Scion of the Ur-Dragon
– Commander 2017
Date Reviewed: August 5, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.00
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 1.25
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
Scion of the Ur-Dragon is cool for so many reasons. He was one of the first five-color commanders, and he invites you to build around one of the most popular creature types in Magic – everyone wants to do things like that, right? He’s a highly flexible enabler for popular stand-alone cards like Patriarch’s Bidding and Goryo’s Vengeance – everyone likes cards like that, right? And on top of all that, he’s part of a long-running flavor reference that stretches all the way back to Invasion and all the way up to the 2017 Commander decks. I feel like that’s an invitation to delve deeper into Magic’s long history, right?
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 1/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 4/5
He’s never quite panned out in Constructed play, but Scion of the Ur-Dragon has long been a casual favorite, thanks to both being a five-color Dragon and the kill combo he’s often been associated with. If you have mana to activate his ability twice in succession, you can end the game then and there: first by going into Moltensteel Dragon and paying a bunch of life for the firebreathing ability (usually 12 life to give +6/+0), and then into Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon to poison them to death (it retains the +6/+0 as it changes forms, and Skithiryx’s infect loads them up with a lethal dose of poison).
Outside of kill combos, Scion is mostly a cute Dragon that enables fun things. He’s rarely ever been absolutely indomitable, but he’s fun, and sometimes fun’s all you need. A constraining mana cost makes life a bit harder in that regard, but dragons rarely mind playing with all the colors of the rainbow these days.
Constructed: 2 (Skittles kill combos still work in theory, but good luck pulling them off)
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 1.5 (his sole limited outing was in Time Spiral; the block has bad color fixing and a dearth of swooping friends overall outside of the rare slot)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 4.5
We would love more volunteers to help us with our Magic the Gathering Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉
Click here to read over 4,000 more MTG Cards of the Day! Daily Since 2001.
