Arena Release Date: September 16, 2021
Prerelease Date: September 17–23, 2021
Paper Release Date: September 24, 2021
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Mechanics
Next set: Innistrad: Crimson Vow
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Last time in Magic, there was an out-of-continuity crossover with Dungeons & Dragons, but before that, we visited the magic school of Strixhaven. In the process of protecting the campus from an evil organization, new planeswalkers Will and Rowan Kenrith grew to understand themselves, and Liliana learned to let go of the past and move forward as a teacher.
This time...
On the gothic horror plane of Innistrad, the nights grow longer as the autumn Harvesttide Festival approaches—longer than even the time of year should allow, and the monsters are taking notice. Having lost the guardian archangel Avacyn, people fear an endless night is approaching and are turning to dark and ancient rituals to bring back the day.
Innistrad sets are focused on the graveyard, transforming double-faced cards, and monsters. Spirits, zombies, vampires, and werewolves call the plane their home, plus all manners of miscellaneous nasties. In Midnight Hunt, werewolves take the forefront; vampires will lead the charge in the next set, Crimson Vow.
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt will feature two tie-in Commander decks.
In the Standard format, the following sets will be legal.
- Zendikar Rising
- Kaldheim
- Strixhaven: School of Mages
- Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
- Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
Banned cards in Standard.
Almost hard to believe a Standard ban list could be this small again.
GETTING STARTED
Official guide to starting Magic
To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series, where Day[9] battles various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.
For the digital card game, you can play Magic Arena potentially for free. It has its own thread.
For the physical card game, there are many ways to get on board. If you go to a local game store (LGS), the owner will give you a simple Welcome Deck for free, after demonstrating how to play the game. This set has 100-card Commander decks that are meant to serve as an introduction, though note that these cards can't be used for most formats outside of Commander, a casual multiplayer format. Challenger Decks (2021 edition) will allow you to compete in Standard tournaments using real decks for, before release, much cheaper than buying the cards individually. Note that many cards in these will have rotated out by the time this set releases, however.
The big thing to look forward to, however, is the Prerelease event held for every set. Check if in-person events are back at your local game store. Find local game stores here.
Set details
Arena Release Date: September 16, 2021
Prerelease Date: September 17–23, 2021
Paper Release Date: September 24, 2021
Card image gallery
Variant image gallery
Mechanics
Transform
Innistrad is known for its double-faced cards that transform from one side to the other. Unlike the modal double-faced cards of the last year of sets, you can only cast the front side. There are multiple ways cards can transform, and two methods have new keywords in this set.
Day and Night
For those who have been to Innistrad before, you may be familiar with the day and night cycle the werewolves followed. However, now that applies to the entire battlefield.
The game starts out neither day nor night, but then when a daybound permanent enters the battlefield and makes it day, it's time to start paying attention.
If a player goes their turn without casting any spells, then it's time to let the monsters loose, so it changes to night at the start of the next turn. At this point, all daybound permanents transform into their nightbound sides. Notably, any daybound permanents that enter the battlefield while it's night will enter on their nightbound sides.
If a player casts two spells on their own turn, then people are waking up, so it changes to day at the start of the next turn. Again, this is very close to how werewolves have always worked on Innistrad, but it's no longer the case that they'll be out of sync with each other.
The day/night cycle will continue for the rest of the game even if there are no permanents that would care on the battlefield. This means that as long as it's night, new werewolves you cast will enter the battlefield on the back face.
Note that it isn't just werewolves that care about the day/night cycle. Some non-werewolf double-faced creatures will transform at the same times, and some single-faced creatures and spells care not just about the time of day, but switching back and forth. Also keep in mind that unlike the old werewolf trigger, this only cares what players do on their own turns. Feel free to cast instants and flash spells at night to torment your opponents during their turns.
Every color cares about day and night.
Disturb
The dead of Innistrad rarely find rest, especially if you disturb their graves. You may cast a creature from the graveyard for its disturb cost, and it then enters the battlefield transformed into a spirit. When it dies or is countered, you exile it. Note that these are disconnected from the day/night cycle. You can disturb them whenever, and they remain spirits no matter the time of day. This is centered in white and blue.
Coven
In light of the growing threat, the forces of good are forced to ally themselves with warlock covens. Coven cares about you controlling three or more creatures with different powers (as in power/toughness), and granting you a bonus effect if you do. This is centered in green and white.
Flashback
Some things never truly end. A mainstay of Magic, spells with flashback can be cast from your hand like normal, but then you can later cast them from your graveyard for the flashback cost. When you do this, the card is exiled and can't be cast again. Note that if you mill a card with flashback, you can still cast it from your graveyard for the flashback cost. It's almost like drawing a card!
Note this is somehow the first time ever that we've gotten gold flashback cards. Flashback appears in all colors.
Investigate
Returning from Shadows Over Innistrad, to understand how to stop the oncoming endless night, the heroes must investigate. When you investigate, you uncover a Clue token, which you can then sacrifice to draw a card. This is the perfect way to use up extra mana you have laying around.
Decayed
Decayed is a new downside mechanic that can be found primarily on zombie tokens. Decayed creatures can't block and die after they attack, but they can be created more easily than normal tokens.
OTHER THREADS
Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Strixhaven: School of Mages
Kaldheim
Zendikar Rising
Core Set 2021
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Theros: Beyond Death
Throne of Eldraine
Core Set 2020
War of the Spark
Ravnica Allegiance
Guilds of Ravnica
Core Set 2019
Dominaria
Arena on Gaming side
Arena Closed Beta on Gaming side
Rivals of Ixalan
Great Designer Search 3
First Hangouts OT
http://www.**********/forum/showthread.php?t=1424890 - Last GAF thread - Ixalan
RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Regular columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo); and Magic Story, which tells the story, written by various authors. Other articles are used for card previews.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Reddit - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards.
Scryfall - The better search method, with bigger cards.
Game store locator
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