Hello and welcome back! We are getting into the spoiler of Tarkir Dragonstorm, and of course that means the clans of the plane have their leaders and champions for us to consider when building a new commander deck. In today’s article, I’m going over the khans of each clan and the spirit dragons that embody the ideals of those clans. What makes this set interesting is that we have two legends for each, with some crossover between them and the dragons mechanically.
I will note here that some of the cards are “missing” from this list. While images of the supposed cards are online, they have not yet been all verified to be real at time of writing so I’m not including them. With that disclaimer done, let’s visit with the leaders of Tarkir.
THE ABZAN HOUSES
FELOTHAR THE STEADFAST
I like the steadfast epithet for Felothar relating the feel of the name to Anafenza the Foremost. Steadfast she is as well. This is the face commander for the Abzan precon Abzan Armor. She focuses on defenders, the toughness of creatures, and apparently sacrificing high toughness creatures for card advantage.
Taken at a glance, the card tells you exactly what you should put into the deck. High toughness creatures at a minimum. While not all of the deck lists for any of the decks haven't been spoiled as I write this (Jeskai Striker is revealed), we can assume there will be a number of high toughness creatures in the deck (probably Zetalpa among them).
As for what you could do with the card outside of the obvious, discarding cards that have flashback or ways to recur themselves would be pretty good to get value out of whatever you can’t at the moment. While drawing a bunch of cards is always good, card selection can be as well. Coupled with what I mentioned above, if a creature only has a single point of toughness more than their power, you could also fuel a reanimator deck with some card draw trigger and death trigger as well.
While this version of Felothar looks straight forward, you can take the legend in a few directions and still have a very useful commander.
BETOR, KIN TO ALL
The main set Betor is a toughness matter legend, much like the precon face commander. This one rewards you outlasting (not the ability) and massing a large, big toughness force of creatures.
Like the other Betor, they trigger at the end of your turn only, but the ability can help end a game if you mass enough back stuff. At 10 total toughness (which Betor here can account for 7 of), you draw a card. Nifty. At 20 total toughness, you get to untap your creatures. This means you can go offensive with your attacks and leave your high toughness defense online as well. At 40 points of backside, your opponents lose half their current life total, rounded down.
10 and 20 toughness should be fairly easy to get to most of the time. 40 could be a problem in some games, but with cards like Essence of Antiquity around the chances aren’t so small where this isn’t viable in commander.
What intrigues me is this version of Betor is in the main set, therefore legal in Standard. Outside of the lure to buy packs, I’m not sure what it’s doing there and not in the commander deck. To be fair, Standard players could run 4 copies of Essence of Antiquity where we cannot, so maybe that’s a reason?
BETOR, ANCESTOR’S VOICE
I mentioned this Betor in my last article, so I won’t rehash too much of what I said. Still, there are some things worth mentioning again.
The legend itself has lifelink, which helps feed the first part of the third ability and nets you some +1/+1 counters because you gained life. No matter where you gain the life from, the ability counts the total life gained and only gives counters to one creature.
The second part of the third ability allows you to recur a creature from your graveyard equal or less to the amount of life you lost that same turn. It counts that as a separate total, even if at the end of the turn you gain all that life back. So you could lose 5 life and gain five life, and you’d get to bring back something mana value 5 or less. It’s important to note based on how the ability it worded the recurred creature will never get the counters from the same ability that recurred it.
THE JESKAI WAY
NARSET, JESKAI WAYMASTER
If this isn’t some kind of all-in commander I don’t know what is. The Waymaster here wants you to be casting everything you have to refill your hand at the end of the turn. While it doesn’t work so well with counter magic (unless you use it on your turn), a storm deck could probably be easily built around this commander. More likely, it would be a deck full of cantrips and triggers for whatever spells you cast.
That’s the best part of the design too. While the mana value of spells for this deck might be lower on average, you can cast anything you want. It’s not restricted to instants or sorcery. Heck, she might even lead a decent low to the ground super friends (planeswalkers) style deck. I like it.
ELSHA, THREEFOLD MASTER
Elsha here sorta reminds of Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest (also known as One-Punch Man) because of the potential she has to one shot someone. However, she doesn’t have the innate ability to give herself doublestrike trading it for trample, but also nets you some tokens when she hits a player. This helps with both defense and a go wide aggressive strategy because those tokens are monks with Prowess.
Prowess also triggers from noncreature spells, so you could build her artifacts, enchantments, spellslinger or anything in between. Even a creatureless deck might be viable here.
SHIKO AND NARSET, UNIFIED
The body on this card is really good for the cost, but the meat here is in the ability. Casting a second spell each turn is a carry over from the set via the ability Flurry, and rewards you doing so with copying that spell or drawing you a card with this card specifically.
Spell you cast second does have to target, so most creatures are off the list here. However, scary things like the Eldrazi might be able to be copied here. Largely this will probably be used for removal, auras or other buffs because those would be easiest to use.
To clarify a little, you only copy the spell if it targets something, OR you draw a card if it doesn’t. You don’t get to choose outside of the spell you cast.
I really like this. It wants you to build a deck that helps you get to the payoff and it leaves it largely completely open to what you want to build.
SHIKO, PARAGON OF THE WAY
An interesting take on Jeskai recursion, Shiko allows for a one time recursion of a spell from your graveyard that is three mana or less. Could be anything you want inside that restriction, be it enchantment to an instant.
Looking at the card, the one time it could do it (without support) is fine. It’s in the main set after all, not a precon. However, there are so many ways to abuse Shiko. Blink the dragon to have it trigger again, or run some token doubles like Annointed Procession. Even just using Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer might wield some interesting results for you. This is all because the recursion isn’t a true one. You get to make a copy of something, then cast it. A permanent spell becomes a token, so there are those additional synergies. The card by itself is alright, but the cards behind it can push it over the limit.
THE SULTAI BROOD
KOTIS, THE FANGKEEPER
Our mian set Sultai leader is an indestructible 2/1 with a very good ability.
While it survives combat easily, you want to be smacking people for damage to trigger the second part of the card, which allows you to cast spells off the top of your deck. You get to choose from up to X spells, where X is the damage you dealt, and cast spells up to that amount of damage. For instance, if you hit for four damage, you exile the top four cards and can cast all of those if they have mana value 4 or less. Of course, you can increase his power and give evasion from those spells as well to make sure you get more bang for your fang.
It’s a simple and beautiful design for a card that makes building the deck behind Kotis the actual thing your will be accomplishing to make it run smoothly. This is the first Sultai legend I’ve seriously look at in a while.
KOTIS, SIBSIG CHAMPION
The Kotis of the commander deck does something much different, concentrating on your typical reanimator stuff. Doing so, even not using his ability, makes him larger by adding +1/+1 counters to him. You do have to pay a cost of exiling three cards from your graveyard and still paying the cost of the creature you return.
Really not much more to him than that, but having a reanimator on each turn you have freely available is nice.
TEVAL, ARBITER OF VIRTUE
Delve makes its return on a new Sultai legend. Where would it be more at home anyway? This legendary dragon gives everything you cast delve, which helps you discount spells that you cast by exiling stuff from your graveyard. This mechanic caused a lot of problems back in the day, so true to the dragon’s name, we have a drawback.
When you cast any spell, you lose life equal to the mana spent to cast it. Delve itself lessens those costs, so the drawback isn’t too severe. However, it’s an interesting mechanic to have on the card to try and balance its upside.
The dragon themselves have lifelink to also help mitigate some of the life loss. I do like the idea of cards like Willowdusk in this deck to helps pump things to make them scary and self mill for the obvious reason of filling the yard to help discount spells.
TEVAL, THE BALANCED SCALE
The commander deck version of Teval, speaking of, helps with milling cards. When it does so on the attacks, you get to return a land from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. So, you could possibly play two lands a turn with this deck.
This Teval also rewards you when cards leave your graveyard with zombie druid tokens that are 2/2. It’s an overall nice self managing package on a 4/4 flyer that can lead a few different deck strategies from reanimator to landfall.
THE MARDU HORDE
ZURGO, THUNDER’S DECREE
An aggressive Mardu commander here who brings friends along when he attacks. The tokens themselves would be temporary if not for Zurgo, which gives them the ability to stick around.
Honestly a decent card but I think this one is much more for Standard and other formats then Commander. Still could do some work in the 99s of some decks like Dihada and Isshin.
ZURGO STORMRENDER
Commander deck version Zurgo also makes a token when he attacks (instead of 2), but provides some benefit when they go away by drawing a card since it was attacking. If you tokens wasn’t attacking, he burns your opponents instead.
This legend is very, very similar to Garna, Bloodfist of Keld which I very much like. There are a few noticeable differences though. Zurgo only cares about tokens leaving, not creatures dying. Garna also deals damage, whereas Zurgo makes opponents lose life. This could be important if you want to give something lifelink.
Overall a good aggressive token focused commander.
NERIV, HEART OF THE STORM
A simple design with this one. If a creature enters and manages some damage against an opponent or something they control the turn they enter, it deals double damage to that thing or player.
Now, this doesn’t work with things like Impact Tremors, but does work with things like Warstorm Surge. It also really wants your critters to have haste, and I think this card subtly telling you that is a flavor win for a Mardu aligned legend.
NERIV, CRACKLING VANGUARD
Precon Neriv brings tokens when they enter the battlefield, and are a 4/4 flying deathtoucher to boot. When they attack, you get to exile the top X cards from your library where X is equal to the number of different tokens you control. That’s an interesting Gimbal type of caring right there. It rewards you for having a diverse assortment of tokens, so zombies, those goblins Neriv brought, and some soldier or angels fit right in.
You can then pay those exiled cards any turn you attack with a commander. With that, Neriv doesn’t necessarily have to be the front face of your deck. Maybe Queen Marchesa or the new Zurgos could be. Either was, you get a payoff.
THE TEMUR FRONTIER
ESHKI DRAGONCLAW
Hey, only one legend with Ward (so far)! Eshki here is a 4/4 for four mana with vigilance and trample as well. That is already a good card. However she also rewards you for casting noncreature and creature spells each turn. If you manage both, you draw a card and put TWO +1/+1 counter on her. Assuming you can do that a few times, she can become a real problem for opponents to deal with. You do have to cast both before your combat though, but that’s not to bad of a restriction.
ESHKI, TEMUR’S ROAR
Precon Eshki cares about creatures and power. If you cast a creature spell, this Eshki gets a +1/+1 counter. If that creature spell had power 4 or greater, you get a card. If it had power 6 or greater, she burns you opponents for damage equal to her power.
Honestly, I just want to run a bunch of reconfigure stuff from Kamigawa for the fun of it. I just don’t know how many have a decent power stat to help the card out.
That said, she wants you to go big and stomp stuff, but she also helps you along with the card draw and burn, not to mention she gets bigger herself. Needs some trample or flying, but in these colors she’ll become a problem fast regardless.
URENI, THE SONG UNENDING
Base set Ureni is a flyer that gets to one half of the majority of flyers, and is a 10/10. On top of that, is enters and burns down the house with creatures and planeswalkers inside, divided as you choose equal to the number of lands you control. This card is big and dumb and I love it.
Obviously some blink shenanigans should be in here like Deadeye Navigator or Thassa Deep-Dwelling, but even an on Flavor Temur Sabertooth might do well. Ramp for lands is also necessary, but you could also use the abundance of manadorks Green provides to get Ureni down early. Less burn, but more bite.
UNRENI OF THE UNWRITTEN
Ureni has seen the future, and the future is flying rawr rawrs. A 7/7 with flying and trample, This Ureni can bring a draconic friend with it whenever it attacks or blocks from the top eight cards of your library. This Ureni is also big and dumb and might also like a blink effect here and there.
Eight cards is a deep dig into a deck, so you might not even need to run too many dragons. At the end of the day though, when you can put them into play for free, why not run the ones you want anyway?
RETURN TO TARKIR
There are so many legends already to cover, and I have to say that it’s been a while since I’ve been hyped about a set so much. I’m not sure which legends I’d evenbuild at this point and there are at least four that interest me right now. Set Kotis seems the most intriguing to me, but time will tell.
Tell me which legend or clan you like in the comments below!
Until next time, endure.
