The spoiler season for Tarkir: Dragonstorm has finally concluded. Now, it’s finally time to start looking over the set’s best cards and get to brewing ahead of the set’s release. Well, it will be in a few days, at least, as upcoming bans threaten to mix up the metagames for multiple formats. Thankfully, even before these bans happen, there are still some new and exciting cards that are well worth paying attention to.
Iridiscent Tiger
So long as you cast it, Iridiscent Tiger is a free 3/4. At the very least, this will be very useful in Limited, so long as you have extra cards to play. After all, getting a decently sized extra body for nothing is very hard to complain about.
Outside of adding another body to the board, Iridiscent Tiger will undoubtedly play a very important role within Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited. So long as you’re in red already, this tiger offers you perfect fixing for whatever spell you want to cast. Given the number of three-color cards in the set, this is hugely valuable.
Beyond just fixing your mana, Iridiscent Tiger also sets up Flurry, which is perfect for any Jeskai decks. Thanks to this synergy, this kitty definitely looks like a strong performer, especially within Limited. Interestingly, this spicy uncommon could even see play outside of Limited. In Commander, at the very least, Iridescent Tiger will work wonders within five-color decks that need any extra fixing.
Competitively, the prospects for Iridiscent Tiger are rather suspect, however. It’s worth noting the similarity to Burning-Tree Emissary. Currently, Burning-Tree sees decent play within Atarka Red decks in Pioneer. Theoretically, Iridescent Tiger could fulfill a similar role, however, I wouldn’t hold out too much hope for this. The five mana cost and WUBRG it provides don’t lend as well to that deck’s aggressive nature, sadly.
Notably, while this five mana tiger isn’t very aggressive, it does trigger Up the Beanstalk. This essentially makes Iridiscent Tiger free card draw and a free body. In Standard, this sounds like a fantastic deal, but you still have to make space for it. As fun as free card draw is, cutting cards within an already hyper-efficient deck such as Domain Overlords is easier said than done.
Dragon Sniper
“French vanilla creatures getting REAL French.”
Tehweave
Dragon Sniper is absolutely loaded with abilities, and they look like a real monster because of it. Capable of removing pretty much anything on the board, provided it attacks, Dragon Sniper is a seriously scary one-drop. Unsurprisingly, this card is going to be a real menace in Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited.
While Dragon Sniper doesn’t outright remove anything -not without fight effects, at least- that might honestly be a positive. Rather than just clearing one threat off the board, this card makes attacking with anything a serious risk. This can massively stall out an opponent’s game plan, giving you all the space you’d ever need.
Outside of Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited, Dragon Sniper will also put in work in Commander. Any deck that wants creatures with Deathtouch will consider this card. Fynn, the Fangbearer decks in particular are going to absolutely love this card. Otherwise, Keywords matter decks can find a lot of value in Dragon Sniper.
Sadly, while Dragon Sniper looks like a real gem in Limited and Commander, the competitive prospects of this card aren’t great. While it could offer some early game protection for mono-green decks, usually, you want to be ramping into larger threats. As if that weren’t bad enough, most competitive formats are ruled by enters effect nowadays, which Sniper doesn’t stop.
Ultimately, while Dragon Sniper might not see a tremendous amount of play outside of Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited, it seems like this set has some seriously pushed cards. Even if the upcoming ban announcement doesn’t change a great deal, this set’s release is sure to change things.