Fresh off my amazing interview with Scott Kirschner, I realized I had learned far more than just his personal history, but about art as well. Every artist I came in contact with was revealing a new angle on the subject, giving a deeper understanding of whole. Nearly ten years out of college, I’d finally realized why they made me take art-history classes. I wanted more, and with so many influential Magic artists out there, the real challenge was picking whom to talk to next. Fortunately, I didn’t have to look very far . . .

Khans of Tarkir, being a multicolor-themed set, offers very little to devotion strategies. In a way, that's the point.

There's a tidbit of ancestral knowledge in the Magic community that says in a multicolor format, you can get a huge advantage by building a streamlined, consistent deck. When everyone is playing three colors, you should play two colors; when everyone is playing two colors, you should go mono-color.

Traditionally, this theory is about being aggressive and punishing opponents who may stumble on their mana. However, it need not be restricted to just aggro decks. In a format as powerful as today's standard, if you're developing your board while your opponents are struggling to get on their feet, the game is as good as won. What's more, all of the aggro decks that your opponents build will be built to beat players whose lands come into play tapped, or deal them massive amounts of damage. If you refuse to play into their hands, then you'll be the toughest opponent they're likely to face.

Beyond issues of mana base, Khans of Tarkir's most powerful cards—things like Savage Knuckleblade and Siege Rhino—seem to guide us towards midrange creature decks. Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation are gone and there's no clear replacement in sight. Because of their raw power and explosiveness, devotion decks tend to dominate opposing creature decks, and might be at their absolute best in Khans of Tarkir Standard.

Howdy, folks. Mind if I put on a little music?

(Suggested listening: Moby-Dick; composerJake Heggie, librettist Gene Scheer)

Yeah, that's the good stuff.

So, Khans of Tarkir, AKA Zendikar-kir, AKA...

I really hope there's some curveball to the block structure that isn't "oh myFlying Spaghetti Monster Tarkir is Zendikar" or some other wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff that's been done before and better by many other media. The Abzan having a perfect hedron in the middle of its banner (the only hard-edged straight lines in all the clan symbols), Sorin Markov seeking Ugin, Mark Rosewater saying there's time travel and he can't talk about it ...there's a lot of buildup, and I'm really worried the reveal will be underwhelming. At this point it'll take something on the order of "Koth of the Hammer is actually the reincarnation of the Lithomancer," thereby unifying the unholy trinity of Phyrexians, Nicol Bolas, and the Eldrazi, for me to give this absurdly telegraphed tale a thumbs-up.

For my take on the overall flavor of the various clans, check out my previous article, " Khans and Consequences." This article is for my take on individual cards that caught my eye, for good or ill; the worst reaction I can have to a card is "meh," because that means it never registered at all.

The Khans of Tarkir prerelease is just a few days away and I am pretty excited to be casting a bunch of undercosted and overpowered multicolor spells. However, all of those sweet creatures and spells do come with the burden of a very stretched mana base, at least in limited. In constructed, we are so used to having access to 30 dual lands in any given environment that we forget just how hard casting three color cards off of just basics can be.

There is a certain skill in being able to construct a mana base reasonably well. There is no such thing as being a master or perfect, as it is very difficult to figure out fractions of a mana or specific needs for any given deck, but as long as you can explain why you made the choices that you did regarding your mana, you are on the right track.

The days of eight Swamps and eight Forests in every black/green limited deck are about to be over!

Perhaps you've seen Surrak Dragonclaw, the khan of the Temur clan. Perhaps you've even seen him punch a bear. But the Temur aren't all face-smashing and bear-punching. They're also a deeply spiritual people, and Surrak represents that duality of reverent respect for the wilds and utter pragmatism in dealing with them.

But the position of khan is not hereditary, and Surrak wasn't born into it. He was once just another young Temur warrior trying to make a name for himself. Until one wilderness encounter altered his destiny forever...