I don't like kaarthus. The dude started as a 1 deck liability and has now reached the point where 4 decks with blue can abuse his dragon effect.

That's funny because I find him the MOST useful when I'm playing those 4 decks.

Even better if one of those decks has out his awesome Dragon Illusions.

phantasmal image, reanimation, and evil twin have all given me headaches with that card.........

I don't really like any of the seven mana or more monsters in that deck.

Okay, let me explain myself before people think I'm just contradicting mjack just to be argumentative. What mjack is afraid of is people stealing all of his dragons by either copying Kaarthus with things like Phantasm, Evil Twin, That Cypher card in Dimir, Gather Specimens or bringing into play from his GY via Reanimate, Body Double, or Rise from the Grave.

The reason I think Kaarthus is great in these matches is because I prefer to let my opponent get copies of my other dragons, and then when the time is right, you play Kaarthus, steal all of their dragons and swing for the win. Obviously, the first thing you're going to say is, "What about a counterspell?" To which I will retort, "Learn to be patient and wait till your opponent is tapped out, or play games with them by making them counter other spells first, and then when they don't have any left, cast it."
You could then counter me with, "Force of Will?" To which I will have to say, "You're worried about 1 card in the entire game screwing up your fall-back plan, so you're refusing to include this? Due to 1 Card?"
Your other concerns might include scenarios involving Kaarthus being the only dragon you have available to play. To which I could say, In those scenarios, it would sound like you are already in a losing situation. There are worse things than a 7/7 Haste Flyer when you're in a losing situation.

So, instead of looking at him like a liability, to be stolen and used against you, look at him as secret tech against those decks, with which you can pull some amazing tricks to completely demoralize your opponent for even considering the possibility of using your own creatures against you.

Right now I have some inexplicable urge to go on a Dragon marathon. A bit like having an inexplicable urge to stick your dick in a blender.

Try my build...
I Am The Dragon Maser!!!

btw: sixty put it spot on.

60 Cards. 36 nonlands (16 creatures, 20 spells). 24 Lands (9 9 2; 4 other).

Land
   4x Terramorphic Expanse
cost  
   4x Dragon Fodder
cost  
   3x Borderland Ranger
   3x Cultivate
   2x Jund Charm
   4x Maelstrom Pulse
cost  
   1x Archwing Dragon
   4x Hellkite Hatchling
   1x Ogre Battledriver
   3x Crucible of Fire
   2x Explosive Vegetation
cost  
   1x Broodmate Dragon
   2x Dragon Broodmother
   1x Flameblast Dragon
   2x Predator Dragon
cost  
   1x Kilnmouth Dragon
:xm: cost  
   1x Banefire
   1x Savage Twister

This is what I run. Kaarthus is too expensive for just haste on all your dragons. Unless you are using something like chant, your cards above 6cmc have to win the game, or get pretty @#$% close. The liability puts it just below the line of usability for me.

I was wondering if anyone had ever tested this.

If someone uses path to exile on your archwing dragon, in this game, does it return to your hand? It should, and it does in paper magic, but this is one of those edge cases I am wondering about.

Never mind. They errata'd it.

Archwing Dragon never got any errata. The Oracle text is exactly the same as the text printed in the card.

The text on the card says to return it to your hand on the end step.

The oracle text says to only do this if it is on the battlefield.

There is a slight difference.

Here's Archwing Dragon's Oracle text:

"Flying, haste

At the beginning of the end step, return Archwing Dragon to its owner's hand."

See? Same thing.

Oracle Text:

Flying, haste

At the beginning of the end step, return Archwing Dragon to its owner's hand."[/i]




Ruling:
Archwing Dragon is only returned to its owner's hand if it's on the battlefield.






No. I don't see it. The fact that the ruling changes my view of the card alone means they are not the same thing. The oracle text does not say from where. The ruling specifies that and had to be added later.

Looks like someone doesn't know how Oracle works. Let me explain. The "Rulling" part you found isn't a part of the Oracle text, it's just a clarification extracted from the Avacyn Restored (the set that brought Archwing Dragon to us) FAQ, a document WotC releases with every set to help new players to understand some specific rullings. Archwing Dragon never worked in the way you think it worked, especially because the Oracle-text-that-is-not-an-Oracle-text was released before the set (not to mention the fact that the rules don't work like that).

When you explain it like that......... then yes. It makes more sense.

Abilities usually only work on the battlefield, except stated otherwise.

Thoughts on Archwing Dragon? Never really went for the shaman build, the double red early on really hurts the other juicy 3 drops and I don't see it working anywhere else. If I have the free mana and nothing to do I would much rather run Dragon Roost tbh

I run kilnmouth and the 3 crucible. So much synergy with archwing it's Synergy overload.

Rule changes? At the bottom of the Archwing Dragon Gatherer page it states:

5/1/2012 Archwing Dragon is only returned to its owner's hand if it's on the battlefield.

Archwing Dragon was released during Avacyn Restored. Avacyn Restored was released on May 4th, 2012. A full 3 days AFTER that ruling. The card never had any different ruling than what it does currently.

You are severely late to the party. I already agreed with him.