Rooftop Storm – Innistrad Remastered
Date Reviewed: January 22, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 2
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 4.13
Commander [EDH]: 4.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
This is one of the few cost-reduction effects in Magic that’s actually costed appropriately for the concept’s power – I am not even joking. And neither, for that matter, is Rooftop Storm. While it costs six mana up front, it basically guarantees that something ridiculous is about to happen. There aren’t too many super-expensive zombies, unlike with beasts or dragons . . . though I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that there are also cards that change or bend creature types mentioned in text or typelines. There are even some weird corner cases where you do things like get this into play with Haakon, get Nameless Inversion into your graveyard, and then kill everything on the table three times over. I might be the only one who remembers that weird Coldsnap combo, but regardless, it has pretty much everything you want from a casual combo card.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
Anything that lets you cheat on mana costs like this is a massive threat, and Rooftop Storm certainly lets you usher in a new era of unlife. While Zombies are rarely the priciest tribe, making all of them zero mana adds up (even if blue itself is rarely the best Zombie color), and this works on them everywhere (and has been used with Gravecrawler in some fun chains with things like Phyrexian Altar). It also plays quite well with Conspiracy (the card) and Arcane Adaptation, since giving creatures in your hand the type lets you cheat on things nicely.
The main issue is that this is six mana, and while it’s not just a “do-nothing” enchantment, it’s still an investment, and you need to really hit the gas to make this count. Zombies are usually a fairly cheap tribe, and while there are expensive ones, the main value will have to be in enabling degenerate loops and chains. Both of these are reasonable approaches, but the relative slowness of this card means you’re going to need to commit hard to make the most of Rooftop Storm. It’s a potent build-around, to be sure, but you need the tools to win the game besides.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.5 (not terrible, but the combos really aren’t here)
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.75
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