PyreDream's Innistrad Anthology

[PyreDream]

Hello there.

This thread will be a Chronicle of sorts. I invite you on a journey as I tinker and cobble together this Frankenstein's monster of a cube. Here's my pitch:

This cube is a unified set that includes cards from both Innistrad blocks and the upcoming third Innistrad set, as well as a small amount of non-Innistrad cards that complement the themes and mechanics. The goal is to provide a tightly-designed draft experience whose power level lies somewhere between Innistrad Limited and a regular cube.

Here are the design goals:
1. Build a cube that strives to emulate the best parts of both Innistrad block drafts.
2. Discover new interactions and synergies by combining cards from different Innistrad blocks.
3. Power up Innistrad's archetypes by including cards from outside these sets that work well, both mechanically and thematically.
3. Respect and celebrate the flavor of Innistrad's setting.

Here are the design constraints I've set out:
1. Will eventually be 450 or 540 size for 10 to 12 drafters.
2. Will be primarily monocolor, with a low number of multicolor and colorless.
3. Will be mostly based on Shadows of Innistrad's set design, reinforced by original Innistrad/Dark Ascension, and complemented by Avacyn Restored and Eldritch Moon.
- - - a. allied colors will have tribal archetypes: spirits (UW), humans, (GW), vampires (RB), zombies (UB) and werewolves (RG).
- - - b. enemy colors will have draft archetypes: spellslinger (UR), self-mill (UG), graveyard value (GB), aristocrats (WB tokens), and angry mob (RW tokens).
4. Will have no more than 10% of its card pool originate from outside an Innistrad set.
5. Will remain accessible in terms of player budget.
- - - a. will have no more than 5% of its card pool worth $10 or more.
- - - b. will offer budget-conscious substitutions for cards worth $5 or more.

As a result of these design constraints, we can immediately expect a couple of unique characteristics to an Innistrad Anthology cube:
1. low number of planeswalkers
2. an environment that plays like Innistrad(s) Limited but with more cube cards. Or is it a cube environment that plays more like an Innistrad draft? (I was surprised by just how much of these cards were past or present inclusions in my regular cube. The number goes up even more if you consider peasant and pauper cubes.)

Current rules for inclusion of non-Innistrad cards:
1. planeswalkers: must have visited Innistrad. (Thinking to update this to: Must have had a planeswalker card printed in an Innistrad set.)
2. legendary permanents: must have existed on Innistrad, or the name and flavor must be generic enough to fit.

Any non-Innistrad cards:
1. can be from another set, as long as they are established as Innistradi. Thraben Watcher was printed in Modern Horizons 2 but is from Innistrad, so it's in.
2. must fit the theme, flavor or mechanics of Innistrad. Skull Prophet is from Ikoria but it's a human, supports the self-mill mechanic, and its name is generic enough to fit, so it could be included.
3. must not contradict the lore of Innistrad. There are no merfolk on Innistrad (so far!) so Merfolk Looter is out.
4. must not be too good at their job, or they will overshadow the actual Innistradi cards. Fractured Identity is from Commander 2017 and set on Innistrad, but it's not just one of the best UW cards ever, it's one of the best cube cards ever. So it's out.

Big big thanks to the Magic Multiverse Project for their tireless work in updating and maintaining their library of the planes. They're always my first port of call in these projects.

Here's the pile of cards I'll be working to turn into a proper cube. I encourage you to use it for your own Innistrad-related goals (peasant Innistrad, MID/VOW-only, tribal cube, etc)

To-do:
1. For each color, identify draft themes, balance card numbers, and weigh inclusion of non-Innistrad cards.
2. Consider cuts for incoming Innistrad: Midnight Hunt cards.

The cube will be built in this thread, color by color, starting with blue. I have a cubetutor list I affectionately refer to as the Pile, because that is where I can indiscriminately add any Innistrad card that's remotely good, and any non-Innistrad card that's remotely on theme. I think the addition of non-Innistrad cards will be the most unique (and probably the most controversial) part of this cube, so my future posts will focus on rationale for their inclusion. It's my hope that my extensive knowledge of cards, combined with the Magic Multiverse Project and Riptideian input, can serve as a grand old crash-and-burn experiment for future generations of cube designer. Of course, anyone is free to pick any topic to discuss on top of that!


On the next episode of Tales from the Havengul Crypt:

 

[PyreDream]

From most controversial to least controversial:


Hapless Researcher, Careful Study, Circular Logic - The Odyssey spells are probably the biggest addition I have to defend, so they'll stand as a group. This is mostly because the effects they provide are far above the curve of an Innistrad draft.

Essentially, my beef with retail SOI is that it forced you to sacrifice your value plays at the altar of tempo. You had to choose whether you wanted to invest in a loot/rummage spell, or in your sexy madness spell, because there was never enough mana to cast both. Yes, I'm greedy. I think both should be available a reasonable amount of the time. Hapless Researcher and Careful Study help with that.

Circular Logic - bad on turn three, great pretty much anytime after that. Or at least, that's what I would like to think. Including the trifecta of Hapless/Careful/Frantic will make it live a lot more often. The fact that it's board-state dependent (graveyard is your board here, baby) gives it a lot more variance than Broken Concentration with its fixed rate. But if you can turn Circular Logic into Miscalculation or Mana Leak or even Convolute (!) for U, then you're putting in the work and playing as intended. Enjoy the reward.


Frantic Search - The boogieman of the set. But there are no Arrogant Wurms here, no free Rootwallas for you to cast.
Below are all the madness + flashback cards currently in blue (I include flashback as it falls under the same loose category of "playable immediately after a Frantic" - also goofy cards like Stitched Drake at three mana or less). I think they're mostly safe:

Stitched Drake
Circular Logic
Dream Twist
Just the Wind
Think Twice
Nagging Thoughts
Quasiduplicate

1. It gets more powerful if you have more mana lying around for something like Broken Concentration, Chilling Grasp or Silent Departure, but these are fundamentally reactive spells rather than proactive spells.

2. It gets more dangerous if you pair it with red or black's vampires, which can approximate the Arrogant Wurm offensive. There are no vampires with Wurm stats, but Incorrigible Youths, Twins of Maurer Estate, Weirded Vampire and Voldaren Pariah all come with different drawbacks, making them strong but fair.

3. It's potentially explosive when paired with a reanimation spell in hand and a fatty in the yard. But most reanimation spells will cost four or more mana excepting Stitch Together, which should probably be on a watchlist just for this interaction (but I doubt it because of the threshold restriction). The lowered quality of fatties is also something to keep in mind, as the only real one is Griselbrand and maaaaaybe Emrakul, the Promised End (!) if it makes the cut. Jury's still out on Griseldaddy's white counterpart, Avacyn, Angel of Hope.

There are a couple other six drops in contention for the other colors, but otherwise you're returning value things like Geist-Honored Monk, Geralf's Mindcrusher or Ishkanah, Grafwidow, which don't break the game if you get them a turn or two early.

4. It's a strong tempo play when backed up by early aggression and countermagic/bounce.

5. I see it as a good way to double-spell for something like Drowned Secrets, speed up the clock on Ominous Seas, or reach early delirium for stuff like Mindwrack Demon, Soul Swallower and Unholy Heat.

(Note that I'm making all these considerations with the assumption that you're getting value from the discard part, otherwise Careful Study on three is not really a great card even if it's free.)


Bonded Fetch - an upgrade on Reckless Scholar. Speeds up the clock of graveyard-centric decks by one turn, allowing those decks' engines to come online sooner.
I'll note here that repeated looting/rummaging on demand is extremely rare in retail Innistrad, as it's really only printed on Reckless Scholar and Mad Prophet (please correct me if I omit any). Note also that you don't get repeat looting under three mana in any Innistrad set, though I think that's less an Innistrad trait and more Wizards trying to level out the mechanic, since every looter seems to follow this rule now.
Losing a relevant creature type for an irrelevant typing is also a cost in a set that's partly tribal-themed.


Quasiduplicate - Functionally a second copy of Cackling Counterpart, but... which deck wants this? It's a bit misleading as a spellslinger card, because it's at its best in a graveyard value deck in any combination of BUG colors.


Watcher in the Mist, Unexplained Disappearance, Sinister Sabotage - Surveil is a lovely addition to an Innistrad format (as long it's not too prolific), and these spells fit the flavor to boot. That giant Dimir symbol in the art of Sinister Sabotage is a bit of a bummer though.
Secondary considerations: Watcher has a very relevant creature type, compares favorably to Innistrad's blue 5-drops, and also supports blink. Unexplained Disappearance helps build a critical mass of bounce spells for tempo decks.
Sinister Sabotage does the same for countermagic.


Shacklegeist, Laboratory Drudge - printed outside of Innistrad but grounded in the same setting, it makes sense that these play well here. Fairly self-explanatory, with the addendum that Drudge can also function as a second copy of Secrets of the Dead for spellslinger decks.


River Kelpie - One of my treasured finds, included here for redundancy with Secrets of the Dead (like Laboratory Drudge above).


Devious Cover-Up - Wondering if this can be turned into a win condition in singleton cube as in retail GRN draft. Provides an alternative play pattern to the graveyard decks, adds incidental yard hate by exiling the target, and helps shore up the number of counterspells.


Ghastly Discovery - "fixed" Frantic Search, and another nice find for this cube, since it plays well with both the graveyard theme and the tribal theme. I'm actually hoping the conspire mechanic returns in the next Innistrad set because of how it fits with the paranoia and act-in-the-shadows flavor of previous Innistrads.

Why include this over something like Catalog, which is actually from Innistrad? Because it pulls double duty with the tribal theme. With a limited number of cube slots, we need as many cards as possible to play multiple roles or have universal value. The fact that this is playable in pretty much every Ux tribe (Ux humans, UB zombies, UW Spirits) gives it that extra X-factor.


Drowned Secrets, Ominous Seas - complement the mechanics and themes of Innistrad. Ominous Seas has the side benefit of helping to trigger delirium by cycling itself.


Hard Evidence, Scuttletide - Some much-needed early interaction for spellslinger and graveyard decks to deal with aggression.

On the next episode of Tales from the Havengul Crypt:
Themes and Mechanics of Blue - The Dead Will Drive You Mad

 

[PyreDream]

Some last minute additions to consider before diving into blue proper:



The little spirit that could? This helps play up some of blue's flash-ier playstyle, nibbles away at the opponent's life total early on, and provides a mana sink in the late game. Loses value due to the presence of Spirit tokens in the format.



More spirit tribal, a madness enabler, and a gentle anti-graveyard card in the vein of Ash Zealot. Seems like another treasured find.



A more aggressive Armored Skaab. Fuels self-mill and allows zombies to play more aggressively. Slightly off-theme due to the presence of non-Innistradi elements (offworld reference, intelligent zombie).



Spellslinger payoff to complement Burning Vengeance. Heavy monocolor investment reduces this card's playability. Budget considerations may also factor into the inclusion of non-Innistrad cards like this one, as I would like to make this cube as accessible as possible.



Body Double is another graveyard payoff card that I stumbled on. As far as reanimates go, five mana is exactly where it needs to be in this format.

Mind Flayer is here because I was looking for a Control Magic alternative that was on theme. Spirit Away is too expensive and I really didn't like Soul Seizer. Soul Seizer requiring a turn and an attack step is often unrealistic. The one power means it gets chumped by spirits or bounces off other flyers. In contrast, Mind Flayer just does the thing. If you've played with Sower of Temptation before, you know this can create massive board swings in your favor. However, coming online a turn later and being a ground pounder help lower the blowout cases. The Lovecraftian theme is just gravy.



More self-mill cards. Stream of Thought is a lovely little thing that helps you set up for the long game like Devious Cover-Up. Chronic Flooding is essentially free mill after the first trigger. It also sets up an interesting minigame of managing your land usage, since there's a real chance of milling out with this one.

Worth noting as well that these are not guaranteed inclusions. After doing a deep dive in blue, it'll be time to make cuts.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Really liking how blue is looking, seems like a nice "innistradian" identity right now, but I'm curious about what payoffs for all these cards you're imagining? Seems to mostly be enablers, but what are they enabling?

 

[blacksmithy]

i love a cube with some Burning Vengeance goodness

 

[PyreDream]

Hello again.

I initially planned to write several posts in the lead up to Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow, but life happened. I actually prefer it this way now, with the entire set(s) revealed and at my fingertips to parse.

Really liking how blue is looking, seems like a nice "innistradian" identity right now, but I'm curious about what payoffs for all these cards you're imagining? Seems to mostly be enablers, but what are they enabling?

Thanks, Rasmus, this question actually lead me to think about some things.

Some of the Innistrad sets have what I would call "invisible" tribal, where tribes are divided by color and function but aren't as clearly organized as a set like Lorwyn or Morningtide. This dodges the problem of drafting on rails, where you can just pick a tribe and pick up every card for that tribe. There are still some cards in retail sets that help pull the tribal synergy together like Undead Alchemist or Necroduality. But as a rule of thumb, I'd like to avoid cards that cloister you into obvious tribal archetypes, and let the players gambol in the open fields of draft.

The only such tribal card I currently have earmarked for blue is Shacklegeist, which is mostly here as removal and is fairly incidental to the spirit tribe, since it only needs one other spirit out to become a tapper. There's others like Mausoleum Wanderer, Shipwreck Sifters, Havengul Runebinder, Geralf, Visionary Stitcher and Geistlight Snare that provide marginal value if you have tribal synergy, but are fine without it. (Technically Runebinder's anthem effect is much better than marginal value, so I should flag it as a tribal card along with Shacklegeist.)

The issue is that those big tribe cards like Alchemist/Necroduality are also the payoffs for putting together a nice synergistic deck, where tribe = synergy. So if we think of payoffs as "big reward with some oomph that you unlock for putting together a strong deck or series of plays," there's a couple options in blue.

Sac/tokens: I like that MD/CV has given some fuel to the sac archetype that emerged from Innistrad last go-around. I greatly dislike decay though, and I strongly think it should have been one drawback rather than the two it was saddled with. Exploit returning on zombies is a lovely bit of help. It really increases the value of death triggers like Enlightened Maniac/Exultant Cultist and Selhoff Occultist, and it helps to bin critters for the exile-from-yard cards like Stitched Drake and Cobbled Lancer. Actually, this makes me wonder if I should revisit Back from the Brink...

Spellslinger: Multiple variants of this deck, whether you lean more on madness, flash spirits, or self-mill. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned or the golden oldie Rise from the Tides are the obvious payoffs. Somewhat undecided on whether Hullbreaker Horror should make the cut, but as a control player it really speaks to me, and there isn't much for control finishers in blue (unless you count Thing in the Ice or Ludevic's Test Subject).

Investigate: Got some help, but not much. There's Ethereal Investigator, which is... acceptable, if a bit slow to get value (my closest current comparison is Whispering Wizard). Then there's Secrets of the Key, which seems... really not worth a card, but I'm hoping someone else will have some insight that changes the way I look at it. I changed my mind on Pointed Discussion after someone pointed out it's basically Sift with the cost chopped up to be more flexible. Investigate really wants to be paired with green or white because it's a bit stunted on its own (or better as support in black/red, which is totally fine).

If you think about payoffs as "the thing that helps me win the game," then the above crypt of text tells me I look at payoffs a bit differently. I look for: Synergistic decks that gain inches of value through tight play, eventually cumulating in a victory of attrition. The vectors of play are just a bit different due to the influence of the graveyard, madness, and sac. And there's still some spelling out to be done, I think, especially with how tribes will play into draft and deck construction.

On the next episode of Tales from the Crypt: Blue Moon:

 

[PyreDream]

I haven't quite decided how to organize the blue section for analysis in these posts. For creatures, I initially wanted to divide it by casting cost, then thought it might be too narrow and considered discussing the cards by tribe, then realized some of the non-tribal critters would fall through the cracks. Currently thinking to organize either by combined tribe/function, or by casting cost.

The shortlist for blue currently stands at 145 cards but needs to be trimmed down to about 80 cards for drafting. This represents ~30 cuts from creatures and ~30 cuts from noncreatures, give or take a handful in either direction.

All things considered, I think organizing by tribe/function gives a slightly better topdown view of what's going on, rather than the worm's eye view of traveling through the 1CC, then the 2CC etc. It also makes it slightly easier for me to juggle cuts in three tribes (zombies/spirits/humans) for balance.

zombies: 20
humans: 23
spirits: 29
other: 14

I expect a first pass to whittle about 2-3 from each tribe and identify another 2-3 to put on the chopping block.

Anyway, here's Innistrad: Blueblood edition:

 

[PyreDream]

Starting with Spirits so I can gush about Disturb.


With the amount of cuts I need to make, it's really nice to have cards that can multitask and be a little bit of everything to everyone. These three from MID in particular are lovely because they do some heavy lifting with their double typing. Some of them like Castaway even pull triple duty in the self-mill deck, or Overwhelmed Archivist for madness.


A 3/4 flyer for 3UU out of the yard is weirdly good. It blocks well, presents a respectable clock, it trumps most flyers aside from Archangel Avacyn, Murder of Crows, Docent of Perfection and king Griseldaddy, and the recycle gives you that tiny bit of extra value in the long game. It made me think of other long-value cards like Confirm Suspicions and Devious Cover-Up. I think Confirm is just a bit too slow as a 5 CC counter, and the speed of the environment won't be conducive to spending a ton of mana on those Clue tokens. Besides, I don't think investigate decks are looking to make a Clue pinata, they just want to make maybe one Clue per turn, then assess their game plan and either crack it for value or keep it for later. Castigator is more like Devious Cover-Up's creature feature. And I do love me some devious cover-ups. Good way to sneak in redundancy on this type of effect.


Free madness triggers are fantastic. It's kept in check by the presence of Spirit tokens, but this is one heck of a value train for madness.



I'm not as impressed with Lantern Bearer, since a 1/1 flyer for 1 is typically not a good rate. It does have a similar play pattern as Wingcrafter though, where it can jump another creature (and I ran Wingcrafter in pauper cube for years). They both offer sidegrades - Wingcrafter can jump creatures repeatedly, while Lantern Bearer can jump a creature out of the yard.

Mausoleum Wanderer suffers from the Esper Sentinel problem in Limited. Can't guarantee it comes down early, can't consistently up its power to stay relevant throughout the game. Four copies in Constructed means it's a lot more of a first-turn play, and Constructed decks can either run Spirit lords for Wanderer or Luminarch Aspirant for Sentinel.

Really like Spectral Sailor because it plays into the flash identity of Spirits and gives you a mana sink to mitigate its lowliness as a one-drop. Who knows, we might even have 3C draw-a-card tribal in here with Triskaidekaphile and Cipherbound Spirit.


Erdwal Illuminator is probably entirely too narrow outside of investigate (there isn't nearly enough investigate to make it consistent in its ideal home either). And one power for two mana is just a horrific rate.

Ghostly Pilferer fuels multiple archetypes while providing some gentle hate against madness/flashback. Not much to say here except I'm very happy to have it.

Not in love with Mindshrieker. Plays too much like a Chaos card for my liking. Sometimes you mill a disturb/flashback card, sometimes you mill Elder Deep-Fiend, sometimes you mill a land.

Mischievous Catgeist is much more my speed. Creates an interesting subgame of how to punch your saboteur through the opponent's defenses, then comes back on your flyer later. This type of disturb creature also gives you extra value when paired with exploit.

Shipwreck Sifters is here because I wanted a way to sneak in Vodalian Merchant. It's a relatively cheap madness enabler, and if you loot away a Spirit/disturb card on ETB or later down the line, it seems more than acceptable as a 2/3. Bonus for being a low-key way to sneak in +1/+1 counters for Hopeful Initiate.


Here we have the gold standard for Innistrad spirits. Efficient, instant, lots of incremental value.


These spirits are all about giving you choices. And I consider it pretty important to give the player choices. With their double pips, they're also a reward for making good choices during draft and committing to blue.


The Nebelgast Bros represent that critical flash aspect of Spirits and give decks more interactivity.


Much better with exploit now a thing. Though I think it's simultaneously fallen down the scale with the influx of more efficient creatures from MID/VOW.


At four mana, the temporary removal of the Nebelgast Bros becomes permanent (or semi-permanent with Niblis). The clock is also fairly threatening, particularly with Niblis. I like that you can reselect the freeze on Dungeon Geists if you go the extra mile to blink them.


Very nice addition for investigate that asks you to make interesting decisions with your Clues.


A Spirit bomb (insert DBZ memes here). Not much to say here, especially if you played VOW Limited. Followed Footsteps out of the yard is kind of amazing, y'all.


I wonder if Spectral Arcanist is fine with just itself or one other Spirit out. I think I'd rather have Snapcaster Mage even when you can pull together enough Spirits. It also might just be too weak to variance in most games.
Tower Geist is a concession to blink decks, and it can pull self-mill/graveyard duties in a pinch. It's a wee bit overcosted though.


Even with an extra point of power and the Spirit typing, I don't think Ghostlight compares very favorably to Mist Raven. Besides, I'd like to avoid the issue of having too many bouncers and blink effects, so this seems like an easy cut.

Watcher in the Mist is just a nice-to-have, what with surveil binning cards and all. Like Tower Geist, it's a bit overcosted, but any deck that wants things in the yard will probably want this.


Deadeye is my concession to blink on a stick (spoiler alert for the Humans post - I don't think Nephalia Smuggler makes the cut). I do love a good value train, and he makes you work for it. Hefty six-mana investment and having to untap with it means you kinda have to go shields down to get it. Like Hullbreacher Horror, I think if you get to this level of mana investment and you can successfully protect your investment, you should get to reap the rewards.

Phantom Carriage's stats are significantly under par, so its value would depend on what you tutor with it. I don't think it's worth it unless you can bin something big like a Mirrorhall Mimic // Ghastly Mimicry or Memory Deluge. And sometimes you really just need that Silent Departure or Covetous Castaway // Ghostly Castigator to help out. Might need to look at what the other colors offer in this department before making a decision. (Edit: Carriage is actually not that bad in stats compared to the sixes in other colors. It's just viewing it side-by-side with Deadeye Navigator that's throwing me off.)

Honorable Mentions:


I had these on the list but for one reason or another, they couldn't stand up to the competition. Mostly for being under-curve or just having a better option in that slot.

Anyway, here's the cuts for Spirits:
Mausoleum Wanderer
Erdwal Illuminator
Mindshrieker
Roaming Ghostlight

And we're putting these cards on the chopping block for next time:
Lantern Bearer
Stormbound Geist
Spectral Arcanist
Tower Geist
Watcher in the Mist
Phantom Carriage

 

[PyreDream]

Blue Humans


Not much to say about these, as they were already featured in the Spirits section. I will say that Malevolent Hermit skews slightly more aggressive than the other two, as an acceptable Piker with disruption up front and a cheap Wind Drake option from the yard. It's notable because blue's humans tend to be a bit more on the defensive side compared to other colors, with bigger butts and bigger costs.

Oh yeah, one thing I can add. They make this guy much better:



Smuggler's kind of a nombo with your deck in that it just sits around doing nothing until you have four mana and a creature worth blinking. The body is irrelevant and the activation is expensive enough that you can't really budget for it alongside normal plays. It doesn't help any tribe or theme in a meaningful way, instead pushing the player's deck towards generic value. Which is not a bad thing per se, but as with the buyback mechanic, it breeds repetitiveness. I really disliked it in Avacyn Reborn, which means the blink subtheme is going to be vestigial at best in this cube.


Wingcrafter I think is probably not making the cut either. Ideally you'd be Jumping lots of smaller aggressive creatures (or if you're in green, a buff dude or two). It seems like it should be fairly impactful, but it also opens you up to 2-for-1s by removing the Wingcrafter. It's so fragile as a soulbond creature that it feels more like an aura.


THESE LOOTERS ARE SO GOOD. Just picture a fat kid with a mouth full of cookies, spitting crumbs as they try to both articulate and swallow the yummy goodness inside. That's me. These cards all trigger madness for free and they all have ways to guarantee you that trigger. Interestingly enough, all the looters are humans (except for the Homunculus). Is Wizards trying to say something about human nature here?

I think they're all fairly well balanced by their casting cost. Hapless is one shot for one mana; the two mana looters still need to attack to get their trigger; and the three mana looters give you some side benefits on top of looting, since the mana investment is getting pretty sizeable. Civilized Scholar can swing in when the field is clear, while the Bonded Fetch's haste lets you chain late-game spells a bit more effectively.


Triskaidekaphile is much better at blocking than Spectral Sailor, which really helps the decks that want to go long and see more cards. I dislike the thirteen cards paragraph because it's trinket text here. It might even tempt players to misplay in order to unlock the achievement.

Technically Hauken qualifies as looting, but the exile clause makes it significantly worse in a graveyard-centric cube. Like Triskaidekaphile, Jacob's in it for the long haul, but also he's awful at both attacking AND blocking. Don't take this as serious criticism from me, though. I love this type of value engine.


Your typical generic value makers. However, investigate is slowly dropping out of blue. I mean, just compare Drownyard Explorers to Ethereal Investigator. Compare Bearer of Overwhelming Truths to Seafaring Werewolf. It's just not fair. It's too bad, because I love the Bloodborne vibe from the Bearer especially.

Gryff Vanguard is a tad underpowered, but I like that it can see play as a top end in UW Humans or blink decks. Otherwise, it's mostly filler.


These guys are here to be exploited.


And when I say exploit, I also mean emerge. The ability to pay variable costs for big value plays makes this one of my favorite mechanics of Innistrad.


The human contribution to self-mill. Unlike zombies, which tend to give you large amounts of mill in one shot a la Armored Skaab, the humans here give it to you one card at a time. They can outvalue the zombie-typed mill over time, especially Occultist since it triggers on every creature death.


Snappy is Snappy. The other two humes are your big spellslinger payoffs alongside Thing in the Ice, Docent of Perfection and Poppet Stitcher.


Here's the spellslinger support among non-Human creatures. Not pictured are Rise from the Tides and Repository Skaab, as I think they'll be a better fit in the combined zombie/exploit category.

Cruel Witness being a Phantom Monster that surveils 1 on every noncreature cast is nice. It's above-rate for blue fours. Pairs well with Niblis of Frost. Kind of hilarious with Awoken Horror. Possibly still need to cut.

Ludevic's Test Subject is here because I think control deserves some early-game toys and there aren't many thematic plays like Wall of Blossoms open to them I think. Not a must-have though.

And if you're paying attention to your creature typing during draft or in games, you might even get to flip Docent a bit earlier than scheduled. Blue currently has buttloads of wizards.


Has a nice bit of overlap between spellslinger and exploit. I still very much disagree with making decayed tokens so stinky, but this gives you a way around the drawback.


Tell me you want to play zombies without telling me you want to play zombies.
These two, like Poppet Stitcher, actually seem totally fine with zero other zombies in your deck. Geralf is one of the best blockers in blue alongside Armored Skaab. Upgrading your blockers and targeted critters into flyers helps you win the race. Oh, and it's another nice piece for sac decks. Makes me want to go look for more critters with death triggers.

Cuts:
Nephalia Smuggler
Daring Sleuth

On the chopping block:
Wingcrafter
Drownyard Explorers
Gryff Vanguard

Less cuts on the first pass than Spirits, but it's mostly because I can't bring myself to make the cruelest, deepest cuts yet.

 

[PyreDream]

You Drowned - Blue Zombies and Self-Mill


Organ Hoarder was the best blue common from Midnight Hunt. I expect it to do great things here. Skaab and Brute are kind of the bread and butter of a self-mill deck.

I think Geralf's Mindcrusher is a little too good at milling. It's a full 25% of your deck when you buy it back. The lack of evasion is also awkward. I like Phantom Carriage a little bit more. It flies and allows you to turn your graveyard into a silver bullet, even if it's got less survivability and less stats.

Shadow Kin I've placed in this category because it's a role-player. It can also act as gentle grave hate. I like that it can be both enabler and payoff, though I think the flash is a bit much. It would honestly have been pretty good at sorcery speed or as a one-shot ETB.

Screeching Skaab was originally in this list, but I don't think Goblin Piker is where a self-mill deck wants to be. Typically your creatures will skew more defensive to stall for time until you can use your graveyard to power up. Wailing Ghoul's stats are just much better for the two-drop version of this effect.


The payoffs for self-mill. I wish all of them had Cobbled Lancer's draw rider so that they could see more universal use. Their stats are best in class for their casting cost - you just might not be able to play them on curve. Headless Skaab/Stitched Drake trump everything at three mana except for a big Tireless Tracker or Splinterfright, while Makeshift Mauler outmuscles everything in his weight class except Mindwrack Demon.


More graveyard payoffs. It's a little mana intensive, but I like Patchwork Crawler as a mana sink. Maybe I need to dream bigger, but I think I'd be pretty happy exiling a looter, a Triskaidekaphile/Spectral Sailor, or even a Hapless Researcher.

Laboratory Drudge is a redundant copy of Secrets of the Dead.

Advanced Stitchwing I'm not too high on (that whole vertical cycle in general, honestly). Two cards is a real cost even in a graveyard cube, and three mana for the activation doesn't leave you much room to play with madness.

With Mirrorhall Mimic's arrival, Body Double is less valuable. Maybe this cube needs more reanimation though?


I really like Innistrad's take on exploit, they all feel very strong. Even Diver Skaab, which I don't consider as good as the others, can become a powerful tempo play on some boards.


Stitched Mangler and Ingenious Skaab are some of my favorite creatures in pauper cube. I don't even mind if you can blink Stitched Mangler once or twice because unlike bounce, I don't have to replay the creature, and the tapped clause will occasionally be relevant. Ingenious Skaab is cool, but it looks a bit goofy side by side with Headless Skaab.

Forgotten Creation is a bit of an odd duck. Its keyword is really bad. It asks you to go all in on madness/graveyard shenanigans, but I don't like the amount of risk-taking involved. Still, it's a powerful effect and I'd like to consider if it enables some kind of dredge deck or something weird.

Rise from the Tides is just a great all-around finisher here, and I thank everyone who pointed it out. I've used it to some success in peasant cubes so I expect it will do good.

Cuts
Ingenious Skaab (compares poorly to Headless Skaab?)
Geralf's Mindcrusher
Advanced Stitchwing

Chopping Block:
Diver Skaab
Body Double
Forgotten Creation

Conclusion
This concludes the first pass on blue creatures, but we're still not done thinking about the overall composition of this section. I wish there was slightly more self-mill, but we can look to the noncreature section for help.

Cards I'm thinking about:
- Falcon Abomination is the only thematic blue card that gives you two bodies up-front and I dislike decay. This should really be Aven Eternal but there are no eternals on Innistrad.
- Chasm Skulker for those sweet invisible synergies (clues and horrors!)
- Drownyard Behemoth for extra sac power. Also crab battle.
- Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for when we want to level up the self-mill. I don't like Lab Maniac because it's too easy to kill. Normally this is fine, but not when you go for this kind of gambit. It's a bit easier to set up a protect-the-queen scenario with a planeswalker.
- Blink of an Eye- plant eyes on our brains, to cleanse our beastly idiocy. Trying to avoid cleave as a mechanic that feels very not-Magic.

 

[PyreDream]

Bounce Spells and Counterspells


I don't think we need six different bounce spells. Of these, I like Unexplained Disappearance and Unsubstantiate the least. Though Unexplained Disappearance helps with self-mill, despite being slightly off-theme.



For countermagic, I like variable costs to help with options at multiple points on the curve. So I'm inclined to keep Wash Away, Circular Logic, Broken Concentration, Geistlight Snare and Syncopate.

After that, I like the three mana counters with upside. They're not ideal when on the draw, but the bonus they provide mean they usually make the deck. So Dissipate, Sinister Sabotage and Syphon Essence are in.

Bone to Ash feels pretty bad to run, and is even less necessary now that Syphon Essence exists. I just wanted some sort of counterspell at four mana that provided straight card advantage. I think Devious Cover-Up will do in that role.

Lost in the Mists was here as a poor man's Cryptic Command, but I think five mana is just far too much to hold up for a counter. Same with Confirm Suspicions, except you have to sink even more mana into it after, so it's never really worthwhile unless you already have some sort of clue synergy on the board.

Cuts:
Bone to Ash
Confirm Suspicions
Lost in the Mist

Chopping Block:
Unexplained Disappearance
Unsubstantiate

Just because I still like the flexibility of Unsubstantiate, we're gonna wait and see if it can still pull its weight here.

 

[PyreDream]

The Build Arounds

Chronic Flooding – maybe a little too good at self-mill for a card that's not from Innistrad. It's a free Dream Twist every turn after the first cast. Much more efficient than the on-theme Curse of the Bloody Tome. Gets silly with something like Frantic Search.

Drowned Secrets – more on theme than Flooding, but needs a lot more legwork.

Ominous Roost – I really like that it just gives you a token on ETB. Though it does skew a bit more towards seeing play in aggro/tempo decks with that blocking clause. I imagine Devoted Grafkeeper and Feeling of Dread want to be in that same deck.

Fleeting Memories – not seeing a lot of overlap between self-mill and investigate. I do like that clues are based in green currently, so it does somewhat line up with UG as the self-mill colors.

Trail of Evidence – a bit slow at reaping the benefits, but I think spellslinger decks will really love tacking on an extra draw for 2 mana to their instants and sorceries. Helps make up the inherent card disadvantage of playing more spells than creatures. It's probably never going to be as efficient as something like Divination though. And I dislike how it feels when placed side by side with Secrets of the Dead, which just gives you the draw for free.

Blue Removal

These are nowhere near as efficient as removal in other colors, but they do what they can. I like Locked in the Cemetery at two mana over the other options, but I dislike that they chose yet another arbitrary number to check for your graveyard after threshold, delirium and Eldraine/Zendikar Rising's eight cards.


The tempo options. I really liked Inaction Injunction and detain in general from Return to Ravnica, so similar options that can replace themselves eventually with investigate when you need gas seem very playable here.


The freeze effects. We could have Chill of the Grave over Crippling Chill, but I'd like to avoid tribal riders on noncreature spells if possible. Geistlight Snare squeaked in because blue has a higher amount of enchantments than usual, and the counter is a bit more valuable than the freeze.

Blue draw/Self-Mill
Sorry, we're lumping these together because milling plays out a lot like drawing cards in the decks that use it.


I'm leaning towards including as many cantrips as possible because the selection is just not very deep anyway. Consider and Thought Scour (and Think Twice below) are the core of an Innistrad cube's cantrips.

Secrets of the Key – does this actually do anything? I missed out on Midnight Hunt Limited so I'm not sure, but it seems like it'll take a long ass time before your mana investment ever starts to pay off. It really wants to be paired with an Ethereal Investigator or Ominous Seas.

Careful Study is just a highly efficient madness enabler and graveyard filler.


Think Twice is a known value. Kind of an invisible glue card that helps any deck.

Nagging Thoughts skates by on that madness cost. Scour All Possibilities is a nice filter spell out of the yard, but I think you'll rarely have the time to take a turn off and cast it.


Witness the Future is grave hate and card filtering combined for functionality. Three mana is kind of the upper limit you'd be willing to pay for this effect at sorcery speed though.

I know Forbidden Alchemy is technically a Dimir card, but the front side is playable in any blue deck and you rarely get to cast the back side. Looking four cards deep at instant speed, picking the best, and binning the rest is kind of the gold standard for blue instants in a graveyard cube.

Frantic Search and Thirst for Discovery are chef's kiss.

Ghastly Discovery is mediocre without conspire, but add two creatures of the same type and it lets you explode over the top. I also like that it's invisible tribal. It doesn't ask for a specific typing like Chill of the Grave, so it goes in more decks. That being said, it's still sorcery speed and asks for extra investment from your creatures, which are both sizeable knocks against it.



Memory Deluge and Scattered Thoughts are both solid big-mana plays.

Vivisection made it in as a companion spell to exploit, but gosh does it ever look awful next to the other two. Tapping out for a sorcery on turn four sounds like a good way to lose the game, even if you can make up the negative tempo with a token or a disturb creature or something. And besides, it feels completely at odds with blue's flash elements. How are you supposed to flash in a spirit or hold up counter mana with this? Going shields down like that just doesn't jive with what the color wants to be doing.


Build-Your-Own-Lingering-Souls and Build-Your-Own-Fact-or-Fiction respectively. As X-spells, they scale really well thanks to the additional value they bring. These two are gonna be big hits.


Dream Twist is probably the first card I would break singleton on if we were designing a retail cube. It's efficient, gets better in multiples because they bin each other, and helps out both self-mill and spellslingers while playing nice in other decks.

Stream of Thought is very interesting because it can be a second copy of Dream Twist, or a second copy of Witness the Future. Binning four cards is almost as good as Witness' draw a card. And the two spells also have an additional long-game mode of recycling your best spells. Stream even has a third mode with replicate, which looks like a heck of a good time.

Chill of Foreboding is probably the least useful self-mill spell as a three mana sorcery and a flashback mode that's basically uncastable.

Blink

My concession to blink decks in blue. Admittedly, these two spells represent huge value if you can line them up right.


I don't like self-clones only, but these come with graveyard bonuses.

Cuts
Chronic Flooding
Fleeting Memories
Chill of Foreboding
Vivisection
Startled Awake (kind of the odd one out, didn't really fit with anything blue wants to do so we're just going to quietly forget about it )

Chopping Block:
Ghastly Discovery
Trail of Evidence

I also have several cards on the outside looking in.



Like I said in the card draw section, it would be nice to squeeze in some extra filtering like Curate, Strategic Planning or even Chart a Course. The more I think about it, the more I'd like to try Curate/Strategic Planning at least. They look like absolute bangers.

Creatures:


The creatures offer some sidegrades and allow us to regulate the power level if Hullbreaker Horror doesn't behave.

Conclusion
This concludes our first pass through blue, though I can see we'll have to kill a lot more darlings before we reach our target cube size That said, I expect the second pass to be a little easier than the first, as we should have a better understanding of what each color does and how they interact with each other.

Next up is white creatures. I won't be categorizing them into types like blue creatures because it's not a very useful form of classification - 90% of white creatures are humans, with the rest being a smattering of angels and spirits. I'm probably going to gush some more about disturb and how it makes the graveyard matter for white.

 

[PyreDream]

Graveyard Matters in White

As a preamble to figuring out the creature section, I think it would help to have an overview of how white interacts with the graveyard.

Typically, white is the worst graveyard color in any Innistrad set. Its resurrection effects are overcosted with very little value. It has no self-mill. Its discard outlets for madness are some of the worst in the game. But even if we have quality discard outlets at hand like Seasoned Hallowblade or Fleeting Spirit, there aren't any great madness payoffs. So we need to get a bit more creative.

1. Disturb
2. Death triggers
3. Grave Spiritcraft
4. Delirium
5. Flashback
6. Recursion
7. Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis???

1. Disturb


Disturb helps out white in a huge way. It gives aggro decks more gas, gives you a reason to discard them, and enables legitimate self-mill synergies in Selesnya, Azorius and Orzhov.

2. Death Triggers


Death triggers are a central theme of white creatures, mostly around Humans turning into 1/1 Spirit flyers or +1/+1 counters.

3. Grave Spiritcraft
I don't know what Wizards calls this mechanic internally. For lack of a better term, I'm going with Grave Spiritcraft. It's thematically similar to white's death triggers and mechanically similar to something like Cobbled Lancer in blue.



Savior of Ollenbock squeaks in here because I wasn't sure where to put him as a pseudo-Raise Dead effect.

4. Delirium
Delirium adds another dimension to white's graveyard plays. Because it has very little filtering, discard or looting, delirium in white relies mostly on making sacrifice plays.

Enablers:


And payoffs:


When I said white had no self-mill, it was kind of a white lie. There's Celestus Sanctifier up there, with a mediocre surveil option. The thing is, white is so starved for this type of effect that this should make it in, just due to supply-side issues.

Extricator of Sin // Extricator of Flesh is a lovely card because it enables its own payoff.

Paranoid Parish-Blade - It's kinda weird that it comes from the same block and it's basically the same as Desperate Sentry. It trades two bodies for a bigger advantage in combat. Due to the fact that delirium remains hard to snag for white (and sac became a bit more viable with MID/VOW), I'm inclined to choose Sentry over Parish-Blade as the better body overall.

Descend Upon The Sinful is a backbreaking wrath + control finisher wrapped up in one card. Compared to the other cards on here, this feels like the only real reward for delirium in white.

5. Flashback


Flashback doesn't really exist in pure white, but white has some of the best multicolor flashback spells (Travel Preparations, Lingering Souls, Unburial Rites, Rally the Peasants). Homestead Courage is a fantastic addition, even if it's no Travel Prep (but really, what is?). Sevinne's Reclamation is slightly off-theme but feels correct by playing up the many-small-dudes approach of white.

6. Recursion


Not much to say here, other than white really needed some kind of build-around like Secrets of the Dead that helps bring all those graveyard cards together.



Gryff's Boon - not sure how much training/mentor will survive cuts to the list, but Gryff's Boon helps make sure you always get the pump you need.

Return to the Ranks - a reanimation spell that ties into white Innistrad creatures being small and numerous rather than singular and scary.

Belfry Spirit - Haunt was basically a proto-Disturb mechanic, and this spirit in particular has all kinds of invisible synergies.

Sigardian Savior - a decent curve-topper in aggro that also ties into the small-but-numerous theme of white. Happens to play well in a blink deck by re-triggering your dead critters and being pretty good with blink itself.

Breathkeeper Seraph - possibly a little too good at what it does; this seems about on par with Deadeye Navigator.

7. Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis???

Current rules for non-Innistrad cards:

1. planeswalkers: must have visited Innistrad.
2. legendary permanents: must have existed on Innistrad, or the name and flavor must be generic enough to fit.

I need that gif from the Dark Knight, where the Joker tells Batman he's gonna have to break his one rule.



Before my mea culpa, here's the reasons why I'm considering this card:

Helps slam the door against control.
Helps balance access to planeswalkers among each color.
Gives white a planeswalker that's mechanically on-theme.
Helps fuel delirium.
Doesn't feel like a back-breaking planeswalker a la Elspeth, Knight-Errant.
Human synergy!

Aggro is hard to make happen in a cube like this. A four-drop that can play the role of a Hero of Bladehold or Hellrider seems necessary to help turn the corner for these decks before midrange/control start getting too much value from their cards.

From a thematic viewpoint, I rationalize it as "Sun's Nemesis" representing a heel turn a la Nahiri for a potential MID Elspeth. If players can have access to Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset, it makes sense to have an antagonist walker opposed to the sunrise.

However, I think it's totally legitimate to criticize the fact that it goes against the cube's established rules and might be a feel-bad if you want to play with only Innistrad cards. It also makes native Innistrad cards look bad in the same role, like Inspiring Captain or Goldnight Commander (though I'm unsure how relevant those cards would be in the final list anyway).

 

[PyreDream]

Let's go through the creatures by casting cost.

One-Drops

White one drops on Innistrad are pretty interesting. There's no traditional 2 power for one mana, which is a big obstacle to building strong WX aggro decks. Instead, the one drops seem to fall into two distinct categories:

Creatures that start below par and grow, potentially snowballing


Creatures that are below par, but provide a little bit of value after


I initially thought about adding something like Elite Vanguard to help out, but actually we're fine with the current status – it gives white aggro a slightly different identity and plays up the Human/Spirit themes of Innistrad. So far, all the one drops make the cut.

Two-Drops

I broadly categorize these in four tiers. It's not necessarily a description of power level, just the priority that I value each type of card at.

Tier 1: 3 power on the ground, or 2 power in the air


Stalwart Valkyrie is a Kaldheim transplant, but I think it could overperform here, with two toughness to trump Spirit tokens and two different modes of casting, one of which helps tie it with blue's similar mechanic.

Tier 2: 2 power with some kind of combat ability and/or disruption


I really like Tithe Taker because it ties into Innistrad's sac/token themes and the aggro humans without breaking the theme bank or the power level.

Tier 3: utility slot (this is actually just the tappers haha)


Tier 4: late-game value


And pretty much every disturb creature.


This is the place for the snowbally cards like Unruly Mob/Militia Captain and the second-wind disturb cards.

2CC Cards on the chopping block:



I like Ambitious Farmhand for the land draw, which feels better than a straight draw on turn 2 (and helps you get to its second mode). I like that it has variable costs, as it can be either a turn 2 play or a turn 5 play as a 2WWW lifelinker, or somewhere in those in-between turns.

With Champion of the Parish currently in, I want to see if Thalia's Lieutenant can hack it. For now, I'm looking to keep Gather the Townsfolk and Parish-Blade Trainee as well, since they both contribute to the velocity of an aggro/human deck. Which doesn't leave me with much choice, unfortunately.

Cuts
Ambitious Farmhand
Keening Apparition
Loyal Cathar

Keening Apparition is a vanilla card that occasionally contributes to delirium, but feels unnecessary. Same with Loyal Cathar, whose death trigger has been mostly obsoleted by disturb, and whose double white cost is not welcome anymore.

A Note about Coven:

I've made special note of the cards below, because they satisfy 2/3 of the coven requirement. Coven has been relatively difficult to snag in retail draft, so cards that come with two different bodies and powers have more value if coven wants to be a thing.



And to a lesser extent (require further investment in the form of attacking or casting spells):

 

[Zoss]

Great writeups, I've been loving reading through your process! One thought is that Parish-Blade Trainee is really, really bad in it's home environment, and I seriously doubt it'll improve here to the point of playability. The Ambitious Farmhand seems a lot more solid to me as a critter that grows, but it might not align as much with your goals.

 

[PyreDream]

Thank you very much, Zoss. I went into this without much expectations and saw it mostly as a journal exercise, but I think it's also unusual to have someone go through a cube's construction brick by brick. I still have this idea that a cube kind of springs fully-formed from the skull of a designer.

I think you're right about Parish-Blade Trainee. It would have been really lovely as a 1/3 for 2, or maybe even a 0/3 for one mana. It also made more sense in my head when I was thinking there could be Savannah Lions in white. As is, I think there are enough good bears with upside to push this out.

I appreciate the notice about its home environment, that also helps. Speaking of VOW Limited, I wonder how you feel about Kindly Ancestor, Militia Rallier and Resistance Squad. All three of those are scheduled for deletion unless they overperform somewhere (they haven't for me, in the little I've played of VOW).

And as I slowly build the list, I'm thinking of changing my approach. The next update in white is going to be a bloodbath of cuts, and it's really heartbreaking for me to lose so many cards. I'd rather slowly upsize to the target goal - it would take up less mindspace to find the right cards for the task, rather than agonizing over cuts. I started with an excess of cards in blue and white, but I'll have the space to work up towards the ceiling for the rest.

 

[Zoss]

As you said, this is a great perspective that we don't see much of, as a lot of people tend to gloss over the card-by-card evaluations. Also, when we're drawing from all 22k+ magic cards, we just don't have the luxury of crunching the slot-by-slot comparisons as they become so unwieldy.

RE: 3-drops, Kindly Ancestor is much better than it looks. You're not powermaxing, but it's a great way to give midrange decks a bit of a bump while emphasizing those graveyard themes and improving consistency, as it's not a standout individually but serves as a very nice glue. It's also a key part of the equation if you want to preserve the feel of VOW limited. Militia Rallier isn't awful, but feels kind of mediocre to play. Resistance Squad by comparison feels great when it works and terrible when it doesn't, leading me to view it as kind of a middle ground. I'd say that I'd cut the Rallier right away and then assess the other two, but be warned that the Ancestor can really slow a game down, which might be a reason to cut it all on it's own.

 

[PyreDream]

It's taken me a few games and a few months, but I think I'm gonna go ahead and remove Hullbreaker Horror from the top end. Good golly Miss Molly.

Should 7-drops just win the game? Yes, but not in so hideous a fashion.

I'm left wondering if the tribal theme in Commander Legends: Baldur's Gate provided us with any Horrors worthy of the name, but not as horrifying as a Hullbreaker with open mana.