My Favorite Cards from Shadows Over Innistrad Block (Top 10)

As Kaladesh spoilers are already in full swing (actually kind of winding down at this point, although we’re still missing quite a few of the story moments as of this writing), it seems like a good chance to look back at Shadows over Innistrad.

I liked Innistrad. I wasn’t really in love with it, but I had fun playing it. I think the balance between the really big eldrazi (that aren’t generally even that big) and the rest was much better than in the previous block, but I couldd have lived without certain bombs that have made Standard very boring. Much of this has to do with the previous block, again, but that’s because much of what Innistrad 2 brought to the table just couldn’t compete with [scryfall]Gideon, Ally of Zendikar[/scryfall], [scryfall]Nissa, Voice of Zendikar[/scryfall] and, of course, [scryfall]Collected Company[/scryfall]. I would’ve wished there was a competitive Vampire deck or something, but it just hasn’t appeared, at least not yet. With [scryfall]Collected Company[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Dromoka’s Command[/scryfall] gone pretty soon, things might change quite a bit.

As always, this isn’t about what’s best, but more about what sparks my imagination in some way or another. Sometimes its a fun card to brew with, sometimes I like the art, sometimes they do something weird, but not very obvious, way too often they’re either black or blue or both. Sometimes (okay, often) I just have fond memories of them.

Previous “winners” include [scryfall]Pain Seer[/scryfall], [scryfall]Bloodsoaked Champion[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Inverter of Truth[/scryfall]. As I said, black is good, but also they work in weird ways, often being pretty weak, if things don’t go your way, but they are the kinds of cards I personally enjoy.

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My Favorite Decks from Pro Tour Eldritch Moon

Here’s a hint: Not all of the decks in the Top 8 are the best ones. Often the players 6-0 their drafts and then scramble their way into the top 8 with a mediocre deck backed by a great player and some luck. Remember Jon Finkel’s result in Pro Tour SOI? No one else managed to do anything with that deck. Remember the Monoblack Devotion from a few years back? At the end of its run, it was having around 40% win percentage, but since so many people played it, someone always did well with it and it always seemed to be on the top. So, maybe you shouldn’t go with the “big” deck.

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Eldritch Moon Brews, pt. 10 – Brewing with the Pariah

Well, apparently, [scryfall]Voldaren Pariah[/scryfall] is a bomb, at least based on my experience in Limited. Sure, Limited and Standard are really different worlds, but when something functions really well in Limited, you should at least test it in Standard. Remember this guy?

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Eldritch Moon Brews, pt. 9 – UW Spirits

I’ve been playing Tomoharu Saito’s UR Flash deck a lot recently. I love. I also like the Dragon variant, but [scryfall]Rattlechains[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Dimensional Infiltrator[/scryfall] is where its at for me. There already was a blue-white version of this deck, which also seems powerful, but this time it gets a huge boost in a couple of very good cards (okay, one good, two I think might very well make it):

spellquellerniblisoffrostselflesssoul

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Eldritch Moon Brews, pt. 7 – BG Delirium

Maybe Sultai would be better, since [scryfall]Kiora, Master of the Depths[/scryfall] could be really great here, but I think this should be more aggressive, although I’m not quite sure of the right build, but the reasons I’m even talking about this are plentiful in EMN.

lilianathelasthopegrimflayergnarlwooddryadgrapplewiththepast

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Eldritch Moon Brews, pt. 4 – Big White

Seems to me, thusfar, white has gotten the best tools out of Eldritch Moon, which is a bit problematic, since it was already such a good color in Standard. There isn’t even much rotating out, when Kaladesh comes in. So, I thought why even play other colors? There were actually a couple of fairly well performing Big White decks early in the format, but they fell on the wayside for whatever reason. Still, the bomb contingency in this set is so good, I think this is something one might try… Is this going to be the most expensive monocolored deck in Standard ever?

giselathebrokenblade

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