Everybody loves Dragons. There's a reason they show up in pretty much every set. They're super cool. Legendary Dragons are even cooler. There is something evocative about a named Dragon. Who are they? What's their deal? Why do they want to kill everyone?

But like any creature type as old and ubiquitous as Dragons, they're not all created equal. All Dragons are cool, but some are cooler than others. This list is about those Dragons, the ones that not only make you dream of doing something cool, but actually make it possible.

Top Ten Best Legendary Dragons

1. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
2. Lathliss, Dragon Queen
3. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
4. Atarka, World Render
5. Niv-Mizzet, Parun
6. Ureni of the Unwritten
7. Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm
8. Tiamat
9. Teval, the Balanced Scale
10. The Ur-Dragon

10. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund

There's a couple of reasons this throwback still gets played in Commander. Firstly, giving your own Dragons haste is extremely powerful. This list is full of cards that want to attack, and Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund says "let's go," to all of them.

The second thing is that, well, stealing your opponents Dragons is awesome. It's extremely swingy, too, but when it hits it hits hard. The dream is playing some kind of Dragon mirror match and stealing an opponent's entire board. More likely, you will snag one or two utility or combo pieces from your opponents. That's still incredible.

9. Lathliss, Dragon Queen

Do you know what goes nicely with Dragons? Even more Dragons. Lathliss, Dragon Queen is going to be cloning your powerful fire-breathers, but she will do the next best thing. Every time you resolve a Dragon, you get a bonus 5/5 Dragon absolutely free! That is going to add up to a dead opponent very quickly, especially when you throw in the fact that Lathliss can pump all your Dragons.

There are a few things keeping Lathliss near the bottom of the list. Firstly, on her own, she is mediocre at best. A Queen needs subjects. Secondly, you're going to need her to live to your next turn. Lathliss doesn't do anything right away, unless you are extremely mana flush. Paying six for a creature that can die without doing anything is a steep cost.

8. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager

Nicol Bolas is one of Magic's most enduring bad guys. Unfortunately, he often shows up in-game as an overpriced, fair-to-middling Planeswalker. For one glorious Standard rotation, though, he got to be a real threat in Standard and a pretty solid Planeswalker as well. He still sees some Commander play today.

Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is the rare kind of Dragon that provides immediate value. Making everyone else discard a card is nothing too special, but it is attached to a 4/4 flier. It comes into play relatively early, especially with a bit of ramp. Then, if you safely get to flip him, he takes over the game. You get abilities worthy of a seven-mana Planeswalker without the downsides of having to put one in your deck.

7. Atarka, World Render

If there's one thing that the Dragon tribe has in abundance, its' game-ending power. Atarka, World Render, might be the most game-ending of them all, though. Ideally, you want to attack with Atarka, either by giving it haste or by having it in play next turn. The great thing about Atarka, though, is that it gives your other Dragons double strike right away.

The thing about Dragons is that they tend to be pretty big fliers, often with trample. Guess what happens when you give big flying monsters double strike. Atarka ain't fancy, but she definitely gets the job done.

6. Niv-Mizzet, Parun

There have been many Niv-Mizzets over the years, with varying degrees of playability. The one from Guilds of Ravnica, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, is the best of them overall. It was played a whole bunch in Standard and remains a popular Commander card to this day. Other Niv's have shown up in Constructed, but none of them have the staying power of this beast.

It's easy to see why. Being an un-counterable 5/5 flier is a decent start, though the mana cost is tricky. Pinging anything when you draw a card is very nice. Drawing cards when anyone casts an instant or sorcery, though? Now you're talking. This punishes a lot of combos and rewards you for drawing a lot of cards. Even if it dies right away, you probably drew a card and pinged something.

5. Ureni of the Unwritten

As far as seven-mana cards go, you can't do much better than Ureni of the Unwritten. Looking at the top eight cards is a lot. In a Dragon typal deck, the odds of whiffing on the ability are negligible. When you hit, it's going to be incredible. They don't really make bad dragons, and even if they did, they wouldn't be in your deck. This is going to cheat something very good into play.

Having Ureni survive to your next turn means you probably won the game. It's not as simple as just throwing a Doom Blade at Ureni, either. Your opponents are going to need multiple removal spells or a sweeper to stop you. Ureni already brought a friend to the party, and it's possible the friend needs to be killed even more promptly than Ureni.

4. Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm

It's hard to imagine a world in which untapping with Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm in play doesn't mean winning the game. Playing any expensive Dragon on the following turn seems nigh unbeatable. Copying a hasty 5/5 of any variety is very strong. The fact that you can copy a legendary creature with no downside, though? Now you're cooking.

Admittedly, this is a six-drop that, realistically, is going to have to survive the turn cycle in order to do its best work. Ward is nice, but when you're already casting six-drops, your opponents can probably pay the two. The power is definitely there if you can protect it, and Miirym is in the colour of counter magic. Perhaps that means waiting for eight mana, but if that means winning the game, who cares?

3. Tiamat

If this D&D legend resolves, you can be sure you're never running out of gas for the rest of the game. Tiamat fills your hand with whatever you need, as long as it comes in Dragon form. Need to end the game quick? No problem, plenty of Dragons can do that. Need some removal? There's a Dragon for that, too. The fact that this is in all five colors means you're going to have a wide array of tools to pick from.

Unlike some cards on this list, Tiamat doesn't care about being killed. You would like to have a 7/7 flier in play, of course. It already tutored you five of your best cards at that point, though, so it's hard to be too sad when your God dies.

2. Teval, the Balanced Scale

Teval, the Balanced Scale is a hyper-efficient Zombie-spewing machine. As a four-mana 4/4 flier, she comes into play relatively early. Once she's in play, she's going to start filling your graveyard and ramping you. Oh, and in the process she is going to start dumping Zombies onto the board at no cost to you.

Yeah, Teval does it all. What makes her really obscene is that you don't need to attack to start making Zombies. If you can get cards out of your graveyard some other way, she still makes a 2/2. It's not hard to have Teval die immediately and still provide some amount of value, if you play it correctly.

1. The Ur-Dragon

It had to be here. There's a reason this is the most popular commander on EDHRec. Okay, partly that's because this card is so exciting, but it also happens to be very good, too. Eminence is a very silly ability, providing mana from a zone that cannot be interacted with. You know what type of creature really likes cost reductions? Well, all of them, okay. Expensive creatures like your typical Dragon love being cheaper, though.

If that was all The Ur-Dragon did, it would be pretty good. The rest of its text box is gravy, but it's very tasty gravy. A 10/10 flier is going to end games quickly if it somehow gets to stick around. Even if it doesn't, its other ability provides a huge amount of potential. If The Ur-Dragon at least makes it to your combat step, you're going to be throwing a game-ending amount of power into play for free.

Honorable Mentions

Honorable mentions are very tricky here. There are just so many Legendary Dragons, and so many good ones, that narrowing it down to ten was already hard enough. Narrowing the remainder down to a few more short entries was just as hard. They're going to be pretty quick, in order to make room for more entries.

Kokusho, the Evening Star

Formerly a Commander staple that saw competitive Constructed play, too. Kokusho, the Evening Star has since been usurped by stronger cards. Still, the fact that this gains you gains you so much life means that it's not unplayable nowadays.

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King is another Dragon that spanned multiple formats. It was a powerful finisher in Jund sacrifice decks of its Standard era and remains quite popular in Commander. The main reason it didn't make the main list is that it really needs a specific type of deck to function.

Scion of the Ur-Dragon

Oh, look, it's all of your other Dragons in one card. Scion of the Ur-Dragon is both a pseudo-clone and reanimation enabler rolled into one. It only missed out on the top ten because it takes too much setup to reach its full potential. It's floor as a hard-to-cast 4/4 flier is pretty mopey.

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

The power of Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is undeniable. With a little bit of help it will end the game in no time at all. He does need help, though. Whether he's the commander of an Infect deck or an alternate win condition in a Dragons deck, four infect per turn is too slow on its own.

Conclusion

Magic is full to the brim with powerful and flavorful Dragons. One could easily make a list that had none of the cards featured in this one. If you're looking to make a Dragon typal deck, you are truly spoiled for choice.

Fortunately, Dragons are also widely spread across the colors nowadays. Yes, a lot of the best ones are Red, but they're not just Red. There are multiple great choices for multicolored Dragon commanders. There are multiple great choices for fully Dragon commanders. If you go in that direction, you're going to have the enviable problem of deciding what you don't want to include.

Really, the only problem Dragons have as a creature type is that they are often expensive. You can only fit so many six-drops in a deck and still have it function. In recent years, though, more Dragons have been printed at mana values that are priced to move. You're unlikely to find a two-drop Dragon that's worth playing, but four-drops? Sure.

They even get to show up more often in competitive play from time to time. Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest and Shiko, Paragon of the Way have both been played in top level tournaments in the past year. Historically, there are too many examples to name in one article. Suffice to say, Legendary Dragons have a storied history and a bright future.