10 Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cards That Will Have a Big Impact on Standard
For fans of Magic: The Gathering, standard rotation marks a fresh start. This year’s rotation sees the departure of Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, and the M21 Core Set.
Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has plenty of excitement brewing for the upcoming standard year. We’ll be returning to the fan-favorite gothic horror plane of Innistrad for two sets this winter and fall before heading back to a futurized Kamigawa, visiting the gangster-inspired Streets of New Capenna, making a stop back on Dominaria, and finally re-visiting Urza and Mishra in The Brothers War.
Of course, with Innistrad: Midnight Hunt kicking off a new year of standard, there are plenty of powerful cards to look forward to.
Today, we’ll cover 10 Midnight Hunt cards that are likely to have an impact on the refreshed Standard metagame. Let’s dive in!
Consider
Opt has always been a powerful card in constructed formats. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt brings us an even better opt for decks that have graveyard synergies. Consider costs (U) and lets you look at the top card of your library. You can then either put it in your graveyard or leave it on top and draw a card.
Yes, this is effectively the same as Magic’s “Surveil” mechanic.
Between Strixhaven’s focus on Magecraft and a handful of powerful instant and sorcery spells in Midnight Hunt, the makings of a respectable spellslinger deck are starting to take shape. Consider will be an important piece in it.
Of course, it also fits nicely into just about any blue deck that cares about digging through your library or getting cards into the graveyard. Consider should be a staple-level card in the upcoming version of Standard.
That’s doubly true considering (no pun intended) that Opt is leaving the format this fall.
Delver of Secrets
Delver of Secrets may be one of the most unassuming powerhouse cards ever printed. When it first arrived in the original Innistrad set, almost everyone underrated it.
Now, it is a multi-format staple. Remember that spellslinger deck we just mentioned? The Midnight Hunt reprint of Delver of Secrets fits in nicely.
For a single blue mana, you get a 1/1 that essentially turns into a 3/2 flier for free. This makes for an extremely aggressive start to the game.
Sure, Delver needs to have a deck built around it to work properly. That being said, Standard 2022 could be the new home of such a deck. If so, Delver of Secrets is a four-of lock.
Infernal Grasp
There is a ton of important removal *cough, Heartless Act, cough* leaving the format this fall. Fortunately, we’re also getting an amazing new removal spell in the form of Infernal Grasp.
It costs 1(B) and lets you destroy any target creature. The only downside is that you also lose two life. In most cases, this life is negligible given the payoff.
Any deck that wants removal will be happy to play Infernal Grasp. It’s better than the other black two-mana removal spells in the format (Power Word Kill, Flunk) and will surely be a staple in the upcoming standard format.
Sacred Fire
Lightning Helix is one of the best burn spells ever printed. Sacred Fire isn’t quite Lightning Helix, but it is pretty close.
For (R)(W), it deals two damage to any target and gains you two life. Notably, it also has Flashback for 4(R)(W), allowing you to cast it again from your graveyard.
The Red-White color pairing hasn’t been making much of a splash in Standard, but that could be changing in the near future. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Pithing Needle
Pithing Needle has been around several times in Magic’s Standard format. Given the abundance of powerful cards with activated abilities, its return in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is poised to make a big impact.
As always, Pithing Needle shuts down Planeswalkers by turning off their activated abilities. In our current Standard, it will also be a major player when it comes to shutting down creature lands. Faceless Haven, Lair of the Hydra, and Hall of Storm Giants are all vulnerable. You can also shut down cards like Esika’s Chariot, The Book of Exalted Deeds, Koma, Cosmos Serpent, Immersturm Predator, and more.
Of course, to get the most value out of Pithing Needle, you need to know which targets in your opponent’s deck are worth sniping. If you’re familiar with the new Standard meta, then this is a golden sideboard card.
Wrenn and Seven
Zendikar Rising has largely been forgotten in the shadow of Eldraine and Ikoria. However, its Landfall mechanic feels like it is just waiting for the right few pieces.
Wrenn and Seven, the latest iteration of Magic’s body-jumping planeswalker, could be the answer.
It allows you to dump lands onto the battlefield in rapid fashion. Wrenn and Seven also defends itself well by making a green Treefolk creature with reach and power/toughness equal to the number of lands you control. Since the planeswalker itself costs five mana, this will often be enough to stonewall threats like Goldspan Dragon, Werewolf Packleader, and a variety of other aggressive creatures.
Bloodthirsty Adversary
The upcoming Adversary cycle from Midnight Hunt looks quite strong. While all five colors have a chance at impacting the Standard metagame, Bloodthirsty Adversary fits right in with the existing RDW strategy.
Better yet, it also slots nicely into the space vacated by Robber of the Rich. For 1(R), it is a 2/2 Vampire creature with haste. You can also pay 2(R) when it enters the battlefield any number of times to give it that many +1/+1 counters and re-cast that number of instant or sorcery spells from your graveyard without paying for them.
That’s a ton of value and makes Bloodthirsty Adversary good in the early game as a hasty creature and good in the late game as a nice mana-sink.
Keep in mind that we’ll also be getting lots of new vampires in Crimson Vow later this year and Bloodthirsty Adversary’s creature type could become more relevant.
Field of Ruin
Creature lands are some of the most powerful cards in Standard right now. Field of Ruin shuts them down by allowing you to destroy a nonbasic land your opponent controls.
You and your opponent also get to search your library for a basic land to replace Field of Ruin and the land it destroyed. Although this isn’t the most exciting card, it will be very important given the current popularity of creature lands.
Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
Fan-favorite zombie-lover Gisa is returning in Midnight Hunt with her very own card. For 2(B)(B), Gisa, Glorious Resurrector is a 4/4 Legendary Human Wizard.
While she is on the battlefield, creatures that your opponent controls are exiled when they die. Then, at the beginning of your upkeep, those creatures are put onto the battlefield under your control. Of course, there’s a small catch.
They come back with “Decayed,” a new keyword that means they are sacrificed when they attack and they can’t block.
Think of Gisa like a more fair version of Tergrid, God of Fright, that allows you to play your opponent’s creatures when they die. It also works as a nice bit of graveyard hate.
It will take the right kind of deck to make Gisa, Glorious Resurrector work, but the potential is there for it to be very powerful.
Intrepid Adversary
Mono-white is looking very strong thanks to several key additions from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and pieces that aren’t rotating. Intrepid Adversary could be the thing that takes mono-white decks to the top level.
For 1(W), it is a 3/1 Human Scout with Lifelink. When it enters the battlefield, you can pay 1(W) as many times as you want to give it that many +1/+1 counters and valor counters. This also essentially gives every other creature +1/+1 for as long as Intrepid Adversary remains on the battlefield.
In the early game, a 3/1 lifelinker is a nice play. In the late game, dropping an Intrepid Adversary and paying the additional cost once or twice is likely game-winning.
Ready to see how Innistrad: Midnight Hunt impacts Standard? Which one of the new cards is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter!
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