MTG Salvation

I made this dragon deck thoughts on it. Other decks you've seen? Do you think dragons is a viable standard tribal deck?

Take a look here - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/brewing-core-set-2019-tribal
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1170034

Personally I don't see Dragons being viable as Dinosaurs have more support and a better curve and haven't really taken off as a tribal deck.

I'd especially avoid bad cards like: Dragon Egg, Kargan Dragonrider, Sarkhan's Whelp and mediocre/situational ones
like: Khenra Charioteer, Grand Warlord Radha, Wily Goblin and Warlord's Fury/Insult // Injury.

The thing about Dragon decks (or any deck that plays big creatures for that matter) is that you want to ramp into your threats as quickly as possible. I agree with all of the recommendations D90Dennis14 as to what cards you should remove from your deck, and add in more ramp. A good start is adding mana dorks like Llanowar Elves and mana rocks (artifacts that let you tap for mana) like Dragon's Hoard. Funnily enough, I first learned how to play magic 8 years ago using an Angels vs Dragons duel deck a buddy of mine had. While not my favorite MTG tribe, dragons still hold a soft spot in my heart, and I've been considering building another standard dragon deck for fun. Off the top of my head:



Mana base might be a little bit off, but you get the picture. If everything works out and you hit all your land drops, you should be able to cast your 4+ CMC spells Turns 4-5. Off the top of my head, I couldn't think of a ramp spell that allows you to search for a land and put it into your hand/battlefield tapped in Standard, which is why Enter the Unknown is in the deck. Crucible of Worlds may seem like an odd choice, but I put it in to compliment Sarkhan, Fireblood's +1 that makes you draw and discard. I figure you can chuck a land and draw a card for CA, then play said land the same turn. The deck isn't optimal by any stretch, but is good for a first try/look.

Thank you guys so much for your input! It helps me learn a lot.
Also I made some edits:

My thoughts on dragons is that goblins + dragons are like butter and toast. Case in point, you really want to maximize the opportunities you get that turn 1 ramp off. Skirk Prospector and Llanowar Elves fit the same role in the deck, and while the former isn't as good as the latter, the expected survival rate is the same past turn 2 and the prospector lets you sacrifice itself in response to a removal.

The best ramp package I've come up with right now given the removal in the format is Llanowar Elves, Skirk Prospector, Elvish Rejuvenator, and oddly Thunderherd Migration.



I'm pretty sure you're going to need some Carnage Tyrant in the sideboard to deal with control. Otherwise all the work being put into trying to get the bomb out is going to go to waste when they just hold up mana to counter it. I threw in Banefire since it can help get past this and do damage strait to the face. Control is getting Chromium, the Immutable, which ironically goes over the majority of dragons in the format that the traditional green red color pair has access to. I'd dare say it's probably prudent to come up with a stronger top end, but there aren't a lot of options.

I don’t agree that you need to run ramp, especially creature-based ramp, to play dragons in Standard. For one thing, doing that means the deck isn’t really tribal. Secondly, you can also take a controlling approach to let you get to the point where you can play dragons naturally. If the goal is to show that a dragon tribal deck is possible, I think something like this deck is more thematic:



This deck is much closer to dragon tribal, and I think it can be viable without resorting to ramp or other non-tribal creatures.

Lathliss is debatable and the land base is very rough, but I think the idea is pretty clear. If you can control the game early, Demanding Dragon is a really hard card to deal with as there are only a few red removal spells that can deal with it and it can just deal 5 to the face as soon as it hits. You could also run Verix Bladewing if you want to blank your opponent’s Cast Down, or Glorybringer if you want more immediate pressure. Since the blue is only there for Nicol Bolas, removing it from the deck allows it to be pure R/B, although I do like the discard effect and the potential threat to flip.

This looks like a decent baseline for adragon deck though Glorybringer should definetly be in there being the best dragon in format until it rotates out.

I'm not sure if Bolas is even worth it but it surely shouldn't be a 4x-of in the deck as a legendary creature.
I'd probably drop it entirely and just fill the slots with Glorybringer and Verix.
It'll also make the mana better replacing Drowned Catacomb and Sulfur Falls with more B/R duals in Canyon Slough.

The deck has a lot of removal which I think could be trimmed down a bit, especially the weaker spells like Spray/Strike.
I'd also consider replacing Cast Down with Unlicensed Disintegration to hit legendary creatures.
Spit Flame is cute but it is just worse than Unlicensed Disintegration as well.

Dragon's Hoard is not only ramp but can also draw a card or two so it should be in the deck imho.

The main card missing here (until rotation) is Chandra which is the best PW for any midrange deck like this one.

This is how I'd tweak it:

My deck is looking to be more like the RG ramp deck listed in the OP's post, but I'd still appreciate some advice on it:


The Druid of the Cowl is mostly there as a 2 drop dork that doesn't die to Chainwhirler, but I'd appreciate a suggestion for one that taps for R without needing an outside resource like energy or counters, but I can't think of one off the top of my head.
Edit: Looking it up on gatherer, it looks like I could either use elfhame druid (synergy with Verix, without second color) or Naga Vitalist (gives me either color, but if I only have forests it screws me up a little.)
I replaced the druid with the vitalist. I think it's a better option, and the one toughness may matter, but probably won't.

Someone managed to 5-0 with a janky 5-color list:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1206588

It doesn't look remotely optimized as the 3-color dragons (maybe besides Bolas) look mostly like win-more cards that don't really justify stretching the manabase to cast them.

I don't understand how they went 5-0 with that they must have got crazy lucky because it doesn't look very consistent.

Probably just proves the power of Bolas more than anything. Deck looks super fun, though.

Quote from Truthseeker »

I don’t agree that you need to run ramp, especially creature-based ramp, to play dragons in Standard. For one thing, doing that means the deck isn’t really tribal. Secondly, you can also take a controlling approach to let you get to the point where you can play dragons naturally. If the goal is to show that a dragon tribal deck is possible, I think something like this deck is more thematic:

“R/B/u Dragon Control”Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4x Nicol Bolas, the Ravager 4x Demanding Dragon 2x Lathliss, Dragon Queen 3x Magma Spray 3x Abrade 4x Lightning Strike 3x Spit Flame	3x Fatal Push 3x Cast Down 3x Vraska’s Contempt 4x Sarkhan, Fireblood 4x Dragonskull Summit 2x Drowned Catacombs 2x Sulfur Falls 9x Mountain 7x Swamp

This deck is much closer to dragon tribal, and I think it can be viable without resorting to ramp or other non-tribal creatures.

Lathliss is debatable and the land base is very rough, but I think the idea is pretty clear. If you can control the game early, Demanding Dragon is a really hard card to deal with as there are only a few red removal spells that can deal with it and it can just deal 5 to the face as soon as it hits. You could also run Verix Bladewing if you want to blank your opponent’s Cast Down, or Glorybringer if you want more immediate pressure. Since the blue is only there for Nicol Bolas, removing it from the deck allows it to be pure R/B, although I do like the discard effect and the potential threat to flip.

I tend to favor controlling the board versus ramp. Historically, ramp is a glass canon that is easy to counter, since the early game is spent playing mana producing creatures. That gives opposing decks that have early game interaction an advantage, since the ramp deck is not interactive until after it hits enough mana to play something.

This is the deck I've been building. It's still a work in progress (especially the sideboard), but I like the idea of playing a mono-colored midrange dragon deck that capitalizes on Dragon's slight artifact synergy. Plus I don't think there is much need to splash into green just for ramp when there is Dragon's Hoard and Sarkhan, Fireblood which ramp you to five/six mana on turn four respectively.



This is the second version of the deck I've been working on. It's the same main deck, but I think the sideboard is a lot better. But the manabase is worse and relies a lot more on treasures for mana and not card draw. Plus not being able to play a card like Zhalfirin Void is a big loss.

SaffronOlive ran a version of this deck to a 4-1 on his stream. Catch it here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-five-color-elder-dragons-standard

I'm currently testing this deck on Arena;


I'm working on speeding it up a bit, but with the right draws this deck beats face in a fantastic way. The main reason is Chandra who can come down on turn 4 and make 2 mana for a burn spells or a 2 mana critter. After she rotates out of the format I'm not sure how this deck will look like.

Non-competitive, just-for-fun, big dumb dragon deck I've thought about putting together. I call it 5-Color Dragon Trash.



The idea is to play all the legendary dragons (and maybe some non-legendary dragons) available to us in Standard. It's a shame Servant of the Conduit has been banned, because it'd smooth out the mana base even more. I'm running more artifacts to be able to turn on Spire of Industry, and running Crucible of Worlds to get back any lands we pitch to Sarkhan, Fireblood, Tormenting Voice, and Chromium, the Mutable. I haven't done any testing with this deck yet, but it is a fun thought exercise! If I have missed some dragons, please let me know.

Servant is still fine, it's other energy cards that are banned.

Quote from chetoos »

Servant is still fine, it's other energy cards that are banned.

You're right. For some reason I was confusing it with Attune with Aether. Will make appropriate changes to my deck. Thank you!

I just piloted this deck to a 3rd-4th place finish at my store championships.



Match 1 vs. Turbo Fog

Game 1 I drew both of my Negates which was able to counter key spells (Nexus of Fate and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria) allowing me to win with my Glorybringers. Game 2 I got off to a fast start with Dragon's Hoard into Glorybringer into Demanding Dragon. I decided to attack to the face since most Turbo Fog players don't fog if they aren't in danger of dying or you aren't attacking their planeswalkers which is what happened. I then used Banefire to finish him off.

Match 2 vs. Elf Stompy

I actually started playing this deck because my friend built this annoying Elf Stompy deck and I needed to beat him. While he wasn't the pilot this time, it was his deck (which he was letting someone else borrow for the store championship). I just have too much removal for him to deal with and while the games went long I wasn't in any danger of dying. Glorybringers, Sweltering Suns, and reoccurring Spit Flames are just too much for the deck unless they draw all their Vivian Reids.

Match 3 - Draw into Top 4

Match 4 vs. Turbo Fog

Game 1 I got land and removal flooded, giving him enough time to win. Second game he had a fist full of fogs, but I was able to ultimate Chandra and I was able to burn him out. Game 3 was a really annoying game because I literally grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. I In Bolas's Clutches his Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and got it to eight loyalty. I was really paranoid about a disallow countering it for some reason even though he hadn't shown one any game yet. Instead of ultimating right away and exiling cards I try to dig for a negate. I also had a Nezahal in hand and the mana to play it which when combined with Teferi's ult is an autowin against Turbo Fog. Instead I ult after drawing a bunch of cards and pass the turn and he draws a Nexus of Fate off the top of his deck I never get another turn. Again really frustrating because I had so many paths to victory but because I was so focused on a card he didn't have (and knew he shouldn't have had) I lost. Still got my deck box and promos, plus the showdown pack I got had a Carnage Tyrant and a foil Sai, Master Thopterist, so the only thing I missed out on was the store championship playmat.

In conclusion I was really happy with the deck and probably could've won it all if it wasn't for my big mistake. Especially since the person I would play against in the final was playing God-Pharoh's Gifts which is a good match-up for the deck.