Huh. No fooling
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Magic: the Gathering - Oath o/t Gatewatch |OT| Look again, the mana is now diamonds!
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
- Status
not sure where this came from originally yet:
Assuming it's all real and everything, that suggests that Tamiyo is both alive and still around, which leaves us with a challenge: which one of
Jace
Liliana
Sorin
Tamiyo
Arlinn
Nahiri
won't get a PW card?
Colour guessing:
Jace: U
Liliana: B
Sorin: WB
Tamiyo: U
Arlinn: RG/GW
Nahiri: RW
Jace and Liliana are given for SOI and EMN respectively, and Arlinn is certainly in SOI. Sorin looks like he'll be really important for the story, so I'm betting on him getting a card. This leaves either Tamiyo or Nahiri. If Arlinn is GW, then we get Nahiri so we have a red walker; if Arlinn is RG, it could go either way, but I'm leaning towards Nahiri as I don't think they want two mono-U walkers in the same block.
So yeah, I think Tamiyo is getting left out of this block. Maybe she joins the Gatewatch next time.
Remembrance
Member
Didn't things go very badly for the last Magic nobleman who had to kill an angel that was guarding his home?
divisionbyzorro
Member
"God's Beard!"
Member
Reminds me more than a bit of Jean-Leon Gerome's famous gladiator piece in terms of the illustrative techniques:
Jacobsen definitely has the academic touch.
charlequin
Banned
Rosewater has mentioned a few times that they can flex upwards by 1 or so in a year.
This is one of the best flavor-based designs I've ever seen. The flavor text, art, and abilities combine to tell a very clear story.
I think I'm gonna really love Shadows Over Innistrad.
charlequin
Banned
Yep, so far I'm surprisingly impressed by this set, especially after BFZ. My big concern going in was whether they'd be able to hit these flavor items, but they're hitting those out of the park.
Also: to riff off what The Technomancer said earlier, it's super hilarious to give Wayne Reynolds a DFC that starts with some restrained people standing still but flips into them holding their deadly equipment all akimbo, Wayne-Reynolds-style.
A Nahiri with equipment abilities would be another good hint that Kaladesh is coming up next.
GamerKingFaiz
Member
Hi guys, I think I might have been sent my first fake. Please help me assuage my fear.
Here is the picture.
Things that pop out to me are the different looking set symbols, faded looking CMC, and the lack of color in general on the left one.
Let me know if you guys require higher quality, I can scan the cards if need be.
Here is the picture.
On the left is the one I was sent and on the right is one I had previously.
Things that pop out to me are the different looking set symbols, faded looking CMC, and the lack of color in general on the left one.
Let me know if you guys require higher quality, I can scan the cards if need be.
Giant Panda
Member
I just hope that they make relic seeker useful before he rotates.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
That set symbol is pretty damning :/
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Does the holograph look good? Because there are no fakes with good fake holograms.
Infinite Stars
Member
I'm leaning super hard to fake, the lack of color is a big flag for me. Considering it's MM2, which had a limited print run, it's not like there should be this big of a difference between the cards. I mean, it's possible it's real, but the bigger points just seem off.
Do they feel the same? Is the hologram good on the one you're questioning?
Not sure you want to go this route, good put a drop of water on it and wipe it off. An authentic card won't smear or anything. You really shouldn't even be able to tell. If someone stripped a card (for the hologram?) and printed over it, the ink would smear.
As far as I know the newer cards haven't been getting counterfeited yet, think the hologram is the biggest reason why.
As for that card, I have opened packs before where the cards were slightly more slick and darker. I guess someone could be doing packs, but I doubt it. I honestly wouldn't be that concerned with it if it felt right and didn't look off besides the darkness. The whole card seems to lighter, so think it was just variance where it got printed.
Not sure you want to go this route, good put a drop of water on it and wipe it off. An authentic card won't smear or anything. You really shouldn't even be able to tell. If someone stripped a card (for the hologram?) and printed over it, the ink would smear.
As far as I know the newer cards haven't been getting counterfeited yet, think the hologram is the biggest reason why.
As for that card, I have opened packs before where the cards were slightly more slick and darker. I guess someone could be doing packs, but I doubt it. I honestly wouldn't be that concerned with it if it felt right and didn't look off besides the darkness. The whole card seems to lighter, so think it was just variance where it got printed.
charlequin
Banned
Scan would definitely clear it up. If the holofoil looks good though I think you can ignore everything else.
GamerKingFaiz
Member
"God's Beard!"
Member
that feel when your sealed pool has Chandra, Flamecaller and Rolling Thunder and red is your most shallow color.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The hologram exists for this purpose. There is so such thing as a good fake hologram.
"God's Beard!"
Member
ASK ME IF I GIVE A GOD DAMN
Spoiler alert: I DON'T.
Spoiler alert: I DON'T.
Have you been hearing they can replicate the hologram on the bottom, or the foil layering on a foil card? There is word that the foil layering is getting pretty good and they have been getting close to making counterfeit foils, but I haven't heard anything about the hologram being copied yet.
Really think you are ok with the Spellskite. Looks like the black wasn't as full on the card you received. The expansion symbol looks the same just not as dark, and all of the lines are also not as dark.
Also, since Spellskite has a hologram-less printing, it would be easier to counterfeit the NPH printing than MM2. Try running the hologram a little bit, if they are doing counterfeits maybe they haven't found out how to glue that on right yet. If it doesn't come off, and since it looks the same, I would say you are safe.
Edit: It also has the dot pattern right in all the right places. The Mana and all text should be free of dots, along with the border. The white text on the bottom also looked like it was free of dots. The 2 looks like it also isn't full, leading it to looking off.
GamerKingFaiz
Member
Just got around to reading that efro article. That's pretty embarrassing. Just him alone thinking a 13-0 player is trying to "dream crush" him instead of playing for a better chance in the top 8 is sad. I hope this guarantees everybody forces the play against efro, instead of ever IDing, whether it's the right decision or not.
It's amazing. The guy has zero pride.
SigmasonicX
Member
Random thought after watching Gods of Egypt (not in theaters)
I keep imagining a scene from a Magic movie that takes place in our world. Gerard Butler is playing John Progenitus. He says to his assistant, "I need protection from everything."
The assistant says, "E-everything?"
John Progenitus yells, "EVERYTHING!!!"
I keep imagining a scene from a Magic movie that takes place in our world. Gerard Butler is playing John Progenitus. He says to his assistant, "I need protection from everything."
The assistant says, "E-everything?"
John Progenitus yells, "EVERYTHING!!!"
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
The art for this block is amazing so far. I might go back to magic when this comes out.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Damn, played Chandra and Omnath game 1. Game 2 I get roflstomped by Sphinx of the Final Word.
But the real blowout is my keep decision in game 3 on the play:
Any land lets me cast Seer's Lantern, I have Plummet for my opponent's barrage of fliers and worst comes to worst I can cycle a couple shoulder to shoulders.
Turn 7 comes around and I still haven't drawn a land. In fact, I drew my first playable card: Hedron Crawler.
What do you guys think?
2 Immolating Glares, 16 lands( although mirrorpool only counts if I draw it immediately) and a Hedron Crawler(again, only if drawn immediately) are all good draws which gives me 19/33 outs, and I can probably afford to miss the first land drop without significant damage. Being above 50% to draw out of it on the 2nd turn and whiffing 6 straight is rough.
But the real blowout is my keep decision in game 3 on the play:
- Mountain
- Plains
- Shoulder to Shoulder
- Shoulder to Shoulder
- Seer's Lantern
- Plummet
- Saddleback Lagac
Any land lets me cast Seer's Lantern, I have Plummet for my opponent's barrage of fliers and worst comes to worst I can cycle a couple shoulder to shoulders.
Turn 7 comes around and I still haven't drawn a land. In fact, I drew my first playable card: Hedron Crawler.
What do you guys think?
2 Immolating Glares, 16 lands( although mirrorpool only counts if I draw it immediately) and a Hedron Crawler(again, only if drawn immediately) are all good draws which gives me 19/33 outs, and I can probably afford to miss the first land drop without significant damage. Being above 50% to draw out of it on the 2nd turn and whiffing 6 straight is rough.
Tabak's hinting on Tumblr makes me assume they're gonna change the rules so it keys off the name that the face the transform triggers on. Otherwise that'd be real weird.
http://tabakrules.tumblr.com/post/140543201224/if-avacyn-is-on-the-battlefield-and-two-non-angel
"God's Beard!"
Member
- Turn 2 Hedron Crawler
- Turn 3 Lifespring Druid
- Turn 4 Chandra, Flamecaller, -3 killing my opponent's Relentless Hunter and Sylvan Advocate(my hand is garbage at this point, wanted to clear the board with the intention of refreshing my hand) opponent plays Mina and Denn
- Turn 5 0 Chandra discarding 4 cards, get 5 lands
A Serious Man
Member
Yeah, that card is a home run. Absolutely adoring the flavor of the set so far, especially after BfZ.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
It's about time Avacyn got a playable card! 'Oh, but WW, Avacyn was great in my mono-white EDH..." NOBODY CARES. 
Great card.
Great card.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Holy fuck chandra is good. I just won from 1 life against a guy who was rebuying Reality Smashers. Took him from 24 to -2 with one attack once I turned the corner.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Is anybody messing around with Wbc Midrange right now? I've skipped the OGW Standard season, but it seems like there's a lot going for it.
As a preliminary sketch:
20 Creatures
4 Planeswalkers
12 Spells
24 lands
Sideboard(15):
Silkwrap and Strangler seem good against all the company and Scales decks floating around.
As a preliminary sketch:
20 Creatures
- 3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
- 4 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Wasteland Strangler
- 3 Eldrazi Displacer
- 4 Thought-Knot Seer
- 2 Wingmate Roc
4 Planeswalkers
- 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
12 Spells
- 4 Transgress the Mind
- 4 Silkwrap
- 4 Stasis Snare
24 lands
- 4 Caves of Koilos
- 4 Battlefield Forge
- 4 Shambling Vent
- 4 Evolving Wilds
- 1 Swamp
- 1 Wastes
- 6 Plains
Sideboard(15):
- 2 Hidden Dragonslayer
- 4 Hallowed Moonlight
- 1 Read the Bones
- 2 Duress
- 1 Utter End
- 2 Archangel of Tithes
- 3 Arashin Cleric
Silkwrap and Strangler seem good against all the company and Scales decks floating around.
SigmasonicX
Member
Draft of Shadows over Innistrad OT
Trailer
Official page
Shadows over Innistrad information
Previous topic: Oath of the Gatewatch OT
Next set: Eldritch Moon
Welcome to the Multiverse! Multiple worlds exist side by side in different dimensions, known as planes, and each plane is as different as night is from the day. All of them, however, have a form of magical energy known as mana, generated from bonds to the land, that can be channeled into powerful spells. Residents of these planes are usually unaware of other worlds, but there are some special beings with the ability to safely travel between them, known as Planeswalkers.
Magic: the Gathering is a Trading Card Game, the first of its kind, developed by Richard Garfield and his playtesters for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game quickly became a hit, and it is currently bigger than it has ever been. In the standard game, you and your opponent play the role of dueling Planeswalkers, using customized 60-card decks made up of your spells, the creatures you can summon, your mana bonds with lands, and even other Planeswalkers you can call in to help out. Whoever can get his or her opponent down to 0 life, from a start of 20, wins.
Shadows over Innistrad returns to the world of Innistrad, where the graveyard reigns and gothic horror is the name of the game. This set is also a milestone in Magic as a whole: the first block to start in spring as part of the two-block paradigm, where two different worlds are visited each year. The block's story, themes, and mechanics will be continued by Eldritch Moon in the summer.
This topic will cover the two weeks before all cards in the Shadows over Innistrad set are fully revealed, known as the spoiler weeks, where cards are slowly unveiled every weekday, up through the set release itself. Some cards have already been revealed during events like Pro Tours (or leaks), but this is when they are rolled out at a consistent pace. The main website updates at 8 AM PST / 11 AM EST, but Wizards also provides card previews to other sites that will unveil them throughout the day, including non-English sites.
GETTING STARTED
If you're a beginner, feel free to come in--that's why this is in OT, after all. Spoiler season is one of the most exciting times for a Magic player, and it would be great for more to join in. Us regulars can get a bit technical with card evaluations and use a lot of jargon, and many of us will loudly proclaim that a cool-looking card is junk, or say that a lame-looking card is really powerful, but feel free to ask us if you want an explanation.
To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series, where Day[9] battles various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.
To get started, check out the official page. Basically:
* It's recommended that new players play Magic Duels (thread). It's a great way to learn the game on your own, and it's free!
* For your first deck, you can buy an Intro Pack, a simple prebuilt deck that comes with a few booster packs. For each new set, five Intro Packs are released. There are also Duel Decks that provide two decks for a game right out of the box, but are a bit more complicated.
* To get your physical collection started, buy a Deck Builder's Toolkit, which includes not just a starting collection of cards (including a lot of lands), but also has some booster packs and is a good place to store cards. You could also buy a Holiday Gift Box to get an even larger starting collection and better storage.
* To learn about the theories behind deckbuilding and gameplay, check out Level One.
* Once your skill advances, another popular way to play Magic casually is Commander. Each player chooses a legendary creature to act as commander and then chooses 99 additional cards, one of each card that isn't a basic land (of which you can have any number) and only of the colors of the commander, to make up the deck. In games, each player starts at 40 life and there are typically four or more players. Wizards provides prebuilt decks for this format too.
* While game stores will often hold Magic events at other times, every store that has Magic events will have Friday Night Magic. There, you will be able to find other players in your area to both have matches with and trade with. Find game stores here. And to get started participating in your local game store (LGS) scene, attend a prerelease!
PRERELEASE
While the set won't officially be sold until the release date, that isn't the first time you can get your hands on the new cards. Game stores hold prerelease events for every set, and in this set's event, every player is given a box with six booster packs and a random additional rare card. From this pool of cards, all of which you keep, each player builds a deck of 40 cards and participates in a Swiss-system tournament. This is a fun and casual event, where everyone is still trying to figure out the set, so don't worry about messing up. In addition to normal duels, there are also Two-Headed Giant events, where you pair up with another player and face off against another team.
Prerelease events will be held on April 2-3, 2016. Call your local game store a few days ahead of time to register, or they might just run out of room. Find local game stores here.
CHANGES
Shadows over Innistrad starting in spring demonstrates a major change to how Magic sets are handled, with an in-depth explanation for why here. In short, the two-set block model means:
* No more core sets.
* Blocks will have two sets instead of three. Yes, that means Shadows over Innistrad block will only have two sets.
* Without any core sets, there will now be two blocks a year. The next set of SOI block, Eldritch Moon, releases in the previous core set slot.
* Standard (a rotating format that only includes the latest sets) rotates with each block, so it will now rotate twice a year. Three blocks will be in Standard at a time. Sets will be in Standard for a max of 18 months. Note that Standard rotation is kind of odd this time. For the final three-set block, Khans of Tarkir, only the first two sets are rotating out. Dragons of Tarkir and the final core set, Magic Origins, will remain in Standard until fall.
Set details:
STORY
Trailer
Lore introduction
Guide to Innistrad
Innistrad is a world where humanity beset on all sides by monsters: restless spirits, necromancers and skaab stitchers raising the dead, demons and their worshipers, aristocratic vampire families, and ferocious werewolves, among many more. Long ago, the vampire Planeswalker Sorin Markov realized that if things stayed the course, the humans would go extinct and the vampires would be left without food. Playing the long game, he created the archangel Avacyn to protect the humans, and thus ensure the survival of the vampires into the distant future, even if it meant many of his own would die in the process. Avacyn became the most holy figure on Innistrad, leading the angels in support of humanity, while the rest of the world remained ignorant of her true purpose.
In the present, the heroes of the Gatewatch faced ancient horrors known as the Eldrazi, and have defeated two of the three Eldrazi Titans on the plane of Zendikar. The last and most powerful, Emrakul, is unaccounted for. The telepathic Planeswalker Jace Beleran has come to Innistrad to track down Sorin, since he helped seal away the Eldrazi in the first place, but when he arrives, he discovers that things have gotten weird. Some sort of madness is spreading through the land, and not even the angels are spared. Their wings have become soaked in blood and they are slaughtering humans, forcing the humans to fight both monsters and their former protectors. Meanwhile, the stone-shaping lithomancer Planeswalker who also helped seal away the Eldrazi, Nahiri, has resurfaced with a mysterious vendetta against the Markov family of vampires. Jace must turn detective to understand just what happened, and what this could be a portent of.
Shadows over Innistrad story
Story archive - Scroll to the bottom for chronological order; the layout of this archive is trash.
SET THEMES
Cards (alternate, includes leaks)
Mechanics
Double-faced cards
Double-faced cards
The most popular mechanic of the original Innistrad is back! These cards don't have the usual card backs, and instead have a face on both sides. You can switch between sides using the transform mechanic. To put these cards in your deck, most players use opaque card sleeves to hide the back, but you can also use checklist cards that have the normal Magic card back and are included in some booster packs. You check off which double-faced card it represents and put the checklist card in your deck, leaving the actual double-faced card hidden somewhere until you cast that spell. A special subset of double-faced cards are the werewolves, which all transform in the same way, keeping track of how many spells were cast to reflect the activity of the day and inactivity of the night. On Innistrad, double-faced cards represent a dark transformation, and this time, not even the greatest of angels are immune.
The game is afoot
Investigate
Skulk
Players join in on figuring out what's happening to Innistrad with the investigate mechanic. Whenever you investigate, you get a Clue artifact, which you can pay (2) and sacrifice to draw a card, or keep around for cards that care about having Clues or artifacts in general. And who else to investigate but those sneaky creatures with the skulk mechanic, who can handily slip past creatures larger than them. Though it is unconfirmed, skulk is expected to become an evergreen mechanic for blue and black, meaning you'll potentially see it in every set from now on.
You know, Jace, we really are Odyssey Block 2: Jace in the Hood
Madness
Delirium
The world is going crazy, and so are the mechanics. Madness returns to make discarding a card not such a bad idea. Instead of going directly to the graveyard, you discard the card to exile, where you have the opportunity to cast it for its madness card or just send it to the graveyard. Delirium cares about having a lot of cards in your graveyard, similar to the threshold mechanic of yesteryear, but this mechanic only cares about having at least four card types. Once you reach that point, your opponent starts going loopy, letting him or herself get distracted by toppling candles and getting more frightened than appropriate. Suffice it to say, you should more highly value getting cards into your graveyard... and be wary that you may be helping your opponent when you make him or her discard or kill a creature.
RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Recommended columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo);Uncharted Realms Magic Story, which tells the story, written by various authors; and Latest Developments, written by various Magic developers. The other articles generally discuss deck building. For older articles before the site changed, go here.
SOI official card list - Best way to see all of the spoiled cards together, but only updates once a day.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Salvation's Rumor Mill - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Mythic Spoiler - A good way to see what cards have been spoiled, updates throughout the day.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards. Has an autocomplete.
magiccards.info - The better search engine for cards, with bigger pictures and more details. But it doesn't have an autocomplete.
Game store locator
PREVIOUS THREADS
Oath of the Gatewatch OT
Battle for Zendikar OT
OT4
OT3
OT2
OT1
Trailer
Official page
Shadows over Innistrad information
Previous topic: Oath of the Gatewatch OT
Next set: Eldritch Moon
Welcome to the Multiverse! Multiple worlds exist side by side in different dimensions, known as planes, and each plane is as different as night is from the day. All of them, however, have a form of magical energy known as mana, generated from bonds to the land, that can be channeled into powerful spells. Residents of these planes are usually unaware of other worlds, but there are some special beings with the ability to safely travel between them, known as Planeswalkers.
Magic: the Gathering is a Trading Card Game, the first of its kind, developed by Richard Garfield and his playtesters for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game quickly became a hit, and it is currently bigger than it has ever been. In the standard game, you and your opponent play the role of dueling Planeswalkers, using customized 60-card decks made up of your spells, the creatures you can summon, your mana bonds with lands, and even other Planeswalkers you can call in to help out. Whoever can get his or her opponent down to 0 life, from a start of 20, wins.
Shadows over Innistrad returns to the world of Innistrad, where the graveyard reigns and gothic horror is the name of the game. This set is also a milestone in Magic as a whole: the first block to start in spring as part of the two-block paradigm, where two different worlds are visited each year. The block's story, themes, and mechanics will be continued by Eldritch Moon in the summer.
This topic will cover the two weeks before all cards in the Shadows over Innistrad set are fully revealed, known as the spoiler weeks, where cards are slowly unveiled every weekday, up through the set release itself. Some cards have already been revealed during events like Pro Tours (or leaks), but this is when they are rolled out at a consistent pace. The main website updates at 8 AM PST / 11 AM EST, but Wizards also provides card previews to other sites that will unveil them throughout the day, including non-English sites.
GETTING STARTED
If you're a beginner, feel free to come in--that's why this is in OT, after all. Spoiler season is one of the most exciting times for a Magic player, and it would be great for more to join in. Us regulars can get a bit technical with card evaluations and use a lot of jargon, and many of us will loudly proclaim that a cool-looking card is junk, or say that a lame-looking card is really powerful, but feel free to ask us if you want an explanation.
To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series, where Day[9] battles various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.
To get started, check out the official page. Basically:
* It's recommended that new players play Magic Duels (thread). It's a great way to learn the game on your own, and it's free!
* For your first deck, you can buy an Intro Pack, a simple prebuilt deck that comes with a few booster packs. For each new set, five Intro Packs are released. There are also Duel Decks that provide two decks for a game right out of the box, but are a bit more complicated.
* To get your physical collection started, buy a Deck Builder's Toolkit, which includes not just a starting collection of cards (including a lot of lands), but also has some booster packs and is a good place to store cards. You could also buy a Holiday Gift Box to get an even larger starting collection and better storage.
* To learn about the theories behind deckbuilding and gameplay, check out Level One.
* Once your skill advances, another popular way to play Magic casually is Commander. Each player chooses a legendary creature to act as commander and then chooses 99 additional cards, one of each card that isn't a basic land (of which you can have any number) and only of the colors of the commander, to make up the deck. In games, each player starts at 40 life and there are typically four or more players. Wizards provides prebuilt decks for this format too.
* While game stores will often hold Magic events at other times, every store that has Magic events will have Friday Night Magic. There, you will be able to find other players in your area to both have matches with and trade with. Find game stores here. And to get started participating in your local game store (LGS) scene, attend a prerelease!
PRERELEASE
While the set won't officially be sold until the release date, that isn't the first time you can get your hands on the new cards. Game stores hold prerelease events for every set, and in this set's event, every player is given a box with six booster packs and a random additional rare card. From this pool of cards, all of which you keep, each player builds a deck of 40 cards and participates in a Swiss-system tournament. This is a fun and casual event, where everyone is still trying to figure out the set, so don't worry about messing up. In addition to normal duels, there are also Two-Headed Giant events, where you pair up with another player and face off against another team.
Prerelease events will be held on April 2-3, 2016. Call your local game store a few days ahead of time to register, or they might just run out of room. Find local game stores here.
CHANGES
Shadows over Innistrad starting in spring demonstrates a major change to how Magic sets are handled, with an in-depth explanation for why here. In short, the two-set block model means:
* No more core sets.
* Blocks will have two sets instead of three. Yes, that means Shadows over Innistrad block will only have two sets.
* Without any core sets, there will now be two blocks a year. The next set of SOI block, Eldritch Moon, releases in the previous core set slot.
* Standard (a rotating format that only includes the latest sets) rotates with each block, so it will now rotate twice a year. Three blocks will be in Standard at a time. Sets will be in Standard for a max of 18 months. Note that Standard rotation is kind of odd this time. For the final three-set block, Khans of Tarkir, only the first two sets are rotating out. Dragons of Tarkir and the final core set, Magic Origins, will remain in Standard until fall.
Set details:
STORY
Trailer
Lore introduction
Guide to Innistrad
Innistrad is a world where humanity beset on all sides by monsters: restless spirits, necromancers and skaab stitchers raising the dead, demons and their worshipers, aristocratic vampire families, and ferocious werewolves, among many more. Long ago, the vampire Planeswalker Sorin Markov realized that if things stayed the course, the humans would go extinct and the vampires would be left without food. Playing the long game, he created the archangel Avacyn to protect the humans, and thus ensure the survival of the vampires into the distant future, even if it meant many of his own would die in the process. Avacyn became the most holy figure on Innistrad, leading the angels in support of humanity, while the rest of the world remained ignorant of her true purpose.
In the present, the heroes of the Gatewatch faced ancient horrors known as the Eldrazi, and have defeated two of the three Eldrazi Titans on the plane of Zendikar. The last and most powerful, Emrakul, is unaccounted for. The telepathic Planeswalker Jace Beleran has come to Innistrad to track down Sorin, since he helped seal away the Eldrazi in the first place, but when he arrives, he discovers that things have gotten weird. Some sort of madness is spreading through the land, and not even the angels are spared. Their wings have become soaked in blood and they are slaughtering humans, forcing the humans to fight both monsters and their former protectors. Meanwhile, the stone-shaping lithomancer Planeswalker who also helped seal away the Eldrazi, Nahiri, has resurfaced with a mysterious vendetta against the Markov family of vampires. Jace must turn detective to understand just what happened, and what this could be a portent of.
Shadows over Innistrad story
Story archive - Scroll to the bottom for chronological order; the layout of this archive is trash.
SET THEMES
Cards (alternate, includes leaks)
Mechanics
Double-faced cards
Double-faced cards
The most popular mechanic of the original Innistrad is back! These cards don't have the usual card backs, and instead have a face on both sides. You can switch between sides using the transform mechanic. To put these cards in your deck, most players use opaque card sleeves to hide the back, but you can also use checklist cards that have the normal Magic card back and are included in some booster packs. You check off which double-faced card it represents and put the checklist card in your deck, leaving the actual double-faced card hidden somewhere until you cast that spell. A special subset of double-faced cards are the werewolves, which all transform in the same way, keeping track of how many spells were cast to reflect the activity of the day and inactivity of the night. On Innistrad, double-faced cards represent a dark transformation, and this time, not even the greatest of angels are immune.
The game is afoot
Investigate
Skulk
Players join in on figuring out what's happening to Innistrad with the investigate mechanic. Whenever you investigate, you get a Clue artifact, which you can pay (2) and sacrifice to draw a card, or keep around for cards that care about having Clues or artifacts in general. And who else to investigate but those sneaky creatures with the skulk mechanic, who can handily slip past creatures larger than them. Though it is unconfirmed, skulk is expected to become an evergreen mechanic for blue and black, meaning you'll potentially see it in every set from now on.
You know, Jace, we really are Odyssey Block 2: Jace in the Hood
Madness
Delirium
The world is going crazy, and so are the mechanics. Madness returns to make discarding a card not such a bad idea. Instead of going directly to the graveyard, you discard the card to exile, where you have the opportunity to cast it for its madness card or just send it to the graveyard. Delirium cares about having a lot of cards in your graveyard, similar to the threshold mechanic of yesteryear, but this mechanic only cares about having at least four card types. Once you reach that point, your opponent starts going loopy, letting him or herself get distracted by toppling candles and getting more frightened than appropriate. Suffice it to say, you should more highly value getting cards into your graveyard... and be wary that you may be helping your opponent when you make him or her discard or kill a creature.
RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Recommended columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo);
SOI official card list - Best way to see all of the spoiled cards together, but only updates once a day.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Salvation's Rumor Mill - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Mythic Spoiler - A good way to see what cards have been spoiled, updates throughout the day.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards. Has an autocomplete.
magiccards.info - The better search engine for cards, with bigger pictures and more details. But it doesn't have an autocomplete.
Game store locator
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Jace mystifies me.
I've never met anyone who likes him as a main character. Ever. And yet he's clearly the face of Magic, and pushed far more heavily than any other planes walker. We know wizards focus group and market tests these things out the wazoo so clearly there's a ton of Jace fans out there.
I've just never met one.
I've never met anyone who likes him as a main character. Ever. And yet he's clearly the face of Magic, and pushed far more heavily than any other planes walker. We know wizards focus group and market tests these things out the wazoo so clearly there's a ton of Jace fans out there.
I've just never met one.
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