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
We can’t talk about original Innistrad block without talking about the 3 most expensive cards in the block. Snapcaster Mage, Liliana of the Veil, 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 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.
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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.
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Blood Artist
Blood Artist
Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
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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
- Unburial Rites
- Lingering Souls
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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.
With Shadows block, we have another powerful Liliana in Liliana, the Last Hope, which was huge in Modern and Pioneer for a long time. Thalia’s Lieutenant 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 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
- Declaration in Stone
- Grim Flayer
- All the Madness Cards
- Nahiri, the Harbinger
- Spell Queller
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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.
Yes most of the cards here are blue, but they’re very very good. Consider 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 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 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.