Decent ramp, decent card draw (for mono red,) hopefully, a consistent output. For players who want a quality Dragon Tribal without having to dump the money on a certain 5 color commander and its respective mana base. This deck clocks in at under half of what an average The Ur-Dragon or Scion of the Ur-Dragon would cost while (hopefully) being able to compete with decks that are double our budget. Please feel free to tell me what you think and if there is anything you think may work better.

This deck has an artifact sub-theme and is primarily focused on turning big scary dragons sideways but the deck's peak performance is with "machine gun" effects that blow up our opponents or their creatures with cards like Terror of the Peaks, Scourge of Valkas, or Dragon Tempest. On good games, we can expect to deal well over 100 damage by turn 8 with these cards.

Let's talk about the game plan! :)

We primarily want to see some draw (1) or ramp (2) in our opening hand.

1) Our goal is to play dragon cards at a consistent output. Cards like Vanquisher's Banner, or Slate of Ancestry are cards that give us opportunities to continue the dragon onslaught after our hands have been drained. Although something like Knollspine Dragon, while likely our best source of card draw, is not something we want to see in our opening hands for hopefully obvious reasons. Lathliss will likely be our first dragon that we play (with the exception of maybe Goldspan Dragon or Leyline Tyrant) so ramp cards are of higher value than mid-game draw engines.

2) Ruby Medallion is probably the best card we want to see in our opening hands when it comes to ramp; Dragon's Hoard being a very close third most valuable card but the most valuable opening hand card for us is Sol Ring. Gilded Lotus is something we may not want to see in our opening hand but are our best form of mana ramp. Our game plan for ramp is whatever gets us to cast Lathliss the fastest as she is a lot of the value that comes with the deck. We typically want Lathliss to be the first dragon we play.

As listed above: big dragons turning sideways (1) or "machine gun" effects like Scourge of Valkas, and Terror of the Peaks (2).

1) Archwing Dragon may be our best midrange value card as it is effectively 9 power each turn with our commander and is fairly difficult to deal with while having a consistent synergy with Sunbird's Invocation late game. Hellkite Tyrant is highly valuable especially having it as an alternate win condition. Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge, Hellkite Tyrant and to some extent Opportunistic Dragon really like artifacts as well which is why its a sub-theme. Dragons you most likely want to tutor off of Sarkhan's Triumph are Skyline Despot, Knollspine Dragon, or Utvara Hellkite as they either win us the game with board state effects or draw us a lot of cards. If you have Sarkhan's Triumph in your opening hand or just in the early game your best target is Leyline Tyrant although it's more advisable to save it for a larger target later in the game like Knollspine Dragon. When using Sarkhan's Triumph in this way you can plan to play very little on the turn after you play Leyline Tyrant to float 5 or so mana for a chance to play Lathliss, Dragon Queen and another dragon at the same time on the next turn.

2) Peak performance of this deck is through oppressive control options and large bursts of damage. We can often steal wins by targeting players with massive Dragon Tempest triggers. Lathliss practically acts as a Panharmonicon with these triggers by giving us a second dragon token with each non-token dragon we have ETB.

Our main goal is to supply quality targets for Lathliss triggers so we run as few support creatures as possible. Dragonlord's Servant, and Dragonspeaker Shaman are really consistent forms of ramp.

Panharmonicon is probably our best artifact. We have so many really powerful ETB effects beyond just our commander and we can run away with a game while this is on the field. Dragon's Hoard is one of our best ramp and card draw artifacts. Cursed Mirror is a new favorite as early game it functions effectively as a Commander's Sphere while late game potentially giving us a second valuable ETB trigger like Knollspine Dragon while also triggering Lathliss. Expedition Map helps us tutor for our Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Ancient Tomb or even Inventors' Fair if we decide we want to tutor for another artifact. Slate of Ancestry is our best form of card draw though it does not help us persist through board wipes. Because of this, it should be used with caution as it may be too late before we get a chance to activate it properly. Hazoret's Monument should not be underestimated not just because of its cost-reducing effect but because of its hand filtering ability.

Sunbird's Invocation doesn't really count as draw but it gets us to play cards in our deck for free. Dragon Tempest is our best value enchantment as it gives our dragons haste and is an incredible machine gun enchantment for blowing up creatures or players with Lathliss, Dragon Queen. We get 2 Dragon Tempest triggers when we play a dragon while Lathliss is on the field. One for the original dragon and another one for the token that enters because of it.

Sarkhan, Fireblood, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance are either ramp, pseudo card draw, or both.

One of the many values in playing a mono-colored deck is that our lands can provide a greater range of utility beyond tapping for mana. Potentially tapping up to 4 lands to just draw a single card is better than just drawing one card and having that card be a land.

Being in only one color also allows us to run cards that may only tap for colorless mana. Our best early game targets from Expedition Map are Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Ancient Tomb but late game we can tutor for either Haven of the Spirit Dragon or Inventors' Fair in order to get another high-value card into our hand. Inventors' Fair helps us tutor draw pieces, ramp, or cost reducers. Homeward Path is specifically for decks that run Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund just to make sure we don't auto lose everytime another dragon deck gets to play him.

These synergies can either get you a decent board state of dragons with Lathliss or require a decent board state with Lathliss

Archwing Dragon + Sunbird's Invocation = Reoccurring Sunbird's trigger every turn.

Archwing Dragon + Vanquisher's Banner = Drawing an additional card each turn while providing another 5/5 token while Lathliss is on the field.

Panharmonicon + Terror of the Peaks = Lathliss trigger for 20 damage.

Terror of the Peaks + Cursed Mirror = Another Lathliss trigger for 20 damage.

Opportunistic Dragon + Cursed Mirror = A slightly more defendable way to take a human/artifact away from an opponent.

Ganax, Astral Hunter + Mana Echoes + Panharmonicon or Goldspan Dragon = What should be enough juice to perpetually push out dragons infinitely so long as we have Lathliss out and dragons to play.

Wrathful Red Dragon + Blasphemous Act = Shoot yourself in the foot to shoot an opponent in the face :)

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Date added 4 years
Last updated 11 months
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

17 - 0 Mythic Rares

36 - 0 Rares

14 - 0 Uncommons

5 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.70
Tokens Dinosaur 3/1 R, Dragon 2/2 R, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Dragon Egg 0/2 R, Dragon Illusion */* R, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, The Monarch, Treasure
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