The Commander
Flying, hexproof
Whenever a Dragon you control attacks, creatures defending player controls get -1/-1 until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Silumgar is a flying, hexproof beatdown commander that turns your Dragon assaults into mass debuffs, shrinking blockers and sweeping small creatures off the board each time you attack. You ramp into a critical mass of Dragons by turn 5-6, then chip in with evasion while Silumgar's trigger wipes opposing tokens and weenies, protecting your air force and clearing a path. The deck wins by overwhelming defenders with repeated flying damage and stacked -1/-1 effects.
Strengths
- Hexproof makes Silumgar extremely hard to remove via targeted spot removal
- -1/-1 trigger acts as a repeatable, attack-fueled board wipe against tokens and aggro
- Strong evasion in the air with a tribal Dragon shell that hits hard and fast
- UB gives access to elite card draw, removal, and reanimation to rebuild
Weaknesses
- Trigger only fires when a Dragon attacks, so a clean board sweep can stall you
- Dragons are mana-hungry and the deck is slow without strong ramp
- Vulnerable to board wipes, edicts, and 'destroy all creatures' effects that ignore hexproof
- No built-in card advantage from the commander itself; can run out of gas
Key Cards
- Dragon Tempest — Adds haste and turns each Dragon entering into burn, accelerating your evasive clock.
- Crux of Fate — A flexible board wipe that can spare your Dragons while clearing opposing threats.
- Dragonlord Silumgar — A second Silumgar that steals a creature or planeswalker and stacks with the tribal plan.
- Scourge of Valkas — Converts your Dragon count into massive direct damage on attack, a real finisher.
- Cavern of Souls — Ensures your key Dragons resolve through counterspells in a tribal build.
- Patriarch's Bidding — Mass reanimates your Dragons after a wipe for an explosive comeback.
Upgrade Path
Tighten the curve with premium ramp like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and treasure makers to deploy Dragons ahead of schedule, and add Cavern of Souls plus Urborg/Cabal Coffers for fixing and explosive mana. Lean into payoffs like Scourge of Valkas, Terror of the Peaks, and Dragon Tempest so each Dragon does more on entry, and include resilient recursion (Patriarch's Bidding, Living Death) to rebound from sweepers. For higher power, add fast interaction and a reliable two-card combo backup so you aren't solely reliant on combat.
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
- ▸Repeated evasive Dragon swings closing the game in the air
- ▸Scourge of Valkas or Dragon Tempest burning opponents out
- ▸Overwhelming the board after the -1/-1 trigger wipes their blockers
- ▸Drain/aristocrat payoffs converting attrition into life loss
Archetypes
- Dragon Tribal — Silumgar rewards attacking with multiple Dragons by sweeping defenders, anchoring a UB Dragon aggro shell.
- Aristocrats/Attrition — Repeated -1/-1 effects pair with sacrifice and drain payoffs to grind opponents out.
- Control — UB removal, counters, and the hexproof debuff commander let you stabilize and win in the air.
- Reanimator — Black recursion cheats expensive Dragons into play to rush the board state.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
