What's the Deal with Dragons of Tarkir?

Spoiler season is just around the corner once again and I usually don't like doing this sort of thing, but I feel like some people aren't actually making any predictions this time around. So, here are some of my personal predictions for the upcoming Dragons of Tarkir set.


Dragons - This should go without saying, but we're probably going to have quite a few dragons in this set. One thing that we don't have answered is at what rarity or mana cost do they start at. In my opinion, I think we'll definitely see common, mono-coloured dragons at the very least and maybe even some multi-coloured ones as well in the range of the 2-4 drop slots on the curve. In terms of uncommon level, I think this could be a very good place to include a cycle of enemy, two-colour dragons that resemble the rare from Fate Reforged. And as for the rares and mythics, I'm not entirely sure what they could have planned because Mark Rosewater assured us that the block is not about Wedges, so I actually doubt we'll see three-colour dragons  in this set apart from maybe one cycle in the mythic slot.

• Mono-coloured, common dragons between the 2-4 drop slots (one or two cycles)
• Enemy two-colour, uncommon between the 3-5 drop slots (one cycle)
• Wedge three-colour, rare/mythic between 4-6 drop slots (maybe one cycle, probably not)

Machanics - At Pro Tour Fate Reforged, Mark Rosewater explained on inside R&D that he had to take All of the clan mechanics from either Dragons or Khans. This means that we know at least two of the mechanics that will be in this final set. The mechanics we know are as followed:

1. Abzan (white) - Khans: Outlast, Fate: Bolster, Dragons: Bolster
2. Jeskai (blue) - Khans: Prowess, Fate: Prowess, Dragons: unknown
3. Sultai (black) - Khans: Delve, Fate: Delve, Dragons: unknown
4. Mardu (red) - Khans: Raid, Fate: Dash, Dragons: Dash
5. Temur (green) - Khans: Ferocious, Fate: Ferocious, Dragons: unknown

As you can see, we still don't know the mechanics for Jeskai, Sultai, or Temur. However, with the two mechanics we do know, we can likely make a few other predictions as to Bolster and Dash.

We can likely come to the conclusion, based on the cards in Fate Reforged with these mechanics, that there could be (1) white cards with Dash, (2) Black cards with Bolster. However, we fall into the same sort of problem with Rosewater saying that the block isn't about Wedges, which this theory could contradict.

That is, unless there's something here that is telling us that this could be a strictly mono-coloured set, and that the clans of Tarkir have actually dissolved and have divided into their centred, mono-colours of their previous clans. This could explain why, in Fate Reforged, Dash was only on Black/Red cards and Bolster was only on White/Green cards because it could show that a mono-coloured set might use Dash for white and Bolster for black, BUT that just sounds crazy given everything we already know about the colour wheel itself, so this might not make any sense.

Narset, Plansewalker - Oh yes, I said it. Now that Sarkhan is dead and we just got Ugin, there seems to be something missing from the Planeswalker brigade. Enter Narset, Khan of the Jeskai as you probably already know. Lore information from Narset and the Jeskai contain the following quote that very easily could be interpreted as a Planeswalker spark.

Source: The Mana Source, youtube.com/TheManaSource

Could Narset be our first three-colour plansewalker? In my personal opinion, yes and no. While I would like to believe that Wizards decided to finally venture into this territory, my gut tells me that if she is printed, she will likely be two-coloured. However, I do think she will obviously contain two of the Jeskai colours and my vote would be Blue-White. The reason is because I feel that Blue-White has such a weak representation as it is and a two-colour, control-based planeswalker would easily fill that hole.

Here's another thought though, if you'll just bare with me for this last bit. Perhaps Narset may have left Tarkir. If you notice in the last piece of the sentence above, you'll see that she is committed to her clan. What if, like I said before, the clans dissolve and Narset answers her planeswalker spark and leaves the hostile Tarkir. If we don't see her at all in this set, we may actually come across her in later sets with a clear but also interesting storyline for us as players.

I'm anxious to hear what you guys think about all this. What do you expect from the new set?

Thanks for the support and happy hunting.
 - Jay