Innistrad/Trivia

Innistrad, similar to cards from Time Spiral block or older cards, have a lot of cards with specific functions or meanings. In Innistrad, most cards are references to gothic horror stories and make use of horror tropes in some way.

Horror Tropes

• The werewolf mechanic has been designed after Werewolf lore, Humans who turn into monsters when a full moon is present at night. In the game the day and night cycle is represented by the activity of the people playing the game. During the day, people play more spells, but at night people play fewer spells. Werewolves in the set transform accordingly.
• Stalking Vampire can transform at will between a bat and a vampire. This ability of Vampires has also been put into card frame with Sengir Nosferatu
• The Double-faced card Civilized Scholar transforms into Homicidal Brute and thus mirrors The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Rooftop Storm: A common occurrence in horror stories about mad scientists. The primary source for this is the 1931 film adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in which Dr. Frankenstein uses the power of lightning to animate his monster. Frankenstein's Monster is a Zombie in Magic.
• Invisible Stalker: Modeled after The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells about a scientists who turned himself invisible and goes mad in the attempt to become visible again. The invisible man is a common horror trope due to him being hard to anticipate or defend against.
• Village Cannibals portrays the common use of Cannibalism in Horror
• The art of Endless Ranks of the Dead shows a common horror scenario, in which the shadows of a horde of zombies appear on another side of the barrier, such as a window. The number of zombies steadily increases, threatening to break down the barrier.
• Moonmist is both a reference to the Full Moon that causes Humans to turn into Werewolves, as well as the card Fog.
• A Wooden Stake is a common weapon in mythology to destroy Vampires by driving it through their heart.
• Blazing Torches are often used by mobs of people on the hunt of the monsters.

Other

• Snapcaster Mage is the Magic Invitational card designed by Tiago Chan
• Diregraf Ghoul follows a long tradition of 2/2 Zombies for which includes Sarcomancy, Carnophage and Accursed Centaur. The first two cards saw widespread tournament play in Suicide Black decks.
• The Flavor text of Devil's Play refers to the old folk saying "Idle hands are the devils plaything", referring to the stupid things people can do when they are bored.
• Creepy Doll is modeled after a song by Jonathan Coulton