Last updated on April 13, 2025
Voice of Victory | Illustration by Joshua Cairos
Tarkir: Dragonstorm really has some shiny new toys for us! So naturally, it’s time to rank the best cards in the set, and I’ve managed to filter down to my top 41. I like to cover cards equally among rarities when ranking, but that won't be the case with this set. Gold sets in general have power that’s usually concentrated in tri-color rares and mythics, so this time, the best cards will be concentrated on the higher rarities a bit more.
These rankings will consider mainly Standard, with some EDH applications and some Eternal 1v1 competitive formats.
#41. Heritage Reclamation
The only common that manages to slip into my list is Heritage Reclamation, a card that’s flexible enough. The fact that you can, besides the Naturalize effect, exile something from a graveyard and draw a card is a good failsafe, besides triggering synergies you may have in Sultai () decks with this card.
#40. Rakshasa’s Bargain
Rakshasa's Bargain is a way to draw two out of four cards and put two cards in your graveyard, which can be the most important part of the card in the right deck. It’s possible to get fuel for your hand and for your graveyard, and it’s not a bad deal even if you pay 4 mana.
#39. Mox Jasper
You need 1-mana dragons for Mox Jasper to be good, like Slumbering Dragon or changelings like Changeling Outcast. Another way to use this card is via Mutavault. It’s a mox, but a hard one to activate, and we know that these cards are useless if you plan on activating them after casting a 5-mana dragon. This card is good, not super broken good. I’d say there’s a chance that a given deck in Standard uses this card more as a flurry enabler than a ramp spell.
#38. Skirmish Rhino
I know, this card is not Siege Rhino, but it's a good impression at 3 mana with a smaller but good body. Skirmish Rhino can stabilize a board, and it’s an awesome blink or recursion body. You can even Recommission it to be a 4/5 if you’re feeling nostalgic about old Rhino.
#37. Hardened Tactician
Hardened Tactician, besides having a good body, can sac tokens at will and cash them in for cards, provided you have the mana. Great with the mobilize mechanic, as even if the tokens get blocked or die naturally, you get something for your effort. It's a good WB card for EDH moving forward, too.
#36. United Battlefront
White gets its own Collected Company in a way, although at sorcery speed, which makes it much worse. United Battlefront lets you take a look at seven cards, and you can’t get creatures. So it’s good with enchantments, sagas, equipment, and similar cards. To play this card, I'd say you need to be into the prowess realm, or have specific synergies with enchantments/artifacts. It’s still powerful and offers high value, you just need the right deck for it.
#35. Windcrag Siege
Here with Windcrag Siege, we can get a hasty goblin each turn or double our attack triggers. Besides its obvious implications in Mardu EDH decks already built around attack triggers, in formats like Standard you can benefit from multiples of these. Getting haste and lifelink tokens can help you stabilize or pressure enemy planeswalkers, and it’s not the worst against aggro. Plus, there are Boros cards in Standard that care about small creatures attacking, or goblin benefits in red.
#34. Herd Heirloom
I’m rating Herd Heirloom as a 2-drop mana rock in green decks that might become an EDH staple. It’s hard to expect more from a card that generates 5 mana to cast creatures without downside, and when you give trample and “draw a card” for free to a big creature, you’re in business.
#33. Magmatic Hellkite
Magmatic Hellkite is a terrifying tempo card in multiples. The fact that you hit their mana base, and the land they replace enters with a stun counter is almost like true land destruction in the short term. It’s hard to recover if your opponent plays two of these.
#32. Mardu Siegebreaker
The first time I read this, I thought it could get your opponent’s creatures too, and this would make the card so much better. But realistically, Mardu Siegebreaker is a 4/4 deathtouch haste that gives a creature you control “pseudo-myriad,” and that’s a lot of damage coming out of nowhere.
#31. Flamehold Grappler
I’m scared of what Flamehold Grappler can do with mechanics like plot, or foretell and the like in other formats. It’s also good with Jace Reawakened, a card that can plot cheap spells at will. Plus, it’s a good body, so even if the synergy fails, you’ll have a good creature online.
#30. Qarsi Revenant
Sorry Vampire Nighthawk, you had your time in the sun. Qarsi Revenant is a very solid vampire creature that can be thrown into any vampire tribal deck, at least in EDH, and even in the graveyard, it helps you to turn another creature into a monster. Giving your vampire commander flying, deathtouch, and lifelink if it doesn’t have them natively is huge, working in tandem with all the typal bonuses it might receive.
#29. Uncommon Trilands
These are all reprints, and they matter most for Standard. While you shouldn’t rely too much on tapped lands, these ones generate three different colors of mana, and they end up being the cornerstone of mana bases. They're ideal in your opener, and after that you can try to discard your tapped land for value. Such a high value for uncommon cards.
#28. Smile at Death
Smile at Death is an incredible value engine, and being able to get two creatures and even buff them spells doom for your opponents. You’re restricted to power 2 or less, but even then, we can be creative. Karmic Guide, Mulldrifter, Elvish Mystic, just to cite a few. It’s also a good addition to a deck that has +1/+1 counter synergies going on.
#27. Narset, Jeskai Waymaster
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster is the new build-around-me Jeskai Commander, and it's very flexible at that. The key word here is the “may.” Cast a bunch of spells in one turn? Wheels. Have interesting cards to discard, madness, flashback, etc? Discard them all. Also, you can cast all cards in your hand and refill for free.
#26. Kheru Goldkeeper
The best uncommon in the set is Kheru Goldkeeper, a decent-sized dragon that can make others into dragons via its renew ability. The best part about this card is the “turn your cards into treasure” engine, and that can be broken in the right deck. Plus, many cards and commanders from this set have synergies with removing cards from your own graveyard, so Kheru Goldkeeper has a natural home already.
#25. Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant
The perfect curve here is to play Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant beholding a dragon, getting a Treasure, and in the next turn you cast a 4-mana dragon, while attacking with a 3/3 flying Sarkhan. It’s also a good curve with Draconautics Engineer’s exhaust ability, or if you have multiple ways of making dragons.
#24. Rot-Curse Rakshasa
Rot-Curse Rakshasa can deal so much damage it’s hard to ignore. Just attacking with this for 5 is like a big burn spell, it works well with Undying Evil, and even if you lose this, the renew ability distributing decayed counters paves the way for big attacks. You can also set up the drain aspect of Unholy Annex way earlier with this creature around.
#23. Fangkeeper’s Familiar
Fangkeeper's Familiar can be a Sultai staple moving forward, and if there’s a strong Sultai control deck, this card will be there. The first time I read it, I thought: “Hey, it’s just Mystic Snake.” But it’s not. It’s arguably less powerful overall but more flexible, thus better fitting the power level of Standard. This card deals with Overlords, with aggro, with creatures in general, Leyline Binding, sagas, siege enchantments, the list goes on.
#22. Scavenger Regent
Both sides of this card are good. Scavenger Regent is already a tough dragon to deal with, and its omen side can be a one-sided sweeper in many decks. It’s also a free way to add a new dragon to a dragon EDH deck and a Plague Wind at the same time.
#21. Bloomvine Regent
Bloomvine Regent is so simple at what it does that it risks being an auto-include, at least in green EDH decks. Remember Cultivate? Now we have something like this attached to a good dragon, that can even gain you some life. I can see at least RG dragon decks wanting this card since it ramps and works with the plethora of red dragons available.
#20. Inevitable Defeat
Inevitable Defeat, besides being uncounterable, sits in a region between Anguished Unmaking and Utter End, and should be a Mardu staple in EDH, at least. It’s a good way to fight control decks that want to protect their best threat with counterspells too.
#19. Dragonfire Blade
Dragonfire Blade is one of the cheapest ways to grant a buff and protection to gold cards. It should be a tricolor Commander staple moving forward if you need something alive on the field, protected from removal, or just to hit harder.
#18. Temur Battlecrier
Temur Battlecrier is passive ramp that scales with the amount of big creatures you control. Just having this in play shaves off 1 mana for each creature you cast. In the long run, you can dump big creatures for almost no cost. It works very well with hydras too, and in some scenarios, you can get massive discounts.
#17. The Sibsig Ceremony
An enchantment that allows us to cast creatures for less is potentially broken. You have to sacrifice the creature you cast, but that’s a part of the beauty. With The Sibsig Ceremony online, you can cast, say, a Chaos Defiler for , sac it, and get a 2/2 zombie plus two triggers. Not bad. You’ll also pile on zombies, so this card can see play in zombie EDH decks, with the usual Fleshbag Marauder variants. Cards like Hidetsugu and Kairi or Keiga, the Tide Star work very well when immediately sacrificed.
#16. Kotis, the Fangkeeper
Kotis, the Fangkeeper is a very interesting card to build around, especially with Dragonfire Blade around. It’s indestructible, so it should get into combat easily, and just a small Giant Growth can make you steal that many cards. You can build a Voltron deck around this card, or go into the theft route too. In Standard, Nowhere to Run will keep this in check.
#15. Ureni, the Song Unending
Ureni, the Song Unending is well worth investing 8 mana into, as it’s a giant dragon with relevant protection from spot removal. And once it enters, it deals a lot of damage, so you can knock out some creatures, or a creature + planeswalker. You don’t want this card to be countered at all costs. It's one of the best reanimate targets, at least considering the Standard format.
#14. Teval, Arbiter of Virtue
Teval, Arbiter of Virtue is a blessing and a curse. You get a giant, flying lifelink dragon, and delve on your spells, but at the same time, you have to pay with life to cast them. Sometimes, you’ll cast this card and lack the life needed to cast spells, but in the long run, you gain life from Teval. Good thing they didn’t make this card white, as decks have many ways to go up on life. It’s a nice card to have in grindy matchups where your life total is somewhat safe from hasty creatures/burn.
#13. Tersa Lightshatter
Tersa Lightshatter is a Standard build-your-own Laelia, the Blade Reforged. Getting to immediately discard two and draw two gives you huge value, sculpting your hand, setting up delirium and the like. Considering that the new mechanics renew and harmonize work from the graveyard, you can find even more benefits. Once you have threshold, it’s time to get random graveyard card advantage.
#12. Shiko, Paragon of the Way
Part of my excitement for Shiko, Paragon of the Way is that I want it to be good in Jeskai decks. It reminds me of a good mix between a Serra Angel and a Mulldrifter, depending on what you already have in the graveyard. Not only do you get a big flier, but also a card draw spell or a removal spell too.
#11. Awaken the Honored Dead
Sagas like Awaken the Honored Dead that have removal in the first chapter normally see play. It’s a flexible removal spell tied to a permanent that can be picked up by the likes of This Town Ain't Big Enough.
#10. Betor, Kin to All
I like to think of this as a big dragon with a safe monarch mechanic. After all, the turn you cast Betor, Kin to All, it’s very likely that you’ll draw an extra card. Plus, you just added a huge 5/7 flier. The extra bonuses granted by 20 and 40 toughness are just gravy, and you can try to accomplish that if you’re building around this card.
#9. All-Out Assault
All-Out Assault is a novel way to grant extra attack steps, buffing your board for the next couple swings that turn. It goes even further in decks that can blink permanents. If your attackers have the mobilize ability, the buffs work wonderfully with the new tokens provided.
#8. Songcrafter Mage
I didn’t know MTG needed a tri-color Snapcaster Mage, but here it is. With Songcrafter Mage, you get to harmonize much bigger spells, getting a lot of value, as well as a 3-mana benefit. It’s also very synergistic with higher cost flashback or harmonize cards.
#7.Voice of Victory
Good stats on a 2-drop, plus an ability most EDH decks want to have. Voice of Victory shuts down flash, counterspells, combat tricks, and more. When you attack, you get to make two tokens, so it’s good on offense too.
#6. Sinkhole Surveyor
Putting +1/+1 counters on a fly\ier each time it attacks is no joke, and sometimes you’ll make a token if you want to. This card drew some bizarre comparison with Bitterblossom, in the sense that you’re making the 1/1s and losing life each turn. I see Sinkhole Surveyor as a beater that can get out of cheap removal range fast, and with some Bloomburrow bats around, the life loss is somewhat relevant.
#5. Craterhoof Behemoth
Craterhoof Behemoth is back, although its impact on a format like Standard remains to be seen. This card is a staple across multiple formats, acting like a finisher when it hits the field for any deck that goes wide enough.
#4. Rare Utility Land Cycle
These lands are fairly easy to include in 2- and 3-color decks without downside, and once you start activating their abilities, it’s value town. The most hyped one is, of course, the blue one in the cycle. Mistrise Village can be played in many Eternal formats as a way to fight the prevalent blue counterspell decks even better.
#3. Taigam, Master Opportunist
You have a very small window to deal with Taigam, Master Opportunist, or else the value is coming. Removal spell after removal spell, burn spells, card draw. This 2/2 fits into so many decks, and in Eternal formats where cheap spells are abundant, the possibilities are even greater.
#2. Elspeth, Storm Slayer
Elspeth, Storm Slayer is a versatile 5-mana planeswalker that can make tokens, double the tokens created (Anointed Procession comes to mind), and even remove a threat. It's fine on its own, can protect itself, and works best among token makers.
#1. Ugin, Eye of the Storms
A planeswalker that comes into play and immediately gains you 3 life, draws you a card, and exiles a relevant threat? Sold. Ugin, Eye of the Storms is one of the best ramp payoffs, it’s easier to cast than Kaya, Intangible Slayer and provides similar value. In older formats, you can take advantage of the Tron lands, or just colorless ramp in general.
Wrap Up
Craterhoof Behemoth | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve
And that wraps up this discussion, guys. Tarkir: Dragonstorm is a strong set, with many powerful tri-color cards and mono-colored ones. It’s a set that can shake up Standard by easing decks into a third color, providing more deckbuilding possibilities and value. There are at least 10-15 cards I didn’t mention, so feel free to mention them in the comments.
What do you think about this set? Is it powerful enough? What about the cards? Let me know down below, or hit us up on the Draftsim Discord. Thanks for having me, and I’ll see you around.
Follow Draftsim for awesome articles and set updates:
Add Comment