We all knew this thread was coming. I thought I might as well just start it myself and get a head start.
This card is taking over the format. If you don't have Dragonlord Ojutai your deck is probably bad.
Esper Dragons
Bant Midrange
Now even Abzan with a blue splash for Ojutai??
Where will this madness end.
It's hexproof (most of the time) it hits hard and it gives you heaps of card advantage. Only a matter of time before control decks run the full playset such is the power of this card. Turns on Silumgar's Scorn and Foul-Tongue Invocation and even when it dies it is never really dead because of Haven of the Spirit Dragon.
When I see Ojutai I just scoop, no point in trying to beat it when it resolves. Even when you have the removal your opponent has all the counterspells all of the time.
Is it worth playing a deck without Ojutai? This question will be answered in a follow up post. I'll throw it over to others for now.
People not realizing Scorn is the actual problem card.
That said Ojutai is just legitimately a powerful, above curve threat and similar to Atarka out of the Sultai and Abzan decks, your deck will rarely if ever be worse off for playing Ojutai if your mana can support him.
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Brilliant ideas are stupid ideas that worked - Patrick Chapin
People who are either not in on the joke or struggle to make it clear that they are.
In all seriousness, Ojutai is good, but Den Protector + Deathmist Raptor is potentially better. Which is why I'm going to just play all 3 and build a Bant midrange deck...
I'm looking at either Bant or Mardu at the moment. I think Mardu Warriors has ridiculous game against UB control, has a decent time against aggro because of life gain from Mardu Woe-Reaper and Sorin, being better at the long game and having recursive threats and Mardu Charm, and can potentially beat Raptors with the double strike and +1/+0 on all its dudes, but that's all only looking at things on paper. But regardless of Warriors, aggro or midrange, Crackling Doom destroys dragons.
Ojutai isn't even the best Dragonlord; conditional Hexproof is not that good. Anticipate on connect is strong, but that's not something to really rely on because the game is likely well in your favor if you're willing to throw away Hexproof.
In my deck I've gone from 3 Ojutai, 3 Dromoka to 2 Ojutai, 4 Dromoka; Dromoka blanks counters and can force other things on the table. Ojutai is literally praying that he makes it to the table, and even then continues to pray that you don't tap him. Ojutai doesn't pull back a losing game, all others but Kolaghan can, and even Kolaghan can block better in a pinch.
Like many have said, Scorn is the real issue. It's a difficult card to play around, and is easy to jam 4 in a deck; the Dragonlords are just random beaters with a relevant creature type in many situations. You really only need them to do a relevant amount of damage each attack.
All that said, I think all the Dragonlords are very close in power level. They all play very differently and are strong in different situations, but they're all pretty good.
I stand by Rending Volley as the fail safe to Ojutai.
I stand by Dragonlord Dromoka as the best Dragonlord.
I honestly think Ojutai is only better than Kolaghan.
Dromoka dies to way too much to be the best dragonlord. Who cares that she makes stuff uncounterable. It is not like she's going to win the game the turn he comes down. You're going to pass the turn tapped out and she will die without affecting the board. She does auto-win against mono-red sure, but you're probably dead before you get to 6 mana. Against Abzan or any deck playing black or white removal I'd much rather than Ojutai.
I'm just happy I got my ojutai's during pre order for like $6 a piece. If I could have predicted it would jump above $30, I would have gotten much more than one playset!
I think that its not that hard to play around dragons if they are the expected norm. I think some of the early results were a bit of a surprise at how prevalent dragons were actually going to be but I think the tools exist in the current meta to play around them as well.
I think we are still a ways from having established what the norm is going to be for standard decks since dragons came in. I think its good that it changed things up and that Abzan has some competition but I think that dragons can be played around and answered still. Self-Inflicted Wound is still one of my favorite sideboard cards right now for aggressive decks to kill Ojutai and keep powering on. I think the Raptor / Den Protectors are good too.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
This card is taking over the format. If you don't have Dragonlord Ojutai your deck is probably bad.
Esper Dragons
Bant Midrange
Now even Abzan with a blue splash for Ojutai??
Where will this madness end.
It's hexproof (most of the time) it hits hard and it gives you heaps of card advantage. Only a matter of time before control decks run the full playset such is the power of this card. Turns on Silumgar's Scorn and Foul-Tongue Invocation and even when it dies it is never really dead because of Haven of the Spirit Dragon.
When I see Ojutai I just scoop, no point in trying to beat it when it resolves. Even when you have the removal your opponent has all the counterspells all of the time.
Is it worth playing a deck without Ojutai? This question will be answered in a follow up post. I'll throw it over to others for now.
People not realizing Scorn is the actual problem card.
That said Ojutai is just legitimately a powerful, above curve threat and similar to Atarka out of the Sultai and Abzan decks, your deck will rarely if ever be worse off for playing Ojutai if your mana can support him.
People who are either not in on the joke or struggle to make it clear that they are.
In all seriousness, Ojutai is good, but Den Protector + Deathmist Raptor is potentially better. Which is why I'm going to just play all 3 and build a Bant midrange deck...
Just casting Dragonlords till people die seem a pretty valid strategy.
In my deck I've gone from 3 Ojutai, 3 Dromoka to 2 Ojutai, 4 Dromoka; Dromoka blanks counters and can force other things on the table. Ojutai is literally praying that he makes it to the table, and even then continues to pray that you don't tap him. Ojutai doesn't pull back a losing game, all others but Kolaghan can, and even Kolaghan can block better in a pinch.
Like many have said, Scorn is the real issue. It's a difficult card to play around, and is easy to jam 4 in a deck; the Dragonlords are just random beaters with a relevant creature type in many situations. You really only need them to do a relevant amount of damage each attack.
All that said, I think all the Dragonlords are very close in power level. They all play very differently and are strong in different situations, but they're all pretty good.
I stand by Rending Volley as the fail safe to Ojutai.
I stand by Dragonlord Dromoka as the best Dragonlord.
I honestly think Ojutai is only better than Kolaghan.
"Reveal a Dragon"
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
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Please keep these "Conspiracy" threads civil!
-- Lugger
I think we are still a ways from having established what the norm is going to be for standard decks since dragons came in. I think its good that it changed things up and that Abzan has some competition but I think that dragons can be played around and answered still. Self-Inflicted Wound is still one of my favorite sideboard cards right now for aggressive decks to kill Ojutai and keep powering on. I think the Raptor / Den Protectors are good too.
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