The Commander
Flying
Whenever Dragonhawk enters or attacks, exile the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of creatures you control with power 4 or greater. You may play those cards until your next end step. At the beginning of your next end step, Dragonhawk deals 2 damage to each opponent for each of those cards that are still exiled.
Guide
Gameplan
Flood the board with big-power creatures (4+ power) so Dragonhawk's attack trigger exiles a fat chunk of your library each combat, giving you explosive card advantage. You play what you can off the top, then any cards left exiled at end step burn each opponent for 2 apiece, so wide boards of beaters double as a recurring direct-damage engine. Win by attacking with a stompy dragon/big-creature team while the impulse-burn chips opponents out.
Strengths
- Massive recurring card advantage that's rare in mono-red, refilling your hand every combat
- Doubles as a burn engine—unplayed exiled cards punish all opponents simultaneously
- Cheap five-mana flier that demands removal yet provides value the turn it enters
- Synergizes naturally with the big-creature aggro shells mono-red already wants to build
Weaknesses
- Trigger does nothing if you control no creatures with power 4+, so a stalled board cripples it
- Mono-red lacks ramp and recursion, so losing Dragonhawk repeatedly to removal taxes you
- Impulse draw can strand uncastable cards and burn value depends on not playing them—awkward tension
- Vulnerable to board wipes that erase your power-4 creatures and your attack potential at once
Key Cards
- Terror of the Peaks — Each impulse-drawn creature you cast deals extra damage, stacking another burn layer on top of Dragonhawk's.
- Birgi, God of Storytelling — Refunds mana as you dump the impulsed cards, letting you actually cast the wide pile you exile.
- Goldspan Dragon — A power-4 flier that ramps you to cast the cards Dragonhawk exiles each turn.
- Combat Celebrant — Extra combat phases mean a second attack trigger and a second wave of exile-and-burn.
- Reckless Fireweaver — Pings opponents whenever your impulsed artifacts/creatures enter, amplifying the damage plan.
- Bonders' Enclave — Card draw insurance for when you control a power-4 creature but want guaranteed gas.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana like Mana Crypt, Jeska's Will, and Treasure makers (Goldspan Dragon, Dockside Extortionist) so you can actually cast everything you impulse and keep the burn count high. Tighten the curve toward efficient power-4 threats with haste and prioritize extra-combat enablers (Aggravated Assault, Combat Celebrant) to multiply triggers. Finally, run protection like Heroic Intervention and recursion such as Feldon of the Third Path to keep your creature count online through wipes.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Swinging with a wide team of large fliers and beaters for lethal combat damage
- ▸Repeated end-step burn from large exiled-card counts whittling all opponents down
- ▸Extra-combat loops generating multiple Dragonhawk triggers and damage bursts
- ▸Terror of the Peaks / Fireweaver-style triggers converting impulsed creatures into a damage avalanche
Archetypes
- Big-Creature Aggro (Stompy) — Power 4+ creatures both grow the impulse count and serve as the attacking beatdown squad.
- Impulse Draw / Spellslinger value — The exile-and-play mechanic rewards a deck built to cast cards fast off the top of the library.
- Burn / Direct Damage — Unplayed exiled cards deal 2 each to every opponent, turning card advantage into reach and a kill clock.
- Dragon Tribal — Dragons are naturally power 4+ fliers, fueling the trigger while presenting an evasive board.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
