5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Esika’s Chariot, Fury, Starnheim Unleashed)
What the heck this is just a reprint of Nightbird’s Clutches but without the sweet name and art! I think that modern limited formats have gotten so good that these Falter effects just don’t quite cut it anymore. It’s nice that this helps push Decayed tokens through, but only the most aggressive decks will be interested in this sort of effect and even then I don’t see it being all that impressive.
I have always loved Archaeomancer, and this is just an easier to cast version of it with better stats. This is one of the few common four drops that I see prioritizing highly because it will likely be essential for the control and Flashback based decks.
This is more or less just a better Goblin Dark-Dwellers and that card is already pretty nuts in limited. I don’t see casting Bloodthirsty Adversary early, but at five mana this is fantastic and at eight it should be game winning if you built around it properly.
The Night/Day ability here is pretty anemic, and a 2/3 Menace for three isn’t that great either. This seems like fine filler for an aggressive deck and that’s about it.
A wrath that’s never bad is a great place to be. If you’re behind you can kill everything and if you’re ahead you can add a ton of pressure to the board. I would be ecstatic to start a draft with this bomb.
The classic five mana burn spell of the set, except this one has some major upside. A guaranteed two to the opponent while also turning off Disturb makes this a solid addition to any red deck.
To me this is just a deal three since I can almost never see using this to loot. It’s like You Find the Villains Lair from the DND set. Sure it’s a Cancel and a Careful Study, but I think I used the latter maybe once in my entire time playing the format. I see that being the same with Cathartic Pyre. It’s still a good, cheap removal spell that you should take highly though.
Please do not play this, do not bring it in, don’t even take it unless you need those 20 gems. This card is meant to be a constructed board card, not a limited playable.
A more expensive Tormenting Voice with Flashback is interesting, but I fear that by casting this you’ll just be spinning your wheels and not accomplishing much. The lack of Madness makes me doubt the usefulness of Electric Revelation. You would need a lot of Flashback and spell matters synergies before I would want to play this.
This is worse than a two mana 3/1 by a fair amount and I wouldn’t play this unless I was insanely aggressive or in desperate need of a two drop. A two mana 2/1 with a mediocre ability just doesn’t do much at any point in the game. The only redeeming factor is how good this is at dealing damage and making your other vampires trigger their ETB’s.
A one mana 2/1 is okay but not stellar, but I like how this can somewhat protect your vampires from the opponents removal. Vampires in this set look like they’re trying their hardest to be on the beatdown now that’s for sure.
A four mana 4/3 ain’t bad, but what’s really got me excited about Famished Foragers is how easy it is to double spell when you trigger it’s mana ability. You can put your opponent really far behind if you play seven mana worth of spells on turn four and I’m looking forward to playing this in my aggressive vampire decks and popping off with all that mana!
The front side of this is fine, but the backside pays you off nicely for throwing any sort of burn at the opponent. It shouldn’t be so hard to flip this with a Neonate’s Rush or something, and even if you don’t a 2/2 for two can only be so bad.
I have doubts that this will be good even if my deck has 10-12 spells in it. A two mana 1/3 can only be so bad though and this will often trade up in the late game. Maybe this would make some waves if some sort of Artful Dodge effect was in the format.
This is a little slow, but it offers a ton of value over the course of the game. Two mana to kind of draw a card is solid, and before you know it this will have enough charge counters on it to straight up kill the opponent. Keep in mind that you do need to build around this, and if you do you’re going to be rewarded handsomely.
Once this flips it’s great, but until then a 3/2 for three just isn’t going to cut it. This is okay filler but try not to get tricked into playing werewolves just because their flipside is good.
A strange yet surprisingly fitting reprint. For the most part this is a worse Dead Weight and Lash of Malice, but killing early creatures for that cheap is hard to come by in limited so I would imagine that most decks are happy to play 1-2 of these.
A fine aggressive two drop. I can see this effect over performing in the late game when you’re the aggressor and the opponent is just starting to catch back up.
Fireball has and always will be great in limited, so take this and enjoy burning your opponent for nine in the late game after they thought they stabilized.
Now this is a trick that is going to end a lot of games. While it can be pretty clunky early on, later in the game this becomes a Fireball to the face that also saves your creature. Aggressive decks are going to love playing this and I’m very excited to try this out for myself.
A deal three is great whether it’s one or three mana. This card is obviously awesome and every deck will be trying to get as many copies of this as possible.
This is splashable, a huge flier, draws you a ton of cards, and punishes your opponent for killing it. I think this might be one of the best cards to open in the entire set. It’s Experimental Frenzy on a dragon and your opponent better hope they have an exile effect in hand or else they’re goose is gonna get cooked real quick.
This is a pretty good curve topper to any aggressive deck. A 6/5 Trample for five is above rate, and even if it’s only a 5/4 that’s far from embarrassing.
This is a great board card and I wouldn’t mind playing the first one of these main deck regardless of the number of vampires I have. This seems like a slightly better Blinding Blast to me, which I had great success with against certain types of decks in the postboard games of War of the Spark draft.
A common Act of Treason means one thing; Rakdos Sacrifice is very much possible in this format. Most decks won’t be interested in this sort of effect, but if you can get rid of the creature you take then the value of Pack’s Betrayal skyrockets. The Scry 2 is also a nice little bonus for the aggressive decks that are trying to find more gas in the late game.
I doubt you’ll ever be sending this upstairs unless it’s for lethal, which means this is just a Shock. Shock is good in every format it’s been in though and is always a card that I’m happy to play multiple of.
Now this is a five drop that’s worth taking highly. A four power flier kills the opponent incredibly quickly and it shouldn’t be too hard to get value from the ping effect.
I never like one mana +2+2 combat tricks unless they offer an additional effect that’s actually good. Blossoming Defense is the type of quality that I look for, and this isn’t even close to that. It’s so easy to get enough playables nowadays so please just play anything else over this.
This is a 3/3 haste the turn it comes in and then from there basically gives all your creatures haste assuming that you’re only playing one creature a turn. If you ever flip this then your opponent is going to be in pretty bad shape since this turns any of your creatures into a hard hitting threat.
This grade assumes that you’re heavily built around Seize the Storm. By the time the late game rolls around it seems easy to get at least two 6/6 Trample out of this, which is crazy good. If you wanted a reason to play Consider and a low land count, then this is it because you are going to get paid off heavily for being a spells matter deck when this is at your top end.
Flipping this seems very easy and even if it takes awhile, Smoldering Egg is a great blocker. Once you flip this, your opponent might have a turn before they get their board and life total gunned down by Ashmouth Dragon. You of course want to build around this, but even if you don’t you should be able to flip Smoldering Egg with like two spells, which is kind of insane.
This is the type of combat trick I like to play. It pushes damage on offense and makes your creature a great blocker when you need to be on defense. The set designers just took Brute Strength, removed its main weakness, and made a super sweet and solid card.
The front side of Tavern Ruffian is mediocre, but dear lord is this big when it flips. The 2/5 body will also drag the game on and get it to the point where a player runs out of spells and coincidentally causes Tavern Ruffian to flip.
Another fantastic payoff for the spells matters deck. Thermo-Alchemist provides reach and can deal a ton of damage in a spell heavy deck, while still being good if you have little to no spells.. Not to mention that it’s a great blocker early on and makes it easy to trigger all the life loss matters vampires that might be in your deck.
When evaluating these werewolves, it’s important that the front side is good on its own. A 4/3 haste for five is okay, but three toughness for five mana means that you’re almost always going to be trading this down. I’m not very high on Village Watch, but I suppose that it does get a little better if your deck is full of werewolves.
A lot has to go right here to get fully paid off, but even if this only deals two damage it’s still a very good card. This feels like a worse Mardu Heart-Piercer to me, which is still a more than fine place to be because considering that that card was fantastic in Khans of Tarkir.
This is a slightly better Fearless Pup that’s going to be solid if you have good pieces of equipment. Aggressive decks will probably be happy enough to play this on it’s own since it’s so good at pecking in for damage, but it’s far from stellar and not a card that should be taken highly.
Red seems very powerful in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. You have so much great burn as well as excellent creatures like Thero-Alchemist and Ardent Elementalist. I can definitely see Izzet spells being the best deck of this format.
Next is green, see you then!
Premium
Enjoy our content? Wish to support our work? Join our Premium community, get access to exclusive content, remove all advertisements, and more!
No ads: Browse the entire website ad-free, both display and video.
Exclusive Content: Instant access to all exclusive articles only for Premium members, at your fingertips.
Support: All your contributions get directly reinvested into the website to increase your viewing experience!
Discord: Join our Discord server, claim your Premium role and gain access to exclusive channels where you can learn in real time!
Special offer: For a limited time, use coupon code L95WR9JOWV to get 50% off the Annual plan!
While Chris Kvartek technically kicked off his career in 2012, he burst onto the scene in 2019 like few before him. With an early season Top Finish at Mythic Championship II and narrow miss for his second at Mythic Championship IV, Kvartek earned invitations to two more Mythic Championships through online qualifiers. He secured his second Top Finish of the season at Mythic Championship VII, and now this rising star must prove he can stay among the elite of professional Magic.
