Thank you to Wizards of the Coast for the previews!
Tarkir: Dragonstorm feels a lot like a return to the kind of Magic: The Gathering we haven’t seen in a while between not only the Universes Beyond but even the peculiarity of sets like Aetherdrift and Duskmourn: House of Horror. This isn’t to say that those are bad sets, just that many players didn’t connect to them in a way that feel like traditional Magic. We’re not here to dive into that as we’ll talk about Call the Spirit Dragons, our exciting exclusive preview card from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
Call the Spirit Dragons Just Does Everything
Call the Spirit Dragons is a five-mana white, blue, black, red, and green enchantment that grants each dragon you control indestructible. But there’s more, as at the beginning of your upkeep, you can put up to five +1/+1 counters split between up to five dragons. You do this for each color, so you put one on for red, one for green, and so on. Because you can choose the same dragon multiple times, this means you can massively buff a creature. So, you could only put one counter on Scourge of Valkas, as it’s red, but five for something like the The Ur-Dragon, because you could choose it once for each color.
Call the Spirit Dragons
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Then, if you’ve thrown +1/+1 counters on five differently-colored dragons with Call of the Spirit Dragons’ ability, you win the game. This means that you can potentially win the game the turn after you play it, just so long as you’ve got a different option for each of the five colors. That’s assuming, of course, that you don’t just break the whole thing wide open by adding in Shadow of the Second Sun, Sphinx of the Second Sun, Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, and The Ninth Doctor to add on even more counters for the fun of it.
Market Price: $68.38
Market Price: $68.29
Market Price: $12.58
All-in-all, this is a pretty strong card that puts a timer on any game you cast it in, and while opponents can remove the enchantment through the usual means, Call the Spirit Dragons giving your biggest threats (including your Commander, who is likely a dragon) indestructible is definitely a big bonus. It does a ton of work, and in Commander especially, you can expect to be buffing most of your creatures every single turn, and it’s not like most dragons need the buff already. You can also run Leyline of the Guildpact from Murders at Karlov Manor to ensure every dragon in play can be chosen for one of the five colors, meaning you only need five dragons out to win the game.
Call the Spirit Dragons
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Also, Call the Spirit Dragons comes in the stunning Showcase Draconic Frame treatment, which is one of 25 cards from Takir: Dragonstorm that highlights the raging Dragonstorm within the card frame, you can open these unique treatments from Play and Collector Booster on release day and beyond.
Building a Commander Deck Around Call of the Spirit Dragons
Now, we always like the preview cards we end up with (thanks, Wizards of the Coast), but this one needs a Commander deck built for it. The key here is to maximize the counters rather than just using them as a win condition. That means we’ll be using some of the best five-color dragons, like Scion of the Ur-Dragon, who will be our Commander here, but you can also use The Ur-Dragon or Tiamat if you prefer slightly different playstyles.
Then, we’ve got a deck filled with classic dragons like Atarka, World Render, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, and Ramos, Dragon Engine. It’s just a pile of excellent cards, along with some fun ways to make them easier to cast, like Rivaz of the Dragon Claw and Urza’s Incubator. We’ve also got some fun combo nonsense if you do fancy it with Skithyrix, Blight Dragon and Moltensteel Dragon in there to allow you to pay four-mana and some life to kill off an opponent in a single hit with Scion of the Ur-Dragon’s shapeshifting ability.
Commander
Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Market Price:$1,126.15
Maindeck, 99 cards
Commander (1)
- 1Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Creature (31)
- 1O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami
- 1The Ur-Dragon
- 1Tiamat
- 1Two-Headed Hellkite
- 1Morophon, the Boundless
- 1Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm
- 1Rith, Liberated Primeval
- 1Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
- 1Korlessa, Scale Singer
- 1Ramos, Dragon Engine
- 1Hypersonic Dragon
- 1Dragonlord Dromoka
- 1Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient
- 1Atarka, World Render
- 1Dragonlord Ojutai
- 1Scaled Nurturer
- 1Utvara Hellkite
- 1Tyrant of Valakut
- 1Terror of the Peaks
- 1Scourge of Valkas
- 1Scourge of the Throne
- 1Moltensteel Dragon
- 1Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
- 1Lathliss, Dragon Queen
- 1Hellkite Tyrant
- 1Bladewing the Risen
- 1Rivaz of the Claw
- 1Dragonspeaker Shaman
- 1Bloom Tender
- 1Faeburrow Elder
- 1Sarkhan, Soul Aflame
Sorcery (7)
- 1Genesis Wave
- 1Crux of Fate
- 1Demonic Tutor
- 1Rampant Growth
- 1Three Visits
- 1Eerie Ultimatum
- 1Skyshroud Claim
Instant (6)
- 1Cyclonic Rift
- 1Heroic Intervention
- 1Path to Exile
- 1Teferi’s Protection
- 1Deflecting Swat
- 1Sarkhan’s Triumph
Artifact (11)
- 1Mox Jasper
- 1Sol Ring
- 1Chromatic Lantern
- 1Arcane Signet
- 1Urza’s Incubator
- 1Quicksilver Amulet
- 1Dragon’s Hoard
- 1Herald’s Horn
- 1Prismatic Geoscope
- 1Timeless Lotus
- 1Urza’s Filter
Enchantment (7)
- 1Dracogenesis
- 1Leyline of the Guildpact
- 1The Kami War
- 1Call the Spirit Dragons
- 1Dragon Tempest
- 1Rhythm of the Wild
- 1Smothering Tithe
Land (37)
- 1Crucible of the Spirit Dragon$0.42
- 1Command Tower$1.00
- 1Exotic Orchard$0.54
- 1Haven of the Spirit Dragon$3.62
- 1Path of Ancestry$1.00
- 1Stomping Ground$14.04
- 1Hallowed Fountain$12.42
- 1Watery Grave$16.21
- 1Blood Crypt$16.80
- 1Temple Garden$12.51
- 1Godless Shrine$15.43
- 1Overgrown Tomb$12.47
- 1Breeding Pool$19.35
- 1Steam Vents$14.48
- 1Sacred Foundry$18.26
- 1Flooded Strand$11.16
- 1Polluted Delta$13.85
- 1Bloodstained Mire$10.75
- 1Wooded Foothills$11.32
- 1Windswept Heath$7.64
- 1Marsh Flats$23.08
- 1Scalding Tarn$21.32
- 1Verdant Catacombs$20.09
- 1Arid Mesa$20.78
- 1Misty Rainforest$22.29
- 2Forest$0.05
- 2Mountain$0.04
- 2Swamp$0.05
- 2Island$0.02
- 2Plains$0.05
- 1Cavern of Souls$38.26
- 1Unclaimed Territory$0.21
There are a few great protection cards outside of Call the Spirit Dragons as well, with Heroic Intervention and Teferi’s Intervention both being exceptionally efficient ways to stop your opponents from messing with your permanents and that also includes Call the Spirit Dragons itself. That will be important because it’s definitely a card that’ll make you the enemy
We’ve not built this deck to muck around with additional upkeep steps, mostly because we wanted to go all-in on the dragon theme, but as we said above, you can swap out some cards to get Shadow of the Second Sun, Sphinx of the Second Sun, Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, and The Ninth Doctor into the deck if you want to really go for winning as quickly as possible using Call the Spirit Dragons. Obeka is the most powerful option here if you can add some extra power to the card and deal damage with it, as you can potentially play Call the Spirit Dragons after doing so and win on your next turn. This is a little cute, though, but definitely a more “all-in” approach than just overwhelming the battlefield with dragons and winning through attrition.
Market Price: $314.09
Market Price: $127.24
Market Price: $44.50
Takrir: Dragonstorm releases on April 11, where you can find your copies of Call of the Spirit Dragons in Play and Collector Boosters. Furthermore, Tarkir: Dragonstorm sees Bundles, Pre-Release Kits, and a whopping five Commander Precons to support this fantastic release.