The Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander decks have started getting spoiled earlier than usual. Generally, Commander players have to wait until the end of the spoiler season to start seeing the goodies meant for their favorite format. There are so many Commander decks being released in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, however, that Commander players will have many tidbits to enjoy throughout the season.
The first Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander deck being spoiled to the world is Jeskai Striker. Helmed by Shiko and Narset, this deck certainly has some interesting potential.
Jeskai Striker
The reveal of Jeskai Striker reveals a lot of information about what we can expect with the other four Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander precons. Ten new cards will appear in each Commander precon, which is par the course. A full-art Commander and a full-art secondary Commander are also included. For these precons, one Commander will be a Dragon while the other is a legendary creature from the clan being represented.
As far as the Commander go, Shiko and Narset, Unified is one of the more impressive ones. Revealed yesterday, Shiko and Narset offer a massive payoff if you can consistently cast two spells in a turn. Using this with a card like Irenicus’s Vile Duplication can create incredibly explosive board states. Between the two Commanders, Shiko and Narset is definitely the more exciting.
Elsha, Threefold Master
Elsha, Threefold Master is the secondary Commander for the Jeskai Striker precon. This Commander feels more like a constructed card with huge potential. Elsha can easily create a massive army that overwhelms opponents, but it feels a bit one-dimensional. One board wipe and all your work is undone.
Elsha seems like a much better card in the 99 of various decks than being a Commander itself. Because the value created is so generic, Elsha can support a lot of different strategies. While the card obviously works best as a threat in a spellslinger deck, Elsha could also appear in decks using a lot of effects that would buff her stats.
It’s a shame that Elsha isn’t a constructed card, but the card could be too threatening in some formats. That said, I personally think Elsha, Threefold Master is inferior to Monastery Mentor, and that card is seeing little to no play despite being Standard legal.
Aligned Heart
Aligned Heart is a great win condition in a deck that’s trying to cast two spells as often as possible. If you can trigger this card multiple times in a turn cycle, Aligned Heart can easily create an army of Monks. Wiping the board isn’t enough to deal with Aligned Heart, either. Even if someone clears all your Monks out, the amount of Monks that Aligned Heart creates scales. The longer this card sticks around, the harder it will be to deal with.
Any card that potentially demands multiple cards to deal with is a huge winner in my book. The only real answer to Aligned Heart is removing it before it gets out of control. Otherwise, players will need to deal with both the enchantment and the army it created.
Tempest Technique
This card is absurdly powerful in Enchantress decks. You don’t even need to Storm off for an incredibly high amount. Even getting two of these effects is worth four mana in a focused strategy.
Enchantress decks often trigger whenever Enchantments enter play. Eidolon of Blossoms, for example, will draw a card for each copy of Tempest Technique that enters play. This could potentially create a blowout scenario in a strategy that already snowballs very well.
Tempest Technique also functions as an interesting Storm payoff alongside Elsha, Threefold Master. This is an easy way to create a massive army of Monks out of nowhere. Admittedly, however, Tempest Technique is weaker than many other Storm payoffs in a deck trying to use the broken mechanic as a win condition. This is likely a card that will be removed from Jeskai Striker for other strategies.
Adaptive Training Post
Adaptive Training Post offers another payoff for Spellslinger decks. You’ll essentially get to copy every fourth instant or sorcery you cast. For three mana, this effect needs a ton of support to be worth it. Outside of decks that are consistently casting spells for free, or are using a ton of cantrip effects, it’s difficult to justify Adaptive Training Post. Most decks aren’t going to want a card like this.
Transcendent Dragon
This Dragon is going to end up in a lot of Commander decks. Transcendent Dragon offers a ton of value for six mana. On top of being a Dragon, which is seeing tons of support from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Transcendent Dragon basically steals a spell from an opponent.
For players who immediately jumped to Flicker shenanigans, Transcendent Dragon only triggers if you cast it. This means that Blink shenanigans won’t work, which is a good thing. This would have created a lock-like situation with Displacer Kitten otherwise.
Voracious Bibliophile
For fans of Hinata Dawn-Crowned, this card seems perfectly tailored for that deck. Magma Opus was the combo that put that card on the map in Standard. Imagine creating a 4/4, tapping two things, dealing one damage to various targets, and drawing eight cards. That’s what this combination would do.
There are tons of spells that target multiple things. Even simple removal spells can be worth running with Voracious Bibliophile. Cantripping while removing an opposing threat is straight card advantage. Notably, Voracious Bibliophile triggers on any spell, not just instants and sorceries. This could make it a great inclusion for a Crime deck, as long as your spells are targeting things, not just your abilities. This seems like a great draw engine in any deck that is targeting consistently.
Caldera Pyromaw
Caldera Pyromaw is a very potent win condition for a spellslinger deck. This card can pile on damage extremely quickly. If you have other ways of increasing the Pyromaw’s stats, the damage will scale even faster than expected.
Despite being a Dragon, Caldera is far better suited to stay in a Spellslinger strategy. This isn’t too impressive in Typal decks since the body is understatted on its own. You really need to be able to trigger Pyromaw’s ability reliably for it to be worthwhile.
Transforming Flourish
Transforming Flourish is, essentially, a Chaos Warp for artifacts and creatures that can take care of multiple threats with some cooperation. The card doesn’t feel very exciting, honestly. Chaos Warp is incredibly fun for the Commander table because of the chaos it creates. Transforming Flourish will do the same thing, but it’s not exactly a very good card. This is a good way to contain a player who’s far ahead for cheap, but better removal spells exist.
Will of the Jeskai
This is the most exciting new card in the Jeskai Striker Commander deck, but perhaps not the best. Will of the Jeskai essentially functions as a Past in Flames with additional upside. Both effects of this card are ok for four mana, but if you have your Commander in play, you get a ton of value.
Notably, because of the order of these choices, instants and sorceries that you discard with the first ability will gain Flashback with the second one. This card will easily see play in any decks that have some number of instants and sorceries. It will likely be particularly nasty in wheel decks since this wheel gives Flashback to your other wheels. As a slight downside, this Wheel being optional does mean that opponents won’t necessarily have to draw a new hand.
Best Reprints
The overall reprint value for Jeskai Strikers is slightly disappointing compared to previous precon decks, but there are some decent reprints that can be found here. Veyran, Voice of Duality is the most expensive reprint here. This is a particularly nasty win condition alongside other storm decks, but Veyran is seeing a lot of printings lately. I would expect this reprinting to affect the price of this card. Veyran’s current secondary market value is about $9.50.
Narset’s Reversal is the runner-up. This is a particularly fun Commander card capable of copying instants and sorceries. Whether you use this as an Uno Reverse Card or create an infinite loop with it, Narset’s Reversal is generally up to no good. The card currently goes for about $9.
Lier, Disciple of the Drowned and Archmage Emeritus are two more incredibly powerful instant and sorcery-related payoffs that commonly create nasty Storm situations. Emeritus is a very common Commander threat that appears in almost any deck that uses an excess amount of Instants and Sorceries since it also draws off copied spells. These are worth $8.50 and $8, respectively, and are fantastic additions to your MTG collection.
Finally, Ghostly Prison and Monastery Mentor are worth about $6 apiece. Monastery Mentor seems to fit incredibly well in the Jeskai Striker’s themes.
Too Many Payoffs?
Looking at the new cards presented, a quick issue appears to be that this deck has far too many rewards for casting spells, but not enough spells to trigger the payoffs. This is a common issue in preconstructed decks in my experience.
As a result, the changes that you’ll likely want to make are to reduce the amount of payoffs in the deck while maximizing their impact on the table. The good news about Spellslinger decks is that many of the cards that trigger your payoffs also help you find them. Cantrips will seriously increase the consistency of your deck.
All in all, many of the new cards from Jeskai Striker seem interesting. Shiko and Narset, Unified, as well as Aligned Heart seem like the best cards among the new offerings, but any spellslinger strategy has tons of new tools to choose from in this deck.