Dragonstorm, the infamous deck that crushed standard for a while. I've been toying with it a lot recently and have found something interesting: With Vessel of Volatility now in Modern, we have achieved a proper density of ramp cards in mono-red to allow for Dragonstorm to be playable again. Why? With the ramp we used to have (Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual and Simian Spirit Guide namely), you have to use most of your hand to play a Dragonstorm. With the advent of Vessel of Volatility, it gives us a possibility to actually ramp even faster and remove Simian Spirit Guide as ramp (he doesn't help on the storm count and only gives you one mana.)
Pros:
Relive the awesomeness of the Dragonstorm deck.
A powerful combo that can burst through lifegain easily.
Toolbox sideboard to sustain through most common strategies.
One of the sweet things of this deck is that by using Dragonstorm as your wincon, you are forced to play some sweet dragons who can, in case of problem, turn into your wincon by themselves.
Dragonstorm: The obvious wincon. Pre-board, Storm count of 2 can give you lethal on greedy mana bases. Post board, storm count 2 can be lethal/destructive. Pre- and post-board, starting for 3 storm, you have various ways of getting lethal depending on what ressources you still have in your deck. (Full breakdown further down.) Scourge of Valkas: By itself, a Scourge can easily turn into a force of nature against someone who doesn't have flyers. With the amount of burst mana the deck pumps, a 5 drop is nothing and using his firebreathing should be able to keep you in the race. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: 3 turns is all you need with this dragon against most decks. Add other dragons afterward into play and they can add to the damage that turn. Hellkite Tyrant(Sideboard): Against any artifact deck, this card is a monster. If you expect a Sword Combo, this and Karrthus from a dragonstorm is a death penalty if they have no mana to remove one of them. Atarka, World Render(Sideboard): Combined with Karrthus, this is a two card kill against control.
As a potential Dragonstorm player, it is a good idea for you to know what the deck fears before digging into the deck. So without adieu, the top 5 cards that will wreck your games:
4.Infecters: Game 1, you only have so many removals so you better hope you have them in hand. Post-board, 4 Pyroclasms and Bolts will help greatly to remove their threats.
3.Memoricide: This.. is a mind game for your opponent unless he knows your hand as this is not a perfect answer as much as it seems like one. If they hit Dragonstorm, you can keep hitting with your hard cast dragons. If they are clever, they will hit the Scourges to try and stop you from killing them. At that point, go for Karrthus + Bogardan and beat them for 17 in one turn. Game 2, board as many different dragon strategy as your sideboard supports.
2.Sorcery HandDisruption: Game 1, these cards are painful for our strategy, thoughtseize being the worst as it can hit our wincons. Game 2, well, let's just say we can actually make IoK backfire in certain cases. Since 2 and 1 share the same disruption, I will keep the cards for the best. Can you guess what number 1 and it's counter is?
1.Liliana of the Veil: Yes, if Sorcery discard is number 2, the discard walker had to be number 1. While the others hurt with keeping us off the dragonstorm, they don't allow your opponent to constantly push you back without expending ressources. And to counter both #2 and Liliana, here's our key card from the sideboard:
Guerrilla Tactics, a card very few people remember exist. But in our case, a very damaging card for discard decks. Can 2 for 1 a Liliana even after her +1, can shutdown a goyf with relative ease, can kill a lot of creatures in the format and best of all, it can actually backfire on your opponent. With all our wincons out of IoK range, if our opponent keeps them to deny our rituals, we can force them to pick this by selectively removing cards from our hand before they IoK us.
Dragonstorm: By now if you are still oblivious to Dragonstorm, scroll down quickly to the "Dragonstorm Breakdown" section and have a look at what you can do at different storm counts. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: Giving haste to your dragons is not something to be underestimated. His first ability might not be too relevant but you might get some catches once in a while. Also, he's a 7/7 for the beatdown/attack plan. Bogardan Hellkite: The original kill of the deck in its Standard madness. Has since been relegated to number 5 of our kill. Scourge of Valkas: One of the best thing to happen to this deck with M14. In the breakdown, I will go over how painful these can become.
Pyretic Ritual: The crappy ritual. Most of the time, these will be cut for something else. Desperate Ritual: With our mana needs, it won't be rare for us to splice 2 Desperate together for some nice ramp. Be careful of counter spells when you do though. Fungal Reaches/Molten Slagheap: Back from the original deck, these two helps both in fixing for any off-color cards you are playing as well as storing for big bursts. Against control, use these to ramp to high amounts so you can cast dragonstorm without relying on your rituals. Lotus Bloom: Are we playing Ad Nauseam? Due to our combo nature, we can afford to wait for these to come out of exile to go off. (Keep in mind blooms count for your storm count the turn they come out of exile.) Vessel of Volatility: The deck's newcomer in the line of +2 manas that can theoretically count to your storm count (in the case where you don't need their mana ramp)
Lightning Bolt: If you play Modern, I don't think I need to introduce you to this card. Manamorphose: Most of the time, this is Storm Count plus 1 with a cycle. In a pinch, can help casting splashed cards such as Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund or Bladewing the risen stuck in your hand. Gitaxian Probe: Same here, cycle for 2 life, add to your storm count. Can help see if the ground is clear for you to go off. Pact of Negation: When going off, this can help stop your opponent from stifling your game plan. Sure, you can't play its cost next turn... But who said you had a next turn? Pyroclasm: Hurts aggro, infect, the newly unbanned thopter combo, weenie, etc. Many deck get hurt by this or at the very least slowed. Against Fish or Elves, this is a hit or miss most of the time. If one of their lord is in range, they will lose their board, otherwise, it won't do much. Faithless Looting: One of the best looting effect and somehow it made it to red. For a total of 4 mana, you can dig four deep. Be careful with this card as you might hit some of your dragons.
Lightning Bolt/Pyroclasm/Pact of Negation: Depending on how many of these you have mainboarded, you may want up to the full 4 copies in your 75. Ancient Grudge: Against any Artifact base combo, this is a must. Slows affinity, hurts the thopter combo, breaks Ensnaring Bridges in case of problems, etc. Very versatile. (Plus its flashback can be paid with Fungal Reaches if needed) Side these if you expect affinity, lantern control, thopter combo, golem, name it. Guerrilla Tactics: Discussed higher in the nightmares, this is a counter to discard deck alongside the other anti-discard effects. Dodecapod/Loxodon Smiter/Obstinate Baloth: The obstinate creature we could use in placce of Guerrilla. If you can swing with these, you can be in business quickly but Liliana will be able to +1 again if she can be protected. Hellkite Tyrant: As explained higher in the Wincons, this card can make Affinity or any artifact combo scoop if they do not have a Retract effect or a removal before you can swing. Thundermaw Hellkite: The Cleaner. Since Reach is not a common keyword in Modern, this card basically reads "When this enters the battlefield, destroy all Spirit tokens. Your dragons can't be blocked this turn." Board this against Triplicate Spirits and Lingering Souls. Bladewing the Risen: While color heavy, this dragon can be a perfect counter to Living End if your local meta supports that strategy. You could probably get away with this guy in a version with 4 Faithless Looting where you aggressively dig for your dragons. Atarka, World Render: Alongside Karrthus, Lady Atarka makes for a 2-dragon 26 damage swing with a storm count of two. Post board, it is one of the deadliest low storm you can get. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: If you intend on going with the Atarka assault, you may want to add a second Karrthus in your 75 in case you draw one.
Here is where the math all comes around. Remembering the most common of these will be important for fast play.
I will be separating the pre- and post- board max damage as well as the other non-optimal but important combos from each others.
A thing that is often overlooked is that Scourge of Valkas works for every dragons entering the battlefield on your side so in multiples, you are getting quite a hell of a burst. Bogardan Hellkite VS. Scourge of Valkas
Here I'll compare the two dragons abilities and their damage potential.
At 1 dragon , Hellkite is 5 damage . Scourge is 1.
At 2 dragons, Hellkite is 10 damage. Scourge is 5.
At 3 dragons, Hellkite is 15 damage. Scourge is 16.
At 4 dragons, Hellkite is 20 damage. Scourge is 30.
At 5 dragons, Hellkite is 20 damage. Scourge is 50.
As you can see, Hellkite is better at 1 and 2 copies of the spell. But let's be honest, at that count, you either don't do it or you are going for a Karrthus plus Bogardan. At 3, Scourge becomes better than Hellkite and works even better with the Karrthus Strategy.
Counting for Storm N where the last instance is a Karrthus.
Storm 1: Karrthus itself is 7 damage.
Storm 2: Karrthus plus 1 Hellkite is 17. With the Scourges, it's 14.
Storm 3: Karrthus plus 2 Hellkite is 27. With the Scourges, it's 26. 1 Scourge, Karrthus and a Hellkite, damage is 27.
Storm 4: Karrthus plus 3 Hellkite is 37. With the Scourges, it's 45. 2 Scourge, Karrthus and a Hellkite, damage is 44.
Storm 5: Karrthus plus 4 Hellkite is 47. With the Scourges, it's 73.
As you can notice, at Storm 2, Hellkite is stronger by a Lightning Bolt. At Storm 3, 2 Hellkites or a Scourge plus an Hellkite give the same damage. 2 Scourges is weaker, At Storm 4, your best output is 3 scourges. At 5, Scourges have taken the lead by quite the margin.
Word of warning/explanation:
While Dragonstorm is resolving, each instance will resolve one after the other, letting each dragon resolve its abilities before the next is put into play. Also, you do not need to reveal the next dragon you want to play before hand.
What does this interaction does for us? Well, let's just say that each Scourge enters one at a time, meaning it procs every other scourge into play. In a 4 copies scenario, your first Scourge played will do 1 damage. Then, as the next one comes into play, both will trigger and each deal 2 damage, for a total of 4. Your third dragon will do the same, totaling 9 damage across your Scourges. The fourth dragon will have your opponent (or his creatures if he is protected) see a burst of 16 damage spread over 4 instances.
Now for the possible scenarios: Starting at Storm 2:
Pre-: Karrthus+B Kite = 5 scattered damage + 12 damage swing(17 damage).
Post-: Karrthus+Atarka = 13 damage double strike with haste (26 damage).
This greatly improves your burst at higher Storm counts.
Dragonstorm itself fetches you a dragon.
So 3 ritual and a Dragonstorm is 4 dragons in play.
Each dragon's ability resolve before the next instance of Dragonstorm can.
Your dragons' abilities completely resolve before the next storm goes off, making it so your opponent cannot deflect all instances at once.
Dragonstorm cannot be countered by a single counterspell. Each Storm instance is a different instance of the spell.
While most counterspells can't deflect the full barrage at once, be careful of decks that might have Mindbreak Trap in their sideboard as it can screw you up with a single card. Keep a Pact of Negation or other counterspells your list might be running. (At least, we aren't at risk of running against Flusterstorm)
I understand the utility of Scourge of Valkas, but anything less than 4 Bogardan Hellkite is a mistake in my opinion. Trim the Scourge count if you have to (since it's the weaker wincon unless your Storm count is 6, and it suffers when your Storm count goes down), and go for the steadier kill. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund is interesting, but I'd move that to the sideboard against an opponent where an x=3 Dragonstorm would be needed. Braid of Fire is also a card for you to consider.
Hellkite is 5 and the Scourge triggers are 3x3 right?
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Modern: -UBG Lantern Control-GW or RG or R Tron - G Stompy - C KCI Combo-
EDH: -UG Ezuri-UGZegana-BRMogis-WUBRGRamos-WBREdgar-URLocust God-WUBRBreya-BMacar-WUBrago-WEvra-
with Braid, don't you need something that will carry the mana into your mainphase since Dragonstorm is a sorcery?
also, throwing Leyline of Samctity in the main will help with discard and against any other combo deck that deals damage directly to you like scapeshirft or the current storm deck.
i also agree with using more Bogardan Hellkites. They make it so you'll only need a storm count of 4 to kill the average player. good backup dragons for people who've gained life before you storm are Hunted Dragon and a single Scourge.
i disagree with getting rid of simian spirit guide. Pyretic Ritual only produces one extra mana as well, and the only positive difference it has is that it counts toward storm. other than that, SSG is much better. it'll let you drop your ramp enchantment on turn one right next to your Bloom, so turn 4 you'll have 5 free mana without tapping any lands.
what i've been thinking of doing with Dragonstorm is making my legacy deck modern. using dig like Reforge the Soul(which could be played as early as turn 2) with reanimation to grab dragons out of the yard that you may have discarded to reforge the soul. since i don't have access to Dig Through Time, i doubt it'll be as consistent. and since there's no Rite of Flame or Seething Song, we won't get first turn win hands, which sucks. but i feel it could be competitive. i'll have to start brewing...
I understand the utility of Scourge of Valkas, but anything less than 4 Bogardan Hellkite is a mistake in my opinion. Trim the Scourge count if you have to (since it's the weaker wincon unless your Storm count is 6, and it suffers when your Storm count goes down), and go for the steadier kill. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund is interesting, but I'd move that to the sideboard against an opponent where an x=3 Dragonstorm would be needed. Braid of Fire is also a card for you to consider.
I'll add in the breakdown the comparaison between B Kite and Scourge in damage but the baseline of it is that B kite deals a flat 5 damage regardless of anything which the Scourges trigger off any dragon, meaning you can still lethal if you draw one. (Which you can't do with B Kite). Another thing that justify the use of Scourge is the mana cost of the dragons. With the Bogardans, if you draw one of them, you will have to expect 7 mana (which most of the time will require you to use non-renewable ressources to do.) to clear from your hand. With the scourges, you only need 5 to drop one. When it comes to their fair drop abilities, the Scourge actually wins in a way because while it will deal less damage when entering, its firebreathing can turn your excess mana into a threat of a 1-2 turn clock.
As for Karrthus, he is in the main for the same reason as the 5th burst dragon (BKite or Scourge) and that is for consistency. If you only have 5 dragons in the main, you run the risk of drawing two of them and not being able to go off at all. With 6 dragons in your deck, you can draw 2 and still have a 20+ damage waiting in the deck. Also, it helps with the low storm count casts since unlike the original deck, we do not have access to the degenerate mana producers that were Rite of Flame and Seething Song in the Standard instance of this deck. At low storm, you will mostly pull out a Bogardan Hellkite and a Karrthus, using the ability of the bKite to clear the board of potential blockers and swing for 12 damage.
Braids of Fire procs at the upkeep, meaning you can't use its mana to cast Dragonstorm. The only thing it would help is with casting a drawn B Kite or pumping an already onboard Scourge. (Which we already hope not to do.)
Hellkite is 5 and the Scourge triggers are 3x3 right?
Because each dragon's abilities resolve before the next storm copy does, the first scourge enters the battlefield, hits for 1, then the second comes out, both deal 2 damage, followed by the Hellkite, proccing both Scourges, for 2x3 damage and an additional 5 from Bogardan. 1+4+6+5 = 16 total damage.
with Braid, don't you need something that will carry the mana into your mainphase since Dragonstorm is a sorcery?
also, throwing Leyline of Samctity in the main will help with discard and against any other combo deck that deals damage directly to you like scapeshirft or the current storm deck.
i also agree with using more Bogardan Hellkites. They make it so you'll only need a storm count of 4 to kill the average player. good backup dragons for people who've gained life before you storm are Hunted Dragon and a single Scourge.
i disagree with getting rid of simian spirit guide. Pyretic Ritual only produces one extra mana as well, and the only positive difference it has is that it counts toward storm. other than that, SSG is much better. it'll let you drop your ramp enchantment on turn one right next to your Bloom, so turn 4 you'll have 5 free mana without tapping any lands.
what i've been thinking of doing with Dragonstorm is making my legacy deck modern. using dig like Reforge the Soul(which could be played as early as turn 2) with reanimation to grab dragons out of the yard that you may have discarded to reforge the soul. since i don't have access to Dig Through Time, i doubt it'll be as consistent. and since there's no Rite of Flame or Seething Song, we won't get first turn win hands, which sucks. but i feel it could be competitive. i'll have to start brewing...
Leyline may end up being important if we get outraced by other decks. I'll keep it in mind and eventually add it to the card lists when I rebuild the OP down the line.
As stated higher, with how we have to achieve the nine mana required, we are sometime forced to cast Dragonstorm for less than 4 storm. Also, starting from 2 Scourges + 1 Bkite, you are already ramping higher in damage than 3 Bkites. At 4 Scourges, you can bash for 30 damage which let's face it, is a lot more than 20. The final point to Scourge is that since it triggers from ANY dragon, you can actually afford to play other dragons in the board and not risk failing to kill because you are tech'ing. 2 Scourges will deal upward of 11 damage with another dragon. Add a fourth dragon and you can hit for 8 more.
For the pyretic vs SSG thing, with Vessel available, pyretic is already bad as ramp. The only thing it still has to itself is the storm count which with the way we generate mana (Storage land, lotus, vessel), is a good thing since we are often looking frantically for that last storm to one shot our opponent. Sure SSG can give us magical christmas land hands that could kill on turn 2 but that is so unlikely we might as well not count on that. I will add it to the list of cards when I redo it but I personally am not a fan of SSG here.
A dig heavy version might be interesting but I am wondering if we don't run the risk of decking our wincon before we find what we need. With 6 dragons in the board, you only have 2 chances before having to beatdown. I guess in such a build, Bladewing should take the place of a Scourge (also, this is the only kind of build where I see that Bogardan would be stronger than a Scourge, due to dealing a fixed 5 damage, regardless of dragons in play.)
I have a question for you guys: Do you see any Dragon tech I missed that would be useful? The wincon is a toolbox after all.
Because each dragon's abilities resolve before the next storm copy does, the first scourge enters the battlefield, hits for 1, then the second comes out, both deal 2 damage, followed by the Hellkite, proccing both Scourges, for 2x3 damage and an additional 5 from Bogardan. 1+4+6+5 = 16 total damage.
I'll add it to the OP to clarify.
Ok, I get that they don't all come in at the same time now but....
Each Scourge doesn't re-trigger when other dragons come into the battlefield right? In that order the first Scourge would only see 1, the second Scourge would see 2, and the Hellkite would see 3 and have it's own 5 trigger for a total of 11 damage.
Modern: -UBG Lantern Control-GW or RG or R Tron - G Stompy - C KCI Combo-
EDH: -UG Ezuri-UGZegana-BRMogis-WUBRGRamos-WBREdgar-URLocust God-WUBRBreya-BMacar-WUBrago-WEvra-
Because each dragon's abilities resolve before the next storm copy does, the first scourge enters the battlefield, hits for 1, then the second comes out, both deal 2 damage, followed by the Hellkite, proccing both Scourges, for 2x3 damage and an additional 5 from Bogardan. 1+4+6+5 = 16 total damage.
I'll add it to the OP to clarify.
Ok, I get that they don't all come in at the same time now but....
Each Scourge doesn't re-trigger when other dragons come into the battlefield right? In that order the first Scourge would only see 1, the second Scourge would see 2, and the Hellkite would see 3 and have it's own 5 trigger for a total of 11 damage.
Read Scourge of Valkas again. "Whenever Scourge of Valkas or another Dragon enters the battlefield under your control, it deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the number of Dragons you control."
The Goblin Electromancers have been holding the place of the blooms in my testing thus far. He can be good against decks that don't pack a lot of removal, but against something fairly fast with plenty of spot removal like various iterations of Zoo, he's very dissatisfying. I'm quite sure [card]Lotus Bloom[/card} will outperform him in those kinds of match ups.
Any thoughts on the style of this list versus the one in the OP? I'm sure some might say if I'm in UR, might as well play regular Storm, but I like that this deck is not as reliant on the graveyard as regular UR storm can be. It is easier to race this kind of deck than it is UR storm though...
The Goblin Electromancers have been holding the place of the blooms in my testing thus far. He can be good against decks that don't pack a lot of removal, but against something fairly fast with plenty of spot removal like various iterations of Zoo, he's very dissatisfying. I'm quite sure [card]Lotus Bloom[/card} will outperform him in those kinds of match ups.
Any thoughts on the style of this list versus the one in the OP? I'm sure some might say if I'm in UR, might as well play regular Storm, but I like that this deck is not as reliant on the graveyard as regular UR storm can be. It is easier to race this kind of deck than it is UR storm though...
My first thought on seeing your list is instantly: "There is no reason to play Kolaghan instead of Karrthus if you aren't running the colors anyway." Here's the full list:
Going UB for See Beyond and Peer Through Depths is interesting but you face the problem I tried to reduce with my list. You might get screwed over by draws if you hit an Hellkite or two as you won't be able to win on the spot with only 15 damage and the potential to get blocked by tokens. They may help with throwing stuff back though.
As already stated as my initial thought, Kolaghan can be a replacement for Karrthus if you don't own it but optimally, you shouldn't have to play him as his ability should be irrelevant if you were to kill instantly.
What is your wincon if Dragonstorm gets Memoricided or Slaughter Games'd? I know my list had the possibility to hard cast Scourge of Valkas to abuse the ramp but I don't think hard casting Hellkite is a reliable plan to kill as it doesn't use the ramp after it hits the board.
Your mana base might be a little greedy between the shocks, fetchs and painlands for a deck that doesn't have much in the way of defense and usually goes off turn 3-5.
I don't see any way for you to deal with discard effects in your 75, which I find a bit greedy since the deck easily gets crushed by decks running discard effects.
I love your list, going UR for digging and safety but I find you a little lite on dragons for such a list. Also, I haven't tried the list but if you don't need that much fixing, substituting a few lands (maybe some Reefs) for some storage land of some sort. If you intend to keep Kolaghan as your haster, you could find some place for Dreadship Reef or Fungal Reaches to cast Atarka.
Its cool to see other peoples dragonstorm builds. I played this deck back when Seething Song was legal and picked it back up a year ago and have been tinkering with my own list.
Some Card Explanations: Blood Moon - An early Blood Moon can be devastating for some decks, and can be a game-winner by itself. Since only two of our cards care about mana other then red, its a safe bet we can use it to stall/set up a win with dragonstorm. Stomping GroundBlood Crypt - While they can be shut down by BlooD Moon, they let us hardcast our Dragonlords in the worst-case scenarios. Increasing Vengeance - There is some cool tech with this and the rituals and flashback. If you can get up to 6 mana using Vessel of Volatility, Lotus Bloom or any other card with a Ritual and Increasing Vengeance in your hand, you can insure your 9 mana for dragonstorm.
6 Mana in Pool - > Cast Ritual (4 Mana remaining) -> Cast Increasing Vengeance copying ritual (2 mana remaining) -> Vengeance Resolves (5 mana in pool) -> Flashback Vengeance (-5 mana) -> Flashback and copy resolves (3+3=6 mana) ->original ritual resolves (9 mana)
This nets you storm 3 and 9 mana and is pretty easy to do as long as you work around counterspells. Dragonlord Kolaghan - This is easier to hardcast then Karrthus using our Lotus Blooms. Atarka, World Render - 2 card win con with Kolaghan. Scourge of Valkas - I run Scourge over Hellkite because how easy they are to hardcast. A Scourge hardcasted after getting a Bloodmoon on the board is sometimes enough to just win through attacking with Fire-breathing. If you don't expect Path to Exile or Terminate you can easily cast this turn 2 if you want to be greedy and don't expect removal. Generator Servant - Walking Vessels. Not 100% sold on these yet, but they can be used to make a turn 3 hasted Scourge.
Sideboard: Defense Grid - Our counterspell matchup tech. Also good defense against bolts and path to exile on our turn. Bogardan Hellkite - Sometimes Hellkite can be useful against tokens or when you need a bigger body to swing with. Shattering Spree - Good against Affinity and the card best against my build, Grafdiggers Cage. Volcanic Fallout - Running this over Pyroclasm and Anger of the Gods due to being uncounterable and instant speed. Can also can hit planeswalkers through redirection of the player damage. Lightning Bolt - Sometimes you just need a bolt
I'm still tinkering with this list and the amounts of each cards fairly regularly. I had badluck using cantrips in other builds due to dragonstorm not wanting to draw too many cards, as every dragon you draw is one less wincon.
Discard effects are still a major concern but in most cases I feel having multiple wincons through either Bloodmoon, Dragonstorm and a hardcasted Scourge is enough disruption that the opponent will pick their poison rather then destroy our gameplan 100%. Plus Inquisition does not work against a majority of our wincons. Thoughtseize is the bigger concern and its use is not as significant right now.
I've experimented with Bolt mainboard as well but so far I'm having luck with the Bloodmoon build.
Let me know if you have suggestions! I'm still looking for more dragon-toolbox tech as well.
Its cool to see other peoples dragonstorm builds. I played this deck back when Seething Song was legal and picked it back up a year ago and have been tinkering with my own list.
Some Card Explanations: Blood Moon - An early Blood Moon can be devastating for some decks, and can be a game-winner by itself. Since only two of our cards care about mana other then red, its a safe bet we can use it to stall/set up a win with dragonstorm. Stomping GroundBlood Crypt - While they can be shut down by BlooD Moon, they let us hardcast our Dragonlords in the worst-case scenarios. Increasing Vengeance - There is some cool tech with this and the rituals and flashback. If you can get up to 6 mana using Vessel of Volatility, Lotus Bloom or any other card with a Ritual and Increasing Vengeance in your hand, you can insure your 9 mana for dragonstorm.
6 Mana in Pool - > Cast Ritual (4 Mana remaining) -> Cast Increasing Vengeance copying ritual (2 mana remaining) -> Vengeance Resolves (5 mana in pool) -> Flashback Vengeance (-5 mana) -> Flashback and copy resolves (3+3=6 mana) ->original ritual resolves (9 mana)
This nets you storm 3 and 9 mana and is pretty easy to do as long as you work around counterspells. Dragonlord Kolaghan - This is easier to hardcast then Karrthus using our Lotus Blooms. Atarka, World Render - 2 card win con with Kolaghan. Scourge of Valkas - I run Scourge over Hellkite because how easy they are to hardcast. A Scourge hardcasted after getting a Bloodmoon on the board is sometimes enough to just win through attacking with Fire-breathing. If you don't expect Path to Exile or Terminate you can easily cast this turn 2 if you want to be greedy and don't expect removal. Generator Servant - Walking Vessels. Not 100% sold on these yet, but they can be used to make a turn 3 hasted Scourge.
Sideboard: Defense Grid - Our counterspell matchup tech. Also good defense against bolts and path to exile on our turn. Bogardan Hellkite - Sometimes Hellkite can be useful against tokens or when you need a bigger body to swing with. Shattering Spree - Good against Affinity and the card best against my build, Grafdiggers Cage. Volcanic Fallout - Running this over Pyroclasm and Anger of the Gods due to being uncounterable and instant speed. Can also can hit planeswalkers through redirection of the player damage. Lightning Bolt - Sometimes you just need a bolt
I'm still tinkering with this list and the amounts of each cards fairly regularly. I had badluck using cantrips in other builds due to dragonstorm not wanting to draw too many cards, as every dragon you draw is one less wincon.
Discard effects are still a major concern but in most cases I feel having multiple wincons through either Bloodmoon, Dragonstorm and a hardcasted Scourge is enough disruption that the opponent will pick their poison rather then destroy our gameplan 100%. Plus Inquisition does not work against a majority of our wincons. Thoughtseize is the bigger concern and its use is not as significant right now.
I've experimented with Bolt mainboard as well but so far I'm having luck with the Bloodmoon build.
Let me know if you have suggestions! I'm still looking for more dragon-toolbox tech as well.
Love your list, the mainboard Increasing Vengeances is actually very interesting. In a pinch, it can turn into a counterspell, copying a counterspell. There is even a way for it to generate a degenerate amount of mana (although I doubt that is useful ever)
As for your token problem, unless spider tokens are common in your meta, Thundermaw Hellkite is a card you may want to consider for your list. While it does not remove ALL tokens, it does allow you to bypass them for a turn as you dragonstorm. (also killing all non-buffed spirits)
While I haven't tested it, D Tempest unfortunately doesn't seem to do much in this deck as we often have the kill as soon as we Dragonstorm. It would be an interesting thing to try in a Bladewing the Risen.
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MODERN: RG Shamanism RG WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
Love your list, the mainboard Increasing Vengeances is actually very interesting. In a pinch, it can turn into a counterspell, copying a counterspell. There is even a way for it to generate a degenerate amount of mana (although I doubt that is useful ever)
Unfortunately Increasing Vengeance works only on your spells, and you can't copy opponents counterspells. I've experimented with builds that use Reverberate, but being able to flashback Vengeance is just such a huge bonus. Maybe I'll try some sideboard Reverberate to help against counters?
As for your token problem, unless spider tokens are common in your meta, Thundermaw Hellkite is a card you may want to consider for your list. While it does not remove ALL tokens, it does allow you to bypass them for a turn as you dragonstorm. (also killing all non-buffed spirits)
I didn't think of including Thundermaw Hellkite, I'll see if I can try them out and let you know how those go! I'm interested to see if they would help. I also may want to try Bladewing the Risen, that seems like a really good tech when you are running Looting effects to get back your wincons!
Unfortunately Increasing Vengeance works only on your spells, and you can't copy opponents counterspells. I've experimented with builds that use Reverberate, but being able to flashback Vengeance is just such a huge bonus. Maybe I'll try some sideboard Reverberate to help against counters?
Right, I had forgotten that...
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
MODERN: RG Shamanism RG WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
Has anyone tried a build closer to ad nas or a more controlling shell, with fewer rituals and more filtering? You can dig more efficiently if you scry dragons and extra lands to the bottom.
I'm not sure on bogardan hellkite vs scourge of valkas, but four damage dragons and one haste dragon seem right in this build because you can scry away dragons, and can stall the game long enough to cast them. Dragonlord kolaghan has more utility than karrthus, tyrant of jund and is easier to cast. You can hard cast kolaghan off of pentad prism, dreadship reef, and lotus bloom. This version might be more resilient to discard because it's slower and has more control over its draws, and can use gigadrowse to tap all of a blue deck's lands or as a fog. Being so slow, anger of the gods is needed for aggro. A word on pentad prism over vessel of volatility: it fixes your mana, and in a slower shell, and if it resolves you add up to two mana immediately.
Blood moon seems awesome in the sideboard if the mana base is reworked, and some number of remand and a gigadrowse can probably go for lightning bolt and mana leak. Dreadship reef might also go for interaction because you already spend all of your mana, but it's incredible with gigadrowse. I can even see cutting an anger of the gods if you add bolts. Thoughts?
I didn't think of including Thundermaw Hellkite, I'll see if I can try them out and let you know how those go! I'm interested to see if they would help. I also may want to try Bladewing the Risen, that seems like a really good tech when you are running Looting effects to get back your wincons!
Other than that I have been mulling this deck over for a while. I cannot decide how much interaction vs dig/ritual I want. I have all the cards but it is just a huge pile of ideas right now. I think taking a chapter out of Scapeshift is the direction I am leaning towards. LinkFake's deck seems closest to where I want to go.
I do have one major difference in that I like the 2 card kill kologhan/atarka the best and have a Thundermaw Hellkite for searching up on dragonstorm 3 for decks with fliers and dragonlord dromoka for decks with creature removal. Unless I am wrong searching dromoka out with the first dragonstorm to resolve would lock out an opponent from interacting because you place it directly in play.
Really like the sound of dragonlord dromoka, especially if you can hard cast it to stabilize. Were you looking at a more controlling scapeshift shell or all in on the combo?
Really like the sound of dragonlord dromoka, especially if you can hard cast it to stabilize. Were you looking at a more controlling scapeshift shell or all in on the combo?
I want more of a controlling shell, but I feel like it ends up just being worse than a Bring to Light / Scapeshift deck since I have to put dragons in the deck that work against the combo if I draw them. I think gigadrowse and anger of the gods are definite in for me, but I am not sure if remand is worth it since it draws a card I am not sure if that is good or not. I'll see if I can post my current untested list later today.
Some scapeshift lists run mana leak over remand and are more controlling; think it depends on pilot preference. Have you tried a tooth and nail shell to go all in, and used dragonstorm as copies 5-8 of t&n? Using this list, just cut the primal commands for dragonstorm, eternal witness and spellskite for dragons, and change some of the ramp out.
The only reason Dragonstorm has any advantage over a normal storm deck is because a storm of more than 2 to 3 isn't typically required to close out a game, which means that having an enabler like Pyromancer's Ascension isn't necessary. It's a 1 card combo, unlike Ad Nauseam or Grapeshot. It's also possible to cast it much quicker than other 1 card combos like Scapeshift (since mana is typically easier to cheat than land-drops). I've been testing different versions of the deck for a few hours now and I can't come up with anything that can actually exploit these perks of the card. When your entire deck is designed to throw away cards for an early mana advantage it's sensible to run a playset of blood moons, since it cripples the bulk of the meta. What I quickly realized was that Blood Moon turn 1 was a better "combo" then a turn 2-5 9drop win condition could ever be. I also immediately realized that struggling to chain together 5-6 cards to resolve Dragonstorm was a complete waste of time when it was relatively simple to cheat out an early Thundermaw Hellkite. As I see it, there's simply no use for this card in modern right now.
I must completly disagree on the not for modern part, I have recently began building dragonstorm for modern, and I am doing great with it. I agree it is difficult chaining the cards, But to my opinion players here need to focus less on the combo itself and more on the interaction with other decks, blood moon is a nice hate card but will often be dead in your hand or absolutly not the draw you wanted, cantrips to search for your combo and cards like see beyond are nice on paper but in reality you are casting that card while your opponent played a 4/5 goyf last turn. I am all for burn, removal and boardwipes. And where are the storage lands in these lists? Also the spinerock knoll is an often very much overlooked card.. And I have to say chandra torch of defiance is a very welcome adition in the deck, dragonstorm is definitly not the best deck, but it does win it's matches
Adnauseam does what dragon storm does in a better way. Get less hate (I mean there is off color free hate for storm, has two win conditions and ways to deal with leyline after it goes out.
There is grishoalbrand in the same spot. Dragonstorm is way to weak in current format.
Once I get some Lotus Blooms, I'll be testing those in the Vessel slot.
I'm currently experimenting with removing some number of gas (Shock, Vessel, etc) to add 4 maindeck Anger of the Gods.
The deck has been performing pretty well, especially against the fair decks. It's not competitive, but doesn't fall on its face either.
Pros:
Cons:
Wincons:
Dragonstorm: The obvious wincon. Pre-board, Storm count of 2 can give you lethal on greedy mana bases. Post board, storm count 2 can be lethal/destructive. Pre- and post-board, starting for 3 storm, you have various ways of getting lethal depending on what ressources you still have in your deck. (Full breakdown further down.)
Scourge of Valkas: By itself, a Scourge can easily turn into a force of nature against someone who doesn't have flyers. With the amount of burst mana the deck pumps, a 5 drop is nothing and using his firebreathing should be able to keep you in the race.
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: 3 turns is all you need with this dragon against most decks. Add other dragons afterward into play and they can add to the damage that turn.
Hellkite Tyrant(Sideboard): Against any artifact deck, this card is a monster. If you expect a Sword Combo, this and Karrthus from a dragonstorm is a death penalty if they have no mana to remove one of them.
Atarka, World Render(Sideboard): Combined with Karrthus, this is a two card kill against control.
5.Sword of the Meek: The newly unbanned combo will be a pain for you to beat game 1 if they can get enabled before you combo off. Post board, you can deal with them with Grudge, Hellkite Tyrant, Pyroclasms and Thundermaw Hellkite.
4.Infecters: Game 1, you only have so many removals so you better hope you have them in hand. Post-board, 4 Pyroclasms and Bolts will help greatly to remove their threats.
3.Memoricide: This.. is a mind game for your opponent unless he knows your hand as this is not a perfect answer as much as it seems like one. If they hit Dragonstorm, you can keep hitting with your hard cast dragons. If they are clever, they will hit the Scourges to try and stop you from killing them. At that point, go for Karrthus + Bogardan and beat them for 17 in one turn. Game 2, board as many different dragon strategy as your sideboard supports.
2.Sorcery Hand Disruption: Game 1, these cards are painful for our strategy, thoughtseize being the worst as it can hit our wincons. Game 2, well, let's just say we can actually make IoK backfire in certain cases. Since 2 and 1 share the same disruption, I will keep the cards for the best. Can you guess what number 1 and it's counter is?
1.Liliana of the Veil: Yes, if Sorcery discard is number 2, the discard walker had to be number 1. While the others hurt with keeping us off the dragonstorm, they don't allow your opponent to constantly push you back without expending ressources. And to counter both #2 and Liliana, here's our key card from the sideboard:
Guerrilla Tactics, a card very few people remember exist. But in our case, a very damaging card for discard decks. Can 2 for 1 a Liliana even after her +1, can shutdown a goyf with relative ease, can kill a lot of creatures in the format and best of all, it can actually backfire on your opponent. With all our wincons out of IoK range, if our opponent keeps them to deny our rituals, we can force them to pick this by selectively removing cards from our hand before they IoK us.
The current decklist
Current Cardlist:
2x Lightning Bolt
4x Manamorphose
2x Pact of Negation
3x Pyretic Ritual
4x Fungal Reaches
4x Molten Slagheap
12x Mountain
4x Dragonstorm
2x Faithless Looting
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Pyroclasm
1x Bogardan Hellkite
1x Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
4x Scourge of Valkas
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Atarka, World Render
3x Guerrilla Tactics
1x Hellkite Tyrant
1x Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Pact of Negation
1x Pyroclasm
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
7 Bogardan Hellkite
7 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
5 Scourge of Valkas
Dragonstorm: By now if you are still oblivious to Dragonstorm, scroll down quickly to the "Dragonstorm Breakdown" section and have a look at what you can do at different storm counts.
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: Giving haste to your dragons is not something to be underestimated. His first ability might not be too relevant but you might get some catches once in a while. Also, he's a 7/7 for the beatdown/attack plan.
Bogardan Hellkite: The original kill of the deck in its Standard madness. Has since been relegated to number 5 of our kill.
Scourge of Valkas: One of the best thing to happen to this deck with M14. In the breakdown, I will go over how painful these can become.
2 Pyretic Ritual
0 Fungal Reaches
0 Molten Slagheap
0 Lotus Bloom
2 Vessel of Volatility
Pyretic Ritual: The crappy ritual. Most of the time, these will be cut for something else.
Desperate Ritual: With our mana needs, it won't be rare for us to splice 2 Desperate together for some nice ramp. Be careful of counter spells when you do though.
Fungal Reaches/Molten Slagheap: Back from the original deck, these two helps both in fixing for any off-color cards you are playing as well as storing for big bursts. Against control, use these to ramp to high amounts so you can cast dragonstorm without relying on your rituals.
Lotus Bloom: Are we playing Ad Nauseam? Due to our combo nature, we can afford to wait for these to come out of exile to go off. (Keep in mind blooms count for your storm count the turn they come out of exile.)
Vessel of Volatility: The deck's newcomer in the line of +2 manas that can theoretically count to your storm count (in the case where you don't need their mana ramp)
Utility
2 Manamorphose
0 Pact of Negation
1 Faithless Looting
0 Gitaxian Probe
2 Pyroclasm
Lightning Bolt: If you play Modern, I don't think I need to introduce you to this card.
Manamorphose: Most of the time, this is Storm Count plus 1 with a cycle. In a pinch, can help casting splashed cards such as Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund or Bladewing the risen stuck in your hand.
Gitaxian Probe: Same here, cycle for 2 life, add to your storm count. Can help see if the ground is clear for you to go off.
Pact of Negation: When going off, this can help stop your opponent from stifling your game plan. Sure, you can't play its cost next turn... But who said you had a next turn?
Pyroclasm: Hurts aggro, infect, the newly unbanned thopter combo, weenie, etc. Many deck get hurt by this or at the very least slowed. Against Fish or Elves, this is a hit or miss most of the time. If one of their lord is in range, they will lose their board, otherwise, it won't do much.
Faithless Looting: One of the best looting effect and somehow it made it to red. For a total of 4 mana, you can dig four deep. Be careful with this card as you might hit some of your dragons.
7 Atarka, World Render
2 Guerrilla Tactics
6 Hellkite Tyrant
7 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
1 Lightning Bolt
0 Pact of Negation
2 Pyroclasm
5 Thundermaw Hellkite
7 Bladewing the Risen
Lightning Bolt/Pyroclasm/Pact of Negation: Depending on how many of these you have mainboarded, you may want up to the full 4 copies in your 75.
Ancient Grudge: Against any Artifact base combo, this is a must. Slows affinity, hurts the thopter combo, breaks Ensnaring Bridges in case of problems, etc. Very versatile. (Plus its flashback can be paid with Fungal Reaches if needed) Side these if you expect affinity, lantern control, thopter combo, golem, name it.
Guerrilla Tactics: Discussed higher in the nightmares, this is a counter to discard deck alongside the other anti-discard effects.
Dodecapod/Loxodon Smiter/Obstinate Baloth: The obstinate creature we could use in placce of Guerrilla. If you can swing with these, you can be in business quickly but Liliana will be able to +1 again if she can be protected.
Hellkite Tyrant: As explained higher in the Wincons, this card can make Affinity or any artifact combo scoop if they do not have a Retract effect or a removal before you can swing.
Thundermaw Hellkite: The Cleaner. Since Reach is not a common keyword in Modern, this card basically reads "When this enters the battlefield, destroy all Spirit tokens. Your dragons can't be blocked this turn." Board this against Triplicate Spirits and Lingering Souls.
Bladewing the Risen: While color heavy, this dragon can be a perfect counter to Living End if your local meta supports that strategy. You could probably get away with this guy in a version with 4 Faithless Looting where you aggressively dig for your dragons.
Atarka, World Render: Alongside Karrthus, Lady Atarka makes for a 2-dragon 26 damage swing with a storm count of two. Post board, it is one of the deadliest low storm you can get.
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund: If you intend on going with the Atarka assault, you may want to add a second Karrthus in your 75 in case you draw one.
I will be separating the pre- and post- board max damage as well as the other non-optimal but important combos from each others.
A thing that is often overlooked is that Scourge of Valkas works for every dragons entering the battlefield on your side so in multiples, you are getting quite a hell of a burst.
Bogardan Hellkite VS. Scourge of Valkas
At 1 dragon , Hellkite is 5 damage . Scourge is 1.
At 2 dragons, Hellkite is 10 damage. Scourge is 5.
At 3 dragons, Hellkite is 15 damage. Scourge is 16.
At 4 dragons, Hellkite is 20 damage. Scourge is 30.
At 5 dragons, Hellkite is 20 damage. Scourge is 50.
As you can see, Hellkite is better at 1 and 2 copies of the spell. But let's be honest, at that count, you either don't do it or you are going for a Karrthus plus Bogardan. At 3, Scourge becomes better than Hellkite and works even better with the Karrthus Strategy.
Counting for Storm N where the last instance is a Karrthus.
Storm 1: Karrthus itself is 7 damage.
Storm 2: Karrthus plus 1 Hellkite is 17. With the Scourges, it's 14.
Storm 3: Karrthus plus 2 Hellkite is 27. With the Scourges, it's 26. 1 Scourge, Karrthus and a Hellkite, damage is 27.
Storm 4: Karrthus plus 3 Hellkite is 37. With the Scourges, it's 45. 2 Scourge, Karrthus and a Hellkite, damage is 44.
Storm 5: Karrthus plus 4 Hellkite is 47. With the Scourges, it's 73.
As you can notice, at Storm 2, Hellkite is stronger by a Lightning Bolt. At Storm 3, 2 Hellkites or a Scourge plus an Hellkite give the same damage. 2 Scourges is weaker, At Storm 4, your best output is 3 scourges. At 5, Scourges have taken the lead by quite the margin.
Word of warning/explanation:
While Dragonstorm is resolving, each instance will resolve one after the other, letting each dragon resolve its abilities before the next is put into play. Also, you do not need to reveal the next dragon you want to play before hand.
What does this interaction does for us? Well, let's just say that each Scourge enters one at a time, meaning it procs every other scourge into play. In a 4 copies scenario, your first Scourge played will do 1 damage. Then, as the next one comes into play, both will trigger and each deal 2 damage, for a total of 4. Your third dragon will do the same, totaling 9 damage across your Scourges. The fourth dragon will have your opponent (or his creatures if he is protected) see a burst of 16 damage spread over 4 instances.
Now for the possible scenarios: Starting at Storm 2:
Pre-: Karrthus+B Kite = 5 scattered damage + 12 damage swing(17 damage).
Post-: Karrthus+Atarka = 13 damage double strike with haste (26 damage).
Storm 3:
Pre-: 2 Scourges + B Kite = 16 damage, swing less.
OR 2 Scourges + Karrthus = 11 ping damage, 15 swing damage. (26 damage).
Post-: Karrthus+Atarka+T Kite = 18 damage double strike with haste, nigh unblockable (36 damage).
Storm 4:
Pre-: 3 Scourges + Karrthus = 26 ping damage, 19 damage swing (45 damage).
OR 3 Scourges + B Kite = 31 damage, swing less.
Post-: Scourge + Karrthus + Atarka+T Kite = 10 ping damage, 22 damage double strike with haste, nigh unblockable (54 damage).
Other: 4 Scourges = 30 damage, swing less.
OR 2 Scourges + B Kite + Karrthus = 24 ping damage, 20 damage flyer haste. (Can kill under Leyline of Sanctity)
Storm 5:
Pre- : 4 Scourges + Karrthus = 55 ping damage, 23 damage swing (78 damage).
Important Things To Remember (ITTR):
So what do you guys think?
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Hellkite is 5 and the Scourge triggers are 3x3 right?
EDH: -UG Ezuri-UGZegana-BRMogis-WUBRGRamos-WBREdgar-URLocust God-WUBRBreya-BMacar-WUBrago-WEvra-
also, throwing Leyline of Samctity in the main will help with discard and against any other combo deck that deals damage directly to you like scapeshirft or the current storm deck.
i also agree with using more Bogardan Hellkites. They make it so you'll only need a storm count of 4 to kill the average player. good backup dragons for people who've gained life before you storm are Hunted Dragon and a single Scourge.
i disagree with getting rid of simian spirit guide. Pyretic Ritual only produces one extra mana as well, and the only positive difference it has is that it counts toward storm. other than that, SSG is much better. it'll let you drop your ramp enchantment on turn one right next to your Bloom, so turn 4 you'll have 5 free mana without tapping any lands.
what i've been thinking of doing with Dragonstorm is making my legacy deck modern. using dig like Reforge the Soul(which could be played as early as turn 2) with reanimation to grab dragons out of the yard that you may have discarded to reforge the soul. since i don't have access to Dig Through Time, i doubt it'll be as consistent. and since there's no Rite of Flame or Seething Song, we won't get first turn win hands, which sucks. but i feel it could be competitive. i'll have to start brewing...
I'll add in the breakdown the comparaison between B Kite and Scourge in damage but the baseline of it is that B kite deals a flat 5 damage regardless of anything which the Scourges trigger off any dragon, meaning you can still lethal if you draw one. (Which you can't do with B Kite). Another thing that justify the use of Scourge is the mana cost of the dragons. With the Bogardans, if you draw one of them, you will have to expect 7 mana (which most of the time will require you to use non-renewable ressources to do.) to clear from your hand. With the scourges, you only need 5 to drop one. When it comes to their fair drop abilities, the Scourge actually wins in a way because while it will deal less damage when entering, its firebreathing can turn your excess mana into a threat of a 1-2 turn clock.
As for Karrthus, he is in the main for the same reason as the 5th burst dragon (BKite or Scourge) and that is for consistency. If you only have 5 dragons in the main, you run the risk of drawing two of them and not being able to go off at all. With 6 dragons in your deck, you can draw 2 and still have a 20+ damage waiting in the deck. Also, it helps with the low storm count casts since unlike the original deck, we do not have access to the degenerate mana producers that were Rite of Flame and Seething Song in the Standard instance of this deck. At low storm, you will mostly pull out a Bogardan Hellkite and a Karrthus, using the ability of the bKite to clear the board of potential blockers and swing for 12 damage.
Braids of Fire procs at the upkeep, meaning you can't use its mana to cast Dragonstorm. The only thing it would help is with casting a drawn B Kite or pumping an already onboard Scourge. (Which we already hope not to do.)
Because each dragon's abilities resolve before the next storm copy does, the first scourge enters the battlefield, hits for 1, then the second comes out, both deal 2 damage, followed by the Hellkite, proccing both Scourges, for 2x3 damage and an additional 5 from Bogardan. 1+4+6+5 = 16 total damage.
I'll add it to the OP to clarify.
Leyline may end up being important if we get outraced by other decks. I'll keep it in mind and eventually add it to the card lists when I rebuild the OP down the line.
As stated higher, with how we have to achieve the nine mana required, we are sometime forced to cast Dragonstorm for less than 4 storm. Also, starting from 2 Scourges + 1 Bkite, you are already ramping higher in damage than 3 Bkites. At 4 Scourges, you can bash for 30 damage which let's face it, is a lot more than 20. The final point to Scourge is that since it triggers from ANY dragon, you can actually afford to play other dragons in the board and not risk failing to kill because you are tech'ing. 2 Scourges will deal upward of 11 damage with another dragon. Add a fourth dragon and you can hit for 8 more.
For the pyretic vs SSG thing, with Vessel available, pyretic is already bad as ramp. The only thing it still has to itself is the storm count which with the way we generate mana (Storage land, lotus, vessel), is a good thing since we are often looking frantically for that last storm to one shot our opponent. Sure SSG can give us magical christmas land hands that could kill on turn 2 but that is so unlikely we might as well not count on that. I will add it to the list of cards when I redo it but I personally am not a fan of SSG here.
A dig heavy version might be interesting but I am wondering if we don't run the risk of decking our wincon before we find what we need. With 6 dragons in the board, you only have 2 chances before having to beatdown. I guess in such a build, Bladewing should take the place of a Scourge (also, this is the only kind of build where I see that Bogardan would be stronger than a Scourge, due to dealing a fixed 5 damage, regardless of dragons in play.)
I have a question for you guys: Do you see any Dragon tech I missed that would be useful? The wincon is a toolbox after all.
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
Ok, I get that they don't all come in at the same time now but....
Each Scourge doesn't re-trigger when other dragons come into the battlefield right? In that order the first Scourge would only see 1, the second Scourge would see 2, and the Hellkite would see 3 and have it's own 5 trigger for a total of 11 damage.
EDH: -UG Ezuri-UGZegana-BRMogis-WUBRGRamos-WBREdgar-URLocust God-WUBRBreya-BMacar-WUBrago-WEvra-
Read Scourge of Valkas again. "Whenever Scourge of Valkas or another Dragon enters the battlefield under your control, it deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the number of Dragons you control."
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
3x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
3x Steam Vents
4x Shivan Reef
4x Mountain
3x Island
Creatures: 6
4x Bogardan Hellkite
1x Atarka, World Render
1x Dragonlord Kolaghan
4x Dragonstorm
Mana Ramp: 18
4x Desperate Ritual
3x Pyretic Ritual
4x Lotus Bloom
4x Pentad Prism
3x Vessel of Volatility
Draw/Filter: 12
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x See Beyond
4x Peer Through Depths
4x Goblin Electromancer
1x Pyretic Ritual
4x Slagstorm
4x Echoing Truth
2x Empty the Warrens
The Goblin Electromancers have been holding the place of the blooms in my testing thus far. He can be good against decks that don't pack a lot of removal, but against something fairly fast with plenty of spot removal like various iterations of Zoo, he's very dissatisfying. I'm quite sure [card]Lotus Bloom[/card} will outperform him in those kinds of match ups.
Any thoughts on the style of this list versus the one in the OP? I'm sure some might say if I'm in UR, might as well play regular Storm, but I like that this deck is not as reliant on the graveyard as regular UR storm can be. It is easier to race this kind of deck than it is UR storm though...
My first thought on seeing your list is instantly: "There is no reason to play Kolaghan instead of Karrthus if you aren't running the colors anyway." Here's the full list:
I love your list, going UR for digging and safety but I find you a little lite on dragons for such a list. Also, I haven't tried the list but if you don't need that much fixing, substituting a few lands (maybe some Reefs) for some storage land of some sort. If you intend to keep Kolaghan as your haster, you could find some place for Dreadship Reef or Fungal Reaches to cast Atarka.
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Wooded Foothills
16 Mountain
Ramp (24)
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Increasing Vengeance
4 Vessel of Volatility
2 Generator Servant
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Blood Moon
1 Atarka, World Render
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
4 Dragonstorm
4 Scourge of Valkas
3 Defense Grid
1 Bogardan Hellkite
3 Shattering Spree
2 Volcanic Fallout
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Generator Servant
Some Card Explanations:
Blood Moon - An early Blood Moon can be devastating for some decks, and can be a game-winner by itself. Since only two of our cards care about mana other then red, its a safe bet we can use it to stall/set up a win with dragonstorm.
Stomping Ground Blood Crypt - While they can be shut down by BlooD Moon, they let us hardcast our Dragonlords in the worst-case scenarios.
Increasing Vengeance - There is some cool tech with this and the rituals and flashback. If you can get up to 6 mana using Vessel of Volatility, Lotus Bloom or any other card with a Ritual and Increasing Vengeance in your hand, you can insure your 9 mana for dragonstorm.
6 Mana in Pool - > Cast Ritual (4 Mana remaining) -> Cast Increasing Vengeance copying ritual (2 mana remaining) -> Vengeance Resolves (5 mana in pool) -> Flashback Vengeance (-5 mana) -> Flashback and copy resolves (3+3=6 mana) ->original ritual resolves (9 mana)
This nets you storm 3 and 9 mana and is pretty easy to do as long as you work around counterspells.
Dragonlord Kolaghan - This is easier to hardcast then Karrthus using our Lotus Blooms.
Atarka, World Render - 2 card win con with Kolaghan.
Scourge of Valkas - I run Scourge over Hellkite because how easy they are to hardcast. A Scourge hardcasted after getting a Bloodmoon on the board is sometimes enough to just win through attacking with Fire-breathing. If you don't expect Path to Exile or Terminate you can easily cast this turn 2 if you want to be greedy and don't expect removal.
Generator Servant - Walking Vessels. Not 100% sold on these yet, but they can be used to make a turn 3 hasted Scourge.
Sideboard:
Defense Grid - Our counterspell matchup tech. Also good defense against bolts and path to exile on our turn.
Bogardan Hellkite - Sometimes Hellkite can be useful against tokens or when you need a bigger body to swing with.
Shattering Spree - Good against Affinity and the card best against my build, Grafdiggers Cage.
Volcanic Fallout - Running this over Pyroclasm and Anger of the Gods due to being uncounterable and instant speed. Can also can hit planeswalkers through redirection of the player damage.
Lightning Bolt - Sometimes you just need a bolt
I'm still tinkering with this list and the amounts of each cards fairly regularly. I had badluck using cantrips in other builds due to dragonstorm not wanting to draw too many cards, as every dragon you draw is one less wincon.
Discard effects are still a major concern but in most cases I feel having multiple wincons through either Bloodmoon, Dragonstorm and a hardcasted Scourge is enough disruption that the opponent will pick their poison rather then destroy our gameplan 100%. Plus Inquisition does not work against a majority of our wincons. Thoughtseize is the bigger concern and its use is not as significant right now.
I've experimented with Bolt mainboard as well but so far I'm having luck with the Bloodmoon build.
Let me know if you have suggestions! I'm still looking for more dragon-toolbox tech as well.
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
Love your list, the mainboard Increasing Vengeances is actually very interesting. In a pinch, it can turn into a counterspell, copying a counterspell. There is even a way for it to generate a degenerate amount of mana (although I doubt that is useful ever)
As for your token problem, unless spider tokens are common in your meta, Thundermaw Hellkite is a card you may want to consider for your list. While it does not remove ALL tokens, it does allow you to bypass them for a turn as you dragonstorm. (also killing all non-buffed spirits)
While I haven't tested it, D Tempest unfortunately doesn't seem to do much in this deck as we often have the kill as soon as we Dragonstorm. It would be an interesting thing to try in a Bladewing the Risen.
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
Unfortunately Increasing Vengeance works only on your spells, and you can't copy opponents counterspells. I've experimented with builds that use Reverberate, but being able to flashback Vengeance is just such a huge bonus. Maybe I'll try some sideboard Reverberate to help against counters?
I didn't think of including Thundermaw Hellkite, I'll see if I can try them out and let you know how those go! I'm interested to see if they would help. I also may want to try Bladewing the Risen, that seems like a really good tech when you are running Looting effects to get back your wincons!
Right, I had forgotten that...
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
4 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
Spells (27)
4 Dragonstorm
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Pentad Prism
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Remand
3 Gigadrowse
4 Anger of the Gods
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Gemstone Mine
5 Island
2 Mountain
2 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Epiphany
I'm not sure on bogardan hellkite vs scourge of valkas, but four damage dragons and one haste dragon seem right in this build because you can scry away dragons, and can stall the game long enough to cast them. Dragonlord kolaghan has more utility than karrthus, tyrant of jund and is easier to cast. You can hard cast kolaghan off of pentad prism, dreadship reef, and lotus bloom. This version might be more resilient to discard because it's slower and has more control over its draws, and can use gigadrowse to tap all of a blue deck's lands or as a fog. Being so slow, anger of the gods is needed for aggro. A word on pentad prism over vessel of volatility: it fixes your mana, and in a slower shell, and if it resolves you add up to two mana immediately.
Blood moon seems awesome in the sideboard if the mana base is reworked, and some number of remand and a gigadrowse can probably go for lightning bolt and mana leak. Dreadship reef might also go for interaction because you already spend all of your mana, but it's incredible with gigadrowse. I can even see cutting an anger of the gods if you add bolts. Thoughts?
Just a quick note Bladewing the Risen is not modern legal.
Other than that I have been mulling this deck over for a while. I cannot decide how much interaction vs dig/ritual I want. I have all the cards but it is just a huge pile of ideas right now. I think taking a chapter out of Scapeshift is the direction I am leaning towards. LinkFake's deck seems closest to where I want to go.
I do have one major difference in that I like the 2 card kill kologhan/atarka the best and have a Thundermaw Hellkite for searching up on dragonstorm 3 for decks with fliers and dragonlord dromoka for decks with creature removal. Unless I am wrong searching dromoka out with the first dragonstorm to resolve would lock out an opponent from interacting because you place it directly in play.
I want more of a controlling shell, but I feel like it ends up just being worse than a Bring to Light / Scapeshift deck since I have to put dragons in the deck that work against the combo if I draw them. I think gigadrowse and anger of the gods are definite in for me, but I am not sure if remand is worth it since it draws a card I am not sure if that is good or not. I'll see if I can post my current untested list later today.
Could you post your list?
Adnauseam does what dragon storm does in a better way. Get less hate (I mean there is off color free hate for storm, has two win conditions and ways to deal with leyline after it goes out.
There is grishoalbrand in the same spot. Dragonstorm is way to weak in current format.
My current list is:
Once I get some Lotus Blooms, I'll be testing those in the Vessel slot.
I'm currently experimenting with removing some number of gas (Shock, Vessel, etc) to add 4 maindeck Anger of the Gods.
The deck has been performing pretty well, especially against the fair decks. It's not competitive, but doesn't fall on its face either.
View on CubeTutor
Draft it!