Innistrad: Spectral Legions Review (Part 1 of 2)

One of the most common White/Blue archetypes also happens to be one of the game’s least interesting when it comes to Intro Packs. Although it’s hard to argue against the enduring recurrence of the popular ‘skies’ deck, there often isn’t a whole lot that can give the strategy a unique and intriguing flavour. Its not that Wizards hasn’t tried. Alara Reborn’s Legion Aloft was the first of this type, and it gave the skies strategy an artifact theme. Still, it was a bit of a hodge-podge amalgamation of defender creatures and gimmicky ones like the Aven Mimeomancer.

Worldwake next tried to get in on the act with Flyover, which featured a synergy between a high number of flyers and the Archon of Redemption, which gave you life for each one. Even the nonflyer support contingent of cards like the Surrakar Banisher and Kor Cartographer could get in on the action thanks to the Wind Drake, but overall the deck couldn’t shake a somewhat pedestrian feel. Outside of the Archon, cards like Apex Hawks and Lightkeeper of Emeria were serviceable, but not especially exciting. It felt more like ‘a collection of cards’ rather than a deck, which is a fair charge to level to most anything without Vampires in it from Zendikar and Worldwake.

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Innistrad: Deathly Dominion Review (Part 2 of 2)

Can the Humans of Repel the Dark withstand the death-obsessed fiends of Deathly Dominion? Jimi and I aim to find out, and see how the morbid mechanic plays out in the heat of the moment. Will I be able to crank out massive bruisers against which to prayer can withstand? Or will Jimi’s Humans come together and drive back the dark after all? To find out, we sat down for our usual three games, and here are the notes.

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Innistrad: Deathly Dominion Review (Part 1 of 2)

At the first meeting of the design team for Innistrad, lead designer Mark Rosewater had everyone present list out every theme and trope they could think of, writing them on a whiteboard. By the end of the session, there were a ton of ideas floating around. To be certain, you had the list of monster types like Vampire and Werewolf. Transformation was a big one, as evidenced by the dual-faced cards. And of course, lurking in the background like a shade was the one concept that appears in virtually every horror movie or story ever made: death.

Ordinarily, death signals the end of something. A person passes away, their remains are properly disposed of (if they are so fortunate), and the material possessions they collected over their lifetime are distributed to those surviving them (if again, they are so fortunate). Whether the end comes in silent claiming in the middle of the night or in a violent flurry of biting and tearing, it comes for us all. In Deathly Dominion, Innistrad’s Black/Green deck, death represents something else. Opportunity.

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Innistrad: Eldritch Onslaught Review (Part 2 of 2)

In our deck review, we found Eldritch Onslaught to be a most intriguing construction in the same wacky and spell-heavy Izzet mould as Mirrodin Besieged’s Mirromancy. This time, rather than abuse a Galvanoth for extra card advantage, the deck wants you to exploit the flashback mechanic. Towards that end, it packs in a number of self-milling options, ways to get your own cards into the graveyard. Each flashback card dumped in this way is a way to expand your options to affect the board state and ensure victory.

To serve as the opposition today, Jimi is playing the Black/Green morbid-based Deathly Dominion. Let’s see how they fare against one another!

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Innistrad: Eldritch Onslaught Review (Part 1 of 2)

Mirrodin Besieged’s Mirromancy was in some ways the most intriguing Intro Pack release of the block. Since the transition from the Theme Deck to the Intro Pack which begun with Shards of Alara, set-released precons have tended to follow a rather simplistic strategy: load up with creatures, and use noncreature spells as support. Although a viable strategy, like anything else it can grow stale with overuse. The Theme Decks had a long tradition of variety, with a number of decks leaning more heavily on spells rather than creatures (most famously The Sparkler from Stronghold, which had only three creatures- and two of them Walls!). In many cases, like the decks of Magic 2011 or even Conflux’s Naya Domain, even a relatively high noncreature content didn’t necessarily mean that they were going to take anything other than a back seat to your beaters.

Mirromancy for the first time in the modern Intro Pack era turned this formula on its head. Your spells weren’t there to support your creatures- they were legitimate and consistent win conditions of their own. Indeed, the deck’s foil premium rare- which usually gives good insight into the deck’s aims and means- itself was designed to support a spell-heavy deck. Sure Galvanoth was a 4/4 body, but his free-cast ability thrived on a spell-rich (and by necessity somewhat creature-poor) environment. Blisterstick Shaman was a ping-on-a-stick, and Fire Servant was there to support your burn cards. In that light, Eldtritch Onslaught is Mirromancy’s successor, right down to the Izzet colour scheme of Blue and Red.

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Innistrad: Repel the Dark Review (Part 2 of 2)

Our next match its the Humans of Repel the Dark against the very Vampires we just left behind! Innistrad is full of perils for mankind, of which the Vampires are but one. Still, if Sam has her way, she’ll leave Repel the Dark an empty husk, drained of all life. Do the Humans have what it takes to stand up to this diabolic predation? Here are our game notes as we look to find out.

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Innistrad: Repel the Dark Review (Part 1 of 2)

In our last review we looked at the Vampires of Innistrad, as represented by their deck Carnival of Blood. Fearsome for certain, but the wary inhabitants of that benighted plane would tell you, however, that they are but one of the many perils that surround them. In the forests the Werewolves prowl, rending the flesh of any so unfortunate as to encounter one. From the dead the Spirits walk, as oftentimes the corpses do on their own accord. There is no Roil and no compleation, but there are no shortages of way to die here. Against any one of these fiends most Humans would stand little chance, but there is something available to the good citizens of the world that can withstand nearly any peril.

Teamwork.

Trite as it sounds, there is little strength like strength in numbers, and this is the survival mechanism of the Humans, those who feed most every scourge that assaults them. Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies and Spirits all have their origin in man, and many live off them still. In times past they could rely upon their faith in the Church of Avacyn to keep evil at bay (for the night is dark and full of terrors). Since Avacyn’s disappearance from the world, however, they have increasingly had to rely on far more tangible resources to stay alive- their brawn, and their wits.

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Innistrad: Carnival of Blood Review (Part 2 of 2)

It’s our leadoff game for Innistrad, and we couldn’t be more excited. After the lot of us feeling somewhat less than enthusiastic by the end of Scars Block, the release of a set as flavourful as Innistrad has the house buzzing. Today I’m piloting the Vampire deck, Carnival of Blood, and Jimi has her pick of the litter to pit against me. She opts to go for the Spirit tribal deck, Spectral Legions. We shuffle them up, deal out seven, and kick things off! Here are our notes from this first match.

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Innistrad: Carnival of Blood Review (Part 1 of 2)

Ten years ago, Wizards of the Coast introduced a new world to players of Magic, and a new story began. Set on a remote continent of the world, Otaria, 2001’s Odyssey brought a new cast of characters, new themes, and- of course- new mechanics. Although there wasn’t a great deal of flavourful resonance typing the mechanic to the set, the graveyard became the focus of the new bag of tricks. First up was a mechanic that rewarded you for having a well-stocked graveyard, with spells and creatures that became more powerful when a threshold of seven cards were there. And while the set included a number of ways to stock it, flashback ensured that played or discarded cards could have a second lease on life.

These were fine enough ideas, but there was some feeling within Wizards that the set really didn’t quite do them justice. Without any thematic tie to the graveyard they were more or less just naked mechanics, and it had the feeling of an opportunity missed. What a graveyard-based set really needed was something that would weave in the tropes and themes associated with actual graveyards. What it needed was a little dose of horror.

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