Innistrad: Midnight Hunt - 7 Point Highlander Review

Howzitgoin?

This is my Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Set Review. Bit late. Somehow I manage to procrastinate from the things that I do to procrastinate from other things.

Alrighty, deeper we go into the blur of Innistrad:

NEW DAY/NIGHT MECHANIC

Call me old fashioned but I like the strategic implications of the old day/night mechanic where cards would only flip if no one played spells for a turn. This made things interesting because the controller of the werewolf would risk losing tempo by not playing spells because the opponent might cast an instant in the end step to prevent the transformation. This new method guarantees a transformation and is less interactive, which is almost always less fun.

Some cards trigger when day becomes night or night becomes day. To clarify timings, it becomes day/night and everything transforms during the untap step when no one has priority to do things, and then at the beginning of the upkeep all the triggered abilities go on the stack and then players can respond.

It's worth noting that companions work well with werewolves new and old.

Strange that they printed Cathar Commando and Outland Liberator in the same set because they're very similar.

Outland Liberator is the most influential card for me personally in the set because I love to play Green Sun's Zenith. Qasali Pridemage has always been there for me, but sometimes I'm not running white. Having that one Naturalize creature adds a lot of value to Green Sun's Zenith and other creature tutors.

Playable in a deck with flash and instants but only in a metagame where Wrenn and Six or Liliana of the Veil aren't popular.

Incidental graveyard hate is valuable in Highlander. Especially in this Uro and Lurrus world. 

The ward trigger means you're ok with Lightning Bolt killing ~.

This is just decent value. I think it's most likely to see play in mono black or two-colour Ancient Tomb/City of Traitors decks.

This card piles on the damage. Can be powered out with Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors and Mana Crypt.

It effectively gives all your creatures haste.

Weak to Jace, the Mind Sculptor but good in grindy matchups. Gets a little better when you're running other Day/Night cards because if this gets milled or countered then you can use those other cards to start the Day/Night cycle.

Uncommon 3/3 for three. Easy to glance over as a limited card but I think it's Highlander class.

There are a couple build restrictions here: you need a high density of creatures and you want a good amount of flash/instants to alternate Day/Night whilst keeping up on tempo.

You might trade down one mana against Lightning Bolt but if that doesn't happen you'll collect enough extra creatures to win the game.

When was the last time you saw someone cast a Brimaz in a tournament? Better yet, when was the last time you saw a Brimaz attack?...Exactly. Despite that, I can't say Adeline is unplayable. Perhaps she makes it into some 2 colour Humans deck.

There's an interesting metagame phenomena happening at the moment: threats have become so efficient, we're talking 1 and 2 mana, that players' removal of choice has narrowed down to 1 and 2 mana cards. It's been a while since I've seen a Chandra, Torce of Defiance or a Liliana, of the Veil, which is crazy. Anyway, what this means, is that some bigger threats like Adeline get less bad because getting Infernal Grasped is not as bad as getting Chandra'd.

It's amazing how long Qasali Pridmage has held the title of best Naturalize creature. Cathar Commando does not dethrone Pridemage but it does add redundancy to GWx decks and new utility for nongreen decks.

I like him with Contamination and Skullclamp.

Good in Human tribal as at least two bodies.

Castable off Ancent Tomb and able to gain some life back is ok. The threat of Ormendahl, the Corrupter is very appealing.

Good size. Only trades down one mana against Lightning Bolt. 3power is important for trading with Dreadhorde Arcanist or Oko elks, and allowing you to chip away at Jace, Telepath Unbound or Liliana, the Last Hope.

Incidental graveyard removal is great against powerful and popular delve cards, Uro and Wasteland recursion.

The coven ability is handy in boardstalls against midrange.

Game winning value. Strong in metagames with few counterspells and Wastelands.

Consider is basically in every blue deck at the moment. Players are quick to pick up a card when it is so similar to proven cards. The cantrip ranking is roughly the following, depending on deck style:

(this coming from someone who doesn't run them for format diversity's sake)

Brainstorm

Ponder

Preordain

Gitaxian Probe

Consider

Thoughtscour

Mental Note

Portent

Mishra's Bauble

Urza's Bauble

Opt

Serum Visions

Sleight of Hand

The factors are cost (zero/one mana), card selection, slow/fast draw and graveyard filling. I'm imagining each of them with stats bars like in video games. Some factors are more important (imPortent) than others but there's a formula to determine average strength of cantrip.

For one more mana Lier is basically Kess, Dissident Mage that only requires blue and lets you cast any number of spells.

Kess has always practically cost 5 mana because you want to guarantee at least one spell from the graveyard for her to be worthwhile. With that in mind, Lier really costs 6, which means long controlish games. However, Lier's first ability means that you can't use your counterspells in your graveyard, which you probably have if you're a control deck. You should still win by card advantage if he lives though.

Decent in creature combo decks where you've already resigned to removal being good against you and your plan is to exhaust their removal. Malvolent Hermit protects your combo.

If you have an overwhelming board position then you can afford to hold up the single blue every turn against combo but otherwise ~ is not good against combo because holding up that mana is a big tempo loss.

Dies to Wrenn and Six, which is a risk. Benevolent Geist doesn't, but it is relatively expensive to cast for its effect.

Strictly for control players. If you can survive the tempo loss of casting this, then you will win the game on card advantage.

Such a good name.

I think this is the best Zombie tribal payoff yet. The trible still need a lot more to be playable but this is a huge jup towards that.

Other goodies include

Cryptbreaker

Gravecrawler

Zombie Trailblazer

and... that's about it. Oh wait:

But yeah, there are a lot of good zombies but still not enough that they're better than running 'no synergy just good creatures' instead.

Academy Rector and Arena Rector should win the game if they die. Have a sacrifice outlet on a land is low cost. That's planA. PlanB of Creeping Inn is free and might win a game every 25 games.

I like this in decks that focus on tutoring for Bloodghast. Otherwise it's probably just worse than Go for the Throat, or whatever 2 mana removal spell.

Removal is necessary these days with so many 'must kill' creatures:

Lurrus, of the Dream-Den

Murktide Regent

Ethereal Forager

Monastery Mentor

Dreadhorde Arcanist

Dark Confidant

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Deathrite Shaman

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

Tasigur, the Golden Fang

the list goes on.

The ranking of 2mana instant monoblack removal changes with what is most important for your deck to kill, and it depends on metagame. I want to rank them though, so for Melbourne/Geelong I'm gonna say:

Go for the Throat

Infernal Grasp

Heartless Act

Eliminate

Victim of Night

I say Cast Down, Doom Blade and Ultimate Price aren't playable.

"each turn". Pretty amazing if you drop it turn four, Fatal Push something, draw a card and in their turn Snuff Out something and draw again. It fuels itself. To maindeck it you probably need to running a creature deck which sacrifices it's own dudes though. Otherwise it's too weak against decks with few creatures.

Strong sweeper against aggro and mana dork decks. 

In some matchups you can even just drop this for X=0 and let it grind the opponent down.

Has extra utility in blue decks that can bounce ~ back to their hand to reuse.

A 2/2 haste is already passable in aggro. Add the kicker on there and it's amazing. Very strong aggressive card. The key is to make the 2mana mode good enough.

A 2/3 deathtouch for two mana is barely passable, but the fact that it scales makes this good enough.

Weirdly I think this is only playable in Tolarian Academy focused decks. Those decks can run all the indestructible bridges from Modern Horizons II and they run all the tutors that find Academy, which makes up for the mana lost from the bridges entering tapped. Then once you have a bridge or two and a bunch of mana, Primal Adversary is game over.

Otherwise I think it's just worse than the best 3 or 4 green value token maker haymer 5drops available.

You're still going to cast it at 3 if its you're only 3drop, but you'd rather not.

X/1 two drops are very dangerous to run in metagames where Wrenn and Six is popular. The exception is when your deck runs Thoughtseize et al, or if it runs Mother of Runes and Giver of Runes to thwart Wrenn and Six.

Intrepid Hero scales with that multikicker ability. At 4 mana it dodges Wrenn and Six but trades badly against removal.

In a swarm style aggro deck, the anthem effect can add a lot of damage.

3 power lifelink this early gives you the opportunity to get early triggers on cards like Griffin Aerie or The Book of Exalted Deeds.

Decent in Big Red but probably only for creature heavy metagames.

Good in Reanimator decks because it either ditches your fatties from hand or it kills Scavenging Ooze, Deathrite Shaman etc.

Good in Dredge and Reanimator, that's if they're running the white mana.

Decent graveyard filler for Dredge decks.

Eat your heart out Jackal Pup, or she'll do it for you.

Mono Red is still suprisingly scant on excellent 1drops. ~ definitely makes it into mono red. Early on she attacks and later on when the board is too clogged up you can trade her in for two cards when you throw a burn spell at their face.

RB can even sacrifice Bloodghast repeatedly, that's a dream.

Strong 'must kill' threat for burn decks.

I've run actual Shock in a tournament before; At the time Hullbreacher and Opposition Agent were new cards and very popular.

Your deck needs to be packed with instants and sorceries. Card draw, tutors and lessons (from Strixhaven) enable you to play less instant and sorceries.

If you've built correctly, ~ feels like Ashmouth Dragon has suspend 2 for 1R.  It's a cheap 'must answer' threat that survives Bolt and can get some blocks in early, but not both.

If you wanna get crazy like me, this is a cheap Dragon for Descendants' Path.

Doesn't work with Fastbond as well as Courser of Kruphix but that coven ability makes her feel like Future Sight for creature decks. 

Being able to see the top card of your library is very nice with fetchlands.

Brainstorm is great for putting lands on top of your deck to play.

Ideally you wanna cast ~ on turn 4 so that you get a shot at playing a land off the top of your deck before the opponent can use removal.

A big addition to land strategies.

Solid value. A 4/3 vigilance for three is a respectable threat. Best in decks that incidentally value the artifact token, e.g. Tinker.

Good against bounce, i.e. Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Teferi, Time Raveler.

You need a deck that is already milling itself and is ≈50% creatures. Then this thing becomes a 1mana game winning threat.

Deathbonnet Sprout is SO cute. Look at it go! heheh geddem sprouty!

You're almost certainly a Hogaak deck if you're running this guy.

My analysis of this card, like so many others (unfortunately) revolves around Wrenn and Six. Wrenn and Six is so influential and oppressive that I think it deserves two points based on how many X/1 creatures it makes unplayable.

If you're going second and you jam ~ on turn one and then your opponent casts Wrenn and Six, that's a painful trade; You lose a mana and a card for 1 loyalty on a planeswalker. To eliminate this possibility you can wait until turn two, when you have the extra resources to trigger ~, but then you gotta ask yourself, why not just run a two drop instead? Tarmogoyf, Territorial Kavu are big four-power dudes without even trying, unlike ~, who takes some time.

Having said all that, I can't dismiss ~. Some decks naturally exile lots of cards from their graveyard one-by-one incidentally and in those decks, if you're on the play or your opponent doesn't have the Wrenn and Six when they're on the play, then ~ is awesome.

Niche card that is great if you have ping creatures in your deck like Razorfin Hunter. The dream is Goblin Sharpshooter to machinegun down your opponent's board.

You would need a very specific metagame for this all to work but I can imagine it.

I think the key to making ~ work is to maximise the 0 ability. Without that 0 ability, this is just another 5 mana bomb planeswalker that can be dismissed with a removal for the token and an attack. By maximising the 0 and putting in 3 or more lands, then you longer leave yourself exposed to a tempo swing. To get that many lands in hand at that point in the game, you're going to be playing some specialised cards, e.g. Life from the Loam, Land Tax, Gush, Nissa's Pilgrimage (?).

9 fetches + Prismatic Vista in your three colour deck. Spend a point on Wasteland, 2 points on Stripmine and a point on Urza's Saga and you'll get good value even if you play it turn 3 and it dies immediately.

Karakas is a good points investment too. It bounces ~ for value.

Pleased they made the graveyard hate ability symmetrical; makes deck building more challenging and skillful. 

There's a reason you don't see Ground Seal in Highlander, apart from players not knowing it exists, it also doesn't stop much: Life from the Loam, Snapcaster Mage and random things like Eternal Witness or Reanimate. Putting that ability on a playable body is perfect because otherwise it's too narrow.

Not only is 2/3 lifelink playable, the disturbed side is a must answer threat. Dennick can go in any UW deck that isn't effected the Ground Seal ability.

Infinite with Time Vault.

I haven't heard much about this Teferi, which makes me think it's underated; That +1 ability easily regains the mana you spent casting Teferi if you build your deck accordingly. You can make ~ effectively cost 0 mana if he doesn't get countered. That's a game winning tempo swing.

You don't even need the creature to untap, just Tolarian Academy or Mana Vault or Grim Monolith is enough let alone multiple.

Fill your deck with things you want to die, e.g. Hatching Plans, Demonic Pact; or at the least things you lose nothing when they die, e.g. Bloodghast.

Solid inclusion for a deck that uses the graveyard and has a beat down plan. Especially if you can get the critical mass of legendaries for Mox Amber, but that's unlikely in UB.

Decent in an instant/sorcery focused combo deck, e.g. Past in Flames Storm.

Strong in decks that tutor for Time Walk. Importantly you still get the copy if the original gets countered.

Strong combo potential with instants and sorceries that untap your lands because you can flashback ~ with the mana that the first copy generated before the untap spells resolves, e.g. Early Harvest, Turnabout, Reset.

Only in a turbo Time Walk combo deck I reckon.

Inefficient by today's standards but I can see it being ok in a deck that runs several tutors for Time Walk.

The more aggressive the better. Your opponent's library may not have good spells in it for your aggressive strategy and therefore ~ may just be for lands, still a respectable threat though. Perhaps you need vampire or legendary synnergies to make ~ better than other options.

Turns you off Lurrus, which is a big strike against. 

Had my eye on Vampire tribal for a while.

Perhaps a cool mardu tokens deck with all the tutors for Skullclamp and maybe even Wake the Reflections.

Acts like a tutor if you have no dudes in your deck except the one you want in your graveyard. Very niche, hard to imagine applications for it, but the effect is there for the future.

Maybe a super weird 4 colour Demilich and Archlight Phoenix deck

Maybe if every creature in your deck you would like in your graveyard. I don't 7PH has that critical mass yet though: Bloodghast, Vengevine, Prized Amalgam, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, Sproutback Trudge...

Strong card by herself.

Giving your dudes flash lets you flip her if you want to.

Front side combos with persist creatures and a sac outlet.

Works in Transmogrify.

Not sure what a black Transmogrify deck looks like, but if there is one, ~ would be good in it.

Infinite life with Boros Reckoner/Ill-Tempered Loner/Spitemare as long as you have a burn spell as well. That's a lot of conditions.

Rush of Vitality does the same.

Good addition if you find you're losing to damage based sweepers.

Gets stronger if you have some human/legendary synnergies or some burn spells of your own.

Metagame dependant. There was a time recently just before Modern Horizons II was printed where many of the threats you had to will would die to Shock, e.g. Hullbreacher, Lurrus, Opposition Agent, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. Now Murktide Regent is a big reason not to run Sacred Fire. But who knows, perhaps Jace, the Mind Sculptor losing a point will make Murktide less popular.

Another engine card to go with Glimpse of Nature and Beck//Call.

Also a tool for enchantress, which can certainly have some big turns untapping Serra's Sanctum or lands augmented by Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, etc.

If you cast spells from your graveyaqrd every game, then this goes in your deck.

That colour conversion from the graveyard could unlock some pretty disgusting combos, especially in modern and legacy, but we're talking 7PH here.

Perhaps you find that you don't always have the right coloured mana to embalm Sacred Cat or Unearth Dregscape Zombie or Fatesticher in your Hermit Druid deck.

Maybe you're milling your library with Basalt Monolith and Mesmeric Orb on turn three, now you can use ~ to cast Acorn Harvest and fuel Dread Return with the squirrels and Narcomoeba.

Finds Basalt Monolith if you're running Mesmeric Orb combo. 

Finds Grim Monolith if you're going infinite with Zirda, the Dawnwaker.

Finds Lion's Eye Diamond or Black Lotus if you're running Underworld Breach combo.

In these decks it can get you out of a Blood Moon, which is nice. Mybe not in the Mesmeric Orb on though cause you're also running Hermit Druid, i.e. no basics.

SIDEBOARD CARDS

Very narrow, even for a sideboard card but it has applications: Deafening Silence does a better job in most situations but Curse of Silence is better against infinite creature combos like Aluren or when you're using aura tutors which can't find Deafening Silence.

Effective in Lurrus decks. Dead Weight has already proven itself there.

This just one-up'd Curse of Silence in the 'Open the Armory' options. However, only if you're also running red mana.

Red already has Pyrostatic Pillar and Eidolon of the Great Revel but Curse is asymetric.

I think this is a sideboard card because a 2/2 for three doesn't apply enough pressure against decks with few creatures to target.

~ is very vulnerable to removal, so I would only run it in decks with Mother of Runes, Giver of Runes, Cliffside Rescuer, etc.

Good sideboard against aggro. Able to tutor for with Spellseeker and flashback with Snapcaster or Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, etc.

Solid against creatures decks. Especially good in Tinker decks.

This may look like trash but it has some very specific and powerful applications in 7PH. For the most part it is obsoleted by Memory's Journey but if you want redundancy then it could make it:

The first application is in Hermit Druid decks. With Hermit Druid you mill your entire library by not running basic lands. You can either do this in your upkeep and then use Memory's Journey or ~ to shuffle Reanimate et al on top of your library, which you then use to reanimate a Thassa's Oracle or some other immediate win creature. Doing this in your upkeep has risk because if the opponent has a counterspell you will lose; unless of course you have Memory's Journey and ~. That would require 4 mana though (1 for Hermit, 1 for Memory's Journey and 1 for ~). Another way of doing it is to activate Hermit Druid in your main phase and use Dread Return fueled by Narcomoeba and an unearth/embalm creature. This way if the opponent counters the Dread Return, you won't immediately die and you can untap next turn and use Memory's Journey or ~ in your upkeep.

The second application of Turn the Earth is to screw the opponent's Thassa's Oracle. They resolve Oracle and trigger the ability, then they exile their library with Tainted Pact/Demonic Consultation. If you then cast Memory's Journey or ~ to shuffle three of their cards on top, 2 devotion from Oracle won't be enough and they'll presumable not be able to win with the final three cards in their library. This application is where ~ may get played over Memory's Journey if you aren't running blue mana.

Boom, set review complete. Hopefully gave you some ideas. The influence of the set on the format include:

Holistically this set hasn't made a big impact but it's been good for filling out some tier 2 archetypes by adding redundancy to some of their stronger cards.

Here are my picks for the more impactful cards in set:

Consider

Outland Liberator

Dennick, Pious Apprentice

Slogurk, the Overslime

Mulch