Is it Too Early to Begin Speculation for a Third Visit to Innistrad?
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Aug. 16, 2020, 10:19 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
Zendikar Rising, the third visit to Zendikar, is not far away, and I am certain that most players shall recall that the original Innistrad block was shortly after the original Zendikar block and that the Shadows Over Innistrad block was shortly after the Battle for Zendikar block.
I personally hope that WotC does not turn that coincidence into a pattern and instead waits for several more years before a third visit to Innistrad, but I imagine that a third visit to Innistrad shall happen sooner, rather than later, because of how popular than plane is, so I am wondering: is it too early to begin speculating about a third visit to Innistrad? What does everyone else say about that?
Innistrad 3.0 will likely come out when we return to the Eldrazi. I would not expect that anytime soon. Currently, they have been setting up a Phyrexin return - we know Karn is working on blowing up New Phyrexia and Ashiok is looking to find Elspeth’s Phyrexian-conquered world (I fully expect they’ll destroy New Phyrexia so they are not limited by the broken mechanics of that plane, only for a more old-school Eldrazi threat to emerge from Elspeth’s world).
Phyrexia will likely last as long as the Bolas Arc did - September, 2016’s Kaladesh to May, 2019’s WAR. We are still in the filler between arcs (As a note, Kaladesh felt like a filler arc at first, but we retroactively learned it was part of Bolas’ - it is possible the same is true for recent sets). I doubt Zendikar will be the first of the next Phyrexin Arc. So, we are looking at next year to start the arc off, meaning it will likely last until 2024.
Unless Wizards’ story team gets creative and gasp branches out into a fourth cosmic bad guy, Eldrazi are next up in line. If this timeline is accurate, whether we see Innistrad 3.0 in 2024 or 2025 would depend on whether they jump right from Phyrexia to Eldrazi or if they have a few filler sets in between.
August 16, 2020 11:57 a.m.
Fingers crossed for a return to Innistrad. That was my favorite block, no question.
August 16, 2020 1:20 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
I predict that Sigarda will have the same status that Avacyn once had, as the protector of humanity, and I do hope that the angels of that plane overall have recovered from Emrakul's influence.
I also hope that demons have a greater presence, since they were almost entirely absent in the SoI block, despite being very prominent in the original Innistrad block.
I also believe that Sorin shall be present, although I would prefer either Tibalt or a new planeswalker instead of another incarnation of Lilia (perhaps there may even be a black/red Tibalt who actually is powerful, this time?).
I would like to see a female named vampire from the Markov family, since the only two named vampires from that family, thus far, are male.
DeinoStinkus, first, slivers would make no sense on Innistrad, so I believe that it is safe to presume that they shall not appear there; second, I would like to see Phyrexian, again, but, given that they are the oldest and most iconic villains in the entire game, there is no way that WotC will ever permanently remove them from the story (at least, that is what I hope).
August 16, 2020 5:22 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
Caerwyn, just as WotC has said that the third visit to Zendikar will not have the Eldrazi, I would like to see the third visit to Innistrad also not have the Eldrazi, so that the players can see how that plane is recovering from Emrakul's invasion.
August 16, 2020 5:28 p.m.
I_Want_To_PlayAllTheDecks says... #7
Omg I’ve been thinking about this for so long and I’m glad I know how others think- but I really hope I don’t have to wait five fucking years.
August 16, 2020 5:35 p.m.
DemonDragonJ - I would like to see a post-Emrakul Innistrad as well - frankly, I think it was a mistake to combine gothic horror Innistrad with the Eldrazi’s Lovecraftian horror in the first place.
Alas, until the Emrakul in the Moon situation is resolved, I don’t think we will be seeing a return to classic Innistrad.
August 16, 2020 5:49 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
Caerwyn, if Emrakul escapes from Innistrad's moon, how would WotC make that situation different from its first invasion? How would they avoid a complete repeat of Shadows Over Innistrad block?
DeinoStinkus, Phyrexianized slivers would be very awesome, but WotC would need to be certain that they were not too powerful.
RiotRunner789, I, also, would like to see a return to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, but WotC has said that they are unlikely to return to that plane in a standard set, so Eldraine is likely the closest that this game shall come to that. The best option for a return to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor is new cards in supplemental sets, but, even then, very few of the new legendary creatures who were introduced in core sets and Commander sets have been from that plane, which is unfortunate, since I feel that those sets are great ways to show new cards from unpopular planes (such as Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Kamigawa, and Ulgrotha), so I do hope that WotC finds ways to appease fans of those planes. Perhaps Commander Legends may have some new cards from those planes?
August 17, 2020 7:31 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #11
This sort of 'not too powerful?'
Sliver Praetorlord -
Legendary Creature - Sliver Praetor
Infect
Other sliver creatures gain infect. (This includes your opponent's slivers.)
For each colored mana symbol in a Sliver mana cost or activated ability of a Sliver Card, players may pay 2 life rather than pay that mana.
7/7
August 17, 2020 10:39 a.m.
DemonDragonJ - They were able to make the Eldrazi in Zendikar 1.0 and Zendikar 2.0 feel different, so I am sure they could figure out a way to make it work.*
*By make it work, I mean mechanically and in the flavor text. I don't think they can make whatever novel they publish work, but that's a problem independent of either the Eldrazi or Innistrad.
DeinoStinkus - Back when Dominaria (the set) was coming out MaRo discussed Slivers in response to someone asking why Slivers were not included in Dominaria.
He responded that Slivers are really hard to do properly from an R&D stance--you need a critical mass of Slivers for them to be fun in Limited, meaning they take up a whole lot of space and need to be a central theme of the set's lore.
That's not to say they could not do Phyrexia and Slivers in the same set, but I think it is a bit unlikely--splitting attention between two "bad" entities makes it harder to hit the critical mass of Slivers you need.
I expect we will see Slivers at some point, but it will probably be at a time when they can shine on their own.
August 17, 2020 12:13 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
Caerwyn, that is true, but the difference is, at least for me, that Zendikar's identity is far less distinct than is Innistrad's: an "adventure world" is extremely generic and lacking in detail, whereas a Gothic horror world is far more resonant for audiences, so, whereas I imagine that I will find the story of Zendikar Rising to be boring without the Eldrazi (but, perhaps, WotC may surprise me), I really wish to see Innistrad without the Eldrazi, so that the entire identity of the plane is not warped.
August 17, 2020 4:46 p.m.
Yes, too soon. We need a return to Phyrexia first. Then a return to Tarkir since Ugin is Bolas “jailer” in the meditation realm now. What’s happening with the clans and dragon tempest now? I wanna know
August 18, 2020 11:44 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #15
It seems that WotC is planning another visit to Innsitrad, sooner, rather than later, with two sets named Innistrad: Vampires and Innistrad: Werewolves. They must really be short on new ideas if they are returning to Innistrad so soon after the Shadows Over Innistrad block.
September 1, 2020 8:44 p.m.
Happy to say all my speculation was proven wrong. Looking forward to our new sets for what seems to be classic Innistrad.
SynergyBuild says... #2
Meh, 2 years maybe? I'd expect before 3 years at least.
Innistrad seems to be a difficult plane to make more artwork for, as it just is always a big focus in the sets, and I'd imagine they don't want to spam us with revisits for a while, so Ikoria was a break, now Zendikar is another revisit, so I assume they will be taking a break for a while, but who knows?
August 16, 2020 10:28 a.m.