Commander Kryptonite: Slaying Dragons

    In 2017, Wizards of the Coast followed up their massively successful Commander 4-color precons with a typal theme, covering some of the most popular creature types in all of Magic. The four creature types created were Vampires, Cats, Wizards, and Dragons. Though Vampires were a massive success in their own right, Dragons were the hit of the set and rightly so. Dragons, being one of the most popular creature types, finally had their undisputed champion. Without further ado, let's talk about The Ur-Dragon, the deck it plays, and how to slay the dragons.

    First, let's examine The Ur-Dragon. The eminence effect is the first thing to note, available to the player at all times, even with the commander in the command zone. "Eminence — As long as The Ur-Dragon is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Dragon spells you cast cost less to cast." This ability, though subtle, is significant, allowing all your dragons to come out a turn sooner. "Whenever one or more Dragons you control attack, draw that many cards, then you may put a permanent card from your hand onto the battlefield." This ability acts as a great finisher, enabling the dragon player to reload and put higher CMC dragons onto the battlefield without casting, bypassing counter magic. Additionally, The Ur-Dragon is a 10/10 flying commander, which can easily become a one-shot commander with a small buff and double strike.

The Deck

    The deck itself is an onslaught of strong flying dragons and all the typal synergies therein. The deck aims to run a comprehensive list of ramp cards to reach higher mana values and play out dragons as soon as possible. Given the depth of the dragon tribe, the dragons played are based on personal preference. Dragons like Dragonlord Dromoka allow for life gain and prevent instant-speed interaction. Atarka, World Render enables all dragons to attack with double strike, while Utvara Hellkite and Lathliss, the Dragon Queen efficiently build up a dragon army for a lethal swing.

Strengths

    The Ur-Dragon decks boast four strong characteristics. Firstly, evasion is a significant advantage, with dragons being both big and evasive, making them challenging to deal with. Dragons, unlike many other flyers in Magic, don't compromise size for evasion. Dragons are powerful creatures, limiting the number of hits opponents can take. Beyond combat damage, dragons excel at non-combat damage with cards like Terror of the Peaks and Scourge of Valkas. Finally, being a typal deck, The Ur-Dragon can leverage all the typal synergies available.

Weaknesses

    The Ur-Dragon, like many commander decks of this caliber, attracts attention from the start of the game, making it easy for opponents to find allies. A weakness of this deck is its slow build, taking multiple turns at the beginning of the game to ramp up into dragons. Since the deck focuses on casting dragons, it usually lacks answers for combo decks, allowing opponents to combo off before the dragons hit the battlefield.

Slaying the Dragons

    Beating the deck requires a departure from typical commander strategies. While The Ur-Dragon deck is ramping up and seemingly "not doing anything," players should attack aggressively. If there's a free attacker, take advantage of it. If the dragon player casts a Gilded Lotus, destroy it. The goal is to get the dragon player to be one combat step away from death, forcing them to keep up blockers. Destroy anything that grants haste, as dragons with haste can end the game unexpectedly. As the dragons come in and can't attack, attract the attention of the rest of the table for assistance in dragon removal. If the opportunity arises to eliminate the dragon player entirely, take it, as the longer the game goes on, the more it benefits the dragon player due to the higher average mana value of their cards.

Kryptonite

    Ironically, the silver bullet against The Ur-Dragon is also found in the deck: Crux of Fate. Crux of Fate is a board wipe with two modes — destroy all dragon creatures or destroy all non-dragon creatures. For five mana, you can wipe away all those dragons. Another silver bullet card, though potentially more challenging to include in a deck, is Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, which allows you to steal all of your opponents' dragons with one spell.

    There you have it! If you have a commander you'd like to see featured on Commander Kryptonite or on our podcast, "The Thought Vessel," send us an email at thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com. Happy Dragon Hunting!