Guardian Scalelord card art

Guardian Scalelord

Creature — Dragon MV 5

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

What it does

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.

Rulings

5 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2023-04-14

    If a backup ability causes another creature to gain abilities, the creature with backup will still have those abilities.

  • 2023-04-14

    The abilities that backup grants to the target creature are determined only once, at the time the ability triggers. They won't change if the permanent with backup loses any abilities before the backup ability resolves.

  • 2023-04-14

    If a backup ability targets the creature with backup, that creature will get +1/+1 counters, but it won't gain additional abilities.

  • 2023-04-14

    Backup confers only abilities that are actually printed below it. Any abilities that are gained by the permanent are ignored, including abilities gained due to a resolving spell or ability or copy effects.

  • 2023-04-14

    If a permanent enters the battlefield as a copy of a card with a backup ability or a token is created that is a copy of that card, the order of the printed abilities is maintained.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Guardian Scalelord, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 1
Games played 1
Win rate Fewer than 5 completed games — not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Betor, Ancestor's Voice 1 1

Colors it shows up in

  • Abzan 1 deck

Every version of Guardian Scalelord

3 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly — a printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall genuinely publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Guardian Scalelord — a name search across every version, for the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only — no individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.