Nice to see all this discussion on this archetype. It's definitely the most fun I've had with Duels as of late, and quite complex to pilot when it comes to sequencing draw spells, what to recur, when to go all in, when to trust the deck will draw its out vs playing conservative etc... I’ve been playing only this deck and its variants pretty much since Thegodamongmen posted his list, and I’m still learning to play it. I believe with a fine tuned list and good pilot, this deck can be a real headache to beat even for tier 1 decks.

As people have said, there are a number of ways this deck can be played, with some approaches giving more weight to the game-plan of hasting the drake for combat damage (Lawdy + Giocher), while other variants have been winning almost exclusively through fling (Goblin Rabblemaster + mine). Some argue fog should be replaced with more removal options (CGB). There's also how many win conditions can be played, what the right number and mix of low cost cycling/draw effects, and a myriad of card choices. So there’s definitely room for optimising, which is a good part of the fun for this deck.

Without repeating all the great info that has already been noted, there are some card choices which I wanted to bring up. In no particular order:

Baral + Titi + Small Jace: They synergise very well with the deck and have to be answered by the opponent. Problem is they are magnets for fatal push and other removal mid-range to control decks play vs all the aggro decks. Does the tempo loss of a deck taking the time to remove one outweigh our own loss? How about card advantage considering we have recursion effects? I personally think Jace and TiTi are better in versions that play more Expedite / Hanweir Battlements. Drawing removal out of the opponent makes it more likely that a hasted drake can get through. Also, even if can be called a cute play, a hasted Jace is a viable play late game to recur a fling. Is it worth playing all 5 of these cards (jace + 2 TiTi + Baral)?

Geistblast: One or two copies? I think the flexibility of Geistblast warrants at least 1 slot. It can copy a Cathartic or Pieces to refuel your hand, double your fling damage to overcome a counterspell or large life totals (lifelink creatures are part of the meta), or kill a Gideon that has emblem protection before hitting opponent’s dome. Not great to draw 2 in your opening hand unless you have a Cathartic.

Drake: 2 or 3 copies? I started with 2 copies, on the logic that you didn’t really want to draw one until you were threatening lethal via Fling (and avoid exposing it to exile effects). But are you ever really sorry to play an early drake that has to be answered or will chip away at their life? Maybe the turn 3 pieces is a superior play, but I play 3 drakes now, giving more resilience vs exile effects and increasing the threat density.

Fogs: 4-8 copies? If you are playing Fog, how many copies are correct?

Take Inventory: Is this too slow? I always felt it was, but Giocher seems to keep it in his list through several iterations. Might give this a shot again.

Gather the Pack: Digs really well, but I feel this may be a little win-more: if you have time to cast this just to dig and fill GY, things are going pretty well. If you are behind, I don’t think I would count on Gather to find an answer. Then again, maybe in a version that plays 8-9 creatures (jace, 2 titi, 2 baral, 3 drake, greenwarden/disciple) it could be better.

Rise of the Tides: Another win condition, or activating their otherwise dead-card sweepers?

Collective Defiance: In the fog-less versions, this card supports removal while also providing a wheel effect for land-heavy hands, or simply to fill the graveyard quickly with spells. It’s been decent in testing for me.

Disciple of the ring: Seems like a non-bo by exiling cards, but it’s also really powerful here given that it will always have adequate fuel. It is a nightmare for control when it protects our spells, and defends the board against mid-range. I’ve been pleased with her so far in testing.

Dispel/Blossoming Defence and Expedite/Hanweir Garrison: Another mix of cards that I don’t have the right answer to. Through a number of iterations I ended up with similar to Giocher: 1 Dispel and 3 Expedites. I feel that the expedites are essentially cycle for 1 cards with the upside of sometimes winning the game on the spot with drake, or activating a jace in response to removal.

Land count is also something that I’m unsure about. Every version I have played wants to hit land drops all the way to 6+ lands. Of course, we have grapple and pulse (with evo wilds) to make sure that happens. But in some matchups, taking the time out to pulse or grapple for lands can be painful when you could have for example cast Pieces of the Puzzle on turn 3 knowing you had your 4th drop in hand ready. So while most of my games have been played at 22 lands or less, I've recently been trying up to 24 lands.

That's true, it's complex to chain spells in the right way. I think that testing was a bit less relevant before, because i pilot it completely different now.


In my first list i had only Jace, i was skeptical adding more creatures to keep the spells flow continue. But they revealed to be very useful and i think there is enough space for all of them, eating a removal and slowing down the opponent a little bit or sticking for one turn for a better payoff. Opponent cannot be indifferent in front of them.


I'm for 3 copies. As i said i changed a bit how i pilot this deck. I'm not all in with the combo anymore, but sometimes i play early drakes, as first creature or after a removed titi or baral. Especially against aggro it is very good, because we need to outrace it.


I'm ok with 4 fogs and 1 pulse, maybe a 5th one can be ok. Haven't discussed with CGB, but today i was talking with another friend about Fiery Impulse over fogs. His opinion is that removal can be better for problematic creatures and can eventually save more turns than fogs. I'm not sure about this, but it's something to consider.


The first copy is slow but i never play it unless i'm forced needing different cards, the second copy is quite slow but playable, every other copy is gas and it's very likely that you will play the 3rd or 4th copy. So the 4x package is not slow, just wait for reunions or pieces or grapple, all of them can make you discard or mill the first/second one.


I feel this card like Compelling Argument, it's very unlikely that you hit a creature and in general when i dig i do it for other spells to continue to dig, but i think this depends on the difference between our versions of the deck. In general it's going down a card to pump your drake for 2/3 points of damage, cards like Expedite and Blossoming Defense should be better.


These cards have indeed value in this kind of deck, i can speak only about my version and all i can say is that they are slow. I feel even Telling Time being slow, because all i need is spells to dig for more spells to dig, and eventually close the game. Geistblast can have multiple value, but you can use it only mid/late game, using your whole turn. Defiance has the double red problem. Rides is an ok alternative wincon, but the game has already a well known direction when you can play it. Disciple is good, but it's a nonbo with the deck idea, not only because of the exile part, but because we are not going to stay back on control, leave mana up. Again i'm talking about the "storm" version.
Land count also depends on the version, i never had problems missing landdrops, sometimes i was even flooded. It's just a bit awkward in the first 2 turns because of the colors.

I suppose you are the famous Mulletman everyone talked me about. I'm 90% satisfied with this fast version not always all in but occasionally with early drakes, but there is always space to make it better. I saw some games by CGB with yours/Rabs list, and when i built my version i wanted to avoid situations in which i'm stuck without dig spells with situational cards. I think the deck doesn't really need more value cards, we only need to keep the flow continue without dying badly. But yeah if there is a slower version that has better results i'm pretty happy to try it.

How busted would Baral be in this list?!

Giocher should make another competition for who can build the best Drake deck.

I love my Dimir Discard deck. It's good fun.

Friend of and testing partner of Giocher as well as very long time player here, they told me about the list yesterday and I thought it was extremely interesting, certainly viable and the combo is actually resilient and consistent. I like metagames where combos like this are good, they're healthy. With that said I had two concerns, firstly I felt the matchup against U/R mass counterspell fuelled control was probably extremely hard/unwinnable if the opponent knew what they were doing. Secondly I felt very unfavoured against aggressive decks, so I built a version of the deck to deal with the second issue, if there's more control then these changes wouldn't work, but this list has been doing very well for me since I made the changes I did:

Dark Drake Combo:

Combo pieces:
2x Expedite
3x Enigma Drake
2x Fling
2x Resourceful Return (I mean, they're extra drakes 9 times out of 10)

Draw Engine:
4x Take inventory
3x Cathartic Reunion
4x Pieces of the Puzzle
3x Hieroglyphic Illumination

Interaction:
1x Liliana, The Last Hope (also a raise dead effectively)
3x Fiery Impulse
1x Fatal Push
2x Radiant Flames
2x Yahenni's Expertise
3x Censor (frequently cycled)
1x Dispel

Other creatures:
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2x Baral, chief of Compliance
1x Thing in the Ice

Lands:
3x Island
2x Swamp
3x Mountain
4x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Smouldering Marsh
1x Sunken Hollow
2x Drowned Catacombs
2x Sulphur Falls
2x Dragonskull Summit

Okay, so this is changed quite a bit from Giocher's list in appearance, but it roughly plays out the same way, though I've done some tuning to the draw engine by adding in hieroglyphic illumination (which I shall discuss shortly) it has about the same speed and feel as Giocher's list. The big difference, I took out the green and added black for Liliana and the 2 sweepers, and I got rid of the fogs entirely for interactive spells, this so far has given me much better games against decks that apply pressure, Giocher commented that this moves the deck more in a control direction incidentally, and indeed if you wanted it could, set up this way the deck doesn't have to be so all in on its combo, but the combo is very strong so I think it's better to keep it as is with just enough disruption to set up for a kill through good opponent draws every game, rather than as a full control deck.

Changes worth discussing:
Hieroglyphic illumination: This card is great in the deck, GREAT, so great that I've shaved off a few other draw spells to add more of them, including a cathartic reunion (which in fairness is nowhere near as good with only 3 raise dead effects rather than 5). You cycle it 3/4 time, where it basically acts as an expedite early to mid game, but you'll find yourself hardcasting it more often than you think too. surprisingly for a 20 land deck, 4 mana isn't too much. Both sides of this are great, I advise everyone to see what they can cut for illuminations

Black vs. Green: So this is the big change obviously, and it has in my view 2 major upsides and a larger number of more minor downsides, but it's not necessarily correct, I like it a lot better however.

Upsides: Yahenni's expertise is an insanely good piece of interaction in this deck, you will nearly always have a spell to freecast after it and quite often it will be a 3 mana spell. Add this to the fact that the draws this deck struggles with the most tend to be the type of draws that expertise crushes, and you have a grade A sweeper. Also Liliana can win games on her own sometimes, she quite often plays the grind game against control decks and recurs a drake 2-3 times until they run out of answers. Fatal push is a card I only run one of, but it's a nice removal spell to have access to, you don't have many ways to turn on revolt but it still smashes most of the dangerous vehicles even without.

Downsides: Hitting BB. There, I said it. This makes the mana... not so nice. Definitely not unplayable, you will reliably hit all of your colours, but I had to make concessions by adding in more black sources, which means less blue or red sources and another couple of ETB tapped lands, your mana will still develop but it'll do it a bit slower. Also on a more minor note, the black raise dead effects are a lot worse than the green ones, you don't get any extra functionality out of Return like you do with Grapple or Pulse. Mostly I consider this a minor deal as the card still basically does what you need it to do, but it hurts consistency a bit.

Overall, I think the quality of interaction you can gain by adding black instead of green makes these downsides worth it, it has definitely helped me out with the harder matchups.

I might also cut the only remaining titi (not been too impressed with it) for a torrential gearhulk, I think the deck can actually handle casting a gearhulk,and it's a huge swing, especially if you run hieroglyphic illuminations. Also gives you one of the few ways this deck has of smashing at planeswalkers.

I run Thermo-Alcy over the 2x TiTi, the one less toughness isn't relevant often and even when it is between my fogs and pulses It's never an issue.
Thermo helps deal with walkers and chips away at life totals fairly quickly.
Even when you get upwards of the 7 mana mark and a fist full for spells you can just kill people without drake.
That being said I run 8 fogs plus 4 pulse, I haven't really had any issues with this number, but I am considering dropping down to maybe 7 fogs and 3 pulse, not 100% sure for what yet but I think those are my most open slots.

I don't run reunion in my list, I play telling time over it, I'm just not a huge fan of the sorcery speed outside of pieces of the puzzle and insult.
I run telling time which is an all-star even if it doesn't fill the grave consistently like other spells.

I will post my current updated list when I get home, but over the last week I'm sitting at around 25-2 on the ladder.

Titi is almost only for aggro, even if quite useful in general. I'm not sure about it very much, as i'm not sure about alchemist, since you probably don't care about pws having a combo deck. I can let them ult in general and have at least 1 or 2 turns more depending on the emblem (for example Lili).
About fogs/pulses, yeah i can see it work, since they are different builds, yours is more defensive, mine is pure speed.

I will follow your matches in the tourney for sure. I've seen the one with CGB, not a good matchup.

The list I am using in the tourney is really bad compared to what I have now sadly. that was like the beta list lol. Like it's bad to the point where I hate that i'm running it:P it got me to 40 in the ladder and I love it for that, but compared to what I have now it's just meh.

While you don't need to worry about most planeswalkers and 90% of the time the damage does go to the face some emblems like OB, chandra and the counter the first spell cast jace one are pretty annoying. sometimes it takes a few turns to go off even when you're all in on combo.

I honestly let lili ult 100% of the time, between my fogs(and pulse for the first couple turns) I never lost to that emblem.

What I think the deck really needs is an instant or sorcery that returns instants or sorceries.
Besides that more 2 cmc instants that dig.


I just like having more ways to interact with them outside of visions and 1x geistblast.
I also run a 1x pull from tomorrow instead of the tides.

My list is:

1x Dispel
4x Fog
1x Animist's awakening(honestly has just been crushing the ladder lol)
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
2x Themo-Alchemist
1x Pull from Tomorrow
3x Telling Time
2x Fling
3x Commencement of Festivities
4x Grapple with the Past
2x Enigma Drake
2x Fevered Visions
1x Geistblast
3x Pulse of Murasa
4x Pieces of the puzzle
1x Greenwarden of Murasa
1x Insult // injury

3x Island
2x Mountain
5x Forest
1x Cinder Glade
1x Rootbound Crag
2x Hinterland Harbor
2x Sulfur Falls
1x Hanwier Battlements
3x Aether Hub
3x Evolving Wilds

Only played 4 games today but was 4-0.
2 were superfriends still an 100% win rate
1 was U/G energy free win also
and the last was I want to say reanimator but I don't think they ever really drew their reanimation spells, I had a grip of fogs either way.

There was a 5th game but it was like a 100 card monstrosity that the person mulled 3 times then left before it started so lets not count that one.

Honestly the dispel and Animists slot is like super open i have been testing a bunch of cards and everything i throw in there feels like it really doesn't matter what it is.
Dispel is cool and all but i haven't seen a single blue control deck all month on the ladder so it feels kinda meh.

Really hoping we get a neat toy for these slots in HoD.

Telling time, take inventory and censor seem to be nice discussion points.
The Grixis list is interesting, but I dislike the need to go for defense and for the combo in such a low-land deck.

I'm currently running the following, since I enjoyed Giocher's approach more than mine:

Temur Storm

2 x Dispel
2 x Lightning Axe
4 x Fog
2 x Expedite

2 x Baral, Chief of Compliance
2 x Fling
4 x Grapple with the Past
4 x Take inventory
4 x Cathartic Reunion

3 x Enigma Drake
3 x Pulse of Murasa
2 x Radiant Flames
4 x Pieces of the Puzzle

1 x Geistblast

3 x Island
3 x Forest
3 x Mountain
6 x checklands
2 x Tango lands
3 x Evolving wilds
1 x Hanweir Battlements


playing even less fogs now and using Lightning axe as a replacement for the festivities. Synergy with geistblast and take inventory as usual.
Baral may be removal bait, but just the off chance he lives you can churn through your deck at such a rate it's just silly not to play it.


Not sure this is the absolute best version possible, but probably the most fun .

I just can't see wanting the removal over the fogs, it just makes you so much weaker to decks that go wide or big and wide.
even radiant flames seems worse to fog than me.

Only a few creatures actually deal direct damage with abilities and most of them RARELY see play.
The ones that do I haven't had any problems just chaining pulse+warden to avoid any issues.

If it's working for you go for it, but this is a route I don't think I will even bother taking.

I almost think for the time being I should make my open slots(animist and dispel) an extra copy of insult and Geistblast.
I find myself coping pieces of the puzzle enough that I wouldn't mind the extra blast, and insult just closes games out much faster and gives you more reach against lifegain decks.
Not to mention coping insult with blast and dealing upwards of 200 damage in a turn(attack plus fling) is an option.

I will do a full rundown of all the cards I have tested and my current deck later today should be a fairly long ass post.

With all due respect, but you do play on xbox, and the average expected deck quality is a little bit lower (because of the matchmaking etc); Lightning axe is pretty good vs very strong aggro openers, where you would probably peter out of fogs / get Insulted / burnt out before you set up. Also, Kalitas is quite the card vs our deck It's also a way to kill your own drake for if they try to exile it.
I'm certainly not saying it's a must run, but with the synergies, I kinda think it makes sense.

I wouldn't run Insult maindeck, as the card doesn't do anything besides when you go for the kill. Sideboard in a tournament vs decks with lifegain? sure.
Geistblast is very good in this deck, and I could definitely see running another one. However, it's another deckslot, and there are diminishing returns at work here: in an average game you will see most of the deck before you win or die, and if you get to the mana totals where geistblast is amazing, probably you only have to fork ONCE to construct a win. Drawing it in hand without discards is horrible (extra relevant considering you don't think highly of lightning axe).

The main thing I don't like about the sweeper is how Radiant Flames can't be cast for 3 if you have Baral out. Not sure what to say about this tbh. It came up a few times, but baral accelerated me so well I managed to win those games besides not being able to sweep.

Wait, I don't understand the deck. Is the idea to cast lots of spells and dig for Fling + Enigma Drake, then cast both of them when Drake is 20+ power to win?

If so, it sounds quite convoluted to me. Even if you dodge counterspells, how long can you live before you die? Not unlike mill decks who try to win with Tutelage, they just sit there drawing cards and meanwhile opponent hits them again and again until they run out of fogs ... there's also lifegain to consider (Blessed Alliance / Kalitas / Gisela etc, although most decks don't have those). How do you win against that? Or maybe even Gideon of the Trials with emblem.

Games play out differently depending on what you face.

Control needs to interrupt you pretty well to get the upper hand, since there's 10 drakes in here, some of them will be coming at you with haste, others will be protected by dispel, and the final ones will just get flung at your face.

A very strong aggro curve and exile spells are the main concern for this archetype, unless you diversify the wincons (which doesnt really help that much with aggro).

You say there are ten drakes, how? I see only the three Drakes and three Pulse of Murasa (if you count those as drakes). The drakes can also be removed. They don't die to Fatal Push, but the afore-mentioned Blessed Alliance will kill it, Harnessed Lightning with a bit of backup kills it, Grasp of Darkness kills it, Unlicensed Disintegration kills it ... even Languish kills it ...

Having said that I think this must've been the deck I played against once on ladder. Opponent was drawing cards like crazy and I was sure he was playing Tutelage, but the game ended before he actually played a Tutelage. Basically the scenario I described happened: I hit him again and again until he ran out of fogs. The list you play for example can't answer big creatures, only stall them. Weird, is it really winning that much for you?

EDIT: Better question, how fast do you goldfish?

I really think that is a very false statement.
I have watched countless streams of rank 40 PC and it all looks on par with Xbox.
The meta might be slightly different, but I face quality decks almost every game, one out of like 10 decks is jank.
I also don't count the jank decks against my win/loss because I know it isn't a true representation of the decks performance.

Also I don't burn my fogs until I absolutely have to, I have played decks like turbo fog in standard along with countless control decks in standard and modern. I am very good at gauging when to fog and when to let damage through.

It's not that I don't think lightning axe is a good card, I love it in other decks. I just never see early threats that I need to answer. Also card disadvantage early is far more detrimental in this deck than later on. I never find myself saying "gosh darn golly I wish I had a removal right about now"
Can I lose to aggro? Sure, but so can you. Does it happen often? Almost never.

There also have never been a game where I have had insult in hand and wished it was another card, the reach this card provides allows me to win 2-3 turns sooner most of the time and if it hits the bin its an okay removal spell. insult isn't even in the consideration of an open slot, it has been an all-star since I removed gather the pack.
I don't think I will go up to the 2nd insult, was just an idea worth testing because everything else in the slot has felt pretty meh.

as for the 2nd geistblast, this doesn't seem 100% required but literally everything I have tested in my 2 open slots has felt really MEH, even reunion felt like more of a gamble than anything a lot of the time.
Most matches I will be holding a fist full or spells and discarding certain cards just isn't an option.
Geistblast even cast for 3 at instant speed while obviously over costed still has done enough work.
the 2nd copy may be a bit much as I am looking more to have 2 cmc spells fill the last couple slots.

also even without discard 90% of the time between puzzle, grapple and tomorrow blast is in the bin just off the fact it is a misers copy and drawing it is stupid unlikely.

As for burn, I end up casting pulse 2-5 times a game if not more vs aggro/burn looping it off of greenwarden haven't really died to burn or ballista/ribbons yet. This was a concern of mine while building the deck but so far it hasn't been an issue with around 150+ matches with the deck I don't know if I would even change this if I lost a couple times to burn.(also only ever had insult cast once against me.)


This build is for my ladders meta, and it wins damn near every time. I would make adjustments if I were to submit it into a tournament again like main deck 1-2 dispel would be a thing.(I know I have 1 dispel atm I just feel that will change when I get home)
For ladder farming, this build is 100% the most optimal list I have come across or tested.
I have tested black, I have tested straight U/R.

gid of trials emblem you just use geistblast to copy fling, target the first(original at gid) then the copy at the player. the player goes below 0 and then the other fling kills Gideon and they die. You do this order just in case they can bring it back at instant speed with something like emeria shepherd.

also you tend to win before you run out of fogs.

It's not that convoluted. I played the Metalwork Marionette combo deck 3 seasons or so back that needed Metalwork Colossus + Marionette Master + Verdurous Gearhulk + Ever After to go off, and that was convoluted. Fun when it would work, but hella convoluted needing 2 rares and 2 mythics. This ones pretty smooth, at least speaking for the OP list which I've played a bit and have yet to lose with. You only need 2 pieces most of the time (some support pieces are helpful, but not absolutely essential).

The fogs allow you to be patient with when you go off, so you can collect support in hand (i.e. Haste instant) and wait for tap outs. Counterspell decks are prob the worst matchup. Combo has a hard time vs control in general, but at least this combo is resilient to spot removal. Gideon's emblem isn't really a problem worth noting. For one thing not everyone who even bothers to run Trials Gideon actually pops it (Opp be more focused on attacking with Gideon on an open board; odds most likely they +1 after cast to put out of Temper/Defiance range as you should be representing red by T3, then attack every turn after), but even if emblemed you have ways to recur Drake so you can hit face and still take out Gideon. Lifegain is a nuisance, but I've hit for more than 40 in a single turn on opponents running lifegain (cast Drake, give haste, hit face, Fling for double damage), and as mentioned the deck can recur Drakes too.

I'd really suggest taking it for a spin. Can't speak to other builds posted here, other than the BBB one that I've also played with (worse than OP list, trying to control board with burn spells isn't the right way to go here imo, fogs better for buying time) - but I think you'd be pleasantly surprised with OP list at how effective it is.

Grapple with the Past x4

Fling beats spot removal. Sac is part of the cost to cast, so opp can't cast removal in response. You need counterspells to beat this combo.

Worth noting is the amount of times your opponents will stop the clock after you cast fling trying to interact with drake:P
Then like 2 seconds later they will un-pause and die haha.