Card Spotlight
Lathliss, Dragon Queen
A six-mana 6/6 flying Dragon that creates a 5/5 flying Dragon token whenever another nontoken Dragon you control enters. For {1}{R}, your Dragons get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Commander Spotlight
Lathliss, Dragon Queen ↗
A six-mana 6/6 flying Dragon that creates a 5/5 flying Dragon token whenever another nontoken Dragon you control enters. For {1}{R}, your Dragons get +1/+0 until end of turn.
See Lathliss, Dragon Queen's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- Dragon typal. Every nontoken Dragon you cast is worth two Dragons on the battlefield, so the deck wants as many Dragon spells as the curve can hold.
- Dragon-enters damage. Dragon Tempest and Scourge of Valkas each deal damage equal to your Dragon count when a Dragon enters, and Lathliss makes every Dragon spell trigger them twice.
- Cost reduction ramp. Dragonspeaker Shaman and the deck's other Dragon reducers are what make a six-mana commander and a curve of six-drops castable on time.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
As the commander of Reign of Dragons she turns each Dragon spell into two fliers, and the deck's ramp exists to get her and the Dragons out early. Her weakness is the deck's weakness: almost no protection and little card draw, so removal on Lathliss or one board wipe often decides the game.
In the 99
She belongs in red Dragon decks led by another commander, where she adds a 5/5 to every Dragon cast after her. Outside a Dragon-heavy list she is a six-mana 6/6 flier with a pump ability, which red has better options for.
Formats it's strong in
- Red Dragon typal. A deck with a high Dragon count gets a token from nearly every creature spell it casts.
- Core and Upgraded pods. A board of 5/5 fliers outclasses most precon creatures, and the games last long enough for six-drops to matter.
Formats it's weak in
- Fast, high-power pods. A six-mana commander that needs other six-drops to do anything is too slow against decks that win early.
- Removal-heavy tables. The deck commits large, expensive creatures one at a time, and removal on Lathliss cuts its output in half.
Synergistic cards
Dragon Tempest ↗
Each Dragon that enters deals damage equal to your Dragon count, and Lathliss's token is a second Dragon entering.
Scourge of Valkas ↗
The same Dragon-enters damage on a Dragon body, which also triggers Lathliss when it is cast.
Dragonspeaker Shaman ↗
Takes {2} off every Dragon spell, including Lathliss when you cast her from the command zone.
Terror of the Peaks ↗
Deals damage equal to an entering creature's power, so each 5/5 token Lathliss makes is also 5 damage to any target.
Is it worth the price?
Lathliss is inexpensive. She was first printed in Core Set 2019 and reprinted several times since, including Foundations and now Reign of Dragons. The precon includes most of the Dragon support listed here, which makes it a cheaper starting point than collecting the singles.
Frequently asked questions
Do Lathliss's Dragon tokens make more tokens?
No. She triggers only on nontoken Dragons, so each Dragon you cast makes one 5/5 token. The token is still a Dragon entering, though, so it triggers cards like Dragon Tempest and Scourge of Valkas a second time.
Is Lathliss, Dragon Queen a good commander?
For a Dragon deck, yes. Every Dragon you cast arrives with a 5/5 flier attached, which roughly doubles the board the deck builds. The cost is that she is six mana and the 99 has little protection, so the deck depends on keeping her alive once she lands.
How does Reign of Dragons cast so many six-drops?
The deck runs several cards that make Dragon spells cheaper or produce mana only for Dragons, starting with Dragonspeaker Shaman, which takes {2} off every Dragon spell. With those out, Dragons start landing around turn four instead of turn six.