Oh boy folks. We’ve got some fun stuff today. Today on the Mothership we had new Magic Fiction. The story of Oath of Gatewatch has been told so today’s article was for Shadows Over Innistrad and boy oh boy was there some sweet nuggets tucked in this one. Under the Silver Moon is the first new article back on Innistrad and I thought would offer my own thoughts into what this might mean for the set that we are all waiting for in anticipation.

The story is set back in Kessig province and in the woodlands of the Ulvenwald. The village has gathered together to discuss some strange recent happening and two hunters named Halana and Alena are in attendance to watch and see what is going on. All of a sudden the innkeepers burst into the meeting and reveal that there has been a murder in the Inn and that a murderer is on the loose. The sisters spring into action and we have an honest to goodness murder mystery on our hands.

The writing of the actual mystery was fine with a couple of false leads and we are left wondering what foul creature is running loose in town killing civilians. Is it a monster? A werewolf? A demon? We really don’t know as our two hunter travel the town collecting clues. However, in the end, it is the wife of a Cathar from Gavony who is possessed by a demon who has committed these crimes and the sisters arrive just in time to confront the woman before she adds yet another victim to her list. The sisters are overwhelmed by the strength of the woman as she has been imbued with the strength of her demonic patron, but the sisters are thankfully rescued by a werewolf who inexplicably comes to their aid. You heard right, they were rescued by werewolf.

After things settle down a bit the sisters come face to face with werewolf and quickly discover that it is not alone. A large pack surrounds them and is poised to take the fight to the hunters when all of a sudden one of the werewolves transforms back into a woman. The woman sends the other werewolves away and warns the two hunters to flee the Ulvenwald forest and never to return or else they too will join the ranks of the dead. The Forest is dangerous and something more ominous is coming and the world of Innistrad will need the werewolves to fight off whatever is coming. We learn that the name of the werewolf who can transform is Arlinn Kord and her biography is perhaps more fascinating than anything else.

Let’s first deal with the story. Clearly werewolves will figure as a key part of the storyline. We had already confirmed this as part of the leaked pack of Shadows over Innistrad from several weeks ago, but it is good to see it confirmed. They lurk in the Ulvenwald and even Avacyn’s magic has not prevented the continued spread of lycanthropy. That’s a good discovery because it will reinvigorate the werewolf tribe and make for some other very fun Transform cards in the set.

The second thing we learn is that Innistrad is very much a place of mystery and suspense. The story, short as it was, was quite suspenseful as the two hunters searched for clues to piece together the case of the murders. There has been speculation that there will be some sort of special “Clue” or “Mystery” card as part of the set, not unlike the Expeditions in Zendikar, which would play into this theme making the cards mesh nicely with the story. Regardless if there are printed, the feel of the place is still one of creepy, mysterious things and is just about right.

The third thing we get to see is that the influence of demons and demonic presence is still very much a thing. In the story they name the demon Ormendahl and I would expect that this is likely a card we will see as well. Could this be an ancient demon of great power not unlike what Kothophed or Griselbrand offered in previous sets? Perhaps. Will the card design match that of Griselbrand? Highly unlikely. Ormendahl might be closer to Kothophed in terms of actual playable stats and abilities, but from a storyline perspective he could be a big time player on the Demon Scene.

Lastly we get a good look at Arlinn Kord. The story provides us with little apart from her being a werewolf who can change back into human form on command. This is pretty amazing because previous werewolf cards that we have seen have been unable to transform back at will. I wonder if her Planeswalker card is going to be able to reflect the ability to transform at will through some means. We’ve already seen a Planeswalker transform like Garruk, Relentless so we know it can be done. Perhaps Arlinn will be the second such Planeswalker? Also, if you delve into Arlinn’s profile you get a much better picture of who she is and what sort of Planeswalker she might be. As a teenager she studied Magic with the Church of Avacyn, but was yet still a werewolf giving her a duality that is intriguing. Her spark ignited when she massacred several clergymen in her werewolf form and she discovered that she could Planeswalk and control her lycanthrophic abilities.

If I had to speculate I would wager she is a Gold planeswalker and not a mono coloured one. The question becomes, what would her two colours be? The obvious default would be R/G because the original Innistrad werewolves were usually Green or Red. However, Arlinn’s experience with the Church of Avacyn and her ability wield such Magic makes me believe that she will be a G/W Planeswalker which would be a fresh take on a werewolf. What sort of abilities could a G/W werewolf Planeswalker pack? I think her 1st ability would be to allow you to dig through your deck and reveal a werewolf. This is usually a relevant ability and is similar to the only other G/W Planeswalker Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. I think designers at R&D will also be looking to keep her very flavourful and so I expect we will see some sort of ability where she can summon a 1/1 human, but it has the same trigger at most of the werewolves, namely whenever no spells are cast they Transform, and can become a 3/2 Werewolf. That would be pretty powerful and very much in keeping with how werewolves spread and can be summoned. It would ALSO mean we get Transforming token cards, which would be very fun and cool. I would expect this to be her 2nd ability ( likely a minus ability) because it seems like it could be very valuable. It is always hard to speculate on her Ultimate, but some sort of Emblem where she can produce +1/+1 counters or prevent damage seem to be the most likely routes. Either way she seems super cool and like a great new addition to Innistrad.

There is also another intriguing line in Arlinn’s profile. Her profile makes mention to the Angels of Innistrad undertaking some sort of Inquisition and persecuting other groups on the plane. This had been well speculated and there are many on the internet who have pushed as much, but it is now officials confirmed. The Angels have started to go too far and their righteous wrath is starting to wreak havoc on the plane. Could something/someone be manipulating the Angels? The early favorites seem to be Nicol Bolas or Emrakul and I would be willing to wager it is Bolas. I think using Emrakul so soon after having been on Zendikar is the wrong approach and will turn players off. However, to use Nicol Bolas, a villain we haven’t seen in awhile, seems far more probable.

The very last piece I wanted to take from this story is that I rather liked the idea of having a pair sisters and hunters be the main protagonists as we start to unravel the mysteries of Innistrad. If these two characters were recurring characters and not just simple characters to be cast away it would be far more interesting. It would give us time to get re-acquainted with some of the people of Innistrad and give us a first hand perspective on what people of Innistrad are thinking and feeling as they face the growing darkness. We would also have time to be emotionally invested in the plight of the characters themselves. I know that usually we have Planeswalkers as the primary medium used to convey the story, but there is an appeal of using “local” characters indigenous to the plane as the primary storytelling vehicle. At the very least I hope it is not the last of these two characters in this story arc.

Well, thanks very much for stopping by for this installment of Visiting with Vorthos. I’m pretty excited for Shadows over Innistrad and with the reveal of Arlinn Kord I can hardly wait. This first glimpse into what we are about to be getting from our second visit to Innistrad feels right. Everything is creepy, suspenseful, and the story did a good job of being true to the original. I can hardly wait to see what happens next and what dangers will be confronting the people of Innistrad as we move forward. Let me know what you’re predictions will be and what we might be seeing by sending me a tweet or leaving a comment down below.

Until next time, have fun wherever you will play Magic and be sure to stop by next time for another Casual Encounter!

Bruce Gray

@bgray8791