MTG Salvation

For quite some time I was looking to make Dragons playable in Modern and I think I might be up to something with my recent idea.
The deck is basically a R/G ramp deck with dragons as the fatties and Blood Moon against decks that don't care about big flyers.

Card Choices:

1. It uses the ramp package of: Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl + Simian Spirit Guide.
2. Duskwatch Recruiter helps draw creatures and reduce the costs of fatties if flipped, it is a good mana-sink in the late-game.
3. The finishers are: Stormbreath Dragon, Thundermaw Hellkite, Thunderbreak Regent and Chameleon Colossus
(also a dragon and a good mana-sink that dodges Dismember/Terminate).
4. Lightning Bolt for reach and removal and Blood Moon for locking out multi-color decks and utility/man-lands
(Magus of the Moon works better with Duskwatch Recruiter and is not dead in multiples to put some pressure on low-removal decks, is it worth using instead despite being easier to remove ?).
5. Ghost Quarter is here to deal with man-lands and kill basic lands before landing Blood Moon,
maybe I should just use Haven of the Spirit Dragon instead as it might be better here when Blood Moon isn't on board ?

Here is the deck:


What do you think ?

I'm not sure about the SB, for now I have a lot of creature and artifact/enchantment hate there and also Obstinate Baloth for aggro/burn/discard.

What else should be there ?
Maybe some lock pieces: Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, Damping Matrix, Defense Grid ?
Or LD: Boom // Bust, Fulminator Mage, Molten Rain, Crumble to Dust, Boil ?

I see no reason not to play Cavern of Souls. If you`re staying within a tribe, you might as well take the payoff.

It is mainly because of Blood Moon (and Utopia Sprawl).

Something along those lines.

After seeing how powerful Chalice of the Void is I'm probably going to make some room for it in the SB
(take out 3x Beast Within and 1x Pyroclasm maybe ?)
When I bring it in I can take out Utopia Sprawl (or maybe Duskwatch Recruiter ?) and also bring in Draconic Roar over Lightning Bolt (or just leave L.Bolt in ?).

In the matchups where Chalice of the Void is good I'm probably ok with losing the ramp as it will cripple the opponent's deck more.

I like Pyroclasm/Anger of the Gods over Ratchet Bomb.

Sin Prodder is probably not good enough and can be removed easily before doing anything, I like Duskwatch Recruiter better for this deck.

The deck sound like something SaffronOlive from MTGGoldfish suggested in his las "much brew about nothing".
More than a pseudo-version of the angel moon deck, why don't try to go full on the land denial plan, with dragons as main win-con instead of the Inferno Titan???
It may be a little slower, but for me a RG Ponza Dragons could see more play than current version.

How can it be improved (without turning it into another deck altogether) ?

I feel like after sideboarding I can deal better with faster matchups.

I also have sweepers (2x Anger of the Gods + 1x Pyroclasm) post board and more spot removal (Draconic Roar).

#And how can "Infect" beat a Chalice on 1 ? Nature's Claim doesn't do it so it is basically only countering it with Spell Pierce or their 1x Viridian Corrupter.
#"Death Shadow Zoo" have 1x Ancient Grudge (Natural State doesn't help them) and their discard spells, burning them out might be an option as well.
#"Affinity" is hard matchup (need Chalice on 2) but the removal + Destructive Revelry should give me a chance.
#"Burn" is difficult as well but I have 2x Obstinate Baloth that can help.
#Against "Merfolk" Chalice can be good (on 2) but I mainly rely on the sweepers and spot removal, I can also race them in the air with a good draw.

Do you think that they will board in enchantment removal against me after seeing Utopia Sprawl ?

I want to make this deck as competitive as it can be, I mostly play on MTGO and I want to have a fighting chance against most decks in the leagues there.

Infect will probably beat you game one unless they draw poorly and you draw well. Your live cards against them include blood moon and lightning bolt. They can counter the lightning bolt by running their main plan, which is pump spells. It is contrary to what they are trying to do, using reactive pump spells, but if they do, you have a harder time winning. Post board, you gain chalice of the void and more spot removal, and depending on the version they are playing, they get counterspells, all of which are live against your spot removal and most of which are relevant against your chalice OR artifact enchantment removal, which is live against your blood moon, ramp, and chalice, depending on what you drop it at, or discard, which is live against you, period. Meanwhile, what do you side out? Game one, you will probably see one or two effective cards in your own opener+draws, while they will see more of their own offense, game 2, they have a lot of options to bring while you don't really have as many. Their anti hate will be myriad.

This is just one example. Not all lists play the same cards, of course. However, you can counter a lot of your problems with faster decks by running at least 3 sweepers main. I believe I might have suggested it before, and if I didn't, I surely thought it (or someone else did). Affinity, merfolk, and zoo variants can have problems with a 2 or 3 damage sweeper. If you're worried about losing mana dorks or dragons, run firespout so you can at least vary it.

While you seem to like the duskwatch recruiter plan, I suggest running it in the sideboard instead and running the damage sweepers main. It's mostly live against a control deck that can't deal with a constant stream of threats. Unfortunately, the meta is very full of aggressive decks right now.

I think I'm going to try the mainboard sweepers idea and side out Duskwatch Recruiter indeed, the question is if Pyroclasm is good enough for the mainboard or is it too narrow and I should just go with Anger of the Gods (which in some games might be a turn too late) ?
By looking at popular R/G lists (R/G Breach) Anger seems like the better option.

Firespout won't save Arbor Elf in most cases (unless I'm facing flying tokens which Thundermaw Hellkite kills anyway) so it is probably not that good.
The other 3-cmc sweeper options are:
Slagstorm (which can be used as burn if playing against creature light decks) and Flamebreak (which can be hard to cast).

Another idea is to maybe move Chameleon Colossus to the SB (though I really like the card) for Obstinate Baloth (It seems better here than Kitchen Finks/Courser of Kruphix, doesn't it ?) to further improve the aggro/burn matchups.

Well, if you don't wanna change the core of the deck, there still something to be done...
First of all, even if I understand than this is a "Dragon deck", I belive there's a high number of them. 4x Stormbreath Dragon and 4x Thundermaw Hellkite is to much, since they're your highest CMC dragons, and aren't that much powerfull in multiples. Maybe going 2-2 on them would be the best, and those 4 slots use them for a little more interaction against others decks... Mainboard board sweepers are always good, I would say Anger of the gods or Volcanic Fallout.
While the Simian Spirit Guide looks nice, they're a one shot use, and you need a more permanent ramp. I would suggest Birds of Paradise or Fertile Ground.
Hunted Dragon, while giveing your opponent creatures, still is a 6/6 flyer with haste for CMC5, so it could be of some use.
Ryusei, while it's extremly expensive, could have some use as an extra mainboard sweeper. Besides, the only real way to avoid it's effect is using PTE.
Thunderbreak Regent is one of the best dragons ever seen, so playing the full playset is the best choise.

Wish you good luck with the deck!!!! I'll wait for some reports

EDIT: between Courser of Kruphix and Obstinate Baloth, I'll go with the Courser. It enters one turn faster, block equally of great agaist most aggro decks, and it gives you ocassionaly card advantage, something this kind of deck always needs

Stormbreath Dragon and Thundermaw Hellkite are (by-far) the best/most-efficient dragons (Dromoka, the Eternal is not bad but off-color) and usually manage to get in for damage even if they get removed soon after.
Playing less of them means I'm less likely to draw my main win-cons, and the alternatives don't seem that great.

I don't see how adding: Hunted Dragon (it is a bit bigger than Thundermaw for the same mana cost but isn't nearly worth giving tokens to the opponent) or
Ryusei, the Falling Star (6 mana is too much for a dragon without haste and only a 5/5, the ability isn't always usefull or triggered) is better than consistently having access to the good 5-cmc dragons.

I thought about trying out some bigger dragons like: Moonveil Dragon, Dragonlord Atarka, Atarka, World Render, Hellkite Tyrant, Balefire Dragon.
But eventually I decided that the payoff isn't usually worth the reduced consistency.

I like Simian Spirit Guide over Birds of Paradise as it is a faster mana source and once I hit 5 mana I don't usually care that it is a one-shot use, it is also more relevant later as a 2/2 creature to block on the ground while attacking in the air with a dragon.
Fertile Ground is too slow as a 2-cmc enchantment.

Courser vs Baloth is a tough choice, I like the instant 4 life gain and the additional utility against discard though (it is also better as an attacker).
But the cheaper cost and the flooding-prevention seem rather good too.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33732_Daily-Digest-Born-To-Run.html
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/instant-deck-tech-naya-midrange-modern
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/479154
It seems that I'm not the only playing Dragons in Modern.

This deck has some similarities to mine but also notable differences, the white splash for Nahiri seems interesting (as an alternative to Blood Moon) and having Path to Exile is always good (obviously can't be played with Blood Moon).

However with all the additional top-end options (the Dragonlords) and no Simian Spirit Guide the deck seems less consistent in favor of having more "Bombs".

I like Tireless Tracker here, it is one of the better CA options in Green imho, similar to what I was doing with Duskwatch Recruiter.
Loxodon Smiter is a solid 3-drop though Knight of the Reliquary might be better together with T.Tracker and can find Kessig Wolf Run
(or Gavony Township which I'm surprised not to find in this deck).

Here is how I would tweak this list:

Here is my updated R/G list which I'm still tweaking:


Are 3x Obstinate Baloth too much ? Should I cut one of them with the 2nd Chandra or the 4th B.Moon ?

The deck should be better against the aggro decks now.
Now I'm looking to tweak the SB against the other problematic match-ups.