Skycrag dragons

Quick Edits:

Modified the deck slightly.

-1 Backlash
-1 Permafrost
+2 Jotun Hurler

-1 Obliterate
+1 Burn Out

Another few notes. The main deck this has trouble against is big green - so svetya, sediti, koryvaht. The changes try to take that into account - backlash isn't that strong against that deck and permafrost gets pwned by endurance (little icaria, koryvaht). Snowball is also good vs 2 of their 2 drops. Burn out for obliterate because I often have mana on the enemies turn but not my own, and I often have extra guys on the board not doing much, so burn out gives me a chance to hit for 5 or 6 more without using a full turn to do it. I've found this deck to have very strong success overall. It beats recursion decks incredibly well (1 backlash usually just wins the game, vara is very weak to this deck because if you instant removal her before her effect, she goes into GY as a 3/4). It beats control - backlash again. It beats revenge decks (permafrost, dragon). It beats praxis - ice bolts handle sandstorm titan and there are lots of ways to deal with teacher. The lethal creatures aren't a big deal cause of all your fliers. I am starting to think this could be a tier 1 deck, especially if it gets a few more tools in the next set. On turn 4 it has the potential to just go, sooner if you get 2 oni in hand and a dragon. The deck can be a little streaky - I've had games where I've won 5 in a row then lost 5. It's very dependent on the draw, but if it gets the right draws it's very hard to beat.

1) Oni dragonsmith - I often don't play this guy until the turn I can also play a dragon. The reason for this is because there are a bazillion ping effects, and I've found that putting him down turn 1, 2, or even 3 can be awkward and bad. However, there are many cases where I'll throw them down early, most notably when it's very awkward for the opponent to deal with it. For instance, if you play it turn three vs a shadow deck, their only removal is 2 mana. Many times they choose to push out a three drop instead. If you're against a fire deck, you might put it out turn 2 to force them to choose between torch and a 2 drop. It can be tricky.

2) Permafrost is great against everything except green. There are a ton of recursion effects (VARA) and draw from graveyard, or just not die (Rost), and this card deals with all of that. It's definitely useful, but you need to be careful with who you play it on, and when it's played sometimes.

3) Seek power - I was having issues with not having mana early. This fixed it.

4) Backlash - this one is controversial. There are some games where this just destroys the enemy (negating a harsh rule is gg). The added 2 dmg is great in control matchups where they're throwing aegis on themselves all day long. This works EXTREMELY well with eclipse dragon and has won me a lot of games. People just don't expect you to counter their kill spell. It can sometimes be a dead card, but even the most aggro heavy decks run spells (mono red flame blast comes to mind). I would say 70-80% of the time I'm really happy to have 1 in hand, and 20-30% of the time I wish it were a kill spell.

5) Ice bolt - I hate ramping the enemy but being able to deal with big drops in skycrag is extremely useful. Usually this will hit a vara or a sediti.

6) Dusk raider - I only have 3 so I have 3 here, but you could do 4 of these and 3 backlash instead. it's a removal magnet, which isn't bad, and it is handy for getting dragons. Blue/red doesn't have many 2 drops that are good, so this is what we have.

7) Howling peak smuggler - amazing and useful. The plus to dmg is pretty much always good and she gets essential spells from market.

8) Wisdom of elders - synergizes perfectly with eclipse dragon and as an instant it gives you control over the board better than other draws.

9) Crimson firemaw - can't really replace this. torch doesn't kill it and it's effect has been quite good tbh.

10) Poaching drake - I don't love it but its the only other relevant 4 drop dragon. The effect can be very good (even golems, a 3/3 beater, etc). Raging firemaw is a possible replacement but a 2/5 body for 4 feels bad. It's twist effect is good but man 6 mana is nasty.

11) Xo - I almost never play him. He's mostly used for card advantage with the smuggler swap and as a last resort win con. I think you could definitely run howling peaks instead, but howling peaks would reduce consistency a bit and you lose card advantage.

12) Eclipse dragon - amazing card. Lets you play all your instants after you've played him on turn 5. If I get him out on a stable board I usually just win.

13) Flame blast - mostly a finisher but it can be used as removal. It's felt really good at 2.

14) granite waystone/shugo standard - Granite is really useful. Its a free smuggler swap or a 1/1 to block aggro deck. Shugo standard can win games very quickly, though I think it's less versatile than granite. I thought about clan standard but at 5 dmg it's iffy to kill big drops, it can't save ur guys against a torch, and it's useless vs the smalls because they've already done their dmg by the time u hit 5 mana.

15) Jotun Hurler - I found I wanted a few more sacs to my merchant, so I put him in. The snowball he generates is quite good with this specific merchant, as you can sac the mob and get a free 2 dmg nuke. He's been surprisingly useful in giving me the last bit of card advantage I need to close out a game.

Market:
Royal Decree - This one card just beats ALL even decks by putting 1 mana cards in their deck and removing vara or from gy effects. Pretty much never feel bad about playing this.
Hailstorm - this is for token, mono red decks. It's essential, also it does 4 dmg with smuggler so it hits pretty much everything those decks put out. Hailstorm is pretty much the only card to deal with these, so you need it. It also misses most of your dragons.
Burn Out - Usually have a 1/1 or a 2/2 on the board not doing much near end of game. This lets me finish the job, and at instant speed.
Bore - I probably get this card the least but when I need it I really need it.
Howling Peak - this has been surprisingly lackluster in this deck. I think the main problem is that it doesn't bring much aggression to the board - the main thing it can do is make a copy of a dragon, but that dragon can't attack unless it's my charge one. I am very seriously considering sudden conviction - playing that and suddenly having 2 dragons to start the turn would be great (plus the synergy with eclipse since it's instant).