Shadows Over Innistrad Revived
Up to 8 players draft a more powerful and condensed version of Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon limited. Pack design imitates a mix of both boosters with two timeshifted slots ft. some older and newer Innistrad cards.
Jumpstart boosters now available (see bottom)!
Each player receives 3 packs of 15 cards, each containing:
2 Rares
3 Uncommons
8 Commons
2 Timeshifted
Want to see only timeshifted cards? Paste this into the "Filter" menu: -set:soi -set:emn -is:promo
β’ π Embellish a piece of magic's booster history.
--> keep as much of the original format intact while creating a more modern, deep and varied limited environment
β’ βοΈ Balance trumps pure nostalgia.
--> rebalance card distribution, rarity and, in some cases, oracle text
--> nerf overpowered bombs and cut unplayable draft-chaff
--> balance the mana curve of each color and further support archetype synergies to make any color-combination fun and playable.
β’ π Make flavorful additions from other releases that fit the set's themes, art and mechanics.
--> Timeshifted or Bonus-Sheet type of inserts that create extra variance and surprise veteran drafters.
β’ πͺπΌ Gameplay feels more like block constructed decks rather than the original booster-draft format as decks are generally more powerful.
--> Commons are still valuable, decks are just more synergistic and reliable (fixing, mana curve)
β’ π€πΌ Drastic reworks are optional to also include players looking for a more traditional set-cube experience.
β’ πΈ Small & Affordable
--> Easy assembly, low barrier to entry
How different is this cube from the original blocks' boosters?
==========50%==========
ΓΓ Cards from other sets
Γ Altered Card-Text
ΓΓ Altered Booster-Design
More remastered set cubes:
π²β©οΈTarkir Restored NEW
ππKaladesh Reinvented
π‘οΈποΈDominaria (2018) Reimagined
βοΈποΈKaldheim Reclaimed
π¦
π₯Core M19 Realigned
ποΈπ§ββοΈAmonkhet Recovered
"Plane Limited" Set Cubes:
Ravnica
Ixalan
Mirrodin
Innistrad
The original booster environment featured small tribal synergies with few payoffs, so I chose to cut zombies, vampires and spirits as βtribal decksβ entirely. These decks unfortunately never came together as βrealβ tribal decks and in comparison to the enhanced power level of the rest of the cube the payoff cards fell rather flat.
Emerge/Eldrazi as an archetype is cut as well.
I have adjusted the cardpool to support the playable archetypes a bit more. Madness and werewolf decks are now equally as playable as graveyard decks.
A few two-color decks end up rather being good-card piles than synergistic decks. Those are separated under the line.
Madness
Bloodmad Vampire, Olivia's Dragoon
Delirium
Autumnal Gloom, Thraben Foulboods
Werewolves
Runebound Wolf, Waxing Moon
Prowess Madness
Thermo-Alchemist, Curious Homunculus
Control Madness
Ghoulsteed, Stitchwing Skaab
Humans, Investigate
Thalia's lieutenant, Briarbridge Patrol
Investigate Midrange
Ongoing Investigation, Fleeting Memories
Flyers Investigate
Erdwal Illuminator, Thraben Inspector
Aggro
Dauntless Cathar, Voldaren Duelist
Sacrifice Delirium
Pious Evangel, Sanitarium skeleton
I have downshifted some lower-powered rares and uncommons that bring archetypes together well and fill gaps in the mana curve.
Rare to uncommon:
Sanctifier of souls
Thalia's lieutenant
Hanweir militia captain
Welcome to the fold
Asylum visitor
Stromkirk occultist
Deathcap cultivator
Lupine prototype
Tamiyos journal
Corrupted grafstone
Geier Reach Sanitarium
Drownyard temple
All five Show-Lands
Uncommon to common:
(Most of these now have two copies)
Extricator of sin
Courageous outrider
Reaper of flight moonsilver
Subjugator angel
Erdwal iluminator
Nebelgast herald
Stitchwing skaab
Fleeting memories
Tooth collector
Abundant maw
Gisas bidding
Rise from the grave
Graf harvest
Village messenger
Ravenous bloodseeker
Conduit of storms
Abandon reason
Briarbridge patrol
Pack guardian
Crop sigil
Howlpack resurgence
Wildfield scarecrow
Magnifying glass
Bombs like Liliana and Tamiyo are denoted as "mythics" and are only featured once in the third booster.
This way, especially in sealed, some boosters arenβt much more overpowered than others by featuring multiple top rares.
Furthermore, I nerfed a few bombs by adjusting their mana cost or abilities. In case you are looking for an extra balanced draft of the format, apply these optional changes (small post-it over the respective value):
- Liliana, the Last Hope - costs
- Archangel Avacyn - 4/3 body, no vigilance
- Nahiri, the Harbinger - 2nd ability costs -3 loyalty
- Sigarda, Herons Champion - 4/4 body, Ward 3 instead of hexproof
- Gisela, the broken blade - no lifelink
- Docent of perfection - 3/4 body
- Mirrorwing Dragon - 3/4 body
'Mythic' Uncommons:
Top commons in each color:
Card rating system
A rating system similar to limited set reviews is available by reading the 'notes' section of each card and works as followed:
S: game winning bomb. Warps the game around it and must be answered at all cost.
A: powerful bomb. Can win the game on its own but isn't unbeatable.
B: very good card that will almost always make the cut. Good uncommons and the best commons end up here.
C: playable cards that sometimes make the cut. C+ usually does, C- generally won't. Curve fillers.
D: Filler or left over cards. Often the last cards in the pack. At times, these can fill your curve but you'll never be happy to play them.
Unfortunately, it seems that the draft AI does not prioritize the timeshifted cards at all, making them unrealisticly easy to pick up late in the draft. Real life drafts obviously have these cards picked up much earlier.
Resources
You can find further discussion on this cube here
The original version of this list without any timeshifted cards can be found here
Stats | out of 10 |
---|---|
Price | 3 |
Size | 4 |
Start difficulty | 3 |
Skill cealing | 5 |
Grindiness | 3 |
Parasitic | 7 |
Preparing the custom draft boosters:
- When you have all the required cards, separate all timeshifted cards (old and new), then sort the rest by rarity and shuffle each rarity pile.
- Start with bomb mythics: you will want to keep these 8 boosters separate from the rest. Lay them out next to one another in face-down piles. You should have 8 cards in piles.
- Lay out the other "regular" rares as 16 separate piles. You should have 24 single-card piles total.
- Put a rare over each pile.
- Put an uncommon over each pile until all uncommons are gone. They should all be 5-card piles.
- Put all commons the same way. You should have 24 13-card piles.
- Put an OG Innistrad card on each pile.
- Put a 2021 Innistrad card on each pile. You should have 24 15-card boosters.
Draft with 4-8 players or play sealed with up to 4 players.
Brackets are lands or equivalents that replace a land.
All boosters should have 8 lands (including bracketed cards) and 20 cards total. Basics are not mentioned here and are expected to be added.
@ = removal (2 / booster)
βWhite Delirium
Topplegeist
Lunarch mantle
Unruly mob
Vessel of ephemera
Desperate sentry
Pious evangel
Extricator of sin
@ Angelic purge
@ choking restraint
Nearheath chaplain
Reaper of flight moonsilver
Emrakul, the promised end
(Drownyard temple)
White Humans
Champion of the parish
Thraben inspector
Sigardian priest
Steadfast cathar
Hanweir militia captain
Thalia's lieutenant
True-faith censer
Resistance squad
@ fiend hunter
@ Faith unbroken
Riders of gavony
Courageous outrider
βBlue Investigate
Hard evidence
Erdwal iluminator
Tattered Haunter
@ unsubstantiate
Jace's scrutiny
Daring sleuth
Fleeting memories
Stitched mangler
Magnifying glass
Drownyard explorer
Ethereal investigator
@ Jace, unraveler of mysteries
βBlue Mad Prowess
@ Just the wind
Tattered haunter
Curious humonculus
Deranged assistant
Niblis of dusk
Ingenious skaab
@ Drag under
Catalog
Niblis of frost
Docent of perfection
Pore over the pages
Vexing scuttler
(Geier Reach sanitarium)
βBlack Delirium
Terrarion
@ dead weight
Ghoulcallers apprentice
Wailing ghoul
Tooth collector
Crow of dark tidings
Thraben foulbloods
@ kindly stranger
Mindwrack demon
Liliana, the last hope
Rise from the grave
Dreadhound
βBlack Madness
@ sinister concoction
Sanitarium skeleton
Olivia's dragoon
Asylum visitor
Lupine prototype
Macabre waltz
@ murderous compulsion
Gisas bidding
Twins of Maurer estate
Dying to serve
Haunted dead
From under the floorboards
βRed Werewolves
Village messenger
Neglected heirloom
Kessig forgemaster
Runebound wolf
Village ironsmith
@ Incendiary flow
Conduit of storms
Convicted killer
Kruin outlaw
Uncaged fury
Savage alliance
Mirrowing dragon
βRed Madness
Insolent neonate
@ Lightning Axe
@ fiery temper
Bloodmad vampire
Ravenous bloodseeker
Tormenting voice
Senseless rage
Furyblade vampire
Stromkirk occultist
Incorrigle youths
Anjes ravager
Mad prophet
Wolf of devils breach
βGreen Delirium
Gnarlwood dryad
Crop sigil
Vessel of nascency
@ Silver bolt
Moldgraf scavenger
Obsessive skinner
Grapple with the past
@ Rabid bite
Stoic builder
Wildfield scarecrow
Soul swallower
Ghoultree
Green Werewolves
@ Prey upon
Kessig prowler
Hinterland logger
Ulvenwald captive
Mayor of avabruck
Waxing moon
@ moonlight hunt
Howlpack resurgence
Spirit of the hunt
Hermit of the natterknolls
Pack Guardian
Solitary hunter
βUW Investigate Flyers
Gryffs Boon
Thraben inspector
Erdwal Iluminator
Tattered haunter
(@)Expose evil
@ Blessed alliance
(@)Jace's scrutiny
Nebelgast herald
Spell queller
Bygone bishop
Dauntless cathar
Sanctifier of souls
(Port town)
βRB Vampire Madness
Olivia's dragoon
Heir of flakenrath
Bloodmad vampire
Call of the bloodline
Ravenous bloodseeker
@ Alchemists greeting
@ avacyns judgement
Abandon reason
Markov baron
Twins of Maurer estate
Olivia, mobilized for war
Bloodhall priest
(Foreboding ruins)
βRG Werewolves
Village messenger
Reckless waif
@ prey upon
Moonmist
Hinterland logger
Scorned villager
Brazen wolves
Howlpack resurgence
@ Clear shot
Arlinn kord
Briarpack alpha
Ulrich of the krallenhorde
(Game trail)
βGW Humans
Town gossipmonger
Sigardian priest
Unruly mob
Duskwatch recruiter
@ Rabid Bite
@ Puncturing Light
Ethereal guidance
Byway courier
Dauntless cathar
Herons Grace Champion
Courageous outrider
Cemetery Protector
(Fortified Village)
βGB Delirium
Terrarion
Deathbonnet sprout
@ Dead weight
Grapple with the past
Deathcap cultivator
Moldgraf scavenger
Grim flayer
Autumnal gloom
Eccentric farmer
Tooth collector
@ Corpse lunge
Ishkanah, grafwidow
(Foul orchard)
βWB Sacrifice Delirium
Terrarion
Reassembling skeleton
Lunarch mantle
Skirsdag highpriest
Moorland drifter
Desperate sentry
Extricator of sin
@ Angelic purge
@ Bound by moonsilver
Midnight scavengers
Abundant maw
Distended mindbender
(Forsaken sanctuary)
(Westvale abbey)
βUR Prowess
Faithless looting
@ just the wind
Thermo Alchemist
Sanguinary mage
Thing in the ice
Tormenting voice
weaver of lightning
@ Drag under
Ingenious skaab
Pyre hound
Ardent elementalist
Bedlam reveler
(Highland lake)
UG Investigate
Confront the unknown
Ongoing investigation
Ulvenwald captive
Wharf infiltrator
Tireless tracker
Byway courier
Fleeting memories
Wild-field scarecrow
@ deny existence
Ulvenwald mysteries
Briarbridge patrol
@ Gone missing
(Woodland Stream)
βUB Zombie Madness
Cryptbreaker
Graf harvest
@ just the wind
Corrupted grafstone
Ghoulcallers apprentice
@ murderous compulsion
Skaab ruinator
Gisas bidding
Reckless scholar
Overwhelmed archivist
Stitchwing skaab
Ghoulsteed
Geralf's masterpiece
(Choked Estuary)
βWR Beats
Skeleton key
Insolent neonate
Voltaic visionary
Fleeting spirit
Borrowed grace
Magmatic chasm
Brazen wolves
Sin prodder
ThalΓa, heretic cathar
Breakneck rider
Voldaren duelist
Famished foragers
(Stone quarry)
Mainboard Changelist+37, -37
- Thraben Inspector
- Sigardian Priest
- Extricator of Sin
- Courageous Outrider
- Reaper of Flight Moonsilver
- Expose Evil
- Angelic Purge
- Choking Restraints
- Nebelgast Herald
- Ingenious Skaab
- Tattered Haunter
- Stitchwing Skaab
- Jace's Scrutiny
- Drag Under
- Spontaneous Mutation
- Wretched Gryff
- Just the Wind
- Sanitarium Skeleton
- Olivia's Dragoon
- Crow of Dark Tidings
- Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
- Dead Weight
- Murderous Compulsion
- Gisa's Bidding
- Pyre Hound
- Fiery Temper
- Alchemist's Greeting
- Ravenous Bloodseeker
- Bloodmad Vampire
- Senseless Rage
- Tormenting Voice
- Thermo-Alchemist
- Hinterland Logger
- Bounding Wolf
- Rabid Bite
- Confront the Unknown
- Shard of Broken Glass
- Steadfast Cathar
- Vessel of Ephemera
- Midnight Scavengers
- Rush of Adrenaline
- Rush of Adrenaline
- Gone Missing
- Survive the Night
- Cathar's Companion
- Magmatic Chasm
- Throttle
- Vessel of Ephemera
- Drownyard Explorers
- Cultist's Staff
- Fork in the Road
- Prey Upon
- Prey Upon
- Quilled Wolf
- Distemper of the Blood
- Conduit of Storms
- Voldaren Duelist
- Conduit of Storms
- Ember-Eye Wolf
- Vessel of Malignity
- Midnight Scavengers
- Gavony Unhallowed
- Wailing Ghoul
- Wailing Ghoul
- Sleep Paralysis
- Nagging Thoughts
- Catalog
- Catalog
- Drownyard Explorers
- Niblis of Dusk
- Niblis of Dusk
- Ethereal Guidance
- Subjugator Angel
- Steadfast Cathar
I've already made these changes to several other set cubes from this design period and had great results. Cutting the few underplayed or underperforming commons and boosting the most important ones up to three copies is homogenizing but ultimately makes for a more concise play experience.