If I had the foresight I'd combine this with the flavor section but here we are.
So many top down magic sets will often have card that reference something from whatever they are basing the set on and figure like before it be fun to figure them out;
General flavor Midnight Hunt;
-The classic flavor of gothic horror is back along with some folk horror with the witch coven and harvest festival happening. This also is a nod the traditions of halloween and other harvest festival in real life.
-The dual draft set "Double Feature" is reference to movie theaters playing two movies back to back often the same genre with classic horror movies being a popular double feature.
-The rivalry or having werewolves vs vampires is more modern trope made popular by underworld and twilight thought cross overs and such used to happen with the monsters have gone back to the classic monster movies.
-The beings the "pagan" witches worship seems to draw on names and themes from Celtic gods.
-The Geistmages (who now are more popular and main stream after SoI) are a playing on the Ghostbusters even more this time.
General flavor Crimson Vow;
-Disturb both plays in general favor of ghosts both in having humans who die and turn into ghosts and ghost who posses humans with auras. Also a connects a few themes from the first Innistrad ghosts had with how they would help humans during SoI.
Cards Midnight Hunt;
-Curse of Obsession is a nod to gothic writer Edgar Allen Poe story the Tell-Tale Heart in which the narrator, a (mad) man, kills an old man (his roommate) and hide the body under the floorboards. When the police come to ask what happened to the old man the narrator starts to hear the old mans heart beating under the floor boards before in his insanity confess to the crime and rips up the floor boards trying to stop the heart beating showing the body.
-Join the Dance and Raze the Effigy reference the folk horror movie "Wicker Man" where a main point is a pagen cult doing a festive around the building of a large wicker figure.
Fleshtaker is a nod to cannibal/slasher movie serial killers, with Leatherface seemly the main inspiration. Cow head and the corn elemental also help it fit in with the folk horror elements of the set.
Sludge Monster I think is a either a nod to Shoggoth from lovecraft or maybe another nod to the blob.
Heirloom Mirror seems to be a nod to folklore about mirrors and dark rituals in particular stories like Blood Mary. Blood Mary and simialr ghost are said to appeare and do something bad if you look into a mirror and say their name a number of times, often following a rule of three.
Sharing stuff with its front side Heirloom Mirror, Inherited Fiend is a nod to demons/ghosts who haunt a bloodline (careful when something asks you to sign in blood kids) as seen in thing like Paranormal Activity and Hereditary.
Can't Stay Away is a top down card of "The Cat Came Back" a song by Harry S. Miller that has since become a childern song/poem. It tells of man trying to get rid of a cat (ending up to violent means) but each try to get rid of the cat would be met with "But the cat came back the very next day, The cat came back, we thought he was a goner, The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away."
Hostile Hostel and Creeping Inn are a play on haunted hotels such as the Shinning how often in horror the haunt building will end up becoming a character/monster in of itself, only on Innistrad its more literal than metaphorical. Also both names are A-plus puns.
Stuffed Bear is a nod to how many movies will have taxidermy animals come to life such as the Evil Dead.
Jack-o'-Lantern is a halloween/fall tradition of making a lantern out of a pumpkin or other gourd that comes from a old folk tale. A man named Jack frees the devil and in return the devil promised Jack won't be sent to hell. Well true to his word the Devil wouldnt let Jack into Hell but as Jack had lived a sinful life he wasn't allowed into heaven. So Jack now wanders as a ghost looking for a resting place using a coal from hell in a gourd to light his way at night.
Purifying Dragon is a fun loop of having dragons being allies of human against the undead during the first Innistrad to now being more common thanks to Game of Thrones having a battle of dragons vs zombies.
Wake to Slaughter has very iconic image of vampires hand appearing out of its coffin to open and awaken it.
Burn Down the House is what often happens at the end of haunted house stories (and is the right thing to do when you said a haunted house).
The Meathook Massacre is a nod to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre which featured a noted horror scene of a girl being strung up on a meat hook by Leatherface a cannibal killer.
Dreadhound seems to be a nod to Black Shuck a ghostly/demonic dog that haunts the British coastlines, who noted to have glowing demonic eyes.
Devious Cover-Up uses the idea of a scarecrow being the corpse of someone who been murder.
Rotten Reunion art is a nod to American *Gothic* by Grant Wood.
Eccentric Farmer is well the Eccentric character who has some kind of bond with a monster, typically not ending well for the eccentric when the monster gets hungry.
Shadowbeast Sighting is a nod to bigfoot an ape like cryptid mimicking the pose from a famous picture that "Shows" bigfoot.
Tapping at the Window is the horror trope of a protgonist hearing and tapping at a window and often than not its just branches to help bring up some tension though often, like on Innistrad, its not just a harmless tree.
Silver Bolt is a top-down design of a silver bullet which in folklore is able to kill many kinds of monster and most common said to be the biggest weakness of a werewolf.
Ludevic Necrogenius and Olga, Ludevic's Hubris are based on Dr Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster. Like the orignal story Olga isnt born as a monster but rather innocent and curious much like a new born child.
Phantom Carriage draws on the imagery of a ghostly carriage seen in many ghost stories.
Consuming Blob is... the blob, as well as the many other oozes on Innistrad.
Rise of the Ants which plays on many giant pest movies movies that where popular creature flicks including Them!
Deliver of Secrets plays more on the the Fly movie this time around as well as maybe being a nod to the crypt Mothman.
Oldstick Fingers seems to Slenderman like, more so playing on more modern creepypasta/urban legends horror creatures along with Rootcoil Creeper.
Poppet Stitcher- plays on the creepy dollmaker who sometimes pops up in creepydolls stories who often is killed by their own creations as seen in happening here with Poppet Factory.
Cards Crimson Vow;
Strefan Maurer Progenitor- while a minor family Maurer
Faithful Mending is a follow up on the cards Faithless Looting and Faithless Salvaging show those who had originally stole in anger over Avacyn disappearing to now wanting to rebuild the parts of the church they had stolen after her death.
Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor has a poppet doll of the Unluckiest planeswalker who was first seen on a cycle of curses and Lynde might be the one who cursed him.
Olivia's Midnight Ambush is a call back to tragic slip as a removal spell that gives -13/-13 when a certain condition is met.
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Okay I think I got all the references, I didn't wanna repeat too much stuff we have seen before on Innistrad (like blue zombies are based on Frankenstein) so let me know if y'all think I missed anything.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
So many top down magic sets will often have card that reference something from whatever they are basing the set on and figure like before it be fun to figure them out;
General flavor Midnight Hunt;
-The classic flavor of gothic horror is back along with some folk horror with the witch coven and harvest festival happening. This also is a nod the traditions of halloween and other harvest festival in real life.
-The dual draft set "Double Feature" is reference to movie theaters playing two movies back to back often the same genre with classic horror movies being a popular double feature.
-The rivalry or having werewolves vs vampires is more modern trope made popular by underworld and twilight thought cross overs and such used to happen with the monsters have gone back to the classic monster movies.
-The beings the "pagan" witches worship seems to draw on names and themes from Celtic gods.
-The Geistmages (who now are more popular and main stream after SoI) are a playing on the Ghostbusters even more this time.
General flavor Crimson Vow;
-Disturb both plays in general favor of ghosts both in having humans who die and turn into ghosts and ghost who posses humans with auras. Also a connects a few themes from the first Innistrad ghosts had with how they would help humans during SoI.
Cards Midnight Hunt;
-Curse of Obsession is a nod to gothic writer Edgar Allen Poe story the Tell-Tale Heart in which the narrator, a (mad) man, kills an old man (his roommate) and hide the body under the floorboards. When the police come to ask what happened to the old man the narrator starts to hear the old mans heart beating under the floor boards before in his insanity confess to the crime and rips up the floor boards trying to stop the heart beating showing the body.
-Join the Dance and Raze the Effigy reference the folk horror movie "Wicker Man" where a main point is a pagen cult doing a festive around the building of a large wicker figure.
Fleshtaker is a nod to cannibal/slasher movie serial killers, with Leatherface seemly the main inspiration. Cow head and the corn elemental also help it fit in with the folk horror elements of the set.
Sludge Monster I think is a either a nod to Shoggoth from lovecraft or maybe another nod to the blob.
Heirloom Mirror seems to be a nod to folklore about mirrors and dark rituals in particular stories like Blood Mary. Blood Mary and simialr ghost are said to appeare and do something bad if you look into a mirror and say their name a number of times, often following a rule of three.
Sharing stuff with its front side Heirloom Mirror, Inherited Fiend is a nod to demons/ghosts who haunt a bloodline (careful when something asks you to sign in blood kids) as seen in thing like Paranormal Activity and Hereditary.
Can't Stay Away is a top down card of "The Cat Came Back" a song by Harry S. Miller that has since become a childern song/poem. It tells of man trying to get rid of a cat (ending up to violent means) but each try to get rid of the cat would be met with "But the cat came back the very next day, The cat came back, we thought he was a goner, The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away."
Hostile Hostel and Creeping Inn are a play on haunted hotels such as the Shinning how often in horror the haunt building will end up becoming a character/monster in of itself, only on Innistrad its more literal than metaphorical. Also both names are A-plus puns.
Stuffed Bear is a nod to how many movies will have taxidermy animals come to life such as the Evil Dead.
Jack-o'-Lantern is a halloween/fall tradition of making a lantern out of a pumpkin or other gourd that comes from a old folk tale. A man named Jack frees the devil and in return the devil promised Jack won't be sent to hell. Well true to his word the Devil wouldnt let Jack into Hell but as Jack had lived a sinful life he wasn't allowed into heaven. So Jack now wanders as a ghost looking for a resting place using a coal from hell in a gourd to light his way at night.
Purifying Dragon is a fun loop of having dragons being allies of human against the undead during the first Innistrad to now being more common thanks to Game of Thrones having a battle of dragons vs zombies.
Wake to Slaughter has very iconic image of vampires hand appearing out of its coffin to open and awaken it.
Burn Down the House is what often happens at the end of haunted house stories (and is the right thing to do when you said a haunted house).
The Meathook Massacre is a nod to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre which featured a noted horror scene of a girl being strung up on a meat hook by Leatherface a cannibal killer.
Dreadhound seems to be a nod to Black Shuck a ghostly/demonic dog that haunts the British coastlines, who noted to have glowing demonic eyes.
Devious Cover-Up uses the idea of a scarecrow being the corpse of someone who been murder.
Rotten Reunion art is a nod to American *Gothic* by Grant Wood.
Eccentric Farmer is well the Eccentric character who has some kind of bond with a monster, typically not ending well for the eccentric when the monster gets hungry.
Shadowbeast Sighting is a nod to bigfoot an ape like cryptid mimicking the pose from a famous picture that "Shows" bigfoot.
Tapping at the Window is the horror trope of a protgonist hearing and tapping at a window and often than not its just branches to help bring up some tension though often, like on Innistrad, its not just a harmless tree.
Silver Bolt is a top-down design of a silver bullet which in folklore is able to kill many kinds of monster and most common said to be the biggest weakness of a werewolf.
Ludevic Necrogenius and Olga, Ludevic's Hubris are based on Dr Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster. Like the orignal story Olga isnt born as a monster but rather innocent and curious much like a new born child.
Phantom Carriage draws on the imagery of a ghostly carriage seen in many ghost stories.
Consuming Blob is... the blob, as well as the many other oozes on Innistrad.
Rise of the Ants which plays on many giant pest movies movies that where popular creature flicks including Them!
Deliver of Secrets plays more on the the Fly movie this time around as well as maybe being a nod to the crypt Mothman.
Oldstick Fingers seems to Slenderman like, more so playing on more modern creepypasta/urban legends horror creatures along with Rootcoil Creeper.
Poppet Stitcher- plays on the creepy dollmaker who sometimes pops up in creepydolls stories who often is killed by their own creations as seen in happening here with Poppet Factory.
Cards Crimson Vow;
Strefan Maurer Progenitor- while a minor family Maurer
Wedding but for Vampire cards;
The main stars are Olivia, Crimson Bride and Edgar, Charmed Groom
Voldaren Bloodcaster/ Bloodbat Summoner- Instead of rice and doves Innistrad vampire use blood and bats.
Anje, Maid of Dishonor- Anje here as Olivia maid of Dishonor
Call back to past Innistrad/magic sets;
Champion of the Perished is the zombie version of Champion of the Parish who sometimes between Innistrad 1 and 3 died and has returned as a zombie.
Avacyn's Memorial is both a call back to the first Avacyn card but similar as well to Akroma's Memorial
Visions of Ruin seems to be a reference to the Innistrad printing of Ancient Grudge.
Vision of Dominance shows what seems to be the The Gitrog Monster before being mutated by Emrakul.
Faithful Mending is a follow up on the cards Faithless Looting and Faithless Salvaging show those who had originally stole in anger over Avacyn disappearing to now wanting to rebuild the parts of the church they had stolen after her death.
The mythic Adversary arts shows a member of each main tribe in the same haunted house and hints to each other down the color pie. In Intrepid Adversary you can see the ghostly hand of Spectral Adversary. In Spectral Adversary art you can see the missing hand of Tainted Adversary. Tainted Adversary art shows a group of bats that likely one turns into Bloodthirsty Adversary. Bloodthirsty Adversary art shows deep claw marks in the wall that where made by Primal Adversary. Primal Adversary art show a hat left behind Intrepid Adversary.
Thraben Exorcism is a nod to Urgent Exorcism, which can destroy spirits, enchantments (like Ghostly Possession and Ghastly Haunting) and now spirits new mechanic for this set disturb.
Vanquish the Horde is a colorshifted version of Blasphemous Act.
Briarbridge Tracker is a mini version of Tireless Tracker.
Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor has a poppet doll of the Unluckiest planeswalker who was first seen on a cycle of curses and Lynde might be the one who cursed him.
Olivia's Midnight Ambush is a call back to tragic slip as a removal spell that gives -13/-13 when a certain condition is met.
Dorothea Vengeful Victim and Dorothea Retribution are nods to former legendary spirt Geist of Saint Traft and his aura Invocation of of Saint Traft.
Thalia Guardian of Thraben get a reprint showing that she is still trying to protect Thraben and let humans live there once again.
Grolnok, the Omnivore is a call back to The Gitrog Monster.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"