Hello and happiest of days to each of you! This is my 3rd pass on my favorite cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm for kitchen table play and various formats like multiplayer, Highlander, Five Color, Peasant and Pauper, Type Four and, of course, the big daddy of Commander. My first Top 15 was here and my second Top 15 was here.
Honorable Mention. Flamehold Grappler
Flamehold Grappler is a 3/3 with first strike. When this Monk Enters, you get a free copy of the next spell you play. Note that this not limited to sorceries or instants. And spell copies are regularly useful with things like magecraft or certain Commanders!
#15. Rite of Renewal AND Auroral Procession AND Lie in Wait
Next up is this triumvirate pf Regrowth spell variants! Rite of Renewal will return two permanents from your graveyard to your hand, which is one less mana than Restock but for a more limited range of targets. Then we have Auroral Procession, with the same cost as Regrowth but at instant speed. Lie in Wait will Raise Dead to your hand and then shoot a dork equal to its power, so its removal attached to recursion!
#14. Zurgo, Thunder's Decree
Zurgo, Thunder's Decree is next! It's got mobilize 2 to make two tapped and attacking Warrior tokens when it swings. Normally those tokens would get sacrificed at EOT, but Zurgo prevents that from happening! I built around him here. Check it out and let me know what you think!
#13. Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon
This colorless tapping land will enter untapped and then tap for any color of mana, but only for Dragon or Omen spells. Then you can tap this and sac it to tutor a Dragon to your hand. I love that extra bit, like and Inventors' Fair but for dragons. That's pretty strong in a lot of formats. Play that with a recursive land enabler like Crucible of Worlds and get all of the Dragons!
#12. Lasyd Prowler
Next up is this fun four-drop 5/5 Green beater that ETBs to mill you equal to your land count. This is great for folks that need to use their graveyard as a second hand! Then we can exile it from the graveyard for two mana and toss X +1/+1 counters on a creature, where X is the number of lands in your graveyard. Love it much!
#11. Eshki Dragonclaw
Eshki Dragonclaw is a 4/4 for four mana with three fun keywords in vigilance, trample and ward. At the beginning of your combat, if you've cast both a creature and non-creature spell this turn, you can draw a card, and then toss a pair of +1/+1 counters on her! Card draw and stat bonuses are brilliant, but you'll need to build around her and play your spells in your pre-combat main phase to unlock her ability.
#10. Naga Fleshcrafter
Everyone loves Clones! Naga Fleshcrafter is a Clone that can also be exiled for three mana at sorcery speed to toss a counter on one of your non-legendary dorks to turn all of your other creatures into copies of that creature!
#9. Smile at Death
This 5-drop enchantment in White will reanimate two creatures with 2 power or less during your upkeep and then put a +1/+1 counter on them. I love this in my decks packed with smaller stuff, like my Bear Beats, Hate Bears or Aggro decks or even Azorius Flyers. You might love it too!
#8. Bloomvine Regent AND Sagu Wildling AND Roamer's Routine
Next is this triad of rampers! Bloomvine Regent has an Omen for Cultivate that fetches two basic Forests. Or you can cast it for five mana for a 4/5 flying Dragon body with the ability to gain 3 life when it or another dragon you control enters! Sagu Wildling puts any basic into your hand from your graveyard and gains 3 life when it ETBs! Roamer's Routine ramps a basic into play tapped like Rampant Growth, but is can be cast again with harmonize. Love it!
#7. Cruel Truths AND Winternight Stories AND Focus the Mind
Next up is this trio of card draw spells. Cruel Truths surveils and then draws two and loses two life. That's one more mana than these effects normally cost, but instant speed is nice. Winternight Stories draws three and discards two unless one dork was discarded, which is great card flow and set up for reanimation later. And it can be cast again thanks to Harmonize! Focus the Mind costs five and then draws three, discards one. But, if you already cast a spell this turn it only costs three to cast!
#6. Teval, Arbiter of Virtue
Teval has flying, lifelink, a 6/6 body and gives your spells delve. That's right. That's every spell, from Time Stretch to Eldrazi Titans like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Giving Delve to all your spells will eat through your graveyard fast. Then your spells all lose you life equal to their cost! That's rough for a deck built around higher casting cost spells, and it's a hard ask in 20 life formats. Rough stuff.
#5. Whirlwing Stormbrood
Whirlwing Stormbrood costs five for a 4/3 flyer with flash and then you can cast Dragons and sorceries at instant speed, which is a great enabler! It love this with a Dragon Commander. Then the sorcery three-cost Omen half will put three counters on your dork and then shuffle back in to your deck. All the Omen spells are great with things like Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack.
#4. Perennation
Perennation lets you return any permanent from the graveyard to the battlefield, which isn't bad. You can get back a dead planeswalker, or a dork, or a key enchantment like Rhystic Study, or a fetch land. Whatever you pick, it arrives with an indestructible and hexproof counter, so it's permanently unable to be answered. Your Commander would be a great target for this, since you built your deck around it. It's also amazing in Type Four with infinite mana but just one spell/turn. But if you are in Abzan for Commander, run this!
#3. The Rare Land Cycle
They tap for just one color of mana, are easy to fit into Commander, and then they arrive tapped unless you control one of their enemy land types. Yay! Then you can tap them with mana to do stuff. In alphabetical order, the Red one taps for four to exile the top card of your library and let you play it until the end of your next turn. The White one taps for three to make two 1/1 Warrior tokens that are tapped and attacking, but only if you attacked this turn, and the tokens die at the end of the turn. The Black one will tap for two mana to exile a creature from your graveyard to make a 1/1 Spirit that's not flying, and the Green one will tap for four to surveil 2! The best one is the Blue land that taps for one to make the next spell you cast uncounterable! It's even good in Type Four to ensure your stuff gets past the multitude of counterspells.
#2. Venerated Stormsinger
Venerated Stormsinger has mobilize 1, and then when it or another dork you control dies? You drain a life from each foe, so that's another Zulaport Cutthroat for your consideration!
#1. Voice of Victory
This 2-drop White rare with a 1/3 body is next! Voice of Victory has mobilize two, and your foes cannot cast spells on your turn! Nasty good there. Very Hate Bear-esque. It's great to shut down counters and other interaction on your turn! But it cannot be answered once it resolves until their turn.
And there we go! I hope that you enjoyed this list and have an awesome-tastic day! See you next week!