Imagine yourself, a powerful mage, staring down thirteen zombies. You are able to turn around to run, but when you do so, there are six more coming your way. Just when they strike, a mist rolls in and saves you, but to no avail. Thirteen more undead creatures have you counting your moments left among the living. Just when all hope is lost, all hell breaks loose. Some sort of Divine Reckoning leaves just you and one of these zombies on the battlefield. The tide has been turned.
A More Engaging Format
Say what you will about Innistrad’s impact on Constructed, but these sorts of momentum swings are going to be integral in what is shaping up to be the best limited format since Ravnica Block, and possibly the most flavorful limited environment ever. The cards have a flavor to them that instill a sense of impending dread or a shimmering ray of hope. The hard-hitters crash into the red zone hard, and the support cards do just that — support your cause.
Looting it up, then bashing hard.
You have to worry about werewolves transforming into powerful beasts. You will find yourself looking for a sacrifice outlet in order to achieve Morbid. Most of all, you’re able to play almost every card in the set. Cards that wouldn’t get a second look in another format have the ability to be all-stars in this environment.
A Flavorful Game Environment
As mentioned in the introduction, the game-states you will find yourself in just ooze with flavor. From mad scientists to monstrous werewolves to Van Helsing himself, the games are always interesting. The flavor translates into the actual games as well. The powerful level of the set is very low, so the bomb rares become even more powerful. Seeing Olivia Voldaren across the table from you is actually like being confronted with death. Watching your opponent Mindshrieker himself into a Skaab Ruinator is thoroughly demoralizing.
This Guy is the Real Deal
Even the draft process has an element of suspense to it. That moment where you first pick a card that Transforms, and your opponent realizes that the two of you are sharing a color is a classic moment of horror. The person to my right seeing me pick Instigator Gang first in pack two caused him to freak out and change his strategy. This weakened his pool and strengthened mine. While this extreme isn’t always going to happen, the choice to leave your transform cards revealed for at least a moment will have an effect on the mentality of your fellow drafters. You are either going to be reassuring in that you aren’t in their colors or you are going to be the villain and cut them for at least a pack. Wondering why you aren’t getting a ton of quality cards in your color, and then seeing the person to your right taking a transform card in your color can change the entire tone of your draft.
Low in Power, High in Skill
All of these are desperate situations, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel. There is a huge amount of removal in the set, and working your way out of a bad situation is possible in any color. At the prerelease, in the same game as my opponent appeared to be crushing me with Mindshrieker, I cast Fiend Hunter to deal with the Ruinator and played Prey Upon to crush the Mindshrieker. These game states are very common and momentum swings come at the drop of a hat. You find yourself holding onto your cheaper spells just in case you have to transform your opponent’s Werewolves back into their weaker human forms. The moment of realization that when you know you can blow them out with a wrath and a Village Cannibals or Angel of Flight Alabaster is golden.
Yeah, that's fair.
Many of the creatures are very weak, and boards commonly become cluttered unlike many other formats. This builds suspense that builds as the players develop a stand-off and wait to see who crashes in first. Many times, a well-placed removal spell will generate a blow-out, and in a format where creatures quickly transform from 2/2s to 5/4s and from 1/1s to 3/3s, properly rationing your removal becomes vital.
Balanced Colors, Level Playing Field
In many formats, there is one color that stands out as the weakest. This is not immediately apparent with Innistrad. One could argue that Red’s lack of sheer creature quality makes it the weakest, but it is easily the best support color with removal spells like Geistflame and Brimstone Volley, and bombs like Devils Play or Blasphemous Act. Black has an insane amount of removal all the way from common to rare. Much of it is conditional — I don’t know how many times at the prerelease I found myself stuck with a Corpse Lunge that was at least one damage short — but removal is removal and making smart plays with it will get you out of more sticky situations than in many formats in recent memory. In many other formats, Green is the weak link. In Innistrad, it has some of the best creatures and actually has removal at common — something that it has lacked in almost every other format.
Blue Stands out as the most powerful color, with many efficient creatures such as Stiched Drake and Murder of Crows and efficient pseudo-removal spells like Claustrophobia and Grasp of Phantasms. White is very strong too, with some of the most powerful rares in the set and some efficient dudes and removal. Howerver, you could argue that a lot of its common creatures have one or two toughness, which leaves them vulnerable to the bevy of removal that is at your table’s disposal.
Air Elemental now loots too!
Wizard’s R&D Department really was able to vary the power level of cards among the common runs, and it helps players understand what colors are available and what is being cut from them. This is often a problem with Green, but getting passed a powerful werewolf like Ulvenwald Mystics or an Orchard Spirit sixth or seventh is vastly different than getting passed a Lumberknot or Grave Bramble. In previous formats, getting a big dumb green dude meant nothing because of how common they were. While this is still partially true, a player can easily tell if they’re just getting trash or if they’re receiving a wonderful late gift.
Classical Horror Brought to Life
Wizards really hit the ball out of the park with Innistrad. From the actual draft process to the gameplay, the set is totally full of flavor and instills a sense of immersion while you are playing the game. Whether you are frantically hoping to topdeck a spell to keep Grizzled Outcasts from transforming or you are staring down thirteen tapped zombies, wondering if you have any outs to the mayhem that is about to ensue, the idea of bringing classical horror to Magic is already an outstanding success. I know that I look forward to drafting this set and playing the sealed in PTQs for the next several months. I hope that you will too. Thanks for reading.
-Geo Thornton
Innistrad is going to be a great limited set: That is for sure. I am sure we are all sick of the m12 format. Great article. I am looking for evaluations of the Innistrad format once it clears up a little.
look at this nigga getting paid for writing articles
swag it out Geo with your pale ass
Draftmagic has become such a sad little place…..shame
What the fuck are you two idiots talking about?
This is what you get for having no registration requirements for posting :P
Love the reply Marlon! Great article, it’s fueling my need to draft Innistrad even more!
I guess the dumb people are talking about the fact this has little to no strategy in the article. However, I enjoyed reading it just as a hype tool for what has been a fun set to draft so far.
Seriously I can’t wait to see how other people are drafting this when it comes out online. I drafted a blue/green deck last night that just had a multitude of crazy synergies that I didn’t even notice until I was playing the deck.
@tragic – I agree.
Haters gonna hate , I guess. It’s tough to write strategy articles for a set so early in its lifespan. I felt like this would be a good lead-in to the format and a good way to get people excited.
I had planned on my first two articles to be a bit strategy-light because I wanted to get completely comfortable before I went out on a limb calling certain decks “archetypes” and formed my opinions on the common runs for the set, etc.
@those who enjoyed this article for what it was, thanks! I appreciate the support!
Good article, the strategy was really insightful and I can’t wait to read more of your engaging, interesting articles. (end sarcasm)
“bah all these cards suck if you’re a good player like me you’ll win every match!”
Oh Mindshrieker! You are a crafty wordsmith! Here, I’ve put the internets on a small pedestal so you can put it on the shelf with your other trophies.
Geo, nice article, tough to get that first one out there sometimes, good job. Looking forward to your next one.
what a boner of an article. very interesting
Geo stop trolling us with your infinite innistrad strategy wisdom. We are not worthy. Actually, your article sucks. Try to say something we don’t know next time, thanks.
@Trolololol – instead of being a total dick, send us a link to your site. I am sure it is filled with your wisdom – jackass.
I love how people need to have strategy articles and can’t just read this to get psyched for when they go out to actually play with the cards. To be honest, you did talk about “metastrategy” (what??) when you discuss the thoughts and feelings that go through a person’s head when someone picks a bomb flip card. Do you concede the color to that person? Cut them off?? You don’t tell the reader what to do but you wrote in a descriptive enough way that I can picture myself in that situation and hopefully not be blindsided if it happens tonight.
Great article! I agree that Innistrad has the elements of “true” magic that people are so desperately looking for these days. With combo decks ruling constructed formats, and over powered cards and decks winning without a lot of real skill, I think Innistrad limited is the perfect place to relax and play some real magic.
PS> I think it’s hilarious that people find the need to troll wherever and whenever they get the chance. I for one can’t wait for more articles from draftmagic, thats why people pay for premium on starcitygames and thats just one more reason why I’m going to keep checking draftmagic everyday. Just keep in mind that most trolls are either very young, or very bitter.
Yo Trolls. I know you’re mad that Geo is a better writer than you.
A’ yo I like crack-a-lacking me some packs and like reading stale information that seems like it was copy and pasted from better sites like channelfireball.
Enjoyed the article, need more stuff to keep this site going :))). lol @ vito twin, you just contradicted yourself, it seems like it was copied from a better site? but it wasnt so infact this was a good article in your opinion? Anyway trolls will be trolls, whatever makes people feel better about whatever they are insecure about.
No, Slate steel, it’s stale not bad. Stale as in I’ve heard it multiple times from other sites and the other sites explain it much better. Thanks for trying.
vito twin, if other sites do it better why are you still here then???? i dont like your negative energy, but thank you for trying?
Marlon is always laying down the hammer on fools. I want to cut off my hand and mail it to him just so he can high-five it.
Not gonna lie, my experience last night has taught me. If you pop the bomb diggity flip card show and tell that shit like a jerk. Everybody just caved and gave me their cards…so I won the whole damn thing. Word of advice, somebody shows your their shit, draft aggressively and treat them bad or play for second place. Don’t just hand them what they want and cave in. I know “hatedrafting” is supposedly not good strategy but I think playing for second is just worse. At least think about cutting them off.
@Slate I’m here to watch Woodward draft, and the very interesting Brewing on a Budget’s. They’re pretty damn good. Unfortunately you get the generic shit like this that always goes with it.
Good article, happy to see content. Don’t mind the trolls.
I do have a difference of opinion though – to me it seems like there *is* an obvious weak color: black. It seems to have few playable common cards, especially creatures.
You can’t write on the internet and not expect to get flamed/trolled. It’s just a fact of life. My next article will be a little strategy-light as well (I’d only had six total INN drafts as of the writing of the second article). I’m not going to form an opinion and write about it when I haven’t played with the majority of the set. That’s just unprofessional.
@JSMill: I’m tending to agree now that I’ve got twice as many games under my belt as I had when I wrote this (which was after the prerelease). I’d still say they’re closer together than, Green for example, was in the passed few Core Sets.
@ross: There’s probably going to be that debate when physically drafting this block for the entirety of its lifetime. So far, I’ve kept that in mind while drafting, but it hasn’t yet caused me to totally shift my mentality. I’m sure if the person I’m passing to slams a Bloodline Keeper or a Garruk, I might try to keep them off of it though.
Lol @ geo calling starcity premium writers, channel fireball, and black border unprofessional because they haven’t “played with the majority of the set.” good one.
Faggots
@ross and geo; if they open garruk they will assurdely play it being one green as a color requirement.
god damn it how much of that 14 bucks does my clicking this generate
I disagree about the “awesomeness” of the horror flavor, but I do agree that the set is so far excellent for limited.
I also love the flavor of this set. Gameplay-wise, this has been by far one of the most fun limited formats I’ve played in a very long time.
@Guido: You assume that he is attacking other sites because he said that he doesn’t have enough experience yet to confidently divulge his impressions of the format. I can see that your standard operation is, “What is the WORST possible way that I can interpret this?” You are probably miserable to be around.
@Guido your attempts at trolling are terrible and only show you are a weak and mindless drone. You are either a blogger at these other sites or a feverish fanboy of these sites which might be only thing you do on the internet and it probably makes you feel better about yourself. you need it since you have to take the time to make sure everyone else knows you are miserable person and make them feel miserable with you.
@ Gus nice article. I like draftmagic and most of their articles here you have introduced new flavor to the site.
@marlon your drafts are funny and are full of rage. This makes me laugh. Pls do more thx
lol i worte “Gus”… i meant Geo…sorry
Marlon I think its time to re-implement the Delete-Morons policy.
Geo is a pro magic player.
@ Tea Gus is a pretty cool guy. He is obviously a pro magic player and doesn’t afraid of anything. The weak and mindless drones are the ones who take any magic article they see on this website and immediately praise it. Grow up people. Sure I might have some.. “bias” to other sites, but if this is what every article is going to look like, I’m sure I’m not in the minority when I say I’ll just straight up avoid Geo’s articles. Err… Gus’ articles.
@ Geo I’m sure the other trolls and I come across as retards, but be honest with yourself. You can’t just listen to the people who praise you, you’ll never get any better. We’re saying we don’t like it for a reason, not to be total douche bags. Thanks.