A Clan Refresher: Let's Prep for Tarkir Dragonstorm!
- Greg Montique
- Mar 20
- 5 min read
Ah, Tarkir! The plane where warriors clash, shamans channel elemental fury, and dragons—well, dragons do what dragons do best: burninate the countryside. If it’s been a while since you last visited this battle-torn plane, don’t worry—I’ve got you covered with a refresher on the five great clans of Tarkir, their playstyles, and why you might want to swear allegiance to one over the others, just in time for the release of Tarkir Dragonstorm.
So, whether you’re revisiting Tarkir in Magic: The Gathering or just want to impress your friends with obscure MTG lore (which, let’s be honest, is always a good flex), let’s take a look at what makes each clan tick.
Abzan – Winning Through Sheer Stubbornness
Motto: “What is dead may never die. Wait, wrong franchise.”
Colors: White, Green, Black
The Abzan are Tarkir’s toughest survivalists, dedicated to enduring hardships and coming out stronger. Their strategy? Simple: outlast everyone. Their warriors are resilient, their defenses are unbreakable, and they believe in family, loyalty, and hitting people with really, really big sticks.
How They Play:
Mechanic: Outlast – You can pay mana to put +1/+1 counters on creatures, making them stronger over time.
Tough creatures that just refuse to die – Good luck getting rid of an Abzan army powered by proliferate.
Grindy, long games – If you like making your opponent suffer by never running out of gas, Abzan is for you.
Newest Dragon: Betor, Kin to all
Betor has a lot of text. The short of it though is he is all about being tough. Do your creatures have a total toughness of 10? Draw a card. 20? Untap them. 40? Well, your opponents are about to lose a lot of life, every turn. Betor looks like he could be a powerhouse, especially with the buffs green gives as well as Abzan's outlast ability.
Jeskai – Monks With a Mean Streak
Motto: “Punch first, philosophy later.”
Color: Blue, Red, White
The Jeskai are Tarkir’s martial artists, spellcasters, and general overachievers. They seek enlightenment through discipline, but their idea of “discipline” involves kicking people in the face while casting spells. They are the trickiest of the clans, using speed, deception, and raw intellect to win battles before their opponents even realize what’s happening.
How They Play:
Mechanic: Prowess – Casting spells makes your creatures stronger for the turn.
Aggressive spell-slinger strategy – Lots of cheap instants and sorceries to power up your creatures.
Combat tricks for days – Surprise! That tiny Jeskai monk is suddenly a 10/10 murder machine with fists of fury.
Newest Dragon: Shiko, Paragon of the Way
Shiko is all about graveyard play for small spells. The best play here is to get spells that cost 3 or less to your graveyard by casting or discarding. Then find a bounce outlet for Shiko like Conjurer's Closet to allow you to cast those spells again for free before exiling them.
Sultai– Greedy, Evil, and Having a Blast
Motto: “Why win quickly when you can play with your food?”
Colors: Black, Green, Blue
The Sultai are Tarkir’s devious crime lords, ruling through fear, wealth, and a healthy respect for necromancy. Their motto is simple: more is more—more power, more mana, more manipulation, more dead things coming back to life to do your bidding.
How They Play:
Mechanic: Delve – Exile cards from your graveyard to cast massive spells for dirt cheap.
Graveyard shenanigans – Filling your graveyard fuels your strategy. If something dies, it’s probably still useful.
Big splashy plays – Nothing says Sultai like casting a 10-mana spell for free and acting like that was the plan all along.
Newest Dragon: Teval, Arbiter of Virtue
While boasting flying and lifelink, Teval gives each card you are casting delve. With delve you may exile cards from your graveyard while casting and each card exiled this way reduces the casting cost by 1. His drawback of life lost to casting cost can be a steep one since Jeskais's trick is to cheat out high-cost cards for next to nothing. This means relying heavily on lifelink to offset the life lost due to this new scaly friend.
Mardu – Speed, Blood, No RAgrets
Motto: “If you can still think, hit harder”
Colors: Red, White, Black
The Mardu are Tarkir’s war-hungry speed freaks, always on the move, always attacking, and always looking for the next battle. Subtlety? Nope. Defense? Nah. They don’t play the long game because there is no long game, just punches, quick victories, and the sound of their enemies crying.
How They Play:
Mechanic: Raid – Rewards you for attacking, as if you needed the encouragement.
Fast, aggressive creatures – If you’re not swinging by turn two, you’re doing it wrong.
All gas, no brakes – You either win fast or burn out spectacularly. Either way, it’s fun.
Newest Dragon: Neriv, Heart of the Storm
Neriv is awesome. As many Mardu cards have haste, you can do a lot of attacking the turn they enter. Neriv rewards you for being fast by letting those creatures deal double damage. So drop your hasty creature, buff it big with quick spells, and unleash it for maximum damage.
Temur – Nature, Instinct, and a Swift Kick
Motto: “If it’s big and has teeth, we’re in.”
Colors: Green, Blue, Red
The Temur are the wild survivalists of Tarkir, living in the harshest conditions and thriving. They believe in strength, instinct, and the ancient art of smashing things into tiny bits. If you’ve ever thought “this deck needs more bears,” congratulations, you’re a Temur.
How They Play:
Mechanic: Ferocious – If you control a creature with power 4 or greater cool stuff happens.
Big, beefy creatures – The bigger, the better.
Ramp and smashing – You’re either making mana or making pain. Often both.
Newest Dragon: Ureni, the Song Unending
Ureni starts by giving you protection from white and black which is already pretty huge. But it's also super stompy, dealing damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers your opponents control, equal to the number of lands you control whenever it enters the battlefield. Another creature primed for a bounce outlet I can see Ureni getting a ton of play very quickly.
Which Tarkir Dragonstorm Clan is Right for You?
Want to outlast and grind your opponent down? → Abzan
Love tricky spellcasting and kung-fu monks? → Jeskai
Enjoy being the villain and playing with the graveyard? → Sultai
Think life’s too short to play slow? → Mardu
Believe in the power of BIG THINGS SMASHING? → Temur
Tarkir Dragonstorm releases on April 11th, so support those Local Game Stores and preorder your products today!
So, which clan do you belong to? And more importantly—how many dragons are you putting in your deck? Let me know in the comments!
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