Ever since it was printed, Dragonlord Ojutai has put an enormous constraint on Standard. As soon as the metagame shifts away from Crackling Doom, Dragonlord Ojutai becomes one of the best things you can cast for five mana, particularly when it is backed up by Silumgar's Scorn and Foul-Tongue Invocation. However, there are plenty of other powerful dragons available in Standard, and there hasn’t been a lot of exploration of alternative builds of Dragon decks. INO is looking to change that with an interesting take on Jeskai Dragons:

Jeskai Dragons ? Oath of the Gatewatch Standard | INO, 5-0 Standard League

• Creatures (19)
• 3 Reflector Mage
• 4 Icefall Regent
• 4 Mantis Rider
• 4 Thunderbreak Regent
• 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

• Spells (15)
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Anticipate
• 2 Dig Through Time
• 2 Wild Slash
• 4 Draconic Roar
• 4 Silumgar's Scorn

• Lands (26)
• 1 Plains
• 3 Mountain
• 5 Island
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 3 Battlefield Forge
• 3 Mystic Monastery
• 3 Shivan Reef
• 3 Wandering Fumarole
• 4 Flooded Strand

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Dispel
• 3 Hangarback Walker
• 3 Jeskai Charm
• 3 Kozilek's Return
• 2 Rending Volley
• 2 Roast

Buy This Deck

So why would someone build a U/W Dragons deck without Dragonlord Ojutai? This is a more aggressive take on Blue dragons; one looking to take to the skies early with Mantis Rider, follow up with Thunderbreak Regent, and then use efficient interactive elements to make sure you stay ahead on board while you race in the air. It’s important to distinguish this pseudo-tempo deck from a pure control deck when you’re making critical deck-building decisions, otherwise you’ll end up with a control deck incapable of out-attritioning the midrange decks.

INO has distinguished himself from more controlling versions of dragons by playing Icefall Regent over Dragonlord Ojutai and Draconic Roar over black-based removal like Murderous Cut. Icefall Regent gives you the ability to swing a damage race in your favor by locking down key fliers or big threats on the opposite side of the table. This lets you keep crashing in for the extra turn or two you need to lock up the game. Similarly, Draconic Roar gives you a powerful combination of early interaction and incidental damage which adds up over the course of a game. Between Draconic Roar, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy flashing back Draconic Roar, and Thunderbreak Regent triggers, it’s not hard to find twenty points of damage to close out a game.

This style of deck seems particularly well-positioned against the more aggressive takes of Abzan, since you have the ability to interact efficiently backed by large, evasive threats. Sure, they have efficient removal spells, but this deck gets access to card advantage and counterspells in addition to threats capable of punishing opponents for interacting with them. All told, this seems like a fantastic choice in a format tending toward midrange strategies weak to counterspells and fliers.