Shadows over Innistrad

Shadows over Innistrad is a Magic: The Gathering expansion block consisting of the sets Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon.

Mechanics

Shadows over Innistrad has five main mechanics. The Madness mechanic, returning from Time Spiral, allows a player to cast a card for its madness cost instead of being discarded. This is shown on the card Fiery Temper. Delirium counts the number of different card types in a player's graveyard. If that player has four or more card types among cards in their graveyard (e.g. creature, instant, sorcery, land), delirium is 'turned on', and will activate a specific effect on that card, like as on the card Soul Swallower. Investigate is a keyword that creates a Clue artifact token that you may pay 2 generic mana and sacrifice it to draw a card. One card with Investigate is Tireless Tracker. The Transform mechanic, such as on the card Westvale Abbey appears on double-sided cards. The cards come into play firstly in the front half, indicated by a sun symbol in the top left of the card, and once a certain effect is triggered or a flip ability activated the card will transform by flipping over into the 'night' mode, indicated by a moon symbol in the top left. Some cards can transform again and some are stuck in their night phase. Skulk is an evasion ability that appears on creature cards which means that they can't be blocked by creatures with greater power. Rancid Rats is a card with the skulk ability.

Eldritch Moon features four returning mechanics from Shadows over Innistrad: skulk, madness, delirium, and transform. A new mechanic, Meld, causes two creatures to transform into a single creature, creating an oversized card when certain conditions are met. Two creatures that can Meld together are Bruna, the Fading Light and Gisela, the Broken Blade. Instants and sorceries with Escalate are modal, and you may pay the escalate cost to use an additional mode of that spell, such as on Collective Effort. Creatures with Emerge such as Elder Deep-Fiend can be cast by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost, subtracted from the converted mana cost of the sacrificed creature.

Storyline

The denizens of Innistrad are beset on all sides. Their faith in the archangel Avacyn brought them strength when fighting against demons, werewolves, vampires, and all manners of horrors. But, now the mighty protector of the plane has been twisted into something monstrous by an outside influence. A very familiar force has stepped into the gothic world, and its corrupting tendrils now touch everything.

References