The release of Magic: the Gathering‘s newest set Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is upon us. This week on Thursday, we’ll be able to play with the set on Magic Arena, and there’s some really good ones here. Here’s our pick for the 10 Best cards for Historic from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.
Honorable Mention
Our honorable mention goes to Curse of Silence. This 1 mana “tax” style enchantment is one that I can see impacting a couple different decks. Mono White Death and Taxes would honestly love to have this card, as it’s a way to help tax our opponent’s answers to our creatures into oblivion. Combine this with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Elite Spellbinder and your opponent is paying upwards of 9 mana for a Wrath of God. It also gives us some draw potential as an added benefit.
10. Fateful Absence
Keeping in line with the white cards, we have [tooltip]Fateful Absence coming in at #10. This card is a wonderful addition to Declaration in Stone in white’s removal suite. This has some upside over Declaration as well, since it’s an instant, and can hit planeswalkers. If the Indomitable Creativity deck doesn’t see a banning, having a diversity of removal options against Serra’s Emissary is also very nice to have.
9. Memory Deluge
Dig Through Time is an incredibly strong draw spell in older formats. While the front half of Memory Deluge isn’t quite that, the flashback is definitely a spiritual successor. This is a great draw spell option for Azorius Control.
8. Pithing Needle
Our first reprint of the set, Pithing Needle makes its way into Standard once again. While we do have a substitute in the format for this card in Sorcerer’s Spyglass that doesn’t see play, Pithing Needle being 1 mana is definitely relevant.
7. Consider
More powerful blue spells, Consider is a great, cheap draw spell. This finds a home in the various Izzet Phoenix Decks, and Grixis Dragon’s Rage Channeler decks. The way that the meta is shaping up, this card is going to see a lot of play in the coming weeks
6. Infernal Grasp
Competing for the best 2 mana black removal spell in the format, we have Infernal Grasp. Why is so good? It’s unconditional creature removal at 2 mana. This card is going to find a home in decks that don’t care as much about their own life total, or can negate the life loss. This may include mono black Zombies, or Jund Sacrifice.
5. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope / Arlinn, the Moon’s Fury
Next up we have Alinn, The Pack’s Hope. This new transforming planeswalker is a really great addition to the format. Gruul aggro is already a great deck in the format, and this slots right in. When it transforms, it becomes a powerful threat. This also a great addition to the Bard Class deck. If we set up with this, and transform it, subsequent ones will enter on the Moon’s Fury side. This can allow us to generate more mana with her +2 ability to help keep the storm train going.
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4. The Adversary Cycle
At Number 4 on our list is the Adversary Cycle. These powerful creatures all have homes in the format. Intrepid Adversary fits right in Mono White Humans. Spectral Adversary fits in the Blink decks. Tainted Adversary obviously goes in the new zombies deck. Bloodthirsty Adversary seems that it’d fit nicely in either Phoenix, or Mono Red Delirium / Burn. Primal Adversary fits into Gruul Aggro as well as Mono Green Aggro. All of these are very powerful in their own way. It’s unfortunate that these are all Mythics, so say good bye to your wild cards.
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3. Champion of the Perished
Top 3 time! Number 3 on the list is Champion of the Perished. This is the zombified version of a fan favorite human card Champion of the Parish. This card is so high up on the list because it really is the linchpin of the Zombies deck. This powerful 1 drop will help push early aggression, and this is a must answer threat that can get out of control very quickly.
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2. Slow Land Cycle
Number 2 on our list goes to the “Slow Land” cycle. Yes, we get new lands all the time in various sets, but this cycle has a bigger impact that it may seem. The allied color pairs have been suffering from a playable dual land disparity for quite some time. These lands provide crucial untapped sources for those decks. Yes it’s not perfect since these only come in untapped from Turn 3 on, but it’s definitely better than not having them.
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1. Delver of Secrets
Number 1 on our list is Delver of Secrets. This card is a powerhouse card in eternal formats like Modern and Legacy, and it stands to be a very strong contender for Historic. Since we don’t have access to Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Delver provides another important 1 drop creature to many already existing decks in the format. When you combine this with Dragon’s Rage Channeler and some cheap spells like Opt, you have the makings of a fast clock.
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That’s it! There’s our top 11 cards for Historic from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. I know that I will definitely be brewing and building decks with these cards when the set releases on Magic Arena, so stay tuned for deck tech and gameplay content from us! What cards are you excited for in Historic from the set? Let us know in the comments!
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is the first of two new Innistrad sets coming to Magic: the Gathering. It’s being released in tabletop on September 24th, 2021, and online on September 17th, 2021. Previews start on September 2nd, 2021. Be sure to check out our Preview Gallery to stay up to date with all the new previews. You can also preorder Innistrad: Midnight Hunt product here.