Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
Plane: Innistrad
Innistrad is a plane of menace and dread where every creature hides a darker aspect. Humans dream of 'The Blessed Sleep' which is a normal death of old age but few get it. Most villagers become ghosts, vampires, werewolves or zombies after they're done hiding from the horrors of Innistrad.
Return to Innistrad
This is a return set, which means we have plenty of lore to read up upon from previous sets. This section will highlight the lore, locations and creatures of the first and second Innistrad block before we dig into Midnight Hunt.
A Planeswalker's Guide to Innistrad:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/savor-flavor/planeswalkers-guide-innistrad-2011-11-02
Explore Innistrad
https://magic.wizards.com/en/innistradmap
When the light fades and the moon rises over Innistrad, humanity becomes the universal prey. Packs of werewolves are drawn out by the moon, their humanity washed away by animal rage. Vampire families bare their fangs at the scent of human blood. Hordes of walking dead lurch across the manors and moors, driven by an innate hunger for the living. Alchemically created abominations twitch to life in alchemists' laboratories. Geists haunt the huddled human towns and terrify travelers along the dark crossways in between. From Innistrad's depths, powerful demons and impish devils plot humanity's downfall.
The humans of Innistrad have done their best to fight back. They form torch-wielding mobs to cleanse the abominations with fire. They train specialized holy warriors called cathars to strike back against the supernatural horrors. Most of all, they brandish the power of the Church of Avacyn. The Church is named for its leader, the powerful archangel Avacyn who was created by the Planeswalker Sorin Markov to safeguard humanity and allow them to coexist with their predators.
Provinces of Innistrad
Gavony - The heart of Gavony is Thraben, safe haven for those in need of healing and a respite from Innistrad's dark forces. The human residents here either work to ensure the safety of their village or join the Avacyn church to become cathars, who travel the providences protecting humanity from danger.
Kessig - The thick Ulvenwald Forest isolates these quaint villages from neighboring provinces. The Krallenhorde howlpack is ever present, though secret, and includes many of the town’s neighbors in its murderous ranks. Between the isolation and constant danger, most townsfolk here are wary of outsiders.
Stensia - In Stensia's higher altitude, the rocky soil rules out farming. Instead, humans become shepherds and raise large families. A superstitious people content to survive day to day, the Stensia mentally ignore the fact that every passageway out of Stensia is constantly monitored by the vampire families.
Nephalia - The coastal cities of Nephalia draw many merchants. They also attract ghoulcallers and skaberen, who practice their craft away from prying neighbors or the church. While not as populated as Thraben, Nephalia's cities are denser, filled with those who, for one reason or another, prefer anonymity.
Gavony
Creatures of Innistrad
Spirits - Geists are spirits of those who have passed, yet cannot find peace in the Blessed Sleep. Some are guardians, but most remain out of malice, revenge, and regret. Able to exist as corporeal and incorporeal beings, geists will seek vengeance or wander until the Church of Avacyn guides them to rest.
Werewolves - Werewolves are created in moments of intense despair, when a human's soul becomes intertwined with the wild essence of nature after which, both sides are locked in a struggle for control. With the archangel Avacyn's release, werewolves have now become wolfir, permanent wolf protectors of humanity.
Vampires - Stensia is controlled by four major vampire families: Markov, Voldaren, Falkenrath, and Stromkirk. Though their abilities may differ, they all have enhanced strength, eternal youth, the ability to dampen noise, and prominent canines—often the last terrifying image seen by many an unwary traveler.
Skaabs - Unhallowed are zombies that ghoulcallers harvest from the many fengrafs, seagrafs, or diregrafs around Innistrad. Skaabs are twisted, pieced-together corpses that the skaberen have reanimated through necroalchemy. Both are vile desecrations of the Blessed Sleep expected by humans when they die.
Angels - When Avacyn returned, so did her angels, who had gone off searching for their leader. Flight Goldnight protects the churches and towns with wards; Flight Alabaster maintains the fighting force and trains the cathars; and Flight of Herons scours the land for danger or growing threats.
Demons - As joyous as Avacyn's release from the Helvault was, it also meant the release of every single twisted demon that Avacyn had ever trapped. Power may be returning to the Church of Avacyn, but old demons are planning new heights of vulgar depravity and carnage to unleash upon humanity.
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The first block,
Innistrad, Dark Ascension & Avacyn Restored
The events of the
Innistrad block center on the events after the sundering of the
Helvault, a giant silver metal object that was used by the
archangel Avacyn to imprison Innistrad's worst horrors, the demons. It is then revealed why the archangel Avacyn vanished from the plane in the first place, leaving the humans of the plane defenseless against the gothic horrors of Innistrad.
The Helvault
In the early days of Avacyn's presence in Innistrad, the archangel sought to rid the plane of its demonic influences. Accompanied by her fellow angels, she challenged each demon she encountered to single combat, defeating and dispatching them one-by-one. However, the demons of Innistrad are composed of pure mana, their defeat only meant that their physical forms were shattered, their dark essence living on. Eventually the black mana would coalesce in another dark corner of the plane, and another demon would appear.
Avacyn soon noted that no matter how many times a demon was defeated, there would always be another one to take its place. All that its destruction would buy was temporary peace to the afflicted towns and villages. Thus, she took an oath, saying "
What cannot be destroyed, must be bound". This oath is reflected in the symbol of the archangel herself, the
Collar of Avacyn, shaped to bind any evil that would not be destroyed. With this new goal in mind, Avacyn used her divine magics to trap demons, one-by-one in the Helvault. She was so successful at doing this that after a time, only the plane's elder demons remained free of the Helvault's magical prison.
The Collar of Avacyn
It was then that the great demon
Griselbrand decided to challenge Avacyn to single combat, boldly landing on the top of the Helvault itself. For many days the battle raged on between archangel and archdemon, watched only by the church's highest officials such as
Mikaeus, the Lunarch and Avacyn's most powerful
angelic compatriots
Seeing as she could not defeat Griselbrand, Avacyn used all her remaining power to cast a final binding spell to drive the archdemon into the Helvault and seal him away forever. However, at that moment, the demon revealed his endgame, to trap the archangel herself in her own prison. Using his spear, Griselbrand thrust the weapon through her, dealing her a mortal blow just as the binding spell was completed. The spell backfired, drawing in both angel and demon to the Helvault, with the ongoing spectators watching in horror as their beloved archangel was impaled, then imprisoned within the magical chunk of moonsilver.
Because of fears that reporting Avacyn's disappearance would incite mass hysteria and panic among the human denizens of the plane, Mikaeus and the other church officials decided to cover up any reports concerning the reason behind archangel's disappearance. Nevertheless, the archmages and clergy of the Church soon began to feel the aftereffects of the archangel's vanishing. Spells, wards and enchantments began to fail all over Innistrad. Prayers to the archangel went unanswered. Monsters and creatures of the night were no longer held at bay by Avacyn's holy might. Sensing weakness, Innistrad's werewolf howlpacks, vampire hordes and unstoppable waves of zombies began preying actively on the humans.
At the onset of these events in Innistrad, the Planeswalker
Liliana Vess had come to the plane of Innistrad to reclaim her soul, which she had traded to four demons in exchange for beauty and power. She believes that by killing her dark debtors, her own bargain would be negated, and she wouldn't have to continue being subservient to these demons. During her earlier days of serving her demonic masters she eventually found and claimed a dark artifact known as
The Chain Veil, which greatly amplified the potential of her dark magics. Liliana used the power of the Veil to kill one of her four demonic masters,
Kothophed and she has tracked her next target, Griselbrand, to Innistrad.
During her search for the demon, Liliana was beset by the Planeswalker
Garruk Wildspeaker, on whom she had used the Chain Veil to bestow a curse in a previous encounter. However, she managed to fend him off due to the dampening properties of the Veil's curse upon Garruk's nature magic. In the end, Garruk was overwhelmed by a small army of undead raised by Liliana and left for dead.
Upon reaching the great city of Thraben, Liliana uncovers a plot by two rival sibling necromancers to besiege the holy city, the blue-oriented
Stitcher Geralf, and his black-oriented ghoulcaller sister
Gisa. Despite the city receiving warning reports from cathars and inquisitors, not much was done to reinforce the city's walls and failing wards. Due to this lack of adequate preparation, the holy city was caught unawares by the massive army both siblings had amassed. In the end, only the quick thinking of the cathar
Thalia spared the city from utter destruction. Thalia's plan was simple, to use the thatched straw roofs of Thraben's houses to create a ring of fire, burning down the entire army of undead. The plan was successful as most of the city was spared from the undead horde, albeit at the loss of many cathars and buildings because of the great fire.
Despite this successful defence, during the siege, Geralf infiltrated the heart of the city and slew Mikaeus, the lunarch himself. Not wanting the news to demoralise the already downcast human citizens of the plane, the other church officials buried the lunarch in secret. Liliana used this opportunity to raise
Mikaeus from the dead and interrogate the corpse of Griselbrand's whereabouts, instead learning of the epic battle between Avacyn and her demonic master and their current entrapment in the Helvault.
Not possessing magic capable of sundering the great silver mass, Liliana approached the problem from a different angle. She reanimated a small army of ghouls and zombies and proceeded to attack the sanctuary where the Helvault resided. Now charged with protecting the Helvault at all costs, the newly appointed Guardian of Thraben, Thalia faced off Liliana with a squad of elite cathars backing her up. Catching them completely off guard, Liliana paralyzed the squad of cathars with a wave of dark magic and gave Thalia this ultimatum: sunder the Helvault, or watch her comrades fall to the undead army. It only took the strangled cry of a single cathar as he fell prey to the ghouls that Thalia pointed toward the Helvault and cursed Liliana.
With a great explosion, the silver prison that was the Helvault shattered, releasing demons and archangel alike. No one noticed the ribbons of black mana streaking away from the shattered remains. All eyes were fixed upon the golden helix streaking out into the sky. Avacyn had returned to the plane. When the Helvault shattered, Avacyn emerged at her full strength. Her presence reinfused the Avacynian protective wards with holy magic once again. Her angelic host was restored to its full powers, which gave the humans the chance to gain the upper hand in their fight against evil. The three flights of angels reformed in greater numbers than before. Once again, they became Avacyn's soldiers on the front lines of battle. Only this time, instead of barely containing the monsters of the world, the angels and their human allies began pushing them back, away from the bastions of human civilization. For the first time, they were winning.
Now that Griselbrand was also freed from the Helvault, Liliana continues her search for the demon, and her release from the fell contract she entered into.
Meanwhile, the plane's horrors continued to be driven back by the renewed power of the Church. In the process of purging the town of Gatstaf from the threat of werewolf howlpacks, the villagers appealed to Avacyn to remove the curse of lycanthropy upon their loved ones, whom they could not bear to see put to death because of a curse they could not control. Although she could not undo the werewolf curse, she revealed that she would instead transform those afflicted by the curse (but loyal to her and the Church), fusing the warring aspects of human and wolf into a single creature; the "wolfir". In a powerful wave of spells that would become known as the Cursemute, Avacyn's magic reverberated throughout the plane, transforming not just many werewolves but undoing many of the world's foul curses. The wolfir emerged as a new race of great wolf-creatures dedicated to the principles of the Church of Avacyn.
The Cursemute had an unintended impact on a visitor to the plane: Garruk Wildspeaker. At the moment the Cursemute swept across the land, Garruk was knee-deep in swamp muck surrounded by the severed limbs of Liliana's ghouls. He had barely managed to defeat them, and burdened by the Veil's curse, was slowly descending into madness. Close to death and tormented by pain and fury, Garruk's mind slipped away from him. He wandered in blind circles, shouting at the ravens and imagined monsters. It might have been the end of the great hunter, but for the events unfolding in Gatstaf Spring.
When Avacyn's thaumaturgy reached him, Garruk regained his senses. He stared down at his arms, watching the black veins receding from his skin. He was overcome with joy at the sudden absence of pain and sickness. But the relief was short-lived. Within seconds the veins reappeared, his blood seemed to thicken to tar, and his back bent under the weight of the Veil's curse once again. The Cursemute was enough to bring him back from madness and death, but it was not enough to cure him.
After slogging his way out of the swamp, he came upon Angel's Way, a well-traveled road between Kessig and Thraben. He knew Liliana was heading to Thraben, and he could doggedly continue his pursuit. Or he could strike out another way, toward the origin of the magic he had felt so strongly. There was a power on this plane that could cure curses. Maybe there was another way to rid him of his evil burden—a way that didn't involve the death-witch.
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The second block,
Shadows over Innistrad & Eldritch Moon
Madness swept over Innistrad as the fleeting hope of Avacyn's angelic protection turned to horror. Sorin Markov finally intervened, unmaking his beloved creation. But with Avacyn's unmaking, the last protections over the plane fell as well, opening it to new otherworldly intruders. The denizens of Innistrad are beset on all sides. Their faith in the archangel Avacyn brought them strength when fighting against demons, werewolves, vampires, and all manners of horrors. But, now the mighty protector of the plane has been twisted into something monstrous by an outside influence. A strange force has stepped into the gothic world, and its corrupting tendrils now touch everything. Something strange is going on.
The creatures of Innistrad (Shadows over Innistrad & Eldritch Moon)
The plane has also been invaded by Eldrazi and many humans and creatures mutate into Eldrazi Horror
Episode 1: Under The Silver Moon
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/under-silver-moon-2016-03-02
Episode 2: A Gaze Blank and Pitiless
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/gaze-blank-and-pitiless-2016-03-09
Episode 3: Unwelcome
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/unwelcome-2016-03-16
Episode 4: Sacrifice
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/sacrifice-2016-03-23
Episode 5: The Mystery of Markov Manor
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/mystery-markov-manor-2016-03-30
Episode 6: The Drownyard Temple
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/drownyard-temple-2016-04-06
Episode 7: Promises Old and New
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/promises-old-and-new-2016-04-13
Episode 8: Liliana's Indignation
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/lilianas-indignation-2016-04-20
Episode 9: Games
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/games-2016-04-27
Episode 10: The Lunarch Inquisition
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/lunarch-inquisition-2016-05-04
Episode 11: Stories and Endings
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/stories-and-endings-2016-05-11
Episoe 12: I Am Avacyn
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/i-am-avacyn-2016-05-18
With the death of Avacyn, the last protections over Innistrad have faded.
Nahiri has summoned
Emrakul to the plane, to take revenge on
Sorin Markov. The Titan of Corruption and Warper of Biology twists all things living, be it plants, animals, or sentient beings, into Eldrazi Horrors. Mutations frequently gain Emrakul's fibrous lattice motif, often including tentacles, extra eyes and limbs and her bizarre colorations. The mutations include five increasing levels of corruption: distorted, disfigured, deformed, misshapen and monstrous. Some of the affected creatures meld together into new organisms. The few unaffected survivors, humans and native monsters alike, fight a losing battle against their mentally and physically twisted former peers. Now Innistrad's fate rests in the hands of unlikely allies:
Jace Beleren brings
the Gatewatch, and
Liliana brings hordes of undead immune to Emrakul's influence.
Episode 1: The Archmage of Goldnight
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/archmage-goldnight-2016-06-08
Episode 2: Stone and Blood
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/stone-and-blood-2016-06-15
Episode 3: Emrakul Rises
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/emrakul-rises
Episode 4: Innistrad's Last Hope
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/innistrads-last-hope-2016-06-29
Episode 5: Campaign of Vengeance
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/campaign-vengeance-2016-07-06
Episode 6: Saint Traft and the Flight of Nightmares
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl.../saint-traft-and-flight-nightmares-2016-07-13
Episode 7: Battle of Thraben
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/battle-thraben-2016-07-20
Episode 8: The Promised End
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/promised-end-2016-07-27
The Promised End
We now move on to the current set: Midnight Hunt. The Eldrazi are gone and Emrakul had been
Imprisoned in the Moon. Innistrad are back to normal but the nights are getting longer and the humans are getting desperate to find a solution for that problem. Soon all will be darkness, an eternal night. In the mids of these dreadful times, the humans arrange a festival in an attempt to lift their spirits.
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The third block,
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt trailer
A Planeswalker's Guide to Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl...kers-guide-innistrad-midnight-hunt-2021-09-09
--------------------- Main Story Section ---------------------
The Harvesttide Festival
Episode 1: The Witch of the Woods
(Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/episode-1-witch-woods-2021-09-02
Episode 2: The Motives of the Wolf
(Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/episode-2-motives-wolf-2021-09-08
Episode 3: The Fall of the House of Betzold
(Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/episode-3-fall-house-betzold-2021-09-15
Episode 4: The Harvesttide
(Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/episode-4-harvesttide-2021-09-22
Episode 5: Night Closes 'Round
(Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/episode-5-night-closes-round-2021-09-29
The Celestus
--------------------- Side Story Section ---------------------
Tangles (Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/tangles-2021-09-03
Sisters (Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/sisters-2021-09-10
His Eyes, All of Them (Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/his-eyes-all-them-2021-09-17
The Dance of Undeath (Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/dance-undeath-2021-09-24
The Dusk Reborn (Story)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/dusk-reborn-2021-10-01
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Visual Spoiler of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/innistrad-midnight-hunt
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Tokens
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/tokens-innistrad-midnight-hunt-2021-09-17
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Art Cards
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl.../innistrad-midnight-hunt-art-cards-2021-09-16
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Soundtrack #1
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Soundtrack #2
