The Best MTG Dragons - Blue Monkey Gaming

Dragons are one of the coolest and most iconic creatures in all of fantasy. MTG dragons are no different. Magic has had dragons all across its history and in many different colors.

The best dragons in magic are:

The Ur-Dragon, Prossh
Skyraider of Kher
Atarka, World Render
The Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Steel Hellkite
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Lathliss, Dragon Queen
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Utvara Hellkite
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

Elder dragons are so iconic that they even spawned a new format, Elder Dragon Highlander. See the details below that further explore these super-powerful dragons.

What Do Dragons Do in Magic?

Dragons in magic can do so many different things. Everything from give you extra mana like Savage Ventmaw, to having crazy death triggers like Kokusho, the Evening Star. Dragons are included in nearly every popular kind of archetype. In general though, dragons are big, have flying, and can be devastating to a game.

What Set Has the Most Dragons?

The set in that has the most dragons is no surprise, Dragons of Tarkir. Dragons of Tarkir was a set that has twice as many dragons in it than any set prior. These dragons were in every color and brought back the creature type of elder dragons. In this set there were 5 elder dragons.

Which Boosters Have Dragons?

Most boosters have dragons. Some of the earlier sets don’t have dragons, but dragons are such a staple of the game that they are in nearly every set of magic. Some of the sets that don’t have dragons are: Arabian nights, Antiquities, The Dark, Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances, Stronghold, Urza’s Legacy, Nemesis, Prophecy, Apocalypse and Torment.

Where Do Elder Dragons Get Their Names?

While this game has plenty of dragons, there really aren’t that many MTG elder dragons. “Elder Dragon” is the creature type for the very popular dragon in the set Legends. Due to the popularity of these dragons, the creature sub type of “elder” was eventually brought back and used in Dragons of Tarkir. Dragons of Tarkir portrays these elder dragons as the lords of their clan of dragons in a constant power struggle over the lands of Tarkir.

Due to the popularity of the initial Elder Dragons released in the Legends set, the format Elder Dragon Highlander was created. The name comes from the uniqueness of each Elder Dragon and the movie Highlander.

While this might seems random it is due to the fact that many people would pick an elder dragon as their commander and the rule of “there can be only one” copy of each card in the deck. “There can be only one,” is a quote from the movie Highlander, hence the inclusion of it in the name of this format.

What Are the Best Legendary Dragons?

The best legendary dragons in Magic: the Gathering, are judged based on their effects and how “game breaking” they can be. Many of these are devastating and can make for some of the most fun games of Magic: the Gathering you can have. The top five legendary dragons are listed below.

5. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius

Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius is such a strong legendary dragon. He is a strong dragon on his own and provides a unique level of synergy in the decks that he is in. Niv-Mizzet lets you draw cards and deal damage to creatures.

The best part is, because his activated ability costs so little, using it is a great way to use up any extra mana you might have. This process also lets you take out some small creatures or just deal a few points of extra damage. If a deck can support Niv-Mizzet’s complicated mana cost, you can be sure to see Niv-Mizzet in that deck.

4. Atarka, World Render

Atarka, World Render is a fantastic commander for a dragon tribal deck. Truth be told, Atarka was the commander of my first commander deck. It is also a great card in a dragon tribal deck with a different commander.

Most dragons are very powerful and have a very high power. Atarka gives all dragons you control double strike when they attack. Below is the definition of double strike. As you can see, a lot of damage can be done when your dragons attack.

The combat phase has five steps, which proceed in order: beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, and end of combat. The declare blockers and combat damage steps are skipped if no creatures are declared as attackers or put onto the battlefield attacking (see rule 508.8). There are two combat damage steps if any attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4).
Magic: The Gathering rule 506.1 Combat Phase

3. Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher is a very popular and very strong dragon in mtg. This dragon really shines the brightest as a commander. When Prossh is cast, you create 0/1 Kobold Tokens equal to the amount of mana spent to cast Prossh. That means that you would make more and more each time he has been removed, due to you paying for commander tax. It’s Prossh’s second ability that makes him the most dangerous.

Prossh can get buffed up to have such a high power that a player can be killed by him with commander damage in one hit. There are also multiple ways to build a Prossh deck to help him go infinite and help promote the kill with commander damage. Two cards that cause this are Food Chain and Xenagos, God of Revels. Prossh is a very powerful commander and thusly, very powerful dragon.

2. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is a very powerful dragon due to his keywords. Infect, Flying, and haste (if you activate his ability) can be a deadly combination. Skithiryx makes for a very powerful commander, especially if you build the deck to be an equipment-based deck.

The goal with Skithiryx, is to kill your opponents with infect. For more information on infect, see this article entitled, How Does MTG Infect Work?. This article will help illuminate how powerful of a dragon Skithiryx is.

1. The Ur-Dragon

The Ur-dragon is the be all end all best dragon in commander. The Ur-Dragon makes your dragons cheaper to cast and lets you play every single other dragon in this article. On top of all that, if you cast this 10/10 behemoth of a dragon and deal damage with a dragon, you get to play a dragon for free.

What Was the First Dragon Made in MTG?

The first dragon that was made in MTG was Shivan Dragon in Alpha. This is the first set of Magic the Gathering ever printed. Shivan dragon has been reprinted so many times and is so iconic that it is printed in the beginner promotion material that most game stores give out for free.

Shivan Dragon was such a sought-after card back in Alpha due to this dragon being so big and hard to deal with. It was one of the biggest creatures back then and everyone had to have one if they wanted to play a red deck. If you successfully cast and attacked with Shivan Dragon, the odds were much higher that you would win the game.

What are the best dragons in different colors?

White

Yosei, the Morning Star is one of the best white dragons. This dragon fits in perfectly with a deck that focuses around sacrificing creatures and bringing them back. Yosei has a powerful ability to lock down an opponent from being to untap. This causes this dragon to be a big threat in the air that your opponent doesn’t want to kill.

Blue

Iymrith, Desert Doom is a very unique and very strong blue commander. Iymrith has the ability to be a threat in the air and help you draw more cards when it causes combat damage. The ideal deck for this dragon would be lots of low cost cards that replace themselves after being cast and counter magic. That way you can draw a bunch of cards and you control the table while playing a really cool dragon.

Black

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is the best black dragon there is. As discussed previously in this article, this dragon is incredibly powerful due to its keywords. Having the ability to use some equipment and dealing infect damage to an opponent to kill them all on the same turn he comes out makes him very powerful.

Red

Utvara Hellkite is an incredibly powerful dragon. This dragon helps put out dragon tokens whenever a dragon attacks. Subsequently, this card is at it’s strongest in a dragon tribal deck. While this card is at it’s strongest in a dragon tribal deck, it also preforms well in a non tribal red deck. Red has so many great options for the best commander card but this card takes the cake in my book. Once this card starts going it will be hard to stop.

Green

Old Gnawbone provides a very unique experience for green. This dragon lets you create treasure tokens equal to the combat damage that is dealt by your creatures. That means that any of those small green creatures that have abilities when they deal damage, will now be making treasure tokens as well. While green is no stranger to mana ramp, the color usually isn’t associated with artifact-based decks. A green artifact ramp strategy can be a very powerful experience.

Multicolored

As discussed earlier in this article, The Ur-Dragon is the best dragon. This dragon is definitely the one I want for my commander for a dragon tribal deck. Discount dragons, large creatures, insane draw power, and a free dragon, make The Ur-Dragon the strongest multicolored dragon.

Colorless

Steel Hellkite is one of the oldest and one of the best staples to a deck. This card is so powerful that it can be included in non dragon centric decks. Steel Hellkite is great because after dealing damage with it, you can activate his ability for a selective board wipe.

One of my favorites is to activate his ability for “0” to destroy all tokens. Of course, you can pick other values based on how much open mana you have, but the versatility of being able to destroy tokens at will puts this card at the top of the list of colorless dragons.

What Are the Best Dragons For EDH?

There are so many great dragons and elder dragons in Magic’s history to use in EDH. I have complied a list of some of the most popular commanders and dragons to include in commander decks below. This is the list of some of the best and most popular and strongest dragons to use for EDH:

End Step

Dragons are in the majority of our favorite magic sets and will continue to be printed in future ones. I look forward to seeing how some of our favorite dragons will be used in EDH as well as other formats.