Last updated on March 5, 2025
Invasion of Tarkir | Illustration by Darren Tan
Invasion of Tarkir is a card that has seen fringe play at best, but looks to be getting one final hurrah in Standard thanks to Tarkir: Dragonstorm. In anticipation of this, we've seen the price for Invasion of Tarkir nearly double in the last couple weeks as players rush to pick up their copies.
What Is Invasion of Tarkir, Anyways?
Invasion of Tarkir is a battle card from March of the Machine that wants to go in a dragon deck. When it first enters, it deals 2 + X damage (where X is the number of dragons you chose to reveal) to any target. This makes the base rate sorcery Shock for non-dragon decks (i.e. bad) but potentially Volcanic Hammer plus for dragon decks. The damage effect is just half of Invasion of Tarkir though, as transforming it yields Defiant Thundermaw, a powerful reward that scales with other dragons you control.
As of Wednesday morning, TCGplayer lists the market price for the battle at $6.81 for Near Mint copies. The price peaked at just over $7 on March 2, and has wavered steadily below the $7 mark for the last few days. This all comes off the back over hovering around the $3-4 range for the last six months or so. It's still far from its original debut price, which was around $20 when March of the Machine released in 2023, but even Dragon EDH couldn't prop the card up that high for that long.
Has Invasion of Tarkir Seen any Play?
Not really in Standard, no. It was also mediocre in March of the Machine Limited due to a lack of dragons, though Defiant Thundermaw was worth trying to play and defeat the battle. If you have seen it, it would likely have been in Dragon EDH, as flipping a battle isn't too hard (chose the player with the least blockers) and the backside is pretty exciting.
Is There Existing Support for Dragons?
Dragon support in current Standard isn't too vast, though there are a handful of cards that work well for the theme:
- Invasion of Tarkir
- Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind
- Kolaghan Warmonger
- Rivaz of the Claw
- Sarkhan, Soul Aflame
Of these, Invasion of Tarkir and Sarkhan, Soul Aflame seem the most promising, as Rivaz of the Claw is a 3-drop that dies to Nowhere to Run, which is no good at the moment. As for good dragons themselves, Standard has a few:
Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest is definitely the best one, and should be a lock to see play if any of the dragon stuff breaks through to Standard.
What About the New Wet?
We're not even officially into spoiler season yet, but we already have some good support for Dragons in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. The cards that stand out on that front so far are:
- Mox Jasper
- Mox for Dragons!
- Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant
- Treasure bear to ramp into dragons faster, also grows into a solid flying threat if it survives.
- Stormscale Scion
- Probably more of build-around than a “Dragon.dek” card, but it does pump dragons so if you can get 2-3 casts, it's a proper finisher. You aren't likely to be properly storming off in Standard, so perhaps the best way to use this will be the plot mechanic (i.e., Highway Robbery)?
We've also seen another powerful Jeskai dragon (Shiko, Paragon of the Way) that acts as a strong value creature. Given how removal-heavy Standard is at the moment, a dragon like this that gets value in the face of removal could be better than Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest. We'll have to see how the set plays out! For now though, get your copies of Invasion of Tarkir before spoiler season starts, as it will keep climbing if the Draconic goods keep flowing.
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