Tarkir: Dragonstorm Spoiler Review – Part 1

Hey everyone. Tarkir: Dragonstorm is nearly upon us!

Tarkir holds a special place in my heart. While I started playing Magic 3-4 years before our original visit to Tarkir in 2014-2015, Khans of Tarkir was when I really started to play competitive Magic, traveling to local PPTQs and spending my Tuesdays and Fridays at local game stores grinding both Standard and Modern.

Those days are long past, but seeing the five clans of Tarkir restored brings me great joy and great nostalgia. And wow are there are some awesome cards so far, and we’re barely half way through the spoiler season.

Below are my picks for the cards I either think will have an impact on formats like Standard or Alchemy, or cards that I just think are really cool and can’t wait to try out.

So let’s break it down!

Ugin, Eye of the Storms

Ugin returns and he is living up to the power of the original. Planeswalkers are a tough sell these days, because in games of Standard the games are either over quickly thanks to Monstrous Rage and friends, or going insanely long thanks to Up the Beanstalk and friends.

So why waste a slot on a Planeswalker that will get some value but not enough value to slow down the aggro decks or keep up with the beanstalk decks. Well, Ugin, Eye of the Storms is going to make us reconsider that line of thinking.

When you cast Ugin, you get to exile a permanent, which could be a problematic mouse or an obnoxious Up the Beanstalk, and then you can either gain some life and draw a card, or make some mana, cast another colorless spell and exile another permanent.

So while seven mana is still a lot, getting to exile two permanents, or exile a permanent, gain 3 life, and draw a card, and keep a high loyalty planeswalker around, is very worth that seven mana.

There isn’t a deck in Standard right now that will want this, but I think it would be fun to build some sort of artifact ramp deck that uses red removal to stay afloat until Ugin outcompetes the other big decks.

Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage

Anafenza returns as well, this time as a powerful flash threat that is going to make your opponent’s second guess their removal spells.

While you can just flash Anafenza in as a first strike blocker, the best use cases are going to be in response to an opponent’s removal spell, to immediately trigger her abiltiy and either grow her to a 4/4 or to get an extra 2/2.

The other use cases for Anafenza are in a sacrifice deck, letting you turn all of your cheap fodder into spirits to sacrifice as well, or to grow Anafenza to a lethal threat.

While Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage may not find a home right away, I expect her to inspire some deck building over her long life in Standard.

Elspeth, Storm Slayer

Our other planeswalker of the set, Elspeth, Storm Slayer is great for offence and defense. Thanks to her static text, her plus one is going to make two soldier tokens, great for protecting her and gumming up the board. Meanwhile, her 0 ability can just win you the game on the right board state, thanks to the flying that it grants.

I like that her last ability isn’t an ultimate per se, but can take out problematic creatures from your opponent, and combined with her plus 1, she is good at dealing with both small and big creatures.

Elspeth could find a home in token control decks, or maybe as a sideboard option in white aggro decks that need a grindy threat to bring in. That said, Magic really isn’t about planeswalkers right now, as I discussed above, and tokens look very sad in the face of Monstrous Rage, so I’m not as hot on Elspeth as I am on Ugin.

Voice of Victory

Voice of Victory showcases our mechanic for the Mardu, which is mobilize, giving us tapped and attacking tokens that sacrifice at the end of turn when this creature attacks.

Voice of Victory looks like a 1/3 but it really attacks as a 3/5 spread across three bodies thanks to mobilize. This mechanic is great for getting your speed up, or in tandem with sacrifice synergies since you do sacrifice the tokens at the end of turn.

Voice of Victory itself adds the nice bonus of not letting your opponent’s cast spells during your turn, meaning you don’t have to work about combat tricks, removal spells, or counterspells as you set up big combats.

I think that this set is going to inspire a lot more brewing than Aetherdrift did, and I would not be surprised if a card like Voice of Victory saw play in various aggro decks, or hell even a combo deck that doesn’t want their pieces countered.

Marang River Regent

Marang River Regent showcases a new mechanic, or at least a new instant subtype, omen. Omen may look like an adventure but it actual works differently. Instead of exiling itself to be cast later on, it shuffles back into your deck. So a bit less value than adventure, but still powerful if the options are good.

And the options are good here. Four mana to draw three and discard one at instant speed is a good way to find the action you need, and a 6/7 flyer that bounces two permanents when it enters is a great finisher/stabalizer.

I really like the look of Marang River Regent for control decks, as a flexible draw spell and powerful finisher.

Craterhoof Behemoth

Craterhoof Behemoth makes a return to Standard after 12-13 years. Craterhoof Behemoth is well known in the Commander community, but it was a fun player during its time in Standard as well.

You could absolutely try to build a deck with craterhoof at the top end, such as an elf deck with a bunch of mana producing creatures, or some sort of silly reanimator deck. I’m sure that out of nostalgia, many players will try to make this beast work.

Surrak, Elusive Hunter

Surrak returns as well (I’m going to be saying so-and-so returns a lot…) and this time he is leaner and meaner! Three mana gets you a 4/3 trample that can’t be coutnered, and then when your opponent tries to remove it, or any of your other creatures, or even tries to counter a creature you cast, you get to draw a card.

So the worst case scenario is that you play Surrak, your opponent kills it, you draw a card. That’s great, you are up a card, and yeah maybe you lost some tempo, but at least you’ll have the resource to deploy to the board again the next turn.

Don’t forget that Surrak, Elusive Hunter can come down on turn two thanks to Llanowar Elves, meaning you can start the beatdowns early and often. I look forward to giving green aggro a try!

Awaken the Honored Dead

Awaken the Honored Deadis a powerful saga in the right deck. Three mana lets you take out any problematic nonland permanent your opponent has deployed, and then you get to fill up your graveyard, and then trade an extra land in your hand for a creature, or if you need a land drop, you can trade any card in your hand for a land.

I love a good Sultai midrange deck, and Awaken the Honored Deadis the kind of card that makes a deck come together. While it can be a bit clunky, you are getting to remove something and then eventually turn an extra resource in another useful resource, making me optimistic that this saga has the chops to compete.

Midrange isn’t in a great spot in Standard right now, again thanks to the Monstrous Rage and Up the Beanstalk dominance, but Awaken the Honored Deadcan help with both of those problems.

Dragonback Assault

Dragonback Assaultis a great ramp payoff, letting you wipe out the small creatures and then make your own army.

Ramp decks can suffer in the early to mid game if their opponent is able to be aggressive, so Dragonback Assaulthelping with that problem and then sticking around to be a win condition on its own, frees up more slots for you to dedicate to ramping or otherwise staying alive.

I really think that Temur ramp is going to come together, thanks to this card and another that I will discuss right now.

Ureni, the Song Unending

Ureni, the Song Unending is our Temur spirit dragon, and it is another amazing ramp payoff. Similar to Dragonlord Atarka of old, Ureni comes down, wipes out two or three creatures on your opponent’s board, and then sticks around as a 10/10 flier. Oh and it has protection from white and black, you know the two best colors at removing things.

The only downside is that it costs eight mana, and because it only does damage equal to the number of lands you control, you are really forced into playing a land-based ramp deck, rather then reanimating it or otherwise cheating it into play.

It also can still be hit by This Town Ain't Big Enough but hopefully you just get to wipe their board again the next turn.

Between Dragonback Assaultand Ureni, the Song Unending, it really feels like Temur is being pushed towards a ramp strategy, and I look forward to giving it a try.

Temur Battlecrier

Temur Battlecrier is another 4/3 for three mana with great upside, giving your spells discounts based on the number of creatures you control with power 4 or greater.

So what we really need to look at are five drops that we can cast for four mana the turn after we play Temur Battlecrier. The first one that pops into my head is Overlord of the Hauntwoods, which not only ramps us, but then is another creature with power 4 or greater, meaning the next turn we could cast an 8 drop if both of our creatures live.

Now that is a lot to ask, as three toughness is pretty easy to kill with cards like Nowhere to Run and Lightning Strike, but it won’t stop me from trying.

Funnily enough, I think that this Temur big-mana-ramp deck is different from the one I talked about above, so I look forward to trying out several builds of Temur.

Frostcliff Siege

Frostcliff Siege showcases a cycle of enchantments that ask you to choose a side when it enters, offering you one of two effects.

I think the winner here is the Temur option, giving your creatures haste, trample, and +1/+0? Suddenly every creature you draw is a massive threat as they are swinging in right away and trampling past any small blockers left on defense.

The Jeskai option would be more exciting if it played similar to Enduring Curiosity and drew you cards for each creature that dealt combat damage, but unfortunately this says “one or more” so you only draw one card when you hit with your creatures.

Really not sure if this enchantment will find a home anywhere, as playing a three drop that doesn’t impact the board is a tough sell in Standard. But maybe something will come along.

Inevitable Defeat

Inevitable Defeat calls back to Utter End, a four mana removal spell that exiles whatever is bothering you. Inevitable Defeat adds the bonus of casting Lightning Helix at your opponent.

This spell is going to be at its best against aggro decks, removing a threat and gaining some life back, but it is going to be nice against slower decks as well, taking out a copy of Up the Beanstalk and working down their life total.

Of course with any three color card it really depends if there is a three color deck to put it in, but I’m hopeful that some sort of Mardu aggro or midrange deck can come together.

Zurgo, Thunder’s Decree

Zurgo returns, and I think he is a really cool card. While a 2/4 for three isn’t super exciting, thanks to mobilize he really attacks as a 4/6 across three bodies.

The cool part is his ability that says your warrior tokens can’t be sacrificed. So any tokens you make thanks to mobilize get to stick around, and even if they remove Zurgo on a later turn, those tokens aren’t going anywhere.

If there is an aggressive Mardu deck, I think that Zurgo will likely be at the center of it, a groan inducing three drop that must be answered before your opponent builds a huge board of tokens.

Severance Priest

Let’s roll into the Abzan with Severance Priest, a 3/3 deathtouch for three with a very interesting enters ability.

When it enters you get to exile a card from your opponent’s hand, with the downside that when it leave the battlefield they get a token with power and toughness equal to the exiled cards mana value.

This can be quite awkward, where you play it, take a big card out of your opponent’s hand like their copy of This Town Ain't Big Enoughor Ride's End, and then they top deck a removal spell and get a 5/5 for “free.” That is rough.

A comparable card, Skyclave Apparition, was at least taking out something they had already invested mana in, so even when they killed it they were down on tempo.

I think if Severance Priest does see play, it will be against aggro decks playing cheap threats, as taking a Monstrous Rage out of your opponent’s hand is going to work out much better than a big spell. It could also see play in blink decks, as with its trigger on the stack you can blink it, they get no token, and then it comes back in and you get to exile two cards from their hand.

So I’ll probably try this one out, but I have no idea what Abzan is going to look like and if this is going to have a home there.

Skirmish Rhino

Skirmish Rhino, on the other hand, will see play if there is a good Abzan deck. Siege Rhino had a little brother, as Skirmish Rhino is just one less mana, one less power and toughness, and one less on the drain.

In some ways this is better, giving you a solid attacker thanks to trample and blocker thanks to four toughness, and the life drain helps you stabilize against aggro, finish off slower opponents, and you don’t mind if it gets bounced.

If Abzan midrange comes together, like it did so many years ago, Skirmish Rhino will be a key player in that deck, inducing as many groans as its older brother once did.

Fangkeeper’s Familiar

Fangkeeper’s Familiar is a super fun, super flexible, flash threat and I like it against both Monstrous Rage and Up the Beanstalk.

Against aggro decks, it can flash in to block, gain life or counter a creature spell, giving you good tempo and good tools to catch up. Against slow decks it can take out Up the Beanstalk, letting your midrange deck compete with grindy control and ramp decks.

Once again, it needs a home meaning that a Sultai deck comes together, but I cannot wait to put some sort of Sultai brew together.

Tapped Tri-color Lands

The tapped tri-color clan lands return, and I think they will be key to any three color brews that come about. With these, surveil lands, and verge lands, three color mana bases are going to be possible, although a bit slow.

Mistrise Village

Mistrise Village is part of a new cycle of utility lands that care about the land types associated with their clan. In this case, since it is a Temur land that taps for blue, it asks that you have a forest or mountain to enter untapped.

All five cards in the cycle have potential, but I wanted to highlight Mistrise Village because wow is that a powerful and cheap effect.

In older format this will be a great tool for combo decks that are trying to prevent their combo from being interrupted by counterspells. In Standard, it will be a tool for big mana decks that want don’t want their big spells to be hit by Disdainful Stroke or Negate.

While spending an extra two mana for this effect won’t always be possible, it will absolutely come up from time to time.

Wrapping Up

Phew, that was a lot of Tarkir goodness, and I really just scratched the surface. Not only are there a lot of other sweet cards that I didn’t talk about, there is still half a set left to be spoiled.

So I’ll be back next week to discuss the rest of the set, and make my predictions for the best cards in the set that will have the biggest impact on Standard and Alchemy.

Until then, enjoy the spoilers and choose a clan!