Bereaved Survivor by Zara Alfonso

You're reading the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt set review on Commander's Herald. Sometimes I wonder what's scarier: the gothic horror hellscape of demons, werewolves, vampires and ghouls, or the very real horror of knowing that someone, somewhere is looking in the mirror and seeing Jason Alt staring back at them. But life is too short to worry about hitting rock bottom, so let's get started!

Mythics

Enduring Angel

From a defensive standpoint, Enduring Angel is a decent stall tactic. This feathered fiend complicates the storm and big burn gameplans, and also acts as a soft fog against beaters. I'm not sure this is actually the strength of the card though; it lacks flash, and if I wanted purely to stall for time, I'd run Angel's Grace or Dawn Charm first. No, the real strength is that all this defensive power is put onto a 3/3 flying double-striker, which makes it fantastic at carrying large piles of equipment to your opponent's soon-to-be corpse.

Intrepid Adversary

Don't let the mana cost in the top right fool you; this card actually costs four mana. When you pay the additional cost, you'll get an anthem effect, and it's unique compared to other anthems because it's tied to counters. That means that Intrepid Adversary essentially doubles the effect of a proliferate spell in a +1/+1 counters deck, and if you've got Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider out, you're laughing.

Casting Intrepid Adversary for two should be avoided at all costs; it's a slightly above-rate Vizkopa Vampire at that point, and if I wanted to have the life drained out of me, I'd just watch Eat, Pray, Love.

Sigardian Savior

Is this it? Is this what we've been looking for? The one who will free us from the tyranny of Sun Titan, and deliver upon us a new era? Has God been slain, and the world reborn in the fire of a new, heavenly crucible?!

No.

Limiting it to cheap creatures is not worth the upside of reviving two of them at once. The additional flexibility offered by Sun Titan over this is huge, because it revives not only your dorks but also your lands like Prismatic Vista or artifacts like Inspiring Statuary. Plus, a lot of important engine creatures start at three mana. You're not getting Mesa Enchantress or Mentor of the Meek back with Sigardian Savior, and to top it off, its stats are worse, too. There's just too many concessions for this Sigardian to be saved.

Rares

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

If you regularly dine at Weenie Hut Jr.'s, Adeline might be just the person to take as a date. Since you'll have three times the opponents as a standard game, her trigger is thrice as effective at creating fodder that runs face-first into enemy spears and their own death. Of course, anthems and Divine Visitation fix that problem, but I'd personally build her as a less finicky Darien, King of Kjeldor. Load up on the Soul Warden effects to make each of their short, short lives worth something, and now you're in business.

Brutal Cathar

Since the werewolf decks are Gruul again, trying to intentionally flip this for multiple hits is unwieldy at best and actively harmful to your gameplan at worst. At least it's okay in decks that play mostly at instant speed, like Feather, the Redeemed. It's also a slight upgrade to Fiend Hunter, so replace it in your Boros+ decks and you'll eventually get a trigger or two off this by accident.

Curse of Silence

This is a brutal gag order for decks that rely heavily on their commander coming out early to function. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and Karlov of the Ghost Council hate to see it, and its one mana price point is guaranteed to go off before they do. Sure, it's not as final as a Nevermore, but I suspect this will be a useful tool to counter value-soaked commanders, especially if your opponents have taken advantage of their low costs to cut lands from their deck.

Fateful Absence

I can't believe my dad is a Magic card!

This card is comparable to Declaration in Stone. If you're willing to give up the exile effect and the ability to snipe tokens, you get instant speed and planeswalker removal in return. Between this, Angelic Ascension, Swords to Plowshares, and Path to Exile, white has no shortage of removing pesky permanents at just the right time.

Sigarda's Splendor

Phyrexian Arena, Angel's Feather and Cosmos Elixir had a child, and they're all the father.

If you're in life gain, especially Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, you'll definitely want this for consistent draw. I'm a little concerned that Sigarda's Splendor, Cosmos Elixir, and Well of Lost Dreams all occupy the four-drop slot, though, so make sure you're able to consistently keep your life total on the rise, because Sigarda doesn't care for uncertainty in the doc market.

Sungold Sentinel

Sungold Sentinel's protection-at-home ability makes it fine for carrying a Quietus Spike, though I'd rather just use another equipment like Prowler's Helm instead of fiddling around with coven and activated abilities.

Vanquish the Horde

Just like Clone High, Blasphemous Act is getting a second season decades too late.

The Rest

Bereaved Survivor

Why is this so much better than Sigardian Savior? It's cheap, it flips at the drop of a body, and it consistently grabs value from your graveyard when it attacks. Put a Whispersilk Cloak on this and get a Sakura-Tribe Elder or something in the yard and you're golden.

Candletrap

Cheap enchantress decks helmed by Sram, Senior Edificer and Sythis, Harvest's Hand love this as a way to shut down attackers while triggering constellation. Plus, if you've got coven set up, it can function as a real removal spell, too.

Cathar Commando

It flashes in, chump blocks an enemy attacker, and blows up an artifact or enchantment. This might be better than Reclamation Sage, and its low mana cost means even bad resurrection spells can hit it. This is pretty clearly the best white common in the set and you should seriously consider replacing your Disenchant with this.

Duelcraft Trainer

I don't hate this as a second, worse copy of Duelist's Heritage, but you're really going to want to be in some sort of Voltron strategy for this to be worthwhile. Consider Fireshrieker first; that should be closer to what those decks want.

Flare of Faith

If only Fight as One and Blacksmith's Skill didn't exist.

Gavony Dawnguard

This has the same problems as Brutal Cathar, but it provides a decent amount of card selection for your trouble and has a less-restrictive color identity. Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage is the ideal home for it, because you're likely to get at least two shots at the top of your deck in a trip around the table, and you can cast those legendary creatures at instant speed, too.

Loyal Gryff

Ignoring that it's spelled hippogriph in the type line but implied to be hippogryph in the title...

Loyal Gryff is to Whitemane Lion as Manifold Key is to Voltaic Key. It's the slightly differently worded version of the effect with a much lower ceiling as a result. Loyal Gryff costs more and can't bounce itself, but it flies and you may choose to return nothing. If you're looking to break this effect, go with Whitemane Lion; if you want to actually save your own creatures, go with Loyal Gryff.

Lunarch Veteran

It's been a while since this effect was printed at one mana, even if it's limited to your own creatures. Abiding Grace has another target, and even without cheap resurrection you can still make it a potent payoff by casting it for its disturb cost.

Odric's Outrider

It's a less picky Shadewing Laureate, and I think this effect might actually be broken. Felisa, Fang of Silverquill, Basri's Lieutenant, Herd Baloth, and Scurry Oak quickly go infinite, Animation Module isn't that far off, Hamza, Guardian of Arashin grants a massive discount, Constable of the Realm can exile anything at will, and Fathom Mage becomes a turbo-Grim Haruspex. Not to mention, +1/+1 counters increase the power and toughness of your creatures by one and one, respectively. Put this in your counters decks.

Sunset Revelry

There's a good chance that all three conditions are online when you cast this, making it a Revitalize stapled to a Raise the Alarm at sorcery speed. If you're in the type of deck that plays both of those cards, you'll definitely want this.

Thraben Exorcism

Never have I seen the last two words of the card's text box save it so much. You're almost never going to hit a disturb creature, but spirits are relatively common (Seedborn Muse, Crypt Ghast, Deadeye Navigator) and you've always got the backup plan of blowing up an enchantment. If your playgroup has a couple of spirits in the command zone, might as well slot it in.