Hello everyone. With the official release of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms happening this week, I'm continuing to look at claims created with these new cards. Last week, I looked at some decks featuring Dungeons and the new venture mechanic. This week, I'll be looking at some decks featuring Dragons. Let's get started.

Jeskai Dragons

I begin this week with a deck that has an answer for nearly everything. Let's take a look at the deck.

Jeskai Dragons | AFR Standard | TitanSmashMTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Inferno of the Star Mounts
• 2 Adult Gold Dragon
• 2 Terror of the Peaks
• 3 Galazeth Prismari
• 3 Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant
• 3 Iymrith, Desert Doom
• 4 Goldspan Dragon

• Instants (8)
• 4 Magma Opus
• 4 You Find the Villains' Lair

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Draconic Intervention
• 4 Alrund's Epiphany

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Orb of Dragonkind

• Lands (24)
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 3 Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
• 3 Needleverge Pathway // Boulderverge Pathway
• 3 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Raugrin Triome
• 4 Temple of the Dragon Queen

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One of the best Dragons for you to get into play quickly is Terror of the Peaks. Thanks to its ability that deals damage to any target equal to the power of a new creature entering the battlefield under your control, you'll be able to remove any potential threats your opponent brings to bear. Alternatively, you can direct that damage straight at your opponent, finishing them off quickly and efficiently. This deck also includes a number of new Dragons from AFR, such as Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant, Iymrith, Desert Doom, and one of my favorites, Adult Gold Dragon.

A single copy of Inferno of the Star Mounts is also included in this deck. If you've read my past articles, you might know that I'm a sucker for an alternate win-condition. Inferno of the Star Mounts has such a condition, allowing you to deal 20 damage to any target by increasing its own power to 20 with the use of its activated ability. By attaching a copy of the equipment left when Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant dies, Icingdeath, Frost Tongue, to Inferno of the Star Mounts, you'll get its power up to eight. With the help of a few copies of Orb of Dragonkind, you can reach that sweet target of 20 power fairly easily. Direct that damage directly at your opponent's life total, and you should be able to win the game easily.

Dimir Dragons

Next, I have for you a control deck that uses powerful Dragons to help swiftly ensure its victory. Let's take a look at the deck.

Dimir Dragons | AFR Standard | MTG_Joe, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (4)
• 2 Ebondeath, Dracolich
• 2 Iymrith, Desert Doom

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Professor Onyx

• Instants (20)
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Erebos's Intervention
• 2 Drown in the Loch
• 2 Graven Lore
• 2 Negate
• 2 Power Word Kill
• 3 Heartless Act
• 3 You Find the Villains' Lair
• 4 Behold the Multiverse

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Shadows' Verdict
• 2 Blood on the Snow
• 2 Crippling Fear

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Shark Typhoon

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Midnight Clock

• Lands (27)
• 6 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 7 Snow-Covered Island
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Faceless Haven
• 1 Hall of Storm Giants
• 1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 4 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 4 Ice Tunnel

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One the battlefield is cleared of threats, you can work toward your endgame. Like many other current decks, this deck utilizes Shark Typhoon as one of its routes to victory. Since that card has been written about a lot, I'll focus on the other two creatures you can use in your quest for victory. The first is Iymrith, Desert Doom. Iymrith is a 5/5 flying creature that might be difficult for your opponent to remove. As long as Iymrith is untapped, it has ward 4, so your opponent might not have enough mana available to cast any sort of removal spell, allowing you to fly in unimpeded. When Iymrith deals combat damage to your opponent, you'll be able to draw some amount of cards, refreshing your hand and making it difficult for your opponent to successfully cast any spells.

The other finisher for this deck is Ebondeath, Dracolich. Even though Ebondeath enters the battlefield tapped, since it also has flash, you'll be able to hold up mana on your opponent's turn that can be used to counter their spells or to cast Ebondeath. Ebondeath also has an ability that allows it to be cast from your graveyard as long as a creature not named Ebondeath, Dracolich died this turn. This works wonderfully when you're casting spells that will destroy your opponent's creatures, and can even be used on your opponent's turn thanks to flash. You might be able to make a challenge for yourself to see how many times you're able to cast Ebondeath in a game.

Mardu (5-Color) Dragons

The final deck I have for you this week features everyone's favorite multi-headed chromatic Dragon, Tiamat. Let's check it out.

Mardu (5-Color) Dragons | AFR Standard | Jackpls, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Black Dragon
• 1 Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant
• 1 Inferno of the Star Mounts
• 1 Nadaar, Selfless Paladin
• 1 Red Dragon
• 1 Tiamat
• 1 White Dragon
• 4 Adult Gold Dragon
• 4 Dragon's Disciple

• Instants (4)
• 4 Dragon's Fire

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Improvised Weaponry

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Minimus Containment

• Artifacts (8)
• 4 Orb of Dragonkind
• 4 Portable Hole

• Lands (25)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 7 Mountain
• 7 Plains
• 4 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Temple of the Dragon Queen

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The deck also includes a trio of uncommon mono-colored Dragons that will be quite helpful. White Dragon taps down an opponent's creature for a couple of turns, allowing you to remove a potential blocker and enabling you to attack with greater ease. Red Dragon deals four damage directly to each opponent when it enters the battlefield. This gives your deck the potential to win even when the battlefield gets gummed up. Black Dragon gives a negative boost (a vacuum?) to an opponent's creature when it enters the battlefield. This allows you to remove a creature that's 3/3 or smaller entirely. All of these Dragons benefit greatly from the playset of Orb of Dragonkind included in this deck, which allow you greater ease in casting these costly creatures.

The Orb of Dragonkind can also be used to help you power out Tiamat. By casting Tiamat, you'll be able to search your library for up to five Dragon cards that each have different names and add them to your hand. Doing this will allow you to fill your side of the battlefield with various Dragons over the course of the next few turns. You'll be able to reign supreme with Tiamat and her army of Dragons launching an aerial assault against your opponent.

Wrapping Up

Whether Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is your first introduction to DnD, or you've been a fan of it for years, hopefully you can see the appeal of this great RPG from these new cards. Even though this set is a bit powered down from some of our recent sets (*cough, cough* Throne of Eldraine), these new cards are still bound to be played in a variety of new decks. This set is dripping with flavor, and I'm excited to try out more new decks featuring cards from AFR.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

-Mike Likes