Innistrad features 4 mechanics, one of which is a returning mechanic. Let's start with the returning mechanic and get progressively cooler from there.
Flashback was a mechanic introduced originally during Odyssey block and made a return in Time Spiral block (along with every mechanic made up until that point). Flashback will return once again in Innistrad, but as of right now, there are only 3 cards that have flashback:
Moan of the Unhallowed
Sorcery
2BB
Put two 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield
Flashback 5BB
This card isn't too exciting, except I know it will absolutely be a sweet card in limited.
This card could see constructed play in a R/x control deck as it is flexible between being a 2-for-1 or being a suprise finisher. Once again, this card is basically a Fireball and thus is a bomb for limited (though it is a rare)
Travel Preparations
Sorcery
1G
Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures
Flashback 1W
I really wish this card was an instant because then it could be a cool combat trick. As is, I doubt this will see play in my sealed deck or any deck I play, which is unfortunate.
So that's all we have for Flashback, which isn't too exciting. However, I said Innistrad was going to be amazing, so let's hit up some new mechanics!
There is a new enchantment subtype in Innistrad called Curse. First, can i say how awesome the idea of having curse cards is for the horror set? With curse cards, you enchant players - yourself or your opponents - and based on the one spoiled card so far, an effect will take place every turn. Here is our only spoiled curse card thus far:
How sweet is this card!? First, I want to point out how the subtype is Aura CURSE. That means theres a good chance of a curse deck arising if enough pro-curse cards get printed, which Mark Rosewater hinted there would be. Now onto what the card actually does: slow mill. I am willing to bet this card could see some constructed play. With flashback returning as well, this card could be used so you could Ancestral Recall every turn by milling 2 and drawing 1. Hopefully you mill some flashback cards and you will have more spells ready to be cast than you can manage!
However I am willing to bet there will be curses that are reminiscint of the Zendikar trap cards. For example, imagine this card:
Life Sucks
Enchantment - Aura Curse
2RB
Enchant Player
Whenever enchanted player gains life, that player loses 2 life for each 1 life that player gained
The card doesn't do anything except on certain triggers, at which point it shuts down a certain aspect of their traditional gameplay. Curses could get pretty big in this regard! Consider:
Mindlessness
Eachantment - Aura Curse
4BBB
Enchant Player
Whenever Enchanted Player casts a spell, that player discards a card
This is the type of card that can immediatly lock a player out of the game. Although now that I think about it, this card is the same as Painful Quandry, but play along... There's a lot of great design space with curses and I am really excited to see where the real creative professionals run with it!
But off to another mechanic! The next one the roster is a mechanic that I can see being used all over the post-rotation Birthing Pod deck: Morbid. Morbid, as of right now, is a mechanic that when a creature ETB, if another creature died earlier that turn, then an effect happens. Like curse, there is only 1 card printed that has a morbid ability announced thus far, but this one isn't too exciting:
Cool, you gain some life and get a dude... This guy will be awesome in limited, but the mechanic is really whats so cool! Think about this in limited first: you have a 1/1 and they have a 3/1 and they attack you. Do you block? This could be a very frequent problem in future limited environments. Consider this:
Morbid Warrior
2GG
Morbid - If a creature died this turn, Morbid Warrior enters the battlefield with 2 +1/+1 counters on it
3/3
If creatures come out like this as bloodthirst spin-offs, combat could get awkward. You could have taken 3 and then just faced off against a 3/3 which is manageable, or you can save 3 life now and face down this scary 5/5 beatstick. Like Landfall, I can see this mechanic evolving over the course of the block to include things like enchantments and instants just to stir the combat pot a little more!
I can also see Morbid as a part of all kinds of decks in constructed. Imagine having Morbid cards in hand with a card like Bloodthrone Vampire in play. Then you are in full control of your Morbid triggers, and you can take a quick trip to value town when you have a bunch of death trigger guys like Occulus or Archon of Justice! Also, Birthing Pod.dec will absolutely gain some beautiful goodies from this set as guys will now have the capability of getting boosts. As of right now, the Birthing Pod decks are more or less control decks either by making infinite Acidic Slimes and land locking the opponent, or by dropping guys like Elesh Norn or Inferno Titan that take control of the opponent's board presence. With certain Morbid triggers, I'm willing to bet we could have a deck where Morbid creatures come down and beat face very quickly!
Now we come to our last mechanic, and let me tell you, this is an exciting mechanic! There doesn't seem to be any official name for the mechanic, whether its transform or double face cards, but either way this mechanic shatters what anyone thought was the limits for magic card design. You know how each magic card ever printed has this back:
Yeah, well that's not there anymore... Instead we have cards that have a face on both sides of the card!! I'm not a very creative person (as you can see by my card mock-ups for various mechanics is really just other cards reformed to match new mechanics), but I absolutely would NEVER have thought of this! Before I talk too much about this new mechanic, let's show off a mediocre card with this mechanic:
Ok, that's interesting and all, it adds a little randomness as the card will flip back and forth randomly depending how the game rolls. Once again we see how this mechanic messes with resource management as if your opponent wants to shrink down your Werewolf, they have to cast 2 spells in one turn. One thing I want to point out is how in the upper left corner, there's a day/night symbol on either half of the card. That's just awesome! Now, I said that guy was mediocre, so what's a more exciting double face card?
Yeah! A 0/3 wall! Take that fool! What's up? Come at me bro!
I told you, come at me, but nope, now you're the dead one! This guy specifically feels like a combination of Morph and Level Up, but it has it's own identity. I can absolutely see this guy being played in a U/x control deck as a finisher. This card reminds me of Tarmogoyf in that its not too scary if you drop it on turn 2 (Goyf is often just a 1/2 thanks to your fetch land), but in a very few short turns it puts you on a 2 turn clock! One thing I want to point out is that to add a hatchling counter on Ludevic's Test Subject, you can do it instant speed (like Figure of Destiny). So now you can pass turn to your opponent with 2 mana up and they still have to play around mana leak. If they don't play anything worthwhile, you just prepare them for their decimation! Also, as I understand, there should be no new instance of summoning sickness added when the card is flipped over, so if you want you could invest 4 or 6 mana to add whatever last hatchling counters you need and immediatly attack for 13 trample and put them in a situation where they HAVE to do something or else they lose. And in the meantime you still have a 0/3 wall to hold back an attacker and save yourself some life. I believe this guy will be played heavily in limited and constructed in control decks for months to come!
Now I do have one inherent problem with flip cards: the whole not having a real card back problem. Whenever I draft at the store, no one cares enough to put their draft deck into sleeves. Even in constructed with sleeves, Dragonshields can be translucent and you would be able to see exactly which card you will draw next turn through the sleeve, which would lead to many cheating scandles. This causes the need for a TON of proxies, especially if you want to make a Werewolf tribal deck. Thankfully WotC thought of that problem, and make official proxy cards:
With this card, which I believe will be in the token slot of a booster pack, you clearly identify which of the 20 double face cards it represents (every color gets at least 2, this is going to be awesome!), then when you play the guy you pull the real card from your tokens pile and continue as normal. Get as many of these double face tokens as fast as you can, they will be used heavily for the next 2 years. I think if I use double face cards in tournaments, I will use this token just to ensure I don't get called out for cheating. You know somebody is going to go out of their way trying to snipe other players (because they suck). I really like double face cards, and I can't wait to see what other cards will come from the mechanic in the weeks and sets to come!
I have been talking forever, so it's time to wrap things up. Overall, I am absolutely stoked for Innistrad and I can't wait for the official spoilers to start rolling in tomorrow! One thing I like is how resource management is getting pulled subtly in many directions with Flashback, Morbid, and double faced cards. This set is just dripping with flavor, and I'm absolutely ready to hop on this terrifying bandwagon for the next year!
Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
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