Welcome back, Loreseekers! Today I'm going to tackle some of my favorite flavor from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, along with some things I just think are interesting. Tarkir means a lot to a lot of people, and I think the worldbuilding is significantly better this time around, so let's dive in.

Worldbuilding Updates

I won't be going into all the changes to modern Tarkir, so if you want to know more, make sure to read the great worldbuilding articles about it:

• Planeswalker's Guide to Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Part 1
• Planeswalker's Guide to Tarkir: Dragonstorm Part 2
• The Legends of Tarkir: Dragonstorm

One of the first things I want to talk about is what's new with this updated Tarkir. An effort was made to make this more of a 'dragon plane' while removing the Dragonlords, but it's the cultural updates that I think really make this set shine.

Monk Token by ?Elizabeth Peiro?

Let's talk first of all about how the outfits of the new clans reflect the world. The reality is, putting aside every other cultural concern from the original Tarkir block: the outfits were drab. The first thing Dragonstorm does is add color and patterning to outfits. Take the art of the monk token above. In the original Tarkir, a Jeskai or Ojutai monk would simply be wearing white and blue robes. Now the outfit has accents, wave-like patterns, and more detail.

Rampart Architect by Eelis Kyttanen

Now let's look at the Abzan. The original Abzan and the Dromoka were largely muddy colors: browns, golds, tans, and maybe some silver. The new Abzan are much more colorful, they're purple and green with gold trim (a similar move away from stereotypical 'desert dweller' attire happened for the Fallaji in The Brothers' War). The soldiers have armor motifs that look like faces (probably the most controversial change, but more importantly we see the clans outside of their warriors more than we had before, giving the feeling of more fully developed cultures.

Eshki Dragonclaw by Tran Nguyen

The Temur similarly got an update with significantly more color and patterns, but done in a way that makes it clear there's a different culture at work in the designs here than the other clans. Again, a significant upgrade from the drab brown and tan furs of the Atarka and original Temur.

Hundred-Battle Veteran by Wayne Wu

The Sultai similarly got art revamps, moving away from yellow peril-y stereotypes and embracing the South-East Asian themes with less of the 'scheming fu manchu-like villains' among them. Mostly, all of these changes show that the world has moved beyond survival mode and that these five factions are distinct cultures beyond war. But I don't have the word count to go into everything, so let's move on to some of the creature type updates.

The first thing you might notice about the non-human creatures this time around is that they're showing up in more clans than they used to. Orcs, once mostly Mardu with a few Abzan, are in all five colors and show up in the Temur (Temur Battlecrier) and Jeskai (Jeskai Brushmaster). Djinn are also five color, and now show up among the Abzan (Severance Priest). Notably, the Efreet are gone, a change made awhile back, with Pinnacle Monk being made a Djinn. It's not clear if the fiery version of Djinn will reappear, in-lore they've distanced themselves from the Ojutai and may not immediately return to the Jeskai.

The Ainok, our beloved dogfolk, have also seen some changes. They're based on more dog breeds (although more traditional-looking ones still remain among the clans, like Abzan Devotee or Ainok Wayfarer.) Equilibrium Adept is an Akita or Shiba Inu inspired Ainok among the Jeskai, while Arbor Adherent and Ainok Strike Leader seem to be Mastiffs of some kind. Similarly, Tarkiri aven have added a Kingfisher to their ranks with Kishla Skimmer and a duck in Will of the Jeskai, adding some color to the vultures, hawks, and cranes we've seen before.

Frontline Rush by Filipe Pagluso

Goblins have gotten a bit of an art direction updated, while there are still fundamentally two types of goblins: the blue with white fur mountain goblins and the red with dark fur steppes version, they've both been updated to have tusks and slightly different hairstyles to evoke 'demon' artistic stylizations. Also, we see Jeskai goblins now in Devoted Duelist! We also see the Rakshasa this time around are following up on the changes seen in Tarkir remastered and hewing closer to their hindu roots.

Now let's turn to some of the more unique new creatures we see this time around. Like Tempest Hawk, Salt Road Packbeast features a scaled, dragonified dromary (like a camel). Mardu Siegebreaker, Zurgo's Vanguard, and Ainok Strike Leader show off new Mardu mounts, birds, spiders, and cats (called Manul) respectively. Temur Battlecrier shows off a new tusked pony of some kind, which might be a young Temur Tawnyback, another new Ice Age-y inspired creature. The Abzan's new creatures are shown in Salt Road Skirmish and Felothar the Steadfast, with some sort of scaled pangolin-like creature. And of course Formation Breaker features a not-rhino creature smashing enemy lines.

Callbacks

I've spent a lot of space talking about worldbuilding updates so let's dive right into the callbacks here. Smile at Death is a callback to Alesha, Who Smiles At Death, the Mardu khan from the Fate Reforged era. Tempest Hawk references the infamous card Squadron Hawk, which while not from Tarkir is certainly a heck of a reference. Summit Intimidator calls back to the yeti from the original block, like Summit Prowler. Shock Brigade seems like a callback to Ponyback Brigade. Wild Ride shows off the Tarkir goblins snowboarding habits, as seen in Goblinslide and Mardu Scout.

Champion of Dusat is a reference to Muay Thai, a famous Southeast Asian martial art. Krotiq Nestguard is one of the giant centipedes seen in things like Ambush Krotiq and Segmented Krotiq. Sagu Pummeler is a nod to the yeti-like Sagu Mauler. Bone-Cairn Butcher features a skeleton of a Butcher of the Horde. Dragonclaw Strike calls back to the Temur leader's tendency to hit real good in stuff like Savage Punch and Epic Confrontation. And finally Dragonstorm Forecaster calls back to Renowned Weaponsmith and its ability to fetch one of two different cards.

Clan Dragons

Jeskai Shrinkeeper by Andrew Mar

While Tarkir: Dragonstorm features a host of new dragon designs, the classic broods (and broods inspired by them) are absolutely still around. You can see a Dromoka brood dragon in Armament Dragon, Kolaghan brood in All Out Assault, Barrensteppe Siege, and Sonic Shrieker, an Ojutai brood in Frostcliff Siege as well as a 'new' clan dragon clearly closely related to the Ojutai in Jeskai Shrinekeeper. While I didn't spot any classic Atarka dragons, Karakyk Guardian is a golden version of them. And finally we also see what appears to be Silumgar brood variant in Kheru Goldkeeper.

Sagas

If you've been following me for any length of time, you probably know that sagas are one of my favorite card types for lore. A really well done saga both tells you a story important to a culture, and tells you ABOUT that culture with what the diegetic medium is. Let's see where Tarkir: Dragonstorm's sagas land!

Awaken the Honored Dead is clearly inspired by hindu and buddhist temples, which, I should note, are what Angkor Wat and other similar Khmer temple ruins are. The depiction appears to be the new kind of Sibsig, an honored dead (probably Kotis, the Fangkeeper), built on the backs of the undead unfairly used and abused by the Sultai and Silumgar of the past.

Rediscover the Way appears to be chinese Guohua, a type of calligraphic art style. In it, we see Narset depicted with Dragonlord Ojutai below and Shiko, Paragon of the Way above, probably representing Narset's choice between her loyalty to Ojutai and dedication to the truth.

Revival of the Ancestors is a mosaic depicting a stylized kin-tree and ancestor spirit, symbolizing the rediscovery of the kin-trees and the Abzan embracing their ancestor magic in a way they hadn't in centuries.

Roar of Endless Song is a stitching, probably on a piece of clothing (not unlike Eshki Dragonclaw's, showing the Temur praising Ureni, the Endless Song. And finally, Thunder of Unity appears to be a piece of worked iron, possibly a buckle or a piece of ornamented armor, that features Neriv, Heart of the Storm and Zurgo Stormrender coming together to build the new Mardu.

Continuity Error

Since I've been asked about these more than a few times, I want to note that Kin-Tree Severance and Sandsteppe Citadel seem to refer to events in the Khans of Tarkir timeline, not the current one based on Dragons of Tarkir. Specifically, the Abzan side stories featuring Anafenza. In Dragons of Tarkir, Oret was a hero and Gvar Barzeel was a Mardu warrior who died. Issues like this are why Magic avoids time travel whenever possible: Tarkir cards are a prime spot for errors, like how Taigam, Sidisi's Hand has a Silumgar clan tattoo, and not a Sultai one. Whoops! At this point it's a time honored tradition to have a minor error or two around Tarkir.

With that, I'll see you again in Edge of Eternities!