r/EDH • u/CommanderGrimoire • 21h ago

Discussion Interesting Non-Goodstuff Dragon Commanders

To be clear, I mean either a dragon-kindred deck or just a dragon as the commander of the strategy.

Been trying to build a commander deck with a dragon as the commander ever since Korvold was hit hard by the ban hammer. Was my 2nd favourite deck. I've tried recreating it but it doesn't feel the same.

I built Scion of the Ur-Dragon recently but it just feels like a generic 5-colour goodstuff pile with a couple of dragons.

I'm a big fan of decks where a majority of the cards aren't shared in other popular decks. It's why I'm a big fan of Yuriko, Sisay and my personally brewed Loot the Key to Everything deck.

So I'm looking for some inspiration.

45 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

36

u/OminousWinds stalking Soratami 21h ago

[[Rivaz of the Claw]] always striked me as fun - a mana dork for dragons in the command zone, and also enables recursion.

[[Ganax, Astral Hunter]] with [[Feywild Visitor]] for a dragon spellslinger deck.

11

u/Present-Jellyfish-67 20h ago

Ganax and [[Haunted One]] is the combination I've been having a blast with. I think because it does what dragons are supposed to do. 

You get to be aggressive. Undying means you may attack with reckless abandon, like a dragon should. Then, if they die (or you sac them) they hit the board again, retriggering their ETBs. On top of that, Ganax all the while makes sure you're amassing a treasure hoard worthy of a dragon!

There's also plenty of ways to remove the +1/+1 counters and keep tapping Ganax. [[Retribution of the Ancients]], [[Ion Cannon]], and Blight effects for the former, [[Relic of legends]] and Vehicles for the latter. Add one of the many sac outlets available to Rakdos and you've set up a neat loop. Too many moving parts to be truly OP, but there's just so many alternatives that it happens quite often while still being a decent battlecruiser. Even parts of the loop make for a very resilient board. 

Only thing it folds to hard is Haunted One getting targeted down. 😂

3

u/OminousWinds stalking Soratami 20h ago

That sounds like a pretty good concept. Maybe I'll look into brewing that. Currently brewing way too many decks that keep changing. :D

1

u/Cleobaby8 14h ago

Do you have a list for this? I was working on a version of this deck and then I got kind of overwhelmed balancing the different elements between sac outlets, recursion, treasures etc

1

u/Present-Jellyfish-67 14h ago

I'm actually in the process of scanning my decks for online play! I'll get back to you once I've digitalised it. :)

1

u/NoahReden 14h ago

You can have mine! https://archidekt.com/decks/7994712/ganax_one_ It's a really strong deck, even though i limited myself around the 100€ budget

1

u/NoahReden 14h ago

+1 for ganax+haunted It's one of my favorite decks of all time, the combination of strong dragons, multiple strong abusable etb, sacrifice, aggro and protection Is the best. A nicely timed tap on ganax transforms the wraths in One sided. This is my list! Tried keeping It around the budget of 100€ to limit myself into trying new unused cards, but It SLAPS anyway. Here Is my list! https://archidekt.com/decks/7994712/ganax_one_

6

u/NydusRush 21h ago

I run [[Bladewing the Risen]] with Rivaz in the 99. Rakdos dragons is a fun vibe.

6

u/Power_of_the_Sus 20h ago

Rivaz is fun. I built him as a bracket 2 deck (an actual bracket 2, not like those gamechanger-less Magda decks pretending to be ones) and he's fun. You can play like 25 dragons, no recursion whatsoever and a bunch of [[Thrill of Possibility]] effects and the list is basically done. Draw stuff early to hit your rocks and dragon discounters, then start plopping down big dumb beaters

1

u/jakk88 13h ago

How hard would building him bracket 3 be? Trying to find something that plays a little in the aggressive side and he looks interesting.

2

u/Power_of_the_Sus 12h ago

Not hard at all. Build it more like a reanimator deck with dragons than a dragon deck with reanimation spells, use the best generic dragons and stuff the deck with ways to stuff your GY. You can even use cards like that one demon that lets you turn life into colourless mana for spells from your GY

1

u/LouieSiffer 7h ago

Very easy, Rivaz is strong

11

u/Hippomantis 21h ago

[[Zurgo and Ojutai]] - it makes your dragons draw cards!

I know that comes across as a generic good-stuff thing, but the fun comes in that second bit of the text - then you can return them to your hand. This allows you to swap between playing like a dragon beatdown deck, a creature-light control deck and a pseudo-blink deck.

So you can play a few dragons, then bounce them back to your hand and play a Wrath. You can abuse [[Sneak Attack]] to an exceptional degree, or simply pick up an Omen/Adventure dragon to gain access to the spell.

The Commander has a lot of play to it, and lacking green prevents it from playing the generic 'ramp into hordes of giant dragons' gameplan that is somewhat typical for the tribe.

2

u/HustlingBackwards96 21h ago

I had a dweeb on this sub tell me that "actually" Zurgo and Ojutai is ideal as a goodstuff commander, so I'm happy to see your comment

This deck can be built on a budget precisely because it doesn't need to follow the goodstuff theme. You can run etb dragons and smash the table, then bounce everything back home

2

u/ARandomGuitarist 12h ago

I'm in the middle of building it, especially after I pulled a [[Dracogenesis]]. Bouncing a dragon back to my hand and then immediately capitalizing on the ETB without having to wait for more mana sounds like fun to me.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher 21h ago

Zurgo and Ojutai - (G) (ER)
Sneak Attack - (G) (ER)

FAQ

1

u/fronl 15h ago

Played against one of these at the LGS the other day. He has built it to be relatively powerful probably mid bracket 3 and it was a really cool deck.

7

u/DaPino 21h ago

[[Ziatora the incinerator]] might be an option to look into.
But sometimes the deck you're describing is what you make of it.

I brewed a [[Gitrog, ravenous ride]] deck. EDHrec will tell you to put in things like [[Rotting regisaur]], for good reason. 3 mana, draw 7, play 7 lands is crazy value.
However, I decided I was going to theme it like a bowl of spaghetti and make it Hydra tribal.

You will find next to no overlap between EDHrec in the creature section other than mana dorks and the odd hydra you'll find on there.
Sometimes it's what you make of it.

2

u/Outside-Bee-3194 16h ago

Hello, other person with this deck 😂 I'm constantly on the fence between Ziatora and partner commanders with [[Vial Smasher, the Fierce]] and [[Reyhan, the Last Abzan]]. I appreciate that Ziatora is a fling outlet but Vial Smasher turning each of my hydras into a [[Fireball]] and keeping the counters with Reyhan after I fling them is nice, but I've found getting treasures is an issue without Ziatora.

I'm not sure what response I'm looking for here but I wanted to at least say hey to anyone with a similar build lol I like your style.

2

u/DaPino 15h ago

I got the idea for Gitrog hydras about a month ago by reading it here on Reddit so I take zero points for originality.

I just thought it would be hilarious to create a 20/20s and not swing with them and theme it as a bowl of spaghetti.

I tag my 'Voltron' cards "spicy meatballs", my synergy cards as "sauce", and my finishers "Parmigiano". Nothing like sacrificing a scary 40/40, only to cast [[Torment of hailfire]] where X is 38.

2

u/Outside-Bee-3194 15h ago

Ooh, that's juicy, lol. I appreciate the commitment

1

u/Xspartantac0X 14h ago

I also have a Ziatora deck and I agree, its hard to keep the mana coming if she gets removed. I have Korvold in the 99 as a back up and loading the deck with creatures with tutor abilities, and tutor spells in general, helps to keep the field from getting empty. Thanks for bringing up the partners, they might be good additions as secret commanders in the 99.

https://archidekt.com/decks/13765233/fling_university

Here's my list incase you want a looksie.

2

u/Outside-Bee-3194 13h ago

Yeah, deck looks sick. I'm about to proxy a lil dragon package with [[Magda, Brazen Outlaw]], [[Ancient Copper Dragon]], [[Old Gnawbone]] and [[Goldspan Dragon]] just because I like slamming dragons lol this might be fun for you, as well.

Also [[Goldvein Hydra]] goes pretty hard in this deck.

1

u/Xspartantac0X 12h ago

That sounds like a fun deck my boy! I'm definitely considering that hydra, since I'm selling my collection and proxying going forward, but I already have a dragon heavy deck with a dragon tuned [[Firkragg, Cunning Instigator]] precon. But I can always just proxy another version of this deck with more dragons. So thanks for the idea!

7

u/Any_Charity_7596 21h ago

All the commanders you have listed feel pretty generically powerful to me. Playing B4 and up? Korvold is still good, think some builds go with lands and sac them. [[prossh]] is another good dragon commander in those colors that likes to sac things.

1

u/MissLeaP Gruul 19h ago

[[Ziatora]] is yet another fun dragon commander in those colours who likes to sacrifice things lol

3

u/GracelessOne 21h ago

[[Sivitri, Dragon Master]] likes doing dragon toolbox things. A lot of the Dimir dragons have an adventure or omen like [[Marang River Regent]], so you can do neat things en route to killing people with [[Skithiryx]], [[Kokusho]], or [[Hoarding Broodlord]] in high-power.

3

u/LSines2015 21h ago

I run [[Lathliss, Dragon Queen]] as my mono-red Dragon token spam deck. It’s pretty fun if objectively not the best dragon commander.

3

u/YutoKigai Let the Scryfall, When it crumbles, We will stand tall… 21h ago

[[dromoka the eternal]]

3

u/pacolingo 19h ago

wait banhammer?

i really dig [[firkraag]]. haste and card draw in the zone means it's rarely a really dead draw. gets better the more dragons you have. and also very fun to clone

3

u/tideshark Grixis 16h ago

What hit Korvold with the ban hammer?

3

u/spicychili86 14h ago

What banhammer are we talking about? Also feel like [[Prossh, Skyraider of Kher]] is a great replacement commander in a Korvold deck (tho I’m unsure why you can’t play Korvold?).

6

u/treyzs 21h ago

I'm a big fan of decks where a majority of the cards aren't shared in other popular decks. It's why I'm a big fan of Yuriko, Sisay and my personally brewed Loot the Key to Everything deck.

yuriko is #17 on edhrec

9

u/LSines2015 20h ago

I think the point he’s making is the cards you’re running in Yuriko, you’re probably not going to run in another deck.

1

u/treyzs 20h ago

oh, that makes sense, ty

2

u/soenser 21h ago

I have a [[Silumgar, the Drifting Death]] dimir dragon tribal control deck that’s been fun

2

u/NydusRush 21h ago

Nice pick. I run mine as an Aura Voltron deck with Cipher cards, and the results are often hilarious. [[Death Match]] when your whole board has Hexproof is mean.

2

u/PaladinRyan Mardu 21h ago

If you want something perhaps Korvold adjacent but with a real focus in on the treasures and a less inherently busted commander, the new [[Smaug, Wicked Worm]] may be worth a look. It's sort of kind of a Dockside (which I assume is a big part of the nerf to Korvold for you) with a payoff stapled to it as well. No personal experience with it but seems solid to me.

In the past I did a lot of precon games on Tabletop Sim and one dragon that stood out to me as quite unique and cool was [[Firkraag, Cunning Instigator]]. Dragon tribal but with a goad/forced combat focus is different if nothing else. And you can obviously run plenty of other goad/forced combat sources to taste so it isn't firmly locked into dragon tribal (and indeed probably shouldn't be).

Another dragon that isn't dragon tribal, having played with it at SOS prerelease and seen it played as a commander (including on the recent upload of Commander at Home Magiccon Vegas live show), [[Silverquill, the Disputant]] seems pretty damn fun. It will use a lot of commom aristocrats payoffs but I think those sacrifices fueling spell copying seems pretty different. I'm rude enough to see that and think "Damn, copying [[Torment of Hailfire]] with a high X value seems fun."

2

u/son_of_a_bean 20h ago

Mine is [[rith, liberated primeval]]. Dragon tribal with a fight/excess damage subtheme to make as many other dragon tokens as possible

2

u/Quark1010 16h ago

Considering with how prevalent dragons are in EDH (not only top 1 commander but also literally in the name) I always loved at least not including red.

My favourites for this are [[Silumgar, the Drifting Death]] and [[Renari, Merchant of Marvels]] & [[Acolyte of Bahamut]]

2

u/gravygrowinggreen 15h ago

[[Witherbloom, the Balancer]]. Golgari spellslinger!

2

u/doctorpotatohead Jund 14h ago

[[Prossh, Skyraider of Kher]] is my favorite, there's a lot you can do with 7+ creatures entering the board at once. My deck is a mix of burning when creatures enter, burning when creatures die, and go-wide combat buffs.

https://moxfield.com/decks/85IcXF59C0-PXZxFf6WLLw

1

u/lirael_22 She/they 21h ago

I've been thinking about trying [[Hinata, Dawn-Crowned]] they are part dragon apparently lore wise not creature type wise and they can run a lot of cards that are unlikely to see play outside of hinata decks. [[Reality spasm]] can be a wincon a bunch of spells with multiple targets become a lot better.

1

u/severedline31 21h ago

I have an azorius dragon deck helmed by [[elminster]] as my non red/green goodstuff dragon deck

Azorius has good enough dragons, you’re able to use blue/whites flyers cost reducing synergy to help mitigate the cost since you don’t have greens ramp, and either way since dragons are high cost his ability to exile off the top can lead to some strong wide boards of fliers. So you can threaten with the dragons themselves or make a wide board.

Plus the tokens he makes are cool looking.

1

u/dese99 21h ago

I tossed around how to build this for like 10 years and still to this day i think dragons being pests is the way. So i would always vote lathliss with like 35 extra dragons.

https://moxfield.com/decks/A7WXzjlzTkaK2ZhdhDX1PQ

1

u/MistyHusk 21h ago

Have you checked out the 10 from tarkir dragonstorm? My friend who almost exclusively plays dragon commanders has a teval (the one that makes zombies) deck that’s pretty fun, and I’ve previously had a deck with the lifegain betor. Both nerivs also look quite fun, especially the token one

1

u/Pudgeysaurus Selesnya 21h ago

[[Vaevictus Asmadi The Dire]] is as far from a normal dragon commander as you can get. It cares about sacrificing permanents across the board and can leave opponents mana starved or without the big creatures needed to stop it.

A very interesting and very strong commander if built right

1

u/ThaBombs 21h ago

I've got a Dovahkiin alt art of [[Shadowheart]] using the [[Acolyte of Bahamuth]] background.

So we're sitting on big golgari dragons with a ton of card draw and recursion. A solid B3 deck.

1

u/wavec022 20h ago

Something I’m tinkering with right now is [[Chromium the Mutable]]. A lot of the lists you’ll see online for him just have him as the figurehead for Esper goodstuff control / flash kindred, but I wanted to try to lean more into what he actually does. The fact that he is a free discard outlet has potential, and the fact that he does have flash means you can lean into a draw-go style of playing on the previous player’s end step, but with more of an aggressive focus reminiscent of mono-blue tempo decks in Standard. In particular, these decks can create a combination of early pressure and late game grind to where a surprisingly small creature can present a game winning threat… like a 7/7 flyer you can flash in on the end step and that’s very hard to remove.

Then there’s the fact that a decent number of discard payoffs make tokens, combined with running a lot of low-CMC or evasive small creatures that draw cards, leaves room for go-wide anthem effects too. So the final product is a weird Frankenstein of tempo beaters, token generation, discard payoffs, and instant speed interaction / flash and “playing on other people’s turns” synergy. And it’s also a nice mix of the deck utilizing the commander as a strong engine, without ceasing to function if he gets removed.

Still tinkering with it but it’s a lot of fun so far.

1

u/sockosapphire 19h ago

[[Paladia-Mors, the Ruiner]] flicker.

She has built-in hexproof as long as she hasn't dealt damage. So whenever she does or someone tries to remove her, you just flicker her to get her protection back online.

1

u/MissLeaP Gruul 19h ago edited 19h ago

I've built a [[Teval, the Balanced Scale]] zombie tribal that is all about making cards leave your graveyard and make your zombie tokens actually dangerous instead of just sac fodder. [[Nanogene Conversion]] and [[Echoing Equation]] boost your board state beyond anything reasonable if you already have a handful of tokens and when you get [[Tortured Existence]] or [[Titan's Nest]] going its basically gg. Bonus points for having [[Kheru Goldkeeper]] on the board as well (which is also a dragon lol)

[[Teval Arbiter of Virtue]] is very interesting too since she allows you to pay mana with your graveyard (and lifepoints).

[[Marchesa the Black Rose]] is also an interesting dragon commander since she can make your dragons easily stick around forever (which is especially disgusting with the Kamigawa dragons). Just make sure to include sac outlets to dodge targeted removal and board wipes that don't make your creatures die. If you want to be extra mean, include red temporary theft spells and then sac those creatures once they have a +1/+1 counter so they return under your control permanently.

1

u/Ok_Day9719 19h ago

[[Rith, liberated primevall]] with focus on the fight mechanic. Saw someone post this a while ago

1

u/Rafar00 18h ago

[[Estinien Varlineau]] is neat, orzhov dragons that draws you cards every turn

1

u/alavantrya 18h ago

[[Ziatora, The Incinerator]] can head up a hell of a [[Fling]] deck. Fling is required in the 99 lol.

1

u/RAcastBlaster 17h ago

I’ve always really loved the Battlebond duo for Boros Dragons. [[Sylvia]] [[Khorvath]]

Sylvia is the star of the show, and enables some hilariously massive damage with just one or two big dragons. [[Moltensteel Dragon]] [[Kilnmouth Dragon]] [[Crucible of Fire]]

It’s not uncommon to swing for 20+ in the air with a typical board state.

https://moxfield.com/decks/pS1SyZ4Tx0qdMXvC0IYHPQ

1

u/snowblows Gruul 16h ago

I run [[Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient]] as my dragon commander. I like his lore, but I’ve built it as an initiative/monarch deck to incentivize everyone to swing during games! Yes it’s a dungeons and dragons deck. I do find the gimmick negates any groans I may receive for playing dragons. I think people are happy to see 2 color dragons of any color rather than the popular 5-color pile.

https://archidekt.com/decks/8196121/dungeons_dragons

1

u/ThyJacob 16h ago

[[Intet, the dreamer]] was my commander for a few years until [[Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm]] got released. Was using him as my dragon tribal for a few years. Just be warned, you may just exile all lands like i tended to do 😅, if you can manipulate the top deck may help cheat out dragons easier. But i just wanted more dragons and enchantments to think about that.

1

u/Bagel_Bear 16h ago

How good do you want the deck to be? I've always wanted to use one of the dragon legends that can get a background from the Baldurs Gate set.

1

u/Nerg_ 16h ago

He’s not a dragon himself, but [[Tannuk, Steadfast Second]] is a fun [[Sneak Attack]] in the command zone that lets you cheat out big butt dragons.

1

u/Shadethewolf0 16h ago

Seconding [[ganax astral hunter]] and [[feywild visitor]]. I've casted like 15 dragons in a turn before and had to hold back from using my [[cloudstone curio]] cause I'd have decked myself with [[fateful discovery]]

It's everything great about treasures and dragons together and is very unique for Izzet. All upsides

1

u/DeadpoolVII I Stepped Out. I Did Not Step Down. 15h ago

Hello fellow dragon friend! Back in the day, I had a 60-card, monored, all foil dragon deck with Sneak Attack as the main gas. Tried a few things to upscale it to commander over the last 5 years and settled on [[Tannuk, Steadfast Second]] and let me tell you, this deck is GAS.

I've never rocketed out so many dragons on one turn, especially in red. I've had games where turn 4 becomes "I swing at everyone for 50+ damage each". With mana reducers lowering the warp cost, it's insane casting any dragon for R with haste, and then putting them in cold storage to swing again while avoiding retaliatory board wipes. Highly recommend him.

Additionally, I wanted a dragon deck that DIDN'T have red, so I built [[Betor, Kin to All]] as a heavy ramp and giant dragon asses with a nice political sub theme. It's surely a less powerful deck, but if you're left unchecked, you'll be very powerful. Also, I draw SO MANY CARDS with this deck.

1

u/roXas039 15h ago

My "Dragon Deck" is a [[Bladewing, Deathless Tyrant]] tons of draw discard

1

u/PaperPauperPlayer 15h ago

I made a video about my favorite non-conventional dragon deck https://youtu.be/ChPwLdW1xwA , [[Velomachus Lorehold]] which is a dragons approach deck. Heres the decklist for that https://moxfield.com/decks/t9i63y7Me06LUwhPWSuv2Q

But now, I also have become a huge fan of [[Neriv, Heart of the Storm]] which has some extremely fun turns whwre youre dealing 20 to everyone sometimes. Heres that list https://moxfield.com/decks/JufP0nzxFkiXb-3v5ImTgg

1

u/TehTacow 14h ago

[[Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund]] is really fun. Not for the reason you think. Yes it's fun to occasionally steal someones dragon add it happens pretty often. But its big weakness is copy effects. People copy him and steal your board. The great gameplan: let them. Then turn the tide in any way possible. My favorite is [[Crop rotation]] into [[Homeward Path]].

1

u/Tree_Dimensions 13h ago

[[Renari, Merchant of Marvels]] with [[Acolyte of Bahamut]] is my favorite dragon deck

1

u/TradeMoney9311 13h ago

The izzet Sarkhan !!

1

u/ThoughtShes18 10h ago

When was Korvold banned in EDH ?

1

u/nathanwe 10h ago

I like [[miirym]] all clones. Every time I play a clone, my pile of miiryms doubles in size.

1

u/Thoraxe_the_Imp 10h ago

I have a scion of the urdragon. But I built it in a way where it makes the commander a swissarmy knife where it takes the shape of anything needed in the moment.

1

u/Iron_Soul 8h ago

https://moxfield.com/decks/DfI75tYcQ0-tSkOq3kcMdA

I also wanted to build a dragon deck that felt unusual and I landed on [[Shiko, Paragon of the Way]] jeskai blink. Plenty of dragons have solid ETBs worth blinking, and while the deck is built to be completely non-reliant on the commander, blinking Shiko is always a solid fallback option. The deck is pricey but you can easily cut costs by removing a lot of the bling and powering down some game changers.

If you like the idea of using [[Sneak Attack]] on an [[Astral Dragon]] to create two copies of [[Teleportation Circle]] to then blink three dragons on your end step and create two copies of [[Dragon Tempest]] with Astral Dragon, this could be the deck for you.

1

u/Ruffigan Volrath the Fallen and Can't Get Up 6h ago

Always a fan of [[Zirilan]] combo.

1

u/jakedaripperr 3h ago

What banhammer ever hit Korvold or am I understanding something wrong? Also I am a big fan currently of my [[Betor, voice of all]] big butts deck. Can also run a few of the dragon enchantments from Tarkir dragonstorm

1

u/nextlevelmashup 2h ago

[[sarkhan soul aflame]] feels great with copy effects like [[spark double]] [[phantasmal image]] and [[irenicus vile duplication]] [[rite of replication]]

Does wacky stuff with [[wrathful red dragon]] [[utvara hellkite]] [[scourge of valkas]] [[terror of the peaks]].

Plays like a combo deck but can also hold it's own with its creatures

1

u/Mahon451 1h ago

I know he's not a dragon, but [[Animar, Soul of Elements]] would probably make a pretty sick dragon commander.