I used to play a copy in a WU deck that more revolved around Augury Adept and Medomai the Ageless with Steel of the Godhead. Isperia isn't a game winner or anything, but it'll grab you a couple extra cards. Will it stop your opponents from attacking you? Not usually, but token players certainly don't like giving you your whole library by flinging a hundred squirrels at you. Fodder for my opponent to waste removal on.
I eventually gave up on it when the deck's mana curve got out of hand. It'll get tossed in my Rafiq commander deck on occasion, just for old-time's sake.
I played a few games with one group where we took 1 basic land out of our deck, shuffled the rest, drew 6 cards, added the land to it and proceeded as normal. It does nothing for flood, but it made screw not so bad. We never played it long enough to figure out how to break it, but it was fun while it lasted, helped with pace/enjoyment levels of the game without being too much of an easy button.
I think everyone is going to have a different answer mostly because everyone have a different idea of how much space they're willing to dedicate to the hobby.
I have a finite amount of space. There's a couple boxes, couple binders, lots of deck boxes. I still have a bit of space to add stuff, but once in a while I'll just grab some, and start asking myself questions-
"how long since I used this?"
"why?"
"what's better nowadays?"
"Am I ever going to actually build that Cats from Outer Space deck I bought these for?"
and the occasional...
"geez, wonder what this is worth nowadays?"
You have to be ruthless with yourself. Your brain will come up with all kinds of excuses to save something. I regret TONS of what I've given up over the years. I also think about how unruly the collection would be had I not trimmed the fat over the years.
Junkie's disclaimer: I do keep a 3rd big box under the bed of cards and stuff I've retired from the main collection that I don't want to sell or no one wants to buy.
Of course, all this refers to a whole collection, not just a commander collection.
And here's one for the old fogies: The old Case Logic nylon cassette cases fit deck boxes perfectly. The single layer (I think it was 30 cassettes) fits 14 deck boxes, the double layer holds 28, or you can work fat pack boxes into it.
OK, so let's start with Atarka. Honestly, I'd just get 2 for starters. I rarely run more than 2 copies of anything at 6 mana or more. There are exceptions for 3 copies, but 4 is almost always overkill in a deck like this. Especially given Atarka's legendary status. You don't want it plugging up your hand in the early game, and you don't want it plugging up your hand later on when you can cast it, but can only have one in play at a time. This would give you a decent chunk of your budget back for some other stuff. Like lands. Gonna need some lands if your're gonna do 3 color.
I'd go for 2 decks. One straight red, more streamlined, fast mana, attacking, "mid-aggro" type of deal, and the second, a RGB Scourge of Valkas and Dragon Tempest token strategy. It's a slower, long-game kind of idea, and a lot more fun to play. This is where you find the fun stuff like Atarka and Dragon's Hoard. It doesn't really attack. All your damage usually comes from Scourge and Tempest procs. Making dragons faster than your opponent can blow them up is the hope.
I have a Rafiq of the Many commander deck where I started using Atraxa, Praetors' Voice as the commander. I just found I never really wanted Rafiq till later in the game when I could protect him better, and Atraxa and the black gave me the ability to fairly easily tutor him when ready and so much more.
You gots some cool stuff there. Is there a specific format ban list you're building for? Vintage by default? Are these for multiplayer or 1-v-1? Both? Need more info to really make up some decklists.
There's a couple dragon threads here and the MP subforum. Those should give you some ideas if you haven't read them already.
I've been running one that's RGB. This might be pointless info to share, as three colors might be hard to do without already owning a decent mana base. Not sure if you meant these are the ONLY cards you have. That Dragonlord Atarka idea would work much better if you could splash black. I'd add Broodmate Dragon with Lathliss, Dragon Queen and Scourge of Valkas running around. They are cheap. Black also adds some cheap recursion options to keep bringing things back. Return from Extinction and Victimize come to mind. Artarka likes recursion.
Some other cheap-to-cheapish stuff I'd add to the collection: Dragon Tempest Same proc as Scourge, plus hastey goodness Dragon Egg Triggers Scourge, Tempest, Lathliss. Then Scourge and Tempest again when it leaves. Dragon Hatchling You might want to use this in the aggro version. It's also not as useless as it looks in the late game. 2 mana for a bunch of Scourge/Tempest triggers has won me more than a few games. Vines of Vastwood and Blossoming Defense Basically counterspells when someone takes a pot shot at Atarka, Lathliss, Scourge, etc. Dragon's Hoard Yeah, might get blown up pretty quick, but great when it doesn't. Plus, bonus points for flavor. What kind of dragon quest doesn't have a big old stack of loot? Rite of Flame. It's a great card for the aggro list, but only legal in vintage I think.
I really wanted to suggest Nesting Dragon. However, they apparently went up a bit in price ($15) since I paid $4 a pop for mine. But if you have it, they're a great add to the Scourge/Tempest strategy. It's a commander card, so might not be legal in most formats.
There's a downside to all this dragony goodness. They aren't hard to stop. Tends to be very tribal. It's annoying enough that if you play the same people all the time, you'll get ganged up on as soon as someone figures out what you're playing. It's hard making a truly fast list. Mid-ramge at best.
Many random thoughts, hope it was remotely helpful. I'll talk dragons all day.
Well, I agree, FWIW. However, I think most of the players who are gonna agree are the older ones (like me, 51 and still tappin') who were around when MTG was a simpler game. To most MTG players this is just gonna come across like the "old man shaking his fist at the WotC cloud".
It's gonna happen. It's a product of evolution. All the "simple" cards have been done. If you're gonna make new cards, they are going to get more complex as the simple ideas get used up. Releasing new sets/cards every other week doesn't help.
Too much text? Well, throw up a modern set spoiler, then look at an older spoiler. Yes, we had plenty of wordy, confusing cards (the classic example- Ice Cauldron), but by-and-large it was simpler. Lots more words nowadays. MTG has gotten somewhat bloated and convoluted over the years. Again, the simple stuff has been done. They've done a fair job of keeping the text to a minimum, "streamlining" language/text, but sometimes take this idea too far. (latest pet peeve/annoyance- T: Add 1 green mana. TO WHAT??? My retirement portfolio? G'ma's chicken soup recipe? The toilet tank??? DUMB!) There are, thankfully, still some simple cards happening.
As far as alt versions of cards, I'm all good with it. I went through my "fancy version" stage. Playsets of foil textless Damnation, Wrath of God, Cryptic Command, all of that crap. Over it. Give me simple and original any day. Nowadays, I just like the fancy versions because they help keep the prices of basic versions lower. Usually.
It is what it is. If wordy, bloated, and six different versions of the same card in one set are what it takes to keep the game going, then so be it.
There was a time that if you were doing a tribal zombie weenie aggro deck, this guy was one of very few 1 drop zombies. Still sucked. Best thing about it was the ability to get a bigger creature in your graveyard to dig out later.
Yeah, elf token decks were a big thing. Still are, but haven't really played this guy since back in it's day (we called it "Drove of Death"). I think I also had a couple lists pairing it with Creakwood Liege. Might play nice with Hornet Queen or Arasta of the Endless Web. Or a counter-swing after a nice fat Arachnogenesis. There's just so many ways to make green tokens.
It's not budget, but if you have or can swing a Creakwood Liege or 3, so much the better. Of course, then I'd have to add Elemental Bond, which if you can keep it around, would generate some serious card advan. Yes, the tokens come in as 3/3.
OK, this may be a simple old man's brain fart. And by "may" I mean pretty certain.
I have Vivien, Monster's Advocate and Lathliss, Dragon queen in play. I activate Viv's last loyalty ability. Tap some mana and play Broodmate Dragon. Now, before it resolves and ETB, triggering Lathliss and itself, Viv's abilty is trggered as a spell being cast. I search up Scourge of Valkas and put it onto the battlefield. Doing that triggers Lathliss and itself. So I now have a spell (Broodmate) and 2 triggered abilities waiting to resolve.
Damn! Oktayne, you had me in Hysterics!!! I have to admit, dragons actually have a ridiculous amount of combo potential. if I could Add my own little bit of silly to the list, it would be Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury! Let's say we pulled your combo, then slam Kolaghan. Each attacking creature now gets a nice buff of +10/+0 on attack.. I love it!!! Be nice to have both Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury and Atarka, World Render on-board at once. I would feel almost bad for the opponents... Almost.
One dragon I always find to be fantastic is actually Dragonlord Kolaghan as well, but that's because of my usual playgroup. Almost every one of them likes reanimator, so... 10 to the face if you try it works nicely!!
Nice to see there are still some dragon lovers out there!
Kolaghan would be fun. Might need to add to the commander version. Utvara Hellkite is also a bit of fun in that scenario.
Funny brain-fart about Dragonlord Kolaghan. Had him in a commander deck once. Oops.
I eventually gave up on it when the deck's mana curve got out of hand. It'll get tossed in my Rafiq commander deck on occasion, just for old-time's sake.
I think everyone is going to have a different answer mostly because everyone have a different idea of how much space they're willing to dedicate to the hobby.
I have a finite amount of space. There's a couple boxes, couple binders, lots of deck boxes. I still have a bit of space to add stuff, but once in a while I'll just grab some, and start asking myself questions-
"how long since I used this?"
"why?"
"what's better nowadays?"
"Am I ever going to actually build that Cats from Outer Space deck I bought these for?"
and the occasional...
"geez, wonder what this is worth nowadays?"
You have to be ruthless with yourself. Your brain will come up with all kinds of excuses to save something. I regret TONS of what I've given up over the years. I also think about how unruly the collection would be had I not trimmed the fat over the years.
Junkie's disclaimer: I do keep a 3rd big box under the bed of cards and stuff I've retired from the main collection that I don't want to sell or no one wants to buy.
Of course, all this refers to a whole collection, not just a commander collection.
And here's one for the old fogies: The old Case Logic nylon cassette cases fit deck boxes perfectly. The single layer (I think it was 30 cassettes) fits 14 deck boxes, the double layer holds 28, or you can work fat pack boxes into it.
I'd go for 2 decks. One straight red, more streamlined, fast mana, attacking, "mid-aggro" type of deal, and the second, a RGB Scourge of Valkas and Dragon Tempest token strategy. It's a slower, long-game kind of idea, and a lot more fun to play. This is where you find the fun stuff like Atarka and Dragon's Hoard. It doesn't really attack. All your damage usually comes from Scourge and Tempest procs. Making dragons faster than your opponent can blow them up is the hope.
What to buy? If it was me...
For the attacking deck-
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Rite of Flame
4 Dragon Egg
4 Dragon Hatchling
For the token deck-
2 Dragonlord Atarka
1 Bladewing the Risen
3 Broodmate Dragon
2 Dragon Broodmother
3 Dragon Tempest
3 Blossoming Defense
2 Victimize
2 Bedevil
2 By Force
2 Putrefy
2 Feed the Swarm
3 Return to Nature
2 Dragon's Hoard
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Savage Lands
Going for your budget here, there are better cards. I'm sure I forgot something. Not even sure I'm still in your budget?
The RGB version. Or at least a starting point off the top of my head:
3 Dragon Hatchling
3 Dragon Egg
3 Scourge of Valkas
1 Terror of the Peaks
2 Lathliss, Dragon Queen
2 Dragon Broodmother
3 Broodmate Dragon
1 Bladewing the Risen
2 Dragonlord Atarka
3 Dragon Tempest
3 Blossoming Defense
2 Sarkhan's Triumph
2 Victimize
3 Feed the Swarm
2 Return to Nature
2 Bedevil
1 By Force
2 Dragon's Hoard
Tweak to taste. Still need the land. What land do you have? Looks fun though.
Gotta think about the other deck.
There's a couple dragon threads here and the MP subforum. Those should give you some ideas if you haven't read them already.
I've been running one that's RGB. This might be pointless info to share, as three colors might be hard to do without already owning a decent mana base. Not sure if you meant these are the ONLY cards you have. That Dragonlord Atarka idea would work much better if you could splash black. I'd add Broodmate Dragon with Lathliss, Dragon Queen and Scourge of Valkas running around. They are cheap. Black also adds some cheap recursion options to keep bringing things back. Return from Extinction and Victimize come to mind. Artarka likes recursion.
Some other cheap-to-cheapish stuff I'd add to the collection:
Dragon Tempest Same proc as Scourge, plus hastey goodness
Dragon Egg Triggers Scourge, Tempest, Lathliss. Then Scourge and Tempest again when it leaves.
Dragon Hatchling You might want to use this in the aggro version. It's also not as useless as it looks in the late game. 2 mana for a bunch of Scourge/Tempest triggers has won me more than a few games.
Vines of Vastwood and Blossoming Defense Basically counterspells when someone takes a pot shot at Atarka, Lathliss, Scourge, etc.
Dragon's Hoard Yeah, might get blown up pretty quick, but great when it doesn't. Plus, bonus points for flavor. What kind of dragon quest doesn't have a big old stack of loot?
Rite of Flame. It's a great card for the aggro list, but only legal in vintage I think.
I really wanted to suggest Nesting Dragon. However, they apparently went up a bit in price ($15) since I paid $4 a pop for mine. But if you have it, they're a great add to the Scourge/Tempest strategy. It's a commander card, so might not be legal in most formats.
There's a downside to all this dragony goodness. They aren't hard to stop. Tends to be very tribal. It's annoying enough that if you play the same people all the time, you'll get ganged up on as soon as someone figures out what you're playing. It's hard making a truly fast list. Mid-ramge at best.
Many random thoughts, hope it was remotely helpful. I'll talk dragons all day.
It's gonna happen. It's a product of evolution. All the "simple" cards have been done. If you're gonna make new cards, they are going to get more complex as the simple ideas get used up. Releasing new sets/cards every other week doesn't help.
Too much text? Well, throw up a modern set spoiler, then look at an older spoiler. Yes, we had plenty of wordy, confusing cards (the classic example- Ice Cauldron), but by-and-large it was simpler. Lots more words nowadays. MTG has gotten somewhat bloated and convoluted over the years. Again, the simple stuff has been done. They've done a fair job of keeping the text to a minimum, "streamlining" language/text, but sometimes take this idea too far. (latest pet peeve/annoyance- T: Add 1 green mana. TO WHAT??? My retirement portfolio? G'ma's chicken soup recipe? The toilet tank??? DUMB!) There are, thankfully, still some simple cards happening.
As far as alt versions of cards, I'm all good with it. I went through my "fancy version" stage. Playsets of foil textless Damnation, Wrath of God, Cryptic Command, all of that crap. Over it. Give me simple and original any day. Nowadays, I just like the fancy versions because they help keep the prices of basic versions lower. Usually.
It is what it is. If wordy, bloated, and six different versions of the same card in one set are what it takes to keep the game going, then so be it.
I have Vivien, Monster's Advocate and Lathliss, Dragon queen in play. I activate Viv's last loyalty ability. Tap some mana and play Broodmate Dragon. Now, before it resolves and ETB, triggering Lathliss and itself, Viv's abilty is trggered as a spell being cast. I search up Scourge of Valkas and put it onto the battlefield. Doing that triggers Lathliss and itself. So I now have a spell (Broodmate) and 2 triggered abilities waiting to resolve.
Spell first? Triggers first? My choice of order?
Kolaghan would be fun. Might need to add to the commander version. Utvara Hellkite is also a bit of fun in that scenario.
Funny brain-fart about Dragonlord Kolaghan. Had him in a commander deck once. Oops.
And that's a good question regarding the Shaman thing. Never really thought about, but good question.