Double Dragon: The Rendering

Commander / EDH Aggro Casual Dragons Ramp RG (Gruul) Tribal

vbfabled

Creature (28)

• 1x Balefire Dragon
• 1x Dragonlord's Servant
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Dragonspeaker Shaman
• 1x Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
• 1x Elvish Piper
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Furyborn Hellkite
• 1x Harbinger of the Hunt
• 1x Hellkite Charger
• 1x Jugan, the Rising Star
• 1x Kilnmouth Dragon
• 1x Krosan Drover
• 1x Lathliss, Dragon Queen
• 1x Moonveil Dragon
• 1x Prowling Serpopard
• 1x Ryusei, the Falling Star
• 1x Savage Ventmaw
• 1x Scourge of Valkas
• 1x Skyline Despot
• 1x Somberwald Sage
• 1x Thunder Dragon
• 1x Thunderbreak Regent
• 1x Thundermaw Hellkite
• 1x Tyrant's Familiar
• 1x Utvara Hellkite
• 1x Whisperer of the Wilds
• 1x Zhur-Taa Druid

Artifact (6)

• 1x Belbe's Portal
• 1x Gruul Signet
• 1x Quicksilver Amulet
• 1x Ruby Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Urza's Incubator

Land (36)

• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Crucible of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 8x Forest
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Game Trail
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 1x Haven of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 10x Mountain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Rugged Highlands
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Instant (8)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Fall of the Hammer
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Magmaquake
• 1x Pit Fight
• 1x Sarkhan's Triumph
• 1x Signal the Clans
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Commander (1)

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Crucible of Fire
• 1x Dictate of the Twin Gods
• 1x Dragon Tempest
• 1x Frontier Siege
• 1x Furnace of Rath
• 1x Gratuitous Violence
• 1x Gruul War Chant
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Wild Pair
• 1x Zendikar Resurgent

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Decimate
• 1x Dragonstorm
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Migration Path
• 1x See the Unwritten

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Well, I'm doing it... I'm making a non-budget EDH deck... Never thought the day would come, but I've been to one too many commander nights where the guy with Oloro counters every spell I play, kills every creature I resolve, and totally locks me down while stomping me into the ground.(In all fairness, I was playing Atraxa...) So here we go. A commander that doesn't paste a target on your back until it's too late. Atarka, World Render!

So I'm trying to stay mostly in flavor here, like I usually do, but this time I'm throwing budget out the window! So, that means no budget substitutions, and nothing that pulls too far out of flavor. No Xenagos, God of Revels because Tarkir, not Theros, no swords, because dragons don't use swords, etc.

Now this deck is a very basic intense heavy aggro strategy. Throw down a ton of dragons, make them bigger and smashier, with a particular emphasis on damage-doubling cards (hence the name) then swing on in in the air for a metric crap-load of damage! Plus, dragon tribal allows for some really cool cards you wouldn't usually see in other EDH decks. Here's some of the coolest ones:

Dragons

-Balefire Dragon - Now this guy's great, because your opponents typically have to block it, unless they're running a +1/+1 counter deck and only have giant creatures, because if they're not, you aren't likely to see many creatures with more than 6 toughness, which isn't even taking into account double strike or any of the other boosters.

-Dragonatmaster Outcast - Okay, so, not technically a dragon, but he makes a 5/5 dragon every turn. Well, as long as you have 6 lands, but in a G/R ramp deck, that's hardly a stretch, is it?

-Kilnmouth Dragon - This guy is going to be big no matter what. We're likely to have at least 2 or 3 dragons in hand when it resolves, making it an 11/11 or bigger. That paired with the targeted removal ability makes this guy a big threat.

-Moonveil Dragon - Wait... Is this thing from Innistrad? Seriously? I don't know how that fits into the whole Gothic Horror theme of the plane, but hey, it has Firebreathing on steroids, so I won't complain.

-Savage Ventmaw - I have a personal history with this guy. It turned my first ever deck, a Mono-Green casual Ramp deck, into a Green/Red deck because he was just too good! He pays for himself every time he attacks! And when he has Octuple-Strike from all our boosters, he's gonna attack a lot. Not to mention, he pairs great with Aggravated Assault.

-Skyline Despot - Despite forcing you to explain how the Monarch mechanic works to your playgroup whenever you play this guy, he does give you a dragon every turn as well as all the benefits of being Monarch.

-Thundermaw Hellkite - This guy is a game ender. You take down all but one of your opponents, but he's pumping out cheap flyers every turn and you just can't quite break through? Well, now you can. Tap them out, or just outright kill them if they're small enough, and send in your swarm of vicious dragons to finish them off!

-Utvara Hellkite - This guy is the real kicker. Likely to be the most targeted creature on the board, you get a 6/6 dragon every time a dragon attacks. Yeah, not once a turn, not when you play a dragon, whenever one attacks. That means exponential dragon growth. Get this guy out whenever possible.

Alright, so now we have a ridiculously powerful creature base set up. One problem, though: They're also ridiculously expensive. Most of our most important dragons are mana cost 6 or more, and we can't wait 6 turns to start playing things, or we're gonna get steamrolled. So, what can we put in here to get out these dragons faster?

Ramp

-Dragonlord's Servant/Dragonspeaker Shaman/Krosan Drover/Urza's Incubator - Just making dragons cheaper to cast is the most effective way of getting more of them out faster.

-Elvish Piper/Quicksilver Amulet/Belbe's Portal - Why pay full cost for dragons when you could instead pay 1 green? Or 3 or 4 generic? Not only that, but these abilities work at instant speed, so you can surprise any opponents who dare to attack you.

-Whisperer of the Wilds/Zhur-Taa Druid/Somberwald Sage - Creatures to supply mana faster may not be quite as effective as making all dragons cheaper, but it certainly doesn't hurt!

-Spinerock Knoll/Mosswort Bridge - Hideaway lands, in my opinion, have a place in almost every EDH deck. Turn any spell into a 1-cost, as long as you meet some specification that is usually easy to meet in the land's color anyway. We will have no trouble having creatures total power 10 or dealing 7 damage in one turn. Plus, these have the same benefit as our Piper and Portal, they can be used at instant-speed!

-Wild Pair - Really useful, since most of the dragons are 4/4, 5/5, or 6/6, so even if you don't have the dragon you need when you need it, as long as you have one with the same total power and toughness, you're all set!

-Dragonstorm - Okay, this card can be pretty ridiculous. The Storm ability may seem useless in a deck with so many high-costed cards, but you'll find that if you save a couple of cheap spells and have enough ramp on the board, you can still tutor 3 or 4 dragons straight to the battlefield.

Alright, so now we can get out a ton of dragons and not waste time doing it! What do we need to do from here? Well, in EDH, it's important to have a way to ensure that you have the card you need when you need it, so we're going to run some tutors! Besides the aforementioned Wild Pair, let's see what we've got.

Tutors

-Worldly Tutor - A classic 1-drop tutor to put whatever we could need on top of our library. Best used on the player before us' end step.

-Sarkhan's Triumph - Slightly higher mana-cost than Worldly Tutor, but hey, it goes straight to our hand and the card only costs 30 cents rather than $9.

-Signal the Clans - While it may be less useful than the previous two, this tutor card can still be very effective in this deck, because there will likely be more than 1 dragon that can solve your problem, whatever it may be.

Cool, now we have all the right dragons right when we need them, still not wasting any time getting them out, what's left to do? Make. Them. BIG.

Pump

-Crucible of Fire - Gives all of our dragons +3/+3 for 4 mana, and it's under $1? Absolutely!

-Furnace of Rath/Dictate of the Twin Gods - Everything deals double damage to everything. Plus, they both stack with each other and with double strike. I particularly appreciate Dictate's flash capability for a surprise double damage attack. Obvious downside being that if someone happens to get an attack in on us, it gets doubled, too.

-Gratuitous Violence - There we go, one that doesn't help our opponents!

-Rage Reflection - This is here mostly as a backup in case Atarka gets killed off too often.

-Dragon Tempest/Fires of Yavimaya - Why wait to attack with your ever-increasing swarm of dragons? Give em haste with these!

Alright! There you have it, the important pieces of a dragon-swarming EDH deck! Show off how powerful Atarka can be when you know what you're doing. From here, just throw in your basic EDH staples for removal, protection, etc. and you have a deck no one will see coming until it's too late!

(Partial credit for this deck goes to vibrabones)

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.44
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Emblem Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, The Monarch
Folders	Commander, Decks to Study, Dragons