Since I have a Karrthus EDH deck, that runs roughly 30 dragons I always pay attention when a new Dragon is revealed. Will it make the top 30 of Dragons and find a spot in the deck? With the new dragon from Conspiracy, Scourge of the Throne, the answer was a resounding yes. M2015 also brings out a new Dragon (ofcourse!) but does it really add something new?
So, what do we have? A Dragon that costs to play. There are a lot of Dragons that cost this much. Dragons tend to cost around 6, with some particularly efficient ones like Stormbreath Dragon on the lower end. 7 mana is a lot though, so it better have some upsides.
It’s a 5/5 which is also usual for a Dragon, but a bit disappointing for one that costs this much. Then there is Flying, which Dragons have. No trample, even though that’s rare for red, but it would have been nice, for a high-end Dragon. No Haste either.
The ability itself seems rather narrow: When Siege Dragon enters the battlefield destroy all Walls your opponent control. I know some Karrthus decks like to run Blades of Velis Vel to steal some creatures, but that trick takes 9 mana. You might destroy some things, but walls usually aren’t the most threatening creatures and you’ll only slightly weaken the pillowfort player hiding behind his walls.
When Siege Dragon attacks he’ll deal 2 damage to all ground forces of defending player, if they don’t control a wall. Again, an M2015 with a cute and unnecessary drawback. The disappointing part is that there had been rumours this would deal 5 damage instead of 2. 2 damage is a little weak. Sure, it helps weed out a token army and if you give the dragon Deathtouch through, say, Bow of Nylea it becomes an effective killer. Still, things in the sky remain unscathed.
Conclusion: It’s expensive for what it does, but having a mini one-sided Earthquake sometimes can be useful. Scourge of Kher Ridges fills a similar void, but at least can do it repeatedly, while being more flexible (and just a little more expensive.)
The Generator Servant is worth a look, though. He’s ramp in red, on a decent body. While he dies producing mana, it’s mana that grants Haste when it’s used to pay for a Creature, which is a great upside. The servant generates mana, even, so it is possible to split the mana over 2 creatures being cast, and suddenly have two hasty attackers.
He helps going from 2 to 5 mana over a turn, but the most interesting Dragons at 5 already have haste by themselves, so Dragons might not be the best deck for Generator Servant. It might work best when the average creature costs around 3. He would have been a lot better if he produced but it’s pretty good as it is.