With Innistrad: Midnight Hunt bringing back flashback, Gavin Verhey used today’s episode of Good Morning Magic to give the history of the mechanic.
Odyssey was the original graveyard matters set and it introduced flashback, threshold, and other cards that cared about graveyards. There wasn’t a ton of support or build-around potential for flashback, but the mechanic was a hit compared to the set’s other mechanics. Flashback made its first return in Time Spiral, as did many other mechanics, but it was a core mechanic in the set with ten new cards and Dralnu, Lich Lord.
Innistrad brought the mechanic back in 2011 and had Burning Vengeance and Secrets of the Dead as build-arounds. Flashback was powerful and leveraged cards with off-color flashback costs. Snapcaster Mage was an all-star from the set, granting targeted instants and sorceries in graveyards flashback for the turn.
Flashback came back in Commander 2019 with a Commander deck, championed by Sevinne, the Chronoclasm. It also appeared in both editions of Modern Horizons, but was skipped in Shadows over Innistrad as there were plans to use it in Dominaria, but it was removed from that set later on in development.
Get ready for more flashback with the launch of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and the introduction of the first ever multicolor cards with flashback. There will be a reveal video for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT on Thursday on Twitch and YouTube.