This deck is based on a single idea: card advantage

Dark Confidant + Dimir Cutpurse can create a great card advantage but my question is if this deck can kill before the Confidant kills the owner

Have u ever tried to take control of a wild mongrel with old man of the sea?

However Old man of the sea and seasinger are under Red Elemental Blast and other creature removal so i prefer Vedalken

My Teammate played a modified version of URBan Fish in a tournament.

He finished in Top4 losing from gift in third game because he don't want to mulligan a bad starting hand (he was tired and wanna come back at home)

The deck have a good matchup with all the top decks of the format, but have great problems vs other aggro and aggro control decks.

Artifact and control matchup is not so hard to win, combo is a bit harder

Night of the Souls Betrayal destroy this deck

Our Strategy vs other aggro and aggro control decks is siding in Vedalken Shackles in place of Null Rod (preferred to chalice of the void)

As subject i'm looking for images of that alternative art.

If anyone could help me contact me

UBA mask in my opinion it's the last card that a Prison deck need to be the perfect deck. For about a year Mishra's Workshop was really near to be limited...i think that in next banning announcement Workshop come back to be limited or we are going to see a rapid decay of the t1 since any strategy based on card advantage will be impossibile to play.

I've built a t1 affinity deck and played it in massa (4th place losing in semifinal vs winner of the tournament)

Ravager is one of the part of the engine of the deck and it's the best finisher of the deck (since it has "haste"....it comes in play eat some artifacts sac to itself and pump an active creature)

So if i would make a single card discussion i would make it about skullclamp (the best darksteel card) and how it can works in different decks

Hulk Smash in my area pack about 2-3 ground seal in their sideboard....

The real problem is that resolve a pernicious vs hulk is very hard....

You can see my list in the top8 in milan and you can see that i already play 2 wish for the stroke in the sideboard.

I thought also about a reanimator plan with exhume to avoid the ground seal....

Hi all

Since the hate for dragon.dec (Ground Seal, Root Maze, Planar Void and other stuff) is growing in my area and i want continue to play the deck i would discuss some sideboard strategies.

The ways to fight vs all the hate are 2 in my opinion

1) Sideboard full of enchantment removal (since the best card vs dragon are enchantments)
2) Trasformational Sideboard


First option could be successful vs non control decks since vs hulk they can protect their threats easily.

As enchantment removals at the moment i play 2 pernicious deed, 2 naturalize, 1 chain of vapor (is not a real enchantment removal but it helps) and 1 tranquil domain (vs multiple enchantments) but i found that are not enough

For trasformational sideboard i thought to use mask-dreadnought plan but it costs me 8 slots and so i'm not so sure to use this solution

If anyone have any other ideas and would help me.......

My Personal Report of the Tournament

I'm Giuseppe De Luca (so you have already seen my name in the top8 list)

Dragon.dec

4 Force of Will
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Stifle
3 Xantid Swarm
2 Deep Analisys
2 Intuition
4 Animate Dead
3 Necromancy
1 Entomb
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk (still looking for a beta one   )
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Scrivener
2 Cunning Wish
3 Worldgorger Dragon
3 Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Swamp
1 Island

Sideboard
2 Verdant Force
2 Pernicious Deed
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Oxidize
2 Naturalize
2 Annul
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Coffin Purge
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Gaea's Blessing

1st turn vs Ru Control base on mana denial

First game he starts with first turn shaman and tried in the second turn to waste a land, i stifled put in play bazaar activated and win the game with a topdecked mox.

Second game he mulligans to 5 and i close first turn with bazaar lotus sol ring animate dead

1-0

2nd turn vs Rector Trix

I won these games for the 3 stifles maindeck he tried to sac rector  for the therapy but i activated bazaar and use stifle on the ability of rector. Then he draw only lands or mana source

Second game is the copy of first one but i close faster then him with a first turn xantid, second turn bazaar, third turn kill with a stifle on a fetch in the his third turn that prevent him to cast rector

2-0

3rd turn TPS (Team-Mate)

ID

2-0-1

4th turn Iso-Keeper

Xantid rules the game. First turn xantid let me win in three turns and in the second game i tried to cast xantid in my second turn, he drains, i animate it in my third turn and close in my 4th turn.

3-0-1

5th turn Dragon (another Teammate)

He dont know very well the mirror match so he tried to win the game using bazaar he discards the dragon and i thank him casting animate dead with wish in my hand for the win.

Second game was won by my blessing in sideboard since he doesn't have the wish-stroke option as kill.

4-0-1

6th turn vs goblin

First game easy victory in turn three.

Second game he starts with a mulligan with lackey crypt crypt....i scoop after 3 turns

Third turn i start with fetch pass he starts slow with cadets i entomb for verdant and animate in the second turn. He scoops after 2 turns

5-0-1

7th turn vs U/W FishNoFish (The top8 one)

First game xantid swarm wins the game

Second game i keep with a poor hand and his curiosity destroy me (he draws about 6 cards with curiosity)

Third game i lose from a rootwater thief....

5-1-1

I must play the final round for the top8

Round 8 Control Madness (Matteo Rubini 4th place with this deck in the side event in Berlin last year)

My bazaar are more dangerous....so i win the first game at turn 4 after a resolved xantid

Second game he bring in all the hate (2 ground seal, 2 tormod, 1 naturalize, 1 beb, 1 chain of vapor, 1 ray of revelation)

I dont find the bazaar so he destroy me with a mongrel + roar

Third Game i was able to cast 1st turn xantid and wins in the third turn


1st game top vs Hulk Smash (winner of the tournament)

I start with xantid swarm and win after 3 turns

Second game he starts with turn 1 ground seal...i scoop after few turns (no bazaar because he waste me 2, no resolved spell too many counters)

Third game i start with underground sea pass

He starts with duress i cast mystical tutor fetching ancestral and he discards force of will

I try ancestral but he force me, then he casts his ancestral and second duress then in the next 2 turns he waste me 1 land and 1 bazaar

When i try the Deep from my hand he drain me and when i flashbacked he forces......

His turn with 4 mana in pool from drain he cast demonic tutor black lotus yawgmoth's will...

What can i say....GOD HAND!!!!

I had used dragon in my last 4 tournaments here in italy (4 top8 and 2 final) every time with different decklists and this is what i discovered:

Mana Base

No matter how many duals you play, opponent wasteland are always waiting for your bazaar so the real motive to play some basic lands is to avoid Blood Moon (or back to basics) and so i think that 1 swamp and 1 island is enough to survive. I prefer to use mana crypt in the place of the 2 mox off colore since it gives 2 mana at the cost of one card.

Animate Spell

8 Animate spells are necessary in this deck. In about 100 matches played with this deck i need to see 5-6 animate spells in a game to win (some discarded for bazaar, some countered) so i feel too risky play with only 7 animate spells

Draw and Search

I'm not a great fan of compulsion or lim-dul's vault. I play 2 Deep Analisys, 1 entomb and 1 mystical tutor in those 4 slots and i found thems always great cards (Deep Analisys above all)

Stifle

In every version of my dragon decks i play 3 stifle. They are simply too strong.

Protection

With the trinisphere becoming legal duress is more important than xantid swarm so besides 4 fow i like to play 3 or 4 duress (depending on the metagame i'll expect)

Killing

I feel that Ambassador is strong enough to be the only one killing method of the deck but i have a secondary plan with the wish for the stroke in the sideboard. Caller of the claw becomes a great kill if root maze becomes more popular in many decks (besides oshawa stompy)

Sideboard

3 Verdant and 3 Xantid are 6 slots that i never touch in my decklists. I use only 2 deed because they are so difficult to cast and above all to have slots for wish targets like tranquil domain, naturalize, stroke of genius or coffin purge. I'd like to play 3 chalice of the void to improve the matchup vs TPS (very popular here in italy) but can't find room

From Tournament in Pavia 2nd place (7 win 2 ID NO LOSS Concede in final by drop to teammate and split)

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
3 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
1 Entomb
3 Necromancy
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Cunning Wish
2 Deep Analysis
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
3 Stifle
1 Time Walk
1 Crop Rotation
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Worldgorger Dragon
Lands:
1 Bayou
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea

Sideboard
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Coffin Purge
1 Naturalize
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Stroke of Genius
3 Verdant Force
3 Xantid Swarm
 

After the tournament i make some changes to my sideboard and maindeck


Maindeck changes:
-1 intuition
+1 Mystical Tutor

-1 Cunning Wish
+1 Scrivener

Sideboard Changes:

-1 Naturalize
-1 Chain of Vapor
-1 Skeletal Scrying
-1 Blue Elemental Blast
-1 Coffin Purge

+3 Chalice of the Void
and 2 open slots


Now i try to explain these changes

-1 intution +1 mystical

I try to play mistical tutor since now with the presence in the deck of Crop Rotation and Entomb i can set a fast 2nd turn kill with the mystical

-1 wish +1 scrivener

This is the 2nd kill of the deck. Mill all the deck with the bazaar, then target the scrivener, target wish with scriveneer and wins with the stroke.
In this way i can avoid the blessings, necropotence, yawgmoth's bargain and still win in one turn (and not wait a turn as i must do with a sliver queen)

Sideboard Changes

-5 Instants
+3 chalice of the void

Since the wishes maindeck goes from 2 to 1 i think that the targets for the wish in the sideboard must be cut. So i play 3 Chalice of the Void to improve the combo matchup (A lot of TPS in my area here in Italy)

Now i have 2 open slots for the sideboard and i need some advices

How about play a living wish in maindeck, fill the 2 open slots with 1 bazaar and 1 worldgorger???
 :shock:

The Dragon.dec can work without FoW? I feel that the deck has too much few blue cards to support the FoWs so i think about cut them.

My actual metagame is a lot of Stax and Hulk decks, some TPS and some Keeper so a full powever Metagame (very few persons plays unpowered)

Thx for any advice....

Giuseppe De Luca aka Siral