[Theorycraft] Dragon Big Warrior

My initial idea for Big Warrior. I want to use dragons to open certain card options (like Molten Breath). I'm a little skeptical about the viability of Ceremonial Maul. It's very weak in the early game and you need a big spell for a big pay off on the Spellburst. Technically, if i add Molten Breath then i can play it on curve with the maul to remove something, gain some armor and get a 4/4 taunt. It sounds interesting but not very practical. I'm going to experiment with the Maul but i'll most likely cut it for something else.

The other card that i'm going to experiment with is Athletic Studies. Trump is underestimating these studies cards a lot. Discover a Rush minion is a pretty good effect and will be pretty helpful for a deck that lacks early game minions. The important part is the mana discount though. That 1 mana can make a huge difference. You can play the minions earlier than intended and it will be very helpful for removal and for your curve. You can play this on turn 1 and have Kargath Bladefist ready for turn 3. Or you can discover Doctor Krastinov and curve a 3-cost weapon like maul or Livewire Lance into him. This discount will give you some good flexibility on your turns.

And the other card that i want to test is Plagued Protodrake. I decided to check the pool of 7 drops available after the release of Scholomance to determine the number of good, bad and average outcomes of this dragon. There will be 43 minions available in Standard that costs 7 mana. Anything with an upside will be considered great. Cards with reasonable stats, taunt or a situational effect will be considered good. Cards with below average stats and no effect will be considered meh. And cards with the worst stats will be considered bad.

Great: Archmage Antonidas, Bonechewer Vanguard, Cursed Vagrant, Evasive Drakonid, Exotic Mountseller, Kael'thas Sunstrider, Keymaster Alabaster, Marsh Hydra, Priestess of Fury, Skeletal Dragon, Winged Guardian and Wrapped Golem. 12/43 (~27.90%).

Good: Arch-Villain Rafaam, Baron Geddon, Blastmaster Boom, Bloodboil Brute, Goru the Mightree, High Inquisitor Whitemane, Lightforged Crusader, Ravenholdt Assassin, Shu'ma, Siegebreaker, Stormwind Champion, Tunnel Blaster, War Golem, Wasteland Scorpid. 14/43 (~32.55%).

Meh: Ancient of Lore, Ancient of War, Animated Avalanche, Chef Nomi, Core Hound, Guardian of Kings, Lady Liadrin, Siamat, Soulciologist Malicia, Swampqueen Hagatha, Tak Nozwhisker, Underbelly Ooze, Vereesa Windrunner. 13/43 (~30.23%).

Bad: Barrens Stablehand, Dinotamer Brann, Dragoncaster, Valdris Felgorge. 4/43 (~9.30%).

So, around 60.46% of the time the outcome is going to be good or great. Roughly around a third of the time the outcome is going to be meh. And less than 10% of the time the outcome is bad. I'd say this is a good reason to add Plagued Protodrake to Big Warrior and Duel Paladin. The card will generate a good minion most of the time when it dies and it will make your opponent's life a lot harder. This only applies to Standard though. The minion pool in Wild is much larger which makes it a lot worse.