Okay, Innistrad has had its prerelease! Here are my usual thoughts on how the set is going to change the multiplayer environment.
Casual Tools
As usual, let's separate this out into our usual Johnny / Timmy / Spike / Vorthos archetypes (one day, I'll need to cover Melvin, won't I?)...
Timmy, adoring fat creatures, is going to love Moldgraf Monstrosity . It's big, fat, green and trampling (which ticks all the Timmy boxes by itself), and if someone's silly enough to kill it, Timmy gets back two more of his fatties (hopefully)! Plus, you should see the interactions that can go off if Timmy has two Monstrosities on the board when the table gets wiped (yes, you can get a Monstrosity back for Round 2).
Balefire Dragon is potentially the best Dragon ever to see print for multiplayer - there's more time to get it online in Multiplayer, and has more potential victims to swing at. Plus it's going to end up a budget Mythic, making it easily available for the kitchen table Timmies.
Scourge of Geier Reach , Splinterfright
, Unruly Mob
, Lumberknot
and Bloodline Keeper
/ Lord of Lineage
are also going to appeal to Timmy sensibilites.
Kessig Wolf Run rates a mention as a Timmy finisher too.
Johnny gets all sorts of tools here - Innistrad has a mad scientist subtheme, and it captures Johnny perfectly. You don't think every Johnny is secretly drooling over Rooftop Storm and trying to figure out how to break it? It contains that one little phrase that tickles every Johnny pink - "pay
"!
There are a couple of good potential recursion tools in Angel of Flight Alabaster , Moldgraf Monstrosity
, Charmbreaker Devils
, and, of course, the bomb mythic Past in Flames
. Someone, somewhere, is guaranteed to break this in nasty ways at some point (it is after all, a supposedly fixed Yawgmoth's Will
) - it's simply too powerful an effect to not be game-winning in some way in a decently-built deck. I suspect it's going to end up in Spike's list eventually, too!
Parallel Lives and Rage Thrower
also demand to be built around. Johnny certainly gets some fun deckbuilding opportunities here!
Spike, naturally, runs straight to Liliana of the Veil . She is very, very good. But she's also going to be a little fragile in a multiplayer environment - Nissa Revane
doesn't last long at all in my playgroup, and Lili 2.0 won't be that far behind. Will she hang around long enough to do her thing? It's certainly worth Spike's gamble.
Spike's also going to adore the creature generators in here, particularly Geist of Saint Traft and Moorland Haunt
. These two are going to help Spike defend and attack by equal measure, and certainly maintain creature control.
Blasphemous Act is probably about as close as you'll get to a red Damnation
, and it's going to go off for just
very often in a multiplayer environment. Spike's gotta love that.
They'll also enjoy getting some superb tools in the uncommon slots. Tribute to Hunger and Unburial Rites
are excellent black cards, and Spike is going to adore having Dissipate
reprinted (Welcome back! How we've missed you!) - we're never going to see Cancel
or Stoic Rebuttal
cast in our playgroup again. Ever.
Oh, and then there's Snapcaster Mage ...

Vorthos has a flavour-induced coronary with this set, and we really shouldn't expect anything less from a set that had Richard Garfield involved in its design - he always helps get the flavour just right. And there are some beautiful top-down design cards in there - Cloistered Youth / Unholy Fiend
, Endless Ranks of the Dead
, Typhoid Rats
, Full Moon's Rise
... they demand to be played by Vorthos.
And Vorthos is certainly going to be busy building themed decks.
Full Moon's Rise gives them a potentially viable Werewolf deck.
They're sure to want to tinker with Zombies, thanks to Rooftop Storm , Endless Ranks of the Dead
, Undead Alchemist
and Army of the Damned
.
Even existing Vampire decks get built upon, thanks to Falkenrath Noble , Bloodline Keeper
/ Lord of Lineage
and Falkenrath Marauders
.
They'll be finding flavour in this set for ages to come.
Card Prices
So what should we be stocking up on?
The first answer should be Birthing Pod . Pod gets so many more tools thanks to this set that it's not funny. It can go white and use Mausoleum Guard
and Elder Cathar
. It can stay green and run Gutter Grime
and Moldgraf Monstrosity
. The options are endless, so Pod's bound to see its price go through the roof.
The usual Swords are bound to stay high as well. They've now got Invisible Stalker to wear them, even with Squadron Hawk
rotating and Stoneforge Mystic
banned. The Swords now fit well in a blue control deck... look out...
What's dropping? Well, there's obviously plenty of stuff rotating out as Innistrad comes in - Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi and M11 all rotate out. I expect Gideon Jura and Sorin Markov
to start getting more affordable now they've been reprinted in M12. Squadron Hawk
should be affordable for the Casual guys once more too.
