Images courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been completely revealed, and it’s been a bit since I’ve been so hyped for a set! Not only does the set finally follow up on one of my favorite planes, it does so with a ton of powerful and interesting card designs.

There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s dive right into the Top 10 cards for Standard in Tarkir: Dragonstorm!

#10 – Severance Priest

Severance Priest is like the lovechild of Thoughtseize and Skyclave Apparition, which is almost certainly overselling it. For three mana you get to exile a nonland card from your opponent’s hand and commit a reasonably-sized body to the board. The downside is that your opponent will get a Spirit token if they get rid of the Priest, and that token will be bigger the higher the mana value of the exiled card. 

Deep Cavern Bat was the most played creature in Standard not that long ago, and many players still groan when they see it. Being able to take the card permanently is a big upside, and the 3/3 deathtouch body is a big deal.

The Priest also has similar wording to Oblivion Ring, which provides some rules quirks that aren’t true of the Bat. Most notably, if you remove the Priest in response to the enters the battlefield trigger, you’ll still lose a nonland card from hand. Additionally, you’ll prematurely trigger the leaves the battlefield ability, resulting in no consolation Spirit.

I don’t know a great home for this card yet, but it’s certainly worth testing.

#9 – Frontline Rush

Resolute Reinforcements has seen a surprising amount of Standard play over the last several years. Frontline Rush may require two colors of mana, but it offers a lot in return. If you don’t need those additional bodies, this can instead pump one of your creatures, potentially letting you push through the last points of damage you need to win a game! 

The obvious homes for this are the Jeskai and Boros Convoke decks, which already play Resolute Reinforcements. The pump mode on this just makes it more flexible, though Reinforcements does have a pretty important upside as a valid card to grab with Knight-Errant of Eos.

I could see Frontline Rush tested in some more niche decks. The tokens this makes are Goblins, if someone wants to try a weird Boros Goblins list. Being an instant also lets this trigger prowess and similar abilities, for what that’s worth. Of course, it’s also possible an entirely new tokens deck wants this. I’m interested to see where this one ends up.

#8 – Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage

Tired of losing your board to Day of Judgment or Split Up? Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage won’t actually stick around through those effects, but she’ll happily offer you a few consolation Spirits for your troubles (I didn’t expect the phrase “consolation Spirit” to come up twice in this article.) In this way, she acts as an interesting deterrent to destruction-based board wipes. Of course, she can also be a surprise blocker with first strike, or she can come down in response to a Go For the Throat aimed at something else to get some additional value. 

I expect Anafenza to see some play in white-based decks that get on the board early. This currently means a lot of Tier 2 and 3 decks will test her out, though I do think white being pushed in this set may help those decks rise up the ranks. She may play well in an Aristocrats-style shell that I don’t think currently exists, and since she’s a Soldier you can always try using her in a dedicated Soldier deck along with all of the support from The Brother’s War.

#7 – Strategic Betrayal

Edict effects are traditionally a mixed bag. Forcing your opponent to sacrifice a creature can be great to get around something like hexproof, but giving them the choice means you’re usually not getting rid of their most important creature. Cards like Sheoldred’s Edict have pushed the envelope in recent years, but they’re often passed over in favor of classic targeted removal like Go for the Throat. We’ve also seen how important instant-speed is for removal (Fell is not a popular card in any metagame). With all of that said, why are we talking about a sorcery speed edict?

Strategic Betrayal does two things that are worth consideration. Instead of sacrificing a creature, the opponent exiles it. As we’ve seen over the last several months, exile-based removal is good against the many creatures in the format with death triggers and recursive effects (Heartfire Hero, Unstoppable Slasher, etc.) Exile is also useful for Orzhov Control decks with Ketramose, the New Dawn. More importantly, this card exiles your opponent’s graveyard at the same time! This level of role compression makes the card valuable in a variety of matchups.

A lot of removal is weak or useless against the format’s reanimator decks (especially the Omniscience combo decks), so this card could easily end up in sideboards for that reason. While I’m not 100% sold on the card seeing widespread mainboard play in Best of Three, I think Best of One players that are tired of losing to those Omniscience combo decks will definitely try it out!

#6 – Elspeth, Storm Slayer

Elspeth, Storm Slayer has quite the passive ability for a planeswalker. Doubling token generation is an effect often reserved for expensive enchantments that don’t immediately affect the board, like Doubling Season or Anointed Procession. Elspeth tacks on her own token generation, removal, and even an Overrun-style effect to end the game! Five-mana planeswalkers have a high bar to clear in today’s Standard metagame, but I think Elspeth is really solid.

She has a few potential homes. When I first saw her, my mind immediately went to the Caretaker’s Talent-based Token Control decks that were really popular after Bloomburrow. These decks can be mono-white, Azorious, or Boros, depending on player preference, and they often already play Archangel Elspeth! I also think there’s real merit to having her be the top end of a more aggressive go-wide strategy, where the flexibility she provides makes her useful before or after a board wipe.

#5 – Rakshasa’s Bargain

Stock Up was underrated by a lot of players on the release of Aetherdrift, and Rakshasa’s Bargain is fairly similar in function. For the same mana cost (I don’t think you include this in your deck if you can’t cast it on three mana consistently) you look at one fewer card, but get to put the remaining cards in the graveyard, and you get to do it all at instant speed. These are meaningful upgrades over Stock Up, so a controlling deck in these colors should certainly consider it. 

While I think there are a few Sultai and four-color shells that could run this card, I want to point out its interaction with Up the Beanstalk. Yes, Rakshasa’s Bargain’s mana value is six, even when you cast it for less, so it will always trigger Beanstalk.

Time will tell how long Beanstalk lasts in Standard (it survived yesterday’s B&R update), but as long as we still have it, this card’s going to play beautifully alongside it.

#4 – Mardu Siegebreaker

I genuinely adore this card. Assessing three-color cards can be very tricky, as while they might be very powerful, their color requirements mean they don’t fit in as many decks as most other cards. They need to be strong enough to justify playing a specific color combination, and Mardu Siegebreaker fits the bill. 

What we have here is a big, hasty threat that offers a ton of utility with its other abilities. Deathtouch on a 4/4 is a little redundant, but does make blocking with multiple creatures or certain bigger creatures annoying. More importantly, we get to exile and create attacking token copies of another creature we control. The original creature is safe as long as it is exiled under the Siegebreaker, meaning the copies get to attack with impunity (and you get it back if your board gets wiped). If those creatures come with triggers for entering or leaving the battlefield, even better!

I’m happy with the floor of a 4/4 with deathtouch and haste, and a lot happier with the myriad possibilities provided with its other abilities. This is definitely one of the cards I’m most excited to play. 

#3 – Tersa Lightshatter

Tersa Lightshatter seems like a slam-dunk for the format. Again, I’m a big fan of on-rate haste threats, and this one immediately gets us value via a powerful rummaging effect.

There’s a third ability that will sometimes let us get free cards out of our graveyard, but it seems difficult to get consistent value out of it, so I’m considering that a nice bonus when it happens, as opposed to a selling point of the card.

There are a few decks that could utilize Tersa. The first place my mind went to was Jeskai Oculus, where it could fulfill a role similar to Steamcore Scholar (or the rarer Kiora, the Rising Tide). It’s an aggressive way to discard Abhorrent Oculus, and I like the synergy with cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Proft’s Eidetic Memory. Outside of those decks, it could find a home in aggressive/midrange red decks. I don’t think it necessarily replaces Screaming Nemesis in red prowess lists, but it does let you ditch useless lands in hand and potentially recast burn spells. Mardu decks might also be a real force in this metagame, so that should be kept in mind.

#2 – Voice of Victory

For a two-drop that doesn’t generate immediate value, Voice of Victory is pushed! Grand Abolisher currently sees some sideboard play, and while this doesn’t stop activated abilities during your turn, it does provide a lot to offset that minor downside. Thanks to mobilize 2, Voice attacks for three damage, letting it facilitate aggressive starts while being a pain for controlling decks that want to play during your turn.

Of course, the tokens you create can be enhanced with anthem effects or used as sacrifice fodder, too. While Voice is relatively easy to block itself with only one power, it does have three toughness. It doesn’t survive Cut Down, but does dodge some toughness-based removal like Burst Lightning and Torch the Tower (without bargain.)

My guess is that some aggressive-leaning white strategies will happily play this card. We haven’t seen much Human typal in the format lately, but it does slot nicely into that strategy. Slower decks that play Grand Abolisher will likely consider switching for this, as it’s easier to cast with only one white pip and has that useful third toughness. This set generally lends a lot of tools to go-wide strategies, so Voice may also show up in a completely new shell!

#1 – The Utility Lands

I’m once again lumping a cycle of lands together on a Top 10 list. These are actually meaningfully different from one another, but I get to talk about more cards this way and you can’t stop me.

Standard has great mana right now, but a lot of decks lack great utility land options. Surveil lands and creature lands are strong, but sometimes slow and inflexible. This whole cycle provides repeatable value in a way that doesn’t leave the lands themselves open to creature removal while not always slowing you down by coming into play tapped.

It’s hard to tell exactly how good these will be since you need to balance them with enough lands that let them come in untapped, but I’m hedging on these being really good.

Mistrise Village has the narrowest applications in Standard, as most decks don’t run counterspells. While it may not offer any utility at all in many matchups, it can be really strong when it does matter. Great Arashin City needs a steady supply of creatures in your graveyard to be useful, but we’ve seen lands like Mirrex and Fountainport prove how valuable repeatable token generation on a land can be. Dalkovan Encampment does nothing if you don’t already have a favorable attack, but may let you get those last few points of damage.

I’m currently highest on Cori Mountain Monastery and Kishla Village in Standard, as they both let you see additional cards in drawn-out games and don’t require specific circumstances to be useful.

Closing Thoughts on Tarkir: Dragonstorm in Standard

I can’t stress how excited I am for this set! There were so many other cards that I wanted to talk about that didn’t make the list, and that’s even with me cheating by lumping five lands into one slot!

Tarkir: Dragonstorm is the kind of set that really gets your brain going, and I can’t wait to see what rises to the top. That said, which cards do you think are going to rise in Standard? Let me know in the comments below, and join me next week when we take our first look at Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited!

Want to see some successful decks from the last Standard season? Check out my Top 5 Aetherdrift Standard Decks article, or my deck breakdowns on Golgari Graveyard and Selesnya Midrange!