April 2016: Shadows over Innistrad
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Oct. 31, 2015, 6:42 p.m. by JWiley129
Announced during GP Indy, the Spring 2016 set is Shadows over Innistrad!
Edits for FAQ:
- Here is Mark Rosewater on why we're getting two returns in a row.
my review of the spoiled cards:
Nahiri: at first glance, thought she was garbage. then realized how good her ult is and how her +1 fuels delirium and madness. great card.
Anguished Unmaking: THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 life is nothing, especially if you are playing w/b. could see modern play, and definite standard play.
descend upon the sinful: could see a bit of standard control play, but i see this more in EDH. overall, great card.
angel of deliverance: The card's text is amazing, shame it costs 8. could try brewing with it in ramp and Pathway Arrows.
sinister concoction: 2 mana removal that fuels madness and basicaly in one card gets you delirium? sign me up! will see standard play and amazing in limited.
nephalia moondrakes: Jank
Startled Awake/persistent nightmare: hilarious in limited because 13 is pretty much half your opponents deck, but otherwise, not that good.
Drogskol cavalry: bad in standard. no play. decent in limited or some janky spirit EDH deck. only good thing of this: SPIRIT TRIBAL IS COMING BACK!
March 14, 2016 12:16 p.m.
Don't see why Nahiri's ultimate would be that bad in Standard, she fits great with some existing staples in her colors, she's clearly not meant for an aggro deck but that ultimate has so many ways to screw the opponent... like hey here's a hasty Ulamog that's gonna mill you, or even fetching a Goblin Dark-Dwellers and trigger his ETB twice... so many possibilities! I'm definitely in, it's gonna be fun to play her with Eldrazi Displacer, specially now that Battlefield Forge won't rotate.
March 14, 2016 12:18 p.m.
PistonGolem says... #5
The story part is more important. A Harbinger is something that comes before something greater, a forerunner. What is she a Harbinger of? Is she going to be a Forerunner of Slaughter by coming before Emrakul?
March 14, 2016 12:23 p.m.
EverythingIsK says... #6
Because cheating in an emrakul or blightsteel colossus with haste for one turn wouldn't change anything on the battlefield...
... Said no one ever.
March 14, 2016 12:24 p.m.
Well, at least those who think Nahiri is on Innistrad to summon Eldrazi can do that with her. - Ultimate an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or a Kozilek, the Great Distortion into play. - Still nothing making me think Emrakul will be in the Block.
March 14, 2016 12:33 p.m.
KillDatBUG says... #8
I'm rather disappointed by most of these. Only card I'm seeing so far that'll see play for sure is Anguished Unmaking, simply because it's a good removal spell.
March 14, 2016 12:45 p.m. Edited.
is anyone else reminded of action movie explosions when they look at nahiri's artwork?
March 14, 2016 12:55 p.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #10
None of the recently spoiled cards strike me as particularly powerful outside of Limited.
March 14, 2016 12:58 p.m.
DID ANYONE ELSE READ THE FLAVOR TEXT OF Anguished Unmaking?! SORIN KILLS AVACYN. Sorry for the caps, but DAMN.
Sorin had created Avacyn, so it was a cruelty beyong imagining, a pain beyond description, that it fell upon him to end her forever
O.O
March 14, 2016 1:01 p.m. Edited.
JohnnyBaggins Anguished Unmaking is incredibly powerful.
March 14, 2016 1:03 p.m.
DrFunk27 I saw that text and loved it. So much flavor and very powerful writing.
March 14, 2016 1:03 p.m.
Wow.. Everything spoiled, except Anguished Unmaking, seems really really bad..
March 14, 2016 1:08 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #16
It feels like there's a lot of redundancy in that flavor text. Like on Ancient Grudge.I much prefer 4chan's mockups. Or even this:
It was a cruelty beyond imagining, a pain beyond description, that it fell upon Sorin to end Avacyn.
Also, still have my reservations about the "pain beyond description" part. I'd better see a damn good story about this.
March 14, 2016 1:08 p.m.
Thank god people started backing nahiri's ultimate. Like I'm sorry she is amazing for a deck like Mardu control where you can keep the board clear and fish for more answers at the same time followed by an emptied board ultimate to get blightsteel colossos and swing unblocked, meanwhile if you manage to accidentally draw into blight steel you can just plus nahiri and pitch him to your graveyard which shuffles him into the deck and let's you save all your removal and helixes on opponents creature since their life total no longer matters to you when you straight up one shot them on her ultimate.
March 14, 2016 1:11 p.m.
"Wow.. Everything spoiled, except Anguished Unmaking, seems really really bad.."
"None of the recently spoiled cards strike me as particularly powerful outside of Limited."
And this is why I warn people to always temper their expectations and to not make sweeping generalizations until after the entire set has been revealed.
March 14, 2016 1:12 p.m.
Well I mean if sorin views his creation as a child seeing how it's a living being I could see being forced to kill your own child as an undescribable pain.
March 14, 2016 1:14 p.m.
JWiley129 new Nahiri seems very underwhelming...
+2: Card filtering. Thats nice i guess. Nothing i would dedicate a spot in my deck for tho. Compare with Dack Fayden even tho he was never standard. Dack cost 3 and filters much better.
-2: Requires stuff to be tapped. Really? She cant protect herself unless the threat is tapped when you play her.
-8: 2 turns for the ult is good, and the ult is ok in decks that packs Emrakul or Blightsteel to support it. However, a planeswalker should not be judged by their ult. A single Lightning Bolt delays your "win" with 2 turns..
She is very underwhelming. If she cost 3 she would be decent.
March 14, 2016 1:16 p.m.
JWiley129 There are so many cards left to spoil, people need to chill out. lol We are 67/297. No need to panic....yet.
March 14, 2016 1:16 p.m.
JWiley129: We are not judging the entire set, just the "recently spoiled cards"
March 14, 2016 1:17 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #23
Wow a mortal species, the Kor, can live 1000+ years like immortal vampires and dragons? Sorry, no. And this ancient Kor was absent from her home plane at the moment when all the planeswalkers converge to challenge the Eldrazi? HUGE flavor fail, to the highest degree. Sorry Nahiri, you died 900 years ago.
March 14, 2016 1:17 p.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #24
Oh, Anguished Unmaking is insane. I forgot about that for a moment. And no, not Nahiri. Nahiri strikes me as a card that you'll -2 twice and that's it. She's not bad, but I'm far from amazed.
March 14, 2016 1:17 p.m.
smackjack - Nahiri has some flaws, sure, however her removal is exile and while requiring the creature to be tapped is a cost there is a creature in standard we already have she synergizes with. Eldrazi Displacer. I'm not sure Nahiri is a T4 planeswalker in most decks, but she has legs.
March 14, 2016 1:18 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #26
dan8080: Like I've said before, I've never seen Sorin view Avacyn as anything other than the necessary piece that keeps the plane balanced.
I could be wrong though. I don't think we've ever truly seen what Sorin thinks of Avacyn other than his responsibility.
March 14, 2016 1:20 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #28
About Nahiri: she will be as good as madness and delirium are pushed in this set. If madness and delirium are playable and plentiful, she will be very good. If not, she'll probably be mediocre at best.
March 14, 2016 1:22 p.m.
JWiley129: Yes, but if you plan on using Eldrazi Displacer to get things tapped when you play Nahiri you suddenly have invested 7 mana to exile a creature.. Its good to exile creatures, but its really bad to pay 7 mana for it.
March 14, 2016 1:23 p.m.
I'm just hoping that tomorrow they will decide to focus on spoiling the werewolves since Arlinn Kord is supposed to be spoiled!
March 14, 2016 1:26 p.m.
The Heirloom would be a little more flavourful if the reverse side had "If ~ becomes unattached, transform it." rather than "Equip: 
". (It, once again, becomes 'Neglected')
It does seem like something I would like to Equip to Elusive Tormentor.
March 14, 2016 1:28 p.m. Edited.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #32
Hello? Flavor department? Community backlash? She's frickin dead! Kor, human, merfolk, leonin: mortal species! Nahiri: Kor. Mortal. Dead 900 years ago. Who gives a shit about her playability, they're rewriting, or better yet ignoring, basic foundations to the lore. Boooo MaRo, booooo!
March 14, 2016 1:29 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #33
Jimmy_Chinchila: you may be forgetting that, up until around 100 years ago, Nahiri actually was practically immortal. So she started aging again relatively recently.
Not that I'm claiming Kor can easily live to be over 100, but Liliana was able to retain her youth and power. Maybe Nahiri found a way as well.
March 14, 2016 1:29 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #34
Lili steals souls and has demonic runes inscribed on her body. If she didn't, she'd also be dead. We haven't heard from Nahiri since before Ugin originally died. Unless she was in an Ugin-like cocoon, she should not exist in this timeline. And I don't recall Sarkhan going back in time to put her into one...
March 14, 2016 1:32 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #35
Maybe if we just waited until the set came out and we learned more about her and the story, we'd find out...
March 14, 2016 1:33 p.m.
Let's also not forget that much of that 100 years she was in a stasis like slumber... while at the chamber with the Eye of Ugin, which has various, as of yet unspecified, magical abilities.
March 14, 2016 1:34 p.m. Edited.
So, the Heirloom + Heir of Falkenrath is a 6/5 flier with first strike for 4 mana and a card on turn 3 attacking?
March 14, 2016 1:35 p.m.
EverythingIsK says... #38
Nice dude, blaming Mark Rosewater for the entire lore of nahiri. Nice.
Not to mention she was set in stone at ugin's nexus. She was being preserved.
March 14, 2016 1:35 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #39
Pretty sure the Mending hadn't occurred when she broke out and stopped the Eldrazi. That was 1000ish years ago.
March 14, 2016 1:36 p.m.
mymanpotsandpans says... #40
"Centuries later she became tired of living, and withdrew in a meditation slumber."
March 14, 2016 1:37 p.m.
Here is the most recent update on her:
"Whereabouts unknown for nearly a thousand years. The kor Planeswalker Nahiri, called the Lithomancer, was one of the three Planeswalkers who first imprisoned the Eldrazi on her home plane of Zendikar over six thousand years ago. For thousands of years she silently watched over her plane, even spending some of her time with her own kor people. The most recent account of Nahiri is nearly a thousand years old now, as she singlehandedly defended her plane from a temporary re-emergence of the Eldrazi titans. But she was forced to do so alone, despite a distress call to her original Planeswalker companions and pledged guardians of the planes the vampire Sorin Markhov and the Spirit Dragon Ugin. We last saw her planeswalking away nearly a millennium ago, in search of her mysteriously absent ally and old friend, Sorin. . ." - Source
So, I was incorrect in thinking she had spent the past ~100 yeas in a slumber... it was the ~5000 years prior to her awakening that she spent in the slumber.
Still, it was in the presence of the Eye of Ugin, so who knows what that may have done to/for her.
March 14, 2016 1:41 p.m. Edited.
New Nahiri seems good. The colors seem awkward (white). +2 builds damn quickly, and filters cards. -2 is usually just threat of activation, but can actually be useful. -8 wins the game, pretty much. Supports Emrakul theory somewhat. She's certainly summoning something big. EDH and Standard play possible.
Startled Awake is GOAT. I want 13. In foil. And I'm making decks around it. Also, Nightmare tribal.
Descend upon the Sinful could see Standard and certainly EDH play entirely because of the exile clause, but it's kinda meh. Too expensive.
TFW Utter End for 1 less mana (but paying life) in the colors that gain life. Hey, at least we have a better comparison than Utter End for Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim! Standard play very likely, EDH likely.
March 14, 2016 1:57 p.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #43
I don't want to wait for 15th/17th for Arlinn and Sorin to be revealed. These are two cards I'm really excited for.
March 14, 2016 1:59 p.m.
The flavor text for it is great. Kinda spoils the lore aspect of things though
March 14, 2016 2 p.m.
elpokitolama says... #45
HOLY FUCKING SHIT I'VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY TO BE WRONG NAHIRI IS FUCKING AMAZING
Well, to me that means we won't get Liliana or Tamiyo though.
The unmaking is one of the tools Mardu desperatly needed though, and it can be a nice addition in esper strategies
But wait wait wait, does that mean we're getting four walkers already in SOI?! Jace and Sorin are confirmed by the art displayed on boosters (not so sure about Jace, the art can be for an instant or sorcery, but Sorin is 100% sure).
Or... 6 walkers in SOI+EM? :D
March 14, 2016 2:05 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #46
Ok so she used Ugin's Magic to stay alive, as the mending affected all the walkers simultaneously.
Also, MaRo gives final approval on all storylines, he's the final approval needed, so any inconsistencies are indeed his fault. That's literally his job.
March 14, 2016 2:05 p.m.
By the way guys, Persistent Nightmare (the creature side) goes to the graveyard face-up. Still don't get it? Its face-up side is the side that lets you reanimate it transformed.
March 14, 2016 2:06 p.m.
EverythingIsK says... #48
There's an entire R&D department that he works with as well. Sure he has say on what's finalized, but he doesn't push what others (namely the story team) don't agree on. And Nahiri showing up is an example of this if you read the lore more carefully.
March 14, 2016 2:12 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #49
B/W seems so strong as control deck now; so tough to ignore now :(
March 14, 2016 2:13 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #50
Rayenous thank you for posting that, explains a lot
secondwhiteline says... #1
VampireArmy: Thanks! I figured it was still the same card, but I was really hoping otherwise.
And Na-hiring Dark Dwellers to recast Anguished Unmaking...Standard's gonna be mean.
March 14, 2016 12:14 p.m.