"In the smoldering ashes of Shiv, a few dragons strive to rebuild their native land. The rest seek any opportunity to restore the broken pride of their race."
Welcome, one and all, to my take on Bladewing the Risen! This is deck is on the more casual side of the spectrum. My deck is still under construction, as an EDH deck is never truly finished. My deck focuses on getting good dragons on the battlefield, turn them sideways, and then bring them back when they die. It's relatively simple, and generally wins the same way most games. I welcome any and all discussion and will do my best to remain up-to-date and respond in a timely manner.
I bought Bladewing from Card Kingdom in Ballard while visiting some friends who moved up there. This was in June of 2014, so I've been tinkering with the deck for a while now. It began as pure Dragon aggro, with something like 30+ dragons, and 20+ mana rocks. This was fun, but ultimately not effective. My meta consists of many Propaganda and Silent Arbiter effects, so having 10 dragons on my side of the field didn't amount to anything. I cut down on the more mediocre dragons, and added more utility like card draw and one-off reanimation spells. Then I came across a wonderful thread by Skorchdnite Here that prompted me to add cards like Warstorm Surge and Pandemonium. Skorchdnite's thread is very in depth, and if you are interested in a deck centered more on burn and direct damage, be sure to check his thread. That being said, let's get into my deck!
Unfortunately, there isn't much known about Bladewing. Rorix Bladewing, the less corpse-y version of our leader, was a Shivan Dragon from Dominaria. After Teferi, Temporal Archmage phased Shiv out of existence to fight against the Phyrexians, the Shivan dragons were left to rebuild their homeland. Some of the Dragons, like Rorix, sought to heal the broken pride of their race through other means. Rorix became a combatant in the Cabal's Grand Coliseum, along with Jareth, Leonine Titan, Arcanis the Omnipotent, Visara the Dreadful, and Silvos, Rogue Elemental. Bladewing would die during this time, though he would later be revived by the Cabal, turning him into the lovable zombie lizard we see today.
Now let's take a look at the big guy himself. There are a couple things we need to understand about what our boney friend.
1. His mana cost:
- We will need colored mana, and lots of it. He will be played later in the game, and we won't be playing him a lot. He will be a tool, not the engine.
2. His abilities:
"When Bladewing the Risen enters the battlefield, you may return target Dragon permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield."- This is the main reason we play Bladewing. Being able to take any dragon from your graveyard and put it directly into play is a big swing, and with some support, can almost win you the game on the spot.
" Dragon creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn." - This is a good mana sink when you have a board presence, but it's situational. There are better things to do with our mana.
3. His Stats
Bladewing is a 4/4 flying zombie dragon. While 4/4 isn't the biggest body, it can still do a little damage and block in a pinch. If you pump him with his ability, for 6 mana you can turn him into a 3-turn commander damage clock. Flying is great evasion and always relevant. Dragon creature type plays with some of the cards in our deck.
I believe Bladewing is best used as a tribal build to best utilize his 2 abilities. Though his CMC is high, the deck doesn't revolve around him. If he dies, it's not the end of the world. We have enough reanimator spells to where we probably don't even need to take him to the command zone. His pump ability can be potent with enough dragons on the field, and unless I'm mistaken, can be used to get some extra damage of warstorm surge.
Bladewing isn't the most competitive rakdos commander, or even the most competitive Dragon commander, but I'll be damned if he isn't the coolest commander on the table.
You may like this deck if...
Pros:
You like tribal. This deck plays almost nothing but Dragons. If you don't like dragons, this is not the deck for you.
You want a straight-forward deck. This deck makes no claims to be complex with many avenues of victory. It smashes with dragons, then brings them back from the dead to do it again.
You want a deck that can play without it's commander. If tuck and removal are prevalent in your meta, have no fear. This deck does not rely on Bladewing to do its thing, but some of its most powerful plays DO use him.
You want to win through combat. This deck turns dudes sideways. If you want to combo out and deal infinite damage in 1 turn, look elsewhere.
You like reanimation. The best plays in the deck come from various reanimations.
You want to have the coolest creatures on the table. Elves can suck it.
Cons:
You want to play control. This deck is almost battlecruiser. As of now, there isn't much in the way of spell interaction with opponents. You interact with their face using your fist.
You have to win every game. This deck is casual. You will not win every game. But when you DO win, you will look good doing it. (that said, I do win a lot with this deck)
You play in a meta with copious graveyard hate. This deck can play without a graveyard, but you lose out on the best interactions with our commander and other cards.
You want a slower, defensive game. This deck tries to go as fast as possible. It has no problem going to late game, but Sloth is not in red's color pie.
You liked Legolas more than Smaug. Elves can suck it.
Let's break down the other potential commanders in R/B
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden - Probably one of the closest runner-ups for this deck. He has re-animation, though it requires some specific hoops to jump through. Goblin Rogue does nothing for our tribal themes, and he would have to cost 10 mana to be able to interact with every dragon in our deck. Not a bad choice if for some reason you hate skeleton dragons.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury - The newest B/R legendary, and the newest Legendary Dragon. How does she stack up to our man Bladewing? She is 2 mana cheaper, gains 1 point of toughness, loses Bladewing's signature reanimation for an impressive tribal pump effect, and can dodge removal with a little finesse. I believe Kolaghan best serves as the commander of a token deck, using cards like Conspiracy to turn all your goblins into dragons and attacking for 100000 on turn 5. As a commander, I don't think Dragon Tribal uses her abilities to their fullest. In the 99, however, she is perfectly fine.
Dragonlord Kolaghan - Seems like a less risky Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund minus green. Her second ability is almost worthless in EDH, but a mass haste granting dragon is never a bad thing. I think she will be better in the 99, however.
Malfegor - Very powerful. 1CMC cheaper than Bladewing, +2/+2 PT, loses Zombie and gains Demon. He has badass art, and a huge ETB ability. I'm considering him as part of the 99 in my deck. Doesn't specifically do anything for Dragons or Reanimation, but could be a blowout reanimation target.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots - The lord of metal is back, and this time he's bringing friends. He is 3 mana cheaper than Bladewing, for +2 power/toughness, gains trample, and makes your creatures cheaper to cast. If you want to focus more on pure tribal beatdown without the reanimation focus, Rakdos might be your guy. He plays well with our dragons, most of which cost 5-ish colorless mana. Requires a little finesse to get him on the table, but definitely one of the more powerful Rakdos legends (for gods sake the entire color combo is named after him!). While not a Dragon himself, your other dragons won't mind him telling them what to do.
Axelrod Gunnarson - comparable mana costs, gaining 1 point of p/t and trading flying for trample. His ability would probably reward a lot of removal spells and death triggers. He does nothing for re-animation or dragons.
Barktooth Warbeard - Vanilla 6/5 for 7 mana? Only play this if you want style points for playing bad creatures. Does nothing for our strategy.
Boris Devilboon - 5 mana is a little expensive for a 2/2, but he IS a zombie wizard, 2 of the best supported tribes in magic. His ability could probably work in some Demon tribal deal, token deck, or gravepact deck. Not really what we are looking for
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - Decent stats and keywords for the mana costs, but lends itself to a very creature-specific deck. Not many dragons ETB with +1 counters, so her super unleash ability would not be relevant in our tribe.
Kaervek the Merciless - Same CMC, +1 power, loses the Dragon creature type in exchange for Human Shaman. His ability promotes more of a punisher deck, making every play an opponent makes hurt themselves more than you. Doesn't do anything for Dragons or reanimation.
Lady Orca - 7 mana for a 7/4 vanilla creature. Maybe if you want to do some janky voltron, the good lady is a natural 3 turn clock. Cool Artwork, and probably has a home somewhere, but it is not here.
Lyzolda, the Blood Witch - The Rakdos version of Savra, Queen of the Golgari seems perfect for a more control-oriented token deck. Doesn't do anything for Dragons or reanimation, but not a bad commander by any means.
Mogis, God of Slaughter - Definitely one of my top 5 favorite badass creatures in magic. Minotaur? check. Sweet-ass name? check. Giant axe that can cleave the heavens in 2? check! The only downside is his ability is a tad bit weak on its own. Needs a little help getting there in EDH. Does nothing to promote our strategy, just a certified bad ass.
Olivia Voldaren - 3/3 flying vampire for 4 mana, with built-in creature theft and burn. A great commander, just not at all what we are looking for here.
Pavel Maliki - 6 mana for a 5/3 with no evasion and a limited pump ability. Im gonna have to pass on this one.
Rakdos the Defiler - A fearsome commander to be sitting across from. 6 mana for a flamping (Flying, Trample) 7/6 demon that makes you sacrifice non-demon permanents you control. Probably best served as a demon-tribal build rather than dragon tribal, and no support for reanimation. Powerful, splashy, all around cool guy, but doesn't play well with others.
Rohgahh of Kher Keep - This guy is janky as all hell. 6 mana for a 5/5, while not amazing, is not bad. Kobold creature type plays into a very specific tribal build, AKA not Dragons ('cept Prossh). 3R upkeep costs is not fun, and having your enemies gain control of all your dudes is less so. Avoid this guy unless you are dead set on Kobold Tribal interactions.
Tor Wauki - Kind of weak, in my opinion. 5 mana for 3/3, with an ability that pales in comparison to Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile. Can be used for some death-touch shenanigans, but I honestly don't see this guy working out except for style points. Does nothing for Dragons or re-animation.
Tsabo Tavoc - Let me start by saying, Total Badass. Awesome creature type, relevant combat abilities, designed to kill your opponents commanders over and over, and that art! Super Cool, Super Stylish, but not what we want for this deck at all. No support for Dragons or reanimation. But you WILL have the coolest guy at the table.
Tymaret, the Murder King - Rakdos has no shortage of cool legendaries. It doesn't get much more hamfisted badass than THE MURDER KING. Plays well with zombies and warriors, great with gravepact and other death triggers. Not for this deck, but can absolutely find a home elsewhere.
For a list on other legendary dragons, I will stick with ones that have Red in their color identity, as most dragons are red.
Atarka, World Render - The World Render is no joke. We lose black, all our reanimation with it. We gain better ramp, a few different dragons, and one hell of a pump ability. less card draw, but better non-creature recursion. Not a bad choice for a Dragon Tribal build, but not quite what we want for this build.
Crosis, the Purger - We gain blue, better combat stats, but lose our built in reanimation. Probably more effective as a punisher, hand disruption, discard kind of deck. If you play against mono-color a lot, this guy will win games and lose friends.
Darigaaz, the Igniter - Darigaaz, like most of these older dragons, doesn't do anything specifically for Dragon Tribal. He is awesome if you want to play Jund and don't want to play Prossh, and is probably my jund commander of choice. Again, great against mono-color. We gain better ramp and non-creature recursion, but lose some of the cooler interaction in our deck without Bladewing.
Dragonlord Atarka - I think her younger self is better as a commander than this one. Like Kologhan, I think she is better in the 99 of a deck that can support her colors.
Intet, the Dreamer - Does Nothing for Tribal or reanimation. An interesting choice for a more controlling build, as gaining blue opens up many new design pathways. The loss of black destroys our reanimation.
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund - A serious contender for the throne. A beastly body with haste and flying, AND gives all your dragons haste? that makes many older dragons playable, as well as buffing up the good ones to godlike status. We gain green, which helps with ramp and non-creature recursion, and gives us MORE dragons to play with. So what's the problem? When Wizards changed the rules for legendary creatures, they killed Karrthus. Before, when any 2 players had a copy of a single legendary creature, both of them would instantly die. It was a way to deal with problematic commanders like Sigarda or Uril, and if Karrthus was copied, nothing horrible would happen. But now, when someone clones Karrthus his first ability kicks in. "When Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund enters the battlefield, gain control of all Dragons, then untap all Dragons.". This means that whoever clones your Karrthus gets ALL of YOUR dragons. No Buenos. I believe you can fight this with enough sacrifice outlets, but it might be more trouble than it's worth. I still consider Karrthus every now and then, and I'm hoping that Dragons of Tarkir gives us enough toys to make his potential offside worth it.
Kokusho, the Evening Star - We lose red, and Kokusho does nothing to promote tribal build. Amazing in a mono-black control deck that can reanimate him, sacrifice him, drain all your opponents, and then do it all again. Great in the 99 of our deck, but not as the leader.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - Does nothing for Dragons or reanimation, gets hated off the table, loses black. One of the most powerful commanders around, but not what we are looking for.
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius - The fixed version of the firemind. The same problems as the original Niv, but without the hate.
Numot, the Devastator - America! Home of the land destruction and broken friendships. A devastating ability tacked on a powerful flying body makes Numot a force to be reckoned with. Does nothing for our deck, but I would not want to be across the table from this guy.
Oros, the Avenger - One of my favorite dragons. My friend built a fun and powerful wither based deck with Oros. We gain white, giving us some great cheap removal spells, a few new dragons, and a mini earthquake each time he connects. Doesn't promote Dragon tribal or re-animation, but can be powerful in a deck built to his strengths.
Palladia-Mors - One of the original Elder Dragons that this format was built from. Will get you style points at the table, but doesn't do anything for our deck.
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher - The best of the best. The best Dragon in the colors, one of the most powerful decks around, boring as all hell. Bighaben and Ferverous have a wonderful primer on this guy and the deck gets results. I built a budget version myself, and I never lost with it. It was so boring! This guy is amazing if you have a cut-throat meta and you go hard, but for my group, it was oppressive and un-fun. He doesn't promote tribal or reanimation, but make no mistake. He will win games.
Rith, the Awakener - a cute ability, but probably the weakest of the cycle in my opinions. I'll pass
Rorix Bladewing - Hey, this guy looks familiar! Good to see Bladewing with some meat on his bones. Powerful in his day, kind of average now. If you go the route of pure Dragon beats, this guy is a shoo-in. But for us? I'll take his bony butt version any day.
Ryusei, the Falling Star - Decent in the 99, meh as a commander. Helps burn the ground when all your dudes are in the air, but without black to abuse his ability, ill pass.
Scion of the Ur-Dragon - Our only choice for a 5 color dragon tribal, and a good one at that. A toolbox answer to all your dragon questions. If I wanted to do 5 color, this is my main man. He entombs, he copies, he slices, and he dices. All around a good choice for 5 color.
Tarox Bladewing - It seems like the Bladewing Brood is having some in-fighting. A power struggle for supremacy! Unfortunately, he does not play well with the rules of our format. Without his Grandeur ability, he is just mediocre.
Vaevictis Asmadi - Another Elder Dragon with a sweet name. Style points abound, but doesn't promote our deck's strategy. for 7 mana, he becomes a 2 turn commander clock.
The subjective view of deck power in several attributes. This can differ in each playgroup a bit, but I try to give as accurate marks as possible.
Quick game likeness - Is average game with this deck slow or fast? Does the deck try to win as fast as possible, or does it rather lower the game pace and control it?
Newbie feasibility - Is the deck easy enough to be piloted by non-experienced players? Do they need to know any important synergies, information or stats? Is it easy to handle it?
Commander dependency - Is the deck dependent on its leader? How it performs without it? Is the strategy oriented around him or is he just some additional value of the deck?
'Scare' Ranking - What reputation has the deck? Is more likely that it would be under radar or do they think it is more or less harmless? Do the deck contains some scary cards or combos?
Multiplayer mode - Is the deck better in 1 vs 1 or in multiplayer environment? Does it prefer 3 mans pods or 5+ man battles?
Expensiveness - Is the deck expensive to buy or not? How expensive is the core of the deck, are the important and 'must have' cards costly?
Acceleration - How fast can the deck reach the higher mana?
Library Searching - Will we do a searching a lot here? is it likely that we should know what we want to search?
Board Control - is the deck capable to deal with board threats?
Spell Control - is the deck capable to deal with non-boards threats? Counterspells, fork effects, fogs etc..
Card Advantage - How many additional cards can the deck get during the average game? Will we draw a cards, get extra basic lands, do the deck use recursion advantage?
Linearity - Is the game plan consistently followed? Do the games look similar to each other or does it depend on what we got and is it more random oriented?
Combo potential - Does the deck include combos? If do, are they game ending? How likely is it that we will win with a combo here? Is the deck goal to combo out?
General Attributes
: Quick Game Likeness - The deck is generally medium speed. It can have huge plays knocking out a player in play on turn 5, but it can also be hard to get a good board until turn 8-9, depending on how you draw. : Newbie Feasibility - There are a couple of interactions that benefit from a deeper knowledge, but most of the deck can be effectively played by a beginner. : Commander dependency - The best plays use the commander, but the deck can still function without him. : 'Scare' Ranking - Pretty Low. He costs a lot, has a small body, and doesn't do much on his own. Most people I've played against don't even know what he does. : Multiplayer mode - The deck does better when there are more opponents to distract from you building your force. A few boardwipes and other spells that interact with all opponents. : Expensiveness - While nowhere near a $2,000 deck, there are some expensive cards in here. I'd say it is on the more pricey side of casual.
Game Play Attributes
Acceleration - We are not in green, so we have to make do with mana rocks. With a good opening hand, we can go 0-60 in a few turns. Other times, I'm usually only 1-2 turns ahead in mana production. Library Searching - I personally don't believe in running a complete tutor list. There are about 3-4 in here, but the deck isn't build to tutor for answers every turn. Board Control - This deck tries to lay low until we can make a big play. We have a few board wipes and some of our dragons have targeted and mass burn, and are some of the biggest dudes on the field. : Spell Control - This is not what we do. You will have to play the board and make some friends to get help here. Card Advantage - This deck actually draws a lot of cards. You won't have more cards than the blue player, but you should never have an empty hand. Linearity - The deck lives in the red zone. Very few cards give any hard decisions. The biggest question I ever have is "What Dragon do I want to Entomb?" Combo potential - The deck doesn't really combo out. There are synergies between certain cards, and nothing in the deck goes infinite.
Anger - Anger is a huge enabler in our deck, and almost always my first Entomb target. Giving every creature you play haste makes it that much harder for your opponents to stop you, and makes sure you get your mana's worth for each dragon you cast. I rarely cast him, unless I have a way to kill him as soon as I play him. Always get this guy into your graveyard ASAP.
Bladewing's Thrall - This guy is the gift that keeps on giving. He never stays dead for long in this deck. Great flying chumpblocker, fodder for sacrifice effects, a buffer for blocking, extra damage from warstorm surge every time he comes back, This guy does it all. Cheap enough to cast early while you are ramping into dragons and doesn't interrupt our curve.
Disciple of Bolas - One of the few non-dragons in our deck. He helps refill our hand later in the game and can sacrifice certain dragons that we want to reanimate after we have already casted them. He basically reads: ":3mana::symb: : Sacrifice a dragon. you gain 6 life and draw 6 cards". Can be a bit of a dead draw if you don't already have a board state. Fun Times - sacrifice kokusho
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury - The newest creature addition to the list. As I explained above, Kolaghan is better suited commanding a token army than a dragon army. But as a creature in the 99, he seems pretty good. Attacking with 3 dragons gives an extra 9 damage to an opponent's face. His dash ability can trigger warstorm surge every turn. Not the best dragon in the deck, but pretty good. Obviously the more dragons you have out, the better he will be.
Dragonlord Kolaghan - A hasty, haste-granting, flying beater is nothing to sneeze at. Haste is vital in this deck, and Kologhan brings enough for the whole class.
Thundermaw Hellkite - 5/5 for 5 with flying, haste, and clears the way for all our other dragons, this guy is the real deal. I am never disappointed to get this guy out.
Flayer of the Hatebound - I'm still testing this guy out, but I think he will do work. He synergizes with Bladewing's ability to deal damage while bringing dragons out of the yard, as well as any reanimation spell we have. My dream is to mass re-animate him, then trigger damage from each dragon coming in. He even does 5 damage himself when he dies. The only way he could be better would be if he were a dragon.
Hellkite Tyrant - Great stats for his cmc, flying and trample, AND an amazing ability. Those are nice artifacts you have there, it would be a shame if something bad happened to them. Alternate wincons are super fun and this guy is just awesome.
Hoard-Smelter Dragon - More artifact hate for your opponents, this guy is great utility and a good body in the air. Gives us some much needed board interaction, and pumps himself in the process. All around a great dragon
Kokusho, the Evening Star - One of the more powerful dragons in the deck, this guy is begging to be abused. Reanimate him all day erry day, gain life, drain life, rinse and repeat. You know him, you love him (or maybe you loathe him), but his power can't be denied.
Steel Hellkite - An absolute house. Does everything we need in this deck. Nukes your opponent's board and helps get rid of those pesky enchantments that red and black can't normally deal with. A+ dragon!
Stormbreath Dragon - His 4/4 is a little smaller than I would like, but protection from the color of removal is awesome. With a 7 mana investment, he nukes all the blue players at the table, and becomes a sizable body in the process. Wait until he rotates out and pick one up on the cheap.
Balefire Dragon - His flavor text is very appropriate, this guy brings death for everyone around. A good body with a back-breaking ability that can be brought back with Bladewing. A+
Dragon Mage - This guy is Wheel of Fortune on a giant flying body. Truly incredible when he connects, gives us a whole new hand every time. Disrupts your enemies plans, puts bodies in the 'yard for reanimation, and is just generally awesome.
Knollspine Dragon - More card drawing dragons! One of the biggest dragons in the deck with power 7. A neat interaction with Warstorm Surge, when he ETB, put his ability on the stack. Resolve warstorm surge damage, then resolve his card drawing ability for a guaranteed 7 draw.
Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon is a great tool to have sitting in the yard. Kills a lot of commanders when he ETB, and is no slouch in combat. Saved my ass just the other day taking out Mayael the Anima who was about to go nuts with seedborn muse.
Tyrant's familiar - A decent dragon on his own, a total house with Bladewing on the field. You can guarantee his lieutenant ability by reanimating him with Bladewing. Gives us more interaction with our opponent's board and beats face.
Bogardan hellkite - Lava axe on a 5/5 flyer at instant speed. His mana cost is high, but his versatility cannot be ignored. Another great Utility dragon that I love having in my graveyard.
Scourge of Kher Ridges - Oh man this guy! What an amazing creature. His ability absolutely destroys your opponents dreams and makes them curl up into the fetal position and cry. The best part is that it doesn't say "target", so it hits hexproof dudes as well. Screw you Sigarda!
Utvara Hellkite - This is it. The ultimate dragon. The number one Dragon. This linchpin of the biggest play in the deck. I just...I can't even...This guy. He does it. Just look at him! We put dragons in your dragons so you can slaughter while you maim. #1 dragon in the graveyard every time.
Sarkhan the Mad - You play Sarkhan with a couple dragons out, and that's 15 damage to someone's face, not to mention whatever they are getting in the combat step. Turns one of your non-dragons into actually dragons, then gives you an extra card before he goes down. He is a huge burn spell right at someone's face and ruins their day
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - The Daddy of all Dragons does not disappoint. Use his -x ability to wipe the board, leaving only the biggest creatures behind. Deals with enchantments which we have almost no other way of dealing with. His +2 can be useful for sniping problem utility creatures and commanders, and his ultimate is worthy of the title.
Entomb - Tutors for any creature in your deck and throws it right into the 'yard. A staple in reanimator lists.
Faithless Looting, Tormenting Voice, Wild Guess - Looting effects are great for the deck. They put dragons in the graveyard, dig us through the deck, and don't interfere with casting our dragons later in the game. Looting Anger and getting some lands in return feels great.
Reanimate - the class spell that entire archetype is named for. You basically cast any creature in your graveyard for free. Getting this in my opening hand makes me so happy. I will purposefully not play anything turn one, discard a dragon, then reanimate them turn 2. I had an opponent scoop on turn 2 when I reanimated Balefire Dragon. The power is real!
Exhume - A symmetrical reanimation spell. Great early game when you have more dudes in your graveyard than your opponents.
Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood - Cheap and efficient drawspells. Doesn't interfere with casting our dragons late game, and gets us going early.
Buried Alive - Fuels the best combo in the deck, throws any 3 creatures you want into the graveyard. Super utility in a reanimator deck.
Sarkhan's Triumph - Limited tutor that gets any Dragon into your hand. This helps when you can't draw into a threat for whatever reason, or you need the perfect dragon [Utvara Hellkite] to close out the game.
Read the Bones - What some call the best draw spell in black, and I'm inclined to agree. Essentially digs 4 cards into your deck for 3 mana. This card is so good.
Past in Flames - Allows us to play Instants and Sorceries out of our graveyard for a turn. Accidentally mill something away with Mesmeric Orb? No problemo. Black and red have poor non-creature recursion, and this helps get around that if just for 2 turn. The flashback allows us to play it out the graveyard for twice the recursion.
Ambition's Cost - more efficient card draw. What's not to like?
Crux of Fate - The boardwipe that was tailor-made for this deck. Literally 0 downside for us with the second mode. Just awesome, I predict it will be a staple for the format.
Living Death - Another amazingly powerful black board wipe. Just backbreaking with a stocked graveyard.
Patriarch's Bidding - Another mass reanimation, this card is much more effective in a tribal deck that a regular one, it will almost always be in your favor.
Necromantic Selection - A great board wipe for our deck. If you choose to bring back Bladewing, you will essentially get 2 dragons back on the field while everyone else has nothing.
Talisman of Indulgence - Mana Fixing for the early game, the 1 damage is negligible. I prefer low cmc mana rocks. They are useful in the early game, when you actually need the acceleration, and they are a low mana investment so I don't mind when they eventually get blown up.
Worn Powerstone - my general rule of thumb for mana rocks is it has to either tap for colored mana, be 2 cmc, or tap for more than 1 colorless mana. Worn powerstone is the latter.
Cauldron of Souls - Testing this out after seeing it in Skorchdnite's list. Saves all our dragons from wipes, re-uses their ETB abilities, and in Bladewing's case, gets another dragon on the field.
Animate Dead - More one off reanimation. A little Fragile, but 2 mana reanimation is too good to ignore.
Dragon Tempest - One of the best additions to the deck since inception. Gives all our dragons haste AND burns opponents on entry. If I had to pick a single card from the Khans block, this would be it.
Fervor - More haste enablers for our dudes, and cheap enough to not interfere with our late-game plans.
Pandemonium, Where Ancients Tread, Warstorm Surge - One of the main pulls from Skorchdnite, these cards has many uses. Pandemonium can be used politically, and it can destroy the whole board with mass reanimation. The best play in the deck uses either these cards.Utvara Hellkite is nutso with these in play.
Blood Crypt - Dual lands that enter untapped are pure gold. The 2 damage to come in untapped is negligible in a format with 40 life.
Command Tower - Dual land with 0 drawbacks. It gets better the more colors your deck is.
Dragonskull Summit - Relatively cheap dual land with a conditional CIPT condition.
Graven Cairns - Dual land that requires colored mana to activate, or can tap for 1 colorless. Very helpful and cheap
High Market - A hard-to-kill sac outlet that can save our creatures from tuck or exile, or just kill some dragons to re-use their ETB ability when you reanimate them.
Phyrexian Tower - A more expensive high market that can output if you sac a creature. great utility.
Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace - basically reads "pay 4 mana: each player discards a card". a little slow and janky, but when you need to put some bodies in the yard, this will get the job done.
Shadowblood Ridge - More R/B producing lands, costing 1 to activate. Cheap color fixing.
Sulfurous Springs - I love this card. Dual lands at the cost of 1 life, who cares about that drawback?
Temple of Malice - Comes into play tapped, but lets you scry 1 in return. Great when you don't want to topdeck a land or something late game, or an 8CMC bomb early game.
Like a sleeping dragon, this deck takes a while to get into gear. Some insolent White Knight may come into your den and poke you with a sharp stick, but be patient. Soon he will become a TV dinner wrapped in foil. Shake off the few hundred years of sleep, and start spreading your wings. Summon your brood, and then take to the skies, scorching and crushing anyone foolish enough to challenge you. The Kingdom will regret sending their bite-size champion to disturb you.
Opening Hand
Having a good opening hand is essential for the deck. Getting stuck with 5 dragons, necromantic selection, and 1 mana is no Buenos. A good opening hand consists of 3-4 lands, 2 mana rocks, a looting, entombing, or reanimation spell, and a dragon or 2. We need to ramp us as fast as we can, because most of our deck costs 6CMC. If you draw reanimate, at least 1 swamp, and a good dragon, I will sometimes take that hand. Getting an Utvara Hellkite or Balefire Dragon out on turn 2 is devastating, and can buy you time while you draw into other things. I will almost never take a hand that has less than 3 lands and at least 1 mana rock.
Early Game
Early game we are at our most vulnerable. We have nothing in the graveyard, no creatures on the field, and no spells to interact with our opponents. Lay low, and ramp as hard as you can. Try to make a friend if you can, your inevitable betrayal later in the game will be that much better. Try to set up haste for your dudes, get a couple of choice dragons in the graveyard, and prepare yourself for what is to come. If you can, try to get a warstorm surge effect in your hand. Don't be afraid to wheel or discard, we can get almost everything back.
Mid Game
Around turns 5-7 is when the deck starts to kick off. Continue ramping if you had a slow start. If you have 7+ mana, start bringing out dragons, set up your warstorm surge (but not pandemonium, unless you can play the table. Save that for a huge reanimation), and start swinging. If you had a fast start, keep the train going. Keep drawing card, keep casting dragons, be the biggest badass at the table.
Late Game
By now, the board has probably been wiped a couple times. Keep bringing out dragons, use a mass reanimate spell if you have one. Try to have pandemonium effect going and just keep swinging. Not too complicated right? By now you should have the tools to end the game. Whether is be mass reanimations, Sarkhan the Mad, or just a *****load of dragons on the field, you should have some way of killing people, if you haven't already. We generally win by either cruising through the red zone, or mass-reanimation/dragon producing with a warstorm surge or Sarkhan the Mad in hand.
Tutor Targets
Various tutors in the deck should be used to get different cards, depending on your situation.
Sarkhan's Triumph - A limited tutor that grabs any dragon in our deck and puts it into our hand. Not as versatile as the Demonic Tutor it replaced, but perhaps more engaging with its restrictions. Need to clear the board? Grab a Balefire Dragon. Need to close out the game with warstorm surge? grab Utvara Hellkite. Need to buffer your life total? Kokusho, the Evening Star.
Buried Alive - This card is incredible. It basically reads "search for 3 creatures and put them into your hand". If I have a Pandemonium effect in hand, I will search for Anger, Bladewing's Thrall, and Utvara Hellkite every time. This trio of creatures is almost always a sure bet. If you have a mass reanimation spell in hand, I will sometimes just search for the 3 most badass dragons I can find and bring them all back at once. You can't go wrong putting 3 bodies in a graveyard. I do recommend burying Anger as one of your dudes almost every time.
Entomb - A cheaper buried alive, but only does 1 creature. I will usually pick Anger, unless I have some other combo I can start doing. Note it doesn't specify what kind of card you can search for. If you want to pull off some convoluted combo of Entombing Crux of Fate -> Past in Flames -> Crux of Fate for a 10 mana board wipe, be my guest.
Here I will detail some of the deeper interactions with the cards.
Knollspine Dragon - So this guy has a fun interaction with Pandemonium, Warstorm Surge, Where Ancients Tread, or Flayer of the Hatebound if he's coming from the yard. When he enters the battlefield, his card drawing ability will go on the stack, along with the ETB trigger from the 4 cards mentioned. You can resolve the damage trigger before the card drawing trigger to get a guaranteed 5-7 card draw, not including what you might have done in combat during the turn.
Flayer of the Hatebound - When you mass reanimate with something like Twilight's Call, resolve this guy first. When all the creatures enter the battlefield at once, they all see each other ETB. So Flayer of the Hatebound will see every creature coming from the yard and trigger from each one coming in. Flayer plays nice with Bladewing's ETB ability, triggering on whatever dragon you have coming in. Flayer also works well with persist/undying effects, so if that is your jam, add Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to your deck!
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury - Using his "Dash" ability with a Pandemonium effect out will allow you to cast him every turn for 4 damage every turn. It's not much, but sometimes it's useful for sniping an opponent's dude.
Necromantic Selection - If you play this with Bladewing on the field, chose him to bring back at the end. His ETB will trigger again, allowing you to get a free dragon on the field. 2 for 1!
The Big Combo
This is the biggest play the deck can make on a regular basis. Uninterrupted, it does 38 damage to 1 opponent. The pieces are:
It takes a little setting up, but killing an opponent from almost full health to 0 in 1 turn without resorting to infinite is very powerful. First, make sure you have Pandemonium or Warstorm Surge in your hand, or a way to get it ASAP. Cast Buried alive targetting Anger, Bladewing's Thrall, and Utvara Hellkite. Play pandemonium, then cast bladewing. Bladewing's ETB ability will bring back Utvara Hellkite, and Bladewing's Thrall's ability will trigger, and he will come along for the ride. Thats 13 damage from pandemonium. Swing with Bladewing, Thrall, and Utvara. that's 13 combat damage for a total of 26 damage. Utvara Hellkite will trigger twice, bringing 2 dragons into the battlefield for 12 more damage. That's 38 damage from combat and burn in 1 turn.
Powerful in combat - Most of the time, you will have the scariest creatures on the field. Combat should never be a problem for you.
Recursion - We have so much reanimation and recursion in the deck, you will never be hurting too badly after a wipe.
Strong in the late game - With how much recursion and card draw we have, it's easy to go toe-to-toe even later in the game.
Weaknesses
Disruption and Combo- If someone wants to combo out on you, they will. This deck has nothing in the way of stack manipulation, counters, or spell interaction. If someone wants to counter your Dragons, it is going to happen.
Tokens - The deck will fold to Krenko and his ilk. Though we have a few board wipes, we don't have the resources to hold off wave after wave of tokens. If you face constant early-game aggression from multiple opponents, you may be in trouble.
Graveyard Hate - The best plays in the deck come from the graveyard. If you face Rest in Peace and Bojuka Bog on a regular basis, your gonna have a bad time.
Weak Early Game - Most of this muscle of this deck is over 5 converted mana cost. This means that you aren't going to come out of the gate swinging. In fact, you will often be on the RECEIVING end of said beating. If you face decks that are designed to win on turn 4, you may be in trouble. This deck is made for a more casual playgroup that won't shut you out before reaching turn 7.
Here I will list cards that were either removed from earlier builds of the deck, or discussed here and not added.
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - Skitheryx is a very powerful card when built to his strengths. I believe I took him out because he didn't interact with Where Ancients Tread, and social reasons. Infect is not welcome in my playgroup, and Skittles draws all kinds of hate, turning me into a target even when he was gone. He doesn't particularly benefit from reanimation, and later in the game your opponents have ways to beat him.
Mordant Dragon - Another hard cut. If he had haste, I would probably keep him in. Deck space is limited, and we need the best of the best dragons.
Scourge of Valkas - This guy might still make it back in. He was in my original 30 dragon list, but when I halved that number I didn't feel like his ability would be worth it. He doesn't proc Where Ancients Tread, he doesn't have haste, and he is just a 4/4. I'll have to test him in the most recent version of the deck. When you cast Bladewing with him out on the field and a dragon in the yard, it's a free 5 to someone's face. Needs consideration.
Dragon Hatchling - Just not big enough for edh. The mana used for his firebreathing can be used somewhere else.
Solemn Simulacrum - While he is a good card, he is not a dragon, and his body is too small to go toe-to-toe with the big boys. If he were a dragon, or even a shapeshifter, I would consider it.
Filth - Without Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, this card doesn't do enough. Even with it, our dudes have flying, they don't usually have problems getting to the party.
Sire of Insanity - I'm still on the fence with him. He counteracts all our card draw, and We don't typically need help getting our stuff to a graveyard. However, removing your opponents ability to counter your spells and limiting their options is a powerful move.
Predator Dragon - Without building to his devour ability, he is a just a 4/4 dragon. Not bad, but we have better dragons.
Viscera Seer - From a more sacrifice-oriented build. This guy rocks with tokens and gravepacts, but didn't do enough here. Not a bad card at all, but not useful here.
Graveborn Muse - We have a few zombies on the field to boost her ability, but she is vulnerable to removal and dies to Thunder Dragon. If she had 4 toughness, I would probably try her out again. Just not enough for this deck.
Putrid Imp - This guy was an MVP in the creature version of the deck. He worked with Graveborn Muse, dodged Thunder Dragon, and let me discard anything I want. With our new direction, he wasn't earning the slot.
Shivan Hellkite - Too big of a CMC for a smaller body without haste. Just not the house he used to be.
Spawn of Thraxes - In a mono-red deck, without a doubt. We just don't run enough mountains to be worth it.
Moonveil Dragon - Super Awesome Dragon Time. Great in the first version that was more mountain and creature heavy, but just doesn't do enough now. May need additional testing.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots - His ability was too hard to proc in the deck with mostly 6+ CMC dudes.
Door of Destinies - This card is great when you can pump out multiple dudes every turn. Cats and goblins love it, but our deck can't produce creatures at the rate necessary to make this card worth it's slot.
Armillary Sphere - I would rather just have a mana rock in its place. Too slow for late game draws when I need more utility from my cards. In a more artifact-centered build, it might have a place.
Erratic Portal - It was too expensive for not enough payout. We don't mind at all when our dudes die. It's actually cheaper to get them out of the grave than from our hands. Maybe has a place in an ETB deck, but not here.
Nim Deathmantle - A little mana intensive, and it always seemed clunky to me. We tap out more often than not, and having 4 mana open can be hard.
Spectral Searchlight - Just not good enough. There are better mana rocks out there if you aren't playing politics.
Sisay's Ring - This was a hard cut, I think I needed more draw power so this got the bucket. Still a great card and If I need more ramp it will be my first choice.
Phyrexian Arena - This was a hard cut, and it still might make it back into the deck someday. I built this deck to go as fast as I can make it. For my draw cards, I needed them to be cheap so they didn't interfere with casting dragons late game, and I needed multiple cards at once. 1 extra card a turn wasn't fast enough.
Molten Disaster, Fault Line - The original version of my deck had burn cards that hit non-flying creatures. The problem is that they are very mana intensive to hit relevant edh threats. Mana that could be spent drawing cards or casting creatures. The ground-based creatures can typically be overpowered by our dragons, so these cards are out.
Morgue Burst - It was too expensive CMC wise for recursion that didn't even put the creature in play. If it did, it would absolutely be in.
Goblin War Drums - Again, we have no problem getting through the red zone. Unnecessary.
Vandalblast - If my meta used more artifacts, I would slot this in. My group uses more enchantments than artifacts. An red staple and almost always relevant.
Molten Slagheap - Useless late game, cumbersome early game. Only use this if you need a 5 cent mana base.
Corpse Dance - Without a dedicated sacrifice suite to abuse the ability, this is just decent. If you build for it, it's coo coo for cocoa puffs.
seize the day, World at War, Savage Beating - My original build had several extra combat steps cards, and when I Was swarming dragons it was pretty effective. With a lower creature count, it's not as useful.
Tortured Existence - Early attempts at graveyard recursion, I ended up not having enough creatures to make it worthwhile, and as mentioned before, We want creatures in the yard more so than our hand. Having to trade 1 for 1 each time made it clunky.
Demonic Collusion - A decent tutor for cheap, with less of a downside in our deck. I just don't like tutors that much. I still feel conflicted for having Demonic Tutor in the deck. It worked in the creature-heavier version, where I could easily discard 2 dragons, but now more often than not, the buyback is throwing out a draw spell or something else I need in hand.
Dread Return - Not a bad card at all. The flashback is a little steep, but we have more efficient reanimation for a cheaper cmc. If you feel like you need more reanimation spells, this is a good place to start.
Heartless Summoning - Worked well with the higher creature count, combined with Dragonspeaker shaman to power out crazy dragons for 2 mana. Not worth it in the new deck.
Victimize - Powerful in the right circumstances, useless if you have an empty boardstate. Not worth it in my wrath-happy meta.
Dawn of the Dead - Again, without multiple sac outlets, this card just isn't good enough.
Exsanguinate - One of black's better edh tools, this card just wasn't how I wanted to play the game. I have it in almost every deck I play, but not here. Doesn't help our game plan.
Rise from the Grave - The CMC was too high to justify it. If it gave haste or some other bonus, maybe.
Rescue from the Underworld - Flavorful and powerful, I am still considering this card. It unfortunately has the same problem as Victimize, but saccing Bladewing and bringing back 3 dragons can be backbreaking.
Dragon Shadow, Dragon Breath - I really liked these cards, but they just didn't do enough. Taken out for more utility. Got kicked in the dick by Bruna stealing Dragon Shadow out of my graveyard.
7/9/2015
These are the changes I have made since I posted this thread. I will be looking at a few cards from origins to switch in, but no word on it yet.
-Corpse Connoisseur+Dragon Tempest
Corpse Connoisseur did his job fine, but I was never happy to see him in hand. 5 mana was just too much for me. I never liked playing him, so Dragon Tempest was an easy switch.
-Ogre Battledriver+Dragonlord Kolaghan
The Dragonlord was an easy switch for the battledriver. The Ogre kept dying to Thunder Dragon, Ugin, and other shenanigans.
-Demonic Tutor+Sarkhan's Triumph
Removal of Demonic tutor was strictly due to my feelings on unconditional tutors. If you don't mind tutors, keep Demonic. Or throw in both, if you are feeling saucy.
-Mesmeric Orb+Ancient Craving
Mesmeric Orb was drawing all kinds of hate, making people go out of their way to kill me early. No bueno for a deck that needs to lay low early game.
My name is Skyler, and I started playing right when Return to Ravnica was released. I bought the "Golgari Growth" intro pack at a local Walmart and instantly fell in love with the Golgari. I loved the aesthetic, I loved using the graveyard, and I loved the big creatures. Particularly, Slitherhead and Corpsejack Menace. I built a mid-range Golgari deck and played constantly with my friend, roommate, and now official Wizard creative team member Ari. I didn't take to standard very much, after spending like $80 bucks on Abrupt Decays and Lotleth Trolls just to have them become obsolete. Somewhere around that time, I discovered EDH. It was everything I liked about magic. The biggest creatures, the craziest spells, the casual social environment between friends, it quickly became the only format I play.
My first EDH deck was a "Draw X" build featuring Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (I had picked up the Golgari Duel deck, and decided to give Izzet a try). It was too powerful for my fellow noobie friends, so I took it apart. Since then I've drifted from commander to commander, never being fully satisfied with any of them. When I found bladewing, I decided not to net-deck, and built the entire thing from scratch. It was a terrible Dragon Tribal list with 30+dragons and no support whatsoever. I slowly began shifting it to more utility and reanimation, then I finally went online looking for advice. I've been tinkering with the deck since then, but it is fundamentally the same core as my second iteration. I am very proud to play this deck, being my first completely personalized and thought-out list. I always get good comments on my commander and deck.
I think they clans will become ally colored groups. Unless Im mistaken, for each clan, the FRF mechanic doesn't appear on the enemy color of each pairing. There are no White dash cards, no Black Bolster card, no Red Prowess cards, no Green Delve cards, no Blue Ferocious cards. On each of the new Khans, they thematically show the potential for the colors they could become. They are mono-color, but their activated hybrid costs foreshadow their respective clan's future. I believe this ties into the theme of choices and possibility that the block is centered on.
Without the influence of dragons, Yasova is free to lead the Temur into their 3-color future. I'm not sure how the Dragons presence will affect the mana each clan has access to, unless (as speculated above) the Dragons are the new rulers of the clans and model their followers after their allied-color selves.
I could be completely off-base, but I think the absence of the mechanics on certain colors is very telling for draft compatibility with DTK, and the hybrid activation of the new Khans seems to serve a purpose greater than just "hey it's wedge but it's not!"
As someone who is regularly on the wrong side on a sigarda ass kicking, I can attest to her power. The primer here on the forums is great, be sure to check it out if you pick sigarda.
I am trying to help build my girlfriend a deck using Nin, The Pain Artist that doesn't utilize infinite combos as the win condition. It seems like most decks focus on making opponents draw their entire library with infinite mana, which she said did not appeal to her. Currently, I am trying out a threaten-sacrifice type of build. It seems okay, but I wanted to get opinions for deck ideas from others before I bought the cards.
Izzet is not my specialty, so I come to you guys searching for fun ways to win in these colors. Here is my threaten deck for reference, but any suggestions don't have to fit into that archetype. Looking for variety!
Interesting point about Intrepid Hero. It's mostly in because I love the artwork, but He probably could be replaced. I think Palliation Accord is an interesting effect, but it's probably more effective in a smaller format. My experience with Arcum's Whistle was janky at best. I want it to work, but I agree it can probably be cut. Tunnel Vision is actually a card i've been using on myself, naming open the vaults for a psuedo-Primal Surge for enchantments. It's fun and swingy, but doesn't always win the game. I'll look into the junktroller. Is having opponents deck themselves viable? It's not a strategy any of my friends use, so I've never seen it attempted.
And I'm aware Gwafa Hazid isn't the strongest pick, I just like him. He is very flavorful and I like that in a creature. That being said, Isperia can probably be switched out without a problem if it becomes necessary.
Do people really play spells with both Dovescape and Guile out at the same time? Good call on Etheral Armor and Aura of Silence. Might throw in Stony Silence as well. Cleansing Meditation might actually be good, I face a Sigarda enchantress deck all the time. Thanks for the input!
Honestly, this set has the most cards i've wanted to add to my decks in a long time. I think every one of my decks is getting at least 1 card, with my dragon deck getting 3+. Im super psyched for this set, and the next one.
x: Bosh, Iron Golem - Artifacts aren't really my thing W: Isamaru, Hound of Konda - Lightning fast voltron, completely different from my other decks. U: Jalira, Master Polymorphist - Blue also isnt my thing, but Jalira looks fun. Lorthos, the Tidemaker and blue braids look fun too B: Ghoulcaller Gisa - the next black deck I will build. Runner-up being Kiku, Night's Flower R: Krenko, Mob Boss - My first legendary and my introduction to MTG (2013 pack). Incredibly powerful and fast. G: Dosan the Falling Leaf - Want to build mono-green control with colorshifted cards. Yeva, Nature's Herald UW: Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer - Terrible deck so far, but I want it to work so badly. Might shift to "police deck" to keep everyone in check. BW: Triad of Fates - seems slow, but also a contender for "police" deck. BW isn't really my thing. RW: Brion Stoutarm - Probably my choice for this color. Looks like a fun deck. GW: Sigarda, Host of Herons - My girlfriend kicks my dick in with this on a weekly basis UB: Wrexial, the Risen Deep - Holy butts this guy rules. So fun. RU: Tibor and Lumia - Not my favorite color pairing, ive learned. Shoutout to Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind for being my first edh deck. UG: Experiment Kraj - Looks very complex and fun. Probably on my to-do list. RB: BLADEWING THE RISEN - Dragon tribal re-animator, yo. Dem Dragons. GB: Varolz, the Scar-Striped - My favorite color pair in all of magic with not a single commander I like enough to use. RG: borborygmos enraged - Linear, but fun. Chaining 30 lands to kill a table is a good feeling. WUB: Dromar, the Banisher - I guess? I don't know, WU does nothing for me. BUG: The Mimeoplasm - I don't know, not much to pick from here. +1 for oozes. GWU: Roon of the Hidden Realm - Hell yeah, Rhinos GWR: Mayael The Anima - Super fun. Every turn send in something that can end a game. BRU: Crosis, the Purger - Again, Blue/red isn't really my deal. BGR: Darigaaz, the Igniter - Prossh is the really only serviceable general in jund, which is too bad. RWU: Ruhan of the Fomori - MiteBCool. If not, Zedruu or the new Monk guy from Fate Reforged. BRW: Oros, the Avenger - Wither.dec. My friend built this and I liked it a lot. GWB: Ghave, Guru of Spores - I love fungai. Too bad Ghave is so hated. Karador is insane. RGB: yasova dragonclaw - Seems like it could be powerful and fun. Surrak Dragonclaw, too. WUBRG: Scion of the Ur-Dragon - Dragons.
Now let's take a look at the big guy himself. There are a couple things we need to understand about what our boney friend.
1. His mana cost:
- We will need colored mana, and lots of it. He will be played later in the game, and we won't be playing him a lot. He will be a tool, not the engine.
2. His abilities:- "When Bladewing the Risen enters the battlefield, you may return target Dragon permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield."- This is the main reason we play Bladewing. Being able to take any dragon from your graveyard and put it directly into play is a big swing, and with some support, can almost win you the game on the spot.
- "
Dragon creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn." - This is a good mana sink when you have a board presence, but it's situational. There are better things to do with our mana.
3. His StatsI believe Bladewing is best used as a tribal build to best utilize his 2 abilities. Though his CMC is high, the deck doesn't revolve around him. If he dies, it's not the end of the world. We have enough reanimator spells to where we probably don't even need to take him to the command zone. His pump ability can be potent with enough dragons on the field, and unless I'm mistaken, can be used to get some extra damage of warstorm surge.
Bladewing isn't the most competitive rakdos commander, or even the most competitive Dragon commander, but I'll be damned if he isn't the coolest commander on the table.
Let's break down the other potential commanders in R/B
For a list on other legendary dragons, I will stick with ones that have Red in their color identity, as most dragons are red.
The subjective view of deck power in several attributes. This can differ in each playgroup a bit, but I try to give as accurate marks as possible.
General Attributes
Game Play Attributes
1 Anger
1 Bladewing's Thrall
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
1 Flayer of the Hatebound
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Dragon Mage
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Thunder Dragon
1 Tyrant's Familiar
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Utvara Hellkite
Lands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Graven Cairns
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 High Market
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
1 Shadowblood Ridge
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Temple of Malice
1 Temple of the False God
16x Mountain
9x Swamp
1 Sarkhan the Mad
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Sorceries
1 Faithless Looting
1 Reanimate
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Exhume
1 Night's Whisper
1 Sign in Blood
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Wild Guess
1 Buried Alive
1 Read the Bones
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Past in Flames
1 Ambition's Cost
1 Ancient Craving
1 Crux of Fate
1 Living Death
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Twilight's Call
1 Necromantic Selection
Artifacts
1 Sol Ring
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Mind Stone
1 Bloodstone Cameo
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Rakdos Cluestone
1 Rakdos Keyrune
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Animate Dead
1 Dragon Tempest
1 Fervor
1 Pandemonium
1 Where Ancients Tread
1 Warstorm Surge
Instants
1 Entomb
1 Sarkhan's Triumph
A card by card breakdown of the deck.
Like a sleeping dragon, this deck takes a while to get into gear. Some insolent White Knight may come into your den and poke you with a sharp stick, but be patient. Soon he will become a TV dinner wrapped in foil. Shake off the few hundred years of sleep, and start spreading your wings. Summon your brood, and then take to the skies, scorching and crushing anyone foolish enough to challenge you. The Kingdom will regret sending their bite-size champion to disturb you.
Opening Hand
Having a good opening hand is essential for the deck. Getting stuck with 5 dragons, necromantic selection, and 1 mana is no Buenos. A good opening hand consists of 3-4 lands, 2 mana rocks, a looting, entombing, or reanimation spell, and a dragon or 2. We need to ramp us as fast as we can, because most of our deck costs 6CMC. If you draw reanimate, at least 1 swamp, and a good dragon, I will sometimes take that hand. Getting an Utvara Hellkite or Balefire Dragon out on turn 2 is devastating, and can buy you time while you draw into other things. I will almost never take a hand that has less than 3 lands and at least 1 mana rock.
Early Game
Early game we are at our most vulnerable. We have nothing in the graveyard, no creatures on the field, and no spells to interact with our opponents. Lay low, and ramp as hard as you can. Try to make a friend if you can, your inevitable betrayal later in the game will be that much better. Try to set up haste for your dudes, get a couple of choice dragons in the graveyard, and prepare yourself for what is to come. If you can, try to get a warstorm surge effect in your hand. Don't be afraid to wheel or discard, we can get almost everything back.
Mid Game
Around turns 5-7 is when the deck starts to kick off. Continue ramping if you had a slow start. If you have 7+ mana, start bringing out dragons, set up your warstorm surge (but not pandemonium, unless you can play the table. Save that for a huge reanimation), and start swinging. If you had a fast start, keep the train going. Keep drawing card, keep casting dragons, be the biggest badass at the table.
Late Game
By now, the board has probably been wiped a couple times. Keep bringing out dragons, use a mass reanimate spell if you have one. Try to have pandemonium effect going and just keep swinging. Not too complicated right? By now you should have the tools to end the game. Whether is be mass reanimations, Sarkhan the Mad, or just a *****load of dragons on the field, you should have some way of killing people, if you haven't already. We generally win by either cruising through the red zone, or mass-reanimation/dragon producing with a warstorm surge or Sarkhan the Mad in hand.
Tutor Targets
Here I will detail some of the deeper interactions with the cards.
The Big Combo
It takes a little setting up, but killing an opponent from almost full health to 0 in 1 turn without resorting to infinite is very powerful. First, make sure you have Pandemonium or Warstorm Surge in your hand, or a way to get it ASAP. Cast Buried alive targetting Anger, Bladewing's Thrall, and Utvara Hellkite. Play pandemonium, then cast bladewing. Bladewing's ETB ability will bring back Utvara Hellkite, and Bladewing's Thrall's ability will trigger, and he will come along for the ride. Thats 13 damage from pandemonium. Swing with Bladewing, Thrall, and Utvara. that's 13 combat damage for a total of 26 damage. Utvara Hellkite will trigger twice, bringing 2 dragons into the battlefield for 12 more damage. That's 38 damage from combat and burn in 1 turn.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Here I will list cards that were either removed from earlier builds of the deck, or discussed here and not added.
7/9/2015
These are the changes I have made since I posted this thread. I will be looking at a few cards from origins to switch in, but no word on it yet.
-Corpse Connoisseur +Dragon Tempest
Corpse Connoisseur did his job fine, but I was never happy to see him in hand. 5 mana was just too much for me. I never liked playing him, so Dragon Tempest was an easy switch.
-Ogre Battledriver +Dragonlord Kolaghan
The Dragonlord was an easy switch for the battledriver. The Ogre kept dying to Thunder Dragon, Ugin, and other shenanigans.
-Demonic Tutor +Sarkhan's Triumph
Removal of Demonic tutor was strictly due to my feelings on unconditional tutors. If you don't mind tutors, keep Demonic. Or throw in both, if you are feeling saucy.
-Mesmeric Orb +Ancient Craving
Mesmeric Orb was drawing all kinds of hate, making people go out of their way to kill me early. No bueno for a deck that needs to lay low early game.
My name is Skyler, and I started playing right when Return to Ravnica was released. I bought the "Golgari Growth" intro pack at a local Walmart and instantly fell in love with the Golgari. I loved the aesthetic, I loved using the graveyard, and I loved the big creatures. Particularly, Slitherhead and Corpsejack Menace. I built a mid-range Golgari deck and played constantly with my friend, roommate, and now official Wizard creative team member Ari. I didn't take to standard very much, after spending like $80 bucks on Abrupt Decays and Lotleth Trolls just to have them become obsolete. Somewhere around that time, I discovered EDH. It was everything I liked about magic. The biggest creatures, the craziest spells, the casual social environment between friends, it quickly became the only format I play.
My first EDH deck was a "Draw X" build featuring Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (I had picked up the Golgari Duel deck, and decided to give Izzet a try). It was too powerful for my fellow noobie friends, so I took it apart. Since then I've drifted from commander to commander, never being fully satisfied with any of them. When I found bladewing, I decided not to net-deck, and built the entire thing from scratch. It was a terrible Dragon Tribal list with 30+dragons and no support whatsoever. I slowly began shifting it to more utility and reanimation, then I finally went online looking for advice. I've been tinkering with the deck since then, but it is fundamentally the same core as my second iteration. I am very proud to play this deck, being my first completely personalized and thought-out list. I always get good comments on my commander and deck.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Without the influence of dragons, Yasova is free to lead the Temur into their 3-color future. I'm not sure how the Dragons presence will affect the mana each clan has access to, unless (as speculated above) the Dragons are the new rulers of the clans and model their followers after their allied-color selves.
I could be completely off-base, but I think the absence of the mechanics on certain colors is very telling for draft compatibility with DTK, and the hybrid activation of the new Khans seems to serve a purpose greater than just "hey it's wedge but it's not!"
I am trying to help build my girlfriend a deck using Nin, The Pain Artist that doesn't utilize infinite combos as the win condition. It seems like most decks focus on making opponents draw their entire library with infinite mana, which she said did not appeal to her. Currently, I am trying out a threaten-sacrifice type of build. It seems okay, but I wanted to get opinions for deck ideas from others before I bought the cards.
Izzet is not my specialty, so I come to you guys searching for fun ways to win in these colors. Here is my threaten deck for reference, but any suggestions don't have to fit into that archetype. Looking for variety!
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/nin-the-pain-artist-steal-and-sac/
Sage's Reverie.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/commanding-bear-force-one-1/
And I'm aware Gwafa Hazid isn't the strongest pick, I just like him. He is very flavorful and I like that in a creature. That being said, Isperia can probably be switched out without a problem if it becomes necessary.
I took out a lot of weird creatures and the more narrow protection spells. Looking for some C&C!
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/25-mega-budget-isamaru/
Lots of room for improvement.
W: Isamaru, Hound of Konda - Lightning fast voltron, completely different from my other decks.
U: Jalira, Master Polymorphist - Blue also isnt my thing, but Jalira looks fun. Lorthos, the Tidemaker and blue braids look fun too
B: Ghoulcaller Gisa - the next black deck I will build. Runner-up being Kiku, Night's Flower
R: Krenko, Mob Boss - My first legendary and my introduction to MTG (2013 pack). Incredibly powerful and fast.
G: Dosan the Falling Leaf - Want to build mono-green control with colorshifted cards. Yeva, Nature's Herald
UW: Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer - Terrible deck so far, but I want it to work so badly. Might shift to "police deck" to keep everyone in check.
BW: Triad of Fates - seems slow, but also a contender for "police" deck. BW isn't really my thing.
RW: Brion Stoutarm - Probably my choice for this color. Looks like a fun deck.
GW: Sigarda, Host of Herons - My girlfriend kicks my dick in with this on a weekly basis
UB: Wrexial, the Risen Deep - Holy butts this guy rules. So fun.
RU: Tibor and Lumia - Not my favorite color pairing, ive learned. Shoutout to Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind for being my first edh deck.
UG: Experiment Kraj - Looks very complex and fun. Probably on my to-do list.
RB: BLADEWING THE RISEN - Dragon tribal re-animator, yo. Dem Dragons.
GB: Varolz, the Scar-Striped - My favorite color pair in all of magic with not a single commander I like enough to use.
RG: borborygmos enraged - Linear, but fun. Chaining 30 lands to kill a table is a good feeling.
WUB: Dromar, the Banisher - I guess? I don't know, WU does nothing for me.
BUG: The Mimeoplasm - I don't know, not much to pick from here. +1 for oozes.
GWU: Roon of the Hidden Realm - Hell yeah, Rhinos
GWR: Mayael The Anima - Super fun. Every turn send in something that can end a game.
BRU: Crosis, the Purger - Again, Blue/red isn't really my deal.
BGR: Darigaaz, the Igniter - Prossh is the really only serviceable general in jund, which is too bad.
RWU: Ruhan of the Fomori - MiteBCool. If not, Zedruu or the new Monk guy from Fate Reforged.
BRW: Oros, the Avenger - Wither.dec. My friend built this and I liked it a lot.
GWB: Ghave, Guru of Spores - I love fungai. Too bad Ghave is so hated. Karador is insane.
RGB: yasova dragonclaw - Seems like it could be powerful and fun. Surrak Dragonclaw, too.
WUBRG: Scion of the Ur-Dragon - Dragons.