Tarkir: Dragonstorm (TDM) Limited Overview — Colorless, Lands, Special Guests

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm (TDM) will hold its Prerelease events on April 4, 2025, and officially launch one week later on April 11, 2025. Want a better understanding of individual card ratings and advice for Limited? Then check out this series of TDM Limited overviews!

• For an introduction to the mechanics, see this article: Tarkir: Dragonstorm Mechanics Breakdown

Rating Scale

5.0: An unconditional must-pick that brings an almost game-winning advantage
4.5: An unconditional must-pick if you are in the right colors, bringing a huge advantage
4.0: First-pick value, with excellent synergy with the color pair’s theme, and a deciding card for splashing / switching colors or entering a color pair
3.5: Top uncommons and commons of the set and other sufficiently strong cards, with good synergy with the color pair’s theme, and a key card for entering a color pair
3.0: Important cards for the color pair’s theme and other above-average cards that you would want in your final deck
2.5: Average level, usually a decent curve filler
2.0 to 1.0: Below average; you generally prefer not to play them, and can use them as filler if necessary, but not too many
0.5 to 0.0: Unplayable; basically do not play them, as they will only help you lose

Ratings

Colorless

Score: 3.5
Comment: A card with a ceiling of up to 4.0. Although the casting cost is a bit high, you can treat it as a universal answer. In addition, being colorless means it will not fail to be cast on time because of color screw. As long as you can protect it, it widens the gap in life and resources every turn. However, its weakness is that it cannot turn the game around when you are behind on board, which is why it ends up with only 3.5.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The set’s classic three-color land-fetching artifact. Although color pairs that include green may not need it for fixing, it is still useful in the mid-to-late game, which lets it hold an average score.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A five-mana 3/3 flying vigilance is not the very best stat line, but its surveil ability and Dragon type still make it worth including in a build.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Hexproof from monocolored basically dodges most of the removal in Limited, and in this set the equip cost has more chances to drop to three or less. A practical Equipment.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A five-color fixing artifact with an extra benefit. The face value looks pretty good, but this set does not lack ways to fix, and Dragons themselves have large stats, so the benefit of its additional effect is limited. As a result, this card is merely passable.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A typical two-mana artifact creature that puts a land on top of your library. Although with a Dragon on the battlefield it can instead put the land onto the battlefield, by then you usually no longer lack mana. Still, it has some use in non-green color pairs.

Score: 2.0
Comment: One of the few graveyard hate options in this set. Although the stats are not good, if you can hit the theme and work with it, it is still an effective card.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The set’s classic three-color land-fetching artifact. Color pairs that do not include green need this kind of artifact for fixing even more. Its activated ability is not the best, but it still has its place.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The set’s classic three-color land-fetching artifact. Color pairs that do not include green need this kind of artifact for fixing even more. Its activated ability is a bit better than the previous card’s, but still not enough to raise its overall value.

Score: 0.5
Comment: A card with very limited use in Limited. There is no need to include it in your deck unless necessary, unless you have a five-color Dragon theme build or use it with the storm ability of Stormscale Scion.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The set’s classic three-color land-fetching artifact. Although color pairs that include green do not need it as much, it is still useful in the mid-to-late game, which lets it hold an average score.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Same as above, the set’s classic three-color land-fetching artifact. Although color pairs that include green do not really need it, its activated ability can produce a 5/5 threat in the mid-to-late game, which lets it hold an average score.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A middle-of-the-road creature that may work wonders if paired with a self-mill theme.

Lands

Score: 4.0
Comment: A mid-to-late game resource engine that can be activated on the opponent’s turn. Compared with Kishla Village, this card is better if the top two cards of your library are both good. Conversely, if the top two cards are both bad, the latter is better.

Score: 3.0
Comment: You need to keep attacking for this card to deliver its value, making it a win-more card, and it can be activated at any time before attackers are declared.

Score: 3.0
Comment: It can be treated as a tapped land of any color, and its benefit stands out more in this set’s multicolor environment. If you can fix through multiple Evolving Wilds-style lands, you do not need to spend nonland cards on fixing.

Score: 3.0
Comment: The activation cost is lower than the other cards in the same cycle, but the number of times it can be used is limited by the number of creatures in your graveyard.

Score: 3.5
Comment: A mid-to-late game resource engine that can be activated on the opponent’s turn. As mentioned earlier, compared with Cori Mountain Monastery, this card is better if the top two cards of your library are both bad; conversely, if the top two cards are both good, the latter is better.

Score: 3.0
Comment: An extremely strong card for the Dragon theme: besides producing any color, it can directly search your library for the bomb. But in builds that are not a Dragon theme its usefulness is limited.

Score: 1.0
Comment: The least effective card of this cycle in Limited, mainly because counterspells are rare in Limited.

Score: 3.0
Comment: The set’s two-color land cycle, which helps with fixing and also gains life. You will play them if they touch the right color pair.

Score: 3.5
Comment: The set’s classic three-color land cycle. Builds for specific color pairs badly need this kind of card, especially non-green color pairs, which should prioritize them.

Special Guests (SPG)

Score: 3.0
Comment: Although this card’s color requirement is heavy, fixing is relatively easy because of green. In addition, if you treat this card as the end point, your deck’s construction and play can focus on early trades rather than accumulating board advantage, and in the late game you can widen the gap with an ultimatum.

Others’ score: 2.0
Comment: This one will only deliver in the very, very late game, and with its closed color requirement, you can probably cast it only after turn 8 or 9 at the earliest, so anything you draw before that will just be stuck in your hand.

Score: 2.0
Comment: With green as the base, casting it should not be much of a problem, but by the mid-to-late game, your deck very likely no longer has cards strong enough to find. In addition, spells chosen by the opponent very likely cannot make the best threat or solve the problem.

Score: 3.0
Comment: For the Temur color pair, casting it should not be too difficult, and if the deck has enough threats it can indeed widen the gap considerably in the late game. But judging from Limited builds, there is a high chance it will still flip a low-cost permanent.

Score: 2.5
Comment: This color pair does not include green, so fixing is relatively harder. In addition, although this spell can deal damage directly, you still need mana on later turns to use the five cards you draw, so it cannot change the game immediately upon resolution. Overall it can only be called middle of the road.

Score: 3.5
Comment: A powerful one-sided sweeper, but color pairs without green should pay more attention to fixing. If you can cast it successfully, it still creates a decisive gap in advantage.

Score: 3.5
Comment: The land-fetching land can be seen as an enhanced Evolving Wilds, letting the land enter untapped, which is a nice way to fix. However, the one-life side effect, though tiny, may still block your game plan of thinning your library or fetching lands when your life is low in the mid-to-late game. Use it with a bit of care, but it does not detract from the card’s strength.

Conclusion

This set can be called the most exciting multicolor set in recent years, and from the perspective of lands and artifacts in particular, it is an environment with plentiful fixing, which also makes Limited builds more flexible. When drafting, if there is no particularly good nonland option, players can consider prioritizing fixing. In addition, this environment is not too fast, so the deck’s flexibility in the mid-to-late game is something players should pay extra attention to. Have fun, everyone!