Roar from the Caverns of Ixalan!!!

Version 2 of the deck released on 20 Nov 2023

Introduction

This is a fun deck using Bonehoard Dracosaur from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan as a top-end creature. It has also Chandra, Dressed to Kill, which can be used to ramp to Dracosaur. Solphim, Mayhem Dominus is there to double all your damage spells as well as to flip Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw, as Solphim has 5 power. All spells in the deck are fully or partly red, including Molten Collapse and Bloodtithe Harvester, which means that they can be cast using Chandra.

Format

• The deck is for the Standard format with The Lost Caverns of Ixalan being the last legal set.
• The deck is probably Tier 1.5 or Tier 2 caliber.
• The deck can be played in both Bo1 and Bo3.

Source

This is my own brew.

Strategy

Main Principles

The idea of the deck is to play some early threats as well as to remove whatever early creatures your opponent might have. On turn 3, you can play Chandra, Dressed to Kill and ramp up to Bonehoard Dracosaur on turn 4. If that fails, you can play two 2-mana spells on turn 4.

You have also a possibility to go for Solphim, Mayhem Dominus on turn 4 and then burn your opponent to death with direct damage spells. You can also give Solphim indestructibility, which shields him against damage and destroy effects, such as Go for the Throat. Solphim can also be used to flip Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw in a single attack.

Single Card Strategies

Bloodthirsty Adversary

You can play Bloodthirsty Adversary with 5 mana to recurse one of the 13 instant and sorcery spells. It's also a realistic possibility to play Bloodthirsty Adversary with 8 mana, since Dracosaur gives treasure tokens and Chandra can help in ramping.

Brotherhood's End

Brotherhood's End is used as a sweeper in the deck. It can destroy either creatures and planeswalkers or artifacts, making it very dangerous against several decks. For example, it can be used to destroy 3/3 creature tokens from Herd Migration.

Cavern of Souls

There are four copies of Cavern of Souls in the deck. If you get one in the early game, you probably want to play it on "Vampire", to make Bloodthirsty Adversary and Bloodtithe Harvester uncounterable. In the end game, you probably want to set it to "Dragon", "Dinosaur", or "Phyrexian", depending on what creatures you have in your hand.

Chandra, Dressed to Kill

Chandra, Dressed to Kill is also a great card drawing engine, since all spells in the deck are fully or partially red.

Molten Collapse

Molten Collapse can be used to destroy a creature or a planeswalker, or a 1-mana non-creature artifact, such as The Millennium Calendar.

Main Deck Synergies

Bonehoard Dracosaur, Invasion of Tarkir, and Defiant Thundermaw

Bonehoard Dracosaur is a dragon, so it boosts the damage of Invasion of Tarkir. Also, Bonehoard Dracosaur triggers the attack ability of Defiant Thundermaw. Because Bonehoard Dracosaur has 5 power, it can flip Invasion of Tarkir in a single attack.

Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Brotherhood's End

Solphim doubles the damage of Brotherhood's End, but only for the opponent and their creatures. This means that you can cast Brotherhood's End while Solphim is out and it will deal 3 damage to Solphim and 6 damage to the opponent's creatures. This probably destroys all of your opponent's creatures while leaving Solphim alive.

Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Damage Spells

Solphim doubles the effect of damage spells, making them very dangerous. For example, Lightning Strike deals 6 damage and Invasion of Tarkir can deal up to 12 damage.

Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Defiant Thundermaw

Solphim also doubles the damage caused by the attacking ability of Defiant Thundermaw.

Sideboarding

Sideboard Synergies

Parasitic Grasp and Solphim, Mayhem Dominus

Because Parasitic Grasp deals damage, its damage is doubled by Solphim. However, life gain remains the same.

Mana Base Statistics

• Total of 26 lands
• 20 lands produce red mana
• 14 lands produce black mana
• 4 lands produce colorless mana (and possibly colored mana)

Starting Hand Probabilities

Bo3 (No Hand Smoothing)

• At least two lands: 89.55 %
• 2–5 lands: 87.36 %
• At least 1 red mana: 95.17 %
• At least 2 red mana: 75.30 %
• At least 1 black mana: 86.14 %

Bo1 (Hand Smoothing)

Ranked Queue (Best of 2 Hands)

Hand smoothing in the ranked queue takes the best of 2 different starting hands (of 2 different deck shuffles).

• 2–5 lands: 98.40 % (approximately)

Play Queue (Best of 3 Hands)

Hand smoothing in the play queue takes the best of 3 different starting hands (of 3 different deck shuffles).

• 2–5 lands: 99.80 % (approximately)

Land Probabilities

Probabilities are for on the play / on the draw.

Land Count

With 2-Land Starting Hand

• At least 3 lands by turn 3: 70.54 % / 84.40 %
• At least 4 lands by turn 4: 42.81 % / 61.94 %
• At least 5 lands by turn 5: 23.67 % / 40.86 %

With 3-Land Starting Hand

• At least 4 lands by turn 4: 82.67 % / 90.64 %
• At least 5 lands by turn 5: 58.75 % / 73.07 %

With 4-Land Starting Hand

• At least 5 lands by turn 5: 89.26 % / 94.08 %

With Any Starting Hand

• At least 3 lands by turn 3: 84.63 % / 90.19 %
• At least 4 lands by turn 4: 71.64 % / 80.17 %
• At least 5 lands by turn 5: 56.71 % / 67.24 %

Color Count

These probabilities are counted as Cavern of Souls providing colorless mana. However, in practice, it often provides colored mana, wherefore the real probabilities can be much higher.

With 1-Red-Mana Starting Hand

• At least 2 red mana by turn 3: 56.82 % / 72.06 %

With 0-Black-Mana Starting Hand

• At least 1 black mana by turn 2: 26.42 % / 46.23 %
• At least 1 black mana by turn 3: 46.23 % / 60.99 %
• At least 1 black mana by turn 4: 60.99 % / 71.91 %

With Any Starting Hand

• At least 2 red mana by turn 3: 87.75 % / 91.62 %
• At least 1 black mana by turn 2: 89.80 % / 92.55 %
• At least 1 black mana by turn 3: 92.55 % / 94.59 %
• At least 1 black mana by turn 4: 94.59 % / 96.11 %
• At least 2 black mana by turn 3: 67.84 % / 74.14 %
• At least 2 black mana by turn 4: 74.14 % / 79.45 %

Change Log

Version 2: Feel the Power of Brotherhood's End!

20 Nov 2023

Main Deck

• Added 3 Brotherhood's End, fourth Solphim, Mayhem Dominus, and 2 more Cavern of Souls.
• Removed 1 Chandra, Dressed to Kill, 1 Play with Fire, 1 Lightning Strike, 1 Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw, and 2 Mirrex.

Sideboard

• Added Parasitic Grasp and The Stone Brain.
• Removed Brotherhood's End and End the Festivities.