Breaching DragonstormBreaching Dragonstorm | art by Justine Jones

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What plane are we on now? Tarkir! Oh, this is gonna be sick. I've only been playing Magic since 2019, but my introduction to the game was the Kadena, Slinking SorcererKadena, Slinking Sorcerer commander deck, and I remember thinking that the Sultai were the coolest thing ever, with their shifting schemes. Though the morph mechanic, the central them of that deck, didn't originate on Tarkir, it did become a big aspect of the plane, so I'm looking forward t0 seeing if it makes a return. Are the Sultai gonna be just as cool as they used to be? I haven't spoiled this set for myself, so I'm going in blind. Are you as excited as I am?

Multicolored

Host of the HereafterHost of the Hereafter

What's this? Reyhan, Last of the AbzanReyhan, Last of the Abzan on an uncommon? Yup, that's pretty much exactly what it is, except Host of the HereafterHost of the Hereafter works with every counter. Although this version is a mana more expensive, it makes up for it by functioning with -1/-1 counters, keyword counters, and everything else.

A card like this is used for saving your counters from disappearing while allowing you to manipulate their location and abuse the doubling effects that are plentiful in counter decks. If you're playing a deck that involves counters and creatures dying, you want this card. Ghave, Guru of SporesGhave, Guru of Spores, Mazirek, Kraul Death PriestMazirek, Kraul Death Priest, Kathril, Aspect WarperKathril, Aspect Warper, every creepy insect commander ever would kill for this. And Reyhan, Last of the AbzanReyhan, Last of the Abzan especially wants it. Reyhan herself is phrased: "Put that many +1/+1 counters on target creature," while Host of the HereafterHost of the Hereafter says: "Put it's counters on up to one target creature," meaning that in tandem, they double the amount of counters that exist every time a creature dies.

And the best part? Host of the HereafterHost of the Hereafter is a legal pauper commander. You can bet you'll be seeing a deck tech on this one.

Glacial DragonhuntGlacial Dragonhunt

Hmm, ok, this card's not quite as flashy as the previous one, but it's a card that has value in it's reliable utility. For two mana, drawing and discarding a card isn't anything spectacular, but when combined with light removal, I think it'll be worth the price. Yeah, neither ability is great on it's own, but being able to do both in one fell stroke is pretty handy. Especially when you can do that twice, thanks to Harmonize, which is basically flashback. In this case, it's only if you control a creature with power four or greater that you can cast Glacial DragonhuntGlacial Dragonhunt for it's original cost, but if your commander meets that requirement, you'll be able to do that most of the time.

Overall, I think this is a card worth checking out if your deck doesn't have enough space for both Lightning BoltLightning Bolt and OptOpt.

Kheru GoldkeeperKheru Goldkeeper

Woah, ok so here we have a Sultai card that cares about the graveyard, and treasure? I love the design of this card. It's thematically in line with it's color combination, but it introduces something that BUG doesn't see much, treasure tokens. This opens up opportunities to have artifact synergies while focusing on the graveyard. Already, I can imagine a flashback deck that gets refunds on it's spells, or something that involves looping Myr RetrieverMyr Retriever and Junk DiverJunk Diver. There's a ton of synergy to be had, and I'm certain this thing summons engines out of thin air. Plus, it combos really easily with GravecrawlerGravecrawler.

Unfortunately, I can't really think of a deck that this fits neatly into, but it is an uncommon creature, so you can bet I'll be building around this one in an article as well.

White

Dalkovan PackbeastsDalkovan Packbeasts

Oh, this is cute, an Ox that summons a few soldiers ever time it attacks. Hold up, it summons three of them? Every turn? And the only requirement is that it attacks? If you're not understanding why that's kinda crazy, take a look at BitterblossomBitterblossom. For two mana, it sticks around and summons a faerie every single turn. And it created one of the most competitive standard decks of all time back when Lorwyn came out. In commander, you can do anything you want with the BitterblossomBitterblossom faeries, and most often, you choose to sacrifice them to something like Village RitesVillage Rites. We can do the exact same thing with Dalkovan PackbeastsDalkovan Packbeasts, sacrificing the tokens to something like Goblin BombardmentGoblin Bombardment. Except we can do it three times in a turn!

This card is clearly fantastic in any Boros deck with anthems, that can turn the soliders into raw damage, either by buffing them up, or sacrificing them to some greater cause.

Duty Beyond DeathDuty Beyond Death

Ok, I know, there are like a million cards that give all you creatures indestructible. Unbreakable FormationUnbreakable Formation, Rootborn DefensesRootborn Defenses, Make a StandMake a Stand, there's even a free version in the form of Flawless ManeuverFlawless Maneuver. But hear me out. This one also buffs all your creatures, allowing for a huge crackback after your opponents have attacked with everything. The likelihood of this card to swing games is huge. And you didn't need that solider anyways. For just two mana, this card is a steal.

Tempest HawkTempest Hawk

Oh, they made another one of these cards! In the past, every card with the text "A deck can have any number of cards named _____" has been extremely exciting. They tend to allow for some very unconventional deckbuilding. And this one is... Extremely mediocre. Whenever Tempest HawkTempest Hawk hits a player, you get to find another one? That you have to cast? Uh, ok, I can see how that becomes a threat, but it's so very slow. All you're gonna be doing is playing Tempest HawkTempest Hawks over and over again, and for what? You could just fill your deck with much better three drops, and draw them normally. I honestly can't think of a single reason why you would build a deck around these birds.

Blue

Essence AnchorEssence Anchor

Just like Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arena, Essence AnchorEssence Anchor is a very solid card. Although there's clearly a big difference between drawing a card and surveilling, don't underestimate reliable card selection. Just getting the opportunity to improve the card you draw every single turn can really ramp up the quality of your turns. And hey, if you can access your graveyard, technically, Essence AnchorEssence Anchor is also card advantage. Oh but wait, you're definitely gonna be able to do that, because this card cares a lot about the graveyard with it's second ability. Whenever a card leaves the cemetery, you get to make a zombie? That shouldn't be hard to do at all! We were just talking about Kheru GoldkeeperKheru Goldkeeper, and it seems like these two were meant to go together. Flashback, Unearth, the new Harmonize ability, and a hundred other mechanics will all allow you to activate this card every turn. Frankly, if you can't make a zombie every turn with Essence AnchorEssence Anchor, you're building your deck wrong.

Fresh StartFresh Start

Nothing like a fresh start, huh? Probably not what your opponents will be saying when you cast this card. This card is the perfect way to deal with an opponent's commander. It's pretty similar to LignifyLignify in that it reduces the power of a creature significantly, creating an ineffective attacker along with stripping away abilities, but it doesn't have the indestructibility of Darksteel MutationDarksteel Mutation. That leaves it as a second choice to other cards, but it's still a strong removal spell for all sorts of things.

If I had to rank all of these prison effects, I would put Imprisoned in the MoonImprisoned in the Moon first, followed by Darksteel MutationDarksteel Mutation, then Witness ProtectionWitness Protection. OublietteOubliette earns fourth place as an extremely effective way to deal with commanders, despite appearing more like Oblivion RingOblivion Ring. Then, I would put LignifyLignify, Fresh StartFresh Start, Kasmina's TransmutationKasmina's Transmutation, and FrogifyFrogify all together in fifth place. But play however many you think you need!

Kishla TrawlersKishla Trawlers

Ok, until now, ArchaeomancerArchaeomancer has been the best creature that returns instants and sorceries from your graveyard to your hand. Eternal WitnessEternal Witness is better, of course, but most decks that want this effect aren't running green. So ArchaeomancerArchaeomancer has been the card you'd pick. But does Kishla TrawlersKishla Trawlers change that? It's a mana cheaper and does the same thing, as long as you can exile a creature card from your graveyard. Oh. Yeah, that's not super easy to do in a deck focused on instants and sorceries. Most decks that want ArchaeomancerArchaeomancer are not going to have enough creatures in the graveyard to fuel Kishla Trawlers, especially when blinking it multiple times. For the most decks, I'd rather pay one more mana.

Black

Desperate MeasuresDesperate Measures

Oh, cool is this a new Corrupted ConvictionCorrupted Conviction and Village RitesVillage Rites? I think it is. Yeah, it doesn't let you sacrifice any creature to draw two cards, but let's be real, 90% of the time, you're sacrificing a creature with one toughness. Casting Desperate MeasuresDesperate Measures will almost always have the same result as casting the other two. I mean, if you really think that you're not always gonna be sacrificing 1/1's, then don't run this card. But most of my decks that run Corrupted ConvictionCorrupted Conviction and Village RitesVillage Rites would be very happy to have what is essentially a third copy.

Strategic BetrayalStrategic Betrayal

This is a card that will have moments where it devastates your opponent and wins you the game, and it'll also have moments where it does absolutely nothing. I'm no stranger to edicts, as I've been fond of Diabolic EdictDiabolic Edict for a long time. And this card essentially does the same thing, but it also exiles your opponents graveyard. In some cases, this will be game ending, other times, it'll exile a Rampant GrowthRampant Growth and a saproling. Now, you can always optimize this card's performance by using it against the right opponent, like the one who only has Kresh the BloodbraidedKresh the Bloodbraided on their board. But it's not going to be easy to find an opponent who has both a single meaningful creature on the board and a stacked graveyard.

And of course, this card is only a sorcery. An interesting card, but ultimately disappointing.

Worthy CostWorthy Cost

What was that other black removal card I reviewed from Duskmourn? Final VengeanceFinal Vengeance? One mana, requires you to sacrifice a creature, exiles target creature, sick art? Yeah, these two are basically the same card. The only difference is that Worthy CostWorthy Cost doesn't give you the opportunity to sacrifice an enchantment, but allows you to exile a planeswalker. And my conclusion is basically the same. If you need to sacrifice creatures, to trigger Meren of Clan Nel TothMeren of Clan Nel Toth of something, then this card is good, but otherwise, stick to instant speed removal.

Red

Breaching DragonstormBreaching Dragonstorm

This card is part of a cycle I haven't touched on yet, the Dragonstorms. Given that the set is named after them, you'd think they'd be more exciting, but nope. Breaching DragonstormBreaching Dragonstorm is the only interesting one. Basically, each Dragonstorm is an enchantment with an ETB that bounces itself everytime you cast a dragon. Sounds cool, until you realize that they do the most generic things they could possibly do. The blue one draws you cards. The green one ramps you. Woah! Yeah, it's not super interesting. The red one however, has a bit of potential. I mean, anything that casts spells for free has potential. Unfortunately this card is limited to spells with mana value eight or less. But hey, if your deck has a ton of eight drops in it, Breaching DragonstormBreaching Dragonstorm could do numbers.

Shocking SharpshooterShocking Sharpshooter

This card is making me feel like this set might be unnecessarily underpowered. I was excited to see a card similar to Impact TremorsImpact Tremors, cause I use that card all the time, but this one is extremely nerfed. First of all, it's a creature, meaning it's easy to remove. Then, it only deals damage to one opponent at a time. What? Why? That's a third of the damage that Witty RoastmasterWitty Roastmaster does. Yeah, it's a mana cheaper, but that doesn't make it playable. This card's a disappointment when it didn't need to be.

Overwhelming SurgeOverwhelming Surge

Abrade but it costs one more mana? Except you can choose both modes? Ok, I'm on board. AbradeAbrade is definitely one of my favorite modal removal spells, because I use both modes with almost equal frequency. There's always some problematic artifact, and there's always some tiny utility creature that the board state could do without. So yeah, I'd totally be willing to pay one more mana and get both modes. The only problem is that Overwhelming SurgeOverwhelming Surge can't deal with artifact creatures. To be fair, the only artifact that can't be destroyed in the top 60 most played artifacts is Phyrexian MetamorphPhyrexian Metamorph, but I play against my friend's Imotekh the StormlordImotekh the Stormlord deck pretty often, and losing the ability to destroy most of his deck definitely hurts. Still, I won't completely dismiss this card. Overall, I think it's quite useful.

Green

Encroaching DragonstormEncroaching Dragonstorm

I said that the green Dragonstorm card is boring, and I stand by that. But I won't say it's bad. This is basically an Explosive VegetationExplosive Vegetation, and while that card has become slightly outdated, it's still very playable. Encroaching DragonstormEncroaching Dragonstorm is just as playable, and it's also an enchantment. You know what decks love to ramp? Enchantment decks. Enchantment decks are always trying to snowball, and that involves getting a lot of mana. So having an Explosive VegetationExplosive Vegetation that also triggers Sythis, Harvest's HandSythis, Harvest's Hand is massive.

Heritage ReclamationHeritage Reclamation

Ok, I might have to take back what I said about this set being underpowered, cause here we have have a strictly better Return to NatureReturn to Nature. It does the exact same thing, but when you choose the graveyard hate option, it also draws you a card. Well, ok, I guess I have to replace Return to NatureReturn to Nature in all my decks now. I still think I would rather play Collective ResistanceCollective Resistance, but yeah, Heritage ReclamationHeritage Reclamation absolutely takes second place. There's not much more to say than that.

Rainveil RejuvenatorRainveil Rejuvenator

So, if you've every played a deck that cares about +1/+1 counters, you know the ability, "Add mana equal to this creature's power," is very good. Marwyn, the NurturerMarwyn, the Nurturer and Viridian JoinerViridian Joiner are both cheaper than Rainveil RejuvenatorRainveil Rejuvenator, but hey, one more mana isn't that much when you're gonna be tapping it for like a million. This card goes pretty much everywhere that those other two would've gone, and might be worth considering in some graveyard decks for that mill ability. It would probably suit a commander like Varolz, the Scar-StripedVarolz, the Scar-Striped, that uses the graveyard to scale up your creatures.

Well, that's the budget side of Tarkir Dragonstorm. There's a lot of mediocre stuff in here, as there is in every set, but I think it's relatively balanced by a few really cool cards. Kheru GoldkeeperKheru Goldkeeper in particular has my eye. Already I can see combination of cards forming that have never been put together before. I hope y'all are as excited as I am to see what a pauper Kheru GoldkeeperKheru Goldkeeper deck looks like!