Table of Contents
Tarkir: Dragonstorm has set a high bar. It’s turned out to be one of the most powerful sets of recent times. And it’s standard legal! There are so many good cards to pick from and only 10 slots to fill.
I’ve put together a list of the 10 best cards in the set. I am going to avoid any of the new cards exclusive to the Commander decks. These are going to be your normal cards that you can find in the play boosters.
I will give an honourable mention to the 5 fetch lands that are appearing as Special Guests. They even have an alternative art work and the extra fancy dragon scale foiling.
I didn’t want to include them as they are special guests and are super rare to get in boosters. 1 in 64 for play boosters and about 5% for collector boosters. So I don’t feel it's fair to use them, but I had to talk about them as the art is so nice and the Fetchlands are such a sought after piece.
While I play and follow other formats, I will be giving a bigger lean to these cards affecting Commander.
But let's get into my actual picks. These aren’t in any particular order.
1. Craterhoof Behemoth
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/138/craterhoof-behemoth
Boom. Boom. Boom! The chonk has arrived.
This is such a commander staple. The big green finisher to end all finishers. While it had a recent reprint in Innistrad Remastered, it was only available in the old border style.
This severely limited the amount of copies that got into the wild. This one is going to be available in any booster and for the first time since the original Innistrad. It’s also Standard legal. I'm not sure if it will make a splash in Standard but I already know its effects in Commander.
2. Elspeth, Storm Slayer
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/11/elspeth-storm-slayer
So I heard you liked token doublers. So here is a new one. One that can even make its own tokens. Elspeth, Storm Slayer makes [[Soldier]] tokens with her +1 loyalty ability. But her static ability doubles this.
While this effect is more fragile on a planeswalker, you get to have more effects. Like the -3 ability which destroys creatures with mana value 3 or above.
Just straight up removal on your doubling effect. Nasty.
But what happens if you don’t need any more tokens or need to remove anything? Well that's covered too.
How about a finishing move? Her 0 loyalty ability puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and gives them flying until the end of turn.
So she does it all. She protects, she attacks, but most of all she finishes games.
3. Winternight Stories
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/67/winternight-stories
It may not have the same naming scheme, but Winternight Stories is part of the ‘Thirst for’ cycle. Those are cards such as [[Thirst for Knowledge]], [[Thirst for Discovery]] and [[Thirst for Meaning]].
The ‘Thirst for’ cards all let you draw three cards and then ask for a specific card type to be discarded. The cycle now includes creature, artifact, enchantment and basic land.
We did technically have another similar card, [[Mystic Meditation]], but this doesn’t hold the name and also cost 4 mana rather than the 3 of the others.
Winternight Stories is also just a strict upgrade over this as it costs less and has an extra ability. That is also the reason why it doesn’t have a ‘Thirst for’ name. Because it has Harmonize.
You can cast it for your graveyard for it Harmonize cost ({4}{U}). You can also tap a creature to reduce the cost by {X} where X is equal to its power. And you also exile the spell so you can’t keep looping the card.
Winternight Stories is probably one of the strongest in the cycle as you are more likely to have a creature to discard over any of the other types. [[Thirst for Discovery]] is probably the next best depending on the format and your deck construction.
Having to discard a creature to Winternight Stories might not even be a downside if you are planning on [[Reanimate]] the creature.
It’s a great way to draw more cards and set up a creature to bring back.
4. Nature's Rhythm
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/150/natures-rhythm
Hello [[Green Sun’s Zenith]] 2.0.
For Commander it's debatable which one is better, but it is a damn close comparison for Nature's Rhythm. Green Sun’s ability to shuffle back in and be drawn again works well in a 60 card format. Especially when you can have four copies of it.
Where [[Green Sun’s Zenith]] stumbles is in Commander, when it's 1 in 100 and unlikely to be drawn again.
It still holds some when it comes to cost, as it is 1 mana less than Nature's Rhythm. So you can use it as a ramp on 1 mana by grabbing [[Dryad Arbor]] when X=0.
This is something you can't do with Nature's Rhythm. It minimally costs 2 mana. Where Nature's Rhythm becomes more useful is the Harmonize ability.
This gives the card a better version of Flashback. You can cast it from your graveyard, but for a discount. This is a really nice ability, as you can tutor for a creature. It’s an undeniably powerful effect.
5. Ugin, Eye of the Storms
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/1/ugin-eye-of-the-storms
There is no denying that Ugin has come out swinging with his abilities.
On cast its removal for a coloured permanent. Then if you cast any other colourless spell it's more removal. Notably, this effect is on cast, so countering the spell won’t even stop the ability. Only something like [[Stifle]] would do it.
To make it, somehow even better, is Ugin’s 0 ability. It gives you {C}{C}{C} to cast that extra spell to exile something.
Also starting at 7 loyalty means you need to send some serious beef to take him down, that is after you have lost one or two of your best permanents.
While I don’t tend to evaluate planeswalkers by their ultimate, Ugin, Eye of the Storms actually has one that is reasonable to get to. It's 3 turns. The turn you cast him you choose his +2 loyalty ability. You do this again on his next turn and then you ultimate on the following turn.
While there are other planeswalkers like this, Ugin has built in removal that isn't on a loyalty ability. Hence you can still build up to the ultimate while dealing with the threats.
Also, the ultimate (-11) ability is a game ender. There are so many combos that you can run to just finish the game. Standard might struggle a bit more for this.
6. United Battlefront
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/32/united-battlefront
Tarkir: Dragonstorm loves to do call backs. United Battlefront is very much a reference to [[Collected Company]].
You do get to see an extra card compared to [[Collected Company]], but this is the benefit for not being a get to get creatures. Its also sorcery speed, which is a big deal.
As [[Collected Company]] is an Instant. It allows you to hold up interactions, such as counter magic or removal. Then if your opponents didn't do anything, you can then cast [[Collected Company]] instead. On the flip side if you're against a control deck. You can force them to use their mana in their turn. Allowing you to play a different threat on your turn when they are tapped out.
This is one that I see having a bigger impact in 60 card formats. Although I can see this being played in Commander, it is going to need to go into the right deck.
Deck requirements are needed to be considered before jamming United Battlefront into a deck. It's a good card, just not a staple for Commander. Which is exactly how [[Collected Company]] is.
7. Spectral Denial
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/58/spectral-denial
Spectral Denial is another call back to another Khans of Tarkir card, [[Stubborn Denial]]. If you have a creature with 4+ power you get a [[Force Spike]] (not the best card but always fun when you can get your opponents).
It's even better if you manage to do it with the white version [[Mana Tithe]]. No one expects the white counterspell.
Where this gets better is when you have a larger board out. It turns into a 1 mana ‘counter anything’. While [[Stubborn Denial]] turns into a hard counter when you have 4+ power creature, it can only counter non-creature spells.
Spectral Denial is a soft counter, but it can counter anything. It allows you to stop whatever you need. In the right deck, like the Temur Roar deck, this is effectively a 1 mana ‘counter anything’.
Even if you don't have enough creatures to make this a counterspell, you can always pay more into the X part of the casting cost to make it one.
All this for an uncommon. Not bad.
8. Narset, Jeski Waymaster
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/209/narset-jeskai-waymaster
Step aside, we have a new Storm Commander. Narset, Jeskai Waymaster.
Okay so she doesn’t directly help with popping off, but she is your back up and get out of jail free card.
Storm, as a deck, is a spellslinger deck. It takes its name, and some win conditions, from cards with the mechanic:
“Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies).”
The idea is to cast a lot of cheap cards that draw you cards, like [[Opt]] or as mana like [[Desperate Ritual]]. The card draws are called Cantrips, a name taken from D&D.
The mana cards are called Rituals from [[Dark Ritual]]. Then you hopefully draw into your payoff, such as [[Grapeshot]].
Another way to win with Storm is using [[Aetherflux Reservoir]].
The problem you can get with Storm is you might not get your win condition. Then you have wasted a load of resources trying to go off and failing. It's a [[Gamble]] trying to go off if you don't already have the finisher in hand.
This is where Narset, Jeskai Waymaster comes in. If you fail, you just redraw your hand and try again on the next turn.
Even outside of the Storm decks, just a regular spellslinger deck, she is going to keep your hand topped up and ready to go.
If you are building this deck, I would definitely recommend adding in the no maximum hand size cards, (i.e. [[Reliquary Tower]]). The card draw from Narset, Jeskai Waymaster happens in the end step, so if you draw over your max hand size you have to discard back down.
9. Mistrise Village
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/397/mistrise-village
Mistrise Village has been getting a lot of hype during spoiler season. Rightfully so, as it's a powerful card. I don’t quite think it's as good as people are making it out to be. At least not at the top level.
I can see this being a staple in Blue decks. It has little downside as it still produces {U} and has an uncounterable spell ability.
In EDH this will be good, but this is going to be huge in CEdh. CEdh has very efficient game ending spells and combos. Mistrise Village provides consistent access to these.
The problem with EDH is you don’t always have this. It's also not hyper mana efficient, as Mistrise Village effectively costs 2 mana to use this ability. You need {U} to activate and you would tap Mistrise Village for the effect.
That is what I think the hype misses. I don’t think it is as broken as some people are making it out to be, but it is still a good card with little downside.
It’s a land so can replace a basic Island pretty freely. It taps for {U} so it doesn't lose you out on coloured mana generation. And then it has a massive upside.
Also the artwork looks sweet, both the normal and the borderless.
This is part of a cycle of lands but this is the best one. The red one, [[Cori Mountain Monastery]], is the next best one, I think. But it's not even close in power level.
10. Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
https://scryfall.com/card/tdm/92/sidisi-regent-of-the-mire
[[Birthing Pod]] is back baby! Well, the undead cousin is. As Sidisi, Regent of the Mire is my last pick, I had to make it a fun one.
It’s different from [[Birthing Pod]] as Sidisi is a creature. So you can’t activate the turn you play her. The other difference is she works from the graveyard instead.
One bonus about her being a creature is she is also a legendary creature, meaning she can be your Commander. You always have access to her.
Being 2 mana means you can get her out early and start to work up the mana value chain to get bigger cards out.
It's a shame there is another clause on her. You can’t sacrifice her to herself, allowing you to get a 3 drop back. But it's still a good card.
It's even more busted that it doesn’t have a mana cost to activate. You only have to tap Sidisi, Regent of the Mire.
This means there are some combo lines out there, similar to [[Birthing Pod]], where you can keep untapping and tapping her to get to a winning combo.
This will surely wind your opponents up.
Final Thoughts
There are so many good cards in this Tarkir: Dragonstom. I struggled to narrow it down to only 10.
You might have noticed I didn’t pick any of the dragon specific cards, even though the set is focused on that. While these are very powerful cards, like [[Call of the Spirit Dragons]] and [[Mox Jasper]], these only work in dragon decks.
I wanted to keep it more generic and focused on cards that would fit any EDH deck. Or at least not just one Kindred deck.
The focus on dragons has already created some spikes in prices. I know that [[Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm]] has already spiked in price.
Some of the other powerful cards that I didn’t manage to talk about are [[Songcrafter Mage]]. It’s a powered up version of [[Snapcaster Mage]] as long as you are in Temur colours.
[[The Sibsig Ceremony]] probably has some crazy combos combo. Anything that gives that big a discount will do some broken things. Even when it kills the creatures. Hell, [[Protean Hulk]] wants to die to start the combo.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm has some absolute fire cards, and I'm not talking about the Soulfire borders either. Wizards really pushed this set to make it a big one.
If you are looking to get anything from Tarkir: Dragonstorm or any Magic: The Gathering, including booster boxes and commander decks, you can find it here at Gathering Games. At least while stocks last.
Thanks for sticking with me and hopefully I will see you in the next one. As always good luck and have fun.
