Building a Deck in SCALE

Building a deck in SCALE is no ordinary cardboard carpentry!

When every single card is as powerful as the best cards in other similar card games, it can become a task worthy of a doctorate. In which case, we have… the Deck Doctor!* - a tool which gives you stats about the best decks and shows you how yours matches up against them. (*SCALE: Pro subscription required to gain access to the Deck Doctor.)

For everyone without a subscription, here is your guide!

Constructed mode in SCALE makes for a far more punishing experience if you are going up against a skilled opponent. This is because SCALE already rewards you for thinking ahead, and in constructed mode you basically get to craft your hand ahead of time by cutting the unnecessary abilities from your deck, allowing for laser-precision in your strategies by tailoring your own 52 cards exactly the way you want.

Note: This guide is only going to cover deckbuilding for Rise of Dragons, and will be expanded upon later for the digital release of Prophecy of The Gemini.

Now you’re probably thinking, where do I even start? Well, let’s think about the cards in Rise of Dragons for a second. Lots of counterspells, removal, and other utility to choose from, but this set of cards is a “control” based deck at its heart, so we should focus on controlling the game.

How do we do that? Well, let’s look at what kind of cards are available in SCALE.

The main category of card you need to become familiar with is the “Loop Counter" card. These are cards that completely disable an ability from happening, rather than letting it activate and then dealing with it while it’s on the battlefield. They’re some of the strongest cards in the game to use in response to an opponent’s card, but completely filling your deck with counters with no other strategy in mind is actually not the best idea, because the game is not usually won through the Loop alone. Counters are generally quite low in power, are often useless to play to an empty Loop, can be countered by Universal abilities, and have no Enduring effects (which potentially leaves you at a disadvantage once they hit the battlefield.) Therefore, you should have a secondary strategy to pair them with.

These are your counters: CANCEL, FADE, CLEVER, DROWN, OVERHAUL, NULL, PRUNE, EXTINCT, ROT, and ORDER.

• OVERHAUL can be great for removing a whole bunch of problems at once, but if you have the battlefield advantage, it can sometimes become more of a liability.
• CANCEL and FADE are both great, but shouldn’t be relied too heavily upon, because a well-timed SAVE can basically nullify 8 of the counters in your deck if you use 4 of each of them. PRUNE is also a brutal counter to these two cards.
• DROWN is the most reliable, can’t easily be countered, and boasts 11 power, making it one of the strongest counters.
• CLEVER is not only a counter, but also allows you to stack the top of the deck in order to employ some recursion. Luckily it isn’t affected by SAVE.
• NULL is a very interesting counter, as it can counter many cards at once, and also has heavy utility for making uncommon plays. For example: Use it to get END on the battlefield, giving you an infinite attacker. Or, use it to stop your opponent from using Ancient abilities to get their EXODUS or GENESIS on the field. You can also use it to keep your extra spaces at the end of the turn after a BLOOM.
• PRUNE not only gets rid of the most common counters (since FADE, CANCEL, and CLEVER are all under 11 power), but it also prevents those counters from being played for the rest of the turn, making PRUNE a fantastic anti-counter inclusion in any deck.
• EXTINCT is a great counter for stopping Ancients, and also pairs well with other counters because for the most part, it won’t work against you. It’s also great for countering a battlefield focused deck, easily removing your opponent’s ALPHA, DELTA, and OMEGAs.
• ROT is another interesting counter, because it isn’t a direct counter. If you use it to swap out an opponent’s card, you still have to give them a card. On the other hand, this can be extra beneficial if you swap their CANCEL for something like PRUNE, which can help you clear out multiple of their counters at once.
• ORDER is probably one of the best counters, specifically when countering the first card played into the Loop, because it will simply steal that card from your opponent. Be wary of relying on it too heavily though, because many decks will use WILD or ZOMBIE and then throw your own ORDER right back at you.

The other categories of cards one should consider are: Removal, Space, Draw, Recursion, and Utility. Some cards will technically fit in multiple categories, so don’t get too hung up on definitions here, go for vibes.

• Removal: These cards are not quite “counters” but still great for wiping out threats. Key cards here are EXPLODE, VANISH, RAGE, for their capability to wipe the opponent’s entire battlefield with ease. Other notable cards are ALPHA, DELTA, and OMEGA, because they pair a single target removal with their strong Enduring ability, which can help you brute force your way into an undefended attack.
• Space: These cards manipulate the “Space” mechanic in SCALE in some way. Key cards here are VOID, EXPAND, CHAOS, TERRAFORM, and BLOOM. These cards are interesting ways to manipulate the game, and can be absolutely devastating to an opponent when used correctly. If you can VOID your opponent 3 times and they didn’t put any BLOOM or EXPAND in their deck, well, they’re probably going to have a bad time.
• Draw: These cards draw you more cards. Obviously that is a good thing! These cards are great for keeping your deck consistent and narrowing down your search. Just be wary of an opposing TAX!
• Recursion: These cards help you make an ability happen again. (AGAIN is one great way to do this!) Key players here are BOUNCE, AGAIN, ZOMBIE, and WILD.
• Utility: These cards are best used to complement specific strategies, as their effects can vary greatly and be useful in multiple different situations. For example: FIERCE can be useful when you’re the defender and will keep you alive for at least one more turn, but on offense, it can be absolutely brutal, especially if you manage to activate NULL afterward, thus preventing your opponent from defending AND preventing them from using removal. Notable mentions are FIERCE, END, BANISH, BUST, SLEEP, and SAVE.

Now that we know what we are looking at with all of the different card abilities, there are various strategies a player can target within the deck to take advantage of each category. Let’s take a look at some of most common builds in SCALE now!

Strategy 1: “Burn”

• Everyone loves a good burn, and in SCALE it can be devastatingly effective. The goal with this deck is to steal all of the treasure without getting your hands dirty in battle.
• Your linchpins here are TAX, BREACH, FEAST, and STORM. Putting 4x of these 4 cards in your deck fills 16 of your available 52 card slots.
• We can fill a few more slots by utilizing copy or other recursion mechanics to really make the most of these treasure-stealers, in which case you’ll want to look at WILD, BOUNCE, AGAIN, and ZOMBIE. These are also handy for taking advantage of your opponent’s cards to fill in any gaps from building such a focused deck. If you put 4x of each of these in your deck as well, you’re now at 32/52 slots.
• The remaining 20 slots is what will make or break your deck, since everything else so far is pretty essential to stealing all of the possible treasure. These remaining slots should be used for your best counters (DROWN, CANCEL, FADE, CLEVER) or to hone a niche to your strategy that focuses on abusing one specific mechanic to get consistent results.
• Here are a few niche options specifically useful for a burn deck, with ratings out of 5 based on how effective it is likely to be:
  • END: This card will help ensure that you can consistently gain a treasure lead and keep your hand size resetting. (1/5 - Not that effective because the opponent gets a new hand also, but can work as a counterspell save you from a devastating loop play)
  • BLOOM: Adding this card to your deck ensures that you can have the battlefield dragons and the spaces required for FEAST to really get his calories in. (2/5 - This is quite easy to counter, but works well against space removal decks)
  • DECIDE: This card is especially helpful because you can use it to find the perfect answer, or make TAX more deadly due to being able to force your opponent to draw. (3/5 - This can be effective and even lethal, but giving your opponent more cards is rarely a good idea.)
  • CHARITY: This can be helpful for forcing your opponent to add cards to their hand, and is a better choice than DECIDE because it gives you card advantage, whereas DECIDE removes card advantage from you. (4/5)
  • PURGE: This is probably the best strategy for forcing an early game win through burn. Get even 1 TAX on the field and then play PURGE while your opponent has cards in hand, and they’re sure to start sweating. This method also pairs well with END for the most consistent strategy to ensure your opponent has cards in hand, since it falls off in late game as your opponent’s hand dwindles. (5/5)

Strategy 2: Exodus & Genesis “Win Con” Strat

• This is a pretty easy strategy due to the inherent win condition. The goal with this deck is to get EXODUS and GENESIS on your battlefield to win. Keep an eye on rotating restrictions as you may not always be able to play 4x of these two cards!
• The key with this strategy is recursion and draw. Your deck should minimally include 4 of each of these: EXODUS, GENESIS, WILD, ZOMBIE, BLOOM, DECIDE, QUERY, BIOLOGY and PURGE. Putting these in your deck brings you to 36/52 card slots
• The remaining 16 cards should be used for counters or other control, or you could trade out your DECIDE or QUERY for some more utility, but we recommend DROWN, FADE, CANCEL, and CLEVER as cornerstones.
• This deck can vary a bit based on your preference for utility. For example, having a few SAVE in your deck is helpful so you can keep your opponent from EXPLODE’ing your battlefield every turn.
• Other notable mentions include BURY, GARDEN, BEGIN, SHADE, and BOUNCE.
  • BURY is great for stacking your graveyard with whichever piece you need to complete the combo, which you can then GARDEN or ZOMBIE to ensure consistent wins.
  • BEGIN can allow you to get an unstoppable win based on the chain of events, and really adds a lot of pressure to your opponent, potentially forcing them to make a suboptimal move to deal with it.
  • SHADE can be paired with BEGIN for an ultra-sneaky win that your opponent will most likely be very mad about, but will leave you grinning from ear to ear!
  • BOUNCE is great for getting one of your Ancients back in your hand to save them from certain doom.

Strategy 3: Battlefield Dominator

• This is probably the hardest strategy to employ in Rise of Dragons due to the amount of control and burn going on. In order to effectively use this strategy, you need to have plenty of utility and counterplay available and also be smart with your attacks.
• The goal with this deck is to win through attacking, so brute force and battlefield control are your friends here. Cards you will want include: ALPHA, DELTA, OMEGA, BUST, BLOOM, TERRAFORM, DOUBLE, FIERCE, and VOID. These fill 36 of your 52 card slots in the deck.
• The remaining 16 cards should be filled with counters, recursion, space, and draw. You can also swap out more utility focused cards like TERRAFORM or BUST to stack more counters or recursion.
• Cards in the space category can be especially helpful in this deck, allowing you to control the battlefield in every way.
• Other notable mentions would be SAVE, SLEEP, CHAOS, EXPLODE, and RAGE, which can be used to modify the battlefield to your liking.

Alternate Strategies: These are generally used to complement other builds by taking advantage of one specific mechanic more heavily than others.

• Space: This strategy is focused around controlling and manipulating the Space mechanic in SCALE. Key cards include EXPAND, VOID, BLOOM, NULL, TERRAFORM, and CHAOS. This mechanic pairs well with a battlefield focused deck, as it will almost always end in a large-scale attack, though it does pair well with a FEAST-focused burn deck.
• Cute: This strategy is focused around negating basically any form of attack by using CUTE whenever it’s beneficial to do so. The cute strategy is very powerful to use against the Exodus/Genesis deck, as you can pair it with PRUNE to turn all of the Ancients to 1 power and consistently wipe the board of all cards.
• Exile: This strategy is focused around getting your opponent to “deck out” (draw from an empty deck) and utilizes key cards like BANISH, GREED, CHARITY, VANISH, END, and PURGE to force your opponent’s deck to zero. This strategy can sometimes take a bit longer to ensure the win, especially if you are employing END repeatedly.

Depending on your playstyle, you may find it easier to combine two of these builds, or try something completely different! The fun thing about deck-building in SCALE is that there is really no wrong answer because you aren’t limited by mana or any other card restrictions.

As always, thanks for playing, and happy deck-building!