By Christina “cecillbill” Page 

Normally, when I build Control decks I design them as “toolbox” strategies. Toolbox decks employ a wide spectrum of tactics, display a great degree of flexibility, and maximize card synergies in ways that lend them greater adaptability. Basically, they’re “Swiss army knife” decks. My absolute favorite expression of this deck design principle is DWFL Phal Control running Forbos, Crystal Memory, Thrash Crawler, Gigargon, and Emeral, as those tools allow you to gain access to a card from anywhere and diversify your deck. However, Survivors are quickly growing on me because they have access to a plethora of effects that can be maximized through the Survivor mechanic. However, with several Armored Dragons having effects that naturally lean towards Control I decided to build a casual toolbox Control strategy centered on them.  

Some of you might be thinking, “Dragons, that’s so unoriginal.” Hey, I’m all for originality where that is the goal of the deck builder. But, applying different twists to common strategies suits me just fine too. With that said, two things led me to mess around with the Armored Dragons. As previously mentioned, several Armored Dragons have effects conducive to a Control strategy, varying from creature destruction to mana destruction, and I like Control creatures. Secondly—and this is what ultimately led me to try a fun deck with the Armored Dragons—the Armored Dragons have their own dedicated Rumbling Terahorn, the promo Velyrika Dragon. 

Most of my Control decks are built around creatures that catch my eye—Phal Eega, Essence Elf, Cryptic Totem, and Bliss Totem—and Velyrika Dragon has joined the ranks. Velyrika Dragon is all about maintaining field presence and providing deck manipulation, which are important tactics given the discard and creature destruction heavy environment. Velyrika Dragon enables you to integrate tech like Galklife Dragon into your deck without having that creature weigh it down, and without having to run Nature (Rumbling Terahorn) to benefit from the same resource setup. It exemplifies the toolbox approach to deck building: you can fetch whichever Armored Dragon effect you need to address your game position where possible, and your Armored Dragon deck can be flexible without sacrificing too much consistency.  

In addition to that, Velyrika Dragon doubles as a win condition, as it can double break shields. Granted, it’s slow to swing and is one of the most expensive tutor effects in the game. But, Velyrika can’t be Searing Waved, cuts deeply into Apocalypse Vise’s total with its 7000 power, and it’s not a target your opponent would like to bounce if you have some Armored Dragons lurking in your deck and he doesn’t have discard. If you want, you could even use Velyrika to pluck another Velyrika from your deck so you tighten your draws and get more shuffle effects to change up your draws. Currently, there are 17 Armored Dragons that Velyrika Dragon can pluck out of a deck (tally includes it). Here are the ones I considered for my deck: 

Bazagazeal Dragon

It’s a win condition with a built-in Terror Pit. It’s a great search target when my opponent is top-decking or I need to get some fat off the board, especially because of its speed. It’s all about resource advantage and versatility. 

Bolmeteus Steel Dragon

Shield destruction is a wonderful tool when my opponent is top-decking or hanging on his last thread, especially when it’s two shields at a time. Bolly is great versus Aggro decks that can’t bounce or destroy it. Have it target the set shields; let your other hitters live a bit longer or the OTK easier. 

Galklife Dragon

I run Galklife Dragon to cripple the Phal Control and DNL Cryptic Totem Combo-Control decks that proliferate my meta. It’s such a funny creature to drop on those decks; all 4000 power and below Light guys hit the dirt to grant some marvelous card advantage.  

Überdragon Bajula

Bajula puts your opponent on a serious clock—it triple breaks and chews 2 mana. If I get out 14 mana thanks to the Chargers, I can drop Velyrika Dragon and then summon Bajula same turn. No more than 2 copies, as it needs support and isn’t easy to summon.  

Garkago Dragon

Offers a shot at clearing away something blocking Bolly Steel or dink before it evolves/combos with Merfolk. Its power boast could come online if my other Dragons stick around to provide the necessary Fire presence for it to receive an additional 1000 power. 

I did consider another Dragon specific support card, Dimension Splitter. Players at my store run a lot of hand discard in their decks in addition to Future Slash, and it would help me get back downed Dragons in one quick motion. I didn’t want to run Dragon support like Cocco Lupia because I didn’t want my opponents to be able to easily telegraph my end game goals until I dropped Velyrika, and I don’t find them necessary for this particular deck. Keep in mind that my deck is a casual deck. As this was one of those laidback tournaments, I wasn’t under any pressure to run more practical versions of this deck. Don’t netdeck it because it’s simply not a primed build. Still, if you want to try an Armored Dragon toolbox deck using Velyrika Dragon, the deck has a decent shell from which to grab some ideas.  

DWF Armored Dragon Control

[1] Überdragon Bajula
[1] Garkago Dragon
[2] Bazagazeal Dragon
[2] Bolmeteus Steel Dragon
[2] Velyrika Dragon
[3] Magmarex
[3] Apocalypse Vise
[3] Volcano Charger
[3] Bloody Squito
[4] Locomotiver
[3] Terror Pit
[3] Corpse Charger
[2] Scheming Hands
[2] Lost Soul
[4] Thrash Crawler
[3] Corile
[3] Aqua Hulcus
[3] Energy Stream
[3] Eureka Charger

[50] Cards

Charger Trinity + Thrash Crawler

The Chargers help me speed up the plays in my deck and generate resource advantage. It’s very important for me to get to Vise sooner because I don’t run Wave. Thrash Crawler calls up the Chargers for repeat abuse and helps me get to the singletons Garkago and Bajula if I play them as mana.  

Tech Stuff

Scheming Hands was just something fun to run. I can clear away a troublesome late game card like Lost Soul or Future Slash without giving my opponent chances to hang onto it, and before I can call upon Soul. And, the peek effect lets you discover what your opponent has up his sleeve. Magmarex just nails what keeps me from seeing turn five—small dink—though it’s more limited in target range than other sweepers. 

Other Stuff

The rest of the deck is pretty standard Control cards designed to create card advantage, help me stabilize the board and stay in the duel, and to answer threats.  

Let’s see how the deck performed on December 10, 2005: 

Round One – Jordan – FWy Paladin Aggro

Some of my opponent’s cards: Crystal Paladin, Deadly Fighter Braid Claw, Comet Missile, Aqua Hulcus, Aqua Guard, Pyrofighter Magnus, Kooc Pollon, Dismantler, Corile, Holy Awe, Energy Stream 

Thoughts on the Matchup: Jordan played with one of my FWy decks that I need to tweak. Despite the changes needed, the matchup was in his favor.  

Game One: Jordan goes first and his drop was Guard. Jordan is still making a few goofy mistakes with this build like forgetting to be aggressive and dropping Guard first against me when he should drop DFCB. But, he’s come a long way, and even placed second with another version. His mistakes translated into him giving me room to get to the late game. He gets me down to no shields, actually making some good plays with stuff like Corile. But, I’ve been able to keep his field low with Volcano, Rex, and Pit off the trigger, and last by recycling Squito, Thrash, and Loco. I also have decent mana. He’s able to mount a field of 3 hitters twice, but I Corile’d some things, used Loco and Hands to pitch Pyro and Paladin, and Vise’d his field. I was able to have both Bajula and Bolly busting shields to win the game with Corile. 

Game Two: He still plays defensively as his first drop. I want to yell ”is DFBC in your hand? You know all I can do is hope for Squito or a trigger.”  Things go almost like game one, except I have one shield left and he bounced my Bolly twice. Garkago and Baza hit some untapped guys, and Vise kept his field low. He got to evolve into Paladin to take the last shield. But, then he lost Paladin to the shield being Pit. Basically, I just timed my attacks when his hand is low, and won with my double breakers and some little guys.  

Winner: Me (2-0) 

Round Two – William – Mono Darkness

Some of my opponent’s cards: Ballom, Giland, Hopeless Vortex, Terror Pit, Locomotiver, Propeller Mutant, Squito, Cursed Pincher, Gigargon, Reversal, Zagaan, Galbazeek, Death Smoke

Thoughts on the Matchup: William’s mono-Darkness decks are built to field slow beef and feature Demon Commands. He doesn’t run any draw or pack enough cheap threats.  

Game One: Funny story here. He gets Necrodragon Giland out 4^th turn. It’s able to take away two shields—yeah, Volcano isn’t hitting it—and then I get Corile out to handle another of his double breakers. He takes away two more shields with Giland because I forget to ram Hulcus into it. Talk about dumb mistakes. Here I am yelling on the inside at Jordan, and I made a very silly mistake. It’s even dumber when you consider that Giland was the only hitter he was able to keep out against me this game. Anyway, I win this game because he can only deal with one target at a time, and only had a Pit as a trigger. I got out Bolly, Bajula, and Velyrika as swingers on top of some dink with Corile and Hulcus. 

Game Two: It’s the battle of the bad decks again. As his kill is just one-for-one trades, I keep a field while he just has out blockers with slayers ability and Necrodragon Galbazeek. Needless to say, when Galbazeek is slamming into my blockers it’s going to lead to me winning since it just eats up one of William’s shields. Poor chap just couldn’t get anything going past 3 shield breaks, and I was able to win with Bolly, Baza, and Corile.  

Winner: Me (2-0) 

Round Three – Jim – DW Aggro-Control

Some of my opponent’s cards: Crystal Lancer, Propeller Mutant, Grinning Awe, Aqua Solider, Aqua Hulcus, Aqua Guard, Terror Pit, Dark Reversal, Locomotiver, Corpse Charger, Spiral Gate, Death Smoke, Proclamation of Death, Horrid Worm 

Thoughts on the Matchup: Jim’s decks usually don’t adhere to anything established, and end up doing some weird & random Aggro stuff. This deck was the closet thing to “typical” that Jim has ever played. 

Game One: Jim is able to get some cards out of my hand with Mutant and Loco, and take away some shields. Magmarex comes out of the shields to nail his small dink, which was everything but Hulcus. Volcano takes care of Hulcus, and I’m happy because we’re going into the late game, he doesn’t have a hand, and I’ve got some nice stuff in hand. I play Velyrika to get Baza in hand. He plays discard, but it pegs Garkago. I get rid of his Solider with discard, but only after it was able to annoy me with its pseudo-indestructibility. I end up winning this game with Bajula, as I leave him with 2 Darkness mana = no way to get Lancer out to press me. 

Game Two: Jim is able to rush me, and get me down to no shields. But, my kill and hand discard keep him from getting Lancer out. I check his hand with Scheming Hands and get rid of Lancer. He uses Reversal to get back Lancer and plays Solider. I have out a lot of mana, and he’s holding onto Lancer. I play Corpse, get back Locomotiver, and pitch Lancer. Next turn he plays Corpse to get back Lancer. Again, I’m looking at a lost on his next turn. No Locomotiver in my graveyard to get back with Corpse. Volcano would only result in him being able to re-play Solider and Lancer next turn now that he has 8 mana. I couldn’t afford to wait; I had to press the attack and he had several shields. If my attack run weren’t successful, like I slammed into some triggers, then he’d have the win with Lancer. I really wanted a cushion, so I looked at my options. I have enough mana to do this: play Thrash to grab Eureka from my mana zone, play Eureka, and then have enough mana for Locomotiver if I drew it. I knew that would be the luckiest play in the world if I drew Locomotiver. I drew Locomotiver! He says bye to Lancer and sees me swing with my field for the win.  

Winner: Me (2-0) 

I won the tournament with Jim coming in second. I’m itching for the vacationing regulars to come back. Though these laidback tournaments are fun because we get to run experimental stuff and not have it matter, it still leaves you wishing you had a larger turnout with everyone fielding their best decks. Oh well, 2006 is just around the corner with a T5C set to give out Invites and not have age brackets. Exciting… 

If you have any questions, want to see something covered in an article, or just want to chat, feel free to drop me a line at my email address: pojodmgirl@hotmail.com.

 

 

 

 

Copyright© 1998-2005 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.