MTG Salvation

I've always been a sucker for those cute cuddly dragons. So I put together a deck of them. I usually play it with a group of friends, sometimes 1v1 with one of them. We don't take into consideration the 1v1 banned list for that though as it'd be too much of a pain to switch cards out all the time since we build our decks to play with groups of people.

Other than the lands the numbers next to the card represent the cards converted mana cost.


There's the deck. I still need a few cards for it like Gauntlet of Might. Other cards I don't have in due to being limited to the copies I possess and have put them in other decks. Good example would be Strip Mine. I could finish up all my decks (mostly finished now) and then have enough for a few more, but I personally see EDH as an opportunity to show off some of your favorite cards and those special shiney/altered art/autographed cards of yours.

The Sword of Feast and Famine was originally put in the deck for when I've to cast fatties. This way I can lay something, swing, and then lay something else. I then realized I had the Hellkite Charger in there. Giving me infinite combat steps. Seer's Sundial + insurrection is a nice combo as well Warp World is in there 4tehlulz, and it's not bad for me to begin with. Only 12 cards in the whole deck can't come in off it.

Feedback good or bad is appreciated. If it's bad give me some reasons or you're comments are invalid.

Massive amounts of edits. Gonna try this one at gencon this week.

Not sure what you would think about him but archwing dragon has good synergy with your general

He's too "vanilla" for me. If he had firebreathing or some other good mechanic on him as well.... I do need to pick up 4 of those for my Modern Deck though. Friend has 2 for me that he can't seem to find.

Can Zirilan +Lightning Greaves + Worldgorger Dragon + Tel-Jilad Stylus be an infinite combo?

If someone kills zirilian repeatedly, you're down to doing one thing a turn if that and that's not good. Strongly consider sneak attack, and some way to shuffle your graveyard back into your deck would be awesome to re-use some of your better dragons. Kozilek would probably be nice to draw some cards, or even Ulamog to destroy a permanent since Red is so excellent at destroying enchantments. All is Dust would be great as well, or hell any board control whatsoever. Some additional sac outlets (I really enjoy Spawning Pit) would be great as well to make sure you can actually re-use them. Or any way to flicker the creatures. Helvault and Conjurer's Closet are both options!

You also probably need more draw. Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Fate, Staff of Nin, Reforge the Soul all probably deserve spots.

Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk are good wipes too.

Disaster Radius is AMAZING.

Zirilan is best as a toolbox General.

He is also a Shaman. (Thornbite Staff Hint hint)

Dragonstorm Seems like it would fit and could be explosive if paired with Mana Geyser which you're already running.

There are some additional ways to save your dragons... may not be very great for your deck but worth consideration at the very least:

Tawnos's Coffin
Safe Haven
Synod Sanctum
Cold Storage

Thousand-Year Elixir is similar to Rings of Brighthearth(its 4 mana to use elixir and repay Zirilan's cost versus 3 to copy it with Brighthearth) when considering how they both interact with your commander. It does work as pseudo-haste for him, but doesn't pair with other permanents in your deck that have activated abilities like Koth.

And if you can't save the dragons you might as well kill them twice as hard. You're already running Fling, but Fatal Frenzy makes Dragon Tyrant ... fatal. Of course more risk, you can respond to removal with fling and they're likely to respond to fatal frenzy with removal.

I was wanting a sneak attack but no where around here had them. I don't like buying singles, much rather trade or buy collections. Plan on getting one at Gencon along with gauntlet of might I can't run too much in terms of board wipes as I'm red and all I've are 3 available ones. 2 of which I think are horrible for this deck. Red hates artifacts. 30 cards in here (including the artifact creatures) are artifacts. So the only one I'd run is all is dust. This is why I'm trying to run earthquake effects and board wipes in my dragons. I've enough acceleration in the deck I can hard cast a few dragons a turn in case zirilian is tucked. I don't like the exile effects that tie my creatures to them. All they've to do is bounce that card and I've lost them. Happens with extraplanar lens sometimes. Granted I lose out a land... but the acceleration is important for the deck.

Sulfurous Blast seems pretty weak. How many critters do you have one the field at once that Blasphemous Act wouldn't be great?

Everyone says Howling Mine isn't great coz your opponents get the benefit first. What's your experience?

Trading Post?

Quote from Born To NYAN

I was wanting a sneak attack but no where around here had them. I don't like buying singles, much rather trade or buy collections. Plan on getting one at Gencon along with gauntlet of might I can't run too much in terms of board wipes as I'm red and all I've are 3 available ones. 2 of which I think are horrible for this deck. Red hates artifacts. 30 cards in here (including the artifact creatures) are artifacts. So the only one I'd run is all is dust. This is why I'm trying to run earthquake effects and board wipes in my dragons. I've enough acceleration in the deck I can hard cast a few dragons a turn in case zirilian is tucked. I don't like the exile effects that tie my creatures to them. All they've to do is bounce that card and I've lost them. Happens with extraplanar lens sometimes. Granted I lose out a land... but the acceleration is important for the deck.

You're either going to lose your creature to Zirilian's effect at EOT anyway, I don't see why potentially losing them would be an issue. You could always run a sac outlet instead and just shuffle them back in. But that's two cards instead of one.

Quote from Budgeteer

Can Zirilan +Lightning Greaves + Worldgorger Dragon + Tel-Jilad Stylus be an infinite combo?

Quote from ItsZach

Shroud prevents against targeted effects, not against wipes.

not what he's thinking. He wants to use the Stylus to tuck the Gorger, then have everythign blink, then use Greaves to give Zirilan haste to summon the Gorger again, lather, rinse, repeat. It doesn't work becuase if you tuck the Gorger with it's triger on the stack then the LTB trigger goes off and resovles first, and then the ETB trigger, the result being you permanent exile your own board. Nice thought, but no.

I would go for more sac outlets in the manabase. Being able to reuse dragons after you tutor for them seems pretty desirable, and High Market and friends are one of the easiest ways to get more of that effect in there.
I'll second Conjurer's Closet - dodges the exile clause and lets you reuse powerful effects.
I'm a fan of Changeling Berserker and Worldgorger Dragon as protection. WGD has the possibility of blowing you out, but as long as it's not removed with the trigger on the stack, tutoring for it in response to a wrath is powerful and pretty hilarious. Berserker let's you use Zirilan for protection for any of your creatures.
I'd probably want more ramp, as you're very heavy on dragons. Getting more 2-3 drop rocks has the benefit of pushing Zirilan out quicker and letting you cast your dragons more easily if he gets removed a couple times.

I like the deck. Zirilan is a fun one.

Thanks Killane, I was think that you could put Tel- Jilad's ability on the stack, then have Worldgorger's ETB ability resolve, then the Tel- Jilad's ability resolve, then the LTB ability resolve.

That's what I was thinking.

Just looked at Thundermaw Hellkite. Deserves a slot, can fog or make your stuff unblockable.

Quote from nurse.jason

You're either going to lose your creature to Zirilian's effect at EOT anyway, I don't see why potentially losing them would be an issue. You could always run a sac outlet instead and just shuffle them back in. But that's two cards instead of one.

I've a few cards that work well along with sac outlets already.
Rishadan Pawnshop Shuffles in so I can tutor it back out later.
Tel-Jilad Stylus Puts it on the bottom to tutor again.
Sundial of the Infinite After i'm done with mp2 I just end turn and keep anything I tutored, anything I stole, and any tokens I generated with Minion Reflector.

Some of my Dragons I want to die. Hoarding Dragon is one of them.

I also run the EDH staple Elixir of Immortality.

I'd prefer Reito Lantern to Elixir of Immortality. Its not a 1 time effect. In addition, its graveyard hate.

I find that having your dragons exiled isn't much better than having them in the grave. I only run the Pawnshop and the Stylus.

can you Worldgorger Dragon in response to a Nevin disk you control and retain yoru stuff?

Quote from Budgeteer

can you Worldgorger Dragon in response to a Nevin disk you control and retain yoru stuff?

yes, it will exile out other permanents you control, then disk resolves, and bring back your permanents untapped. In this deck, world gorger is essentially just used as an anti-removal card.

Disaster Radius is AMAZING.

Sneak Attack deserves a slot if you have the money.

Just did a massive amount of edits for Gencon this week. A few things I'll be working on getting down there. all is dust Gauntlet of Might blood moon(possibly) High Market to replace miren. Thundermaw Hellkite and possibly a sneak attack


16 dragons in this deck and 1/4 of the lands produce colorless. What does every opening hand have? 2-3 dragons and 2-3 nonbasics + 1 basic. This is rather "rare" to keep getting all the time. Based on math if I've 4 lands odds are it's 3 red 1 colorless(not even bc 2nonbasic are colored). 2-3 dragons in every opener is also just not common. Need a scroll rack even then. How bad this deck has been for odds lately is rather annoying.

Would love to hear an update on the deck... I just dusted off mine from a couple years ago and am in the process of re-acquiring some of the needed cards. Some of the newer dragons are just so tempting.