Wotc's hints
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Feb. 6, 2015, 8:09 a.m. by Gideon17
You probably know that Wotc likes to give hints of mecanics of future sets by hiding the mecanics in previous sets. (Odric, Master Tactician for battalion, Oath of the Ancient Wood for constellation).
Cruel Sadist was probably an hint for outlast.
And this guy: Arbiter of the Ideal, was our hint for manifest.
Do you know other hints that wizards gave us?
Arbiter was one of the most under appreciated OP cards of BotG
February 6, 2015 8:27 a.m.
CaveShinobi says... #6
I wouldn't call it hinting, exactly. More like they're designing sets to go well with other future sets, so there can be some interaction between the cards.
February 6, 2015 9:09 a.m.
The question should be: do they have hints right now they are giving us. I mean they are doing it fairly simply - Lens of Clarity was clearly foreshadowing manifest.
In FRF, for me it is the khans hybrid activated/triggered abilities. It indicates change and we can expect clans to be present in DTK, but focused on the enemy color instead of one of the allied ones. And the legendary dragons' abilities probably mean we will be seeing dragons at common.
One hint is pretty heavy handed - Renowned Weaponsmith. We know there will be a vial of dragonfire, but what else could that mean.
February 6, 2015 9:16 a.m.
@Boza.... I doubt Lens of Clarity was foreshadowing manifest. It was printed in a set with Morph as a mechanic. In case your unfamiliar with morph. A creature that has the morph ability can be cast for 
as a face down 2/2 creature. You can pay it's morph cost in order to flip it face up, typically for an added bonus as opposed to hard casting it. Jeering Instigator and Master of Pearls are two examples of morph creatures.
I'm also unsure if the hybrid mana symbols means the clans will be focused on the enemy color. The Khans from Fate Reforged currently represent how each clan is associated with the 3 colors but they're from a time when the focus was more on the primary color. For instance, during the time period of Khans of Tarkir, each clan is heavily focused in all 3 colors. It's why Zurgo Helmsmasher has 
in his CMC but Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (also a mardu Khan) only has in her CMC because she's from a different time where the clans weren't as focused on all 3 colors. This is supposed to represent how the clans evolved over time after Ugin was destroyed. Assuming Ugin is saved in Dragons of Tarkir, for the clans to completely change the color they're focused in would mean a complete change in each clans identity. This isn't impossible, but it would mean that the clans wouldn't interact favoriblywithin themselves from set to set. (i.e. Mardu going from a and aggressive focus to which is the color of control on Tarkir). It would just seem off if in 2/3's of the block Mardu was trying to do one thing but then in the other set Mardu was trying to do something completely different.
February 6, 2015 10:41 a.m.
CaveShinobi says... #9
abenz419 I thin what Boza meant is especially because of the "look at the top card of your library" bit. I mean, most manifest spells manifest things off the top of your library, so yeah...
February 6, 2015 11:11 a.m.
Well then if your going based on that... then scry must have been the precursor to manifest since it was out before Lens of Clarity or even Courser of Kruphix since it not only lets you see the top card of your library but also lets you play the lands off the top in order to get to a creature you'd want to manifest. Of course neither of these are true.
In reality, it's far more accurate to say that morph was the precursor to manifest. Like I pointed out with the Khans, the abilities also represent how the clans evolved. Outlast is what Bolster evolved into and Dash eventually evolved into Raid. It was done like this to show how the clans are still fundamentally the same but evolved and changed over time. The same can be said for Manifest and Morph. Manifest eventually became Morph after Ugin was destroyed and centuries of time passed. Essentially they represent the same thing, even though they're not exactly the same, it's just showing how things evolved on Tarkir.
February 6, 2015 11:32 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #11
Scry has a good interaction with manifest but I doubt it foreshadowed it. Scry is awesome and yeah.
February 6, 2015 12:14 p.m.
CaveShinobi says... #12
Well, I was just speculating. And are you going to deny that, regardless of the fact that Lens doesn't do jack on the field, it doesn't work even better with manifest than just morph? And of course morph was the precursor to manifest, that was never in question.
February 6, 2015 12:38 p.m.
I don't think I would ever assume an entire mechanic, such as scry, is a 'hint' of an up-coming mechanic or theme.
I do want to point out that Cruel Sadist was not designed by Wizards, so if it was a hint, it was accidental... or Wizards stole the concept and ran with it.
I also saw Arbiter of the Ideal as more of a way for Inspired to interact with Constellation... not so much a hint at Manifest.
In general though, Wizards does include some cards in sets that they know will work better with up-coming sets better than the current sets. - This is to allow for a better flow of the changes in Standard or Draft as sets cycle in and out.
Something I noticed when KTK was being spoiled... Although not necessarily a 'hint'... Jace, the Living Guildpact has better interaction with Delve, than he had when first released.
Sometimes, however, the 'hints' are obvious, and even stated... such as Crux of Fate. This is a Lore hint (and sort of confirmed before it was spoiled), as well as a likely hint that a larger number of dragons will soon be printed.
If I were to look at FRF cards to check for 'hints', I would look at the Siege cards. With the exception of maybe Palace Siege, all the siege cards are typically going to have the choice be 'Khans'... I'm thinking that in DTK there may be reasons reasons to chose Dragons.
Citadel Siege - effects that count number of tapped creatures or kill taped creatures...?
Frontier Siege - green may get more fliers than usual, or have better reasons to be paired with colors that use flying?
Monastery Siege - There may be more targeted spell in DTK?
Outpost Siege - There may be more flicker or sacrifice effects?
Palace Siege - There may be more 'pay life' effects?
Just ideas.
February 6, 2015 12:47 p.m.
zephramtripp says... #14
On your comment on Frontier Siege, Rayenous, I think it's because of all the dragons that might be in Dragons of Tarkir. Just a guess.
February 6, 2015 11:33 p.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #15
Nah, I think there's more to Frontier Siege (Citadel Abzan, Monastery Jeskai, Outpost Mardu, Palace Sultai, just in case somebody was wondering). Frontier Siege, from the Name as well as the Artwork, is the Temur Siege. Apart from Icefeather Aven, who usually does not enter the game as a flyer, Atarka, World Render and Destructor Dragon, Temur has no flyers as far as I'm concerned. (I am aware that Temur decks play Stormbreath Dragon a lot, but it's not a Temur card.) I am convinced that Frontier Siege has more to it. I expect the Temur to get a decent amount of flyers. No necessarily Green, but there will be flyers to a bigger extend, probably in Temur Multicolor.
February 8, 2015 8:43 a.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #16
Okay, I've been taking a short walk to get some food befor FRFPT begins.
I am hereby taking back my last post, as I think it's pretty wrong.
Sarkhan travels to Ugin's grave where, after Helmsmasher kills Narset, in Ugin's Nexus, Sarkhan travels back in time. He ends up at the moment in time where Ugin fights Bolas, and in the version we know Ugin dies. Now, that's the point where Crux of Fate comes in. If Ugin dies, we destroy all dragons. If Ugin wins, we destroy everything else. This means, if Ugin survives the fight with Bolas, the Dragons defeat the Clans. Since Khans of Tarkir was the set in which the Khans were the focus, Fate Reforged refoges Fate, and Dragons of Tarkir will be the Dragons set, obviously, Sarkhans arrival at the fight causes the second version of Crux of Fate, the Khans lose.
So, as some other post in this forum indicates, the Clans will not exist, or at least not in their original version, anymore in Dragons of Tarkir. Therefor, I'd say, Frontier Siege is not a Temur card, as well as none of the other is a Clan card. It is the attack of a dragon on the respective clan. When playing the siege, we decide whether the Khan or the Dragon wins that siege.
I would assume that we will still get several flyers in the Temur colors, but I doubt they will be Temur-related.
February 8, 2015 9:41 a.m.
I read somewhere that because of the events set in motion by Sarkhan going back in time and saving Ugin. Sarkhan actually prevents the circumstances of his own birth. So, ironically, after devoting so much of his life toward finding the dragons that once roamed his home plane, he never actually makes it to see them in all of their glory.
sorry don't remember where I read it, so if anyone else has seen this and could provide a source I'd appreciate it.
February 8, 2015 10:45 a.m.
Note on temur fliers Flamewake Phoenix has the temur symbol.
Aefinn says... #2
My first though was that it has less to do with hinting and more to do with testing out possible ideas for mechanics to use in wider scale.
February 6, 2015 8:13 a.m.