Standard: 5 Decks with Tarkir: Dragonstorm to try out!

Tarkir: Dragonstorm is knocking on our door.

With the prerelease taking place this weekend, Magic's new expansion is taking its first steps towards impacting competitive formats with its cards, and many tests of several new and old archetypes will take place next week on Magic Online and Magic Arena, culminating in the results in competitive tournaments and paving the way for the next Pro Tour.

From new ways to build already established decks, such as Cori-Steel Cutter in Gruul Aggro, to the possibility of new archetypes proposed by the new set, such as variants of Dragon lists, there is no doubt that Tarkir is here to stay — in this article, we share five Standard decklists to try out with the new set.

Gruul Cutter

Cori-Steel Cutter is an excellent card for Red Aggro in the set. Combined with small sequences of low-cost spells, it ensures there is always a body on the board that grows with the pumps, while the equipment itself guarantees Haste and Trample.

In addition, because it has a low equip cost and relevant abilities, Cori-Steel Cutter interacts with Heartfire Hero and Manifold Mouse, ensuring more consistency in having evasion and immediate impact, and can be lethal even with Manifold Mouse in longer games.

To make the most of its triggers, we've added Questing Druid as a source of card advantage that can count as two spells in a turn, as well as the new Wild Ride, which also grants immediate impact to Heartfire Hero, Questing Druid, and Manifold Mouse.

Azorius Synthesizer

We've tried to play around United Battlefront with a list that's all about artifacts that fall within the cost constraints of the new Collected Company.

The ideal plan involves having Simulacrum Synthesizer in play and using artifacts with mana value three to create tokens as they interact with the battlefield. We also have Cryptic Coat as a way to create tokens every turn with Synthesizer while putting 2/2 permanents on the board.

In addition to these, we have Spring-Loaded Sawblades and Dusk Rose Reliquary for board control, Carrot Cake to feed the Reliquary and gain life against Aggro and Mazemind Tome to filter the top to generate card advantage in longer games - all cards are also found with United Battlefront.

Sultai Beanstalk

Rakshasa’s Bargain is one of the most promising cards in Tarkir: Dragonstorm and has an interaction with Up the Beanstalk, where, although we can pay , its mana value is still considered as six.

This list, inspired by the Golgari Control that Seth Manfield ran in the Top 8 of Pro Tour Duskmourn, uses a slight splash for Rakshasa’s Bargain and also allows for a more comprehensive sideboard with stack interactions such as Negate or Disdainful Stroke.

Another great card in these colors is Fangkeeper’s Familiar, a new variant of Mystic Snake that offers less versatility as Counterspell in favor of more broad relevance against the current Metagame's matchups.

Additionally, a slight splash enabled by Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Sandsteppe Citadel allows for Kin-Tree Severance, a comprehensive removal that has the same interaction as Rakshasa’s Bargain with Up the Beanstalk. In the worst-case scenario, it is possible to cast it for .

Mardu Dragons

A set called Dragonstorm obviously needed to have good interactions with dragons — it is possible to think of several Dragons variants in the new format in practically every color variant that has red. Here, we will focus on two versions: Mardu and Jeskai.

In the Mardu version, one of the biggest problems is that we do not have sources of advantage in cards that interact directly with the theme, so we need to bet on a faster game, where the ETB and other effects of our creatures compensate for the lack of added value with cards like Unholy Annex.

Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant is the main enabler. If played on the second turn and revealing a Dragon, the Treasure token it creates guarantees a Magmatic Hellkite on the third turn - which will already be a pseudo-Time Walk against the opponent on the play. On the following turn, Decadent Dragon complements the four-mana creatures.

We also have creatures with Omen. Scavenger Regent has a great cost-benefit between body, evasion and protection, but its true value is as a reusable sweeper for a low cost that grows as the game goes on. Twinmaw Stormbrood is a reason for the splash of , but it is common to use it for the cost of , where it transforms into a Roast.

Another reason to play Dragons in Standard is all about interactions. Molten Exhale and Caustic Exhale are very efficient for their costs when we have dragons in play or in hand.

Jeskai Dragons

In the Jeskai version, we're going for a more traditional Midrange deck, with some cards that border on a kind of Control. The addition of Stock Up gives us efficient card selection, and we want to minimize the amount of bad topdecks, so we're removing Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant in favor of more interaction and card selection.

The advantage of adding to Dragons includes Zurgo and Ojutai, which interacts with the creature type, allowing to reuse ETBs by returning them to your hand — this possibility is quite dangerous when combined with cards like Magmatic Hellkite and Marang River Regent, whose ETB effects create considerable Tempo and disruption plays.

Shiko, Paragon of the Way also has good interactions with Zurgo and Ojutai and has Stock Up as its preferred target to generate even more card advantage for its controller, but it can reuse removals, or even permanents like Temporary Lockdown.

Like the Mardu list, Jeskai Dragons takes considerable advantage of the flexibility of the Omen cards that arrive with the new expansion. Twinmaw Stormbrood continues to be a good removal in many games, while Marang River Regent, in addition to being an excellent late-game threat, provides a way to filter your hand at any stage of the game.

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!