Is the Storm Mechanic Too Good for Standard?

Tarkir: Dragonstorm is so close I can smell the fire and brimstone. It’s so close that the pre-sale has begun here at Card Kingdom!

Only a handful of cards have been revealed so far, but one of the first ones they showed us is a doozy – Stormscale Scion. It comes packing one of the most powerful mechanics in the history of Magic – Storm. It’s the first time in more than two decades that we’ve seen a Storm card in a Standard-release set.

Now, you might not think it is too surprising that a set with “Storm” in the name features the Storm mechanic. Especially because there’s even an old Storm card called Dragonstorm (a card I suspect is likely to get a reprint in Tarkir: Dragonstorm).

However, if you’re familiar with Mark Rosewater’s ranking of mechanics that predicts whether or not a mechanic will ever return in a Standard-release set, this very likely came as a shock to you.

The name of that ranking? The storm scale. So-called because Storm is a mechanic that was assigned the highest level possible within the scale, meaning it would never ever appear in a Standard-release set. However, not only has Wizards of the Coast clearly changed their position on the mechanic, they decided to troll us hardcore by including “Stormscale” in the name of the first Storm card they have revealed in the set.

In this article, I’m going to discuss the Storm mechanic and what has made Storm decks so good over the years, while also discussing whether or not I think it is a mistake to bring Storm back into the mix.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF STORM 

Storm made its debut in 2003’s Scourge. When you cast a spell with Storm, you put a copy of that spell on the stack for each other spell that has been cast in a turn. 

It didn’t take long for Wizards of the Coast to realize that Storm was completely busted. In fact one Storm card in particular – Mind’s Desire – holds the record for the fastest banning in any 60-card format. It was banned in both Legacy and restricted in Vintage just six days after Scourge was released.  

At first glance, it might seem like casting a bunch of spells before casting a 6-mana Sorcery would be a challenge, but it really wasn’t. Especially in the Eternal formats. The cards that most make it possible are rituals and mana neutral card draw.

The rituals help you get your mana where you need it to be while adding to your storm count and netting you mana, and cards like Time Spiral let you just keep ripping through your deck and untapping your lands. At some point, you can cast Mind’s Desire and actually cast your entire deck, at which point the game is over. This could all go down on turn one with regularity – and you can see why that’s a problem.

Mind’s Desire is the only Storm card to be banned (outside of Pauper, where virtually every Common Storm card is banned), but it isn’t the only Storm card to be an effective win condition.

Brain Freeze, Grapeshot, Tendrils of Agony, and Empty the Warrens all have a long history as Storm deck win conditions, and they’re all still being used today in the 60-card formats they are legal in. The basic strategy remains the same – cast lots of rituals and cantrips until your storm count is high enough that Brain Freeze mills the opponent out in one shot, Grapeshot and Tendrils brings their life to 0, and Empty the Warrens gives you an unstoppable Goblin army.

While Mind’s Desire remains the only banned Storm card, bans have been made with the explicitly purpose of weakening storm decks. This is most notable in Modern, where they made sure to axe the most effective rituals in the format – Rite of Flame and Seething Song.

SO, IS STORM TOO GOOD FOR STANDARD?

For all the problems that Storm has caused in multiple formats, it wasn’t actually super busted in Standard the first time around. This is because those key ingredients – rituals and cheap card draw – weren’t high enough in supply to actually kill someone with Brain Freeze.

I mentioned Dragonstorm earlier, and while that card was viable in Standard, it actually took a second run through the format as a Timeshifted card in Time Spiral for it to actually spawn a deck in Standard. And that deck was never too good for the format. If you make the payoff card cost 9 mana, it’s pretty difficult for it to feel broken.

It’s been a policy for a very long time that rituals don’t typically appear in Standard, especially not really cheap ones like Dark Ritual or Rite of Flame. We also don’t tend to receive free or mana neutral card draw spells. Without those, Storm decks will have a hard time being completely busted.

As long as they are really careful about what cards they put it on and really careful about cards they print in Standard-legal sets, I think it’s possible for Storm to be part of a healthy Standard, just like it has been in the past.

If we do see cheap Storm spells that can win the game the turn you cast them, alongside lots of rituals and cantrips, Storm decks will be a problem.

However, I can’t imagine we’ll see those things, as they are so obviously ingredients that will utterly break the format. At this point, I’m hopeful that Wizards of the Coast knows what they are doing with this mechanic. After all, they put it on the bench for more than two decades. I don’t think they would have brought it back without thinking things through.

THE FUTURE OF THE STORM SCALE

It goes without saying that the name “Storm Scale” has lost all meaning if its eponymous mechanic is now making an appearance in Standard. It’s unclear what this means.

It’s possible that Wizards of the Coast and MaRo have chosen to abandon the premise of the Storm Scale. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, as if you’re careful with what kinds of cards you put mechanics on, it’s possible to make sure they are balanced. I’m hopeful that that’s what we’re about to see with Storm in Standard.

However, if the scale does need a new name, there is one obvious candidate – the only other mechanic that occupied the highest slot on MaRo’s list was Dredge. Dredge Scale doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as nicely as “Storm Scale” does, though.

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So, that’s my take on the Storm mechanic in Standard. What do you think, is Standard about to be busted wide open? Or will they be careful enough with Storm to keep that from happening? Let me know over on X.