Dragonlord Silumgar - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Dragonlord Silumgar has seen play in Standard, Modern, and EDH.

Dragonlord Silumgar is the Elder Dragon for the Sultai clan in Dragons of Tarkir. Like the other Dragonlords, he costs 6 mana to cast - in this case, 4UB (4 colorless, 1 Blue, 1 Black). He's a 3/5 flyer with deathtouch, and when he enters the battlefield, you gain control of target creature or planeswalker for as long as you control him. Essentially, Silumgar is a Dragon-type Sower of Temptation that can also target planeswalkers.

This Elder Dragon is pretty good. He's a great target for Sultai reanimator decks to bring back from the graveyard. While he doesn't have the raw power of many of the other Dragons in the set, the deathtouch and ability to steal an opponent's strongest threat makes Silumgar very powerful.

Dragonlord Silumgar can also serve as a decent blue/black Commander of a deck built for control. Silumgar is also used as a complementary piece in EDH, especially in Scion of the Ur-Dragon and Marchesa, the Black Rose decks. His previous form in Fate Reforged, as Silumgar, the Drifting Death,  is also a good choice for Commander. The older form is a 3/7 flyer with Hexproof, making it harder to deal with in both combat and with removal. Plus, the Drifting Death has an ability to make your opponents' defending creatures lose -1/-1 each time a Dragon attacks. That ability is easier to build an EDH deck around. But the Sower-type ability is very powerful and the Dragonlord has become considerably more popular as a Commander.

In any case, Dragonlord Silumgar was a great card in a highly Dragon-friendly Standard format and has even seen competitive Modern play. Beyond that, he should continue to be a casual favorite with strong playability in both control decks and Dragon-themed decks in EDH and Kitchen Table Magic.

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