innistrad top 5s...briefly

White

Constructed

angelic overseer

humans are in in M12 and there are plenty in Innistrad. Its a solid 5/3 body at a reasonable cost. Its ability is what really puts it over the top. As if Indestructible wasn’t enough, they gave it hexproof so killing it and bouncing it aren’t going to be enough. The Angel forces the opponent to kill every other human on board while it lays the beats

sleeper pic is Champion of the Parish

with so many white humans in this set and Grand Abolisher, Mesa enchantress, Azure mage etc etc from M12, its kind of hard not to see a Fish deck or a White Weenie deck come out of Innistrad. Dropping the Champion on turn 1 is one of the best things your going to be able to do in innistrad

Fiend Hunter

its great creature removal. This 3 toughness is what gives it the edge and again, its going to have a home in a White Weenie deck or Fish deck.

Mikaeus the luminarch

Luminarch is a solid finisher for white. It pumps itself and other creatures and when dropped late game, hes just a beast. Now your 1/1 tokens you play late game can grow and put on the pressure to your opponent.

midnight haunting

its no spectral procession. And its only going to give you 2 guys instead of 3 but I think you can play it at instant speed makes up for the 1 missing spirit. Its only 1 white source so its splashable in other decks. Should see play in standard.

If Standard sees more Vamps, Wolfs and Zombie decks then Inquisitor will see heavy play. I am hesitant to actually pic these up because if no decks use any of those types, then the card is dead. I am also on the edge about Nevermore. We've had Meddling mage in Shards and it really didn’t do much. And Stoney Silence is something I am keeping my eye out for. People see to think its going to shut down most of the decks that use cards from SoM but Stoney is like Torpor orb, its great when you need it and its terrible when you don’t.

Blue

Snapcaster mage

do I really need to say much about this card that hasn’t already been said. Its great. Bring back ponder, mana leak, day of judgment, doomblade, the list can go on forever. Its surprising that its not a mythic. Probably the best card in the set if Liliana doesn’t pan out.

dissipate

Graveyard denial is going to be critical. The large building group I am in is heavily considering a Reanimator style deck and need need need snapcaster to flashback spells. Countering and removing critical cards shuts down the deck for the most part and I see that everyone is very excited to play flashback again so dissipate is great. Plus, people are wondering what counters are playable and Dissipate is going to be a great tool in control decks

invisible stalker

when I first saw this card I automatically said this would be caws blades squad hawk replacement. I also want to point out that I didn’t see that this card had Hexproof, which makes this card perfect for holding a sword.

think twice

instant draw a card and with flash back. We've all seen how good this card was in Time Spiral and its no different now except that Ponder is here. I would just use maybe a 2-3 of Think twice and full set of ponders. Still a good card no doubt

sturmgiest

kind of remind of me of Aeon Chronicler. Its flies, its X/X is the cards in hand. I like the draw a card when damaged thing. Solid finisher in a WU control deck and even a UB control deck. The only issue that this card might have to face is Consecrated Sphinx as the Sphinx might be a little better because you draw when your opponent draws, the Giest has to deal the damage.

I am on the Edge about Mindshrieker only because if you invest in the ability and you hit a land then your out 2 mana and its just a 1/1 flier. Its also kind of fragile and dies to everythinghink Skaab Ruinator is just bad. The creature itself is great as a 5/6 flier. Dodges Dismembers and that’s great but it forces you to play a creature deck if your not playing a Pod deck with him in it. And its 3 creatures to get him in to play, that’s a lot of creatures you need to be dead. And I think spectral flight is great. Flying and +2/+2 for 2, seems great to me.

Black

bloodgift demon

black loses Sign in blood with rotation and is looking to pick something up in the way of card draw. While this source of card draw is on a 5/4 body that flies, its one of the more effective card drawing abilities. 1 life for 1 card is great as we all saw in Phyrexian arena but how good is this ability going to be in later in the game when you drop him on turn 5? I love this card but I question how good its going to be as people put decks together.

diregraf ghoul

2/2 for 1 with a small draw back. Its aggressive, it stops early transforming cards and unlike most early drop black creatures, this one can actually block. This will definitely be on people radars when building black decks
Liliana of the Veil

same deal at snapcaster. This card is going to be huge in the coming months. The Edict ability is great and I don’t really see myself casting the ult ability unless its late game against a control mirror. I would rather be killing off creature and taking apart their hand. And like I said earlier, if Vess finds the right home to shine in, she'll be the best card in the set.

unburial rites

everyone popped boner when this card was revealed and its going to be great to try to build with. We haven’t gotten a solid reanimator card in standard in some time and this one has flashback which only makes it better.

bump in the night

add some red burn and you have a heavy burn deck that someone is going to try to make. We lost bolt and gained Bump and while you cant target creatures, you do get to play it again for a total of 6 damage for 1 card.

Finding the top 5 cards in this color was kind of a challenge as most of the cards in black are good and if this morbid mechanic is good, then a bunch of these cards become great. Personally I think the mechanic is awful and wont be used as much. Its like the metalcraft of this set, people will dabble but not fully commit. I also really wanted to put either Tribute to hunger or victim of night but if creature decks are everywhere than Tribute is bad and if Vamps, Wolves and Zombies are everywhere then Night is bad. So I just left them both off the list. I think heartless summoning is a trap as you no longer get to drop useful x/1's anymore Snapcaster, Azure mages. And weakening your creatures just seems like a bad idea. Bloodline Keeper is a great card when you have the right amount of Vamps in play and you really need to flip him ASAP. And I personally like curse of deaths hold as it hoses the creature builds.

Red

Desperate ravings

instant speed card draw in red is a great thing. Its got flashback which makes it better.

geistflame

Firebolt saw play back in odyssey and Geistflame will see play with Innistrad. The toughness of creatures seems to have gone down a bit so there are plenty of targets and at instant speed, getting that last bit of damage is always important

reckless waif

someone said Wild Nactal is back so we will have to see about that. A 1 drop Double Face card is pretty cool too.

kruin outlaw

I really like this card as it gives your wolves double strike and they must have more than one guy to block you.

ancient grudge

artifact destruction in R with flashback of G. its cheap, instant and does the job right...twice

I don’t have much to say about red obviously. Red in Innistrad just compliments the red in SoM block. I even told a few people that red is now a powerful color with the addition of a draw card and the potential Demigod of Revenge card, Falkenrath Marauders.

green

Mayor of Avabruk

the WereWolf Lord, decent body, makes a dude, pumps other werewolves. Seems like the backbone of an aggro wolf deck. And even when hes a human he pumps the other humans as well.

bramblecrush

more permanent destruction for green.

moon mist

if there is going to be a wolf deck, that deck should probably have this in it to EoT transform.

creeping renaissance

creature artifacts w/e, just bring them back. And with all the potential mill decks,this card should probably be in green sideboards.

Again, haven’t really looked in to green much.