Dragoncaster
Dragoncaster is a 6 Mana Cost Rare Mage Minion card from the Descent of Dragons set!
Card Text
Battlecry: If you're holding a Dragon, your next spell this turn costs (0).
Flavor Text
It’s challenging to perform magic on dragonback. It’s so easy to drop the rabbit.- Mana Cost: 6
- Attack: 4
- Health: 4
- Crafting Cost: 100 / 800 (Golden)
- Arcane Dust Gained: 20 / 100 (Golden)
- Rarity: Rare
- Class: Mage
- Card Type: Minion
- Set: Descent of Dragons
- Mechanics: Battlecry, Change Cost, Holding Dragon
Another good card for highalnder dragon mage, but not as good as the breath of Malygos himself. It’s like Arcane Tyrant, but a bit worse in my opinion for the restrictions it has and because it comes one turn later. Comparing it to Solya, of course this takes the cake, but it’s not like Solya was that good to begin with (I remember some highlander mage decks that wouldn’t even put her in the decklist).
Anyway, I definitely think it will receive play in some big spell mage deck.
Like Arcane Tyrant, but significantly worse. Instead of paying mana for a big spell then playing Tyrant for free, here you pay the mana for a minion then cast the spell for free, which is similar. Yes, this does allow you to play Pyroblast and Power of Creation for less mana, but those are not good cards and I’m not sure you want them in your deck even with the synergy with this card.
For this guy to work, you need to have this on hand AND a dragon AND a big spell that you want to cast. Even then, you cannot get both Dragoncasters on the board off of one spell, like Arcane Tyrant could, and unlike pre-rotation Big Spell Mage, you don’t have powerhouse spells like Dragon’s Fury or Meteor.
The actual effect is nice when all the pieces come together, but this has significant deckbuilding requirements (big spell dragon mage?) and that even then it’s inconsistent. 3/5
This is nothing like Tyrant, 2 different approaches.
This is good Even with a Blizzard. This helps to stabilize boards early/medium, and late to setup Big plays
Andy why would You want to cast dragons Fury out of this just to kill the drgaoncaster?
My point is that in Big Spell Mage’s heyday, there were better big spells around than there are now; Dragon’s Fury and Meteor were fantastic, whereas today people look to mediocre spells like Pyroblast and Power of Creation to complement the standard Blizzard + Flamestrike. Besides, Arcane Tyrant worked with Dragon’s Fury just fine.
Also… do you really not see the parallel with Arcane Tyrant? Take the example you just used of Blizzard. Back in the day of Arcane Tyrant, you’d pay 6 mana for Blizzard + a free 4/4, now with Dragoncaster you’re paying 6 mana for a 4/4 + a free Blizzard. I know it’s not exactly the same mechanic, but a known, similar point of reference helps you better gauge the power of a card.
You missed the part where this can pull a 2 turn combo with Alextraza to go lethal at turn 10. Dragoncaster into pyroblast to face then fireball to face for 4 Mana is 16 dmg so lethal if dropped Alextraza turn before or even if you already crippled them. That required 4 unique cards plus any random dragon in hand so it’s doable even for a Highlander mage.
That… doesn’t sound too scary to me. For starters, that combo has always existed technically with turn 9 Alexstrasza into turn 10 Fireball + Fireball + Frostbolt. Freeze Mage decks have made good use of it, but I don’t think that deck archetype has the support it needs to be good now (e.g. Ice Block).
Besides, in a lot of matchups I feel like the combo isn’t super relevant. An aggro deck will have won or lost well before turn 10, most of the time. Many control-oriented decks can heal out of range after you play the Alexstrasza, or have a ton of armor which makes the combo fail as well.
Being able to cast Pyroblast for 6 mana is certainly cool, but I don’t think it’s good enough or consistent enough to be part of a competitive deck.
Ok, mage already has some decent dragon synergies and this is just plain bonkers, not even legendary, 0 cost spells are so great in almost any case, like kun the forgotten king, amazing, I rarely give cards 10 out of 10 but I’ll make an exception 10/10
I can see Mages imagine this with Luna’s Pocket Galaxy and just calling it a day. Thier their own Kelegos but without the whole “Making a Mage Spell for you” idea. And even then it’s an EZ 5 stars for me, for how much more nuisance Mage can pull off other than “Hurr Durr 0 Mana Luna’s”. You also have “Hurr Durr 0 Mana Blizzard” and “Hurr Durr 0 mana Forst Nova” too. And you know someones going to use Dragoncaster and Pyroblast for a finisher, or even Book of Yogg Saron. Not trying to bash on Dragoncaster, but just hate the idea of what I thought Mages are going to use Dragoncaster for.
Huh, good idea actually. Turn 5/6 pocket galaxy could bring back big mage. Nice catch.
Even after turn 5/6 it still beats just dropping 7 Mana on pocket galaxy since can basically turn it into 6 cost 4/4 all minions in deck cost 1.
Ok now we are talking… At this point i Think a control Dragon Mage will be almost a tier 1 deck, there is no way this is not bonkers… A Kalecgos at 6, even if for 1 turn is a pretty power move
Uh, nevermind pyroblast… I’m all in on this + Power or Creation. Finally a real mage tempo play
Thats a good combo but still a question if when get pieces of it to hand the highlight of this with pyroblast though is this turn 9 Alextraza turn 10 Dragoncaster+Pyroblast+fireball. There if opponent can’t heal or gain armor you just pulled an on curve late game kill using 4 cards. That entire combo is also possible in a Highlander mage since uses no repeats.
Wow talk about a closing attack look at this 10 Mana pyroblast AND fireball so mage can now do 16 dmg to face on turn 10 without any spell dmg boost.
Well this card is kind of admitting that Inkmaster Zolia was a crap card. I think this is pretty playable in Highlander Mage. Being able to 6 mana Flamestrike and put a 4/4 on the board for two cards is close to a Lord Godfrey, and that is a great card.
Good for a Big Spell Mage
So, inkmaster zolia, but then 1 mana less, +1/+1, and an easier to activate. Very strong, especially with stuf like pryroblast or Puzzlebox. Looks like it’s gonna be in some kind of spell-dragon mage with stuff like Kalec, Malygos and pyroblast. I’m still going for 5/5
6 mana box of RNG anyone???
RIP Inkmaster Solia.
This card doesn’t seem very good to me. It allows you to play Pocket Galaxy or Flamestrike one turn earlier as well as attach a 4/4 body to it. Is it worth a card slot?
One word, Pyroblast
6 mana pyroblast anyone???