Often, permanents don't need to have a ton of charge counters on them (and in some cases, you'll actively want them removed), which can easily be done before using populate to copy a creature token you have
I should mention that the quality of the scales were checked through weighing several coins, as they have fairly precise weights
The show version is a great defensive card, and one worthy of a spot on this list
Once you have figured out what card you've got hold of then have a look round on eBay to see how much they have sold for in the past
This is optimal conditions, you might not be able to spend all your mana, you might draw slightly too few or too many lands
Two damage is enough to forestall cheap attackers and tokens