Dragons! Clans! War! Soon, we'll be returning to the battle-ravaged land of Tarkir, home to Sarkhan Vol, an OG Planeswalker with a weird affinity for dragons.

The original Tarkir block changed the way modern Commander was considered. Up until then, there were ways to do three color decks in the wedges (the very first set of Commander precons in 2011 were wedge-themed, and there were the original Elder Dragons in all of the three-color combinations) but our options were limited. Tarkir, by leaning into the wedges, gave us a bunch of new options, both for deck construction and Commanders. I still play my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Narset, Enlightened Master decks regularly. How many of us haven't been stomped by a Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie Kindred deck?

For any of you confused, the "Wedges" are three-color combinations which include two allies and one enemy. To go deeper: the color pie is described on the back of each single-sided Magic card. Traditionally called "WUBRG" (or "woo-berg"), it is White, Blue, Black, Red, Green. If a color is next to another color on the wheel, they're allies, so White and Blue would be allies. If you have three in a row (), it's called a "shard", from Shards of Alara.

If they're not next to each other, they are "enemies", so White and Black would be enemies. If you have two allies (, say) and their shared enemy (), it's a "wedge". The original Khans of Tarkir block put the wedges front and center by having each clan centered in a wedge:

• Mardu ()
• Jeskai ()
• Abzan ()
• Sultai ()
• Temur ()

Khans of Tarkir was also a strange drafting format. Back in the day, there was a large set and two smaller sets, and each smaller set got added to the previous sets in the block when you drafted. So, you'd have three packs from the large set after the first set hit, then two packs from the large set and one from the first small set, then you'd get one of each when the third small set came out.

Khans had two large sets (Khans of Tarkir and Dragons of Tarkir, the first and third) and a single small set (Fate Reforged), and Fate Reforged was drafted with either large set, but the two large sets weren't drafted together. Mechanically, the two large sets were rather different - the first set was focused on the wedges, but Dragons of Tarkir was focused on color pairs, doing away with the wedge theme.

From a story perspective, this makes sense - Sarkhan Vol returned to the past in Fate Reforged and rescued Ugin, which changed the future and meant instead of being ruled by humanoid leaders (the "Khans", like Alesha, Sidisi, et al) they were ruled by dragons (Dragonlord Atarka, Dragonlord Silumgar, et al). This meant in addition to the wedge Commanders, we also got several new Dragons ready to lead color pairs, often in color combinations not normally Dragon-focused (like !).

A little more history. Mechanically, Khans brought back Morph, then added versions of it in Manifest and Megamorph (which Mark Rosewater, Magic's lead designer, has admitted is one of the worst mechanics of all time). Each clan got their own, with Outlast, Ferocious, Delve, Prowess, and Raid. We then got replacement mechanics in Dragons, with Bolster, Formidable, Exploit, Rebound, and Dash.

Prowess has since become Evergreen. Delve is well-considered to have broken the game. Exploit is excellent in Commander. Bolster and Outlast are both a bit slow for modern Commander, and Ferocious and Formidable both work if you are already building big Creatures. Rebound is a nice addition to an effect but rarely a build-around. Raid and Dash can both be useful, but aggro mechanics like that tend to get outclassed in Commander pretty quickly.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm has very little information right now, but there are a couple things we do know. They are going to return to both the clans and the Dragons, which suggests there will be wedges again and lots and lots of Dragons, quite possibly in various color combinations (I, personally, would love a cycle of enemy-paired Legendary Dragons!).

Sarkhan is returning in non-Planeswalker form, and he presents the only "new" mechanic we know about: Behold. To Behold (in his case "Behold a Dragon"), you either choose a Dragon you control or reveal one from your Hand. In so doing, you gain some effect.

Commander players can be looking for a few things.

First, if you already have a Dragon-Kindred deck, whether a five-color like an upgraded Draconic Domination or a Mono-Red built around Lathliss, Dragon Queen, be ready to make some changes. We're going to get a load of new Dragons, and I'd suspect a number of new support cards - other Creatures which care about Dragons, plus permanents and spells which count Dragons, care about them, or are helped by Dragons. I'd love to see some Dragon-specific Equipment (how cool would the text "Equip Dragon " be?!) and some different ways to care about them in different color combinations.

Second, if you've wanted to build a wedge deck but haven't found the right Commander yet, sit on your hands until the full spoiler is out, because we're probably going to see some new wedge-based Legendaries who do something different from previous versions. We also might see updated or different versions of characters we know, like Zurgo or Alesha.

Third, I suspect we'll see a fair number of mechanics with limited use, like Bolster or Raid. Both of these required caring about those things a fair bit, but we often didn't have enough cards to make them work. It's likely the new Tarkir will have some mechanics which will, from a Commander POV, not be so useful.

Finally, I think it's likely we'll see some variation on Morph. Disguise is like Morph but better, and it's currently in Standard, though it doesn't seem to fit the vibes of Tarkir. Perhaps some other variation, where instead of Ward the face-down card gets some other ability, like Menace, Prowess, or creates a Treasure token. I could also see a return to basic Morph. (I don't think we're going to see Megamorph again, though!)

Either way, this set is likely to be rich in toys for Commander players of all stripes. I'll be watching the previews and your Commander authors on this very website will be putting out some Dragon-specific content for the next few weeks, so keep checking back for more info as it comes!

Thanks for reading.