Commander Collection: Dragon's Fury

Commander / EDH Bracket 3 Dragons Goad UR (Izzet)

Jurrane

Dragons (23)

• 1x Ancient Copper Dragon P
• 1x Ganax, Astral Hunter
• 1x Goldlust Triad
• 1x Goldspan Dragon
• 1x Hellkite Charger
• 1x Iymrith, Desert Doom
• 1x Loch Dragon
• 1x Lozhan, Dragons' Legacy
• 1x Manaform Hellkite
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• 1x Obsidian Charmaw
• 1x Parapet Thrasher
• 1x Sapphire Dragon
• 1x Scourge of Valkas
• 1x Sprite Dragon
• 1x Stormbreath Dragon
• 1x Territorial Hellkite
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Thunderbreak Regent
• 1x Twinflame Tyrant P
• 1x Utvara Hellkite
• 1x Vengeful Ancestor
• 1x Voracious Bibliophile

Card Draw (5)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Frostcliff Siege
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic StudyGC

Forced Combat (5)

• 1x Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos *f-etch*
• 1x Bothersome Quasit
• 1x Coronation of Chaos
• 1x Disrupt Decorum
• 1x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

Land (37)

• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Cavern of Souls P
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Frostboil Snarl
• 1x Haven of the Spirit Dragon
• 8x Island
• 1x Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Mines of Moria
• 12x Mountain
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City P
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x War Room

Counterspells (9)

• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Negate
• 1x Silumgar's Scorn
• 1x Strix Serenade
• 1x Stubborn Denial

Other Dragon Synergies (1)

• 1x Dragon Tempest

Commander (1)

Removal (10)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x By Force
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Raise the Palisade
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Resculpt

Ramp & Cost Reducers (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dragonlord's Servant
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Dragonspeaker Shaman
• 1x Jeska's Will PGC
• 1x Sarkhan, Soul Aflame
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Thought Vessel

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{U}{R} Introduction: Forced Fun {U}{R}

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Welcome to my primer for "Dragon's Fury", an Izzet goad deck for the EDH format, with Firkraag, Cunning Instigator as its Commander.

Of all the two-colour combinations, I've Izzet (UR) found the hardest to build. It seems that if you don't go down the spellslinger route (I already have one of those ), there aren't many viable options. I first tried Nin, the Pain Artist which turned out to be boring as hell and I quickly gave up with it. I then attempted a Jhoira of the Ghitu suspend deck which was OK but wasn't very effective and didn't win any games. I was resigned to the fact that Izzet just wasn't the colour combination for me until I saw a recommendation for a Firkraag, Cunning Instigator forced combat/goad deck, which ticked a couple of important boxes: (a) it did something completely different to my other Commander decks; and (b) it was quite unlike most other decks in Izzet colours. I instantly knew I had to build it - and I'm really glad I did. Third time lucky I suppose.

Like my other primers, this is a short write-up about how I've built the deck and my experiences playing it. At the moment I've only played it a few times so it's still at the initial stages of development. But it's been a fun deck to play so far and makes for some unique, interactive and often quite political games.

Our Commander

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Baldur's Gate II is probably my favourite video game of all time. I used to play AD&D using the 2E core rules and loved how the game had been so accurately and carefully ported over to a video RPG. Although it didn't quite capture the spirit of Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms world, it had everything I wanted in a digital D&D game: a suitably epic plot, dungeon crawls, side quests galore and the AD&D 2E rules system preserved perfectly. I fell in love with it. Even writing this now makes me want to play through it again on my old PS4.

One of the most notorious villains from BG2 was Lord Jierdan Firkraag. Without giving too much away, he's known for his political machinations and is central to one of the main quests in the game, the Windspear Hills. When I first played the game, I fell completely for his bait and switch, and can still remember the culmination of that plot and the battle that followed. It was genuinely the most fun I've ever had with a video game.

When Wizards released Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, it was inevitable they'd include a Firkraag card. His red colour identity was a given but it was a nice touch to turn him into Izzet colours and give him a couple of abilities that reflected his trickery and deception. Here's the card:

Firkraag, Cunning Instigator

{3}{U}{R}

Legendary Creature - Dragon

3/3 flying, haste

Whenever one or more Dragons you control attack an opponent, goad target creature that player controls.

Whenever a creature deals combat damage to one of your opponents, if that creature had to attack this combat, you put a +1/+1 counter on Firkraag, Cunning Instigator and you draw a card.

So there's two things that Firkraag does well: he forces enemy creatures to attack if one or more of our Dragons deal combat damage to players; and he gains power and draws us cards if creatures that have been forced to attack deal damage to our opponents. He's therefore the perfect build around for a Dragon tribal deck that leverages the Goad mechanic, or other abilities that force our opponents' creatures to attack.

Deck Strategy

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At its most basic level, we're an aggro control deck that seeks to use our opponents' resources against each other, softening them up ready for us to deal the final blows. In addition to our commander, we have a suite of creatures that exploit the goad mechanic and/or force enemy creatures to attack, plus enough dragons to ensure that Firkraag, Cunning Instigator's abilities are regularly triggered. We support these with a range of blue permission spells that help us control the game, plus some of red's board control and mana generation staples. The result is a fun, versatile deck that makes for some interesting and varied multiplayer games.

Our general goal is to ramp into Dragons as early as we can using mana rocks, our Dragon tribal cost reducers such as Dragonlord's Servant and Dragonspeaker Shaman, or our more explosive one-shot options like Mana Geyser or Seething Song. Once we then play Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, the fun begins and we can start forcing our opponents to attack each other. We generally reserve our counterspells for (1) anything that affects our board state; or (2) other threats we can't answer. We have boardwipes like Blasphemous Act, Chain Reaction and Cyclonic RiftGC if we fall behind in the damage race. Disrupt Decorum acts both as a boardwipe and a finisher card (more on this later).

One thing to note is that Firkraag, Cunning Instigator's first ability only triggers once per opponent attacked ("Whenever one or more Dragons you control attack an opponent...") so it's usually a good idea to spread attacks across different opponents whenever possible. It's easy to misread this ability as getting one goad trigger per Dragon attacking, which is not the case. We only get the one goad trigger per opponent attacked.

"Now Hit Them"

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This section lists the various cards we have that either goad opposing creatures or have some sort of forced combat ability. They're a fundamental part of the deck and thus some of our most important cards. Here are the ones I've chosen:

• Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos: Assassin's Creed gave us a powerful new tool for this deck. Alexios does everything we need him to: attack every turn, frequently connect in combat to damage opponents, can't be sacrificed and can't attack us. He's a staple for any forced combat deck.
• Bident of Thassa: A very good way of forcing creatures to attack and trigger Firkraag, Cunning Instigator's second ability. Note they can attack us so be careful. It's also a great source of extra card draw in this deck.
• Bothersome Quasit: Goads enemy creatures whenever we cast noncreature spells, which will be often. Helpfully reduces our opponents' blocking options too. Great for us, annoying for other players.
• Coronation of Chaos: A useful double duty card that fulfills a couple of important roles. First, it stops up to three creatures from blocking, which hopefully means we can attack unopposed. Second, it forces those creatures to attack someone else in their next combat phase, diverting them away from us and potentially triggering Firkraag's card draw ability if he's in play.
• Grenzo, Havoc Raiser: Our secret second commander. His first ability is pretty much a clone of Firkraag, Cunning Instigator. The second is useful to mess with opponents. Staple for this deck.
• Disrupt Decorum: Bomb card. Wins games. Best played when there are three players left and our opponents have meaty board states that they can swing at each other. More than often it will then clear the way for us to sweep in for the win. One of the best cards in the deck.
• Territorial Hellkite: Another Dragon so could also be listed in the next section but we like it because (a) it packs a big punch for just 4 mana; and (b) because it's forced to attack each turn, it triggers both Firkraag's abilities. Not so good if we only have one opponent but we have other tools if it comes to that.
• Vengeful Ancestor: Fulfills two important criteria: goads creatures and has the Dragon creature type. 4CMC is a fairly low mana value for a Dragon, which is nice.

All Dragons Great and Small

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Because Firkraag, Cunning Instigator's goad ability is reliant on Dragons attacking, we want a decent density of draconic disciples as a reliable source of triggers. In most cases, the ones we've chosen either (a) have decent stats and/or impactful abilities; or (b) are lower mana value and are therefore more efficient in this deck. Here's some commentary about the Dragons we run.

• Ancient Copper Dragon: Easily the best of the ancient dragons printed in CLB. If he connects, he's potentially game breaking. Amazing card.
• Ganax, Astral Hunter: Makes Treasure tokens each time ohter Dragons enter. Handy ramp attached to a flying body.
• Goldlust Triad: What's better than a flying 4/3 that makes a Treasure token when it connects in combat? Three of them. I'm trying this new myriad creature instead of Chaos Dragon.
• Goldspan Dragon: I want the D&D Secret Lair version pictured here because of the iconic artwork. Nice hasty creature and powers up the Treasures we make.
• Hellkite Charger: A second attack phase is rarely a bad thing. Usually a must-remove threat.
• Iymrith, Desert Doom: Useful source of card plus another Flare of Denial target.
• Leyline Tyrant: Mainly included because of its mana value of 4. It usually gets removed long before its nuclear bomb ability gets to tick up.
• Loch Dragon: Also a decently-costed Dragon and an additional Flare of Denial option.
• Lozhan, Dragons' Legacy: Unlikely to stick around but turns any Dragon spell into creature removal or direct damage to the face. Essential for an Izzet Dragons build.
• Manaform Hellkite: We like it for two reasons: (1) it's another 4 mana value dragon; (2) it makes other hasty Dragon tokens to trigger Firkraag, Cunning Instigator.
• Niv-Mizzet, Parun: Each of the UR Niv-Mizzets offers an upside that draws cards. This one seems to have the highest ceiling so I've chosen it over the others. We have plenty of instants and sorceries, and opponents usually cast plenty too.
• Obsidian Charmaw: One of our weaker dragons on paper but it will often only cost {R}{R} in multiplayer games as plenty of lands generate {C} in Commander.
• Parapet Thrasher: Three very useful modal effects stapled on to a 4/3 flying body. Direct damage to the dome is always good and artifact destruction usually has viable targets. The exile effect is probably the least relevant here (and will occasionally be a liability if it reveals a counterspell) but still has its uses.
• Sapphire Dragon: A bit of a pet card. Fits into our deck nicely as its a counterspell when we need it or a Dragon when we don't. Flare of Denial etc etc.
• Scourge of Valkas: More removal or direct danage that scales (no pun intended) with the number of Dragons we have. A must for a dragon tribal deck.
• Sprite Dragon: Very low casting cost and bonus points for being blue. Opponents don't usually waste removal on it until it gets pretty large.
• Stormbreath Dragon: A flying hasty monster that blanks Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares etc. In a handful of rare but wonderful instances our opponents won't remove it before we pay its monstrosity cost.
• Terror of the Peaks: Now we're talking. A staple in this deck or any other red deck that runs big nasty creatures.
• Thunderbreak Regent: Another dragon kindred deck staple. Cheap to cast but tends to be a removal magnet.
• Twinflame Tyrant: With this monster on the battlefield, all our dragons (and other creatures) punch twice as hard. Very useful when we want to close out games.
• Utvara Hellkite: Very expensive to cast but if it sticks, it's usually game over. Very few pods can withstand an exponentially increasingly number of 6/6 flying Dragon tokens.
• Vengeful Ancestor: Mentioned in the previous section but a creature with the Dragon creature type that goads target creatures is exactly what we want in this deck.
• Voracious Bibliophile: A powerful new dragon from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Between our counterspells and removal, we have plenty of targetted spells, so this will often draw us quite a few cards. Flying and vigilence are quite handy too.

Winning the Game

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One of the frequent criticisms - and general weaknesses - of goad/forced combat decks is they tend to struggle in 1v1 settings (ie. when the other players have been removed). Our USP of forcing creatures to attack loses a bit of impact if they're going to be attacking us anyway. Here's how we overcome that drawback:

Big Evasive Creatures
Playing a dragons-centric strategy means we have no shortage of big flying creatures that will generally win the damage race against opponents. Token generators like Dragonmaster Outcast and Utvara Hellkite are great at helping things along. Similarly, if we need to use them for blocking purposes, we can usually take out most enemy creatures and then use boardwipes or removal to take care of anything particularly problematic.

One-Sided Boardwipes
Although most boardwipes are universal by design, we have a couple of options that tilt the odds firmly in our favour. An overloaded Cyclonic RiftGC is the gold standard but Raise the Palisade is a decent plan B. Depending on the circumstances, Disrupt Decorum also falls into this category by forcing all opposing creatures to attack. Providing we can withstand that attack, the coast is usually clear for us to swing back and try to close out the game.

Non-Combat Damage
Sometimes direct damage to the dome will get the job done (or soften up opponents ready for a final alpha strike). Cards we're looking for to do this are Lozhan, Dragons' Legacy, Thunderbreak Regent, Stormbreak Dragon, Terror of the Peaks and Dragon Tempest. After all, red is the king of non-combat damage.

Power Level

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I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

Right now I'd categorise this deck as being somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4. Although it runs many Izzet staples, it's not particularly high powered, features a few less optimal pet cards, doesn't run any infinite combos, and is therefore best suited to mid/low power casual pods. It's mostly just a big creatures tribal deck and can get outraced or outclassed by faster, more aggressive or more efficient builds. While it's great fun to play in multiplayer settings, it's not something I'd bring to more competitive tables.

In line with its low placement on my informal power scale, I'd say this list sits in Bracket 3 of WotC's new EDH power brackets. Goad isn't the strongest mechanic and we only run three game-changer cards: Jeska's WillGC, Cyclonic RiftGC and Rhystic StudyGC. But this build is definitely a cut above most precons so B3 seems about right.

Budget

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This is one of my lower budget decks. It's currently priced at an average of just over $400 on Card Kingdom, largely on account of the blue staples it runs (Fierce GuardianshipGC, Rhystic StudyGC, Mana Drain, Cyclonic RiftGC etc). The good news is most of them can be swapped out for budget choices like other counterspells or draw sources. Or you could proxy them, as I've done with a few cards (Dockside Extortionist, Cavern of Souls, Force of Negation).

The good news is that Izzet Dragons isn't a particularly expensive archetype to build and many of its dragon creatures are sub-$5. Even the more expensive ones like Terror of the Peaks have come down a bit with recent reprints, plus most goad cards are well in the budget range. I'd recommend this as a fun deck that can be built pretty cheaply and still get good results.

Upcoming Changes

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While I'm generally happy with how it's performing, there are a couple of other cards I'd like to add. These are:

• Slicer, Hired Muscle  : A must for any forced combat deck. I hope they print a Universe Within version.
• Spectacular Showdown: Pay its (albeit expensive) overload cost and it's basically Disrupt Decorum on steroids.

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All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Talrand, Sky Summoner {U}
Blue Streak: Mono-Blue Spellslinger

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Midrange Combo

{B} Ayara, First of Locthwain {B}
Black Diamond: Mono-Black Aristocrats Combo

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Stax

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IVGC {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Font of Blessings {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Marchesa, the Black Rose {U}{B}{R}
Revenge of the Mummy: Grixis Dethrone/Combo

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{B}{G} Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant {W}{B}{G}
A Long-Expected Party: Abzan Lifegain/Combo

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Control

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

{U}{R}{G} Eshki, Temur's Roar {U}{R}{G}
Thunder Striker: Temur Power Matters

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.44
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Dragon Illusion */* R, Elemental 4/4 UR, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Manifest 2/2 C, On an Adventure, Treasure
Folders	Test, EDH