[Deck]B/G Dragon

[RoadTrippin]

This is sort of my pet deck. As you all know, I am very vocal about my opinion that my build is way better than a build incorporating blue. The only reason I ever regretted making the switch in the first place was losing Force of Will, but now that U/B/G builds are dropping it I really can see no reason for those builds to be better than my deck. First, I'm going to briefly run through some prominent matchups.

Artifact Prison- This might not be the best matchup to start with, as I used to feel not so strongly about it. As you can see from the list at the bottom, however, my build is pretty heavily metagamed towards these decks. I refer of course to the pair of maindeck Verdants, which are good in most matchups but game winners here, and the sideboard which is still very much being worked on. All in all game 1 can be taken without much difficulty, but the die roll can decide games. Games 2 and 3 Crypts should be coming in on their side, and it's typically good to bring in the 3 Deeds and third Verdant. Oxidize is there for now but I doubt it will stay.. but time (and testing) will tell. I'd go as far as to call this matchup 65/35 in Dragon's favor.

Keeper/Multicolor Control- These can easily go either way. Xantids obviously dominate this match if you resolve one early on, which shouldn't prove too difficult with all the disruption present. It's tougher than it looks to decide what to bring out games 2 and 3 for the Swarms though- Verdants are really quite good in this matchup as well. I will typically side out both Spoils, and base the other two choices on what I've seen in their deck as Blue-based control decks are all over the place sometimes. I'd call this one a fair 55/45 in Keeper's favor, because I think I've just gotten really lucky in my testing with my opponents not so lucky. Skilled, but unlucky  

Aggro- All in one category, because either you sweep 2 games, or they use Root Maze and you have to side in Deed/Naturalize to take care of it.

TPS/Tendrils- I haven't tested this matchup nearly as much as I'd like to, but it seems like the Dragon player's disruption is key as fast as you can pump it out.

The Mirror- I am particularly proud of my deck's performance in the mirror match.  Sometimes I side out my Dragons and Laquatus and make room for the Verdant, Crypts, and possibly Naturalize.


4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Sliver Queen- I'm very glad this has caught on from my post a while back- as it's just better than Laquatus #2 in so many ways
4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy- run over Unmask because of massive synergy with MD verdants especially
2 Verdant Force (although I just spent a page or two talking these bad boys up, if you are expecting a cornucopia of control commonly referred to as the New England metagame, these could be Xantids MD.)
4 Buried Alive
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Entomb
4 Dance of the Dead
3 Necromancy
2 Animate Dead
2 Spoils of the Vault- again, these may look random but 2 has proven itself to be a solid number. 2-3 is the way to go.
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
4 Bayou
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Mana Crypt
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Swamp
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 Pernicious Deed
SB: 1 Verdant Force
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 Naturalize? Placeholder really

This list is faster and at least as consistent as builds running blue still. Lim-Dul's and FoW are hot, but not worth it in my opinion and, well, testing experience. With sideboard options it even has a half decent mid/late game vs control.

[dicemanx]

I am mystified by your assertion that B/g is in some way better than B/U/g. Losing blue doesn't just mean losing Lim Dul's Vault (which is amazing to begin with). It means losing Compulsion and Intuition, not to mention an Ancestral and even the possibility of SB Stifles. Bottom line is, blue considerably strengthens your chances of successfully getting your draw engine(s) going, which is very important against the control match-ups.

B/g is obviously still a *very* strong deck, but you treading in already explored territory. This deck was piloted by bebe 2-3 months ago with some degree of success, but without splashing green to ensure a more stable mana base. The environment has gotten much worse for Dragon since that pre-Dec 1st meta, and it seems to me that running blue is the only way to ensure some degree of consistency against all the hate out there right now.  Maybe you'll prove us wrong and have more success with your build. However, the one advantage of B/g over B/U/g is in its greater speed via the Rituals and Spoils; I'm not sure then if I understand why there aren't 4 Spoils in the deck. If your goal is to make sacrifices by cutting blue and go for speed, why not go all the way a la Phantom Tape Worm's T1.5 build?

[RoadTrippin]

Well, for a while I did play a more "balls to the wall" monoblack build. I had piloted it to some success too, but more on that later. I started losing to control though, so I knew I had to rework my deck as it was built to be strong vs. control. I think I found quite the happy medium with this build.

You have to concede that this build is consistently faster than the more commonly accepted "mainstream" build, because it is. That said, I don't really feel a reason to keep trying to advocate my deck to players who have access to full power and could play a powered list sporting blue- if they realize this is better independently by simply testing they will make the switch themselves. However, as we all know 5-proxy tournaments are becoming more and more common, so I'm going to aim my deck at semi-budget players who intend to play in a 5-proxy metagame. This group of players is without a doubt suited best for trying the deck out.

[dicemanx]

Don't get me wrong, for players that are semi-powered, I would certainly advocate this build of WGD. Without full power, but with a set of Bazaars (which can be proxied in 5-proxy events), B/g is the best way to go. And you do gain additional speed from Rituals (instead of off-color Moxes) and from Spoils (over Lim-Dul's Vaults) in the conversion. The green splash is more of a meta choice; mono-B could be slighly favored if one sees lots of Blood Moons and B2Bs which are both on the rise in terms of popularity, otherwise adding green obviously helps out tremendously by giving access to Xantids and Deeds.

[RoadTrippin]

I want to see some discussion out of this thread, so I'm going to post the results of 50 goldfish games I've done over the past few days. My games gave me surprisingly easy figures to work with, which was nice. I'm not going to include any information but the turn I won on and the fact that I mulliganed my starting 7 exactly 30% of the games (15 games).

Turn 1: precisely 10 games out of 50.. you guessed it: 20%
Turn 2: 25 games out of 50.. 50%
Turn 3: 15 games out of 50.. 30%

Half of the games I drew on my first turn, and half I did not. This assumes I always win the die roll and always win the first and second games  

[Ghost]

but now that U/B/G builds are dropping it I really can see no reason for those builds to be better than my deck.

Hey could someone post a list for U/B/G gorger. Thanks.

[RoadTrippin]

For reference, here's a pretty decent U/B/G build.

4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Ambassador Laquatus
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Compulsion
3 Intuition
4 Dance of the Dead
2 Animate Dead
3 Necromancy
3 Duress
4 Force of Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
2 Gemstone Mine
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 Stifle
SB: 3 Pernicious Deed
SB: 3 Verdant Force
SB: 2 Metagame slots, although stifles sort of are already

[sWoRdFiSh`]

Hi!
I have to confess that i'm only currently in the intermediate level in the field of playing dragon. (My older budget deck, rector-long, is now gone)
The farthest i reached with the deck was placing second in a small tournament of 20 people, half of it being all aggro (sligh, sui and WW/x).
I'm not quite sure this belogns here but since this is the only dragon thread so far, i think i'll try my luck here.
Here's my bazaare-less, budget dragon build:

Mana (23)
1 Swamp - mainly anti-wasteland
3 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
2 City of Traitors
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Polluted Delta
4 Dark Ritual
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal

Creatuers (7)
3 WGD
2 Squee
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Sliver Queen

Animates (8)
3 Animate Dead
3 Dance of the Dead
2 Necromancy

Protection (8)
4 Duress
4 FoW

Draw/Tutor (14)
3 Buried Alive
1 Entomb
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Careful Study
3 Compulsion
2 Intuition

SB(15)
2 Verdant Force
2 Phantom Nishoba - it's a slighish meta, ya know.
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Reanimate
4 Xantid Swarm
1 Tormod's Crypt

I'm not so contented with the way the deck performs.
Obviously, it's out of shape.
Please critique, flame if you must.
Also, do you thnk the B/G versions are strictly superior to the UBg versions of bazaare-less dragon?

[RoadTrippin]

No, stick with blue for a budget list. Actually, I'd suggest not even running green. I'd post my budget U/B list, but I've posted it on the forums already and I don't want my thread to turn into discussion about that list, or even discussion about budget really.

[RoadTrippin]

For anyone following, the newest update on my deck is sideboard Null Rods. They may take the place of Naturalize, but it's more likely that I'll use 2 Null Rod 2 Naturalize for now. In my testing they were without a doubt worth shutting down a few of my mana sources, because I would basically win when I resolved one. Crypt can't be activated, and basically every deck in the format is slowed because of the slight dependence on moxen.

[RoadTrippin]

Null Rod seemed like a good idea, and proved to work out pretty soundly in testing with a reworked list. I think I'm going to go a step further however, and try something off the wall. Damping Matrix. Here's the preliminary list:

4 Worldgorger Dragon
2 Caller of the Claw
4 Duress
2 Damping Matrix
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Verdant Force
3 Buried Alive
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Entomb
3 Dance of the Dead
3 Necromancy
3 Animate Dead
2 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Bayou
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Mana Crypt
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Swamp
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 Pernicious Deed (may be cut..)
SB: 1 Verdant Force
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt (will probably be something else)
SB: 2 Naturalize

As some of you know already, I put up a fairly disappointing show at the latest Cape Cod power tourney ending with a meager 3-2. I lost to a surprise GAT first round which tested to be not so tough of a matchup, and to Eastman's Chains Keeper a later round. This extremely innovative deck was such a good idea and should definitely prove to be a sound metagame choice in the future. I still stand by the fact that my deck is excellent, and any shortcomings are because of the player (... me). I urge more people to test the deck out!

[Sytupal]

Rock on for shameless bumping John ~    I really do like your build but i have to go with dicemanx saying that B/U/g is a better way to go.  I pilot my janky pile of cards constantly now with Forces still in the MD (although cut down to 3) along with 3 stifles and 3 swarms.  

Depending on how the outcome looks pretourney some of this may change making the list primarily B/U with g in the sideboard.  I don't feel i should put my list up like others have simply because we are talking about your list john.

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14934

I stand by my statement of calling you nuts whn you say "Damping Matrix" taking out the 2 primary win conditions from most builds:   Ambassador and Sliver Queen.   You still run the Queen stating that It's still a beatstick and can go off pre dropping of the matrix.   I don't feel the Matrix is necessary however.  I feel null rod would be a better option seeing as you don't lose primary win conditions and you're only trying to up your wins against GAT.  I feel doing so weakens your matchups against other things.  I stand by the fact that Giving them only an upkeep with ambassador as opposed to an entire turn with sliver queen or caller or several turns with other beatsticks is the way to go.  Topdeck love hurts.... bad....

-Rich

[RoadTrippin]

Oh Damping Matrix isn't going to be in my list usually- it's just what I'm playing this Saturday    I just posted it to throw it out there for a discussion- because I don't have a problem doing it.

Edit- Damping Matrix shuts down Welders which was big in the thought process.. but will most likely prove to not be worth it.

[BreathWeapon]

One thing I have never found useful in B/g Spoils-Dragon is Squee. With the full set of Strip/Wastes in almost every deck, the draw engine is simply too inconsistant without Compulsion. Even the decks that don't run Strip Effects, Slavery and Tog, are playing with 3 to 5 turn clocks ... which makes setting up the Squee engine undesirable. With the loss of Intuition for Buried Alive, you really have to concentrate on the speed of the deck to make up for the lack of flexibility. Power is all well and good, but to tell you the truth I have won multiple games because I have used ESG over the Moxen. They aren't affected by Null Rod, Gorilla Shaman, Trinisphere, Chalice=0 or Sphere of Resistance ... and that makes one hell of a difference. Considering how fast Spoils-Dragon goes off, the Moxen seem like the wrong choice for the deck because ESG provides exactly the same function while circumventing soo much hate. Cabal Therapy is a solid card, but my fear is loading the Chalice=1 spot vs Workshop. Synergy with Verdants really isn't a reason to run the card over Unmask, its a cute trick but you almost always Side your non-Duress discard for Xantids in the control match ups.

In short, your build should be concentrating more on speed instead of versatility. I really can't condone the Moxen, god I can't believe I just said that, or the Squees MD. Your list looks like its caught in the middle of SBing, and you should probably be a little more decisive about what your doing. Other than that, it looks good enough to play from where I am sitting.

[RoadTrippin]

The Squees are often sided out. As a matter of fact, I recently didn't maindeck them at all in favor of Xantid Swarm. The reasoning was that I only want the added draw of Squee vs. control, but Xantid is flat out better in that matchup. So I can understand what you're telling me about Squee, definitely. Not using Moxen, though? I wouldn't cut them for ESG unless I actually played a build with Null Rod or Damping Matrix. I will test the list I posted above, though, and let everyone following this thread know how it goes.

[BreathWeapon]

I know speaking against Power sounds like crazy talk, but I think it needs to be seriously investigated for B/g Dragon. Whether or not ESG is just as good as the Moxen is up in the air for me, but avoiding critical hate is always key in winning close match ups ... and there isn't jack an opponent can do vs ESG. A few other things I noticed the second time around about your deck list ... whats up with the Entomb? Its versatile I grant you, but it only slows your deck down. Eh, I think i'm going to have to try out some of these less "speed demon" builds to see what they have to offer. For now i'm sticking with PTW's 1.5 build with the Green Splash, -4 Squee for 4 Unmask and - 2 Necromancey for Demonic Tutor and Consultation.

[RoadTrippin]

Entomb is really great, and I can't understand why people don't run it. I so often get the B acceleration (Ritual usually) to Entomb and Animate turn 1, and usually can drop a Bazaar as well. This is obviously not a starting hand to bank on drawing into consistently, or even often at all, but Animating a turn 1 Verdant is game vs. a lot of decks.

[BreathWeapon]

My problem with that line of thinking tho' is, why are we compromising our MD to include ReAnimator elements when we could be strengthening the combo itself for Game 1? I fully agree with increasing the deck's threat density for games 2 and 3 by siding in Xantids and Verdants, but why metagame your MD for games 2 and 3?

[ThanksBarn]

Yo road, you say that you wanted to make your BG build be able to beat control but you dont even have Xantid Swarm main. Also you only have 2 squees which doesnt have very much synergy with bazaar.
Just my two cents.

[Smmenen]

Can someone post a good list with 4 Spoils and Dark Rituals and the whole speed thing amped up.

I might try this deck.

Steve

[BreathWeapon]

This is built for pure turn 2 speed.

B/G Spoils Dragon

Combo (7)
4xWorldgorger Dragon
1xSliver Queen
1xCaller of the Claw
1xAmbassador Laquatos

Outlets (8)
4xBuried Alive
4xBazaar of Baghdad

Animates (8)
4xAnimate Dead
4xDance of the Dead

Search (6)
1xDemonic Tutor
1xDemonic Consultation
4xSpoils of the Vault

Disruption (8)
4xUnmask
4xDuress

Acceleration (8)
4xDark Ritual
4xElvish Spirit Guide

Mana (15)
4xFetch Lands
4xBayou
7xSwamp

SB
4xXantid Swarm
4xPernicious Deed
4xVerdant Force
3x???

Vampiric Tutor and Sol Ring don't make the cut because I think they actually slow the deck down. I can't prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, but its a gut instinct. Caller of the Claw was added to ensure the deck didn't remove all of its kill conditions with Spoils and to dance around MD Damping Matrix (Matrix MUD). The color Splash could in theory slow you down one turn via Wasteland, but the opponent also loses tempo and access to Mana Drain if he does. The Green Splash is simply too valuable to cut for any reason, IMO. The ESG's are better than Moxen. They are all on color for the Green Splash and circumvent all of the hate Moxen suffer. If I had a Lotus, i'd play it over the Caller of the Claw ... but I don't have 500$ on hand. I'm pretty sure the deck is just as consistant as Long.dec for the turn 2 win, and if it isn't equal or greater than its a hell of a lot easier to play and more versatile (Cheaper to).

[RoadTrippin]

I think I may try taking a step back with my deck- I had the most success with the build I played about 2 months ago:

4 WGD
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Sliver Queen
4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Verdant Force
4 Buried Alive
1 Entomb
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Dance of the Dead
4 Animate Dead
2 Necromancy
4 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald (2 Moxen is lookin' good)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Bayou
2 Ancient Tomb
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 Pernicious Deed
SB: 3 Verdant Force
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Naturalize

This isn't the exact list, the sideboard is retooled and the duals used to be swamps. The therapies also used to be Unmasks and it is very likely they will go back to being Unmasks. I feel naked without a Verdant maindeck to tutor for (Buried Alive, Entomb, or use a tutor/spoils with Bazaar in play) as the deck can really lose badly to artifact prison, which shouldn't really be happening.

[cssamerican]

The build I have currently been playing is exactly like BreathWeapon's with the following changes:
-6 Swamps +4 Badlands +2 Fetches
-1 Silver Queen -1 Caller of the Claw -1 Ambassador Laquatos +3 Shivan Hellkite
Getting red mana is not a problem. So, I went for the direct kill. There is no upkeep to pull any tricks in, there is no way to topdeck an answer, there is no welder tricks with an certain Angel there is only instant victory. The toolbox strategy in this type of Dragon deck I do not care for because if you use Spoils of the Vault to assemble your combo it is a possibility you will remove the "Tool" you want to use in the process.

[Smmenen]

This is built for pure turn 2 speed.

B/G Spoils Dragon

Combo (7)
4xWorldgorger Dragon
1xSliver Queen
1xCaller of the Claw
1xAmbassador Laquatos

Outlets (8)
4xBuried Alive
4xBazaar of Baghdad

Animates (8)
4xAnimate Dead
4xDance of the Dead

Search (6)
1xDemonic Tutor
1xDemonic Consultation
4xSpoils of the Vault

Disruption (8)
4xUnmask
4xDuress

Acceleration (8)
4xDark Ritual
4xElvish Spirit Guide

Mana (15)
4xFetch Lands
4xBayou
7xSwamp

SB
4xXantid Swarm
4xPernicious Deed
4xVerdant Force
3x???

Vampiric Tutor and Sol Ring don't make the cut because I think they actually slow the deck down. I can't prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, but its a gut instinct. Caller of the Claw was added to ensure the deck didn't remove all of its kill conditions with Spoils and to dance around MD Damping Matrix (Matrix MUD). The color Splash could in theory slow you down one turn via Wasteland, but the opponent also loses tempo and access to Mana Drain if he does. The Green Splash is simply too valuable to cut for any reason, IMO. The ESG's are better than Moxen. They are all on color for the Green Splash and circumvent all of the hate Moxen suffer. If I had a Lotus, i'd play it over the Caller of the Claw ... but I don't have 500$ on hand. I'm pretty sure the deck is just as consistant as Long.dec for the turn 2 win, and if it isn't equal or greater than its a hell of a lot easier to play and more versatile (Cheaper to).

Wow,  I can't wait to try it out.  Thanks.

Steve

[BreathWeapon]

No problem Smmenen. Ya know, i'm not entirely against splashing a third color for more MD flexibility and Sideboarding. The Manabase is already exposed with the Green Splash and Bazaars, so you had might as well get REB, R&R and Shivan Hellkite while your at it. The problem I have with the Hellkite is that he still falls to Damping Matrix and necessitates Red Mana for the win. That may be just enough of a problem to slow your deck down for a single turn ... and thats something this deck just wont stand for. Even with Spoils of the Vault, you still have a chance of pulling the desired kill condition to circumvent the opponents hate.

[Vegeta2711]

Gogo PTW Spoils Dragon for life!  :lol:

Anyways though, why not just run the Xantid Swarm's MD over Unmask. In general I always found them more useful against the matches I had problems in.

Why Caller and Sliver Queen if they basically serve the same purpose? Is it just for worrying about Spoils? Because in that case I'd suggest running a MD Plated Slagwurm (Control decks love this guy) or the single Entomb your allowed. You rarely will lose 2 seperate kill conditions to Spoils... I've only done that like twice out of the entire time I've played the deck. And even if you do, you can still draw and/or try to smash face.

Same with the board actually, I'd suggest a few Plated Slagwurm since he's superior to Verdant against control. Sometime like 3 Verdant 2 Wurm split or something.

[cssamerican]

Vegeta2711: Because against some decks Swarms are dead, but they might have a Damping Matrix, Ankh of Mishra, or a Root Maze that Unmask can grab, and it not like Unmask sucks against control either. In fact, sometimes they turn out to be better than Swarms in some control matches because they are free and do not have summoning sickness.

BreathWeapon: I wouldn't worry about seeing Damping Matrix that often in game 1 in most metagames. And even if you do play someone who has it maindecked they still have to play it before you either go off or rip it out of their hand. So, I do not think that in most cases you have to have additional defense from it in the maindeck. And in the sideboard you have Deed to handle it. With 4 Badlands, 6 Fetchlands,  4 Bazaars, and 5 instant speed tutors it is pretty easy to have access to red mana when you are going off. But I will admit there maybe that 1:100 chance that you can't get red mana. But compared to all the other things that can happen before you win with the other kills I'm willing to take those odds.

Edit: (To be more specific) Many Oshawa Stompy and Mono-Green LD decks run Root Maze. Mono-Black and some Ninja Mask decks run Withered Wretch. Some Sligh decks still run Ankh of Mishra. And Chalice of the Void for two pretty much Sucks! Now this is just a few situations where Xantid Swarms can't help, but Unmask can remove the threat before it hits play. Swarms only handle instant based hate, Unmask handles all hate by removing it before it hits play. Now in the build I run you can animate a Hellkite and just beat down in some of these cases, but I would rather combo out than beat down, otherwise I would play reanimator.

[Vegeta2711]

Against anything Swarm is dead against, you should crush anyways. (Alright fine. WMUD, Unmask is better, not that it's saying much since Unmask does squat in the match-up anyways)

[bebe]

I have a few problems with breathwagon's build but overall I like it.

1) I'm against dropping the Verdant Forces. They have one me many a game and they kill WMud and make the control match up better as well.

2) I have often been torn between Unmasks and Therapies. I like Unmasks but often have found them unplayable with Bazaar active. The deck gives up Squees ( not necessary in b/g) so extra cards are often at a premium.

For reference, my last build was

4x Worldgorger Dragon
3x Verdant Force
2x TWisted Abomination
1x Sliver Queen
1x Ambassador Laquatus

4x Dance of the Dead
2x Animate Dead
2x Necromancy

4x Duress
3x Cabal Therapy

4x Bazaar of Baghdad
3x Spoils of the Vault
3x Buried Alive
1x Entomb
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
 
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
4x Dark Ritual
4x Swamp
4x Fetches
4x Bayou
4x EsGs

Now Spoils Dragon was created for Type 1 prior to PTW's build. His innovation was really the inclusion of EsGs to the mana base. These are very good and have replaced Ancient Tombs. The primer has a build similar to this with a few changes that dicemanx prefered. I have found this build to be quite good and quite resiliant. I always liked the green in the deck. BTW, the Twisteds are there to smooth the mana base and have been useful.

My sidebaord has always had four Xantids and three Deeds as well. I will usually play Crypts or Blessings in the side as well as a few Naturalize and a single Plated Slagwurm  .

Why Caller and Sliver Queen if they basically serve the same purpose? Is it just for worrying about Spoils? Because in that case I'd suggest running a MD Plated Slagwurm (Control decks love this guy) or the single Entomb your allowed. You rarely will lose 2 seperate kill conditions to Spoils... I've only done that like twice out of the entire time I've played the deck. And even if you do, you can still draw and/or try to smash face.

Caller is a great card for the Survival Dragon builds. This deck does not need them. Plated Slagwurm belongs in the side. I used the other Wurm before it was available. Vegeta is quite accurate with his assessment.

[dicemanx]

OK, lets get something clear. Disruption such as FoW and Unmask is undoubtedly very strong. But nothing can generate massive card advantage as Swarm can. Dragon faces a problem in todays meta mainly because of two factors:

1) Increased use of Wastelands
2) Increased amount of Instant-speed hate

If you want to be successful with Dragon, I'm convinced that you must run more "bombs" in the deck that offer substantial card advantage. This is why Compulsion is more important than ever in builds that splash blue, and why MD Verdants/Queens/Slagwurms are paramount - they transform your plentiful animate spells into potent threats even in the face of creature removal. Xantids are "catch-all" disruption, and I'm sure I don't even need to point out the incredible synergy between Xantids and animate spells. Unmask and FoW have some serious issues right now, because you are actually *losing* important resources. Unmasking by pitching an Animate is dumb if you're losing a card that can bait a counterspell later. FoWing away a strong blue must-counter spell (that is *if* you're lucky to have one in hand to begin with) is equally counter-productive.

And before we start arguing about permanent-based Dragon hate, lets face it. There's very little of it in most metagames. The only card you're now bound to see with any consistency is Root Maze, which is a WEAK anti-Dragon hate card. I'll let you figure out why. Permanent-based hate is usually SBed in, which is why Deeds are in the SB. If you do expect such hate MD, then for heaven's sake play Chains of Vapor for disruption, or at least use Caller of the Claw to get around Damping Matrix/Root Maze.

I think people are too enamored by the fact that Unmask and FoW are amazing stoppers. However, this is not what Dragon needs right now to be successful.


Here are some parting words:

1) Stifle is crap. I gave my reasons numerous times already. I knowthat this is the B/g WG thread, but whatever. I'm sure all Dragon players read every WG thread.
2) Don't put in more than 8 disruption spells in Dragon. If you feel the urge to do so, play Hulk or Keeper instead. WG is not a control deck. You win by overloading opponent with threats and playing proactive disruption. The threats are just as important, if not more so, than the disruption spells themselves.


Regarding the fastest build:

The "ideal" Bazaar build is not tough to put together. There's another radically different turn-2 build, but let's stick with the one in this thread for now. The only questions that really need to be asked are:

1) 4 Squees or 4 Disruption spells
2) Moxes or ESGs

Frankly I'd go with the extra disruption (Xantids and Duress), and I'd go with Moxes for some consistency. The only cards that were left off the list above were Lotus (as was indicated above) and Mana Crypt (necessary for Buried Alive). I'd prefer Vampiric over Demonic myself, but that's almost irrelevant.