Few fantasy creatures are as iconic and recognizable as dragons. Like Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering is a game rooted in fantasy, meaning dragons have been a part of the game since the very beginning. While the iconic "Shivan Dragon" was viewed as incredibly powerful in its day, with the creeping rise of the power of each card, the quality of dragons in Magic has increased over time.
There are countless dragons of great strength in Magic, many of which are legendary, allowing them to potentially be used as the centerpiece of one's Commander deck. So today, we're going to examine the 15 strongest legendary dragons from across Magic's past!
Updated on January 28th, 2022 by Paul DiSalvo: As several new Magic: The Gathering sets are released every year, brand new powerful cards are added to the game's various formats with consistent frequency. As one of the most iconic creature types in all of Magic, new dragons are printed in nearly every set, with many ones including potent legendary dragons. Just this past year, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms added six brand-new legendary dragons to the game, with even more included in the set's tie-in preconstructed commander decks. So, we're going to see how many of these new legendary creatures compare to time-tested alternatives from Magic's history.
15 Galazeth Prismari
The founder of Prismari College of Strixhaven, Galazeth Prismari is a potent Izzet elder dragon capable of synergizing with artifacts, instants, and sorceries. A 3/4 with flying for four mana, upon entering the battlefield, Galazeth's controller creates a treasure token. While treasure tokens are normally sacrificed in order to produce one mana of any color, Galazeth allows the treasure it creates to provide repeated value. This is because Galazeth allows for each artifact under its owner's control to be tapped to produce one mana of any color. While this mana can only be used to cast instants and sorceries, this allows Galazeth to function as a solid option for a Cheerios commander, as zero-mana artifacts effectively function as free mana rocks as long as this dragon is around.
14 Dragonlord Dromoka
One of the pivotal Dragonlords from Dragons of Tarkir, Dragonlord Dromoka is a legendary Selesnya elder dragon for six mana.
While Dragonlord Dromoka doesn't have as flashy abilities as other dragons on this list, it is the epitome of a control player's nightmare. This is because, in addition to being uncounterable, Dromoka prevents opponents from casting spells during its owner's turn, allowing them to cast spells on their turn, completely uncontested!
13 Kokusho, The Evening Star
Kokusho, the Evening Star is a legendary mono-black dragon that debuted in Champions of Kamigawa. A 5/5 with flying for six mana, Kokusho has a particularly potent death trigger, causing each opponent to lose five life when it dies, then gaining that much life for its controller.
In multiplayer formats such as Commander, this ability can immediately turn the tides for its controller when paired with a correctly timed sacrifice outlet. This effect can be particularly dangerous when paired with creatures, such as Meren of Clan Nel Toth, that are capable of repeatedly returning creatures from the graveyard to play — the death trigger becomes repeatedly used.
12 Lathliss, Dragon Queen
A mono-red legendary dragon for six mana, Lathliss, Dragon Queen packs powerful dragon synergies and is a solid commander choice for those looking to build a mono-red dragon-tribal Commander deck. A 6/6 with flying, Lathliss causes every other dragon cast by its owner to provide a great deal of additional value: It creates a 5/5 flying dragon token whenever a non-token dragon enters the battlefield under its owners control.
While this ability is powerful in its own right, Lathliss can also buff one's dragons once they're satisfied with the size of their brood, allowing its controller to pay two mana to provide all dragons with +1/+0 until the end of the turn.
11 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Although it is not synergistic with other dragons like Lathliss, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King is a phenomenal option for players looking for a Commander for a Jund "Aristocrats" deck. A Jund 4/4 with flying for five mana, whenever Korvold enters the battlefield or attacks, its controller must sacrifice another permanent.
While an effect like this would usually be perceived as a drawback, it can have incredible results when paired with creatures such as the previously mentioned Kokusho, which totes powerful death triggers. This trait is made even stronger by Korvold's second ability, which states that whenever its controller sacrifices a permanent, they put a +1/+1 counter on Korvold and draw a card!
10 Arcades, The Strategist
Even if Acrades, The Strategist is a powerful tribal commander, it has virtually no dragon synergies. Instead, it serves best as the premium commander for wall-tribal decks.
Causing its controller to draw a card whenever they cast a creature with defender, Arcades turns one's defense into their offense. Seemingly inconsequential walls are made much more deadly by Arcades abilities that allow creatures with defender to attack. That's without mentioning its other ability that causes all of these creatures with defender to assign their combat damage with their toughness rather than their power.
9 Old Gnawbone
Old Gnawbone is a legendary mono-green dragon printed in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms — one that provides potentially massive amounts of mana ramp for its controller. A 7/7 with flying for seven mana, Old Gnawbone states that whenever a creature under its owner's control deals combat damage to a player, they create that many treasure tokens. This allows a player to directly convert the power of their strongest creatures into mana ramp, giving a player the ability to access absurd quantities of mana and having explosive, game-winning turns.
8 Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient
A legendary Gruul dragon, while Klauth, Unrival Ancient may seem similar to Old Gnawbone at first glance, able to convert creatures' power into mana, it's slightly more aggressive and consistent. A 4/4 with flying and haste for seven mana, it can reliably start attacking the turn it comes into play due to its haste. Most importantly, upon attacking, Klauth creates an amount of mana in any combination of colors equal to the total power of attacking creatures they control.
While Old Gnawbone's ability requires creatures to deal combat damage, thanks to the wording of its ability, Klauth is still able to provide significant sums of mana, even if it's blocked.
7 Skithiryx, The Blight Dragon
It's no secret that Infect is one of the most polarizing abilities in all of Magic. Causing creatures to deal damage in the form of poison counters, heavy use of creatures with infect has the potential to greatly reduce the length of a game.
With this in mind, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is a 4/4 mono-black legendary skeleton dragon for five mana that has both flying and infect. While a dragon with infect would be scary by itself, by paying additional mana, Skithiryx can also gain haste — or even regenerate itself!
6 Beledros Witherbloom
The founder of Witherbloom college, Beledros Witherbloom is a stellar Golgari dragon capable of providing incredible value for its controller. While Beledros is a 4/4 with flying for seven mana, it notably creates a 1/1 pest token at the beginning of each player's upkeep. These tokens gain their controller one life when they die. In a multiplayer format like Commander, this can provide four tokens for its controller per turn rotation.
More importantly, while it can only activate the previous ability once per turn, at the cost of ten life, Beledros can be used to untap each of its controller's lands. This will effectively double their mana production! Although this loss of life can be costly, Beledros is able to mitigate this loss through the use of pests.
5 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Niv-Mizzet is perhaps one of the most iconic dragons in Magic's history. The third iteration of Niv-Mizzet, Niv-Mizzet, Parun is the most impressive version of the character we've seen to date.
A 5/5 for six mana, Niv-Mizzet is an uncounterable 5/5 with flying who can deal one damage to any target whenever its controller draws a card. This synergizes in exceptional fashion with its second ability, which causes its controller to draw a card whenever they cast an instant or sorcery.
4 Scion Of The Ur-Dragon
One of the most popular Dragon-tribal Commander options, Scion of the Ur-Dragon is a five-mana 4/4 that costs one mana of each color, allowing it to spearhead a deck that can feature any dragon of any color. At the cost of two mana, Scion of the Ur Dragon can search its controller's library for any dragon and put that card into their graveyard. Then it will become a copy of that dragon until the end of the turn.
The previous effect allows the Scion to quickly adapt on the fly as it transforms into any of the strongest dragons in its controller's deck. When paired with hefty amounts of graveyard recursion, this creature's effect can be used in a manner reminiscent of the powerful black spell, entomb.
3 Tiamat
The iconic god of Chromatic Dragons from Dungeons & Dragons, Tiamat is a highly effective five-color dragon that was printed in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. For seven mana, when this flying 7/7 enters the battlefield, its controller can search their library for up to five dragons with different names, revealing them, and putting those cards in its controller's hand. In the Commander format, this can allow for a player to reliably access key dragons to one's strategy — or at least utility dragons that are needed in a given moment to help counter-play an opponent's strategy.
2 Prossh, Skyraider Of Kher
Like the previously mentioned Korvold, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher is an incredible option for players seeking to play a Jund deck in Commander.
Scaling as a game progresses, when Prossh enters the battlefield, its controller creates an amount of 0/1 kobold tokens equal to the amount of mana that was spent to cast the dragon. Due to the commander tax rule, this means that each time Prossh is cast throughout a game, it will generate more and more Kobolds. While these creatures are weak by themselves, Prossh possesses the ability to buff itself by +1/+0 until the end of the turn by sacrificing a creature.
1 The Ur-Dragon
The Ur-Dragon is the premier commander for those seeking to brew an impressive dragon-tribal Commander deck. Five colors like the Scion of the Ur-Dragon, the Ur-Dragon itself demands a hefty price of mana, costing a staggering nine mana. Despite this, thanks to its eminence ability, this dragon can still be of use whilst in the Command zone, reducing the mana costs of all other dragons by one mana.
Once cast, the Ur-Dragon is a terrifying force to be reckoned with, causing its controller to draw a card whenever a dragon they control attacks, then allowing the player to put any permanent from their hand into play.