Even though this was announced last Tuesday, I forgot to comment on it because I got swept up in
translating the leaked announcement of the MegaMorph mechanic (I say leaked, but for a mechanic that most people seem disappointed by, this might've been on purpose to drum up some hype for a mechanic that most people aren't too bothered by. My opinion? Seems like a good addition to limited, but is unlikely to be popular in constructed play.)
Tarkir Dragonfury is Wizards' new minigame for the Dragons of Tarkir pre-release. Just as Fate Reforged had opening the hedron cocoon and freeing Ugin, and Khans of Tarkir banded us together with our hordemates, Dragons of Tarkir will see us throwing little dice at pieces of cardboard.
It doesn't sound too exciting, but it definitely is. The aim of the game is to use your spindown counter from the pre-release pack - this represents your dragon's breath weapon - and use it to knock over as many of the pieces of cardboard as you can - these represent the enemies of your clan - each piece of cardboard is allocated a points score denoted by the number in the top left, and if the die stops on the x2 area - this represents... a strategic resource? - you'll get double points.
Get as many points as possible and put your score on the leaderboard to see which dragon is the strongest, or at the very least the most precise. In classic Bullseye fashion though, points mean prizes, and you can win up to four alternate art promo cards. The breakdown is as follows:
3 points—Land
9 points—Land and Common
12 points—Land, Common, and uncommon
18 points—Land, Common, Uncommon, and Rare
(Wizards also point out that this initially said "basic land" instead of "land" but that this has since been rectified. Oh, and the Rare is a Dragon.)
Rolling dice is hard though, so you'll be given two opportunities to mow down the hordes, and only your best score out of the two will be used. Two chances at sweet promo dragons seems like a good deal to me. Also note that Wizards' wants you to know that it probably isn't a basic land that you'll be getting. If there is only one land on offer for all players, I'd expect something that only produces colourless mana like Crucible of the Spirit Dragon. If there are multiple lands, I'd expect the gainlands from the previous sets to make a return, as Dragons has been confirmed to be a duo, allied colour set. But then again, I could be wrong on these predictions.
Oh, did I mention that the dice are super pretty?
The dice are super pretty. My favourites are the purple and gold ones, but the rest are great too. Perhaps the nicest dice Wizards have ever made, either way, I'm glad that I'll be attending at least two pre-releases for DTK.
