4 days Ago By 9News
Tweet Facebook Mail If 2024 was a big year for Magic: The Gathering , 2025 is aiming for something even bigger. With crossover sets on the horizon featuring Final Fantasy and Spider-Man , the trading card game's multiverse is expanding in ways few would have imagined a decade ago. But before things go full web-slinging fantasy, Magic has just returned to one of its most beloved original planes: Tarkir.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm is out now. (Wizards of the Coast) The new set, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, isn't just a nostalgia trip. It's a statement — a dramatic reimagining of a fan-favourite world, packed with hard-hitting dragons, cinematic martial arts energy and a storyline that reclaims the soul of the original clans.
9news.com.au recently caught up with two designers from Wizards of the Coast to learn all about Tarkir: Dragonstorm .
"I was surprised that it took us this long to come back, but this is the right time," Lead set designer Adam Prosak said. "It really feels like an extension of something that is historically beloved," he said. READ MORE: We've played the new Mario Kart and Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Switch 2 "I never played the original Tarkir," Lauren Bond, Senior Worldbuilding Game Designer admits to 9news.
com.au. "I understood the nostalgia because people would talk about it.
.. but I get to come at it with a fresh perspective.
"I got to look at the things people loved about that setting and make sure we carry that forward while offering something that was different...
not something players have seen before," she said. Players can get the new set in stores or digitally through the Magic Arena video game. (Wizards of the Coast) That said, it also helps that dragons are still very cool (depending on who you ask).
"Dragons are the all time! They are probably the number one fan-favourite creature type...
All we have to do is like, okay, it's a big flying creature, and we'll put some awesome art on it and like, that's it," Prosak said. READ MORE: Nintendo Switch 2: Every detail revealed "But that wasn't enough for us. We did take a lot of care to be like, okay, each of these dragons is unique and distinct, both from a visual level and a technical level," he said.
In Tarkir: Dragonstorm , the clans have returned, and so has their fight for survival, power, and identity. There's a rebellion brewing, and the battlefield is anything but quiet. I was never one to really understand or get into Magic's ever-evolving storyline — I feel like I missed the boat 30 years ago — but there's something very engaging about this one (again, it may be the dragons are cool thing).
For players, it means five unique clans to align with — each with their own playstyle and personality. Prosak says this set plays faster and harder than most. "We pitched it as the best for both worlds," he said.
The new Tarkir dragon cards are a fantasy lover's dream. (Wizards of the Coast) Bond says there was only one rule when creating new dragons — anything else was fair game. "Dragons have to have a minimum of four limbs and two wings, and then everything else was kind of on the table," she said.
"Game design (team) gets excited about some of them. They're like 'Hammerhead dragon shark?' And I'm like, yeah! What do you want it to do?!" "We kind of can get into that reciprocal and collaborative relationship of like one to something cool," she said. But which comes first — the dragon art or the card mechanic? "We have the breadth of concept art that we can then use to kind of assign to specific individual cards," Bond told 9news.
com.au. "Then occasionally someone gets really inspired by a piece of concept art and might build a card around it," she said.
The result is a format that rewards bold plays and pushes the action forward — a fitting match for a set built around rebellion and spectacle. Every dragon arrival, every clan showdown, is meant to feel like a moment. READ MORE: New Elder Scrolls Online expansion unveiled Just 500 of these "Mox Jasper" serialised cards were printed and are selling for thousands of dollars online.
(Wizards of the Coast) And at the end of the day, it's just a fun game between friends. "I like to encourage gentle competition between friends, you know, show them why your clan is better than their clan — don't be afraid to choose a side," Bond said. While it nods to the Tarkir of old, this new version of the plane feels more alive — and more cinematic.
It also feels like the perfect on-ramp for where Magic is headed this year. With crossover sets already armed and ready for pop culture attention. Hardcore fans are often disgruntled when Wizards stretches their wings, but Tarkir: Dragonstorm shows they haven't forgotten their roots, even as it reaches for new audiences.
If this is the start of Magic's biggest year, I couldn't be more excited for some shiny pieces of cardboard. The most anticipated video games of 2025 View Gallery DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP : Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play .
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