Dragonstorm? People don’t play Dragonstorm anymore.
Why not?
That’s just not a real deck anymore.
…
One of my favorite moves, as a deckbuilder, is to look at decks that have fallen by the wayside and see if the circumstances have changed in a way that
might reward us for bringing the deck back. Sometimes, a new card is printed, but not fully understood, that can change everything, like Spinerock Knoll.
Eight years ago, Dragonstorm won the World Championships (in the hands of Hall of Famer to be Makahito Mihara) and dominated the Standard format up until
the rotation took Seething Song, Hunted Dragon, Remand, Sleight of Hand, Telling Time, Gigadrowse, and Steam Vents. That’s most of the deck though,
including every single blue card. Lorwyn block had some good cards, but there were no direct replacements.
It wasn’t that Dragonstorm faded away. It rotated out, in the hearts and minds of tournament players. Fast forward a year, and the world is a very
different place. While the 2006 World Championships was one in which everyone knew they had to be able to disrupt combo or kill by turn 4, the 2007 World
Championships were nothing like that. Midrange was the gold standard, with G/R Ramp decks that aspired to go Into the North, then Harmonize, then
Cloudthresher. After all, there were no combo decks to be concerned about, right?
Gabriel Nassif, Mark Herberholz, and I brought Dragonstorm back by merging it with a mono-red burn deck. The secret that brought the whole thing together?
Spinerock Knoll, giving us library manipulation we sorely missed without the cheap blue cards. Without question, the deck was slower and weaker. However,
its greatest strength was surprise value. The format wasn’t even slightly prepared, and as a result we had a great weekend. We had even shared the deck
with Jon Finkel, Bob Maher, and David Williams, who put up mostly great Standard records with it.
There have been few decks in Magic’s history that were such “one-weekend” decks. Once word got out about Mono-Red Dragonstorm, the archetype got thrashed.
It didn’t take much for people to adjust their decks against it. People stopped playing awful decks like G/R Ramp, and people paired against Dragonstorm
now had some idea of what was going on. It doesn’t matter if the deck falls by the wayside after one weekend though. We only need it to be good once.
Not every forgotten archetype is going to revolutionize the format when you bring it back. In fact, the majority of the time we try such experiments, we’ll
conclude it’s not worth bringing back. When reviewing forgotten archetypes, we should actually frame things from a perspective of trying to determine why
it isn’t time, why it doesn’t fit.
Because sometimes it will be time, sometimes it will fit.
Today, Standard’s top decks have been in flux during the entire span of the format. The most recent top decks are Jeskai Tokens, W/U Heroic, and Whip
decks. Previous top choices included Abzan, Jeskai Aggro, Mardu Midrange, U/B Control, Green Devotion, and G/R/x Monsters (like Temur). The fact that the
top decks are so different than they were a few months ago bodes well for the possibility of an old idea getting new legs.
Mono-Black Aggro, or Suicide Black, was a popular deck in block. Why doesn’t anybody play it anymore? Let’s try our hands at a list…
Creatures (28)
- 4 Tormented Hero
- 4 Mogis's Marauder
- 4 Pain Seer
- 4 Herald of Torment
- 4 Spiteful Returned
- 4 Gnarled Scarhide
- 4 Bloodsoaked Champion
Lands (22)
- 22 Swamp
Spells (10)
Sideboard
The first thing that jumps out at me is how little this deck gains from M15 and Khans of Tarkir. Maybe it was the fifth best deck in block, but its only
new addition is Bloodsoaked Champion (and I guess a little in the sideboard). Is that really enough to pass the other top block decks, let alone the new
decks made possible with cards like Jeskai Ascendancy and Butcher of the Horde? W/U Heroic was in a similar space, but it gained Defiant Strike, Heliod’s
Pilgrim, Seeker of the Way, Stubborn Denial, and Flooded Strand. That’s so much!
Is it possible the positioning is just perfect for Mono-Black Aggro? I do like Bile Blight and Herald of Torment at the moment. So much of the deck is
absolutely awfully positioned. The 2/1s for one get brickwalled by Courser of Kruphix, not to mention being absolutely savaged by Raise the Alarm and
Hordeling Outburst. Doomwake Giant rips the deck apart. The block deck took advantage of a lack of cheap removal or sweepers. End Hostilities is new and
popular, and consider for a moment just how much of a beating it is against this style of deck. It is basically a hard counter to bestow!
The block deck benefitted from having reliable mana untapped, while everyone else’s mana entered the battlefield tapped, not to mention how people needed
Mana Confluence. Now, basically every high level deck has good mana.
So, why don’t people play Mono-Black Aggro? I guess, mainly because it gained very little, lost its prey, everyone else’s mana is better, and it seems very
poorly positioned. This is not a very attractive avenue to explore.
Part of the problem is that so many of the best cards in Khans of Tarkir are gold. There isn’t a lot of incentive to play mono. So, what if we try to
incorporate some good gold cards?
Creatures (29)
- 4 Fleecemane Lion
- 4 Tormented Hero
- 4 Herald of Torment
- 3 Gnarled Scarhide
- 2 Anafenza, the Foremost
- 4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
- 4 Siege Rhino
- 4 Bloodsoaked Champion
Lands (23)
Spells (8)
Well, we certainly pick up a lot of gold cards this way. Abzan Ascendancy feels like one of those cards that might just be criminally underplayed. It’s
very possible it turns out to be a pillar of a format soon to come. I like the Anafenzas, and I always love Siege Rhino. Could there be potential here?
First and foremost, I think it is just an awful time for 2/1s for one. Raise the Alarm and Hordeling Outburst are just going to keep popping up as reasons
to not play them. Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrow are popular to try to fight Hornet Queen. As if that weren’t enough, this build has tapped lands.
That is so brutal for a deck that wants to curve out.
Why do we need so many tapped lands? The problem is that we don’t get to use very many fetchlands. You really want your main color to be one of your
fetchland colors. This is part of what messes up Sultai decks sometimes. Courser of Kruphix decks really want Forests so Polluted Delta is just not as
clean of a fit as Windswept Heath.
So, what about a black aggro deck with a black fetchland? The obvious choice is Mardu. There are already plenty of midrange Mardu decks, so what about
hyper aggro?
Creatures (25)
- 4 Tormented Hero
- 2 Soldier of the Pantheon
- 4 Firedrinker Satyr
- 4 Gnarled Scarhide
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 3 Butcher of the Horde
- 4 Bloodsoaked Champion
Lands (23)
Spells (12)
This build is based on Nassif’s Mardu Ascendancy deck he was testing for Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir. It can come out fast, and Mardu Ascendancy provides some
insurance against Drown in Sorrow and Anger of the Gods. Unfortunately, the token makers are still just too brutal for the one-drops.
Could you go ahead and torture us with one more Tormented Hero deck before accepting that the token makers are stepping on the one-drops?
Creatures (27)
- 4 Tormented Hero
- 4 Mogis's Marauder
- 3 Pain Seer
- 4 Herald of Torment
- 4 Spiteful Returned
- 4 Gnarled Scarhide
- 4 Bloodsoaked Champion
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (9)
Sideboard
At least Sorin is a new card, but one-drops with one-toughness are just not great right now. What if you slowed it down a little? Cut the one-drops? Play
more of a B/W Midrange strategy like Rietzl and I did in Dublin?
Creatures (13)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (18)
Now we’re getting somewhere! At least this is a collection of all good cards. I particularly like Soul of Theros and would like to find more homes for that
thing. There are even less Abzan Charms and Utter Ends than there used to be! If unchecked, it completely takes over the game, and even if they can remove
it, the one-shot effect is like a double Jeskai Charm.
I like how a lot of these cards line up in the format. There’s just one thing that really kills it for me.
This deck is missing its best card.
Creatures (16)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (16)
Obviously, at this point, this is just an Abzan deck without most of the green cards. I have to admit, I don’t love Sylvan Caryatid anyway. Courser of
Kruphix, however, is one of the best cards in the deck. Abzan Charm is also great. And what do we get in return? Is this mana even better? It just has a
bunch of Swamps instead of Temple of Malady. Is that even better?
This does have me contemplating what Abzan would look like without Sylvan Caryatids. You would have so much room for everything. You’d probably
need to play more creatures, as whatever takes their place is going to have to be pretty versatile. It would also change the dynamics of the sideboard
quite a bit, as Caryatids get boarded out in a number of matchups that would no longer need as many cards to swap. The biggest problem with cutting
Caryatids, of course, would be the lack of meaningful early plays. I wonder if there is any merit to Seeker of the Way in that slot. It does get bricked by
a lot of things, but the lifegain is very much appreciated in Abzan. I’m definitely going to be thinking more about this concept.
Another route to go with B/W is to play into all the lifegain with Ajani’s Pridemate:
Creatures (16)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
Ajani’s Pridemate is fantastic here with nineteen cards that pump it, ensuring it quickly grows large enough to outclass even Siege Rhinos. It’s tempting
to try to fit Siege Rhinos in here, but instantly, that really screws up your Radiant Fountain and Scoured Barrens aspirations. I guess you could play some
amount of green lifegain duals, but we already have eleven tapped lands. Besides, they are just not in the same zip code as Temples in terms of power.
The thing I like about this list is how good its second turn is. Most decks don’t have a lot of great plays at two, and this list has two that are
absolutely dynamite in this build. Ajani’s Pridemate, in particular, is just an all-star once you go to the trouble of supporting it.
It’s also possible that this wants to be a white devotion list with Banishing Lights instead of some of the black removal spells. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
would help us power out some extra Souls of Theros. Maybe we even incorporate Dictate of Heliod. More cheap creatures would need to be considered to help
fuel the engine. I would definitely avoid Heliod, no matter how attractive he may seem. He’s not a strong card to begin with, and this format is
particularly hostile towards him (Doomwake Giant, Erase, Glare of Heresy, etc).
If White Devotion works, I would guess it is Soul of Theros that gives it the raw power needed. However, I would be surprised if such a deck is good
enough. Khans of Tarkir just rewards us so much for playing three color.
Speaking of three color…
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (14)
- 2 Chandra, Pyromaster
- 4 Xenagos, the Reveler
- 3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
- 2 Nissa, Worldwaker
- 3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Lands (24)
Spells (10)
Naya may not be one of the supported factions in Khans of Tarkir, but it does gain quite a few cards. Additionally, it was one of the best block decks, as
opposed to just an “also-ran.”
Elvish Mystic is a massive upgrade over Voyaging Satyr. Sylvan Caryatid was one of the best cards in the deck, and Elvish Mystic fits into our curve even
better, playing nice with Courser or just making us efficient with tapped lands. If you drew two tapped lands with a Satyr, you were likely to stumble
somewhere along the line. With Elvish Mystic, you can play both in the first two turns and still curve out.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker is better than Stormbreath Dragon right now because of the popularity of Murderous Cut, Sultai Charm, and Stoke the Flames, all
of which kill the Dragon, but not the Dragonspeaker. Abzan Charm and Utter End have both waned in popularity, which would normally encourage us to play
Stormbreath Dragon. Finally, Sarkhan’s ability to kill Courser of Kruphix is much appreciated at the moment.
Chandra, Pyromaster is another excellent planeswalker the block decks didn’t have access to. I prefer her to four-drops like Polukranos, World Eater and
Polis Crusher because of how much better she is against Murderous Cut, Sultai Charm, and the like. I also think the ability to pick off tokens is great
right now.
Nissa, Worldwaker is yet another great planeswalker we didn’t have access to in block. I don’t mind maindecking her, as there are less Stormbreath Dragons
and Mantis Riders than there used to be. It might seem like we don’t have that many Forests to untap, but with seven fetchlands, we are going to have at
least two in play early and often. Besides, we really want her for the 4/4 haste ability.
Destructive Revelry isn’t new, but it does have renewed purpose. Whip of Erebos decks are full of enchantments, as is W/U Heroic, and Jeskai Tokens’ most
important card is Jeskai Ascendancy. Even U/W Control plays Banishing Light, U/B Control has Perilous Vault, lots of decks have Chained to the Rocks, and
Abzan has Coursers.
Arc Lightning is a slightly unusual choice, but with the sheer volume of token makers seeing play, I think it is warranted. It’s also nice that it kills
Goblin Rabblemaster and his buddy. Additionally, sometimes Satyr tokens attack into a Siege Rhino, and Arc Lightning finishes it off.
The manabase is a sizeable upgrade over the block deck, as you have all the same Temples, but with fetchlands on top of them. We also get a bunch of great
sideboard options.
Hushwing Gryff could actually be a maindeck consideration. It’s great against all the Whip decks, but even in matchups where it’s not so hot, it’s never that bad.
With how strong Naya was in block and how many great cards it gains, I could definitely see Naya sneaking up on people. Even if we decide not to launch the
great Naya comeback yet, this is an important deck to keep an eye on as spoiler season unfolds. A couple key cards could go a long way.
One deck that was mostly absent from the block format, but still could exist in theory, is Mono-Blue Devotion. It was a top deck for a year, but the
rotation of the best blue devotion enablers (Nightveil Specter, Frostburn Weird, and Tidebinder Mage) left it crippled.
Creatures (24)
- 4 Welkin Tern
- 4 Thassa, God of the Sea
- 4 Master of Waves
- 4 Vaporkin
- 4 Hypnotic Siren
- 4 Triton Shorestalker
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
While I love an army of fliers against these slow green decks, the popularity of Doomwake Giant makes this deck look like a non-starter. Besides, it’s just
so hard to actually wake Thassa up with this list!
Creatures (26)
- 4 Welkin Tern
- 2 Thassa, God of the Sea
- 4 Master of Waves
- 4 Vaporkin
- 4 Hypnotic Siren
- 4 Triton Shorestalker
- 4 Mantis Rider
Lands (24)
Spells (10)
Once you are on the blue skies plan, Mantis Rider is a perfect fit. Jeskai Charm is also absolutely incredible, not only going upstairs or repelling
attacks, the lifelink mode is an A+ tool for decks trying to race. The blue creatures are so bad at blocking now, we really need something like that.
Additionally, Jeskai Charm + Master of Waves can be a pretty big beating.
Overall, however, I think this is a bad Jeskai Tokens deck. We don’t get enough out of the fliers to make up for having to invest two or three cards
instead of just one at a time, like the tokens deck. The manabase is also just too brutal. That is so much pain, when we could just cut the
one-drops and play more Temples.
A number of people asked about Jesaki Control, but is that really better than Jeskai Tokens?
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (26)
Spells (27)
I feel like Jeskai Ascendancy is the best part of Jeskai Tokens, so losing that would need to have a lot of value from somewhere else. I’m just not sold on
this particular mix of reactive cards, as I think there’s going to be too many people you face that have different threats than the ones you were planning
for.
Another popular suggestion for control decks is Esper, which at least uses tons of fetchlands to fuel delve cards.
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (26)
Spells (26)
I guess it would be cool to find a way to just use tons of Digs and Cruises, but there’s a few things with this list that don’t sit right with me. First of
all, the deck is full of haymakers, which doesn’t speed up the delving that much, nor make the best use of Treasure Cruise. Many of the cards even sit in
play, such as the planeswalkers.
Bile Blight is great in the format, but I think it’s ambitious to think we’re actually casting it turn 2 reliably, and we don’t really have any other plays
before turn 3.
The planeswalkers are fine, but we aren’t making great use of them. So much of Sorin’s power is tied up in granting lifelink the turn you play him, which
this deck doesn’t take full advantage of. I also kind of hate Perilous Vault in a deck full of planeswalkers. I guess it’s not the end of the world, it
just can get clunky sometimes.
Another option is to strip out the white, going back to “old school” U/B Control.
Creatures (2)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (27)
Spells (29)
I don’t hate this approach, and I would guess we could tune it to beat three decks of our choice somewhat consistently. My concern is that the deck’s power
level isn’t as high as decks with the sweet three-color cards. Plus, it’s so reactive that a field as wide open as I expect next week to be is going to
involve a lot of matches against opponents you weren’t expecting. If you experiment with this style, the Ashioks probably need to move out of the maindeck
(maybe to the sideboard, maybe not at all), with more cheap plays finding their way into the deck, or perhaps a little more cheap card draw (cheaper than
eight).
One final control deck I’d like to experiment with today is Sultai. Sultai Reanimator means there is no shortage of Sultai decks in the format, but Sultai
Control was one of the top decks in block. It also gains a lot from the new sets.
Creatures (9)
Lands (26)
Spells (25)
Both M15 and Khans of Tarkir give us a lot to consider.
● Satyr Wayfinder gives us a much needed additional early play. It is also a really strong enabler for our blue delve cards.
● Villainous Wealth is actually a pretty stellar kill card, as doing it for six is generally game-winning.
● Pearl Lake Ancient is just a more reliable kill card than Prognostic Sphinx at the moment. We can get away with one due to the Villainous Wealth, and the
possibility of Satyrs and Coursers cleaning up a little at a time.
● Perilous Vault is a far more broad-reaching sweeper than Drown in Sorrow. It does make me want to not play Caryatid though.
● Aetherspouts is often forgot about, but can get you out of spots no other card would. It is particularly important against Nissa, Worldwaker, which
normally is quite effective against Perilous Vault.
● Sultai Charm is great these days, being a Naturalize with a lot of other modes.
● Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise are far better card drawers than we had access to in block, reducing our need to crutch on mediocre planeswalkers.
● Opulent Palace, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Yavimaya Coast, Llanowar Wastes, and Polluted Delta make our mana significantly better than in block, despite
no Sylvan Caryatids in this list.
While this list is pretty reactive, the Satyr Wayfinder + Dig/Cruise interaction is extremely attractive. That kind of raw power can actually help us brute
force opponents playing decks we were not specifically planning for. As long as we aren’t so slow that W/U Heroic just rips us apart, I can see working on
something like this.
Looking at brainstorm ideas today, the most appealing starting points to me are Naya Midrange, B/W Midrange, and Sultai Control. There’s also the
possibility of just making room for Treasure Cruise in Abzan, though it would take a lot to make it worth messing up our Temples just to “upgrade” our Read
the Bones. That is another argument in favor of Satyr Wayfinders, instead of Sylvan Caryatids.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (20)
This is a pretty raw attempt, but I am definitely into the idea of Satyr Wayfinder and Treasure Cruise in Abzan. I wonder if it’s actually just supposed to
be Siege Rhino in Sultai though. Of course, it could just be Siege Rhino and Treasure Cruise in a G/B deck. I also like the idea of Villainous Wealth as a
way to go over the top of the other midrange decks.
The biggest hurdle we have to overcome is just how much power and consistency we lose by not running the Temples, and more often being caught with spells
in hand we can’t cast.
It’s real hard for me to imagine not playing Siege Rhino at GP Denver, but if I don’t, it is most likely in order to play blue delve cards. Actually
playing both…
