Fang and Flame: Draconic Dominion (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Fang and Flame: Draconic Dominion

Commander / EDH BRG (Jund) Casual Dragons Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick Tribal

TXMetal

Creature (32)

Land (40)

Instant (5)

Commander (1)

Enchantment (12)

Planeswalker (7)

Sorcery (3)

Sideboard

Sorcery (6)

Instant (3)

Creature (1)

1x Reclamation Sage

Maybeboard

Creature (10)

Enchantment (4)

Sorcery (9)

Planeswalker (4)

Land (9)

Instant (1)

1x Spit Flame

"Words are a waste of time. Destruction is a language everyone understands." - Sarkhan Vol

Pretty self-explanatory. Play dragons, smash face, repeat. It should be noted that this is my just-for-the-lulz deck, not meant to be super-competitive or anything, just an excuse to drop big dumb creatures and do big dumb things. That's not to say that this deck can't do some absolutely disgusting things when played well, though...

There is a theme here, and it's that I want, through every card I play, to represent a world absolutely dominated by dragons. There are other races present, for sure, but I imagine it a bit like taking the Atarka and Kolaghan broods and the Gruul clans and dropping them right into Jund. With more dragons. Yeah, something like that...

This deck has a few limitations on it to keep it from getting out of control. The primary thing is that this one stays flavor first at all times. This means that if I have a few choices of cards to fill a role, I'm always going to pick the one that feels the most "dragony," even if it's the suboptimal choice. I figure that since this is my most casual deck and there's really not much lost in not playing some of the older, more powerful cards, I'm going to try to 100% foil this one. That means that if there isn't a foil option for it, it doesn't go in. The last restriction is on infinite combos - most of my decks win through combo, so this is the one to pull me away from that.

With that said, here's a breakdown of some of the important bits about this monstrosity:

Alternate Commanders

Karrthus is pretty much the obvious choice of commander when it comes to Jund dragon tribal, but I guess I'll kick this off with a quick rundown of some of the other options available. I'm going to keep it limited to dragons, because that was always the point of this build and there are far too many Jund legendaries and available strategies to run through each one.

Darigaaz, the Igniter - This guy was actually the original commander of this build for a short time (I needed a filler until I got my hands on Karrthus). He doesn't provide nearly the same level of power in the command zone as Special K does, but his ability doesn't really force you in any particular direction so he makes a fun general-purpose commander. Since I've played both, I will note that Darigaaz is definitely the safer play so you don't have to ponder the 'proper' time to play your commander.
Darigaaz Reincarnated - The main advantage here is being hard to keep dead, and as a commander that's not typically a huge concern. Decent card, but not really commander material (might make the list, though, just for those potentially tasty extra ETB triggers).
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher - Prossh is his own thing really, and that thing isn't exactly what I wanted to be doing with this build. As the purpose of this build was to bring me back to dumb battlecruiser magic, Prossh just provides too much temptation to turn toward sudden one-shot kills. Excellent commander with some truly brutal strategies, but definitely not what I wanted.
Vaevictis Asmadi - Yeah, the original Jund Elder Dragon, blah, blah, blah... Really all this one has going for it is the nostalgia factor. Pretty bad.
Wasitora, Nekoru Queen - Not a bad card by any means, but I definitely see her as more of a role player than the head for a build like this. She's likely to wind up in the decklist at some point, but I wouldn't run her at the helm.

Playstyle

This isn't a very complex deck. Seriously. The whole idea is to ramp a bit for the first few turns and by turns 3/4/5, I should be playing a threat every turn after. Obviously, with this in mind, I want to always make sure to have one or two pieces of ramp and/or cost-reduction in hand. I'm willing to mulligan pretty aggressively to make sure I've got a solid start.

The strengths of this deck are also its greatest weaknesses in that it's a straightforward creature beatdown from start to finish. This is great in that it's reliable - every dragon drawn is a threat and a win condition in its own right, however heavy removal can become a definite roadblock. There are ways around this through the multiple direct-damage outlets, but those still rely on dragons making it onto the battlefield, which places heavy control decks as the hardest matches to win. The only real solution is to ramp hard and target the control player with everything I've got. It's kind of a feel-bad, but every deck has its weakness.

Tribal Synergy

With my restriction of combos, I'm relying on tribal support for dragons to carry this deck. Fortunately, there's a lot more to choose from than most people would think at first. Because it's so central to the build, here's a quick list of ALL the dragon support I'm running:

Atarka, World Render , Bladewing the Risen , Crucible of Fire , Crux of Fate , Dragon Tempest , Dragonlord's Servant , Dragonspeaker Shaman , Haven of the Spirit Dragon , Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund , Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury , Sarkhan the Mad , Sarkhan's Triumph , Scourge of Valkas , Thunderbreak Regent , Utvara Hellkite

Tokens

Continuing with the tribal theme, I've included plenty of ways to make more dragons than I could ever possibly stuff into a single deck. Like I mentioned before, I want to be able to consistently put forward a threat, regardless of any resistance I may run into - token production is a major part of this plan. When I'm not running with the 'All-Out Dragon Assault' strategy, token production paired with damage engines such as Dragon Tempest or Scourge of Valkas can still put my opponents on a short clock easily. With that said, here's a list of all token producers I'm currently running:

Broodmate Dragon , Dragon Broodmother , Dragon Whisperer , Dragonmaster Outcast , Flameshadow Conjuring , Sarkhan the Mad , Sarkhan Vol , Skyline Despot , Utvara Hellkite

Flameshadow Conjuring really deserves it's own explanation. The ability to clone with haste is obviously good on its own, but there are a few nice interactions as well. If Bladewing the Risen is copied, you can get two dragons back, Broodmate Dragon copied gives you an extra body to work with, you can get double the burn from Dragonlord Atarka , Swift Warkite can grab an extra utility bro, etc.
Just noting here that Garruk Wildspeaker also produces tokens, though those clearly don't play into this category so much.

Utility

This is pretty much everything that isn't listed above. Everything here is the oil that keeps this machine running.

Buffs & Pump

Atarka, World Render , Atarka's Command , Bladewing the Risen , Boltwing Marauder , Crucible of Fire , Domri Rade , Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury , Moonveil Dragon , Sarkhan Vol , Sight of the Scalelords

Haste is one of the most important abilities here. You don't want a dragon sitting around for a turn doing nothing and potentially eating removal. My haste enablers include Domri Rade , Dragon Tempest , Dragonlord Kolaghan , Hanweir Battlements , Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund , and Sarkhan Vol . Flameshadow Conjuring also works as a sort of pseudo-haste.
The other important ability is trample. Many people have told me that fliers don't need trample, but my meta tends to be token heavy, and the token players can spit out spirits much faster than I can dump dragons. Trample enablers include Domri Rade , Garruk Wildspeaker , Kessig Wolf Run , Mina and Denn, Wildborn , and Skarrg, the Rage Pits .

Burn

(Many of these could be lumped under Removal, but I'm giving Burn its own category because it's usually going straight to a player's face)

Atarka's Command , Dragon Tempest , Dragonlord Atarka , Flameblast Dragon , Kolaghan's Command , Sarkhan the Mad , Scourge of Valkas , Stormbreath Dragon , Thunderbreak Regent , Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Draw

Domri Rade , Garruk, Caller of Beasts , Grim Backwoods , Outpost Siege , Rites of Flourishing , Sarkhan the Mad , Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker , Skyline Despot , Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Ramp/Fixing/Cost Reduction

Atarka's Command , Burgeoning , Dragonlord's Servant , Dragonspeaker Shaman , Exploration , Frontier Siege , Garruk Wildspeaker , Into the Wilds , Mina and Denn, Wildborn , Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx , Rites of Flourishing , Savage Ventmaw

Recursion

Bladewing the Risen , Eternal Witness , Haven of the Spirit Dragon , Kolaghan's Command , Mortuary Mire , Palace Siege , Swift Warkite

Removal

Anger of the Gods , Crux of Fate , Deathbringer Regent , Domri Rade , Frontier Siege , Harbinger of the Hunt , Kolaghan's Command , Magmaquake , Steel Hellkite , Tectonic Edge

Tutors

Garruk, Caller of Beasts , Green Sun's Zenith , Sarkhan's Triumph , Signal the Clans

Sideboard

This deck's pretty slow and derpy (but fun!), so the sideboard just provides some extra juice in the form of draw, ramp, and removal in case I need to get a little more serious.

Maybeboard

Just a quick explanation of everything I'm considering and/or planning to add. This isn't a super complex deck, so most of these should be fairly self-explanatory. Because I'm in the (slow) process of pimping this deck, I'm not buying or trading for anything other than foil versions of the exact printings I want, so everything in the list up top represents that.

Blighted Woodland , Myriad Landscape , Prismatic Vista - Basic fetches, with Blighted and Myriad also serving as ramp.
Canyon Slough , Sheltered Thicket , Verdant Catacombs - Just to round out the core manabase.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Urrrrrggghhh, the deck's feeling a bit walker heavy, but all of her abilities are relevant. Decisions, decisions...
Cultivate , Explosive Vegetation , Farseek , Kodama's Reach , Rampant Growth - Ramp package.
Darigaaz Reincarnated - He's really just a big beater, but a big beater who's hard to get rid of and potentially feeds me extra ETBs.
Descent of the Dragons - It would give me another on-theme crowd control option. Once problematic creatures are turned into dragons, my dragons should be bigger OR Karrthus could just recruit them for the cause.
Doubling Season - While this isn't necessarily a token or planeswalker build, there are easily enough PWs and token generators here to make this worthwhile.
Dragon Mage , Knollspine Dragon - Draw stapled to dragons. They're on the high end of the curve, but either (or both) would give me some extra late-game juice.
Dragonstorm - I've overlooked it so far because "ugh, it's so damn expensive!", but considering that it places the dragons on the field for you it usually becomes a 2-3 mana tutor, which really isn't all that bad. Getting a storm count on it is unlikely, but nice if it happens.
Drakuseth, Maw of Flames - Big dragon with multi-target burn-on-attack. Excellent for removal and/or burn to the face.
Genesis Wave - A huge G-Wave will flat-out end most games.
Greater Good - A solid draw option that doesn't look out of place here. It also serves as an emergency sac outlet for Karrthus.
Hall of the Bandit Lord - Yet another haste enabler; just can't have too many, and this is a damn good one.
Kokusho, the Evening Star - He's definitely good on his own (Koko didn't get banned for being garbage), he combos well with Flameshadow Conjuring , and he'd give me a way around pro-red when that pops up (not often in my playgroup, but often enough to make it a consideration).
Lathliss, Dragon Queen - More dragons on top of dragons.
Mutavault - Just a cheap way to add to the dragon count for Atarka, World Render , Dragon Tempest , Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury , Scourge of Valkas , and Utvara Hellkite .
Oracle of Mul Daya - Just pure amazingness. Perfect ability, perfect art, there's really no reason for me not to run this. In building this deck, I originally intended for all of my non-dragon utility creatures to be within Swift Warkite 's range (the whole reason he's in here) - Oracle's good enough for me to overlook that restriction a little bit.
Ryusei, the Falling Star - Not quite Kokusho good, but still pretty solid, likely worth a slot.
Sarkhan, Dragonsoul , Sarkhan, Fireblood , Sarkhan the Masterless - I just want to run every version of Sarkhan possible here, so...
Sarkhan's Unsealing - It's on-theme and gives me some extra damage output just for doing things I'm already doing.
Scavenger Grounds - Land-based grave hate. It's instant speed and on-demand unlike Bojuka Bog , but I just don't know if I can make room for it.
Scourge of Kher Ridges - This guy's a flat-out killing machine. I'm already running Harbinger of the Hunt to pretty great effect, and this is just a stronger version.
Spit Flame - I'm not usually a fan of burn-as-removal, but this is easy enough to recycle to make me overlook that.
Sylvan Library - It's one of the best draw filtering options out there, and it's flavor-neutral enough to fit!
Thawing Glaciers - It's a slow but reusable fixing engine. Nothing amazing, but slow and steady is how this deck tends to work so it should have plenty of time to do its thing. Burgeoning and/or Exploration can help with the speed issue, though.
Torment of Hailfire - This can do some crazy work in the late game, and if it doesn't end my opponents outright, it will at the least open up a window for my dragons to get in for big hits.
Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire - Removal and/or a way to cheat things in.

Unreleased Wants

Here is where you'll find all the stuff from upcoming sets that I'm looking forward to.

Darigaaz Reincarnated - Pretty much a hard-to-kill beatstick. Nothing amazing, but still worth a look.
Luxury Suite , Spire Garden - Pretty much no-brainers here.
Verix Bladewing - It's a 4/4 for 4, which isn't crazy amazing or anything, but also has the option to create 8 power across two bodies for 7, making it look pretty good to me.

The Chopping Block

This is the section for all cards that are under threat of being cut from the build. Some are flat-out underperformers, others are just flavor cuts, and some are decent cards that are gonna get pulled to make room for better cards.

Boltwing Marauder - The buff is nice, but Moonveil Dragon does it better. This guy works well as a cheaper dragon, but if I need the space he's likely to be cut.
Dragon Whisperer - It's cool, but just doesn't do enough for me.
Garruk Wildspeaker , Garruk, Caller of Beasts - They seem good on paper, but tend to underperform a bit. Wildspeaker's more likely to get the axe, but I'm keeping an eye on both of them.
Graven Cairns , Karplusan Forest , Madblind Mountain , Reflecting Pool , Sulfurous Springs - Most of these are minimal benefit at this point and there are a few lands I'd prefer (the last fetch I need, cycling duals, etc.), and I'd like to find room for more basics.
Green Sun's Zenith - This one's likely to become a Genesis Wave at some point.
Hanweir Battlements - Likely going to make room for Hall of the Bandit Lord when I get my hands on that one. They both serve their purpose, but the hall is just a better aesthetic fit.
Harbinger of the Hunt - His ability to clear out token swarms is handy, but once Scourge of Kher Ridges shows up here, this guy's pretty much obsolete. Much like Boltwing Marauder , this one's a fairly cheap dragon to play, but if better stuff needs a slot he's gotta go.
Hellkite Overlord - Most of the deck is big dumb beaters, but this guy is literally nothing more than a giant 8-mana beatstick. Likely to get dropped for something with a bit more utility.
Mina and Denn, Wildborn - The ability to bounce lands like Bojuka Bog and Mortuary Mire sounds good on paper, but I rarely (if ever) use it in practice.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - You'd be forgiven for assuming that my devotion to red is usually off the charts. In reality, this one rarely makes much of a difference.
Rites of Flourishing - It helps a little, but I'm not a fan of the symmetrical effect. I'll replace it eventually.

Alternatives

This is my casual deck. It's a pretty solid and consistent casual deck, but it's a casual build nonetheless. I figured it would be worth it to throw a section in here for anyone viewing the deck who may like the general ideas but needs a little more punch. My build has a few restrictions on it that create unnecessary weaknesses in the build, and hopefully some of these suggestions could help any prospective Karrthus player patch up those holes. I'll address each point individually and throw a few options out there.

Commander Protection - Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund is a fairly risky commander to play - any Clone variant can easily ruin your game. To prevent taking dragons to the face, sac outlets are generally the preferred safety net. High Market , Miren, the Moaning Well , and Phyrexian Tower are all nice because they don't take up deck space. I've also found Homeward Path extremely comforting to have around. The only option in this category that I'm currently running is Grim Backwoods - I'll go on record and say that it's pretty bad, but it serves as an emergency sac outlet, and it's one of the places where I had to sacrifice a bit of power to stay on my theme.
Mana Base - Obviously, this one could use the appropriate ABUR duals ( Badlands , Bayou , Taiga ). I'm not a fan of off-color fetches, but if that's your thing they'd definitely add consistency. I mentioned in the above category that some land-based commander protection is worth running ( High Market , Homeward Path , Miren, the Moaning Well , Phyrexian Tower ). The only other thing that immediately comes to mind is Winding Canyons - that card is simply nuts in almost any creature-based deck.
Ramp - I'm not currently running much ramp because most of it just feels off-theme for what I was building toward, but I won't deny that some extra ramp would help out a ton. Since we've got green, I think straight-up ramp is better than artifact ramp here. There are a ton of choices, but Cultivate , Explosive Vegetation , Farseek , Kodama's Reach , Spoils of Victory , etc. are all solid. Also, because dragons are pretty expensive, I'd even consider one or two doublers ( Caged Sun , Extraplanar Lens , Gauntlet of Power , etc.)
Tutors - Having access to black and running so few tutors feels kind of strange. If I were to push this one, Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are obvious inclusions, as is Tooth and Nail . Everybody has their favorites, but those three are about as good as it gets.
Draw - Right now my draw is ass. I'm working on fixing that a bit with Greater Good , Knollspine Dragon , and Sylvan Library . For anyone who doesn't require an aesthetic fit, Phyrexian Arena is an obvious addition, not to mention all the Wheel of Fortune effects out there.
Combo - I'd personally add a Bear Umbra and Sword of Feast and Famine to back up the combo with Hellkite Charger . Other options include Aggravated Assault to go with Savage Ventmaw and, of course, the classic Worldgorger Dragon combo.

If anyone has a suggestion that I've missed, feel free to leave a comment!

Suggestions

Updates Add

I'm BACK! — April 8, 2018

Edit

Took a pretty long break from MtG, sometimes real life just gets in the way. I've made some minor updates to the list, but nothing really noteworthy. Other than that, I've got a ton of homework to do to see what I've missed in my time away. If there's been anything interesting, I'll probably be making more changes/updates shortly!

Been a While! — June 4, 2017

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Updates and Game Report — Sept. 4, 2016

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Latest Game Report — Nov. 20, 2015

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Changelog — April 21, 2015

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Spoiler Timeline

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96% Casual

Competitive

Date added	9 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	21 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 3 Rares 10 - 3 Uncommons 4 - 4 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.57
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Dragon 1/1 RG, Dragon 4/4 R, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Emblem Domri Rade, Emblem Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Emblem Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Monarch Emblem
Folders	New Commander, interesting decks, EDH, EDH - Commander, EDH, YES, EDH, Jund (Prossh), Things I like, jund
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