Dragons are the most popular creature type in Commander. They beat out Elves, Zombies and Vampires to the top spot. While the most popular decks tend to be the likes of The Ur-Dragon, Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm, or Tiamat, there are a bunch of interesting options to try if you’re wanting something a bit more unique. Here are five underrated Dragon Typal Commanders.
5 UNDERRATED DRAGON TYPAL COMMANDERS
In putting together today’s list, we decided to go for monocolor, two color, and three color options. Playing fewer colors can give you way more unique slots for deckbuilding, and can help to exclude some “staples” by virtue of not being in the right colors for them.
It’s also fun to play decks across the color pie, as you’ll get to enjoy different effects and different Dragon cards in each of them. The one common thread between these decks is that they all feature red. Dragon decks can definitely be built without it, but red is the most iconic color for Dragons decks – and has some of the best tools.
THEMBERCHAUD
Lathliss has been done. To death, almost. So take Themberchaud out for a spin instead. This chonky Dragon from the D&D Secret Lair (later released as a Universes-Within style reprint) has a fantastic EtB: it nukes the board, and each player, for how many mountains you have in play.
Crucially, like Magmaquake, it doesn’t hit flyers, meaning you can fire it off and have any Dragons you have in play survive intact.
Damage doublers are obviously very on-brand for this kind of deck, and Twinflame Tyrant is an obvious include that stays on theme if you’re building around Dragons.
Themberchaud isn’t cheap, so alongside making sure you hit all of your land drops with card draw, you’re going to want to run Dracogenesis to cast it for free, Hellkite Courser to haste it out for a turn, and cards like Mana Geyser for a big turn to burn people out.
Speaking of having a big turn, you can go really hard and fast with cards like Molten Duplication and Electroduplicate. Stack up that damage and burn opponents into ashes. The beauty of Themberchaud is, much like Kokusho of old, it can come down in the mid to late game with the right setup and sweep the game out from under people.
If you’re sticking on the Dragons and burn plan, then Wrathful Red Dragon alongside Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction is a shoe-in for this deck. Total annihilation!
Oh, and a cheeky Price of Progress might well finish people off.
For some inspiration, check out Bobbie-Christine’s list, which I had the pleasure of being destroyed by the other night.
GANAX, ASTRAL HUNTER & FEYWILD VISITOR
Now for something a little different: Ganax with the Feywild Visitor background. Izzet dragons has more than enough to be getting on with, and so why not take a more value-based Commander? You can run this one in Pauper EDH too, if that’s your jam.
Whenever you’re hitting people with nontoken creatures, you’re making 1/1 Faerie Dragon tokens. Those tokens bring a treasure with them, thanks to Ganax.
The obvious synergy card here is Goldspan Dragon, but you can also run Professional Face-Breaker. While it might be tempting to have a high curve, it’s going to be better to use those treasures to play more Dragons and more synergy cards, because Izzet is a color pair that can feasibly draw through a lot of cards.
This is a perfect place for Roiling Dragonstorm, an enchantment you should be able to have access to in your hand basically every turn. Frostcliff Siege is another new one that helps you either draw cards or finish the game.
Of note is that Feywild Visitor won’t trigger off of token creatures attacking – but Ganax will trigger, still netting you treasure off of ETBs.
This might be the perfect home for Stormscale Scion, especially if you play the deck as a semi-spellslinger style of Dragon deck and keep the curve low.
How are you winning? Well, going wide with a Wrathful Red Dragon will cause a lot of damage, but you’ll be combining double strike from Swashbuckler Extraordinaire, and big pumps from Shared Animosity and Mercadia’s Downfall on your tokens.
Check out Harry’s list for some inspiration.
SYLVIA BRIGHTSPEAR AND KHORVATH BRIGHTFLAME
One of my favorite Dragon decks, Sylvia & Khorvath is one that hits hard and fast. While Khorvath suggests you should also be running Knights, I believe the version of this deck that hits hardest focuses on Dragons. You want to run low drop dragons in this build because you want to curve out as soon as possible and drop Sylvia for huge damage.
Three and four drop Dragons are the bread and butter of this deck, and you don’t even care about Chaos Dragon being un-directable – you just care that it can deal eight damage with Sylvia.
Cheap equipment are great in this build, especially ones with a high power boost and a low equip cost. That way, you’re getting double your money when it comes to damage dealt.
The whole deck won’t be Dragons, but it will include some amount of Changelings. These can offer some low curve utility and grow into game-winning threats in no time.
Parapet Thrasher from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander decks is a great add here, as it will trigger twice if you’re doublestriking, helping you get all three modes each combat that much easier.
Goldlust Triad is obviously great here with the Myriad and potential Doublestrike, but I’m also excited by adding Protector of the Wastes, an on-type Angel of the Ruins style effect, which is exactly what this deck wants.
RIVAZ OF THE CLAW
I adore Rivaz, and I think it’s really cool. Outside of Bladewing the Risen, you don’t really see many Rakdos dragon decks, and I think Rivaz is a sweet Commander for those decks.
A mana dork that adds two and lets you cast from the yard is great, and menace is even better for triggering treasure generation from attacking or dealing damage. Late game, too, menace can provide an alternate wincon in Commander damage, which is always nice.
Playing Rivaz means you get to play the beloved Reanimator archetype, and given you can cast Dragons from the yard, a Buried Alive is even better than usual. You can Reanimate one Dragon, and cast the other.
Self mill is great in a deck like this, and Incarnation Technique might just be one of the best spells to run. It doesn’t target, meaning single-target GY hate can’t stop your plans. If you do lean into self-mill, flashback cards do extra work – like Dread Return and Wake the Dragon.
There are some really good Rakdos dragons to run in this deck that don’t ordinarily see play in the more popular Temur builds. I’m partial to Immersturm Predator.
While you’re casting from the graveyard, why not cast from the top of the library also? Thundermane Dragon can work in conjunction with Rivaz to keep you casting Dragons even when your hand is running low.
GORO-GORO AND SATORU
One of the reasons I love my Henzie deck is that it allows me to haste-in Dragons with incredible damage abilities. Though Henzie is a great home for them, I think another Commander than can help to cast these haymakers and swing in is Goro-Goro and Satoru.
Some of the best and coolest Dragons in the format have Haste. Like Glorybringer. Swinging in with it and generating a 5/5 Dragon is a dream come true.
Cavern-Hoard Dragon is another all star, and it just so happens to have Haste. It’ll give you the mana to cast even more Dragons, and to active your Commander’s ability.
One that can come down and cause problems is Firkraag, Cunning Instigator. Firkraag will infuriate opponents, goading their creatures, and helps you to keep your hand topped up too. Team it up with Vengeful Ancestor to really be the problem.
With enough haste enablers, including your Commander, you can feasibly run the Ancient Dragon cycle from CLB, which are crying out for haste, given they will certainly not survive to attack otherwise.
Balefire Dragon and Incinerator of the Guilty are two I love to Blitz in Henzie, and they may be good here, too. Wiping opponent’s boards is a huge tempo swing.
So how are you winning the game?
Well, when you’re spawning extra 5/5 Dragon tokens, you’ll want to look at burn. Terror of the Peaks, Dragon Tempest, Scourge of Valkas and Warstorm Surge will help people die a lot quicker.
“But that’s been done!”, you cry, wanting something more. Okay, well how about instead, you opt for going ham on extra combats? These let you take advantage of spawning Dragon tokens in, and if you also give them haste (with Rising of the Day or any number of other enablers) you can create your own Dragonstorm.
Keep going until you hit Full Throttle.
END STEP
Dragons are cool – that we can all agree on. But what’s cooler is having a deck that’s different from everyone else’s. Try these lesser played Commanders for something funky and fresh in the realm of the draconic.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.