A Dragonstorm Is Brewing, Part 2

Last week, I started my previews for Tarkir: Dragonstorm. I introduced the Exploratory Design and Vision Design teams, talked about our initial vision for the Khans of Tarkir block, started telling the story of Tarkir: Dragonstorm's design, and showed off a preview card. Today, I will introduce the Set Design and Commander Design teams, preview another cool card, and finish the story of how the set came to be.

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The Perfect Dragonstorm

Before I jump back into the story of the set, I want to introduce you to two teams. First up is the Set Design team for Tarkir: Dragonstorm. It was led by Adam Prosak, who has written all the bios.

Next is the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Design team, which will be introduced by team lead Megan Smith.

Dragonstormy Weather 

Last week, I talked about designing the Dragon portion of the set. Today, I'm going to focus on the clan portion. We knew from the very beginning that we wanted to copy the general structure of Khans of Tarkir's factions. We wanted each faction to be recognizable and have its own clan keyword, although they'd be new mechanics. Here were the parameters we laid out for ourselves:

Parameter #1 – We wanted the clans to mechanically feel the same.

One of the general rules we have when revisiting a setting with factions is to make sure that if you mix cards from the faction on the first visit with those from the second visit, they'll play well together. We're fine with changing keywords or archetypes, but we try to maintain the general sense of the faction.

Parameter #2 – We wanted each clan to have something that felt new.

Revisiting a setting isn't just about doing exactly what you did last time. It's also about finding something new in the same general space. Part of finding new clan mechanics was also part of that novelty.

Parameter #3 – The clans have to work well mechanically with the other clans.

When designing a faction set, you have to make sure factions work well with overlapping factions. In a three-color faction set, every faction shares one or two colors. This means a lot of time has to be spent making sure the various mechanics work with one another.

I'll begin with Abzan and work my way through all five clans. Remember, each clan is inspired by a different section of Asia and reveres a different aspect of the Dragon.

Abzan

"Do what is necessary." 

• Reveres the endurance of the dragon
• Represented by the scale of the dragon

The Abzan care most about defense. It believes the fight is won by the clan that remains standing the longest. The Abzan ended up being the clan that took us the longest to find the appropriate mechanic. We knew that it was the most defensive and slowest of the five clans. We were also interested in making use of counters because those played a big role with the Abzan in their first outing. While we focused on +1/+1 counters, we did experiment with using other keyword counters as well.

The Abzan care most about defense. It believes the fight is won by the clan that remains standing the longest. The Abzan ended up being the clan that took us the longest to find the appropriate mechanic. We knew that it was the most defensive and slowest of the five clans. We were also interested in making use of counters because those played a big role with the Abzan in their first outing. While we focused on +1/+1 counters, we did experiment with using other keyword counters as well.

Our first stab at a mechanic was resupply:

Resupply (Whenever CARDNAME or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {2}. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME.)

Resupply Soldier {4}{W}
Creature — Human Soldier
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have flying.
Resupply (Whenever CARDNAME or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {2}. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME.)
3/2

Resupply was playing in similar space to outlast (the Abzan mechanic in Khans of Tarkir). We liked that the members of the clan helped one another, but this felt a little dry. Next, we tried ancestry.

Wing Crafter {3}{W}
Creature — Human Wizard
Ancestry - Flying counter (When this card enters the battlefield, you may put the counter on it. If you do not, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token.)
3/3

This mechanic was inspired by fabricate from Kaladesh. Instead of just getting a +1/+1 counter, we explored using keyword counters. There was something here we liked, but we decided to move in a different direction with a mechanic called adopt. 

Steady Soldier {3}{W}
Creature — Human Soldier
CARDNAME enters with a +1/+1 counter.
Adopt (When this creature dies, create a 1/1 white Human creature token. Move any tokens on this creature to that token.)
2/2

Adopt was trying to find a way to help creatures stay in the fray, playing into the counter theme we found interesting. Adopt was the mechanic we took to the vision summit. No one picked it as their favorite mechanic, so we decided to change it before handoff. Our fallback was a tweak of fabricate.

Set Design then messed around with turning fabricate into a keyword action, meaning that it could be used as a trigger. This experimentation with fabricate got them to explore the idea of tweaking fabricate to give either N +1/+1 counters or create an N/N creature token. They liked the execution enough that they ended up making a new mechanic out of it called endure.

Jeskai

"We act as one." 

• Reveres the cunning of the dragon
• Represented by the eye of the dragon

The Jeskai are the cleverest of the clans. They believe the fight is won by those who fight the smartest. They are also the ones most associated with casting spells. In Khans of Tarkir, the Jeskai mechanic was prowess. Prowess went on to become an evergreen mechanic before becoming deciduous. We knew we'd be using it here but wanted the Jeskai to have a new mechanic as well. And we knew that it had to care about spells in some way, either directly calling spells out or working well on spells. The first thing we tried was a mechanic called focus:

Weathered Warrior {1}{W}
Creature — Human Warrior
Focus (Whenever you cast a spell that targets a permanent you control, put a +1/+1 on CARDNAME.)
2/2

Focus was basically a fixed version of heroic from Theros, but rather than force you to target this specific creature, it got the bonus if you targeted any creature you controlled. This would allow you to have multiple creatures with the mechanic and trigger them all with the same spell.

Focus was forcing us to make most the spells target creatures, which was pushing us in a direction we weren't happy with. The next big push was a mechanic called flurry that was basically an ability word to reference a theme we often use: "second spell matters." The ability word, including its name, went into the file and never came out. We realized that this particular mechanic wouldn't be all that novel, but it played so well and was such a perfect fit for the Jeskai that we decided to let it stay.

Sultai

"Nothing goes to waste." 

• Reveres the ruthlessness of the dragon
• Represented by the fang of the dragon

The Sultai are most willing to do what it takes to get what they want. They believe the fight is won by the clan who is most willing to do the things no one else will. A big part of that philosophy ties into their relationship with death, bringing back creatures to serve them. Mechanically, this makes them the clan most associated with the graveyard (they used the delve mechanic the last time around), so we knew that was going to be an important aspect of the new clan mechanic.

Our first stab at a mechanic was exhume:

Exhume ({2}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. Activate only as a sorcery.)

Creeping Death {2}{B}{B}
Instant
Destroy target creature.
Exhume ({2}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. Activate only as a sorcery.)

The idea behind exhume was that it allowed us to staple Zombie tokens onto other cards, especially spells. A lot of the clan mechanics leaned toward creature mechanics, so we were looking for mechanics that could go on spells when possible. Because the output was always the same, we decided to standardize the mana required to make these tokens. In the end, exhume's biggest problem was that it was a little too one-note. It just led every Sultai deck to go wide. 

The next mechanic we tried was an ability word called harvest: 

Naga Deathmage {2}{B}
Creature - Naga Zombie
Menace
Harvest {3}{B} (Exile CARDNAME from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter and a menace counter on target creature you control.)
2/2

Harvest was an ability that went on creatures. They had an activated ability in the graveyard where you could pay a mana cost and exile it to get some number of +1/+1 counters and a keyword counter of an ability the creature naturally had to put on a creature you controlled. It was important that the number of +1/+1 counters was smaller than the creature's natural stats such that removal meant something in slowing down the Sultai creature threat. In the end, the mechanic was a bit too narrow, and as there are only so many creature keywords available, let alone in Sultai's colors, the design space was narrower than we had hoped.

This led us to our eventual answer, renew, which allowed the effects created by the graveyard cards to have more variety. I believe Vision Design used more keyword counters than those printed, but we were playing in the same general space.

Mardu

"Dare to keep up." 

• Reveres the speed of the dragon
• Represented by the wing of the dragon

The Mardu value speed above all else. They believe the clan that is fastest is the one who wins. If you don't allow your enemies time to create a defense, victory is assured. The Mardu are the most aggressive clan and rely on cheap creatures and attacking every turn. So, we wanted a mechanic that rewarded taking the offense. Last time, Mardu had the raid ability word, which rewarded players for attacking.)

Out of the five printed clan mechanics, mobilize (then called horde) was the first created.

Air Scout (version #1) {1}{W}
Creature - Bird
Flying
Horde 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, make one red 1/1 Warrior creature token that is tapped and attacking with "This creature must attack.")
1/2

Initially, the creature token it created wasn't temporary. The creature token had to attack the turn it was created, but if it survived, it stayed around. It didn't take too much playtesting to realize that this version was more powerful than we wanted. That's when we decided to try making the tokens temporary. We chose to have them last until end of turn to give you an opportunity to use effects during your second main phase that might sacrifice creature tokens that survived the combat. Feeling we needed to adjust for the downgrade to the tokens, we tried giving them menace.

Air Scout (Version #2) {1}{W}
Creature - Bird
Flying
Horde 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, make one red 1/1 Warrior creature token that is tapped and attacking with menace, "This creature must attack," and "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this creature.")
1/2

Playtesting revealed that menace wasn't necessary, as the mechanic was strong enough as is, so we removed it to simplify the mechanic and avoid the color-pie bend of white cards that created tokens with menace.

Temur

"The land will guide us." 

• Reveres the savagery of the dragon
• Represented by the claw of the dragon

The Temur value strength above all other attributes. They believe the clan that is strongest will win the fight. This means the Temur want bigger creatures for a midrange, go-tall strategy. Mechanically, we wanted the Temur to care about creature stats, especially power. Last time, the Temur mechanic was ferocious, which rewards you for having larger creatures.

The first mechanic we tried for Temur was called erupt:

Erupt {M} (Whenever you play a land, you may cast this card from your graveyard for its erupt cost. If you do, exile it.)

Boundless Growth {G}
Instant
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Erupt {G} (Whenever you play a land, you may cast this card from your graveyard for its erupt cost. If you do, exile it.)

Erupt allowed you to cast the spell from the graveyard on a turn you played a land, combining flashback and landfall. As I said above, a lot of the mechanics we were trying out went on creatures, so we were looking for different ways to put mechanics on spells. Since the Temur overlap with the Jeskai in two colors, a flashback-like mechanic played nicely with flurry. Erupt played fine, but it didn't feel particularly tied to Temur.

The next mechanic we tried was called rekindle:

Rekindle (Whenever you cast a creature spell with mana value 5 or greater, you may cast one card with rekindle from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. Then exile it.)

Rekindle Growth {G}
Instant
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Rekindle (Whenever you cast a creature spell with mana value 5 or greater, you may cast one card with rekindle from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. Then exile it.)

Rekindle was another flashback variant, but this time, instead of caring about playing a land, the mechanic cared about a creature with a mana value of 5 or greater being cast. The other big difference between rekindle and erupt was that the cost of casting the spell out of the graveyard was free for kindle, unlike erupt, which had a mana cost.

The next version, which we called fierce, was a tweaked version of rekindle. It changed two things. One, it cared about the creature being on the battlefield rather than it being cast. Two, the number was variable, meaning different cards would care about different sizes of creatures.

Fierce Ramping {2}{G}
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped.
Fierce 4 (You may cast this card from the graveyard for free if you control a creature with 4 or more power.)

The effect being free removed an important knob needed for play balance, so we came up with the idea that you could tap a creature to reduce the cost by the power of the tapped creature. We continued to call this mechanic fierce. Vision Design turned it over for set design. Set Design took it off instants, since we tend to avoid instants with flashback, but otherwise kept it the same. The mechanic was renamed harmonize.

Speaking of harmonize, my preview card for today is a harmonize card. Well, at least one that grants harmonize.

Weathering the Dragonstorm

I hope you all enjoyed my perspective, this week and the last, on the design of Tarkir: Dragonstorm. If you have comments about today's article, the set itself, and/or any of the clans or clan mechanics, please feel free to email me or contact me through social media accounts (Bluesky, X, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Join me next week for some card-by-card design stories from this set.

Until next week, may you find the clan that speaks to you.