Checkpoint Gaming recently got an awesome opportunity to attend a press briefing for the latest Magic: The Gathering set, Tarkir Dragonstorm. We got to listen to a bunch of WOTC staff, including Product Designers, Senior Worldbuilders, and Game Designers give us an advanced look at the set, including information about how the plane has evolved since we last visited, discussed the Booster Fun card treatments available and ran through some of the new mechanics of the set.
Recent History
So what has changed on the plane of Tarkir in the 10 years since we last visited? The Phyrexian invasion caused significant damage across the plane, creating an opportunity for the clans to free themselves from the subjugation of the dragonlords.
“With the return to Tarkir, we wanted to make sure the set encompassed everything players love and expected from the original Tarkir block. This set is the best of both worlds, clans and dragons.”
In a surprising show of unity, Narset and other strong members of the clans worked together and cast a ritual called The Storm Nexus Ritual at the Crucible of the Spirit Dragon. The resulting dragonstorm caused 5 new spirit dragons to be birthed, each embodying the better virtues of the 5 clans. Together with their mortal allies, they fought and drove the dragonlords into the storm.
Curiously, the story is rather opaque about whether or not the dragonlords were, in truth, killed as part of their defeat. I guess the world-building team wanted to keep their options open if they decided to bring them back in the future. While not necessarily villains, the dragonlords’ dominance of the clans was fairly absolute. The ritual also had unintended side effects – the dragonstorms have strengthened and become more volatile. And as we’ve seen over the past few sets, the Omenpaths have been responsible for causing this threat to expand to other planes in the Multiverse.
Former planeswalker and current Jeskai Waymaster, Narset is the main protagonist of the story, and along the way, we meet some others:
- Elspeth, who is portrayed as missing a key part of her humanity with her ascension to become an Archangel
- Ajani, who is still wracked with guilt over his actions under the influence of Phyrexia
- Sarkhan, who is seeking to regain power and restore his beloved dragons to the rulership of Tarkir
- Taigam, who doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but is helping Sarkhan reach his goal through nefarious means
- The not-so-happy family of Jace Berelan, Vraska, and Loot; who have finally reached their ultimate destination – Ugin’s Meditation Realm.
Tarkir Dragonstorm is the culmination of the Dragonstorm arc of the overarching “Universes Within” storyline. Whether or not Jace will be able to enact his plans to reverse the impacts of the Phyrexian invasion is yet to be seen.
If you’re interested in Magic: The Gathering lore, I strongly recommend reading the Tarkir Dragonstorm stories, which are available on the MTG Daily website. Generating clicks there is one of the best ways of proving the value of the lore to WOTC.
Booster Funsies
The booster fun treatments we’re getting this time are (in my opinion at least) a step up from the mixed bag in the last set, Aetherdrift. Interestingly, WOTC has chosen not to reprise the Tarkir showcase frame that first debuted in March of the Machine: The Aftermath, and instead created a new Draconic frame, shown below.
The Borderless Clan treatment is a new, interesting take on borderless art. The lower half of the card is black, with no frame visible. The top half uses the clan symbol the card belongs to, limned in the clan colours, as a backdrop to the art. It’s a pretty stark look. In the main set, cards aligned with specific clans have a watermark on the text box, showing the clan they are aligned with. Interestingly, some of the borderless clan cards don’t have that watermark in the main set.
The other booster fun card frame treatment in this set is the Ghostfire frame, a reprise of the frame initially seen on Ugin, the Spirit Dragon back when alternate frames were first being trialled in Magic 2021. Cards with this frame are available in Nonfoil, Traditional Foil and Halo Foil.
One of the big ticket reprints in the set is not from the original Tarkir block but from another plane entirely. First printed in Avacyn Restored, Craterhoof Behemoth is coming back to Standard! Interestingly, the Borderless Clan frame aligns this beast of a card with the Temur clan. This makes sense in terms of the Temur clan’s emphasis on big creatures, but as the card in the core set lacks the clan stamp, it is not formally a Temur card.
Those are the key treatment types available through Booster Fun, though several other treatments deserve mention. The Headliner card for Tarkir Dragonstorm is Mox Jasper. In its serialised form it uses the old artifact border, with double rainbow foiling.
There are also some pretty cool reversible borderless cards, which can be used (in sleeves only) if you prefer your dragons to be cute baby versions of themselves. Take Ugin for example:
Full Art lands also tend to be a hit with players, and this time round we have not one but two different types. The WOTC team during the briefing noted: “When we did the Booster fun testing for the set, we actually came up with two designs and they both tested extremely well. So we decided, hey, why not do both?”
The Dragon’s Presence lands show the shadow of a dragon flying over Tarkir landscapes:
The Dragons Eye lands are illustrated by iconic artist, Ron Spencer. These are only available from Collector Boosters.
Finally, the special guests for the set include 2 cycles – the Ultimatims from Ikoria, and not one, but two versions of the Enemy Fetch lands originally from Onslaught.
The dragon-illustrated versions of the Fetch lands are available in non-foil and traditional foil and also available in the new “dragon scale” foiling treatment, as pictured in the .gif below.
Playing limited in a 3 colour set
3 colour sets tend to be kind of rough from the perspective of limited environments like sealed. WOTC have added several features into the set to help smooth out the experience. The one that has been seen before is hybrid mana. Giving players the choice of replacing a coloured mana with two colourless, hybrid mana is going to be pretty useful in a 3 colour environment.
The other smoothing mechanic is Omens. Omens are a new subclass of Instants / Sorceries that will look pretty familiar to people – they have a very similar frame template to Adventures, the subclass first introduced in the plane of Eldraine. In some ways, Omens could be considered marginally less powerful, in that after the Omen portion of the card is played, it gets shuffled back into your library. Essentially, you’ll need to take a draw action to continue to use it, while Adventures sit waiting in exile for you to finish the story by casting the second half of the card. On the other hand, there are cases when that shuffle effect could be to your advantage, because, unlike Adventures, you’ll be able to keep reusing Omens if you redraw them and are not yet ready to cast the bigger cost.
To contrast the two subclasses:
- For both, casting the Creature means players can no longer access the Instant/Sorcery (unless the creature gets bounced).
- Adventures self-exile when cast, meaning players don’t need to redraw them to play the creature.
- Omens are shuffled back into the library, allowing the subclass to be re-used but also costing a draw to retrieve them.
- Both subclasses give your opponent information about what’s coming, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
In the pic below, I’ve included Emerald Dragon from Commander Legends Battle for Baldur’s Gate, a close cousin of the new Marang River Regent; to provide a clearer example of the difference between Omens and Adventures.
In Summary
I’m really looking forward to this set. Over the last year or two, we’ve had murder mysteries, 90’s horror complete with cheerleaders and sneakers, and cross-planar races. Tarkir Dragonstorm feels like a return to an aesthetic that’s been missing from Magic for a while. I’m keen to see what the rest of the spoiler season has in store. Big thanks to Wizards of the Coast for providing us with the opportunity to present this information to you all.
Magic: The Gathering – Tarkir: Dragonstorm is set for release on April 11, 2025.
About the Author
Ric Bullock
he/him
Ric is a board game afficiando who has been playing Magic: The Gathering for way too many years.
