Introduction
Hello, everyone! I’m back with another Legacy article, this time explaining some of my thoughts behind the Temur Dragon deck (you can call it Delver if you want, but it doesn’t play 《Delver of Secrets》) I’ve been playing to great success in the past weeks.
In case you missed it, I made it to the Top 8 of the MTGO Legacy Challenge four times in a row, with two second place finishes, one Top 4 and one Quarterfinals exit.
This was before the latest deck to beat Mono White Initiative Stompy made it to Magic Online, so the theory behind the original list wasn’t conceived with Mono W in mind. Nevertheless, I have updated the list with the new metagame in mind and will share it with you later in the article.
The Road to Build
Let’s start with the original idea, though. As written in my previous article, I found Sneak & Show to be in a rough spot. 4C Control builds had done well for me, but the Izzet Delver matchup, while positive, was sometimes much closer than I would like.
Other matchups, such as combo decks, were rather difficult for Control. Izzet Delver itself always seemed like a solid and safe choice to fall back on for me, but I wanted to find a way to gain an edge in both the mirror and against Control.
Enter 《Nimble Mongoose》, a card long thought dead and forgotten. On paper it still seemed too weak for 2022’s Legacy, with 《Endurance》 and 《Dress Down》 at Control’s disposal to take care of it, as well as the non-synergy between the 《Nimble Mongoose》 and 《Murktide Regent》.
Nevertheless, gaining access to a threat that dodges Control’s 8 removal-suite of 《Swords to Plowshares》 and 《Prismatic Ending》, as well as their myriad of 《Pyroblast》 and 《Hydroblast》 effects, was a solid prospect for me.
My theory was that 《Dragon’s Rage Channeler》 would help fueling both 《Nimble Mongoose》 and 《Murktide Regent》.
Most likely there would even be spots where I wouldn’t cast a 《Murktide Regent》 that would shrink the 《Nimble Mongoose》, in order to keep removal spells in my opponent’s hand blanked. 《Endurance》 would still provide blowout potential, so I planned to play around it wherever possible.
As for the pseudo-mirror against Izzet, the theory behind 《Nimble Mongoose》 was to have access to a threat that would stick. Izzet lists were well-equipped to remove each other’s threats 1-for-1 and the long games would often become very grindy.
《Nimble Mongoose》 would rarely have a chance to race opposing 《Murktide Regent》, but with 《Pyroblast》 for the big dragon and 《Lightning Bolt》 to remove any other Izzet threat, the board might be clear often enough for the 《Nimble Mongoose》 to chip away unperturbed.
In previous metagames, 《True-Name Nemesis》 would make 《Nimble Mongoose》 obsolete, but now that every resolved Izzet threat could be removed to clear the coast, it felt like a good time for the 《Nimble Mongoose》 to break loose again.
Other observations such as the absence of 《Plague Engineer》 from most of the metagame didn’t influence my deckbuilding decision, but were welcome side effects nonetheless.
You could argue that 《True-Name Nemesis》 would fill the role of 《Nimble Mongoose》 similarly well or even better and that might be true for the Control matchup, where I wouldn’t have to worry about 《Endurance》 as much.
However, 《Dress Down》 would still be devastating and 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 races 《True-Name Nemesis》 nearly as easily as 《Nimble Mongoose》.
Apart from Control, for the pseudo-mirror 《Pyroblast》 and 《Daze》 were too clean of an answer to 《True-Name Nemesis》. Moreover, a 1-mana threat is a much better fit in an 《Expressive Iteration》 + 《Daze》 deck than a 3-mana one. This also made 《Nimble Mongoose》 a better fit for the deck in a vacuum, independent of the expected metagame.
One theoretical downside of moving from straight Izzet to Temur colors was the more vulnerable manabase. A resolved 《Blood Moon》 would lock you out of casting anything but 《Dragon’s Rage Channeler》 and 《Lightning Bolt》.
However, I believed Izzet already had a hard time playing around 《Wasteland》 even with access to 1 basic 《Island》 and would often lose to mana denial anyway, so the manabase wasn’t too much of a concern to me. I would have liked to include the full playset of 《Wasteland》, but every time I tested a list with 4, I had noticeably increased difficulty to cast my spells on curve.
Opening your 《Dragon’s Rage Channeler》 up to 《Submerge》 by adding green to the manabase was a factor, but most Izzet sideboard maps would have trouble making space for 《Submerge》 in the (pseudo-)mirror. Also, having your 《Murktide Regent》 and 《Dragon’s Rage Channeler》 removed is to be expected in the mirror, anyway. I wanted to make the matchup about cruising 《Nimble Mongoose》 to victory.
Adding green gave me access to high-impact sideboard cards for the matchups I wanted to gain an edge in, such as 《Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes》 against Control decks, and 《Life from the Loam》 against Izzet.
My initial list of the first weekend also played 1 《Carpet of Flowers》 for the pseudo-mirror, but I removed it for 1 《End the Festivities》.
While 《Carpet of Flowers》 provided a way to gain an edge on the draw, I didn’t want non-cantrip spells that wouldn’t affect the board against Izzet and found that I needed one sweeper for the difficult Elves matchup. 《Carpet of Flowers》 also provided some insurance against Izzet’s 《Wasteland》, but 《Life from the Loam》 helped to fill that role as well.
Looking Back and Forward
You can see which matchups I faced in the Legacy Challenge run on my Twitter profile:
To summarize it shortly, it mostly went according to plan and while I boarded out 《Nimble Mongoose》 in many matchups, I was positively surprised by it overall. The matchups that felt most difficult were Elves and 8 Cast, but that’s to be expected for the archetype itself, including classic Izzet.
The Top 8 streak ended on the following weekend, where I went 3-3 in Saturday’s Challenge and 0-2 drop in the Showcase Challenge on Sunday. One might assume Temur Dragon had lost some of its power due to being more known by then, but I didn’t play optimally and had to take quite a few too many mulligans to 5.
The deck requires very tight play, maybe more so than UR due to the manabase and having to assess how to use 《Nimble Mongoose》.
I was ready to shelve Temur Dragon after that unsuccessful weekend and played around with Sneak & Show to combat the new Mono White Initiative menace. The matchup proved to be less positive than I had thought (might be a topic for a later article once I have tested it more thoroughly), so I want to experiment with Temur Dragon for a little while more.
This is the list I will try moving forward, adjusted for a Mono W Stompy meta:
Decklist
Click to Wide
Main deck 《Pyroblast》 replaced with 《Unholy Heat》 to clear the coast and take the Initiative, 《Brazen Borrower》 to have a main deck out to 《Chalice of the Void》 and another evasive threat, 《Torpor Orb》 to turn off the Initiative enablers and 《Solitude》.
I believe 《Nimble Mongoose》 can actually be quite useful against Mono W, since it provides an un-removable way to take the Initiative.
Sideboard Guide
Please enjoy the following sideboard guide for the updated list. As always, it’s just a general guideline that should be adjusted according to the situation and you shouldn’t take the numbers as gospel.
Izzet Delver
vs. Izzet Delver(On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Izzet Delver(On the Draw)
Out
In
Mono White Initiative
vs. Mono White Initiative(On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Mono White Initiative(On the Draw)
Out
In
4C Contol
vs. 4C Contol (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. 4C Contol (On the Draw)
Out
In
If you know that they play a version with 《Ice-Fang Coatl》, leave in more 《Lightning Bolt》. That version also plays mostly basics (and can be Bant colored, where 《Hydroblast》 wouldn’t be necessary), so you could board out at least 《Wasteland》 instead, and you wouldn’t need 《Life from the Loam》.
Now onto some matchups where you board out 《Nimble Mongoose》.
8 Cast
vs. 8 Cast (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. 8 Cast (On the Draw)
Out
In
Elves
vs. Elves
Out
In
《Veil of Summer》 becomes worse on the draw, since you often can’t afford to leave open mana to protect your 《Murktide Regent》 from 《Grist, the Hunger Tide》/《Snuff Out》, but it’s probably still worth to bring in. It’s possible that 《Nimble Mongoose》 is better than 《Daze》 on the draw, but I’m not sure yet.
Rakdos Reanimator
vs. Rakdos Reanimator
Out
In
Sneak & Show
vs. Sneak & Show
Out
In
Doomsday
vs. Doomsday
Out
In
Moon Stompy
vs. Moon Stompy
Out
In
You can board out 《Daze》 over 《Mishra’s Bauble》 on the draw, but I prefer to have the maximum amount of counter magic against them, even if 《Daze》 gets both worse on the draw and sometimes blanked by 《Simian Spirit Guide》.
Painter
vs. Painter (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Painter (On the Draw)
Out
In
Naya Depth
vs. Naya Depth (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Naya Depth (On the Draw)
Out
In
You could always leave in 《Daze》 and 《Force of Will》 and board out 《Nimble Mongoose》 instead. However, Naya Depths is another deck with a strong removal-suite of 《Swords to Plowshares》, 《Prismatic Ending》 and 《Pyroblast》, so despite 《Knight of the Reliquary》, 《Endurance》 and 《Elvish Reclaimer》 walling the 《Nimble Mongoose》, I think it’s worth leaving in here.
Death and Taxes
vs. Death and Taxes (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Death and Taxes (On the Draw)
Out
In
《Daze》 might seem weak on the draw, but without 《Aether Vial》, they still often have to rely on resolving 3-mana threats on curve, which 《Daze》 can answer cleanly. 《Force of Negation》 is another consideration post-board, since not only 《Aether Vial》, but also 《Rest in Peace》 is often a must-counter.
That’s all for today. As always, I hope you found the article entertaining and informative. Until next time!
Jonathan Anghelescu (Twitter)
