Discussion Forum

Current Visual Spoilers:
http://mtgsalvation.com/innistrad-spoiler.html#5385
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Mikaeus, the Lunarch :manax::manaw:

Legendary Creature - Human Cleric

Mikaeus, the Lunarch enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.

:symtap:: Put a +1/+1 counter on Mikaeus.

:symtap:, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Mikaeus: Put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control.
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Spectral Rider :manaw::manaw:

Creature - Spirit Knight

Intimidate
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Murder of Crows :mana3::manau::manau:

Creature - Bird

Flying

Whenever another creature dies, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
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Bloodgift Demon :mana3::manab::manab:


Creature - Demon

Flying

At the beginning of your upkeep, target player draws a card and loses 1 life.
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Moan of the Unhallowed :mana2::manab::manab:

Sorcery

Put two 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Flashback :mana5::manab::manab:
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Skirsdag Cultist:mana2::manar::manar:

Creature - Human Shaman

:symtap:, Sacrifice a creature: Skirsdag Cultist deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
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Travel Preparations :mana1::manag:

Sorcery

Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures.
Flashback
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Wreath of Geists :manag:

Enchantment - Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature gets +X/+X, where X is the number of creature cards in your graveyard.

That Bloodgift Demon is beyond awesome and is going to be an EDH bomb, I'll have buy 8 at least :)

Graveplay, badass demons, and Spirits!?

Mother of god...

Oh yeah, Innistrad definitely looks like it's going to be another staple set.
First off, a few key interesting facts:
1.) For the first time since Ravnica, Richard Garfield is back on the scene for Innistrad. This means something very big is going down.
2.) MaRo has leaked that the psuedo-tribes of Innistrad are Zombies(B/U) Ghosts(W/U), Humans(G/W), Werewolves(G/R), and Vampires(B/R). Big surprise on the Vampires.
3.) Innistrad is said to be a "Gothic Horror" setting, which the catchphrase backs up pretty well. ("Horror Lurks Within")

Speculation time!
While it's pretty apparent that's Liliana in the set picture, and since she wasn't in M12 as a reprint, this means only one thing to me: You're definitely going to see her in Innistrad. On top of that, I'm guessing Garruk, the cursed version shall also be making an appearance.

Gothic Horror implies a lot of things really. For example, looks to me that this deck is going to have a very heavy Victorian-styled theme to it, judging from the appearances of tricorn hats and fancy dress with ruffles added in. Sounds great to me. On top of that, we have Cultists (Yay, everyones favorite followers!), and some nice Gothic architecture hinted at in the card backgrounds. Does this mean we'll also see some aggressive forms of architecture? Well, Horror does lurk within, so maybe we can see some more Gargoyles.

Last, I'm looking at the symbology of the block itself. To me, that looks a lot like a crown of sorts. If so, this implies a game of politics or a straight out coup d'etat with none other than Liliana in the middle of it. Also, looking at some of the M12 cards released, we have a very interesting set of cards released that work in tangent with each other. Could the Empires Artifacts be some sort of spoiling into the story behind Innistrad? Remember, WotC does everything for a reason.

I got so ahead of myself I forgot the mention of mechanics.

As we see, it's pretty obvious Flashback is making a return here. Not terribly excited about flashback, never was, but okay, since they have to reuse a mechanic.

Speculation

First thing I thought about when I saw the possibility of graveyard mechanics and subsequently Skirsdag Cultist, was Future Sight. Future Sight has a way of creeping up behind you and screaming "GOTCHA!" whenever they bring out a new set. Considering they created it to do specifically that, makes perfect sense, and also makes sense to look at those cards as possibilities for other sets. Well, after spewing all that, this is what I saw when I peered into the veil of the past/future/present: Gravestorm
Epic, no? Copying spells determined on how many creatures you sent to Death's Dark Gates within the span of time BEFORE you played it. I saw Skirsdag Cultist and simply dropped my jaw. Sorry, it came unhinged, not dropped. My tongue is still flapping around in ecxtasy at the possibility of this. If Gravestorm makes its second debut in Innistrad, I forsee B/R decks as being a well played archetype, with Skirsdag as the catalyst for maniacal fun.

There IS going to be: Liliana, Ajani, and a NEW planeswalker.

New spoiler:
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/223770_10150403670994199_194735989198_10711381_7330524_n.jpg

my 2 cents!!:D

I think this is going to be a graveyard block. Atleast, it has the potential to be. With flashback coming back in, all we need for a solid block then would be gravestorm, Delve, etc. Plus it would be super cool if they brought back Tarmogoyf.

There have been rumors since Mirrodin Besieged that it was going to be graveyard based.

[QUOTE=Try4se]There have been rumors since Mirrodin Besieged that it was going to be graveyard based.[/QUOTE]

true true, but i think we will know the truth the more they spoil. I can't wait!!:D

We have flashback and liliana coming back... I believe it will be.

[QUOTE=Seth]That Bloodgift Demon is beyond awesome and is going to be an EDH bomb, I'll have buy 8 at least :)[/QUOTE]

It is nice, but I'm not quite as excited about him. It's basically Phyrexian Arena but with the word "target", :mana2: more to cast, he's easier to remove, and he isn't legendary so we can't use him as a general.
And I can't find him with Zur the Enchanter :p


Other random thoughts:
We're very low on graveyard shuffle in standard right now, and what we do have only affects yourself (Elixir of Immortality). If this block is going to have a lot of graveyard play, shuffling the other guy's graveyard into his library is going to be more potent than a Day of Judgment (Haunting Echoes and Traumatize aren't in M12 for a reason - too powerful with removing and creating graveyards).
I expect the price of Time Reversal to sky rocket as more of the spoiler is revealed. Also, running a few Nihil Spellbombs in sideboards is going to be a common sight.


Also, Mikaeus, the Lunarch is just begging for proliferate+battlecry aggro:

Turn1: Signal Pest (+ Memnite?)

Turn2: Thrummingbird

Turn3: Mikaeus, the Lunarch X=2 or 1 (drop another Signal Pest?)
Proliferate swing for 1-2

Turn4: Hero of Bladehold,
Tap Lun to give +1/+1 to everyone
proliferate swing for 3-5

Turn5: Cast some removal.
Attack with everyone except Lun
in response to declaring attackers, tap Lun for +1/+1 to everyone (including hero's tokens)
swing for 22 damage + 5 if you dropped a Memnite on turn one + 8 if you dropped an extra signal pest on turn 3

35 damage on turn 5.

New Card Spoiled:

Travel Preparations :mana1::manag:

Sorcery

Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures.
Flashback