While Magic: The Gathering’s recent crossovers with franchises like Final Fantasy and Spider-Man have garnered significant attention, the next set, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, is rapidly approaching. This set returns to the plane of Tarkir, and we have an exclusive preview of five cards expected to be highly influential in upcoming drafts. (Tarkir: Dragonstorm is available for preorder on Amazon.)

View the five cards in the gallery below. Following the gallery, we'll share insights from Wizards of the Coast regarding the design and overall set.

Magic: The Gathering - Five New Cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm

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These five cards form a "cycle," sharing common design elements across Magic's color spectrum. Each is a low-cost, common-rarity creature with an ability linked to one of Tarkir's three-color clans, and a secondary ability converting mana into a color from that clan.

"Three-color limited environments require substantial mana fixing across all rarities," explains Adam Prosak, Senior Game Designer at Wizards of the Coast. "We aimed for broad mana fixing access across many decks, leading to designs addressing mana issues. These creatures, in particular, enable simultaneous board presence and mana development—unlike tapped lands, which only produce mana, potentially hindering early-game development."

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While the mechanical design of this cycle preceded its thematic elements, common cards often serve to showcase a set's world. Lauren Bond, Senior Worldbuilding Designer, highlights how this cycle reflects the distinct characteristics of Tarkir's clans: "The action-oriented Jeskai monks, the Temur's use of whispers and magic, the Sultai Nagas as jungle protectors, Mardu military prowess (including support roles), and the Abzan clerics' regrowth of lost kin trees."

Recent criticism of Magic sets has focused on overreliance on tropes. Dragonstorm's relatively straightforward return to Tarkir distinguishes it. Forrest Schehl, Senior Worldbuilding Art Director, acknowledges this feedback, stating that the core concept for Tarkir was established well before sets like Murders at Karlov Manor, and remained unchanged afterward. "We aimed to combine dragons and clans in a novel way for Tarkir, with dragonstorms as a defining plane feature. Lauren and I felt significant pressure to create an authentic and substantial next chapter for this beloved plane."

Tarkir: Dragonstorm is available for preorder, with a paper and digital release scheduled for April 11th, and in-store prerelease events beginning April 4th. A full interview with Adam Prosak, Lauren Bond, and Forrest Schehl follows.