Card Draw/Power Matters

Naya is a color combination missing blue's ability to take advantage of card draw and selection with ease or black's ability to turn life or creatures into more cards in hand. We're going to have to work a little harder, but there are good tools out there that mesh particularly well with high-power Dragons. For example, Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising and Shamanic RevelationShamanic Revelation are spells that supercharge your commander's token-making into additional value. There is also the option to combine direct damage and card draw/selection, as seen with Hunter's TalentHunter's Talent, Nahiri's WarcraftingNahiri's Warcrafting, Mob VerdictMob Verdict, and The Elder Dragon WarThe Elder Dragon War. Finally, some card draw and selection has the potential to serve as mana ramp as well, like Domri, Chaos BringerDomri, Chaos Bringer, The FluxThe Flux, Glorious SunriseGlorious Sunrise, and Storm the FestivalStorm the Festival.

Thematic Disruption and Removal

It will come as no surprise that the thematic removal for the commander is damage-based. There is a reason normally included efficient removal spells Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares (-39%) and Path to ExilePath to Exile (-37%) have gigantic negative synergy numbers with Rith.

So, what are we including instead? Beyond the Dragon-based removal mentioned above, cards like Domri, Anarch of BolasDomri, Anarch of Bolas, Frontier SiegeFrontier Siege, and Road // RuinRoad // Ruin can act as ramp and/or a lot of damage as needed. Ghired's BelligerenceGhired's Belligerence is a damage-based removal spell that can accelerate our DragonDragon production through the populate ability. Finally, the mass damage spells EarthquakeEarthquake, MagmaquakeMagmaquake, and Molten DisasterMolten Disaster wreak havoc on opponents while leave our flying Dragons unharmed.

Inclusions

Not on Rith's page. Because this version of the deck really depends on the commander staying in play many turns in a row, it feels like one-mana protection spells are the perfect place to be. Rith's built-in ward 2 ability will make it even harder for opponents to fight through these pesky instants.

29%, 26%, "not on Rith's page" respective inclusion rates in low-budget decks. These one-sided mass removal spells are my "Challenge the Stats" picks and the theme I'm basing this deck around. With a board of large flying creatures, dealing large chunks of direct damage to your opponents will also end the game quickly.

Exclusions

54%, 53%, and 43% respective inclusion rates in low-budget decks. While these creatures are perfect in the typical Dragon deck, this specific version is hoping to cast massive one-sided EarthquakeEarthquake effects. For this reason, I'm choosing to rely mostly on noncreature ways of accelerating mana, like CultivateCultivate, or the other Dragon-themed ramp mentioned above.

39%, 31%, and 24% respective inclusion rates in low-budget decks. Fight and bite spells make a lot of sense in a deck like Ohabi CaleriaOhabi Caleria (shameless self-plug), where it's important that the creature itself is dealing the damage, but Rith doesn't care where the source of damage comes from and this deck has access to ! I don't see any reason to open yourself up to being blown out by removal in response to a fight/bite spell when you can just cast cards like Nahiri's WarcraftingNahiri's Warcrafting or EarthquakeEarthquake effects instead.

Decklist

Deck Checklist

• 55 mana sources (35 lands, 2 MDFCs, 6 artifacts, 4 enchantments, 3 creatures, 5 instants/sorceries)
• 18 card draw
• 30 cards that are, create, or care about Dragons
• 15 removal spells, including 4 mass removal
• 3 finishers

Mid-Budget Upgrades

Dragons Dealing Damage

If you are interested in leaning more into the "Dragons dealing direct damage" theme, Balefire DragonBalefire Dragon, Dragonlord AtarkaDragonlord Atarka, Dragon TempestDragon Tempest, and Invasion of TarkirInvasion of Tarkir fit the bill. City on FireCity on Fire and Subterranean TremorsSubterranean Tremors are other options to lean even harder on the direct damage/EarthquakeEarthquake subtheme.

Card Draw/Power Matters

Up the BeanstalkUp the Beanstalk and Elemental BondElemental Bond provide additional green-based card draw tailored to this strategy's penchant for casting large creatures, while Smuggler's SurpriseSmuggler's Surprise is a versatile draw/ramp/protection spell that can adapt to whatever needs you have in a specific moment in a game.

Mana Fixing + Value

Orb of DragonkindOrb of Dragonkind and the versatile lands Haven of the Spirit DragonHaven of the Spirit Dragon and Maelstrom of the Spirit DragonMaelstrom of the Spirit Dragon can all do double duty by fixing your mana in the early game and creating card selection/recursion if the game goes long.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this week's article! Join me next week for the final episode, when I find a Bant commander that is right on the border of popularity. See you then.