{"ops":[{"insert":"With this deck, your opponents are about to find out why they call Iroh the Dragon of the West! Play creatures out, buff them up with counters, and then channel their newfound fire-bending into a variety of powerful activated abilities. In the early game, you'll start by ramping to gain resources and casting small creatures that can learn from Iroh's mentor ability. As you get into the late game, you might just see some dragons swooping in to help you and Iroh close out the game - not so extinct after all!\n\nThis deck has three main themes: Counters, Firebending, and Dragons.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Counters"},{"insert":"\nWe need to get counters on our creatures to give them firebending with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Iroh, Dragon of the West"}},{"insert":". Some of the creatures in the list, like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Draconautics Engineer"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fire Sages"}},{"insert":", take care of that themselves, but others need a little help. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Churning Reservoir"}},{"insert":" is a cheap set-up piece that can repeatedly give out a (mostly useless) counter, and possibly create some tokens for Iroh to mentor. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thundering Raiju"}},{"insert":" also distributes counters and spreads some damage around as a bonus. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Uncivil Unrest"}},{"insert":" is an excellent enabler here, letting us either take counters or haste, depending on what we need, and making all of our attacks twice as deadly (and I think the card's name has a nice flavor tie-in to the show). That's why I picked it to be one of the meaningful reprints in the deck. \n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Firebending "},{"insert":"\nThe next theme of the deck is firebending - once we've placed the counters to get our mana, what do we do with it? One option is using it on instants, especially when they provide card advantage to make sure we don't run out of gas. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Commune with Lava"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fists of Flame"}},{"insert":" do a good job of that, while "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Electrodominance"}},{"insert":" lets us remove a threat and play one of our own. The other big use for firebending is activated abilities, and there are a ton of options here, from a number of fire breathers to cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei"}},{"insert":". Even with mono-red's more limited options for refilling our hand, these mana sinks make sure the firebending mana doesn't go to waste.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Dragons"},{"insert":"\nThis sub theme is mostly a flavor inclusion, but it turns out a number of dragons have useful ways to use up mana at instant speed, like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Hellkite Charger"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Inferno of the Star Mounts"}},{"insert":". A few others interact with counters, like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Preyseizer Dragon"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Skarrgan Hellkite"}},{"insert":". "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Leyline Tyrant"}},{"insert":" gives us more flexibility with firebending mana, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Draconic Destiny"}},{"insert":" can turn "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Iroh, Dragon of the West"}},{"insert":" into a literal dragon, with fire breathing to back up his army of firebenders.\n\nThanks for reading!\n"}]}