{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Foreword:"},{"insert":" \nHey, Squid here. I apologize in advance for how terribly long this deck description is. For better or worse, this is a deck with a surprising amount of nuance, and is positively riddled with odd card choices whose purpose might not be apparent upon a first look through the decklist. As such, I had to choose between trying to keep it short or explaining what I could, and, well, this is the result. I hope this \"brief\" description is entertaining enough while simultaneously going over the basics of how this particular brew works, as well as explaining what on earth "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Velomachus Lorehold"}},{"insert":" is doing here.\nEnjoy!\n\n\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":" is an incredibly degenerate commander, infamous for its "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Moltensteel Dragon"}},{"insert":" + "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon"}},{"insert":" one-shots. It's also typically quite the expensive deck to build, what with it being five colors and all. Also it has dragons.\n\nI tried to make it none of these things.\n\nExcept the dragons part, of course.\n\nForunately enough, solving the budget problem (mostly) fixes the degenerate tendencies that a Scion deck typically has. As it turns out, not being able to use some of Magic's most comically busted dragons, such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Colossal Grave-Reaver"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ancient Copper Dragon"}},{"insert":", or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":" itself, well, it makes the deck considerably more tame. But that doesn't make it toothless by any means, oh no. But I'm getting ahead of myself.\n\nTrying to build any sort of five-color deck on a budget is a seriously challenging endeavor, one that necessitates serious concessions in either deck consistency, or speed. This deck is no different, but that doesn't pose as big of an issue as you might expect. You see, despite my best efforts, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":" is an absolutely "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"terrifying"},{"insert":" presence at the table. The ability to just, "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"become,"},{"insert":" whatever dragon is best at any given point for only two mana is really, really powerful, even if those dragons are ripped straight from the bulk bin at your LGS. So, deploying Scion without out some measure of protection is a bad idea. Now, we could load up on protective spells, but that's rather inefficient, and there's only so much deck space. On the other hand, Scion's ability becomes an awfully good tool to, ah, "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"dissuade"},{"insert":" opponents from pointing removal its way. All we need is five mana to cast Scion, and two mana to fetch one of the deck's *ahem* "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"bad dragons"},{"insert":", and suddenly people are a lot less keen to kill it.\n\nWe'll get to what dragons fill this role later, I promise. For now, we need to address how we reach that critical seven mana threshold. And this is where the deck makes its concession, in its speed. Trying to hit seven mana before turn five while simultaneously color-fixing is just...not possible on a budget; at least, not without the luck of the gods or a truly disproportionate amount of deck space. Fortunately, there's a great way to hit seven mana on turn five while simultaneously color-fixing, and funnily enough, it's been mostly powercrept out of the format. It's our old friend "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Explosive Vegetation"}},{"insert":"! And, like, fourteen other cards that can ramp two mana before turn five, most of which are E-Veg analogs. On their own, these type of spells are still pretty mediocre, but they have some serious upside here beyond the previously stated benefits. First, only needing to cast this spell on turn four means there's three full turns of dead space that can be occupied by playing some truly dirt-cheap fixing lands that all come in tapped (welcome back, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Golgari Guildgate"}},{"insert":"). The second is "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Velomachus Lorehold"}},{"insert":". You see, most of these "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Explosive Vegetation"}},{"insert":"-type spells are sorceries, all of which Velomachus can cast without any boosts to her power. And with ten of these in the deck, that gives her a pretty decent chance (>50%) to hit any one of these with her attack trigger. In addition, she has both vigilance "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"and"},{"insert":" haste, so even if she whiffs her trigger, it isn't too much of a setback. As for the downsides of relying on this method to ramp into "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":", it leaves you alarmingly open on the first four turns of the game before you're able to play Scion. This isn't too bad, and the deck runs a smattering of low-cost utility creatures (such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard"}},{"insert":", or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Priest of Fell Rites"}},{"insert":") that can block in a pinch. On the other hand, it means that finding one of these spells is a "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"requirement"},{"insert":" to even begin playing the game. Thus, mulliganing to find one of these"},{"attributes":{"background":"transparent","color":"#000000"},"insert":"𑁋"},{"insert":"along with the lands needed to cast it"},{"attributes":{"background":"transparent","color":"#000000"},"insert":"𑁋"},{"insert":"is a must. If you were wondering why the deck runs 41 lands, this is it. Fortunately, mulliganing to six, or even five cards isn't actually that bad, since Scion is a one-dragon machine that can do pretty much anything you need it to. (I've played this deck on mulligans to "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"four"},{"insert":" a few times, and it still felt alright. I even one won of those games!)\n\nNow, you were promised dragons, and it's about time I made good on that promise. Most of the deck's dragons are pretty self-explanatory, whether it be "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire"}},{"insert":"'s ability to remove almost anything, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Zurgo and Ojutai"}},{"insert":"'s astonishingly effective capacity to draw only the cards you need (and not your dragons, Scion can't find them in your hand (this will come up later)), or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Earthquake Dragon"}},{"insert":"'s penchant for being "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"THICK."},{"insert":" That said, a few deserve special mention, particularly the four dragons that do the all-important job of keeping removal pointed away from Scion itself:\n-"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Firdoch Core"}},{"insert":" offers the ability to dodge most board wipes;\n-"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Silumgar, the Drifting Death"}},{"insert":" is the one of only two dragons in the whole game that offers unconditional hexproof;\n-"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Keiga, the Tide Star"}},{"insert":" is going to die, but not without making your opponent's regret it;\n-and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Piru, the Volatile"}},{"insert":"...is a bomb.\nThese four do an "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"astonishingly"},{"insert":" good job at keeping "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":" alive, and, strangely enough, they become "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"more"},{"insert":" effective if your opponents know about them. If your opponents know your commander can turn into a tactical nuke at the slightest provocation, strangely enough, they usually stop trying to remove Scion while that threat is still around. And if they never deign it necessary to force you to make good on that threat, well, that's all the better for you. You can always keep that threat squarely in your back pocket, and hang it over your opponents' heads like some sort of budget Sword of Damocles. \n\nNow if you feel I didn't give "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Piru, the Volatile"}},{"insert":" the time she deserves here, don't you worry, she'll come up again later. Piru is, after all, my #1 pet card, and this deck is, in a sense, my love letter to this dorky, overcosted menace.\n\nBefore I move onto to the deck's gameplay tendencies, there are two more oddities I'd like to mention. \nFirst is the deck's lack of card draw. Now, for anyone who's piloted a "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":" deck before, you probably understand exactly why the deck runs not only this small quantity of card advantage, but also why I've chosen these particular cards. To explain, drawing cards isn't a bad thing on its own, but it "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"can"},{"insert":" be. Since Scion can't turn into a given dragon if it's in your hand, you lose a lot of versatility, and a lot of the deck's little tricks stop working. There is no worse feeling while playing a Scion deck than drawing your only copy of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Moltensteel Dragon"}},{"insert":". With the exception of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Korvold, Gleeful Glutton"}},{"insert":", none of these card draw pieces can draw you a card you "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"don't"},{"insert":" want. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Brainstorm"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Brainsurge"}},{"insert":" even allow you to rescue hand-locked dragons by placing them back on top of your deck before promptly shuffling them away with Scion's ability. As for the low quantity, that's even easier to explain. If you're running low on cards, well, Scion itself can always fix that with one of the dragons in its toolbox, though, full truth be told, I haven't found playing this deck in pure topdeck mode to be a serious drawback.\nSecond is the rather...unusual...choices for interaction. The counterspells all make some measure of sense, especially since once Scion transforms, it's pretty well stuck that way until end of turn, and subsequently vulnerable to removal. But this array of spot kill spells? Surely there's better options than "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Unwanted Remake"}},{"insert":"!? I mean, hell, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Swords to Plowshares"}},{"insert":" is barely even a dollar! And in pretty much any other circumstance, that would be a perfectly accurate assessment. But you see, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Swords to Plowshares"}},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"exiles "},{"insert":"creatures, and we can't have that. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Piru, the Volatile"}},{"insert":" won't get her death trigger if she gets exiled, you see. That's right, every spot kill spell moonlights as a board wipe, and an instant speed board wipe at that! Turning your commander into a pipe bomb and hucking it onto the table is something people might expect from a deck with Piru herself, but this? Pointing "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"your own removal spell"},{"insert":" at the commander your entire deck "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"needs"},{"insert":" to function is just so unhinged that it works way, "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"way"},{"insert":" better than it has any right to.\n\nFortunately, and lastly, the deck's gameplay is actually pretty straightforward aside from the previously mentioned bits. The deck typically tries to build advantage by either drawing cards with a transformed"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":" or dropping "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Velomachus Lorehold"}},{"insert":" and letting her work her magic. Game-ending threats can be dealt with by the array of dragon-y hate pieces Scion can transform into. As for winning the game, it turns out beating people to death with big chunky fliers is a remarkably effective strategy. Commander damage is the usual way that the deck gets its kills, since it rarely has more than three dragons on the field at once, but it can go wide given enough time, and enough recursion (thank you "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Teneb, the Harvester"}},{"insert":"). Interestingly enough, in my experience opponents have been remarkably amenable to being swung at by Scion, most likely thanks to the lack of the truly horrific transformation targets locked out of the deck thanks to the budget. This is easily most apparent in the case of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Moltensteel Dragon"}},{"insert":" combos; with the absence of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon"}},{"insert":", the combos the deck does have come with a much higher cost. With Moltensteel and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Atarka, World Render"}},{"insert":", opponents will be able to see it coming, and (possibly) block accordingly, since the combo must be deployed prior to declaring attackers. In the case of Moltensteel and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Earthquake Dragon"}},{"insert":", it has a significantly higher life cost than the Skittles-combo, being 22 life instead of 12 (assuming all phyrexian mana is paid in life). In even the most passive of games, 22 life is waaay too much to pay to take down one player aaaaand Piru's back again. Yeah, so, as it turns out, a single "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Piru, the Volatile"}},{"insert":" explosion gains "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"such "},{"insert":"a ridiculous amount of life "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"so "},{"insert":"consistently, that paying Moltensteel's life cost isn't even hard most games, even if the follow-up transformation is a comparatively smaller dragon such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tyrant's Familiar"}},{"insert":" (which conveniently has haste for a situation such as this). \n\nNow, the deck certainly isn't invincible, and there certainly are avenues of counterplay for opponents, but in my opinion, that's a good thing for a casual commander deck to have. As it turns out, this deck's kryptonite is a nearly 20 year old card you probably haven't heard of called "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fleshbag Marauder"}},{"insert":", but working around the deck's weaknesses are half the fun of playing it. As long as you can still cast your "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scion of the Ur-Dragon"}},{"insert":", you still have a way back into the game. With that being said, the deck certainly has a preferred power level it likes to play at. Upper bracket three is usually just a little too fast for the deck's bulk bin dragons to recover from, and bracket two decks usually can't handle the deck's slipperiness combined with the consistency Scion as a commander provides. Low-mid bracket three, in my experience, is where the deck is happiest.\n\nBut that's enough out of me for now. This is one of my favorite decks to play and talk about (could you guess?), and I hope I could share a bit of its magic with you.\n\nThank you for coming to my TED talk.\n\n\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Postscript:"},{"insert":"\nThis deck was built in January 2025, with a budget of of $50 (commander included) by measure of TCGplayer's card pricing. Over time, the prices of cards in the deck have fluctuated (looking at you, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Stubborn Denial"}},{"insert":"), and between that and my own card substitutions both increasing and decreasing the deck's total cost, it has resulted in the price point you now see. It's a little higher then what it originally was, especially since many of the decks core cards (like, y'know, the "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"commander"},{"insert":") never fully recovered from Tarkir Dragonstorm's price spikes. But eh, c'est la vie.\n\nAlso, if the deck's "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Explosive Vegetation"}},{"insert":" shtick seems familiar to you, that's most likely because I drew inspiration on that particular aspect from Salubrious Snail's now-famous "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Radha, Heir to Keld"}},{"insert":" deck.\n"}]}