Never built a BR commander deck before this one and chose a rather obscure commander to boot. Deck is a weird hybrid of Dash and Dragon tribal with a smidgen of Voltron, and by a smidgen I mean Homicidal Seclusion and Blood Mist cause I like the cards and wanted to use them. I've playtested it to a small extent and I'm already worried that I'm pulling the deck in too many directions, but I think the two themes could mix fairly well if I got it built right.
Dash Theme
The Dash mechanic has quite a few cards that interact fairly well with it. A deck entirely focused on Dash would remind me of a Norin the Wary commander deck where the purpose is to just trigger different artifact's and enchantment's abilities repeatably and reliably. First are the creatures that support the Dash theme whether it be creatures with Dash, a similar end of turn clause, or simply cards that can etb and not stick around forever like the Evoke creatures.
Norin the Wary - Repeatedly triggers all the same cards that i'm using Dash to trigger, but sticks around and does it EVERY turn.
Ingot Chewer - Etb kill an artifact, trigger some other things, and die.
Shriekmaw - Etb kill a nonblack creature, trigger some other things, and die.
Spitebellows - Etb kill a creature, trigger some other things, and die.
Meekstone - Works well with Dash. Dash creatures never need to untap and pillow forts a tad.
Death Match - Works very well with dash and allows my opponents to keep each others' threats off the table. Win-win for me.
Confusion in the Ranks - Dash in a creature, switch it with another, and eot my dash thing returns to my hand for another go next turn.
Warstorm Surge - Repeated damage to creatures and players thanks to dash.
Dragon Tribal Theme
Kolaghan gives all my creatures +1/+0 whenever a dragon I control attacks. Dragons already like dishing out damage and most of the
Kokusho, the Evening Star - It's a dragon that punishes people when it dies. Seems like a good enough reason to have it in here let alone reanimation shenanigans.
Steel Hellkite - A colorless dragon that also acts as removal on combat damage. Staple?
Balefire Dragon - Wipes away whole boards of creatures and can outright end a player along side Repercussion.
Utvara Hellkite - Significantly less useful without Conspiracy out, but is still rather nuts just on its own let alone with Kolaghan and other dragons out.
Dragon Tempest - Significantly less useful without Conspiracy out, but is rather nuts with conspiracy and a bunch of dash creatures coming out every turn.
Urza's Incubator - My dragons cost less. Even Kolaghan's dash costs less. Would still be in the deck even if it were straight Voltron just because of the benefits to Kolaghan.
Door of Destinies - Just casting Kolaghan every turn gives some nices benefits. Starts to get nuts when all of my dash creatures are dragons. Would still be in the deck even if it were straight Voltron just because of the benefits to Kolaghan.
Conspiracy - Makes all my creatures dragons and gives them all the benefits of being so, like triggering Door of Destinies, Dragon Tempest, Utvara Hellkite, and Kolaghan while also getting cheaper with Incubator and tutorable with Dragonstorm.
Dragonstorm - Seems staple in a dragon-themed deck.
ETB Creatures
Ideally, creatures with really good etb effects that I can trade away or just don't care if they die, aka. the main reasons you run a lot of etb in the first place.
Voltron
Not wanting to go full Voltron, but rather just like these cards. I like the whole "exactly one creature" mechanic and when I'm playing with dash I can typically choose when they're active.
Praetor's Grasp - I can steal cards that help my themes or just lock someone out of a combo. Seems generally better than Extract.
Chandra Ablaze - My favorite Chandra; love the art and the abilities. + for damage as either removal or just cutting someone's life total down. - for draw and messing with peoples' hands. Ult is significantly less useful, but still really good with the right things.
Misc Repercussion - One of my favorite red enchantments. With the right cards can suddenly just win you a game, and quite a bit more often then you'd think. Blasphemous Act can outright eliminate players with as few as 3 creatures in the earlygame. Thunder Dragon can end token decks or wrap up in the lategame. Dragon Tempest and Warstorm Surge become almost twice as effective. Also makes blocking anything that isn't a Commander near pointless.
Blood Moon - Hoses 3+ colored decks. Seems staple in any red deck with two or less colors.
Dragonlord's Servant - May not be good enough only reducing costs by 1, but still almost seems staple in Dragon tribal. Don't own one and never have.
Pandemonium - I've had bad experiences with this. Too many times I've had an opponent either eliminate me or outright win off the back of this card.
Chain Reaction - Another card that can easily close out a game with Repercussion. Simply didn't have the room for a 4cmc wipe that isn't Damnation
Damnation - I've 3 copies: one in Karador, one in Alesha, and one in Toshiro.
Demonic Tutor - The exact same situation as Damnation. Not enough copies to go around.
Flamerush Rider - An amazing Dash creature. I just have very little worth copying and it requires attacking with a small 3/3 with no evasion or combat mechanics. That, and I wanted to keep the number of high costed Dash creatures to a minimum.
Sneak Attack - Amazing card. A near staple in red, especially with a color that has recursion. Goes really well with all the pseudo-dash creatures and the evoke creatures. I just have minimal recursion due to focus on the Dash mechanic. If I drop dash for the dragon tribal theme and add more traditional recursion, then It's a guaranteed fit.
Snuff Out - Free cards are always good and even better when you're paying for your commander every turn. Problem is, Nonblack actually matters a lot more in my new group than my old group. Between Terminate and Dreadbore (which also didn't make the cut), there just wasn't any room for it.
Rain of Gore - Love this card. Hardly ever matters, which is why it never makes the cut, but can just outright shut down certain decks until dealt with. Very much a super casual meta card, but my meta isn't that casual.
Havoc Festival - Been wanting to try out this card for quite a while now. It just isn't good enough. It paints a huge bull's eye on your head while not just winning the game, which any card that makes you that big of a target should do. That, and I'd feel very obligated to run Wound Reflection. By cutting it, I saved two card slots.
Gratuitous Violence & Rage Reflection - With the dash mechanic, ideally, I'm not attacking with anything that isn't my commander. It kind of makes these pointless in half the deck. Dragons love the cards. It's another cut I had to make because I'm splitting the deck both ways.
Like stated earlier, I am a bit worried that I'm pulling the deck in too many directions. Some cards become useless depending on what theme I'm drawing into more, like Confusion in the Ranks with a bunch of dragons in hand. They don't quite interfere with each other enough to make me want to remove one entirely, but I can tell that the Dash theme is just weaker than the other regardless of how much I like it. I can admit that all the dash creatures are pointless without the right cards were as the dragons are always powerful. I may just go straight up Dragons, Dash, or even Voltron in the future depending on how I feel.
As always, suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
Dash Creatures
2 Glitterfang
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Mardu Scout
5 Vaishino Sandscout
6 Vaishino Sandstalker
7 Archwing Dragon
ETB and Leave
8 Norin the Wary
9 Ingot Chewer
10 Shriekmaw
11 Spitebellows
ETB Creatures
12 Dualcaster Mage
13 Fleshbag Marauder
14 Flametongue Kavu
15 Solemn Simulacrum
Tech Creatures
16 Goblin Welder
17 Squee, Goblin Nabob
18 Crypt Ghast
19 Filth
20 Anger
Dragons
21 Kokusho, the Evening Star
22 Steel Hellkite
23 Balefire Dragon
24 Thunder Dragon
25 Utvara Hellkite
Voltron
26 Blood Mist
27 Homicidal Seclusion
Tribal
28 Dragon Tempest
29 Urza's Incubator
30 Door of Destinies
31 Conspiracy
32 Dragonstorm
Dash tech
33 Meekstone
34 Death Match
35 Confusion in the Ranks
36 Warstorm Surge
37 Expedition Map
38 Faithless Looting
39 Sensei's Divining Top
40 Praetor's Grasp
41 Read the Bones
42 Daretti, Scrap Savant
43 Chandra Ablaze
Rocks
44 Sol Ring
45 Rakdos Signet
46 Veinfire Borderpost
Grave hate
47 Rakdos Charm
48 Nihil Spellbomb
Wipes
49 Oblivion Stone
50 Decree of Pain
51 Blasphemous Act
Targeted removal
52 Pyroblast
53 Red Sun's Zenith
54 Vandalblast
55 Terminate
56 Ashes to Ashes
57 Chaos Warp
58 Bitluminous Blast
59 Spine of Ish Sah
Misc
60 Repercussion
61 Blood Moon
62 Necromancy
Lands
63 Command Tower
64 Cavern of Souls
65 Bloodstained Mire
66 Blood Crypt
67 Graven Cairns
68 Dragonskull Summit
69 Lavaclaw Reaches
70 Sulfurous Springs
71 Rakdos Guildgate
72 Bojuka Bog
73 Cabal Coffers
74 Urborg, Tomb of yawgmoth
75 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
76 Ancient Tomb
77 Ghost Quarter
78 High Market
79 Reliquary Tower
80 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
81 Rogue's Passage
82 Tectonic Edge
83 Terrain Generator
84 Winding Canyons
85 Mountain
86 Mountain
87 Mountain
88 Mountain
89 Mountain
90 Mountain
91 Mountain
92 Mountain
93 Swamp
94 Swamp
95 Swamp
96 Swamp
97 Swamp
98 Swamp
99 Swamp
100 Swamp
Card Choices
Dash Theme
The Dash mechanic has quite a few cards that interact fairly well with it. A deck entirely focused on Dash would remind me of a Norin the Wary commander deck where the purpose is to just trigger different artifact's and enchantment's abilities repeatably and reliably. First are the creatures that support the Dash theme whether it be creatures with Dash, a similar end of turn clause, or simply cards that can etb and not stick around forever like the Evoke creatures.
Glitterfang - 1cmc pseudo-dash creature.
Zurgo Bellstriker - 2 mana dash.
Mardu Scout - 2 mana dash.
Vaishino Sandscout - 2cmc pseudo-dash.
Vaishino Sandstalker - 3cmc pseudo-dash.
Archwing Dragon - 4cmc pseudo-dash that is also a dragon.
Norin the Wary - Repeatedly triggers all the same cards that i'm using Dash to trigger, but sticks around and does it EVERY turn.
Ingot Chewer - Etb kill an artifact, trigger some other things, and die.
Shriekmaw - Etb kill a nonblack creature, trigger some other things, and die.
Spitebellows - Etb kill a creature, trigger some other things, and die.
Meekstone - Works well with Dash. Dash creatures never need to untap and pillow forts a tad.
Death Match - Works very well with dash and allows my opponents to keep each others' threats off the table. Win-win for me.
Confusion in the Ranks - Dash in a creature, switch it with another, and eot my dash thing returns to my hand for another go next turn.
Warstorm Surge - Repeated damage to creatures and players thanks to dash.
Dragon Tribal Theme
Kolaghan gives all my creatures +1/+0 whenever a dragon I control attacks. Dragons already like dishing out damage and most of the
Kokusho, the Evening Star - It's a dragon that punishes people when it dies. Seems like a good enough reason to have it in here let alone reanimation shenanigans.
Steel Hellkite - A colorless dragon that also acts as removal on combat damage. Staple?
Balefire Dragon - Wipes away whole boards of creatures and can outright end a player along side Repercussion.
Thunder Dragon - Wipes away little creatures and can do some major damage along side Repercussion.
Utvara Hellkite - Significantly less useful without Conspiracy out, but is still rather nuts just on its own let alone with Kolaghan and other dragons out.
Dragon Tempest - Significantly less useful without Conspiracy out, but is rather nuts with conspiracy and a bunch of dash creatures coming out every turn.
Urza's Incubator - My dragons cost less. Even Kolaghan's dash costs less. Would still be in the deck even if it were straight Voltron just because of the benefits to Kolaghan.
Door of Destinies - Just casting Kolaghan every turn gives some nices benefits. Starts to get nuts when all of my dash creatures are dragons. Would still be in the deck even if it were straight Voltron just because of the benefits to Kolaghan.
Conspiracy - Makes all my creatures dragons and gives them all the benefits of being so, like triggering Door of Destinies, Dragon Tempest, Utvara Hellkite, and Kolaghan while also getting cheaper with Incubator and tutorable with Dragonstorm.
Dragonstorm - Seems staple in a dragon-themed deck.
ETB Creatures
Ideally, creatures with really good etb effects that I can trade away or just don't care if they die, aka. the main reasons you run a lot of etb in the first place.
Dualcaster Mage - Near staple in red? I think so.
Fleshbag Marauder - Black staple.
Flametongue Kavu - Another near staple in red. Etb can kill a creature.
Solemn Simulacrum - Staple in anything that isn't Green. Colorless ramp = good.
Tech Creatures
Goblin Welder - Artifact removal and recursion in one card.
Squee, Goblin Nabob - Mostly a pitch card for Chandra or Daretti, but can be a repeatable blocker or similar.
Crypt Ghast - Ramp and life drain.
Filth - Potentially unblockable things.
Anger - Haste giver and near staple in red.
Voltron
Not wanting to go full Voltron, but rather just like these cards. I like the whole "exactly one creature" mechanic and when I'm playing with dash I can typically choose when they're active.
Blood Mist
Homicidal Seclusion
Tutors & draw
Most of these seem obvious.
Praetor's Grasp - I can steal cards that help my themes or just lock someone out of a combo. Seems generally better than Extract.
Chandra Ablaze - My favorite Chandra; love the art and the abilities. + for damage as either removal or just cutting someone's life total down. - for draw and messing with peoples' hands. Ult is significantly less useful, but still really good with the right things.
Expedition Map
Faithless Looting
Sensei's Divining Top
Read the Bones
Daretti, Scrap Savant - It's Daretti.
Rocks
Veinfire Borderpost - Only doubtable rock to have in the deck, but I have a foil and I like the art.
Sol Ring
Rakdos Signet
Grave hate
Rakdos Charm
Nihil Spellbomb
Wipes
There's actually a few wipes that should be in the deck that I simply don't have the extra copies of, but these are really good anyway.
Oblivion Stone - Enchantment removal.
Decree of Pain
Blasphemous Act
Targeted removal
Pyroblast - Anti-counterspell and still removes things of almost any permanent type.
Red Sun's Zenith - More expensive mana-wise, but Exiles things.
Bitluminous Blast - It cascades which is something I'm always a fan of doing.
Spine of Ish Sah - More enchantment removal.
Vandalblast
Terminate
Ashes to Ashes
Chaos Warp
Misc
Repercussion - One of my favorite red enchantments. With the right cards can suddenly just win you a game, and quite a bit more often then you'd think. Blasphemous Act can outright eliminate players with as few as 3 creatures in the earlygame. Thunder Dragon can end token decks or wrap up in the lategame. Dragon Tempest and Warstorm Surge become almost twice as effective. Also makes blocking anything that isn't a Commander near pointless.
Blood Moon - Hoses 3+ colored decks. Seems staple in any red deck with two or less colors.
Necromancy - instant speed reanimation temporary reanimation.
Cards that aren't in the deck that almost should be.
Dragonspeaker Shaman - Would be in the deck for the same reason that Urza's Incubator is. Thought I had one, but can't find one.
Dragonlord's Servant - May not be good enough only reducing costs by 1, but still almost seems staple in Dragon tribal. Don't own one and never have.
Pandemonium - I've had bad experiences with this. Too many times I've had an opponent either eliminate me or outright win off the back of this card.
Chain Reaction - Another card that can easily close out a game with Repercussion. Simply didn't have the room for a 4cmc wipe that isn't Damnation
Damnation - I've 3 copies: one in Karador, one in Alesha, and one in Toshiro.
Demonic Tutor - The exact same situation as Damnation. Not enough copies to go around.
Flamerush Rider - An amazing Dash creature. I just have very little worth copying and it requires attacking with a small 3/3 with no evasion or combat mechanics. That, and I wanted to keep the number of high costed Dash creatures to a minimum.
Sneak Attack - Amazing card. A near staple in red, especially with a color that has recursion. Goes really well with all the pseudo-dash creatures and the evoke creatures. I just have minimal recursion due to focus on the Dash mechanic. If I drop dash for the dragon tribal theme and add more traditional recursion, then It's a guaranteed fit.
Snuff Out - Free cards are always good and even better when you're paying for your commander every turn. Problem is, Nonblack actually matters a lot more in my new group than my old group. Between Terminate and Dreadbore (which also didn't make the cut), there just wasn't any room for it.
Rain of Gore - Love this card. Hardly ever matters, which is why it never makes the cut, but can just outright shut down certain decks until dealt with. Very much a super casual meta card, but my meta isn't that casual.
Havoc Festival - Been wanting to try out this card for quite a while now. It just isn't good enough. It paints a huge bull's eye on your head while not just winning the game, which any card that makes you that big of a target should do. That, and I'd feel very obligated to run Wound Reflection. By cutting it, I saved two card slots.
Gratuitous Violence & Rage Reflection - With the dash mechanic, ideally, I'm not attacking with anything that isn't my commander. It kind of makes these pointless in half the deck. Dragons love the cards. It's another cut I had to make because I'm splitting the deck both ways.
Like stated earlier, I am a bit worried that I'm pulling the deck in too many directions. Some cards become useless depending on what theme I'm drawing into more, like Confusion in the Ranks with a bunch of dragons in hand. They don't quite interfere with each other enough to make me want to remove one entirely, but I can tell that the Dash theme is just weaker than the other regardless of how much I like it. I can admit that all the dash creatures are pointless without the right cards were as the dragons are always powerful. I may just go straight up Dragons, Dash, or even Voltron in the future depending on how I feel.
As always, suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade