Hello all. I don't see a Grixis Drakes thread, so let's start one.
It's actually been quite the journey to get to Grixis. I started off in Izzet, and that worked really well, but it had issues against Gates and Mono Red. Mono red was still favorable, but many games came down to the wire with me uncomfortably sitting in burn range. After that I switched to Temur. That actually worked really well. I liked having Growth Spiral and Hydroid Krasis in the deck, and they definitely made those tougher matches more favorable.
However, moving up the ranked ladder, slightly, moved me out those decks, and into a new nemesis, Esper Control. Sure, the planeswalkers, removal and counterspells are annoying, but those are all things Drakes can deal with. You just cantrip into cards to replace the ones you've lost. But the real back-breaker in that match up is Thought Erasure. Having them rip apart an early hand, killing the card draw or keeping the big nasties from ever hitting the board is nearly unwinnable. And then post board, if they're smart, they bring in Duress to help. Yikes!
So, if you can't beat 'em, join em'! Out went the Growth Spirals and Krasises (Krasi? lol), and in came the Thought Erasures and big daddy Nicol Bolas, the Ravager! Now, I eviscerate Esper Control, and I've had no issues against the decks that were giving me trouble before Temur. This feels like the best iteration of Drakes.
***Disclaimer - I haven't played Jeskai Drakes yet. I might throw a build together just to see how it works and if it's better, but honestly, aside from Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, I'm not sure what cards are better than Erasure, Niv, and the removal package black has.
***disclaimer 2! - This deck is built in Arena. Mana base isn't optimal, because I've run out of Rare Wildcards, sadly. Also, Diamond Mare is a hold over from previous versions of the deck. Since Moment of Craving exists, it's likely I don't need them anymore.
It's a work in progress, but it really gets the job done. I'm not sure the right mix of Shock to Lightning Bolt to Chart a Course. I'm leaning towards bringing Chart a Course up to 4, moving Lightning Bolt to the sideboard. I don't know. More playing and more testing is ahead.
What I really want to know is, who else is running Grixis Drakes? What's working for you? Do you have a silver bullet I've totally overlooked? It's definitely a fun list!
**Edit - put the correct number for the 'spells' count. Good looking out, kysg
Interesting definitely looks solid in BO3, dunno about BO1, but I've been thinking of adding thought erasure to the drake deck and just splashing black instead of full on grixis.
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The only real issue with splashing black for Thought Erasure is it takes a lot of black sources to get the the black mana on an early turn when you're want to use it the most. Using Karsten's guide it's 13 sources to guarantee it on turn 2 and 12 for turn 3. With that many, you might as well just call it Grixis and draw on more black cards. I think best among those is Moment of Craving. The lifegain is invaluable in the weenie and burn match ups just to keep you out of range of being cheesed out with burn or something like a Heroic Reinforcements. You'll also want to play some Duress too. The discard is just so good against control and other midrange decks.
Finally, I've gotta say. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is so good and so fun. He makes the full tilt to Grixis totally worth it!
Also, I did end up cutting the Lightning Bolt and filling up on Chart a Course. Even after a small amount of play, it's clear it was the right move.
Some tough calls I would have to make in Bo1
having Moment of Craving in there is a bit tricky
cutting shock is tough as well
I'm not sure if I need all 4 Chart a Course or the 2 Dive Down
Also not sure about Duress sounds great early game not so sure about mid/late.
hmm after thinking about it, splitting 2/2 crackling drake and Nicol Bolas, the ravager would make more sense for the mana base. I'm not big on bolas as a card but he makes sense for the mana base for the initial cost but for another 8 mana to flip him...yea
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I am getting obliterated by Esper control atm so I am thinking about giving his version a go, to get my hands on Thought erasure and cast downedit: I just realised the things I want to kill are ledgends could we cast Bedevil?. Moment of craving is good against Adanto Vanguard which can be hard to deal with but I am not sure I need to main deck it.
Duress vs Negate is an interesting argument the advantage of duress is that you can to cast it to fill the graveyard for your drakes while negate can deal with top decks and is useful mid and late.
Bedevil is really cool. I thought about it but it needs 16-18 black sources. Not sure if we can make the mana base work to have 16-18 black sources along with 16-15 blue sources. Or maybe we carry it as a singleton that can blow up creatures when we don't have beacon bolt or to shut down a planeswalker/artifact. But then again you have Vraska's Contempt which exiles and gains life.
Only other oddballs in the deck due to mana base is Niv and crackles which need 14-16 blue and red sources.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
@kysg - The decks look good. I like the mana base in the first deck you posted more than the 2nd. I really think you're going to want more red sources than you have. I don't play BO1 anymore, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
I personally like Shock over Moment of Craving, because it gets that turn 1 creature, which is big against Green decks, Blue decks, and to a slightly lesser extent, red decks. It just feels so important in those match ups. Now, I also realize that Moment of Craving is better against red decks, and to my understanding they're much more prevalent in BO1, whereas they're almost non-existent in BO3. So maybe how good MoC is against red outweighs missing it against Green and Blue.
Other than those 2 things, I don't see anything particularly odd about your build.
@Narvuntien - If you're having problem with Esper, this deck CRUSHES them. G1, you crush. Then sideboarding, I add 2 Duress, 1 Contempt, and 1 Negate (my sideboard has changed since my original post). I go down the Pteramanders. I know it seems like Shock would be the better cut, but Shock serves 2 purposes. First, it's good for finishing off Teferi after a minus. Also, Post board some Esper lists like to bring in Thief of Sanity expecting you to take all your removal out. I also leave in my single Beacon Bolt. It doesn't happen often, but OCCASSIONALLY they bring Lyra in. Having that 1 dead card isn't a big deal since Chart a Course just gets rid of it if there's nothing for it.
That's it. That's all it takes. This deck crushes Esper. Last month, I had such a hard time breaking into Platinum because Esper decks kept crushing my Temur Drakes, and this month, today actually, I'm Diamond because I've cruised through Esper decks. This deck is great against control and midrange decks, and great against Mono-blue. Weenie and burn decks take more sideboard slots, but they don't give too much trouble.
The hardest match up lately for me is Nexus decks. I had to change my sideboard and add more counterspells, and that helped a ton. But if Esper is your issue, this is the deck for crushing them.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I wonder if he streamed it. Maybe I'll go check it out.
I like Thief, but he's so fragile. I think I would prefer to keep in Drake over him. I might like him more than Pteramander though. It takes so long for Pteramander to be good. I do like he's a turn 1 speed bump though.
Freebooter is an idea, though. Discard just seems SO GOOD right now.
I know I'm not gonna try the Thief out. Not because I don't like him, but because I have only 1 on Arena. And he's rare, so I'm not gonna get him anytime soon. My rare Wildcards have been going towards lands (not for this deck, but for others). I might check out Freebooter, though. I could see him being good in a lot of matches.
imo, scary terry is a tough cut. He does take a while but the deck is slow in general.
I won't play thief but he's an interesting add. He also cut discovery and plays angrath and Disdainful Stroke out of the sideboard.
And yep, Jeff did stream it.
I did try bolas, He never flips and dies to removal so yea....
so I'm either thinking about going with 2 Niv's or throwing in a bedevil, I'm just thinking of a pretty good singleton that acts as a good catchall. Hmmm there is also The Eldest Reborn
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So, I tried Kitesail Freebooter and he was disappointing. 1 reason is he's fairly fragile and they get their card back. the other is when I'm bringing sweepers out of the sideboard. He gets swept up too. I think he works great in the Grixis Midrange, non-Drake shell. However, I really think our deck is better than that deck. Whenever I run into that deck, I crush it. I also crush the matches that it crushes. I really feel like this is the better match up.
Watching those matches, however, did give some great suggestions. Carnival // Carnage and Angrath, the Flame-Chained. Adding those in have definitely given a boost to the deck. I normally run shock so I can take out turn 1 Llanowar Elves, mono-red, mono-blue, and white weenie plays. Carnival takes care of all of those too! It also takes out PWs that have minused. And it the games where I don't need the cheap removal, Carnage eviscerates the hand. What a great card! I'm upset with myself for overlooking it.
Angrath? Man what a great fit! Destroying the hand of midrange, control and combo matches, stealing and sacrificing creatures in the aggro matches. Another perfect edition. I'm still bouncing around Diamond since I haven't been playing much, but I'm ok with that. Mythic would be nice but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't make it.
So, I think the most important thing to note is I'm running 24 Lands. I don't think the deck requires 24 Lands. In reality 23 is probably the right amount. 22 is probably doable since there's so much card draw to get you into your lands. However, with Arena's algorithm, those numbers just don't work. 22 and 23 lands just gives so many land screws. Sadly, Arena 'thinks' 24 is the right amount and if you don't run that many, you get screwed. Doubly sadly, 24 is definitely too many, and I get flooded so much because of it. The saving grace is the same cantrips that allow you to run 22 lands in real life allow you to make it through the flood pretty easily at 24 on Arena. I scry, surveil and discard a lot of lands away, but the deck is working.
Also to note, even though I think Enigma Drake is a better card than Pteramander, but having the turn 1 speed bump makes a huge difference. It's a meta call.
If I had those extra 2 cards currently occupied by lands, I'd likely go up to the 4th Chart a Course and get a 3rd Enigma. If I was running 23, just the 4th Chart.
Also, I really love Nicky B. He's a great blocker, a great threat. He does a great job of continuing with the hand destruction plan. While, I can understand him not flipping often, the reason for that is when he does, the game is over. He's a must answer. If they don't, then that's the end. I'm LOVING having him in the deck. That said, he's very expensive $$-wise, so if you want to save some coin, he's an easy place to cut.
I almost forgot to mention. You don't want to cut out all the Shocks. It still has its place. That place is killing Kraul Harpooner with the fight trigger on the stack lol.
Tweaked the Bo1 build a little bit, still gives me some wierd mana, I'm probably gonna burn up the rest of my rare WC and finish off the mana base. I also run into more top deck wars here than izzet version and I'm wondering if it's due to lack of card draw/land distribution. Sample size is still too low to determine, but just have to find the right spells to go in here.
I think Thought Erasure is good not sure if I want all 4 in bo1
I'm starting to like Carnival Carnage Seems like a good way to get 1 point of damage in to get a planeswalker removed. If they tuck/blow up one of our drakes.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
With that BO1 algorithm, I really think you need 24 lands. If you're running too few, you just get screwed so hard. Which sucks, because having 24 will ensure you'll get plenty of floods. And you're right, finishing off the mana base will definitely help a lot. Sadly, Arena is stingy with those Rare WCs (because they know we needz them!)
So, I have considered the Jeskai list. In my head, I know it's better against aggro decks than Grixis, but wholly worse than Grixis against control and midrange. In my BO3s, I still run into more control and midrange than aggro, so I'm sticking with Grixis.
Also, I wouldn't mind discussing Jeskai Drakes, but I think it deserves its own thread. Start one, and I will definitely come over and ruin it with some crappy builds lol
hmmm, apparently Clear the mind is more effective than I realized...
I'm not gonna pursue the jeskai version, even though there is shalai, lyra, hero, teferi, unbreakable formation, clarion, absorb, tajic, and even curators ward, I feel like the deck overall isn't effective in BO1, maybe in BO3 because there is more leverage due to sideboard.
I'm still not sure about 24 lands, if we run into a deck that plays any cards that force us to shuffle cards back into the library then we end up failing to draw in the late game which gets us killed against ramp decks and control. I also get those may be bad matchups because of diversity in BO1, but then again.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
24 lands is definitely too much. In paper. In arena, it's probably the right number. I did drop back down to 23 because I felt like the flood was unbearable. But back down at 23, I'm getting screwed again. Stupid algorithm lol.
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It's actually been quite the journey to get to Grixis. I started off in Izzet, and that worked really well, but it had issues against Gates and Mono Red. Mono red was still favorable, but many games came down to the wire with me uncomfortably sitting in burn range. After that I switched to Temur. That actually worked really well. I liked having Growth Spiral and Hydroid Krasis in the deck, and they definitely made those tougher matches more favorable.
However, moving up the ranked ladder, slightly, moved me out those decks, and into a new nemesis, Esper Control. Sure, the planeswalkers, removal and counterspells are annoying, but those are all things Drakes can deal with. You just cantrip into cards to replace the ones you've lost. But the real back-breaker in that match up is Thought Erasure. Having them rip apart an early hand, killing the card draw or keeping the big nasties from ever hitting the board is nearly unwinnable. And then post board, if they're smart, they bring in Duress to help. Yikes!
So, if you can't beat 'em, join em'! Out went the Growth Spirals and Krasises (Krasi? lol), and in came the Thought Erasures and big daddy Nicol Bolas, the Ravager! Now, I eviscerate Esper Control, and I've had no issues against the decks that were giving me trouble before Temur. This feels like the best iteration of Drakes.
***Disclaimer - I haven't played Jeskai Drakes yet. I might throw a build together just to see how it works and if it's better, but honestly, aside from Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, I'm not sure what cards are better than Erasure, Niv, and the removal package black has.
4 Pteramander
3 Enigma Drake
4 Crackling Drake
2 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Planeswalker 1
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
Spells 21
4 Opt
4 Shock
2 Chart a Course
2 Lightning Strike
4 Thought Erasure
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Discovery//Dispersal
4 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Field of Ruin
1 Island
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Watery Grave
1 Banefire
2 Duress
1 Cast Down
2 Diamond Mare
2 Lava Coil
2 Moment of Craving
2 Negate
2 Fiery Cannonade
1 Vraska's Contempt
***disclaimer 2! - This deck is built in Arena. Mana base isn't optimal, because I've run out of Rare Wildcards, sadly. Also, Diamond Mare is a hold over from previous versions of the deck. Since Moment of Craving exists, it's likely I don't need them anymore.
It's a work in progress, but it really gets the job done. I'm not sure the right mix of Shock to Lightning Bolt to Chart a Course. I'm leaning towards bringing Chart a Course up to 4, moving Lightning Bolt to the sideboard. I don't know. More playing and more testing is ahead.
What I really want to know is, who else is running Grixis Drakes? What's working for you? Do you have a silver bullet I've totally overlooked? It's definitely a fun list!
**Edit - put the correct number for the 'spells' count. Good looking out, kysg
-Stay Frosty
The only real issue with splashing black for Thought Erasure is it takes a lot of black sources to get the the black mana on an early turn when you're want to use it the most. Using Karsten's guide it's 13 sources to guarantee it on turn 2 and 12 for turn 3. With that many, you might as well just call it Grixis and draw on more black cards. I think best among those is Moment of Craving. The lifegain is invaluable in the weenie and burn match ups just to keep you out of range of being cheesed out with burn or something like a Heroic Reinforcements. You'll also want to play some Duress too. The discard is just so good against control and other midrange decks.
Finally, I've gotta say. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is so good and so fun. He makes the full tilt to Grixis totally worth it!
Also, I did end up cutting the Lightning Bolt and filling up on Chart a Course. Even after a small amount of play, it's clear it was the right move.
I could see bolas working on in Bo3 not sure about Bo1 and dropping lighting strike for Chart a Course just gives you that extra card advantage.
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Steam Vents
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Enigma Drake
4 Pteramander
4 Crackling Drake
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Spells (24)
4 Thought Erasure
4 Opt
2 Moment of Craving
2 Dive Down
2 Lava Coil
4 Chart a Course
1 Negate
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Discovery // Dispersal
Some tough calls I would have to make in Bo1
having Moment of Craving in there is a bit tricky
cutting shock is tough as well
I'm not sure if I need all 4 Chart a Course or the 2 Dive Down
Also not sure about Duress sounds great early game not so sure about mid/late.
hmm after thinking about it, splitting 2/2 crackling drake and Nicol Bolas, the ravager would make more sense for the mana base. I'm not big on bolas as a card but he makes sense for the mana base for the initial cost but for another 8 mana to flip him...yea
Also I noticed your spell count was off by a few.
-Stay Frosty
cast downedit: I just realised the things I want to kill are ledgends could we cast Bedevil?. Moment of craving is good against Adanto Vanguard which can be hard to deal with but I am not sure I need to main deck it.Duress vs Negate is an interesting argument the advantage of duress is that you can to cast it to fill the graveyard for your drakes while negate can deal with top decks and is useful mid and late.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Only other oddballs in the deck due to mana base is Niv and crackles which need 14-16 blue and red sources.
Another Bo1 setup that leans more into black
3 Island
2 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Steam Vents
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Enigma Drake
4 Pteramander
2 Crackling Drake
2 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Spells (24)
4 Thought Erasure
4 Opt
4 Moment of Craving
2 Dive Down
4 Chart a Course
1 Negate
2 Beacon Bolt
4 Discovery // Dispersal
-Stay Frosty
I personally like Shock over Moment of Craving, because it gets that turn 1 creature, which is big against Green decks, Blue decks, and to a slightly lesser extent, red decks. It just feels so important in those match ups. Now, I also realize that Moment of Craving is better against red decks, and to my understanding they're much more prevalent in BO1, whereas they're almost non-existent in BO3. So maybe how good MoC is against red outweighs missing it against Green and Blue.
Other than those 2 things, I don't see anything particularly odd about your build.
@Narvuntien - If you're having problem with Esper, this deck CRUSHES them. G1, you crush. Then sideboarding, I add 2 Duress, 1 Contempt, and 1 Negate (my sideboard has changed since my original post). I go down the Pteramanders. I know it seems like Shock would be the better cut, but Shock serves 2 purposes. First, it's good for finishing off Teferi after a minus. Also, Post board some Esper lists like to bring in Thief of Sanity expecting you to take all your removal out. I also leave in my single Beacon Bolt. It doesn't happen often, but OCCASSIONALLY they bring Lyra in. Having that 1 dead card isn't a big deal since Chart a Course just gets rid of it if there's nothing for it.
That's it. That's all it takes. This deck crushes Esper. Last month, I had such a hard time breaking into Platinum because Esper decks kept crushing my Temur Drakes, and this month, today actually, I'm Diamond because I've cruised through Esper decks. This deck is great against control and midrange decks, and great against Mono-blue. Weenie and burn decks take more sideboard slots, but they don't give too much trouble.
The hardest match up lately for me is Nexus decks. I had to change my sideboard and add more counterspells, and that helped a ton. But if Esper is your issue, this is the deck for crushing them.
We always end up with 16 blue sources which is good.
We can either lean more towards Red or Black. Then from there it's just down to removal. We have lots of options. That's where it gets tough.
We know for sure Thought Erasure is a 4 of.
Then Beacon Bolt is a for sure 1 of.
Then there is:
Bedevil
Cast Down
Moment of Craving
Price of Fame
Vraska's Contempt
Cry of the Carnarium
the eldest reborn
Shock
Lava Coil
Negate
Spell Pierce
Dive Down
but I think all in all its a tossup between shock/MoC/lava coil.
Then when it comes to creatures it depends on whether we add bolas.
-Stay Frosty
-Stay Frosty
I like Thief, but he's so fragile. I think I would prefer to keep in Drake over him. I might like him more than Pteramander though. It takes so long for Pteramander to be good. I do like he's a turn 1 speed bump though.
Freebooter is an idea, though. Discard just seems SO GOOD right now.
I know I'm not gonna try the Thief out. Not because I don't like him, but because I have only 1 on Arena. And he's rare, so I'm not gonna get him anytime soon. My rare Wildcards have been going towards lands (not for this deck, but for others). I might check out Freebooter, though. I could see him being good in a lot of matches.
I won't play thief but he's an interesting add. He also cut discovery and plays angrath and Disdainful Stroke out of the sideboard.
And yep, Jeff did stream it.
I did try bolas, He never flips and dies to removal so yea....
so I'm either thinking about going with 2 Niv's or throwing in a bedevil, I'm just thinking of a pretty good singleton that acts as a good catchall. Hmmm there is also The Eldest Reborn
-Stay Frosty
Watching those matches, however, did give some great suggestions. Carnival // Carnage and Angrath, the Flame-Chained. Adding those in have definitely given a boost to the deck. I normally run shock so I can take out turn 1 Llanowar Elves, mono-red, mono-blue, and white weenie plays. Carnival takes care of all of those too! It also takes out PWs that have minused. And it the games where I don't need the cheap removal, Carnage eviscerates the hand. What a great card! I'm upset with myself for overlooking it.
Angrath? Man what a great fit! Destroying the hand of midrange, control and combo matches, stealing and sacrificing creatures in the aggro matches. Another perfect edition. I'm still bouncing around Diamond since I haven't been playing much, but I'm ok with that. Mythic would be nice but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't make it.
At any rate, here's the updated list I'm playing.
4 Pteramander
2 Enigma Drake
4 Crackling Drake
2 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Planeswalkers (2)
1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
Spells (20)
4 Opt
2 Shock
3 Chart a Course
4 Thought Erasure
1 Beacon Bolt
2 Carnival // Carnage
4 Discovery // Dispersal
4 Blood Crypt
3 Dragonskull Summit
3 Drowned Catacomb
1 Field of Ruin
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
4 Watery Grave
1 Cast Down
2 Negate
1 Lava Coil
1 Duress
1 Vraska's Contempt
2 Moment of Craving
2 Unmoored Ego
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Shivan Fire
1 Ritual of Soot
1 Bedevil
1 Fiery Cannonade
So, I think the most important thing to note is I'm running 24 Lands. I don't think the deck requires 24 Lands. In reality 23 is probably the right amount. 22 is probably doable since there's so much card draw to get you into your lands. However, with Arena's algorithm, those numbers just don't work. 22 and 23 lands just gives so many land screws. Sadly, Arena 'thinks' 24 is the right amount and if you don't run that many, you get screwed. Doubly sadly, 24 is definitely too many, and I get flooded so much because of it. The saving grace is the same cantrips that allow you to run 22 lands in real life allow you to make it through the flood pretty easily at 24 on Arena. I scry, surveil and discard a lot of lands away, but the deck is working.
Also to note, even though I think Enigma Drake is a better card than Pteramander, but having the turn 1 speed bump makes a huge difference. It's a meta call.
If I had those extra 2 cards currently occupied by lands, I'd likely go up to the 4th Chart a Course and get a 3rd Enigma. If I was running 23, just the 4th Chart.
Also, I really love Nicky B. He's a great blocker, a great threat. He does a great job of continuing with the hand destruction plan. While, I can understand him not flipping often, the reason for that is when he does, the game is over. He's a must answer. If they don't, then that's the end. I'm LOVING having him in the deck. That said, he's very expensive $$-wise, so if you want to save some coin, he's an easy place to cut.
I almost forgot to mention. You don't want to cut out all the Shocks. It still has its place. That place is killing Kraul Harpooner with the fight trigger on the stack lol.
3 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Steam Vents
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Enigma Drake
4 Pteramander
4 Crackling Drake
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Spells (24)
4 Thought Erasure
4 Opt
2 Carnival // Carnage
3 Dive Down
3 Chart a Course
2 Shock
2 Lava Coil
1 Negate
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Discovery // Dispersal
Tweaked the Bo1 build a little bit, still gives me some wierd mana, I'm probably gonna burn up the rest of my rare WC and finish off the mana base. I also run into more top deck wars here than izzet version and I'm wondering if it's due to lack of card draw/land distribution. Sample size is still too low to determine, but just have to find the right spells to go in here.
I think Thought Erasure is good not sure if I want all 4 in bo1
I'm starting to like Carnival Carnage Seems like a good way to get 1 point of damage in to get a planeswalker removed. If they tuck/blow up one of our drakes.
-Stay Frosty
I thought about jeskai and Hero of Precinct One and Unbreakable Formation would be pretty good in that shell
-Stay Frosty
-Stay Frosty
So, I have considered the Jeskai list. In my head, I know it's better against aggro decks than Grixis, but wholly worse than Grixis against control and midrange. In my BO3s, I still run into more control and midrange than aggro, so I'm sticking with Grixis.
Also, I wouldn't mind discussing Jeskai Drakes, but I think it deserves its own thread. Start one, and I will definitely come over and ruin it with some crappy builds lol
I'm not gonna pursue the jeskai version, even though there is shalai, lyra, hero, teferi, unbreakable formation, clarion, absorb, tajic, and even curators ward, I feel like the deck overall isn't effective in BO1, maybe in BO3 because there is more leverage due to sideboard.
I'm still not sure about 24 lands, if we run into a deck that plays any cards that force us to shuffle cards back into the library then we end up failing to draw in the late game which gets us killed against ramp decks and control. I also get those may be bad matchups because of diversity in BO1, but then again.
-Stay Frosty