Magic: The Gathering Delves Into the Spooky Night With Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

Magic: The Gathering is officially gearing up for the release of its next set, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, and ahead of the full physical release on September 24th, ComicBook.com had the opportunity to check out what Wizards of the Coast has in store for the return to its spookiest setting. As expected, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is big on werewolves and their kin, and while there are several new mechanics being introduced in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, there is one in particular that players will really need to keep an eye on.

Basically, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt will feature a mechanic that transforms between night and day versions of double-faced cards with the mechanic being aptly named “Daybound” and “Nightbound.” Daybound on a card states that if a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn while Nightbound on a card states that if a player casts at least two spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn. There can also be some kind of trigger mechanism printed on a given card that initiates this shift.

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For example, Tovolar, Dire Overlord has Daybound and also a trigger where if the player controls three or more Wolves and/or Werewolves, it becomes night and any number of Human Werewolves under the control of the player can transform into their Nightbound forms. These forms can have varying abilities and powers and are broadly indicated by a logo in the upper left as to what time of day they come out to play in.

Another mechanic being featured in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is “Disturb.” Essentially, cards can be cast from the graveyard for their Disturb cost. Unlike with other mechanics that pull cards from the graveyard like this, cards cast with Disturb come into play “transformed” into the other version of the card. For example, Beloved Beggar, if cast using Disturb, comes back into play as Generous Soul, a 4/4 unit with both Flying and Vigilance.

Yet another mechanic in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is “Decayed,” thought it is the simplest of the bunch. This largely zombie-related mechanic simply indicates that the creature can’t block and that, when it attacks, it must be sacrificed at the end of combat. The card Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, for example, creatures a 2/2 black Zombie creature token if the player does not already control a creature with Decayed.

Last but not least in terms of mechanics is “Coven.” There is a given trigger for Coven that then looks for the requirement of having three different powers (a 4/4 creature, a 3/3 creature, and a 1/5 creature, for example) to then provide a bonus of some kind. In the card Sigarda, Champion of Light’s case, it looks whenever Sigardar attacks and, if the requirements are met, the player can look at the top five cards of their library, reveal a Human creature card from them, and put it into their hand before putting the rest of the cards on the bottom of their library in random order.

As noted above, Magic: The Gathering‘s Innistrad: Midnight Hunt set is scheduled to release globally on September 24th. As usual, there will be a prerelease starting the weekend of September 17th. Additionally, it will release for Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online starting September 16th, which is earlier than the physical release. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Magic: The Gathering right here.

What do you think about the new Magic: The Gathering set so far? Are you excited to check it out for yourself when it releases? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming! And keep scrolling to check out a bunch of cards and their art treatments from the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set!