Tarkir: Dragonstorm has only been out for a little over a week, and it’s already had a massive impact on the Standard format. Players thought that this set might be powerful, but few had expected it’d break the established metagame this much. Cori-Steel Cutter, for instance, is now everywhere, thanks to Izzzet Prowess, firmly cementing itself as a top contender. Adaptation, however, continues.
A recent Standard challenge was dominated by new and old archetypes using new Tarkir: Dragonstorm cards. The most interesting among these is an entirely new archetype using a massive seven-mana instant from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Jeskai Revolution has officially entered the Standard format alongside a bunch of friends. While this is the flashiest new inclusion in the Jeskai Dragons deck, Shiko, Paragon of the Way is the most important.
Jeskai Dragons
A new Jeskai Control list made a grand debut in the hands of MTG Streamer Kanister, placing in the top four of yesterday’s Standard Challenge. Utilizing a bunch of new Tarkir: Dragonstorm payoffs to accrue significant value, this control deck is something that Standard hasn’t quite seen before.
Currently dubbed Jeskai Dragons thanks to the inclusion of four copies of Shiko, Paragon of the Way, this new controlling Jeskai deck uses a bunch of removal targeted at the current meta to slow the game down and, eventually, take it over. Offering a copy of a smaller noncreature spell and a solid attacking and blocking body, Shiko, Paragon of the Way, can shut the door quickly for aggro and midrange decks.
To reveal the value of Shiko, we must first look at the cards that it can re-cast. Shiko creates additional value with almost every smaller spell in the deck in some shape, way or form. Lightning Helix is great against all of the aggressive strategies. Removing a creature and gaining life is almost a two-for-one. Abrade may seem like a strange inclusion, but Cori-Steel Cutter is now all over Standard, and excels against slower decks like this, so removing it is a top priority.
An even better answer to Cori-Steel Cutter than Abrade is Temporary Lockdown. Not only will Lockdown deal with the Cutter, but it gets rid of all the creature tokens it created, as well.
Get Lost and Torch the Tower round out the removal suite that Shiko can re-cast from your graveyard, but there is another spell that Shiko can re-cast. Rediscover the Way offers two Anticipates for three mana, which is a great deal as long as you have the time to get the value out of it. Otherwise, a full playset of Stock Up will ensure that you have more than enough ways to keep up in grinder games.
The only spells that you don’t want to cast with Shiko in this deck are Three Steps Ahead and Dispelling Exhale. Three Steps Ahead, specifically, is quite poor with Shiko thanks to how Spree spells interact with free casting. While Dispelling Exhale is not a great card to cast with Shiko, it does empower the counterspell by triggering Behold, making it otherwise great on-curve.
Other New Finishers
While Shiko appears to be the glue that bridges cards from the early game to the midgame and turns the corner, sometimes you need an extra push to get ahead of slower decks in the Standard metagame. Up the Beanstalk is a difficult card to fight in an attrition game, after all.
This is where the new Tarkir: Dragonstorm cards Jeskai Revolution and Marang River Regent come into play. Jeskai Revolution goes over the top better than any other instant or sorcery in the format. You get to remove a threat, gain life, draw cards, and create your own scaling threats. With seven mana to utilize on your next turn, those monks have a good chance of dealing massive damage.
Otherwise, Marang River Regent plays an interesting role in this deck. Not only can you use the card to continually accrue card advantage, but it adds an additional Dragon for Dispelling Exhale. Of course, if you cast Marang River Regent as a creature, it easily has the potential to take over the board.
Weaknesses
Jeskai Dragons appears to have a lot of boxes checked. This deck brings removal optimized to take on aggressive decks, it easily outvalues Midrange, and it should be able to keep up with Up the Beanstalk decks. Playing Jeskai Dragons may be an absolute slam dunk in the current Standard metagame, with a few exceptions.
This deck likely has an abhorrent matchup against Omniscience combo, which also has some new tools from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Marang River Regent and Roiling Dragonstorm make discarding Omniscience easier than ever.
That brings the second type of deck that can give this control deck an issue: off-meta tempo strategies. Jeskai Oculus matches up really well into the removal suite that this Jeskai Dragons is using. Abhorrent Oculus is very difficult to remove with Lightning Helix and Abrades. Even if you do manage to get rid of it, Helping Hand easily brings it back. Combine this with combo-ish interactions between cards like Fear of Missing Out and Proft’s Eidetic Memory, and the winning Jeskai Oculus list packs a bunch of threats that this specific deck wasn’t prepared for.
Not being able to answer everything is normal for control decks. Successful ones are generally constructed as an antithesis to an expected metagame. While this can lead to impressive results most of the time, an off-meta deck can really throw off your gameplan. While the sideboard can help with this somewhat, it’s hard to have an answer for absolutely everything.
The good news is, if Jeskai Oculus rises, the removal suite in Jeskai Dragons can shift to address it. Omniscience Combo, admittedly, seems very difficult to fix. That said, while the deck sees consistent results, it is not considered one of the best decks in the format.
A Breath of Fresh Air
Jeskai Dragons certainly seems like a new Standard kid on the block with some strong potential. It’s great to see some of the new Dragons make a real impact on the Standard format. Whether or not the deck will stay is tough to know for sure. Tarkir: Dragonstorm has had such a significant impact on the Standard format that we may see a larger shift. This is a breath of much-needed fresh air for the stale format, but it makes the future difficult to predict.