Right now we’re experiencing the rarest of things: a stretch of time with no new MTG spoilers. As the winter snows fall, previews are officially slumbering until January. That said, while its not directly revealing new cards, Wizards is certainly willing to hint at them.
In a recent Twitter post, artwork from classic Innistrad land Deathcap Glade was shown off. This heavily implies that we’ll be getting reprints of the Slow Lands cycle in the upcoming Innistrad Remastered. This is a good thing, too: though they don’t look it, these are actually pretty expensive cards. Those looking to pick them up for Commander are in luck.
Slow Lands Are Back In Innistrad Remastered?
Last Friday, Wizards put out a tweet with the Deathcap Glade artwork and the caption “Attention witches! Time to go mushroom gathering. #MTGInnistrad.” It sits alongside a number of similar posts featuring iconic Innistrad artwork. Blood Artist, which has already been spoiled for the set, got one last Wednesday, for example. Based on that, we can pretty safely assume that Deathcap Glade will be getting a reprint in Innistrad Remastered.
This reprint makes a ton of sense as a move on Wizards’ part. Land cycles are a great way to bump up the value of premium sets like this, and the Slow Lands are really the only ones that make sense for Innistrad Remastered. The plane has had some great lands, as we’ll get into later, but not many cycles. If there’s going to be a full dual land cycle in the set, it’ll be this one.
Although the Slow Lands aren’t particularly powerful, often ranking below the Fast or Check Lands for Commander, they are strangely expensive. Deathcap Glade, for example, goes for around $10 right now. Shattered Sanctum isn’t far behind, and Sundown Pass is about $7 itself. The rest of the cycle, including the five from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, go for around $3-5 too.
These prices are down to a combination of factors. Firstly, the cycle is very popular in Commander. Second, they’ve only been printed in their respective sets and in Innistrad: Double Feature. All three of these were fairly unpopular sets that weren’t opened much, so supply is low. This is the same reasoning behind the huge price tag of The Meathook Massacre. With the reprints almost certainly coming in Innistrad Remastered, these lands should become much more affordable.
Other Lands To Look For
Considering the Slow Lands as inclusions for Innistrad Remastered also raises another interesting question: what other lands from Innistrad’s past will make it into the set? There are actually quite a lot of great options here.
Going right back to the start, the original Innistrad block had a cycle of 10 lands with two-color activated abilities. Kessig Wolf Run is the most well-known among these, but Gavony Township and Slayers’ Stronghold have both done work in the past too. All 10 of these lands would be great to see in the set. I expect the three I just mentioned are the only likely candidates, however.
Jumping ahead to Shadows Over Innistrad, Westvale Abbey is an absolute house, both literally and metaphorically. Getting a token generator, a sacrifice outlet, and a huge finisher all in a land slot is a pretty great deal. This was proven during the card’s time in Standard, and it remains a force in Commander today. Westvale Abbey would make an ideal candidate for one of the new Retro Frame double-faced cards in the set. It’s certainly one of the best and most memorable, uses of the DFC mechanic we’ve seen on Innistrad.
While it didn’t have the same success, I’d say the same also applies to Hostile Hostel. A sentient hotel that eats your creatures before becoming a terrifying, elusive monster, this card is dripping with Innistrad flavor. It was a bit too slow for Standard, but it’s a fine grindy win condition for long Commander games. Phasing out is stellar protection, after all.
While this is all speculation for now, it’s hard to imagine Wizards won’t include some of these iconic lands in their celebration of Innistrad. Who knows, one might even prove worthy of the Movie Poster treatment.
