Throughout Magic's history, there have always been Dragons. Ever since Alpha, the skies haven't been safe and red decks had a not-so-secret weapon. Here there be Dragons, from Magic's beginning to Magic's end.

In fact, they're responsible for the formation of Commander!

Initially, it was an unofficial format called Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), based around the five legendary Dragons from the Legends set back in the 1990s. It grew more popular with time and soon enough divorced itself from its Elder Dragon roots.

But Dragons continued to be prominent across future sets, being recognized as the iconic creature of the red color. They have changed to adapt to the zeitgeist of the game at any given time and are regularly some of the most powerful cards printed.

Despite that, they overwhelming are mid- to high-stat creatures with flying that are intended to be showstoppers. Some things never change.

To put it plainly, Dragons are good! They're the iconic creature type of red for a reason. They're powerful, surprisingly flexible, and have wicked art.

Giant Flying Lizards

By and large, they tend to fail the "vanilla test," but their abilities almost always compensate for this. The vanilla test is a quick assessment to judge a card's value by seeing if its power and toughness are equal to or greater than its cost.

Ancestor DragonAncestor Dragon is an example of a card that fails this test. As a 5/6, it is not worth playing for six mana unless its other abilities make it worthwhile. The flying keyword helps, though it's the ability to gain life whenever your creatures attack that offsets the stat deficit.

So while Ancestor DragonAncestor Dragon wouldn't be worth playing if it had no abilities, the abilities it has make it worth including in decks where gaining life is important.

Ancient Silver DragonAncient Silver Dragon is a Dragon that passes the vanilla test. As an 8/8, that by itself would be worth considering in a deck for eight mana. Flying as a keyword yet again adds some spark to the card. But the ability to roll a d20, draw that many cards, and also have no maximum hand size?

Flying colors, Ancient Silver DragonAncient Silver Dragon! More than worth it.

These two creatures really exemplify Dragons best: giant flying lizards. They're high-statted flying bricks which are begging to be thrown at your enemy. They often have additional combat effects such as trample or the ability to increase their stats. Those that don't come with other utility.

Surprisingly Tricky

Not every Dragon is intended to be a magical fighter jet. And yet, even those that focus on other aspects of the game still have great stats!

Take Brainstealer DragonBrainstealer Dragon, who allows you to exile the top cards of your opponents' libraries and play them. And on top of that, they lose life every time you play their cards. Or Hypersonic DragonHypersonic Dragon, which lets you cast sorceries as if they were instants.

In either case, the Dragon still has decent stats. They're fliers which can deal repeated, solid damage to an opponent. But they have additional tricks to give them utility outside of a frontal assault.

Whelps, Hatchlings, and Dragonkin

There's quite a few low-costed Dragons that aren't proper Dragons at all. Outside of Drakes, which are a completely separate creature type, whelps, hatchlings, and various forms of dragonkin all feature to occupy the low-cost Dragon niche.

Most have some ability to make their low stats more worth it, such as Firespitter WhelpFirespitter Whelp. Others like Dragon HatchlingDragon Hatchling are just cheap Dragons that, with a bit of mana, can hold their own. And others still have some proper utility, like Nadaar, Selfless PaladinNadaar, Selfless Paladin.

These creatures aren't standouts, but they're not meant to be. They're chaff that synergize with your Dragon-affinity spells and give you the breathing room to reach further down the mana curve.

And they do a good job with it!

Not every Dragon is worth including in your deck. Some are too expensive for their value while others just don't synergize well with other Dragons.

To be clear, Dragons don't have a single, glaring weakness. It's just that, like all creature types, they can't do everything. Only most things.

You Are a Threat

Somewhat temperamental based on your play group, but Dragons are one of those archetypes that has left quite a few people burned.

There are oppressive, game-ender Dragons out there. Two-card infinite combos. Even to a new player, seeing someone play Earthquake DragonEarthquake Dragon will indicate its controller is a threat.

And then there's Dragons that just get under players' skin, such as Nicol Bolas, God-PharaohNicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh.

As a result, playing Dragons will mark you as a high-value target to be taken out until someone else makes a move. More experienced players won't be as inclined to assume you're the end-all be-all of the game. But with no information, Dragons are almost always a safe bet to prioritize first.

Dragons are not subtle. So they prevent you from playing them as such.

You Are Vulnerable

It takes quite a while for a Dragon deck to get going. It's sluggish and unresponsive, despite red's propensity for haste. Red doesn't have the sustainable mana-flow to keep up with the rapid deployment of Dragons. It certainly can grab temporary mana, but this is quite bursting and not conducive to building a board state.

You have your dragonkin to act as screening blockers to begin with. Once you can play a few Dragons, you'll have solid defenders that can fly.

But how will you deal with deathtouch? Removal? Targeting key Dragons that rarely have built-in protection? Not to mention, how you can deal with high-powered defenders or anything indestructible.

Most Dragons are sledgehammers. Some aren't! But not every problem can be solved by hitting it harder.

The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon

The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon is the most played commander in the game at the time of this guide's writing.

Its eminence ability allows your other Dragons to be cast for less, which is effectively a permanent discount of one colorless off of all your creatures. Then its second ability gives you card draw and playing a card for free.

There's a reason it's at the top of the list, even as expensive as it is. It can support any playstyle.

Miirym, Sentinel WyrmMiirym, Sentinel Wyrm

Not quite as regularly played as the previous commander, Miirym, Sentinel WyrmMiirym, Sentinel Wyrm is still a force to be reckoned with, and the most popular commander in Temur () colors.

Already passing the vanilla test, it has a cheeky bit of protection with ward . But of course, that's not why you play this commander. This commander lets you create a token duplicate of every nontoken Dragon you play, ignoring the Legend Rule.

That is to say, you can even duplicate legendary Dragons.

And it doesn't require it to be from your hand, mind you. It just has to be a nontoken Dragon entering the battlefield under your control. That means any recursion from the graveyard or flickering off-of and back onto the battlefield will trigger this as well.

TiamatTiamat

D&D's TiamatTiamat doesn't disappoint when it comes to her moniker: the Queen of Dragons. A five-headed monstrosity representing the different colors of evil chromatic Dragons.

And she's an on-par 7/7 that gets you five unique Dragons and puts them in your hand. That is horrifying to watch happen and incredible to incorporate into your deck.

The utility on top of her stat-line is hard to beat! Her strength relies in getting you Dragons you need, which is a very frightening thing to contend with.

Rivaz of the ClawRivaz of the Claw

Despite not being a Dragon, Rivaz of the ClawRivaz of the Claw makes fielding other Dragons cheaper and easier. Which, for a three-mana commander, isn't bad at all!

The core of Rivaz is allowing you to return Dragons cheaply from your graveyard, meaning anything with an enter-the-battlefield (ETB) effect can now activate twice. Heavy hitters can come back and on-death triggers can happen again.

This is a great reminder that your commander doesn't always need to be your ace!

Atarka, World RenderAtarka, World Render

Atarka, World RenderAtarka, World Render is probably the purest distillation of what most new players conceptualize a Dragon to be. She's a bit weak for her cost but flying and trample soften the blow. And she also gives double strike to all of your attacking Dragons.

That is very good given Dragons' stat-lines.

This won't change traditional Dragon beatdown strategies. Double strike is a fantastic keyword, but it's not unbeatable. It sure is painful to deal with, though!

And of course, it makes her significantly harder to kill via combat while also ensuring she always hits for massive damage. She's not a bad option to try and win via commander damage!

Silumgar, the Drifting DeathSilumgar, the Drifting Death

Silumgar, the Drifting DeathSilumgar, the Drifting Death is a quite tanky choice for a commander, focused entirely on not dying.

Natural hexproof is amazing to see on a commander. While its stats aren't anything impressive, seven toughness is quite a lot.

Then there's the main event, assigning -1/-1 to a player's board on attack. This will kill many tokens and some utility creatures, not to mention compensate for Silumgar's lacking power. It keeps your commander alive longer and helps the rest of your board advance, which is a surprisingly slick maneuver!

Dromoka, the EternalDromoka, the Eternal

Dromoka, the EternalDromoka, the Eternal is a mid-range all-rounder. A 5/5 with flying and bolster 2, Dromoka assists your frailest creatures by building them up with +1/+1 counters.

This feels slow to build, and it is! However, might I direct you to its colors, .

These are the colors that thrive off counters. Therefore, one more means of adding counters will snowball far quicker than you'd think.

So long as it isn't a token-spam deck and you're careful not to have too much chaff, you can support a strike force of incredible power with only a handful of creatures.

Dragonspeaker ShamanDragonspeaker Shaman

Dragonspeaker ShamanDragonspeaker Shaman makes your expensive creatures cheaper. That is almost never a bad thing, and with Dragons in particular, it's a necessity!

With red's love of impulse draw (exiling cards and being able to play them the turn they're exiled), it needs mana to capitalize on opportunities. Nothing's worse than accidentally exiling an incredible card, so marginal cost reduction adds up over time.

Dragonlord's ServantDragonlord's Servant is another such example.

Scourge of ValkasScourge of Valkas

Scourge of ValkasScourge of Valkas is a creature that loves scaling. On its own, it's a midweight Dragon that can increase its strength for mana. Nothing atypical for a Dragon, but useful nonetheless.

But that's not why you play the Scourge. It has an ETB it grants to all other Dragons to deal scaling damage to any target. Ironically, this disincentivizes attacking with it in favor of keeping it alive for the utility, but the mixed abilities give it great flexibility.

Utvara HellkiteUtvara Hellkite

An absolute monster, Utvara HellkiteUtvara Hellkite will have your board get out of control fast. Any Dragon you control that attacks creates a 6/6 Dragon token... Which can then attack to create more Dragon tokens.

The fact it's a bit too expensive for its stats is inconsequential. After all, you're likely getting a handful of 6/6 tokens out of the deal. And that's before you get into other ETB effects for your Dragons!

The Fire CrystalThe Fire Crystal

There's a range of artifacts that decrease the cost of red spells and all of them are fantastic inclusions, but The Fire CrystalThe Fire Crystal comes with additional benefits. It grants haste and the ability to copy your Dragons, which can be downright oppressive depending on the boardstate.

Even if you have no ETB effects, getting a 6+ power creature with flying for a turn will put in work. It's mid-costed, but you're already running a high-costed deck. If anything, this feels cheap by comparison.

Fist of SunsFist of Suns

The Fist of SunsFist of Suns really only works with a commander like The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon that's already all five colors. However, strictly speaking, it's a cheaper alternative to most of your Dragons.

Assuming you have a means of getting mana of any color, which is a necessity for five-color decks, this is a much more convenient cost for your heavy-hitter Dragons. While situational, it can act as an alternative to other forms of cost reduction and/or if you have a subtheme in your deck.

Dragon TempestDragon Tempest

Dragon TempestDragon Tempest gives a stacking ETB to all your Dragons, dealing progressively more damage the larger your board is. Not only does this scale with how many Dragons you have, it's also any target! So you can take out key creatures, deal ping damage to opponents, or reduce the loyalty of a planeswalker.

Then on top of that, it gives all your flying creatures haste. All for two mana!

DracogenesisDracogenesis

DracogenesisDracogenesis is a card whose usage is entirely dependent on your opinion of its value. Eight mana to make all your Dragons free.

That effect is very powerful and intended for the late-game, and its cost reflects that. Red isn't known for its ability to protect its enchantments, so there's always the risk of investing all of your mana into an enchantment that immediately gets removed.

To mitigate this, make sure you have a high-costed Dragon or two in your hand, ideally exceeding eight mana in value to cover the cost. But with that contingency in place, this is an essential card for Dragon decks. Particularly if you pair it with card draw to maximize the burst potential of playing multiple Dragons at a time.

Crucible of FireCrucible of Fire

Crucible of FireCrucible of Fire makes your big creatures bigger. Your Dragons were already flying over most creatures and likely winning exchanges with those that could defend against them.

But if you can get trample? You're attacking uncontested? Perhaps you need a bit more survivability?

Your Dragons are simply better, which makes it hard not to include.

Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising

Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising functions similarly to Temur AscendancyTemur Ascendancy, though instead of haste it grants trample. Both give you ETB card draw from your Dragons and are worthwhile inclusions if they align with your commander.

But as an additional benefit, Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising also lets you draw a card immediately if you meet its conditions, paying for itself. Though any enchantment that grants card draw based on your creatures' power will get the job done!

Crux of FateCrux of Fate

Crux of FateCrux of Fate has the potential to wipe out your Dragons, certainly. But as board wipes go, being able to remove every creature other than your own is a pretty good deal.

It's fairly expensive, but that just means you'll wait until later in the game to cast it. Which, of course, is after you can establish your board presence with some expensive Dragons and capitalize on the empty board.

Sarkhan's TriumphSarkhan's Triumph

There isn't much to say about Sarkhan's TriumphSarkhan's Triumph.

You're running Dragons? Put it in your deck! It's a relatively cheap way to ensure you get the Dragon you need into your hand.

Fearsome AwakeningFearsome Awakening

Fearsome AwakeningFearsome Awakening gives you some fairly expensive recursion. However, it strengthens your Dragons. You're already running an expensive deck, so relying on this really is a gamble.

However, a fair few cards give your Dragons ETBs. You get to trigger those, have a powerful creature that's now even more powerful, potentially with haste?

Suddenly, it's worth it.

Sarkhan UnbrokenSarkhan Unbroken

Sarkhan UnbrokenSarkhan Unbroken has a staggeringly good suite of abilities for a Dragon deck. Draw a card and gain mana? That's utility in a deck that is starved for it. Get a 4/4 flying red Dragon token? More creatures that scale with your enchantments and abilities!

Search your library for any number of Dragons and put them onto the battlefield? Now that's just a win condition.

Just keep in mind that Dragons don't have many built-in protections. You may be able to give them all haste, but make sure they don't fall victim to a Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift just to be discarded down to your hand limit at turn's end.

Sivitri, Dragon MasterSivitri, Dragon Master

Sivitri, Dragon MasterSivitri, Dragon Master offers some protection in the form of taxing attacking creatures, though this won't be very useful to you once you have your Dragons set up. It certainly can give you the flexibility to not worry about leaving blockers, meaning you can go all-out on the offense, though that's not why you run her.

Tutoring Dragons and destroying all non-Dragons, those are what we want. The protection is, at best, a niche "nice to have." You'll have to work to get that board wipe, and that's not always what your goal should be.

A board wipe is scary, meaning your opponents may target Sivitri. That means paying her tax and exposing themselves. Depending on the experience of your group, that may be even more valuable.

Or they just hit her with Hero's DownfallHero's Downfall; can't help that.

Sarkhan the MasterlessSarkhan the Masterless

Sarkhan the MasterlessSarkhan the Masterless is more of a gimmick inclusion, though certainly not useless. His passive is the real star, dealing damage to creatures attacking you equal to your number of Dragons. Which, in all likelihood, will be more than a handful.

That removes the threat of low-power creatures that can't be blocked and whittles down giant stat-lines which could normally tank your Dragons.

Sarkhan's ability to convert your planeswalkers to 4/4 flying Dragons is fine, it's not the reason you'd run him. And creating a single 4/4 Dragon for over half his starting loyalty is simply not worth it.

But if you're running Superfriends, an archetype oriented around including many planeswalkers, he's not the worst inclusion!

Crucible of the Spirit DragonCrucible of the Spirit Dragon

Crucible of the Spirit DragonCrucible of the Spirit Dragon doesn't initially seem to be very useful, given it's a 1:1 trade of mana. But in multicolored Dragon decks, and particularly with The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon, it's exactly the flexibility you'll need to pivot between Dragons.

It's slow and requires you build it up over time, which luckily you'll probably have at least a single mana remaining at the end of each turn to spend on it. In its least convenient, you're effectively saving mana between turns, which is never a bad thing.

Arena of GloryArena of Glory

Arena of GloryArena of Glory lets you push forward more active aggression, assuming you're managing to keep up with your Dragons' costs. It allows you to spend a mana and exert it to gain two mana and give haste to a creature spell you cast with it. Exerting a permanent means its doesn't untap during your next untap step.

There's plenty of removal in commander, so it makes sense that your big, scary creatures are going to be targeted with them. After all, few other archetypes can effectively fight Dragons directly. So haste is just one more way to get value from them before they're removed.

Kessig Wolf RunKessig Wolf Run

Kessig Wolf RunKessig Wolf Run gives a creature trample for a turn. Certainly, it makes them stronger, but Dragons can be shut out by any chump-blocker with flying or reach.

This not only enhances their power but gives them the ability to hit through that. Which, with high-powered cards like Dragons, is really useful!

Dragons love flying up to your opponents and reducing their life to 0. They also love dealing 21 commander damage.

When running a Dragon deck, you can really take your pick!

Their big stats and flying gives them great positions to accomplish this, with their largest obstacle really just being the speed at which they can accomplish it. Very few opponents won't respond to your slowly-building draconic ranks with removal or blockers of their own.

But if you're able to defend your board and continue the attack, you will be able to simply wear down opponents directly.

Perhaps the most famous Dragon-related infinite combo is Niv-Mizzet dealing damage when you draw a card and multiple enchantments allowing you to draw a card when dealing damage. There are multiple variations of this combination on both the creature and enchantment front, but the core principle is the same.

As a two-card infinite combo, this is restricted to higher brackets and won't see much casual play. Further, it's such a well-known strategy that any attempt to play its components will likely lead to them being shut down.

However, so long as you have cards to draw you have ammo to fuel Niv-Mizzet's fire! So fire away.