Rakdos Dragons MTG Deck Tech: Midrange Magic Mastery

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!

Explore the power of Rakdos Dragons in this midrange Magic: The Gathering deck. Unleash combos, removal, and ramp for competitive edge in Standard.

You didn't think I could only give you one dragon deck, did you? I honestly saw too many fun options to do just Boros, so today I'm bringing you another. This one steers toward the more midrange, good ol' honest Magic side of things. I wanted to center a deck around something that is more consistent with the status quo of dragons: carnage and destruction. We have plenty of removal in this deck, and a creature that doubles as a board wipe when needed. Since we aren't doing a super fancy combo in this deck, I wanted to add element of ramp to get to the higher mana spells that we have in the deck. We will be able to use early creatures to help out with that, and also a new fancy artifact. We will torch the board and force our opponents to be more resilient than we are, while flying over the top of what they might manage to keep on the board. Let's take a look at the deck and then I'll tell you some of my favorite things about it.

Total Cards:

You can see some of the fun that we will have right off the bat with this deck. We are looking to smash aggro decks, and still punish other decks that don't play to the board. Although this one has fewer dragons on paper, we have a few permanents that can actually turn into them, and this leads to some cheeky interactions. Let's check out some of the new cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm that are in this deck, and then we will go over some fun combos!

Key New Cards

There are a couple of ways to get good value from this card, and it never hurts to use a free spell to get that value. We are going to have a certain spell that appears later that we can cast at a reduced cost of one mana - you will see how much value that can bring us.

Everyone loves Sarkhan. He may not be a dragon (not at first) but he always has something to do with them, helps us make it easier to play them, and sets the stage for dragons to raise some hell. In this iteration, he is able to turn into a dragon the same turn that we have another dragon enter, and get a +1/+1 counter. He also gets flying until the end of that turn! We can behold a dragon (reveal a dragon or choose one on the board) when he enters and ramp by getting a treasure token. This will be really helpful in getting some of our bigger creatures out, and with ensuring that we can cast our board wipe when needed.

This is another one that allows us to behold a dragon and get some more value. You may or may not see the combo now, but don't worry, if you don't, I'll still go over it shortly. Even if you don't reduce the cost of this spell, it's pretty good and can really be helpful against the aggressive decks. A lot of the dragon removal is centered around 3 toughness or less, because a lot of dragons historically have a power and toughness of 4/4.

I added this one to the new demons list and I wanted to make sure it found its way into the main deck of one of my lists for Tarkir. I think this is phenomenal with the modality that it gives us. It's an easy casting cost with only requiring one black mana, so it allows our mana base to be more forgiving. We also love the ward ability of requiring discard because at the end of the day, we are still a grindy midrange deck.

I really like this guy in the sideboard because he can really cause a strong exchange. Since we are a two-color deck, we have a little bit less freedom to choose colorless lands that produce abilities for us, so having that ability double with a creature that just so happens to be a dragon is supremely convenient. The stun counter going on their land is also something that makes the ability even better than something like Demolition Field. It is an added benefit that can turn into one of the things that gives us those incremental advantages needed to win midrange battles.

Fun Combos

OK, I will finally explain the fun combo. In an ideal situation, and as early as turn three, we can play a four mana dragon. This will allow Sarkhan to also become a dragon, and get a counter and flying. If we have a Mox Jasper on the board as well, that is now online. We will be able to behold a dragon - even if they have removal - because now we have two dragons. This also allows us to tap the Jasper for one mana, thus allowing us to cast Caustic Exhale for one mana. We can use it as a combat trick, or to clear the board. It is one of the interactions to watch out for in the deck, because sequencing will be key - as it is in most midrange decks.

Another fun interaction is that we can use Terror of the Peaks to help us flip Invasion of Tarkir. This is particularly useful, because it of course gives us another dragon, but it also allows us to get that additional Terror of the Peaks trigger from the backside of the battle hitting the board. The best part is that we can also cast that spell early to do a ton of damage to a creature, or slap our opponent in the face. If we are able to untap with it the next turn, then swing out with our three dragons, we will do six damage just by attacking. I'm sure it is becoming more and more apparent how the damage in this deck can fireball quickly. What is most exciting is that we can make a battle playable again!

This deck, like all of the other Tarkir decks that I brought you this month will be played in Early Access on my stream! I hope that you enjoy the list, and that you get a chance to come check out the gameplay on Wednesday, the 2nd! Cheers.

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.

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Explore the best color combos for aggro decks in MTG with our Mardu Combo deck. Discover key cards, strategies, and new mechanics like Mobilize!

It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!

There is an ongoing argument in both Standard and Pioneer currently. What color combination is the best for aggressive decks? We have seen people try out Jeskai Aggro to try and incorporate the best of both worlds between Azorius Aggro, and Boros Aggro. Some like to stick with Gruul Aggro because of the high rolls that it allows for, and there is also an argument that sometimes all you need is mono red - and the results have proven as much in major events. There has been a bit of a surge of some Mardu Aristocrat/Sacrifice decks, and today's list will follow that to some degree. We went a little bit more aggro-based, but there is a combo element to it, along with a healthy sideboard that should provide for balanced gameplay. We will look to get a bunch of creatures onto the board, and then create a bunch more based on the amount that we have, while punishing the opponent when they die. If that isn't enough, the go-wide strategy should also allow us to swing for ample damage at an ample pace. A new ability called Mobilize that is being brought to us in Tarkir Dragonstorm is going to allow us to pull off some pretty powerful swings in combat. Mobilize allows us to create a bunch of tapped and attacking 1/1 tokens based on either the number behind it, or circumstances that pertain to "X." Something that is particularly fun is that we can benefit from our creatures dying, because the mobilize ability requires us to sacrifice the creatures that we get from mobilizing at the beginning of our end step. This is yet another deck that can allow us to win on the end step which is always fun. Another fundamental reason why I think the deck is good is because we are rewarded for something that would normally be considered a setback. If you find enough ways to turn negatives into positives, it usually can translate into the small margins that win you a match. Enough of me blabbing. Let's take a look at the cool new cards! Key New Cards

Demons Are Getting New Toys, and This Deck is ROTTEN

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Free Dragons = Turn 4 Wins!

We are officially in the perpetual spoiler season of the MTG year, and Wizards has not been disappointing us. Most people can get behind a set centered largely around dragons, and it definitely helps that the plane itself is one that we have wanted to see them bring back for a long time. Over a decade later, we are going back to Tarkir. I played a good bit of Magic and did a lot of deck building the last time we had some fun dragons on Arena, and I knew that this set was going to call me back to those days. My favorite archetype a couple of years ago was Boros Dragons. I largely played that in the Alchemy format, but I am going to bring you a Boros Dragons Standard Deck today. We are going to take advantage of a combo that is used in Standard currently, but we are going to use a different payoff this time. We are going to cast dragons for FREE and then either they will have the opponent dead just from entering, or we will hopefully have a way to give them all haste! We will take a look at the new cards that are awesome. Then I'll let you know about the combo that will help us get there. We want to keep the board as clear as we can for our dragons and then slam them all on the board at once to clean things up. We also have some smaller creatures that we can use to chump block earlier in the game. When needed, we also have board wipes to deal with other creatures. New Cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm

I See a Monument and I want it Painted Black

It's been a few weeks since Aetherdrift came out, and we are starting to see the cards that are standing out in the meta. We didn't expect the set to change things too much with regard to what we have been seeing. What we did get from it is a nice supplement to many other decks. Although we did not get a ton of format-shaping cards, we have seen a couple that have lit up fringe archetypes. What I've brewed for today plays off of a familiar archetype, and it was one that we kind of already had, but it allows us to pivot in a certain way and get additional value from it that we may not have gotten in the past. One of the biggest things that our deck can do is have plenty of action on the end step/cleanup step. It's an interesting scenario because usually when we think of the cleanup step at the end of each turn, we remove damage, and we discard to hand size. Usually discarding to hand size is pretty much the final step, and there aren't any triggers... until now. We will be using Monument to Endurance to have triggers when we discard to hand size, and get additional value from it. Now we don't care if we end the turn with nine or ten cards in hand, because we are going to benefit from it. This will help us possibly get in some finishing damage against our opponent, or get extra value. It is worth noting that this will cause triggered abilities on the cleanup step, and this is something that our opponents can respond to. This has historically been a point in the turn where no player can respond to actions. We'll take a look at the relevant cards in the deck, and then I'll detail a few fun combos that we may see during gameplay. Relevant Cards

We've had a Couple of Weeks to Try Achievements on MTG Arena, and I have Opinions

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Recapping the Pro Tour and Examining the Deck that ALMOST Obliterated Us All!

Pro Tour Aetherdrift has concluded, and it was no surprise that Domain is still the best deck in the format. It is too powerful, and the high amount of mana availability simply provides too much value for other decks to consistently have a chance against it. Matt Nass was able to secure the win in the mirror match, as Domain Overlords were the most popular deck in the top 8. Since we have a new set that just came out, that calls for innovation and some overall spice. The deck that we will examine today isn't exactly a new concept in the meta, but it certainly is something that nobody previously has had the stones to enter as a list in a Pro Tour Event. There were a couple of well-known pro players with this list, including Javier Dominguez, who has been known for having some unique decks in the competitive circuit. Although Javier didn't do as well as we normally see this past weekend, Christoffer Larsen nearly made the top 8 with this list. The deck went 9-1 in Constructed, and it's safe to say that it was one of the top performers on that side of things. Had Larsen maybe won one more match in Limited, he would likely have been in the top 8. It goes without saying that this deck has a spot in the current meta, and probably has some legs in Standard. It was something that was rather unexpected in the event, sure, but the high roll of the combo within the deck is undeniable. Even without the combo that the deck has, outside of that, it is simply a Golgari Midrange Shell. Those decks always carry a competitive win rate, so everyone has to keep it on the radar either way. We will take a look at the deck, and then I'll go over the combo, then see if we can figure out why the deck is seeing a resurgence. Obliterator is an incredibly fun card. Everyone wants it to have a home in some format, because there are few things more satisfying than watching your opponent sit there trying to figure out which land(s) they are going to keep, or deciding if they want to keep playing after they were just forced to sacrifice all of their permanents. We historically think of this interaction happening during combat. What makes this deck fun is that it can happen during combat, or with a simple one - mana fight spell. Something else that is noteworthy is the fact that this deck plays only 23 lands. My best explanation for it is that the spell that allows you to fight for one mana also allows you to get any basic land from the deck for the same price. I think that this almost treats it as having 27 lands, and in turn helps figure out what cards to remove in order to squeeze in the extra spell. Let's take a look at the relevant cards, then we will see why it's back and better than before.

It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!