Dragons of Tarkir Spoiler Limited Review for March 2
Dragons of Tarkir is looking to be an exciting follow up to Fate Reforged. Dragons are all over the place, Morph is being replaced with Megamorph, two of the clans receive brand new mechanics in Exploit and Formidable, while Rebound makes a return from Rise of the Eldrazi.
I'll be posting reviews for each day of this spoiler season from a Limited perspective. Let's start by looking at the grading scale that I'm using to review individual cards.
Grading Scale
A: This card will often be the best card in one's deck. I'd consider splashing it where possible. (Duneblast, Citadel Siege)
B: This card is rarely cut from a deck that can cast it. In draft, it signals that a color or archetype is open. (Icefeather Aven, Abzan Beastmaster)
C: Cards like this make up the majority of limited decks. You're neither excited nor embarrassed to have them in your deck. (Sagu Archer, Soul Summons)
D: I'm not putting this in my main deck unless I have a specific reason or I'm low on playables. (Firehoof Cavalry, Abzan Advantage)
F: This card will have little or no impact on the game if I draw it or is strictly sideboard-material. If I cast this card, please stage an intervention for me. (Lens of Clarity, Crucible of the Spirit Dragon)
Commons and Uncommons
C+
While this creature offers good value and won't often be cut from white decks, the advantage of Bolster 1 will usually be less than the advantage of playing a 3 mana 2/2 morph and having the ability to turn it face up. If morphs are at a premium in DTK, Sandcrafter Mage will be a good alternative for the 3-drop creature slot.
C+
While Talrand's Invocation is better by a good margin, this card has the potential to be good. It's similar to Aven Surveyor but gives you only one option: a free 2/2 flyer next turn. It's worse than Aven Surveyor in that you lose the bounce option (which is admittedly the main reason that card is played), but this grants you more power and toughness, is more resilient to removal, and also triggers Prowess twice. It's worth noting that waiting for the second Djinn Monk can be awkward when you need to double block a Dragon.
C-
No avid Magic player should ever get over their love for Flametongue Kavu and other similar creatures with explosive enter-the-battlefield effects. In the prior Khans sets, we got Hooded Assassin, Mardu Heart-Piercer, and to a lesser extent Merciless Executioner to fill this slot. Given the cost of having to sacrifice a creature and the poor CMC to P/T ratio, I think this Butcher will spend about half his time in the sideboard; however, with multiple token creatures in your deck or enough good X/3 creatures shown by your opponent, this card could become a solid role-player. Without that help I think this card is fairly mediocre being your choice of a bad Throttle (sorcery speed and unable to kill an X/4) or a bad Great-Horn Krushok.
C+
This Ogre is Red's aggressive version of Feral Krushok. While the downside is real, you can always play this in your second main phase to try to block for a turn. The benefit of sometimes sneaking in 5 damage for only 4-mana is a huge upside. This is light years ahead of Lightning Shrieker's 5 damage for 5-mana since the Warbrute goes back to your hand to be repeated while the Shrieker goes back to your deck where you have to draw it again. Along with Goblin Heelcutter, add this to the list of things you really don't want to see your opponent cast when you've stabilized the board at a single-digit life total.
C+
"Elmer and friends" is a big upgrade from Feral Krushok of Fate Reforged. Since Dragons of Tarkir/Fate Reforged draft is much more likely to put a player in two colors than Khans of Tarkir/Fate Reforged's clan environment, the extra green mana symbol won't be too big of a deal. Trampling over your opponent's board for the win is a very real possibility once you get 3 or more power in other creatures. Be careful of picking too many expensive ground creatures in this format because you'll likely need some insurance against pesky Dragons that will be flying about.
C+
This set's Longshot Squad, these Archers give you an extra point of toughness, the Reach keyword right away, and a Megamorph option instead of an Outlast ability and global lord effect. Given the Dragons this set was named after, I think this creature will be better than Longshot Squad was in the two Khans formats. Since one has to invest 9 total mana to morph and unmorph this, I think this will frequently be cast face-up unless you have a shortage of green mana or your opponent has a Wardscale Dragon or similar to which you have no other response.
Rares and Mythics
D-
This card suffers from the same problem as Fearsome Awakening which is that you'll often invest more mana in this than the value you get out of it. If you trade off a (mega)morph early in the game, you might manage to get a 5- or 6-drop first and then pick up a 4- or 5-drop on the rebound. But if we compare that to some mere common and uncommon 7-drops in this block like Venerable Lammasu, Pilgrim of the Fires, or Arashin War Beast, you can see that 1) You'd prefer the more consistent creature option most of the time and 2) The creature option is still pretty bad (with none of the three I mentioned being in your main deck unless you're hurting for playables). If someone ever manages to get two planeswalkers back with this spell in Limited, I would want to shake their hand.
B-
This is among the best 2-drop blue flyers ever printed even before considering the Megamorph ability. In Limited, the morph ability should only ever be used if you can't find blue mana or you know your opponent has a Mob Rule or similar that you need to beat. The 2-mana 2-power flyer option is definitely good enough on its own. However, if there is an abundance of flying-creature hate in the form of good Reach creatures in the set, I could see this being downgraded to a C+.
A
This is bigger than Shambling Attendants for about the same cost and can turn your worst creature on the board into the best card left in your deck. If the 4/6 deathtouch somehow doesn't stabilize the board and put you in a winning position, the card you tutored up will almost certainly put the nail in the coffin for your opponent. With Despise, Rakshasa's Secret, and Mardu Skullhunter all rotating out of the draft format, it's fairly likely you'll get to keep the card in your hand as well.
D+
This may prove to be a fun build-around card for Limited, but without Dragons at common, I don't think the potential to exploit (notice me working the new mechanics into the conversation?) it will be there. I'm tentatively giving this a grade of D+ until we know the proportion of good flying creatures in this set.
A-
While Silumgar losing hexproof is unfortunate (including from a flavor perspective), the ability to Mind Control your opponent's best creature is extremely powerful and is made absurdly powerful by the presence of Exploit in this block. If you're already winning by a large margin, you can sacrifice the creature you stole so they won't get it back even if they remove the Dragonlord. I prefer Sidisi, Undead Vizier for being in one color, cheaper, and getting more value if your opponent has a kill spell in hand. But the ceiling is still very high for this awesome Elder Dragon.
Conclusion
Please join me again tomorrow for the next round of card spoilers and card reviews. Do let me know in the comments where you think I'm right or wrong in my evaluations or if you have other comments. I can also be reached on Twitter under @JakeStilesMTG
