Summary
The firstMagic: TheGatheringset of 2025 brings players back to the murky land of Innistrad with Innistrad Remastered. For the last few years, Wizards of the Coast has kicked off a new year with a remastered set featuring cards that take place onone ofMagic: The Gathering’splanes, such as Dominaria Remastered in 2023 and Ravnica Remastered in 2024.
Magic: The Gatheringgets underway in 2025with plenty of Vampires, Zombies, and some notable Eldrazi for players to have fun with. Some ofMagic: The Gathering’s most popular and iconic cards have come from Innistrad sets, and there are lots of exciting reprints for cards that are played in different formats, and even some cards have never been reprinted before.
Great Options For The Mana Base
Whenbuilding aMagic: The Gatheringdeckin any format, players should build a mana base that helps to keep them playing their spells on the curve. Skipping a turn with a powerful spell in hand that can’t be cast is devastating, so multicolored decks should make use of dual lands whenever possible.
The cycle of dual-colored lands from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt & Innistrad: Crimson Vow, known as Slow Lands because they enter tapped unless the player controls two or more other lands, are great options to smooth out the mana base. Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow rotating out of Standard caused their prices to drop a bit in 2024, but they’re still going for as much as $11. They’re great choices for Commander and arealso played in some Pioneer decks.
7Snapcaster Mage
An Iconic Creature For Blue Mages
One of the most iconic Blue cards inMagic: The Gathering, Snapcaster Mage is a two-man 2/1 creature with flash, which has the powerful ability to give an instant or sorcery card in the controlling player’s graveyard flashback until the end of the turn, letting them cast it again for its mana cost. Snapcaster Mage returns in Innistrad Remastered with original art by Volkan Baǵa, featuring the professionalMagicplayer, Tiago Chan, who designed the card.
Snapcaster Mage has been reprinted numerous times since the original Innistrad set but remains around a $15 card. That’s because it sees plenty of use in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. Players will only be able to get Snapcaster Mage in the retro frame style in Innistrad remastered, and it’s printed at Mythic, so it will be harder to find in packs.
6Avacyn, Angel Of Hope
Here To Save All The Permanents
The face of the last set of 2011 and 2012’s Innistrad block, Avacyn, Angel of Hope is one of themost powerful Angel Creatures inMagic: The Gathering. With impressive 8/8 stats and the keywords Flying, Vigilance, and Indestructible, Avacyn also gives the controlling player’s other permanents indestructible. Avacyn only sees play in Commander, either as a big threat and protector for white decks or a powerful Commander for Angel kindred decks.
Avacyn has only seen reprints in master sets like Double Masters and Commander Masters, so her price is between $30 and $40 most of the time. With Innistrad remastered, Avacyn can be found with the retro border treatment and the impressive Showcase Movie Poster treatment that collectors will want to get their hands on.
5Craterhoof Behemoth
Here To End The Game
Craterhoof Behemoth is the premier finisher for Green decks inMagic: The Gathering’s Commander format. This big beast costs 8 mana in total and is a 5/5 with haste, but it also has a powerful ability: “When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control.” If a player has a board of around 10 creatures, and they slam down a Craterhoof, they’re likely to take out multiple opponents in one turn.
Like Avacyn, Craterhoof Behemoth has only received a few reprints in Master sets, and despite only really being played in Commander, it’s still a $30 and above card. Players looking to finally add the Behemoth to their green stompy decks can only find it in the retro border frame in Innistrad Remastered, which will still be a rare pull but should bring its price down slightly.
4The Meathook Massacre
One Of The Best Black Enchantments
Fans of Duskmourn’s The Meathook Massacre II should be excited about the return of the original, The Meathook Massacre. Black cards inMagic: The Gatheringare especially good at two things: board wipes and gaining life when opponents lose life. The Meathook Massacre combines these with one enchantment, with a flexible casting cost that can clear the board if more mana is spent on it, or add these effects: “Whenever a creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life,” and “Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, you gain 1 life” for just two mana.
The Meathook Massacre is a great addition to any Black commander deck, especially one with sacrifice synergy, and it’s still a popular card in Modern and Pioneer. With few reprints, theMeathook Massacre has risen to around $40, but that price should drop, with there being three different treatments available. The Meathook Massacre has a normal frame reprint, a retro frame reprint, and a special Movie Poster reprint.
3Emrakul, The Promised End
Take Control Of Your Opponent
One of the three Eldrazi Titans and Innistrad’s (literal) worst nightmare, Emrakul is one ofthe most fear-inducing creaturesfor Innistrad residents and players. Emrakul, the Promised End was the second version of Emrakul, printed in 2016. It is a 13-mana 13/13 that costs 1 less mana for each card type among cards in that player’s graveyard, a nod to Innistrad’s madness mechanic. It gets better (or worse) because when Emrakul is cast, that player gains control of an opponent during that player’s next turn. That targeted player will get an extra turn themselves, but they will likely have no cards left to play with.
Emrakul is a real problem once someone has enough mana to cast it, as it can’t be countered by instants. It essentially removes a player in a Commander game and is used as a finisher in Modern Eldrazi deck lists. Emrakul hasn’t received many reprints since 2016, so it’s still a $40 and up card. Collectors can find Emrakul in Innistrad Remastered with regular and retro borders and a spectacular showcase Movie Poster treatment.
2Edgar Markov
Commander players looking for someone to helm their Vampire Commander deck can’t find much better than Edgar Markov, the first Vampire of Innistrad. The original Edgar Markov provides Vampire Kindred players access to White, Black, and Red for a huge selection of the most powerful Vampires, and his eminence ability lets players create 1/1 black Vampire creature token whenever they cast a Vampire creature spell, even when he is in the command zone.
It’s hard to believe Edgar Markov first appeared in a $34.99 commander deck in 2017 because the card had stayed at over $100 for years. It hasn’t seen a reprint, except for a Judge’s Gift card in 2021, so Vampire fans will be relieved to see that Edgar Markov is headlining the Innistrad Remastered set with four different treatments: regular frame, retro frame, showcase fang treatment, and there are 500 serialized showcase movie poster versions of the card that players will be very lucky to open.
1Liliana Of The Veil
The Best Planeswalker And Multi-Format Staple
Liliana Vess is one ofMagic: The Gathering’s most famous characters. Liliana’s first Plansewalker card came in 2007 when the card type was introduced in Lorwyn.Liliana now has 11 Planeswalker cards, but her best was first introduced in the original Innistrad set, Liliana of the Veil. For three mana, Liliana of the Veil enters with three loyalty counters. Her plus-one ability makes each player discard a card, and her minus-two ability forces one player to sacrifice a permanent. Her ultimate lets the controlling player sort an opponent’s permanents into two piles, and they can only save one of them.
Liliana of the Veil is a brilliant card with symmetrical and asymmetrical abilities, and it is cheap to cast but requires some setup or protection to use efficiently. It is a staple in Standard, thanks to a reprint in Dominaria United, as well as Commander, Modern, and Pioneer. It may not be as expensive as Edgar Markov or Emrakul, but its popularity in many formats keeps it above $10, and it’s always in high demand.
