While I know y'all would love nothing more than to read the four words "Chained to the Rocks" in this space, I decided to explore a different deck this week. There is, after all, another awesome deck in Modern; and by that I mean another awesome Red Deck.

I speak of course of Skred Dragons. Ozzy Kelly used this new archetype to win a Classic just a couple of weeks ago. This was Ozzy's seventy-five:

Skred Dragons | Modern | Ozzy Kelly, StarCityGames Classic

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Stormbreath Dragon
• 4 Glorybringer
• 4 Thunderbreak Regent

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 4 Sarkhan, Fireblood

• Instants (12)
• 4 Draconic Roar
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Skred

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Anger of the Gods

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Blood Moon

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Ratchet Bomb

• Lands (24)
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 21 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 2 Scrying Sheets

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Alpine Moon
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 3 Shattering Spree
• 4 Dragon's Claw
• 3 Molten Rain

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While we've seen Skred Red decks in Modern - and even seen them win Grand Prix events - Skred Dragons is meaningfully different. Rather than a deck with some Snow-Covered Mountains, and some Skreds, and some Blood Moons, and some Dragons... Skred Dragons plays even more Dragons and Magic 2019 cross-format anchor: Sarkhan, Fireblood.

There are good and less good things about this deck.

On the good side, Skred Dragons is more powerful than many Modern decks you will encounter. The deck has a lot of high end punching power. Its Planeswalkers offer card selection, pure card advantage, and inevitability. Separately, matchups where Blood Moon is good can be very good.

That said, the deck doesn't play any acceleration prior to Sarkhan, Fireblood or Chandra, Torch of Defiance. That means that if you're going to play Blood Moon, you're playing it turn three at the earliest. One of the things I learned playing these matches is that turn three is far too slow, especially on the draw.

Further on the bad side, this deck has a ton of super expensive cards. There are many 5-drop creatures and artifacts. You've really got to draw your lands. Sometimes you're under a ton of pressure and you need to hit a five. The mana may or may not be there and you haven't got much choice in the matter. For those of us used to playing only one and two casting cost cards in our Red Decks, this required a mite of adjustment.

For my part, I wasn't really sure how the game play would go. Would I be hankering for a Fatal Push for Death's Shadow instead of Skred on one? Or would I be so grateful for Blood Moon that I wouldn't care about anything else?

Let's find out:

Mono-Green Affinity

In my first match, I played what looked like Mono-Green Affinity.

He opened on Forest, Forest, Hardened Scales, Hardened Scales and I had no idea what deck he was. He started firing out 3/3 Arcbound Ravagers with a Welding Jar in play and we were shuffling up for Game 2.

I sided out the Blood Moons (only Forests, remember) for three copies of Shattering Spree and an extra Ratchet Bomb.

Game 2 I was pretty sure I had won when evaluating my opening hand. Two of my three copies of Shattering Spree were waiting to abuse his draw. I stalled on mana a bit, but with Sarkhan in play, even three lands will get you a Glorybringer.

The character of the third game was completely different. Instead of being overwhelmed by multiple Hardened Scales, or shoving my Plan A down his throat, I just drew a ton of removal and killed stuff one-for-one. With this strategy you can either ride a Planeswalker advantage or your own deck's bigger creatures as you manage time in the early turns.

1-0 for those keeping track.

Jund Ramp

I played a quick one with a Jund mana ramp deck with Search for Tomorrow, Farseek, and Khalni Heart Expedition.

While I don't think the high end of Skred Dragons is necessarily the most powerful deck in Modern (and is clearly behind Green big mana), in this case, Blood Moon locked him completely out of what he was trying to accomplish.

2-0

U/B Control

The most interesting match of the evening was probably against a Control deck.

Game 1 was super quick. I was on the play; he cast Collective Brutality on the second turn. My only legal target was Draconic Roar; he was tapped. I laid out Blood Moon turn three and he conceded, showing me a hand full of fetchlands and Cryptic Commands. He just wouldn't be able to get to his Blue.

Game 2 I was puzzled at his discarding Cryptic Command to Collective Brutality a mere Draconic Roar (and a couple of life). It all made sense a second later when he landed a turn three Tasigur, the Golden Fang.

I almost packed it in right there, but decided to keep playing. I played Blood Moon back, which kept him from doing too much... But he not only had a 4 power creature but got a buyback on Tasigur before I could kill it. He had two Gifted Aetherborns; I deuced them with Ratchet Bomb. An active Sarkhan made it look like I was going to come back... But I was down about sixteen life.

Mid-game I thought I was going to take over with a Glorybringer, but he had a Snapcaster Mage and a Go for the Throat. Still, felt pretty interesting.

The third game was truly awesome. I played a second turn Ratchet Bomb. He answered with an Inquisition of Kozilek. I was sure he was going to take Sarkhan, but he thought a long, long time before nabbing my other Bomb. Sarkhan resolved and started doing work.

He played Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet; which I killed with a pair of Lightning Bolts before landing a Thunderbreak Regent. I made a mistake the next turn by letting him Murderous Cut my Regent with a second Kalitas in play. I should have responded with Skred, so he got a 2/2 token. This forced me to Ultimate my Sarkhan the next turn instead of waiting a turn.

But hey, Ultimate Sarkhan.

3-0

Mono-Red Beatdown

The fourth match I played was against a highly unusual Mono-Red beatdown deck with both Aether Vial and Eidolon of the Great Revel. That combo is kind of cool. He could operate without triggering the Eidolon!

Game 1 went to him off of a Hazoret the Fervent.

Game 2 was near-academic for me. I got Dragon's Claw and a slew of Dragons to hold the ground. Credit where credit is due: the Scale barely kept me out of Bolt range. But "barely" is still enough!

The third game I lost to Ash Zealot of all cards! Midgame the haste on Ash Zealot teamed up to kill the Sarkhan I was planning to win with; and on the last turn of the game a second Ash Zealot off the top attacked me past zero when I thought I had blocked and traded perfectly [from behind]. Ash Zealot!

3-1

Esper Reanimator

The coolest deck I played against was my fifth opponent. He played an Esper deck with strong graveyard synergies (Thought Scour and Lingering Souls) plus a pretty busty specific combo sequence.

In the first game he played turn two Chart a Course (dumping Obzedat, Ghost Council); then cast turn three Goryo's Vengeance. Because Obzedat can remove itself from the game, it can stick around in a way unlike most other Goryo's Vengeance targets. Obzedat is also immune to sorcery speed removal, so I couldn't gang up to kill it with my Anger of the Gods or Chandra.

I went second, so my Blood Moon was a turn too late. Obzedat splattered me :(

Game 2 I just landed a Blood Moon; and Game 3 ditto. More exciting on account of going second in the third, but ditto.

4-1

B/W Warriors

One of the things that is weird about a deck like this is that, in the dark, you sometimes have to decide if you're going to keep:

I kept against a mage who started with - get this - Unclaimed Territory for "warrior" ... who then used it to cast a Dragon Hunter!

He followed up with a meaningless 1-drop black Warrior and Ancient Ziggurat. I played Blood Moon and Ratchet Bomb, quickly eliciting a concession.

5-1

Humans

Finally I played against Humans.

The first game was quickly uninteresting after I killed Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. A couple of 4/4 Dragons are great defense against Humans. Mine ate many a Militia Bugler. Humans seemed like a remarkably uninteresting matchup for Skred Dragons. You can kill most or all of their stuff, then kill them at leisure with big flying 4/4s. They theoretically have card advantage from Bugler but Draconic Roar gives you a kind of card advantage back. They're not great at killing Dragons and generally worse at blocking them.

6-1

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised with the performance of Skred Dragons. I anticipated it being a deck I liked on paper but maybe a little lacking at the tables. This was not the case at all (I lost only one match of the seven I played). Not only would I try this deck again, but I'd be pretty enthusiastic about it.

That said, I do have some potential notes:

The solo Cavern of Souls bought Ghost Quarter and Field of Ruin both... I think I'd still rather just have a Snow-Covered Mountain or even Scrying Sheets. Though in seven matches I never activated the Sheets.

I never even considered siding in Alpine Moon, though I also never played against Tron. It's possible the speed of the Moon would be helpful there but I can't say for certain. Seems weak.

Shattering Spree was predictably great. Drawing two made me feel unbeatable. I think I'd play another Spree rather than the Alpine Moon. Of my sideboard cards it was the most high impact. While I sided in Batterskull and Ratchet Bomb the most, they never felt like they were changing the character of my deck.

Finally, as someone addicted to Dragons from the days of Tarkir, this was specifically the best Thunderbreak Regent deck I've ever tried. I often played Regent over Glorybringer when given the option. It's ability to gain value White drawing fire and clearing the path for more powerful Dragons was a welcome tactical lever.

Like I said; enthusiastic!

LOVE

MIKE