What is the PVOW set code and what does it contain?

PVOW is the set code for Innistrad: Crimson Vow Promos, a 121-card set containing all promotional variants associated with the main Innistrad: Crimson Vow (VOW) release. This includes Play Promos with dark card frames, a Buy-a-Box promo, a Bundle promo, and the Moonlit Lands basic land promos distributed at Innistrad: Double Feature WPN Premium events.

What are the Moonlit Lands and how are they different from the Eternal Night lands?

Both are black-and-white basic land treatments from the Innistrad: Crimson Vow era, but they differ in one key detail. The Eternal Night lands (in the main VOW set) have coloured accents layered over the monochrome art. The Moonlit Lands promos (numbered #408–412, part of PVOW) drop those coloured accents entirely, giving them a starker, purer horror-film look. The Moonlit Lands were distributed at Innistrad: Double Feature WPN Premium events in early 2022.

Are Innistrad: Crimson Vow Promo cards tournament-legal?

Yes — promo cards are legal in the same formats as their main-set counterparts. A PVOW promo version of a card has the same legality as the regular VOW printing of that card. Note that Innistrad: Crimson Vow has rotated out of Standard as of the 2023 rotation, so check current format legality for Standard and Pioneer.

What caused the token naming rules change that came with Crimson Vow?

Wizards changed token naming rules with Crimson Vow's release to prevent unintended interactions with Blood tokens. Under the old rules, naming 'Blood' with an effect like Pithing Needle (intending to target the card Flesh // Blood) could accidentally affect Blood tokens. The fix: tokens without a specified name now take the name of their subtype(s) plus 'Token' — so a Blood token is officially called 'Blood Token,' which is a distinct name from the card 'Blood.'

How many cards are in Innistrad: Crimson Vow and its promo set?

The main Innistrad: Crimson Vow set (VOW) contains 277 regular cards — 100 commons, 83 uncommons, 64 rares, 20 mythic rares, and 10 basic lands — plus numerous alternate-frame and showcase variants extending the numbering further. The PVOW promo set contains 121 cards covering the various promotional treatments distributed outside of booster packs.

What are the two Commander decks released with Innistrad: Crimson Vow?

Wizards released two Commander preconstructed decks alongside Crimson Vow. 'Spirit Squadron' is a white-blue deck commanded by Millicent, Restless Revenant, focusing on spirits. 'Vampiric Bloodline' is a black-red deck commanded by Strefan, Maurer Progenitor, leaning into vampire tribal. These decks aren't part of PVOW but share the set's thematic identity.

Innistrad: Crimson Vow Promos (PVOW) Guide

Innistrad: Crimson Vow Promos (PVOW) is the promotional card set accompanying Innistrad: Crimson Vow (VOW), released in late 2021. It collects 121 promo variants - from Play Promos and Bundle promos to Buy-a-Box cards and the striking "Moonlit Lands" basics - that were distributed through organised play events, retail promotions, and WPN Premium venues. If you're chasing the full Crimson Vow experience, these promos are where the set's gothic aesthetic gets pushed furthest.

What is Innistrad: Crimson Vow Promos?

PVOW is the dedicated promo set for Innistrad: Crimson Vow, the second of two full-size Standard-legal sets released on Innistrad in 2021 (following Innistrad: Midnight Hunt). The main set contains 277 regular cards, and PVOW packages the 121 promotional variants that sat outside that main numbering - special-treatment cards distributed through specific channels rather than booster packs.

The codename for Innistrad: Crimson Vow was "Clubs," a deliberate deviation from the alphabetic sports-naming convention Wizards usually follows, because later sets in the schedule had already locked in their codenames. The set was first announced under the provisional name Innistrad: Vampires on September 1, 2020, and the final name was confirmed on March 18, 2021.

Promo card types in PVOW

The 121 cards in PVOW come from several distinct promotional treatments, each distributed differently:

Dark-frame Play Promos (numbered #405-407 in the main set's extended numbering) - given out through Friday Night Magic and similar organised play events, featuring a distinctive dark card frame.
Buy-a-Box promo (#403) - one card available exclusively through participating local game stores for purchasing a booster box.
Bundle promo (#404) - included in the Innistrad: Crimson Vow Bundle product.
The Moonlit Lands (#408-412) - five basic land promos distributed at Innistrad: Double Feature WPN Premium events in early 2022. These are notably different from the "Eternal Night" showcase basics in the main set: the Moonlit Lands lack the colored accents that the Eternal Night lands carry, giving them a purer black-and-white horror-film feel.

Format check: Promo cards are reprints of cards legal in the same formats as their main-set counterparts. If a card is Standard-legal in VOW, its PVOW promo version is too. Check current format legality if you're reading this well after the 2021-2023 Standard window.

Themes and mechanical identity

PVOW promos draw from the same mechanical space as the main Crimson Vow set, so understanding VOW's themes tells you what to expect on these cards.

Vampires and the Voldaren wedding

Crimson Vow is, at its core, a vampire set. The set's story revolves around the grandest vampire wedding in Innistrad's history - Olivia Voldaren marrying into the Markov bloodline to consolidate power over the plane. Mechanically, this translates to strong vampire tribal support, Blood tokens, and a dark-aristocrat flavour running through the set's rares and mythics.

The "fang frame" showcase treatment in the main set features all 30 vampires plus Sorin the Mirthless, and that gothic-architecture aesthetic bleeds into the promo treatments as well.

The Eternal Night aesthetic and the Moonlit Lands

One of Crimson Vow's most visually distinctive elements is the "Eternal Night" showcase style - black-and-white horror-movie art with colored accents, applied to basic lands and legendary non-Vampire creatures. The Moonlit Lands promos in PVOW are a variation on this: they strip away even the colored accents, leaving stark monochrome art. In my opinion, they're some of the most atmospheric basic lands Wizards has ever produced, and they're worth tracking down for any Innistrad fan.

Blood tokens and the rules change

Crimson Vow introduced Blood tokens as a central mechanic - artifact tokens that let you pay {1}, tap, discard a card, sacrifice them to draw a card, functioning as a filtering engine for red and black strategies.

Rules note: VOW's release came with a notable rules change to token naming. Going forward, tokens without a specified name take the name of their subtype(s) plus the word "Token" - so a Blood token is officially named "Blood Token." This was introduced specifically to prevent effects like Pithing Needle naming "Blood" (the card Flesh // Blood) from accidentally locking down Blood tokens.

Double-faced cards

Like its companion set Midnight Hunt, Crimson Vow has a consistent double-faced card (DFC) distribution across rarities: 10 DFC commons, 23 DFC uncommons, 11 DFC rares, and 5 DFC mythic rares. Draft boosters guaranteed two DFCs - one at common, one at a higher rarity. Promo versions of DFCs follow the same physical card rules as their main-set counterparts.

Lore and setting

Crimson Vow continues the Innistrad storyline begun in Midnight Hunt, where humanity tried to hold back an Eternal Night through the Harvesttide festival. That plan only partially worked, and now something worse than frantic werewolves and mindless zombies is making a move: the vampires, led by Olivia Voldaren, are consolidating power.

The central story is the forced union of the Markov and Voldaren bloodlines. Olivia's vow captures the set's tone perfectly:

"The bride pledges her heart to the groom and he, his undying affection to her. Blood and famine, violence and peace - in eternal life and through moment's struggle, the two shall rule this land until its people are no more. The Heron's blood make it so."

The Story Spotlight cards - the cards whose art and names directly depict key narrative moments - include Bloodtithe Harvester, By Invitation Only, Edgar's Awakening, Glorious Sunrise, Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr, Sigarda's Imprisonment, Voldaren Estate, and Wedding Invitation, among others. These cards are worth reading flavour text on even if you never play them in a deck.

Lore aside: The "Heron's blood" referenced in Olivia's vow ties to Sigarda, the last free Archangel of Innistrad and a symbol of human hope. Her involvement in the story - and her imprisonment - is one of the emotional cores of the set.

Commander decks

Alongside the main set, Wizards released two Commander precons under the Innistrad: Crimson Vow banner:

| Deck name | Colours | Commander | |---|---|---| | Spirit Squadron | {W}{U} | Millicent, Restless Revenant | | Vampiric Bloodline | {B}{R} | Strefan, Maurer Progenitor |

These decks aren't part of PVOW directly, but if you're building around the set's themes - spirits or vampires - they're the natural starting point.

Set legacy

Innistrad: Crimson Vow occupies an interesting place in Magic history as one half of the first true "Innistrad double feature" - two full-size sets on the same plane released just two months apart in 2021. Both sets were designed to draft on their own and to draft together, and that synergy was physically realised in Innistrad: Double Feature, a special release in early 2022 that combined cards from both sets in a unified black-and-white art treatment.

The Moonlit Lands promos from PVOW were actually distributed at those Double Feature WPN Premium events, which gives them a nice thematic connection to that chapter of Innistrad's story.

For collectors, PVOW represents the full range of VOW's promotional treatments in one set code - a useful reference point for anyone tracking down every card from this era of Innistrad storytelling.