"Draconic Visitor: Because Apparently One Dragon Is Never Enough."

"Draconic Visitor: Because Apparently One Dragon Is Never Enough."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

I am always on the lookout for new Dragons in every Magic: The Gathering set.

Aside from the fact that I collect them, I also enjoy upgrading my existing Dragon decks. And if a new Dragon is really good, there is always the possibility that I might just build an entirely new deck around it.

So, naturally, I was fairly disappointed when the opposite version of the Strixhaven founders gave us Sphinxes instead.

Yes.

Sphinxes.

I was looking for Dragons.

But then they spoiled this five-mana 5/5 flyer, and suddenly I became interested again.

Draconic Visitor has some serious potential.

Because apparently, this Dragon doesn't just want to join your Dragon deck.

It wants to make more Dragons.

All you need is one other Dragon on the battlefield.

And one particularly interesting candidate is Ganax, Astral Hunter, who already has a very useful relationship with Treasure tokens. Whenever Ganax or another Dragon enters the battlefield under your control, you get a Treasure token.

Now add Draconic Visitor to the equation.

Draconic Visitor turns those artifact tokens into 5/5 Dragon tokens.

Ganax sees the new Dragon enter the battlefield and creates another Treasure.

Draconic Visitor sees that Treasure and turns it into another 5/5 Dragon.

Ganax sees that Dragon enter.

Another Treasure.

Draconic Visitor sees the Treasure.

Another Dragon.

Another Treasure.

Another Dragon.

You see where this is going.

It's an infinite loop.

Of course, because Magic is Magic, you eventually need a way to actually stop the loop.

You need some way to sacrifice one of the Dragons or otherwise break the cycle.

But honestly…

Who cares?

If you've already created a million 5/5 flying Dragons, losing two of them seems like a pretty reasonable price to pay.

At that point, you're not exactly going to be counting your losses.

And this doesn't even have to stop with Ganax.

In a Jund EDH deck, you could also bring in Smaug, Wicked Worm, whose enters-the-battlefield ability can create a pile of Treasure based on the artifacts your opponents control.

If Draconic Visitor is on the battlefield, suddenly those Treasures aren't just sitting there waiting to be cracked for mana.

They're potential 5/5 Dragons.

And then there is Bootleggers' Stash.

This one gets particularly silly.

Bootleggers' Stash gives all your lands the ability to tap for a Treasure token.

Which means that, at the end of an opponent's turn, you can simply tap your lands and start producing Treasures at instant speed.

And if Draconic Visitor is sitting there?

Well…

Treasure becomes Dragon.

Dragon becomes more Treasure.

Treasure becomes more Dragon.

At this point, I am basically turning my mana base into a Dragon factory.

And maybe Old Gnawbone would fit right into this deck as well.

After all, Old Gnawbone makes sure that the damage your Dragons deal to your opponents comes back as Treasure.

Which means we have another way of generating the very resource Draconic Visitor wants.

So yes, I went into this looking for new Dragons because I am a Dragon collector.

I was disappointed when I saw Sphinxes.

And then Draconic Visitor showed up and reminded me of one of the most dangerous sentences in Magic:

“Wait… I think I can build a deck around this.”

Yup.

This one is pretty high on my list.