Shadows over Innistrad...

...which can make it difficult to read a sundial, apparently, as I appear to be some four months late on this one.

Hi, team! Welcome back!

It's been an interesting couple months, and I'm pleased to report that I'm now a Level One Judge! Woo!

*crickets*

Moving on, then. Not a huge update today, in part because I feel there aren't that many playables and that the set's been out long enough that people either know this very fact or have their own ideas. Either way, let me know!

Let's get to investigating the set!


White

Archangel Avacyn

I... guess it's a form of salvation? Burninating the peasants?

She's not the OG in terms of power level (or CMC, to be fair), but this incarnation is MUCH improved over the oft-forgotten second incarnation of Avacyn. I don't know if she's the ideal RW Commander (or if there even is one; RW is not very strong in the format), but she makes for a decent combat trick, and if your plan is to transform her, it is astonishingly easy to kill off a non-Angel in this format, especially given that there's no "non-token" clause. Skullclamp a token to wrath (ideally) at the next upkeep? Could be good, especially if you're behind anyway, but is the payoff worth it?

I'd probably wait until her pricetag from Standard drops a little if you're looking to brew with her.


Declaration in Stone

Sorin is displeased with the migrant stonemason. Most displeased.
He vows to Make Innistrad Great Again!

Ignore the "same name" clause. This is two mana removal, straight up. To exile. The drawback? They get an artifact they can crack to draw a card. Yes, if metalcraft is their plan, it seems bad. But, factor in the Maelstrom Pulse-esque utility against tokens, and you begin to see the appeal. This card seems great, though offering them conditional card draw might be too high a price to pay.


Blue

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

Not pictured: Scooby Doo; the gang

Another Jace. :-/

For five mana, I think we can argue that this Jace isn't a bad deal. Big starting loyalty, draws cards, removes a threat/protects himself/ and then a big, splashy ability that should (kind of?) end the game. He joins the ranks of other "formulaic" planeswalkers, including Ob Nixilis Reignited and Sarkhan Unbroken (+X, draw, -X, removal, -BigX: flavour text). He's fine, but not something I'd work hard to make room for. Redundancy is great in a singleton format, but Jace, UoS doesn't do anything new or different. I've passed on him so far, but if you've had a different experience, let me know!


Black

Ever After

So much for "'til death do us part."



Well, it's an interesting take on Rise from the Grave. You only get access to your own graveyard, and you don't get to abuse this from your graveyard, but it remains decent card advantage in decks that want it.

Westvale Abbey/Ormendahl, Profane Prince

Not pictured: A raspberry beret; a red corvette

Lands that make tokens play an important role in Commander.

Kher Keep, Vitu Ghazi, and Urza's Factory all see some play, for their ability to produce a blocker (at instant speed, should it matter) without costing you a spell (or a card). This is especially important when you get precisely 99 cards to achieve your end (usually, this is "win" or "defeat your opponents"). In a dedicated token deck (Ghave, perhaps most notably, given that GW are the best token colours in general, and that black is required to play this card), the third ability becomes very attainable, especially given that Westvale Abbey doesn't even enter tapped. Ormendahl is vulnerable to exile, sure, but transforming Westvale Abbey into our demonic friend in response to a Wrath leaves you with a very tough blocker, one that should be able to help you close out a close game.

And all it requires is a commitment to playing black and an ability to get five creatures into play. A remarkably solid card.


Red

Nothing! Nothing from among Shadows' mono-red cards stood out to me for this review.


Green

Tireless Tracker

The astute reader will notice there are indeed zero tires in this picture.

I love cards that do weird things.

We've got a green card that that can turn on metalcraft by simply playing lands. It's crazy, but it's a very cool take on an often overlooked facet of green mana as a whole. Green is all about the natural order, so when things go sideways, as they've done in this block, Green and Blue become your investigate colours, out of an investigative tendency and a desire to put right what been wronged (from a natural perspective). On top of a really cool flavour interaction, I love being rewarded for things I want to be doing anyway. By playing lands, I get to bank artifacts that I can use to draw cards, or turn on Metalcraft, or win with Hellkite Tyrant (and Scapeshift!). Given the tendency of Green decks to ramp to some degree, I imagine we'll be seeing this guy a lot. Really cool card; one of my favourites, for sure.


Ulvenwald Hydra

Sheldon Menery is what this thing is running from.

Damn, do I ever miss Primeval Titan.

And Sylvan Primordial.

Our new Big Green Beater that grabs a land can at least fetch any land, which is a big plus. Factor in the usual flickering that makes its way into decks that want these guys anyway, and you've got a stew going.

That said, Reach is fine, but it's no Trample. It usually feels pretty bad to have your huge Hydra chumped every time, though I guess you can at least argue that a must-block creature keeps the pressure on.

Here's hoping he doesn't get banned! (I'm joking... but just barely).


Seasons Past

Firmly planted in the past.

In terms of cards that are "legal" in Commander, there are cards of every CMC from 0 to 16 (though there is only one at CMC 14, and one at CMC 16). This means that for six mana, you could theoretically return seventeen cards to your hand for six  mana. More realistically, you're getting between two and five cards back for your six mana, depending on when you draw it, how much graveyard hate exists in your meta, and the tendency of people to play more than a couple cards at each CMC. The effect does seem to scale nicely to Commander, given the sheer number of cards available and the length of a given game. Is this right for everyone? No. But it is worth trying out if you're the kind of person that enjoys Regrowth effects.


Multicoloured

Arlinn Kord // Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon

Arlinn is a weird card to evaluate.

She's noteworthy in that while she isn't the first planeswalker we've seen with five abilities in total, she IS the first that has reasonable access to all five of those abilities. And those abilities are worthwhile individually, and can play roles in a variety of strategies.

Her +1 helps decks that like to "go tall," or put the resources into one creature (often their Commander) and win that way. She passes the "Elspeth test," as LSV pointed out when he revealed Arlinn prior to the set's release, in that she can protect herself. She helps players "go wide," with her transformed side's +1. Trample and +1/+1 for your team turns a few humble tokens into a fighting force. And bolting people/utility creatures is always welcome, even if it causes her to transform into her less potent side. You can mitigate that with The Chain Veil, as well as Rings of Brighthearth (copying the ability causes her to transform twice). Her "ultimate" is cool, opening up another way to pull off the win. With some way to give your team vigilance, it's effectively haste and double strike, with the added bonus of playing around Moat to push damage through.

So, she's a veritable Swiss Army Knife (in a creature deck), has a very reasonable CMC, and looks like Sigourney Weaver. A homerun on all fronts. The issue for me, I think, is that I don't know how strong she'll be in a dedicated planeswalker deck (like mine). Many of the others make tokens, which is a mostly good fit for her transformed side, and her +1 on the "Arlinn Kord" side is pretty good with my Commander (Sliver Queen, because I'm a walking cliché), I guess. Protecting herself is often very relevant, and I seldom care about "ultimates" anyway. Just feels off, I suppose, even though she's a lot like Garruk Wildspeaker, who I'm already running.


Nahiri, the Harbinger

Cool chicks don't look at explosions.

Here we see a different approach to vengeance. Take note, Taylor Swift.

Nahiri's an odd card to evaluate, and I think I've figured out why.

The last RW planeswalkers was Ajani Vengeant. Ajani bothered me because he had only one ability that was unequivocally RW, in his -2, a Lightning Helix. His first ability was certainly not red, but not wholly white, and his -7 was kind of white and kind of red. Thematically, the abilities were on point, as he defeated Nicol Bolas in the novel by basically aiming his -7 at the Elder Dragon. So Ajani's abilities are in line with his character, but not quite in line with the abilities associated with the colours, though they are probably the best fit.

I think Nahiri bothers me in the same way. The +2 option to "rummage," to potentially discard to draw feels very red, and thematically represents the "madness" associated with her character on Innistrad. Her -2  removing enchantments without restriction and exiling creatures with their guard down or active artifacts seems to be on point, and exiling tapped permanents (especially artifacts and enchantments) is very white. Tutoring up a creature is usually a green ability, though both red and white care about artifacts. So, as with Ajani, there's a slight disconnect between her abilities and her colours, which has a slightly jarring effect.

Is she worth playing in Commander? I'd say so. I got burned badly when I cast Moat to stabilize and my wife cast Nahiri and ruined my day. Mirari's Wake, Mana Reflection, Rhystic Study... none of those are safe with Nahiri around, and in a deck like Mayael (which my wife was playing), there's always a big creature for her to grab with Nahiri's (surprisingly attainable) -8. Her +2 can feel bad, but it's two loyalty that doesn't HAVE to cost you a card. If you happen to have a card with Madness, the discard becomes a boon instead of a hindrance. Likewise with the original Ulamog/Kozilek, or if you have a reanimation-based gameplan. For four mana, she's not bad.


The Gitrog Monster

If it makes you hoppy, it can't be that bad.

The Gitrog Monster offers a pretty significant reward for playing fetchlands, or playing Titania, Protector of Argoth alongside him. He's efficiently costed, in great Commander colours, and is a goddamn Frog Horror. What more could you want?


The deathtouch is redundant on such a big creature, sure, and one day his upkeep trigger will hurt and hurt badly, but he makes for a fun card that's already seeing play. He's great alongside Titania, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, even Omnath, Locus of Rage. The Magic Story about him was great, too (LINK). Check it out, and then tell me a mysterious voice isn't telling you to build the deck...


Sorin, Grim Nemesis

His head is closer than the tip of his sword, creating a confusing perspective. Wat.

If Sorin had a motorcycle, he could be on the cover of a Meat Loaf album.

Jokes aside (though I like Meat Loaf), people shit on artist Eric Deschamps hard for this piece. It was "too generic," or it "didn't look like Sorin," or "this art is garbage!" In reality, it is something of a minimalist piece. The colour palette is dreary, but what the hell do you expect? It's the gothic horror plane! Mechanically, the art is fine. Look up higher resolution versions; you'll see that the art is actually quite well done: it looks just like a pissed-off Sorin. It simply didn't scale down as well as the art for other cards. There are nuances of his expression that are small enough that they can't be seen. Similarly, look up Steve Argyle's art for Liliana of the Veil. There are two versions: one with an ornate, elaborate necklace, and one without. The version without was used for the card, as small details don't scale down very well. So the criticism was largely unwarranted; Deschamps has done brilliant work on planeswalkers in the past.

As for the card, Sorin offers a lot of durability for six mana. Coming in with six loyalty and either killing off a creature (or planeswalker) and gaining some life or causing a bunch of life loss (and ticking up to seven loyalty), Sorin's no slouch. Due to the flexibility of his -X, I expect I won't even use his -9, but that's to be expected. For purists that prefer to only run one card for each planeswalker character in a deck, I don't know if Grim Nemesis is a worthy replacement for Sorin Markov, whose -3 should put you in a position to win, but for those without such restrictions, I'd suggest giving the new guy a try.


Anguished Unmaking

"Go to your ROOM!" Sorin cried.
Jace and Tamiyo exchanged uncomfortable glances. Awkward.

There's not much more that a hack like me can say about an instant-speed almost-Vindicate with a negligible (in Commander) drawback. Not every deck devotes a ton of room to removal, but this one might be worth thinking about. Just a little quicker than Utter End, too (and Tarkir wasn't even that long ago!).


Sigarda, Heron's Grace

A scythe for sore eyes. 

Sigarda! You've... changed.

For the same CMC as the original (and best), we get a different take on Sigarda, who remains a flavour homerun. She's not quite as effective a fighter, but works hard to protect you and the humans you control, while curing your "delirium." Interestingly, old Sigarda protected you from the worst of old Emrakul's assault, while new Sigarda protects you from the worst of new Emrakul, preventing you from being controlled by an otherworldly, corpulent monster (and that's just your opponent!). I jest. That said, this version of Innistrad's new favourite archangel might not have the same general purpose clout of the original, you shouldn't discount modern sources of player hexproof, nor her potential in a token build (though be warned; it does say your graveyard).


Sunset

That wraps up our quick look at Shadows over Innsmouth Innistrad! I hope you enjoyed tuning in, and if you're got feedback, please let me know in the comments!

Until next time, know that Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Emrakul Moon wgah'nagl fhtagn.