Magic: The Gathering Tarkir: Dragonstorm Expansion review

Wizards of the Coast is banking big on everyone’s love of dragons with the release of Magic: The Gathering’s newest expansion, Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Officially launching in stores today, this expansion marks the first return to the Tarkir plane in nearly 10 years, finally following up on one of the more well-loved blocks in MTG’s recent history. As the name implies, there’s a heavy emphasis on dragons this time around, with several new, notable dragon heavies sure to shake up multiple formats moving forward.

I had the opportunity to check out some of the products available ahead of release, namely a box of Play Boosters, a few of the Collector Boosters, and one of the new Commander decks, Jeskai Striker. My initial impressions are that this is an excellent set right out of the gate. Having played a bit with the new cards via Magic: The Gathering Arena (it launched there just a few days ago), I’m looking forward to exploring the draft format, which feels tailor-made for this particular set. There are so many impressive and powerful cards available in Tarkir: Dragonstorm that you can’t go wrong with this set, regardless of which format you prefer to play in.

In addition, collectors will be pretty happy with some of the new hard-to-find cards available via Collector Boosters this time around. There are the top-tier Showcase Foils with the Halo foil variant, and both types have a greenish blue hue to them that pops out art-wise, and look sharp with some of the stellar artwork featured in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Another chase card type to look out for is the Dragonscale Foils, featured on five special guest land cards. I’ve seen one of these in person, and the dragonscale design imprinted on the card really pops, making for a cool, unique foil amongst several other great looking cards in the set. Of course, you also have your standard assortment of showcase, borderless, and standard cards available, many which have already started to fetch a pretty penny on secondary markets. Cards like Ugin, Eye of the Storms, and Elspeth, Storm Slayer are immediately ones to look out for, even in their standard border card types.

For Commander fans, Tarkir: Dragonstorm also has you covered with five pre-constructed decks available. These pre-constructed decks are centered around the five different clans featured in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, so you can choose between Abzan Armor, Jeskai Striker, Sultai Arisen, Mardu Surge, and Temur Roar. Each deck contains everything you need to get started with Commander, but if you’re an experienced player, you can swap out cards as needed to customize each deck and make it your own. I had the chance to check out the Jeskai Striker deck, which focuses a lot on the monk-themed cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm featuring the Flurry ability, allowing me to cast copies of spells to overpower my opponents. It’s a cool deck right out of the gate and certainly one that I think is worth picking up.

All in all, Tarkir: Dragonstorm is an excellent expansion for Magic: The Gathering, deeply rooted in MtG lore, re-exploring one of the more popular planes in the entire MtG universe. There’s just a ton of great cards available in this set, and it’s the most excited I’ve been for an expansion since the release of Bloomburrow, which is what got me back into Magic to begin with. Definitely check it out; you won’t be disappointed.