Magic: The Gathering - The 10 Best Cards Under $5 To Buy In Tarkir: Dragonstorm

Every new Magic: The Gathering set and you have players chasing over all the top rare and mythic rare cards from the set. Tarkir: Dragonstorm is no different, with tons of amazing planeswalkers and chase cards to collect.

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That said, there are plenty of cards under the five-dollar threshold that are great for playing in other formats or that have a lot of utility in decks, even if they’re not the main focus. If you’re looking to pick up a few singles from Tarkir: Dragonstorm but don’t want to break the bank, we’ve got you covered.

These prices are from TCGplayer.com’s Market Price and are subject to change over time.

11 Dragonfire Blade

Rare - $1.53

Equipment can be a very fun archetype to play, with tons of support and powerful equipment to swing around at your opponents. Dragonfire Blade is a one-mana piece of equipment that grants a solid +2/+2 and gives the equipped creature hexproof from multicolored spells and abilities.

The downside to the card is that it has a fairly high equip cost to offset the strong ability at four mana. You can reduce the cost down by one generic mana for each color of the creature you’re trying to attach it to. Even then, most of the time, you’re only going to be able to reduce it by a mana or two.

10 Smile At Death

Mythic Rare - $2.82

A five-mana enchantment that doesn’t immediately do anything might not seem great, but if you’re in a format like Commander, where you can easily ramp into it, cheat it into play, or have the time to wait for a late-game bomb, it can do wonders.

Once in play, Smile at Death lets you bring back two creature cards with power two or less from your graveyard back to the battlefield, adding a +1/+1 counter on both those creatures. There are plenty of great creatures in Magic that don’t have large stat lines that you might want to bring back, making Smile at Death a neat utility card turn after turn.

9 Temur Battlecrier

Rare - $0.36

Just a solid card in general, Temur Battlecrier is a three-mana creature, one of each of the Temur colors, that cares greatly about the number of creatures you control with a power of four or more. For each creature you have that meets this condition, your other spells cost one generic mana less to cast.

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Since other, more powerful creatures generally also cost a lot of mana to cast, you'll be able to ramp up faster turn after turn as you play more creatures. Of course, this ability only works on your turn, so don't plan to do any instant speed shenanigans with the cost reduction.

8 Jeskai Revelation

Mythic Rare - $1.01

A seven-mana spell might be a bit much for most formats, but you get so much value out of it that it's worth picking up a copy or two for your next Jeskai control deck. Five things happen when you resolve this card:

• Bounce a spell or permanent back to its owner’s hand
• Deal four damage to any target
• Make two 1/1 Monk tokens with prowess
• Draw two cards
• Gain four life

Resolving just one copy of this spell could cause a huge shift in the game, while copying it a few times can give you incredible value.

7 Windcrag Siege

Rare - $1.39

Part of a series of Sieges from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, the red and white Windcrag Siege lets you pick one of two modes when it comes into play. You can either choose:

• Mardu: You get twice as many triggers from abilities that trigger when a creature attacks
• Jeskai: At the top of your upkeep, you make a 1/1 Goblin token that gains lifelink and haste for the turn.

The main ability we’re looking at is the Mardu one since there are some incredible attack triggers in Magic, particularly in white and red. Commander players running Isshin, Two Heavens as One or Kaalia of the Vast will definitely want to pick up a copy for their decks since it is just that good.

6 Nature's Rhythm

Rare - $2.96

Tutoring for creatures is green’s specialty, and Nature’s Rhythm gives you a tutor with a neat flashback ability. For two mana and whatever you want to dump into X, Nature’s Rhythm lets you search your deck for a creature with a mana value equal to that X cost and puts it directly into play.

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You can cast it for its harmonize cost, upping the green commitment to four but now letting you tap creatures to pay for that X cost. The amount of mana you can contribute from your creatures is equal to that creature’s power, so with sufficiently strong creatures, or one whose power scales, you can grab practically anything.

5 Herd Heirloom

Rare - $1.53

Two-mana mana rocks have become a bit of a rarity in recent Magic sets, but Herd Heirloom coming in at the rare slot is a pretty good pickup for Commander players. You can tap to add a mana of any color, though that mana can only be used for creature spells.

The second ability lets you tap Herd Heirloom to give a creature you control with power four or more trample and to draw a card when it deals combat damage to a player, which is a pretty good deal. Mana rocks can sometimes become irrelevant later in the game when you have a higher land count, so having a rock with utility is great.

4 The Sibsig Ceremony

Rare - $0.69

The source of plenty of combos across multiple formats in Magic, The Sibsig Ceremony is a triple black enchantment that drops the generic mana cost of all your creatures by two, making tons of creatures easier to play, if not free in some circumstances.

The downside is that when you have a creature enter the battlefield and you cast that creature, you have to destroy it, getting a 2/2 Zombie Druid token in exchange. So long as you have a value engine or way to reliably reanimate your creatures, that isn’t going to be a problem for long.

3 Ureni, The Song Unending

Mythic Rare - $4.49

Pushing right up against that five dollar limit is Ureni, the Song Unending, one of the five Spirit Dragons from Tarkir: Dragonstorm and an absolute powerhouse no matter what format you’re playing.

With protection from both white and black, most of the targeted removal that your opponents will want to use to get rid of Ureni are just off the table. When you factor in Ureni’s huge enter the battlefield trigger, you can deal an incredible amount of damage in just a turn or two. There’s a solid chance that as Tarkir: Dragonstorm ages, all the Spirit Dragons will go up in price too, making it a solid future investment.

2 Perennation

Mythic Rare - $0.81

Reanimation spells are a great way to get bigger creatures into play much sooner than they’re supposed to be, and Perennation is a pretty unique way of getting there. Being at six mana, you’re really not saving much mana on a lot of creatures, making it feel a bit counterintuitive to play since you might as well just hard-cast whatever creature you’re trying to bring back.

The key difference is that Perennation gives both a hexproof and indestructible counter on the returned creature, turning them into an unstoppable force. There are few ways to deal with that creature now, short of a mass exile spell or some type of sacrifice effect, but those options aren’t always available.