Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Khans of Tarkir
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, a look back at the cards and art of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning, all through the eyes of a casual fan. This week marks the end of an era: The last of the three-set blocks in Magic. But we’re going out with a good one because we’re looking at the Khans of Tarkir block and it’s first set, September 2014’s Khan’s of Tarkir.
The home plane of planeswalker and dragon enthusiast Sarkhan Vol, Tarkir is a plane of warlords and clans that war with one another. Although dragons are long extinct on this plane, the five major factions of the plane all honor the extinct beasts and each embody a different aspect of them.
Like Alara, the factions in Tarkir are based on three colors each, however unlike with the shards, which were a color and its two allied colors, here we get wedges, which are a color and its too enemy colors. The Tarkir factions are:
- The Azban Houses, which embody the endurance of dragons, and are Black with White and Green.
- The Jeskai Way, which embody the cunning of dragons, they are Red with Blue and White
- The Sultai Brood, which embody the ruthlessness of dragons, and are Green with Black and Blue
- The Mardu Horde, which embody the speed of dragons, and are White with Black and Red
- And lastly the Temur Frontier, which embody the savagery of dragons, and are Blue with Green and Red.
So, what wackiness will these factions get up to? Let’s find out.
We start off with an Azban card, and a demonstration of their ability: Outlast. Outlast is pretty simple: Put +1/+1’s on the creature. My guess is the Azban have a whole “+1/+1’s matter” theme going on considering this guy.
FUS ROH DAH!!!!
I mean, that’s one way to end a war. Just blow the other side to bits. We call that “fuck around and find out” diplomacy.
“Play Free Bird!”
It’s worth noting Tarkir is based on the cultures of Eastern Asia, which I don’t know much about, but at the same time it’s really cool when Magic makes places based on different cultures than just European themed lands. Also, Outlast is a seven on the Storm Scale. I forgot to mention that before.
Here we have the first Jeskai card and their ability prowess, which gives them +1/+1 every time you cast a non-creature spell until the end of turn. Prowess is probably the most successful of the Tarkir mechanics, becoming evergreen for a while, before it was bumped down to deciduous, so expect to see this later.
Here is the Mardu keyword. Raid does something if you attacked this turn. Raid is a 3 on the Storm Scale, and we will be seeing it again in Ixalan.
Holy crap, it’s morph, making it’s proud return in Tarkir block. It’s been a while since we’ve seen that mechanic. And here we see this guy getting into marble madness. I hate to be the guy who has to pick all of those back up.
Now here’s a creature type we haven’t seen before. Lammasu are from Sumerian myth and started off as a benevolent deity. I think most people know them from DnD as those guys who are winged lions with human faces. Although MTG Lammasu seemed to be winged oxen with…no face. At all. Very striking. By the way, there’s only one other Lamassu in all of Magic, so forget making a Lammasu tribal deck any time soon.
Now that there is a big critter. I love the idea that the Azban just roll around in these fortresses which are pulled by giant rhino things. That is just badass.
Here we have the Sultai mechanic: Delve lets you dump your graveyard in order to reduce the cost of the card. You might remember this first showing up in Future Sight on three time shifted cards. It’s an 8 on the Storm Scale and it’s banned in modern and legacy formats, so don’t expect to see this card at all.
I kind of like the concept here. It looks like its made of ice, but soon the ice will melt away and reveal the verdant land underneath. It’s all very poetic and stuff.
York Peppermint Patties. Not even once.
Here we have the final mechanic, coming in at a seven on the Storm Scale is ferocious, which has a card do something extra if you control a big creature. Pretty much what you expect from the Green central clan. Green always loves big creatures (as does Blue for that matter, just not as much).
That’s a pretty neat morph ability. You’re not just countering a spell, you’re stealing it to cast for free. Also, Tarkir has snake people, which look more like snake people than the last time we saw snake people. I think that was Kamigawa, was it not?
Imagine rubbing a lamp and a genie comes out but instead of granting wishes they just do sick kick flips all day. I wouldn’t even be disappointed because that’s awesome.
This is what happens if you go to a Star Wars convention and tell them you think Jar Jar was underrated.
This is another card banned across multiple formats. I think delve may be the most problematic ability we’ve seen here, which is a shame. I want to take a ride on the money boat. Reminds me of that boat from Super Mario 3 with all the cash on it.
I think this is a better picture of Tarkir djinn to look at, so we can see they’re white skinned with big horns. Hmmm, the last time we saw a horned djinn it was the Juzam Djinn in Arabian Nights and…OH MY GOD IT’S A COOK BOOK. HALF LIFE THREE CONFIRMED.
Oh hey, a delve card that hasn’t been banned back to the stone age. That’s nice to see for a change. Of course this one isn’t giving you card advantage so I guess it’s fine. Also, always nice to make sure the alligators are fed, right?
Meanwhile, on Twitter.
Now that is creepy. They wear the face of the people they feed on? It’s been a good long while since we got a legit creepy vampire. I mean even Innistrad tended to go with sexy vampires. This is a “OH GOD NO” vampire.
Here’s something we haven’t seen in Magic in a while: Orcs. Orcs in older magic sets were usually red and generally depicted as stupid, lazy, and destructive. But here we have an orc based on more recent depictions of them, popularized by World of Warcraft and DnD. Also, this is a Black card which is all about loyalty and honor, which I guess means the Azban are one of the “nice” Black factions, at least where I can see.
Me coming home from the Supermarket with provisions for the week. Also, once again gotta give it up for Wayne Reynolds, one of my favorite Magic artists and fantasy artists in general.
I love zombie animals. You get all the coolness of an animal and you make them a zombie. Also I love the idea of zombie extinct animals like a mastodon zombie. I think the only thing that could be better is a zombie monkey.
GIT ER DONE!!!
Wait, does Tarkir have dog people in it? Why am I just now hearing about this? We need more dog people now, dammit.
So what’s worse, arrows that darken the sky? Or arrows that light up the sky? Either way you’ve probably had it.
“Now I’m going to heat your skull to a scorching one million degrees. It’s going to be like getting a scalp massage from Lucifer himself.”
That one’s for all the Space Ghost Coast to Coast fans out there.
Now we see Tarkir efreet, who kind of look like Groot. Only made of lava instead of wood.
“We need help over here fighting these guys!”
“Don’t worry, I’m gonna lend you a hand.”
Welcome to bad DnD jokes 101.
Its been a while since we’ve gotten some good goblin action in a Magic set. There are no goblins in Theros or Innistrad after all. Also that goblin looks like Emmitt, the guy from Freakazoid.
I tell you there’s nothing worse than having a goblin steal your hat. Especially when it’s a super shiny hat like that one. Like that is an important hat. Also this goblin looks like they walked off the set of Labyrinth. Nice to see Tarkir goblins have some range.
And here we have Sarkhan, who is…okay, some of you may be confused why I don’t much care for this guy? Trust me, by the end of this block, it will be very apparent.
And that orc gets…a boot to the head. And one for Sarkhan while we’re at it.
You know grizzly bears, right? The iconic vanilla Magic card? 2/2 for 2 mana? Now how do we improve on that? How about a FOUR two for three? It’s madness. MADNESS I SAY.
I think it was during this set that WotC started putting black borders around the cards to make the vital info at the bottom much easier to read. Which I really appreciate because it helps me keep track of these cards and how far I have left to go.
Yes, awaken your inner bear. Leave no picnic basket uneaten. RANGER SMITH SHALL KNOW OUR FURY!
What’s better than a hydra? Snake hydra. Also I like that you can either make this thing infinitely big, or go for the sure thing and just make them a 5/5 by un-morphing them.
I’m really digging the dog people here. Hey, did these guys become dogs when they did the recent creature type change when they introduced dogs back into Magic in core 2021?
I really like the flavor here. This big turtle is so slow he starts attacking one turn, but doesn’t finish till the next turn. It’s not great if you want to be aggressive, but it’s still a fun little gimmick.
Yes. YES. YEEEEEES.
Okay, I had my doubts at first. But Khans of Tarkir is the best set ever. 10/10. End the series now, we’re not topping this.
Your face down card is no match for the awesome power of Sultai bong fumes.
Oh, and we have loxodon on Tarkir as well, another thing I didn’t know. And they’re awesome woolly mammoths. I’m really starting to like this setting (at least until Sarkhan messes it up soon).
Now we get to the multicolor cards, and with them the leaders of the clans. Here we have the Azban leader Anafenza. She’s actually a real cool leader who goes out of her way to protect her people and only wars to keep trade routes open and the like. I really like her. In fact I like the Azban a lot overall.
I feel like now I just have to post every bear card I come across. Let me know if it gets too unbearable.
Yes I’m terrible. And I’ve bearly gotten started.
Oh my that’s unsavory. Sultai really love themselves some crocodiles, don’t they?
OH MY GOD. I was gonna make a “talk to the hand” joke but look at that guys hand. I hope they have good insurance on Tarkir because holy crap that guys hand is messed up.
We also have giant mantises in Tarkir. That’s neat. But does anyone ride them is my question.
Yeah, that’s the spice.
I also love how they admit the mantis will eat their rider without hesitation. Of course it’s hard to depict that mechanically.
I love how he has his arms stretched out, like he’s having the time of his life riding that big rhino thing.
Here we have Narset, the Khan of the Jeskai way. She’s pretty cool, and she’s probably one of the few people who benefit from the upcoming timeline change, but more on that later.
Tarkir also introduced Rakshasa to Magic, although they seem to follow leonine rules by making them cat demons. These Rakshasa seem to more closely resemble the Rakshasa from DnD, who are manipulative tiger devils, as opposed to the more varied Rakshasa from Hinduism.
And here we have Sidisi, the Khan of Sultai khan. Honestly when I initially read her card, I thought it said blood tyrant, so I was expecting a vampire. Guess we’re not gonna get too many more vampires in this set though…
I mean aside from Sorin. I haven’t read the Tarkir storyline. I just know the broad stroke stuff, so I don’t even know what Sorin is doing here (I guess he’s here to pay his respects to Ugin).
Here we have Surrak, the Temur khan. I’m pretty sure he was the guy punching a bear on that one card earlier, which automatically makes him my favorite khan. He’s downright grizzly.
Bobby Kottick at home.
I mean, come on. It’s a card called Villainous Wealth. I had to.
Last but not least we have Zurgo, the Mardu khan. He’s big, he’s bad, he’s gonna punch you in the face probably. He also hates Sarkhan, which I can get behind. He especially gets done dirty in the new timeline, but more on that later.
Maybe it’s just me, but there have to be better places to store your diary than a glowing cylinder in the head of a zombie.
And of course we get a cycle of banners, which add mana or you can sacrifice to draw a card. Always love to see those for commander decks.
Ugin’s Nexus: this I think is gonna cause all the trouble in the next few sets. Hint: It involves time travel.
Behold, a return of the Onslaught fetch lands. Must have made some people very happy.
Of course we also have to get new lands, based upon the clans and being tri-color.
We end on Ugin’s tomb, which gives you a preview of what’s to come. Note how Ugin cares about colorless creatures.
And that begins our look at the plane of Tarkir. Looks like a pretty fun place, right? Lots of interesting stuff going on, huh? Well, lets see how it goes next time and how Sarkhan changes everything. He’s gonna take you back to the past, with Fate Reforged. Until next week, stay tuned and Stay Magical.
