Metagame: The First Week of Tarkir: Dragonstorm

The first week of Tarkir: Dragonstorm in competitive formats highlighted the major additions of Magic's most recent set.

Cori-Steel Cutter shows all the signs of becoming the next multi-format staple: despite its lackluster results in Pioneer, the card revitalized Prowess decks in Modern and even created new Bounce variants in Standard.

Meanwhile, Ugin, Eye of the Storms was the highlight of Modern Eldrazi decks and Mystic Forge lists in Legacy, and the expansion's other new Planeswalker, Elspeth, Storm Slayer, was the highlight for Pioneer alongside United Battlefront in Caretaker's Talent lists, which also featured in the same archetype in Standard.

Check out this article for the main highlights of the first week of Challenges with Tarkir: Dragonstorm!

Standard was, as expected, the most affected format by Tarkir: Dragonstorm, but its additions have not yet established any new archetypes with enough consistency to be called new competitors — the set reinforced some existing strategies such as Mono Red Aggro, Jeskai Oculus and Esper Bounce, while giving more evidence and prominence to Jeskai Control and some lists around Cori-Steel Cutter.

Mono Red Aggro

Tersa Lightshatter was the set's biggest addition to Mono Red Aggro. Its body and cost are decent, and its ability filters out unwanted cards from the hand, fixing bad topdecks a bit and getting the player out of those situations where they drew more lands than they should, or need to dig deeper for a specific card. With the high density of threats and cheap spells, having seven or more cards in the graveyard isn't that difficult task to trigger its bonus on the attack.

Another card for Red Aggro during the week, and also in multiple formats, was Cori-Steel Cutter, which takes advantage of Mono Red's cheap spells to put constant pressure on the board with new tokens every turn, in addition to offering Trample and Haste for the equipped creature and triggering the mice's Valiant triggers.

Izzet Cutter

Izzet Prowess had a brief rise this week thanks to this same mix of cheap spells and Cori-Steel Cutter. In this list, the equipment has an easier time creating a new threat on the board each turn, and just like in the Mice lists, we can equip it on one of the other creatures, increasing the chances of winning with Slickshot Show-Off against blockers and without relying on Monstrous Rage.

Rakdos Leyline

The Prowess versions with Leyline of Resonance also gained a new addition to the Rakdos lists: Desperate Measures offers a mix of pump with Village Rites that players can take advantage of with the enchantment to draw up to four cards with a combat trick.

Jeskai Oculus

Winternight Stories has secured another discard outlet for Abhorrent Oculus and generates card advantage in the process, in addition to its Harmonize cost being easily paid when having an Oculus in play.

Tersa Lightshatter has also appeared in some lists, but there is still no consensus on whether it is better than other creatures in this slot, or if the deck really needs the new card. The same goes for Glacial Dragonhunt, which doubles as a spot removal against small creatures and a discard outlet on the second turn.

Esper Bounce

Sunpearl Kirin trades the bounce on cast of Fear of Isolation for the versatility of playing it at instant speed, making it an important tool to protect Kaito, Bane of Nightmares or Entity Tracker, as well as increasing the density of available threats.

A split between the two has become common in Esper Bounce lists this week.

Grixis Bounce

On the other hand, a new version in Grixis colors made results in one of the Challenges, taking advantage of the interaction between Bounce's effects and reusing spells to trigger Cori-Steel Cutter consistently, increasing the number of creatures that benefit from these interactions with Prowess, replacing Optimistic Scavenger's clock with a card that generates more value over the course of the game.

Orzhov Bounce

The new Kirin also improved the consistency of the Orzhov variants that only had access to Nurturing Pixie. Some lists experiment with Wishclaw Talisman with the new creature to search for cards in the deck without giving the opponent the artifact, since Kirin allows them to respond to the talisman's activation before it resolves.

Orzhov Caretaker

Caretaker’s Talent decks have gained excellent support for the archetype’s go wide plan with Elspeth, Storm Slayer. She creates more tokens and turns all creatures on the board into bigger threats with evasion for a turn, increasing the clock of one of the slowest decks in the format today.

Jeskai Control

On the Control spectrum, one of the biggest additions were the Jeskai lists with Shiko, Paragon of the Way as a win condition, which recasts some of the main tools for card advantage and interaction, such as Temporary Lockdown and Stock Up.

Another addition to these archetypes was a Dragons package with Marang River Regent and Dispelling Exhale, while others bet on the individual value of old and new cards, such as the Rediscover the Way saga.

The Pioneer Metagame remains stable and without any major surprises coming from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, mainly because the format is still adapting to the new Mono Red Lynx decks, and a set whose main theme is multicolored cards is counterintuitive in an environment that is demanding less greedy mana bases.

Mono White Caretaker

One of the biggest new additions was United Battlefront, which, together with the large number of quality permanents that fit its scope, has become a potential staple for Mono White Tokens with Yorion, Sky Nomad.

They are mostly Caretaker’s Talent lists and also received Elspeth, Storm Slayer. Combined with Wedding Announcement and other cards that generate tokens and draws every turn, this strategy achieved two Top 8s this weekend.

Rakdos Prowess

Cori-Steel Cutter was present in Pioneer's Prowess variants, which tend to be divided between Rakdos and Gruul, but it didn't reach other Red Aggro versions more focused on the mice package.

Dimir Dragons

A new Dragons deck variant ahas shown up in the Challenges, but didn't achieve great results. Dimir Dragons takes the familiar Dimir Control shell and adds Scavenger Regent and Marang River Regent to enable Silumgar’s Scorn, Caustic Exhale and Foul-Tongue Invocation to create some extra interactions with these cards.

This may not be the ideal path for Dragon strategies in Pioneer, and the addition of Marang River Regent and the cards that interact with the type don’t seem to favor the archetype much compared to what it was before Tarkir, so it’s likely that Dimir Dragons won’t become a major competitor.

Cori-Steel Cutter and Ugin, Eye of the Storms were the biggest highlights of the new set for Modern. The first reinstated Izzet Prowess back into the competitive scene, while the other found a solid home in Eldrazi decks. Clarion Conqueror and Voice of Victory were also present in some lists, mostly in the Sideboard.

Izzet Prowess

Variants of Prowess in Modern that have been absent from the Metagame since Modern Horizons 3, and together with Stormchaser’s Talent, Cori-Steel Cutter enable more aggressive lines that also benefit from triggering Dragon’s Rage Channeler’s Delirium if destroyed and increase the archetype’s consistency.

This also marks the return of Bedlam Reveler to Modern since MH2's power creep, and opens up space for a new iteration of Aggro in the Metagame that breaks away from the homogeneous nature of Energy decks.

Jeskai Ascendancy

Without Underworld Breach, lists that mix Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student with Emry, Lurker of the Loch also turned to the equipment for a new build around Jeskai Ascendancy and looping interactions for infinite damage.

These run several low-cost spells to trigger Cori-Steel Cutter and dominate the game with an efficient mix of beatdown, not to mention the explosive combo-kill potential with Emry and a combination of Moxes or other zero-mana artifacts alongside Jeskai Ascendancy.

Sultai Murktide

Rakshasa’s Bargain works similarly to Stock Up — which has become a staple in several formats — while feeding the graveyard with three cards. It can justify a splash on Psychic Frog and Abhorrent Oculus archetypes, and this option was tested over the weekend, with one good result, while others were quite average.

The addition of green as a third color also guarantees the possibility of running Grist, the Hunger Tide and its interaction with Unearth, as well as Veil of Summer and other relevant Sideboard cards.

Domain Zoo

Domain Zoo adopted Spectral Denial as a cheap interaction, where the high power of its main creatures transforms it into a Force Spike with the benefit of paying more mana to expand its scope as needed. The new spell removed Stubborn Denial's slots from the maindeck, making room for a more comprehensive card in the current Metagame at the expense of a less efficient answer in Control games and some combos.

Eldrazi Ramp

Eldrazi lists ran multiple copies of Ugin, Eye of the Storms and had success in placings and results in this weekend's Challenges with the new addition, proving that, with the changes caused by the bans, the new Planeswalker is one of the best new cards for the format.

Izzet Stormscale

Stormscale Scion has shown up in Izzet Storm and enabled some lines that the deck didn't have to win games with fewer spells in one turn. For example, you can cast rituals until you have a Storm of three or more, play Stormscale Scion and use Song of Totentanz to give them Haste — depending on how many combinations between Fetch and Shock Lands your opponent has used, you can also win with this line with just two spells for 18 damage with the dragons.

Sideboard Cards

Clarion Conqueror and Voice of Victory also appeared with some frequency on the Sideboards. Conqueror was featured in Orzhov Blink and with a few copies in one of the Living End lists, while Voice of Victory gained a few slots in Sideboards, but also shows up in a Jeskai Energy list in the Maindeck.

Sultai Beanstalk

Just like Stock Up, Rakshasa’s Bargain has found a place in Legacy. The card meets all the conditions to be a new addition and potential staple of the format’s Up the Beanstalk lists: its mana value triggers the enchantment, it’s a pitch for Force of Will and Force of Negation, and the fact that it puts cards in the graveyard feeds Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath and Murktide Regent.

Mystic Forge Ugin

With the density of colorless spells and fast mana available in the format, it's no surprise that Ugin, Eye of the Storms has also found a home in Legacy. As Eldrazi Stompy continues to recover from the ban of Sowing Mycospawn, Mystic Forge was a great choice for a Stompy list to take advantage of the new Planeswalker.

Red Stompy

Tersa Lightshatter entered Red Stompy to complement Fable of the Mirror-Breaker in hand filtering. Two copies seems to be the consensus, as most players who made the Top 8 or Top 16 included it in their lists.

Orzhov Blink

On the other hand, these artifact-intensive archetypes may face a new challenge in the Metagame with lists that include Clarion Conqueror in the maindeck to lock the mana rocks, as is the case with this version of Orzhov Blink with four copies of the new dragon in the maindeck.

5-Land Spy

Although it is not as consistent as in other formats, Balustrade Spy also has combos in Pauper, in this case involving the same line of Dread Return for Lotleth Giant. The addition of Sago Wildling increases the consistency of finding all lands and casting Spy to mill the entire deck, then using Cauldron Familiar and Dregscape Zombie to play Dread Return.

Dredge

The traditional versions of Dredge have also gotten a small boost with Ainok Wayfarer to improve consistency, with more creatures on the list that serve as fodder for Lotleth Giant and Dread Return.

Goblins Reanimator

Finally, some different decks ran Stormshriek Feral in the Leagues, but a list that mixes the combo of Putrid Goblin with First Day of Class with Exhume and Troll of Khazad-dûm to attack on two fronts made a few results in one of the Challenges.

In it, Stormshriek Feral doubles as a discard and draw effect to dig for one of the combos and complementary threat we can cast, in addition to being a payoff for the infinite mana of the interaction between Skirk Prospector with Putrid Goblin and First Day of Class.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!