Locations
Welcome back for some more Tarkir: Dragonstorm cards that are getting me excited! If you missed it, be sure and check out my first article, going over the first batch of previews that I'm looking forward to sleeving up.
This time we're covering previews that have been shown as of my writing this on 3/24.
Let's begin!
Mistrise Village
It's possible this ends up being one of the best cards in the set. I think we need to compare it to Boseiju, Who Shelters All to really get an idea of how good this is.
Boseiju always comes into play tapped. The Village only comes into play tapped sometimes.
Boseiju costs 2 life, while the Village costs a Blue mana.
Boseiju produces colorless mana, while the Village produces Blue mana.
Boseiju only protects instants and sorceries, while the Village protects any spells you cast.
The only metric Boseiju ends up pulling ahead on is that it costs life rather than mana, but that's not a huge deal, and also somewhat subjective as to whether it's a pro or a con. I would gladly add 1 mana to the cost of all my spells in order to make them all uncounterable...or at least one per turn, anyway.
I think this card is going to be huge, with every Blue deck wanting some number of copies as it's often just better than an Island, and it isn't even legendary.
Dragonback Assault
While six mana is a lot for a sweeper, this card's whole package is what makes it really sweet. Clearing the board of smaller creatures and planeswalkers is great, but Dragonback Assault is a fantastic win condition for a Temur Control deck. (And in that deck, your Mistrise Villages will come into play untapped!) There's definitely a reason this card is preselling close to $30. Having an enchantment - which are often troublesome to remove - that gives you a free 4/4 Dragon for every land that you play is just ridiculous.
Magmatic Hellkite
Magmatic Hellkite is a textbook case of power creep. I don't think the card is bonkers or anything, but if you remember, Kenko's Buzzcrusher was just released last year.
The Hellkite is a 4/5 rather than a 4/4, and the land it destroys gets a stun counter, so the opponent doesn't get to use it for a full turn. Definitely an upgrade. It's also worth noting that the Hellkite avoids both removal that deals four damage and artifact removal, making it significantly more resilient. While the Buzzcrusher has trample, that's not often super relevant on a creature that already has evasion. It's worth noting that the Buzzcrusher is able to hit lands from multiple opponents, but that's not noteworthy in most non-Commander formats.
Auroral Procession
Auroral Procession isn't some groundbreaking card, but it's a very cool design of an updated Regrowth. Both cards are able to get any card back from the graveyard, which is the biggest modifier when it comes to Green cards that return things to your hands. Some only do permanents, some only do creatures or planeswalkers, and most of them are either very expensive or sorcery speed. Auroral Procession can hit any card, it's an instant - which even Regrowth wasn't - and it only costs two mana. Outside of requiring Blue mana, this card feels like a slam dunk Regrowth variant.
Perennation
This one is interesting. I'm not entirely sure how much play it will see, but the card is mythic and the Showcase version is currently listed at $32, so take that as you will. I'm a sucker for a good reanimation spell, and Perennation has a lot going for it. It reminds me of Obzedat's Aid, which really excited me, but was basically unplayable in Constructed. There are two factors that you really look for on reanimation cards that tend to put them over the top: the first is the card being able to target more than just creatures, and the second is the card being able to pull from more than just your own graveyard.
While Perennation doesn't fulfill the second, it does fulfill the first, being able to get any permanent, and also adding a hexproof and indestructible counter to it! I can only imagine the number of games people are going to lose to hexproof and indestructible Griselbrands or Atraxas.
Fangkeeper's Familiar
Just like some of the other cards on this list that excite me, I don't know if Fangkeeper's Familiar is going to be any good, but I sure as heck like a Sultai Mystic Snake variant. As a 3/3 with flash for four mana, this guy can play offense or defense, but all of the three abilities have value: life gain and card filtering, enchantment removal, and countering a creature. This feels a lot like what you would expect from a Charm cycle; in fact, Sultai Charm actually destroyed a creature, destroyed an enchantment, or drew you cards. So the two cards do seem to be cut from the same cloth. I also believe this is a cycle of creatures, so I'm excited to see the others
Really looking forward to see what else comes out of this set, so expect me to go over some more gems in the near future
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll catch ya next time!
Frank Lepore
