Budget Dragon Cards That Actually Win Games in Commander

Dragon tribal gets expensive fast. The Ur-Dragon, Old Gnawbone, Goldspan Dragon, Ancient Copper Dragon. The marquee dragons all cost real money. But the thing people forget is that a 5/5 flyer for six mana doesn't need to cost $30 to close out a game. Some of the cheapest dragons in Magic hit just as hard.

Everything here is under $3.

The ones that end games on contact

Drakuseth, Maw of Flames is eighty-two cents and one of the scariest things you can swing with in commander. Whenever it attacks, it deals 4 damage to any target and 3 damage to each of up to two other targets. That's 7 damage split across the board before combat damage even happens. On a 7/11 flyer. For

this thing shouldn't be under a dollar.

Atarka, World Render gives all your attacking dragons double strike. Thirty cents. In a deck with three or four other dragons on board, this is often lethal the turn it swings. People see it coming and still can't do much about it because you're hitting for 20+ in the air.

Scourge of the Throne gets you an extra combat step if you attack the player with the most life. Thirty-five cents for what's basically an Aggravated Assault on a dragon body.

Board control

Steel Hellkite is an artifact creature so it goes in any deck regardless of color identity. It flies over, deals combat damage, then you pay X mana to destroy all nonland permanents with that mana value your opponents control. It's targeted removal disguised as a beater. Hits tokens for free (X=0). Thirty-two cents.

Junji, the Midnight Sky dies and makes each opponent discard two cards and lose 2 life, or you reanimate something from any graveyard. The death trigger means people don't want to kill it and they don't want to leave it alive. Forty-two cents for a card that's annoying no matter what your opponents do with it.

Value engines

Lathliss, Dragon Queen makes a 5/5 dragon token whenever another nontoken dragon enters under your control. Fifty cents. In a dragon tribal deck this doubles your board presence for free. Each dragon you cast after Lathliss is effectively two dragons.

Savage Ventmaw adds

whenever it attacks. Six mana back on a 4/4 flyer. That's enough to cast another dragon post-combat or hold up removal. Fifty-two cents to go mana-positive every time you swing.

Atsushi, the Blazing Sky exiles the top two cards of your library on death and lets you play them until end of your next turn, or it makes three treasure tokens. Either mode is good. Sixty-five cents.

Sunscorch Regent gains you 1 life and gets a +1/+1 counter every time an opponent casts a spell. In a four-player game this thing grows fast and the incidental life gain adds up. Fifty cents for a dragon that scales with the table.

The cheap commander options

If you're building dragon tribal on a budget, Lathliss, Dragon Queen as your commander is hard to beat. Mono-red keeps the mana base cheap and she turns every dragon into two bodies. Drakuseth, Maw of Flames is another solid mono-red option if you want to go voltron.

Atarka, World Render opens up Gruul colors for ramp, which dragons desperately need given their mana costs. Double strike on all your dragons is a strong enough payoff to build around.

The expensive dragons get the hype but these cheap ones do the actual work in most games. A Lathliss, Dragon Queen making token copies of your board is scarier than any single $30 mythic.

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