As we move past Aetherdrift, it's time to look ahead at the sets that are on the way. While Aetherdrift may have felt more like un-set Mario Kart expansion than a Magic set, Tarkir: Dragonstorm is poised to satisfy those of us who have been longing for a return to the Medieval fantasy roots we associate with our beloved game.

At this point just over a dozen cards have been spoiled, so I'm going to engage in a tried and true tradition of Magic content creators: baseless speculation!

Today I'm going to go over ten cards you should know about and that you might want to pick up in advance of Tarkir: Dragonstorm hitting the shelves. I'm making educated guesses, and if my guesses are even close to accurate, you'll do well to have these cards sleeved up and ready to go.

These are my 10 cards to help prepare for a Dragonstorm.

I'll start off by asking what a fellow is to do if they are suddenly besieged by armies of flying threats. Your Goblins, Saprolings, Beasts, Bears, Wolves, and Brushwaggs are going to be facing off with creatures that are not only bigger, but can fly over them to hit you with ease.

One way to get through blockers is simply to sneak under them by using cards like Bower Passage and Dense Canopy. You'll have to be in Green to play these, but if you suddenly find yourself in a meta where everyone is Dragon crazy it'll be a fun surprise for your Dragon-loving tablemates. In reality they'll probably have a few non-flyers on their board, but these enchantments work just as well against Angels, Thopters, Birds and other flying blockers. In the case of Dense Canopy, your creatures need to not have flying, but Bower Passage affects all of your creatures whether they fly or not.

Dragonstorm is a card I'll get to in a moment, but the Tarkir: Dragonstorm spoilers already show the set has at least one card with the Storm keyword. I'm not bullish on the possibility that this set will have a bunch of other cards with storm, but what if it does? Stormscale Scion is a 4/4 Red Dragon that costs six mana, gives other Dragons you control +1/+1, and has storm so you'll get a copy of it for each spell cast before it that turn. It's a really neat card and one I'll be happy to throw into my Lathliss, Dragon Queen deck, but what if this set had a few other cards with storm on them? Storm is right there in the set's name, after all.

Whirlwind Denial is a rare three-mana counterspell that is worth running if you're in the right meta, and if you're seeing a lot of storm cards, you are definitely in the right meta. When you cast a spell with storm, you put copies of that spell on the stack equal to the number of spells cast before it that turn. Whirlwind Denial will counter each spell and ability on the stack controlled by your opponents unless they pay 4 mana. That's not 4 mana per spell or ability, but it's still nice to be able to flush a big pile of potential headaches right into the graveyard if the caster didn't leave up 4 mana.

If your opponent is storming off with instants and sorcery spells, whether those spells have the storm keyword or not, Flusterstorm may be exactly what you need. This one-mana instant will counter target instant or sorcery unless its controller pays 1 mana. That may not seem like much, but if someone combos off by putting a zillion instants on the stack, it will feel great to solve that problem for one measly Blue mana. Stormscale Scion won't be affected by Flusterstorm, but if Tarkir: Dragonstorm has other storm cards, this might be a counterspell worth remembering.

If you're not worried about storm, and you simply want to be able to block or remove all of those scaly flying threats, I don't blame you one bit. I'm not really that worried about storm and I am always a little worried about armies of Dragons or other flyers. I've got a few decks that create armies of Dragons and committing to the air can absolutely win games.

Archetype of Imagination is a six-mana Human Wizard with a very helpful party trick. He'll give all of your creatures flying and your opponents' creatures can't have or gain flying. Flying threats on your mind? No problem. Now your army is the flying threat!

If you aren't in Blue, or simply want to surgically remove all of the Dragons from play, Crux of Fate may be just what the doctor ordered. It's a five-mana modal Black sorcery spell that will let you either destroy all Dragon creatures or destroy all non-Dragon creatures. Just remember that if you're playing any changelings that have all creature types, they'll get caught up in the carnage as they are Dragons in addition to all of their many, many other creature types.

Sometimes it's best to just deal with all flyers, especially if you aren't playing a deck that has much in the way of flying threats. I've had what I thought was a sure win turned into utter defeat at the hands of Whiptongue Hydra just this past year. This Lizard Hydra not only destroys all creatures with flying, it also gets a +1/+1 counter for each creature destroyed this way.

Whirlwind is a four-mana sorcery that destroys all creatures with flying. It's a simple solution to a familiar problem for lots of decks that don't commit much to the air. I should probably be running it in a bunch of my decks that don't have creatures with reach or flying. I'm sure I've had lots of games that could have been won if I had a Whirlwind in hand at the right time. If you find yourself facing a few too many Dragon decks in the coming months, definitely consider picking up a copy or two.

If you aren't a fan of boardwipes or just don't like that some of these wraths only hit certain creatures, there's another option that I hesitate to mention.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

You can have your own Dragon army! With Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, you'll gain control of every Dragon in play, you'll untap them, and they will gain haste. This might not feel sporting, but Karrthus costs a whopping 7 mana and if you choose to run it as your commander you'll basically be daring anyone playing Dragons to try to kill you before you can play him and ruin their fun. More often than not, they'll just switch decks, because nobody wants to play Dragons against someone playing Karrthus. I've done it, but it was years ago and while I don't remember how the game went, I'd bet even money that I didn't win that match.

The elephant in the room with Tarkir: Dragonstorm is that there is a Magic card named Dragonstorm. It's a NINE-mana sorcery from Scourge that lets you tutor up a Dragon and put it into play. Also, it has storm. Dragonstorm isn't playable in any normal sense, but with just the right build it's possible to build up a storm count of 10 or more, cast Dragonstorm, and win the game. You don't even have to make infinite mana, though I'm sure that would make it easier to pay its nine-mana casting cost. My trick was to use Vadrik, Astral Archmage to reduce the casting cost of my instants and sorceries, but in Magic there's always another way to get the job done.

If you decide to pick up a copy of Dragonstorm, don't fool yourself into thinking it's going to be more than just a tutor for one or two Dragons unless you really plan out how you're going to build up that storm count and make all that mana. Back in the day I used to run it in janky Dragon decks and it was never playable until I specifically built a deck designed to turn it into a wincon.

I don't have any inside information on whether Dragonstorm is going to be in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, but I think there's a chance they'll throw it into the set just because of the name of the set. If it's in there, it might be that first card you pull out of one of the precon decks to make that precon more playable.

If I've piqued your interest on how I managed to get Dragonstorm to work in EDH, check out my column from October, 2021 here. It's a lot of fun, but you'll have a lot of turns where you do nothing, and ideally one turn where you pretty much play solitaire and then win. If you don't win on the turn you go off, you'll be well-positioned to swing for the win on your next turn if there isn't a boardwipe. It's the most fun Dragon deck I've ever built that doesn't have a Dragon in the common zone, and it's all centered around Dragonstorm.

Final Thoughts

In reality I do not think we're about to enter a season where everyone is playing nothing but Dragon decks and your enjoyment of the format is going to hinge on whether or not you have a Whirlwind in hand. Even the Tarkir: Dragonstorm precon decks are going to be the usual mix of non-flying and flying creatures, probably with a slight emphasis on Dragons. Every precon will have its share of Dragons, but we'll also see lots of other interesting cards. It's better that way, even if a deck that is simply chock full of Dragons can perform very well in EDH with the right build.

Last year I devoted a bunch of columns to Dragon decks, as 2024 was the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac. I planned to build all five of the Strixhaven legendary Dragons, but only ended up building three. I played them and enjoyed them a lot, and expect to keep Beledros Witherbloom and Shadrix Silverquill together for quite a while. Velomachus Lorehold has been fun too, but expect that one to come apart eventually to build something else. Somehow I never got around to building Tanazir Quandrix or Galazeth Prismari, but I also didn't happen to have or pick up a copy of either card.

Over the coming weeks I may share a few more Dragon decks before we launch into Tarkir: Dragonstorm previews. They're not all powerful, and less powerful decks aren't always quite as much fun, but it's important to try to play at the power of the table and that means having a few decks that are weaker than average.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!