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Balancing Risk and Reward with Dragonbroods' Relic

Few artifacts in the multiverse strike a balance as keenly as Dragonbroods' Relic. This Tarkir: Dragonstorm piece trades the elegance of pure ramp for a bold, high-variance payoff that can swing the tide of a game in a single swing of a dragon’s wings. With a mana cost of {1}{G} and a transformative second line that demands five colors, the relic invites a mix of strategic patience and explosive play—two hallmarks of MTG when you’re chasing the right mix of risk and reward 🧙‍♂️🔥. The artifact lives at the intersection of mana fixing, dragon lore, and the tempo-or-bust mindset that makes five-color strategies both thrilling and nerve-wracking.

What the card does, and why it matters

Dragonbroods' Relic is a colorless-to-green artifact with a neat, two-step engine. First, {T}, Tap an untapped creature you control: Add one mana of any color. This is your classic mana-fix-and-accelerate seed, letting you smooth out the rough edges of color-splash strategies. In practice, you’re often fueling a deck that wants to push into exotic lines—turning a single green on turn two into a window to unleash late-game inevitability. The soothing rhythm here is that you can fix colors on demand, keeping your mana base flexible as you chase the dragon storm 🐲💎.

But the real fireworks come from the second ability: {3}{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, Sacrifice this artifact: Create a 4/4 Dragon creature token named Reliquary Dragon that's all colors. It has flying, lifelink, and "When this token enters, it deals 3 damage to any target." Activate only as a sorcery.

That second line is where the risk-reward calculus gets loud. Paying all five colors to summon a single 4/4 dragon with lifelink and a built-in ping for 3 damage is a formidable payoff, but it’s constrained by the sorcery-speed requirement. You’re not snapping this into play on a surprise attack; you’re setting up a plan that pays off on the following turn, or you’re constructing a multi-turn engine that requires careful timing and board state management. This is the kind of card that rewards planning, patience, and a willingness to gamble on your mana fixing paying off in a blaze of dragonfire 🧙‍♂️⚔️.

Strategic angles: how to maximize the risk/reward here

• Five-color inevitability: The token is all colors, which makes it a natural fit for five-color or naya-style chaos decks that aim to jam multiple colors into play. The Reliquary Dragon’s five-color nature helps feed gold and chromatic requirements for other spells, turning a single artifact into a bridge to a diverse spell slate. Use it to unlock high-impact spells that demand color variety, from big haymakers to flexible answers 🔥💎.
• Tempo vs. power: The tap-to-fix option is cheap and repeatable, letting you accelerate early mana while you set up the board. The big payoff, though, comes later when you can actually assemble the five colors and sacrifice the relic to spawn a mobile, lifelinking threat that doubles as removal with its 3-damage trigger. If you’re playing in paper formats or Arena where tempo matters, consider how often your early turns set you up for the sorcery-speed payoff—trade a few early hits for a guaranteed late-game dragon if you’ve built the engine correctly ⚔️.
• Synergy with dragon and token themes: Dragonbroods' Relic isn’t just ramp; it’s a dragon-making machine. The 4/4 dragon token with lifelink provides board presence and life swing, particularly useful when you’re up against aggressive starts. The added burn on entry (3 damage to any target) gives you removal flexibility without tapping other resources, which can be clutch in close games where every point of life matters 🎲.
• Deck-building considerations: To maximize reliability, lean into mana rocks, mana ramp, and cards that smooth five-color access. Think twenty-first-century five-color strategies: fetches, shocks or pain lands, fetchable duals, and acceleration that doesn’t prematurely deplete your battlefield. Dragonbroods' Relic rewards a patient plan, but it also tempts bold moves—especially when you stack the deck with cards that encourage taking calculated risks for high rewards 🧙‍♂️🔥.
• Format implications: In formats that allow five-color strategies, Dragonbroods' Relic shines as a mid-game pivot that can extend your reach beyond a single color’s comfort zone. In EDH/Commander, where the color identity is wide and the table often allows longer games, the Relic becomes a centerpiece of a slow build that can pop off with a massive five-color dragon payoff later in the game. In more restricted formats, the cost may feel steep, but the payoff remains potentially game-altering when you can assemble the colors and swing with the Dragon token’s lifelink and reach ⚡🧙‍♂️.

Flavor, art, and the design philosophy

The name Dragonbroods' Relic evokes a lineage of dragon lore that threads through Tarkir’s dragonstorm mythos. The token, all colors by design, is a playful nod to the idea that dragons in this universe cross and fuse the hues of magic into a single, pulsing threat. The operator’s choice—tap a creature to fix mana, or sac the relic for a burst of five-colored power—feels like a microcosm of MTG’s eternal dance between risk and reward: you can fix the foundation, or you can ignite a dragonstorm and watch the table crumble beneath the pressure 🧙‍♂️🎨.

From a collector’s lens, the card’s rarity is uncommon, and it’s printed in both foil and non-foil variants. Card collectors often chase the tactile thrill of a five-color token that embodies a rare, flashy payoff. It’s a palm-sweating moment when the Relic sits on the battlefield, teasing the possibility of a five-colored engine that will either roar to life or fizzle on the next draw. Either way, it’s a memorable piece that captures the essence of pilot-level MTG decision-making—the moment where preparation meets opportunity, and a dragon’s breath seals the deal 🐉💎.

As you weave Dragonbroods' Relic into your deck, you’re not just playing a card—you’re narrating a micro-story of risk, patience, and blinding flashes of color. It’s the kind of card that invites you to plan three turns ahead, count your mana, and savor the moment you trade a single artifact for a winged, lifelinking titan that burns a path through the board 🔥⚔️.

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