Balefire Dragon
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Vintage Legal
Casual Legal
Custom Legal
Quest Magic Legal

Balefire Dragon

Creature — Dragon

Flying

Whenever Balefire Dragon deals combat damage to a player, it deals that much damage to each creature that player controls.

Beebles on Wernog & Sophina | Investigators of Innistrad

1 month ago

Nice deck! I have a deck that does a similar thing in Malcolm & Akiri. But black also has a lot of fun toys :). I got some cards here that you could consider:

  • Indomitable Creativity: trade in your tokens for something more valuable, while also chaos warping (kinda) a few of your opponent’s expensive threats.
  • Martyr's Bond: great control option if that’s a thing you’re after
  • Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast: diverse card that can be nice if your deck is able to protect planeswalkers. But likely your creatures will be going sideways most of the time…
  • Hidden Stockpile: nice utility card that can give you more bodies to attack with. Perhaps not good enough given your commander doesn't work with tokens...
  • Tamiyo's Journal: did you say clues :)?
  • Herald of Anguish: I love this card and am sad I have no home for it yet. Would be great in this list I think.

For bombs with attack triggers you could consider Balefire Dragon, Drakuseth, Maw of Flames and Etali, Primal Storm.

Hope you like some of them!

Wuzibo on Does Isshin trigger at any …

3 months ago

Does Isshin, Two Heavens as One only trigger when creatures attack, or can it also trigger on an attacking creature who is proccing a "when this creature deals combat damage to a player" triggered ability?

Does "a creature attacking" refer to "any attacking creature" who triggers a permanent's triggered ability, or does it only refer to "a creature being declared as an attacker". Like, for instance, does he double Balefire Dragon's damage to the opponent's creatures if he deals combat damage to the player, since he is a permanent, and he is also an attacking creature triggering an ability? Would the swords of x and y, like the Sword of Fire and Ice trigger twice when a creature deals combat damage to the player, since their effect is effect of a permanent, and that triggered because of an attacking creature? Which would then mean if he has double strike, he can get 4 triggers off the sword. Is that how it works? Or is it only on declare attackers?

Profet93 on “Budget” Xenagos Ground & Pound

4 months ago

The way a Xenagos deck typically operates is that you have your ramp, your big beaters, draw and interaction.

Ramp

Your options include creature ramp such as Llanowar Elves/Arbor Elf and other 1-3 CMC mana dorks as well as cards such as Cultivate. Having a lot of ramp is crucial in any deck, as it enables you to get your expensive commander out more quickly. Most people prefer artifact ramp, but given that you are running green, it's better to either use mana dorks or land ramp spells listed above. Land ramp is the most preferred because it ensures you don't miss land drops and they are less susceptible to being removed by your opponent.

Beaters

Next you have your big beaters, the damage dealers. Xenagos plays one big creature at a time that gets buffed and swings for lethal. Your deck has a bunch of smaller, less impactful creatures. Even your big creatures are not that threatening. For example, a Malignus with your commander and a source that gives it trample is game over if they don't have interaction. There are many options for beaters of different budgets, cmc's and more. I prefer beaters with built in protection such as Carnage Tyrant as I can use a draw spell on it with little fear of them removing the creature in response. Others prefer beaters with built in evasion such as a flying Balefire Dragon (I run both).

Draw

Without draw, it's difficult to maintain pressure on your opponents towards the late - middle game. It doesn't seem you have any draw in your deck. With such a low CMC and low draw, I imagine you run out of cards pretty quickly. There are 2 kinds of draw, burst and steady. Examples of burst card draw include Rishkar's Expertise, Return of the Wildspeaker, and Greater Good (fyi, greater good is the BEST card in a Xenagos deck, no matter what, add it, thank me later). Examples of steady card draw include Outpost Siege, War Room/Bonders' Enclave and Elder Gargaroth. Burst is definitely much more effective, but riskier, as if an opponent removes your creature in response to your draw spell, you will be out of luck. A mix of both is usually ideal.

Interaction Some of your interaction is not bad at all, ancient grudge and fling are great! To further improve your interaction, I would include cards such as Inferno Titan, Terastodon, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Beast Within, Hull Breach and Decimate (Note, you need 4 targets for decimate).

There are many other cards to suggest, but I don't want to overwhelm you. I would definitely take a look at other Xenagos decks on the site to get a better idea of how it is traditionally played. This is my deck, while not updated as of 2020, it still has most of the core cards. There are expensive ones as well, but those can be easily replaced with more budget options. Another good resource is EDH Rec, as it gives you an idea of how the decks usually play out.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, want more suggestions for cards to add or what you feel should be removed. I have been playing Xenagos for several years and I love it. It's the deck I play when I'm too tired to think, because all you need to do is just play big dudes and swing!

Vargasprox on Brion Control

5 months ago

Possible changes:

Remove: Kari Zev's Expertise, Insurrection, Harness by Force, Bloody Betrayal, Conquering Manticore, Jeering Instigator, Evra, Halcyon Witness.

Add: Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Hellkite Tyrant, Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant, Utvara Hellkite, Balefire Dragon, Urabrask the Hidden, Hofri Ghostforge.

zAzen7977 on KAALIA'S CATACLYSM - Aggro/Stax [cEDH Primer MH2]

5 months ago

Thanks for the excellent suggestion TypicalTimmy!! I haven’t seen Mudslide in years, I completely forgot it existed. Great stax piece! I will have to make room for it somehow. It proactively neutralizes weenie/token swarms, which is something this deck has a problem with. I usually have to use Balefire Dragon, Steel Hellkite at X=0, or a board wipe to deal with swarms.

I’m running Magus of the Moon in place of Blood Moon right now, because I can use Cavern of Souls to protect Magus from counterspells, and I can sac’ Magus to Razaketh, the Foulblooded when I’m tired of the effect. At least one form of Blood Moon is quite useful against all non-red decks, as most cEDH decks run primarily nonbasic lands, so I wouldn’t drop the effect completely. But Magus plus Mudslide, that’s a nasty lock!

Stardragon on First Dragon Commander Deck

5 months ago

Great first deck but i fear you may not have the mana you need to make it work i would cut some lands like for some more basic lands and get a few more land ramps

Crucible of the Spirit Dragon for a Basic Mountain, Crucible is fine but slow as it only taps for colorless and you have to pay mana to get colored mana, this is the biggest maybe I've never like storage lands personally.

Gateway Plaza, Archway Commons and Rupture Spire one or two of these can be cut for another mountain and a Darigaaz's Caldera

I would also trade Opulent Palace for Savage Lands since Jund () are your main colors

I would also rearrange some of your basic land numbers try 5x Mountains, 4x Forests, 3x Swamps and 2x Plains and Islands and i would cut Underdark Rift, Treasure Vault, Rogue's Passage and Prismari Campus for the basic lands

Would also try to get some cheap basic ramp cards like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Farseek and Sword of the Animist for basic land ramp and things like Hour of Promise, Tempt with Discovery, Pir's Whim, Explore and Growth Spiral for non basic ramp.

Now that I told my thoughts on your mana here are some other cards to help your dragons not sure your budget so i categized them. These price are based off of TCGplayer.

0.1-$4.99-Favorable Winds0.40, Teneb, the Harvester$3, Lathliss, Dragon Queen $3.50, Silumgar, the Drifting Death 0.70, Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury 0.70, Eerie Ultimatum $3, Ruinous Ultimatum $5, Genesis Ultimatum $1.00,

$5-$9.99-Dragon Tempest$5, Scion of the Ur-Dragon $7, Drakuseth, Maw of Flames $5, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund $3.50, Mirari's Wake $6, Rhythm of the Wild $6

$10-$19.99- Scalelord Reckoner $13, Vanquisher's Banner $12, Sarkhan Unbroken $15,Sarkhan, Fireblood $11,

$20 and over-Terror of the Peaks $25, Dragonlord Dromoka $25, Balefire Dragon $30, The Great Henge $50, Urza's Incubator $40, Sarkhan, Dragonsoul $27, Chromatic Orrery $20

mattzim666 on Maelstrom Wanderer Chaos Reigns Supreme!

5 months ago

I think you should cut: Brutalizer Exarch, Conduit of Ruin, Frost Titan, Giant Adephage, Myr Battlesphere, Oblivion Sower, Pelakka Wurm, Phyrexian Ingester, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, Rattleclaw Mystic, Sagu Mauler, Simic Sky Swallower, Sphinx Ambassador, Stalking Vengeance, Tornado Elemental, Plasm Capture, Pandemonium, Sunken Hope, Tezzeret the Seeker, Chromatic Lantern, Darksteel Ingot, Disaster Radius, Explosive Vegetation, Heat Shimmer, Rude Awakening, and Spelltwine. As for lands, I do think you should replace: Izzet Boilerworks, Spawning Bed, and Temple of the False God.

I think you should add: Temur Sabertooth, Genesis Ultimatum, Etali, Primal Storm, Skyshroud Claim, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Chaos Warp, Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient, Terror of the Peaks, Kodama of the East Tree, Reclamation Sage, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Consecrated Sphinx, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Wood Elves, Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, Diluvian Primordial, Prime Speaker Zegana, Release to the Wind, Return of the Wildspeaker, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Garruk's Uprising, Guardian Project, Unnatural Growth, and Arcane Signet.

I do think one option that you have is replacing all signets with mana dorks like Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, and Elvish Mystic

If you are able to find more slots, I think you should consider: Hullbreaker Horror, Thryx, the Sudden Storm (dependent on count of spells with 5 cmc or more), Soothsaying, Mulldrifter, Beast Whisperer (dependent on final count of creatures), Rishkar's Expertise, Turntimber Symbiosis  Flip, See the Unwritten, Balefire Dragon, Scourge of the Throne, Bane of Progress (I feel like you do not have a ton of high value artifacts or enchantments that would cause this to cripple you), Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, and Genesis Storm.

multimedia on Olivia, Crimson Bride Commander

6 months ago

Hey, you're welcome. Some more advice is streamline the creatures, reduce down to the best creatures you want to reanimate with Olivia and the best support to make that happen. Consider a toolbox concept with tutors and more looting? Streamlining will help to cut the redundancy that you don't need from creatures. By cutting many high CMC creatures for lower CMC reanimation enablers this also reduces the mana curve which is very high right now at 4.5.

The idea is the enablers help to find the better high CMC creatures you want to reanimate with Olivia/get them into your graveyard. Since the enablers are less mana then you can realistically cast them, hopefully before you cast Olivia. By reducing the mana curve then you could cut some lands: 1x Swamp and 1x Mountain.

Example of streamline current creature base (cuts number of creatures in half):

  • Master of Cruelties
  • Port Razer
  • Rune-Scarred Demon
  • Burning-Rune Demon
  • Rakdos the Defiler
  • Dragon Mage
  • Archon of Cruelty
  • Balefire Dragon
  • Sepulchral Primordial
  • Meteor Golem
  • Noxious Gearhulk
  • Flayer of the Hatebound

The other creature spots would be for support.

  • Yahenni, Undying Partisan
  • Chainer, Nightmare Adept
  • Solemn Simulacrum
  • Falkenrath Aristocrat
  • Gravebreaker Lamia

Rakdos the Defiler and Archon of Cruelty are better than the other high CMC creatures here who can make opponents sac permanents/creature. Dragon Mage is better than the other high CMC creatures here who draw cards. Sepulchral Primordial makes all the other creatures who reanimate and gain control of opponent creatures redundant. Meteor Golem and Noxious Gearhulk are better than the other creatures who can destroy a creature and Noxious gains life. Balefire Dragon is better than other creatures who do damage to opponent creatures.

With a higher budget these are some changes to consider for more help to setup Olivia:

These changes are cutting some high CMC creatures to add tutors and/or more looting. I offer more advice in another comment if you're interested. Would you like me to continue?

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