Jeskai Legend Returns to MTG in Tarkir: Dragonstorm Precon

Last updated on February 26, 2025

Elsha of the Infinite | Illustration by G-host Lee

Last week, Magic: The Gathering was abuzz with excitement about the official reveals the five Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander precons. But just like when there's smoke, there's fire, when there are official reveals in MTG, there are unofficial leaks.

So, readers beware – leaks and spoilers ahead!

We already know – officially – about two of the dragons that will be found among the Tarkir Commander precons: Teval, the Balanced Scale in the Temur precon, and Betor, Ancestor's Voice in the Abzan precon.

We also know – again officially – the name of the majority of Tarkir's face commanders and backup commanders. While their cards have not been officially revealed yet, their Amazon description is pretty clear…

Source: Mardu Surge Commander precon

… and they both show up in the box art.

So, thus far we know that Felothar, khan of the Abzan, or Abzan’s Mythic Spirit Dragon, Betor, lead the Abzan Armor EDH precon…

… Ureni, spirit dragon of wisdom, or Eshki, leader of the Temur clan, can lead your Temur Roar Commander precon…

… you can command your Sultai Arisen precon with the Mythic Spirit Dragon, Teval, or Kotis, leader of the Sultai clan…

… and either the Mythic Spirit Dragon, Neriv, or Zurgo, leader of the new Mardu can be in the command zone of your Mardu Surge Commander precon.

You'd think that, following this trend, it's either Narset or Jeskai's dragon in the lead for the Jeskai Striker precon…

… but here's this leak twist: It looks like Jeskai Striker has a third (and thus far not officially revealed) commander: Elsha, Threefold Master, returning to fight for the Jeskai Way.

Elsha, Threefold Master

Source: Reddit

The leaked Elsha, Threefold Master is a 1/1 creature with trample, prowess, and a pretty powerful saboteur effect: Create a 1/1 white monk creature token with prowess for each point of combat damage dealt to a player.

First introduced in Commander 2019, the original Elsha of the Infinite is a 5-mana 3/3 that allows casting spells from the top of your deck with flash – a strong card advantage engine and combo enabler. By contrast, Elsha's second iteration embraces a different angle on Jeskai’s spell-slinging prowess: Rather than a Future Sight engine, Elsha, Threefold Master is ready to take matters into their own hands, run over blockers, and punch face to get some token generation going.

Players' initial reaction seems very positive: Elsha, Threefold Master looks like a pretty free-form Jeskai commander to build around, being a sort of go-wide Monastery Mentor in your command zone that can also be a fun Voltron commander. 

Is Elsha's Leak Legit?

Leaks are to always be taken with a grain of salt, but this looks like the real deal: Everything in the card's picture looks legit, and bringing back a Jeskai legendary is the sort of thing you'd expect from this MTG set.

The original source has been a bit elusive, though. Elsha's leaked picture (along with a leak for Mardu's Neriv, Crackling Vanguard) were first posted on the /MTGRumors subreddit by u/Tauna_YT, who also made a YouTube video about the card, but in a later reddit thread they acknowledged not knowing the source.

“It was sent via discord to me,” u/Tauna_YT noted in the second thread, “but not sure where it originated beyond that.”

Critically, none of the replies in either of the two threads dispute the leak's veracity – given how good the MTG community is at spotting fakes, it's pretty certain Elsha, Threefold Master is a real Magic card.

Nobody Likes a Third Wheel

There's still something off, though: The Jeskai Striker precon would have three commanders – Narset, the Jeskai dragon, and Elsha – which would be a first for WotC.

There are three possible explanations here: This precon does have three commanders; Tarkir: Dragonstorm will pull a Bloomburrow; or Jeskai Striker is taking a page from March of the Machine.

A Precon With Three Commanders?

While not impossible, it looks very unlikely, due to the simple fact that WotC has never done it thus far. Some redditors suggested that perhaps the “partner with” mechanic will be involved, but the Amazon description is very clear about Jeskai Striker having just two foil borderless commanders.

Tarkir's Courageous Critters?

A second possibility is that Elsha, Threefold Master is a commander card that won't be found inside the Commander precons – which in this case is something there's been recent precedent for.

Last year, Bloomburrow included a bonus sheet called Imagine: Courageous Critters: alternate-art reprints of 24 iconic creatures and planeswalkers that put furry faces on familiar friends (and foes), like turning Liliana of the Dark Realms into a grumpy squirrel.

All those Courageous Critters cards are part of Bloomburrow‘s Commander set… but are only found in Collector Boosters, not in the precons.

The official Collecting Tarkir: Dragonstorm article details that Dragonstorm's Collector Boosters include 1 Booster Fun Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander card – if some of those are a bonus sheet like Courageous Critters were, Elsha, Threefold Master could be among them.

A MOM-Like Team-Up?

A third possibility, and in my opinion the most likely, is something a lot of redditors are pointing at.

“It's likely the card name is “Shiko and Narset,” based on the mothership deck blurbs” notes u/mweepinc. In other words, like like we saw Thalia and The Gitrog Monster or Borborygmos and Fblthp back in MOM, we'll have a human–dragon tag team this time.

The blurbs that u/mweepinc mentions describe the Abzan precon as:

Fight under the Abzan banner with Felothar the Steadfast, who turns your high defense into vicious attack power.

… with no mention for Bethor (the dragon), and describe the Mardu precon as:

Surge your forces with Zurgo Stormrender, who pummels the board with temporary attacker tokens. 

… again no mention of another commander. But Jeskai Striker is described as:

Shiko and Narset are the commanding duo that will help you double your spells and keep the cards flowing to juice up your spellslinging battle plan.

Which, first of all, fits how Jeskai Striker is worded differently that the other four precons on Amazon.

Notably, Narset, Jeskai Waymaster and Shiko, Paragon of the Way have already been revealed as main set cards, so a team-up card would make a second version of each character feel more distinct.

Perhaps more importantly, a mash-up would fit the lore perfectly, as told in Planeswalker's Guide to Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Part 1: 

Narset was the first to act; she leapt into the air and landed on the back of a spirit, using her willpower to shape the final nature of the dragon as it coalesced into semi-corporeal form.

Elsha Unleashed

Jeskai Ascendancy | Illustration by Dan Scott

To recap, and for absolute clarity: Elsha, Threefold Master‘s picture looks very legit, and there are some good explanations of howthey could fit into the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander set…

… but, as we all know, players gonna play, and leakers gonna leak. To be 100% certain players can unleash Elsha and her prowess tokens, you still need to wait a little bit!

Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, you’ll help Draftsim continue to provide awesome free articles and apps.