Locations
Dragons of Tarkir has finally been revealed in all its fire-breathing glory (well, the Atarka part anyway). As we get ready to fully explore this new Tarkir ripe with Dragons, Warriors, and an Ogre who is concerned he may accidentally tread on a butterfly, I thought it only made sense to serve you a healthy portion of Okra-Twinkie-Tofu. Why? Well, it’s good for you! Just ask Ethan.
“If I fight, I might step on a butterfly. That would be sad.” —Krowg of Qal Sisma
I feel you, Krowg.
For those of us who don’t know, what is O-T-T?
As explained by both Matt and Doug before me, Okra-Twinkie-Tofu takes a look at some of the not-so-well-known words found gracing the faces of Magic cards and attempts to place them into one of three defined buckets:
Original image found here.
Dragons of Tarkir is filled with glorious morsels of delicious Magic flavor, so it’s time to take a bite out of our new and improved plane with some flavorful snacks:
DTK Gets Down with O-T-T
 | Scion: We are starting off with something completely real. A scion is a descendant of a notable family, but the word can also mean “a young shoot or twig of a plant, especially one cut for grafting or rooting.” Interesting. The word can also more loosely be used to describe simply any descendant, and for Scion of Ugin, it seems to be exactly that: creatures who can attribute their existence to Ugin. |  |
 | Sibsig: As completely fake as our favorite processed snacks, Sibsig is a term used to describe the workforce of tireless undead used by the Silumgar. In this particular case, we can see them being used like snow shovels to “plow” away some ice for the living warriors in tow. |  |
 | Stormcrag: While the word itself is made up, its delicious pieces are not. A crag is “a steep, rugged cliff or rock,” and as fans of the Nickelodeon show Guts will attest that there was absolutely nothing a kid of the ’90s wanted more than a piece of that awesome rock, the Aggro Crag. Combine crag with storm, and we have a dangerous elemental filled with mountainous fury. |  |
 | Ambuscade: Completely real word here. An ambuscade is “an ambush or an attack from an ambush.” This particular orc is a shaman who likes to not only ambush people, but use magics that help improve the ambushes of others. He also has a sweet hairdo. |  |
 | Gudul: Super made-up and ultra-fake word alert! On Tarkir, the Gudul are a series of small islands that dot a river delta found in Silumgar lands. The Gudul are home to some salamanders, and while they are not anthropomorphic salamanders scribbling down their cryptohistories, these salamanders are no less awesome. Just look at it! It’s such a cute lurker. Next time someone refers to him or herself as a “long-time lurker” on reddit, picture our little Gudul buddy here surfing the Internet. |  |
 | Duress: This super-cool (and super-real) word is used to describe “a compulsion made under or because of a threat,” and as we can clearly see from the art, poor Zurgo here is being forced to spill the beans or else. |  |
 | Profaner: From what I can tell, the actual word profaner isn’t real, but the word profane obviously is. Profane has a couple religious definitions, referring to “something not sacred or not respectful of orthodox religious practice.” The word can also be taken to mean “to treat with irreverence or disrespect, to violate or desecrate.” A profaner could be taken to mean someone who treats things with disrespect and, more specifically, a profaner of the dead would be someone who violates and disrespects the dead—perhaps he or she does this by turning a dead person’s head into some sort of lantern-like arcane tool . . . |  |
 | Glint: This is real word that means “a small flash of light, especially as reflected from a shiny surface.” The rakshasa in this cards art appears to be using the light reflecting off of its many jewels to distract its enemies (and show off its wealth in the process). Fun fact: I cannot look at this art and not picture Link from the Legend of Zelda with a big, smug grin plastered on his Hyrulean face. I wish I could mow the grass and find W Bluesky money. |  |
 | Gurmag: While as fake as Twinkie cream itself, on Tarkir, the Gurmag is a name used to describe the belt of swampland encircling the Silumgar lands. Never been? Do not fret! As the ogre pictured to the right can attest, the local naga are always more than willing to give you a tour. |  |
 | Prerogative: Huh, we’re seeing a lot of blue cards today. Anyway, prerogative is a real word that means “a right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class.” In this case, we see the rights of a dragonlord illustrated by the one and only Seb McKinnon. Want to be able to cast this spell in all its might? Better take it up with Ojutai (or another dragon) first. |  |
 | Corpseweft: A fake word to be sure, this one is made up of two parts: corpse and weft. While I think it’s safe to assume you all know what a corpse is, the word weft simply means “something woven.” See where I am going here? Check out that art to the right, and you can understand why this particular name was picked for this particular card—and why this card just got a whole lot creepier. |  |
 | Pinion: We close today with what is my absolute favorite card name of the set. What I love about this name is that it conveys the mechanics of the card and also helps to inform the art. In the image, we can see a Dromoka dragon munching on the corpse of a Kolaghan dragon. Pinion is a word that is used to describe “the outer part of a bird's wing, including the flight feathers.” Kolaghan dragons have feathered wings, this card destroys flying creatures, and if we look closely at the art, we can see that the Dromoka dragon isn’t just munching on any old part of its prey, but has bitten off the unfortunate dragon’s wing. All of this combines to make Pinion Feast an absolutely perfect name for this card. |  |
That’s all the time I have for today. I hope you enjoyed this installment of Okra-Twinkie-Tofu, and until next time, may all your experiences with Magic be just as flavorful.
-Ant
