As of yesterday, the full card list for Innistrad Remastered has now been revealed. That’s 300 nostalgia-tinged reprints, ready to be slotted into theoretical decklists ahead of the set’s January 24th release. As with every Remastered set, the task of whittling down such an iconic plane into a single set’s worth of cards can’t have been an easy one. Some sacrifices, inevitably, had to be made. As a result, many beloved cards are missing from the final Innistrad Remastered lineup, and the community is none too happy about it.
Some of these cards are missed because of their high financial value. There are plenty of others, however, that are missed because of the warm memories they held of Magic circa 2011. In each case, the MTG community has been quick to voice its disappointment. It’s telling that early discussion of the full set list has largely been dominated by talk of what the set doesn’t have, rather than what it has.
No Universes Within Reprints
Among the key cards missing from Innistrad Remastered, few seem to have rankled more than the Universes Within cards. For the uninitiated, Universes Within is a now-mostly-abandoned initiative through which Wizards reprints Secret Lair exclusives into the world of Magic. This was done for the Walking Dead, Stranger Things, and Street Fighter Secret Lairs.
In the first two cases, the cards were reimagined on the plane of Innistrad. Rick Grimes became a warrior of Avacyn, Lucille a shovel for Gisa. So far these versions have only been printed via The List, which means very limited copies are available. Naturally, the sought-after cards from this series are very expensive as a result. Greymond, Avacyn’s Stalwart, for example, is worth over $47 at time of writing. Many were hoping to see a Greymond reprint in Innistrad Remastered at the very least, and possibly a few of the other Universes Within cards as well.
“No Greymond killed any hype I might have had for this set. The UW cards set in Innistrad would have been such easy money includes, this sucks so hard.”
AlfredHoneyBuns
Other players echoed this sentiment. “Greymond is the most baffling one. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to reprint it,” added Borror0. Gully41 followed up with “No Greymond, Avacyn’s Stalwart is crazy. Unless its gets a SPG or a Masters reprint we’re not going to see it for a long time.”
These are all very valid points. Because of their Innistrad specificity, opportunities to reprint Greymond et al are few and far between. Including them here, in an Innistrad-themed premium set, seems like an easy win. Considering several non-Innistrad cards were included, this exclusion seems particularly short-sighted.
Reprinting all of these Universes Within cards would’ve been far too much to ask. Greymond in a mythic slot would’ve been a smart move, however. As it stands, Human Typal players are just going to need to dig deep for the forseeable.
High-Value Misses
On the subject of financial value, players also noted a few spendy cards that are missing from Innistrad Remastered. At the top of this decadent tower sits Cavern of Souls. At around $37 a copy, this land is one of the crown jewels of Innistrad as a plane. Granted it was just reprinted in 2023’s Lost Caverns of Ixalan, but that doesn’t make it any less of a miss here. As huzzaahh put it in response to that point,”WotC have done reprints like that many times in the past, even for chase cards. That’s not an excuse not to have a $40 card in a premium set that needs to justify its existence.”
Cavern isn’t the only financial miss, either. Token deck all-star Parallel Lives also dodged the reprint wagon, and should retain its $32 price tag as a result. This is a more understandable omission than Cavern for Limited reasons, but still a surprising one for fans of the plane. As HumphreyLee put it, “How the shit do you do this set and leave out Parallel Lives? Looks like a solid set overall but man that’s glaring.”
Beyond this the misses are a bit less drastic. Exquisite Blood is around $16 right now thanks to Commander reprints, and would’ve been a nice value add in the rare slot here. Sigarda’s Aid is only around $7, but it’s a key card in a semi-relevant Modern deck, so it would’ve made a solid inclusion. Ultimately these misses are disappointing, but understandable. There are still some very expensive cards here, and Limited does need to be the primary concern for sets like this.
Absent Icons
Financial value aside, one of the biggest reasons to have Remastered sets in the first place is to get the nostalgia flowing. In that respect, Innistrad Remastered is largely a success. Most of the iconic cards from the plane’s past are here. Snapcaster Mage, Liliana of the Veil, Gravecrawler, etc. Some were passed over, however, much to the annoyance of the community.
“No Cavern of Souls, Parallel Lives, Gisela, Bruna, or Sigarda’s Aid. There goes my purchase. Good luck everyone else!”
Teneb0r
Teneb0r mentions some of the high-value cards we’ve already discussed here, but they also reference Gisela and Bruna, two of the archangels from Avacyn Restored. While only selling for around $1 each, these two are fan favorites. They make great Commanders, in particular. We did see these two characters in the set in their Eldritch Moon Meld forms, but the originals are sorely missed by many.
This same logic goes for Thalia as well. The original Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, is undoubtedly the best and most well-known iteration of the character. Yet for some reason when it came time to put together Innistrad Remastered Wizards went for Thalia, Heretic Cathar instead. Original Thalia did show up in Innistrad: Crimson Vow and Multiverse Legends, but it still feels like a major omission here. The card is a multi-format all-star to this day, and a major part of Innistrad’s history.
There are plenty of other iconic cards missing from Innistrad Remastered too. We’ve already talked about Invisible Stalker at length, but there are also classics like Blasphemous Act, Geralf’s Messenger, Grafdigger’s Cage, and many, many more. For these lower-value cards, the lack of a new reprint isn’t a big deal practically. Players who want them can still easily get them. It does make the set less of a celebration of Innistrad overall, however, which takes a lot from its main appeal.
