Repay In Kind #3- Powered By Power Rangers

This week's salute is guaranteed to hit us on all cylinders- the good ones, the fun ones, even the 90's child nostalgia ones.

So do a few nice kung fu moves, Zoners. Zordon's calling. It's Morphin Time!

The deck I picked this week is sxert's Zirilan of the Claw deck aptly named, "We Need Dragonzord Power Now!"

I was immediately won over by the deck title. Maybe that makes me biased, I don't know. I didn't even know what it was going to be. Coulda been Scion. But a Scion is a car, and I can't wait to do an alter for that.

But thank god it wasn't!

Cause sxert's design is ballin' in a fairly cool way, even though I don't think it is completely optimized just yet.

Still, sxert's put something together here that makes this deck look hilarious, fun, and possibly a beating. Which is what I like.

Since I didn't get a chance to talk to him, I'll give you a brief strategy summary of what this deck is doing, based on my observations and his description.

Essentially, sxert's assembled a Dragon-beatdown engine with some very very under-the-radar cards I've actually never seen in other decks. Ultimately, there's a few different tricks that can be done, like hiding stuff in exile, blowing up the board, and having a bunch of dragons. Here's a few cards that are making this happen.

Grandpa Growth's always talking about under thought-thoughts. Well, take a look at Safe Haven!

In Zirilan, one of the biggest drawbacks to his ability is the fact that the Dragon he summons is supposed to get Exiled at EOT.

Therefore, sxert uses cards like this seemingly goofy land to protect his dudes, whether it be from a Doom Blade or the end of turn trigger. This means that not only do his Dragons sort of "never die," they also generate a very unique style of card advantage, which forces your opponent to either take pain or waste a card from their hand.

Safe Haven is one of the neatest cards like this because he could put a pile of Dragons under it and pull 'em all out whenever he wants. Cold Storage is similar, except you have to invest more mana.

Helvault is another copy, but could also act as removal. Though a little redundant, it's worth mentioning here because I haven't seen anyone play this card, and I've always believed that there was some neat way to break it. Probably not as good as Safe Haven if you're trying to save your dudes, because artifact hate is real, but if it's removal you need, it seems pretty cool in a way that you're trying to make typically unusable cards playable.




Also, Helvault and Safe Haven provide incredible ways for sxert to protect his guys and then Jokulhaups (which you should only play if you think it's fun to say) or Obliterate, leaving you with nothing and him a board full of dragons. Good Game amirite?

The funniest card I saw on this list was sort of a tie between Rishadan Pawnshop here and Tel-Jilad Stylus. While the Stylus is wayy more powerful, I couldn't resist putting up the Pawnshop. It's so odd. I didn't even know this card existed.

Also, why does Rishadan always seems to have really strange mechanics and awkward cards?

Obviously, it works in the deck as another redundant way to protect his guys or replay them with Zirilan, which is pretty neat. He also has another redundant copy of this besides stylus, which is Reito Lantern.




Alright, I know what I said before. But for real. Let's talk about sxert's Dragons.

WE NEED DRAGONZORD POWER NOW!

Dragon Tyrant is probably my favorite of the dragon choices here. Under normal circumstances, this card is definitely unplayable for serious players.

With Zirilan though, this guy can come swinging in crazy early, take over a quarter of your opponent's life total, and you don't have to worry about paying 10 to cast it, or having enough land to secure an upkeep cost.

He comes in, does work, then goes back home. Definitely the strongest dragon in this deck. With Double Strike, Flying, Trample, and Haste, no one is safe.

I really like Dragon Mage. Again, it's another overcosted guy, but there's a lot of nice value here. Drawing cards is a pretty important mechanic in red, and I admire the fact that sxert's got this nice fire-breathing toolbox filled with Dragons that have some disruption and attack with a decent body.

GG's talked a little bit about Hellkite Tyrant when it got spoiled in Gatecrash a few months back. Before that, I'm pretty sure I also talked about it, saying that it was probably not gonna be good.

Well, I like it here. Haste is important for Hellkite Tyrant, and he's got a nice way to do that with Zirilan.

I mentioned having a sort-of Toolbox of non-linear disruption. HT gets the nod here because he's the circle that completes the square. Having Hellkite Tyrant really makes this deck more formidable because it's now got 4-5 legitimate win conditions. After all, no one's just gonna take a Dragon pummeling lightly. So having this guy, and some of the other guys I mentioned really help pump up the individual power level. There are going to be Dragons that you'll want to be able to hard cast, and in my mind, this is one of them.

Steel Hellkite is another card that's great to hard cast. I'm fairly certain I own about eight of this card and in no way is that depressing. There was a time when I threw him in every deck. He is just that good, being a 6-cost dude that can ruin your opponent if they don't take him seriously. He's the ultimate token-killer, and really an anything-pesky killer.

I've recently scaled back my use of this guy, but he always finds his way into the pile of potential usable tech. Red removal doesn't get a whole lot better than this.

Utvara Hellkite's another Great Gatecrash Goodie. Say that five times fast.

Though not as useful as some of the previously mentioned, 2-for-1s are good. People played Broodmate Dragon and Dragon Broodmother a lot, and they were effective. Obviously, you want to abuse him with other dragons, but for 3 and a tap getting 6 damage and a blocker in isn't the worst. In fact, I like this a lot. Cause where else are you gonna make this relevant?

Last dragon we need to talk about is Balefire. This guy is part of the non-linear Toolbox package, and I never thought he'd be relevant. But I think he is here. Dealing damage, killing dudes, and with surprise? Seems pretty tasty to me.














So I wanted to mention that there are some things that I don't like in his design, to demonstrate that not every deck is something I have to be 100% all-in on appreciating, and to demonstrate early on that me picking these decks doesn't always mean that they're going to be the most tuned. I just like to see effort, creativity, consideration, and a little element of power.

For me, I really think this deck needs more land. 35 land doesn't feel like it makes the cut, even with mana rocks, even with whatever else. ESPECIALLY because he's running Maze of Ith, Safe Haven, and Thawing Glaciers, which don't tap for mana. At least 2 more land need to be here, and that's pushing it- cause why not play 40? There are some pretty hefty Obliterates happening. I can't imagine how bad the odds are in the late-late if you don't have good land support.

So if you're as inspired as I am, possibly wanting to make this deck. Uncle Landdrops says play more land. Surprised?

Anyway, here's the sweet art proxy I did for sxert. If he gets back to me, I'll be happy to mail him a nice proxy.

Anyway, here's the rest of sxert's We Need Dragonzord Power Now! if you wanna look at it. I think it's worth it. Mostly, so you can see that he plays Solemn Simulacrum, like a champ. I think it was Darth Vader who told him, "Obi-Wan has taught you well."

Alright baby birds, I'm out. But one more time. Here's Tommy saving the day.

"Go-Go Pow-er Ran-gers! Migh-ty Mor-phin Pow-er Ran-gers...."

Also, why won't the Pink Ranger love me?

-UL