One of the first sets that made me fall in love with Magic was none other than the original Innistrad, released in the fall of 2011. The transforming cards, gothic-inspired art, and overall horror theme blew me away, and Innistrad quickly became my favorite plane in all of Magic. While we haven't visited the plane in some time, Innistrad Remastered releases this month, and I'm excited to sink my teeth into this new Limited environment.
Remastered sets are always interesting to evaluate, because they can contain cards from various stages in Magic's life cycle. For example, Dominaria Remastered featured cards like Dragon Engine, first printed as a rare in Revised, alongside cards like Tatyova, Benthic Druid, first introduced in Dominaria from 2018. While Innistrad doesn't have nearly as big as a delta between the years some of the cards in the set were printed, it is worth noting that the cards from the newer sets, like Crimson Vow and Midnight Hunt, will probably be worth more in terms of deck inclusion than cards from the original Innistrad block of Innistrad, Dark Ascension, and Avacyn Restored.
Another big part of Remastered sets to note for Limited play is the amount of rares that are allotted for reprints or are Commander-focused. Since Remastered sets aren't Standard-legal they're usually a little more geared towards the casual crowd, meaning that the likelihood of unplayable rares showing up in your Limited pools increases.
Before diving into some of the more nitty-gritty parts of this guide, keep in mind when playing this set to look for good power and synergy, and value some of the newer more powerful cards over the older, more "fun" looking ones.
Mechanics of Innistrad Remastered
There are a multitude of mechanics that show up in Innistrad Remastered from across the Innistrad sets. While I don't think it's worth writing up every mechanic that appears in the set, here are the key three that show up the most:
Flashback - Keyword ability that lets you cast a spell from your graveyard for a cost, then exiles it.
Disturb - Keyword ability that lets you cast the backside of certain cards for a cost. If that card would
Madness - Keyword ability that lets you cast cards if you were to discard them for a specified cost.
An important aspect of Innistrad Remastered Limited is managing your graveyard as a resource. With mechanics like Flashback, Madness, and Delirium floating around in this set, you get more value out of spells that either mill or make you discard cards.
Two-Color Combinations and Themes
Before giving a quick rundown of this set's two-color archetypes, it's worth pointing out that this set feels like decks will revolve less around a two-color theme, and more on finding synergies between specific cards or playing powerful cards.
For example, the only Rakdos represents vampires in this set, and there isn't one specific mechanic tied to that archetype. Vampires has both Madness and Blood tokens, with Bloodtithe Harvester as the only Rakdos signpost uncommon. However, there are only four other cards in the entire set that make Blood tokens at the common and uncommon level. This leads me to believe that if you end up Rakdos in a Draft, you aren't trying to build a full-on Madness or Blood-themed deck. Rather, you'll be looking to draft just good on-rate cards in your color combination, while also looking for synergies between individual cards, like Lightning Axe and Stromkirk Occultist, or Vilespawn Spider and Spider Spawning.
Another more weird aspect about this Limited format is that some two-color archetypes straight up don't have a multicolored signpost uncommon. I think recent Magic sets have led us to expect a plenty of multicolor cards in sets, but there actually aren't that many in this set, not counting rares and mythics. Azorius and Gruul straight-up don't have signpost multicolored uncommons, unless we're counting Spectral Shepherd and Wild Hunger, cards which by themselves are just kind of fine, not spectacular by any means. This gives me even more evidence that the direction you'll take in your Drafts will be more influenced by the power level of the cards you see, rather than picking a synergy or mechanic to follow - the direction just won't be there.
Anyway, here are the themes of the ten two-color archetypes in Innistrad Remastered:
- Selesnya (Green-White): Go-wide/tokens
- Boros (Red-White): Go-wide/aggro
- Rakdos (Red-Black): Vampires/Madness/Blood tokens
- Dimir (Blue-Black): Zombies
- Golgari (Black-Green): Graveyard value
- Orzhov (White-Black): Sacrifice
- Azorius (Blue-White): Spirits
- Izzet (Blue-Red): Flashback/Instants and Sorceries
- Simic (Blue-Green): Self-mill/Graveyard value
- Gruul (Red-Green): Werewolves
Understanding Power vs. Synergy
Going off of my last point, one thing that's important to note is understanding what cards are powerful that you should always include in your deck or pick in Draft, and which ones are fine on their own but benefit from other cards that synergize well with them.
For example, if you're in Black, Morkrut Banshee is always just a slam dunk to include in your deck. Morkrut Banshee can make for huge tempo swings, allowing you to both play a threat and remove one of your opponent's biggest threats, if set up correctly (see Flametongue Kavu!). If you're in Black, this is one of the best uncommons to have in your deck. The same goes for Morbid Opportunist - the body and static ability on this card is just so amazing for its mana cost, this is a card that does the work for you!
However, take a card like Olivia's Dragoon. On its surface, this card isn't particularly powerful. It's a 2/2 for two-mana, with a small upside ability that comes at the cost of discarding a card. Perhaps you ditch an extra Swamp in your hand to get in the last two points of damage in a game, big whoop. Where this card shines, however, is when you correctly pair it with cards that get great benefits off of it. If you have Murderous Compulsion, Sanitarium Skeleton, or Alchemist's Greeting, for example, then that drawback of discarding a card becomes a benefit, and now you've gotten in two flying damage at no cost!
To wrap up this point, look at a card like Demonic Taskmaster. This card was originally printed in Avacyn Restored, making me wary of even including it in my decks from the get go. Sure, a 4/3 flyer for only three mana is a great deal - but it comes at a cost that is much too great. Maybe you have a pool to make it worth, with Undying creatures and a Gravecrawler, but that's too much to ask for in my opinion to make a card like this work. I'd much rather take a three-drop like Sporecrawler in my Draft, one that replaces itself while still having a decent stat line for its cost.
Understand which cards in your pool will do the work for you and lead you to victory, and which you'll spend too much time trying to make work, all while your opponent is beating your face in.
Mana-Fixing
One important aspect about Innistrad Remastered Limited is the lack of fixing. There is not a cycle of 5 or 10 common dual lands in the set, leaving only Evolving Wilds as your only "dual land" at common. While there is a cycle of 10 rare lands, it's more important to note what other fixing there are common and uncommon. There are three key fixers in the Artifacts, however: Traveler's Amulet, Wild-Field Scarecrow, and Cryptolith Fragment. Scarecrow is one of my favorite mana fixers of all time, specifically since it powers two types for Delirium. However, Delirium isn't really that present in this set, so while Scarecrow is a fine card, its card types give you diminishing returns.
Green does give you Abundant Growth and Eccentric Farmer at common. Farmer is definitely a favorite of mine as it can mill Flashback cards in addition to drawing you a land. Overall, however, there isn't a ton of fixing in this set, leading me to believe most decks that aren't base-Green won't splash a third color.
Conclusion
Innistrad Remastered is an interesting Remastered set to evaluate. The cards in this set are all relatively new compared to past Remastered sets. However, this set covers cards including some that were printed half a decade apart. It's important to understand not only basics like the set's mechanics, combat tricks, and bomb rares, but also what cards are even playable at common and uncommon. If you're not a seasoned Magic veteran who's played through every Innistrad set, don't fret.
The best advice I can give you is to frame this set with a mindset on how you play with other recent Magic Standard sets. It's easy to spot which cards do more than others at similar costs and rarities, and that is just as true with this set. Know what cards are simply more powerful than others and which bulk rares to avoid, but also keep in mind how you can string synergies together with some of the less powerful cards that will inevitably end up in your pool.
Keep all of that in mind, and you might just survive the night.
-Roman Fusco