Innistrad Trailer - Garruk Relentless vs Liliana of the Veil

Innistrad Trailer - Garruk Relentless vs Liliana of the Veil

Another awesome Magic the Gathering video, this time for Innistrad. As other previous promotional videos, the video is made of animated art found in the very cards of the set. But this is a technique that the developers seem to be improving with each set released. Animations in this trailer seem more natural than those of the Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 video (note that we are not referring to the CG animation, which is another thing).

The Wildspeaker

The biggest asset of this video, however, is in the Garruk voice-over. Garruk is apparently the most popular planeswalker, according to the polls we've done in our humble but ever-growing blog. Garruk's voice is exactly how I always imagined, a deep voice, here combined with a practical discourse, quite suitable for a man who does not waste his time in a roundabout way of words and goes straight to the point.

Wizards channel on YouTube where the video is officially hosted does note not inform the voice actor for Garruk, but some speculate it may be the same actor who voiced Arthas in Warcraft 3 or CT Carson, who voiced Kratos in God of War. If you know who actually is the voice of Garruk, please let us know in the comments. Personally, I think the voice very similar to the Barbarian of Diablo II (David Thomas).

The Hunter and the Veil



For those who are lost in Garruk's narrative, read the webcomic The Hunter and the Veil to keep updated about what is going on between Garruk and Liliana. Ok, with this video we are aware of the reasons for Garruk dropping by Innistrad, but what is Liliana doing there? Certainly not only because of her fondness for zombies (something that Innistrad has in spades)?

Our sexy dark witch is just after her soul, that she sold to some demons (actually four demons) in exchange for power and eternal youth. At least one of these demons, Griselbrand, is in Innistrad. Or at least was, since the demon mysteriously disappeared together with Innistrad protector, the archangel Avacyn. Liliana, with the power of the Veil at her disposal, wants her soul back and is after the fiend, and has the green brute, Garruk in her wake. That is, what we have here is a hunt with powerful predators chasing each other. It is as if the entire top of the food chain decided to hunt each other through the plans.

We eagerly await the unfolding of this hunt in the upcoming Innistrad set, Dark Ascension, together with another promotional video of the same quality we see here- perhaps with Garruk yielding to his dark side?

Innistrad Spoilers - Art for the new Garruk in Innistrad

Art for the new Garruk in Innistrad

Spoilers on the block Innistrad are getting better, and further increasing our anxiety for this that is one of the most anticipated and promising blocks since Ravnica.

After Ral Zarek, we now have material on another planeswalker that will be on the block: none other than the acclaimed "Beast Boy" Garruk. In the last GenCon, we were presented with two pieces of art featuring "Innistrad" Garruk.

The first is this:

We see Garruk without his traditional helmet, dressed in black, striking a quite "conanesque" pose.  Note that his signature axe and buckle are still there. But Garruk is changed. No doubt this is the result of the curse that Liliana placed upon the poor bastard, as seen in the webcomic The Hunter and the Veil, Part 3. That's why our friend Garruk, will most probably be a Green / Black planeswalker, and not just because he's dressed in black. In The Hunter and the Veil we witnessed as the curse of Liliana made ​​all summoned creatures by Garruk become sick or even "zombified" and this certainly will be reflected in the new planeswalker Garruk.

The second art was presented in an UltraPro product:

I must say I did not like this one. Garruk looks like a Hells Angels biker in his forties. The kind that spills beer on his beard. He seems stockier here than in the other art, in which he seems more alert, more at ease, despite the curse that weighs upon him. Somehow, the other art is much more fluid than this, and we hope they use the first art for his planeswalker card. We already had enough with the art for Garruk in the core set  2012 (M12), which makes him look like a big and clumsy caveman. Not to mention his man boobs ... Well, at least in the UltraPro art, Garruk had the decency to cover his large and protruding nipples.

Garruk and his man boobs

Nevertheless, the art for new Garruk adds to the whole gothic horror mood that is being built on Innistrad. Especially the art for Garruk reminded me of the movie Van Helsing (2004), with all that black leather and "vampire hunter" looks.  In fact, I think the R & D staff at Wizards of the Coast has this film as one of their main inspirations for Innistrad, and I'll talk about that later.

Innistrad = Van Helsing!!!