We're staying in Innistrad for Magic the Gathering's next set, but leaving behind Midnight Hunt's Harvest Festival in exchange for the biggest, most luxurious Vampire wedding ever held in the entire multiverse. It's Olivia Voldaren's big day, and she's going to celebrate it in style in Innistrad: Crimson Vow.
We have two cards to exclusively unveil our spoilers for Innistrad: Crimson Vow, supplied by Wizards of the Coast, and both of them are weird and full of potential: Biolume Egg//Biolume Serpent, and Investigator's Journal.
This free preview is part of the ongoing Innistrad: Crimson Vow spoiler season, ahead of its official launch on November 19.
Biolume Egg//Biolume Serpent
It wouldn't be an Innistrad set without something transforming into a horrific monster, and Biolume Egg is just that.
Biolume Egg is a mono-blue Serpent Egg that costs two generic and one blue mana. A 0/4 with Defender, when it enters the battlefield, you can scry the top two cards of your library (look at each of them and keep either on top of your deck or put it on the bottom).
A 0/4 Defender that lets you scry two is already great, but this egg is getting ready to hatch. If it gets sacrificed, it returns to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step, except it re-enters the battlefield transformed into its other side, Biolume Serpent.
Biolume Serpent is a mono-blue 4/4 Serpent. Though it has no evasive keywords like Trample or Flying, you can sacrifice two Islands to make Biolume Serpent unblockable that turn. It's a big price to pay, but having a way to sacrifice lands can be incredibly useful. It's especially good when it follows Innistrad: Midnight Hunt's Slogurk, the Overslime, who likes to see lands get put into the graveyard, or Crimson Vow's new Runo Stromkirk to make lots of copies of it.
This is one of those cards that could be easily passed over, especially when one side has the words "Sacrifice two Islands" on it. But a chunky defender that scries and then turns into an instant-speed land sacrifice outlet definitely isn't something to ignore.
Investigator's Journal
Investigator's Journal is one of the cards that Mark Rosewater teased in his recent hints, as it uses brand new 'suspect counters'.
When Investigator's Journal enters the battlefield, you put as many suspect counters on it as the number of creatures the player with the highest amount controls. Then, you can pay two generic mana and remove a suspect counter to draw a card. Alternatively, you can pay two generic and sacrifice Investigator's Journal to draw a card, giving you one last draw when all your suspects are used up.
In some ways, it's similar to Core 2021's Mazemind Tome, which put counters on itself to draw a card, and exiled when it had four or more. The obvious benefit to Investigator's Journal is if you're running a go-wide tokens deck it can supply an absurd amount of suspect counters to draw with.
Two generic to draw a single card may seem a bit steep, but there are lots of ways to cheat it. Cards like Alhamarrett's Archive or Teferi's Ageless Insight can double the amount of cards you draw, while stuff like Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider or Doubling Season can increase the number of suspect counters you get with it.
Best of all, Investigator's Journal doesn't just care about creatures you control. If you're playing against somebody going off with hundreds of creatures, you could get lots of suspect counters off of them, as well.
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