While Reality Fracture technically only had a single Commander precon, there are also five other precons that released alongside it on October 2nd. These Foundations Commander Decklists are a bit different than your typical precon, as they are geared more towards players who are in the early stages of their journey in the Commander format. Each of them is mono-colored and consists entirely of reprints.
These precons are great introductory products, and they play quite well right out of the box, especially against other beginners. However, I have some suggestions on how to make the Reign of Dragons precon significantly better without breaking the bank.
AN OVERVIEW OF REIGN OF DRAGONS
The Reign of Dragons precon uses Lathliss as its Commander – and she certainly reigns over all of your other dragons. She cranks out 5/5 flying tokens anytime you have a nontoken dragon enter, so it’s no surprise that it is chock-full of other Dragons and Dragon payoffs.
The deck also has a treasure subtheme. After all, Treasure can help you ramp into your dragons more quickly. There are also a decent number of dragons that love Treasure, making these two themes mesh pretty well together.
$15 UPGRADES
While Reign of Dragons is a great beginner deck right out of the box, there are also some affordable changes you can make to the deck so that it can compete against a more experienced Commander pod. These changes are geared towards getting even more out of Dragon and Treasure synergies. The best way to do that is include as many cards that deal with both Dragons and Treasure as possible.
Goldspan Dragons can quickly generate multiple treasure tokens while also making them produce double the mana you sacrifice them. Gadrak is a super efficient 3-mana dragon who can generate treasure. Draconic Visitor may not say “treasure” in the text box, but trust me – it loves treasure. Any time you create one, it’ll give you a 5/5 flying Dragon token instead.
Magda might not be a dragon, but she is a repeatable source of Treasure who can turn every three Treasure you have into a Dragon token. The Misty Mountains Cold is a saga that can give you up to four treasure tokens, and it also lets you cash those Treasure in for a Dragon token.
In addition to those changes that involve both dragons and treasure, there are also a few other Dragon payoffs that I recommend trying to get your hands on.
Desolation of Smaug gives you an asymmetrical sweeper, and one that actually pays for itself in this deck since you’ll typically be able to use the four mana you get back on a Dragon, especially if you’ve got some Treasure around to help you do something.
Sarkhan’s Triumph gives you a Dragon tutor, which is great. Commander is a singleton format, so a card like the Triumph – which is effectively a copy of whatever the best Dragon in your deck is for a given situation – can really shine.
Stormscale Scion is a really sweet Dragon Lord because it comes with Storm. Just getting a second copy of the Scion is often enough to make your board a lot scarier than it was a moment ago.
In the lore, Sarkhan is a planeswalker who can turn into a dragon. As such, every one of his cards lets him become a dragon in one way or another. That alone is something that can work really well in this deck, but it’s triggered ability that really makes him great here. Every one of your dragons will ping your opponent’s attacking creatures, and there are lots of board states where that means they just can’t attack you.
You can find the updated decklist here. These are the cards that I removed to make room for these changes.
–Thrill of Possibility
–Anger
–Dragonmaster Outcast
–Firespitter Whelp
–Goddric, Cloaked Reveler
–Minion of the Mighty
–Chain Reaction
–Hit the Mother Lode
–Spite Flame
–Bitter Reunion
END STEP
The Reign of Dragons precon is an excellent product, and it really doesn’t take too much work to take it to the next level. What do you think? What changes would you make to the precon? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.