This deck will surprise you... and your opponents

Look, it may seem innocuous enough, but [[The Ur-Dragon]] not only works well as a commander, but does work. Nine mana is nothing to scoff at, but having what is essentially an emblem in the command zone is a pretty broken effect (see [[Edgar Markov]] if you need clarification). It is very easy to mis-judge the Ur-Dragon as being too expensive to cast and limited to a janky tribal deck. And in a lot of cases, especially out of the box, you'd be right. But built properly, an Ur-Dragon-lead deck can have a lot of versatility and survivability, and can pack a surprising punch.

The Force Multiplier Effect

In one of my recent posts I talked about taking a look at how your commander relates to your deck, and understanding the implications of that for deck building and piloting. In my opinion, the Ur-Dragon works best as a "force multiplier" commander; It suggests a strategy, but we don't need it on the board to win the game. We can use the eminence ability as a great cost reduction for a really expensive tribe, and use its on-board ability to occasionally shift the power dynamic of the board and refill our hand if we're running low. So on or off the board, the Ur-Dragon is providing consistent value, and because it can be seen as such a big threat, we're happy to let it eat some removal for us to let our other dragons fly under the radar.

Take Risks, Make Mistakes, Get Messy

One of the criticisms of EDH players on the whole is that they are afraid to attack in the early game, instead preferring to wait till they have an insurmountable army, then 1A'ing into their opponents for the K-O. You don't need to (and shouldn't be) doing that here. The advantage of this deck is that there are a diverse set of dragons with potent abilities, either strong ETB effects, attacking effects, or just general value. Dragons like to be swinging, so don't be afraid to punch out, and with built-in evasion, it will be hard for your opponents to respond in the early game.

Some key Dragons we want swinging:

• [[Atarka, World Renderer]] - Dragon double-strike, 'nuff said
• [[Dromoka, The Eternal]] - Bolster your board every time you attack
• [[Savage Ventmaw]] - Free mana for attacking
• [[Utvara Hellkite]] - More dragons please

Dragonball Z

This is a deck with options, but one of the main ways to win is to build a big bad ball of dragons and swing face. This deck runs a few different ways to lower costs, ramp mana, or otherwise cheat dragons from your hand/library onto the battlefield. Cards like [[Descendant's Path]] and [[Dragon Arch]] allow us to put big fliers onto the battlefield. We run a number of card draw effects and ramp spells to make sure our hand is full and we have mana to cast whatever we need.

What typically happens is you get two or three dragons on the board that synergize well, and it quickly becomes difficult for your opponents to deal with. Dragons like [[Lathliss]] and [[Scourge of Valkas]] become potent very quickly, and your board state starts to spiral out of control. If you don't win the game immediately here, you'll likely be the target of a board wipe, and all that hard work will have been for not...

I'll Be Back

It is inevitable your big scary dragons to be hated right off the board. It is your job as the deck pilot to put on your best "woe is me" face when this happens, so that way your opponents won't see whats coming next. Remember what I said about this deck surprising people? I would like to introduce you to my two best friends, [[Living Death]] and [[Primeval's Glorious Rebirth]]. Nothing feels better than resurrecting 7-10 giant dragons onto the battlefield at once. And if you're lucky to have [[Lathliss]] and [[Scourge of Valkas]] in the yard when you do so, it is very likely that you'll win the game outright on Valkas triggers alone. [[Living Death]] is particularly potent, since it literally inverts the board state for everyone. Short of those, we also have dragon-based recursion like [[Teneb]] and [[Bladewing the Risen]]. Oh and [[Eternal Witness]] because why not.

Don't Forget To Eat Your Vegetables!

It is important we don't forget the basics of EDH deckbuilding, draw/ramp/removal/wipe/protection. 5 colors gets us access to the best of these, but because we're 5 colors and with expensive dragons to cast, we lean heavily into the ramp category.

A note on the land base: yes it is expensive, and yes this deck needs it. You don't need OG duals, but a full suite of shocks and fetches are basically required for this deck to have any chance of functioning. We also run generic fixing like [[chromatic lantern]] and [[prismatic omen]] to make sure we're rarely hurting for a color. [[Crucible of Worlds]] allows us to re-play fetches in case we get stuck. I will also likely be slotting in [[smothering tithe]] shortly, as it should give us heaps of colored mana.

Final notes

• This deck could likely be headed by [[Scion of the Ur-Dragon]] or [[Ramos]] and work just as well. My main caution there is that both of those rely on the commander being on the board more. Scion also telegraphs your strategy to your opponents, and they will likely be expecting some degenerate Scion combo.
• You can turn [[Toxic Deluge]] + [[Teferi's protection]] into a nice 6CMC one-sided wipe. Cast toxic deluge, then respond to it with Teferi's. Teferi's resolves first, so all your stuff phases out, followed by toxic wiping the board. This can be done with other wipes too, but this is likely the cheapest option.
• [[Kindred Discovery]] can be both a blessing and a curse. There have been a few times where I've almost milled myself out because of it. Be mindful of how [[Lathliss]] and/or [[Utvara]] interact with it.
• [[Demonic]] and [[Vampiric]] are there primarily to fetch your graveyard recursion tech, so don't be too itchy to cast them to get some random Dragon.
• You can use [[Scion of the Ur-Dragon]] to prep your graveyard for a big recursion. Remember that you can stack scion's ability multiple times, but they have do be done at once. Best to make sure that scion ends its shapeshifting as [[Dragonlord Dromoka]] so you can then cast a mass recursion without fear of interference/counter-spells.
• Many of the dragon choices are left to you, but I have gotten good traction with the ones in my list. Feel free to tinker/tweak as you see fit.