Following the World Championship, we’re at least starting to see some unique archetypes pop up in an attempt to fight the ever-evolving metagame. Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy feat, as between Izzet Lessons, Dimir Midrange, Mono-Red Aggro, and Bant Airbending, the meta is already very crowded. Despite this, MTG players are still giving it their best shot with a new Boros Dragons deck, which is putting up surprisingly compelling results.
MTG Boros Dragons
Like most typal decks, Boros Dragons is chock full of creatures that share the same creature type. The goal is to maximize Dragon-themed payoffs that reward you for sticking to a consistent theme. Interestingly, though, the primary payoff isn’t actually a Dragon itself. Instead, it’s a Human two-drop with a couple of synergistic abilities.
Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant more than pulls its weight here for a number of reasons. Right off the bat, getting a Treasure token is a big deal for a deck that’s heavy on beefy threats. With the lack of early efficient Dragon spells in general, it’s nice to have a powerful option to fill the two-drop slot that consistently generates value. Furthermore, if Sarkhan sticks around, it’s easy to follow up with Dragon spells turn after turn, making Sarkhan a large evasive threat.
In addition to Sarkhan, Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon also provides extra utility in grindy games. There are a variety of different Dragons all along the curve that are well worth tutoring up, depending on the situation.
The most powerful of the bunch is definitely Nova Hellkite. In conjunction with Sarkhan, Hellkite threatens a ton of damage in short order. Plus, between Llanowar Elves out of Simic Aggro, Deep-Cavern Bat out of Dimir Midrange, and Stormchaser’s Talent out of Izzet Lessons, Hellkite’s triggered ability lines up exceptionally well in the current Standard format.
To further bolster your matchups against Badgermole Cub decks, a full playset of Clarion Conqueror makes an appearance as a solid follow-up to Sarkhan. Then, at four mana, Magmatic Hellkite is a strong card on rate that also does a good job answering opposing utility lands.
To make Sarkhan’s enters ability even more reliable, a full playset of Twinmaw Stormbrood makes an appearance as well. Most of the time, you’ll simply be casting the Omen half of the card, but sometimes waiting to cast the big flier and buffer your life total has value against decks like Mono-Red Aggro. This deck has no shortage of ways to spend its mana in games that go long.
A Major Upgrade
As powerful as these Dragon spells can be, this archetype has long been missing a potent turn-one play. Previous iterations of Boros Dragons, before the release of MTG Avatar, typically utilized Hired Claw to fill this void and put the pressure on early. Notably, however, this Lizard didn’t synergize with the rest of the deck at all. Now, thanks to the power of one Lemur Bat Ally, things have changed.
Momo may not be a Dragon itself, but it’s the perfect card to start your Dragon curve, especially if you don’t have Sarkhan rolled up. On the play, curving Momo into Nova Hellkite or Clarion Conqueror completely demolishes any Llanowar Elves starts and puts the opponent super far behind. Even on the draw, being able to play Clarion Conqueror a turn ahead of schedule helps minimize the damage Badgermole Cub can do. All of your most explosive draws involve Momo, which will be able to attack for two in the air on most turns to get the game over with.
Rounding out the deck’s efficient proactive plays, this decklist utilizes four copies of Charming Prince, too. While Charming Prince isn’t the strongest turn two play, it makes up for this by being a decent follow-up to some of your Dragons later in the game. Whether you’re blinking out a Warped Nova Hellkite to help kill a two-toughness creature and add more to the board or getting extra value out of Magmatic Hellkite’s trigger, this Human delivers. Once you factor in the playset of Burst Lightning, you’ve got a good number of cheap plays and a decent amount of reach to take on all that Standard has to throw at you.
Fighting the Metagame
Up to this point, Boros Dragons has yet to break out as one of the top options in Standard. Nonetheless, a second-place Challenge finish is nothing to scoff at, and the deck has showcased that it has what it takes to compete against many of the best decks in the format.
Unsurprisingly, a deck filled with fliers, removal, and Clarion Conqueror is bound to line up decently well against Simic Aggro. As an assertive deck that goes bigger than Mono-Red Aggro, Boros Dragons also has an edge there.
Part of what makes Boros Dragons so appealing beyond beating up on other aggro decks, though, is that it has access to some of the format’s best sideboard cards. While Boros Dragons may not be quite fast enough to reliably beat Reanimator in game one, adding a full playset of Rest in Peace out of the sideboard goes a long way towards helping you win games two and three. In a similar vein, versus Airbending Combo, you get to bring in four copies of Doorkeeper Thrull to sway the matchup in your favor.
This versatility makes Boros Dragons a unique format sleeper. Boros Dragons’ mix of speed and raw power gives it a chance to beat a lot of decks, including Izzet Lessons. The pilot of the archetype managed to crush a field of aggro decks, Reanimator, and Golgari Midrange on the way to the finals of the Challenge. They even beat Izzet Looting, which isn’t always easy given how well Quantum Riddler lines up versus your Dragons.
This isn’t to say that Boros Dragons doesn’t have its weaknesses. The deck lines up extremely poorly against Jeskai Control, for example, which the pilot of the second-place decklist lost to twice during the Challenge. The combination of Jeskai’s efficient answers to your Dragons, strong sources of card advantage, and unbeatable bombs like Jeskai Revelation is extremely difficult to fight through. Even still, it’s hard to beat every deck that your opponents could throw your way, and having a solid game plan against a lot of the rest of the field is a huge boon.
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