Introduction
This is my work-in-progress Melek, Izzet Paragon deck!
Why should I play this deck?
Welcome to magical christmasland. This deck is for people that like to win the game unexpectedly and in classic Izzet "mad scientist" style. This deck is for people that enjoy carefully sculpting their hand and then dumping it across the table in epic fashion. This deck is for people that like dragons!
Why shouldn't I play this deck?
This deck is not for spikes. It is for people like me with a peculiar combination of Timmy and Johnny personalities. Melek, Izzet Paragon is hilariously fun to play, challenging to build around, and very interactive at the table. However, this deck is not the best choice in Izzet colors if you want a deck that wins more often than 25% of the time.
Having said that, lets talk about the deck.
Goal:
The goal of this deck is to win with Dragonstorm. To achieve that end there are a combination of tutors, mana combos, library manipulation, protection, and magical christmasland cards. To elaborate...
Tutors: Personal Tutor, Merchant Scroll, Long-Term Plans,
Firemind's Foresight
Mana combos: Turnabout, High Tide, Mana Geyser, Reiterate
Library Manipulation: Brainstorm,
Soothsaying
,
Dream Cache
Protection: Cyclonic Rift, Hinder, Chaos Warp
Magical Chistmasland: Warstorm Surge,
Epic Experiment
, Anger
The idea is to protect yourself and stay small until late in the game when you can get your mana combo going (ideally infinite, but less is just fine), cast some spells to build up your storm counter, and then cast dragonstorm for at least 4-5. Melek, Izzet Paragon does a great job of helping to set this up, since it means that Mystical Tutor is essentially putting cards into your hand and can set up a copied Mana Geyser, Dragonstorm, or Turnabout quite easily.
The damage combo is: Scourge of Valkas -> Utvara Hellkite -> Toolbox dragons.
If you don't have anger in the graveyard, you probably want hasty dragons such as Hypersonic Dragon, Stormbreath Dragon, or Thundermaw Hellkite. When you attack, Utvara Hellkite generates dragon tokens which triggers Scourge of Valkas. If you do, you can do even sillier things (and usually win the game). The addition of the new spoiled Conspiracy card Scourge of the Throne will make this combo work extremely well, particularly with Anger in the graveyard. Even with Dragonstorm at storm counter 3 (or at storm counter 2 and it being cast off the top with Melek), you could deal 138 damage distributed as you like around the table with Scourge of Valkas -> Utvara Hellkite -> Scourge of the Throne -> Any other dragon.
Toolbox Dragons!
It's not every day you hear this, but this deck has toolbox dragons! Depending on what you tutor for with Dragonstorm you can grab what is necessary to win you the game. Typically Scourge of Valkas and Utvara Hellkite are the first dragons you grab, but past that there are a lot of options. My personal favorite is grabbing Keiga, the Tide Star, destroying it with Scourge triggers or Bogardan Hellkite, and stealing an opponent's general.
Thundermaw Hellkite is frequently used to clear the air of blockers, while
Thunder Dragon
can take care of any threatening ground weenies. Hellkite Tyrant can end the game on its own if it manages to connect a couple times.
Hypersonic Dragon deserves special mention because it allows you to Dragonstorm on someone else's turn and let them build up your storm counters. I've only had this happen once, but casting Dragonstorm to kill someone in response to Enter the Infinite was a hilarious way to win the game.
Alternate Lines of Play
What sometimes happens is the deck turns into good ole dragon beatdown, which can be a lot of fun. Sometimes Spelltwine can win you the game as well, depending on what other players have been doing.
Current Problems and/or missing cards:
Right now the deck is lacking several EDH staples and/or expensive cards, including Sensei's Divining Top, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Scroll Rack, Personal Tutor, Gamble, Seething Song, various mana artifacts, and Volcanic Island/Scalding Tarn.
Thoughts on alterations
If I'm going all-in on the dragonstorm train, I could add Fervor and Hammer of Purphoros to make dragonstorm end the game faster.
Keeping in mind that this deck is intended to be more fun than competitive, but that winning is fun... I'm tempted to add Comet Storm, Fireball, and other traditional mana-intensive finishers to the deck.
It might be worth removing some dragons from the deck to increase its versatility. Some of the dragons are redundant right now and arent
