Enduring Scalelord combo in Standard? (more details in comments)

Let's talk Enduring Scalelord combo.

Getting two of these out and put a +1/+1 counter on one of them triggers an infinite loop. Attack with a 24397/24397 Flying dragon for lethal.

Unfortunately, relying on getting two 6cmc creatures into play, protecting them, putting a +1/+1 counter on one of them, and getting through your opponent's Flying/Reaching blockers isn't really a winning strategy.

However, there are a couple of interactions that can potentially make this worthwhile:

  1. Artisan of Forms

    If you cast a spell that adds a +1/+1 counter on the Artisan with an Enduring Scalelord in play (Feat of Resistance does this and gives it Protection to boot), its Heroic trigger turns it into a copy of the Scalelord before the +1/+1 counter is added, thus triggering the infinite loop. Unfortunately, this doesn't work with Bolster. However, it also works wonderfully with any of the Ordeals. With an Enduring Scalelord in play, cast any Ordeal on the Artisan, its Heroic trigger turns it into a copy of the Scalelord. Attack with it get, infinite +1/+1 triggers and win.

  2. Polymorphous Rush

    You can cast this card with some other +1/+1 effect on the stack (such as a Heroic trigger or Bolster) to turn it into a second Enduring Scalelord before the +1/+1 counter lands on it. For example, you can cast Aqueous Form or Gods Willing on your Favored Hoplite, and with its Heroic trigger on the stack, cast Polymorphous Rush to turn it into a copy of Enduring Scalelord and attack for lethal.

You can really use any copy effect such as Twinflame, Clever Impersonator or Mercurial Pretender, but I think these two are the most viable, especially because White/Blue Heroic already has many cards that could work with this synergy.

  • Ordeal of Thassa (or Heliod). This combos with either Artisan of Forms or Polymorphous Rush to put +1/+1 counters on your Enduring Scalelord copy.

  • Any of the Heroic creatures with a +1/+1 counter trigger (such as Hero of Iroas or Favored Hoplite), to combo with Polymorphous Rush. You'll need another spell to target it.

  • Ajani's Presence, Gods Willing, and Feat of Resistance all protect your creature from instant speed removal. Feat of Resistance also adds a +1/+1 counter to your Enduring Scalelord.

  • Aqueous Form, Gods Willing and Feat of Resistance also give extra evasion to your attacker in case the opponent has a Flying/Reaching blocker.

I'm not sure what it would take to make this combo competitive worthy. It could either be the focal point of the deck or an alternate win condition in a WUg Heroic Deck. In any case, it might be worth exploring come DTK Standard.

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