Ten Things I Like About Avacyn Restored

I don't want to be a ranting, ornery player. I have had many unkind things to say about this entire block so I'm going to flip this and take ten things I like about this set.

1) Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Man I like this card. The artwork is fantastic, the character is dead on in theme with the rest of the block, and the abilities are interesting enough that it is playable but not broken, though if you pull off the ultimate, it's still amazing! That's cool.

2) Descendants' Path's artwork.
It shows the passage of time using the moon-a key element of the set- as well as multiple images to evoke a connection to the past and future. Absolutely fantastic.

3) Misthollow Griffin.
For the first time I can think of, there is a creature that can be cast from exile. There's an answer, finally, to Swords to Plowshares!

It's blue, of course so grrr...BUT this is a cool ability that is fairly costed. It's the kind of mythic people will mostly ignore which is one of the reasons I dig it.

4) The Powerpuff Girls
The claim is that the internet saw this. I don't buy that: the artwork on the three legendary multicolored angels is even arranged like them, with the green one looking grouchy and facing to the right. WotC people are too savvy to NOT at least hint at that.

I also don't care. It's fucking rad.

5) Unhallowed Pact
The original card was False Demise a blue card that should never have been blue. It's in the right color now and that's not only good for the game mechanically, it's good from a flavor position too because now one can really engage in the kind of dark shenannigans that Black would be involved with.

6) Hound of Griselbrand
A creature that does 4 damage for 4 mana, with an upgrade to do 6? Works for me.

7) Soulbound
I talked about this a little bit last time but now that the full set is out and I'm diligently reading each card, it's worth mentioning again. Soulbound cards trigger on any creature entering the battlefield, if the Soulbound creature is unpaired. That's huge! It means that the card is good is so many more situations and gives the mechanic that much more weight. The best card with this mechanic is Elgaud Shieldmate. Which is blue but I am going to continue to resist ranting about that.

8) Flavor text
I really, really like the flavor text in this set. Terrifying Presence, Gang of Devils, Mental Agony, Nephalia Smuggler and Cursebreak are all fine examples of things I really like. Sometimes funny, sometimes pointed but very much entrenched in the world of Innistrad and revolving around the events therein.

9) Gallows at Willow Hill
It's not a great artifact-as a matter of fact, it's terrible-but I like the way it functions. Vigilante justice punished by a haunting. It feels right under circumstances where how it feels can override how good the card is.

10) Harvester of Souls vs Soul of the Harvest.
What can I say? These kinds of things appeal to me.

Now, this is what I like without having played the set. There's still the joy of getting to play with this stuff and discover what's awesome!