Hey Guyss, it's me again! I finally brewed a Dragon deck today!
Let's look at what toys did we get from M19?
*Sarkhan, Fireblood*
*Lathliss, Dragon Queen*
*Demanding Dragon*
*Spit Flame*
*Dragon's Hoard*
Holey shiet... That is alot of cards, my friends.
Sarkhan, Fireblood
We all know 3 cmc walkers should be something to watch out for. But hor.... definitely NOT Sarkhan la... He is not going to be anywhere near the power level of Liliana of the Veil nor Jace Beleren. He can't really protect himself unless played on Turn 5, then using his first ability to drop a Dragon blocker. Other than sandbagging Sarkhan till turn 5, we can also pile up creatures on turn 1 and 2 or to clear the way for him with spells like Abrade and Magma Sprays.
The first ability is very relevant in a midrange deck that is trying to dig deeper for big spells and "cycling" excess lands. In this deck, we can also get to discard Spit Flame which can be recurred back to hand with dragons.
The second ability is what this deck is trying to do. RAMP OUT bigass dragons from turn 4 onwards. Lathliss, being the highest cmc dragon in the deck, is capable of being played on turn 4 with his help. Whatever dragon it is, being able to be played earlier than intended will always be game breaking (Just look at what UrzaTron is capable in modern)
The ultimate is not very amazing as we have seen similar ultimates of himself. Against the correct matchup, the ultimate is definitely going to be a headache, but if you are able to keep Sarkhan alive till seven loyalty, you are probably winning the game, with all the card filtering and ramping out dragons.
Lathliss, Dragon Queen
6 mana 6/6 Flyer with an upside, nothing too powerful. However, when played ahead of curve, she is definitely going to take over the game in a quick succession. Every dragon you cast after the Dragon Queen is definitely going to be value town. Her tokens is going to build up your gold counters on the Dragon Hoard, which is going to net you tons of card advantage.
Dragon's Hoard
Our mana rock/card advantage source! Well, this is one hell of mana rock, with the potential ability to draw multiple cards. For each dragon entering the battlefield, you have the potential to net a card. Imagine, having a few of this artifact on board, you are going to refill you hand, without having to spend additional mana or life (eg. Arguel's Bloodfast). Ramping your dragons one turn ahead of curve, is also going to be very useful. You need to try out this card to be amazed at how good it is.
Spit Flame
A 3 cmc instant speed creature removal that deals for 4 damage, nothing really awesome with it except that YOU CAN REUSE it over and over again as long you have Dragons entering your board. As mentioned with Sarkhan, you are netting card advantage by binning it and retrieving it later on. There are a lot of 4 toughness creature in the format currently that needs to be dealt with immediately like Glorybringer/Steel Leaf Champion/Eternalised.
Demanding Dragon
This is no Glorybringer, but its stats are 5/5. Although, it still can't beat through a Lyra Dawnbringer, it would triumph over opponents' Glorybringer, Rekindling Pheonix, Heart of Kiran or Aethersphere Harvester. Against a control player, if it is not countered, they will are probably take 5 damage to their face before having to deal with it with removals. This dragon is the least important as compared to the rest of the team, however, it still counts toward to number of dragons we can synergise with Sarkhan, Lathliss, Spit Flame and Dragon's Hoard.
Together with the usual successful red spells in standard, Glorybringer, Abrade, Chandra and the not yet popular Verix Bladewing. I smash all of them up together, and present to you this list.
The synergy with the dragons in the deck is very sweet, with each dragon becoming a cantrip with Dragon's Hoard in play. Sarkhan filtering irrelevant cards, digging for more gas. Spit Flame ensures that nothing too big is going to stop your dragons and its pure value when it is picked up from the graveyard. You have Abrades and Sweltering Suns to keep you alive in the early game and take over the mid to late game.
So far, I have tested this list at a couple of local game stores, and have been able to wreck out a couple of 3-0 wins. So far so good, looking to bring this to the LCQ of the upcoming RPTQ.
Writer's Shoutout
Hi fellow Singaporean Magic: The Gathering players! My name is Calvin Chen. I'm currently in my 30s, and MTG found me when I was at Pri 5. I did not really play the game until Sec 3. During that time, I was only playing kitchen table games from Invasion block till Mirrodin.
Only during Theros block, did I start to play at FNMs. I have to thank Alex Keng, who brought me to the store for FNMs which sparked me off for competitive gameplay. Since then, I've been grinding PPTQs all over Singapore. My small accomplishments include 5 PPTQs wins, winning LCQ for GOG invitationals.
I really like to play aggressive decks, and subscribe to the beatdown plan. Other than that, I love dragons! My favourite set has been Khans of Takir, which I played a Grixis Dragons list, winning one of the PPTQ back then. I always prefer standard over modern as there's more room for brewing compared to the well established modern play.
As people should have already observed this in my decks, I can't really run away from mountains in standard and my modern decks, with Blood Moons as much as possible. I am trying out to write articles, it may be my noobish attempt, but I wish to get better at writing. Please support and try not to flame my lousy articles too much eh!
If you are interested to contribute any articles or content, do ping us!
If you are interested to contribute any articles or content, do ping us!
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