Tarkir: Dragonstorm Spoilers Heat Up with Two Amazing Planeswalkers

Last updated on March 18, 2025

Elspeth, Storm Slayer | Illustration by Ekaterina Burmak

The first spoilers for Tarkir: Dragonstorm came out swinging with two planeswalkers! We've got a brand new Ugin and a brand new Elspeth, each of which offers a twist on the gameplay you've come to expect from them.

Ugin, Eye of the Storms

This version of Ugin is similar to past versions in that it clearly wants you to play with other colorless cards. This was a recurring theme with other Ugins; Ugin, the Spirit Dragon only exiled colored permanents, while Ugin, the Ineffable discounted colorless plays. So how good is Ugin, Eye of the Storms?

Well, at a basic level, this is a 7 mana 3-for-1 at minimum! Simply casting Ugin will let you exile your opponent's best thing, and then you can immediately +2 for 3 life and a card. This also puts them at a whopping 9 loyalty, just 2 away from its flashy ultimate that let's you tutor up and cast any number of colorless nonland cards. Ugin's 0 ability also plays well with its colorless static ability; instead of +2'ing Ugin, you could also cast it (exiling one permanent), 0 for three colorless mana, then cast a colorless 3-drop, which will exile another permanent!

Colorless Ramp in Standard?

So it's clear that Ugin, Eye of the Storms is a powerful big mana payoff, but where does it go in Standard? Domain Ramp certainly isn't going to play it, as the deck has zero colorless cards. Ultimately, if Ugin is to see any play, it will definitely demand a deck built around itself. Having a critical density of colorless cards is important, though you'll likely want to include at least some colored cards like Day of Judgment so you don't just get ran over. But what kind of colorless cards should you even be playing in Standard? Here are some options that could make sense:

• Candy Trail
• Ghost Vacuum (sideboard)
• Collector's Vault
• Mazemind Tome
• The Irencrag
• The Stone Brain (sideboard)
• Bandit's Haul
• Hylda's Crown of Winter
• Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree (win condition?)
• Urza's Sylex (it tutors for Ugin!)

Basically, picture a weird control deck with Ugin, Eye of the Storms as a finisher, and lots of odd colorless cards that cantrip, ramp, or are otherwise useful. You could then lean on W or B for actual removal like Ride's End and Go for the Throat, plus sweepers like Day of Judgment and Deadly Cover-Up. Once you have Ugin, Eye of the Storms out, all of these mediocre colorless cards become incredible removal spells, which should let you take over the game!

Will it work? No idea, but Ugin looks powerful enough to be worth building around! It also seems like an auto-include for any colorless EDH decks, so expect a lot of demand for this card.

Ugin in Modern

One unmentioned format where Ugin, Eye of the Storms seems excellent is Modern! Not only does Modern have the infamous trio of Tron lands, but the colorless cards in the format are also way better than in Standard. Ugin is a dramatic upgrade to Karn Liberated, as this cast trigger is effectively a -3 activation! It can't hit lands, but considering that you also get to +2 or 0 Ugin, it seems well worth trying in Modern Tron decks. Ugin could also see play in any other Tron/colorless decks in Eternal formats, though Tron mostly seems to be a Modern thing.

Elspeth, Storm Slayer

Elspeth, Storm Slayer is a bit more straightforward, and basically just wants to play with lots of tokens. Their powerful static ability is one of the most impressive things about the card, as getting the Doubling Season line on a decent planeswalker is pretty incredible! Let's break down each ability before talking about where this goes in Standard (or beyond):

• Elspeth's +1 works with the innate passive, meaning you'll always be creating two Soldiers instead of one. This means they can protect themselves pretty well!
• The 0 makes this a powerful win condition, as Elspeth's +1 plus other tokens will quickly make 0 lethal.
• Lastly, -3 provides some decent removal, which could be crucial as token decks tend to be light on interaction.

Where to Play Elspeth, Storm Slayer in Standard?

One obvious home for Elspeth, Storm Slayer is GW Cage, which was already a tokens deck to begin with! All three of their abilities seem quite relevant (especially the 0, which will end games out of nowhere). It's also nice to have a powerful threat that doesn't die to Day of Judgment and Sunfall, as the deck has always struggled with sweepers. And don't forget that GW Cage is a Llanowar Elves deck, which makes casting a 5-drop on time much easier.

Another great home for Elspeth, Storm Slayer would be Mono-White Tokens, as it seems incredible with Caretaker's Talent! It's also a much more proactive 5 than something like Sunfall, while still providing blockers and removal versus aggro decks. Elspeth might help the deck's poor Domain matchup somewhat, as 0'ing with a bunch of tokens in play represents a ton of damage.

Elspeth also looks powerful enough to see play in other tokens decks, though they're a bit pricey for something like RW Convoke. As for non-Standard formats, it's probably too expensive for Pioneer (and certainly for Modern+), but will be a great pickup for token EDH decks.

Wrap Up

Archangel Elspeth | Illustration by Denys Tsiperko

It'll be interesting to see where both planeswalkers land in Standard! It's much easier to bet on Elspeth than Ugin this time, as there are so few other incentives to play a bunch of colorless cards in this format. Either way, we're excited for more spoilers from the set, and hope that the hits keep coming!