Magic: the Gathering

Deck Guide

Standard: Boros Dragons - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

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Boros Dragons is an aggressive Midrange deck making the most of the interactions between Dragons combined with ETBs and powerful static abilities against the Standard metagame.

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tradotto da Romeu

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rivisto da Tabata Marques

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Boros Dragons is an archetype that has been on the Standard radar since before the format's wave of bans that removed Vivi Ornitier and Screaming Nemesis due to Clarion Conqueror's static effect to lock activated abilities.

Now, the Avatar metagame brings back the need to prevent explosive opponent turns through manadenial, with the card being one of the best ways to lock down Badgermole Cub lists while taking advantage of the interactions that the Dragon subtype offers with the cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.

The Decklist

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This list is inspired by the version of the player Sapoa, who played with the archetype frequently during the first half of December. Essentially, we're a proactive Midrange deck running several dragons with powerful ETB effects to gain dominance in the game, taking advantage of cost reductions and ramp on our initial drops to make explosive plays early on.

Ideally, we want to start with Momo, Friendly Flier or Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant and, on the next turn, follow them up with Clarion Conqueror to lock down the opponent's mana dork or Magmatic Hellkite to delay their turn. From this point, the mix of interaction and gradually larger creatures tends to be enough to control the game.

Our biggest problem is the lack of added value. Our ETBs and static effects are good, but also very conditional, and players can easily generate more card advantage after responding to our threats, putting us at a disadvantage against highly interactive archetypes.

On the other hand, we stand out well against Ouroboroid decks due to our mix of natural hate and cheap answers to deal with their threats, in addition to the fact that most of our creatures fly, which makes a difference during combat.

Maindeck

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Since all the dragons in the list fly, Momo, Friendly Flier functions as ramp given the high cost of our creatures, allowing us to cast Clarion Conqueror on turn two and use Magmatic Hellkite on turn three to disrupt the opponent's mana base.

Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant takes advantage of the high number of dragons in the list to function as ramp and also as a threat as the game progresses, since it grows with each dragon creature that enters the game later.

Charming Prince guarantees three distinct modes, each with a specific use in the deck. The life gain helps hold the game against Red Aggro, while Scry improves our card draws since we lack card advantage sources, and the Blink effect allows us to "bypass" the cost of Nova Hellkite and deal with two X/1 creatures, or exile a Magmatic Hellkite to destroy an opponent's manland, or even gain more life with Twinmaw Stormbrood.

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Clarion Conqueror has become a more necessary staple in the format with the release of Badgermole Cub due to its ability to lock any ability, including mana abilities. Furthermore, a 3/3 body for three mana with Flying is good enough to exert pressure on the board.

Magmatic Hellkite has a decent body for its cost and an ETB that can "lock" the opponent's mana for a turn, allowing you to take advantage of the cost reduction from Momo, Friendly Flier to disrupt the sequencing early in the game.

Nova Hellkite is a threat that exerts immediate pressure and deals with any X/1 creature when it enters. It can be used for three mana at the cost of Warp and played later to generate two-for-one value against smaller creatures.

Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest benefits from the high power of our creatures to generate a mix of both card advantage and clock with the cards it exiles. If there is at least one creature with it when it enters the fourth or fifth turn, five damage is guaranteed to the opponent, with the possibility of this accumulating for each turn the opponent fails to interact with it.

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Burst Lightning deals with creatures from turn one and doubles as a powerful Burn spell in longer games. Essential for dealing primarily with the first-turn mana dorks of green decks.

Twinmaw Stormbrood deals with most non-flying creatures in the format while also being a dragon for the other interactions in our list. As a bonus, its ETB effect is an excellent way to gain extra breath in longer matches.

Get Lost is an unconditional removal spell that deals with larger creatures, Stormchaser’s Talent, and Planeswalkers in the same slot. More copies may be needed if we want to respect attrition decks.

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The combination of Sacred Foundry with Sunbillow Verge, Inspiring Vantage, Starting Town and Multiversal Passage ensures enough consistency in accessing Magic Symbol R and Magic Symbol W without difficulty, while Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon also guarantees any color for your dragons and helps find the right piece in the late-game.

Sideboard

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The playsets in the Sideboard.

Rest in Peace has grown in popularity due to the rise of Lessons decks coupled with Reanimator being one of the archetype's main predators. Furthermore, our game plan is notoriously slow against the more explosive combo with Superior Spider-Man, so a full set of the enchantment is where we need to be to have a better chance of winning.

Doorkeeper Thrull seems very counterintuitive with our list because it does, in fact, "lock down" many of the ETBs we use, but it's also a necessary tool to deal with Reanimator's ETBs and another problematic combo archetype that we don't have enough speed to deal with otherwise, Bant Airbending.

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Abrade has become a necessary tool to take care of Monument to Endurance due to the success of Izzet Lessons and has the bonus of also dealing with smaller creatures like Gran-Gran in that matchup while never being a useless card against Aggro.

Exorcise deals with larger creatures like Quantum Riddler in the same slot where it resolves Stormchaser’s Talent and Monument to Endurance. It also resolves any card from Duskmourn's Enduring cycle, and works decently in the mirror match.

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The extra copy of Get Lost offers a bit more flexibility in dealing with creatures, Planeswalkers, and enchantments, being useful in a dozen matches, especially against slower archetypes.

Fire Magic punishes go-wide strategies and works decently against Stormchaser's Talent tokens if we can predict how many spells the opponent might use in a turn. Essential against Dimir Midrange as well.

Sideboard Guide

Izzet Lessons

IN

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OUT

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Reanimator

IN

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OUT

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Dimir Midrange

IN

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OUT

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Simic Aggro

IN

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OUT

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Mono Red Aggro

IN

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OUT

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Jeskai Control

IN

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OUT

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Izzet Looting

IN

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OUT

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Bant Airbending

IN

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OUT

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Wrapping Up

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thank you for reading!