"Stormbreath Dragon: Here be a dragon..."

"Stormbreath Dragon: Here be a dragon..."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

In a set like Theros where Gorgons and Giants and Hydras are the norm I did not expect to see a dragon in the set.Kind of like that time in Kamigawa where you did not expect to see any Angels because they did not seem to fit in the bigger picture of things so when I saw this dragon as a part of the Monster crew I felt a bit happy.

Stormbreath dragon could be considered a weaker dragon because of its 4/4 build  ,I could hear Dragon Tyrant calling him puny all the way from the ether.However summoning him for 5 mana is very easy as compared to the more powered dragons who have 5/5 or 6/6 frames. 

He does not have comes into play abilities but he does have an edge against control players. He has protection from White who normally have the most powerful 1 mana cost spot removal in Swords to plowshare and Path to Exile. White normally has the best flying creatures so he is virtually unstoppable against white creatures. He also has haste to boot which makes him an instant threat when he lands on the 5th turn or in EDH as early 3rd or 4th.

His edge against control players however comes from his Monstrosity 3 ability. He spews lightning and deals damage equal to the number of cards in each players hands. People who always have a full set of cards due to long term plans and card advantage will feel the full brunt of this attack which makes Stormbreath Dragon a threat and may probably be the target of an early Voyages end when he first comes into play (especially when life points are already critical for an opposing player). A 7/7 Dragon that damages an opponent without even attacking seems like a better choice than waiting to cast the bigger dragons. The activated monstrosity ability could take at least 2 normal turns but then again if Stormbreath Dragon could attack unopposed for those 2 turns then it could be a very short game for your opponents.  

I imagine people who have blue or white in their EDH decks to have a heightened sense of awareness of this dragon. He probably ionizes the air just a bit when he arrives. He may not be able to discard any of those cards your opponents hold but he will make them pay for the full hand that they do have. The best thing is he doesn't even need to physically harm them. You could just do it every end of turn until all the lightning consumes the battlefield. Leaving behind the burnt cinders of your enemies.

What a happy thought....