Mass Hysteria – Innistrad Remastered
Date Reviewed: January 24, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander [EDH]: 3.75
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Superficially, Mass Hysteria seems like it should be a highly desirable card – after all, it gives you the most dangerous part of Fires of Yavimaya‘s text, and Fires was a tournament staple in its day. The problem is that it doesn’t do anything else: while you were playing Fires mainly for the haste effect, having the option of extra damage was nothing to laugh at. And speaking of which, being mono-red is less of a help than you might guess, given that historical mono-red decks have often wanted cards that dealt damage above all else. None of this, though, means that it’s bad per se. It’s better to think of it as a niche card instead: if you’re already playing a deck that wants to use turn 2 or 3 to cheat something that breaks the game when it attacks, this is the way to do it. The only other permanent that has a similar effect for a similarly low cost is a little less widely known and available, with 27 years between reprints!
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5
Mass Hysteria was actually not part of any of the seven sets set in Innistrad; its only prior mass printing was in Mirrodin in 2003! That said, this is a perfectly in-flavor reprint, so here we are.
As far as effects go, Mass Hysteria is a simple one, and it’s an in-color version of Concordant Crossroads. Granting everything haste is simple, and while it does mean everything, there are plenty of ways to spiral this out of control without too much effort. A fair few things are balanced out by not having haste, and so being able to immediately turn them sideways can make for an unwelcome surprise (especially if it has annihilator). The downside is obvious, but while being attacked out of nowhere definitely has its downsides, remember that you’re the one who knows it’s coming.
The cheapness of this effect and its universality have given Mass Hysteria a small foothold in Modern (a format where Concordant Crossroads is not legal), and both see play in various Commander piles. There are some decks where this is less necessary; Goblins are a tribe that often have enough in-baked haste that they don’t need the double-edged sword on offer here. For the rest, though, this is a massive boon, and being able to swoop with that dragon immediately beats having to pace your swooping.
Constructed: 3.5 (know which decks this goes in, and you’re golden)
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 4
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