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Spells for Dragoncraft Decks

This article is for the Unlimited format.

If you're a Dragoncraft player and are looking for just the right spell for your deck I've got every Dragoncraft spell here until Brigade of the Sky divided according to effect.



Burn

Deal 2 damage to an enemy follower.

Ever so important in stabilizing the early game, specially for Ramp Dragon. Loses utility as the turns get higher. Stil this is a dragon deck staple.

Deal 6 damage to an enemy follower.

6 damage for 4 is a very good deal. I say that using Demonic Strike (3 damage for 4) as my baseline. At 4th turn this is as good as removal.



Conditional Burn

Deal X damage to an enemy follower. X equals the number of other Dragoncraft cards in your hand. Enhance (7): Draw 2 cards and deal damage 2 times the number of other Dragoncraft cards in your hand instead.

Best for pure Dragoncraft decks with solid card draw. Realistically, damage won't go beyond single digits unless you're in Overflow mode and have managed to keep your hand full past the 7th turn. Tricky.

Deal X damage to an enemy follower. X equals the attack of the strongest allied follower in play.

This one is wonderful when you've got your finisher out at the latter part of the game. If your finisher is a dragon then this card would typify its devastating roar!



Area of Effect

Area of Effect means being able to hit multiple targets. Have those pesky fairies, bats and skeletons been getting to you? Have a look at this section and the Conditional Area of Effect section too.

Deal 1 damage to all followers.

It's turn 6 and your behind. Spend 2 for this baby then 4 for Dragonrend Quake (see below) and reboot the board!

Deal 1 damage to all enemies. Enhance (5): Deal 2 damage instead.

For one more mana you get a better Dragon Wings. First, this only hits your enemies. Second, the Enhance effect means this has more utility as a standalone card.

Destroy all damaged followers. Deal 1 damage to all undamaged followers

This is half of a combo. The other half is either Dragon Wings or Force of the Dragonewt (above).

Deal 4 damage to all followers.

This hits your followers too. I'm getting a sense that dragons are dangerously indiscriminate with their breath weapons. One issue here is this is a 7-drop; by this time Followers on both sides would likely have more than 4 health. The skeleton, fairy, bat, snowmen, and golem armies are toast though.



Conditional Area of Effect

Deal 3 damage to an enemy follower. Enhance (6): Then deal 2 damage to all enemy followers.

Note this is Area of Effect only right before Overflow. Consider it a more flexible Blazing Breath for an additional 1 play orb.

Discard your hand. Then deal 5 damage to all followers.

'All followers' means your followers too. Ideal situation for this card: You've got no hand and nothing on your board - at this point the dragonslayer's price is worth paying.



Removal

Destroy a damaged enemy follower.

This is extremely good. Removal for only two play orbs. It is conditional but the condition is very easy to achieve.

Randomly destroy 1 of the strongest enemy followers in play. Subtract 1 from the cost of a Dragoncraft card in your hand.

Expensive. My baseline is the Classic Nuetral Execution (5 play orbs to remove any follower or amulet). This adds the same but adds unwelcome randomness. The discount for a card on hand doesn't make up for a lack of precision.

Destroy an enemy follower. If you play a follower that originally costs at least 5 play points, change the cost of this card to 4.

Expensive as a standalone; worth it if you fulfill the condition. And at turn 6 the condition isn't hard to fuffill for Dragon decks.

Banish an enemy follower or amulet.

For an additional play orb you get to Banish instead of Destroy like Execution. What's the advantage? Destroyed amulets activate their destroy cost and destroyed Followers acivate their Last Words. When you Banish abilities and Last Words do not fire. At sixth turn this could be worth the game to you.



Transform To Dragon

Transform a follower into a Dragon

I have a feeling this is part of a combo but I have no idea why I should pay 4 for this effect.





Improve Hand Quality

Dragoncraft has a lot of spells devoted to removing unwanted cards and adding cards you need. Typically, when you're doing Ramp you don't wnat the heavy cards in the beginning and the light cards at the end. So here are some spells that can help with that.

All the cards are low-costed allowing you to fix your hand before the crucial late turns.

Transform a Dragoncraft card in your hand into a Windblast Dragon.

Don't be fooled by the one play point orb cost, this card is for the later game. You can take a low-utility card and transform it into a 5/5 storming Windblast Dragon.

Put a Maelstrom Dragon into your hand. Enhance (3): Put 1 more into your hand.

A Maelstrom dragon is a 2/1 for 2. It has Storm if you have Overflow. I don't think this is a good card. In the early game that 1 toughness is too vulnerable, at the higher turns 2 damage won't cut it.

Put a random follower from your deck into your hand. Enhance (4): Then put a random follower with at least 5 defense from your deck into your hand.

At two play orbs for card draw this is exactly like Trail of Light. But at turn 4 for 4 this ensures you get a useful card for the later game. This is good.

Put a random card that cost at least 5 play points from your deck into your hand. Subtract 1 from its cost.

The only reason you should use Dragan Foresight instead of this would be because early game card draw is important for you. Outside of that use Dragon Emissary instead, it gets you a heavy for 2 instead of Dragon Foresight's 4 and it discounts the drawn card. Very good deal indeed.

Randomly discard one of the lowest-cost cards in your hand. Deal 2 damage to a random enemy follower two times.

Discarding a low-cost card during the later game improves your chances of drawing one of your heavies when you need them.

Randomly discard one of the lowest-cost cards in your hand. Draw three cards.

With this card, ar around mid game, you can start creating you ideal late-game hand. Time to fetch the finishers.



Ramp

Gain an empty play point orb. Draw a card if Overflow is active for you.

The quintissential dragon card? I say yes. Gets you to Overflow faster before turn 7, after turn 7 it is a fairly costed card draw for two.

Gain an empty play point orb, draw 2 cards, and restore 3 defense to your leader.

For Ramp Dragon this card happens at the right time. At turn 5 your a bit beaten up, you need more cards and you really want to get to Overflow. This card hits all those needs.



Summon Followers

Summon a Megalorca. Enhance (4): Summon 1 more. Enhance (6): Summon 1 more. Enhance (8): Summon 1 more. Enhance (10): Summon 1 more.

Flavorwise, what is a bunch of Killer Whales doing with dragons?

That said, I love this card. It is the only dragon card I know that can flood the board. Seeing all those 2/2s lined up on my side makes me feel good. 2/2s mind you.



Buff

Give +2/+2 to an allied follower. Give +3/+3 instead if Overflow is active for you.

Looking at Keen Enchantment and Cloud Chorus, the fair ratio for a buff, whether strength or defense, is 1:1 - one play orb one point of either strenght or toughness. Using that this card is well-costed. Given that it allows you to buff both strength and toughness at the same time it gets better. If you are at Overflow this is a very good card for the cost.

Conclusion

Logically, I would expect that the spells provided for a class would be designed to bridge the weakpoints or gaps in the follower and amulet. Following that line of reasoning the most numerous cards are Burn, divided into straignt burn and conditional. The next most numerous group are cards that improve your hand quality.