I already agreed with you, xhuggels.

I did mention way back here that my go to strategy for Control is to throw more Creatures into the deck.

That and using Banefire as a finisher, which can't be Countered or prevented.

Argy, I am happy to suggest Sorcerous Spyglass for you. I have pretty much made it a staple in my sideboard as my local meta plays A LOT of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Sure, it is occasionally countered or bounced, but it also occasionally sticks! At about a 50% "stick" rate (and that's a gut-feeling number, not one actually backed up by real data-- could be a bit higher, could be a bit lower, but "feels" about that rate based on my recollection), that can be the edge that wins matches.

It's also worth noting that a sideboard full of sweepers against a deck that plays few-to-zero creatures is a sideboard that cannot be utilized as effectively.

Glad to be able to offer a card for you. Hope you are well! Cool deck and good luck!

BioProfDude you might not have seen the discussion we were having above.

When I Sideboard against Control I throw Goblin Chainwhirler and Banefire in.

Control decks do NOT like dealing with extra Creatures and if Banefire is big enough it can't be Countered or prevented.

Hi Argy, I did see that discussion. My personal thought process: I'd rather shut down Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and not have to use resources attacking that card-- I'd rather go after the player (as I think most people would). I also absolutely HATE that Teferi can untap up to two lands. Thus, If I can shut off Teferi (or Ajani, or Vivian Reid, or a pretty good number of other cards) than I will take that opportunity! I get that others have differing views and strategies, and I respect that.

Banefire is amazing. 'Nough said about that card. :-) Cheers!

Fire Urchin could be interesting in this deck.

Sertar8 I don't really feel it is better than the filtering of Dismissive Pyromancer or the effective blocking of Raptor Hatchling, which are the cards it would replace.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Fair Point. My take on it was, its more treatening on the spot than the hatchling (i would never suggest that you replace Dismissive Pyromancer), since you have recursion with spit flame you can abuse it consitently, its a pain for your opponent to play around because of its abilitie when trading and it has trample to help push damage.

There is NO WAY this deck is 69% Conpetitive.

It would be lucky to be 5% Competitive, silly metre.

ONLY A FOOL WOULD USE THESE CARDS.

I am so very sleep deprived ...

If you're bored, come over to the Sizzle Archive with me and read how many people tell me to put Goblin Bushwhacker, Slip Through Space, and Titan's Strength in the deck.

It makes one hell of a drinking game.

That was what made me decide to start making my Descriptions more comprehensive.

I guess I could be REALLY diligent like clayperce and actually say WHY I have rejected certain cards ...

... sounds like too much hard work.

I tried this deck in MTG arena and it fall short on several points. One is card fixing even with Sarkhan, Fireblood and Dismissive Pyromancer. I tried it with 3x Tormenting Voice (plus you can discard Spit Flame :P and re-fetch it afterward) and it works way better. Because if you start with 4 lands in hand and Tormenting Voice and 2 removal, at least flesh out you mana base.

Anyway my 2 cents. Had more luck/versatility with this setup than the current deck list :)

Cheers!

Here is my current take on it :)

3 Lathliss, Dragon Queen 23 Mountain 2 Demanding Dragon 4 Spit Flame 3 Dismissive Pyromancer 3 Sarkhan, Fireblood 4 Lightning Strike 3 Dragon Egg 3 Fight with Fire 3 Raptor Hatchling 3 Sarkhan's Whelp 1 Verix Bladewing 2 Dragon's Hoard 3x Tormenting Voice

I would never keep a four land hand.

Verix Bladewing is too useful to make it a one of.

Tormenting Voice seems like a sweet deal in red at first glance, but there are 2 pretty big problems with it.

1. The obvious one, if it gets countered you just spent 2 mana to discard a card. It would be fine if the top of the curve was 3 or 4, but this deck needs more lands than your average red deck, so you cant really risk discarding a card for no reward.

and 2. Drawing cards is all it does. If it cant deal damage in a red deck, its hard to justify it. If it was on a stick it may be viable in red, but idk, there are a lot of cons to this card, and the deck already has more card advantage(or artificial card advantage) than most red decks.

cotlod I took a closer look at the list you are using in Arena, and it has some big changes that make it unbalanced, and therefore not able to be properly tested.

No Arch of Orazca - no wonder you needed Tormenting Voice.

Only 1 Verix Bladewing, which changes how this deck works entirely. There is a reason that I have 4 of that card.

No Shock, which not only takes away one of the means of killing an early Creature, it means you have one less means of lethal damage.

1 extra Lightning Strike and 1 extra Spit Flame. I guess these are because there are less Shocks.

Those changes are SIGNIFICANT. Until they are fixed, you aren't playing my deck.

The other thing that has happened by removing Shock is that you have taken out a spell which can easily turn Dragon Egg into a 2/2 flier with Firebreathing.

That 2/2 Dragon can go over the top of Opponent Creatures, and be pumped for lethal.

Or be pumped to kill an Opponent flying Creature.

Nice deck! I really like the theme, and yes, I'll admit that the deck name really caught my attention. :)

One of the decks which has come into my local playgroup and our friends is GW Tokens. I'm assuming you would sideboard in both sweepers in a side boarding match (please correct me if I'm wrong). My question is, what would you sideboard out?

Basically, what's the sideboarding plan against GW Tokens? Thanks for your time!

Thanks for the question magicsheep

It all depends on how the Tokens are being made, how much they are being pumped up, and how your Opponent plays.

Example: I have a friend who plays decks that always go wide. He is very careful to always keep cards in his hand, so he can put more Creatures on the field if he is board wiped.

If your Opponent is utilising Make a Stand you need to be ready for that.

There are actually three lots of sweepers in this deck. Goblin Chainwhirler is also one.

Tokens are this deck's weakness in that they can outpace it.

I tend to use Goblin Chainwhirler if Opponent Tokens are 1 Toughness.

I use both Goblin Chainwhirler and Fiery Cannonade for Goblin decks, as they tend to pump themselves up with Goblin Trashmaster.

For decks like Merfolk I would once again use Goblin Chainwhirler and this time I would add The First Eruption. It hits Merfolk that haven't yet been pumped, lets you get ahead of the curve with the so you can get a big fatty on the field to block, and the 3 damage wipes a lot of Merfolk off the field.

For decks that are absolutely Token city, and can easily replenish their field, I will use Goblin Chainwhirler, Fiery Cannonade, AND The First Eruption.

You want to take out spells that aren't "low to the ground".

Of course this is all very dependent on what the Opponent is playing in their deck.

I would remove spells that hit hard later in the game like Spit Flame and Fight with Fire.

Sarkhan, Fireblood will probably take too much effort to protect, so he can also be taken out.

You will need to "mix and match" to find the right strategy.

It may be that you need to keep Fight with Fire in, if your Opponent has a large Creature that is causing you problems.

In that case just having Goblin Chainwhirler and Fiery Cannonade might be enough.

If your Opponent has lots of Enchantment removal then The First Eruption is probably not a great idea.

You want to control Tokens until your Opponent runs low in cards, then start playing big fliers and hit for large amounts of Flying damage.

More than they can do with their Tokens.

It's a race that you can win, because Lathliss, Dragon Queen can pump all your Dragons up.

Hope that helps.

@Calispotato: One does not simply splash for Niv-Mizzet, Parun.

☻

Calispotato I'm going to wait until I see how this plays at WNM before I make any changes.

I will keep your suggestions in mind.

To preface this question, I'm not very experienced with dragon decks: Does Runaway Steam-Kin have any place in the deck? Strictly for mana generating purposes. I assume Sarkhan, Fireblood may already fill the role well enough.

Malikin the early choices for this deck are things which can hold the Opponent at bay, especially if they are piloting an Aggro build.

To this end I've gone for cards that can defend, like Raptor Hatchling which can block then leave a 3/3 behind, Dismissive Pyromancer, which can either be sacced to deal 4 damage or used to filter away cards that aren't useful, and Shock and Lightning Strike which can both kill early Creatures.

Runaway Steam-Kin wouldn't help to kill or defend against early Creatures, the turn it hit the field. You'd need to wait until at least Turn 3 to maybe trigger its ability. There would probably need to be more Shock and Lightning Strike in the deck to make it viable, which would throw out the curve.

Now we are talking about changing the deck to revolve around one card, rather than that card falling into the established direction of the deck.

Sarkhan, Fireblood does help to ramp into bigger Creatures, but with so much removal I can usually control the field until I am ready to cast my big fatties.

It's not a horrible idea and I will keep it in mind. Thanks for the suggestion.

So I've been trying this on Arena and with so much black in the meta game it feels a bit off. Golgari just out-values too quickly and just always seems to have some kill spell ready for your bigger dragons. Doesn't feel too bad into the more blue centric decks but getting past Doom Whisperer in the surveil deck can feel challenging.

It definitely feels decent into aggro and boros. Also lines up well against the izzet spell/flyers and blue tempo since Fight with Fire and Spit Flame line up well against Tempest Djinn, Crackling Drake, and Enigma Drake.

golgari midrange is golgari midrange though. if you dont have a playset of Tocatli Honor Guard it will always be an uphill battle. i also do believe that there are more than one answer to something like Doom Whisperer in this deck. Fight with Fire can kill it, Dragon Egg and Lathliss, Dragon Queen can pump either themselves or other dragons up to trade even or beat it in a fight. i might be missing one but those are just a few i can see with a quick glance.