If you had any doubts of whether we'd see more Dragons after the Pro Tour, check out GP: Kraków:

• Esper Dragons
• Esper Dragons
• Esper Dragons
• Esper Dragons
• Esper Dragons
• U/B Dragons
• Jeskai Tokens (No Dragonlord Ojutai, but Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker)
• Bant with Ojutai

(Note: this weekend's SCG event turned out much differently, do not despair! You'll find it later in this article.)

That's a Lot of Dragons

U/B/x Dragon control is one of the three critical pillars of the format right now. You should expect to see those massive flying dragons all summer long.

This is going to do interesting things to prices of rotating cards, by the way. Though the core of the deck is its creature base combined with Silumgar's Scorn, the flesh around that core is made of Theros block cards. Thoughtseize, Bile Blight and Hero's Downfall are all essential cards, for example.

Another factor is that the deck plays a full 27 lands, made possible by the excellent filtering from Temples. Losing eight Temples will remove a great deal of consistency from the deck. Unless we get some solid lands in Magic: Origins and the fall set, I don't expect this deck to continue past rotation.

That said, this will remain the deck to beat for a long time. That will keep the price of Thoughtseize and Hero's Downfall up for the time being. For the former, that's fine--it's the best discard spell printed, so it'll still have a home in Modern. Hero's Downfall, on the other hand, is a clunker and it'll plummet at rotation. I do not want to be stuck with these cards in September.

We may see interesting/awful sideboard strategies for the mirror, too. Here's three, in order from most to least reasonable.

1. First, what many players already do involves siding in Tasigur, the Golden Fang for cheap beats and Dragonlord's Prerogative for uncountered draw.
2. Second, we're seeing a few copies of Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver show up. I'm not hot on these because it makes Hero's Downfall live more often post-board, but it can get in early under counterspells.
3. Finally, truly rogue players might end up with something along the lines of Frost Walker in the vein of very old control decks that would side in Phyrexian Negator. A turn two Frost Walker against a deck full of Dragonlords can do heaps of damage.

Actions: Pick whether you want to play this deck or beat it. If you're going to play it, hold onto your staples. But if you want to angle against it, shed your Downfalls so you aren't stuck with them.

It's Surprising That Even One Tokens Deck Made T8

We all saw Mono-Red shredding up UB Dragons last weekend, so it's no surprise that these control players came loaded to fight Dragon Fodder.

Look at those sideboards and you'll see the common theme of 3-4 Drown in Sorrow to pad out the full four Bile Blight after sideboarding. That's eight sweepers to deal with Soldiers and Goblins.

This does not feel like the right time to be playing these decks, especially since the sweepers deal damage in the form of toughness reduction and not damage, so giving your team invulnerability is no sufficient counter. The results show it, too: 20% of the Day Two field was red aggro and none of it managed a T16 slot.

I think instead that the pivot shifts to Bant Heroic, like what Tom Ross played a few weeks ago. In fact, one list showed up in ninth place.

So why do I love this deck instead? Well, it's got a heck of a good tempo angle to it against the Dragon deck and the sweepers don't do as much. A Dromoka's Command will boost most of your guys out of Bile Blight range and Gods Willing can give protection from all the spot removal floating around.

In fact, this deck reminds me a bit of Merfolk in Modern--its guys are unimpressive when you cast them, but two or three turns of on-board interaction and they get huge. That combines with a good scrying engine to amp up the deck. From there, a 4-power guy is often available to make Stubborn Denial seriously hard.

Actions: Lay low on the tokens right now, since there's nothing that'll stop UB Control's sweepers from wrecking you. Until they start shaving Drown in Sorrow from their board to beat the mirror, you've got a target on yourself. I still like Dromoka's Command as a pickup, but remember that this Theros-packed deck has a very short shelf life. It's fortunate that so many components are cheap.

Meanwhile In America, No Dragons To Be Found

Take a comparison look to Starcity's Top 25 performers this weekend and look for Dragons. There is but a solitary Esper Dragons deck in 16th place, that's it! It's as if these two events happened in mirror worlds where all the Dragon players ended up at one and people slinging Sandsteppe Citadel went to the other.

Abzan still feels like an amazing foil to Dragons, too. It can play the same sort of control role with Elspeth and it's got Whip, a problematic enchantment, to harass Dragon players. People are still working out whether they want to be full aggro or go with reanimation, but there's a strategy to be had for any enthusiast.

Abzan Aggro And Control Remain Steady

SCG's Day Two metagame shows 16 Esper Dragon decks at the top of the most common archetypes.

Nonetheless, Abzan waltzed past it. The deck has a great combination of cards that evade the common removal from U/B/x, including Fleecemane Lion at the forefront.

This little kitty avoids Ultimate Price and threatens a Monstrous activation in response to Hero's Downfall or Bile Blight.

I'm not telling you anything new here, but be mindful that even the control lists are playing it. This is a true 4-of along with Siege Rhino, no matter whether you're running out a Rakshasa Deathdealer or ramping up for Garruk, Apex Hunter.

Actions: SCG is sold out of Fleecemane Lion right now at $2.99 and that's a good sign of the immediate demand on the card. Pick them up soon and enjoy them throughout the summer. This will tank on rotation, so get your thrills with it now and flip if you can. The likely replacement for them is Rakshasa Deathdealer come fall, if people still want to be tapping for Siege Rhinos. And I bet they will.

Quick Hits

• Jeskai Aggro isn't being talked about much because it doesn't fit the narrative of Dragons vs. Red vs. Abzan, but don't count the deck out. Mantis Rider was well populated in the T25 of the SCG event and at $1.15 right now I really like picking up a few sets.
• Thunderbreak Regent has held its price, even with the Event Deck printing. As likely to see play with Jeskai as an Elvish Mystic at this point and a real threat of damage against UB Dragons. I reiterate: keep and hold these guys.
• If you're playing in an SCG Circuit, plan for much more aggro than Dragons--that seems to be a recurring motif.
• I favor Abzan with Abzan Charms, since the "Draw 2" mode provides good ammunition against control lists.
• Foul-Tongue Invocation sure did a lot of work this weekend, yeah?
• It seems that people are hot and cold with Dragonlord Ojutai in Dragons. It's a decent attacker for the mirror, but I think the real reason we're seeing it is that the UB manabase is so bad that you gain nothing by staying UB and can at least gain four more relevant Temples if you go Esper.
• We've only seen a little of Den Protector and Deathmist Raptor. This may be a potent combo when Theros rotates but it's not doing much right now.
• Whip of Erebos is the lynchpin that allows Abzan to go long against control and gain life back against aggressive lists.
• Let's not rule out Nykthos-powered lists, either. Our memories are short, but Genesis Hydra and Mistcutter Hydra still hit tremendously hard.

That's it! See you next week with more excellent events to discuss.

-Doug