Khans of Tarkir

Khans of Tarkir
Set Information
Set symbol
Themes and mechanics	wedge colors
Keywords/​ability words	Delve, Ferocious, Morph, Outlast, Prowess, Raid
Set size	269 cards 101 Commons, 80 Uncommons, 53 Rares, 15 Mythic Rares, 20 Basic Land
Expansion code	KTK
Development codename	Huey

Khans of Tarkir is the 65th Magic expansion, and the first in the Khans of Tarkir block. It is to be released on September 26, 2014. Khans of Tarkir is a large expansion.

Set details

The set was previewed at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, July 26, 2014. Mark Rosewater (Magic head designer) moderated a panel featuring Mark Purvis (Magic director of global brand marketing), Doug Beyer (Magic senior creative designer), and Gavin Verhey (Magic designer). The Khans block will be Large-Small-Large with a unique draft structure (the small set is drafted with both large sets, but the large sets are never drafted together) and a time traveling element. The draft structure is the first thing from which this set was built

Khans of Tarkir contains 269 cards (20 basic lands, 101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares), and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. Like Scourge before, the set is Dragon themed. The expansion symbol depicts crossed swords on a shield, similar to the symbol of Legions.

Because of post-release changes in the block structure, Khans of Tarkir and all future sets will only be played in Standard for 18 months.

Storyline

Tarkir is a world embattled with ambitious warlords and powerful clans that wage eternal war for supremacy of their plane, a conflict that spans over a thousand years. Tarkir is also the home plane of Sarkhan Vol. It was previously inhabited by dragons, all of whom were killed before Sarkhan's period of servitude. The clans each worship one aspect of the extinct dragons.

The clans

The clans are represented through enemy wedge colors and aspects as follows:

Name	Colors	Dragon Aspect	Mechanic	Symbol	Khan
The Abzan Houses		Endurance	Outlast	Scale of the dragon	Anafenza, the Foremost
The Jeskai Way		Cunning	Prowess	Eye of the dragon	Narset, Enlightened Master
The Sultai Brood		Ruthlessness	Delve	Fang of the dragon	Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
The Mardu Horde		Speed	Raid	Wing of the dragon	Zurgo Helmsmasher
The Temur Frontier		Savagery	Ferocious	Claw of the dragon	Surrak Dragonclaw

Notice that while the shards of Alara were centered around the color that had both allies, the wedges of Tarkir are not built around the color that has the two enemies. When the design team built the clans to match the flavor of the dragon attributes and the creative take on the clans, they found that they centered not on the enemy color but one of the ally colors. Everything worked so naturally, though, they felt it was best to leave it be and not force it another way.

Marketing

A preview of the set's artwork was aired during Pro Tour Journey into Nyx, following the quarterfinal rounds. In it Mark Rosewater announced the return of something "that people have been asking [ Wizards ] to do for quite a while [...] after a long absence from magic" as well as the introduction of something that has been requested for a long time but had never been done before. These elements turned out to be morph and wedges, respectively.

Khans of Tarkir will be sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), five intro packs, one event deck and a fat pack. As of Khans of Tarkir, the face cards in Intro Packs will not just be premium rare cards, but alternate art premium rare cards that won't be found in booster packs.

Prerelease

The Khans of Tarkir prerelease endorses the player to affiliate with their clan. You choose your clan for the prerelease. Each clan prerelease pack comes with a clan pin and a clan sticker. The prerelease pack further contains 5 regular booster packs, 1 seeded booster pack, 1 premium promo card, 1 activity insert and 1 Spindown life counter. Khans of Tarkir will feature 40 prerelease cards — one dated and stamped prerelease card random from a pool of eight for each Clan pack. One of which will be the Khan. "Raise your banner": when a game is won, players can put their sticker on the clan banner in the store, to show off how many battles each clan has won.

Promotional cards

• Prerelease, one of forty according to the chosen clan: Zurgo Helmsmasher etc.
• Launch promo: Dragon Throne of Tarkir
• Game Day: full-art Heir of the Wilds
• Game Day (Top 8): full-art Utter End
• Buy-a-Box: Rattleclaw Mystic

Tokens, emblems and overlay cards

Morph overlay card.

The sixteenth card in the boosters can be a token, emblem or overlay card, with an advertisement on the back side. The overlay card will be used on face-down Morph cards to remind players of their power and toughness and that it can be turned face-up for its Morph cost.

1. 3/4 Bird for Wingmate Roc
2. 1/1 Spirit for Abzan Ascendancy
3. 1/1 Warrior for Herald of Anafenza and Mardu Charm
4. 1/1 Warrior (alternate art)
5. 2/2 Vampire with Flying for Sorin, Solemn Visitor
6. 2/2 Zombie for Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Empty the Pits
7. 1/1 Goblin for Mardu Ascendancy and Goblinslide
8. 4/4 Bear for Bear's Companion
9. 1/1 Snake for Hooded Hydra
10. */* Spirit Warrior
11. Morph overlay card
12. Emblem for Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
13. Emblem for Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Themes and mechanics

The set centers around wedge colors. Each clan features their own mechanic. In addition all clans feature morph.

• The Abzan keyword is Outlast ((cost), : Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Outlast only as a sorcery.). Cards may have an additional ability whenever you activate the outlast ability.
• The Jeskai keyword is Prowess: (whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn).
• The Sultai keyword is the cost-reduction Delve, introduced in Future Sight: (You may exile any number of cards from your graveyard as you cast this spell. It costs less to cast for each card exiled this way).
• The Mardu ability word Raid and related cards are all based around a very fast, aggressive strategy for winning. Raid gives an advantageous effect if you have attacked with a creature the same turn.
• The Temur ability word is Ferocious, which gives the player an advantageous effect if they control a creature with power 4 or greater while attacking with a creature with Ferocious or casting a spell with it.

Cycles

Khans of Tarkir has at least eight cycles.

• Clan leaders: five mythic rare legendary creatures that have a cost that includes CDE, where CDE are wedge colors — Anafenza, the Foremost, Narset, Enlightenened Master, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Zurgo Helmsmasher, and Surrak Dragonclaw.
• Allied color fetch lands: five rare lands that can be sacrificed along with a payment of 1 life to search for a land with one of two basic land types. Reprinted from Onslaught. — Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, and Windswept Heath.
• Ascendancies: five rare enchantments costing CDE — Abzan Ascendancy, Jeskai Ascendancy, Sultai Ascendancy, Mardu Ascendancy, and Temur Ascendancy.
• Banners: these five common artifacts costing reproduce the Dragon's Maze cycle of cluestones, producing any of three enemy colors of mana and sacrifice for them to draw a card — Abzan Banner, Jeskai Banner, Sultai Banner, Mardu Banner, and Temur Banner.
• Reveal Morphers: five uncommon creatures with morph that can be turned face up by revealing a card of the same color and have a turned-face-up ability — Watcher of the Roost, Dragon's Eye Savants, Ruthless Ripper, Horde Ambusher, and Temur Charger.
• Wedgelands: five uncommon triple lands comes into play tapped and can be tapped for one of three colors of mana. These are a wedge version of Shards of Alara's shardlands — Sandsteppe Citadel, Mystic Monastery, Opulent Palace, Nomad Outpost, and Frontier Bivouac
• Charms: five uncommon instants that cost CDE and have three modes — Abzan Charm, Jeskai Charm, Sultai Charm, Mardu Charm, and Temur Charm.
• Taplands: ten common lands that enter the battlefield tapped, gain the controller one life and can tap for 2 different colors of mana. The allied color ones are functional reprints of the Refuge cycle in Zendikar. — Tranquil Cove, Dismal Backwater, Bloodfell Caves, Rugged Highlands, Blossoming Sands, Scoured Barrens, Swiftwater Cliffs, Jungle Hollow, Wind-Scarred Crag, and Thornwood Falls

Mirrored pairs

TBA

Reprinted cards

• Bloodstained Mire from Onslaught.
• Flooded Strand from Onslaught.
• Polluted Delta from Onslaught.
• Wooded Foothills from Onslaught.
• Windswept Heath from Onslaught.

Functional reprints

• Tranquil Cove is a functional reprint of Sejiri Refuge
• Dismal Backwater is a functional reprint of Jwar Isle Refuge
• Bloodfell Caves is a functional reprint of Akoum Refuge
• Rugged Highlands is a functional reprint of Kazandu Refuge
• Blossoming Sands is a functional reprint of Graypelt Refuge

Strictly better or worse

• The banners are strictly better than the cluestones

• Suspension Field is strictly worse than Journey to Nowhere

Preconstructed decks

Intro packs

TBA

Event deck

TBA