Jeskai Dragons [Budget/Casual]

Modern Budget Casual Control Dragons Flying Jank RUW (Jeskai, America)

Kazierts

Land (23)

• 2x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 4x Gemstone Mine
• 1x Island
• 4x Mountain
• 2x Mystic Monastery
• 2x Plains
• 2x Shivan Reef
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 4x Temple of the Dragon Queen

Creature (19)

• 1x Dragonlord Ojutai
• 4x Glorybringer
• 3x Icefall Regent
• 1x Iymrith, Desert Doom
• 2x Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa
• 2x Nadaar, Selfless Paladin
• 1x Rith, Liberated Primeval
• 4x Thunderbreak Regent
• 1x Zurgo and Ojutai

Instant (7)

• 1x Dragonlord's Prerogative
• 4x Lightning Bolt
• 2x Lightning Helix

Sorcery (7)

• 3x Radiant Flames
• 4x Strike it Rich

Enchantment (1)

• 1x High Noon

Artifact (3)

• 3x Orb of Dragonkind

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Sideboard

Enchantment (4)

• 2x High Noon
• 2x Rest in Peace

Sorcery (3)

• 3x Rip Apart

Instant (5)

• 2x Lightning Helix
• 3x Summoning Trap

Creature (3)

• 3x Obsidian Charmaw

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Anger of the Gods
• 1x Doomskar
• 1x Ill-Timed Explosion

Creature (1)

• 1x Timeless Dragon

Instant (1)

• 1x Abrade

Enchantment (1)

• 1x High Noon

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Dragons Show

One important thing to mention about them is most of them have 4 or more thoughness, which is something really important. Having 3 or more thoughness enables the flying lizards to dodge Lightning Bolt, Abrade, Rip Apart, Frost Bite and a lot of that I don't remember know. Still, there's something even more important they avoid, damage based boardwipes. With the exception of Icefall Regent, the dragons all avoid the most common and useful boardwipes, such as Anger of the Gods. I'm gonna go more in-depth about this in the Icefall Regent section, just wanted to mention this fact about them.

1x Zurgo and Ojutai {2}{W}{U}{R}

4x Glorybringer {3}{R}{R}

Since this is a control deck that needs to slow the game down in order to stabilise and win the game, what's better than a creature that also works as removal? A creature that works as a removal and has haste.

Sure, paying {3}{R}{R} for a Flame Slash isn't that good. However, when your 4 damage spell also applies pressure and can be found with Orb of Dragonkind and also has synergies with the other creatures, that's a pretty good Flame Slash. The only downside is it has to Exert itself, which can be kinda slow if the board has yet to be stabilized.

Besides its incredible removal ability, it's a pretty average dragon. 4/4 body and flying would make it a normal dragon without its removal. Maybe a bit bad because of its cost.

2x Dragonlord Ojutai {3}{W}{U}

I would like to mention card: Iymrith, Deserto Doom is the best option for this slot, but it's too expensive. Instead, they'll appear at the d"Dragons that didn't make the cut" section

Ojutai's main strengths are his protection and the card slection/advantage he provides. While not constant protection, Hexproof certailny beats Ward and, even though it requires him to be untapped, having hte knowledge you can cast him without instantly losing him to removal, such as Path to Exile, is great. However, it's nhis other ability that lands him a spot on this list

3x Icefall Regent {3}{U}{U}

1x Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa

4x Thunderbreak Regent {2}{R}{R}

The fastest and one of, if not the single, best {4} CMC dragon. It's in the colors most dragon decks play, which is Red, it doesn't have a lot of colored mana pips, it has a pretty decent body and its pseudo-protection has some interesting synergies with other dragons.

• Dragonlord Ojutai - This one becomes even more annoying to deal with. If it's untapped, it has Hexproof, which protects from a lot of removal spells, such as Heartless Act, Fracture, Path to Exile and a bunch more that would take too much space to include. Thunderbreak Regent makes it sure no removal spells is gonna be risk free. The only way to cleanly remove it without having to wait Dragonlord Ojutai to become tapped or taking 3 damage from Thunderbreak Regent is a boardwipe or Edict effects (effects that make players sacrifice creatures with targeting the creature).

• Glorybringer - This doesn't have a synergies, per say. However, I can see it being annoying as a big hasty flying beater with removal imbued in it and is painful to removal. The "protection" just makes it better.

• Icefall Regent - Very similar to Dragonlord Ojutai. The difference between them is Dragonlord Ojutai has "complete" protection if it's untapped and Icefall Regent always has protection even if it's untapped, but it's more manageable for the opponent.Thunderbreak Regent upgrades that protection and includes "protection" against abilities.

• Timeless Dragon - While not having direct synergies with Thunderbreak Regent, would anyone feel good taking 3 damage to kill Timeless Dragon and having it come back again next turn and needing to take 3 more damage in order to kill it again?

• Thunderbreak Regent - Last but not least, the Regent synergizes pretty well with itself. The more of them in play the more punishing its effect becomes.

If one's goal is to play dragon tribal in a 60 card format, this is pretty close to being the best dragon.

4x Timeless Dragon {3}{W}{W} or Eternalize {2}{W}{W}

It may not seem like it, but this is one of the most important dragons, for a few reasons.

• Plainscycling - With the addition of dual snow lands from Kaldheim, this makes it easier to fix colors. By including Alpine Meadow, Arctic Treeline and Glacial Floodplain in the deck, Plainscycling can make sure I find the missing color, if the color fixing lands aren't doing their job.

• Eternalize - While being fairly costed, this ability allows it to be a very versatile dragon. It can be discarded turn 2 to find the mana needed and turn 4 it's a decent sized body. It also just means it's more resilient to removal, as it needs to be killed twice.

Aside from these, a 5/5 body with flying and upsides is pretty decent for dragons in general. A must-include in any dragon tribal deck in my opinion, even if only the Plainscycling is going to be used.

Instant Show

3x Abrade {1}{R}

As suggested a few times, Lightning Bolt is probably better. However, I want to experiment with a more flexible removal.

Given this is a slow control deck, one of the tools it needs to stabilise is removal.

Sorceries Show

2x Rip Apart {W}{R}

4x Explore {1}{G}

4x Firespout {2}{RG}

Artifacts Show

2x Boros Signet {2}

3x Orb of Dragonkind {1}{R}

Manabase Show

1x Alpine Meadow {T}{W}{S} or {R}{S}

Kaldheim blessed us with some of the most interesting kind of lands, snow duals!

Why is this good in the deck? It's due to a friend I've already mentioned here, which is Timeless Dragon. Since it's a Plains, it can be searched with Plainscycling in order to fix the mana.

Otherwise, maybe if more snow payoffs are printed, and are budget, having snow lands can enable the deck to pivot into a more snow focused strategy.

1x Arctic Treeline {T}{W}{S} or {G}{S}

2x Forest {T}{G}

1x Glacial Floodplain {T}{W}{S} or {U}{S}

4x Haven of the Spirit Dragon {T}{C} or {T}{W}/{U}/{B}/{R}/{G}

5x Mountain {T}{R}

1x Plains {T}{W}{S}

4x Temple of the Dragon Queen {T}?

4x Unclaimed Territory {T}{C} or {T}{W}/{U}/{B}/{R}/{G}

Sideboard Show

2x Amulet of Safekeeping {2}

2x Deafening Silence {W}

2x Dragon's Claw {2}

1x Thundermaw Hellkite {3}{R}{R}

3x Obsidian Charmaw {3}{R}{R}

WOW F*CK TRON

3x Summoning Trap {3}{G}{G} or {0}

This is simply to fight against counterspells. Since dragons are very expensive, having them be countered can be a massive obstacle. While not completely stopping opponents from countering, spinning into another dragon for free is quite good.

The amount of copies may be a bit too much, but I believe having more chances to hit a single copy in a control match can swing the game in my favor. There are plenty of generic removal spells, but some of more budget options might not be able to easily deal with an Atarka, World Render or Dragonlord Ojutai coming into play for free.

2x Tormod's Crypt {0}

Dragons that didn't make the cut Show

Dragons have a lot of members, but not all of them are fit for this kind of deck. A few are pretty strong, but some of those are too expensive, be moneywise or cmcwise. Others are just... bad. Also, I like writing primers, so I'll be talking about dragons more than I should, even about those which are obviously terrible.

Slumbering Dragon {R}

While it looks powerful for a one drop, as soon as one looks at its abilities, it stops looking strong. However, it's one of those rares that seems to demand a deck built around it, as it has such unique text in it that makes it rather difficult to include in any other strategies.

Sidenote: It's also technically not that budget. For some reason, when looking in Scryfall, the lowest price for this card is 3 dollars, probably due to never having been reprinted. Even went to mtgtop8 to see if it has seen any kind of competitive play, but nope.

Dragon Hatchling {1}{R}

Sprite Dragon {U}{R}

Dragon Egg {2}{R}

Dragon Turtle {1}{U}{U}

Gadrak the Crown-Scourge {2}{R}

Nadaar, Selfless Paladin {2}{W}

Sarkhan's Whelp {2}{R}

Arcades, the Strategist {1}{W}{U}{G}

Arcbound Whelp {3}{R}

Archwing Dragon {2}{R}{R}

Avaricious Dragon {2}{R}{R}

Dragon Whelp {2}{R}{R}

Ebondeath, Dracolich {2}{B}{B}

Furnace Whelp {2}{R}{R}

Galazeth Prismari {2}{U}{R}

Hellkite Hatchling {2}{R}{G}

Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant {2}{W}{W}

Immersturm Predator {2}{B}{R}

Jaded Sell-sword {3}{R}

Leyline Tyrant {2}{R}{R}

Loch Dragon {UR}{UR}{UR}{UR}

Moonveil Regent {3}{R}

Nicol Bolas, the Ravager {1}{B}{U}{R}

Opportunistic Dragon {2}{R}{R}

Phantasmal Dragon {2}{U}{U}

Rakdos Pit Dragon {2}{R}{R}

Rathi Dragon {2}{R}{R}

Skyship Stalker {2}{R}{R}

Verix Bladewing {3}{R}

Wandering Troubador {3}{G}

Adult Gold Dragon {3}{W}{R}

Boltwing Marauder {3}{B}{R}

Bone Dragon {3}{B}{B}

Demanding Dragon {3}{R}{R}

Dromoka, the Eternal {3}{W}{G}

Dragon support that didn't make the cut Show

Crucible of the Spirit Dragon {T}{C} or {T}{W}/{U}/{B}/{R}/{G}

Title goes here

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I have lots in my mind about this deck. I'm slowly organising my thoughts in order to develop this description. Still, suggestions are always welcome since people may see a route I haven't seen yet and that can help me fix the list.

Top Ranked	Achieved #70 position in Modern 3 years ago Achieved #2 position in Modern RGWU 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 months
Exclude colors	G
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 10 Rares 16 - 5 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.24
Tokens	Dragon 4/4 R, Dungeon: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Dungeon: Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dungeon: Tomb of Annihilation, Goblin 1/1 R, Skeleton 1/1 B, The Atropal, Treasure
Folders	Modern Decks