Burning Skies (F)

Commander / EDH* Aggro BR (Rakdos) Budget Casual Dragons

DarkRequiem

Creature (28)

• 1x Ancient Hellkite
• 1x Anger
• 1x Bladewing the Risen
• 1x Bladewing's Thrall
• 1x Bogardan Hellkite
• 1x Boneyard Scourge
• 1x Dragon Mage
• 1x Dragon Whisperer
• 1x Dragonlord's Servant
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Dragonspeaker Shaman
• 1x Flameblast Dragon
• 1x Hoard-Smelter Dragon
• 1x Knollspine Dragon
• 1x Lathliss, Dragon Queen
• 1x Onyx Mage
• 1x Rorix Bladewing
• 1x Ryusei, the Falling Star
• 1x Scourge of Kher Ridges
• 1x Scourge of Valkas
• 1x Shivan Hellkite
• 1x Shockmaw Dragon
• 1x Siege Dragon
• 1x Skyline Despot
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Tyrant of Valakut
• 1x Undertaker
• 1x Vampiric Dragon

Instant (6)

• 1x Cauldron Dance
• 1x Fault Line
• 1x Foul Renewal
• 1x Magmaquake
• 1x Rescue from the Underworld
• 1x Sarkhan's Triumph

Land (37)

• 1x Akoum Refuge
• 1x Balduvian Trading Post
• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Crucible of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Haven of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Lavaclaw Reaches
• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 9x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Tresserhorn Sinks
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Circle of Flame
• 1x Crucible of Fire
• 1x Death Pits of Rath
• 1x Dragon Tempest
• 1x Everlasting Torment
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Tortured Existence
• 1x Underworld Connections

Commander (1)

Artifact (9)

• 1x Belbe's Portal
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Herald's Horn
• 1x Kolaghan Monument
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Quicksilver Amulet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Urza's Incubator

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Crux of Fate
• 1x Demonic Collusion
• 1x Ever After
• 1x Fearsome Awakening
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Necromantic Summons
• 1x Profane Command

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
• 1x Sarkhan the Mad

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Maybeboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Catacomb Dragon
• 1x Deathbringer Regent
• 1x Doomed Necromancer
• 1x Forgestoker Dragon
• 1x Furyborn Hellkite
• 1x Hellkite Charger
• 1x Hunted Dragon
• 1x Imperial Hellkite
• 1x Kilnmouth Dragon

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Dauthi Embrace
• 1x Dragon Grip
• 1x Dragon Shadow
• 1x Malevolent Awakening
• 1x Pandemonium
• 1x Retreat to Hagra

Instant (1)

• 1x Foul-Tongue Invocation

Land (1)

• 1x Sulfurous Springs

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Death by Dragons
• 1x Dragonstorm
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Twilight's Call

Artifact (2)

• 1x Obelisk of Urd
• 1x Rakdos Cluestone

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This deck started as a spin-off. As I updated my kaalias-hordes, I decided to remove both Bladewing the Risen and Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury from the deck. I enjoy both guys quite a lot but had nowhere to put them into. So I started a new deck. Nothing too serious, mind you. This is a budget, very casual deck that tries to be enjoyable. At this time all I knew was that I wanted one of the two as a commander, forcing me to follow the tribal root. No other strategies had been decided.

As I looked deeper into it, realizing what I already knew, I considered that running dragons would turn the deck's gameplay into a slugfest: overall high cmc creatures do that. But this is black, right? Ok... and red... But black! Reanimation was in order. It didn't have to be heavy on reanimation but the concept of discarding big cost dragons to get new, cheaper cards that can be played early in the game was nice. That's when I decided to add Tortured Existence and Demonic Collusion. Undertaker might be good too.

Still, it felt a bit tame on paper: slow, predictable, unfun. Something else had to go in.

At that time I considered how much damage I'd take if all I drew into were dragons and I couldn't play anything else. Cards that prevent players from gaining life (and even damaging them on the upkeep) came to mind. My playgroup enjoys some mild lifegain. Not every deck has it but some do and they are a pain to deal with. Everlasting Torment was perfect!

But wait. Dragons. Pinging. They're now weakening my opponent's creatures with the -1/-1 counters. I thought that it would be so easy to take it a step further! I started working the deck a bit more, getting more dragons with pinging capabilities and added Death Pits of Rath. And then it hit me! The next best thing is to give them true deathtouch! Now this deck had a strategy! It doesn't always need to win, it needs to provide some fun though!

And so it changed a bit into a deck that wants to

a. smash face through the use of big winged lizards, but

b. can control the board by burning any opposition to death and

c. enjoys recovering my dead dragons from the grave!

As always, ideas on how to improve this are welcome.

This deck's commander follows the Power Level classification found here: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/list-multiplayer-edh-generals-by-tier/?fbclid=IwAR1sF4UjmEP0qF2bLYrN_tYm5pU0q9I2fGYViT0Tv9aHAObSmSa9idcIDoM.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 28 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	99
Avg. CMC	4.40
Tokens	Dragon 4/4 R, Dragon 5/5 R, Emblem Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, The Monarch
Folders	Kolaghan Dragons