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Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

Facts
Placement
Plane
Innistrad
Other
Symbol description
Wolf head in front of the full Innistrad moon
Design
Ethan Fleischer (lead) ; Doug Beyer ; George Fan ; Ari Nieh ; James Rose ; Mark Rosewater ; James Wyatt
Development
Ian Duke (co-lead) ; Erik Lauer (co-lead) ; Mark Gottlieb ; Ari Nieh ; Reggie Valk ; Melissa DeTora ; Michael Majors ; Andrew Brown ; John Penick
Themes and mechanics
Werewolves , TDFCs , Graveyard matters
Keywords/​ability words
Coven , Daybound , Disturb , Decayed , Flashback , Investigate , Nightbound , Transform
Midnight Hunt
Midnight Hunt Crimson Vow Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Jumpstart: Historic Horizons
Jumpstart: Historic Horizons Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Commander Decks

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is the 89th Magic expansion. It was released on September 24, 2021, and is paired up with Innistrad: Crimson Vow which released two months later.

Set details

The set was originally announced with the provisional name Innistrad: Werewolves. Based on the registration of public domains on September 18, 2020, the final name was speculated to be Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, which was confirmed on March 18, 2021. Both Innistrad sets are full size sets and they both are Standard-legal. Although they come out only two months apart, R&D is not changing how many sets are being added to Standard during the rotation window, but are just moving around when they come out. The sets are designed to draft by themselves, but they also will draft well together. The two sets are synergistic and overlap in spots. This will be further explored as the sets are reprinted in the Innistrad: Double Feature set that will be released in early 2022.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt contains 277 regular cards (100 commons, 83 uncommons, 64 rares, 20 mythic rares, 10 basic lands) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The regular cards include 10 "Eternal Night" basic lands. Each type has two different pieces of black-and-white art with colored accents. Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. Borderless planeswalkers are numbered #278-280, borderless dual lands are #281-285, "Equinox" showcase cards are numbered #286-311, "Endless Night" showcase legendaries are #312-325 and extended artwork cards are numbered #326-379. The regular framed basic land cards from the Bundle are numbered #380-384. The Buy-a-Box card is #385 and the Bundle promo is #386. The FNM-treatment cards from the Universal promo pack are numbered #387-391.

Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow both have the same number of single-faced and double-faced commons (90 SFC/10 DFC), uncommons (60/23), rares (53/11), and mythic rares (15/5).

The black and white horror movie inspired "Eternal Night" showcase cards are all basic lands and legendary creatures that aren't a Werewolf or Warlock. The brighter "Equinox" showcase cards with autumnal decorations are all Werewolves and Warlocks.

Storyline

For the Midnight Hunt storyline R&D wanted to reset Innistrad to the "2011 version where horror monsters from classic horror films are menacing humanity and who is going to protect them? because Avacyn is dead now" and without Avacyn's protection the humans have to "turn to older, and perhaps darker forms of magic to stave off the onslaught of the different monsters, most particularly the werewolves" who have gone "plumb loony." Midnight Hunt begins the new story ripped right from the worries of Innistrad's populace: a night that may never end. With the sun rising later and setting sooner each day, they turn to the hope of the Harvesttide festival and a ritual with warlocks to maintain the balance. Despite plenty of werewolves and other denizens of the night, there's strength and hope for the humans gathered deep in the woods of the Kessig countryside.

The first chapter of the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt story was posted to the Magic: the Gathering website on September 2, 2021. The storyline began in Midnight Hunt will be continued with Innistrad: Crimson Vow and both stories "revisit what we learned first about Innistrad, showing us again why the wisest humans there never stop fearing nightfall."

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Midnight Hunt are:

MagicStory

Marketing

Midnight Hunt is sold in regular 16-card Draft Boosters (one card being a marketing card), Theme Boosters, Collector Boosters, Set Boosters, the Midnight Hunt Bundle, and two Commander decks. The Bundle comes with 8 Set Boosters instead of 10 Draft Boosters. The set also features a Welcome Booster. The Draft Boosters feature artwork depicting Wrenn. The Set Boosters feature key art of attacking werewolves, and the Collector Boosters a brightly colorshifted version of the art of Candlegrove Witch. The Theme Boosters feature art from Village Reavers (Werewolves), Sungold Sentinel ({W}), Component Collector ({U}), Bat Whisperer ({B}), Falkenrath Perforator ({R}) and Harvesttide Sentry ({G}). With the release of Midnight Hunt, 75 cards were rotated into The List, many of which were thematically or mechanically linked to the set. These can be found in the Set Boosters. In addition, eight cards with the MIC code can be found in the Set and Collector Boosters that aren't found in the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Commander decks. Every Draft Booster contains two double-faced cards, a common card and either an uncommon or a rare or mythic rare card. They also contain a DFC helper card.

Events

Promotional cards

Tokens/emblems/markers

The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token creature card, an emblem or a marker, with advertisements on the back side. It can also be a helper card with a standard card back. There are 19 tokens and emblems:

  1. {W} 1/1 Human creature, for Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Cathar's Call, Clarion Cathars, Dawnhart Mentor, Jerren, Corrupted Bishop, Join the Dance, Slaughter Specialist and Sunset Revelry.
  2. {W} 1/1 Spirit creature with flying, for Blessed Defiance
  3. {U} 1/1 Bird creature with flying and "This creature can block only creatures with flying," for Ominous Roost.
  4. {B} 1/1 Bat creature with flying, for Bat Whisperer
  5. {B} 2/2 Zombie creature with decayed, for Diregraf Horde, Falcon Abomination, Flip the Switch, Ghoulcaller’s Harvest, Ghoulish Procession,Hobbling Zombie, Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, No Way Out Poppet Stitcher, Revenge of the Drowned, Rotten Reunion, Startle, and Tainted Adversary.
  6. {R} 1/1 Devil creature with "When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to any target," for Burn Down the House
  7. {R} */* Elemental creature with trample and "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of instants and sorceries in your graveyard plus the number of cards with flashback you own in exile," for Seize the Storm.
  8. {G} 4/4 Beast creature, for Shadowbeast Sighting
  9. {G} 3/3 Insect creature, for Rise of the Ants
  10. {G} */*+1 Ooze creature with "This creature's power is equal to the number of card types among cards in your graveyards and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1," for Consuming Blob.
  11. {G} 1/2 Spider creature with reach, for Brood Weaver
  12. {G} */* Treefolk creature with reach and "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control," for Wrenn and Seven.
  13. {G} 2/2 Wolf creature, for Arlinn, the Pack's Hope and Tovolar's Huntmaster // Tovolar's Packleader
  14. {B/R} 3/1 Vampire creature with trample, lifelink and haste, for Hungry for More.
  15. {U/B} X/X Zombie creature with menace, for Corpse Cobble.
  16. {C} Clue artifact, for spells with investigate: Briarbridge Tracker, Dennick, Pious Apparition, Fateful Absence, Foul Play and Secrets of the Key
  17. Emblem for Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset.
  18. Emblem for Wrenn and Seven.
  19. Day/night marker.

Themes and mechanics

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, as following from the previous Innistrad sets, focuses on five allied-colored tribes, each of which have a mechanic associated to them - however, these mechanics can appear outside of those two colors.

  • Werewolves mean the return of transforming double-faced cards, now with their transformation as a keyword mechanic. They have daybound and nightbound, tweaked transformation clauses from previous Innistrad sets. If it becomes day or night or if a daybound permanent enters the battlefield, track day/night for the rest of the game. As it becomes day, transform all nightbound permanents. As it becomes night, transform all daybound permanents. Permanents enter the battlefield nightbound (i.e. transformed) if it is night.
  • Humans now work with in a coven, a new ability word that provides an effect if you control three or more creatures with different powers.
  • Spirits rise from the dead with disturb, a keyword ability that allows you to cast these cards transformed from your graveyard.
  • Decayed creatures can't block: and when they attack, they are sacrificed at the end of the turn. It appears on zombie tokens and zombie-related cards.
  • Vampires gain additional abilities if an opponent has lost life during the turn, usually upon entering the battlefield.

Flashback and investigate also return.

Limited archetypes

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt features the following limited archetypes:

Card types

Werewolves in this set also appear in black.

Counter types

The set introduced the following counter types: Ember counters, Ritual counters, and Valor counters.

It also saw the return of the following: Corpse counters, Flame counters, Slime counters, and Soul counters.

Cycles

Midnight Hunt has ten cycles.

The four curses are not considered to be part of a cycle.

Double cycles

Vertical cycles

Pairs

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt has four mirrored pairs.

Reprinted cards

Functional reprints

Preconstructed decks

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt features two Commander decks that are released as a regular part of a set's product line.

Notable cards

Banned and restricted cards

Gallery

  • Provisional logo
    Provisional logo

References