Im not impressed with the Kraj, although adding Horobi would be nutty.

Rakdos is REALLY good. Dust off that old Black precon and get to makin that deck haha.

Love,
Matt

Standard: Ideal 31-7-8

Hell, everything works well with Horobi…
Even Kumano’s Blessing has a purpose when Horobi’s on the table…

---

Current Decks:
UG Aggro
Mono-Green Turbo-Allosaurus!
Mono-Red BURN

RGD Draft: 25-7-2
RGD Sealed: ***Censored***

Rakdos needs Whispersilk Cloak badly.  I want a way to force my opponent to deal with him before I sacrifice half my stuff.

But still fun to think about - Attack with Rakdos, sac to Greater Good…

Or even better...Attack with Rakdos, before damage, activate Sunhome, targeting Rakdos…

Of course if I get to Peel him (or Repeal him) just once on my opponent’s side of the board (in response to him attacking, obv), it makes it all worth it…

Shivan Dragon’s newest, baddest creation…

I’m getting four.

Love,
Matt

Standard: Ideal 31-7-8

Looks like that red burn deck finally found the creature it needs eh?

Borrow money from pessimists - they don’t expect it back

Sure gives red burn a late game beast - add in a Kumano, Master Yamabushi and you have lots of options on how to use your late game red mana

That’s so awesome. It’s nice to see a mono-colored power card every once in a while in the set. That’s just an amazing finisher for RDW.

Speaking of Kumano, he’s been forgotten as of late. What’s up with that? maybe just no archtype that he fits in.

I hope it’s true that every snowflake is unique, because I never want to see one like this again.

I’m going to take the opposite stance mostly because I believe it, but also because it’ll make this discussion more interesting.  This dragon is NOT the card that RDW needs.  It’s not awful, but neither is it stellar.  Mono-R Sligh/aggro decks win by tossing out EARLY creatures that are hard to deal with until they’ve already dealt some significant damage (see Slith Firewalker, Goblin Piledriver, Jackal Pup, Ball Lightning, etc.), and then they rely on direct damage to deal the rest of what they’re missing.  As an alternative, creatures like Arc-Slogger and Kumano (I’m all the way with you on this one) work well with this strategy because they can deal damage even if they are killed before being able to attack, and if opponents have chump blockers they can still repeatedly burn the other player directly.  The dragon will very rarely attack before turn 5, has no evasion unless you want to sink at least two red mana into him, and only has double strike when you are without a single trick in your hand, making it easy for your opponent to take full advantage of the situation.  His three toughness makes him super easy to remove after you’ve already invested the mana to make him fly and firebreathe.  He gives your opponent an outlet for all of their late game creature removal, one of the things that RDW can exploit by not running late game creatures unless they have direct damage abilities.  This is probably the main reason that he should be avoided in burn-heavy decks.

That said, he should be playable in a Hellbent block deck with his Gobhobbling friends where you can try to draw out your opponent’s kill spells before they blow him up.  Again, though, if your opponent Wraths even once when your hand is empty he should win that game.  He might even be fun in a heavy land destruction deck if you can make sure that the opponent doesn’t have the mana to take him down.  He is very cute, but he’s not exactly a powerhouse on his own.  If only he had trample…

Feel free to disagree with me and tell me why I am wrong and why he is great in burn-oriented builds and how he will be huge in Extended.

I was also going to mention the fact that I cannot fathom anyone playing a creature that costs more than 2 that neither has a comes-into-play/leaves play ability (Hierarch/Yosei), nor a way to deal damage outside of combat (Burning-Tree Shaman), nor a way to dodge removal (Ghost Council/Solifuge). There’s WAY too much removal in standard capable of dealing with this guy with absolutely no benefit to the controller (especially considering he’s in topdeck mode most likely). Helix, Gasp, Putrefy, Mortify, Wrath, Volcanic Hammer, Char, Faith’s Fetters, Glare, Sickening and Shining Shoals, and even Pillory of the Sleepless, PLUS whatever removal/bounce is in Dissension.

Verdict: play him in Izzet aggro with Kira and Dragonauts.

You guys bring up good and valid points. The only counterpoint I can think to Christian is that hopefully they used their removal on your earlier guys. Even without doublestrike, I think this is a good creature. what do you guys think?

I hope it’s true that every snowflake is unique, because I never want to see one like this again.

I still think he’s merely ok, and not really that good.  It’s not the conditional nature of the Hellbent/doublestrike that makes him questionable, it’s the fact that to make him fly over for 3 it costs RR.  He’s WAY too mana intensive for most decks.  I still think he’s decent in Izzet aggro, even if you never activate his Hellbent save for the aforementioned color mana intensity.  Perhaps be might be playable with heavy discard elements.  I’m still not too impressed, though.  It looks like I’ll be sticking to Guildpact for prize packs for the forseeable future.

I think he bites the big one.  Why, good card, bad card, doesn’t matter.  He liked his name so much that he used all 5 instances of the word “Dragon” that were in the orb. 

Dragon Whore. 

(And I agree with Matt that he’s too mana intensive...) Of course everything said here is “at first glance” without knowing all the cards in the set, so who knows where the rest of the set will lead.  It’s fun being right and wrong!

blake - 13 April 2006 01:28 PM

I think he bites the big one.  Why, good card, bad card, doesn’t matter.  He liked his name so much that he used all 5 instances of the word “Dragon” that were in the orb. 

Dragon Whore. 

That’s funny; I didn’t think about that.  It’s also interesting that he’s the second dragon ever to not have flying (the other was Canopy Dragon).  Still, he’s “good in Limited.*”

Speaking of which, have you seen the amazing first-pick bomb that is the rare Simic hybrid card? It’s like Collective Uncoscious on crack.  Unfortunately, it’s also a seven-mana sorcery is often worse than Counsel of the Soratami in Constructed, and definitely worse than Tidings.  Oh well.

*That’s the Magic equivalent of having a “good personality.”

Random Matt - 13 April 2006 04:37 PM

*That’s the Magic equivalent of having a “good personality."

lol right on.

Actually with all the push from 2HG, I think they made that card thinking of that. Well, I dunno, can’t 2HG matchups get pretty creature heavy sometimes? That could be a nice lategame card. Hmm or not. Naw, just limited goodness. *sigh* yeah in regular constructed that’s soooo jank. And for the same cost Orzhov got a total nutz enchantment.

I want to see more graft creatures, as if they are good or not, will make or break simic (and mr Experiment hehe).

I hope it’s true that every snowflake is unique, because I never want to see one like this again.