Magic: The Gathering has a deep affection for dragons, featuring them prominently in its lore, on elaborate card art, and occasionally in dungeons, where they interact with other Wizards of the Coast properties. As the game enters its next original expansion, on the cusp of its next, controversial step into a crossover-laden future, it aims to bring players back to the familiar realm of Tarkir and the basics, which in this case, involves showcasing the majesty of dragons.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm marks the conclusion of Magic‘s latest storyline, the middle chapter of an ongoing trilogy of narratives that began with August 2024’s Bloomburrow and will continue with an as-yet-untitled set due to release late next year. The set returns to the plane of Tarkir, first visited in the 2014 block starting with Khans of Tarkir, where chaos reigns in the aftermath of rebellions against the five Dragon Lords that once ruled over Tarkir, resulting in the emergence of a new, dangerous kind of dragon. Dragonstorm features planeswalkers Elspeth and Narset teaming up to investigate the threat of dragons that have been appearing across the last couple of expansion narratives, as they battle Sarkhan in his attempt to solidify dragonkind’s grip over both Tarkir and the planes beyond it.

Suffice it to say, dragons are a central element of Dragonstorm, not just in terms of narrative and the composition of the cards in the set, but also artistically and mechanically. Beyond the numerous dragons in Dragonstorm, the creatures are featured throughout variant cards, from special draconic frames to a series of collector-booster-exclusive lands focusing on dragon eyes, to another set of lands that showcase the classic land types of Magic‘s various colors of mana, with a dragon flying overhead.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm Card Previews

Within the actual mechanical systems of Dragonstorm, the plethora of dragon cards and big dragon creatures to play around with in decks is a key aspect. This is reflected in two major new mechanics being introduced for Dragonstorm. The first, “Behold,” adds a new piece of mechanical language to Magic‘s growing lexicon.

“This isn’t so much a mechanic, but rather something we wanted to incorporate extensively across the set. We sought to develop better language for the cards to make them more readable,” Adam Prosak, a senior game designer on the Magic team, explained during a recent event revealing new cards from Dragonstorm. “I refer to the behold mechanic as a way to ‘point to a dragon’ or ‘promise us you put a bunch of dragons in your deck’.”

Present on many cards in the set, given the prevalence of dragons on Tarkir, to behold a dragon allows a player to point to a dragon card they have in either their hand or played on the battlefield and use its presence to activate an ability on another card. “We chose that word very specifically,” Prosak joked, hoping players will dramatically point toward the numerous dragons at play while announcing their move. But dragons will not only be used to activate other card abilities; many of the larger dragon cards in the set will carry another mechanic to help players manage the cost of playing high-cost creatures in a thematically appropriate deck: Omen.

“This Omen ability lets you include a lot of dragons in your deck without disrupting the gameplay of having many expensive big creatures in your deck,” Prosak explained. “What do you do for the rest of the game?”

Omen, an ability on certain dragon cards, allows them to be useful for drawing other cards and then be saved back into your deck for later once you’ve ramped up your mana resources: an instant ability that lets you draw a number of cards and then discard the card that used Omen, shuffling it back into your library. “These are essentially two cards in one, except when you cast the instant, you’re hoping to draw your dragon later,” Prosak continued. “And if you get a dragon, you’ve effectively cast a huge dragon. That’s very exciting.”

Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Deck Previews

While Dragonstorm is a set about dragons in various forms, it’s also a Tarkir set, meaning another element at play throughout the set is the major clans first introduced in Khans of Tarkir. “When we returned to Tarkir, we wanted to ensure this set included everything players expected and loved from the original Tarkir block,” Athena Froehlich, the product designer on Dragon Storm, said. “So, you can expect the best of both worlds: clans and dragons.”

The five clans of Tarkir—Abzan, Mardu, Jeskai, Sultai, and Temur—will all return in Dragonstorm, each with an allied spirit dragon connecting them to the rebellions against the Dragon Lords, as well as new characters reflecting how each clan has developed since players last visited the plane. Each clan will also have a unique mechanic defining their archetype in the set. Abzan introduces “Endures,” granting creatures bonus power and toughness or creating new spirit tokens, while the Jeskai introduce “Flurry,” bonuses for casting a second spell in a turn.

The Mardu have “Mobilize,” which lets cards create additional temporary 1/1 warriors, playing into other cards that rely on having extra creatures, while Sultai adds “Renew,” used from the graveyard to exile a creature entirely in exchange for granting bonus counters to your cards in play. Lastly, the Temur have “Harmonize,” a variant of Flashback that lets players cast sorceries and instants from the graveyard for a higher cost—one that can be reduced by tapping creatures in play, leveraging the Temur’s connection to high-power creatures alongside their spells.

All these mechanics will play a role in the five Commander decks that will release in Dragonstorm, each built around a particular Tarkir clan and synergizing around two potential commanders: one of the clan leaders or one of their matching spirit dragons, synthesizing the set’s theme around both the major factions that define Tarkir and the massive beasts that might end up dooming them all.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Magic‘s 104th major expansion, will be available in stores from April 11.

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