MagicCon: Chicago kicks off later today, promising a weekend of Magic: The Gathering fun for all its lucky attendees. For those not among the fortunate few, the preview panel this afternoon, which will include a first look at Tarkir: Dragonstorm, is still good reason to get excited. That said, Magic players have never been too keen on waiting. This morning, ahead of the event itself, a Tarkir: Dragonstorm leak has revealed some key information.
While this isn’t a devastating, widespread leak like that experienced by Modern Horizons 3, it is still significant. It includes the first brand-new card we’ve seen from the set, as well as details on the Commander precons that’ll be accompanying it. Based on this small batch of information, it looks like Tarkir will be back with a bang come April.
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster
- Mana Value: URW
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Monk
- Stats: 3/4
- Card Text: At the beginning of your end step, you may discard your hand. If you do, draw cards equal to the number of spells you’ve cast this turn.
The most exciting part of the Tarkir: Dragonstorm leak this morning is undoubtedly Narset, Jeskai Waymaster. Though ‘leak’ may not be the right word in this case. According to King_Gex, who shared it on r/MagicTCG, the card was revealed during the Black Lotus VIP event for MagicCon: Chicago. This may make it an early spoiler rather than a leak, but the lines are hazy. In any case, we have a new card to talk about.
Narset is a character pretty much everyone expected for our return to Tarkir, as one of the most popular new additions during the original block. She started out as a planeswalker but has since been desparked, as we saw in Aftermath. This version is another creature take on Narset, and it’s very juicy.
As a three mana 3/4 Narset is immediately off to a great start. Being immune to three-damage removal is a big deal, and she shrugs off Cut Down too. Of course, the ability is where the real action is here. Narset lets you pitch your entire hand on your end step to draw a card for each spell you played that turn. This is an interesting take on a wheel effect and one that points to a spellslinger theme for the Jeskai faction in Dragonstorm.
In a deck full of cheap creatures and removal this ability can reload your hand every single turn, creating an unstoppable advantage. The fact that it gets to work the turn Narset comes down is fantastic too. The color-intensive mana cost is certainly a drawback but there’s a good chance we see the return of Fetchlands in Dragonstorm, which would solve that issue. I see this being a solid card for both Standard and Commander.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Decks Leak
Now onto the less-ambiguous part of the Tarkir: Dragonstorm leak: the Commander decks. This continues a trend we’ve seen recently. Specifically, retailers jumping the gun with regards to their Magic: The Gathering product listings. The decks were all listed online, on Amazon by the looks of it, alongside descriptions that reveal a bit more about them.
First of all, it looks like Tarkir: Dragonstorm is getting five Commander decks in total. This breaks a trend we’ve seen so far this year, of sets only having two precons each. In the case of Tarkir, this makes perfect sense. It’s always been a set defined by five factions, so having less than five decks would leave players disappointed.
In terms of the decks themselves, each features both a Khan and a Dragon as the two face Commanders. This reinforces the idea of a ‘unified timeline’ Tarkir that we’ve heard talk of before. This isn’t a plane dominated by Humans or Dragons, but rather one co-ruled by both. The names of all of the face Commanders are given in the leak, but aside from Narset and Zurgo there are no familiar faces. It’s worth noting that these face Commanders will be “Borderless foil” variants, which is a nice upgrade.
Gameplay-wise, there are no huge surprises here. The Jeskai deck is about casting lots of spells, Abzan is all about defenders, Sultai deals in self-mill, Mardu likes sacrificing tokens, and Temur wants to ramp into big Dragons. All of this was true back in original Tarkir block, and it remains true here. There’s no mention of specific mechanics here, but I reckon classics like Delve and Ferocious may well make an appearance.
A Spicy-Sounding Cycle
Finally, in less concrete news, the Tarkir: Dragonstorm leak also included some tasty new artwork from the set. This appears to have been revealed during the Black Lotus VIP event along with Narset. There are five new pieces in total, four of which we have full corresponding names for. By the looks of it, these pieces will be adorning a new ‘Dragonstorm Cycle’ in the set.
These pieces are named on-screen as Encroaching Dragonstorm, Teeming Dragonstorm, Roiling Dragonstorm, and Corrosive Dragonstorm. One of the pieces, the bottom-left in the image above, is as of yet unnamed. We don’t have any more concrete information to go on at present, but there’s certainly plenty of room for speculation.
Based on the cycle name, I’d expect these cards to be either powerful sorceries or enchantments. The latter would fit the idea of an ongoing storm nicely. All five are quite grandiose in scale, art-wise, so I’d imagine these are expensive cards all around. They’re also most likely Dragon support cards. For a Dragon-heavy set like this one, that would make a ton of sense.
Given that there are five of these in total, it stands to reason that there’s one for each Tarkir faction. Corrosive Dragonstorm sounds right up Sultai’s alley, but the rest are harder to place right now. Teeming for Temur would be cute linguistically, but flavor-wise that’s probably Mardu. I’d expect these cards to require all three colors of their corresponding faction to cast, in any case.
It’s impossible to say anything for sure about the Dragonstorm Cycle so far, but I think it’s safe to assume it’ll be a treat for Dragon Commander players. Perhaps all will be revealed at this afternoon’s preview panel. Stay tuned to find out!
