Between all the clans and Dragons flying around, there are plenty of themes, trends, and cycles in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Within the set, there’s also a series of cards that all share a similar trend across their casting cost. Unfortunately, these cards might be about to create some issues. Thanks to their double hybrid cost, these new cards can facilitate some hugely powerful interactions.
For better or worse, these new spells synergize perfectly with Up the Beanstalk, which really didn’t need any new toys. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Tarkir: Dragonstorm has provided.
A Series of Hybrid Cards
This mana value isn’t something we commonly see, but it’s a great way to create accessible Limited cards that reward you for being in the preferred colors. Even if you’re not in the right colors, these cards won’t be useless, you just have to pay a bit more for them. While they’re unlikely to be your pack-one-pick-one, these hybrid cards could provide some fantastic utility.
Outside of Limited, these cards also have some interesting applications in competitive Magic. This is thanks to cards having the highest possible mana value that you can pay for them. This means that Kin Tree Severance, despite being castable for three mana, technically has a mana value of six. As we mentioned earlier, this means it triggers Up the Beanstalk to draw you a card.
Many of the three-color uncommons have incredible synergy with Up the Beanstalk. Rakshasa’s Bargain, for instance, is a great way to refill your hand on the cheap, combined with Up the Beanstalk. Similarly, Defibrillating Current is a flexible removal spell hampered by its sorcery speed. Despite this downside, this card may still see play within Up the Beanstalk decks.
While the noncreature spells are more interesting to use with Up the Beanstalk, there are creature variants with the hybrid mana value as well. These don’t create as much raw value as the noncreature hybrid cards, but they do have some other synergies which could cause them to see some constructed play.
Synergies with Neoform
As if one synergy wasn’t enough, these hybrid-cost creatures also synergize incredibly well with Neoform-esque effects. Since the mana value of these cards is technically six, Neoform can go and fetch a seven mana creature for your library for just two mana. Eldritch Evolution could make this a new bizarre Pioneer deck. The strategy is likely too slow for the Modern format.
Now, any of these three mana creatures can be turned into Atraxa, Grand Unifier with little effort. Thanks to Delve, this sort of strategy was already viable in Pioneer, although it’s rarely been a tier one archetype. Now, however, those decks won’t be restricted to running spells that fill their graveyard first.
The options you have to pull this off aren’t too bad, either. Temur Tawnyback offers a loot on a reasonable body in Neoform’s colors, which can help find the other half of the combo. Monastery Messenger can recur Neoform from the grave to the top of your deck, but you’ll need to stretch your mana to cast it efficiently.
Gurmag Nightwatch might be the best of the options for a Neoform deck. Not only is this card in Neoform and Eldritch Evolution’s colors, but it also offers card selection and mills cards into your graveyard. This could enable a hybrid style of deck that uses both these hybrid cards and Delve cards.
Secretly the Best?
When I first looked at Riverwheel Sweep, I wasn’t impressed. After thinking about it a bit, however, I think this could be a very efficient card, especially alongside Up the Beanstalk.
In Limited, Riverwheel Sweep is likely great. Locking down a creature for a few turns and Impulse drawing with card selection is a great effect. Even in constructed formats, if you’re running a slower strategy, Riverwheel sweep does everything you want it to. The card doubles as card advantage and gives you a ton of time.
The only question against this card is if its sorcery speed is too much of a dampener. You would also need to play four colors to enable Up the Beanstalk and Riverwheel Sweep, but thanks to Overlords, that probably isn’t too difficult to do.
The Below-Rate Card
While the hybrid mana value of these cards offers the opportunity for some interesting shenanigans, there’s one card whose effects make them a bit more undesirable. Reigning Victor isn’t a terrible MTG card, especially in Limited, but it’s aggressive. Since a lot of the desired interactions promote slower (with Up the Beanstalk) or combo-based gameplay, Reigning Victor may not be the most popular choice.
Reigning Victor doesn’t share any colors with Neoform, and doesn’t have a trigger that will help you get closer to performing your combo, or keeping your hand stocked up. The card also isn’t aggressive enough to see play outside of using it for a shenanigans that the other cards aren’t equipped to do.
Notably, the Abzan creature variant of this cycle has not been spoiled as of the writing of this article, but since it’s off-color for Neoform shenanigans, it would have to be very powerful to warrant seeing play.
A Very Fun Common and Uncommon Cycle
The hybrid mana cards, in my opinion, are really fun designs for Limited that could have competitive applications. It’s normal for some uncommon and common cards to cause a ripple in competitive play, but it’s rare for an entire cycle to catch the attention of players. This could cause lots of brewing in the early days of Tarkir: Dragonstorm.