My mistake, I was thinking of Desperate Ritual.
The description has been updated
February 18, 2015 5:41 p.m.
Wild Slash and Galvanic Blast are direct upgrades over Shock. I recommend running some fetches to reduce the chance of drawing lands. If you run fetches you can use a Stomping Ground To get the flashback of Ancient Grudge which you should have in the sideboard for the affinity match up
February 19, 2015 1:01 p.m.
marbo, thank you for your suggestions! Galvanic Blast was obviously a much better choice than Shock, I honestly forgot about that card when I was building the deck.
I do understand your point about the Fetch Lands, I'll be adding some Wooded Foothills when I get my hands on them.
I like the Ancient Grudge with Stomping Ground. My only real answer to Affinity decks was Hellkite Tyrant but I'll definitely rework the sideboard and make room for these cards.
Thanks again!
February 19, 2015 9:50 p.m.
Fantastic_Mr_King says... #5
My only suggestion is to add just 1 more land, maybe 2. 23 lands is the absolute minimum amount of lands I would play. Those first 3 land drops are absolutely crucial.
February 24, 2015 4:08 p.m.
Chilimonkeyman, I actually like Lightning Greaves, I think it might be better than Apostle's Blessing in the sideboard.
dandaftw, haha it's fun to play and does well at events, couldn't ask for more!
ickyickywickywicky, you might find this one even funnier:
February 25, 2015 10:11 a.m.
how do you think Scourge of Valkas will fair in this deck?
February 26, 2015 12:21 p.m.
swkelly89, as far as 5-drops go, I think I prefer Thundermaw Hellkite because its Haste and ability to Tap down any potential blockers will almost guarantee 5 damage that turn.
Scourge of Valkas is nice but to do that same amount of damage I'd have to have 4 other dragons already, and if my board looks like that then I've probably already won.
I did mention in the PRICING & COST section that you can run Scourge of Valkas instead of Thundermaw Hellkite. I did try it out in a budget build of the deck and it did just fine, but in my opinion was slightly slower than Thundermaw Hellkite. I also didn't like that it could be killed by Stoke the Flames or Mizzium Mortars.
But in the end, it's player preference.
I hope this answered your question!
February 26, 2015 12:27 p.m.
You run plenty of Ramp. What about Dragonstorm? That can help you grab hellkite tyrant against affinity.
February 26, 2015 12:52 p.m.
Gondorian, I actually did try out Dragonstorm for a while when I was first building the deck but it just didn't seem to work out, despite all the ramp.
There is an alternate build that chains together cards like Rite of Flame, Pyretic Ritual and Desperate Ritual in a single turn to generate a crap-ton of Red mana, and finally casts Dragonstorm to pull out 4 Bogardan Hellkites at the same time, dealing 20 damage and ending the game.
However...they banned Seething Song in modern, one of the best Storm spells. And that pretty much killed any possibility of successfully incorporating that Dragonstorm combo in this deck. Even with all the ramp I have, 9 mana is a lot, and in the end I decided to cut it.
And Affinity wasn't a huge problem for the deck to be honest, Blood Moon easily neutered my opponent's Tron Lands and Inkmoth Nexus and bought me more than enough time to draw my Hellkite Tyrant
February 26, 2015 1:14 p.m.
I love this deck and will probably make my own. also thanks a bunch for the whole section on prices. +1
February 26, 2015 1:23 p.m.
From the FNM report it sounds like you're mostly using the bolts for creature removal so you might want to add some Flame Slash 1 extra damage can really help sometimes.
February 26, 2015 1:44 p.m.
bradens, I don't have any copies of Cavern of Souls yet :(
But you're right, it's amazing for this deck.
March 2, 2015 9:36 a.m.
M1GHTYM0RPH1N, hell yes it would, after looking at all of the new Dragons of Tarkir spoilers, I'm probably going to take out Hammer of Purphoros in exchange for Dragon Tempest.
I also really want to make some room for Thunderbreak Regent, it's an amazing 4-drop Dragon.
I'm so in love with that set already and they haven't even fully spoiled it!
March 5, 2015 10:55 p.m.
Which deck do you like better Dragon Blitz or Izzet Dragons..?
bamfbanki says... #1
Seething Song is banned in modern btw.
February 18, 2015 5:15 p.m.