Top 5 Cards for Black in Tarkir: Dragonstorm!

Howdy, swamp creatures!

Feels like just yesterday we were reviewing Aetherdrift cards. These sets are coming out at lightning speed these days (heh), so it's already time to wrap around to Tarkir and its dragons!

The only issue with this one is, unfortunately, that Tarkir is a tri-color theme set--while there are of course some mono-black cards, the selection is a little thin. As such, I'll be using my justification of "cards FOR black", not necessarily "cards IN black" to be making this list. Without further ado, let's jump into it!

Honorable Mention: Strategic Betrayal

I had to include this one here because it's such a wonky card. I do love the design of "take two interesting effects and slap them together", and this one delivers in spades. It never quite does nothing--even if the opponent doesn't have a creature, in the right matchup you'll be fine with Tormod's Crypt. If they don't have a graveyard, it functions fine as a kill spell. Time will tell whether these two specific modes are what we're looking for, but both are played in formats regularly, so I'm optimistic we'll see plenty of Strategic Betrayal before it rotates out.

Extra Honorable Mention: The Sibsig Ceremony

The Sibsig Ceremony is also an honorable mention but in a slightly different vein--I feel the need to put it here because it's the biggest "what if?" of this set, in my opinion. It's such a weird effect that I can only imagine it will be abuseable and therefore a meta player, or it will do absolutely nothing. We're already at work trying to figure out a way to break this card in the MtG Rebellion Discord, but only time will tell if we're successful. Notable synergies:

- Presents a repeatable resource loop with Clay Sentry to provide an unending stream of 2/2 zombies.

- Allows you to play Unstoppable Slasher for one mana for a 2/2 zombie and a sleeper agent that will wake up later.

Who knows with this one? I'm excited to find out!

#5: Sinkhole Surveyor

A lot of people are iffy on this card but I think it has a solid role to play. It's the classic "good early defensive wall that turns into a snowballing threat once you stabilize" that so often tends to be good enough in a format. What's interesting about this one is it's a flexible sort of threat--if you want to make it a big chungus, you can do that, but if you would be better suited to make an army (or a stream of chump blockers), you can do that too. Flexible in terms of gameplay for both offense and defense, and on a two drop (a mana cost black desperately needed a good play in)? I'm sold.

#4: Caustic Exhale

I really don't enjoy putting removal spells on this list, because it's just so boring, but I can't ignore the possibility of a (mostly) upgrade to Cut Down. The biggest limiting factor on Exhale is how good the playable dragons are in black, especially since black is not normally the color with the most playable dragons. That being said, this card is WAY better than Foul-Tongue Invocation which saw plenty of play in dragon decks of its time, so I'm optimistic this one will too. Couple that with the floor being fine (Nowhere to Run level of playability), and this one checks all the boxes.

#3: Great Arashin City

Now technically we're not playing this card to its full potential in a mono black deck. That being said, even if it's a tap land, this card is VERY good. Remember Moorland Haunt? I remember Moorland Haunt, and this one both makes colored mana and is less restrictive on the mana requirements. A great grindy value tool that can fit into your color base (as opposed to Fountainport) is exactly what the doctor ordered. Even without the first line of text, this card is great.

#2: Rot-Curse Rakshasa

I love me a good Rakshasa, and boy is this a good one. While Ball-Lightning isn't necessarily playable these days, Rakshasa has a few extra things going for it. 

1. It can't be killed by dinky removal spells, cancelling all its damage.

2. It doesn't die in a single turn--it can hang around waiting for the right time to do the most damage it can.

3. It does something pretty darn helpful from the graveyard!

The one problem with Rakshasa is that it doesn't really have a home right now. Aggressive black decks pop up every now and then, but the premier aggro decks of the format right now are in red and green. That being said, this is a huge power-player, and it may have the weight to bring a new aggro deck into the limelight.

#1: Scavenger Regent

Flexibility? Check. Solid rate? Check. Simple but elegant design? Check. THAT'S the kind of stuff that gets you the number one slot. I was lamenting the fact that black doesn't get a lot of playable dragons, but part of the reason I'm so high on Caustic Exhale is that this card exists. It is a VERY playable dragon. The wipe mode of Meathook Massacre was always Fine, even if you were really hoping for the death triggers, and this one is no different. If you really need to kill some small guys against a deck like convoke, this card can do it for you. If you really need an evasive, resilient clock, this guy has it in spades. Ward - Discard is a potent protection ability, and to see it on a flying 4 mana 4/4 is a fantastic addition to an already solid card.

Finally, having the board wipe be Omen instead of Adventure presents some interesting play patterns. Obviously having Adventure would be the best thing in most scenarios--"my card is two cards" is a great place to be. That being said, if you're in a position where the spell half of the card is something you really, really want to keep seeing, Omen allows you a bit higher percent chance you'll see it again--and if you're in a matchup against something like convoke, that repeatable boardwipe could be huge. 

I'm very high on this card. I think it has a ton of potential in a variety of strategies, both mainboard and sideboard, and I'm excited to see what work it can do. Fitting that the best black card in a set called Dragonstorm is a dragon!

And that's it for another top 5! I'm excited to get to brewing and see what shakes out. See you all out there!