Innistrad Remastered Is Available to Trade
John Sherwood • January 16, 2025
(Conjurer's Closet | Art by Donato Giancola)
Some Planes Never Die
Friendly greetings and welcome! The Cardsphere team is pleased to announce Innistrad Remastered (INR) is available to trade. I'm John Sherwood, author of Tricks of the Trade, and I'd like to know how visitors to Innistrad adjust to the smell. Similar to last year's Ravnica Remastered, Innistrad Remastered is a collection of reprints focused on a single setting.
True to Innistrad's themes, this set feels like it's returning from the graveyard to our hands. In addition to beloved characters and mechanics returning to play, Innistrad Remastered is reanimating some fan-favorite cards with new treatment. Let's go graf digging together and see what we shovel up.
Modern Frames
The bulk of this set will be no-frills reprints from every harrowing visit to the plane of Innistrad. We get classic finishers like Laboratory Maniac and multi-format all-stars like Faithless Looting. For people who love tentacles more than friends, Emrakul, the Promised End is back with a brood of Eldritch horrors. Some of these old cards feature new art. For example, the new Deadeye Navigator is very clearly a spirit, instead of just a shady gondolier.
Classic Frames
Pre-modern frames are back, with a twist. Innistrad Remastered is the first set with old frame, double-faced cards. While I'm not a fan of double-faced cards, I do have a soft spot for old border lands, which leaves me torn over adding Westvale Abbey to my Cardsphere wants. Most of the Classic Frame Innistrad Remastered cards are also available in other frames, but there are exceptions. Balefire Dragon, Craterhoof Behemoth, Liliana of the Veil and Snapcaster Mage are not available in any other treatments in this set.
New Borderless Art
Twenty-five cards received entirely new borderless art. My first spotlight in this category goes to Nils Hamm, who delivers a stunning Cultivator Colossus.
The face is deeply haunting, and when you manage to divert your eyes, you might notice the mama and baby bear precariously posed on the beast's arm. Their predicament inspires all kinds of hypothetical questions, and somehow they all lead me to chuckle uncomfortably about the fate of vanilla bears in Magic: The Gathering.
Moving on from my musings about 2/2's for two, there is another borderless card in Innistrad Remastered that is worthy of collecting consideration for reasons beyond the imagery.
According to artist Donato Giancola, the new borderless Conjurer's Closet is, "...the most recent, and likely last, released artwork for a Magic: The Gathering card you will see from my hand." (Donato Giancola's full statement here.) Regardless of the reasons, this card marks the end of an era, in which Donato Giancola contributed many noteworthy pieces of art to the Magic community. Donato and his outstanding illustration skills will be missed.
Showcase
Up next, we have seventeen cards in Showcase treatments. Three of these revive the equinox frame from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Another three bring back the fang frame from Innistrad: Crimson Vow. The remaining eleven are stylized like vintage horror movie posters. I feel like the exclamation points after keywords on Avacyn, Angel of Hope should have an extra impact on the game somewhere, but I'm sure a judge could tell us in the comments why that won't be the case.
In any case, these silver screen card portrayals might be worth their weight in silver on the secondary market. Maybe if we all ask nicely, Steve Heisler will talk more about these awesome showcases in an upcoming Sphere of Influence.
Innistrad Incarnate
That's right folks, there are four versions of Edgar Markov in Innistrad Remastered. Now your whole EDH pod can run a different printing of the same commander with a mechanic that shouldn't exist. Yes, I'm using my platform to talk smack about eminence; bite me. (Unless you're a vampire, in which case, I'll pass.)
Edgar Markov is the mascot for this set, a status immortalized by a limited run of 500 serialized movie poster Edgars with double rainbow foiling.
Nostalgic Necromancy
Undeniably, one driving factor behind this reprint set is Innistrad nostalgia among the Magic community at large. Even if you aren't nostalgic for Magic's original horror-themed plane, this set has something for everyone. Many of these reprints are good in multiple formats. Reprints are good for players who buy singles, and that means this set is great for Cardsphere users.
Innistrad Remastered - Borderless
Innistrad Remastered - Borderless Poster
