Classical Education, Volume II: Dragon

Gordon J. Davis Jr

Welcome to the second installment of Classical Education, the series of articles intended to familiarize the unfamiliar with the decks and theories of the online Eternal format Classic. In my previous article, I covered the basics of the Classic format. I discussed what it was and what it wasn't, along with some of the theories behind Classic. And I even managed to define the different archetypes of decks used in Classic (which is common to all the main line formats). And, as promised, now that I have the "boring" stuff out of the way, I can proceed to discussing the fun and entertaining stuff.

Decks.

In this article, I'm going to let everyone realize their worst fears about the format and then show you why your fears are unwarranted. You see, Classic already has an undeserving reputation as the format of degenerate Combo decks and disgusting turn 2 wins. While that is certainly possible, it's the exception - not the rule. In this article, I'm going to cover a deck that has been my baby since my Vintage days - shortly following the release of Judgment and a card that would become infamous among the Vintage and (now) the Classic community (following the release of Visions).

The card I'm talking about redefined the term "crap rare" in the Limited, Block, Standard, and Extended environments of the time. However, in Vintage and Legacy - it was a bomb. It even went so far as to be banned in Legacy for power concerns. What card is this that I speak of, a card so powerful it was banned in an Eternal format and yet scorned in the most played formats of Magic?

How does this apply to Classic? Well, for a while - it didn't. It didn't even apply to the original Open format and later Freeform. It didn't even apply to Classic at it's inception. You see, Classic had the Engine for the combo...but it was lacking the Enabler. However, this problem would be soon solved when Wizards of the Coast began to re-release old out-of-print sets for use on MTGO. Mirage began it, but it wasn't until Visions was released that the Combo would be available on MTGO (in a much clumsier version than it's Vintage counterpart). And even after the release of Visions, it took a while for the Combo to catch on. In fact, Dragon has only recently become a well-known deck among the Classic community.

Now, I've rambled quite long enough about the history and basic idea of this deck. Let's get into the good stuff.

So that is the deck list. Doesn't look all that frightening at first glance, does it? No big flashy creatures (besides the infamous Worldgorger Dragon), no fearsome artifacts like Umezawa's Jitte, and none of the ever popular burn like Lightning Helix or Fireblast. So let's take a look inside, and break it down to it's basic components.

At the most basic levels, every Combo has three parts to it - an Engine, an Enabler, and a Kill. All three parts are required for the deck to function properly.

And now, here are the rest of the parts of Dragon and a rough idea of what they do.

Sideboard:

1x Blazing Archon: This card is in this deck as an anti-Aggro measure. If I'm playing against a very fast Aggro deck, in games 2 and 3 I'll sideboard in the Blazing Archon and make my primary concern getting this into the graveyard and reanimated to stop decks like Goblin Bidding and Ravager Affinity from running over me so fast.

3x Chain of Vapor: This card is in this deck as a turn 1 answer to the turn 0 uncounterable card that makes Dragon and any other graveyard-based Combo or Aggro deck usually roll over and die. The card I'm talking about is Leyline of the Void, a black Enchantment with a casting cost of 2BB that also can be played before the game starts by any deck for no mana investment - all it asks is to be in your opening hand or a hand you've mulliganed for. Usually I'll sideboard these three cards directly when I know or suspect I'll be facing a Leyline of the Void in games 2 and 3.

1x Echoing Truth: This card is in this deck as a way to bounce multiple non-land permanents at once with the same name. Be it multiple Leyline of the Void, or a couple of Meddling Mages, or some Pithing Needles...it doesn't matter. Echoing Truth will get rid of one, two, three, or four at once. All for the same 1U investment.

1x Whispers of the Muse: This is my single copy of Whispers of the Muse I took from the main deck and placed in the sideboard as a Wish target copy of my more constantly used spells.

1x Entomb: This is my single copy of Entomb I took from the main deck and placed in the sideboard as a Wish target copy of my more constantly used spells.

1x Vampiric Tutor: This is my single copy of Vampiric Tutor I took from the main deck and placed in the sideboard as a Wish target copy of my more constantly used spells.

1x Volcanic Geyser: This is my secondary win condition, used either when my Ghitu Fire is countered or if I decide to "go off" with my Combo while holding a Cunning Wish instead of a Whispers of the Muse or Ghitu Fire, or if I draw a Cunning Wish before Ghitu Fire when I'm chain casting Whispers of the Muse with Buyback.

4x Xantid Swarm: This card is in this deck as a hard castable anti-Control measure. All it needs to do is attack on the turn I decide to go off, and Control will just sit there while you win - even if they have a thousand Islands and five hundred Counterspells in their hand. That is because as soon as Xantid Swarm attacks, it's triggered ability goes on the stack and the opposing player can't cast any spells the rest of the turn. So unless they're holding a Stifle or Trickbind, it's as good as game.

2x Pithing Needle: This card is in this deck as an answer to some of the more annoying cards in the format. Cards like Withered Wretch, Tormod's Crypt, and Scrabbling Claws that pick apart your graveyard. Or you can name any of the Onslaught fetch lands such as Bloodstained Mire and prevent your opponent from using them to fetch a land and thin and then shuffle their deck.

Now that I've explained what the deck is and have given you a rough idea of why each card is in the deck, let's talk about how it functions, why it functions, and which rules it uses from the published Comprehensive Rules of Magic the Gathering. As stated earlier, Dragon is a Combo/Control deck, meaning it has elements of both a Combo deck and a Control deck inside of it's sixty cards. This makes it a bit slower than a dedicated Combo deck since I've diluted it with Control aspects, but at the same time improves the deck's resiliency against some of it's worse match ups while giving it some protection for when Necromancy is cast and the Combo loop has begun or is being maintained.

The Combo loop itself is surprisingly simply. Once you have Worldgorger Dragon in the graveyard (often by casting Entomb or discarding it with Careful Study), you cast Necromancy - which doesn't target the Worldgorger Dragon just yet. Once Necromancy resolves, it's triggered comes-into-play ability goes on the stack and it asks you what to target. You select Worldgorger Dragon. At this time, you'd tap all your remaining lands for mana.

Once the trigger resolves, the Worldgorger Dragon comes into play and Necromancy attaches itself to the Worldgorger Dragon. Now the Worldgorger Dragon's comes-into-play triggered ability goes on the stack. When it resolves, all your permanents except the Worldgorger Dragon get placed in the Removed from Game zone - including Necromancy. This causes Necromancy's leaving play triggered ability to go on the stack and destroy the Worldgorger Dragon. Worldgorger Dragon returns to the graveyard and his leaving play triggered ability goes on the stack. Once it resolves, all your permanents are returned to play from the Removed from Game zone. The lands return untapped and Necromancy returns as well and it's coming-into-play triggered ability is ready to be put on the stack once more.

Rinse, wash, and repeat until you have enough mana to win. This is done either by chain casting Whispers of the Muse with Buyback for 5U until you draw Ghitu Fire or Cunning Wish, and then sending either a 20+ point Ghitu Fire to your opponents head for the cost of 22R (Ghitu Fire normally being an XR Sorcery, but it can be played as an Instant for X2R) or Wishing for Volcanic Geyser and sending a 20+ point Volcanic Geyser to your opponents head for the combined cost of 22URR (2U for Cunning Wish and 20RR for Volcanic Geyser).

Just be warned though - Dragon is a dangerous deck to play in Timed tournament matches, regardless of whether or not it's a PRE (Player Run Event) or one of those 8-man Constructed Classic events. This is because MTGO doesn't have Rule 102.4b or Rule 421 programmed into it's code. Those rules are as follows (directly taken from the MagicCompRules061001.rtf file you can download from the official Magic the Gathering homepage):

102.4b If the game somehow enters a "loop," repeating a sequence of events with no way to stop, the game is a draw. Loops that contain an optional action don't result in a draw.

MTGO will recognize and register a draw in one situation. That situation is if you have exactly ONE Worldgorger Dragon in your graveyard and nothing else (no Eternal Witness or Blazing Archon) and your opponent has NO creatures in his or her graveyard. In that situation, if both players hit F6, the loop will repeat at high speed until the game crashes. MTGO will register a draw, and essentially ignore that result. I noticed this during the UnCon Classic PRE event when I drew two games and won the third in the match and MTGO tried to go on to a game 4, despite it being a Best 2 of 3 match.

A draw also results, but MTGO won't enforce, if you have BOTH Worldgorger Dragons in your graveyard and nothing else (no Eternal Witness or Blazing Archon) and your opponent has NO creatures in his or her graveyard. While that situation meets the requirements for a draw as per Rule 421, MTGO will not award a draw. Instead, your opponent will eventually win after you time out from MTGO endlessly forcing you to pick which Worldgorger Dragon to animate in your graveyard. You still have no choice (you pick a Worldgorger Dragon either way), and neither you nor your opponent can stop the loop...but your opponent will end up winning despite the game being a draw according to the Comprehensive Rules because of a portion of the rules being left out of MTGO's code.

421. Handling “Infinite” Loops

421.1. Occasionally the game can get into a state in which a set of actions could be repeated forever. These rules (sometimes called the “infinity rules”) govern how to break such loops.

421.2. If the loop contains one or more optional actions and one player controls them all, that player chooses a number. The loop is treated as repeating that many times or until another player intervenes, whichever comes first.

421.3. If a loop contains optional actions controlled by two players and actions by both of those players are required to continue the loop, the first player (or the first involved player after the active player in turn order) chooses a number. The other player then has two choices. He or she can choose a lower number, in which case the loop continues that number of times plus whatever fraction is necessary for the active player to “have the last word.” Or he or she can agree to the number the first player chose, in which case the loop continues that number of times plus whatever fraction is necessary for the second player to “have the last word.” (Note that either fraction may be zero.) This sequence of choices is extended to all applicable players if there are more than two players involved.

Example: In a two-player game, one player controls a creature with the ability “{0}: [This creature] gains flying,” and another player controls a permanent with the ability “{0}: Target creature loses flying.” The “infinity rule” ensures that regardless of which player initiated the gain/lose flying ability, the nonactive player will always have the final choice and therefore be able to determine whether the creature has flying. (Note that this assumes that the first player attempted to give the creature flying at least once.)

421.4. If the loop contains only mandatory actions, the game ends in a draw. (See rule 102.4b.)

421.5. If the loop contains optional actions controlled by different players and these actions don’t depend on one another, the active player chooses a number. In APNAP order, the nonactive players can each either agree to that number or choose a higher number. Note that this rule applies even if the actions could exist in separate loops rather than in a single loop.

Rule 421 clearly explains how "Infinite" loops operate and how they're supposed to be handled. Once again, MTGO's code does not have Rule 421.2 or Rule 421.4 in it, and as such MTGO forces you to play out every cycle of the loop to generate the mana - even though by the Comprehensive Rules and Penalty Guidelines, that is considered stalling nor will it register a draw if the only two creatures in your graveyard are Worldgorger Dragons and your opponent has no creatures in their graveyard.

The weakness of this deck is, obviously, the fact that graveyard hate can stop it cold. Some of the major pains are as follows (graveyard hate and otherwise), and how to deal with them.

Leyline of the Void. I've taken up getting this card Restricted in Classic as my personal crusade. No card has unbalanced Classic as much as this card and it's very effective, and likely inadvertent, result of hating Combo out of the Classic metagame. In fact, during the Classic UnCon event we drew an unprecedented 112 players to our PRE. And out of those one hundred and twelve decks...exactly two were Combo. One copy of Dragon (piloted by me) and one copy of ShallowHulk. Neither of which even placed in the Top 8. In fact, one of the Top 4 decks was a Mono Green Aggro deck with four Leylines in the sideboard, although in his defense - he could cast them with Birds of Paradise or Chrome Mox. To deal with this card, I have the Chain of Vapor in the main deck and three more in the sideboard for games 2 and 3. But it's still hit and miss - depending on the deck running Leyline of the Void, even a turn 1 Chain of Vapor on the Leyline may be too slow to win the match for me.

Cremate. Cremate is easier to deal with, since it actually has to be cast. You can use the Control aspects of Dragon to deal with it, either before it's cast with Duress or while it's being cast with Counterspell. Or, if you've already got Worldgorger Dragon in the graveyard and are holding Necromancy...you can just win in response to Cremate, since the entire loop is preformed at Instant-speed.

Coffin Purge. Coffin Purge is almost identical to Cremate, except it has Flashback and as such can be played a total of eight times from the four slots given over to it. And also makes Duressing it almost a non-issue, since they can just play it again from the graveyard. And the same applies to Counterspell. But also, like Cremate, if you're holding Necromancy when they use Coffin Purge, you can just win in response.

Withered Wretch. Withered Wretch is basically a reusable Coffin Purge or Cremate on legs. And like Cremate, it can be Duressed before it's played or hit with Counterspell on it's way in. And above and beyond that, Pithing Needle can be used to prevent your opponent from using the Wretch's activated ability and stripping your graveyard bare. Unfortunately, because the activation is colorless and so cheap - it's very hard to just win in response to Withered Wretch unless your opponent taps out to activate it.

Tormod's Crypt. Same as Withered Wretch. Tormod's Crypt is a major hassle, but it has all the same weaknesses as Withered Wretch without the strong point of an activation cost. You can hit the Crypt with Duress while it's in hand or Counterspell when it's on it's way down. Plus, Pithing Needle shuts down this card and makes it into a fancy paper weight. And, since it's activation cost is it's sacrifice, you can just win at Instant-speed in response if you're holding Necromancy.

Scrabbling Claws. Same as Tormod's Crypt, on all accounts except it's scope of ability when it's sacrifices. You can Duress this and hit it with Counterspell. Pithing Needle stops it from using either of it's activated abilities. It's first activated ability lets you choose the card to put into the Removed from Game zone. It's second activated ability requires it to be sacrificed for your opponent to pick a card to put in the Removed from Game zone. And, like Tormod's Crypt, Coffin Purge, and Cremate - you can just win in response by casting Necromancy if you have your set up ready.

Swords to Plowshares. This is one of the biggest worries you have from white, except perhaps Disenchant (which may or may not regain favor since it's inclusion with Time Spiral as a Timeshifted card). Swords to Plowshares, if timed properly by your opponent, is game over. This card is an absolute must-Counter if played or must-Duress if seen in your opponent's hand.

Disenchant. This is one of the three biggest problems white gives you (not counting Orim's Chant, given it's low circulation and prohibitive cost to acquire for most players). Just like Swords to Plowshares, if this card is timed right it's game over for you. And just like Swords to Plowshares, this is a must-Counter or must-Duress if seen in your opponent's hand.

Naturalize. Same as Disenchant, except it's green. Treat this card exactly like Disenchant if it's played or seen in your opponent's hand.

Unsummon. This is your biggest concern from blue, except maybe Wipe Away. And just like Disenchant, Naturalize, or Swords to Plowshares - this spell is an absolute game over if your opponent times it properly and must be Countered or discarded with Duress when seen.

Sudden Spoiling. One of the new, and annoying, Split Second cards. Right now, there is no answer for this except Duress and forcing your opponent to discard it or using Xantid Swarm in games 2 and 3. Sudden Spoiling, in particular, strips away the Worldgorger Dragon's abilities (except for the comes-into-play ability if Sudden Spoiling is played after the Dragon resolves) and leaves you with nothing but an 0/2 until end of turn, when it reverts to a 7/7 Flying Trampler. While this is not (normally) game over right away, it can end up being game over on your opponent's next turn or a major tempo hit.

Trickbind. Another one of the new, and annoying, Split Second cards. Right now, there is no answer of this except Duress and forcing your opponent to discard it or using Xantid Swarm in games 2 and 3. Trickbind, in particular, acts as an uncounterable Stifle to prevent either the Worldgorger Dragon's comes-into-play ability or it's leaving play ability and thus stops the Combo in it's tracks in that manner. And like Swords to Plowshares, Disenchant, Naturalize, or Unsummon - if this spell is timed right, it will leave you with nothing on your side of the board.

Wipe Away. Another one of the new, and annoying, Split Second cards. Right now, there is no answer of this except Duress and forcing your opponent to discard it or using Xantid Swarm in games 2 and 3. Wipe Away is, for all intents and purposes, an uncounterable Unsummon or Boomerang. A very dangerous card against Dragon, and fast enough to be an issue (like the rest of the Split Second cards I've mentioned or will mention).

Krosan Grip. Another one of the new, and annoying, Split Second cards. Right now, there is no answer of this except Duress and forcing your opponent to discard it or using Xantid Swarm in games 2 and 3. Krosan Grip is the uncounterable version of Naturalize, and is more dangerous because of it's Split Second ability. All the precautions surrounding Disenchant, Naturalize, Swords to Plowshares, Unsummon, and a lot of other spells mentioned apply here. If you see it, Duress it. And if your opponent times it properly - they win because you'll be left with nothing in play.

Angel's Grace. Another one of the new, and annoying, Split Second cards. Right now, there is no answer of this except Duress and forcing your opponent to discard it or using Xantid Swarm in games 2 and 3. Although using Xantid Swarm against Angel's Grace is risky. They can always play Angel's Grace in response to the trigger ability of Xantid Swarm and prevent you from winning should you go off. So if you know you're facing a deck with Angel's Grace and are siding in Xantid Swarms, be sure to attack with the Xantid Swarm on every turn so they either have to use it and lose it or hold on to it on the off chance that you are bluffing with the Xantid Swarm attack.

That should just about cover everything you need to know about Dragon on MTGO. It's history, the idea of the deck, how the loop functions, it's weaknesses, and how to combat it's weaknesses. I know my previous article was more than a little dry, but I felt the need to lay the ground work of what Classic was before I began to break down decks and explain them. Soon, I'll have another deck article ready and available. Until then.

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