Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Exit Interview: Standard

Welcome to Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Exit Interview week!

If you missed Innistrad: Midnight Hunt First Impressions week, various members of the SCG Staff shared their thoughts on their Top 5 Innistrad: Midnight Hunt cards in each format before having the opportunity to play with them. With Innistrad: Crimson Vow preview season about to begin, we thought it would be fun to have those same folks update their lists now that they’ve had the opportunity to play with Innistrad: Midnight Hunt for the past month and share what they got right, what they got wrong, what surprised them, etc.

Just like last time, today we’ll begin with Standard, Tuesday will be Historic, Wednesday will be Pioneer, and Thursday will be Modern. The same scoring system we had in place for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt First Impressions week will be in place here so that we can get an idea of what card ranked in what place in the aggregate to close out each article. The scoring system is as follows:

• 1st — 5 points
• 2nd — 4 points
• 3rd — 3 points
• 4th — 2 points
• 5th — 1 point

Let’s start this party off with, once again, the Elite Spellbinder himself!

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa

Previous List

1. Memory Deluge
2. Reckless Stormseeker
3. Fateful Absence
4. Bloodthirsty Adversary
5. Burn Down the House

New List

1. Smoldering Egg
2. Galvanic Iteration
3. Memory Deluge
4. Fading Hope
5. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned

It’s a bit disappointing to see the Izzet cards dominating my list so much this time around, but I think this is simply the reality we’re living in. Izzet isn’t the only playable color combination by any means, but the other good decks (namely Mono-Green Aggro❄ and Mono-White Aggro❄) don’t run many meaningful cards from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. You can find some here and there, such as Wrenn and Seven, Brutal Cathar, and Fateful Absence, but the reality is that these cards don’t make or break any archetypes, whereas the Izzet cards have catapulted the Izzet decks to immediate Tier 1 status. In a different world, perhaps something like Wrenn and Seven or Storm the Festival would have made the list, but right now they just don’t.

I believe Smoldering Egg is the most important card from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, as it gives the Izzet decks an entirely new angle of operation. Several decks that, in theory, have good matchups versus Izzet can’t beat an Egg out of the sideboard or even out of the maindeck. This is the card I regret the most not adding to my Top 5 list originally, not only because I think it’s now first, but also because I was so close to adding it to begin with. I identified it as a potentially good card — I even wrote an entire article about it — but I still just didn’t bite the bullet to include it. 

Galvanic Iteration caught me a bit off-guard, but upon closer examination it makes perfect sense that it would be included, because the combo with Alrund’s Epiphany is just too strong. Alrund’s Epiphany was already a good card, of course, but pairing it with Iteration is what makes the deck function as a combo deck, allowing it to ignore creature removal entirely and driving all the black-based control decks and all the midrange decks out of the metagame. Now that there are lists that maximize Galvanic Iteration as both a value card and a combo piece, I feel comfortable placing it very highly on my list.

The next three cards are all Izzet cards as well, but I’m not as confident on the order. I still think Memory Deluge is an incredible card, but the fact that it doesn’t work as well with Galvanic Iteration is making some people not even want to play it in the Izzet decks to begin with, which hurts its placement on the list. I expect this card to become a bigger player in Standard down the line than it currently is, but it’s still pretty good right now even if it has taken a backseat to other four-mana card-drawing spells in some versions of the deck.

Fading Hope is, to me, the biggest surprise of all. Vapor Snag actually saw a reasonable amount of play, but that was because Delver decks were a very big thing, and the tempo playstyle was the dominant one at the time. I thought Fading Hope would be similarly niche, and would maybe see play alongside Delver of Secrets, but it turned out that scry 1 is a strong enough bonus that it’s seeing play in control and combo decks as well, and it’s a very important piece to make our card #5 work.

Finally, we have Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. I still think the best Izzet list doesn’t play Lier right now, but it’s a key piece in many of the versions that currently exist, it also sees play in Dimir decks, and it’s the type of card that will only get better as more cards are released, so it could climb even higher on the list in the future.

Dom Harvey

Previous List

1. Reckless Stormseeker
2. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope
3. Primal Adversary
4. Intrepid Adversary
5. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

New List

1. Smoldering Egg
2. Galvanic Iteration
3. Reckless Stormseeker
4. Fading Hope
5. Intrepid Adversary

I wanted to believe in Werewolves — I really did! My initial list placed a bet on cards that I thought could finally break the curse of tribal decks in Standard. Gruul Werewolves duly performed well in Week 1 — though even then it was unclear if the previous Gruul Aggro shell based around Jaspera Sentinel and Magda, Brazen Outlaw was better — and it has only gone downhill since then. Mono-Green Aggro proved itself to have better threats, the best removal spell in Blizzard Brawl, and the best removal spell in Faceless Haven, removing the need for red cards altogether. It’s telling that the best card in Gruul Werewolves wasn’t Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope, an on-theme planeswalker priced to move for Standard, but Esika’s Chariot, the best card in any deck it’s in.

Having said that, Reckless Stormseeker was still an important part of Jean-Emmanuel Depraz’s runner-up Temur Midrange list from Magic World Championship XXVII as a source of pressure that lined up well against bounce spells and Burning Hands from the Izzet decks. Any aggressive deck with red that emerges with Innistrad: Crimson Vow will strongly consider Stormseeker, a dangerous threat in its own right that makes your other threats even stronger and is still a perfect match with Esika’s Chariot.

Smoldering Egg wasn’t on my radar at first; I misled myself with the natural comparison to Thing in the Ice, which has higher upside and saw little play in its own time but also asks much more of you in the average Standard format. In practice, transforming Smoldering Egg on Turn 4 is remarkably easy and it makes Alrund’s Epiphany immediately game-ending with no other setup (not that Epiphany needed the help…). Both approaches to Izzet used Egg to good effect and Izzet Dragons with Egg will still be a powerhouse even if Epiphany is shown the door.

The precedent is deceiving with Galvanic Iteration too. The combo with Epiphany is old news but that’s only worth pursuing because Iteration is so effective with other pieces — its sister Expressive Iteration, cheap removal like Demon Bolt or the last card on this list, and crucially Unexpected Windfall as a way to jump up in mana and cards at the same time. These Fork / Twincast variants generally fall flat in Constructed but flashback saves this one — the ability to use it proactively on removal or card draw gives you the time and resources required to set up the eye-catching double-Epiphany lines. The details of its implementation compared to a typical Fork (where you target the original spell and lose both if that one is countered) turn it from a risky card against other blue decks to your best card.

The success of Fading Hope shows just how important the context is when evaluating these staple effects. Unsummon or a riff on it has appeared in almost every set or block since Alpha and is usually unplayable; meanwhile, Vapor Snag and Fading Hope became format-defining cards. This speaks to how quickly the Izzet decks turn the corner — if you can soon take every remaining turn or flip the script with your flyers, a bounce spell is effectively hard removal — as well as how resilient the threats are. Why bother using the other weak removal in the format to kill half of Old-Growth Troll or some fraction of Esika’s Chariot if that only delays the inevitable?

Mono-White Aggro❄ is already a contender and is a playable one-drop away from vaulting into best-deck territory. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Intrepid Adversary could both remain on this list, but the deck is as glutted on three-drops as it is light on one-drops, so that honour goes to one of the best two-drops white aggro has seen in a long time. 

Shaheen Soorani

Previous List

1. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope
2. Bloodthirsty Adversary
3. Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset
4. Fateful Absence
5. Primal Adversary

New List

1. Galvanic Iteration
2. Memory Deluge
3. Wrenn and Seven
4. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
5. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

My initial strength review of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt was spot on in only one way.  I knew the set was powerful, more so than the few before it.  I, as with many other content creators, thought Gruul would have a bigger showing.  It turns out that sticking to one color has heavy advantages in the aggro world, especially with the powerful creature-lands that thrive in that environment.  My old list had a bunch of aggro cards; however, they were not the ones that would warp the format.

This new list contains one big hitter from Mono-Green Aggro❄ and one from Mono-White Aggro❄.  There are other impactful cards outside of Wrenn and Seven and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, but the creature decks are not alone at the top of the current metagame in Standard.  The blue decks with their extra turns have put on a show at the start of the new format and stirred a great deal of controversy in the process.  Led by Galvanic Iteration, Alrund’s Epiphany, a seven-mana spell, received ban threats from the entire population.  That is why the conditional Izzet support spell takes the top of the list, with the aggressive others under it.

The other two cards on this list live in the blue world and are being regularly sighted in the Top 8 breakdowns.  Memory Deluge is one of the best draw spells we have seen in some time, seeing extensive play in the successful blue decks of Standard, Historic, and Modern.  In Standard, you will be hard-pressed to find an Izzet Epiphany, Izzet Dragons, or Dimir Control deck that isn’t incorporating this late-game heavy hitter.  Memory Deluge will continue to increase in popularity and become a Standard staple until it rotates.

The last blue powerhouse in my list is Lier, Disciple of the Drowned.  I may get some flack for this, since there are many other aggro cards that should be on this list, but I will hold my ground.  Lier was not on the radar for many folks when it was previewed, even in the first few tournaments; however, it’s now the captain of traditional control strategies.  Even in the decks that take all the turns, Lier is seeing play and had some flashes of fame that started at Magic World Championship XXVII not too long ago.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt may not have saved the metagame from a two- or three-deck purgatory, but it did provide some sweet blue cards that rose above the aggro wave I was expecting.

Brad Nelson

Previous List

1. Rockfall Vale
2. Fateful Absence
3. Briarbridge Tracker
4. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope
5. Primal Adversary

New List

1. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
2. Fading Hope
3. Galvanic Iteration
4. Smoldering Egg
5. Malevolent Hermit

This may very well be my last time I do a First Impressions/Exit Review for a set, because I hate feeling this stupid. Like seriously, I thought Gruul Werewolves was going to define Standard? That Fateful Absence was one of the best cards in the set. Really?!? Ugh, I don’t even know if I want to show my face at SCG CON this weekend after this embarrassing display of mental muckery.

Who knows, maybe this new list is also littered with my innate ability to get tunnel-visioned, but I honestly do think this list best encapsulates today’s job. Obviously Izzet Epiphany isn’t the only deck in the Standard format, and it’s arguably not the best (yet), but the fact is the deck wouldn’t exist without Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. The other best decks, Mono-Green Aggro❄ and Mono-White Aggro❄, merely just got minor upgrades. Izzet Epiphany was born from this set!

I’m also a firm believer that the tools for Izzet Epiphany in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt would get us to a solved “Tier 0” deck given enough time. We’re getting close already, and the results of late are getting very scary for the other decks in the format. Not only that, but there are so many unique ways to build the deck that each week there seems to be a version capable of exploiting whatever metagame exists.

As for the cards specifically, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is just messed up. I can count on one hand how many games I’ve lost after untapping with one on the battlefield. It’s just that good, and that’s all thanks to Fading Hope. Sure this one-mana value instant isn’t flashy, but it sure is exactly what this format needed to combat the early aggressive decks. It’s easily the format’s best removal spell, and that’s saying a ton for a card that simply returns a creature to its owner’s hand.

After that we’ve got the best Fork ever printed in Galvanic Iteration. It obviously works incredibly well with Alrund’s Epiphany, but does so many other amazing things with cards like Unexpected Windfall, Duress, and Fading Hope. It’s so good that it might just be correct now to play three to four copies of it even with less than four copies of Alrund’s Epiphany in your deck.

Last up we’ve got the dynamic duo of early threats. Smoldering Egg and Malevolent Hermit play similar roles, albeit in different matchups, but combine to give this powerful combo/control deck unique angles of attack. All great decks need these, which is why they both make my list.

Combined, my list obviously looks silly as all the cards are in my Standard deck going into the SCG Invitational. What’s more silly is how much I love playing a blue deck when there’s a green midrange deck I could be playing. Now that’s saying something!

Corey Baumeister

Previous List

1. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope
2. Wrenn and Seven
3. Tovolar, Dire Overlord
4. Bloodthirsty Adversary
5. Florian, Voldaren Scion

New List

1. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
2. Smoldering Egg
3. Wrenn and Seven
4. Intrepid Adversary
5. Galvanic Iteration

Well, it looks like I overvalued Gruul cards by quite a bit! It really seemed like Gruul was going to be the best deck and it wasn’t going to be particularly close. Turns out there’s a good combination of Izzet cards that can stand up to midrange strategies quite well.

Izzet Epiphany ended being the deck that nobody expected to be good and it really changed everything in Standard. The combination of Galvanic Iteration, Unexpected Windfall, and Alrund’s Epiphany just shuts down all of these midrange decks that I thought were going to be quite strong.

Now that the metagame got forced into hyper-aggressive linear decks and Izzet decks, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned gets to really show off. All you need to do is untap with that card against aggro and the game is over. That’s why this five-drop creature gets my #1 spot. With that in mind, that’s the reason Smoldering Egg and Galvanic Iteration made it onto my second list. They are just both in the best deck in Standard right now and Izzet Epiphany has no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Intrepid Adversary snuck into my list because it ended up being the best Adversary and it’s one of the main reasons that Mono-White Aggro❄ is somewhat playable! I’m still not a huge fan of that deck and I think it’s quite underpowered, but it does pick up some Ws from time to time!

I can’t wait for Innistrad: Crimson Vow to come out to see how wrong I can be on that set as well!

Todd Anderson

Previous List

1. Smoldering Egg
2. Augur of Autumn
3. Hostile Hostel
4. Moonveil Regent
5. Memory Deluge

New List

1. Smoldering Egg
2. Wrenn and Seven
3. Reckless Stormseeker
4. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
5. Memory Deluge

With only a handful of decks seeing play in the current Standard format, it’s pretty easy to see which cards have come out on top. Izzet and Smoldering Egg continue to put up numbers even in the face of so much aggression. Smoldering Egg specifically has exceeded my already high expectations, acting as the primary finisher for many builds and one of the best sideboard options for those pilots looking to pivot to a more aggressive slant after sideboard. Divide by Zero has really made it look excellent.

Wrenn and Seven was a pretty big miss for me. I often look for cards that I like to play with rather than just posting up five mythic rares or dual lands, but I legitimately didn’t think Wrenn and Seven would be as good as it has become. It’s currently fighting with Unnatural Growth in the five-drop slot in Mono-Green Aggro❄, but I think it’s pretty clear which one is best in a more balanced metagame. I expect Wrenn and Seven to be a dominant planeswalker for the next two years.

Reckless Stormseeker isn’t seeing as much play right now as it could be, simply because Mono-Green has more incentives to remain monocolor than splashing a second or third. One thing is for sure, dodging Burning Hands makes Reckless Stormseeker one of the most difficult to kill creatures in any aggressively slanted deck. I know it only has three toughness and gets whacked by most burn spells, but Burning Hands has seen a huge uptick in play because Mono-Green has been so popular; still, blanking that spell on a pivotal turn has screwed me over more than a few times already, and I don’t play against it that often! It’s powerful, and will probably be the focal point of red aggressive decks in Standard for quite some time.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is a really strong three-drop, and I guess a finisher, for Mono-White Aggro❄. Since Alrund’s Epiphany has kinda pushed the midrange decks out of the spotlight, aggro decks are running rampant. Adeline applies a significant amount of pressure for a small amount of mana, and gives white something it doesn’t often have — virtual hasted threats. It packs a punch and plays a lot more like Goblin Rabblemaster than anything we’re used to seeing.

Lastly, Memory Deluge has become an important piece to most Izzet strategies, though it directly contradicts Galvanic Iteration due to the “mana spent” clause. Because of that, its playtime is usually split between other card draw like Behold the Multiverse or Unexpected Windfall. Even still, it’s one of the better card draw spells of all time, will surely find a home in virtually every control deck in Standard, and has already started to see play in Modern.

Bryan Gottlieb

Previous List

1. Wrenn and Seven
2. Consider
3. Moonveil Regent
4. Memory Deluge
5. Brutal Cathar

New List

1. Galvanic Iteration
2. Wrenn and Seven
3. Memory Deluge
4. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
5. Smoldering Egg

This is weird one. On raw power, I think I got a lot right about Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. However, when making these Top 5 lists, the expectation is that said power will translate into real-world applications. Because of the hyper-linear nature of this Standard format, that mostly hasn’t been the case. The only cards that have mattered thus far are the ones that fit into the Alrund’s Epiphany or monocolored aggro framework. For the moment, that means I’m rewriting a lot of my Top 5. However, if the format ever moves back to a more balanced state, I’m still okay with my initial assessments.

Where things stand now though, it’s hard to argue against Galvanic Iteration being the most impactful card in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. I don’t care if it’s not always played as a four-of, and I also don’t care if the little data cubes suggest that Izzet Epiphany has some bad matchups. I’ve seen what the deck can do in the hands of skilled players, and, more importantly, it’s clear that Galvanic Iteration and Alrund’s Epiphany are setting the terms of engagement for the format.

Wrenn and Seven holds on to a solid position because of its role as one of the only Innistrad: Midnight Hunt cards in Mono-Green Aggro❄. Also, when rogue decks have reared their head for a brief moment, many of them have been built around Wrenn and Seven plus Esika’s Chariot. That interaction isn’t going anywhere.

Memory Deluge is just solid glue for every blue deck looking to go long, and while there’s a real debate between Behold the Multiverse and Memory Deluge in some decks, there’s no question that Memory Deluge is miles ahead on raw power. Should Alrund’s Epiphany lose favor, Memory Deluge should, somewhat unexpectedly, get even stronger, since it’s the type of card that continues to scale the longer the game goes.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is the best card in what might secretly be the best deck in the format, Mono-White Aggro❄. All of your best clocks are built on its back and its synergy with Intrepid Adversary is just perfect.

Finally, we round out our list with Smoldering Egg. Izzet Dragons has finally found its ideal second threat, and while Moonveil Regent may have a higher ceiling, there’s no denying the value of being on the battlefield early in a format that’s all about play on the poles. Either you’re deploying a threat on a key turn so you don’t have to take shields down against Izzet Epiphany, or you’re getting a solid blocker against the Mono-Green/White Aggro❄ contingent. It’s just a great fit for the state of the format.

Ari Lax

Previous List

1. Wrenn and Seven
2. Sunset Revelry
3. Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
4. Moonveil Regent
5. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope

New List

1. Wrenn and Seven
2. Memory Deluge
3. Reckless Stormseeker
4. Smoldering Egg
5. Intrepid Adversary

It looks like everyone got a bit of the puzzle right before the set, a bit wrong, but we all got the big picture. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Standard wasn’t about the new tribal or other linear stuff; it was just the good cards. The cards we listed before that didn’t end up here were mostly good cards, just ones that didn’t pan out the same way. I’ll especially defend Sunset Revelry, since it isn’t that card’s fault no one has printed a good one-drop since 2018.

Now, ask me again about this list after Innistrad: Crimson Vow and we might have a different discussion, but one set of Vampires and Zombies doesn’t make a tribal deck.

I think Wrenn and Seven deserves top billing here even if it was pushed out of the metagame for a while. The lineup between that card and Goldspan Dragon was a defining feature of the pre-World Championship metagame, and players cutting Wrenn and Seven from their Mono-Green Aggro❄ decks was part of what let Goldspan Dragon dominate that tournament.

Memory Deluge is the other real top finisher here, if only for how it enabled the Alrund’s Epiphany combo deck. And I guess it enabled Shaheen Soorani’s continued addiction to Esper Control, but that’s neither here nor there.

Both of these top cards are ones I expect to get worse as the format grows, just in the typical way midrange four- and five-drops do. The next cards are key role players now, and I expect even better things from them in the future.

Reckless Stormchaser rides the line between a midrange card and something more efficient, but the raw aggression it gives to midrange decks is huge. I only expect better things from it if another cheap and good Werewolf is printed in Innstrad: Crimson Vow, since the game basically ends if you ever cast it on the Night side early on.

Cedric Phillips

Previous List

1. Wrenn and Seven
2. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope
3. Burn Down the House
4. Memory Deluge
5. Fateful Absence

New List

1. Smoldering Egg
2. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
3. Memory Deluge
4. Galvanic Iteration
5. Fading Hope

Wrenn and Seven toping my initial list made a lot of sense upon the set’s release, but as the metagame evolved, Wrenn and Seven’s impact on it did as well. Goldspan Dragon disappeared, as did the need to create a massive Treefolk. However, with Goldspan back and surging again, Mono-Green fans can look back towards the powerful five-mana planeswalker.

That all said, the Izzet cards are really the only things worth discussing. Smoldering Egg, Lier, Memory Deluge, Galvanic Iteration, and Fading Hope are directly responsible for Izzet’s metagame share. Egg was a high-ceiling, low-floor threat that has broken through its potential and then some; it’s very much here to stay. Lier is almost impossible to beat if you untap with it, but now that everyone knows it’s a thing, I’m curious how well it performs with the addition of Innistrad: Crimson Vow.

Galvanic Iteration is busted alongside all of the non-Memory Deluge spells in the Izzet-based decks, but maybe it’s at its best with Fading Hope, since the amount of time it buys you and card selection it provides are second to none. I know it’s probably blasphemous to say it pairs better with Fading Hope than Alrund’s Epiphany, but the combination is what gets you to the latter, not vice versa.

Speaking of Memory Deluge, it comes in above Galvanic Iteration and Fading Hope because it’s directly responsible for making Dimir Control and its ilk possible. You can try to get by with Behold the Multiverse if you want to, but one of these cards is clearly better than the other. Don’t try to convince yourself otherwise.

Lastly, I want to give a big shout-out to Fateful Absence for being an overwhelming disappointment. Ignoring Mono-White Aggro❄, the card has significantly underperformed and it’s hard for me to remain optimistic about its ceiling. Stranger things have happened, of course, but booooo to Past Cedric for being a believer in such a mediocre removal spell.

Without further ado, the SCG Staff’s Top 5 Innistrad: Midnight Hunt cards for Standard are now…

5. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned — 17 points

4. Memory Deluge — 18 points

3. Wrenn and Seven — 19 points

2. Galvanic Iteration — 24 points

1, Smoldering Egg — 29 points

Cya back here tomorrow to review Innistrad: Midnight Hunt’s impact on Historic!