MTG Salvation

In an effort to demonstrate to the internet I have too much time, I present my guess at all plot relevant cards in my predicted chronological order from beginning to end of the story that Shadows over Innistrad will cover:

*Before Shadows*
Always Watching (Flavor Text Only)
Archangel Avacyn
Thraben Gargoyle
Hope Against Hope
Arlinn Kord//Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon

Warped Landscape
Weirding Wood
Avacyn, the Purifier
Stonewing Antagonizer
Corrupted Grafstone
((No specific card depicting the Cursemute breaking and Werewolves returning))
Descend upon the Sinful
Angelic Purge
Puncturing Light
Fiery Temper
Welcome to the Fold
Catalog
Dissension in the Ranks
Strength of Arms
Tenacity
Open the Armory
((Jace arrives on Innistrad))
((Jace visits Liliana))
Structural Distortion
Nahiri, the Harbinger
Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Declaration in Stone
Merciless Resolve
((Jace comes to Markov Manor))
Tamiyo's Journal
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Pore over the Pages
Liliana's Indignation
Pieces of the Puzzle
Jace's Scrutiny
Trail of Evidence
Epiphany at the Drownyard
Drownyard Temple
Avacyn's Judgment
Anguished Unmaking
Sorin's Appeal
Olivia, Mobilized for War
Olivia's Bloodsworn
Nahiri's Machinations++
Engulf the Shore
Behold the Beyond

--Mutations--
Thraben Inspector
Daring Sleuth
Magnifying Glass
Might Beyond Reason
Mad Prophet
Paranoid Parish-Blade
Deathcap Cultivator
Rabid Bite
Broken Concentration
Moldgraf Scavenger
Scourge Wolf
Incorrigible Youths
Bloodmad Vampire
Senseless Rage
Bearer of Overwhelming Truths
Grotesque Mutation



Key:
Bold cards are my guesses at the five pivotal events after I took a stab at ordering the cards.
Italicized cards are cards where I'm not entirely sure where they belong, but I managed to at least cluster them together.

Mutations:
I think there is a progression to the mutations. Reason number one is because there's been no mention of them in the Uncharted Realms. This is why I started on with the ones that had the least to do with mutations, and progressed as they (at least in my purview) became more extreme. If I were to do a combined list, it'd probably be a mess. Just know that I would put Thraben Inspector probably close to Structural Distortion and Grotesque Mutation before Behold the Beyond.

Also, note on Behold the Beyond: I understand that in this thread we debunked any direct relation between the tornadoes and Tendrils and that the figure is not Nahiri in the picture. It still seems like if Wizards released a chronological list of the cards, the name alone implies a *Last card, then to be continued* vibe. So I'm going to stick with it for now and just not mark it as a key card.

++Unrelated Pet peeve of mine: Nahiri is left-handed. All other art except this one depicts her as a leftie. It annoys me because I'm ambidextrous, and I always appreciate when that little detail is hinted.

Always watching is meant to be ironic so the flavor is set pre-SOI and the art after Avacyn goes mad.

Quote from Vorthospike »

Always watching is meant to be ironic so the flavor is set pre-SOI and the art after Avacyn goes mad.

Thanks. I didn't notice the odd eyes until you mentioned it. The bloodless wings threw me off.

Quote from OrzhovPlaneswalker »

What are the SOI's main Pivotal Event cards that depict the story's most important bullet points so far? There should be five?
My guess so far

Descend upon the Sinful- Avacyn and Angels go Crazy
Declaration in Stone- Nahiri's Attack on Markov Manor OR Structural Distortion
Anguished Unmaking- Sorin's elimination of Avacyn
Epiphany at the Drownyard - Some large revelation is discovered in Nephalia.
Avacyn's Judgment- Jace battles Avacyn?
Call the Bloodline- Sorin is calling the bloodlines. linked with his SOI Ultimate. Will replaced if more Sorin-centric card found
Liliana's Indignation I /dunno.

My guess is:
Descend upon the Sinful - Avacyn & Co start killing off the humans.
Structural Distortion over Declaration in Stone - Prior to Structural Distortion we had no idea that Nahiri was about to unleash hell on Innistrad/Sorin by proxy. It's the card that made US aware, it doesn't really matter that Sorin would not be aware yet. Also, Structural Distortion deals with the Moment. Declaration in Stone/Merciless Resolve deal with the Aftermath. Additionally, the Flavor Text of Structural Distortion gives imo key information as to why Nahiri's even on Innistrad that you simply don't get from Declaration.
Epiphany at the Drownyard - Jace presumably cracks the case.
Anguished Unmaking AND Avacyn's Judgment - I think go together as Bookends for the same event. Jace and Tamiyo travel to a cathedral for whatever reason, Avacyn ambushes them, Sorin arrives in time to save them/destroy Avacyn and just so happen to save them while he's at it.
Call the Bloodline - Sorin gearing up for the real conflict.

I don't think Liliana's Indignation is key to SoI, if anything more for Eldritch Moon.

Good catch on all those mutations. Also, Magnifying Glass is likely a reference to Army of Darkness.

Quote from LnGrrrR »

Good catch on all those mutations. Also, Magnifying Glass is likely a reference to Army of Darkness.

Are we going to have a bunch of miniature Cloistered Youths running around?

Edited my guesses and may go back later to move Structural Distortion and the related cards earlier in the events chain. I don't think anything relating directly to Nahiri's attack on Markov Manor will be considered a key point, but this week's Uncharted Realms did confirm that my guess that Tamiyo's journal is likely a key event card. I changed the card to Engulf the Shore for the time being. The final list will probably be out this weekend anyway.

Just to note on this that in his column this week, Maro flagged Anguished Unmaking and Declaration in Stone as two of the five key moment cards. He only got up to E in his run through so, so anything else that begins with A-E can be confirmed not to be a key moment card, but everything else is still up for grabs.

Quote from MarkXero »

Just to note on this that in his column this week, Maro flagged Anguished Unmaking and Declaration in Stone as two of the five key moment cards. He only got up to E in his run through so, so anything else that begins with A-E can be confirmed not to be a key moment card, but everything else is still up for grabs.

Thanks. That also tells us Sorin is probably coming to Markov after Jace.

I just realised that means he completely ignored Epiphany at the Drownyard, and made no mention of Call the Bloodline being significant (even though he does comment on that card). But more importanly, he didn't even mention Descend upon the Sinful, which I thought had already been confirmed to be a key moment card from some other source? If so, that probably means Maro's article is of no use for ruling cards out - only helpful in that he rules a couple of cards in.

Yeah it's definitely Declaration over Structural Distortion. The only reason that it was "the card that made us aware" is because it was a leak. Otherwise we would have seen Declaration first.

My main reason for having leaned towards Structural Distortion over Declaration in Stone is that SD gives us information as to WHY the event was happening, where DiS doesn't.

Structural Distortion is a more informative card. What's happening? Nahiri is attacking Sorin's home plane. Why? Payback for the events on Zendicar. Delaration in Stone doesn't relate any motive. What's happening? Nahiri attacked Markov Maner. Why? Who knows?

Apparently how informative a card is about the events of the block has no bearing on it being a "key event" card though.

Well they're not "most story informative cards" They're pivotal events. Sorin discovering the destruction of his ancestral home is, I'd say, more important than the actual destruction. I mean Nahiri is out and about wreaking havoc everywhere. If all she had done was destroy Markov Manor and left sure but its not the only thing she's doing. I would think that going to visit the family that hates him wasn't his first thing he did upon coming back to Innistrad so finding out that all the deal happening is, at least supposedly, connected to or caused by Nahiri is a pretty important part of the story.

I think it's probably important to note that the "story event" marker seems to be based more in design than the flavor treatment they get. Structural Distortion, for example, seems like it was designed as "generic red land/artifact removal", whereas Declaration seems to have started from a place of exiling a bunch of creatures and leaving behind clues to represent Nahiri's attack. So it's probably not going to be easy to pick them out without being explicitly told.

Quote from Atrius »

I'm totally expecting a Duel Decks: Nahiri vs Sorin now.

I am intrigued to find out what Nahiri's plan was beyond destroying the manor is now.

As it says in the flavour text of Structural Distortion: As Zendikar bled, so will Innistrad.

She's out for the whole plane.

With the official listing of the SOI cards and next weeks previews, I have the 2nd version of all story related cards:

Archangel Avacyn
Thraben Gargoyle
Hope Against Hope
Arlinn Kord//Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon
Structural Distortion
Nahiri, the Harbinger
Warped Landscape
Weirding Wood
Avacyn, the Purifier
Stonewing Antagonizer
Corrupted Grafstone
((No specific card depicting the Cursemute breaking and Werewolves returning))
Descend upon the Sinful
Angelic Purge
Puncturing Light
Fiery Temper
Welcome to the Fold
Catalog
Dissension in the Ranks
Strength of Arms
Tenacity
Open the Armory
((Jace visits Liliana))
Foreboding Ruins
Tamiyo's Journal
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Pore over the Pages
Pieces of the Puzzle
Jace's Scrutiny
Trail of Evidence
Epiphany at the Drownyard
Drownyard Temple
Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Declaration in Stone
Merciless Resolve
Call the Bloodline
Olivia, Mobilized for War
Olivia's Bloodsworn
Liliana's Indignation
Avacyn's Judgment
Anguished Unmaking
Nahiri's Machinations++
Engulf the Shore
Behold the Beyond

One thing I noticed in redoing the list is that there are no cards that really correspond with "Unwelcome." I feel that there may be gaps in the story not depicted on the cards. Specifically going between Liliana's Indignation and Avacyn's Judgment. ((Where Tamiyo joins Jace in the present)).

I'd just like to mention, we do have a card depicting Jace's visit to Markov Manor. Despite the fact that it's cut off in the card frame, the full art of Foreboding Ruins shows Jace standing in front of the manor.

Quote from Glamdring804 »

I'd just like to mention, we do have a card depicting Jace's visit to Markov Manor. Despite the fact that it's cut off in the card frame, the full art of Foreboding Ruins shows Jace standing in front of the manor.

Thanks. I edited it into the latest list.