Play the best dragon Commanders in MTG, and you’ll overrun your friends with a horde of flying lizards.
Want the best dragon Commanders in MTG but don’t know where to start? The world of dragons in Magic: The Gathering is vast and full of high mana value cards with a massive impact when they enter play. Most dragons cost a lot and do a lot, and it makes it an entertaining kindred group to run, especially if you like mucking around with all of the colors in Magic.
There are many Commander options to choose from with these majestic beasts, and they’re not all created equal. While a lot of which card you’ll end up playing will be based on how you like to play, there’s definitely a power difference between some of the titans in this field.
Best Dragon Commanders in MTG
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We’ve ranked what we believe to be the eight best dragon Commanders here. Of course, with Tarkir: Dragonstorm on the horizon, we’re hoping we can add a few more choices to this list, but ahead of that very exciting set, these are our picks for the best dragon Commanders in MTG for now.
#8 Tiamat
Tiamat
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Mythic
Tiamat is a seven-mana 7/7 with flying that’s every color. When it enters, you can put five dragon cards that aren’t called Tiamat (and all with different names) into your hand. This is a perfect fit for Commander, and while incredibly strong, it doesn’t innately buff your dragons or make them easier to cast. We do adore the Dungeons & Dragons artwork, though.
#7 Sivitri, Dragon Master
Sivitri, Dragon Master
Commander: Dominaria United, Mythic
Sivitri, Dragon Master is a four-mana blue and black planeswalker that can be your commander and comes in with four loyalty. You can gain one loyalty to make opponents pay two life whenever a creature of theirs attacks, you can pay three loyalty to draw a specific dragon from your deck, or you can pay seven to destroy all non-dragon creatures. It’s an interesting and more controlling approach to dragons that fits players who want to mix in Counterspell with their big flying lizards.
#6 Firkraag, Cunning Instigator
Firkraag, Cunning Instigator
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, Mythic
Firkraag, Cunning Instigator is a bit different as far as dragon Commanders go because while it’s still all about dragons, it’s also about mucking around with the game in general. This five-mana blue and red 3/3 has flying and haste, and it makes it so that whenever your dragons hit someone, you get to goad a creature they control. It’s a fun change of pace that has dragons as the political geniuses they’re often portrayed as (such as Niv-Mizzet, Visionary).
#5 Rith, Liberated Primeval
Rith, Liberated Primeval
Dominaria United, Mythic
Rith, Liberated Primeval is a five-mana red, green, and white 5/5 with flying and ward 2, who also gives your other dragons ward 2. Also, if you deal excess damage to a creature or planeswalker an opponent controls, you create a 4/4 dragon token with flying. Combining all of this to keep your dragons alive and constantly spit out new ones, where these are quite the combination of effects on a Magic card.
#4 Sarkhan, Soul Aflame
Sarkhan, Soul Aflame
Commander: Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Sarkhan, Soul Aflame is a three-mana blue and red 2/4 that discounts any dragon spell you’d like to cast. It also becomes a copy of the first dragon that enters the battlefield under your control for a turn, except it keeps its original name, which means you basically get to have two of the same dragon in play. If you combine this with heavy hitters like Scourge of Valkas, you can quickly take over a game, and three-mana is a very affordable rate in Commander, too.
#3 The Ur-Dragon
The Ur-Dragon
Commander Masters, Mythic
The Ur-Dragon is a nine-mana 10/10 with flying and is every color. It has an Eminence ability that discounts the cost of dragon spells as long as it’s in the command zone or on the battlefield. And when you attack with a dragon, you draw a card and put a permanent card from your hand into play. This scales up (pun intended) when you attack with more dragons. While powerful, that’s a lot of mana, but hey, it’s also a lot of fun.
#2 Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm
Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, Rare
Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm is a six-mana green, blue, and red 6/6 with flying and ward 2. It literally makes a copy of any nontoken dragon you control as it enters the battlefield and can turn the card into a non-legendary one. Doubling every dragon you cast is absurdly strong and can lead to incredibly board states very quickly.
#1 Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Commander 2017, Rare
Scion of the Ur-Dragon is an intensely potent card and the best dragon Commander in MTG. This five-mana 4/4 with flying is every color and allows you to pay mana to “Search your library for a Dragon permanent card and put it into your graveyard. If you do, Scion of the Ur-Dragon becomes a copy of that card until end of turn. Then shuffle.” Basically, you can turn it into any dragon in your deck and put that card in your graveyard. You can also do this multiple times in a turn to turn Scion of the Ur-Dragon into different creatures to kill an opponent in one hit if you want to. Also, it pairs pretty well with a mass-recursion effect such as Rise of the Dark Realms.