Reasons not to play dragon..

[Kwechi]

Well this is my first post here on TMD and I was hoping to break the ice with some good ol' Worldgorger bashing. Comic relief I might say with the way things have been heating up in T1 these days.

Anyways

The reason I don't play dragon combo.
Well you see it's a very fickle combo... being that there is at least 1 card in each color that costs 1 mana that can either stop the combo from happening, or leave the dragon player with no permanants in play.

White - Of course, Swords to Plowshares
Blue - hmmm... I think there is a few, but I'ma go with Chain of vapor
Green - Root maze.
Black - teehee Planar void
Red - This one was a toughie, and there are more than likely better ways  out there, but I'll leave that up to you guys. Firestorm (Assuming there are 7 targets and you find a way to have 7 cards in hand and a Firestorm)

I'm not quite sure if there is anything like this on the boards already, but if you guys wanna start throwing up more 1 mana cards that stop the combo, or just share in the bashing, be my guest.

[dandan]

You might want to list just cards that actually stop Dragon. Planar Void just makes it slightly harder for Dragon to go off.

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16176&highlight=dragon+void

Coffin Purge is probably the Black 1cc weapon of choice at present as it slows down Welder decks too. I've seen the occasional Cremate and even Ebony Charm too.

The main reason not to play Dragon is that it is currently affected by splash damage from Welder decks. Other than that it is a solid deck and one that I expect will always be around, waiting for the right metagame.

I can't think of any good Red answers other than Active Volcano and an opponent with a multiland or REB and a stupid opponent.

[jpmeyer]

Red's best answer is Tormod's Crypt.

[Mixing Mike]

There's a lot of way to hate Dragon, but Dragon also has a lot of way to drive through the hate.  I think it's not played very heavily because you'd seriously have to play round after round of magic through hate.

[Gray Ninja]

I played Dragon for a while in 1.5 before it got banned and the worst part about playing Dragon is the prevelance or hate.  It's not that the hate stops you, it's that the hate is really annoying to play through.  I haven't picked up Dragon in T1 yet because there are lots of decks with the same type of power level but with a much lower number of cards available to hate it out.

[andrewpate]

I agree.  Dragon has a very high power level but is very easy to disrupt, and what's worse, by cards people sideboard anyway.  Its power and speed can steal wins, but for the most part success with Dragon is contingent on extreme familiarity with matchups, dealing with hate, and alternate methods of going off.  Do you run Cunning Wish/Stroke?  Caller of the Claw?  These are considerations based on metagame regarding a deck far less centered on goldfishing proficiency than many other combos such as MeanDeath or Belcher.  The biggest thing going against Dragon as a deck choice, then, is the familiarity with the archetype and with all other archetypes necessary to play it, similar to problems suggested with Doomsday.  The difference is that Doomsday, played perfectly, is so enormously powerful that it may be worth the expertise, while Dragon players would probably be better off with something more straightforward, where conventional playtesting can prevail.

[Jacob Orlove]

Moved to basic community after discussion with the author.

[Kwechi]

Well it seems that this post was taken a bit too seriously, actually causing it to get locked for a bit  But anyway, it's all good now. This was just meant as a joke thing. So have fun lol. One of the things I was trying to point out is that in each color, there is a one mana card that stops the combo *assuming* there isn't a counter or something involved.

C'mon, kismet stops you?

[everythingitouchdies]

Kismet does not necessarily stop dragon.

The last tourney I played in Kzoo for the original art for compulsion a guy resolved first turn root maze. I forced a draw two turns later and we played another game.

Coffin purge is by far the most obnoxious card to have played against you while playing dragon, but all in all, no matter how much hate you face, the strength of the combo and the proper construction of the deck can carry you through it.

It also requires a proper grip of the sideboard, as if you side out dragons for Verdant forces and your opponent is holding BEB, its very pleasant. Also, COTV can sway things a fair amount as well.

The real reasons not to play dragon are, in order:

1. Bazaar is extremely expensive and not very versatile. Your money would be better invested in Mana Drains or Mishra's Workshops.

2. The deck itself. While it is extremely powerful, its strength lies in redundancy. It takes very little skill to play dragon, but it takes immense skill to master it. For someone who just picks it up, there will be rounds that seem impossible to win. And there will also be rounds where the redundancy backfires and you will play the whole game without drawing a solitary essential piece.

3. Hate. No matter what, people are going to pack hate for this deck. This is partially because alot of cards are good against it that are good against other decks. But this should not be enough reason to stop someone from playing it.

Dragon has treated me very well. I have won multiple pieces of power and some other prominent cards with it as well. I discourage people from playing it only because the mirror match is so chaotic.

EITD