I was inspired by the recent Achroma Realm Reports and some chatter in the Achroma discord to create a classic dragon deck. However, I couldn’t resist giving it a dark twist.
The aim of this deck is to utilise the best dragons from Siege of Draco Temple, Dexter’s Dragon Riders, and The Last Snow Dragons of Altari, to build a Strength in Numbers/Cascada’s Ridge dragon swarm deck, with some good locations thrown into the mix. Without further ado, here’s the palette:
The first thing you may notice is Tenebris and Peorth right at the top. Not your usual dragon. However, Tenebris is just such awesome value in any Draco Planum deck, and the bonus of playing him in this deck is two-fold:
- The deliberate absence of any other achrom cards means that Peorth is essentially a second copy that lets you play him for just 4 shards, and get a bonus 2 drain in the process;
- He’s a dragon, meaning that he counts for Strength in Numbers, Cascada’s Ridge, Draco Fledgling and Fromp.
Talking of those 4 cards, there are just so many cards that give you gains for having lots of dragons on your canvas. There’s 16 dragons in the palette, so it’s easy to flood the canvas with them. However most are cheap, and therefore fairly weak. For this reason, to maintain control of the canvas, I’ve got some protection for my hatchlings/fledglings:
- Materno of course. Lots of PROTECTION to share around;
- Breath of Fire and Dragon’s Flare provide actions to erase the scariest of opponents’ characters, without having to enter combat;
- and of course Tenebris himself, either with his on-play ACTION, or simply being a 6 strength killing machine to protect the little dragons
The palette is rounded off with some amazing Draco locations: Valli Caves (of course) for gain and FREEZE, plus Monastery Nest and Chroma Storehouse for consistent gain. The Chromatic Voyager at the end is simply a solid character for gain and combat, or at a pinch a trade for 4.
Cards I have not included are the promo locations The Siege of Draco Temple or The Last Snow Dragons of Altari. I, as anyone who knows me knows, love these cards. I have deliberately built this deck with Peorth/Tenebris precisely so that the promo locations can’t be included, as they would break this combo, given they too carry achrom shards. This combo also excludes the classic control character Impius Drake, as well as Cintimani Stone.
I’ve also not included several of what I consider to be the over-costed dragons, such as Liquatio/Glacies/Caeruleum Draco, in favour of high value locations. I also didn’t include Dragon’s Watch, which makes dragon cards cheaper. While this card would have made most of the deck cheaper, I just couldn’t find space for it.
If anyone gives this palette a go, I’d be interested to know how they find it. I think it’s a fun twist on the classic dragon palette using the large array of support cards this archetype now has. I think it would struggle against the most competitive of decks, but is about as honest and fair a palette as I ever design, and for that alone, I like it.
Next time you’re ordering achroma products, please use the discount code dracotemple at checkout on the achroma webstore for 10% off all orders, including pre-orders. By using this code, you are also supporting me, as I also earn commission on any sales made using this code.
Draco Temple 