The Best Bulk of The Original Tarkir Block - Bulk Up!
Well, it's almost spoiler season for Tarkir: Dragonstorm, the long-awaited return to this fan favorite plane! It's crazy to think that it's been a decade since we first visited the land of Dragons & Khans. The first block of Tarkir brought with it some of the most powerful cards in Magic. From the reprinted fetchlands, Standard-warping cards, like Siege Rhino, and of course powerful Dragons, those original three sets shaped the game for years to come.
So, before we got back to this powerful plane, let's take a look back in time (kind of like Sarkhan) and revisit the best commons, uncommons, and bulk rares this block had to offer! I'm Tyler 'Savesya' Bucks, and it's time to take a trip down memory lane.
Impact Tremors
Impact Tremors is a Commander staple, and for good reason. It can weaponize your creature tokens on top of being an outlet for infinite combos. The fact that it's only two mana allows you to get this down in the early game and slowly ping your opponents' life totals lower and lower. If you have one of these laying around, give it a shot in one of your creature-heavy decks!
Xyris, the Writhing Storm would be a great commander to pair with Impact Tremors. Xyris is notoriously risky, since you're giving your opponents a lot of card advantage. Having a way for all those Snakes you're making to lower everyone's life ensures that you are applying a lot of pressure, even though you're handing out a lot of card draw.
Treasure Cruise
Next up, we have a spell that's so good, it's been banned in three different formats! Treasure Cruise is a more modern take on Ancestral Recall (one of the Power Nine). It can be a great card draw effect in decks centered around graveyards and slinging spells, which, last time I checked, was a big portion of the format. If you're able to get this down to even a moderate four mana and below to cast, you're off to the races!
A deck that cares a lot about high mana value spells is Saruman, the White Hand. Even though you'll most likely be casting Treasure Cruise for a lot less than its full casting cost, Saruman will still see it as the full eight mana value. That will grow your Orc Army by a lot on top of refilling your hand! Draw three and make at least an 8/8 for possibly one mana: that sounds good to me!
Temur Sabertooth
When I first saw this card back in the day, I didn't see what all the hype was about. Over time I realized the true power of bouncing one of your own pieces back to your hand. Not only does it save something if an opponent targets it with removal, but over time we've gotten more and more powerful ETB effects in Commander. Getting a Reclamation Sage back to your hand and casting it again is what we call "value".
Bouncing creatures and recasting them is the name of the game for a Chulane, Teller of Tales deck! Two mana to bring back a creature with a strong enters effect that you can recast, allowing you to draw a card and ramp a land is amazing synergy. You can also use the Sabertooth's ability multiple times in a turn. If you have a lot of mana laying around, this can make for a very explosive turn!
Stubborn Denial
Yes, blue has a lot of counterspells, but in the right deck, this one can be incredibly strong. For only one mana, it lets you counter any noncreature spell if you have something with power four or greater. I am a huge fan of An Offer You Can't Refuse since it can make for fun moments during a game, and I think Stubborn Denial will get a similar reaction when it's cast, especially if you don't have Ferocious and you catch someone with the Mana Tithe-esque effect!
A new commander that becomes a lightning rod for removal is The Mindskinner, which notably has ten power. Keeping this Nightmare on the field is priority number one in these decks, so only having to hold up one mana to counter a kill spell is very clutch! Having Stubborn Denial in your hand makes it easier to go all in on your plan and mill as fast as you can!
The Clan Charms
This section is devoted to all the Charms that Tarkir brought us. They're a cycle of three-color instants with three different on-theme abilities for each clan. While some are more played than others, like Abzan Charm featured above, each one has utility in the right deck. One of my favorite members of the cycle is Temur Charm; all three effects are strong, and the final ability can possibly end the game!
Let's highlight a lesser played member of this cycle with Jeskai Charm. When paired with a commander like Éowyn, Shieldmaiden, that final ability to give all your creatures +1/+1 and lifelink might swing an entire game your way. Decks built around Éowyn are usually creature-heavy and very aggressive, so even if your life total dips low from constantly swinging out, you can gain a huge chunk back while lowering all your opponents in the process!
The Three-Color Tapped Lands
Next up, we have another cycle, this time it's the three-color uncommon tapped lands. While these aren't the greatest lands in the format, they're still useful for building on a budget. Sure, you won't be able to use it right away, but if you're building a three-color deck, having a land that comes in and gives you all your colors is always going to be useful. If you have these laying around, don't overlook them!
As for a deck suggestion, I'm going to do a slightly different take on that here. I suggest you pick up a few copies of these lands in the colors you are interested in building, just to have them on hand! Something I run into pretty often in the deckbuilding process is having a lot of good nonland cards for a new commander, but then I just end up with mainly basics. Having cards like these in your collection makes it a lot easier to throw some new decks together!
Bulk Rares
Next up, we have two classic commander cards from the original Tarkir block that are coming in around a dollar!
Villainous Wealth
Our first bulk rare is a lot of player's all-time favorite card! Villainous Wealth allows you to steal a large number of spells from your opponents and swing a game right back in your favor. A great use case for this card is casting it right after a board wipe. The rest of the table is still trying to rebuild, and you get to swoop in and get an instant board presence! Also, for bonus points, can target the player that cast the sweeper as revenge....
The Mimeoplasm is a classic commander, so why not pair it with another staple of the format? This deck already steals your opponent's effects with the commander, so let's keep things on brand by stealing their cards as well! Even if your deck isn't built around swiping cards from other players, Villainous Wealth is still going to fit right into the theme of "anything you can do, I can do better!"
Mob Rule
Back in the day, cards like Mob Rule used to dominate the format. Being able to steal everyone's best creatures for a turn is how many decks won the game. I still believe that these kinds of spells are good in today's meta! Even though this doesn't steal all the creatures on the battlefield, you can still take a good look around and tell what will close things out. Either getting the big beaters from the table, or someone's giant board of little tokens, you can swing out and bring an end to the battle!
If you saw my favorite commander from last year, featured in our site's year end article (which you can read here), you'll know that my pick was Laughing Jasper Flint! Since he turns creatures you control, but don't own, into outlaws, Mob Rule would allow you to grow the ranks of your posse tenfold. Pairing that with something like Rakish Crew can help you close the door on a game, whether it's damage or the life drain of those creatures dying!
Shamanic Revelation
Closing things out today, we have the incredible draw spell Shamanic Revelation! Drawing you a card for each creature you control is a perfect effect for green, since it usually floods the board with creatures, both big and small. The added ability of gaining four life for each beefy creature you control is just icing on this already game swinging spell, allowing you to pull victory from the jaws of defeat!
If you put together a Baylen, the Haymaker deck after the release of Bloomburrow, then you should throw a Shamanic Revelation in there! Not only are those decks packed with tokens, ensuring that you will refill your hand, but your commander has four power, so you'll be drawing a huge number of cards and gaining at least four life, all for just five mana!
The Wrap Up!
So, there you have it: a list of some classic Tarkir cards, as seen through the lens of the modern Commander meta. If you can't wait for Tarkir: Dragonstorm to hit the shelves, you can always go to your local game store and pickup one of these classic packs of Magic history. Who knows, maybe you'll pull one of these amazing hidden gems to help build your hype for more Tarkir!
