Dragonstorms have been raging across the plane since we last left Tarkir, and have begun to spill into other planes inMagic: The Gathering’s multiverse. As we return to Tarkir, we find the draconic threat growing by the day, which means there are lots of Dragons for you to draft!

Like most other Magic sets, Tarkir: Dragonstorm features ten multicolored draft archetypes. Unlike most sets, only half of them are two-color pairs, while the rest are triple-color groups. Since the two- and three-color archetypes overlap, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the archetypes before you attend a draft event.

Sacrifice (White/Black)

The white/black archetype is all aboutusing your creatures as a resource, by sacrificing them to pay for spells and other effects. This often comes in the form of an additional cost to cast a spell, which means you need to have plenty of creatures in order to use them.

Duty Beyond Death demonstrates just how powerful this effect can be: for just two mana and one creature, you can put a +1/+1 counter on every creature you control, and make them all indestructible for a turn. Sacrificing a creature that’s already about to die means you can keep all the rest alive, and stronger for the experience.

While no other archetype deals with sacrifices specifically, in order to save your best creatures, you’ll want tolook for cards that make tokens or have mobilize, which will put you in competition with the white/red and Mardu (red/white/black) archetypes in a draft. As a result, you may want toprioritize token makersin order to deny them access to resources and allow yourself to pivot into those colors if necessary.

If you need a third color,this archetype pivots easily into red and green. Red gives access to additional token generation through the mobilize mechanic, while green helps buff the creatures that you keep on the battlefield.

Two Spells (Blue/Red)

Red and blue are the colors typically associated with “spellslinger” decks, which look to cast a lot of spells rather than build up a large board presence. In Tarkir: Dragonstorm, the pair specifically want toplay two spells each turn in order to maximize the effects.

This archetype doesn’t punish you for playing more than two cards, but it featuresa lot of cards that benefit or benefit from the second spell. Highspire Bell-Ringer, for example, makes your second spell cheaper, while Cori-Steel Cutter rewards you with a creature token only when you cast the second spell.

In drafting for this archetype, be on the lookout for instants (including Omens) and cards with flash.The “second spell each turn” test isn’t exclusive to your own turn, so you can get extra value out of casting spells on your opponent’s turn.

The Jeskai (blue/red/white) archetype’s playstyle closely matches this one, so you’ll be competing with players drafting that archetype. However, it also means thatthere’s plenty of white support for this deck, as well as green, which uses harmonize spells to re-play spells you’ve already cast.

Counters (Black/Green)

Life grows from decay, so it’s fitting that green and black come together to grow your creatures to enormous sizes through +1/+1 and other counters.This archetype focuses on distributing counters among your creaturesto make them bigger threats, but you need to be careful to avoid removal hitting your biggest beasties.

Host of the Hereafter does an excellent job of protecting your counters by moving them onto other creatures when the creatures with counters die. Combined with black’s sacrifice mechanic, this can allow you to move a lot of counters onto one unblocked creature to deal lethal damage.

An excellent target to put counters on isWarden of the Grove. The more counters it has, of any type, the more +1/+1 counters all of your other creatures will come into play with. Giving it a lot of counters early will make even your smallest creature a major threat.

This archetype overlaps with the Azban (white/black/green) archetype, which wants to go tall with +1/+1 counters and wide with Spirit tokens, and the Sultai (black/green/blue) archetype, which uses the graveyard as a resource, frequently renewing cards into counters. Of the two,Azban is a little more flexible, but Sultai is more fun to play.

Go Wide Tokens (White/Red)

Red and white both excel at making huge armiesof small creatures, so that’s a natural theme for the pair. Mobilize gives you access to a lot of temporary 1/1 Warrior tokens, while endure creates 1/1 Spirit tokens, giving you a variable board to play with.

The color pair is also great at combat tricks, allowing you to buff creatures after blockers are declared in order to take out valuable creatures or deal extra damage to your opponent. Frontline Rush does both: For one white and one red mana, you caneither make two 1/1 Goblins or give a single creature +X/+X, where X is the number of creatures you control.

The tokens from mobilize are temporary, so take advantage of themwhile you have them. Using one to pay for Duty Beyond Death will allow you to double the size of the rest of your token creatures and make your permanent ones even stronger, and tapping into black’s sacrifice mechanic can take them even further.

This archetype benefits heavily from black’s sacrifice effects, but tapping into green can also give you access to more counter buffs for your creatures. While it shares two colors with Jeskai, there are only a couple of cards in that identity that contribute to the token effects, so you may not be competing for the same cards in red and blue.

Leaves The Graveyard (Green/Blue)

Green and blue are always an interesting pair. In Tarkir: Dragonstorm,they care about removing cards from your graveyard. It doesn’t really care how cards leave the graveyard, or where they go, so you have a lot of options to play with.

Kishla Skimmer is the signpost uncommon for this archetype. As long as you control it, you’ll get todraw a card the first time a card leaves your graveyard on your turn. This will happen whether you exile it with endure or renew, like Naga Fleshcrafter has, or if you return a card to your hand, like Ainok Wayfarer’s effect allows.

Harmonize and renew are two keywords to look out for, since cards with either ability are able to be removed from the graveyard either to be re-cast or to access another effect. Harmonize generally has a steep cost, but you can tap a creature to help pay for it. If you end up heavily invested in harmonize, verify to include some big creatures to help pay for it!

Black works well as a third color, as it addssacrifice effects that can help feed creatures with renew into your graveyardso that you can remove them later. White also has some sacrifice effects: graveyard removal, and reanimation, all of which can come in handy.

Azban Endure (White/Black/Green)

Azban leans into the counters themealready discussed in black/green,but fortifies the battlefield with 1/1 Spirit tokensthrough the endure mechanic. Using these effects together can make your creatures too large to deal with easily, while also creating a wide board that can’t be blocked or bypassed.

Creatures with endure likeAnafenza, Unyielding Lineagecan grow each time something triggers them, or create Spirit tokens, allowing you to choose how your battlefield evolves. Combine that with counter distributors likeArmament Dragonto grow your troops, and “counters matter” effects likeTrade Route Envoy’s card draw, and you’ll have an unstoppable board presence.

This archetype will mostlycompete with the red/white “Go Wide” and black/green “Counters"archetypes, which have the same basic goals and many of the same cards. This may push you to choose either to focus on creature tokens or counters, rather than splitting between both.

While it isn’t usually a good idea to splash a fourth color in limited formats,red is a tempting fourth colorthanks to mobilize and other token mechanics. This makes red a good pivot if you find yourself struggling for green cards in your pod, allowing you to capitalize on the cards you’ve already drafted with a minor tonal shift.

Jeskai Flurry (Blue/Red/White)

The Jeskai Flurry archetype is an extension of the red/blue “Two Spells” archetype, adding a third color and several ways to get extra benefits from playing more spells than the two that the other one cares about. While red/blue doesn’t get much from the third and later spells,Jeskai Flurry wants as many as you can handle.

Creatures with prowess, likeJeskai Brushmaster, get incrementally (but temporarily) stronger with each noncreature spell that you cast, so targeting them with buffs can do double duty. If you need to cast more spells,Narset’s Rebukerefunds some of its mana, and with cost reducers, it can even be mana-positive. AndNarset, Jeskai Waymasterherself can refill your hand each turn.

This archetype will want a lot of the same spells as the “Two Spells” archetype, butwill also compete for some red/white combat tricks. Inexpensive spells that give you extra creatures are important, but if your opponents are drafting those, then removal spells will be even more vital.

If you manage to get Narset, Jeskai Waymaster early,look for Harmonize spells, which you may cast from your graveyard. This can offset her ability that forces you to discard your hand every turn, allowing you to stash those discarded cards for later use.

Sultai Renew (Black/Green/Blue)

The Sultai Renew archetype focuses onusing your graveyard as a resource to make your creatures stronger. The renew ability featured on many of these creatures allows you to exile those cards from your graveyard to add +1/+1 and ability counters to another creature.

These counters usually represent the abilities of the exiled creaturecard. For example, Qarsi Revenant has flying, lifelink, and deathtouch and gives all three of those counters to a single creature.Other cards add additional synergy, like Kheru Goldkeeper, which gives you a Treasure token each time you use, renew or otherwise remove a card from your graveyard.

This archetype cannibalizes cards from both the black/green “Counters” and green/blue “Leaves The Graveyard” archetypes, and will compete with players drafting both. Generally, you’ll want tofocus on the renew and counters mechanics, but if you get pushed into “leaves the graveyard”, you can worry less about counters and dip into harmonize.

If competition for black cards gets too fierce,consider pivoting into red. Many of the effects from the Sultai Renew archetype are compatible with Temur Harmonize, so you won’t lose much ground and may gain access to more variable options.

Mardu Mobilize (Red/White/Black)

Mardu Mobilize focuses on the new mobilize mechanic, whichcreates tapped, attacking 1/1 Warrior tokens whenever a creature with mobilize attacks. Unfortunately, this doesn’t continually grow your forces, because you need to sacrifice those creatures at the end of the turn.

It doesn’t matter if these creatures die in combat, since they’ll normally be sacrificed, butZurgo, Thunder’s Decree makes it so that they stick around after the end of the turn, allowing you to keep amassing Warriors. Other cards, like Bone-Cairn Butcher, can make your little Warriors into more significant threats, forcing your opponent to choose between losing their own creatures and taking damage.

This archetype will often compete with red/white “Go Wide Tokens” players, but also with the white/black “Sacrifice” drafters. One thing to keep an eye on is how many of your token-makers will create Warriors you need to sacrifice versus more permanent tokens.The higher the Warrior-to-other ratio is, the more sacrifice effects you’ll wantin order to get extra value from them.

Sincethe Azban Endure archetype has a similar token focus, keep an eye out for cards you can draft to keep them out of those players' hands. Meanwhile, if red is in short supply (as it often is in drafts), consider pivoting to that archetype to capitalize on the token-makers you’ve already drafted.

Temur Harmonize (Green/Blue/Red)

Temur Harmonize is a Timmy player’s dream: itleans into big creatures, and then uses them to pay for big effects, without sacrificing those creatures! Harmonize allows you to cast spells from your graveyard, tapping one creature to reduce that spell’s mana cost by the tapped creature’s power. The bigger your creatures, the cheaper the spells are!

Mammoth Bellow shows just how great this ability is: For five mana, you get a 5/5 Elephant. Then you can pay three more mana and tap that Elephant for a second Elephant! There are plenty of cards with Harmonize, butSongcrafter Mage can give the ability to any instant or sorcery, allowing you to double-up on important effects and catch your opponent by surprise.

The red/blue “Two Spells” and blue/green “Leaves The Graveyard” archetypes will compete for cards with harmonize, but you can draft into both of these archetypes, as well!You’ll want a bigger creature focus than “Two Spells” usually takes, but you’ll frequently get that second spell from your graveyard, so feel free to draft from both.

If you end up drafting heavily from the “Leaves The Graveyard” cards, you may want toconsider adding renew cards to your draft choices. These may push you slightly toward red as a fourth color, but there are plenty of options in green and blue to keep you from getting split up on your mana production.