usually faster than Scales can handle.


Round 1 vs Ryan on Temur Slogurk/Assault/Asmo 

I started off the match with a copy of Hardened Scales into Patchwork Automaton. The first couple turns I thought my opponent was on Temur Saga because he started off with Breeding Pool and Steam Vents before going into Wrenn and Six and following that with an Urza’s Saga.

Then he dropped Slogurk.

My opponent very quickly started getting silly amounts of value. It was getting out of hand but before too long I was able to drop an Arcbound Ravager and kill him with an Inkmoth after he tapped out.

Game 2 was a very grindy game with a lot of back and forth trading cards one for one. Though Scales is resilient, fighting through back to back Force of Vigors and Brotherhood’s End is a bit tough for the deck to handle. Despite that, I narrowly missed out on an Infect kill dealing 9 damage before Ryan was able to kill me with some Constructs and an Ovalchase Daredevil.

The third game saw the deck do exactly what it's supposed to do. It was a very aggressive start from me with Patchworks and Constructs coming in turn after turn while Ryan stumbled on his 3rd land drop for a few turns too many. 

1-0

Round 2 vs Craig on GB Yawgmoth

This game saw me open with double Scales and follow it up with a Walking Ballista, Zabaz, and an Urza's Saga. I was able to keep my opponent off early mana dorks and an Ancient Stirring found me a Cauldron to lock the game up.

I had a lucky start in that I had both Gemstone Caverns as well as a Dismember for his first mana dork before I had my first turn. This really set my opponent back. I was then able to apply pressure quickly with a Patchwork that got very large while keeping myself safe with a Pithing Needle naming Yawgmoth and a pair of Welding Jars to protect it.

2-0

Round 3 vs Thea on Temur Rhinos

In game one my Patchwork Automatons and Constructs very quickly outgrew the 4/4 Rhino Tokens and were able to lock up the game. 

In the second game I had a hand full of sideboard cards and I was able to get down early an Chalice of the Void, a Void Mirror, and two Welding Jars to protect them. After this I started applying pressure with a Patchwork and Zabaz, there’s not much Rhinos can do in this position as a Tidebinder or Murktide isn’t likely to be enough.

3-0

Round 4 vs Derek on RW Burn

Scales is typically quite favored in this matchup because I don't need to pay life for any of the lands in my deck. This couples with the ability to quickly put out large blockers for their attackers usually is enough.

My opponent had a fantastic start  in game one that consisted of Goblin Guide into Swifty + Bolt. This was followed up by more cheap creatures and burn. By turn 4 I only had an Arcbound Ravager and a Hardened Scales left in play.

Over the next few turns I got very lucky and my opponent whiffed on consecutive draw steps. They were able to get me down to 2 but I had nothing but gas left in my hand and was able to go double Hardended Scales, Zabaz, and Welding Jar. This was enough to make my Arcbound Ravager over 20 power and swing in for lethal.

My opponent only drew a single creature in game two, a Goblin Guide. I was able to keep playing blockers to stall out of the board while my creatures incrimentally got bigger. I was able to hold off long enough before they could find enough burn spells to finish me off.

4-0

Round 5 vs Chris on Rhinos
Intentional draw - Food time.

4-0-1

Round 6 vs Wyatt on Merfolk
Intentional draw
4-0-2

Quarter Finals vs Wyatt on Mono Blue Merfolk

On the play I had a good start of Scales into Walking Ballista. My opponent mulled to five and kept a hand that was a bit to slow for my start. After he tapped out on the fourth turn I was able to kill him with poison damage.

In game two we both started off by mulliganing to five cards. My opponent decided to keep a hand with a Cursed Totem while I bottomed a Nature’s Claim. On turn 2 they dropped the Cursed Totem and I never found an answer for it.

My opponent mulliganed to six in game 3 and decided to keep a bit of a sketchy hand. Turn one I have a Scales, and turn 2 I play Nature’s Claim on his Aether Vial. He doesn’t see a 2nd land for the next few turns, giving me enough time to build a solid board state he couldn’t recover from. 

5-0-2

Semi-Finals vs Joyce on GB Yawgmoth

Joyce is a great friend of mine, it’s always nice to meet your friends this far along in tournaments. So playing against Joyce was a pleasure.

I was able to quickly establish a wide board in game one that required a lot of chump blocking from Joyce. This coupled with an early Pithing Needle on Yawgmoth and him not drawing Chord of Calling, Yawgmoth, or Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, was enough pressure to end the game.

In the second game I got very lucky and had the same start of Gemstone Caverns into Dismember that I had during swiss. This put my opponent on the backfoot before the game even got going. I followed this up with an early Cauldron, a Pithing Needle on Yawgmoth, and a Tamiyo’s Safekeeping to blowout a Grist activation on a pivotal turn in the game. Joyce was unable to find a Chord of Calling to find any answers and I locked the game up.

6-0-2

Finals vs Michael on Temur Rhinos

Michael is one of the people I drove to the event. Very cool to meet a good buddy in the finals of an event. I should also note that Michael knocked me out of the top 4 in an event a week previous to this.

It was time for revenge.

During the first three turns of the game we we’re both setting up, however he tapped out on turn 3 and I was able to one shot him with a very large Inkmoth Nexus for the infect kill.

Game 2 couldn’t have been more different than our first game. It was extremely grindy with neither of us really establishing a strong board presence for quite some time. My opponent played a Magus of the Moon to kill an Urza’s Saga and strand another copy in my hand.

After this I resolved a Chalice of the Void and a Welding Jar keeping him from making any Rhinos. I eventually end up with the ability to break through but it was risky as I was concerned about my opponent representing Tishana's Tidebinder. Spoilers: I played around it and got punished when he untapped and drew three cards with a Lorien Revealed. Fortunately for me, he doesn’t draw much gas with it and in the next few turns I’m able to grab another Welding Jar for my Chalice, make my creatures larger, and ultimately after 10 hours of hard fights and WAY too much math, I won the tournament!

7-0-2.

I’d like to give a quick shout out at the end here to the HFXMTG community, a lot of you are excellent friends of mine and wonderful testing partners thanks for your friendship and support, and to the Hardened Scales discord. This deck is quite difficult to learn and play but it’s a great and dedicated community that has been extremely helpful and welcoming to a relative newcomer in myself.

Maindeck
3 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
1 Pithing Needle
1 Springleaf Drum
1 The Ozolith
4 Welding Jar
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Hangarback Walker
4 Patchwork Automaton
4 Walking Ballista
4 Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp
2 Boseiju, Who Endures
4 Cragcrown Pathway // Timbercrown Pathway
2 Echoing Deeps
3 Forest
2 Gemstone Caverns
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Pendelhaven
4 Urza's Saga
4 Hardened Scales


Sideboard
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Damping Sphere
2 Dismember
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Haywire Mite
2 Natural State
1 Pithing Needle
2 Tamiyo's Safekeeping
1 Void Mirror


Exor Games would like to thank everyone for coming out to our first large Modern tournament at our Truro store. An extra special thanks to all those who got up super early to drive to our tournament. We couldn't do it without you! Keep an eye on our social media pages as we plan on doing more special events like this in the near future.