As you can tell, this is not a typical EDH deck. This deck is my only commander deck, and one that is very "special" and talored to my own personal play style. This deck was created with a distinct thematic reastriction in mind: Every creature had to be a dragon, and this dose not include changelings as "dragons". The issue? Most dragons are high-costed, however, seeing my love of control and control-esc stratigies that was no issue for me. This deck looks top heavy on paper and that is not a mistake. This deck plans for and plays best in the long game; the longer the game goes on, the stronger this deck becomes. Thus, to assue that this deck can survive to the point where it can start truely being powerful it places it's draconic beaters in a grixis control shell, offering you countermagic, card draw, tutors and plentiful removal to control the board and make sure the game gose your way.
This deck generally has three modes of play that it will go through in a game, and they are as follows:
Early Game- This is when you are at your absolute weakest and is when you engage in what I like to call the "lame duck" mode of play. During this mode of play your goal is simple: be as least threatening as possible. You don't have a strong early game and most of your best cards have a converted mana cost of 5+. Be agressive here and you will be trampled over and out of the game before you know it. Thus, while you do have some low cost wrath effects, it is best not to use them here unless absolutly nessicary as pulling out an early game fire covenant or do or die makes you more of a threat and at this stage you really can't afford to be a target. So, what do you do? Pretty much noting. Drop lands, if you have a storage counter land now would be a good time to start charging them up. Casually use card draw spells to build up your options and drop a mana rock or two if you happen to have one. Just remember that this is the stage your most vulnerable in and as a result the less you do here, the better, survival is key in the early game and the best way for this deck to survive is to make it seem like your not worth focusing on.
Mid Game- This is when you can start doing more. You probally have drawn into at least one wrath effect, and will have the mana to start droping dragons and creature theft cards in short order, but you should not go for the kill here. The mid game is the time to start being a real control deck and enter into the "reactive" mode of play. At this stage you can start to become a threat but are still vunlnerable to gang ups on you but can probally go toe to toe with individual players, so it is at this point that you can start to build up your board and play like true control deck, but also remember that your still vulnerable and sometimes, it pays to be political. Play your bogerdan hellkite, but check to see if you would help out another player by sending it's damage towards a threatening creature rather then a player's skull. Steal a creature, but make sure it is one that other players will thank you for snatching. Counter spells, but counter only in absolute dire cases, or alternatively, counter something that others want countered. Only wrath when absolutly nessicary. Wraths are a safty net for when things go bad, not something to spam, doing so will only make people want to gang up on you. This is the time to make friends and gang up on enemies. After all, what better way to avoid being ganged up on then by being the one who forms the gang?
Late Game- Now is where you truely shine. You have lots of mana and lots of things to spend it on, and you enter into what I call the "domination" mode of play. This is where the fun begains. Your dragons can now swoop in for the kill. You can drop ridicilous non-creature cards like Nicol Bolas, Plansewalker and Cruel Ultimatium to crush your enemies. Even further, you can now start snathcing all manner of threats with your steal-y cards, which is one of the reasons this deck is so dangerous. Sure it has it's own finishers, but why rely solely on your dragons when you can take the best threats of your opponents and turn them against them? Dominate, Reanimate and copy all the nasty threats that your opponents have to make them fight for you. You can even steal artifacts, and with commedeer sorceries and instants too! Also, don't discount your commander. It is at this stage that the Elder Dragon just loves getting his hands dirty. Just a single swing can leave an oppponent helpless, and add in a hellkite charger and watch as TWO opponents are thrust into topdeck mode. Nicol Bolas can leave opponents in an utterly cripples state, espcially if you've used your removal and control cards to destroy their board position(which you should!) Hey, Nicol Bolas is a villain, don't expect him to play nice!
Anyway, as you can see, this deck is pretty much an old school control deck that seeks to control the game so it can make it to the later turns at which point it becomes a major threat. It is extremely creature lite due to the themeatic restrictions I have placed on myself when building it, and as a result the deck has a very promient card-theft element that allows it to make up for it's anermic ammount of creatures by being able to pilfer it's opponent's best cards and use them as it's own in a vast number of ways. It's not a very easy deck to pilot and in the hands of a political failure it will usually lose as it's a deck that can very easy draw the hate of other players if you don't play it carefully. Nobody likes counterspells and removal aimed at them, and nobody likes having their creatures stolen used against them. Thus, to not be ganged up uppon the deck requires some political finess and manipulation skills to survive the early parts of the game where it has less options. Simply put, to use this deck, you have to think like Nicol Bolas himself and take the long, safe, patient road. Once you get to your high point, you can dominate the game, but just like Bolas himself you need to plan and manipulate your way to that point if you want to suceede. Players who like the thrill of fast victories or have a tendency to spam their best cards should look to another deck.
