Innistrad: Midnight Hunt EDH Set Review - Red

Red. The color of passion, anger, and most thematically, blood. Welcome to my review of the red cards from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Vampires, werewolves, and burn spells, oh my! Lets jump into it!

Mythics

Bloodthirsty Adversary

The red entry into the "adversary" cycle, Bloodthirsty Adversary

is a force to be reckoned with. Spellslinger decks like Mizzix of the Izmagnus

will appreciate the extra experience, and Niv-Mizzet, Parun

will draw you extra cards on top of getting to reuse spells. This vampire pairs really nicely with a previously cast Jeska's Will

, using the mana from Jeska's Will to feed into this card's pseudo-kicker ability and recasting the will for more mana and more cards seems like good clean living to me. Not only does this do something when it enters, it can also be effective in combat right away! When I first read this card I completely missed that this card had haste, on top of its giant text box. Laelia, the Blade Reforged

also gets better with this card, allowing you to grow her when you exile those cards from your graveyard.

Moonveil Regent

When I first read Moonveil Regent

I was unsure about how to feel about the card, and upon my 40th reading of it, I am still unsure. It does well in Niv-Mizzet Reborn

and Ramos, Dragon Engine

decks, which have, and care about having, lots of multi-coloured spells. This card has a definite ceiling, where the max you can do of any given mode is 5. The key thing about the first ability is that it is a may, so you can wait until you are down to only a few cards in hand, then all of your spells can become cantrips and potentially can draw up to 5 fresh cards per spell. It's dragon creature type is totally relevant for decks like The Ur Dragon

, Scion of the Ur Dragon

, and the recently released Tiamat

Sunstreak Phoenix

If only there was a legendary phoenix for this to slot into, alas, we still have to wait for the day that Wizards decides to release that beautiful bird. Sunstreak Phoenix

uses the Day/Night mechanic introduced in IMH to come back to life over and over again. A 4/2 for 4 mana flyer is a solid creature! Its ability to be recurred for 2 mana is a very good return on investment, though we will have to see how the Day/Night mechanic actually plays out during a commander game. As for decks that this could slot in, some fun jund sacrifice matters decks like Korvold, Fae Cursed King

, or Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire

would make good use of this recurring bird. All in all, it's a solid addition to our growing list of mythic phoenixs that still don't have a home to roost.

Rares

Burn Down the House

is immediately comparable to the 5 mana red wrath we got in Hour of Devastation; Hour of Devastation

. The only drawback that this has is compared to that is that creatures don't lose indestructible, but on the flip side, when you don't need a wrath, this card can give you three little devils that can help push through extra damage, or be there for great sacrifice fodder. Being a modular spell gives this card some legs to stand on and flexibility, its part Hour of Devastation

and part Devil's Playground. Judith, the Scourge Diva will have some fun with this card, she's always a fan of chaos and carnage, especially at the cost of her own creatures.

Curse of Shaken Faith

If they are going to keep coming out with curse cards that are not only fun, but good, I may have to build a Ghen, Arcanum Weaver Curse deck! Punishing opponents for casting more than one spell a turn is a great way to slow the game down in your favor, and pairing it with a card like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, and you've got yourself a recipe for a quick game. Does your opponent have a storm/combo deck that's getting you down? This puts them in their place (unless their combo involves gaining life, and if that's the case I am sorry for you). A solid piece for any punisher deck like Mogis, God of SLaughter, Zo-Zu the Punisher and any partnership with Vial Smasher, the Fierce, this curse is sure to shake your opponents faith in winning.

Falkenrath Pit Fighter

I find this card very interesting, it's got a lot of moving parts in only one line of text. Obviously this card wants to be in decks with Edgar Markov, or any of the versions of Olivia Voldaren, heck even Anje Falkenrath can find a home for this vampire family member. Losing 3 resources (a card in hand, a creature, and mana) to draw two seems pretty fair in red, considering most red cards give "impulse" card draw in the form of "exile it...you may play it until end of turn". Of course this all depends on Falkenrath Pit Fighter's "spectacle" ability clause. As mentioned before this card will do very well in an Edgar Markov deck, always having that vampire token to go towards this ability makes it that much better. Additionally, Olivia Voldaren's abilities to change a creature to a vampire then steal it, is a long winded, but effective way of getting rid of creatures you don't want your opponents to have.

Geistflame Reservoir

This artifact is another one to add to the spellslingers arsenal, alongside Firemind's Research, Primal Amulet and Sphinx Bone Wand. Having the ability to store more and more counters on this card until you are ready to blast feels very Aetherflux Reservoir or Shrine of Burning Rage-esque. Zaffai, Thunder Conductor, Veyran, Voice of Duality and Melek Izzet Paragon, are classic spellslingers that would benefit from this card. Galazeth Prismari can also turn this into a mana rock for your instants and sorceries whenever you don't want to activate it, giving it much more utility.

Light Up the Night

A wild Chandra appeared! To be honest I was not expecting to see her in this set at all. Light Up the Night is another fun X burn spell, which we seem to get one on every visit to Innistrad (Devil's Play, Burn from Within). The fun iteration with this one is now your planeswalkers can help cast it's X cost from the graveyard. Of course in order to have a big impact you'll have to have planeswalkers with lots of loyalty to spare (looking at you Karn Liberated, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh) or have a surplus amount of them. A fun spot for this card would be a red/white/blue superfriends deck with Kykar, Wind's Fury or Elsha of the Infinite at the helm. Sevinne the Chronoclasm would very much appreciate this card, even with only a few planeswalkers, this card could do quite the amount damage.

Reckless Stormseeker

Reckless Stormseeker is a fun, haste enabling 3 mana creature who is also a werewolf, for all those rushing to build a werewolf deck with Tovolar, Dire Overlord. Reckless Stormseeker's haste granting ability fits right at home in any Xenagos, God of Revels deck. On the flip side of the card, giving plus +2/+0 and trample in addition to haste really allows whatever creature you are targeting to get through for a good amount of damage. Any iteration of Aurelia, the Warleader, or Tajic, Blade of the Legion, or most any decks who want to turn sideways as fast as possible could use Reckless Stormseeker to make sure their armies get there and get there fast.

Smoldering Egg//Ashmouth Dragon

Did you know that this is only the fifth dragon to be released in an Innistrad set? Interesting, eh? Some folks are calling this the red Thing In the Ice, which I agree with, you theoretically could flip this with just one big spell, then afterwards have a flying 4/4 Guttersnipe. Spellslinger builds, or burn decks that play a lot of instants and sorceries would make the most out of Smoldering Egg. Kalamax, the Stormsire could use this card as another value piece, Veyran, Voice of Duality shows up again, to speed up the hatching and to deal even more damage with the flipped side. Speaking of the flipped side, it's also a juicy target for Vadrok, Apex of Thunder.

Visions of Ruin

Fun call backs on all of the "visions" cycle! For those who don't know, this is a call back to Ancient Grudge. It's ceiling is four mana for three treasures and your opponents lose an artifact each, which is a positive exchange in your favour nine times out of ten. Now, if you are playing with a smaller pod, this gets a little worse. Where this card (and all the other cards of this cycle shine) is it's flashback cost. Rewarding you for having a commander who costs a lot, you can flash this back to gain more treasures! Don't forget a little card by the name of Xorn that this pairs extremely well with. As for decks this can slide into, I can see most decks playing red just wanting this. As for more synergistic commanders, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Prosper, Tome-Bound, and Magda, Brazen Outlaw, would be the right fit for this card.

Notable Uncommons and Commons

Ardent Elementalist

We finally get the red Archaeomancer! This is a big boost from the other mono-red iterations of this effect (see: Ghitu Chronicler, Revolutionist). Feather, the Redeemed, Firesong and Sunspeaker decks will very much appreciate this card as they're only other options for recursion are other spells, or the six mana alternatives listed above. This card will be a staple for spellslingier decks for the foreseeable future.

Immolation

Last time we saw Immolation in paper (in english) form the Toronto Blue Jays were still World Series champions. For all those non-sports fans out there, that translates to a very long time ago. This one mana enchantment does a very similar thing to Dead Weight but it can also be used as that extra pump-up for Valduk, Keeper of the Flame decks. Uril, the Miststalker negates that -2 to toughness and turns Immolation into a +4/+0 aura. In non-creature spells matter decks, this is a cheap removal spell for mana dorks and most utility creatures. Really cool to see an old card get a reprint 25+ years later.

Lunar Frenzy

You know to deal a bunch of damage all at once without having to worry about deathtouch? This is how. Another piece to add to the arsenal that is Feather, the Redeemed, swing with Feather, cast this, put a lot of mana into it, hit for big damage and repeat all again the next turn. Where this card can become really spicy is with Zada, Hedron Grinder, since Zada creates copies of the spell, all your creatures will get the +X/+0, first strike and trample.

Play With Fire

This is just better Shock, not quite Lightning Bolt better, but still, Shock with upside is nothing to scoff at. Burn decks like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh, and Syr Carah, the Bold have a new toy to play that also smoothes out their next turns draw. Play With Fire will do more in other formats, but it will definitely find a home in EDH.

Village Watch//Village Reavers

If you are playing werewolves, you have got to be playing Village Watch. On it's frontside it's just a french vanilla 4/3 with haste, but once it becomes night and the wolves come out to play, oh boy do they ever. The new Tovolar, Dire Overlord, and even Ulrich of the Krallenhorde, could both use this card as a finisher of sorts. Having all your werewolves and wolves gain haste means a lot of damage very quickly!

Aggressive strategies got a little boost from this set but most of all, it seems like a lot of spellslinger decks received new options to improve their decks. An abundance of werewolves and supporting cards will also be out in the wild. Which of these cards are you excited to add to your deck(s)? Thanks for reading, and check out all of the other set review articles on Commander's Herald!