a couple of questions about dragon

[vartemis]

I am looking at putting together a dragon deck and understand the basics of how to play it.  I am NOT looking for a decklist.  I am trying to understand the reasoning behind some of the cards.

Is forbidden orchard included because, when gorger goes off, the tokens are removed because I own them, even though my oponent controls them, or what is the reasoning behind this?

When playing against dragon at a recent tournament (I was playing oath) my oponent passed the turn, then proceeded to go off with a necromancy during my upkeep.  Was this an error on his part, or was it some sort of strategy I'm just not getting?  I figure he should have done it during my end phase and gotten his Queen and produced the tokens then.  I am totally stumped.

thanks

j

[warble]

First off, call it dragon.

Second, he went off during your upkeep because he didn't hold any permission spells in his hand, but did hold another animate dead/dance of the dead/necromancy.  He went off to tap your mana out so if you did manage to counter his necromancy, he would just win the next turn because you'd used up your permissions.  Or he might have even held a permission spell but wanted to ensure you didn't have two permission spells.  It didn't make any difference to you if you took your upkeep because apparently you had mana open and he was scared of a counter.  You didn't draw any new cards before your draw step so all you could do is lose mana, prepping you for losing the game during his next main phase.

[vartemis]

Thanks for the input. I have also seen builds that are mono black and ones that are blue/black.  I am thinking of going towards blue/black as intuition is better than buried alive.

Does the deck seem to be staying as a blue black build, or what is the optimum color choice (not card choice)?

I have compared lists of Cerebral Assassin with this, and while I find the combo a little less effecient, I do like the idea of using an eternal witness.  If you can get one into play while the combo is going, you could put your entire deck in your hand.  This would allow you have control (in a blue/black build) before you end the combo.

In case I'm not making myself clear, let me illustrate.

Animate spell targeting dragon is cast.  Loop the combo with bazaar until you get a witness and another reanimate spell in the grave. only put 3 mana in your pool during this to prevent death from mana burn in case you happen to go off and they have something to stop it.  Finish the first part by retargeting the witness.  When witness comes into play, target the second reanimate spell with it.  Cast The second reanimate spell on dragon again.  Combo goes off again.  Before verything leaves play, don't tap any land for mana, just tap the bazaar and dump the cards.  Everything comes back in.  First reanimate spell targets dragon again. second one hopefully fizzles as there isnt a target in the graveyard. Continue to run the loop dumping cards here and there with the Bazaar and bringing em back with the witness.  When you have a decent mitt full of control, start producing the mana with the loop.  Then reanimate laqatus or yamabushi or a squee and fire a huge fireball at their head.

Is this ever done?  I have never seen anyone do this and there are quite a few dragon decks in my area.

j

[BigDCool247]

I have been a dragon player for about 6 months now and have been testing different builds.  I find the Blue Black Green builds to be the best at disruption and protecting the game winning animate.  This is because these builds can run xantid swarm main deck to fight throught a heavy control meta.  Personally I like Eternal witness as a ancestral or time walk kill because if you attacked with a xantid they cant do anything with that grip of cards given to them by the ancestral that eternal witness keeps getting you back. However, 5c dragon decks have their bonuses as being able to support a Shivan Hellkite or Kumano kill along with a plethora of sideboard choices, this might not be the way to go however if the meta shifts to more aggressive non basic hate.

[oldbsturgeon]

i too have been playing dragon for about that long and i believe green is also necessary. xantid becomes so much of a pain that the opponent has to remove it just like they do with welders in other games. for me i like the eternal witness as a triskelion kill, as i have one main and another boarded. I used to run memnarch in the board, and while that can deal with platinum, the trike worked out better for me.
recently at SCG Richmond, I was scared of u/w fish as I heard it would be big so i instead played CA, as it cares less about the card. Thats the thing with dragon its good, but it can get hated much easier than CA. Often times you must have a xantid in play to go off or you will end up with no permanents on the board. Just my personal experiences.