Spoiler Highlight: Stormscale Scion on Pioneer

Storm has arrived in Pioneer. This is not a simulation: Storm has arrived in Pioneer.

Stormscale Scion

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Starting April 11, coming from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Pioneer will have its first spell with the Storm ability in history: Stormscale Scion. And while the format doesn't have any of the rituals that make the mechanic break Pauper and be a major competitor in Legacy and Modern, we can't disregard the fact that one of Magic's most broken mechanics has just been re-released and without being limited to a Planeswalker ability.

Unless there are dedicated cards to make Storm work, it's unlikely that the new card will have any impact on Standard, while other formats have more efficient options than a six-mana Dragon that creates copies of itself. So we can dedicate ourselves exclusively to analyzing the possibilities of this card for Pioneer in this article.

One of the greatest challenges for Stormscale Scion or any other possible Storm spell to work in Pioneer is the lack of Rituals. Currently, the format has only two cards that directly function this way: Open the Omenpaths, which offers a small ramp with limited scope, and Irencrag Feat, which will probably be the card that will be alongside this dragon in the first iterations of Storm in the format.

In addition, we already know that the new Tarkir expansion brings two other cards that interact directly with the plan of ramping into dragons: Mox Jasper and Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant, not to mention some cards already released that can serve as means to ramp, such as Skirk Prospector, Wily Goblin and Charming Scoundrel.

In this case, we are trying to do with Stormscale Scion what the Goblin decks in Historic did with Muxus, Goblin Grandee: cast it as quickly as possible to pressure the opponent very early. Ideally, we want three or more spells in a turn to ensure that the dragons' damage output on the following turn is sufficient, and to use Mox Jasper and the new Sarkhan, we need more dragons, and our cheapest options today include:

With these, we can make Sarkhan and Mox Jasper work more consistently. However, putting all of these cards in a single deck creates a strategy with a game plan based on four copies of a card and no ability to stay in the game if you don't draw the right pieces.

The key to taking advantage of Stormscale Scion may therefore lie in a combo already known in Pioneer with Lotus Field and untap effects. The archetype is known for searching for cards from outside the game with Wish and using multiple spells to generate an absurd amount of mana. In this case, we can consider the new dragon as part of the Wishboard for games where trying other routes are too risky.

An example are games loaded with Counterspells or effects that can ruin the Approach of the Second Sun line, or games where Zacama, Primal Calamity lines can be very vulnerable to removal. After all, the biggest advantage of Stormscale Scion when compared to other cards is that it bypasses most Counterspells (except Summary Dismissal), and with the amount of tap and untap effects that the deck runs, it is unlikely not to have four or more copies of the Dragon on the stack.

This line is also important for the Izzet versions of Lotus Combo, which can sometimes be too click-intensive on Magic Online and MTGArena to win games, and Stormscale Scion provides a way to create a fast and efficient clock that is much easier to use on these platforms, especially in games against decks without sweepers, or as an efficient plan in Games 2 and 3, where opponents tend to side out most of the removal.

Although Storm is a mechanic widely known for its combo potential, the new card is relatively fair for what it does, and Tarkir Dragonstorm has Dragons as its main theme, which should be reflected in more powerful cards within that type that already interact well with other creatures, and with Sarkhan, Dragon Servant revealing a mechanic around them, it is likely that new decks will appear on top of this theme.

In this case, we can see Stormscale Scion as a quality threat. When accompanied by any other spell, it guarantees another 4/4 body on the board, transforming it into a Broodmate Dragon with a less restrictive cost that interacts with other creatures of the same type.

Today, the likely variant would be around the Izzet colors, but we cannot disregard options with other colors as the new expansion brings more cards for us to explore.

More than a card with one of the most broken mechanics in Magic, Stormscale Scion has a relevant typing in an emerging archetype with ample potential for growth after the release of Tarkir Dragonstorm. It will probably enter the Sideboard of Izzet Lotus lists, and should create archetypes around Irencrag Feat that will be fun in Magic Arena Best of One, but will hardly find space in more competitive environments.

Outside of combos, it's a major threat to any Ramp or Midrange Dragons variant that spawns in Pioneer with the support that already exists for that lineage in the format, combined with the new features in Magic's upcoming expansion.

Thanks for reading!