Tarkir: Dragonstorm is here at last, and today marks the official end of preview season! The Clans - and the khans - return once more alongside the all-new spirit dragons for an awesome new take on the beloved plane. With preview season coming to a close, there's a whole ton of sweet cards to talk about, so let's jump right in and take a look at some of the more exciting ones!

The New Hotness

Decayed makes a small one-off return with Rot-Curse Rakshasa. This cheap beater is a veritable house and has already had people debating ways to make it work. For example, it's fully possible to get in an unblocked attack with it and then ninjutsu in Kaito, Bane of Nightmares after it deals damage. Mardu Siegebreaker provides another option, allowing you to get a fresh copy every turn, making the decayed aspect irrelevant.

On the more casual side, Call the Spirit Dragons caused a bit of a stir. The card represented a natural fit for dragon-heavy decks such as The Ur-Dragon and Scion of the Ur-Dragon. However, the need for only five dragons to meet the win-the-game clause was compared to Coalition Victory, a card so easy to meet its requirements that it's currently banned in the format. This is sure to be a staple of five-color dragon decks going forward, so make sure to get a copy if you're looking to play one of those decks!

When Khans of Tarkir first released, the laughably bad Meandering Towershell became a lasting meme in the Magic community. Ambling Stormshell is an apparent callback to this card, utilizing stun counters to show its slowness rather than exiling it for a turn. This naturally got a lot of people talking, with some additional speculation and discussion coming up surrounding the implications of the untap ability.

The Latest Commander Cards

As is usual with most sets these days, the Commander decks also offered some cool new designs. Steward of the Harvest turned a lot of heads with its rather unique ability. You can exile up to three lands from your graveyard to give all of your creatures their abilities. Most of the time this is going to be caring mainly about mana, but how about turning your creatures into Stone Rains with Wasteland or Strip Mine? Fogs with Maze of Ith? Even something iffy like Shivan Gorge gets a lot better when it's an effect tacked onto several creatures at once.

Deceptive Frostkite also had a lot of people talking about how much nonsense it could get up to. While it doesn't do much in the early game, it comes down cheaply and can create powerful swings in games. Consider copying a Titan, a Craterhoof Behemoth, an Avenger of Zendikar, a Gearhulk, or any other big non-legendary creature. This card does a lot and is almost certain to become a staple of various decks going forward.

It's always a big deal when Storm shows up, just look at the hype behind Stormscale Scion for proof of this. Tempest Technique provides multiple copies of an Ethereal Armor-like effect for just four mana. While it require a lot of setup to get off the ground, even just getting a small handful of copies out of this can have a monumental impact on any game it shows up in. Better pack those copies of Tranquility!

Awesome Reprints

As of the time of writing the only major reprints shown off in the main set were the tapped tri-lands and Craterhoof Behemoth. Since then, the full set has dropped, and likely with some cool reprints as well. However, while writing this, I don't know what these are and am instead focusing on the cool reprints in the Commander decks!

Several high profile Commander staples are packed here into these decks. Cards like Grand Crescendo, Seedborn Muse, Command Beacon, Lord of Extinction, Divine Visitation, and more all make showings with this set, providing some serious value to the decks.

There's even some pretty solid Constructed players in here as well. Dauthi Voidwalker is a favorite of older non-rotating formats like Modern and Legacy while Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is a mainstay of Pioneer Humans lists. Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is perhaps the most surprising, as he shows up in Standard sometimes to this day and once commanded a $30 price tag for how powerful he was in the format.

Finally, a handful of cards received fantastic Tarkir themed art. Life from the Loam gets a fitting new Sultai coat of paint to go along with the card named Afterlife from the Loam in the same deck. Skullclamp sees an adorably clueless Tarkir goblin sporting the helm while Narset's Reversal provides new artwork to this first time reprint. Gravecrawler, Casualties of War, and Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper help round out some of the cool new arts these Commander reprints have to offer.

Additional Resources

If you'd like more information on this set, check out the following links to various official resources from Wizards of the Coast:

• Tarkir: Dragonstorm official card image gallery
• Where to Find Tarkir: Dragonstorm Previews
• Collecting Tarkir: Dragonstorm
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm Mechanics
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm story

That wraps up Tarkir: Dragonstorm previews! This set looks like it's going to be awesome for a variety of formats, with several cool cards poised to make an impact. I'll be back next week to talk more about the set with my usual Pauper set review, so be sure to check that out on Wednesday, April 2nd. Prereleases for the set take place next weekend starting Friday, April 4th. If you're looking for something in particular, might I suggest checking out the CoolStuffInc.com Tarkir: Dragonstorm page? There's tons of items in stock ranging from singles to supplies, so pick up what you need and get ready to experience the world of Tarkir all over again next week!

Paige Smith

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