This is my second attempt at a Standard Deck. Over the last few days I've been working on a Standard Dragon Deck, that shifted from Red-Green to now just Mono Red. I really enjoy the Red-Green Artarka, and did fairly well with it and Temur at the previous pre-release events, I've shifted this to go towards Mono Red to help with Mana issues, and to concentrate more on what I want to do: Hit my opponent's with DRAGONS!
As such myself and a friend have been working on this deck list and it's currently in demo form as I attempt to get the primary cards. Currently missing the
Stormbreath Dragon
s as they never made it into my Dragon collection somehow. Odd...
Anyways... DRAGONS
The deck's primary focus is of course to hit people with Dragons but to also survive long enough to get to that point.
Draconic Roar
is nice as often you'll have a dragon in hand do deal some extra damage to your opponent and makes for some nice damage across the board and opponent. The sweeping damage from
Anger of the Gods
also helps in this regard for solid board-clear as well.
Crater's Claws
are good mid to late game as you start dropping dragons on the board. The first dragon will give you Ferocious, then often the second will give you Formidable.
Dragon Fodder
isn't just food for dragons anymore, but its new purpose is to keep your opponent at bay, making them deal with lil 1/1 before you start dropping the big guns.
Goblin Rabblemaster
is a solid additional kill condition that gets a nice boost from your Goblin sub-army. While not much a fan of Goblins myself, this helps the early game while you build for your larger creatures.
DRAGONS
I am not going to lie, I like
Dragon Whisperer
, the art is amazing and the abilities you get for a 2/2 aren't anything to laugh at. With dropping Dragons onto the field, you can build up to Formidable quickly. She can also be an early drop for some minor damage with giving her flying and Firebreathing until you can get your main dragons out there.
Thunderbreak Regent
, is currently one of the best cards out of Dragons of Tarkir, and for good reason. a 4/4 for 2RR that has flying AND the added ability of hurting your opponent for anything they try to do to it, once it's on the board. Granted, it can be countered, but once it's there your opponent has to judge the cost effectiveness of letting it hit them, or take damage from trying to deal with it. Defiantly one of the core cards of the deck.
Stormbreath Dragon
also gets a good shot here as it is also a good solid Dragon. Pro White should help deal with some of the White decks that have been seeing play locally for me. Haste isn't anything to sneeze at, and the Monstrous ability rounds out even more damage against your opponent. Also a solid core Dragon to have.
The one card I'm unsure about is
Goblin Rabblemaster
. Sure he produces a Goblin tocken every turn, but at the same time causes all my goblins to rush in. It's pretty standard Red Aggro, but also a higher risk than what I'm used to playing as. This also ties in with a few cards I have set off in my Maybe Board, due to the number of Goblin Tokens that are going to be created through
Dragon Fodder
and
Hordeling Outburst
. Which even then, their purpose is less about killing the opponent, but more about stalling them and stopping them from killing me with their creatures.
DRAGONS!
Now to the Enchantments and other cards for the deck.
Dragon Tempest
is a must have. Securing Haste for your Dragons and giving them some extra damage when they land on the board. It is a solid piece to add in, considering what it can do as you drop more and more dragons from your hand with the Regent and Stormbreath, but also
Dragon Whisperer
to just keep dropping dragons onto the field.
On of my favorite cards has to be
Sarkhan's Triumph
. Letting you get set up for
Draconic Roar
as well as ready to drop a dragon onto the field by the next turn. Basically to make the deck function effectively, this is highly needed.
Outpost Siege
, while I like the Dragon side, I imagine picking it over Khans is going to be a situational choice more than anything. The big issue here is Card Advantage, as the deck currently lacks much of it. Exiling the top card is going to be useful as it gives you that extra card you can play, whether a land or a spell, it'll be useful to have no matter the case. Even if it's a dragon, if you have the mana to cast Seige, then you have the mana to pay for any Dragon it might reveal (or any card the deck has, pretty much).
Sideboard:
Sideboards are tricky, and I'm not used to sideboarding much, but,... here's what we have thought up so far.
Siege Dragon
. While I haven't seen many walls in play, the key here isn't more for walls, but more for Creature removal. It is also a bit larger than the other dragons in the deck, giving it a chance to hit pretty solidly.
Tormenting Voice
. As I mentioned, card advantage is going to make or break the deck. Card draw is a nessecity and I'm almost ready to switch out some Goblins for some more Red Card draw. Tormenting Voice doesn't do it as well as other cards I've come across such as
Faithless Looting
but for Standard I can't talk too bad on it. More than willing to mainboard, provided the current iteration of Goblin Dragons isn't as consistent as I'd like.
Anger of the Gods
,
Magma Jet
, Additional
Sarkhan's Triumph
, and
Crater's Claws
are sideboarded for the massive damage output and creature removal. I am more a fan of burn than Goblins usually, but then again we shall see how it plays.
An interesting addition is
Fanatic of Mogis
, and his ability to hit people equal to your devotion. Which when I considered the max devotion I would have, I saw that it was sitting at about 30 devotion total. Which is more than I had considered. On average I expect to have 2-4 Devotion on the board at any one time.
Maybe Board
There are still a few cards I'm thinking about for a Maybe Board.
Descent of the Dragons
. The reason I want to Maybe Board this, even thinking of a possible Main Board is due to the raw number of Goblin Tokens I could end up with. Granted, it is not a primary kill condition (though making 1/1s into 4/4s with flying isn't anything to laugh at.). This could combo really well with
Dragon Tempest
in that not only do I get 4/4s but my opponent will take a chunk of damage from them coming onto the board.from just existing. I think it's pretty solid, but then again, it's costly and Goblins die easy.
