What's Good In Tarkir: Dragonstorm?
Ahead of writing about
I began playing during
This time around, I wasn't going to miss out.
Tarkir holds a similar spot to Alara for many players, perhaps even seasoned ones. It’s a setting you either love, hate, or feel completely indifferent about. Before the reveal, I strapped in, expecting great value, solid staples, and a great investment opportunity. However, not all of my expectations have been fulfilled.
The decision to include the Fetchlands in the Special Guest slot strikes me as a mistake in an already underwhelming set. That single design choice is warping my perspective on this product and reducing the long-term EV of the boxes.
Mox?
In terms of utility or combo potential, Mox Jasper is severely limited. It suffers from its limitations to generate mana, greatly reducing its playability. Decks that want to run Mox Jasper aren't usually the decks that win using an infinite mana combo, but rather OTK.
That aside, I must also mention that the only thing preventing price increase is one to two cards being printed in the foreseeable future. Given that Mox Jasper is highly unlikely to be reprinted outside of supplementary products like Secret Lairs, the price could spike overnight.
| Mox Jasper | ||
| Mox Jasper (Showcase) |
Wheels on the Set…
As a result, Clarion Conqueror has seen a steady decline in price, now approaching the sub-$1 range. In which case, I would be curious to see how well the price may rebound due to EDH play or as a sideboard choice in Standard.
Speaking of Standard and EDH, one card that initially snuck under my radar during my early reviews is
From a Standard point of view, there isn't much space in the meta between mono-red and Esper Self-Bounce. White is currently not a dominant color on any list. Perhaps with the change in the rotation coming later this year, the metagame will slow down enough for planeswalkers like Elspeth to come back into favor.
| Clarion Conqueror | ||
| Clarion Conqueror (Borderless) | ||
| Clarion Conqueror (Showcase) | ||
| Elspeth, Storm Slayer | ||
| Elspeth, Storm Slayer (Showcase) | ||
| Elspeth, Storm Slayer (Borderless) |
Will to Play
What makes EDH releases exciting is that they’re unbound by the limitations of Standard. The cards can be more experimental in power given their environment and need to be just balanced enough against other decks being released during the same time.
With that in mind, this Commander product is definitely among one of the more tame releases in recent memory. There’s only one card from new additions that might see further play.
From reprints included in the decks, there's a nice selection of utility cards that curb the prices down from the $10-15 range to sub $10. My favorite pick here for a quick turnaround and hopefully a nice price rebound is
Looking over the price graph for the original printing, the cost started to go up due the influence of time rather than playability. Due to this, I would predict that the same increase will occur again, putting the Hellkite Courser back in the $12-16 range.
| Will of the Jeskai | ||
| Will of the Jeskai (Extended Art) | ||
| Hellkite Courser |
Dribble
Join me again next time as we unravel the next sealed product mystery.
Further Reading:
Magic, Tariffs, and Market Turbulence
Matt Grzechnik
Matt Grzechnik started playing Magic with the release of Dragon's Maze. Since then he has tried and experimented with all of the formats before discovering his love for EDH and Pauper. Piloting the same Jund deck for the last 10 years, he now tries to both understand and break Sealed as a format.