MTG FNM Report - 5 Colour Dragons

It's been a while since I've done a blog post as I've been quite busy at work, but I've still been playing FNM. I've mostly been running a version of my Temur Dragons deck, but I thought that the new standard was a good time to try my 5 colour dragons again. With the speed of the format slowing down and everyone playing more marginal lists while they feel out the format, I thought I could durdle around a little more without sacrificing my win percentage too much.

Here's the list I ran:

Mainboard

Sideboard

4x Heir of the Wilds 4x Beastcaller Savant 3x Rattleclaw Mystic 2x Shaman of Forgotten Ways 4x Thunderbreak Regent 1x Avaricious Dragon 2x Surrak, the Hunt Caller 4x Whisperwood Elemental 3x Sarkhan Unbroken 1x Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury 1x Dromoka, the Eternal 1x Dragonlord Ojutai 1x Dragonlord Silumgar 1x Dragonlord Dromoka 1x Dragonlord Kolaghan 1x Dragonlord Atarka 3x Frontier Bivouac 3x Opulent Palace 3x Wooded Foothills 4x Evolving Wilds 2x Lumbering Falls 1x Haven of the Spirit Dragon 1x Cinder Glade 3x Mountain 3x Forest 1x Plains 1x Island 1x Swamp

1x Hangerback Walker 2x Stubborn Denial 1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death 2x Dragonlord's Prerogative 3x Sagu Mauler 3x Crux of Fate 1x Polluted Delta 1x Swamp 1x Island

It's very similar to my previous try at 5 colour dragons, playing all the dragonlords and a ton of ramp. 

Round 1: 2-0 vs RU Thopters

In the first round, I played against a new player with his casual thopters deck. In round 1 I ramped into Surrak followed by three Whisperwoods and in the second I ramped into dragonlords Kolaghan and Dromoka. The mana seemed fine if slow, with the Beastcallers doing a good job fixing. I could have cast a turn 4 Sarkhan in game 2 if I had started with a Rattleclaw instead of a Beastcaller... but with two dragonlords in my hand and no Sarkhan, I think I made the right play. I suppose it worked out either way.

Round 2: 0-2 vs Mono-Red Midrange

Even against the midrange version of the red deck, I was just far too slow. The combination of all my tapped lands and my opponent cleverly burning all my mana-dorks means I never really got going and got run over. Ouch.

Round 3: 2-0 vs RG Midrange

This round was better for me. My opponent was also a new player and I was easily able to play bigger threats sooner than he could. I like the way the deck plays when my opponent doesn't disrupt me or put on too quick a clock.

Round 4: 2-0 vs GW Midrange

The last round saw me paired up against another new player. The first round saw me ramp out a quick Dragonlord Atarka and in the second I beat down with Heir of the Wilds and Flamebreak Regent. 

It was nice to see so many new faces at the tournament... and I felt a little bad crushing them with mythic dragons. Not so bad that I didn't enjoy it though :D I think the deck is mostly fine.. though I either need to come up with a proper sideboard that has a plan against the red decks or just write off those match-ups entirely. 

-Odd

"They come because I call. They stay because I listen." - Flavour Text, Beastcaller Savant

MtG FNM Report - Five Colour Dragon Ramp

It's been a while since I did an FNM report, so here's the run down from last week's tournament at Outer Limits Melville. I played a silly five colour Dragon ramp deck, because I love me some dragons and wanted to play them all in one deck. Here's the list I ran:

Mainboard

Sideboard

4x Elvish Mystic 3x Rattleclaw Mystic 4x Sylvan Caryatid 3x Courser of Kruphix 4x Thunderbreak Regent 3x Stormbreath Dragon 1x Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury 1x Atarka, World Render 1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death 1x Dromoka, the Eternal 1x Ojutai, Soul of Winter 1x Dragonlord Dromoka 1x Dragonlord Atarka 1x Dragonlord Ojutai 1x Dragonlord Silumgar 1x Dragonlord Kolaghan 2x Crux of Fate 2x Sarkhan Unbroken 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon 2x Haven of the Spirt Dragon 3x Mana Confluence 2x Opulent Palace 3x Wooded Foothills 4x Evolving Wilds 4x Forest 3x Mountain 1x Swamp 1x Plains 1x Island

4x Crackling Doom 4x Ultimate Price 2x Foul-Tongue Invocation 2x Anger of the Gods 2x Dragonlords Prerogative 1x Whip of Erebos

The main impetus behind this deck should be readily apparent: I want to play ALL THE DRAGONS! So I've got some ramp and some dragons. The only spell I've included is Crux of Fate, because it fits the flavour and a one-sided wrath seems like a good thing.

Round 1: 2-1 vs GR Dragons

My first round I was paired up against FNM regular Michael, and I was nervous. His favorite flavour of magic has been GR for a while and his GR dragon ramp deck is super scary, always well piloted and probably much more consistent than mine. It turned out to be one of my favorite games of magic ever with the game winner always swinging for well over 20 in the air each game (Game one he cast Chord of Calling to fetch Ararka, World Render to attack me for 40-something). My mana held up in games 2 and 3 as did my side-board plan of pulling out the 7 drops for more removal. 

Round 2: 2-0 vs UW morph

Round two I was paired up against a fairly new player with a pretty strong deck. I didn't give him time to get Mastery of the Unseen going and despite a really scary Master of Pearls play in game two, the dragons took it home. 

Round 3: 1-2 vs BW Death

I was paired against another FNM regular (Francois) in probably my worst match-up of the night. Game one was pretty much a write off as he had all the removal and multiple Agent of Fates triggers. I boarded in my Ultimate Price and Anger of the Gods and managed to swing game 2, but didn't draw the removal game three and multiple Agent of Fates triggers left me with no board facing down an 7 power, flying, first strike, deathtouch, lifelink, vigilance Agent of Fates.... .... .... it didn't end well for me. 

Round 4: 0-2 vs BW Warriors

In the last round I played another new-comer to Outer Limits and his "budget" BW warriors deck. He played well and.... wow.... that Warriors deck is legit. Lots of 2/1 warriors, coupled with great removal, the double striking warrior and Great Teachers decree was just way too fast for my poor little dragons deck. In both games I managed to sweep the board to stabilise (with Crux game one and Anger game 2) but he just dashed in a warrior for lethal. 

So that was the end of the night. I went 2-2, had some great games and even won booster for my troubles. I think my deck was fun, but obviously sub-optimal. If I continue with the five colour version I will have to take out some 7 and 8 drops for more removal as I was boarding into it every match. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to be playing this week... maybe a refined version of this five colour dragons list, the Mardu Dragons list that's been doing well in the international tournaments, or I might brew up a Temur Dragons list because Sarkhan Unbroken is busted (every game I played him I just felt like it put me so far ahead of my opponents). 

Hopefully I'll give you another report next week.

-Odd

"'My dragonlord is immortal. Most dragons are not.'  Kadri, Dromoka warrior" - Enduring Victory, flavour text