When it came to Bladewing I had a bit of a challange when it came to deciding on how to build him. Looking at the commander though:
The cost to cast is somewhat high being its 3BBRR to cast. This means that the number of times I cast my commander in a game will be limited somewhat. I am also not in green so I am reliant on colorless ramp primarily.
The commander has an ETB value. This means that flickering / rez looping him generates some value.
Stats wise, the commander is terrible stat wise for the mana but it comes with an extra body which often makes it stat efficient as most dragons are sort of 5-6 powered monsters.
Lots of dragons are just stat monsters. I looked primarily for the ones that had good ETB / Death / ongoing status abilities. Lots of the dragons that just beat face like say Dragon Tyrant felt less appealing from the standpoint that it didn't control the board or take the game over for me. Dragon Tyrant might be able to do that but its also the biggest example of the vanilla beater dragons so I felt less keen about dragons for the sake of beating.
Given these things, I considered trying to make my list some sort of ETB deck using things like Panharmonicon but I felt like even with my commander having an ETB ability, it felt unlikely that I had some sort of swarm of dragons in my graveyard that I was trying to get them all into play. I looked at several one shot rez effects like say Victimize and Rescue from the Underworld but ultimately I felt like they also had the question of if I had a bunch of dragon targets to rez as well. Ultimately I settled that Corpse Dance and Nim Deathmantle were reusable for similar amounts of mana to the one shot effects but could possibly run away with some value.
Around here I was still struggling with what direction to go with my list. I kind of liked the concepts of Magamaquake / Fault Line but it felt very redundant with what a lot of my dragon package offered me already. I realized that with all of these big fat dragons in my list that drawing a bunch of cards and chain casting spells probably was not what this list was going to do. From there I decided that Nether Void and Oppression both sort of fit the concept of casting fewer spells per turn as well as hindering decks that run lower curve small effects (which this deck is not). I moved to looking at a little more discard as well and I realized that it was probably to my advantage to run some level of discard given the fact that if everyone has no resources then suddenly top decking these big dragons or casting my commander became much more powerful.
I intentionally imbalanced my landbase for swamps for cabal coffers. I know that most of my dragons are red, I think it should work out though.
In a Nutshell: I am trying to play a control / discard based dragon deck. I am not saying this is the correct way to play this commander but I feel like given the high cost combined with the lack of green I do need to assume that I will be casting my commander a little later in the game. Given that the ability of the commander is a little more reactive it pushed me further towards a control concept. Forcing opponents to discard resources potentially brings more players to topdecking sooner which ideally benefits the deck with a big fat value rez commander.
Other cards I love in my deck (which is horribly out of date on here) that I noticed you weren't running are: Ashes of the fallen: with you high nondragon density you may want this as a way to use bladewing as a more utility reanimation spell.
Boneyard Scourge: a surprisingly effect beater that in the deck always seems worth it.
Dragon Tempest: I know your dragon density is lower but this card ends games in a similar effect to how Scourge of Valkas does both of which are very strong.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury: my last card i'm going to recommend is the dragon lady herself. She along with bladewing on a single swing present 12 damage but add in aother dragon and or some extra mana and you have a game ender.
Other cards I love in my deck (which is horribly out of date on here) that I noticed you weren't running are: Ashes of the fallen: with you high nondragon density you may want this as a way to use bladewing as a more utility reanimation spell.
Boneyard Scourge: a surprisingly effect beater that in the deck always seems worth it.
Dragon Tempest: I know your dragon density is lower but this card ends games in a similar effect to how Scourge of Valkas does both of which are very strong.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury: my last card i'm going to recommend is the dragon lady herself. She along with bladewing on a single swing present 12 damage but add in aother dragon and or some extra mana and you have a game ender.
Just cards for you to mull over.
Worldgorger Dragon - I don't play combo as kind of a personal thing for me so I guess I have no reason to really include it without the intention to combo off.
Ashes of the fallen - I considered it but in the end I just didn't really see many cards in my list that I was willing to cast a 7+ mana commander to rez that were not already dragons.
Boneyard Scourge - my issue is that I am not really going for an aggro build. It has no utility I guess is my issue. I just try to think about a game that is drawn out and I am relying on drawing something relevant and I draw this and I ask how it helps me and I just didnt see much in it. The fact that it requires another dragon to die rather than enter and it costs mana at that time all were strikes against it for me. I opted to run Bladewing's Thrall in part because it costs me no mana and comes in when another dragon enters. I really do like this dragon, I just didn't feel like it fit my build. I saw it a little more as something to consider if I was running more of a focused reanimator plan with more of an aggro focus.
Dragon Tempest - it just wasn't enough. I cut both Scourge of Valkas and this card from my list because both I was not running that many dragons and because I felt that there really were not enough viable dragons that made sense to run.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury - it feels more aggro than I was trying to be. I am trying to have a lot of my dragons have strong ETB or over time presence and this just felt like a really slow beater to me. I am not really running a swarm with dragons style of list here in part because well.... I looked at all of the dragons and there were not even that many I felt were all that viable.
So, not to shoot down all of your concepts but Bladewing costs 7 so I really wanted high impact dragons who might normally be high target removal priorities. I splashed in some of the discard mechanics to also try to reduce the chances that my opponents still have answers in hand when I go to cast these cards. Being that we have such a late game fatty commander its kind of to our advantage to deprive our opponents of their resources and see if our late game commander can out value what they have done up until then. That is kind of the concept I was going for at least when I was building the list.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
When it came to Bladewing I had a bit of a challange when it came to deciding on how to build him. Looking at the commander though:
Given these things, I considered trying to make my list some sort of ETB deck using things like Panharmonicon but I felt like even with my commander having an ETB ability, it felt unlikely that I had some sort of swarm of dragons in my graveyard that I was trying to get them all into play. I looked at several one shot rez effects like say Victimize and Rescue from the Underworld but ultimately I felt like they also had the question of if I had a bunch of dragon targets to rez as well. Ultimately I settled that Corpse Dance and Nim Deathmantle were reusable for similar amounts of mana to the one shot effects but could possibly run away with some value.
Around here I was still struggling with what direction to go with my list. I kind of liked the concepts of Magamaquake / Fault Line but it felt very redundant with what a lot of my dragon package offered me already. I realized that with all of these big fat dragons in my list that drawing a bunch of cards and chain casting spells probably was not what this list was going to do. From there I decided that Nether Void and Oppression both sort of fit the concept of casting fewer spells per turn as well as hindering decks that run lower curve small effects (which this deck is not). I moved to looking at a little more discard as well and I realized that it was probably to my advantage to run some level of discard given the fact that if everyone has no resources then suddenly top decking these big dragons or casting my commander became much more powerful.
I intentionally imbalanced my landbase for swamps for cabal coffers. I know that most of my dragons are red, I think it should work out though.
In a Nutshell: I am trying to play a control / discard based dragon deck. I am not saying this is the correct way to play this commander but I feel like given the high cost combined with the lack of green I do need to assume that I will be casting my commander a little later in the game. Given that the ability of the commander is a little more reactive it pushed me further towards a control concept. Forcing opponents to discard resources potentially brings more players to topdecking sooner which ideally benefits the deck with a big fat value rez commander.
1 Bladewing the Risen
CREATURES (23)
1 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
1 Burnished Hart
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Merciless Executioner
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Bladewing's Thrall
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Mindslicer
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Emrakul's Hatcher
1 Hoarding Dragon
1 Zirilan of the Claw
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Thunder Dragon
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Utvara Hellkite
ARTIFACT (15)
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Expedition Map
1 Mana Vault
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Grim Monolith
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Batterskull
1 Bottomless Pit
1 Oppression
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Flameshadow Conjuring
1 Greed
1 Nether Void
1 Sneak Attack
1 Painful Quandary
1 Warstorm Surge
INSTANT (4)
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Starstorm
1 Chaos Warp
1 Corpse Dance
SORCERY (7)
1 Faithless Looting
1 Gamble
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fiery Confluence
1 Crux of Fate
1 Infernal Offering
1 Living Death
PLANESWALKER (2)
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
LAND (39)
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Canyon Slough
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Diamond Valley
1 Flamekin Village
1 Graven Cairns
1 Hanweir Battlements
1 High Market
1 Marsh Flats
2 Mountain
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Strip Mine
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Temple of the False God
9 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wooded Foothills
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Other cards I love in my deck (which is horribly out of date on here) that I noticed you weren't running are:
Ashes of the fallen: with you high nondragon density you may want this as a way to use bladewing as a more utility reanimation spell.
Boneyard Scourge: a surprisingly effect beater that in the deck always seems worth it.
Dragon Tempest: I know your dragon density is lower but this card ends games in a similar effect to how Scourge of Valkas does both of which are very strong.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury: my last card i'm going to recommend is the dragon lady herself. She along with bladewing on a single swing present 12 damage but add in aother dragon and or some extra mana and you have a game ender.
Just cards for you to mull over.
So, not to shoot down all of your concepts but Bladewing costs 7 so I really wanted high impact dragons who might normally be high target removal priorities. I splashed in some of the discard mechanics to also try to reduce the chances that my opponents still have answers in hand when I go to cast these cards. Being that we have such a late game fatty commander its kind of to our advantage to deprive our opponents of their resources and see if our late game commander can out value what they have done up until then. That is kind of the concept I was going for at least when I was building the list.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar