Note: Due to the similarities between the 4 Dragon cards, parts of this Card Spotlight is shared between them.

The Dragons are some of the toughest cards you can get. With 8HP, a minimum of 5 Attack Power and the Selective Frontal Attack Pattern to go with it, once a Dragon is in play, there is very little to stand against it.
Each Dragon shares a very powerful special ability – for every creature on the board which matches their element, they gain 1 Attack Power. This makes it very easy for the damage they can deal to jump from the base of 5 straight up to 7 or 8, and even higher. This means that Dragons are ideally suited to decks which favour a single element, but even in decks which are spread evening across all elements, they can still find a good home – remember, all cards of the matching element add to their Attack Power, not just your own cards.

While on an Earth Field, the Undead Dragon also becomes a useful Mana Generator. Every time one of your cards next to the Dragon is destroyed, you gain 1 Mana. By placing your Dragon next to as many of your own cards as you can, you are going to start getting plenty of extra Mana back when your opponent begins destroying those cards. If you’re in a particularly strong position, you can even use sacrifice one of your own cards to gain extra Mana – summoning a 1 Cost creature next to the Dragon, on to a Field which will instantly kill that creature, you will gain 1 Mana for

Of course, all of this power comes at a heavy cost – summoning a Dragon costs 7 Mana, making them some of the most expensive creatures in the game, second only to the Gods. This means that you’ll need to do some forward planning if you want to actually use your Dragon – you won’t get one into play by spending all of your Mana every turn, and it’s extremely unlikely you’ll ever get more than one of them into the game.

Once a Dragon has been summoned, though, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll be able to kill it with any speed. This means that, if confronted with an enemy Dragon, your best option maybe trying to neutralise it rather than trying to kill it. Use a Beguiling Fog to make it face a harmless direction (but be prepared in case your opponent uses their own Fog to turn him back). Having a Dragoon Dragon Cavalry on the board is also a great way of reducing the threat of a Dragon, by cutting their base Attack Power by more than half. If it does become necessary to slay an enemy’s Dragon, you’ll need to throw everything you have it him if you want to do it quickly. You’ll likely need to use a Fieldquake to rob them of as much HP as you can (with the Field Bonus, Dragons have a massive 10HP!), and if you have spare creatures in your Hand, you might want to consider using some of the Domination Spells as well. You’ll obviously want to hit the Blind Spot if at all possible, but aside from that, you just need to keep hitting it with as many high damage cards as you can – Pursuer of Saint Dhees, or even another Dragon, are great for this job. Cards which have 2 attacks are also especially good at dealing with Dragons, especially if they can hit the Blind Spot (and get their attack Bonuses, in the case of Didi the Enlightened and Siam, Traitor of the Seas).

Dragons are definitely something to be feared. If you see your opponent approaching the required 7 Mana to summon one, you should seriously consider finding some way to remove some of that Mana from him – the easiest way being Summoner Mesmer’s Lapse. If you can’t, you may well come to regret it.

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This, like all the dragons, is a great card- assuming you can get him out! Probably one of the better methods of use with this guy is to box him in the lower earth field (official layout), and surround him with things like the Canine or elder-monk to grant him a small bonus as well as supply you with a mana source should they be destroyed- gives you a nice boost in order to either a) turn your dragon, or b) summon another medium-cost (3) mana creature the following turn. Versatility of your creatures is the key, and being able to best use their abilities in any given situation...