Dracoplosion

One of the things I miss most about older MtG is the cleverness. I know this might seem strange, but when it came to things such as artwork, vocabulary and even card names; Wizards of the Coast did some pretty cool things. Take today’s deck for example: it uses a card called Draco. Did you know that Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky, or that it is the Latin word for dragon? Oh, you did? How awkward.. well anyway, today we’re going to be talking about Dracoplosion!

Alright so let’s start with the combo. You got your Dracos and you got your Erratic Explosions. Since these are easily your biggest source of damaging the opponent, you definitely want to be running 4 of each. The idea is to cast an Erratic Explosion with Draco being on the top of your library. Generally, you do this by using Lim-Dûl's Vault, Brainstorm and/or Scroll Rack, but I suppose if you’re desperate then you can just roll the dice and/or become religious.

Lim-Dûl's Vault. This is one of those cards that are severely underplayed in various formats. While it doesn’t put a card directly into your hand, it does everything else you want in a tutor. Don’t think of it as just a tutor either, it can also be used to smooth out your draws, and helps find your numerous combo pieces. One piece of advice I would like to add regarding Vault is that you have to take extra care when cracking fetch lands. Because of its numerous decisions, combined with its use in the actual combo setup; it is important to remember that Vault is both an invaluable, but difficult, card to play.

The control. The deck doesn’t play any Sol lands or mana ramp, so it takes a few turns to get going. Because it is so reliant on the combo as a win condition, the deck also needs an aspect of control to buy you some time. Duress and Force of Will do double duty as both protection for both you and the combo. Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Fire // Ice also help, as they can stop your opponent from amassing too many early threats. The good news is that once the combo goes off, you only probably only need one of them to finish off the opponent.

While researching decks that used Draco and Erratic Explosion, I discovered various different versions of them. Many had incorporated other colours and strategies of their own, including the use of White for Orim’s Chant and Green for Worldly Tutor. I had also read about decks that chose to focus more on Scroll Rack rather than Lim-Dûl's Vault. I think there are benefits and negatives to each approach, and you should try tinkering with several before deciding on the one that fits you best. Happy Brewing!

Dracoplosion

Land

4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp

Total: 19

Creatures

4 Draco

Total: 4

Spells

4 Erratic Explosion
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Force of Will

1 Scroll Rack
4 Duress

3 Overmaster
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Chain Lightning
3 Fire // Ice
1 Chain of Vapor

Total:  37

Sideboard

1 Misdirection

2 Chain of Vapor

4 Daze

2 Pyroblast

4 Tormod’s Crypt

2 Pyroclasm

UG Show and Tell

“Thank you Johnny, that was very nice. Alright class, who would like to go next? Very well, Timmy, show everyone what you brought.. AHH, WHAT IS THAT THING??” Back in the early days of Magic, the internet wasn’t nearly what it is today. Oftentimes, when someone would get a creature onto the battlefield, it could be the first time you ever saw it. While this wasn’t really the case throughout all of the Ancient era, it certainly could have been for some people. And what’s a great way to show off big creatures to those people? It’s simple really,  you just Show and Tell.

Mana sources. The deck includes a variety of different mana sources, with each one serving an important function(s). The Sol lands (Ancient Temple and City of Traitors), combined with Lotus Petal, allow for fast mana and thus fast starts. The Wastelands are very important, and it is surprising and sad that I added them so late. They are for Maze of Iths and Karakas’.  The fetch lands and coloured mana sources? They do the obvious.

Akroma and company. There is no question that Akroma is the #1 creature in the deck. She protects herself from 2 of the most relevant creature removal colours and she is tough. Akroma is the only creature I put in as a 4-of, because she’s just that strong. Nicol Bolas was another strong contender for including as a playset, but I decided against it for a couple of reasons. The first reason was that I wanted to showcase the versatility of the big creatures in the format. The other was that while he may be strong, Bolas doesn’t do everything. He doesn’t have the protection of Iridescent Angel or the Haste of Spirit of the Night, both of which can be relevant in certain situations.

Why U/G and Living Wish? There are a couple of reasons for these choices. The main one being that Ancient doesn’t have the card filtration that Legacy does. While Brainstorm is, well, Brainstorm; Sleight of Hand is not Ponder.  As such, I wanted to use a tutor-type spell to find the cards required for different scenarios. The other reason for Wish was that I wanted to make the creature list to be flexible. Because of the low power level of Ancient’s creatures, there aren’t really any that you can drop on the battlefield and win instantly with. You need to choose your targets more wisely, thus making a Wish a very important spell in the deck.

Why not Red? I decided on Quicksilver Amulet over Sneak Attack because Ancient creatures just don’t quite have the 1-punch impact of the more modern designs. In the end, I decided that the 1 creature that might fit this role wasn’t worth it, as I was set on adding Living Wish to the deck. Because of this, the deck loses some speed but adds consistency. I would add however, that if I were going to play Sneak Attack in the deck instead, then Bolas would definitely be a 4-of. Happy Brewing!

UG Show and Tell

Land

3 Island

1 Forest

4 Tropical Island

4 Ancient Tomb

1 City of Traitors

7 Fetch lands

4 Wasteland

Total: 24

Creatures:

3 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Nicol Bolas

Total: 4

Spells

4 Show and Tell

4 Quicksilver Amulet

4 Living Wish

4 Lotus Petal

4 Brainstorm

4 Sleight of Hand

4 Force of Will

3 Misdirection

1 Intuition

Total: 32

Sideboard

1 Iridescent Angel

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Spirit of the Night

1 Nicol Bolas

1 Serra Avatar

1 Symbiotic Wurm

4 Naturalize

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Exalted Angel