I sure missed a mention to the Kamigawa cycle, but probably the greatest omission is Worldgorger Dragon, aka the Dragon Who Broke Magic, aka the only Dragon who ever got itself banned (except Kokusho in Commander).
I just realized that I always considered Broodmate Dragon to be Dragon boyfriend and Dragon girlfriend (you, know, as in "breeding mate"), but the flavor is actually just about being from the same brood. Or, I don't know, a childhood friend? Maybe there's something between them, though, otherwise why one should come to help the other? (And since it's singular, the "broodmate" is technically the token, so who exactly is the main dragon?)
My favorite is easily Eternal Dragon. Between Dragon and Exalted Angel, white became a totally different animal after years of Wizards trying to shape it into nothing but White Weenie builds. (Which never worked back then, even when they "pushed" the power of the creatures.)
I was really hoping that for the 20th Anniversary, they would have had a special rarity that was the original art for several of the iconic creatures, Shivan, Serra, Sengir, Clone, but with the new borders. Sort of a nod to both the history of the game and the present day. Sadly, it didn't happen. :(
A great list! I think there were only a few missing:
Furnace Dragon - should be noted as a dragon that actually saw sideboard use during the Affinity era, especially for block constructed. I think it became a break out during the Block PT in Japan that year? (or was that a GP?)
Yosei/Kokusho/Keiga - all 3 saw relatively heavy standard use during their days. Kokusho and Kegia are also some of the early "non-red" dragons that made a splash. Keiga was in Emminent Domain, and didn't that finish high in some GP's and possibly PT: Honolulu?
Oooh man, I remember Rathi Dragon! Occasionally I still get the urge to try and stick him in a deck, but creatures are just so much better now (as you pointed out). Still it's nice to see that dragons are able to be competitive enough to see play. Good stuff.
@deluxicoff - I looked into doing popup images in my own articles here, unfortunately it's not just html, you need some javascript code embedded in the site so individual writers can't just do it themselves. I have no idea how to implement that from the backend either of course.
One of my first packs of Unlimited had a Shivan Dragon (the others were Time Walk, Demonic Attorney x2, Birds of Paradise and Righteousness. Then later I got another Demonic Attorney, Mox Sapphire, and something else I don't recall out of a starter.)
Also I had the initial printing of the M:TG pocket players guide which gave a complete listing of all the cards and their rarities. (Or at least I think that's what it was called. Paperback, about 250 pages.)
I can honestly claim that Shivan Art was my favorite of the time and it was one of the cards I always liked to include in decks, particularly later as I picked up Taigas and Savannahs.
I really looked forward to when wotc made that a cycle. I have no idea how they could do that or why they would do that, but a Form of the Dragon Cycle would have been baller
My favorite Dragon is... the player when is turned into a Dragon with Form of the Dragon.
I don't know if somebody will talk about that enchantment during the week, but I think not, because it's not actually a Dragon, so I like to give it a shout-out here: Form of the Dragon is one of the most flavorful designs ever!
Shivan Dragon was the Black Lotus of us Revised Edition children who didn't even know there were different cards before, because it was freaking 1994, it's not that you could Google stuff! Good/bad times.
Don't get me wrong, I think Selkie is a great card and I bring it into some matchups. If this were Vintage and there were more blue decks in the meta, I'd probably switch them or even go 1 MD Selkie with 1 extra in the board, but even though Selkie has a higher ceiling, it needs help (other Exalted dudes, Islands on the other side) and I must confess I tend to be biased towards the consistency of Edric. Also, I'm terribly conscious of the need to finish out the game and just deal 20.
With the Gorgons?
Eh, that doesn't allow for a turn-2 Exhume, though. It's also the kind of card that I always struggle to include, as it's situational and can be dead in certain matchups (although that's less true of Vines than of other things like Apostle's Blessing).
Reanimator with targets that doesn't self protect or have some ETB effect is tricky. But also more honest, so maybe it's the way to go.
Yeah, the alternating host thing has worked out well in other events I've hosted. It can feel like a lot less of a grind if you only have a commitment to be there every other week or every third week or something.
I played with Rathi Dragon when it first came out. Once. Somebody responded with a Man-O'-War.
I sure missed a mention to the Kamigawa cycle, but probably the greatest omission is Worldgorger Dragon, aka the Dragon Who Broke Magic, aka the only Dragon who ever got itself banned (except Kokusho in Commander).
Great stuff, Rex.
I just realized that I always considered Broodmate Dragon to be Dragon boyfriend and Dragon girlfriend (you, know, as in "breeding mate"), but the flavor is actually just about being from the same brood. Or, I don't know, a childhood friend? Maybe there's something between them, though, otherwise why one should come to help the other? (And since it's singular, the "broodmate" is technically the token, so who exactly is the main dragon?)
Thanks for joining the Dragon Week!
I've been to London... before Magic even existed. :)
My favorite is easily Eternal Dragon. Between Dragon and Exalted Angel, white became a totally different animal after years of Wizards trying to shape it into nothing but White Weenie builds. (Which never worked back then, even when they "pushed" the power of the creatures.)
I was really hoping that for the 20th Anniversary, they would have had a special rarity that was the original art for several of the iconic creatures, Shivan, Serra, Sengir, Clone, but with the new borders. Sort of a nod to both the history of the game and the present day. Sadly, it didn't happen. :(
A great list! I think there were only a few missing:
Furnace Dragon - should be noted as a dragon that actually saw sideboard use during the Affinity era, especially for block constructed. I think it became a break out during the Block PT in Japan that year? (or was that a GP?)
Yosei/Kokusho/Keiga - all 3 saw relatively heavy standard use during their days. Kokusho and Kegia are also some of the early "non-red" dragons that made a splash. Keiga was in Emminent Domain, and didn't that finish high in some GP's and possibly PT: Honolulu?
Oooh man, I remember Rathi Dragon! Occasionally I still get the urge to try and stick him in a deck, but creatures are just so much better now (as you pointed out). Still it's nice to see that dragons are able to be competitive enough to see play. Good stuff.
@deluxicoff - I looked into doing popup images in my own articles here, unfortunately it's not just html, you need some javascript code embedded in the site so individual writers can't just do it themselves. I have no idea how to implement that from the backend either of course.
I don't know I was hoping you did
I wish I had played at a time to say I could have opened moxes or other power. Just a few years late to the party :(
One of my first packs of Unlimited had a Shivan Dragon (the others were Time Walk, Demonic Attorney x2, Birds of Paradise and Righteousness. Then later I got another Demonic Attorney, Mox Sapphire, and something else I don't recall out of a starter.)
Also I had the initial printing of the M:TG pocket players guide which gave a complete listing of all the cards and their rarities. (Or at least I think that's what it was called. Paperback, about 250 pages.)
I can honestly claim that Shivan Art was my favorite of the time and it was one of the cards I always liked to include in decks, particularly later as I picked up Taigas and Savannahs.
I really looked forward to when wotc made that a cycle. I have no idea how they could do that or why they would do that, but a Form of the Dragon Cycle would have been baller
I don't know, I kind of prefer this one http://magiclampoon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/form-of-squire.jpg
My favorite Dragon is... the player when is turned into a Dragon with Form of the Dragon.
I don't know if somebody will talk about that enchantment during the week, but I think not, because it's not actually a Dragon, so I like to give it a shout-out here: Form of the Dragon is one of the most flavorful designs ever!
Shivan Dragon was the Black Lotus of us Revised Edition children who didn't even know there were different cards before, because it was freaking 1994, it's not that you could Google stuff! Good/bad times.
Third tribal deck I built on MTGO was dragons. Good times.
Yay Dragons!!!
I admit to being drawn into Magic because of Shivan Dragon. It just looked cool.
Don't get me wrong, I think Selkie is a great card and I bring it into some matchups. If this were Vintage and there were more blue decks in the meta, I'd probably switch them or even go 1 MD Selkie with 1 extra in the board, but even though Selkie has a higher ceiling, it needs help (other Exalted dudes, Islands on the other side) and I must confess I tend to be biased towards the consistency of Edric. Also, I'm terribly conscious of the need to finish out the game and just deal 20.
Hopefully, my first article should be up sometime this week.
With the Gorgons?
Eh, that doesn't allow for a turn-2 Exhume, though. It's also the kind of card that I always struggle to include, as it's situational and can be dead in certain matchups (although that's less true of Vines than of other things like Apostle's Blessing).
Reanimator with targets that doesn't self protect or have some ETB effect is tricky. But also more honest, so maybe it's the way to go.
thanks for the comments. I like your idea a lot Epsilon, in fact I think I might add a factory MD! Darkleebs, those seem interesting let me test them.
I should have mentioned Izzet Staticaster GainsBanding - it was cool tech!
Would a couple of copies of Vines of Vastwood help?
Neato, this goes exactly with what I've been saying. Awesome breakdown of the stats and analysis.
Yeah, the alternating host thing has worked out well in other events I've hosted. It can feel like a lot less of a grind if you only have a commitment to be there every other week or every third week or something.
I'm already a subscriber and a fan!