What? Time to get up? Naw man, just five more minutes.
Flyheight
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(13 votes)
*Dragon peeps out from under her wing* Can't you see I'm sleeping here!? Go Away!
*Stupid adventurers keep trying to skirt past her to the other side. The sound of scuffling feet slowly begins to irritate her.*
Awright, that's enough! *As the fifth idiot tries to slip by Sleepy Head leans over and eats an offender in one vicious snap and flattens another under a well placed tail.*
*Half awake now the Dragon hears the sounds of combat at the mouth of her lair. Thoroughly displeased, the Dragon snaps her eyes wide open. In one swift motion the Dragon rapidly uncurls, rises to her feet, and launches herself out the front entrance of her cave into the open sky.*
*Out in the sunlight the Dragon sees naught but carnage below as two armies clash. Following the taste of the mana bonds left in her mouth by the stringy morsel the Dragon's eyes lock on to a mage at the far end of the battlefield.* You're mine. *The Dragon's malicious growl grows to a tremendous roar. She folds her wings, and dive-bombs the nuisance spellcaster.*
*A bone-crushing thud is heard all 'round the battlefield as the Dragon barrels into the Planeswalker. The ground furrows and the robed man gasps for breath through his broken rib cage. The Dragon lowers her head to sneer in the face of the enemy.* Maybe in your next life you'll learn some respect or even grow a brain inside that cavernous skull of yours. For now though, your time is up and I leave you with a word of advice for your future self: Let sleeping dragons lie.
Trygon_Predator
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(9 votes)
I don't care if it takes forever to get going. The flavor alone makes me want to play this. Yes, it will be the target of removal, but you only spent to play it.
Xilinoc
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I don't care that opponents will just Vapor Snag it, or whatever.
It's a 3/3 flier for 1 in red that, with the right mana ramp, could attack for 8 on turn 3.
In Standard.
.Blaze.
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The flavor on this card is simply amazing. That along is worth a 5. The fact that isn't bad only helps matters.
chrismus
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Likely target for a bounce, yes, but you don't necessarily need to use its third ability to put counters one it. I'm looking at you, Increasing Savagery. Your opponent wants to bounce it? Fine, wait for them to run out of bouncers, then turn it into an 8/8 flying death machine for the cheap cost of 2GG
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(11 votes)
TimmyForever seems to have a problem reading cards...
Really, though, I love the flavor. Going to go fantastically with Gideon Jura in a Boros aggro deck somewhere. Would love to get a few for my casual RG: it combos great with Timbermaw Guide and Blessings of Nature.
4.5/5
Arachibutyrophobia
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
at just 1 mana, this is one of the best investments you can possibly make.
destroytargetplayer
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(6 votes)
With movie adaptation of The Hobbit coming later this year, and as a D&D player, I really love the flavor of this card. It also happens to have amazing potential and the Johnny in me is begging for a chance to break it.
Whenever 'A' creature attacks you or your planeswalker, that means for every attacker your opponent throws at you, you can put a +1/+1 counter on the dragon.
jsttu
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Really likes to receive some gemblades at instant speed. big benefit that threatens your opponent into losing tempo for a cheap cost and no additional resources later on.
Cazaric
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(10 votes)
You know, I don't recall seeing TimmyForever rate a card as anything above a 0.5 yet.
I don't think his mummy loved him enough.
Asmodi0000
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I really wish it was when its power was 8 or greater that it could attack/block, rather than when it has 5 +1/+1 counters, but I guess that would make this already powerful card a bit too good.
Overall, I think this is likely my favorite card of m13, because for just one , you definitely make the game interesting.
blindthrall
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@Lord_of_Tresserhorn: I think he's offering his services.
Awesome one-drop dragon. Requires the right deck though or it will otherwise be kinda bad. Still, i love the flavor.
Waven
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Really good card in multyplayer for dissuasive play. If you are 4 player, and you put the slumbering dragon on turn one, people will try to avoid attacking you until it's dealt with. For 1 mana...why not
mrhardy12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I, for one, love the idea of this card. I mean, a one-mana 3/3 flying that gives itself counters as a punishment for your opponent attacking it. Combo it with a green card for one mana in the Innistrad block, Withstand Death, or give it some sort of enchantment/equipment to grant Hexproof. My current standard deck is a white/red artifact/flying for low costs (...which WILL die when Scars cycles, due to Glint Hawk (Idols, too), Memnite, Signal Pest, Auriok Sunchaser, Dispatch, and Galvanic Blast going away, at the LEAST... XD), and a one-mana 3/3 Flying in Red just fits it SO well.
Atali
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Might this point towards a return of Graft in Return to Ravnica? I certainly hope so.
LordofLiege
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If this fella doesn't make my friends hesitate attacking me nothing will. I kinda wanna make a casual red/something deck with this and Hellion Crucible and some proliferation cards
Fenix.
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It'd be hilarious to miracle Blessings of Nature on this on turn 2. I DARE YOU TO ATTACK
Radagast
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Obviously funny with other ways to put counters on it... brings back bad memories of Elder Land Wurm, however... still, at least this one is properly costed for such a fragile, yet humorous, critter.
Firenzen
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Definitely one of the most flavorful and mechanically interesting creature card in a long time. And it's a one-drop Dragon! Very cool card with great artwork and flavor! 5/5
True_Mumin
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Awful. No Shroud or other protections render this poor sleepy bastard almost useless. MAYBE with Increasing Savagery, but that's still a very vulnerable strategy. I don't like this one. Thundermaw is 20x better.
The only problem is that my G/W humans work better off of this...I know dragons are typically R, but I wanna see a white dragon, tamed by soldiers as mounts and allies...too bad that won't happen.
Sadly, this card won't see alot of tournament play. Good for casual, and a fun card. 3.5/5
RawRmoan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is an amazing card. If you're worried about it being killed off, just give it Swiftfoot Boots!
StoicChampion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
For a 3/3 one drop that literally has no effect on combat in the early game, I find this card awesome anyway.
Boakes2047
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Anyone else like MasterOfEtherium better then this other jerk? I do.
Hanksingle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I hate how much I like this card.
RuscoJames
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I see him being useful if proliferation is being used. Drop him first turn, Tybalt second turn, Volt charge on turn 3 if you have been attacked by then.
lorendorky
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
She's already sleeping, why not slap a Primal Cocoon on her?
Naftal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Expanding on what Voldrin and Halaphax were talking about, I'm building mostly green ramp and +1/+1 counter deck with some splashes in T2.
Slumbering Dragon works great with this as it costs only R to play so it can be played on almost any turn without slowing down. Even if you're playing against creatureless deck you can wake the dragon quite easily and have MINIMUM 8/8 flier.
I think the upcoming Return to Ravnica block has some counter manipulation because the original one had it and it would work good with innistrad block in standard. If it has, this deck could become much better.
I don't think Wizards have announced shocklands returning in RTR yet, but they've given plenty of hints about it. Lets assume they do because then this can happen:
Against tokens/white weenie, this wakes up in three turns without help from you. Will likely play well with Green: see Bond Beetle, Hunger of the Howlpack, Increasing Savagery.
So much flavor..... Also, meet my buddy Increasing Savagery. I'm sure you'll be good friends.
DoragonShinzui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It gets more and more ***ed as those adventurers run past it and smack its owner. Nice.
Delphideck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Turn 1a: Let them go first. They play a creature. Turn 1b: Slumbering Dragon
Turn 2a: They attack. add a counter to Slumbering Dragon. Turn 2b: Gutshot their weenie 1/1. Play Hunger of The HowlPack. Attack with an 8/8.
Turn 3: Ring of Kolonia, Equip, attack with Trample. :)
Willieskyeyes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Two cards to try with it in standard come to mind: Fog and Increasing Savagery. They don't actually have to deal damage, they just have to attack.
SarcasmElemental
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Summon Deterrent
Also this guy is good in a fight.
Lotsofpoopy
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This guy can be unstoppable with the right combos. I am a pro so I will think of some soon.
Diachronos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A lot of people in my area think that he's garbage. Here's my response to that: T1: Mountain or G/R land, drop Slumbering Dragon. T2: Forest or G/R land, play Forge Devil, kill himself or another X/1, then play Hunger of the Howlpack. T3: Miracle Blessings of Nature, Assault Strobe, swing with a 10/10 flyer with double strike. Or Miracle Blessings of Nature, play another land, swing the 10/10 Dragon, Fling the 10/10 Dragon.
Yes, you were just T3 killed by a Slumbering Dragon.
Halaphax
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Expanding on what Voldrin said, Increasing Savagery will be great with this card. For you can play an 8/8 Flying dragon. Last I checked, most 6 cost dragons aren't that good.
EDIT: You know, the more I keep looking at this guy, the more I think he would work really well as early creature removal with Ulvenwald Tracker.
Sour_Diesel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Usable with Corpsejack Meance
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Well, you could put increasing savagery on anything and it would become scary, so that's not an impressive "combo" for me. This guy wants to be able to block, as is hes easy to work around for the opponent without contributing much, and he dies to just about everything.
But honestly putting increasing savagery on this guy is not that different from popping it on Fettergeist...
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@timmyforever You seem to have a problem getting a life.
ChumleyX
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I hear this thing likes to run Amok as it wakes up.
Keldane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this guy. He is a fantastic deterrent, especially if playing against a deck that doesn't run removal - rare, but it does happen. Better still is when your opponent forgets about him. In one game, I had him sitting at four counters, and my forgetful opponent chose to attack with a single well-equipped Hovermyr. Unfortunately for them, a 6/7 flyer, while enough to finish me when at 5 life, can't really get past an 8/8. =P Later in the same game, she swung with everything, dropping an extra ten counters onto this guy and letting him devour yet another Sigil of Distinction-equipped Myr.
Bravotv
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card i think is often under estimated, and it saved me a game in a small time FNM. It was almost mirror match or Rakdos, we both draw our hands and i mulliganed twice, not wanting to mulligan again i go, turn one i play the dragon and don't have anything else to play wtill turn four. Eventually he keeps attacking at me with shred freaks and cackers bringing my health down, my dragon becomes the 8/8 and i hit him one. then he almost kills me again and my dragon becomes a 12/12 and i swing for lethal . Amazing card.
Smoke_Stack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I know it's kind of a long combo but I use it with Bloodflow Connoisseur+ undying evil+ Volt Charge/ Grim Affliction.
Lord_Chanticleer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This would be the favourite of Viserys Targaryen.
NickDay
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This dragon belongs in the Simic Combine.
Ligerman30
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy although he looks innocuous gets pretty gross if you equip it w/ swiftwood boots or Lightning Greaves. In EDH, this guy has the potential to be an all star either it's like a Ghostly Prison and lets you win the long game, or a Greater Gargadon or Serra Ascendant type thing. It's pretty easy to out race at 20 life but, pretty much impossible at 40. Either they are forced to deal with it or they lose to it (unless they just have lethal on board). Hey, and you know what? My 1 mana dude eating a 2 mana removal spell is actually better for me then it is for them in terms of mana efficiency. And if the only removal they have are sweepers? Hey, pay 4 mana for your doom blade, im very content playing a 1 mana dragon. Once the guy hits 10 power (which he does a lot faster then you would think) he is an actual threat. I mean you aren't doing anything turn 1 in edh generally anyways except playing lands, so he just fits the curve and if you are doing things turn 1, this is one of the better things you can be doing anyways.
Also on the Increasing Savagery thing. Yeah, a vanilla 8/8 flier for 5 isn't that great if it requires you to discard a card (Unless you are discarding vengevines, that would be awesome). I'd rather just have Slumbering Dragon because by turn 3 (which is the fastest you can execute this combo in standard) your opponent probably already put close to 5 counters on it if they are an aggro deck and if they are a control deck, you should be taking this card out post-board, it's just not worth it. Also your deck becomes seriously vulnerable to unsummon. Just don't try to play this in standard, it's really bad in such a fast format. I guess it's ok, against lingering souls and g/w aggro (or other all in style aggro decks w/ almost no removal). But, other then that, it seems terribad in fast formats.
4/5 for edh 3/5 for faster formats ie standard
BouncyBouncyBouncy
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This could be interesting tech against battalion. 2 battalion attacks and you're able to block with a very scary 9/9. also very cheap to purchase, which is always a plus.
If people are bouncing/destroying this they're not bouncing/destroying something else (that didn't just cause 1 measly mana). If they are bouncing it, it's just 1 mana to put back out, big whoop.
This thing doesn't just attract removal, it forces removal since it doesn't just stop growing at 8/8. If your opponent doesn't remove they have a huge evasive creature on their hands. . .either way a 1 drop that can either force removal or swing big given time is a great card.
On the other hand I'm not really seeing the fascination with Increasing Savagery on this card. It's a fine play to get a heck of a beater out there if you need it of course, but no great combo. Savagery is powerful enough on practically any creature that if you have options you may be better off putting it on another card and dividing up your targets for bounce/removal. . .unless you're facing some kind of deck that hardly needs to attack (or attacks just 1 at a time like exalted or whatever) Slumbering Dragon will get huge without help, most other creatures cannot say the same.
A_Real_Travesty
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
So far my favorite strategy with these guys is to slowly accumulate three or four of them on the side during a game. My opponent throws a few one-creature attacks my way now and then to whittle me away. Little does he know, I've been waiting for him to have a bunch of creatures on the field for when I drop Curse of the Nightly Hunt.
Continue
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Aww, you're a cute little dragon. Why don't you just... oh, you're awake? Why are you looking at me like that? *8 damage*
WiNGSPANTT
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is hugely underrated, especially as a sideboard card for control decks, either American, Grixis, or Izzet. Don't even get me started on the flavor win here.
Drop this turn one (or two of them on turn two) and watch'em squirm. If they attack you, they push you towards a huge blocker/attacker. If they don't attack you, you gain tempo advantage. If they remove it, they used removal on a 1-drop.
Since you're playing control, you can wait for them to attack, get 2-3 counters, then burn/bounce/kill their army. You keep the counters, though. And if you hit 5 counters on their attack, you can immediately block with at LEAST an 8/8. Most players don't realize this.
Even more hilarious, he/she continues to grow after being "awoken." And you always just have the option of Flinging it if they go for removal.
Hate all you want. This still won me two matches in an M13 draft. Admittedly, a Ring of Valkas and countermagic was what allowed me to use it. Still a fun and flavorful card. And I just can't bring myself to dislike a 3/3 flying one-drop.
Edit: Now that Dragon's Maze is out, this Dragon might just see the love it deserves. By love, I mean that she will be eaten by Lotleth Troll to make him stronger, just to end up as dinner a second time, scavanged by Varolz 3.5/5
potatoZMaster
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
anyone know if this card is going to be reprinted in m14 core set?
Bant1989
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is a lot of fun to use now that dragon maze is out with a jund scavenge deck he can be boosted big time and a great +3/+3 counter if you have varolz out
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Definitely an interesting card. I think it could be used in a red control deck. Perhaps an izzet deck? You can use counterspells to prevent the scarier creatures from getting into play, and then if they attack with the weaker creatures, they risk giving you a giant monster.
If they build up a big army and try to swing through, you instantly get the blocker, and if you have something like aetherize, they are probably dead.
@SubstantiaNigra While that's all fine and dandy, you could have easily just won on turn 2 with a different reanimation target. A deck with all of those cards would only be legal in legacy or below, so why not reanimate iona? You basically win if you do.
You could also skip a card (dark ritual) by just using entomb since you won't need more than 1 creature in your graveyard.
Another note, you don't even need slumbering dragon in your combo. If you just use your swamp and mountain to activate bladewing the risen's ability, you will do 11 damage on turn 3, and that will still total to 20 damage. That means you also don't even need fling.
Even further, if you fling jugan, and put the counters on bladewing the risen, you will kill them anyway since fling does 5 damage to them. That, or you could fling after you attack and still kill them.
lilwolf2005
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This was interesting in M13 draft, especially dropping him turn one. Made my opponents very hesitant to attack until they could deal with it or Ring of Valkas made it an inevitable finisher. I rate it 5/5 for the memories of making my opponents rethink all their combat phases and watching them sweat. Lol
jstorrie
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Slumbering Dragon, attack that planeswalker!
NO I'M TOO SLEEPY.
Slumbering Dragon, you have so many counters on you!
This card is pretty bad on its own, but it works well with Varolz, the Scar-Striped since its a nice Scavenge target, and in addition, giving him Scavenge counters will proc his ability to attack. Lotleth Troll can pitch him to the graveyard from hand so he can be Scavenged, in case he's unneeded at the moment. Not bad.
Ataraxiom
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Runs surprisingly well with Renegade Krasis. The dragon's stats are high enough to evolve the Krasis, and the Krasis can put +1/+1 counters on the dragon when it evolves again later on.
More than anything, this is a 1-drop that will deter your opponents from attacking you early on, or at least get them to waste a removal spell on it.
And like everybody else here, I adore the flavour. We love you, Smaug.
novapete
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is great anti aggro. The aggro decks seem to outnumbering. The green/white aggro decks always try to win early. This card stops them dead in their tracks. And you can use him with Varolz and Vexing Devil.
BloodDragon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
(R) Creature - Dragon Opponents may not attack you for the first 4-5 turns. An opponent may cast a remove spell to destroy this creature. 3/3
Once someone understands that they will never be attacking with this Dragon, they then realize how much better it is. Burning a removal card on a CMC 1 creature is far worse than on an actual threat. Slight red control. Excellent card.
That said Goblin Diplomats as a sideboard for those creature heavy decks, or tiny utility creatures. Thou I would rename them to Goblin waiters in that case.
CaptElephant
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A modern classic card. So creative and flavorful and fun to play. Seeing it makes me smile.
Mazrodak
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
TL;DR - If you're making a dragon tribal deck, run this card or at the very least have 3 or 4 in your sideboard.
This is a must have for any dragon tribal deck. Sound strange? I thought so too. For the longest time I wrote this card off as being a wasted slot in my deck and ignored it. I finally put it in when I got frustrated from losing to early game aggro decks that other people in my playgroup ran frequently, and I immediately realized that this card is incredible. Whether or not I beat aggro decks now comes down to whether or not I draw this card in my opening hand.
The point of Slumbering Dragon isn't to have it wake up, but to buy enough time for Dragonspeaker Shaman to start bringing out the real threats. Even without the shaman, a Crucible of Fire guarantees that if my opponent can't outright kill me in one blow, they won't swing. Is he often the victim of removal? Yes. But that just means that my opponent can't use that removal on bigger baddies like Thundermaw Hellkite or Balefire Dragon. Slumbering dragon is the master of buying decks time early game and in a midrange dragon tribal, buying time usually means victory.
Also noteworthy: if you're running a Jund dragon tribal, this card combos great mid to late game with Flesh // Blood. Use Flesh on a downed Hellkite and then Blood to deal at least 8 direct damage and then swing for another 8 to bring on the pain.
tcollins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm surprised noone has mentioned Hunger of the Howlpack... with morbid activated, gives it 3 +1/+1 counters.
Comments (82)
Also a likely target for bounce.
Love the design. 4.5/5
*Stupid adventurers keep trying to skirt past her to the other side. The sound of scuffling feet slowly begins to irritate her.*
Awright, that's enough! *As the fifth idiot tries to slip by Sleepy Head leans over and eats an offender in one vicious snap and flattens another under a well placed tail.*
*Half awake now the Dragon hears the sounds of combat at the mouth of her lair. Thoroughly displeased, the Dragon snaps her eyes wide open. In one swift motion the Dragon rapidly uncurls, rises to her feet, and launches herself out the front entrance of her cave into the open sky.*
*Out in the sunlight the Dragon sees naught but carnage below as two armies clash. Following the taste of the mana bonds left in her mouth by the stringy morsel the Dragon's eyes lock on to a mage at the far end of the battlefield.* You're mine. *The Dragon's malicious growl grows to a tremendous roar. She folds her wings, and dive-bombs the nuisance spellcaster.*
*A bone-crushing thud is heard all 'round the battlefield as the Dragon barrels into the Planeswalker. The ground furrows and the robed man gasps for breath through his broken rib cage. The Dragon lowers her head to sneer in the face of the enemy.* Maybe in your next life you'll learn some respect or even grow a brain inside that cavernous skull of yours. For now though, your time is up and I leave you with a word of advice for your future self:
Let sleeping dragons lie.
It's a 3/3 flier for 1 in red that, with the right mana ramp, could attack for 8 on turn 3.
In Standard.
Really, though, I love the flavor. Going to go fantastically with Gideon Jura in a Boros aggro deck somewhere. Would love to get a few for my casual RG: it combos great with Timbermaw Guide and Blessings of Nature.
4.5/5
I don't think his mummy loved him enough.
Overall, I think this is likely my favorite card of m13, because for just one
I kinda wanna make a casual red/something deck with this and Hellion Crucible and some proliferation cards
First turn, mountain, this.
Second turn, Forest, Travel Preparations
Third turn, Sunpetal Grove, flashback Travel Preparations
Fourth turn, Timberland Guide, swing.
Support this with Champion of Lambholt and Thundermaw Hellkite, or maybe even Cathars' Crusade and token generation, and you have serious potential. Throw in Gavony Township...
The only problem is that my G/W humans work better off of this...I know dragons are typically R, but I wanna see a white dragon, tamed by soldiers as mounts and allies...too bad that won't happen.
Sadly, this card won't see alot of tournament play. Good for casual, and a fun card. 3.5/5
Slumbering Dragon works great with this as it costs only R to play so it can be played on almost any turn without slowing down. Even if you're playing against creatureless deck you can wake the dragon quite easily and have MINIMUM 8/8 flier.
I think the upcoming Return to Ravnica block has some counter manipulation because the original one had it and it would work good with innistrad block in standard. If it has, this deck could become much better.
I don't think Wizards have announced shocklands returning in RTR yet, but they've given plenty of hints about it. Lets assume they do because then this can happen:
Turn 1: Stomping Grounds -> Slumbering Dragon
Turn 2: Miracle Blessings of Nature to dragon -> Forest -> Bond Beetle to dragon -> swing for 8
Will likely play well with Green: see Bond Beetle, Hunger of the Howlpack, Increasing Savagery.
Turn 1b: Slumbering Dragon
Turn 2a: They attack. add a counter to Slumbering Dragon.
Turn 2b: Gutshot their weenie 1/1. Play Hunger of The HowlPack. Attack with an 8/8.
Turn 3: Ring of Kolonia, Equip, attack with Trample. :)
Also this guy is good in a fight.
T1: Mountain or G/R land, drop Slumbering Dragon.
T2: Forest or G/R land, play Forge Devil, kill himself or another X/1, then play Hunger of the Howlpack.
T3: Miracle Blessings of Nature, Assault Strobe, swing with a 10/10 flyer with double strike. Or Miracle Blessings of Nature, play another land, swing the 10/10 Dragon, Fling the 10/10 Dragon.
Yes, you were just T3 killed by a Slumbering Dragon.
EDIT: You know, the more I keep looking at this guy, the more I think he would work really well as early creature removal with Ulvenwald Tracker.
But honestly putting increasing savagery on this guy is not that different from popping it on
Fettergeist...
It was almost mirror match or Rakdos, we both draw our hands and i mulliganed twice, not wanting to mulligan again i go, turn one i play the dragon and don't have anything else to play wtill turn four.
Eventually he keeps attacking at me with shred freaks and cackers bringing my health down, my dragon becomes the 8/8 and i hit him one. then he almost kills me again and my dragon becomes a 12/12 and i swing for lethal . Amazing card.
Also on the Increasing Savagery thing. Yeah, a vanilla 8/8 flier for 5 isn't that great if it requires you to discard a card (Unless you are discarding vengevines, that would be awesome). I'd rather just have Slumbering Dragon because by turn 3 (which is the fastest you can execute this combo in standard) your opponent probably already put close to 5 counters on it if they are an aggro deck and if they are a control deck, you should be taking this card out post-board, it's just not worth it. Also your deck becomes seriously vulnerable to unsummon. Just don't try to play this in standard, it's really bad in such a fast format. I guess it's ok, against lingering souls and g/w aggro (or other all in style aggro decks w/ almost no removal). But, other then that, it seems terribad in fast formats.
4/5 for edh
3/5 for faster formats ie standard
Turn 2: Mountain, tap Mountain, Slumbering Dragon, tap Swamp, Reanimate Bladewing the Risen, return Jugan, the Rising Star to the battlefield, swing with Bladewing the Risen and Jugan, the Rising Star for 9.
Turn 3: Fling Jugan, the Rising Star, swing with Bladewing the Risen and an 8/8 Slumbering Dragon for 12, and therefore the win.
This thing doesn't just attract removal, it forces removal since it doesn't just stop growing at 8/8. If your opponent doesn't remove they have a huge evasive creature on their hands. . .either way a 1 drop that can either force removal or swing big given time is a great card.
On the other hand I'm not really seeing the fascination with Increasing Savagery on this card. It's a fine play to get a heck of a beater out there if you need it of course, but no great combo. Savagery is powerful enough on practically any creature that if you have options you may be better off putting it on another card and dividing up your targets for bounce/removal. . .unless you're facing some kind of deck that hardly needs to attack (or attacks just 1 at a time like exalted or whatever) Slumbering Dragon will get huge without help, most other creatures cannot say the same.
Drop this turn one (or two of them on turn two) and watch'em squirm. If they attack you, they push you towards a huge blocker/attacker. If they don't attack you, you gain tempo advantage. If they remove it, they used removal on a 1-drop.
Since you're playing control, you can wait for them to attack, get 2-3 counters, then burn/bounce/kill their army. You keep the counters, though. And if you hit 5 counters on their attack, you can immediately block with at LEAST an 8/8. Most players don't realize this.
Even more hilarious, he/she continues to grow after being "awoken." And you always just have the option of Flinging it if they go for removal.
Edit: Now that Dragon's Maze is out, this Dragon might just see the love it deserves. By love, I mean that she will be eaten by Lotleth Troll to make him stronger, just to end up as dinner a second time, scavanged by Varolz
3.5/5
If they build up a big army and try to swing through, you instantly get the blocker, and if you have something like aetherize, they are probably dead.
@SubstantiaNigra
While that's all fine and dandy, you could have easily just won on turn 2 with a different reanimation target. A deck with all of those cards would only be legal in legacy or below, so why not reanimate iona? You basically win if you do.
You could also skip a card (dark ritual) by just using entomb since you won't need more than 1 creature in your graveyard.
Another note, you don't even need slumbering dragon in your combo. If you just use your swamp and mountain to activate bladewing the risen's ability, you will do 11 damage on turn 3, and that will still total to 20 damage. That means you also don't even need fling.
Even further, if you fling jugan, and put the counters on bladewing the risen, you will kill them anyway since fling does 5 damage to them. That, or you could fling after you attack and still kill them.
NO I'M TOO SLEEPY.
Slumbering Dragon, you have so many counters on you!
NO. SLEEPY. JUST FLING ME. GO AWAY.
And when you do, if you attack, all you can do is make it angry!!!
(i put a ring of valkas on this guy!)
More than anything, this is a 1-drop that will deter your opponents from attacking you early on, or at least get them to waste a removal spell on it.
And like everybody else here, I adore the flavour. We love you, Smaug.
Creature - Dragon
Opponents may not attack you for the first 4-5 turns. An opponent may cast a remove spell to destroy this creature.
3/3
Once someone understands that they will never be attacking with this Dragon, they then realize how much better it is. Burning a removal card on a CMC 1 creature is far worse than on an actual threat. Slight red control. Excellent card.
That said Goblin Diplomats as a sideboard for those creature heavy decks, or tiny utility creatures. Thou I would rename them to Goblin waiters in that case.
This is a must have for any dragon tribal deck. Sound strange? I thought so too. For the longest time I wrote this card off as being a wasted slot in my deck and ignored it. I finally put it in when I got frustrated from losing to early game aggro decks that other people in my playgroup ran frequently, and I immediately realized that this card is incredible. Whether or not I beat aggro decks now comes down to whether or not I draw this card in my opening hand.
The point of Slumbering Dragon isn't to have it wake up, but to buy enough time for Dragonspeaker Shaman to start bringing out the real threats. Even without the shaman, a Crucible of Fire guarantees that if my opponent can't outright kill me in one blow, they won't swing. Is he often the victim of removal? Yes. But that just means that my opponent can't use that removal on bigger baddies like Thundermaw Hellkite or Balefire Dragon. Slumbering dragon is the master of buying decks time early game and in a midrange dragon tribal, buying time usually means victory.
Also noteworthy: if you're running a Jund dragon tribal, this card combos great mid to late game with Flesh // Blood. Use Flesh on a downed Hellkite and then Blood to deal at least 8 direct damage and then swing for another 8 to bring on the pain.