The Dragonstorm

[CabalTherapy]

The Dragonstorm

1. Introduction
It's time to present an old deck in a new suite. Prepare yourself for: The Dragonstorm. Since I like all Storm spells I felt that it's time to give Dragonstorm its own thread on the source. I haven't checked if there is already a thread on this topic but I would assume that there isn't. You may ask: Why Dragonstorm? It's simple: It's fun. It is of course not the best deck and one might pick up every other deck instead with good reasons but this deck can slam Bogardan Hellkite into play. And that is just awesome. I've been brewing this deck for some time now and I would like to thank Sawatarix Kai for his input and the local players for their cheering. In fact, I played this deck only once in a real tournament but that will change in the near future, I hope. Also, I would like to call this deck "The" Dragonstorm because the determiner makes the name sound more important and definite. Let's get to the real business. Note please: I am not the creator of this deck but of this particular list. Dragonstorm was a Standard deck and I am sure that there were already some Legacy approaches to it.

2. The Aim
The aim is to play Dragonstorm with 3 spells prior to it and ideally with 4 Borgardan Hellkites in the library. That's it. No other route available or needed. This will be explained in the section below.

3. Card Choices
The following sections is subject to change and the choices/explanations are the outcome of my testing/brewing and are of course debatable. I would like to invite everyone who wants to give feedback and share ideas to join the discussion. This is only one approach trying to make Dragonstorm playble and there are certainly several other ways. Now, here are my thoughts:

Win condition:
4 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Dragonstorm
One may argue that Burning Wish and Lion's Eye Diamond would help finding a SB Dragonstorm but tests have shown the opposite. This deck doesn't want to go all-in and wants to play some spells followed up by a Dragonstorm from hand. This on the other hand leaves room for counterspells to protect the combo. Furthermore, only Bogardans because they don't demand an attack step which Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund does. No Wish means also no Empty the Warrens.

Cantrips
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 See Beyond
2 Preordain
No need to talk about the first two but I guess there has to be a brief explanation concerning See Beyond. This card is essentially the best cantrip in The Dragonstorm because it shuffles Bogardan Hellkites back into the library which is needed in order to be able to storm for lethal. In comparison to Lat-Nam's Legacy, you get the cards imediately, whereas the order of the effects speaks in See Beyond's favour. I think that there is no space for Dig Through Time here because this deck wants to play Cabal Rituals. Nonetheless, I could image switching the Rituals for weaker ones and play the Dig.

Mana
4 Dark Ritual
4 Seething Song
3 Cabal Ritual
Dark Ritual should be a clear case and Seething Song also looks pretty good. Cabal Ritual should ensure a strong mid/lategame with enough Mana to actually cast Dragonstorm almost solely off 2 Cabal Rituals and 1 red mana. No Petals and no Moxen because they are too weak for this deck by generating only +1 mana.

Protection
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
2 Flusterstorm
Looks a bit random but I think that this should be enough to protect The Dragonstorm. Because we don't play LED, Flusterstorm becomes a valid option to counter opponents counterspells or other stuff. Spell Pierce is also a solid choice. 4 discard effects are enough because we don't go all-in and casting the stormspell from hand is superior to searching for it via Infernal or Wish.

I figured out that 18 lands is a ok amount to start with, so these are the terrains of choice:
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Taiga
1 Badlands
2 Ancient Tomb
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Mountain
Now that looks spicey. A wide range of random duals which will definatly confuse opponents. The green splash is necessary for the SB cards.

Thus, 18+39 isn't 60. There are three slots on which I cannot decide. Possible cards are (among others):
Sensei's Divining Top
Lim-Dul's Vault
Fire/Ice
Izzet Charm
Pyroclasm
Forked Bolt
Preordain
They are look juicy and at the moment I would go with 1 Top, 1 Izzet Charm and 1 Fire/Ice.

4. Sideboard
The Dragonstorm can play essentially every card ANT plays in the board but some are weaker and some better. I would suggest running something like this:
3 Chain of Vapor
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Defense Grid
3 Pyroclasm
3 Pyroblast
Other good stuff would be:
City of Solitude
Xantid Swarm
Extirpate
Spell Pierce
Dispel


I hope that I can find some people who actually want to play this. Don't take it too serious, but it is a deck and it can win. MUs, other card choices, decklists and whathaveyou will be edited if this thread finds a discussion/comments. Have fun.

5. Ideas/Different Approaches
-Asthereal has suggested some nice lands:
4 Sandstone Needle
4 Dwarven Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Crystal Vein

...and this as the kill package:
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund

-Darkenslight has proposed a slightly Belcheresque approach.

-( nameless one ) a Stompy strategy

- Scourge of Valkas was stated by Zupponn as a replacement for one Bogardan

-Togores has suggested Silence as a possible protection strategy.

[MGB]

So what are the reasons to play this over ANT, TES, or Elves?

[CabalTherapy]

So what are the reasons to play this over ANT, TES, or Elves?

Bogardain Hellkite. Because he can't be decayed.

[meffeo]

So what are the reasons to play this over ANT, TES, or Elves?

Because slamming multiple fkin 5/5 flying Dragons on the table is way better then developing a little green army of little green men.

[Asthereal]

LOL I have been toying with this idea forever.
Never got it to actually work well though...

My last version took a completely different approach.
Mono red with castable Dragons like Thundermaw Hellkite.
Also lots of mana lands. At one point I played these lands:
4 Sandstone Needle
4 Dwarven Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Crystal Vein

And protection in the form of Defense Grid and stuff like that.
Pretty awesome, and not that terrible actually. Also not good enough though.

[CabalTherapy]

LOL I have been toying with this idea forever.
Never got it to actually work well though...

My last version took a completely different approach.
Mono red with castable Dragons like Thundermaw Hellkite.
Also lots of mana lands. At one point I played these lands:
4 Sandstone Needle
4 Dwarven Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Crystal Vein

And protection in the form of Defense Grid and stuff like that.
Pretty awesome, and not that terrible actually. Also not good enough though.

I like those sollands but unfortuately I see the need to play blue for some drawactions.
In my test games I have realized that the weakest point of the deck is its protection. When going off on turn 4/5 or whatever,
one lonely Duress isn't enough and skillful players counter the Rituals. = Flusterstorm may be decent

[Asthereal]

I like those sollands but unfortuately I see the need to play blue for some drawactions.
In my test games I have realized that the weakest point of the deck is its protection. When going off on turn 4/5 or whatever,
one lonely Duress isn't enough and skillful players counter the Rituals. = Flusterstorm may be decent

I have tried several three colour versions, and they never really worked.
You need too many different things:
- LOTS of mana
- A Dragonstorm
- Protection against counterspells
- Not to die before you get the above three things going
I never got this to work. Hardly surprising though.

The list that worked best for me was a mono-red one.
The option of hardcasting dragons is surprisingly strong.
The Vein and Ruins lands were of course bad, but cool nonetheless.
You could try something like this:

FTW:
4 Dragonstorm
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Bogardan Hellkite /15

Protection:
4 Defense Grid
3 Trinisphere /7

Accelleration:
4 Grim Monolith
2 Basalt Monolith
3 Mox Diamond
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Seething Song /17

Lands:
4 Sandstone Needle
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
9 Mountain /21

But it's probably objectively just better to play without the fancy Storm spell and just add Inferno Titans and Wurmcoil Engines. This also allows us to play better accelleration cards than these.

[Darkenslight]

Red has to be the core of the deck, none of this Grixis bullshit.

But on a more serious note, I'd be considering an Rbg list designed to be more like Belcher combo, then you can actually play a ridiculous SB of:

4 Kokusho, the Evening Star
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Murderous Cut
3 Empty the Warrens

And troll your way to the top. The reason you move to Kokusho in games 2 and 3 is that Kokusho ignores Leyline of Sanctity completely.

I'd also consider moving to a manabase closer to the ANT-style (lots of IMS, some comedy gold, and breaking people's brains).

[(nameless one)]

Would it be possible to have a "Stompy" sideboard. Kinda like the All In Red decks from old extended?

[Zombie]

Because slamming multiple fkin 5/5 flying Dragons on the table is way better then developing a little green army of little green men.

You mean these tramply 7/7's coming for your head turn 3?