Dragon Launcher (Modern MTG Deck)

February 15, 2021 Ban list update: Simian Spirit Guide is now banned in modern, crushing our first turn hopes and dreams. It was always a long shot anyway getting a T1 dragon or 3CMC card out. Luckily we can substitute Simian Spirit Guide with Desperate Ritual . It's a double up of Pyretic Ritual but it's the next best thing.

I've always found Red hard to play due to absence of decent Ramp and only discard-first card draw. This dragon deck tries to bring big beaters together with Red Ramp and CA.

Ramps with Dragon's Hoard , Pyretic Ritual and Desperate Ritual (extra bonus Sarkhan, Fireblood ).

Card Advantage with Dragon's Hoard , Light Up the Stage and Reforge the Soul .

Card Cycling with Sarkhan, Fireblood .

Graveyard retrieval with Haven of the Spirit Dragon .

Sidedeck:

Blood Moon for Tron.

Damping Sphere to deal with Tron and Storm.

Relic of Progenitus to deal with Dredge.

Dragon's Claw is boarded in for Burn.

Alternatives:

Light Up the Stage can be replaced with Fire Prophecy - keep in mind the play style is slightly different.

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is not needed and can be replaced with either Snow-Covered Mountain or Haven of the Spirit Dragon

Terror of the Peaks can be replaced with 1x Thunderbreak Regent and 2x Thundermaw Hellkite

Normal play:

Objectives

The main objective is to survive until Turn 3 where this deck comes online. In order to survive the deck uses a high number of removal/direct damage cards to keep the board mostly free until Turn 3.

Obviously the quicker we can reach 3+ mana the better. It is likely that you will be able to get out a Dragon's Hoard of Sarkhan, Fireblood on Turn 3 which greatly increases survival into the mid and late game. The opponent then has to either remove those cards, wasting removal on pleb cards or leave them on field enabling our mid-game plays (even if those plays gets removed).

Getting a Thunderbreak Regent out by Turn 2 or even T1 is highly unlikely but possible.

Once into the mid-late game this deck wants to summon its high CMC dragons and beat their face with them.

Any T1 Ramp to 3 Mana

RIP Simian Spirit Guide you were killed before your time.

Option 1: 1x Any land & 2x Simian Spirit Guide : (97.6% * 8%) = 7.808%

Option 2: 1x Any land & 1x Simian Spirit Guide & 1x Pyretic Ritual : (97.6% * 39.9% * 39.9%) = 15.538%

Total chance of at least one: 0%

Any T2 Ramp to 3 Mana

Option 1: 2x Any land & Desperate Ritual : (84.9% * 39.9%) = 33.875%

Option 2: 2x Any land & Pyretic Ritual : (84.9% * 39.9%) = 33.875%

Total chance of at least one: 67.75% = (33.875% + 33.875%)

Early Unlikely Combos

Fast T2 Dragon

Option 1:
T1: Any land
T2: Any land & 2x Desperate Ritual & Thunderbreak Regent .

2x Any land by T2 = 87.237%
2x Desperate Ritual by T2 = 0.822%
1x Thunderbreak Regent by T2 = 44.482%

Chance: 0.319% = (87.237% * 0.822% * 44.482%)

Option 2:
T1: Any land
T2: Any land & 2x Pyretic Ritual & Thunderbreak Regent .

2x Any land by T2 = 87.237%
2x Pyretic Ritual by T2 = 0.822%
1x Thunderbreak Regent by T2 = 44.482%

Chance: 0.319% = (87.237% * 0.822% * 44.482%)

Option 3:
T1: Any land
T2: Any land & Desperate Ritual & Pyretic Ritual & Thunderbreak Regent .

2x Any land by T2 = 87.237%
1x Pyretic Ritual by T2 = 44.482%
1x Desperate Ritual by T2 = 44.482%
1x Thunderbreak Regent by T2 = 44.482%

Chance: 7.678% = (87.237% * 44.482% * 44.482% * 44.482%)

Total chance: 8.31% = (0.319% + 0.319% + 7.678%)

T3 Dragon

Option 1:
T1: Any land.
T2: Any land.
T3: Any land & Desperate Ritual & Thunderbreak Regent .

3x Any land by T3 = 67.9%
1x Desperate Ritual by T3 = 48.75%
1x Thunderbreak Regent by T3 = 48.75%

Chance: 16.1% = (67.9% * 48.75% * 48.75%)

Option 2:
T1: Any land.
T2: Any land.
T3: Any land & Pyretic Ritual & Thunderbreak Regent .

3x Any land by T3 = 67.9%
1x Pyretic Ritual by T3 = 48.75%
1x Thunderbreak Regent by T3 = 48.75%

Chance: 16.1% = (67.9% * 48.75% * 48.75%)

Total chance: 32.2% = (16.1% + 16.1%)

Total chance incl. T2/T1 Dragon: 40.51% = (32.2% + 8.31%)

Deck Power Level

This deck has a T7 Non-Interactive Power Level of: 681.88 [50 iterations]

Power Level last tested: 2020-09-02

All my decks have a T7 Non-Interactive Power Level.

T7 Non-Interactive Info

T7 Non-Interactive Power Level (T7-NIPL) is not a substitute for actual gameplay but can be used to give a base power level of a deck when crafting. T7-NIPL has a focus on MULTIPLAYER and may have reduced accuracy on 1v1 decks.

The more iterations, the better the accuracy of the T7-NIPL. Any T7-NIPL with less than 15 iterations can be safely discarded; any less than 30 iterations should viewed with skepticism; 50 iterations is the ideal baseline.

When testing out T7-NIPL the deck must be played as if versing a "goldfish" opponent that has a legal target for every one of your spells at any given moment. The opponent has creatures but never blocks and never attacks. The deck must be played with the intent to make the best possible action at any given time with good faith. Doing things with the sole intent of stat-padding is forbidden and ruins the entire point of getting a baseline power level (example: dumping all floating mana into a pointless pump card like Together Forever ).

The following metrics are used to calculate T7 Non-Interactive Power Level:

Quickest possible win turn

Avg. cards drawn by turn 7

Avg. cards discarded due to hand-size by turn 7

Avg. cards viewed by turn 7

Avg. creatures played by turn 7

Avg. non-combat, non-removal spells played by turn 7

Avg. opponent cards discarded by turn 7

Avg. damage dealt by turn 7

Avg. life gained by turn 7

Avg. opponent permanents removed by turn 7

Avg. mana spent by turn 7

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Revision 19 See all

(3 years ago)

-2	Crash Through	main
+2	Light Up the Stage	main
+1	Lightning Bolt	main
+1	Reforge the Soul	main
-2	Warlord's Fury	main

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position in Modern Mono-Red 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WUBG
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 16 - 3 Rares 10 - 12 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.97
Tokens	Dragon 5/5 R
Folders	1v1
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