TARKIR, WE'RE SO BACK!
I LOVE a multicolor set, particularly three-color. Give me wedges and shards! The more gold, the more fun I'll have. Let's get into it IMMEDIATELY! I'll be covering red and the Mardu cards today, so let's have some fun and get this Mar-done!
Mythics
What an intense card. The art is terrifying and showcases a wild battle from the new Tarkir story. What a place to start.
There are a few All-Out Assault cards that grant your whole board deathtouch and many of them seem to be in green. Ankle Shanker, Archetype of Finality, and Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats grant your creatures mass deathtouch without requiring an activation. Hell, even Ankle Shanker requires an attack to do it. So that's pretty noteworthy alone. The real juice is from the enter the battlefield ability.
The ETB is an extra combat step, and they've taken care to frontload the ability to ensure you cast this in your first main phase if you want to swing with the same creatures. However, if you're looking for some untap value in a deck with plenty of activated abilities, here's something for you: Ghen, Arcanum Weaver will love to see Ghen getting an untap while sitting back having just brought All-Out Assault back from the graveyard just to send it back there to do it all again next turn.
Despite loving the new Zurgos and Nerivs this set, this card feels like one I'd personally cut. While I'm a fan of the combat step, I'm not the guy that's angling for extra combats. Those who are will be thrilled to put this in their decks, especially if there's anything to gain from this being an enchantment (see above comment about Ghen; I swear, one day, I'll figure him out).
MaRo teased this card as a Dragon version of a popular Zombie card, and while people were quick to nail it with Rooftop Storm but for Dragons, I was holding out hope for a Necroduality for Dragons so players didn't absolutely need Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm in the command zone.
But alas. It's a very Timmy card. It's a very splashy card. It's very fun and big and cool and fun and also big and don't forget cool.
And yet, I kind of hate it?
It just feels like "okay Seething Song into Mana Geyser into Dracogenesis and now here's Tiamat and here are all the Dragonlords I fetched with them, draw cards, play more insanely broken Dragons." It just feels like a card that will enable more solitaire moments than I'd like from a Dragon deck.
It feels like I'm being a hater - and make no mistake, I totally am - but this feels like the most win more a card can get, right up there with Omniscience. Dragon decks are supposed to be hindered by the fact that these massively powerful creatures are expensive to cast and to harness. They are meant to be difficult to get out and the reward for that is huge. Now you get to put that effort into essentially one Bogardan Hellkite's worth and you get to slam all the Dragons you have? I'm off it. Hot take, I know, but whatever. This card is actually starting to piss me off the more I write about it.
Stuff this in your Tiamat decks and The Ur-Dragon decks and Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm decks. Do the thing, go off a few times, then remove this for a fun Dragon whose respect you'll earn by casting it for full price.
All hate for this section can be directed to fartcitydentists@berkeley.edu. (Editor's Note: Mike, please don't give out your dentist's email again, he took legal action last time!)
What a feat of modern Magic card design this is. I applaud whoever made it. This can be a mild card advantage engine or an absolute burst of it. A five-mana 4/4 with flying and deathtouch ain't bad in the command zone, but Neriv enters with two 1/1 Goblins that, should they survive to the next attack, will exile to draw you at least one card. The cards exiled can be cast if you attacked with a commander, so Neriv still has utility when it's not helming a deck. Hell, it even counts if you steal an opponent's commander and attack with it.
How do we build Neriv? Take it in the direction the precon points you toward: copy tokens, whether it's by giving your board myriad with Legion Loyalty or by activating Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink, The Jolly Balloon Man, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Attack with Neriv and your creature copy tokens, piling cards into exile ready to be cast postcombat. Prosper, Tome-Bound players looking for a change in the space might want to retool their decks for Neriv and slide the Warlock in the 99.
This card seems like a real blast. You've got to have plenty of tokens of different kinds, you've got to keep track of them all, you've got to keep track of the cards exiled with Neriv, but all in all, it seems well worth it. Time to get your Squad cards, gang. Neriv, Crackling Vanguard is taking to the skies!
Of course, in the 99, you'll want to add Neriv to a deck helmed by a creature that wants to attack, like either of the new Zurgo cards. Neriv supplying a couple Goblins means that you'll get one card at least, which is still sweet.
Of the two Nerivs released here, Neriv, Heart of the Storm is less interesting to me, but I really like Neriv, Crackling Vanguard, so that's not saying much.
Neriv, Heart of the Storm is basically one of two things. Either it's a Panharmonicon for cards like Inferno Titan, Fanatic of Mogis, and Overlord of the Boilerbilges, which means if you pop a The Jolly Balloon Man in this deck, too, you'll be putting the hurt on the table.
Otherwise, Neriv, Heart of the Storm is a damage-doubler for hasty creatures and copy tokens that happen in combat. Whether this is a callback to the dash mechanic, like on Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, a good deck for Fervor, or the perfect place for Rionya, Fire Dancer, Neriv gives your creatures a boost on their battlefield birthday. Flamerush Rider feels like the perfect encapsulation of what this deck wants to do.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the deck you put together so you have a "one more quick one before we call it a night" deck. Really cool card, and while it isn't spoiled for choice as a card in the 99, Saskia the Unyielding feels like the right home if you're thinking the Dragon shouldn't be leading.
So does the Storm Scale need to be renamed or something? Great joke here by the team, well done.
The card is pretty good. It is aggressively "okay" on its floor. A 4/4 Dragon with an anthem for other Dragons is fine. Add one Gitaxian Probe to the mix before casting the Scion and you've got two 5/5 Dragons that buff your other Dragons by two.
This is the cherry on top of your Dracogenesis turn. Really make those Dragons massive. This goes into...sigh... your Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm and The Ur-Dragon decks. Of course. You have to know this card belongs nearly exclusively in Dragon kindred decks. The exceptions are decks that can chain together spells quickly and need something to pay off their casting.
I wouldn't be surprised if a Zaffai, Thunder Conductor or similar Izzet spellslinger deck picked up this card for those turns where Ponder leads to Seething Song to Mana Geyser to Faithless Looting twice to, finally, Stormscale Scion for presence that threatens to end the game. Something to think about! Overall, not a card I'm thrilled about. Neriv, Crackling Vanguard just needs one storm copy for an extra card, but I think my six-drop slot might be better served for a squad card in its spot. Eh.
Zurgo's designs in both iterations this set are a lot of fun. I didn't expect the face commander Zurgo to be a riff on Garna, Bloodfist of Keld. Garna lets you benefit from nontokens dying in her presence while Zurgo only cares about tokens. For this he drops in mana value and by adding white, we get the mobilize attack trigger, which means Zurgo is a single card engine. By opening up to white, you've got more tools at your disposal.
Tools like Reconnaissance keep Zurgo safe without losing on the token creation and be the master of the tokens' fate. Pair with a sacrifice outlet like Ashnod's Altar and you decide when and why your tokens die. You'll want to pack your deck with ways to create tokens and ways to sacrifice them. Phyrexian Altar is my favorite card of all time so of course this is where I'm leaning.
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Underworld Hermit, Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon, and Tempt with Vengeance are all great for keeping the pressure on your opponents. Make them take damage or give you cards and then if the tokens die after dealing damage, then that's just extra damage!
Pack your Caretaker's Talent and Tocasia's Welcome to keep the cards flowing even if your opponents decide to go shields down. This is definitely a deck for Impact Tremors-type cards to hurt your opponents when tokens come in, when they attack, and when they die. Damn this deck sounds cool!
In the 99, Zurgo Stormrender would be probably be honored to work with Tymna the Weaver and Tana, the Bloodsower. For my money, though, Zurgo is definitely a leader.
Rares
This feels like the type of card to be the 105th card of a spellslinger deck. Yeah, it'll do a great job if it sticks around while you go off, getting buff and hitting opponents with four or more damage from instants and sorceries alone. Then you've got a decent flying blocker to deter some crackback or you can slam in the red zone as the nail-in-the-coffin in the sky.
The slots for noninstant/-sorcery cards in spellslinger decks aren't plentiful and usually have Archmage Emeritus-level cards in their 10-15 creature spots. Caldera Pyremaw feels like it could be fun, but it isn't amazing for these decks. This is great for Shiko and Narset, Unified decks (they lead the precon this is from, after all), but I think this might sneakily be a Feather, the Redeemed card. You don't need to target Feather with your pump spells and cantrips. Caldera Pyremaw loves to see a Blazing Shoal followed by Rebellious Strike coming its way when you get to get the cards back and do it all over again.
I don't know what to do with this one. If you're playing a deck that plays two spells a turn, you'll be lining up your Monks for smackdown. I find this card awkward. Cast the Cutter, then another card and you've got yourself a 2/2 Monk with trample and haste and prowess, but what does that really do? Do you have a third spell to cast to pump the Monk? I get that it threatens to present a wide board, but you'll be committing quite a few resources just to get a few lil guys.
Luckily, unlike Monastery Mentor, the Flurry mechanic doesn't care if the spells you're casting are creatures. If you've got a deck with an unusually low curve, maybe this is worth slotting in the 99. I'm looking at you, Lurrus of the Dream-Den Companion decks. Is there a Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh/Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful Partner deck I haven't seen yet that might consider this as a nice value piece?
Just looking at this as an Equipment card is fine. Shadowspear is expensive and this is still a pretty cheap way to give something trample and haste. The added utility of playing out your spells and building an army to attack with or leave behind and chump is interesting. I'm not high on this card, personally, but I can see the potential for it to shine.
This card is fun and will definitely make it into lists with intentionality versus the "auto-include" status cards, like Professional Face-Breaker can reach. Goldlust Triad is great for more card advantage in Neriv, Crackling Vanguard, the leader of the precon the Triad was made for. Warstorm Surge and Terror of the Peaks don't mind easy triggers from the Triad taking to combat. Throw in some double strike shenanigans, like Berserkers' Onslaught, for a little extra mana and pain.
While folks will be quick to just slam this in a Dragon kindred list, I would like to offer a couple of commanders off the beaten path: Deathleaper, Terror Weapon and Samut, Vizier of Naktamun. Deathleaper lets the Triad's extra heads hit twice for a couple more Treasures and Samut turns those heads into a Treasure and a card each.
I love Anguished Unmaking and will likely just continue to play that. For one more mana, you get to have a tool for your Counterspell-heavy meta, but ultimately, I'm not particularly into this one. If you like it more than Unmaking, then that's awesome for you and I'm glad you have a card like this.
Oh, baby. I love seeing mobilize X. What a gift from WotC. Also, thank you for Avenger of the Fallen.
As a lover of the aristocrats strategy, you can image that mobilize not only providing the creature tokens and then making them die makes me pretty happy. The question is where does this slot? It's an Equipment, so there's the obvious answer of Equipment decks, but which most particularly? Zurgo Helmsmasher can definitely get around the problem of being chump blocked. Bruenor Battlehammer allows you the free equip and Bruno slams for seven.
The already scary Prossh, Skyraider of Kher gets more fodder to hit even harder. Garna, Bloodfist of Keld and of course Zurgo Stormrender definitely should pack this as an "army in a can" to keep the pressure up or thicken your hand. Thraximundar is scary enough, but with a shield... Oh wait, is the game already over? For Korvold, Fae-Cursed King players whose eyes are wide as heck, just be careful not to deck yourselves!
I think we can agree that another big winner with the shield is Jetmir, Nexus of Revels. Just attacking with the big cat gets you enough creatures to get +3/+0 trample and double strike totalling for 40 damage to swing at your opponents.
I'm impressed with the use of stun counters on this card. Punish the greedy manabases at your table with Magmatic Hellkite. We've recently gotten a few interesting land destruction cards like Krenko's Buzzcrusher which go a little wider, but the Hellkite trades off spreading the love for a stun counter on the land that enters, which is a pretty brutal tempo swing. That's not even mentioning the fact that there are a ton of players who neglect to play their basics!
PLAY MORE BASIC LANDS!
Anyhoodle, Magmatic Hellkite will probably see play in the same places I expect to see the Buzzcrusher: particularly oppressive decks that clone, blink, or reanimate creatures. Feldon of the Third Path and The Jolly Balloon Man seem like good Dragon-friendly homes. Rionya, Fire Dancer most definitely can push a few players into a concession with copies of Magmatic Hellkite. I think we can all agree this 4/5 Dragon is exactly that: a four out of five. Brutal card!
This card is f@#ked up.
Are you kidding me?
Are. you. kid. ding. me. ?.
At first, I thought this was just Phantom Steed in Mardu. I thought that was neat! Hey, cool way to bring the design to these colors. And at five-mana. Nice. But then I read "for each opponent" and wait, it's only four mana???!
If you've got another creature with a good ETB in play and you're in these colors, I'm going to have to assume I'm about to get blown out. From now on, it's likely that a creature-focused list with WBR in its color identity starts building with "Add Command Tower, Sol Ring, and Mardu Siegebreaker." This card is cracked.
Coming down with haste means you're essentially getting a free pseudo-myriad trigger immediately. Not to mention if you're going to board wipe, you can treat this like a Glorious Protector for one of hour creatures. Neriv, Crackling Vanguard and Neriv, Heart of the Storm are about to be insanely popular and the Siegebreaker is a must-have.
Get three Gray Merchant of Asphodel copies that drain for seven each. That's 21 to each opponent and a 63 life gain swing. Get three Massacre Wurms to keep the board clear and the life draining. Anointed Procession, obviously just UGH! THIS CARD IS MESSED UP!
You know what was missing for Dragon decks? A way to get over the line, of course!
Obviously, Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm will want to pop this bad boy in the 99. That much is clear. This set might create a ton of Duke Ulder Ravengard players with cards like these. A myriad swing from the Thrasher can represent 12 combat damage and nets you each mode three times if they connect so 24 noncombat damage, three cards to play until the end of the turn, and a problem artifact from each of your opponents' boards gone. Amazing!
That said, the floor on Parapet Thrasher is a 4/3 flyer for four that can deal serious damage, impulse draw you a card, or kill a rock on hit. That's pretty solid modality from an attack. The Thrasher is a solid creature for any deck that likes to attack, a cool creature to copy, or great in Dragon kindred; solid showing from this beater.
Clearly, this being from the Mardu precon deck, this'll be great for those decks that want to mobilize or similar (a la Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin). Your myriad creatures, like Battle Angels of Tyr, get to double up on their token copies. Duke Ulder Ravengard players aren't many, but they're happy. I guess Isshin, Two Heavens as One gets myriad triggers twice, plus the Redoubler triggers once...so one attack with a Wyrm's Crossing Patrol will net you 16 copies of the 1/1. Hot damn, I think we found the perfect home. Isshin and Wulfgar of Icewind Dale
Just looking at this Scryfall search has me wondering if there's a decent five-color myriad deck ready to be brewed.
While I think myriad and Hero of Bladehold type cards will be the go-to teammates for Redoubled Stormsinger, I think encore creatures, like Impulsive Pilferer, should be considered. Amphin Mutineer and Angel of Indemnity getting to double-dip seems pretty great. Not to mention of course, Feldon of the Third Path, Rionya, Fire Dancer, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, etc, yada yada.
The Redoubled Stormsinger is pretty cool, and I look forward to seeing it busted wide open.
I've seen a lot of hype for this one, but I'm just not seeing it. Sure, people like Sarkhan and the art is dope, but I feel like we've got a glut of Dragon commanders available in mono-red to pick from that feel like they might be better positioned than Sarkhan to lead a deck. Even in the 99 of such a deck, it's okay! A little acceleration, sure, but you get that from a Ruby Medallion or Dragonlord's Servant.
Fine, I'll be less of a hater.
As a commander, Sarkhan comes out early and gets you a four-mana Dragon out on turn three. That's pretty sweet spot already, but then you've also got a flying 3/3 commander to hit face with. Ultimately, the more little Dragons you've got, like Reckless Barbarian, Patron of the Arts and of course, everybody's favorite Dragon, Universal Automaton, the bigger your beefcake beater boy gets to wrap games up in time for lunch. Take your pick of Dragon commander and pop Sarkhan in the 99 if the vibes are right. I'm not sold on it, but it's your deck, you have fun!
Reminds me a little of Mogg Fanatic in a way, but other than Limited and the odd Goblin deck, I don't see this making big numbers on EDHREC anytime soon. It only targets creatures and requires you to go wide to get the most out of it. Use a Brash Taunter to reroute the damage, maybe? I don't know. I'm off it.
Honestly, a three-mana 3/3 with haste that lets you rummage up to two cards when it enters is pretty solid. Reanimator decks live for this kind of card selection and to get an attack trigger that might get you something back that you normally couldn't retrieve, hey that's gravy! I love the idea of playing a Tersa with a graveyard slammed with lands on a turn I haven't played one. Time to get that land drop, baby!
I don't know what to make of this as a commander. This just seems like a fun good stuff deck. Play your cards, rummage away, get some fun cards back without much of a choice in the matter, but hey, that's the juice, baby! Enjoy the ride!
I think Tersa adds a little bit of chaos to enjoy, but you're not obligated to attack them. That ETB on a legend could mean Dihada, Binder of Wills decks have a new selection tool and a fun one to reanimate at that.
Tersa seems like a fun time! Doesn't seem like a massively powerful choice, but definitely one that will get me to cheer when I see it hit the battlefield.
I get why this card was made, but I feel silly looking at it.
It feels like, yes it's a Dragon card, it belongs in Dragon decks; duh! My first thought for most cards this set. That's gotta be a given with this set as evidenced by the entirety of this review.
It's Future Sight that lets you cast buff creatures. Who else likes that? Mizzix, Replica Rider and The Twelfth Doctor come to mind! The deck restriction of packing mainly four-power creatures is an interesting way to build a deck, and this enables you pretty well. That said, I wouldn't consider building around this card but rather including it in the 99 once I've noticed that the creatures I've already put in have four power. This one feels like it'll be a good discovery in three years when the perfect Ferocious commander gets people prioritizing four-plus-power creatures. That and Dragon decks.
Night's Whisper meets a delayed Impact Tremors/Soul Warden combined.
The Zurgos feel like a great place for this. There are Mardu token decks out there like Caesar, Legion's Emperor, that seem like they're well suited to take advantage of this as well, but my fave pick for this is Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter. The combo Gnome can really swing a game or stabilize with Thunder of Unity while daring opponents to do something about it. Tymna the Weaver and Tana, the Bloodsower getting another mention this review as another one of the limited spots a three-colored card can be included well.
I like this personally for my Three Dog, Galaxy News DJ/Eriette of the Charmed Apple secret partner deck. I think it'll be pretty devastating for my opponents when they see this card hit the table.
We've seen this kind of card time and time again. Chaos Warp was so popular because red didn't have the means to deal with many permanent types. Cards back in Warp's heyday were also - let's be real about the power creep we've seen - way less powerful!
So you would hope to see Transforming Flourish allow you to hit something you control to rip something great off the top of your library. This is why demonstrate is on the card. You make a deal with another player to target a token of yours while you hit something of theirs and you can get rid of a problematic permanent on the board and cross your fingers for something less scary.
We've seen cards like Guff Rewrites History come and go while rarely making appearances at tables; I suspect the Flourish will have a similar fate.
I understand why they didn't call this Jeskai's Will, but it would have been funny.
I think the chatter I've seen surrounding this card has been a little too positive for my liking. What I want out of a wheel is either forcing my opponents to discard their hand or for it to be one-sided for myself. Tacking Past in Flames to this might mean that you'll get to play an instant or sorcery you discard from the wheel, which is fine. Or even getting to pay eight mana to discard, draw five, then discard, and draw a new five which could be excellent in a The Locust God deck or Niv-Mizzet, Parun deck for the draw or a Mary Read and Anne Bonny deck or Brallin, Skyshark Rider. Green Goblin, Nemesis is coming and will see this as a big swing card, too.
The thing is, you're also giving your opponents quite a bit to work with. If I'm playing a reanimator deck, as I often do, and I'm offered a hand discard and a new five, I'm happy to accept.
This isn't a card I'm particularly excited for. I think the hype level around it is higher than I think it should be, but it's a fine, serviceable card.
Ugh, finally a place to talk about Prosper, Tome-Bound! Jeez, I was wondering when that'd come.
I don't like this as much as I like Commune with Lava because of instant speed, but Zenith Festival allows me to do it twice, which is pretty sweet. The biggest upside is even better to me if I've got a beefcake like Keeper of Secrets in play to get six cards for two mana, so I might favor Zenith Festival in my own Prosper deck. Reckless Impulse is two cards for two mana, which means if I've got a 3/3, I'll get an extra card for the same card with the harmonize cost.
While I love it for Prosper, I think Rocco, Street Chef can really do some digging with the harmonize cost since you'll be popping +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures. Not particularly splashy or flashy, but Zenith Festival gets a thumbs up!
Keeping the Warrior tokens around seems pretty great, but wow that's specific.
Pack the deck with Warriors you want to clone with the likes of Jaxis, the Troublemaker, Feldon of the Third Path, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. You might notice I haven't said Rionya, Fire Dancer this time! It's an exile trigger, not a sacrifice! Assemble your army of Mirror-Style Masters and Metallic Mimics.
This feels like a much more specific The Master, Multiplied (another card for Zurgo's 99). That said, it's pretty clear that this deck can survive as a mobilize deck. Keep it simple, set mechanic dot deck!
I was higher on this Zurgo until I saw the Commander precon deck version of Zurgo. Both are really solid and I can't wait to play them both. That said, this Zurgo goes at the helm of the deck or in the 99 of its other iteration. Tymna the Weaver/Tana, the Bloodsower decks might be a good spot for this as well. It's harder to find places for three-coloured cards!
Uncommons & Commons
If you're playing a tokens deck in the colors, you could do worse than Bone-Cairn Butcher, and while I'd prefer Ankle Shanker, trimming a mana to make the requirement more specific, in the right deck, that's a fine trade.
Yo, what the hell is this? Ghen, Arcanum Weaver just gets a free roll every other turn, looks like. A five-mana enchantment that just reads "when this enters, Discover 8" and can bounce itself to your hand if you play a Dragon. Truly a bananas uncommon.
One-mana scry 2 isn't bad, especially if you're looking for something like this in your Jirina Kudro decks. Some early value with some tacked-on fixing. Worth a second look while you're brewing the colors. See how it fits!
At minimum, it's a Reckless Impulse/Wrenn's Resolve at instant speed for one more mana, but it can also be a combat trick for two creatures. I like it, I'll take a bunch!
That's a pretty brutal ETB trigger! Are there any Mardu blink decks out there? How about one of those clone lists that love a Rionya, Fire Dancer (LAST TIME, I PROMISE!).
Red mana dork! Noteworthy!!! Boring, but noteworthy! Also, cash it in to kill a flyer!
This is essentially a minor anthem and like "if you attack, one of your creatures gets mobilize 1" and that's fine and might get the juices flowing for somebody out there. I thought it was neat, but I don't think I can think of anywhere it wouldn't be outclassed so easily. Zurgo, Thunder's Decree is probably the best spot for this.
A RETURN DONE WELL
As someone who was never a Tarkir guy, this set really brought me in and I applaud the design team. I'm a little over Dragons, but I apparently hate fun, so whatever! I love the set, I'm excited to get cards in hand and make some changes to see them play out.
What card are you most excited for? Are you looking forward to dunking on me with your Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant deck? Bring it on.
