Volcanic Dragon



Volcanic Dragon is the red's strongest flying creature. Being 4/4 (4 attack damage, 4 toughness), flying, and with haste, this assault unit is able to charge towards enemy duelist to deal damage hard and fast.

Summoning a Volcanic Dragon costs 5 mana. Among flying creatures of other colors but of same mana cost, a Volcanic Dragon is considered above average strength flying creature. Without any socery aid, it is superior to an Air Elemental for having haste attribute; it surpasses a Warrior Angel for an extra point of attack damage; It is on par with a Sengir Vampire, except without the ability to gain +1/+1 permanently after destroying an enemy creature.

A Volcanic Dragon can slay two Giant Spiders before being destroyed. Considering mana costs, it is definitely worth it to spend 5 mana units in order to make a green enemy duelist loses 8. And if the enemy duelist wishes to defend himself/ herself against this horrifying creature by summoning more Giant Spiders, he/ she will never be able to cast Overrun, which is quite an expensive socery spell. The purpose of the stage "The Red Dragon" in the Quest Mode is to explicitly show the player how useful the unit is to go against the green spells.

Nevertheless, it is wiser to summon the first Volcanic Dragon when one collects at least 6 mana crystals (the one extra mana in case of emergency ground defence, i.e. raging goblin) or when one can expect the enemy duelist has not enough mana to summon strong-enough ground assault units in time.

To counter a Volcanic Dragon from a red enemy duelist, a green player can summon Giant Spider, then apply Giant Growth on it. That way the spider will be strong enough to block off the dragon (and possibly still survives, provided that the dragon was not casted Reckless Charge before being destroyed). For a white player, a Warrior Angel with Guided Strike guarantees a clean hit against the red dragon, with the angel still "safe and sound" when respawn. A blue player will just have to make sure he/ she has enough mana to summon an Air Elemental or Clone, if he/ she was unable to Counterspell the summoning of the red dragon in time. A Death's-Head Buzzard, then followed by a good-timed attack from a black duelist himself/ herself will be suffice.