Video: Scion of the Ur-Dragon in Legacy

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Actual Dragon Stompy

Drew Levin

Test deck on 11-30--0001

Legacy

Creatures (13)

Lands (8)

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Sandstone Needle

Spells (39)

Sideboard

After writing the article about this deck, my good friend Jarvis Yu sent me a decklist from 2005. It bears a slight resemblance to this one:

Sneak Attack

Tsuyoshi Fujita

5th Place at Grand Prix on 03-06-2005

Extended

Creatures (14)

Lands (14)

Spells (32)

Sideboard

Fujita’s goal was identical to mine: one-shot them with a Dragon Tyrant. I’m not sure whether or not Fujita had access to Ancient Tomb and Blood Moon, but
I found both to be indispensable in my experience with the deck. Being able to force counterspells out of an opposing tempo deck’s hand to set up a Sneak
Attack or Through the Breach is a great effect. Being able to shut off Karakas from bouncing Scion of the Ur-Dragon is also fantastic. Overall, I liked the
maindeck quite a bit and would change nothing without testing it first.

The Blazing Shoal addition was excellent, as it provides another sort of “Moltensteel” effect. In spots where you just have Dragon Tyrant, you want a way
to spend a resource that isn’t mana to increase power. Moltensteel Dragon has a sort of Phyrexian Firebreathing, while Blazing Shoal exchanges cards
instead of life. Regardless, the effect was great and it’s a relatively straightforward cut against decks that are more attrition-oriented.

Gamble over Faithless Looting is just correct. In the future, I’ll be sure to pay more attention to the potential upside of a good Gamble.

Even in the sideboard, I don’t know that I love Pyroblast. It’s fine but not great, as this deck can so often convert mana into damage. In so many cases,
this deck kills with exactly enough mana, and Pyroblast is the wrong sort of card in that situation. I would almost rather have Simian Spirit Guide, but
sideboarding into that feels ridiculous.

Although I don’t think that the Nicol Bolas dream will ever be realized, I do want a way to sideboard into more Dragons. It’s an open question as to what
they should be, but having more Pyromancy hits and having more cards to Sneak Attack in came up multiple times, and I was happy to be able to turn to
everybody’s favorite Elder Dragon.

I loved having more Moltensteel Dragons. I think that the Zodiac Dragon or maindeck Nicol Bolas should probably just be a fourth Moltensteel, as it’s an
incredible threat against a lot of passive decks. If they don’t have a way to kill it, it’s often just a two-turn clock. When it can hit the board as early
as Turn 2 via Seething Song, that’s a big game.

I have no idea how good Pyromancy is. I think it would’ve been awesome against BUG had it resolved, but we’ll never know. More investigation needed, but
I’d recommend continuing to try it should you pick this up.

Shattering Spree was the stone kold and I’m going to start playing it a lot more. Seriously, that card is unreal.

Last but certainly not least is the Scion of the Ur-Dragon + Dragon Tyrant hookup. Being able to have an effective eight Tyrants and eight Sneak Attacks is
a big game. As you saw against Baleful Strix, Dragon Tyrant also happens to have an ability that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn does not: it tramples. Chump block
at your own risk!