Guardian Scalelord
Creature — Dragon
Backup 1 (When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. If that's another creature, it gains the following abilities until end of turn.)
Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, return target nonland permanent card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is this creature's power.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- March of the Machine Commander
- Price
- $4.62
- EDHREC rank
- #4949
Guardian Scalelord puts a hard protection effect on every other creature you control the moment it enters — that's a board-wide Hexproof blanket on a 4/4 flier for six mana. The cost is steep enough that you're leaning on it in dedicated counters or experience-counter shells where Quintorius, History Chaser turns that six-mana ask into a payoff rather than a tax.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Quintorius, History Chaser
Quintorius, History Chaser runs Guardian Scalelord in over 65% of lists because the Scalelord's protection effect triggers Quintorius's experience-counter engine while simultaneously shielding the board that Quintorius is trying to grow — it's doing two jobs at once.
Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener
Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener is stacking +1/+1 counters and distributing them across wide boards, so Guardian Scalelord's blanket Hexproof is exactly the insurance that protects those invested counters from a single removal spell unraveling the whole line.
Shalai and Hallar
Shalai and Hallar wants to load counters onto creatures and then reward you for doing so, and Guardian Scalelord slots in as the defensive backbone that keeps those counter-laden creatures alive long enough to close the game.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Guardian Scalelord lives — six mana is acceptable in a 40-life, 100-card format where a single well-protected board can win the game, and the protection effect scales with every creature you've already developed. Legacy and Vintage allow it legally, but a six-mana creature with no immediate offensive impact has no competitive role in formats that end on turn two or three. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card variant worth considering, specifically in a counters-based shell where the same experience-counter and +1/+1-counter synergies apply at a faster clock.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$4.62 cheap tier
At $4.62, Guardian Scalelord sits at the low end of the cheap tier — reasonable for a card with a 65%+ inclusion rate in its top commander shell. It's a stable pick-up; demand is narrow enough that it won't spike arbitrarily, but the Quintorius and Bright-Palm communities keep consistent floor pressure on the price.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.