This weekend I played in the last major event of the current Standard format, Grand Prix Oakland. The week prior, I wasn’t happy with any of the decks I’d been trying out, and didn’t want to just break down and play something that I wouldn’t really enjoy, so I decided to build a new deck. I’d tried building a number of different dragon decks using cards like Scaleguard’s Elite before, but prior to Battle for Zendikar and the release of the battle lands, I’d found it too difficult to get the mana to work. With eight fetch lands to find Cinder Glade alongside Frontier Bivouacs and Haven of the Spirit Dragon, though, the tools finally exist to make it work.

I kind of wish I had more Standard tournaments in this format to play, since I had an absolute blast playing this deck. I ended up with a final record of 12-3, good for 20th place. If there is interest, I may discuss the details of the deck in my article on StarCityGames.com this week, but with Oath of the Gatewatch imminent, there are certain to be some shifts in the format.

Here’s what I played:

4 [card]Rattleclaw Mystic[/card] 4 [card]Scaleguard Sentinels[/card] 3 [card]Den Protector[/card] 3 [card]Nissa, Vastwood Seer[/card] 4 [card]Thunderbreak Regent[/card] 2 [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] 3 [card]Dragonlord Dromoka[/card] 2 [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card]

4 [card]Draconic Roar[/card] 4 [card]Roast[/card] 2 [card]Sarkhan Unbroken[/card]

4 [card]Frontier Bivouac[/card] 4 [card]Wooded Foothills[/card] 4 [card]Windswept Heath[/card] 4 [card]Haven of the Spirit Dragon[/card] 1 [card]Canopy Vista[/card] 1 [card]Prairie Stream[/card] 1 [card]Cinder Glade[/card] 1 [card]Lumbering Falls[/card] 4 [card]Forest[/card] 1 [card]Mountain[/card]

3 [card]Fiery Impulse[/card] 2 [card]Radiant Flames[/card] 1 [card]Negate[/card] 2 [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card] 1 [card]Den Protector[/card] 2 [card]Rending Volley[/card] 1 [card]Dispel[/card] 1 [card]Sarkhan Unbroken[/card] 2 [card]Kiora, Master of the Depths[/card]