Archangel’s Light

So we’re off to a bad start here. This is a very baffling mythic and I really didn’t understand why it was made at first. It’s not a key element to the story, unlike Helvault, which justifies the rarity as a central part of Innistrad’s storyline. The effect isn’t overly stunning for what it is- sure you gain a bunch of life, but most of the time you’ll die before you get there as this sits in your hand. On reflection, it feels like you’re paying for a heavily overpriced Elixir of Immortality that gives you a bit more life, but does it more slowly. As has since been explained by WotC, there was a problem with this card that it was a last minute replacement which they had to keep the same Name and Art, which is a considerable constraint- and as much as it’s a shame a Mythic slot was lost to this, Kudos to them for holding their hands up and admitting the weakness of the card and for erring on the side of caution as to not have a late change end up like others have, with an overpowered card. (Skullclamp says hello.)

Bar The Door

Good design here, with effect, art and name all tied together neatly. It’s barely playable in limited and unplayable in constructed though. I do like what they did in the promotional videos for this card though, stapling the art onto that of Zombie Apocalypse. I don’t think I’ve seen two arts merged together before like that, which was a nice little touch. It’s also colour pie 101 as you’ll notice this is basically Hysterical Blindness, which reinforces that blue takes away the power of opposing creatures and white boosts the toughness of it’s own.

Break of Day

This is a card that I like. With a simple concept that at sunrise, the Humans get a little bit stronger when it isn’t night-time, as well as fateful hour conveying the feeling of a “last stand”. It’s also a very smart way to show off fateful hour in the common slot with a simple effect. The card is decently costed too, with limited looking to continue a theme where the creatures have quite low toughness across most the colours, meaning the card is better than it looks on first glance and has a decent home in this set.

Burden of Guilt

This is cheap removal for limited and the card feels white in every way. Using somebody’s guilt to keep them controlled not only fits white as a colour, but Innistrad as a plane. It’s a good riff off the usual tappers we see and you get that nice balance that you’re still paying for the tapping, but it’s not on a vulnerable body that can be picked off at any time. What’s quite cleverly been done is having this in a set where Village Bell-Ringer, the Niblis’ (Nibli?) and Galvanic Juggernaut exist so tapping isn’t always the perfect answer- but it gives White a decent way to deal with Undying creatures, too.

Curse of Exhaustion

A nice little effect here. Very few limited purposes with probably an eye towards giving White a little defence against Burning Venegance in block. From a flavour point of view, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about White having a Curse as it doesn’t quite sit right. The odd thing is that this card would be fantastic in a Werewolf deck, as you could make it easier to flip them and harder to reverse the effect, but it’s just not in the right colour- and I think you’d be look foolish splashing for it- although if you’re W/R or W/G with enough werewolves to make it worth it, it could be a huge beating, but your creatures would need to be 50% lycanthrope or something.

Elgaud Inquisitor

Again, another good white card along the line of “Human dies, becomes ghost”. Not sure why he’s an Inquisitor, though. A slightly above average common that plays well with White’s themes and several draft archetypes- natural human builds, and various combinations of sacrifice decks- he’s also similar to Mausoleum Guard in that he gives opponents a difficult decision whether to kill it and give you a flier, or take damage from letting them through- exacerbated by the lifelink clause. Naturally, he’s good to leave at home to block too, as you can always cash in for 2 life and a spirit.

Faith’s Shield

A well designed card. It shows off Fateful Hour in a fairly powerful way for limited- Stave Off that can upgrade into Brave the Elements. An interesting quirk on this card is that it reads “target permanent” rather than just “target creature” like these cards normally do. It’s a card that shows off Fateful Hour in a flavourful manner- when times are desperate, the Humans get more powerful effects- which translates in giving you a chance to hang in there just as things get tough- and if  you’re in a racing situation, it can power you through the blockers for an alpha strike.

Gather the Townsfolk

Another good way to show off Fateful Hour here- two guys for two mana that can explode into 5 guys if need be. It’s one of those cards that tells a good story too. When things are okay, only two people turn up. When shit gets real, five people turn up. A strong limited card that plays nicely with the upsurge of Sacrifice themes that Dark Ascension provides. With a few cards that care if the sacrifice is human, it gives Townsfolk more versatility than say, Midnight Haunting. You can combo this with some great cards- Falkenrath Aristocrat or Falkenrath Torturer to steal some games off the back of a fatefully houred Townsfolk. It is the premier common for the new mechanic in this set- much like Morbid had Brimstone Volley in Innistrad.

Gavony Ironwright

A Horned Turtle for White with some upside here. A simply designed uncommon, allowing players to have an opportunity to stall out an aggressive opponent by making everyone big blockers. I suppose the flavour is that it’s an armoursmith, which I guess means the guy is so good at blacksmithing that he just gives all the creatures on your team a slightly better Accorder’s Shield. Must’ve pulled quite a few night shifts.

Hollowhenge Spirit

Design-wise there’s not much to say here. It’s a spirit and a flier with two abilities, which makes Uncommon it’s rightful home. A decent limited trick that can mess with combat, which continues the theme that has developed during Dark Ascension, which is that Spirits have more of a “mischievous poltergeist” feel, in the sense that they mess around with combat by tapping mostly, although in this case it just plain takes someone out of it.

Increasing Devotion

What I like is that although Dark Ascension is the set where things get considerably worse for the human populace, with a lot of them meeting their end and others turning to demonic cults, Increasing Devotion is a card that at highlights that not all humans are giving up on Avacyn, despite her disappearance. It’s a powerful card and is my favourite kind of limited rare- It’s powerful and can swing the game, but it won’t end it immediately. A good fit for white in the “Increasing Cycle” that plays extremely well as a top-end card for Innistrad’s Token theme. It’s a good fun card for the casual players too- Conqueror’s Pledge has always been a kitchen table favourite, and this is in a similar vein.

Lingering Souls

A format defining card that will not only have impact on the standard metagame, but also delivers huge rewards in limited too. It’s a hugely upscaled version of Midnight Haunting and in what is a rarity for Spirits, it highlights the story well via the flavour text,  Hollowhenge being a “key” town in Innistrad as it is the former Avabruck, where Werewolves slaughtered the entire town, so it would naturally be filled with angsty ghosts.  I like it as a card that is good to all players. Obviously high-level players appreciate the raw value you get out of it, while the more casual player can appreciate it too, as the effect is very clear for them to see. A well designed and aggressively costed card that will see play in all types of magic.

Loyal Cathar

This Cathar is easily one of the home-run hits of the set. It’s a card with limited and constructed purposes- a decently costed but not overpowered card, but I’m personally in love with this card as a simple concept, designed elegantly. In life, he is vigilant as he guards the walls from whatever horrors lurk outside, but when he dies and returns zombified, he now can’t block as he’s trying to burst in, now a mindless zombie- a complete opposite of what he once was.  Fantastic flavour. If there were ever a card that hammered home how bad it is for the humans, this is it and when this card was spoiled it just confirmed for me that the implementation of Double-Faced Cards has been a master stroke and one of the main reasons this block is such a runaway success.

Midnight Guard

Filler common here for when you need to flesh out a deck, given a little boost with psuedo-vigilance, providing you can play another creature. Works well when there are a handful of flash cards running around. I like the concept here, of the overwhelmed yet hard working guard chasing after everything that appears in the night. Brilliant art on this guy too. My only complaint is that we now have an infinite combo in Pauper with this guy and Presence of Gond.

Niblis of the Mist

I’m not a fan of the Niblis’. They seem very out of place as there’s been no mention of these “Niblis” spirits before. Why not just use geists for consistency? Otherwise, it’s another spirit that is running around messing with people by terrorising them, which translates into Spirits have a tendency of tapping creatures in Dark Ascension, which works well as a concept as I’ve mentioned earlier and can make for some interesting situations for limited.

Niblis of the Urn

The other white Nibbly (Sorry , that’s just how I want to pronounce it in my head) creature that taps creatures during combat. An interesting card here as a 2 mana 1/1 flyer isn’t overly strong, even with the tapping ability so I personally find it a bit strange that it’s an uncommon. It can obviously tap the creature in the air blocking it, but if they have two guys who can block it, it’s pretty much relegated to chump blocker status. That said if you have a couple of these, and other means of tapping, you can live the dream of faltering most their blockers each turn. Personally unsure on it.

Ray of Revelation

A good reprint here- the name fits the plane and it goes well in the cycle of on colour-pair flashbackers. As there are a lot of good targets for this in limted formats, such as Claustrophobia, Bonds of Faith, Burning Vengeance and many others, it makes Ray one of the most powerful sideboard cards you can have. A subtly great design not only for the set, but they’ve managed to get this effect into the Modern format with this reprint.

Requiem Angel

I really like this card. It’s another of those “fair rares” which won’t win the game straight away despite its powerful effect. I really appreciate the flavour on this card despite it being slightly subtle. Normally the idea is flavour wise that on Innistrad, when somebody dies they pass into the “Blessed Sleep” and quite literally rest in peace. However with Avacyn gone, the humans cannot have this much craved death and can be tampered with, stitched into monstrous forms and all manner of shenanigans, so all Avacyn’s Angels can do is guide dead people’s ghosts the best it can- so you get 1/1 tokens instead of a totally dead dude. Excellent.

Sanctuary Cat

Meow. Filler common and a cute little card and I can’t really think of much to say here- I’d say I was glad they managed to hit the cat trope, but Black Cat does it so much more better.

Seance

Another design home run here. It’s one of those cards that gets people thinking of the possibilities and makes them want to try it out, even though the results are probably not going to be what they desired. The flavour is great though and basically describes what a Seance would be- summon the spirit of a loved one, have them around for a cup of tea and a chat, before they bugger off for good. Perfect, perfect, perfect. This is a card that states the case for top-down design and I think it hits on a flavour level as well as creating an interesting card with an unusual effect.

Silverclaw Griffin

A continuation of the theme that the avian species of Innistrad are on the side of the Humans, we are presented with a very decent flier at Common with stats and abilities that are quite powerful. Simple card that pads out the set and will star in limited. Can’t help but feel for Abbey Griffin in all it’s mediocrity though, as now it can’t even claim to be the best Griffin in the format.

Skillful Lunge

Traditional white combat trick that are a dime a dozen, although this feels like it could fit in any set rather than just Innistrad. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this in a core set one day. A fine design.

Sudden Disappearance

Another quirky White card here and another reason to let people live the dream of actually getting some use from Sundial of the Infinite. I think it’s a cute little card that fits the set it’s in and will probably be a hit with some casual players. That said, it has virtually no Standard or Limited applications as far I can see- which unfortunately happens a bit to white’s rares this set.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

I’m very happy that WotC  gave us another “character” card, like Olivia and Mikaeus. For too long it’s been a case of the central characters of a plane just being the Planeswalkers, but I really like this not being the case for this block. It’s very much a struggle that’s isolated to the natural inhabitants of the plane and that the ‘walkers like Lilly and Garruk are just a little bit removed from the central storyline (Although Sorin is there and I don’t mind that too much as he’s clearly ingrained in the history of the plane) so we have some of the key figures of Innistrad appearing on their own cards, playing into their themes. Thalia is a central figure in the “Fight for Thraben” that was described in the flavour parts of spoiler week and clearly a person of large influence for the humans, so it’s only appropriate she appears here. Her mechanics suit her too as she is represented in the storyline as a zealot-like Human, so the fact she makes non-creature spells cost more fits her role. In terms of play, it’s quite clever- a fair amount of the time in Limited, your White-geared decks are going to be aggressive and full of creatures, so this will generally aid your cause- the average G/W deck that likes to vomit out creatures constantly with the odd travel preps in between will like her and she’s actually got decent stats and is a good ground beater for that kind of deck too. A great card with limited power and many constructed applications.

Thraben Doomsayer

I’m not sure about how I feel about this card flavour-wise, as it seems pretty muddled- I can kind of get that a Doomsayer would create his own little “cult mob”, hence the token generation, but if he’s predicting that the game is up, why does everyone get stronger? Surely they should get disheartened and worse? Obviously that would make for a terrible card, but hey. Vorthos for life. It’s a pretty good rare however and a Psuedo-Lord here when Fateful Hour is on and a token maker is always powerful, although this not Bloodline Keeper. Another fair Rare and an absolute all-star in the Humans deck.

Thraben Heretic

Clever card here, with a Human who is taking matters into their own hands in a somewhat controversial way by just killing all the corpses to prevent them becoming Zombies, or Skaab-feed. Good to show that not all the humans are being decimated. Fantastic art on this one by the way. As for play, this isn’t bad for limited- like Silverchase Fox, it’s a 2/2 for 1W, which is playable- and you get a utility effect too. It can downsize Harvest Pyres, Spider Spawnings and such- albeit slowly and provides a useful tool against the skaab-heavy decks.

Top 5 White Designs:

1. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2. Loyal Cathar
3. Requiem Angel
4. Seance
5. Increasing Devotion

Overall, I like what’s been done with White. Humans have continued to show deep flavour (Just ask the zombies), showing some branching out in new directions in addition to the reinforcement of most of the themes humans were along before. Spirits seem to actually have some mechanical ties flavour-wise now rather than just being bodies that also happened to be spirits, while also tugging back on White’s insane power in limited a little. Good job all round.