Innistrad Remastered releases January 24, 2025. It brings a curated Innistrad draft experience, and some much awaited reprints for popular cards for many formats. Today, we will look at the most exciting reprints for Commander from Innistrad Remastered.
INNISTRAD REMASTERED: EDGAR’S BIG DAY OUT
We can’t discuss the set without discussing the premier Mardu Vampires Commander Edgar Markov. Edgar sees his first proper reprint since Commander 2017 (ignoring the small reprint as a Judge Promo a couple years back). That’s great news for Vampire fans, as the brood’s most popular Commander should see much more availability.
Along with Edgar, there’s a number of other prominent Vampire faves in the set, from Bloodline Keeper and Captivating Vampire to a gorgeous showcase treatment Olivia Voldaren.
Multiple frame treatments return for the set, including the old border style for all you Magic Boomers – now you can grab the newer Blood Artist art in the old frame. For those who enjoyed the frame treatments from MID and VOW, they also make a return. I’m partial to the fang-tastic frame treatment on Kekai Kotaki’s Blood Artist.
BORDERLESS SHOWCASE CARDS
There are many borderless showcase versions of cards in the set, and some of them are truly brilliant. I love Odric, and Hullbreaker Horror is a very popular card – both should make players across the spectrum very happy.
Borderless treatments are stunning across the board, with some art in particular staying with you after you see it. Abrade is gorgeous, with the rich red and gold hues, but my favorite has to be the Cultivator Colossus. Nils Hamm brings a touch of Shadow of the Colossus and Elden Ring with his evocative signature style that really haunts you.
NEW INNISTRAD ART
Though the set is a reprint set, that doesn’t mean everything is well trodden ground. Indeed, some of that ground has been ravaged by Werewolves – check out the new art on Mass Hysteria. INR features a number of cards that had previously not been printed with Innistrad specific art, but with plane-specific art that tells a fun story.
It’s certainly something to be hype about if you have an Innistrad Cube, for instance – check out our interview with popular Innistrad Cube designer Angelo Guerrera that Tom put together. Cube is such a great format, and curated Cubes are a great way to enjoy your favorite cards and sets.
Maelstrom Pulse is another one with bangin’ new art – this time, Gisa wiping out a wave of Zombies she judged as “not meeting expectations”.
I think my favorite has to be Metallic Mimic, though. There’s something about the mechanical automaton imposter in Cathar gear that really gets me going. It’s so cool!
BOLSTERING CARD AVAILABILITY
Popular finishers Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Craterhoof Behemoth are in the Mythic slot for INR, and provide always-needed reprints for these popular white and green finishers. Avacyn helps you avoid boardwipes or even cast your own (we like casting Vanquish the Horde or Hour of Revelation for a wombo-combo), and Craterhoof Behemoth is good to search out with Chord of Calling or Finale of Devastation.
Another needed reprint is Meathook Massacre, one of black’s more popular wraths in recent years. This card is excellent in Enchantress decks and aristocrat builds, and keeps you topped up as opponents slowly bleed out.
Eldrazi decks got a surge of popularity with the MH3 Commander Precon, and so Emrakul, the Promised End also saw a surge of interest. It’s great to see a reprint finally – might be time to grab the one you needed.
ONE OF THE BEST LAND CYCLES FOR A WHILE, ACTUALLY
One of the best parts about this reprint set is the relatively quick reprint of one of the better recent land cycles. The lands from MID and VOW are back now, only a few years later, and with every land from the cycle included as a reprint. That’s stellar, and I don’t know what else we could have asked for. Great job, Wizards.
POPULAR RARE REPRINTS
The set also has some highly played role-player cards that could do with their price coming down a bit. Conjurer’s Closet is one that gets played in all sorts of blink decks, and the neat thing about it is that if you steal an opponent’s creature for the turn – and blink it with the Closet – it comes back under your control, for good.
Zombies decks are super powerful in Commander, with consistent Commanders like Varina and more combo-oriented ones like Wilhelt. Necroduality finds a home in plenty of builds, and will find a home in more when the price lowers a little more.
If you’re big on tokens, you need to be playing Second Harvest. With the explosion of token-making Commanders and cards that make things like Food, Clues and Treasure, Second Harvest has gotten very popular indeed. Great reprint, all told.
Cathars’ Crusade is an excellent finisher for counters decks, sure – but it’s also an excellent finisher for decks that go wide in general. It’s good to see it getting a reprint, as the price has been slowly creeping up.
END STEP
Innistrad Remastered is shaping up to be a fun draft format, a great set for reprints, and a way to enjoy Innistrad if you miss it or even missed it the first time around.
Card Kingdom presale for Innistrad Remastered started on December 26, 2024. We have both Play Booster Boxes and Collector Booster Boxes available to preorder, and singles will be available on release day, January 24, 2025.
What are you most excited about? Let us know on Socials.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.