Anyone who has read my articles knows that I am a sucker for Doubling Season. Parallel Lives is similar DS with none of the psychotic synergy with Planeswalkers. There are plenty of token generating cards in Innistrad, let alone all of Magic, to make this card stellar.
Personally, this will go into Ghave as a back up DS, and though I won't get quite as much mileage from it, it will still be one of the best cards in the deck.
Elder of Laurel's ability ties in with Parallel Lives extremely well, and the fact that he is a mana sink puts him onto this list. His stats are pretty good too - 2/3 for 2G is a decent bargain, especially for a strong utility creature.
Snapcaster Mage has been on everyone's radar for a while now - not hard to see why! With the right amount of mana, this guy can lead to back breaking plays like Flashing back a Time Stretch or a even a lowly Mana Leak.
Another Blue card that has been talked about quite a bit, the Skaab Ruinator is probably the best Zombie even printed - and for some reason, it's Blue. it will require a Dredge sort of component to get it going, but as you have seen, Innistrad is ready to supply that and more!
All the sudden, Snapcaster Mage seems a little wimpy. Sure, it's not at Instant speed, but it's ALL your Instants and Sorceries. Basically, Past in Flames is Reiterate on crack.
Yummy yummy crack.
Devil's Play is another addition to a long line of Fireball copies - and a great addition it is! It can be used twice, which is only true of a few cards like Fanning the Flames. This will be particularly awesome in Limited, but I think I will see it played quite a bit!
This thing is AWESOME! The Balefire Dragon will act as the one of the best Sweepers Red has to offer, and it's all one-sided. At 7 CMC, I don't think it will make a sanctioned splash, but he will rock face in EDH.
This is another card that was spoiled early, but I don't think gets a lot of attention. I think it has a cool flavor in EDH - everything dies except for the generals (presumably.) This is one of the few cards with Flashback that I really like, and I feel like this will replace a lot of the more random sweepers like Akroma's Vengeance in many EDH decks.
I like Endless Ranks of the Dead a lot - sure, it technically does nothing by itself, but with a few Zombies in play, this card becomes something that just requires an answer. Think of this thing activating before a Graveborn Muse triggers!
What can you say about a third turn 5/5 flyer? Whatever you want, just don't attack me with them! I imagine they will be packed into sanctioned decks with guys like Memnites or Ornithopters, or possibly even Bitterblossom where its legal.
It is probably least impressive in Commander, though a nice Korlash aggro deck may be a great fit.
Well that concludes my discussion of Innistrad spoilers! Thanks for cheggin it out, and see y'all at the pre-release!
