Bladewing the Risen

Gameplan

Bladewing the Risen anchors a Rakdos Dragon tribal deck that ramps into fatties, reanimates fallen Dragons on cast, and pumps the team for a flying alpha strike. Early turns are spent ramping and setting up; midgame you deploy Dragons and use Bladewing's ETB to recur your best ones, then close with evasive beats and the anthem.

Key Cards

• Lathliss, Dragon Queen — Generates a Dragon token whenever another nontoken Dragon enters and can pump the team, snowballing your board.
• Scourge of Valkas — Turns every Dragon entering into direct damage, providing a non-combat win path alongside its own anthem.
• Terror of the Peaks — Deals damage equal to power whenever a creature enters, devastating boards and acting as a finisher with Dragon tokens.
• Dragon Tempest — Gives Dragons haste and burns opponents on entry, accelerating your clock and rewarding token generation.
• Crux of Fate — Flexible board wipe that can spare your Dragons while clearing everyone else's threats.
• Sarkhan, Fireblood — Cheap card advantage and ritual-style ramp that fuels casting expensive Dragons ahead of curve.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana and ramp (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Cultivate-style fixing, treasure makers) to deploy Dragons ahead of schedule and reduce the high curve's risk. Lean into reanimation enablers and blink effects (Buried Alive, Animate Dead, Conjurer's Closet) to abuse Bladewing's ETB, and include protection like Heroic Intervention or Boots/Greaves to keep him alive. For higher power, add free interaction and a compact combo finish such as Terror of the Peaks plus a cheap token-doubler or sacrifice/recursion loop.