Art by Jonas De RoLast updated on 8/7/24 (AFTER Bloomburrow)
Welcome to my Innistrad Horror Cube, where spooky, dark, and even grotesque scenes are a daily occurrence. Zombies, vampires, and werewolves terrorize the townsfolk while spirits and demons torment those unfortunate enough to cross their paths. Primarily inspired by @FrankLepore's Horror Cube and later influenced by @UberBear's Horror Cube, my list is the stuff of nightmares!
Seeing as this project was a very top-down endeavor, I feel it's very important that I define the one basic rule I lived by throughout the initial design; "If it couldn't exist or happen on Innistrad, it can't exist in my cube!" To follow this design philosophy closely, I've stayed true to a few things:
All Innistrad sets are modern-bordered, so every card in this cube should be as well
The printing of each card should ideally be its spookiest version or variation
The printing of each card should best fit the feel/vibe of Innistrad
NO foils! Scary things should be dull, dark, and dusty...not shiny
Notable Design Choices
Mid power level - Some true "staples" are present as long as they tightly fit the theme
Medium-slow speed - Aggro is viable, but grindy midrange decks are most common
Efficient (non-premium) removal but not at the expense of feeling off-theme
Very minimal tutors and no reamination effects below 3 mana
NO mass graveyard hate and very few repeatable hate effects
Limited number of tribal lords to prevent "on-rails" drafting
Strong fixing to support 2-3 color decks
Color Pie
Color-imbalanced heavily favoring black (roughly 20% higher black prevalence)
Most Monocolored cards should typically be desirable across 2+ archetypes
Most Multicolored cards should serve as signposts for their archetype
Each other color has at least a few tools to directly hose black
Archetypes should cross-pollinate to form 3+ color decks
The cube supports a primary archetype for each of the 10 two color pairs. 5 of which are tribal-focused and 5 are mechanically-focused. The result is a flavor-rich experience that presents dynamic drafting decisions.
Spirits | Evasion | Tempo 
Zombies | Self-Mill | Control 
Vampires | Madness | Aggrocrats 
Werewolves | Stompy | Midrange 
Humans | +1/+1 Counters | Tokens 
Life Drain | Aristocrats | Control 
Spells Matter | Tempo | Control 
Delirium | Self-Mill | Reanimator 
Aggro | Go Wide | Tokens 
Self-Mill | Ramp | Lands - Grist, Voracious Larva
- Kaalia of the Vast
- Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student
- Chthonian Nightmare
- Emperor of Bones
- Ripples of Undeath
- Shilgengar, Sire of Famine
- The Necrobloom
- Wight of the Reliquary
- Fell the Profane
- Grim Servant
- Mindless Conscription
- Muster the Departed
- The Creation of Avacyn
- Breathe Your Last
- Eviscerator's Insight
- Gravedig
- Thraben Charm
- Final Act
- Tracker's Instincts
- Flame Channeler
- Undead Augur
- Baleful Mastery