Magic the Gathering - Dragons of Tarkir Massed Ranks Intro Pack Deck Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

While the Massed Ranks Intro Pack for Dragons of Tarkir may feature the least interesting of the five Dragons, it does feature a solid rare in Secure the Wastes. Beyond that very playable token generating instant, is there anything else worthy of attention in this deck?

Here's the list:

Creatures (23)

1 Dromoka Dunecaster
2 Servant of the Scale
2 Dromoka Warrior
3 Lightwalker
1 Territorial Roc
1 Scaleguard Sentinels
2 Sandcrafter Mage
2 Salt Road Quartermasters
2 Champion of Arashin
2 Aven Tactician

2 Sandsteppe Scavenger
2 Enduring Scalelord
1 Arashin Sovereign

Enchantments (3)

2 Pacifism
1 Sheltered Aerie

Artifact (1)

1 Dromoka Monument

Instants (8)

2 Inspiring Call
2 Scale Blessing
1 Enduring Victory
2 Dromoka's Gift
1 Secure the Wastes

Land (25)

1 Evolving Wilds
13 Plains
11 Forest

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The cover card Arashin Sovereign is big, but beyond that not incredibly exciting. It's a 6/6 flyer for 5GW (7 total mana) and when it dies you can choose to put it on the top or the bottom of your library. You can either choose to get it back for your next turn or put it to the bottom to potentially draw again later. For a rare dragon, though, that's really underwhelming. You don't really want this as your best creature.

Bolster is the main mechanic of this deck. This ability gives you the chance to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature with the least toughness among creatures you control. Unfortunately, most of the Bolster cards occupy the higher end of the mana curve in this particular deck.


Still there are some cool cards of note. Servant of the Scale is a useful one-drop common creature that enters with a +1/+1 counter. When it dies, you get to put any counters it has onto another creature. Scaleguard Sentinels is a good creature if you happen to have a Dragon in hand or in play as you cast it.

Sandcrafter Mage is a good creature with Bolster – in Limited. Enduring Scalelord is pretty cool as an uncommon Dragon in a deck that has lots of +1/+1 counters flying around. Having both on the battlefield at the same time allows you to "go infinite" and stack as many counters as you want which is pretty much a win condition.

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On the non-creature side, Inspiring Call is really good for both card draw and helping your Bolstered creatures to become indestructible. Scale Blessing is a 4 drop instant (3W) but as the game goes on, its effect becomes far more relevant. Not only do you get to Bolster 1, but any creature that already has a +1/+1 counter gets another one.

The best card in this deck, however, is clearly Secure the Wastes. An Instant speed Warrior token generator for only a single White plus X is just really, really good. It's one of the most useful cards of the entire Dragons of Tarkir set. But even its inclusion probably isn't enough to make what's a pretty mediocre Intro Pack deck worth buying.

A better "boss" creature for this deck would be Dromoka, the Eternal, who bolsters whenever she or another Dragon attacks. Dragonlord Dromoka is really good here, too. The other Dragon to consider for this deck is Sunscorch Regent. Two copies of that is far better than Enduring Scalelord, as the Regent gains a +1/+1 counter any time your opponent casts a spell.

Dragonscale General is a great way to ensure you get plenty of Bolstering done, too. Perhaps the best creature for this deck, though, is Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit. Her Bolster ability activates whenever another non-token creature enters the battlefield under your control. Optimizing the mana-curve towards more efficient creatures should make her even better.

The Massed Ranks Intro Pack is probably still worth buying at its original price  just for the Secure the Wastes and two Booster Packs. Still, it's certainly not the strongest choice of the five decks for Dragons of Tarkir. It's also getting pretty hard to find in sealed form. It does at least introduce the Bolster mechanic to newer players and is a fairly easy deck archetype to upgrade quickly.

Updated 2/21/2018