Matt Capra

[Bracket 4] The Ur-Dragon

Decklist

https://moxfield.com/decks/dWJIO2hx3E65El-CKyurlA

Credit: Shiny Latios

Primer

https://moxfield.com/decks/oTndvxb8bkqLPK_kANUrkA/primer

Deck Philosophy

I enjoy piloting this deck because it has DRAGONS (obviously), which are the coolest things ever (also obviously). I have been playing Dragon kindred decks for over a decade, beginning with Intet, the Dreamer in 2015. In 2017, Wizards of the Coast released The Ur-Dragon, and I have been playing it as my commander ever since. I have hundreds of games and years of experience in designing, testing, and playing this deck.

Dragons are the most awesome and powerful creatures in all of Magic. Dragons do not need special gimmicks or tricks to win, they do that through sheer awesomeness and ferocity. I built a deck that relies on their raw power to win. That means:

This deck explicitly avoids easy infinite combos. Many Ur-Dragon decks rely on cards like Aggravated Assault and Savage Ventmaw or Old Gnawbone to take infinite combats. This deck does not. This deck plays VERY few tutors. Many Ur-Dragon decks start their lists by filling up with all of the useful tutors available in five colors, trying to maximize consistency. This deck does not. Dragons are not interested in tutoring for the same cards every game. Dragons are not interested in assembling two-card infinite combos. Dragons exist to DOMINATE THE HEAVENS.

If you are looking to play with a more combo-centered approach, there are many other Ur-Dragon decklists that can help with that.

General Deck Principles

A kindred deck should ideally contain somewhere between 25 and 30 kindred creatures. Because dragons are usually very expensive to cast, there should usually be fewer than 30 dragon cards in the deck.

Dragon decks require support to power them out quickly and effectively. This means maximizing resources through ramp, card draw, and protecting the dragons with powerful and low-cost defensive spells.

Five Categories of Spells

To understand how the deck is structured, it is helpful to categorize all spells (nonland cards) into the specific roles that they play in the deck. Each category features a mix of both non-dragon and dragon spells, as dragons play many important roles.

There are FIVE categories in total, arranged in order of importance and expanded upon below:

  1. Mana Advantage
  2. Card Advantage
  3. Force Multipliers
  4. Protection
  5. Removal

But First…Lands

More important than any spell is the ability to pay for them. A consistent land base is critical to ensure this deck, which features many heavily-colored cards in all five colors, runs smoothly. This is achieved through:

good mana fixing; and lands that enter untapped. The deck should run no more than 3 tapped lands (most likely triomes). To achieve consistent color fixing, this deck features:

  • 10 Fetchlands, 10 Dual lands: The consistency of fetchlands is unrivaled in Magic. So too do dual lands provide nearly flawless fixing for no cost.
  • 3 Triomes: My triomes are in a “hub-and-spoke” model, with Savai Triome being the “hub” land. If I control Savai, either “spoke” triome I tutor for, currently Zagoth Triome and Ketria Triome, will allow me to have Domain, or all 5 colors.
  • Support lands: Cards like Cavern of Souls and Boseiju, Who Endures. Cavern of Souls provides protection for my Dragon spells, while Boseiju acts as a removal spell. Arena of Glory is very good at giving creatures (including mana dorks!) haste to help speed the deck.
  • Five-color “rainbow” lands: Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Exotic Orchard, Reflecting Pool, Horizon of Progress, Forbidden Orchard are some lands I currently. These lands provide unrivaled fixing with various drawbacks (cannot tutor for them, cost life, etc.). It is recommended to run as many rainbow lands as possible.

Mana Advantage

Mana advantage is important to ensure that the player is able to power out large threats before other players can. Cards in this category are straightforward: they are cards that provide mana efficiency in some capacity. This can include cards that increase the amount of mana available to a player (Sol Ring), the quality of mana available (Chromatic Lantern), or that reduce the cost of casting certain spells Goblin Anarchomancer).

Guiding Principle: The more general a piece of mana advantage is, the better. For example:

  • Birds of Paradise is superior to Wild Growth because Birds taps for any color of mana.
  • Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is better than Rivaz, the Claw, because Selvala can scale more and her mana can be used on any spell.
  • Arcane Signet is superior to Herd Heirloom, because Signet can tap to cast noncreature spells.
  • Goblin Anarchomancer is better than Dragonlord’s Servant, because most dragons are red or green, and Anarchomancer makes ALL red and/or green spells cost less.
  • Temur Battlecrier outclasses Dragonspeaker Shaman because it reduces the cost of all spells, not just Dragon spells.
  • Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea is better than Urza’s Incubator because Gwenna can be used to cast any creature, not just dragons; Gwenna provides color fixing; and Gwenna can untap repeatedly when casting multiple big creatures every turn.

Mana advantage can be achieved by increasing the player’s mana output or reducing opponents’ mana output; or by decreasing the cost of the player’s spells or increasing the cost of opponents’ spells. Generally, the preferred method in creature-based decks is to increase the player’s mana output faster than opponents can. This is because spell reduction cards like dragonspeaker shaman, Urza’s Incubator, or similar effects usually net less mana advantage than playing ramp, without providing fixing.

Increasing total mana can be done in many ways. The three most common methods include:

  • land ramp (Nature’s Lore);
  • artifact ramp (Sol Ring); and
  • creature ramp (Birds of Paradise).

Balancing all three is important to ensuring maximum consistency against varied opponents. However, taking all factors into consideration, including their potentially weaknesses of being particularly vulnerable to removal and board wipes, I generally prefer mana dorks over other forms of ramp. This is because:

  • mana dorks tend to provide earlier acceleration;
  • dorks provide fixing more easily; and
  • they can provide larger mana efficiencies for the increased risk.

Example: At the Mana Value 2 slot, consider three alternatives: Nature’s Lore, Bloom Tender, and Arcane Signet.

  • Nature’s Lore has the advantage of providing mana immediately by letting the land enter untapped, but is limited only to Forest sub-type lands. It also only provides +1 mana.
  • Arcane Signet also provides mana immediately, and can tap for any color in this deck, but it is also limited to only providing +1 mana.
  • Bloom Tender is slow, and must wait an entire turn cycle to be able to tap for mana. It also only provides +1 mana initially, and only of one color. However, it can quickly ramp into producing up to +5 mana, making it a very powerful mana dork.

All three cards have inherent advantages and disadvantages, but mana dorks tend to make up for their vulnerability through offering faster acceleration.

The cards currently played in this category include:

Land Ramp

The deck does not currently play land-based ramp! But if it did, Nature’s Lore and Three Visits would be the first picks, and is why the deck features two Forest-type triomes.

Artifact Ramp

Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox: The Ur-Dragon is a threat from the start; ramping into powerful plays on early turns is crucial for a strong game plan.

Sol Ring: Sol Ring! No explanation needed.

Mana Vault: Vault is an important ramp spell that can provide considerable one-time acceleration. Not only can it be untapped with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner, it can enable quickly deploying dragons before opponents have prepared adequately.

Arcane Signet: Another staple like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet provides instant fixing for all colors. Fellwar Stone is another great addition to consider.

Chromatic Orrery: An old inclusion returns! The mana advantage and fixing this card provides is very potent, particularly when synergized with Kiora Behemoth Beckoner and Temur Battlecrier. In a pinch, it can also be tapped to draw cards.

Creature Ramp

Birds of Paradise/Ignoble Hierarch/Noble Hierarch: Mana Value (MV) 1 dorks are incredibly powerful. They enable the player to cast MV 3 cards as early as turn 2. Having 3 mana on Turn 2 is more important than 4 mana on Turn 3. The difference can accelerate the player as much as a full turn.

Bloom Tender: The only MV 2 dork that sees play. Its ability to add up to WUBRG makes it very powerful acceleration and fixing.

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: Easily the best mana dork in the deck, Selvala provides incidental card advantage from casting big dragons faster than opponents can. Selvala’s ability to tap for larger amounts of mana with bigger creatures on the field makes her able to ramp extremely quickly.

Temur Battlecrier: Is one of the most powerful additions from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. It reduces the cost of ALL spells on the player’s turn, making it possible to cast cards for very little mana. It also helps reduce additional costs such as Smugglers’ Surprise, and alternative costs such as overloaded Cyclonic Rift. Colorless cards can be cast for no mana at all! It has quickly become a top contender for most powerful “mana dork.”

Dragons

Goldspan Dragon: Goldspan has a number of strengths that make it one of the most important dragons in the deck. Not only can it provide immediate advantage by attacking the same turn it’s played, but it allows for all treasures to tap for double mana.

Goldlust Triad: An instant replacement for Smothering Tithe, Goldlust helps the player ramp quickly with its Myriad ability. While it usually ends up providing fewer treasures than Tithe, it synergizes closely with other cards in the deck, such as Temur Ascendancy (drawing multiple cards from tokens entering, as well as Triad gaining haste to provide immediate mana return), or Scourge of Valkas effects.

Ancient Copper Dragon: The best of the Ancient Dragon cycle from Baldur’s Gate, ACD is rivaled only by Old Gnawbone in its ability to provide instant mana acceleration, averaging at 11 Treasures per hit.

Old Gnawbone: The most powerful mana advantage dragon, OGB can be dropped into play with Ur’s trigger to immediately generate vast sums of Treasure.

Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient: Klauth and Old Gnawbone function fairly similarly, providing mana advantage based on the amount of power the player attacks with. Klauth’s advantage is that the mana is floated even if an attacking creature is killed in combat. While Klauth has some drawbacks by comparison, it nonetheless presents a potent threat that can generate large quantities of mana, making it a valuable addition to the deck.

Other Mana Advantage

Dracogenesis: A Rooftop Storm for dragons. Allows the player to cheat dragons in, including the commander, and can potentially combo with Tiamat to win the game immediately.

Card Advantage

The Card Advantage category features spells that increase the raw number of cards (quantity) or specific cards (quality) of cards available to the player, such as tutors.

Generally speaking, it’s important to play cards dedicated to drawing more resources, especially in high-mana decks. As Dragons cost a lot of mana, removal tends to be very mana efficient against them. Casting Path to Exile against a Balefire Dragon creates mana efficiency for the opponent, same as casting a Day of Judgment against multiple creatures. To help create resiliency against losing tempo against multiple opponents, the player must rely on generating card advantage to keep up the pace of available resources.

In this deck, card advantage is primarily generated by:

  • drawing multiple in one go (e.g. Ancient Silver Dragon); or
  • drawing incrementally through deploying a threat (e.g. Up the Beanstalk).

Cards in the “incremental draw” category fall into two sub-categories: “Cast” and “Enter” triggers. It is important to play a mixture of both effects to ensure the player is able to get a balanced advantage.

  • Example: Cards such as Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, and Goldlust Dragon make tokens. While these tokens do not trigger cards such as Up the Beanstalk and Helga, Skittish Seer, they do trigger Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and Temur Ascendancy.
  • Example 2: If the player controls Temur Ascendancy, and casts a Goldspan Dragon, they will not draw a card if the spell is countered, as the dragon never enters. But the player will draw off an Up the Beanstalk, even if the spell is countered.

Non-Dragon Spells and Tutors

Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon: A great tutor on a land, plus fixing for any dragon spells, makes this a clear winner.

Demonic Tutor: A powerful, all-purpose tutor that does not cost the player an additional card, unlike Vampiric Tutor. Having at least one way to get any card in the deck helps improve consistency. The player should use this to grab any card a situation calls for, even a land if necessary.

Up the Beanstalk: A fantastic draw engine that costs only 2 mana and immediately replaces itself. This card triggers on cast, meaning it interacts favorably with cards like Imoti, and unfavorably with The Ur-Dragon and Smuggler’s Surprise.

The One Ring: A multi-format defining card that serves as a raw draw engine. Best when paired with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner.

Dragons

Zurgo and Ojutai: Zurgo and Ojutai (Z&O) is one of the best dragons ever printed. This card triggers for EACH OPPONENT that is dealt damage. It also interacts favorably with Sylvia Brightspear, as it will gain additional triggers as a result.

  • Example: The player attacks 3 different opponents with 3 dragons, one of which is Z&O, and all 3 dragons deal combat damage. Z&O triggers 3 times in total, and all 3 dragons may be returned to hand.
  • Example 2: The player attacks 3 different opponents with 4 dragons, one of which is Z&O, and the fourth is Bonehoard Dracosaur. On First Strike damage, Z&O will trigger once for Dracosaur. On regular damage, Z&O will trigger 3 times.
  • Example 3: The player attacks 1 opponent with 2 dragons, one of which is Z&O. Both deal combat damage simultaneously. Z&O triggers once, and only one dragon can be returned to hand.
  • Example 4: Same as Example 1, but the player also controls Sylvia, giving dragons Double Strike. Z&O will trigger on both first strike and regular damage steps, for a total of 6 triggers.

Ancient Silver Dragon: This card generates pure card advantage for the player. While difficult to cast, if unanswered, this card can single-handedly help the player to establish card advantage dominance.

Tiamat: A tutor on a dragon, this card enables the player to get any five dragons in the deck to ensure swift victory.

  • Tip: While Tiamat can get any dragons, there are some that are generally better to tutor for than others. Note that among the dragons tutored for, it is a balance of Force Multipliers, Mana Advantage, Card Advantage, and Protection or Removal, depending on what the context calls for. A “stock” collection of dragons to retrieve would include the following:
    • Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm;
    • Hellkite Courser;
    • Old Gnawbone or Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient;
    • Dragonlord Kolaghan; and
    • Zurgo and Ojutai or Ancient Silver Dragon.
    • Potential alternatives include Terror of the Peaks, Dragonlord Dromoka, or Ancient Gold Dragon and Scourge of Valkas.

Force Multipliers

This is the broadest category that is comprised of cards that serve to deepen the impact of the player’s board state and to accelerate its impactfulness. The most obvious examples of force multiplier are ones that directly increase the amount of damage that a dragon can do. There are numerous sub-categories of Force Multipliers.

Haste Enablers

Dragon Tempest: Perhaps the most impactful and important card in any Dragon deck, Tempest gives all of the player’s flying creatures haste (including Birds of Paradise) and gives dragons the ability to do increasing amounts of damage when they enter.

Rhythm of the Wild: This card functions primarily as a haste enabler for both mana dorks and dragons, but also protects creature spells from being countered. For creatures cast post-combat, the Riot ability allows them to enter with boosted stats.

Tannuk, Steadfast Second: Tannuk is great at cheating in red dragons, and the Warp cost is reduced by the Ur-Dragon’s Eminence ability, making dragons castable for just !

Damage Multipliers

Sylvia Brightspear: Sylvia is the most effective means of granting dragons double strike, beating out both Atarka, World Render and Blast-Furnace Hellkite. Sylvia grants numerous benefits the other cards do not, such as:

  • Good on offense: Sylvia can be dropped into play with the Ur-Dragon’s ability, granting dragons double strike mid-combat;
  • Good on defense: Sylvia gives dragons double strike at all times, boosting their ability to defend against attackers; and
  • Cost efficient: At 3 mana, Sylvia curves under dragons, so she can be played early on, or later with protection magic up.

Board State Multipliers (BSMs)

BSMs are a special category of cards that generate unique advantage through the following:

  • the player accesses resources directly from the library rather than from the hand, creating Card Advantage;
  • the resources are being cheated into play essentially for free, creating Mana Advantage; and
  • taken together, bringing permanents directly into play acts as a Force Multiplier.

Why BSMs?

Generally, a player spends increasing amounts of mana for increasingly threatening and powerful spells. However, deploying a single big threat has two costs:

  1. the player spends more resources, and is thus constrained from deploying additional threats; and
  2. removal tends to be much more efficient against larger threats than smaller ones (e.g. compare casting Path to Exile against an Esper Sentinel vs. Lathliss, Dragon Queen).

If the player spends 7 mana to cast a threat and an opponent spends 3 mana to remove it, this creates a loss of tempo for the player. This compounds in a multiplayer game, where the other opponents that did not lose any cards are benefited through having threats dealt with for no personal cost. To mitigate potential tempo loss, the player can use support cards to generate:

  • incremental card advantage with cards like Up the Beanstalk;
  • incremental mana advantage by reducing the cost of casting spells through Morophon, the Boundless or Urza’s Incubator; or
  • expanding board presence through freely casting spells and putting permanents into play directly from the library using the cards below.

When the player casts a BSM spell, they are saving mana and generating card advantage by accessing resources directly from the deck, rather than spending resources in hand.

  • Example: The player controls a Mirari’s Wake to produce extra mana. 5 lands can tap for 10 mana, enabling the casting of 2 Dragons from hand.
  • Example 2: The player controls a Monstrous Vortex. With 5 lands they can play 1 Dragon from hand, but potentially get another dragon from the deck for free. This way, the player can save the second dragon in hand for a future turn.

Majestic Genesis: A card that increases in power with the increased mana value of a commander, this shines particularly well in The Ur-Dragon decks, because the commander is MV 9. Note that if the commander is anywhere other than the Command Zone or Battlefield (e.g. if Ur is on the stack and the player cascades into Majestic Genesis), the spell will not do anything.

Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty: Imoti functions similarly to Vortex, but covers a different set of cards. Imoti also triggers off ALL spells of Mana Value 6+, including cards like Chromatic Orrery and Leyline Binding. Imoti’s biggest drawback is being a creature, but she has the added benefit of having Cascade herself, thus generating additional advantage when she is cast.

  • Note: Cascading into MV 6+ spells with Imoti will cause those spells to have cascade as well.

Dragons

As force multipliers, dragons tend to focus on increasing damage or creating dragon tokens to fill the board.

Scion of Draco: This card helps power up all other dragons by giving them essential keywords. While most dragons are red or a variation thereof, first strike can still synergize with effect that trigger on combat damage, such as Zurgo and Ojutai and Broodcaller Scourge.

Neriv, Heart of the Storm: With as much haste as this deck plays, Neriv presents a great opportunity to do a lot of damage very quickly. It doubles damage from Dragon Tempest and Scourge of Valkas, but not Terror of the Peaks (unless it also entered the same turn).

Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest: While DH can also generate card advantage by giving the player “impulse draw” effects, it’s really in the deck to deal massive amounts of damage to opponents. Don’t worry about exiling cards forever! It’s more important to get opponents dead.

Roaming Throne: Technically a dragon on the field. The most powerful dragons have triggers. Whether enter or attack or combat damage triggers, Roaming Throne doubles them all.

Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury: At 4 mana, Kolaghan (KSF) presents a considerable threat to opponents by making the entire team of dragons incredibly more potent attackers. The Dash ability is also cost reduced by the Ur-Dragon.

Dragonlord Kolaghan: Dragonlord Kolaghan (DLK) is in the deck because of how important granting haste is. The second ability rarely applies, if ever.

Twinflame Tyrant: Like Sylvia and Neriv, Tyrant is a great damage doubling mechanism to make the deck pack an even harder punch.

Hellkite Courser: Courser is an excellent way to cheat out a impactful permanents quickly with Ur’s attack trigger.

Lathliss, Dragon Queen: Lathliss helps expand board presence quickly, and guards against targeted removal by creating additional large bodies. Even if the primary threat is removed, Lathliss ensures the player is still left with a 5/5 token.

  • Tip: If the player controls an Old Gnawbone, as long as 3+ dragons are able to deal combat damage to opponents, activating Lathliss’ +1/+0 ability will generate additional mana through Treasure creation. Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm: Miirym is perhaps the strongest synergizing dragon in the deck, effectively acting as a better Roaming Throne. By creating non-legendary copies of dragons, the player is able to double effects and maintain board presence even if the originals are removed.

Ureni of the Unwritten: A very strong dragon that can immediately expand board presence by getting other dragons.

Broodcaller Scourge: A mini-Ur, Broodcaller helps cheat permanents into play quickly. This triggers on each opponent being hit, and triggering on combat damage means Sylvia Brightspear allows Scourge to trigger twice in combat.

  • Example: If Broodcaller is on the field and 3 of the player’s dragons each hit a different opponent, Broodcaller will trigger 3 times. If Sylvia is also on the field, Broodcaller will trigger 6 times.

Ancient Gold Dragon: AGD is a primary “combo piece” through which the player can win the game when used in conjunction with Dragon Tempest or Scourge of Valkas.

  • Example: The player controls Tempest and AGD. On dealing combat damage to an opponent, the player rolls a 10 and makes 10 faerie dragon tokens. Because these tokens enter simultaneously, they are counted together. So the player deals 10x11 damage (10 dragons, 11 dragons total) to 10 targets.

Protection, From What?

Protection is a broad category that encompasses many different varieties of cards. All of them are played to protect the board states that the player develops. It is a form of resource advantage that negates the opponents’ attempts to answer the player’s threats. If an opponent casts Supreme Verdict to wipe out the player’s hoard of dragons, this creates mana disadvantage for the player. But if the player responds with a Teferi’s Protection, this creates mana disadvantage for the opponent instead.

Deck Weaknesses, and what Protection is for

Dragon tribal is a creature-based attacking deck, which makes it weak to common types of answers for creatures. As a deck based on large, powerful creatures, it also tends to struggle against more aggressively-costed threats. These include, but are not limited to:

  • targeted removal (Swords to Plowshares, Beast Within);
  • board wipes (Wrath of God, Farewell);
  • mass bounce (Cyclonic Rift);
  • “pillowfort” effects (Glacial Chasm, Ghostly Prison);
  • stax effects (Humility, Overwhelming Splendor); and
  • aggressive, “go-wide” strategies with lots of small creatures (e.g. tokens decks).

The cards currently played in this category include:

Counter Magic

Swan Song: The most common interference spells, such as removal, come in the form of instants and sorceries. Swan Song helps deal with these cards for just . Swan Song is played over An Offer You Can’t Refuse (AOYCR) because giving an opponent two untapped Treasure tokens is more impactful than giving them a 2/2 bird. But AOYCR can still be played as an additional counter.

Stubborn Denial: The best counterspell in Ur-Dragon, prioritizing low-cost counter magic is essential. While often saved for countering opponents’ answers to the player’s threats, Stubby D can also be used to counter the occasional Turn 1 Sol Ring, which is a perfectly valid use.

Dedicated Protection Spells

Teferi’s Protection: A nearly must-include in white commander decks, this card helps save the player in ways few other cards can match. Flare of Fortitude or Heroic Intervention are also good budget alternatives.

Steely Resolve: Perhaps the best protection enchantment available for kindred decks, giving ALL dragons on the field Shroud (including the opponents’ dragons) is highly potent and negates all targeted removal. Coming in at two mana also makes it easy to curve with.

Call the Spirit Dragons: An awesome enchantment that is sure to make the player the big target if they weren’t already. The “win the game” clause is usually irrelevant, as this enchantment is primarily played to protect the player’s dragons.

Dragons

Dragonlord Dromoka: Preventing opponents from casting spells on the player’s turn is one of the best ways to ensure that attacks are successfully declared and connected. The Lifelink ability on DLD is also very relevant to stabilizing the player’s life.

Removal

Removal is one of the most easily defined categories, comprised of cards that are expressly for getting rid of opponents’ problematic permanents. A mix of independent removal spells and removal stapled onto dragons is key to ensuring the player is able to handle opposing threats effectively.

Non-Dragon Spells

Leyline Binding: This card is a replacement for either Anguished Unmaking or Assassin’s Trophy. It allows the player to exile any nonland permanent for just , as Domain is very easy to achieve with fetchlands and triomes. Playing this card is a personal preference, as I prefer the low cost.

Crux of Fate: A one-sided board wipe that can create decisive advantage for the player. WIth many non-dragon mana dorks this becomes a little more cost prohibitive, but often the correct choice is for the player to destroy their own mana dorks to wipe a large board, leaving only the dragons behind. In a meta with other dragon decks present, Blasphemous Act, Damn, Farewell, and other board wipe variations are viable alternatives.

Cyclonic Rift: A staple of any blue commander decks, Rift is essential to clearing blockers and interfering with opponents’ board states, and acts as a one-sided board wipe.

Dragons

Scourge of Valkas: Valkas, like Dragon Tempest, pairs well with Ancient Gold Dragon and is generally a useful dragon. Damage from Valkas should first be aimed at creatures on the board, unless the player can capitalize on the damage to finish off opponents quickly. Players should be mindful that the damage source is from the new dragon, not Valkas.

Terror of the Peaks: Terror works similarly to Valkas, but can have a greater impact faster. If the Ur-Dragon enters with only Valkas out, that is 2 damage. With Terror, that is 10 damage. Players should be mindful that Terror is always the damage dealer, not the dragon entering, the opposite of Valkas.

Scavenger Regent // Exude Toxin: Similar to Crux of Fate, but gets around indestructible effects. Usually cast for the wrath, not the dragon. It is best used in early turns against go-wide aggressive token strategies.

Multi-Role All-Stars

A selection of cards have the distinguishing fact of serving multiple uses in one package. Many cards can do this (e.g. Old Gnawbone can be both a mana producer and a big threat), but some are particularly good at doing multiple things, and do not neatly fit into only one of the above categories.

Non-Dragon Spells

Smuggler’s Surprise: The Spree mechanic allows this to be a truly modular card. It can provide Protection, Card Advantage, and Mana Advantage with its three modes. The greatest difficulty in using this card is knowing when to deploy it. Knowing whether to use it early to hit lands and creatures, using it mid-game to deploy two threats at instant speed, or saving it to use as a protection spell (or possibly all three modes) is brought on with experience and understanding the specific board state at the time. Generally speaking, the longer the player waits to cast this card, the better.

Helga, Skittish Seer: Helga excels in offering both Card and Mana Advantage, and incidental lifegain as well. Helga also grows more powerful as the game progresses, allowing her to be tapped for ever larger quantities of mana.

Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner: Kiora is helpful both as Card Advantage, and for providing Mana Advantage through untapping any permanent. Kiora is most impactful when untapping cards that produce more than one mana (e.g. Chromatic Orrery or Selvala, Heart of the Wilds), or permanents that draw numerous cards such as The One Ring.

Temur Ascendancy: Temur Ascendancy provides Card Advantage and acts as a Force Multiplier, giving all of the player’s creatures haste.

Frostcliff Siege: This card provides either card advantage or multiplies force by enabling haste and trample. Usually the player should choose the side for the effect they do not already have access to, prioritizing haste and trample.

Dragons

Parapet Thrasher: This card is great at multiplying force, removal, and card advantage all in one small package. Can be replaced with Hellkite Tyrant in artifact-heavy metas.

Bonehoard Dracosaur: Dracosaur is a deceptively powerful dragon that provides Card Advantage, Mana Advantage, and acts as a Force Multiplier in one package. While exiling spells the player cannot cast always feels bad, and exiling lands the player does not need can feel like flooding, Dracosaur helps compensate for both scenarios by providing Treasures to help cast spells, and 3/1 tokens to help fill the board when the player is flooded.

Betor, Kin to All: Betor provides a big body on a very low-cost dragon. With mana dorks and other dragons, reaching 10 and even 20 combined toughness is not difficult, meaning Betor can offer consistent additional draw power, while also giving creatures pseudo-vigilance.

  • Note: Betor’s trigger untaps all creatures, including mana dorks. This having mana dorks untap for interaction is a key upside.

Marang River Regent // Coil and Catch: A strong and flexible removal spell on a big body. Coil and Catch is also a potent reusable instant draw spell. Can also go infinite with Miirym and Dracogenesis.

Gameplay and Piloting Strategy

While a strategy of “just play dragons and attack” may seem very straightforward, there are many complexities beneath this simple mantra, broken down in this section. This deck is designed to curve effectively from ramping on Turns 1-3, to casting big dragons Turns 4+. There are some important points to consider when examining whether an opening hand is worth keeping.

The most powerful cards in the opening hand are Turn 1 ramp spells, such as Birds of Paradise and Sol Ring.

While this may seem like an obvious statement, it is important to emphasize that having 3 mana by Turn 2 is one of the best ways to accelerate a deck’s game plans. It is more impactful than having 4 mana by Turn 3.

  • Example: T1 Birds of Paradise, T2 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds. The player will have up to 5 mana by T3 and be ready to start casting dragons.

Play something before Turn 3.

The games that have the highest chance of becoming victories are ones where the player is able to start developing a board on Turns 1 and 2. If the player’s first spell is cast on Turn 3, chances are they are moving too slowly, and opponents will be able to answer deployed threats in time.

The Ur-Dragon’s reputation precedes it. Be prepared to be the target of removal. Don’t overextend.

The Ur-Dragon has a reputation for being a powerful commander and a powerful deck. The Eminence ability discounts the cost of all dragons in the deck, making it one of the most powerful Eminence variants. As a result, this gives the deck a reputation of strength, and skilled opponents will treat it accordingly by designating the player as the archenemy.

Additionally, the deck operates by powering out threats before other opponents can, which inherently make the player more threatening. Mitigate this by not over-extending the board.

  • Example: The player has a few dragons on board and an Ancient Brass Dragon in hand. They should most likely not play ABD, even though it could mean dealing more damage. Doing so would make them extremely vulnerable to a board wipe without a chance for recovery.

Take opponents down one-by-one.

There are some cards in the deck, such as Zurgo and Ojutai, that grow stronger with the more players being attacked/dealt combat damage to. Except in these cases, the player should focus on taking one opponent out at a time. As the player will likely be treated as the archenemy of the game, the fewer opponents they have to deal with at one time, the better.

Balance being the first threat with being the surprise threat.

Rather than leading on threats one per turn, it is better to deploy many threats quickly.

This is somewhat difficult to achieve in practice. Here is a common situation:

  • Example: The player has 5 mana available. They can either cast a Dragonlord Dromoka, or Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty. How should they lead? Leading on Dromka impacts the board immediately. She acts as a powerful blocker, life stabilizer, and protects the player on their next turn from interference. Being a dragon that negates interaction, she also presents an obvious threat.

Imoti is a 3/1 that is easy to kill. While her own cascade trigger can further develop the board, she usually presents as a potential threat to opponents rather than as an obvious one. Additionally, by leading on Imoti, the player can still cast Dromoka next turn, potentially cascading into a second dragon and developing the board state faster.

  • Example 2: The player leads on Imoti and cascades into a Temur Ascendancy. By the next turn, the player untaps and draws a Sol Ring. They play a land and the Sol Ring, and now have access to 7 mana. The player casts Ancient Silver Dragon, which cascades into Lathliss, Dragon Queen, which cascades into Bloom Tender. The player is able to quickly develop a large board state with at least 3 dragons in one go, rather than slowly developing the board one dragon at a time.