Dragonlord Ojutai
Economics forum
Posted on April 23, 2015, 7:35 p.m. by Spootyone
It looks like Dragonlord Ojutai has spiked further. Did something happen that I missed? Yes, I know how good the card is. Yes, I know it sees play in things such as Esper control/dragons, Jeskai decks, and even decks like Craig Wescoe's Bant midrange deck.
But what's up? The pro tour was a decent bit ago so for it to be caused by that seems strange right now. Are there any breakout decks that started using it further? Or is this just something that was bound to happen and suddenly has been driven by demand?
Thanks. Just a bit curious.
ThisIsBullshit says... #3
Holy balls $30????
Stormbreath used to be close to the same price, I imagine it's hype or whatever, and he'll come back down eventually.
April 23, 2015 7:42 p.m.
I am a BIG proponent of Dragonlord Ojutai being probably the best dragon in Standard right now, but I don't think he's a $30 card. I think he'll settle at $20 after people get wrecked by he Esper control + Mono-red metagame. It's hype based on many pros saying that Esper is the best deck, right now.
April 23, 2015 7:50 p.m.
ZooGambler says... #5
He'll come back down. He's not a 4-of in all lists. I think it's just the recent tourney results mixed with limited opened sets.
April 23, 2015 7:50 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #6
People want to play him right now, seems like people get a mtg hard on for 
cards more often than any other color combo. In addition the meta hasn't found the anti-Esper deck that's solid against the rest of the field yet. It's floor is probably $10 and it'll stabilize between $15-$20. Could hang out around $30 for awhile.
April 23, 2015 8:07 p.m.
IvoryFrost says... #7
Where are you guys seeing 30?
I'm still seeing him at the 20 mark, I'm more suprised the Foil hasn't gone up...
April 23, 2015 8:55 p.m.
I have my source located at the top of the initial posting.
April 23, 2015 8:58 p.m.
IvoryFrost says... #9
I missed the link at the top, sorry!
Man that's nuts! I'm happy I was able to pull both him and the foil version in my box...
April 23, 2015 9 p.m.
PasorofMuppets says... #10
Since you didn't mention it, I'm not sure if you've seen the top 8 for GP Krakow, but it featured 5 Esper dragons list (all of which played two Ojutai I believe).
Additionally, he is seeing play in Bant builds, as you mentioned, which seem to be gaining some traction.
He's about 40 on mtgo even, which is pretty ridiculous.
April 23, 2015 9:15 p.m.
it's not that Ojutai is being played in more than 2 slots, it's his relevance in standard and the most solid decks of the format at the momemnt, plus hype.
April 23, 2015 11:22 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #13
Looking at GP Krakow's lists, it seems the top decks were running 3 Dragonlord Ojutai maindeck. So that probably had an impact.
April 24, 2015 12:13 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #14
Doesn't this card come with the intro deck? For like 15$ with 2packs?
April 24, 2015 10:07 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ - You're thinking of Pristine Skywise. They never put mythics in intro decks.
April 24, 2015 10:11 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #16
Haha you're right. What comes in the intro pack? I was thinking of grabbing it cause I wanna build a new standard deck ....prolly unfair white.
Good starter or should I just build from scratch!
April 24, 2015 10:18 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #17
This dragon reminds me of Lone Revenant which in action is good.
April 24, 2015 10:21 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ - The other rare in the UW intro deck is Myth Realized in case you were wondering.
April 24, 2015 1:06 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #19
Dragonlord Ojutai is the most legit dragon in standard. He's in control, he's in midrange, and even in Jeskai Tokens for a transformational sideboard. Not $30, though. If you want to play with him, you only need 2-3, so it's not completely ridiculous.
I think a huge component of his price is that he's a mythic, and a dragon. Casual + competitive appeal makes cards expensive, especially when there's artificial low supply.
April 26, 2015 9:05 a.m.
I know i'm late on this but how are you surprised? Even in recent history, cards like AEtherling and Blood Baron of Vizkopa peaked at $30 while they were in standard.
Dragonlord Ojutai is the best control creature in the format. He isn't unkillable like PLA or Silumgar the Drifting Death, no, but he hits like an absolute truck and he draws you a freaking card when he connects. A control finisher... that draws you a card. And he's a mythic. That's why he's $30 dollars.
To top if off, he's only five mana. Unlike PLA and Aetherling, that means he isn't exclusively a control card. He sees play in Jeskai Tokens sideboard as a two of, and he was recently in a Bant deck that top 8'd last weekend in a SCG Open.
Card is bonkers.
April 29, 2015 10:58 p.m.
kyuuri117: My question was less about him being worthy of his 30-dollar price tag and more so why (after he had already spiked from ~8 to ~21) he had suddenly jumped another almost ten dollars in just a day. I would expect this after a PT or some other big event, but I hadn't been aware of one having taken place at that point. It seems there had been, though.
April 30, 2015 12:15 a.m.
PasorofMuppets says... #22
Pretty sure Aetherling was never more than $8, btw. Everything else seems reasonable.
April 30, 2015 12:18 a.m.
Ahhh was i mixed up atherling and Jace, Architect's prices didn't I... oops. Yea, atherling topped at 8. My bad.
Yea Spooty, I mean, what I was getting at is that I think people have just realized he's the first awesome non-planeswalker mythic in awhile. He's not easy to open in a pack, and he just wins games in four turns.
April 30, 2015 12:32 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #24
Sweet card, I would say 30 is a good selling point. He might peak at 35-40, but you might have a hard time then.
With more being opened, and traded, I think he will go down slightly to 20-25 after his peak.
April 30, 2015 6:55 p.m.
This is copy and pasted directly from StarCityGames Premium. It's written by Gerry Thompson, and it's all about why Dragonlord Ojutai and Esper Dragons is the best deck in standard. I know the formatting is odd, but deal with it.
I've been playing a lot of Esper Dragons lately, and you've probably been playing with it or against it. Some say it's the best deck, and at the moment, it's pretty difficult to disagree. The results from #SCGPROV weren't exactly the same as the results from Grand Prix Krakow, but I would expect the real snapshot of the format will eventually look like a cross between the two.
Esper Dragons is a weird deck. All the decks I build beat it fairly handily, but that's only because I'm really trying. Meanwhile, Esper Dragons is basically the only deck I win with consistently. It's awkward and kinda slow and kinda clunky, and yeah, I think it's probably the best deck.
Like I said, it's weird.
What Is This Deck Like?
If you ever played a control deck based on Mystical Teachings in Block or Standard, you will feel right at home. You aim to use your mana every turn to deal with your opponent's threats and see a bunch of new cards each turn, hoping to find the answers you need. You don't have access to a big card drawer like Sphinx's Revelation, so you're often stuck playing catch up.
With Mystical Teachings, you would often use it to find an answer, then flash it back, finding another Mystical Teachings to start the chain over. Dig Through Time often picks up an answer and another copy of Dig Through Time, so the play patterns are remarkably similar.
You're often playing the game just short one answer to get back to parity. Thankfully, between Dig Through Time and Anticipate, you often see several cards per turn once you hit the midgame. Most games will see you clawing your way back from the brink of death, barely hanging on because of your cheap interaction, which allows you to play multiple spells per turn, or because of Foul-Tongue Invocation removing their creature and gaining you some valuable life back.
Then there's the Dragonlord Ojutai easy mode.
The Dragonlord Ojutai Sub-Game
When you resolve Dragonlord Ojutai and aren't already in immediate danger, you are no longer playing Magic. Instead, they're hard-locked into keeping mana open for removal, but that is easily beatable once you find a counterspell, discard spell, or another Dragonlord Ojutai. You're no longer playing real Magic, because the things that used to matter change dramatically once Dragonlord Ojutai is in play.
Basically, Dragonlord Ojutai creates a huge tempo advantage for you by creating a tempo black hole for them. If you connect with it once, that's usually enough to run away with the game because of how quickly the effect snowballs. Your Ojutai finds Anticipate, which finds Dig Through Time, which finds a Silumgar's Scorn and a Foul-Tongue Invocation, which eventually ends poorly for your opponent.
Overall, the sub-game is heavily in your favor and is one of the biggest reasons to play the deck in the first place. If you connect with Dragonlord Ojutai, the game is often over.
On Icefall Regent
I can imagine a world in which Icefall Regent is a better choice than Dragonlord Ojutai, but I don't think that time is now. In a deck like Temur or Jeskai, you might be able to capitalize on your opponent not being able to remove Icefall Regent without spending their entire turn.
With Esper (or U/B in Shouta's case), you aren't presenting a lot of targets for their removal, so your Icefall Regent will almost certainly die. At that point, you've traded mana with your opponent and both drawn a card, but the game has remained relatively unchanged.
The effect Dragonlord Ojutai has on the game cannot be understated, and it's one of the few cards in the format you can say is worth splashing into a two-color deck all on its own. It is just that good, and Icefall Regent is not. It's certainly a good card, but in order for Icefall Regent to be good enough, the format probably has to be faster in order for the immediate impact on the board to matter more than the power of Dragonlord Ojutai.
Your Typical Anti-Control Measures Are No Good Here
Players will often try to beat control decks with cards like Mastery of the Unseen, Outpost Siege, and planeswalkers. Those cards are laughable here. For the most part, slamming a Dragonlord Ojutai is going to allow you to beat each of those cards rather easily, and old school U/B Control decks didn't really have that option. Sometimes they drew their Pearl Lake Ancient and gave you the beatdowns, sometimes a Taisgur, the Golden Fang came out of the sideboard to do the same thing, and sometimes Ugin, the Spirit Dragon can clean up some of the mess.
Other than that, U/B Control often had a very difficult time dealing with each of those cards. They were always banking on owning the lategame and running the opponent out of gas, but that doesn't work against those cards. Having some big Dragons changes all that, mostly because those cards are too slow to create a real advantage. Dragonlord Ojutai works much faster.
Which Silumgar Should I Use?
Personally, I favor the Dragonlord. The Drifting Death is harder to kill, but it's also a much weaker card overall. I've heard some stories about Silumgar, the Drifting Death teaming up with Dragonlord Ojutai to take out a horde of manifests created by Mastery of the Unseen or Whisperwood Elemental, but most of the time, Dragonlord Silumgar would have been just as good.
I've been beaten to death by my own Xenagos, the Reveler enough times to recognize that Dragonlord Silumgar is the truth. It may not happen overnight, but I fully expect people to make that swap eventually.
The Master Of Waves Package
In regular ole U/B Control, the four Encase in Ice / four Master of Waves package is actually pretty good. That deck can't afford to play a long, drawn out game against Mono-Red Aggro because eventually they'll get burned out. They need a win condition that closes the door quickly, and Master of Waves is a great one.
However, in Esper Dragons, you are not interested. Not only is Master of Waves not necessary, but Encase in Ice works very poorly with one of your best cards against Mono-Red Aggro: Foul-Tongue Invocation. I tried the package for one tournament and decided it wasn't worth it. Perhaps if the matchup was highly unfavorable with the normal configuration, it would be worth running, but that isn't the case.
The Decklist
Esper DragonsGerry Thompson0th Place at Test deck on 4/22/2015Standard
Creatures (5)
3 Dragonlord Ojutai2 Dragonlord SilumgarLands (27)
4 Island2 Swamp2 Caves of Koilos4 Dismal Backwater2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon4 Polluted Delta4 Temple of Deceit4 Temple of Enlightenment1 Urborg, Tomb of YawgmothSpells (28)
3 Anticipate3 Bile Blight4 Dig Through Time2 Dissolve3 Foul-Tongue Invocation2 Hero's Downfall4 Silumgar's Scorn2 Ultimate Price2 Crux of Fate3 ThoughtseizeSideboard
1 Virulent Plague1 Bile Blight3 Disdainful Stroke2 Dragonlord's Prerogative1 Foul-Tongue Invocation1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon3 Drown in Sorrow2 Duress1 Thoughtseize
My decklist isn't that much different from anyone else's, but I think it's better overall.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is not great against the majority of decks out there, so I think it belongs in the sideboard. With Haven of the Spirit Dragon, the deck is rarely hurting for win conditions anyway.
I respect Mono-Red Aggro, so I have an extra Bile Blight and Foul-Tongue Invocation, but those slights are customizable. Dragonlord Silumgar picks up some of the slack of losing a Hero's Downfall. Plus, I think it's pretty dangerous to be playing planeswalkers with Dragonlord Silumgar around anyway.
The extra Thoughtseize is basically because I wanted another cheap way to interact. Having an extra card that matters in the mirror is pretty important right now. I've also cut the Flooded Strand out of respect for the mirror. It's a minor change, and it's one that makes your Dig Through Times slightly worse, but decking is a real issue Game 1 in the mirror, but maybe that's not a big enough concern to outweigh the advantages of having an extra fetchland.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang is no longer in the sideboard as a catchall. Instead, I have Duress, which is far more effective in the mirror and against Mono-Red Aggro. I haven't missed the extra threat yet.
The Major Matchups
Esper Dragons
Ah, yes, the mirror match. This is an odd one because you only have so many cards that matter, each of them trade on a one-for-one basis, and unless something horrible goes wrong, one person will probably end up getting decked in Game 1. I put that plan into action in my video earlier this week, and it would have worked beautifully had I not completely blown it twice. Unless your opponent has something like Pearl Lake Ancient or Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver maindeck just to hate on the mirror matches, you should be able to deck them.
You could maindeck something like a Dragonlord's Prerogative, but it doesn't actually make the mirror more favorable in Game 1. You can draw some extra cards, but that just makes their job a lot easier. However, in the sideboard games, you have access to more threats and more disruption, and Dragonlord's Prerogative becomes your best card.
You'll often want to hold off on casting a discard spell early because it's unlikely that you'll get into a fight early on. If you think they have a Dragonlord's Prerogative, you'll definitely want to take theirs. Other than that, you basically want to resolve a bunch of card drawing and then cast a string of discard spells that leaves them relatively helpless against your full grip.
Out:
Bile+Blight Bile+Blight Bile+Blight Ultimate+Price Ultimate+Price Crux+of+Fate Crux+of+Fate Hero%27s+Downfall Dragonlord+SilumgarIn:
Thoughtseize Duress Duress Disdainful+Stroke Disdainful+Stroke Disdainful+Stroke Dragonlord%27s+Prerogative Dragonlord%27s+Prerogative Foul-Tongue+InvocationRed Aggro
This is supposedly the bad matchup, but I don't really see it. They will basically do the same thing every game, so the onus is on you to produce a quality draw, but that's easy enough. Foul-Tongue Invocation is basically your best card here since it trades with a creature and counters a Stoke the Flames. Sometimes you might hit "only" a Goblin, but that's still a fine trade. If you've cleared out their Goblins with a Bile Blight or Drown in Sorrow, Foul-Tongue Invocation becomes even better.
You will basically need to draw Bile Blight, Drown in Sorrow, or Virulent Plague to keep up with their initial rush, but there are some games where you're able to discard or counter their token makers. Once you remove their ability to go wide, you should have a much easier time dealing with their dinky creatures.
Out:
Dissolve Dissolve Crux+of+Fate Crux+of+Fate Thoughtseize Thoughtseize Hero%27s+Downfall Hero%27s+DownfallIn:
Duress Duress Drown+in+Sorrow Drown+in+Sorrow Drown+in+Sorrow Bile+Blight Virulent+Plague Foul-Tongue+InvocationI could see shaving a Dragonlord Silumgar since it's not the fastest clock, and stealing one of their creatures isn't likely going to make a dramatic difference in the game. However, it is a Dragon, and you really want a Dragon to reveal for Foul-Tongue Invocation and, to a lesser extent, Silumgar's Scorn.
Abzan Control
Now that not all Abzan Control decks are being built the same way, you need to pay attention to specifics about their list in order to sideboard effectively. If you expect them to bring in Fleecemane Lions, feel free to keep some Bile Blights handy. If you get blindsided by them Game 2, that's still alright because Foul-Tongue Invocation does a lot of good work against them.
I like Thoughtseize because it trades one-for-one cheaply and, even once you're firmly in the midgame, they will still likely have spells in their hand. It's incredibly rare for a Thoughtseize to go completely dead and for that to affect the outcome of the game. At that point, either they're far ahead or you are, and very few cards can swing the pendulum in the opposite direction, so it's not like you're missing much.
At first, the matchup might seem grindy, and while that's true, you still don't have a bunch of time to be messing around with Dragonlord's Prerogative. Adding an additional card drawer is actively good, but you don't want to be bogged down by too many of them. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a nice catchall and is typically more important to have access to than another card drawer.
Out:
Bile+Blight Bile+Blight Bile+Blight Ultimate+Price Ultimate+Price Crux+of+Fate Crux+of+FateIn:
Disdainful+Stroke Disdainful+Stroke Disdainful+Stroke Thoughtseize Ugin%2C+the+Spirit+Dragon Foul-Tongue+Invocation Dragonlord%27s+PrerogativeAbzan Aggro
This matchup can be difficult. They have disruption, good removal, resilient creatures, and they get under you rather easily. Despite that, I've been winning more than losing, mostly because of the Dragonlord Ojutai sub-game and how ill-equipped they are to win it. Their removal is great, but it is expensive, and that definitely works in your favor.
Still, I could sideboard some more cards specifically for this matchup in order to shore it up a bit.
Out (on the play):
Ultimate+Price Ultimate+PriceIn (on the play):
Thoughtseize Foul-Tongue+InvocationOut (on the draw):
Ultimate+Price Ultimate+Price Dissolve DissolveIn (on the draw):
Thoughtseize Foul-Tongue+Invocation Disdainful+Stroke Disdainful+StrokeEverything Else
Yep, I sure side out Crux of Fate in a lot of places, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be in the maindeck. In fact, some of the most difficult matchups are midrange green decks where Crux of Fate can really shine. There are far more matchups out there than just these four, and it's important to hedge against the entire field instead of just the winner's metagame.
If Mono-Red Aggro is a large factor, I could see trading a Crux of Fate for a Drown in Sorrow, which is actually a reasonable maindeck card right now. Overall, the entire removal suite is highly customizable, so you should play whatever suits your needs.
Remember to tune in next Tuesday to twitch.tv/magic for Standard Super League! My Round 1 pairing is against Josh Utter-Leyton, who will almost certainly be playing Esper Dragons, which he took to an 11th place finish at Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir. As for me, I will definitely not be playing Esper Dragons. If I were playing in the Open Series in Cleveland this weekend, it's definitely what I'd play, but I have a feeling Standard Super League is going to be pretty hateful toward that sort of thing.
I'm not 100% sure what I'm playing quite yet, but I've got a few ideas. It should be interesting.
ThisIsBullshit says... #2
He's pretty boss in standard right now so there's no way to predict what sort of spikes will come out of that.
April 23, 2015 7:40 p.m.