Dragon Strategy – End of Imperial

Dragon Strategy – End of Imperial

Dragon have been a bit of an enigma for the player base, capable of some extremely strong plays they are often placed along with Crab and Scorpion in the top tier of competitive play. In a recent article, Dragon were rating as having the best dynasty and provinces in the game with overall ratings in excess of Crab and just below Scorpion. And yet, results show otherwise.

During FFG events, Dragon have performed well, often making top 4, but Dragon had no Kotei wins until late in the season when Aneil Seetharam won the Origins Kotei and Ralph Pfeufer won the Bologna Kotei. So what was happening? Why did Dragon trail behind both Crab and Scorpion? There are a number of opinions out there, ranging from ‘A Fate Worse Than Death’, to ‘Weakness to dishonor’, and even ‘All Dragon players suck’. This article proposes another hypothesis, that the correct playstyle for Dragon depends on the clan they face. If this is the case, then to be successful a Dragon player needs to be intimately familiar with all of their opponent’s decks.

While understanding the opponent is important for all decks, it does seem to have greater impact when playing Dragon. Dragon can establish a strong board but have few ways to deal with their opponent’s board. Those early choices in what character to make and what conflict card to play can make a big difference. This would also explain why players testing a deck against Dragon find the Dragon deck very strong, as their testing partner is getting practiced in that one particular matchup. Finally, it explains why there are still a small number of players who have had consistent success where others have failed.

The most successful deck for Dragon has been the Crab splash deck which emerged as a clear favorite as soon as Pathfinder’s Blade was released. Although the core of the deck was largely evident, it was popularised and championed heavily by Kingsley. Variations on the deck went on to take top 4 at Madrid, top 4 at Cork, top 4 at Paris, top 4 at Warsaw, (and possibly some others where I don’t have decklists) before finally having two wins in the same weekend at Atlanta and Bologna. At this stage, the core deck shared amongst the Dragon community dubbed ‘test’ was being refined and updated by Aniel Seetharam, a very active and successful Dragon player in the L5R discord community. Following his Atlanta Kotei win, he discussed the current incarnation of the deck and some of his game plans in a YouTube video, from which this article takes much of its inspiration.

The remainder of this article looks at how the Dragon deck best approaches each opponent; looking at a general strategy, initial opening plays, and cards to look for as the game progresses. The deck actually has very few ‘answers’ to your opponent’s cards, namely Cloud the Mind, Pathfinder’s Blade, and Let Go. So it relies heavily on establishing a good board state and playing around your opponent’s cards. Ironically, the simplicity of this Dragon deck is what makes it challenging to play. You can’t go blindly into each game, instead, you need to know your opponent’s options and you need to choose the path that minimizes those options. This may seem counterintuitive, but played perfectly or close to it, this deck will make it look like it got super lucky and the opponent drew nothing. In reality, play decisions earlier in the game actively limit those options and prevent the opponent from countering the strong Dragon board.

As of the publication of this article, the Elemental cycle will be coming to a close, marking another dramatic shift the environment. Not only will this mean additional cards for the Dragon deck, and possibly even a whole new Monk focus, but it will also mark changes for the other clans. While much of the advise outlined hereafter will remain relevant, a successful player will need to account for the changes in meta-game and adjust accordingly.

Aneil’s Kotei winning deck

General Strategy

This deck is looking to break provinces. It does it in a relatively straightforward manner without a lot of tricks. Get characters and attachments on the board, then attack. As with every deck, you’re looking to get the maximum for the minimum investment and look to hold onto to every fate you can. So, trying to pass first each turn should always be something you’re always looking for as it essentially is a shift of 2 fate in your favor. The normal advice of play 1 cost characters with no additional fate, 2 cost characters with 0 to 1 fate, and 3 cost and greater characters with 2 fate still stands. There are exceptions to these plays and sometimes you’ll dump more fate onto a character to make sure they stay around all game. Every turn you are able to pass first is a 2 fate shift in your favor, so make sure you take advantage of that whenever you can.

The Dragon currently have one of the best province rows in the game. Shameful Display, Restoration of Balance, and Feast of Famine all have the potential to essentially win you the game turn one. Due to this, you want to encourage your opponent to make the first attack, even if this means passing all your conflicts turn 1. As the Imperial Favor is so important to this deck, a turn 1 where no one attacked but you took the favor is a total success. Looking at your opponent’s provinces, most clans play Meditations on the TaoShameful Display, and Rally to the Cause so Pathfinder’s Blade will always have work to do. In addition, Finger of Jade can stop the first two provinces, allowing it to do similar work. Finger of Jade‘s importance in certain matchups will vary and it is important to know what the threads in your opponent’s deck are so you can assess how best to use it.

The draw phase strategy for the deck is to bid 5 until you can’t anymore and get as many cards as possible. Hopefully, it is obvious that this doesn’t mean you bid 5 regardless of the circumstances, but unless the board gives you reasons to not bid 5, then bid 5. Due to the power of Agasha Sumiko and Censure grabbing the favor is very important to this deck and it is not beyond leaving a 2 glory character unbowed just to make sure that happens. With one copy of The Imperial Palace in the deck it’s not something you can rely on, but if you don’t have the favor the clearing provinces aggressively in the hope of revealing it is worthwhile. As the favor is something you could end up losing at the end of any conflict phase, be opportunistic with Censure playing it anytime it would gain you an advantage in the turn. Cloud the Mind is one of the few cards you have to deal with threats on the opponent’s board, so you need to use it wisely. Similarly, there are a lot of attachments you can let stay in play, holding on to Let Go for bigger impact attachments. Every player knows the Dragon deck plays 3 Let Go, so a smart opponent will try to bait your Let Gos out for lower impact attachments.

 


Crab

Sample Crab Deck – Unicorn Splash

Dynasty: On the dynasty side, try mulligan for Doomed Shugena, Togashi Initiate, Togashi Mendicant, or Agasha Swordsmith. Once you have one of those, you can also consider one of the 3 cost Characters Mirumoto Raitsugu or Kitsuki Investigator. You want to always have cheap characters in play to act as Way of the Crab buffers for your larger units. As the game develops, use the Miya Mystics to deal with your opponents key attachments like Talisman of the Sun.

Conflict: On the conflict side, hold on to Let Go, 1 Banzai!, Reprieve, conflict characters, and Cloud the Mind in your opening hand. You’ll be making some cheap characters early and will want to find ways you can get extra utility out of them.

Strategy: Against Crab, the goal is to expend minimal fate to maintain a good board. Due to Way of the Crab, you need to keep some cheap characters available. During the game, focus on expending minimal fate to maintain as good a board as possible. Your opponent will be doing similar but with additional tools such as Iron Mine and Vanguard Warrior. Crab can and will try to dishonor you out, so be conscious of this as the game progresses. In addition to the Air and Fire rings you can squeeze a point of honor out of Togashi Initiate who honors himself and then leaves play at the end of turn.

The long game against Crab is going to be about attachments, so Let Go should be used on the surprise problems primarily their Reprieve and possibly Spyglass. Problems that stick around and are less immediate threats such as Talisman of the Sun can be dealt with by the Miya Mystics. Indeed, Miya Mystic is primarily in this deck to help with the Crab matchup. When your opponent creates a window for Way of the Crab, play a cheap conflict character to close it. Be especially wary of the action window at the end of the fate phase where experienced Crab players will create surprise openings.

Use Reprieve for value plays, even if that just means keeping small bodies on the board. The conflict characters and Banzai! also provide support to get early breaks as this isn’t a game you want to go to long. Cloud the Mind is primarily reserved for the Steadfast Witch Hunter and Crisis Breaker to prevent their straighten abilities. If Karada District hits the table, you need to decide whether you are better off attacking in force to try to break it or playing around it. If you do manage to break it, there is always the risk they will Rebuild it, but at least one in play can only use it once per turn. The Crab deck has a number of powerful events which offer good value for Censure like Way of the Crab, The Mountain Does Not Fall, and Gaijin Customs and Crab have no cancels themselves to prevent it.

 


Crane

Sample Crane deck – Dragon splash

Dynasty: For the dynasty mulligan you are looking for a Niten Master start. This will be a common strategy against a number of clans. One of the 3 cost characters along with a Doomed Shugenja is also a strong start. Mirumoto Raitsugu provides a great opener as many Crane characters have low military skill. The Kitsuki Investigator also provides a strong option as Crane have a number of tricks from their conflict deck. As the game develops Agasha Sumiko and Togashi Yokuni will become more important. Niten Adept also provides a lot of value in this matchup as often Crane decks will run minimal attachments to maximize the effect from Test of Skill.

Conflict: Due to the Niten Master start, you have increased value on Court Games, Weapons, and Finger of Jade. An early Court Games can shut down Voice of Honor and provides a nice boost. Weapons are there to unbow the Master while Finger of Jade gives some protection. If we don’t get a Niten Master as the Dynasty opener, then obviously the weapons devalue.

Strategy: Crane will typically be Dragon or Scorpion splash. Until you can confirm they are not Scorpion splash, assume they are playing A Fate Worse Than Death and play around that. As the game progresses, work on getting favor to setup Censure this is especially important as your Crane opponent will be looking for it to use with Kakita Yoshi.

Anytime you draw an event, you have to consider whether your opponent has a Voice of Honor as with so few events in the deck the Crane player is likely to negate any event we play. As the game develops we’re hoping to grab the favor to activate Agasha Sumiko and Censure. Work with the Fire ring and Court Games to try to develop the board state such that Voice of Honor is no longer active, even though it only stops the few event cards in your deck. This also helps minimize the risk of Noble Sacrifice plays. Use of Censure poses a difficult situation, as the Crane have Voice of Honor they can often force their events through canceling Censure. This means you can’t rely on Censure but it will prevent a later event from being canceled.

The typical Crane deck isn’t going to provide many targets for Let Go but will for Cloud the Mind. Guest of Honor will cause less trouble for the Dragon deck than others, but losing Censure and Court Games does hurt so this can be a decent Cloud the Mind target but only if you have events to play in hand. If you lose control of the Imperial Favor, Kakita Yoshi is the primary cloud target. Cautious Scout can cause problems as an early character, effectively negating the Dragon provinces, so this is a character worthwhile Clouding when he sees play. Lastly, Doji Challenger’s ability can be very disruptive and is almost always a great target for a Cloud.


Dragon

Sample Dragon deck – Crab splash

Dynasty: Turn one preference would be a Togashi Yokuni as he will be able to copy many of the key abilities of your opponent’s characters but with better skills. The Niten Master start is great as defenses will be low, but you need to factor in how you’re going to deal with the provinces. Later in the game, you’re looking for Miya Mystics and Agasha Sumiko. As you will both be fighting for the Imperial Favor, discarding aggressively to get The Imperial Palace will help you get that edge.

Conflict: As provinces are so important, an early Pathfinder’s Blade is key. Finger of Jade will also help against Feast or Famine which can be key in this matchup. Similarly, you’re looking to shut down does options from the other side so Let Go is important in this matchup.

Strategy: As with any mirror, essentially you’re hoping to draw the right cards, get a little lucky, and make fewer mistakes than your opponent. Getting the favor is crucial in this matchup as Dragon relies on Censure for their cancels and Agasha Sumiko when you have the favor can swing game. As we well know, the Dragon province lineup in murder, so avoid running into it without Pathfinder’s Blade or a way to work around Feast or Famine and Restoration of Balance.

As both sides will be heavy on attachments, flush for Miya Mystics and use your Let Go’s wisely favoring Pathfinder’s Blades early in the game and timely Reprieves later. Later in the game, those Let Gos are going to be stopping Reprieve so getting them through, and stopping your opponents with Censure is core to this matchup. Cloud the Mind will have a number of targets but do remember Togashi Yokuni can copy a target that has been Clouded, and if he uses his ability before he gets clouded, he still keeps the copied ability.


Lion

Sample Lion deck – Dragon splash

Dynasty: As with the Crane matchup, the primary goal is to open with a Niten Master start with the secondary goal of a decent 1 cost character along with Kitsuki Investigator or Mirumoto Raitsugu. Once you have the favor, Agasha Sumiko is especially strong as the Lion typically don’t defend very well. Just like with Crane, the Niten Adept can be useful in this matchup as Lion like playing into conflicts with no attachments, either assigned as normal or brought into play with Charge! or Kitsu Spiritcaller. Lion do play ready for battle however and with minimal bow effects in the Dragon deck the Adept’s effect can be negated

Conflict: The conflict side plays almost identically to the Crane options, Court Games loses some value but is still strong with the Master opener. Finger of Jade and Pathfinder’s Blade massively increase in value and you might be best not attacking until you are ready for Feast or Famine.

Strategy: In this matchup the Dragon province row changes slightly, moving Rally to the Cause into the province row with Manicured Garden on the stronghold. As Lion are so heavily committed to the military attack each turn, switching even one unexpectedly to a political conflict can stall their game plan by a full turn. The big danger in this matchup is our opponent’s Feast or Famine, so we need to make sure we have a Pathfinder’s Blade or Finger of Jade on the character with the Fate to prevent it activating.

The typical Lion deck has very few powerful attachments, so Let Go can be used to get small advantages. Censure in contrast provides lots of opportunities although no particular event stands out. For Cloud the Mind the primary target is always going to be Kitsu Spiritcaller with Lion’s Pride Brawler a secondary, although where you can you should play around the Brawler.


Phoenix

Sample Phoenix deck – Dragon splash

Dynasty: Typically the Niten Master is the strongest opener, this time we avoid extra characters with 0 fate as they risk a Karmic Twist. As always Mirumoto Raitsugu is a good start, but be careful of a Kitsuki Investigator again due to the Karmic risk. Avoid Shugenja where possible. As always, Agasha Sumiko is a great option once you have the favor setup.

Conflict: The usual Niten Master cards of Court Games, Weapons, and Finger of Jade are all important here. Let Go is also an important as Phoenix will be playing 3 Cloud the Mind, if you do have a decent Niten Master start holding on to one will stop your opponent locking him down.

Strategy: Due to Against the Waves, any of the Shugenja we have the deck are massively devalued. Doomed Shugenja is only really played to try to bait out an Against the Waves. Agasha Swordmaster essentially is just there for the ability. Togashi Yokuni should not see play until at least 4 of the 6 potential Against the Waves have been used (3 cards + 3 reuse from the stronghold). The Phoenix will present numerous excellent target for Cloud the Mind themselves, particularly the Prodigy of the Waves, which is one of the primary reasons they play Dragon splash for Let Go. To play Cloud the Mind, however, you need a Shugenja in play, so there is a bit of a catch-22, typical once you have a Cloud the Mind in hand you’ll look to play a cheap character.

In addition, we also need to play around Karmic Twist. This increases the value of our unique characters but makes our non-uniques a risk. This means if invest in a Niten Master or Kitsuki Investigator we need to make sure we have no other non-uniques in play without fate. When using the Kitsuki Investigator ability, be aware that discarded spells can still be activated by the stronghold. This means that discarding a non-spell event will stop it completely but discarding a spell will prevent them from using it twice. In addition to the normal provinces Pathfinder’s Blade can cancel, Phoenix also commonly run Public ForumCourt Games can be especially effective due to the Phoenix high glory. Censure obviously has a lot of options, but Display of Power is always the most fun. Although they can be immediately recycled, Against the Waves and Clarity of Purpose also provide excellent targets as although they can be played again your opponent will have to spend the additional 1 fate.


Scorpion

Sample Scorpion deck – Crane splash

Dynasty: Scorpion plays will often start with a cheap character and pass, looking to go into turn 2 with excess Fate. You can either mirror with a low investment turn or start with an investment in a 3 fate or 4 fate Mirumoto Raitsugu or preferably Kitsuki Investigator. Expect characters to get dishonored so give preference to low honor characters. This means Togashi Yokuni should only be played late, preferably copying the Young Rumormonger or Soshi Illusionist to deal with dishonor tokens. Agasha Sumiko is especially useful as with only 1 glory.

Conflict: Due to the Scorpion’s attachment control, this matchup can be a difficult one to work through. You want your Reprieves and Finger of Jades to stick to maintain your board, but your opponent will be playing Calling in Favors.

Strategy: This game is a war of attrition, you have to survive each turn with minimal investment trying to come out with as much as possible at the end of the turn. Don’t be afraid to pass aggressively, your opponent will typically be looking to do the same. A typical play for Scorpion is to play A Fate Worse Than Death and follow up with a Void conflict, clearing 2 fate from a character. When you have 3 fate, even if your opponent does manage to A Fate Worse Than Death the character and then win Void you will still have a character next turn. Niten Adept can be a strong option against Scorpion who like playing characters without attachments, but only after the 3 Assassination are no longer a threat

With Scorpion, we know they are playing A Fate Worse Than Death, and this is the primary threat for the typical Dragon board. Getting a Kitsuki Investigator into play to remove one from hand or a Finger of Jade to protect a character is good. More importantly, try force your opponent into situations where they are forced to you A Fate Worse Than Death on cheap characters making it inefficient. Also remember, it is only playable on participating characters, so a character not assigned to a conflict is safe. They will also have 3 Assassination and usually an extra kill options like I Can Swim so you need to be wary of that.

As Reprieve will provide the greatest value for your opponent if you have the ability to do so try to keep them until later in the game and try to bait out Calling in Favors with other attachments. Ancestral items are especially useful for this, as they will return back to you after the character dies whether it was on your character or theirs. A Niten Adept with an Ancestral Daisho is a particularly good bait target for an Assassination which will cost you little.

During this game the Scorpion stronghold, City of the Open Hand, will slowly drag your honor down, so you need to always be mindful that your opponent can play for a dishonor victory. Again, remember that Togashi Initiate can get you an extra point of honor by honoring himself the turn he leaves play. As with Crane, the Scorpion have event cancellation in the form of Forged Edict and will often supplement that with Censure due to Fawning Diplomat which can guarantee them the favor. Keep an eye on the number of Courtiers who could be dishonored for Forged Edict and keep track of the number already used, this will give you windows when you are safe to play events.


Unicorn

Sample Unicorn deck – Crab splash

Dynasty: As with many opponents, the Niten Master opener is the preference followed by a 3 coster and Doomed Shugenja or other 1 fate character. Togashi Yokuni is especially strong in this matchup as copying the Border Rider’s ability is game-winning. The Kitsuki Investigator is less good in this matchup as Unicorn will often switch the conflict from Political to Military using Captive Audience, denying you use of the Investigator’s ability.

Conflict: For the Niten Master opens, Court Games and Weapons, are the priorities. Let Go is an important card to have as an early Spyglass can generate a lot of advantage.

Strategy: While the Unicorn up until now have not had much success, once the first few packs of the elemental cycle release they will quickly be moving up the tiers. The Unicorn are not a clan of tricks, so in this game, we’re focused on maintaining a better board state. The big card to worry about currently is Endless Plains which can be stopped by Pathfinder’s blade, Finger of Jade, or just having a cheap character assigning at the same time. That said, Endless Plains doesn’t always see play as the cost of sacrificing the province can be too high, it is likely you can ignore it, but there is always a risk.

A good Unicorn player will try hold on to their Spyglass until after you play your first Let Go, so try avoid low impact attachment destruction and try focus on SpyglassTalisman of the Sun is a threat, but one you can often survive for a turn and remove later with a Miya Mystic. Keep an eye on their Courtier characters as the only real trick Unicorn currently have in their deck is For Shame! Late game, be wary of Cavalry Reserves, if they have 3 fate and a discard pile full of Cavalry cards there is a danger, but only while the conflict is Military (although Captive Audience can help set that up). Having a Censure ready for this can be a game-winning swing.


The Future

The Elemental cycle is starting to come out and the Dragon deck has already started to change. So far we have seen a few key cards that look like they will easily find a place in the deck we’ve been talking about. There also is the possibility of a full redesign with the Monk trait and associated cards at the core of the deck. The key cards for Dragon in this cycle include Ancient Master, Hawk Tattoo, Master AlchemistHurricane Punch, Void Fist, Sacred Sanctuary, Togashi Mitsu, and the Mantis character Kudaka. The first three seem like instant adds while the Monk cards, if they make the cut, would require a larger rebuild.

Of course, all the other clans are also going to get new cards and the Dragon deck will need to adapt to those. Once Worlds come around we’re also going to see a change in the Roles for each clan, bringing even more change. Hopefully, some of the tips contained in this article will remain valid and you’ll be able to use them as a foundation for the upcoming cycle.


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8 Replies to “Dragon Strategy – End of Imperial”

  1. As a new player to the game and aligning to the Dragon clan, this is very insightful! Great article. Curious as to thoughts on a single multiple of a card in the deck, and also the inclusion or jade masterpiece.. the idea of spending a fate to a ring to then claim it back potentially seems counterintuitive. I get that it would buff the seeker of enlightenment, if in play but is that it? I must be missing something..

    1. There are a bundle of Dragon cards that have costs which require spending fate onto rings. Even though the Seeker of Enlightenment can benefit from this, we’d prefer not spend all that fate. Anytime we do, we need to work out how to get it back. So using those abilities when we will have the next chance to attack (and so claim the fate on the ring we choose) is best, that means on the defense or during the last conflict if we will be going first next turn.

      The Jade Masterpiece’s ability “Action: Bow this attachment. Choose an unclaimed ring – move 1 fate from the chosen ring to another unclaimed ring.” allows us to move fate from one ring to another. So we’re not spending more fate, just picking up a fate on one ring and moving it to another. If there are two rings with 1 fate each, we can move the fate from one of those rings onto the other and then declare a conflict getting 2 fate! Even better, this denies that fate to your opponent. If there is only 1 fate on a ring and our opponent is getting to pick first, we can move that fate to a ring we don’t want them to pick. The nice thing about the Jade Masterpiece is it pays for itself on the first turn but also stop our opponent getting fate. Every turn after that it also gains us fate.

  2. First, while I’m going to disagree with you here, I want to begin by expressing my appreciation and admiration. This is an excellent analysis of the current meta and, as several players have expressed, very helpful to a number of players. Thank you for taking the time to write and share your thoughts.

    Second, while I disagree with the article, I don’t disagree on any given point. This article is a fantastic analysis of how to play the top Dragon deck, the Kingsley-style Dragon/Crab deck. My disagreement is with the entire premise that this /is/ Dragon strategy, or rather the entirety of Dragon strategy.

    I wrote a long piece doing an analysis on the Dragon’s underwhelming performance, currently posted on The Dragon Clan forums ( http://thedragonclan.net/index.php?topic=2374.0 ), so I won’t reprise my points here. Rather, I will express disappointment that when looking at the Dragon in the meta, no thought was taken to consider any other types of Dragon decks, nor some of our best cards that don’t currently see play. Four of the five Dragon decks at Birmingham that made the cut didn’t use Crab splash (three used Crane, one used Unicorn). There’s great experimentation going on with Phoenix splash in the Discord, especially with the new material coming out. Gunnar, who won the Canadian “Nationals” is still using Lion splash. All of these decks play radically different than the Crab splash deck and any meta analysis must either acknowledge them or the limitations of its scope. There’s nothing wrong with doing an analysis of the Crab-splash deck in the current meta – it’s inarguably our strongest deck at the moment – but failing to consider other styles of build when considering the future is short-sighted and self-limiting. We’re seeing more and more movement, for example, and the Crab splash deck doesn’t have answers for that, but other decks do.

    I’ve been rallying around the “try other splashes” call for months, not because Crab splash is bad – again, I fully acknowledge that it is the strongest deck the Dragon have in the Imperial meta – but because once people stop considering other options and become locked in to one idea, they lose the flexibility that is Dragon’s greatest strength. I see far too many players blindly repeating the same decks as the top players without any real understanding of what makes those decks strong or if those are the best decks for them. We’re Dragon; we must each seek our own path.

    1. I hadn’t read your article before, alas the Dragon clan forums appear practically dead anytime I check them out which is a real shame considering how important they were back in the old game. It’s nice to see at least some people are still using it. I definitely enjoyed it and agree with the sentiment that we need to be considering all options. I disagree slightly with the idea that people aren’t doing that. Indeed, part of the contention that ‘Dragon players suck’ comes from results in the European tournaments where successful Dragon players have been experimenting.

      To briefly look at your article, you mention the Lotus Pavilion timeline and suggest that the Dragon drop relates to people knowing the deck. Dragon’s drop however comes directly after A Fate Worse Than Death hits the meta. Dragon then continues to drop as Crab starts to rise again. Those are both two incredibly hard matchups for the deck. Scorpion has resulted in this deck playing 3 Censure, 3 Reprieve, and 3 Finger of Jade. Crab are the primary reason this deck plays 3 Miya Mystic. In many of the top tiers of the tournaments you see Dragon players getting cut from these matchups. In the above article I’m proposing that these matchups require very specific play styles that differ from the standard Dragon play style, but I’m not going to be so arrogant as to claim this is the one true way.

      Looking through your specific points here, I think your major point of disagreement comes from the title ‘Dragon Strategy’. You’ve taken this as a proposition that the one true ‘Dragon Strategy’ is to play this deck. I have focused on this one particular deck, which I think we can agree has been the most successful this cycle (regardless of whether there might actually be an under-appreciated better deck). However, I do still feel that all the Dragon decks play in a similar way, so hopefully many of these lessons will be similar regardless of the deck.

      Further, I’m hoping to make this the start of a series of articles. The next one is probably going to be something like ‘Dragon Strategy – The Elemental Future’ looking at the options with the Elemental Cycle. I think Void Fist might be an answer I’m looking for in Dragon. So I’m pretty existing about pushing into new deck styles. Also, picking ‘Dragon Strategy’ is a bit of a personal homage, as I used to run DragonStrategy.net many years ago. So getting to write more Dragon articles is kinda nice. 🙂

      On a side note, if you ever feel a need to write massive post like the article you did on the Dragon Forum, we do publish guest articles here! All perspectives welcome.

      1. Thanks for taking the time to write back. Yes, as I said my main issue is with the title, “Dragon Strategy” rather than, “Dragon/Crab Strategy” though I didn’t know about your old site. That’s actually a great homage!

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