Tarkir: Dragonstorm Draft has Unexpected Problems

I was hyped coming into this set, and for what it's worth, I enjoyed Dragonstorm Limited in the honeymoon phase. There were flashy cards and lots of choices in the drafts and games.

My enjoyment started to plateau early, and the fun decreased at an accelerated rate. I thought about why and poked around to see if others enjoyed the format, but other people shared my sentiments.

I haven't been losing or anything. My win rate of 72% in best of one is unusually high for the earlier parts of the format. That said, my sample is small, and I'm just pointing out that I'm not being biased because I can't figure out the set. In fact, I feel like I figured the format out in my first few drafts.

Dragonstorm Limited feels like an underpowered cube or battlebox. It's a pile of fairly powerful cards and mana fixing.

What are the issues with the format?

While the set looks and feels cool, the experience doesn't expand beyond the name. Most decks become piles of dragons and 4-5c decks.

We aren't spending time analyzing archetypes, as most of the archetypes as designed fall flat. We just want to accumulate good interaction, bombs, and cards that are strong on rate. The best synergies are dragon-themed, and in most cases, you can shoehorn the powerful engine uncommon dragon enchantments into any dragon deck. This brings me to the next problem, and perhaps the catalyst for all of these issues, which is the mana fixing.

The mana fixing in this set is too good. Give me less mana fixing. Just looking at commons, we have a cycle of common dual lands, Evolving Wilds, Dragonstorm Globe, Sagu Wildling, and one of the most underappreciated cards in the set, Embermouth Sentinel. If you're desperate, there's also a cycle of Devotees to smooth your mana.

To go on a slight tangent about Sentinel, while it doesn't scale into the game well, playing a 2/1 on turn two and setting up mana for the rest of the game is ideal in this set, which has been solid for me in an absence of fixing.

Back to that fixing, once we look at uncommon, we get a cycle of tri-lands and the monuments, which are all strong. Playing four colors in this set is a free throw. You can expect to do it in basically every draft unless you draft the only other archetype available in my eyes, which is a base white aggressive deck. This is generally Boros, but you can end up with a BW shell as well. Regardless, it's flavors of Mardu, sometimes splashing the third color and sometimes not.

Some people would argue that one problem with the format is the rares. The format has a relatively flat power level throughout uncommons and commons. Some are better than others, but there are smaller margins in how much better one three-drop is than another, for example. At least it feels that way, with rares being the reason why. It's not that the rares are too strong, but it circles back to the fixing - anyone can play any rare they open, much like sealed decks. You're usually not cut off from playing rares you see, as you can always find the fixing later for it. This means you're not able to find yourself in the right seat and get hooked up with solid rares late in packs. You just play what you open.

This gives the format more of a sealed deck vibe where you look at the rares and gold uncommons you've accumulated and then your lands. The only difference is that you can draft a mana pool you want rather than hoping it aligns.

What could have been done differently?

My number one complaint would be the mana fixing issue. The solution is to simply remove some of the fixing. I'd start with Evolving Wilds and the monument cycle.

Further steps may be necessary, but by at least making the fixing not "free" and colorless, you can push people into certain archetypes and inspire them to draft a tribe.

I'd replace the monument cycle with some gold cards to push people further into the tribes of Tarkir rather than giving them another tool to play everything. Flurry, counters matter, and self-mill are all softer synergies that never pop off. Temur's purpose is, I guess, because big creatures matter. It doesn't feel like it has a core mechanic. While the set mechanics are cool, they don't line up into archetypes well.

That would be the next fix. I'd implement mechanics that aren't creature-focused, as they usually fall apart. Creature-focused set mechanics that involve multiple creatures in play or similar often fall apart because good drafters can interact with the right creatures at the right times. It sounds cool to play three creatures, pump them all with +1+1 counters and what not, but the reality is combat happens, your opponents play removal, and then you don't have useful ways to utilize these extra counters. On the other hand, in some cases they can't interact with your creatures and the game quickly ends.

Self-mill should have some sweet payoffs, flurry should have more uncommons or rares that push the mechanic, and all of this stuff should replace fixing, so people have to choose which lane to move into when drafting.

Additionally, we need to have cool draft-arounds in most sets. Maybe not every set, but decks like Push the Limit, Spider Spawning, and even Zenith Flare were fun ways to draft. Hidden archetypes like this let you draft to feast on opponents in the early days and famine later when the archetype is contested. Those are some of the most enjoyable draft experiences, and there isn't anything like it in Dragonstorm. While it's a delicate thing to balance, it pushes the draft formats over the top for replayability. In fact, I'd put the companions in this camp, as they bring you down this unique path that is fun to draft and play.

Focusing less on fixing and more on the actual Limited synergies would give the drafter real, meaningful choices and fix the format to a degree. These set mechanics could work well, but they forgot to put the reasons to focus on those mechanics in the set. A few solid uncommon designs could push this set into great territory, but they're absent.

Dragonstorm Limited is an average five out of ten set, and the potential for this set to be something much more than that was squandered. I will still play the set until Final Fantasy hits us, but a set I thought I'd play for hundreds of drafts wore off on me after about ten, and I don't feel the urge I normally do to immediately join the queue when I'm done.

That's the end of my rant today. We'll be back next week with some more wholesome Siggy content.