OnBC: Dragons

[Rakamir]

There are a number of cards in Scourge, notably Bladewing's Thrall and Bladewing the Risen, that make me want to design a Black/Red Dragons deck. I won't do that, beause expensive Dragons practically scream for all the mana fixers they can get, and that points the arrow straight at Green.

The following deck took Venice by storm in the hands of Darwin Kastle, who made Top 8 with it. Initially designed by Seth Burn as part of his ongoing Fat Crank obsession with Red/Green, it was given to Zvi who gave it to Dougherty who passed it along to Darwin. The deck below is pre-Scourge, and I really don't see what Scourge adds, other than the obvious Dragonspeaker Shaman, a card I'll like to play but see no room for. Dragonstorm is simply unplayable due to its high mana cost, IMO.

For those of you who remember the deck called "Trinity," the deck feels like like that, with approximately 40% mana fixers and 60% fat flyers, you will have to paris more than you might like, but with a decent draw in a few turns you're up to more mana than any deck I've seen out there, and when it wins it doesn't "beat" so much as crushes.

Yes, Wing Shards is a bane to this deck as it will be to many but they still have to draw and play it, and Shards will most likely be spot removal here. Tons of fun, I highly recommend at least testing it for the sheer beauty of its power:

Darwin Kastle - Quarterfinalist - Pro Tour Venice
Pre-Scourge
The Claw

2 Contested Cliffs
4 Wooded Foothills
8 Mountain
11 Forest

4 Wirewood Elf
4 Krosan Tusker
4 Ravenous Baloth
4 Goblin Clearcutter
4 Kilnmouth Dragon
4 Imperial Hellkite
3 Rorix Bladewing

4 Starstorm
4 Explosive Vegetation

SB:

1 Slice and Dice
2 Insurrection
4 Shock
4 Naturalize
4 Silklash Spider

 

[Rakamir]

If Decree of Annihilation is to be broken in block (as 'Geddon, cycled) this seems to be the deck to do it in. Any ideas as to what to take out for Dragongeddon?

 

[Rooser]

You can RtR and Bidding also, if you want. I know that that would be an entirely different deck, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[Rakamir]

What is RtR again? Hey, if you're from Arizona, do you know Greg Plitz? He won your States in '98 with Academy (while at UAriz), and is a really good guy I knew once.

Bidding would be NASTY in this deck, but you're going to three colors now.

Three colors are sexy in their own right, but the consistancy lost in doing so over the power gained may not be worth it, IMO.

You COULD go B/R, however, but I really don't see anyone doing that. Yet.

Neither color can handle enchantments, of course, but I seem to vaguely remember Steve Jarvis presenting a very low-cc Black-Red in an article pre-Venice. That amazed me, that black and red pre-Scourge even could combine to form something LOW cc. Previously, B/R decks looked good on paper and were great in practice as well if, if and IF you survived to turn 4, when the beats per turn became tremendous. Tremendous, but by then Control was either in control or about to be, and Aggro had been puttin' the booya on your life total to the point you were usually about to be out-raced to death.

Well, we already have such a deck (that kicks butt from turn 4 on), and it's called Beasts. Beasts is the new Fires, folks. Gotta beat that deck, ....or play it.

 

[Rakamir]

- 1 Goblin Clearcutter -1 Rorix Bladewing -4 Krosan Tusker
+3 Dragon Chief (Dragonspeaker Shaman) +3 Decree of Annihilation

4 Wirewood Elf
3 Dragonspeaker Shaman
4 Ravenous Baloth
3 Goblin Clearcutter
2 Rorix Bladewing
4 Kilnmouth Dragon
4 Imperial Hellkite

3 Decree of Annihilation (cycled)
4 Starstorm
4 Explosive Vegetation

The land and board will have to be completely redone, but we're more Red now. Oh my, is Insurrection nasty.

 

[train]

the first thing I'll say - is that this was a quarterfinalist deck because Darwin was playing it.. not an amateur...

2nd... kind of slow for the block format I'd think... Especially if the shamans are dealt with...

 

[Rakamir]

The deck was also unexpected. Most G/R or R/G decks favor Beasts. This deck is very much R/g, however, and I don't think the block format, while faster, is SO much faster that a deck with Contested Cliffs, even if it's only got Baloth to date, and the Amp token killin' Kilnmouth, can't compete.

On speed, notably from the 'Chiefs, consider:
1) Mr. Goblin Warchief, meet Ms. Wing Shards. Ain't she a bi-atch?
2) Yo, Krosan Warchief. Beasts may not even need you.
3) Hey, Undead Warchief, sure you can't be Smothered, but Shock is willing to trade.
4) Whoa, who let Edgewalker, Daru Warchief and Krosan Drover in? You dudes crashing this party? Must be, cuz ya'll ain't cool enough to be invited.

And then there's Dragonspeaker Shaman. RR1, all your Dragons cost two less. A RR3 Kilnmouth or Imperial or RRR1 Rorix in a deck sporting mostly red seems good enough for me. Deal with em? Sure. Then they won't deal with Elf, and I'm fine with either.

I played my Zombie deck against this, and Zombies won in 3 games, all of which were very tight, each loss coming a half turn before the loser would have won. Oh shoot, I had a detailed tourney report but the WHOLE report got nixed after editing. I can't stand it. Maybe tomorrow. :-(

 

[Rakamir]

2 Contested Cliffs
4 Wooded Foothills
11 Mountain
8 Forest

That's the mana I used. same as Venice, with numbers for mountains and forests switched, as it turns out. Sideboard is the same for now.

Game 1. Dragon wins die roll. We both like our hands.
I win without Soulless One. Cover of Darkness rocks. He Shocked a Warchief but another got through. If he draws a Starstorm, it's bad times for me, but he doesn't. He gains megalife from 2 Baloths. Not good enough. Fear rules.

Game 2. He goes first. We're both mana flooded over the course of the game. Mana flood favors him. Starstorm likes mana-flood.
Rorixes fly. Shoot. I topdeck a Skinthinner, I win, but all four were hibernating at deck's bottom 3rd. I also get zombie-screwed, something that shouldn't happen in 33-zombie deck.

Game 3. He keeps bad hand. Don't do this vs Zombies. Fear rules, Polluters rule, Warchiefs rule. Good thing too, he had me next turn.

Dragons are great fun, and good. Enjoy.

 

[Spiderman]

Probably Darwin Kastle, an old hand at the pro circuit.

 

[train]

It was he...

He also won the invitational(?)... and henceforth came the Avalanche Riders... the artwork is an actual picture of him...

"He didn't make a Blue Card!... unlike Finkel!..."

 

[Rakamir]

I know who Darwin is! I even know what his real last name was before he changed it to Kastle. Dam my hide for being sarcastic without a smiley!

Anyway, I think Dragons deserves more consideration. Here is the conversation we had about our subs after our Match:

"I brought in 4 Cruel Revivals, a Head Games, and a third Cover of Darkness for my 6 one-drops. What did you bring in? And BTW, I am SO happy I don't maindeck Smothers. They're a tad useless against you."
"I took out 4 Elves and 3 Annihilations for 4 Shocks, a Slice and Dice, and 2 Insurrections."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why the Insurrections? Sexy card, but it's 8cc, and I'm playing Aggro. I would have done -2 Elf, -3 Decrees for 1 Slice and Dice and 4 Shocks."
"Well, it wouldn't have mattered, really."
"No? Did you ever have an Insurrection in hand?"
"Sure. Both games."
"But you never cast it, and you didn't because you had other stuff you needed to cast more, right?"
"Right."

And there you go, then. Incorrect sideboarding loses us more games that we care to admit, I think.

 

[train]

How long before your first dragon is out?...

And if your shamans are taken care of?...

 

[Rakamir]

Shamans may or may not be taken care of. We can't assume every opponet has a friggin Cruel Revival, Smother, Shock, Carbonize, Rift, 8cc Skinthinner, etc., in hand. And if they do, so what? We just traded, I have more, and Dragons LIKES the long game.

 

[train]

I know dragons likes the long game...

But how long before it's commanding the board?...

 

[Rakamir]

Why don't you try it and see? Seriously, what does "command of the board" mean? A Cliffs and Baloths is nasty. Baloth alone is nasty. Kilnmouth is incredible. The mana this thing can produce is huge. Again, it depends on what you draw. I haven't played it enough to see a trend, cuz every hand is different. I feel I've "de-Trinitied" it to be more competitive, i.e.e, less prone to Parising.

More: Shock in the sideboard. Starstorm (so good, as you know, train) main. Rorix has haste, and not everyone has Wing Shards (poor fools! ). What can I tell you you can't find out for yourself, quickly, by playtesting it? Spiders for Flyers? Naturalize? Is that "Board control?" Insurrect your violent Angels? Unmolested Clearcutter = 3/3 Reusable Black Lotus? That friggin puppy is incredible. Try it, you'll like it. 7th turn goldfish kill. That's fast for fat.

 

[train]

command of the board is not fearing your life...

And the deck looks like it may do well... I just think too fat is nto fast enough...

I'd still probably choose Beast Bidding over the dragon deck...

 

[Rakamir]

Oops! Correction time. In Game 2 way back, I said mana-screwed when I meant mana-FLOODED. Sorry about that. I wiill correct it now for future generations.

To save you time, here is the corrected version:

"Game 2. He goes first. We're both mana FLOODED over the course of the game. Mana FLOOD favors him. Starstorm likes mana-FLOOD.
Rorixes fly. Shoot. I topdeck a Skinthinner, I win, but all four were hibernating at deck's bottom 3rd. I also get zombie-screwed, something that shouldn't happen in 33-zombie deck."

Dam my brain.

Beast Bidding? Do you expect to swim in a sea of Slide? If so, fine, but I think the tribal decks will eat you alive, which is why I don't main biddings, and advise people not to. Your call, tho.

 

[Rakamir]

Rakamir’s Mini-Tourney One (MT1)
Final Standings after Swiss

Place/Deck/Matches/Games

1. Beasts 3-0 6-2
2. Knight Train 2-1 5-3
3. Zombies 2-1 5-4
4. Goblins 2-1 5-4
5. Dragons 1-2 4-4
6. GW Veggies 1-2 4-5
7. Astral Slide 0-2 1-4 drop
8. Elves 0-2 1-4 drop

Notes:
- Slide had better opponents than Elves, and Zombies had better ones than Goblins so that’s why they’re ranked as they are.
- Elves and Slide are dropped from the tournament unless Peppermint can come up with a better version of Slide and Zvi with a better version of Elves, and except for Timberwatch Elves coming in for Elvish Guidances, I’m not sure they can. Elves are going to die horribly to Starstorm, a not unpopular card. A better version of Slide/MWC+ is the RW Knight Train deck, designed by our very own “train” of Po-Dunk, Texas.
- The semi’s in top 4 will be repeat matches, and hopefully for Zombies’ sake it will board better vs. Knight Train than it did in Swiss.
- The Beasts/Gobbo match-up is almost a bye for Beasts.
- If history repeats itself in the finals, Knight Train will have to board much better vs. Beasts than it did in Swiss. If so, we should see a good match.

Round 3 results

Beasts over Knight Train 2-1

Covered elsewhere. Knights boarded poorly. My fault.

Goblins over Dragons 2-1

Game One: Dragons win, in a bizarre match, seeing as how Dragons had to paris with a one land hand (and that a cycler), that Goblins parised also two Burrows and 5 spells in it’s opener (NOT a keeper), and that the day was won with a zero counter Kilnmouth cast after DoA-geddon.
Both kept a hand of 5 lands plus a spell after parising. Goblins probably should have parised again, but they both drew into goodness, so … feh. Dragons handled Siege-Gang Commanders (2 of them) quite nicely, thank you.

Game Two: Dragons boards like an ass, keeping DoA’s in. Kids, don’t do this at home. The odds of Dragons beating Gobbos with DoA are between slim and none, and “slim,“ like lightning, rarely strikes twice. A tough match, Dragons would have won had not Wirewood Elf been Incinerated. No, it wouldn’t have won. I take that back. The fact that Elves were kept in should tell you how bad the boarding was. How many tools do Goblins have for Elves? Lessee, there’s …. Gobbo Incinerator, Shock, Sparksmith, and that’s just off the top of my head.

Game Three: Dragons board better but Goblin gets “the nuts Warchief draw,” complete with Prospectors and Goon. And Sparksmith too. Quick and dirty. I feel so unclean.

However, Dragons had it rough throughout the tournament, as facing ONLY the aggro decks isn‘t good for the Dragons. The Shamans performed better than expected, and DoA-Geddon didn’t get a decent shot, really. If you don’t like my main deck tune of -4 Tusker-1 Clearcutter for +3 Dragonspeaker Shaman and +2 Decree of Annihilation-Geddon, then try something else. K? I like it. In any event, please respect this archetype, or die horribly. I’m glad it’s sticking around for MT2, and Kamahl RG Veggies will come in as well, probably replacing Slide, as I can’t in good conscience play a sub-optimal MWC build, as I already have the superior version of that archetype in Knight Train.

Zombies over GW Veggies 2-1

See details at "OnBC: Zombies"

PS, Besides Kamahl RG Veggies, I’m bringing in a Burn Deck featuring Chartooth Cougar and Blistering Firecat for MT2, unless somebody stops me. I’d like to bring in a BW Control, but I can’t find one I like yet.