Shadows over Innistrad returns to the gothic horror themed plane of Innistrad, emphasising a sense of mystery and creeping dread. The expansion symbol of the set is an upside down reflection of Avacyn's symbol. The set features the same tribal components as the Innistrad block with the five main tribes each being split over an allied color pair. Spirits primarily in white and blue, Zombies in blue and black, Vampires in black and red, Werewolves in red and green, and Humans primarily in green and white. For the mechanics, R&D made a conscious decision to return more to Innistrad the set than Innistrad the block.
Shadows over Innistrad contains 297 cards (15 basic lands, 105 commons, 100 uncommons, 59 rares, 18 mythic rares), including randomly inserted premium versions of all cards in the set. This is about 25 cards more than other large expansions in recent history. This is because Shadows over Innistrad also sees the return of double-faced cards which have a card frame printed on each side. Two different checklist cards may be used to prevent decks from becoming marked by containing them. These checklist cards replace the basic land in some boosters. Additionally, the design team embraced the idea of having a "double-faced cards matter" theme. The as-fan of the double-faced cards is about 1.125, meaning you always get at least one and sometimes get two. A normal pack contains a common or uncommon double-faced card. Approximately one in every eight packs also contains a rare or mythic double-faced card in addition to a normal rare or mythic rare (the rare or mythic rare double-faced card replaces a common). These packs will have two double-faced cards, the common/uncommon and the rare/mythic rare
