Zurgo's Ignitiion help needed

[Dunharrow]

Back when Khans of Tarkir was out I somehow got my hands on 3 Zurgo Helmsmashers. I decided to make the best standard deck I could around the card, which lead me to Chandra's Ignition and Arcbond.
Add in a few lifelink creatures and I could have huge life gain swings to beat aggro, ability to sweep the board several times per game, and a tough to deal with 7/2 that could threaten control.

I want to translate this into a commander deck, lead by Zurgo.
Chandra's Ignition and Arcbond are definitely in the deck. Not sure how many effects I want to play that give Zurgo lifelink, or how may Vampire Nighthawk type creatures I want to play if these are the only two cards that synergize. I am thinking about this.

For the rest of the deck, I see two possible focuses:

I could play Boros Reckoner, Brash Taunter, etc, and play big red wraths to try to one-shot opponents. Cards like Furnace of Rath and dictate of the twin gods pair well with this because Blasphemous act will deal 26 to Boros Reckoner, and Reckoner will deal 52 damage to an opponent.

Or I can play things that protect my creatures, like Tajic, Legion's Edge and The Wanderer. I can play creatures that give my spells lifelink and deathtouch. I can play Swords to protect my creatures from the wraths too. This way it is less one-shot focused and tries to play one-sided wraths.

I don't think the two strategies mesh particularly well together, but also think that each strategy might be a little light on playables to be the main focus of the deck.

Any thoughts?

Also, if you can think of things that enable my creatures to deal large amounts of damage to all other creatures, let me know. Things like Arcbond, but also things like Crypt Rats (but not looking for big slow things like Pestilence Demon )

[Ruiner]

I had Chandra's Ignition in my Zurgo deck for a while, only removed recently just to try some new stuff out (I tend to endlessly tinker with decks). It's definitely great even without lifelink.

Cards like Shadowspear, and Loxodon Warhammer are also solid for Zurgo just due to trample, and the lifelink they grant works great when you do cast Chandra's Ignition.

I know people tend to shy away from auras but I really like Gift of Orzhova for Zurgo as well. This is another evasion + lifelink card (and I really dig the art).

All of these things are useful independently from any sort of combo which is nice.

I don't know how I feel about putting other smaller creatures with lifelink like Vampire Nighthawk into the decklist. They don't particularly advance the general commander damage oriented gameplan for a Zurgo deck. Maybe some big flying angel that has some additional purpose beyond a combo that just happens to have lifelink would work.

Your idea of running big damage doublers and effects sounds pretty decent in theory. All of those cards help Zurgo kill quicker, in addition to the things you mentioned. Zurgo generally wants a number of sweepers anyway, this seems pretty synergistic.

If we are in the territory of doing some fun goofy stuff though, the idea of hitting Serra Avatar with Chandra's Ignition sounds really fun to me, and would be a neat secondary win condition if you are already throwing lifegain and evasion granting things into the deck.

[Dunharrow]

I had Chandra's Ignition in my Zurgo deck for a while, only removed recently just to try some new stuff out (I tend to endlessly tinker with decks). It's definitely great even without lifelink.

Cards like Shadowspear, and Loxodon Warhammer are also solid for Zurgo just due to trample, and the lifelink they grant works great when you do cast Chandra's Ignition.

I know people tend to shy away from auras but I really like Gift of Orzhova for Zurgo as well. This is another evasion + lifelink card (and I really dig the art).

All of these things are useful independently from any sort of combo which is nice.

I don't know how I feel about putting other smaller creatures with lifelink like Vampire Nighthawk into the decklist. They don't particularly advance the general commander damage oriented gameplan for a Zurgo deck. Maybe some big flying angel that has some additional purpose beyond a combo that just happens to have lifelink would work.

Your idea of running big damage doublers and effects sounds pretty decent in theory. All of those cards help Zurgo kill quicker, in addition to the things you mentioned. Zurgo generally wants a number of sweepers anyway, this seems pretty synergistic.

If we are in the territory of doing some fun goofy stuff though, the idea of hitting Serra Avatar with Chandra's Ignition sounds really fun to me, and would be a neat secondary win condition if you are already throwing lifegain and evasion granting things into the deck.

so my standard deck had 4 x Seeker of the Way and 4x Ojutai Exemplars, plus 3 Zurgos. The idea is that Vampire Nighthawk is a great target for ignition and it doesn't kill Zurgo. But, since I don't get to play 4 x Ignition in a 60 card deck, it looks very thin to me and probably not worth having nighthawk.

Thanks for your input!