MTG Midnight Hunt

In this review, we'll discuss the MTG Midnight Hunt set, whose release was past weekend. We'll take a first look at the MTG Midnight Hunt set and what to expect from it. We'll discuss the set mechanics, combat tricks, and more! 

Let 's dig in!

Review of MTG Midnight Hunt Set

Before we reveal what's inside this splendid set, we want to remind you that you can find it at your local store. The set has a little outer sleeve on it with a fun little werewolf on the back. The orange bands on the release for the set are pretty attractive and get you in a spooky mood. Now, let's get into the set!

Set Mechanics

The set mechanics are day and night, disturb, coven, decayed tokens, and flashbacks making a return. 

Day and Night

So the way day and night work in this set is that it starts no day or night, so the game is just going as usually as soon as a card gets played that makes it day or night, it is then permanently day or night for the entire game for both players.

For example, once it becomes day, it is the day, and then as it becomes day, you transform all night bound permanents. If a player casts no spells during their turn, it becomes a night in the next turn. So, then on the next person's turn, if it flips, it becomes night. 

As it becomes night, you transform all-day bound permanents, and permanents enter the battlefield night bound, which is a pretty exciting twist for your clip card that has night bound. If a player casts at least two spells during their turn, it becomes day, the next turn. 

Disturb

Disturb is a mechanic that lets you extra value to your creatures once they die or find their way to the graveyard. For example, Baithook Angler is the two-mana two one, but you may cast it from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost: two-mana one in a blue, and you'll get the Hook-Haunt Drifter, which is a one-two flyer. 

So, it's a different creature on the front and backside, but you are getting that extra value stapled onto your creature if it somehow finds its way to your graveyard!

Coven

This mechanic cares about having three creatures with different powers, so if you have a one-powered creature, a two-powered creature, and a three-powered creature, the coven will be enabled or any other mix of three powers. 

Zero power does count as a power for this case, which is critical to note because there are some zero-powered creatures in this MTG Midnight Hunt set, and then you'll get a little bit of a benefit. For example, Candlelit Cavalry will be a five-five trampler until the end of the turn, of course, if the coven is enabled. 

Decayed

This is a type of token that you can make, and they are all two-two zombies that can't block, and when it attacks, you sacrifice it at the end of combat. So, if you are aggressive with it, it can only attack once, and it will go away at the end of the battle. There are many other ways to use them, such as sacrificing them for value or tapping them to some effect or another. 

You will want to keep an eye out for ways to use zombie tokens for more than just a little bit of incidental damage, so that's certainly relevant. For example, Diregraf Hord is a five-mana creature that, when it enters play, you create two - two-two black zombie creature tokens with decayed, so you can get a ton of creatures into play all at once. Two of those are fragile and can't block, so it's an exciting mechanic as well.

Flashback

Flashback is a returning mechanic, not complicated, and it's on instance and sorceries. It lets you cast the card from your graveyard for its flashback cost, sometimes with a slightly different effect. With secrets of the key, you cast it for its front half and investigate, but if you cast it on its back half, you invest from the flashback cost; you investigate twice.

That costs a little bit more, but you can cast from the graveyard. Investigate is a mechanic in this MTG Midnight Hunt set as noted on secrets of the key, but it only appears on one common secret and one uncommon. So, it's not a complete set of mechanics like these other ones are where you'll see them everywhere. With investigation, you create a clue token and then pay two mana to sacrifice that clue token to draw a card.

Combat Tricks

There are three combat tricks in white to be aware of Blessed Defiance, Flare of Faith, and Ritual of Hope. 

It's important to note that these cards only give plus two power, with a minor exception of Flare of Faith, which can give plus three plus three if a human is being targeted. Remember that Blessed Defiance works best when you're targeting something that you don't care about it dying, so it works pretty well with a decayed zombie token because you can attack with like a couple of zombie tokens. Then your opponent may be the one they can block, thinking that you are just chomping, and then you use the Blessed Defiance to get that creature they blocked out of the way. 

There are two different cards to give minus two minus zero in blue, so the fact there are multiple of these, you should be aware of them, especially if your opponent makes an attack that seems catchy. Just keep those cards in mind if they're attacking their 3-3 into your 3-3.

There isn't really a conventional combat trick in black, but there's Blade Brand, which means that any creature will be able to trade up. If they attack their two-two into your five-five and you are getting some suspicious vibes, maybe they have Blade Brand so you won't want a black or things like that. You'll want to block with three-three instead if they only have black mana, so you don't lose your bigger creature. 

Red has three combat tricks to be aware of: the first one - Lunar Frenzy, is fantastic and flexible because you can cast it for like x equals seven in the late game. Raze the Effigy is less flexible because it only does one thing: buffs up your attacking creatures. It can be a lovely card to have in your deck, but it's not super powerful. Stolen Vitality has a little bit of flexibility as well. 

You don't generally want to cost combat tricks on defense, so we caution you against doing that unless you have to. 

There are also some combat tricks in green. The first one is Clear Shot isn't always viewed as a combat trick because it is a fantastic removal spell. Still, it is worth noting as a combat trick because it is most devastating when you attack with a 3-3, the block with a 3-3, and then you use a Clear Shot to kill their other creatures and win the combat. 

Defend the Celestis is another excellent card when the game looks relatively normal, and then all of a sudden, they cast Defend the Celestis, and it's over because all of the trades you were going to make don't work out. If your opponent makes a suspicious attack, being aware of this is definitely worth noting!