by Johnny Cycles, January 22, 2024
Welcome to Dragons in Modern! This week’s deck is our Gruul Dragons build with Questing Druid in the main. Can the new hotness dig us for answers? Grow big and close out a game? Let’s find out!
Unlike our first trip to Eldraine, which ended with a total of 6 cards banned in Standard and 3 banned in Modern, Wilds of Eldraine has had much less of an impact on Modern…outside of Up the Beanstalk. This single uncommon quickly ruled the format with its synergies with the Evoke Elementals until it was banned just last month. Other than this “We made it for Limited” card, Wilds of Eldraine has barely made a ripple in Modern. Two cards from the set have seen some play, however, Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and Questing Druid. The former is a combo piece in Yawgmoth decks, while the latter has fueled a bit of a resurgence for Jund.
Questing Druid is undeniably powerful in so much as it’s two spells in one. All of the Adventures have this going for them. But the card advantage (at instant speed) coupled with a threat that can get big, fast, is what has really lured Modern players back to one of the format’s former best decks. And today, we’re going to give it a try in our Gruul Dragons deck. For a complete breakdown of the deck, click here.
In order to make room for our second questing creature, we’ve cut our 3 copies of Wrenn and Six and trimmed a single copy of Questing Beast. Our final decklist is as follows:
Gruul Dragons with Questing Druid
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (21)
| 2 Arbor Elf | |
| 4 Delighted Halfling | |
| 4 Questing Druid | |
| 2 Questing Beast | |
| 4 Glorybringer | |
| 4 Stormbreath Dragon | |
| 1 Thundermaw Hellkite |
Planeswalkers (8)
| 4 Domri, Anarch of Bolas | |
| 4 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner |
Spells (4)
| 4 Lightning Bolt |
Enchantments (4)
| 4 Utopia Sprawl |
Lands (23)
| 1 Boseiju, Who Endures | |
| 4 Field of Ruin | |
| 5 Forest | |
| 3 Mountain | |
| 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance | |
| 4 Stomping Ground | |
| 1 Verdant Catacombs | |
| 4 Wooded Foothills |
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Veil of Summer | |
| 3 Blood Moon | |
| 3 Bonecrusher Giant | |
| 2 Brotherhood’s End | |
| 4 Endurance |
I’ve made a few changes to our sideboard, in what is a never-ending effort to answer the meta. The One Ring hasn’t been as problematic as a few months ago, so I cut Cast into the Fire. I’ve also cut Chalice of the Void and Tamiyo’s Safekeeping. The former could certainly still be in the board, but I wanted to give Bonecrusher Giant a try. As mentioned above, two spells in one is math even I can understand, while the 4/3 body triggers Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner. Increasing our removal and threat count in a single card is a win-win in some matchups. Plus, it still functions as an answer to The One Ring.
As frustrating as it is to lose to Burn or have our 5-mana dragon killed with Unholy Heat, I don’t think Tamiyo’s Safekeeping is where we want to be at. The lifegain is honestly not good enough to race Burn. I think we just hope to dodge that matchup, to be honest. The protection it gives our permanents against targeted removal is great, but I think it’s too reactive to be good against Izzet Murktide. Endurance at instant speed can function similarly, while we need graveyard hate to have a chance against Living End.
Veil of Summer on the play can be the difference between winning and losing on turn 1 against the Scam decks. It also protects our dragons from most of the targeted removal in those decks (Molten Collapse, Terminate). Even with 4 copies of Field of Ruin, Blood Moon is a necessary evil, though we could perhaps trim 1. Brotherhood’s End, my pet sideboard card, is good at playing catch-up against some of the best decks in the format. It answers some of the most-played creatures: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Dauthi Voidwalker, Grief, Tishana’s Tidebinder (and most of Merfolk), Ledger Shredder, Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Orcish Bowmasters…the list goes on. It is also a great answer to the Affinity-style decks making a resurgence and to Constructs from Urza’s Saga.
League 1 – Friendly
Before I get in to the games, I’ll say a couple of more things. First, I started this league last week and have been unable to finish it. I played 3 matches. I’ll post the remainder very soon. Being a stay-at-home dad means my weekends are my big workdays and my weekdays are my chance to do my side gig – this website. Second, MTGO crashed between when I started this league and now. When I got back online, I was no longer 3 matches in to my league; I was only 1 match in. Thus, the finished article will have a total of 7 matches from our first league and that is why.
On to the games!
Match 1 – Rakdos Scam
Match 2 – Izzet Murktide
Match 3 – Rakdos Scam
League Record: 1-2.
That’s all for now! I’ll save my impressions of the deck for after I finish the league. Be on the lookout for another post with the remainder matches in the coming days!
As always, thanks for reading and watching!
