The Commander
Whenever one or more creatures you control that entered this turn deal combat damage to a player, create a 5/5 red Dragon Spirit creature token with flying.
: Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Drop big creatures with haste, swing for combat damage, and turn each hit into a free 5/5 flying Dragon, snowballing a board that closes games fast. The haste ability means anything you cast or reanimate can attack immediately and trigger the Dragon engine. You want to flood the board with creatures that entered this turn—via cast, blink, reanimation, or tokens—and connect for damage.
Strengths
- Generates flying 5/5 Dragons every combat for free, snowballing board presence
- Built-in haste enabler lets fresh creatures and reanimation targets attack and trigger immediately
- Grixis colors give access to the best removal, tutors, and reanimation in the format
- Three mana value commander that comes down early and gets going fast
Weaknesses
- Needs creatures to connect, so board wipes and Fog effects set you back hard
- The Dragon trigger depends on damage, so good blockers and pillow-fort decks slow you
- Commander is fragile and a removal magnet; without it the engine stalls
- No inherent card advantage or ramp—the shell must supply both
Key Cards
- Reanimate — Cheaply returns a huge creature that, thanks to Goro-Goro's haste, swings and spawns a Dragon the same turn.
- Etali, Primal Conqueror — A fresh attacker that generates explosive value and triggers a Dragon when it connects.
- Conduit of Worlds — Lets you recast creatures and lands from your graveyard, keeping fresh attackers flowing each turn.
- Combat Celebrant — Grants an extra combat step so your entered-this-turn creatures hit twice for double Dragon triggers.
- Goldspan Dragon — Ramps and rewards attacking, fitting the aggressive haste plan while threatening lethal in the air.
- Aggravated Assault — Repeatable extra combats stack Dragon triggers and can go infinite with the right mana engine.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus) and ramp to deploy big threats ahead of curve, plus tutors like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor to find your combat-step enablers. Lean into extra-combat pieces (Aggravated Assault, Combat Celebrant, Moraug) and cheap reanimation (Reanimate, Animate Dead, Persist) to weaponize haste. Round out with efficient interaction—Swords to Plowshares isn't legal, so run Deflecting Swat, Fierce Guardianship, and counterspells to protect your commander and combats.
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
- ▸Swarming with an ever-growing army of 5/5 flying Dragons
- ▸Reanimated or cast haste threats delivering huge one-shot commander damage
- ▸Extra-combat loops with Aggravated Assault for lethal Dragon swings
- ▸Going wide and alpha striking through haste-enabled creatures
Archetypes
- Aggro/Midrange Beatdown — Haste plus free 5/5 fliers lets you pressure all opponents and overwhelm them with bodies.
- Reanimator — Black recursion drops fatties cheaply that the haste ability immediately weaponizes for Dragon value.
- Extra Combat Combo — Repeated combats multiply both Dragon tokens and damage, enabling explosive or infinite turns.
- Blink/Flicker — Flickering creatures makes them 'enter this turn' again, retriggering attacks and Dragon generation.
Combos
- Goro-Goro and Satoru + Breath of Fury
→ Infinite combat damage, Infinite combat phases, Infinite death triggers
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BRU), by popularity.
