Dragon Dromai Competitive Guide
Note from Kugane:
Cathardigan brings us an in-depth Dromai guide! That includes full sideboarding, card choice explanation and a what I’d like to call ‘maybe board’ with cards that did not make the final cut. Cathardigan is also the creator of Gorganian Tome, an awesome FAB TCG lore and history channel which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@gorganiantome It is worth checking out and subscribing! The narrative driven content is next level among FAB Content Creators! Either way, enjoy the article!
Introduction
To start off this article, I wanted to note a few things I have been seeing all over Twitter and Reddit: the ever present tier-list. What has been a bane of both the Fighting Game and Card Game communities, often serves to misdirect and distract, rather than give actual, cogent advice on deck selection. While you sift through your piles of cards, feeling guilt for not picking “the deck in the S tier,” I want you to remember, any deck that seems fun is good enough for your ar
Dromai is one often maligned hero on the dreaded tier lists. She hovers somewhere around B and, in some cases, D tier. What we know right now is we don’t really know much about the meta. We know Oldhim and Iyslander are still good, and that is about all we know. So, rest assured my fellow Dromai friends, your Dragon queen is safe to take to any event you may want to visit. With that, I wanted to jump into the current version of Dromai I have been playing to relatively convincing success.
Before I do that, though, I want to note that I am maintaining my Big Dragon Dromai deck, for now. There are many versions of Aggro Dromai running around the meta right now, and while I think those are excellent decks, they don’t symbolize to me what I think Dromai is all about. Not only that, but I am not a good choice to introduce and explain the Aggro Dromai decks (yet). Instead, I would like to direct you to Mara Faris (@blackwingstudio), who has pioneered a (literally) completely red-line Dromai deck. Her deck is vicious, fast, and aggressive. If you want to try that, look no further.
For my article, though, I wanted to check in on the more standard Big Dragon Dromai. I will explain common lines, pitch priorities, match-up guides, sideboarding, and notable exclusions. With that out of the way, let’s begin with the meta slot Dromai looks to be in.
Since the banning of Belittle in Fai, it has looked more and more like Dromai can re-enter the meta-game. I will not sugar-coat it here: before the Belittle ban, it genuinely was such a bad match-up that it was not worth playing Big Dragon Dromai if there was any amount of Fai expected in a given meta. His ability to effectively extend his chain via killing our dragons was an actual death sentence. With Fai unable to tutor resources at will, it may just be the case that Dromai can step back in with a (less) impossible match-up. I still don’t think it is a good match-up. Fai is favored against us, but it certainly has improved.
Belittle getting banned is the whole reason we can even talk about Dromai, so how else does she fare into the meta? Personally, I think she has a decent match-up into almost every other hero. She sits at a true 45-55 spread across all heroes, with some notable spike-y match-ups into the Rangers and Guardians. We will see how these match-ups change with the impending release of Outsiders, but for now, Dromai is positioned well against Rangers, and her Guardian match-up is quite difficult for the inexperienced.
Another notable favored match-up is Iyslander. Iyslander, who is very much the boogeyman of the current CC format, can and will struggle into a hero who designed around filling the board, and who is genuinely comfortable playing off 1-card hands. Dromai is also in the unique position of not needing to sacrifice her equipment slots to arcane barrier, as a good Dromai will fill the board with pesky Aether Ashwings before the Iyslander player can move in for huge arcane damage turns.
Deck Tech
So, that is Dromai’s current meta position. She has a decent match-up spread, and Guardian is something we will have to talk about later. Before we do that, let’s look at the current deck-list.
Current (Big Dragon) Dromai
Class: Illusionist
Hero: Dromai, Ash Artist
Weapons: Storm of Sandikai
Equipment: Crown of Dominion, Crown of Providence, Flamescale Furnace, Ghostly Touch, Mage Master Boots, Nullrune Gloves, Silken Form
(3) Billowing Mirage (red)
(3) Burn Them All (red)
(2) Command and Conquer (red)
(2) Dustup (red)
(2) Embermaw Cenipai (red)
(3) Fate Foreseen (red)
(1) Imperial Warhorn (red)
(3) Invoke Azvolai (red)
(3) Invoke Cromai (red)
(1) Invoke Dominia (red)
(3) Invoke Kyloria (red)
(3) Invoke Miragai (red)
(3) Invoke Nekria (red)
(2) Invoke Themai (red)
(1) Invoke Tomeltai (red)
(3) Invoke Vynserakai (red)
(3) Invoke Yendurai (red)
(3) Miraging Metamorph (red)
(3) Rake the Embers (red)
(3) Sigil of Solace (red)
(3) Sink Below (red)
(2) Sweeping Blow (red)
(1) Remembrance (yellow)
(3) Tome of Fyendal (yellow)
(3) Billowing Mirage (blue)
(2) Embermaw Cenipai (blue)
(1) Energy Potion (blue)
(3) Passing Mirage (blue)
(3) Pursuit of Knowledge (blue)
(1) Timesnap Potion (blue)
See the full deck @ https://fabrary.net/decks/01GHR683SP3GF33E2KFMRE9CDQ
Card Choices
Equipment
To begin with the equipment: Crown of Dominion is now what I consider to be the “Main” Dromai helmet. This is because Dromai is the tankiest hero in the game. While every other hero has to receive the full-brunt of their opponent’s attacks, Dromai effectively builds a field of weapons that soak up damage for her. Her helmet slot can, and should, most often be populated by Crown of Dominion, because this helmet gets around her worst hiccup: starting with 0 Ash in play.
For the folks completely new to Dromai, let me quickly explain. While Dromai’s dragons are incredibly strong, they come with the caveat of needing Ash to exist before they are played from hand. So, for example, you can’t pitch a red card to play a dragon from your hand when you have 0 ash on the board already. This is a huge problem for Big Dragon Dromai, because she can, and will often, start with a hand of 4 dragons. Before Crown of Dominion, the only 2 options were to pitch a dragon to your critically important Mage Master Boots, or arsenal a dragon and pass, hoping your next card would be something which creates ash. Now that we have Crown of Dominion, if you draw the dreaded opening hand of four dragons, you pitch the two least important ones to the gold token, draw a card, and proceed as normal. It is worth noting, too, that starting the game with two ash is exceedingly better than starting with one ash. This is because Big Dragon Dromai plays the Ash-Negative dragons Nekria and Vynserakai.
As for the Flamescale Furnace, this is the most important equipment any hero in the game has access to. I think I am not wrong in saying, perhaps outside of Storm Striders, there is not an equipment more central to the gameplan of a hero than Flamescale Furnace. If you are a budget Dromai player, Sash will be fine, but you should be buying Flamescale Furnace before anything else in the legendary slot. I know those Marvel dragons are pretty, but they bring nothing to the table like Flamescale. The reasoning is both complex, and simple. The simple answer is it makes more resources out of red cards, the complex answer is that it enables Dromai to do ridiculously powerful things like play two-to-three dragons, then a Command and Conquer in the same turn, for a whopping…variable amount of damage and cavalcade of on-hit effects.
Mage Master Boots is also critical to Big Dragon Dromai’s gameplan. This is because it enables two separate gameplans, both of which are critical depending on which match-up you find yourself in, more on that later.
Silken Form is a decent card for its function. While Dromai (and Illusionists, in general) would love to have access to a better gauntlets, these serve fine in their ability to block several sources of split-damage (either physical or arcane) for one turn. Not only that, but they can be used for an extra critical ash generation, and even be sacrificed when the time is right to create an Ashwing, which, believe me, sometimes you will need.
Storm of Sandikai is Dromai’s weapon. If you play Dragons, you have to play Storm of Sandikai. Nothing more to see there.
As for Sideboard Equipment: Crown of Providence could also be considered a main equipment. I find myself taking it out more and more when I am not playing against Oldhim or Bravo, but it is extremely important in those matchups. Crown of Providence is, currently, considered the best generic helmet in the game, and has the hefty price tag which goes along with that. If you have one, great! You know what it does. If you don’t have one, here are a few options I suggest: Arcanite Skullcap, Crown of Dominion (it is still pretty cheap!), Crown of Reflection, Ironhide Helm (for its ability to generate Ash), Talismanic Lens, and, finally, Ragamuffin’s Hat. All of these options do lower your overall power (aside from Dominion), but, again, your armory nights will be just fine.
Main Deck
Next we have the Main Deck. And for that, I would like to begin with what I believe are the non-negotiable cards.
3x Burn Them All
Burn Them All does a great many things. It offers a different angle of attack, a pitch outlet, a 0-cost go-again enabler, and, in the absolute worst-case scenario, a block 3. Many Dromai players run 2x or even 1x. I believe this is wrong, as Dromai has the unique ability to utilize her graveyard for extra damage. 1 Burn Them All turns an Aether Ashwing into a mini-rosetta thorn. It turns Azvolai into a Rosetta Thorn. Imagine having a free Rosetta Thorn every turn. Because Dromai’s deck is so Red-Heavy, as well, there will be no shortage of reds cards to banish in late-game scenarios, which is excellent, as that is most often when the Dromai will want to start plopping Burn Them All’s down onto the field, as they give her that crucial reach at the ends of games.
Make no mistake, playing with Burn Them All is a delicate dance, indeed. It can’t be played too early, otherwise its value is not worth it, but it also ought not stick around for too long, either, otherwise it weakens your other Burn Them Alls. Some say three is too greedy on your graveyard, but I just can’t see a late-game scenario in which I don’t want a Burn Them All, and rate them as high priority pickups in Dromai. Additionally, when multiple Burn Them All cards are pitched together in the early game, putting down 2 or even 3 in the same turn is nigh on death sentence for any hero.
The next is the Invoke Dragons. Those which I consider to be non-negotiable are Azvolai, Cromai, Kyloria, Miragai, 1x of Nekria and Vynserakai, and Yendurai. There are a lot of misconceptions about which dragons to play when, so I wanted to get it out there right now that your Azvolai’s and Cromai’s are late-game dragons. It seems counter-intuitive, I know, because more expensive dragons seem to be more important, as they are more expensive, but it is untrue. You should be pitching Azvolai and Cromai, ideally with Burn Them All, for second cycle. If you can pitch them together, all the better! They are critical at the end of the game, because they enable the Dromai player to block efficiently while still being able to enable her dragon onslaught. Kyloria and Miragai are obvious, but I will state it anyway. Kyloria has one of the best on-hit effects out of all the Dragons, and Miragai allows you to attack with your dragons into unknown hands. Yendurai is also relatively simple. While it seems like Yendurai is too vanilla a dragon, that endurance counter does wonders for keeping your damage alive, while giving your opponent endless headaches.
That leaves Nekria and Vynserakai. These dragons get waffled often. Sometimes they are 3x, sometimes they are not included at all. I personally like the 3x of each, because they present two axis of play that warp your opponent into strange behavior (which is the entire goal of the Illusionist, by the way). Nekria will generate you free ash just by existing (unless it is popped), and presents some terrible scenarios for your opponent. I have personally had games where I play and then attack with a Nekria. It is left at 6 life. My opponent then spends 2 of their cards to kill it the following turn, only for me to drop a second Nekria. An opponent can’t take two whole turns off to kill two Nekria. It is so incredibly tempo negative that you almost win the game on the spot when that happens. Vynserakai will also do a beautiful job of pulling cards out of your opponent’s hand. If Vynserakai is bookended by a Miragai, all the better. Vyn represents 9 damage, after all. And while, yes, his life-total is incredibly low at 1, it does not really matter much when the only attacks in the game which attack for one are Kodachis, a Phoenix Flame, and Aether Ashwings, it does not really matter that Vyn’s life is 1, does it? He still draws 2-6 Damage, which is pulled away from our face.
The final Dragons to discuss are the Invocations of Themai, Dominia, and Tomeltai. It is my personal opinion that these will change dependent on your meta. Landing a Themai against a Guardian, Wizard, or Warrior can quite literally end the game on the spot (especially Iyslander). While it is obvious against Iyslander, because Themai effectively turns off her entire gameplan, it is not quite as obvious against Guardians and Warriors. The thing about Themai is that it turns off all cards on your turn. So while your opponent can still block (and pop, don’t forget!) your dragons, they can’t play Defense Reaction cards. If you have reason to suspect your opponent has a Defense Reaction in arsenal? Well, a Themai will turn off their arsenal. If they draw 2 more defense reactions that turn? Well, they’re going to be pitching defense reactions just to get them out of their hand. The thing about Themai is that it represents a forced gameplan change. The Themai has to die the moment it exists, which frees you up to develop elsewhere.
Dominia and Tomeltai are something else, entirely. While they are incredibly powerful dragons, they are somewhat meta dependent. it is great to destroy equipment with Tomeltai, don’t get me wrong, but the only absolute must kill under every circumstance equipment is Mask of Momentum against Fai and Katsu. In fact, I would go as far to say that the likelihood of the Dromai player losing against Fai and Katsu is quite high without a Tomeltai. If no one plays those characters, though? I am just not convinced the extra pitch is worth it. What are Tomeltai’s best targets after that? Spellbound Creepers? Fyendal’s Spring Tunic? I am not saying these are bad targets for Tomeltai, not at all, but destroying them does not win you the game. Actually, most of the time, Tomeltai will best be used to destroy opposing hero’s Nullrune or Arcane Barrier equipment.
Dominia, then, is a weird one. Dominia, really, is just an expensive copy of Cromai. Yes the effect is flashy in that you get to rip a popper from your opponent’s hand, but that is really all Cromai is doing, too, just with his face. They both return your action point in that they grab a popper. Dominia has some other utilities, but at 4 resources, it is a pretty steep cost when the goal of the deck is to try and flood the board with Dragons as often as possible. I love Dominia in scenarios when I am on the front foot, because Dominia is such a tempo swing in my favor that the game is effectively lost if I am already ahead. Dominia can also claw a Dromai back into the game, but so can a myriad of other cards, so I still believe the card to be negotiable.
There are some other non-negotiable cards, though. Continuing on to Tome of Fyendal.
In my opinion, Tome of Fyendal is required for Big Dragon Dromai. You can run 2x of them or 3x, but I wouldn’t go to 1 and definitely not to 0. Tome of Fyendal represents a catch-up mechanic in Dromai which can either put you right back into the games in which you are behind, or create a torrent of tempo advantage that seems nigh irrecoverable from. This card is why Dromai runs Mage Master Boots to begin with, let me explain:
To those of you who are new to Big Dragon Dromai, the combo works like this: Play out a turn as normal, then place a Tome of Fyendal into arsenal, pass turn, and draw back up to hand size. If you drew a blue or yellow, great! You now have access to the combo. Your opponent will do a bunch of piddly damage things to you which you will accept gleefully (outside of a Command and Conquer, of course), and then, on your next turn, you will pitch your blue or yellow to Mage Master Boots. This leaves you with 1-2 floating resources. Mage Master Boots gives your next Non-Attack action Go Again. This is great, because Tome of Fyendal does not have Go Again. So, you play out the Tome of Fyendal, draw two cards, and gain 5 life…with Go Again. Given how Dromai’s abilities work, you will have likely drawn 1-2 or even 3 dragons, with enough resources, likely, to play them all. Playing 2-3 Dragons, gaining 5 life, and then getting to attack with all those dragons is a pretty incredible tempo swing, and one of the main turns a Dromai will play for in her match. Be careful, though, as other players are now privy to our life-gaining ways, and will pay close attention to when you arsenal and when you don’t. Quick note here: Dromai does not often use her arsenal, because She usually has to spend all her resources making her board presence over-and-over again. So when a card suddenly goes into arsenal, it does look a little strange. Just keep that in mind. Many Dromai players will also bait out Command and Conquers with a Sigil of Solace in arsenal, as well, to punish opponents for trying to destroy our arsenal. This is an excellent point to transition to some other cards I consider non-negotiable.
Sink Below, Fate Foreseen, and Sigil of Solace are all incredibly important cards to Dromai for a myriad of reasons. The defense reaction cards are relatively obvious, in that they are very efficient blocking cards. Dromai may play very well off 1 card hands, but that rides on the idea that she has a table full of dragons which she can give go again. So, in many circumstances, it is a good thing to lean into the idea of Dromai’s very defensive ideology.
The two defense reactions actually do more than that, though. Given that Big Dragon Dromai is a second cycle deck, these playsets of defense reactions allow you to pitch stack faster and more effectively than other heroes. Did you just pitch a Vynserakai last turn to play a Miragai? Well, block with your Sink Below and sink that extra blue you just drew! Now your Vynserakai is safely tucked next to a blue for later. Same goes for Fate Foreseen. Did you pitch a Cromai last turn? When blocking with your Fate Foreseen, did you then Opt a second Cromai? Great! You can put that Cromai on the bottom to stack a nasty double Cromai turn for later. The thing to keep in mind, here, is that Dromai is trying to get to her second cycle as fast as possible. Any cards that help her do that, are great.
But the defense reactions do even more, as well. Because they are red cards, a neat interaction to keep in mind is that they count as playing a red card on a turn. Defense reactions don’t block like normal cards do, they have to be played on your opponent’s turn, a bit like instants. So, what does this mean? It means you can activate Flamescale Furnace on your opponent’s turn. This is especially wonderful on turn 1 when the Dromai player is going second, as she can block out a critical attack with a Defense Reaction, then pitch a red with her Flamescale Furnace and start the game with ash! The tricky stuff about Dromai is all wrapped up in how you pitch stack and generate ash, so always be looking for clever ways to do both.
Sigil of Solace is something else, though. Aside from Command and Conquer bait I mentioned earlier, Sigil of Solace is a card you actually want to use offensively, rather than defensively. It seems strange to frame it like that, as usually we think of our life total, and the protection thereof, as the defensive side of the game, but how Dromai players should actually look at Sigil of Solace is a 0-cost red card that gives all our dragons go again. So imagine a scenario like this: your Briar opponent threw everything they had at you to kill you, or strip as many cards out of your hand as possible so you can’t attack with your dragons next turn. You block out as much damage as possible, using all four of your cards for defense (which is great, because most cards in Dromai are 3-block.) Briar passes turn, loses her Channel Mount Heroic, and is now hoping for you to pass, thereby conceding tempo to her. Well, unfortunately for the Briar player, the Dromai kept a Sigil of Solace in arsenal, and so will play that out, gain 3 life, and then crack back with all her dragons again. It is an extremely strong play, and Dromai’s version of “unfair” things each hero gets to do in the game. Another quick use-case for Sigil of Solace is to probe your opponent’s hand for poppers. You can send in a little Aether Ashwing to see if your opponent will pop it with a 6-power card, and when they don’t, play out a Sigil of Solace. Because Sigil of Solace is an instant, you can give your dragons go again without committing a card until you think the coast is clear! Just be sure to play out that Sigil of Solace before the damage is taken, because then it is too late.
With all that out of the way, we can talk about cards which I believe to be non-core.
Billowing Mirage, Sweeping Blow, Embermaw Cenipai, Dustup, and Pursuit of Knowledge are all great cards. Billowing makes you an extra Ashwing when you need it, Sweeping Blow is a great turn one card to get the Ash generation going (because it makes two ash when you pitch a red to play it), Embermaw Cenipai is just an excellent, above rate card (and should always be played over Red Hot, as the two cards do the same thing, but Embermaw Cenipai is more consistent), Dustup is a good chain ender, and Pursuit of Knowledge is a good card to pitch and play. it is on-hit is extremely relevant to Tome of Fyendal turns. It is a breakpoint. It generates two ash. it is just a solid card. These are not required and where players can start to make changes, but I’ll note some cards later I think these shouldn’t be changed to.
Sideboard
That gets the main deck out of the way, what of the sideboard?
Command and Conquer is a relatively obvious card. It does so much for every deck. If you don’t have them, though, you can feel relatively fine with subbing in pretty much any card you like. Even a Cadaverous Contraband isn’t so bad in Dromai, as its on-hit effect basically buys you a dragon back for free. Cadaverous Contraband would be my CnC swap if I didn’t already have CnCs.
Imperial Warhorn is a meta call. it is pretty good at destroying Iyslander’s Frost Hexes and Insidious Chills. It is a little bit extra good in Dromai because she’s one of the few heroes who is actually Royal and wants the game to go long, so she gets to take advantage of that unique text. Use with caution, and you could just as easily swap this out for another CnC, Cadaverous Contraband, Dustup, Sweeping Blow, etc.
The sideboard dragons were already mentioned, so I will skip them.
Miraging Metamorph is a really interesting card, and one I have now come to consider Non-Negotiable. While it can create awkward attacking scenarios, think of it like this: Wounded Bull costs 3, blocks for 2, and hits for 7 (8 if you are behind on life). Miraging Metamorph attacks for 7, blocks 3, costs one, and has significant upside depending on when you play it. A unique interaction of Miraging Metamorph, as well, is how it interacts with Burn Them All. If Miraging Metamorph gets popped, and you have it become a copy of Burn Them All, you actually get Go Again, because the copy is made at instant speed. So even though your opponent committed resources to popping the Miraging Metamorph, you still get to swing with a table full of dragons and an extra Burn Them All. For one resource? I think it is a steal for Dromai. I actually don’t recommend subbing this card out for anything.
Remembrance is a meta call, but a really relevant one. Remembrance is key in the Guardian match-up, in which you will lose so many dragons to poppers, you need a way to either get them back in the deck, or get your Burn Them Alls back in the deck. don’t play this card before you have reached second cycle, though, unless you are sure your pitch stack is irrecoverably bad.
Energy Pot is crucial because it is an instant speed way to deal with a few cards in Iyslander and Oldhim. Expose the Elements is a dangerous card in the Guardian match-up. If he kills your Ghostly Touch, you are very, very likely to lose the game. Energy Pot gets around this.
Passing Mirage is non-negotiable. You want to think of it like Miragai 4, 5, and 6, but with even less interaction for your opponent. Play with caution, though, as Passing Mirage is enemy number one for Guardians.
Timesnap potion is also a crucial Guardian card. Many times at the end of a match against Guardians, their life totals are really low, but your ability to give evasion to your dragons (remove phantasm) is also quite low. Timesnap potion is a card you can play out and have sit there until you are ready for the kill. Because it gives you action points and not go again is critical, because even if a Guardian pops one of your dragons, so long as you cracked the Timesnap Potion beforehand, there’s nothing they can do to stop you attacking with more dragons. You have to set up the board state cleverly, so that no matter what they do, you’ll be chewing through their attacks.
Ghostly Touch is also non-negotiable. You have to have the card to kill Guardians, especially Oldhim. If your meta has no Guardians? Great! You can skip on this card until you are ready to play in a more serious tournament. But if you are sure to play against Guardians, you will need this card. Luckily, Ghostly Touch is one of the cheaper Legendary cards in the game, because it is such a corner case usage.
Nullrune Gloves are optional. I use it in my decks if I am going second against Wizards to get the ash generation going. It is also quite good against Briar and Viserai, because they have such an easy time killing your Aether Ashwings, so you don’t want to get caught out with no arcane Barrier and a Rosetta Thorn across the table. Some Dromai players swear by Crown of Reflection, as well. I think you can run it, if you want, but I often found that Crown of Dominion was where I wanted to be against almost every hero (except Guardians). Reflections upside text is also quite…irrelevant most of the time. Sure, it could be nice to destroy a Burn Them all to swap it with a Passing Mirage at instant speed, but most of the time, you are pitch stacking the Burn Them Alls for maximum damage on the second cycle, so you’re pretty well set up with those cards. Also, there’s a unique way Dromai sideboards which makes it so you usually don’t want to swap Burn Them All into a Passing Mirage against a Guardian, but we will get to that. I have also seen some Dromai’s adopting Wave of Reality. I personally have not tested with the card enough to make a judgment here. I can see its benefit, but I would rather stick with my Silken Form.
Notable Exclusions
Wave of Reality, I am pretty close to adding this card. It effectively reads “Dromai starts the match with 42 life.” Which is just… good? The upside is not quite as strong as Silken Form, which could block up to 5 damage, but you have to spend resources to do that. Like I said, I am a bit mixed up on this card. I think it might just be the better option, but get hung up on the fact that I can’t really choose when it blocks.
Phantasmal Footsteps, while a fun and cool card, ends up creating awkward blocking scenarios. On paper, it seems like an obvious fit. It could generate ash, block crucial on-hits, etc. The reality is, most of the time, it turns one of your 3 blocks into a 1 block. Or it turns one of your blue 2 blocks into a 1 block, where Silken Form could do the same thing, but block 2 additional damage with the 2 extra quell triggers. I wish Phantasmal Footsteps would be more relevant for Dromai, but right now, it is not. The extra text on Phantasmal Footsteps also does not help with Dragons being popped. And since Dromai really only runs 7 total attack action cards with Phantasm, the scenario does not happen often enough.
Silent Stilettos. It does have arcane Barrier with upside. The effect is just a worse Phantasmal Footsteps, which does not make the cut, anyway.
Dunebreaker Cenipai, like its worse cousin, Spears of Surreality, are cards often used in Dromai. They, categorically, shouldn’t be used in Dromai. First, yes, it is nice that they are 5 attacks for 1 resource. But think of it in a different way. It is 2 cards for 5 damage and Go Again. That, already, is quite expensive. Coupled with the fact that 5 is not really a breakpoint (your opponent blocks with a 2 block and a 3 block), the two cards only get worse. And now, the real problem with them is they have Phantasm. So, really, what you should read these cards as, is, “1 for 5…end your turn.” Because they will be popped. The risk of your turn ending before you even get to do anything is too high. But, for argument’s sake, let’s say you instead play them at the end of your turn, instead. So you play a sigil of solace and attack with your dragons, now you want to end your turn with a 1 for 5? What’s worse, your dragon gets popped before you can play your Dunebreaker or Spears, so now you are stuck with a phantasm card in your hand. I think most high-level Dromai players have come to the conclusion that anytime they would have a Dunebreaker or Spears, they would rather have another dragon. I am on this side of the fence, as well. They seem like good cards on the surface, but often leave the Dromai player in awkward spots that would be solved by having more dragons.
Sand Cover. This is a card that could absolutely see play in Dromai. In fact, many players do and I recommend doing it if you want that extra defense. The problem I often find with Sand Cover is that Dromai does not really need extra help against Wizards. The matchup is already quite good without them, so I would want to dedicate the slot to something that helps me against other decks. Sand Cover, then, is really only good against Guardian and maybe Dorinthea. Sand Cover can’t be used offensively as well as Sigil of Solace, it does not help with your pitch stack quite like the Defense Reactions do, and it is also ash negative, in that you can’t efficiently replace your ash. If Sand Cover had one other function, I would probably run it, but right now I feel okay without it. As you probably have guessed by now, I would rather have another Dragon.
Uprising. No.
Blood of the Dracai. No.
Talisman of Hierarchy. No. I will slap your hand with a ruler if I see this card in your deck.
Invoke Dracona Optimai. I love Dracona Optimai. Such a cool dragon with a potentially game-ending effect. The problem is, Dracony boy also has phantasm, and costs 6. The card requires you to pitch stack in a very specific way, or it has to sit in your arsenal for many turns and require you to block and play inefficiently to play him. Big Dragon Dromai’s resources are already stretched incredibly thin, and Dracona Optimai just makes them worse. So while I wish the monster dragon could make an appearance, it is unwise to do so.
I believe that covers all the notable exclusions in Dromai. If you have a pet card you love, that is fine! Run it in the Imperial Warhorn or CnC slot and see how you fare!
Sideboard Guide
Now, let’s talk about sideboarding.
There is one big thing I want to talk about in regards to sideboarding. While it seems like there should be a lot of nuance to a sideboard plan in Flesh and Blood, Dromai is a bit different in that she frames her matchups around how she uses her Mage Master Boots:
1. Tome of Fyendal matches
2. Passing Mirage matches
These two cards, in conjunction with Mage Master Boots, define your sideboarding, because Tome of Fyendal and Passing Mirage are usually swapped for each other. If your opponent is a Guardian, you are going to board out Tome of Fyendal and bring in the Passing Mirages, instead. This is because it is way more important to stick a Passing Mirage against a Guardian than it is to gain 5 life. What’s more, as I mentioned earlier, you will hold your Mage Master Boots until the absolutely critical moment in which you crack them and play out a Passing Mirage with go again. Oftentimes, this is the last play of the game, as you will assemble a passing Mirage and another blue in hand, pitch a red to crack Mage Master, play out your Passing Mirage, then attack with your Phantasm-less Ghostly Touch for 15+ damage. It is a really hard line of play, but a rewarding one that gives you an all-but deterministic win against Guardians.
Conversely, if your opponent is…not Guardian (or brute), you will play Tome of Fyendal instead. Most of the time, Passing Mirage does not come in against decks not called Guardian, because most other decks don’t have enough poppers to justify it. Ninja, Runeblade, Wizard, Ranger, Mechanologist, Warrior, and Assassin don’t have enough poppers in their deck to justify the awkwardness of Passing Mirage. There is a notable exception, too, in Iyslander, in which basically all blues come in play, anyway, for the extra resources. Again, though, I am not convinced Dromai needs to do crazy things to beat Iyslander. The match-up is already decently favored toward Dromai.
We don’t need to go over why Tome of Fyendal is brought in its match-ups, as we already covered that earlier. Life gain plus card draw plus filling a board with dragons is an excellent catch-up plan in a deck that usually needs to take extra damage on Dragon turns.
One last thing before we get to the actual sideboarding plans. I want to make a quick note on how to play your dragons. There is always some nuance to this, but the general rule of thumb is to pitch the 0 cost dragons for late game. The 1 cost dragons can be played at just about any time (aside from Miragai. Hold Miragai unless you have other dragons to attack with). And the 3-cost dragons can be played at any time. Rake the Embers, the very important 3-ashwing making card, is also often pitched to the bottom for later, as you will likely have more ash to use toward the end game, but I think it’s fine to play at any point, especially against Iyslander.
Another important thing is, that, you do not have to attack with the dragons the turn they are played. Their existence is enough to create tempo problems for our opponent’s. Your job, as the illusionist player, is to match your opponent’s tempo, not aggro them down. If they are aggro, you have to play more aggressively, too. If they are slow-rolling the match, you play slow right back and pitch stack to your heart’s content.
So, with that major caveat out of the way on Dromai’s sideboarding plan, let’s talk about the actual, nitty-gritty sideboarding for each match-up. For this, I will go in alphabetical order.
Arakni
We board out Crown of Dominion, because we are worried that Arakni can kill us with Regicide. The match-up is slow enough, anyway, that it is quite likely you can make Ash. This is a Tome of Fyendal match, because almost nothing in Arkani’s kit is poppers. Tomeltai is borderline useless outside of killing a Fyendal’s Spring Tunic, so I would rather have Dominia and easier pitch decisions. There are some considerations that Arakni may use Nullrune Gloves against us, and then I would say Tomeltai gets included again, as any 0 arcane barrier hero is going to eat a heap of damage from Burn Them All.
1 Vynserakai comes out because Vyn is a little too easy to kill with Spider’s Bite. Arakni also likes their arsenal slot, so we counter that with the CnCs. Given that Arakni is quite defensive, we tend to bring in Themai, as well, because it turns off Defense Reactions.
Azalea
Azalea is a weird match-up. Dromai should feel extremely favored, but playing the match most certainly does not feel favored. It is a Strange Circumstance, where, you could be winning the game 28 to 10 and yet Azalea still feels scary. In any case, the only real change we make is bringing in the 2 Command and Conquers for obvious reasons. A deck that relies on its arsenal to do damage is a feast for Command and Conquer. Be careful with your defense reactions, though, as putting them in arsenal can actually be quite dangerous if you see the Azalea player is turning off the arsenal, which she often does.
Tomeltai also comes in because Ranger equipment is unique in that they use it to block only as absolute last resort. Destroying a Skullbone Crosswrap or Fyendal’s Spring Tunic is pretty devastating for Azalea.
Boltyn
Boltyn is also quite scary. This is because, like his big sister Dorinthea, Boltyn gains a non-zero passive benefit off killing our dragons. He can charge his soul while clearing our board, which is a very, very scary proposition in combo Boltyn. I think it is better to err on the side of caution when playing against Boltyn and sideboard, always, as though they are playing the combo version, regardless of what you see. If you happen to see the Boltyn is playing Raydn before the match (for example, your opponent flips their weapons over while they sideboard (trust me, I have seen this happen at my armories)), though, you are in the clear. If you don’t see that, sideboard as though they are going full combo.
The goal for this match is pretty simple. Force them to kill your dragons by playing a lot of them until you find a Tomeltai. Kill his Chest armor with Tomeltai, and then, congratulations. You you have very likely won. If they combo off before you get a chance to do that, that is just how life goes sometimes. Combo decks, on occasion, will combo. A general wisdom in Dromai against decks which benefit from killing our dragons is, either play no dragons, or play as many dragons as you can. Try to avoid playing just one dragon, unless that dragon is named Tomeltai.
Boltyn also likes to stick Lumina Ascension in his arsenal, so it is best to threaten that card as often as possible.
Bravo
Bravo is the fist real meta-match-up. Bravo is scary, but he represents our first opportunity to talk about the significant sideboard change. Bravo is a skill intensive match-up. Guardians are favored against Dromai because nearly every card in their deck is a popper. Dromai has some tricks that help, though, the first of which being she runs almost as many defense reactions as they do, and she blocks well. So while Guardians are quite favored into aggro, they are not quite as favored as many seem to think against Dromai. The plan revolves around Passing Mirage and Ghostly Touch. You should be playing in such a way that you create more dragons than they can kill, so you always threaten dragon attacks. Be very careful with Mirgai, however. don’t through Miragai out alone, as it will eat a hammer to the dome faster than you can arsenal pass. Miragai should be played out, always, in conjunction with another high value dragon like Dominia, Kyloria, Tomeltai, Cromai, and Vynserakai.
We board out Nekria because Nekria would like to create two ash for us in its relatively short life. Against Guardian, though, we never get that chance. Nekria either dies to a popper immediately, or gets killed on the crackback, as one swing with Anothos will kill a Nekria outright. Nekria is too resource intensive, and we want to save those resources for other, more impactful cards. There is a shout to add Energy Potion here to all-but guarantee a Dominia or Tomeltai turn. You can also use an Energy Potion as a free starter for your Mage Master Boots and Passing Mirage combo. I still can’t decide, as I don’t want too many cards which don’t block. We also run Providence in this match-up, because Bravo will often run more than CnC to interact with our arsenal. Remember from earlier in the general play pattern section of this article. The goal of Dromai is to identify your opponent’s tempo and match it, so as to force them off their tempo. If Bravo comes out the gates swinging, you have to do it right back. If he plays slow, you have to play slower. Dromai can beat every hero at their own tempo.
Briar
Briar is a bit weird. Matches often don’t go long enough for Remembrance to be relevant. Her on-hits are quite weak, so Providence is not needed. She only has poppers when Channel Mount Heroic is in play. There is a shout to run Imperial Warhorn so as to cleanly kill a CMH the turn it is played, but because it does not block, it is hard to justify including it. She does not run particularly juicy equipment for Tomeltai, so he does not come in. What I landed on is the Tome of Fyendal plan with Miraging Metamorphs to catch us up. Briar has to jump through some hoops to do 7 damage, where we can make two dragons, attack with them (because she blocks ), and then close out with a 7 damage catch-up tool. You can play around with the cards a bit. I felt like 3 Miraging Metamorph was too many, but I could be talked into the 3rd for -1 Billowing. Blue billowing is not so necessary when we don’t have to worry about playing out a Tomeltai. The goal is to match her tempo. If she is spending an inordinate amount of resources killing your dragons, stop playing so many, and wait for her to shift gears. Once she starts trying to go face, that is when you throw out a Miragai and Vynserakai in the same turn.
Dash
Dash is another weird match-up. It all comes down to what the Dash flips over at the beginning. If you see a Talishar or Hanabi Blaster? Strap in. You will probably win the match, but you will spend the majority of your time blocking. Dash is one of the few heroes where Dromai can’t match the damage output. It is not so much the damage itself that makes Dash difficult to keep up with, as it is the consistency. In a normal aggro match-up, Dromai can block and wait for a weaker hand. Dash gives you no leeway in this regard. She can go and go and go until there are no cards left in her deck. Since that takes about as long as it does for you to get to second cycle, fatigue her.
If, however, Dash flips over her Pistol and an Induction Chamber, get ready for a brutal, grindy match. Dash’s doing this are essentially playing for a draw. They can’t fatigue you, but they also can’t kill Big Dragon Dromai in time.
In my opinion, it is better to hedge against the control Dash, rather than the aggro. So I sideboard only as if Dash is control. Kyloria and Miragai are extremely important in this matchup. Even stealing one of her late game items can spell disaster for the Dash player. Ideally, you would like to flip a Miragai and Kyloria in the same turn, attack with the Kyloria to pull every blocking card out of Dash’s hand that you can. Then, flip another Kyloria to actually steal the item. Dash will protect those items harder than she will her own life total, so keep that in mind. Another reason we run Imperial Warhorn is this matchup. A recurrable item destroying card is exactly where want to be in the long game, and, because we are Royal against Dash, we get to pick what Dash loses (bye bye, Induction Chamber!). You are still favored into this matchup, but you have to play totally differently, focusing on extremely clean pitch stacks for late game tempo swings. This version of Dash will play as slow as physically possible, but she can really only run up to nine poppers, and they run counter to her plan. Tomeltai is to kill arcane Barrier equipment. While it is great to kill a Teklo Foundry Heart, the real target is her arcane Barrier equipment, because then she is borderline hopeless to your Burn Them All pitch stack.
Dorinthea
Dorinthea is hard. Really, really hard. She gains passive benefit off killing our Dragons. Whenever a hero does this, it means you are unfavored. The goal here is, again, to play either 0 dragons, or as many dragons as possible. You want to force her to only kill your dragons, while you pile them on more and more and, by then, it is a bit too late for her to come back swinging. Once she pivots off your dragons to try and kill you, you only step on the gas harder to force her back off the plan. I have often found it is a mistake to try and beat Dorinthea at the blocking game. Because she gets to start her reaction shenanigans against us with a couple of counters already, just don’t play her game. A good plan against Dorinthea is to set up multiple defense reactions in your hand and arsenal, so you spend a turn restarting her horrible sword.
Dromai (the Mirror)
The Dromai mirror is one of the stranger match-ups in the game. The key cards are Azvolai and Rake the Embers. Do not play your Rake the Embers first. In an overly simplistic description, the player who plays Rake the Embers first, loses. You should prioritize putting those to the bottom for later. The reason is that the Dromai mirror can go for turns and turns and turns where both players have not lost any life, and instead have spent the majority of their time killing each other’s dragons, as the tempo winner steamrolls the loser. And Azvolai, then, becomes a huge commodity, as his one attack can kill a Cromai or Kyloria and 2 ashwings! I’m not going to lie, this is a weird match, and not my favorite one to play. But the nice thing about our deck in the Mirror is we play huge attacks that are safe, because most Dromai players only run CnC as the singular popper.
Fai
Oooookay, Fai. Yeah. Belittle got banned? That is some good news, I guess. I will not sugar coat it, here. This is your worst match-up by a significant margin. From what I hear, the Aggro Dromai variant is better against Fai, so if your meta is made up of Fais, maybe try that one. This variant of Dromai requires two things: Tomeltai, and Fai to get unlucky. If one of those does not happen, you will, very likely, lose. This is no matter what you do. The best gameplan against Fai is, you guessed it, play one or as many dragons as possible. We drop the Vynserakai’s because they’re too easy to kill, and instead opt for high damage attacks, since Fai runs almost zero poppers outside of CnC. If you can flood the board to the point where Fai has to take an entire turn off to kill dragons, you are doing pretty well. If you can land a Tomeltai to kill his Mask of Momentum, you have a pretty good chance of winning. This is also one of the few matches where we don’t go Royal because we need the block. If you have a friend who plays Fai, ask them for reps. You need to get comfortable with blocking scenarios. it is often correct to block in weird ways to force Fai to attack weirdly. The matchup is all about making each other uncomfortable. But while you have a back scratcher to make him uncomfortable, he has a rocket launcher.
Iyslander
Weirdly, this is one of the true races in Dromai’s match-up spread. Iyslander is so inefficient in killing your dragons, that she will do, basically, anything to try and kill you before she has to. Therefore, the plan is to pressure her so much that she has to switch. Two very notable cards in this matchup: Miragai, and Themai. Landing a Themai is such a horrible tempo swing in your favor that Iyslander is forced to deal with the dragon as soon as possible. I would recommend, if possible, waiting until you see a Scar for a Scar before putting out a Themai. And never play two Themais on the same turn. Themai is a “get out of jail free” card. You play it, they can’t do anything until it is dead, simple as that. Meanwhile, you spend that time building your board as much as you can. Realistically, Iyslander runs 9 poppers total. Be a little careful how you attack her, though, because she wants to save those poppers for the race, if she can, and will gladly throw out a blizzard on your aether aswhing turn instead of popping it. In this matchup, you can go a little more intense. I also board in Imperial Warhorn to deal with the long game, as it allows us to destroy Frost Hexes and Channel Lake Frigids.
Kano
Kano is about killing him before he combos. Of course, as that is everyone’s plan against Kano. The handy thing for Dromai, though, is that means our Dragons almost run free to smack him to death. You would ideally like to hold blues in hand and one cheap red to give dragons go again. Landing a Vynserakai early is practically game ending, just be careful not to fall to Kano’s kill threshold, which is usually around 32. They can kill you at 35, so the key is to care more about when they are hitting you with arcane for Opt. This means they are searching for the Combo of Blazing Aether and Aether Wildfire. Ultimately, do your best to prevent them from finding it by negating arcane damage, and keep something to enable go again. Tempo plans don’t really apply to Kano when he can kill you on turn 2. Name of the game is play fast, but don’t overreach.
Katsu
Katsu, like his insane cousin, Fai, is a Ninja who benefits greatly off killing our Dragons. He does not benefit quite as much as Fai, because his deck a little bit more inconsistent, but he still is always happy to take a free Mask of Momentum trigger. My best advice is to do your best to find and slam a Tomeltai to kill his mask of momentum as fast as possible. it is hard to do, but once the Mask is gone, the matchup is suddenly quite even. Katsu’s damage output (at least, pre-outsiders) is subpar, so take advantage of this by our damage…not being subpar. Again, Vynserakai is a bit too easy for Katsu to kill, so we take out that dragon for our catch-up tool in Miraging Metamorph. You’ll want to either play as many dragons as possible, or none at all, just like the rest of our bad matchups. Katsu will very likely not run arcane barrier, so the common kill scenario is Aether Ashwings attacking for 1 and 1 every turn. it is hard, but a win against Katsu is a little more frequen than Fai.
Levia
Levia is quite weak to us. Landing a Dominia can literally kill her on the spot. Eventually, Levia will die to her own deck, so you can kind of just play for that. But she does have a lot of poppers, and she does benefit a bit more than other popper-heavy heroes from popping our dragons, because she can then use them to fill her banished zone. Again, it is all about matching her tempo. If she goes fast, you go fast right back. Her attacks are also uniquely bad at killing our dragons, because she would, of course, rather spend her 7-9 power damage attacks on our face, rather than on Vynserakai’s one health. Get a phantasm negater down early, do what you can to keep one in play, and make her regret not attacking dragons.
Lexi
This is a heavily favored matchup for Dromai. There is almost no way for Lexi to both kill your dragons and kill you. She basically has to choose. An important note on why Crown of Providence is run over Dominion is, that, most Lexi lists are attempting the Ice variant of the deck to counteract the Aggro decks. While Frostbites can be annoying to Dromai sometimes. I have often found they get our ash going nicely, and we rarely worry about not having ash in the game.The most important card in the match-up is Endless Arrow. If, for some insane reason, Lexi attacks you with an Endless Arrow, block it. Over block it, if you have to. Endless arrow is the only efficient way for Lexi to kill your dragons, if she’s using it to try and hit you, she’s dead. The main gameplan is to read her cards, and block the ones that do nasty things like give us frostbites, or make us discard cards. You can, pretty reasonably, accept any vanilla damage from Lexi, as your dragons will, eventually, take the game over, and she can’t keep up with them.
Oldhim
Oldhim is one of the most technical matchups in Dromai’s matchup spread. You would do well to study as many Oldhim decks as you can, because the plan is to run them out of poppers. A non-fatigue Oldhim will run between 30-35 poppers. This means you will, over the course of the game, yank around 20 of those. What you will be doing, then, is stacking Cromais, Azvolais and Burn Them Alls for later. These dragons give you reach when Oldhim moves into his endless fiddling. Inevitably, you need to prepare your Mage Master Boots to flash out a Passing Mirage and then attack with a Ghostly Touch for 18-24 damage. When this pulls everything out of Oldhim’s hand, you have him in the death cycle, because you will be pulling the blue over and over again to pitch and attack with Ghostly Touch, which sets up a deterministic win for the Dromai player. Another option is to stick a Timesnap Potion and push through his poppers when he inevitably gets low on them. Cromai is your most important dragon in this match-up. don’tlose them early. Prioritize killing Nullrune equipment over Crown of Seeds. Or, if for some reason they run Sledge of Anvilheim, prioritize killing the Tunic, instead, because then Oldhim’s main source of damage becomes really, really inefficient.
This match-up is insanely difficult, but it mostly comes from what the Oldhim player wants to do. If their plan is to just hammer dragons, the game will just go to a draw. If they want to try and kill you, you will have the upper hand, because you do what Dromai does: match tempo, force them off their plan. If they go fast, you go faster. Oldhim will, inevitably, switch off his aggro plan to kill dragons.
Last thing, you have to play around Exposed to the Elements. If they kill your Ghostly Touch, you will probably die.
Rhinar
Rhinar is a surprisingly tough matchup. Almost every card in his deck is a popper, and his intimidate mechanic can blank our really good blocking hands. The goal is to prioritize sticking defense reactions in arsenal, so we can get around the nightmare of 2-4x intimidates. While we are doing that, we just develop our board as best with can with phantasm negaters and dragons. Vynserakai and Dominia can be absolute champions in this match-up. Vynserakai because he’s horrible to kill for Rhinar, and Dominia because you can really disrupt Rhinar more than other heroes. The thing which is most difficult about Rhinar is you really don’t get much of a choice as to what you block with. Normally, I would say pitch stacking is important in match-ups like these, but Rhinar’s damage output can be so insanely high that you might not get a chance to really plan that carefully. By that same token, you don’t really get a chance to Remembrance that which you were forced to block with, because you don’t want to get caught out with a 12 damage attack with go again and a piddly little remembrance in hand. Board in the blocks, throw out your preconceived notions about Dromai play, and adapt to what’s happening, even if that means throwing away really important game pieces.
While my heart says it is better to start with Crown of Dominion so you can get the dragons going as fast as possible, my mind says that Intimidate is a scary keyword, and you’ll need all the block you can get against this maniac. Hold on for dear life, and do your best to block. This match-up is fast and frightening, but Rhinar is prone to bricking. When he does, that is your chance to develop your board.
Viserai
Viserai is, again, another pretty hard match-up. He has a lot of efficient ways to deal damage to us while killing our dragons. Meanwhile, his runechants are just…nightmarish for us to block. The key thing here is to deny him Mauvrion Skies triggers. If you see a Mauvrion Skies (which, you will), be prepared to block. Viserai wants to, almost always, throw one attack at us, and one to two attacks at our dragons (a second attack action and Rosetta Thorn). This is how he can manage our life total and keep our main source of damage down. Viserai does not run many poppers, though, because Shrill of Skullform is such a strong card. So attacking with Dragons is a bit easier than usual. The goal, then, is Tome of Fyendal turns, a few extra blues for arcane Barrier, and fight through his efficiency with our huge attacks like Embermaw Cenipai and Miraging Metamorph. These cards are a bit wonky normally, but here we really just want to maintain life parity so as to force him to a scenario in which he has to block with at least one card, but better when two cards, from hand. Dominia is a shining beacon in this matchup, in that she can disrupt the already very easy to disrupt Runeblade. Viserai really, really does not like to block vanilla damage, though. So throwing 16 damage at him between dragons, Embermaw, and Miraging, is quite frightening for him. Any cards you pull out of his hand should be counted as a win.