United Battlefront by Darren Tan
In a year full of big Universes Beyond crossover sets, Magic: The Gathering’s Tarkir: Dragonstorm had a lot riding on it. The return to Tarkir was highly anticipated, and, fortunately, it looks like it arose to the occasion.
Amid ongoing shortages, Wizards of the Coast has confirmed that stores will be receiving restocks of at least some of the product, while also confirming the set has been a massive success.
Talking to Magic Untapped, Wizards Play Network’s community manager Nelson Brown stated that “demand for Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been exceptionally high, and we are working to bring more to market”. However, that likely won’t include Collector boosters or bundle boxes, as it expects “more availability of Play boosters and Commander decks in late summer and autumn respectively”.
Grab Collector’s Boosters While You Can
Ever since its launch earlier this month, Tarkir has been trickier to get your hands on than sets like Aetherdrift or Duskmourn: House of Horror. Also talking to Magic Untapped, Chris Phillips of HoneyBee Games in Glendale, Wisconsin said that their store had “record sales for this set”. Anecdotally, my own local game store has regularly been sold out of most Commander decks and booster packs.
Runescale Stormbrood by Loic Canavaggia, Wizards of the Coast
Stock shortages aside, it is good to see a set like Tarkir: Dragonstorm do so well, as it is the first return to the setting of Tarkir in almost a decade. In a year otherwise dominated by Universes Beyond sets like Final Fantasy, or sets that lean heavily into pop culture resonance like the racing-themed Aetherdrift, it also feels like a classic, in-Magic-multiverse set free of any accusations of being a so-called ‘hat set’.
Returns to older settings have consistently proved popular for Magic fans in recent years. Some of the most popular sets have been The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Wilds of Eldraine, Dominaria United, and, of course, the utterly fantastic Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty in 2022. Tarkir has been praised not just for its flavour, but for the impactful cards it’s introduced to the game, and its incredibly fun limited environment.
Final Fantasy Is Looming In The Distance
Lightning by Shiyu
That doesn’t mean Universes Beyond still isn’t selling absolute gangbusters, though. According to Magic’s head designer Mark Rosewater, Universes Beyond is outperforming expectations in just about “every metric”. And with the next set being the long-awaited crossover with Final Fantasy, there is every expectation that it’ll top the charts as one of the best-selling sets of all time.
For now, though, we’ve still got Tarkir: Dragonstorm proving there will always be a place for well-made in-universe Magic sets.
Magic: The Gathering
