Wizards of the Coast has announced the first set in the next block for its Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.  Shadows over Innistrad will release on April 8.

This new 297-card set will be featured in pre-release events on April 2 - 3, as well as Launch Weekend events from April 8 -10.  An official Game Day is planned for April 30 - May 1. The Magic Online version will be available on April 18, with pre-release events planned for April 15 - 18.

Shadows over Innistrad will be sold in Booster Packs, Intro Packs, Fat Packs, Deck Builder’s Toolkits, and Gift Boxes.  Not all formats will be available in all languages.  The 15-card Booster Packs will be MSRP $3.99.

The initial concepts for the set were designed by Mark Rosewater, Ken Nagle, Gavin Verhey, Sam Stoddard, Andrew Veen and Adam Lee. Mark Gottlieb was the team lead.  Further development was led by Dave Humphreys, with Tim Aten, Ethan Fleischer, Erik Lauer, Ari Levitch, and Sam Stoddard rounding out the development team.

Oath of the Gatewatch, the second half of the Battle for Zendikar block - the first set in Wizard’s new two-block, twice-a-year format - will release on January 22 (see “Second 'M: TG' 'Zendikar' Block Set Announced”).