Dragon.
Megamorph.
It sounds like a kid’s tv show, but that’s the new hotness coming out of GP Shanghi.
Just kidding, but Yuuya Watanabe, Makihito Mihara, and Toshiya Kanegawa did put another 3/3 deathtouch megamorph creature to good use this weekend. After
the Pro Tour, we talked about how the Dragon package could be added to a variety of decks. The Flores Mono-Blue deck splashing Dragons was a good snapshot
into what’s possible, and Watanabe, Mihara, and Kanegawa have found another legit home for the Dragon package, putting two into the top 16.
Kanegawa and Mihara were working on Bant Megamorph, which is really just a G/W deck splashing a Dragonlord Ojutai. They were having problems with
Stormbreath Dragon, inspiring them to try black instead of white. They also found that with a massaging, they could actually support as many Dragonlords as
they wanted.
Creatures (27)
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 2 Dragonlord Silumgar
- 1 Dragonlord Atarka
- 2 Dragonlord Dromoka
- 4 Den Protector
- 3 Dragonlord Ojutai
- 4 Deathmist Raptor
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
What do you get when you shuffle together a G/B Megamorph deck and a Five-Color Dragon deck?
A thing of beauty!
Having full playsets of Sylvan Caryatid and Satyr Wayfinder, along with Haven of the Spirit Dragon, Opulent Palace, Windswept Heath, and more make casting
whatever Dragons no problem, even Ojutai, which requires the double splash by turn 5. In many ways, this is a three-color deck: green, black, and Dragons.
Ojutai needs double Dragon to cast, but with fourteen sources, plus Wayfinders and Caryatids, this is mostly trivial.
Satyr Wayfinder is actually a superstar in this build, not only fixing your mana and providing a speed bump against aggro early, but keeping the fuel
coming later. It helps you find Haven of the Spirit Dragon to ensure you always have access to Dragons. It also fills your graveyard, which gives you more
possible targets for the Havens and the Den Protectors. It also finds Deathmist Raptors, giving you a big edge in attrition battles.
Satyr Wayfinder is also a super effective answer to Foul-Tongue Invocation. Between the Wayfinder, Sylvan Caryatid, Den Protector, and Deathmist Raptor,
it’s actually quite difficult to use Foul-Tongue Invocation against this deck even remotely effectively.
Den Protector has spread to nearly every green deck in the format (which is most of the decks in the format), and when it’s paired with Deathmist Raptor,
you get a resilient anti-removal package that gives you such an upperhand in attrition battles. Alongside the Haven of the Spirit Dragon, this deck is
well-positioned against decks like Abzan and Esper, which is a great place to be.
I seriously love this deck! A big part of what I find so appealing is how many early plays they have without going overboard with potentially dead removal.
Twelve two-drops and eleven three-drops (plus Murderous Cut and the ability to morph Den Protector) means we’re consistently advancing the board in the
earlygame, yet most of them are good draws late.
The Den Protector + Deathmist Raptor engine is so good because the opportunity cost is so low and the cards themselves are so strong in their own right. If
you are low on mana, they are totally reasonable plays just to block with or to start clocking people. Just casting a morph on turn 3 is already a
deceptively strong play. If they have a removal spell, they don’t want you to be able to untap and use Den Protector’s ability. However, if they use a
removal spell on your morph and it turns out to be a Deathmist Raptor, they are going to be really feeling it.
In the midgame, they are each a nice, modest source of card advantage. Deathmist Raptor isn’t coming back non-stop, but coming back at all is awesome, and
often you’ll flip Raptors to Wayfinders to net you up cards for nothing. The Den Protector’s Regrowth ability is huge, giving you more of whatever you want
most, but the 3/2 hard to block body is no slouch either.
Then, going late, you can set up double Den Protector, where you always have one in hand, so that if they kill the first, you get it back and are in the
same situation as before, with them down removal. A single 3/2 wouldn’t necessarily be the most dangerous threat in the world, but each loop gets back all
of your Deathmist Raptors, too.
Normally, green decks have a weakness to Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, but this list is actually far better suited for that battle than most. Den Protector’s
evasion is great for stalking Elspeth, Thoughtseize and Hero’s Downfall help, plus we’ve got some Dragonlords perfect for the job:
Dragonlord Atarka’s enter the battlefield trigger does a perfect five damage to kill Elspeth outright, assuming Atarka comes down in time. Even if she
can’t finish Elspeth off completely, she knocks Elspeth low enough to not be able to minus. That the five damage can be split up also means we’ve got
another way to catch up against an opponent that got to use Elspeth’s plus ability a number of times.
The threat of Silumgar stealing Elspeth makes it very dangerous for people to tick her up. He also ducks under her minus ability, making him very well
suited for anti-Elspeth missions That Dragonlord Dromoka can be an uncounterable Abeyance means enemy planeswalkers are never safe going long, even when
paired with a bunch of counterspells.
Dromoka was initially underrated a bit, perhaps because of how steep the competition is at the six-spot (Silumgars and Elspeth), but also because of how
much she screams to be used in non-G/W decks. Now that people better understand how to splash Dragons all over the place, she’s showing up more and more.
Her ability to lock people out of casting spells on your turn is obviously fantastic against Silumgar’s Scorn and Dissolve, but it’s also excellent against
removal. Dragonlord Ojutai coming down on turn 5 (or four with a Caryatid!) will often leave people saving three mana to kill him should he drop the
shields and get into the red zone. Dromoka ensures that the shields continue at least until the end of your turn, and connecting with Ojutai is often so
much value; even if they use a removal spell on their turn, you’ve come out ahead.
That this card is absurdly strong is nothing new, but I have been on the quest for the best deck to combine it and Den Protector, and this list is the best
I’ve seen at this.
“Den Protector and Dragonlord Ojutai are the two best cards in Standard.” – Gerry Thompson, 4/30/15
Gerry played Bant Megamorph at the following event, discovering just how big and gaping the holes in the strategy are, but it looks like Mihara and company
have found the city of gold Gerry prophesied.
The maindeck removal package is very minimal since all of the removal in Standard has holes somewhere. The removal that you want against Red Aggro is not
like the removal you want against Esper, which is not like the removal you want against G/R Dragons.
I like the diverse mix of removal, so that our Den Protector has more options. Foul-Tongue Invocation is obviously great against Ojutai, and it’s nice to
have lifegain, but it isn’t reliable against green decks or tokens. Hero’s Downfall is reliable and gives us more options against Elspeth, Stormbreath
Dragon, and Ugin. Murderous Cut is the least important of the three; however, it is sweet to have the ability to set up two plays in one turn, and Satyr
Wayfinder can make it super cheap super fast.
Having the right removal is awesome, though, and the sideboard is loaded with removal options, changing the sideboard games texture dramatically. The
biggest focus of the sideboard is against G/R Dragons and Red Aggro, since the Game 1 matchup is pretty good against Abzan and Esper.
I like the use of Duress here. Most people would just put the fourth Thoughtseize in the sideboard out of habit, but here, we get to bring it in against
Red Aggro. There’s also a little value to control opponents not knowing how many discard spells you play.
Self-Inflicted Wound is one of my favorites right now, being excellent against both Abzan Aggro and Dragonlord Ojutai. I still wonder if it might be
underplayed maindeck.
While Mihara, Yuuya, and Kanegawa may have had the sweet new deck of the weekend, I have to admit I might not be able to get away from Yuuki Ichikawa’s
build of Abzan.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 4 Siege Rhino
- 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- 4 Den Protector
- 4 Deathmist Raptor
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
It’s nothing too crazy, but it has basically everything I’ve been looking for in an Abzan deck.
- Major focus on Elspeth.
- Satyr Wayfinder, which I love in the format, especially with the megamorph cards.
- Crux of Fate, but no Bile Blights or Ultimate Prices. I love getting away from a supersaturation of removal maindeck.
Deathmist Raptor is great at stalling games out, and when you Crux of Fate, the Raptors come back later. Crux of Fate also bails us out of some tough spots
because of so little spot removal. That said, it can serve as a solid spot removal spell against Dragonlord Ojutai without killing our Rhino or Courser.
With as many creatures as we have, it’s also nice to be able to kill Thunderbreak Regent and Stormbreath Dragon without losing our creatures.
The truly next level part of this deck, though, is the use of two Tasigur, the Golden Fangs. Satyr Wayfinder powering Tasigur out early is actually super
sweet in a world where people are cutting back on removal and often rely on Foul-Tongue Invocation. Tasigur also digs to more Deathmist Raptors!
Zero Read the Bones is a function of the trimming of removal. Besides, Deathmist Raptor + Den Protector serves most of the same function.
I’m not sure I can get behind 61 cards when four of them are Siege Rhinos, but it is probably better than cutting the wrong card. Moving forward, I would
try to figure out what I think the right card to cut is, and then just cut what Gerry cuts.
I have been advocating Abzan Control returning to Nissa as the sideboard threat in place of Fleecemane Lions or weird ‘walkers like Liliana or Ajani. A lot
of people have cut down on Downfalls, and I like that she can be aggressive (as a hasty threat) alongside our creatures, but she can also play a more
controlling game, going large in a way that fights Perilous Vault and Ugin.
As good as Nissa is, the first Sorin is better than the third Nissa. Obviously, it’s better to draw a mixture, but Sorin’s also a great weapon against Red
Aggro. The lifegain is always good in that matchup, but when your deck has Satyr Wayfinder, Den Protector, Deathmist Raptor, Tasigur, and Arashin Cleric on
top of the usual suspects, you are typically going to have some pretty big lifelink turns.
Arashin Cleric is standard operating procedure now, but I did want to point out that the combination of Arashin Cleric + Drown in Sorrow is absolutely
devastating against Red Aggro. Just make sure to remember to sideboard in Dromoka’s Command to reduce the risk of losing to Outpost Siege.
Ultimate Price is still the best in the business if you want a removal spell against G/R Dragons and Red Aggro. A lot of people are afraid to sideboard up
to more than two, but if you are sideboarding them in, they are typically going to be solid gold.
Yuuki has made some subtle tweaks to the typical Abzan manabase that are so perfect for his list. First of all, remember, it’s not about how many tapped
lands you can play, but rather how many untapped lands. I generally prefer 13-14 untapped lands in decks like this, and the Satyr Wayfinders finding
untapped lands so that you can curve out make it feel like we’ve got plenty.
Satyr Wayfinder also means you don’t need to play as many land as you otherwise would. However, you can’t cut green mana since you need the green mana to
find your other mana. In fact, Yuuki actually makes room for an eighteenth green source (cutting a Caves of Koilos for a Llanowar Wastes), which also helps
support Deathmist Raptor face up on turn 3.
The use of Crux of Fate instead of End Hostilities relieves some of the pressure for us to play a high white count. It’s not like thirteen sources plus
Satyr Wayfinders is low or anything either, but now we never really need an untapped white to play on turn 5.
If I were playing in the Standard Premier IQ in Worcester this coming weekend, I think I’d test Dragon Megamorph, particularly against Yuuki’s Abzan deck.
If I fell in love with the Dragon Megamorph deck, I could totally see playing it; however, my guess is that I would end up on Abzan Control.
I generally like having the slightly bigger build of midrange decks, so I think I would make room for an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in the sideboard of Abzan.
Maybe it’s greedy, but I think I’d actually trim an Arashin Cleric or a Drown in Sorrow. I feel like Red Aggro is going to take a little bit of a
downswing, and we’ve got a lot for them already.
I love the idea of getting to use Den Protector and Dragonlord Ojutai in the same deck, but honestly, I think the best card might still be Elspeth.
Now, if only someone could get Elspeth, Den Protector, and Dragonlord Ojutai in the same place at the same time…
Creatures (21)
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 1 Dragonlord Dromoka
- 4 Den Protector
- 4 Dragonlord Ojutai
- 4 Deathmist Raptor
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (12)
My confidence is low that this list is the way to combine the three Musketeers, but there are some things in it that excite me. To begin with, Satyr
Wayfinder + Dig Through Time is an absolutely amazing synergy that deserves to have a home.
Additionally, one of the big weaknesses of non-black and non-red decks is the lack of good spot removal. Well, we want to be low on removal in the format
anyway, and maybe the megamorph package can help up bridge our bombs.
I love how good the Coursers are in here, with eight fetchlands and Dig Through Time to reset the top. I’m suspicious of Silumgar’s Scorn alongside
Courser, however. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that we lose enough value from having to show our opponents when we have a Dragon or not that we
end up trimming some Scorns. The main reason I haven’t here is that I need more two-drops. I don’t want to get into stuff like Sylvan Caryatid if I can
help it, as End Hostilities is kind of an important part of the plan, though it’s possible the manabase needs us to play one or more to help out.
Making the mana work is challenging since we don’t get a tri-land and we can’t really play non-blue Temples, yet we still aspire to play doubles of every
color relatively early. We also want to make sure we have enough untapped blue to occasionally actually get to Silumgar’s Scorn on 2. This build’s mana is
stretched a bit, and we don’t even get Haven of the Spirit Dragon, which is going to be a real bummer going long against people that do.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this deck gets run over because of the lack of removal, but maybe we can get away with it. I just like experimenting with how to
get the most best cards into a deck. Getting to play four of the five best cards in Standard (Dig Through Time) is something…
…Now if only we could get Siege Rhino in there, too!
