Which Magic: the Gathering Innistrad Block Was the Strongest?

We’ve just seen the launch of the second set of the second return to one of Magic: the Gathering‘s fan favorite planes, Innistrad. Each of Innistrad’s past blocks and sets have had a fundamental impact on the game and it’s various formats, but which one is the strongest? Today, we’ll take a look at some of the pivotal cards from each Innistrad Block, and compare the overall design strength, and overall impact they had on Magic.

Original Innistrad Block

Original Innistrad had a lot to prove. It was the first time that Wizards took on this kind of Eldritch Horror, Monster Movie type of theme, and there was a lot riding on the cards. That being said, WotC didn’t disappoint. The cards in this block were bonkers. There’s a lot of them but here’s a few notables

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We can’t talk about original Innistrad block without talking about the 3 most expensive cards in the block. Snapcaster Mage Snapcaster Mage Flash
When this creature enters, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) , Liliana of the Veil Liliana of the Veil +1: Each player discards a card.
−2: Target player sacrifices a creature.
−6: Separate all permanents target player controls into two piles. That player sacrifices all permanents in the pile of their choice. , and Cavern of Souls Cavern of Souls As this land enters, choose a creature type.
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a creature spell of the chosen type, and that spell can't be countered. have had a massive, format defining influence on Magic: the Gathering. They’re seen across multiple decks and formats and have commanded some high prices.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Thalia, Guardian of Thraben First strike
Noncreature spells cost {1} more to cast. has been a huge player for Death and Taxes and Mono White Aggro decks across formats. Griselbrand Griselbrand Flying, lifelink
Pay 7 life: Draw seven cards. for a long time has been one of the go to Reanimation targets for Legacy, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope Avacyn, Angel of Hope Flying, vigilance, indestructible
Other permanents you control have indestructible. is one of the best bombs you can play in Commander.

There’s so many other cards that were hugely format impacting for their time, so here’s the cards that I didn’t mention.

• Delver of Secrets Delver of Secrets At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may reveal that card. If an instant or sorcery card is revealed this way, transform this creature.
• Blood Artist Blood Artist Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
• Craterhoof Behemoth Craterhoof Behemoth Haste
  When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control.
• Geist of Saint Traft Geist of Saint Traft Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
  Whenever Geist of Saint Traft attacks, create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying that's tapped and attacking. Exile that token at end of combat.
• Restoration Angel Restoration Angel Flash
  Flying
  When this creature enters, you may exile target non-Angel creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
• Unburial Rites Unburial Rites Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
  Flashback {3}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
• Lingering Souls Lingering Souls Create two 1/1 white Spirit creature tokens with flying.
  Flashback {1}{B} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

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Shadows Over Innistrad Block

Shadows Over Innistrad block was our first return to Innistrad, and it came at an interesting time. We had just gotten a return to another fan favorite plane, Zendikar, but had a lot of hype and anticipation for it. There’s a couple less cards in this set here, but since there was only 2 sets, it makes a bit of sense.

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With Shadows block, we have another powerful Liliana in Liliana, the Last Hope Liliana, the Last Hope +1: Up to one target creature gets -2/-1 until your next turn.
−2: Mill two cards, then you may return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
−7: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your end step, create X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens, where X is two plus the number of Zombies you control." , which was huge in Modern and Pioneer for a long time. Thalia’s Lieutenant Thalia’s Lieutenant When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Human you control.
Whenever another Human you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. has been a staple of humans decks that have come about over the years, whether it’s Mono White, or even 4 color Humans.

Prized Amalgam Prized Amalgam Whenever a creature enters, if it entered from your graveyard or you cast it from your graveyard, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped at the beginning of the next end step. feels like it was the missing piece that pushed dredge over the edge, and Tireless Tracker Tireless Tracker Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, investigate. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
Whenever you sacrifice a Clue, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. is still an incredibly strong 3 drop for various decks. We definitely can’t forget mama Emrakul, the Promised End Emrakul, the Promised End This spell costs {1} less to cast for each card type among cards in your graveyard.
When you cast this spell, you gain control of target opponent during that player's next turn. After that turn, that player takes an extra turn.
Flying, trample, protection from instants , who tortured Standard and other formats.

Here’s the other cards that I picked for the most impactful from this block

• Cryptbreaker Cryptbreaker {1}{B}, {T}, Discard a card: Create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
  Tap three untapped Zombies you control: You draw a card and you lose 1 life.
• Declaration in Stone Declaration in Stone Exile target creature and all other creatures its controller controls with the same name as that creature. That player investigates for each nontoken creature exiled this way.
• Grim Flayer Grim Flayer Trample
  Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, surveil 3. (Look at the top three cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
  Delirium — This creature gets +2/+2 as long as there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard.
• All the Madness Cards
• Nahiri, the Harbinger Nahiri, the Harbinger +2: You may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
  −2: Exile target enchantment, tapped artifact, or tapped creature.
  −8: Search your library for an artifact or creature card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. It gains haste. Return it to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.
• Spell Queller Spell Queller Flash
  Flying
  When this creature enters, exile target spell with mana value 4 or less.
  When this creature leaves the battlefield, the exiled card's owner may cast that card without paying its mana cost.

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This set was towards the beginning of an era of very pushed Magic cards, but while they were powerful, the impact that these cards had on the game in general wasn’t nearly as long lived as Original Innistrad. I will say that some of the staying power that came in this set was due to the fact that there were some solid Madness cards in the set.

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Innistrad: Double Feature Block

The newest set of Innistrad sets, Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow seemed that they were more story telling and thematic element focused that before. We are still very early in this set’s life cycle, so we have yet to really see a huge impact across multiple formats outside Standard, so I’m going to highlight a few cards here that I believe have the potential to be strong as time goes on.

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Yes most of the cards here are blue, but they’re very very good. Consider Consider Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
Draw a card. is making splashes in various decks in Historic, Modern and Pioneer. I think that Fading Hope Fading Hope Return target creature to its owner's hand. If its mana value was 3 or less, scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.) is a fantastic spell, it’s incredibly versatile and cheap. Malevolent Hermit Malevolent Hermit {U}, Sacrifice this creature: Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {3}.
Disturb {2}{U} (You may cast this card from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost.) is a very powerful control tool, and I think that it’s worth considering in Pioneer.

Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Spells can't be countered.
Each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard has flashback. The flashback cost is equal to that card's mana cost. is seeing a ton of play in Standard right now, and I think that it’s powerful enough that it could be played in control in Pioneer. In a similar fashion, Hullbreaker Horror Hullbreaker Horror Flash
This spell can't be countered.
Whenever you cast a spell, choose up to one —
• Return target spell you don't control to its owner's hand.
• Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. is an insane control finisher. Lastly, The Meathook Massacre The Meathook Massacre When The Meathook Massacre enters, each creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.
Whenever a creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, you gain 1 life. has proven to be a very strong removal spell in black and it’s flexible enough that I think this will see play as time goes on.

Which is Strongest?

I think that it’s pretty clear that original Innistrad block was the strongest block for impacting multiple formats for the longest time, and Shadows block came in and did make an impact, most of the cards were eventually overshadowed by other powerful cards in other sets. Innistrad: Double Feature is still very young as I said before, and we do have some strong cards. I don’t know that it’s up to the power level that the older blocks were.

That being said, I think that while the older sets had some incredible cards, I think that Double Feature is probably the strongest of the 3 if you’re only looking at standard or limited environments. With the expanded card pool of older formats like Modern, Pioneer, or even Historic, we’re able to better use the powerful spells of older Innistrad, but generally as a stand alone block, the newer stuff is incredibly strong.

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