Feldon of the Third PathFeldon of the Third Path | Art by Chase Stone

While I try to avoid revisiting creature types, as there are plenty out there and I want to give them all their due, Heroes and Dragons have both been revisited.

Dragons were the first type reviewed, and then they were revisited after the Theme Deck Throwdown, albeit with fewer colors. Today, we’re going to triple down on a creature type, although in a completely different way.

Have you guessed it? It’s Dragons…again!

It’s amazing how versatile creature types can be, especially when the roster is stacked. We’ve seen Dragons as a five-color good stuff deck, a ramp deck, and yet this build is going to be completely different. It’s even going to be the same monocolor as the Throwdown winner!

When we last reviewed Dragons, we looked primarily at them as the apex of evolution, the top of the curve, the payoff to our buildup. But what if we looked at Dragons as inevitable bringers of destruction? Dragons are far more than just big fliers; they make their presence known and they can be resilient, too.

Dragon History

Dragons have been around since the beginning of Magic’s history, typically as the gigantic flying embodiments of power.

They’re not quite like HBO's House of the Dragon level medieval nuclear weapons, but they are incredibly strong and adept at beating players down from the air. There’s more to them than that, however.

Dragons also breathe fire, and their very presence on the battlefield fundamentally changes the course of the conflict. That’s the kind of Dragons we’re going to build around today. These giant, scaly monsters are going to make their presence known and show just how difficult to keep down Dragons can be.

But how do we show Dragons’ resilience? And how does that relate to their ability to strike fear into foes?

What Does Feldon of the Third PathFeldon of the Third Path Do?

The most obvious aspect to notice about Feldon of the Third PathFeldon of the Third Path is that he is not a Dragon. With all of the legendary Dragons out there, why would we choose a commander that isn’t a Dragon? He doesn’t even reference Dragons, like Zirilan of the ClawZirilan of the Claw!

What Feldon does do is something red has been getting occasional support for over the years: weird forms of reanimation. Reanimation is usually black’s deal, and, while there are colorless ways to reanimate, which we are absolutely using, Feldon goes about it in a different way.

Feldon makes copies of creatures in our grave, only they’re artifacts, have haste, and go away at the end of the turn.

So we need our Dragons to make an impact.

Key Cards for Feldon of the Third PathFeldon of the Third Path

The Dragons we’re using all have enters-the-battlefield (ETB) effects. Being big isn’t enough; we want our Dragons to come out, make their presence known, and then go back to the grave.

Being able to return over and over is where we get the resilience, and building up ETBs makes sure our Dragons announce themselves loudly each time.

Bogardan HellkiteBogardan Hellkite is a classic big-bang-shot Dragon, one of the win conditions of the legendary Gassy Knoll DragonstormDragonstorm deck. When it enters, it deals damage to any number of targets, which is really powerful to copy with Feldon.

Remember: Feldon doesn’t immediately remove the creature it copies, so you can copy the same creature over and over.

When building a relatively linear deck, I like to include cards that increase the deck’s “play” (ability to present unique scenarios, making them fun to pick up). Hunted DragonHunted Dragon is a fun political tool and was even included in DragonstormDragonstorm decks back in the day.

Skyline DespotSkyline Despot adds the Monarch to the game, which is always a fun time, with extra cards and reasons for combat-encouraging action.

The other heavily-featured effect in the deck is cheap red looting/rummaging effects. These cards let us dig through the deck, loading the grave up for reanimation shenanigans. Those reanimation spells are rare to find in mono-red, but we can find them with our card velocity.

We need these additional reanimation spells to accommodate not having our commander out, which is a concern when we are loading our Dragons in a public place, our graveyard, and our commander requires a turn cycle to activate.

Much of what we do is forecasted, so having God-Pharaoh's GiftGod-Pharaoh's Gift eternalizing our Dragons or Search for SurvivorsSearch for Survivors making our opponents choose what we get back gives us additional our. Search is a hidden gem, by the way, as a cool color pie break.

The Sanitarium is a fun additional source of looting, while Arena of GloryArena of Glory can help offset Feldon’s frailty by giving him haste, enabling our shenanigans early.

But how do we close the game out?

How Does This Feldon of the Third PathFeldon of the Third Path Commander Deck Win?

Unlike the other Dragon decks we’ve looked at, this one wants to engulf the table in fire. Terror of the PeaksTerror of the Peaks and Scourge of ValkasScourge of Valkas have our Dragons blast opponents on ETB, while Spawn of ThraxesSpawn of Thraxes deals damage equal to the number of mountains we control, acting as an incredible finisher and a glorious reanimation target!

Conclusion

Dragons have a ton of breadth…and a ton of breath! There are so many ways to build them: good stuff, clones, ramp, and now reanimator! Which is your favorite?

How would you build Dragons? And who would lead them into the fray?