Over the last few months I’ve gotten way, WAY into Commander. While the credit card bills haven’t showed up in the mailbox yet, building decks for Magic: The Gathering’s most popular format has become a big part of my downtime after work. I’ve even begun to frequent the local shop for game nights. I’m learning tons about the modern state of the game, while also just enjoying the company of other human beings. There’s also the smooth-brain card sorting to keep me away from the news cycle, which is a nice bonus. That’s how I recently stumbled on an amazing new deck from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm set. I think it might be one of the year’s most exciting Magic releases.
Magic: the Gathering Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Deck – Temur Roar is a 100-card deck focused on one of Magic’s perennially popular gameplay strategies, which is launching big ass dragons at your opponents. In practice it’s a pretty straightforward one-two punch: Build up more mana than you might otherwise be able to turn after turn, a strategy referred to as “ramp” in the vernacular, and then use it to summon your scaly friends en masse.
Leading the deck is Ureni of the Unwritten, a seven-mana spirit dragon. Normally you wouldn’t be able to bring Ureni out until the seventh round of play, but various cards in the deck can help ramp up enough mana to get the job done early. Once on the table, Ureni proceeds to reveal additional dragon cards and bring them directly onto the battlefield for free. In motion, that means two or three high-value monsters with flying and/or trample on or before turn five — just the thing to begin loudly offing your opponents.
And that’s just the stock deck! As the folks at The Command Zone will tell you, the deck leaps up in power with just a few additions. All-in you’re looking at less than a $100 outlay for a potent deck, including upgrades. Add in that the deck is based on the beloved Tarkir setting, a plane we’ve not revisited in a decade, and you have one of the best thematic Commander decks in a generation.
Of course, Commander decks can be ephemeral things. The five for Tarkir: Dragonstorm launched just last week, and the local anecdotal evidence that I’ve got says they’re selling quickly. If you like playing dragons or have aspirations to do so in the future, now is the time to pick one up. Best of all it’s a great value. As Tolarian Community College points out, on the secondary market as of last week the cards inside this $44.99 box would set you back around $175. So even if you’re not looking to build out this particular deck right now, you still might want to grab it for later.
