Dragon Deck
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Jan. 3, 2017, 9:08 p.m. by BlueMageBrandon
I'm thinking about building a Dragon Deck but haven't decided on a commander yet. I don't want to buld Scion of the Ur-Dragon because I don't like 5-Color decks and I feel that tutors lead to more linear games. The two commanders I'm thinking about are Atarka, World Render and Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder. When I think about some different categories, they're both tied. In the CMC catagory, Yidris seems like he would win b/c he costs 4 but the 4 are all different colors, also in Atarka, I would be running a lot more ramp so the 7 CMC is negligible. They are tied in color because more colors are nice but I feel leads to a more unfocused deck. And they both have nice abilities (Giving Dragons Double-Strike and Giving me 2 Dragons for the price of one). Since I'm can't really seem to decide and I've given my reasons, I was hoping you guys could help me decide with your reasoning. Thanks!
Crazy idea, but hear me out?
Commander: Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
1 of the 99: Atarka, World Render
Huh? Why both?
Conspiracy/Xenograft is why. Turns out Yidris ain't a Orc but is instead a Dragon. Roundabout, but it could be cool combining both ideas you have instead of choosing either or.
January 3, 2017 10:02 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #4
If you played Yidris with the Xenograft/Conspiracy gameplan Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund is an autoinclude IMO.
Edit: never mind, on first blush I thought it said "creatures are the chosen type," not creature you control.
January 3, 2017 10:11 p.m. Edited.
I'd use Darigaaz, the Igniter. Gives you more colors than atarka without going five color. Whatever you do though I wouldn't use karrthus.
January 4, 2017 12:03 a.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #6
Go with Atarka, World Render. From my perspective having Atarka as your commander will always give you access to your win con (which should be swinging with double striking dragons); your mana base will be more consistent and a heck of a lot cheaper; and finally Xenograft/Conspiracy are too gimmicky and I would never suggest putting them in your 99 unless you have a good reason.
As for Atarka's cmc...Don't worry, you have access to the best ramp spells in the format and as long as you construct the deck properly casting Atarka should not be an issue.
January 4, 2017 7:47 a.m.
TheRedGoat says... #7
If you're running this for a 1v1, ie duel commander, then I can agree with JaceTheSwagSculptor that Atarka is the best choice. With less color fixing to worry about, and having the 2 best colors for ramp known to magic, you'd be pretty well set to just play ramp and fatties until they die. Just don't play too many big spells since you're both starting with very low health.
Now if you're wanting to play this for multiplayer commander, then yes Atarka is good, but you're going to run into some troubles when trying to defend yourself on multiple fronts. This is where the commander options like Karthus, and Yidris, and yes Scion, become more appealing as the extra colors add versatility to the deck that you won't find for cheap in a 2 color build. Straight beat face decks like Atarka honestly have it too hard usually in multiplayer purely because of that extra starting health, let alone the problems of in-game politics.
For instance, ramping is nice to have in green, but what if your opponent just got a board state before you and red burn isn't going to stop them? That is where Damnation or Cyclonic Rift effects come in to play. The trick to balancing your answer cards versus your game winners though is how you treat the theme you're playing with. Given that theme is dragons, you know that you will have at least a few big powerful dragon fatties, but how do you support them? With even more dragon specific support like a Crucible of Fire or is it purely a ramp/control game until you get your commander out?
January 4, 2017 12:34 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #8
I think there is a difference in how we play EDH here, TheRedGoat. I believe that one should never have to resort to politics in order to compensate for the shortcomings of their deck. I exemplify this through the fact that I play voltron irl. Atarka plays fairly similar to a voltron deck. You should almost always be 2- to 3-shotting a single player while Atarka is on the board, thus there should be no need for politics while playing her unless you have navigated the game poorly. Even if you do find yourself in need of protection, there are plenty of good cards that play defense as well such as Maze of Ith, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, Awakening Zone, Arachnogenesis, etc.
In my opinion Ydris is only good for combo and falls short on most other fronts.
While I agree that Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund is a good option, it is currently not currently up for debate as the OP only listed two options - Ydris, Maelstrom Wielder and Atarka, World Render.
January 4, 2017 1:38 p.m.
Neither of these is the best available Dragon Tribal commander, in my opinion; Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund has that spot in my heart. However, if I had to choose between Atarka and Yidris, I'd go with Atarka. Sure, you have access to fewer dragons as a result of her color identity, but I see Atarka more directly helping the dragons you play. You can still put in useful tribal stuff, but I feel that you miss out on the recursion that you'd get by going with Jund instead of Gruul. I'll leave a list of stuff here so that you can find these cards more easily when you build the deck.
tpmains says... #2
I have a Jund dragons deck that has Prossh, Skyraider of Kher as the commander. The addition of black gives you access to Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury as well as both versions of Atarka.
January 3, 2017 9:25 p.m.