Modern: The 10 Best Cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm

The previews of the new Magic set, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, have come to an end. The return to one of the most iconic worlds in the card game brought everything that was expected - dragons, the return of the three-color clans, the first Magic expansion in recent years that doesn't seem to suffer from an aesthetic crisis, and an interesting lore with characters that captivate the audience, in addition to a slight spike in power level when compared to some of the expansions that preceded it.

We now begin the Cards Realm's reviews season, where we analyze the new set for the main competitive formats of the game and consider their potential for the Metagame. In this article, we focus on the Modern format, with a list of the best cards of the expansion.

Smile at Death is a powerful recursion element for long games, and with Abzan Amalia occasionally showing up in Modern events, it is possible that it will become a tool in the archetype's sideboard as it can complete the full combo straight from the graveyard, but it competes with other cards that have similar effects, such as the recently released Raise the Past.

United Battlefront has a dozen relevant targets in Modern, but few archetypes that can currently support the deckbuilding concessions that it demands to avoid whiffs. Its best home will probably be in Enchantress lists, which run, on average, only eight or twelve creatures, in addition to finding the combo of Solemnity and Nine Lives in one hit.

Normally, Strategic Betrayal wouldn't have any reason to be considered in Modern: it costs two mana, is a sorcery, and only deals with one creature, and its controller doesn't even choose which one to exile.

However, the fact that it exiles graveyard makes it important in a few matchups, ranging from Breach decks (which are likely to be banned on March 31) to Dimir Frog, Goryo's Vengeance and archetypes that are less played today but still exist in the format like Golgari Yawgmoth and Samwise Combo.

The Sibsig Ceremony has some combo potential in Modern involving two Myr Retriever and the enchantment to create an army of zombies on the board. The same combo can be executed with Scrap Trawler and some combination of cost reductors and other artifact creatures, or with Acererak the Archlich and Relic of Legends for infinite damage.

The cost of for a card that does nothing on its own makes me a little skeptical about the potential of this enchantment in Modern, but it is probably the only card in the set which might manage to enable a new archetype.

Cori-Steel Cutter joins the long list of potential targets for Stoneforge Mystic that can have good interactions with cheap spells in the format to pressure the board, and with a very reasonable casting/equipping cost.

Flexible cards that fill more than one role tend to find small slots in sideboards, and Heritage Reclamation fits the mold, but I think its scope is too limited to be worth a place in Modern today.

Lotuslight Dancers is a tutor for three specific cards. It deserves an honorable mention as a potential combo tutor (Samwise Gamgee and Cauldron Familiar?) while being a target for cards like Green Sun’s Zenith and Chord of Calling.

10 - Tersa Lightshatter

Tersa Lightshatter can be comparable to Seasoned Pyromancer in some archetypes, while carrying a potentially more aggressive body. Its recursion ability can be excellent in longer games, but with the drawback of the spell being chosen randomly.

There may be some potential for it in Mono Red versions of Hollow One, where it is another body to pressure the opponent while also increasing the power of Marauding Mako and Flameblade Adept while reducing the cost of Hollow One and counting towards the number of creatures cast to bring Vengevine back.

Personally, I don't think Tersa has a place in Energy decks, nor is it better than Seasoned Pyromancer or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker in other archetypes running them, but the card might be a little better than we're initially evaluating.

9 - Songcrafter Mage

The best way to look at Songcrafter Mage in Modern is as a Snapcaster Mage that we can find with Green Sun's Zenith, and from there generate value with another spell.

Targets include some classics like Lightning Bolt or Unholy Heat (and not Flame of Anor because, despite the name, it's not a wizard), or cards that we can take advantage of the Harmonize ability, like Lorien Revealed or Time Warp.

It seems like a decent card for the Goodstuff variants, but most of them nowadays have focused too much on Solitude, Leyline Binding and Prismatic Ending as board interactions and few spells beyond them, so it's likely that Songcrafter Mage won't find the same success that its predecessor had in the early days of Modern.

8 - Taigam, Master Opportunist

Taigam, Master Opportunist has a low cost and benefits considerably from the amount of free spells and cheap spells in the format, in addition to copying any spell, including creatures.

It's potentially one of the most powerful cards in the set as it creates a snowball sequence as the game goes on, its controller can do it by simply sequencing spells, and the suspended copies remains even if Taigam is destroyed or exiled.

7 - Rakshasa's Bargain

Rakshasa's Bargain will be an interesting card to watch in the coming weeks, as its importance to the Abhorrent Oculus and Psychic Frog archetypes could present a dilemma: is it worth splashing into the deck to gain access to a card comparable to Stock Up that feed the graveyard for Oculus, Unearth or Murktide Regent with four cards?

There are many clear competitors for this new card: Brainsurge if you want interactions with Fetch Lands, Stock Up if you don't mind having to tap mana on your own turn, or even Kaito, Bane of Nightmares which has been popping up frequently in lists as a complementary threat and source of card advantage.

Personally, I have low expectations for Rakshasa's Bargain in a Modern where Up the Beanstalk is banned, but we also underestimated Stock Up, and it would be better not to make the same mistake twice. Worst-case scenario, it's a good resource for lists that need the graveyard for some reason, whether with Shifting Woodland or Goryo's Vengeance.

6 - Clarion Conqueror

Clarion Conqueror is a great sideboard piece that blocks a dozen important activated abilities in the current Metagame. Even if Underworld Breach is banned next Monday, cards like Karn, the Great Creator, Mox Opal, combo pieces like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Carrion Feeder, or Splinter Twin, as well as Goblin Charbelcher are just some of the pieces blocked by the new dragon.

With a mana value of , it also passes the test of Cascade decks and should be a relevant sideboard piece in them and possibly in archetypes like Orzhov Blink in games where having it on the board to hold the game is potentially more important than keeping Relic of Progenitus or Emperor of Bones active.

5 - Great Arashin City

Speaking of Ketramose, the New Dawn, Great Arashin City works as another way to extract value from your graveyard and generate card advantage with the new god of Amonkhet. Its cost to enter untapped can be negligible with Fetch Lands and Godless Shrine, which contributes to the use of a copy in the mana base of this archetype.

4 - Cori Mountain Monastery

I feel like Cori Mountain Monastery is too close to Castle Locthwain, but in a color that tends not to require this type of effect in longer games, especially when we can't "speed up" their use with Urza lands or Eldrazi when that would mean losing a turn.

However, it's still a constant source of card advantage in red and only requires a Plains or Island to enter untapped and start generating value in longer games. From Boros Energy to Splinter Twin or Through the Breach lists, Cori Mountain Monastery has the potential to emerge as a one-of or even two-of, so it's one of the cards with the most potential from Tarkir: Dragonstorm in Modern.

3 - Dalkovan Encampment

Today, Boros Energy lists run, on average, three copies of Arena of Glory, and it's not questionable to consider swapping one of them for one of Tarkir's new utility lands, specifically, Dalkovan Encampment.

The new land benefits from you already being ahead in the game, but it interacts much more with several other cards from the deck: it gains life from Guide of Souls, it increases the number of permanents on the board for Ocelot Pride's City's Blessing, and once enabled, we can organize triggers on the stack to make Ocelot copy the tokens created by the land before we have to sacrifice them. We can also sacrifice these tokens in response to their trigger with Goblin Bombardment for a wider board control or to extend the clock.

2 - Mistrise Village

Mistrise Village will either be the failed hype of the set, or the most absurd card of it, eventually. What it does is basically nullify the possibility of interaction of blue decks against combos and/or archetypes that need to resolve key cards, but with the additional cost of to do so.

The best comparison we have today in Modern is with Veil of Summer, a card that costs one less mana and can even guarantee an extra draw, but that is not usually a maindeck piece and, mainly, something that you can add to your mana base without many additional costs.

Fortunately, as a land, Mistrise Village doesn't fit into Goblin Charbelcher decks, but there's no shortage of homes for a copy or two of it in lists ranging from Goryo's Vengeance to Cascade or Mill, where sometimes the difference between defeat and victory is the chance to resolve an Archive Trap or Tasha's Hideous Laughter.

1 - Ugin, Eye of the Storms

The best comparison for the new Ugin in the archetypes where it matters is Karn Liberated. On turn three (considering Tron), Karn would come into play and exile a key permanent. In the following turns, he would drain the players' resources while controlling the board long enough for Tron to bury the opponent in value.

Ugin, Eye of the Storms exiles a permanent the moment it's cast (but doesn't exile lands or colorless cards like the Eldrazi), provides an extra gas in both life and a draw with its first ability, and on the following turn, it helps to cast another bomb like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or Emrakul, the Promised End - and if neither of those are in your hand, mere cards like Expedition Map already trigger Ugin's static ability, allowing him to exert control over the board.

At this point, the new Ugin is likely to replace his predecessor and Karn Liberated in Tron lists, despite it no longer running a set of high-cost cards, but another interesting place for him is in Eldrazi variants, where casting him can be a bit more mana-intensive since Eldrazi Temple doesn't ramp into him.

Ugin, Eye of the Storms's place in Eldrazi decks may be more dependent on the Metagame. Currently, it competes with World Breaker for slots and there is a crucial difference between trying to play for value - which is what Ugin proposes - and needing to pressure the board because the opponent can win with a combo, which is the current situation in Modern.

If the format, after the probable bans, moves more towards attrition and/or games less focused on combo-kills, it is possible that the Planeswalker will have more space in Eldrazi lists. Otherwise, World Breaker and its interaction against lands combined with a 5/7 body should be a better option for the archetype.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!