With a top end that heavy in casting cost, I would consider some number of pyroclasm or fog effects or even plain old lightning bolt and cut back some on the high number of dragons. If it's just a replacement for the spoils of victory, then your best bet would be wood elves (finds forest duals straight to battlefield even possibly untapped) or search for tomorrow (if looking for basics, even superior to what it is replacing)
I guess the first question I need to ask is "what is your intent?"
Are you planning on using this in local tourneys? Are you just playing for casual? If you are playing for fun, what does your meta look like? The simple truth of it is, you're playing a ton of high end cards and nothing until then. Scourge of valkas costs 5 for what he does. I admit he has cool interactions with dragon broodmother and broodmate dragon, but either of those only cost one more and also end the game on their own. I mean, 6 mana for 8 flying power is going to hurt a ton of modern decks, especially if you can drop him early enough.
Why sarkhan the mad? I get that he has synergy, but he hits, at earliest, likely turn 5. Most of the time, that is when you need to either have control (you won't, pretty well ever) or getting ready to attack for the win, when you're just dropping your first threat.
To be fair to you, I did give it half dozen runs on tapped out, just to see how it played. Things I noticed:
You don't get enough mana out fast enough.
You can't deal with early threats, pretty well ever.
Some cards are the very definition of win more, such as utvara hellkite. I haven't actually managed to cast one yet.
Farseek is ok, but explore is terrible. Why not run sakura-tribe elder? He blocks for a turn and then sacrifices to turn into a basic. Or, pull out your current planeswalkers and explore for 2 garruk wildspeaker and 4 fertile ground? A single fertile ground and a garruk allows for 6 mana from two lands, not including any others you already had down. that mana is available as early as turn 3, by the way, and garruks other abilities are useful, too.
Ok, I tried your current list a lot more. I did notice one synergy that might actually be worth looking into. The synergy is scourge of valkas and broodmate dragon. If you drop scourge first, then you get 1 damage through. If you then hit them with the next turn broodmate, both dragon and token enter at the same time, and they take 6 damage (from the scourge, too) + another 4 from the scourge getting to attack. That's 10 damage (11 total). Even if you manage to cast nothing after that, that's 12 damage hitting them for a total of 23 done from two cards. That's actually pretty strong. I know you want to play dragon tokens, but from playing it repeatedly (I took it for another 8 or 9 spins on tappedout), it's too slow, but if you get that particular sequence, it's a turn 5 or 6 win, usually with enough time to slow them down heavily in the first two or three turns. If you have any lightning bolts, or similar, you can probably even land it earlier.
To be honest, broodmate dragon is very good in a vacuum, by himself. Scourge isn't quite as good, but it gives you a semi nasty synergistic "combo" for the much sooner win. I would abandon things like dragon broodmother, utvara hellkite, the hatchlings, etc. all for this and some early control or even more ramp, or even both.
I also noticed descendants path was extremely hit or miss. Assuming I lasted all the way until turn 8, through 9 games, I landed lots of descendant's paths. It managed to get a free dragon once.
Elvish piper has a giant "blow me up now" target on it's head and is very fragile on its own. If you can do some cool things aka serious ramp, you might consider jund "combo" with tooth and nail fetching scourge of valkas and broodmate dragon for 9 damage on the spot and 12 more in the next attack step.
Otherwise, tooth and nail into karrthus, tyrant of jund and broodmate dragon gives you 15 power of hasty dragons. Given the prevalence of fetchlands and shocklands in this format (and thoughtseize), that might be exactly what you need to win for a combo.
Let's hazard a simple list such as this.
Assumption: You are trying to make a semi budget list. Ergo, no fetchlands and minimal shocklands.
Pro: if you run more basics, very difficult to hate out with land destruction.
Con: Your manabase may not be as reliable as a fetch/shock heavy base, but with the proper green ramp, this shouldn't matter so much.
We want discard and early creature removal. If we don't get these, we will die.
Actually, budget isnt an issue for me. I like the idea of throwing in removal for the early or late game. I took some of your pointers and reformed the deck again. i really appreciate the help. Its the most constructive criticism I have ever gotten for a deck, online
Hey, I really like the tweaked version of this deck. I have a R/G Dragon deck that has some similarities to this deck. I have been looking at Broodmate Dragon and thinking about how I could add it in.
First my deck is all about getting dragons with Haste like Thundermaw Hellkite and Stormbreath Dragon out as fast as I possibly can. Blood when cast on a freshly put into play Thundermaw Hellkite means 10 damage in one turn. Second I just noticed that while you talked about adding Fertile Ground to the deck it did not make the final deck list. I think this is a mistake. 1 Fertile Ground cast on a Forest (I prefer a Stomping Ground personally) + a card like Arbor Elf that can untap a Forest card can give you 4 mana a turn. In a recent game I was able to do 10 damage on Turn 3 by using this trick to get out a Thundermaw Hellkite and casting Blood on it.
10 Damage turn 3 and you have a Thundermaw Hellkite out which couldn't be countered thanks to Cavern of Souls, 7 mana to cast another dragon next turn, etc.
With that said, I still really like your deck. The addition of Black is something I'd really like to add into my deck. I am really weak right now against decks that have core cards with Protection from Red (Like Master of Waves) and plainswalkers really ruin my day usually. The addition of Black for cards like Dreadbore or some early game opponent hand hate would be helpful.
It's not a bad option, but a large part of why his deck doesn't have those things is because this list predates them by a few months. that said, I am not sure some of what you suggest is necessarily better. As an example, if you fetch up your thundermaw hellkite and use blood on it, it's two cards to deal that 10 damage, and while you'll get your dragon out, it might just get removed in response. Now, if you can do 7 mana, you can probably do the 9 that I already have suggested in his and then going to fetch karrthus and broodmate dragon is one for card for 3 creatures ( 2 cards, rather, and one token) and that's 15 power of hastiness that is sticking around for another swing next turn. See the difference? This is actual card AND tempo advantage, rather than just a cool "combo" that may or may not kill them.
I've actually updated this decks ince the original posting. I just edited it now. I've sped-up gameplay, and I've been winning ever since. Once a second valkas get's out, its pretty much over. Even in multiplayer,I can take-out two or three players one shot in a turn.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/brood-swarm-2/
8x Forest
7x Mountain
4x Rootbound Crag
1x Swamp
2x Woodland Cemetery
4x Manamorphose
4x Broodmate Dragon
3x Dragon Broodmother
2x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Scourge of Valkas
3x Utvara Hellkite
3x Doubling Chant
4x Kodama's Reach
4x Tooth and Nail
2x Blightning
2x Druid's Deliverance
2x Electrickery
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Putrefy
2x Pyroclasm
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Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
Are you planning on using this in local tourneys? Are you just playing for casual? If you are playing for fun, what does your meta look like? The simple truth of it is, you're playing a ton of high end cards and nothing until then. Scourge of valkas costs 5 for what he does. I admit he has cool interactions with dragon broodmother and broodmate dragon, but either of those only cost one more and also end the game on their own. I mean, 6 mana for 8 flying power is going to hurt a ton of modern decks, especially if you can drop him early enough.
Why sarkhan the mad? I get that he has synergy, but he hits, at earliest, likely turn 5. Most of the time, that is when you need to either have control (you won't, pretty well ever) or getting ready to attack for the win, when you're just dropping your first threat.
To be fair to you, I did give it half dozen runs on tapped out, just to see how it played. Things I noticed:
You don't get enough mana out fast enough.
You can't deal with early threats, pretty well ever.
Some cards are the very definition of win more, such as utvara hellkite. I haven't actually managed to cast one yet.
Farseek is ok, but explore is terrible. Why not run sakura-tribe elder? He blocks for a turn and then sacrifices to turn into a basic. Or, pull out your current planeswalkers and explore for 2 garruk wildspeaker and 4 fertile ground? A single fertile ground and a garruk allows for 6 mana from two lands, not including any others you already had down. that mana is available as early as turn 3, by the way, and garruks other abilities are useful, too.
I can't stress this enough, if this is for any kind of meta, you absolutely need some way to interact with your opponent. Whether it's removal for pesky permanents (lightning bolt, abrupt decay, maelstrom pulse, putrefy, terminate, dreadbore, etc.!) or creature removal for early swarms (pyroclasm, jund charm, volcanic fallout, firespout, savage twister, etc.), discard for hands (duress, thoughtseize, inquisition of kozilek, mind shatter, etc.), land destruction-either spell or permanent based (rain of tears, fulminator mage/avalanche riders/acidic slime, stone rain/molten rain/mwonvuli acid moss, ghost quarter/tectonic edge), or even damage prevention (fog, darkness, etc.), you will die horribly and early if you have no ways of making your opponent slow down massively.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I really appreciate the criticism. This will be more casual, with some showings in tourneys. Not GP level, though.
I made some big changes to the deck, let me know if Im more on the right path now. Thanks!
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To be honest, broodmate dragon is very good in a vacuum, by himself. Scourge isn't quite as good, but it gives you a semi nasty synergistic "combo" for the much sooner win. I would abandon things like dragon broodmother, utvara hellkite, the hatchlings, etc. all for this and some early control or even more ramp, or even both.
I also noticed descendants path was extremely hit or miss. Assuming I lasted all the way until turn 8, through 9 games, I landed lots of descendant's paths. It managed to get a free dragon once.
Elvish piper has a giant "blow me up now" target on it's head and is very fragile on its own. If you can do some cool things aka serious ramp, you might consider jund "combo" with tooth and nail fetching scourge of valkas and broodmate dragon for 9 damage on the spot and 12 more in the next attack step.
Otherwise, tooth and nail into karrthus, tyrant of jund and broodmate dragon gives you 15 power of hasty dragons. Given the prevalence of fetchlands and shocklands in this format (and thoughtseize), that might be exactly what you need to win for a combo.
Let's hazard a simple list such as this.
Assumption: You are trying to make a semi budget list. Ergo, no fetchlands and minimal shocklands.
Pro: if you run more basics, very difficult to hate out with land destruction.
Con: Your manabase may not be as reliable as a fetch/shock heavy base, but with the proper green ramp, this shouldn't matter so much.
We want discard and early creature removal. If we don't get these, we will die.
1 stomping ground
1 overgrown tomb
1 blood crypt
3 rootbound crag
3 woodland cemetery
3 dragonskull summit
5 swamp
5 forest
2 mountain
4 Broodmate Dragon
2 Scourge of Valkas
2 Karrthus, tyrant of jund
4 Duress
4 Lightning bolt
2 Terminate
2 Putrefy
4 Farseek (interchangeable with fertile ground for hella explosiveness with Garruk)
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
Clobbering time assistance:
4 Tooth and nail
2 Summoning Trap
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Actually, budget isnt an issue for me. I like the idea of throwing in removal for the early or late game. I took some of your pointers and reformed the deck again. i really appreciate the help. Its the most constructive criticism I have ever gotten for a deck, online
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Enough removal for aggro as well. Tooth and nail becomes pretty disgusting once ramping kicks in.
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I have 3 questions though.
1. Why no Flesh / Blood?
2. Why Sakura-Tribe Elder over Arbor Elf?
3. Why no Cavern of Souls?
First my deck is all about getting dragons with Haste like Thundermaw Hellkite and Stormbreath Dragon out as fast as I possibly can. Blood when cast on a freshly put into play Thundermaw Hellkite means 10 damage in one turn. Second I just noticed that while you talked about adding Fertile Ground to the deck it did not make the final deck list. I think this is a mistake. 1 Fertile Ground cast on a Forest (I prefer a Stomping Ground personally) + a card like Arbor Elf that can untap a Forest card can give you 4 mana a turn. In a recent game I was able to do 10 damage on Turn 3 by using this trick to get out a Thundermaw Hellkite and casting Blood on it.
Turn One: Play a Forest and cast Arbor Elf
Turn Two: Play a Mountain, tap Forest & Mountain for Fertile Ground on the Forest, tap Arbor Elf to untap Forest, tap Forest (with Fertile Ground) to cast Farseek, put Stomping Ground into play tapped
Turn Three: Play Cavern of Souls, tap Forest (with Fertile Ground), tap Arbor Elf to untap Forest, tap Forest, tap Cavern of Souls, cast Thundermaw Hellkite, tap Mountain and Stomping Ground to cast Blood, attack with Thundermaw Hellkite.
10 Damage turn 3 and you have a Thundermaw Hellkite out which couldn't be countered thanks to Cavern of Souls, 7 mana to cast another dragon next turn, etc.
With that said, I still really like your deck. The addition of Black is something I'd really like to add into my deck. I am really weak right now against decks that have core cards with Protection from Red (Like Master of Waves) and plainswalkers really ruin my day usually. The addition of Black for cards like Dreadbore or some early game opponent hand hate would be helpful.
-jay
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
what do you think about: Dragonmaster Outcast and Dragon Roost
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