MTG Tarkir Dragonstorm release date, spoilers, and latest news

What is the MTG Tarkir Dragonstorm release date? In the second major set of 2025, we went back to Tarkir, a dragon-filled world with multiple diverse factions, each inspired by different Asian cultures. This guide covers the top cards and news stories to come out of Tarkir Dragonstorm.

Below you'll find the Tarkir Dragonstorm release date and all key information about the recent MTG set. If you want to see how it fits in with the rest of next year's slate, check out our complete MTG release schedule. Or, for more on playing with these new cards, check out our Tarkir Dragonstorm draft guide.

MTG Tarkir Dragonstorm release date

MTG Tarkir Dragonstorm released on April 11, 2025. That's its global release date, but the cards arrived in Local Game Stores a little before this, as prerelease events took place between April 4-10. Digital players were also able to enjoy the set a little earlier, as the Tarkir Dragonstorm MTG Arena launch was April 8.

Preview season for Tarkir Dragonstorm ran from March 18 to March 27. We've now seen all that this set has to offer - and you can find some of the most intriguing cards below.

MTG Tarkir Dragonstorm news and spoilers

Before we get to the biggest cards of the set, here are three interesting designs that deserve a shout out too. From right to left we have the one-drop who is going to end all your dragons' dreams, a 5/5 two drop that's actually a secret board wipe, and a turtle who thought this was the reptiles set and would be broken with Vigilance.

One of the biggest major card spoilers was Call the Spirit Dragons. This alternate wincon card is really powerful in dragon decks, giving all dragons indestructible, pouring +1/+1 counters onto them, and - as if that weren't enough - winning you the game in your upkeep.

Before that we saw Dracogenesis, an expensive enchantment that lets you play dragon cards for free, opening up all kinds of combo potential.

The biggest spoiler revealed on March 18 was Craterhoof Behemoth, an all-star green Commander card that got its first Standard reprint in a decade.

We also saw both the set's planeswalker cards, Ugin, Eye of the Storms and Elspeth, Storm Slayer. The former is an incredible source of repeatable removal that's great in any colorless-themed deck. The latter goes absolutely ballistic in token strategies.

Some months back, Wizards of the Coast revealed the first major pieces of Tarkir Dragonstorm news during its Magic Con Chicago live stream on Friday, February 21.

First, we learned that all five of the classic clans from Khans of Tarkir are returning in this set - Abzan, Jeskai, Mardu, Sultai, and Temur are all present and correct. Each clan also gets its own Commander deck - you can read full details on all five precon decks below.

Wizards' February 21 stream revealed some big hitters - by far the most exciting of them a brand new Mox card, Mox Jasper.

The original 'Moxes' - a set of five wildly powerful artifact cards that generate mana without the one-per-turn limit of a Land - are quite rightly locked away in the MTG reserved list so they'll never be reprinted, and they're understandably a fixture in the Commander banlist too.

So it was quite a shock to see a new Mox card join the game after so many years - even if Wizards has cut back its power level significantly versus the original mox jewels. The Mox Jasper still costs zero mana, and this time taps for one mana of any color - but you can only activate it if you control a Dragon.

But, given that not only got a regular Mythic Rare variant in this set, but a 500-card serialized printing too, it's pretty obvious that Wizards expected it to be one of the biggest chase cards of the set.

And we finally got a closer look at the mono-red legendary creature version of Sarkhan we knew was coming: meet Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant. A 2/2 for two mana, he gets a +1/+1 counter every time you put a Dragon into play, and becomes a Dragon with Flying himself until the end of the turn.

Sarkhan also spoiled one brand new mechanic, however: Behold a Dragon. This gives you a reward in exchange for either nominating a Dragon card you control, or revealing one from your hand; Sarkhan does it as an ETB (enter the battlefield) effect, and gets a Treasure token for his trouble.

Other interesting spoilers included a mini Siege Rhino, in the form of Skirmish Rhino. A reference to one of the best midrange cards of all time, there was understandably a lot of hype for this card.

There was also a new Narset, Narset, Jeskai Waymaster. We already knew she was desparked thanks to Aftermath, but now she's back on her home MTG plane, seemingly leading her clan. Her card, clearly made to be an MTG commander, encourages you to play lots of small spells, unloading your whole hand, before drawing back up at your end step.

Tarkir Dragonstorm story

Tarkir Dragonstorm's plot follows from the events of Dragons of Tarkir where people were subjugated under the oppressive rule of the dragonlords.

Now the people have rebelled against the dragonlords, reforming the old clans. Their leaders performed a powerful ritual that bonded them to spirit dragons, helping them throw off the draconic yoke and find a new compromise that both species could survive under.

However, now dragonstorms, the cataclysmic events through which new MTG dragons are born, are getting stronger, becoming an existential threat.

In the set's story so far, Narset and Elspeth are here, trying to find a way to stop the relentless dragonstorms. Sarkhan's on the other side of this issue, because he'd gladly suffer the apocalypse if it meant more dragons (in fact he pretty much went down that road once already). He's teamed up with a shady fella named Taigam to pull off some sort of ritual that'll let him turn back into a dragon.

Ajani's here too, living that cabin retreat lifestyle, and trying to deal with the trauma of getting corrupted by Phyrexia.

Then there's an excursion to the Meditation Realm, where we run into Jace, Nicol Bolas, and Ugin. Jace's plan is semi-revealed. He's trying to use the power of Ugin's Meditation Realm to… fix everything somehow. Anyway, it doesn't seem like he can contain the power, and it fails miserably.

Then Sarkhan turns into a dragon, and there's a big showdown. He's defeated by Ugin, but Nicol Bolas has escaped, and in a year or so he'll probably be back as the new big bad.

Tarkir is quite an unusual MTG plane in that it received an in-universe retcon, with time-wimey shenanigans replacing the three-color clan factions from Khans of Tarkir with two-color forces led by dragons. That was a pretty unpopular decision, so in Tarkir Dragonstorm, Wizards of the Coast is trying to bridge the gap between the two versions of this world.

That means Tarkir Dragonstorm has plenty of dragons both old and new, but also sees return of the three color 'wedge' factions, in the form of the five clans. 

Tarkir Dragonstorm Commander Decks

Tarkir Dragonstorm released with five new Commander precon decks - one for each clan: Abzan, Jeskai, Mardu, Sultai, and Temur. Wizards of the Coast revealed all five of the Tarkir Dragonstorm Commander precons during its Magic Con livestream on Friday, February 21.

Here are the five Tarkir Dragonstorm Commander decks:

And here's every one of the decks' Commanders and alt-Commanders:

These decks didn't cost $70, like the MTG Final Fantasy ones. Instead, the MSRP value was $45.

For more EDH advice, here are the nine best Commanders in Tarkir Dragonstorm - looking at both the precon decks and the main set.

Wizards' Magic Con Chicago stream also finally dropped the curtains on 2025's mystery Universes Beyond release: MTG Avatar The Last Airbender is confirmed! We got details on the game's upcoming sci-fi set, too - you can read more in our MTG Edge of Eternities guide.

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