Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Today I’ll be talking about the return of transform Double-Faced Cards. They are back in a major way in this set from Werewolves to Angels to Spirits. Today I’ll be talking about the return of Werewolves to Magic and how they are represented this time around.
Although there will be DFCs in all colours, not all will use the new mechanic from Midnight Hunt, Daybound/Nightbound. Here is a look in the form of tokens you can use to represent the new mechanic.
Daybound/Nightbound
First off, whether it is Day or Night only applies if a card tells you it is now night or day or if a Daybound permanent enters the battlefield. This means if no transform cards have been played all game by either player when you cast a DFC Werewolf, they will enter the battlefield as their Daybound permanent. To enter night you can either have a card that tells you to change into night or if a player casts no spells during their turn (either player), it becomes night at the start of the next turn.
At this point, Daybound permanents transform and become Nightbound permanents. Once it's night, if a player casts two spells in one turn, it turns back into day the following turn and Nightbound permanents transform back to Daybound permanents. The extra bonus about it being night though that wasn’t available in previous version of transform cards is that, if it's night and you cast a Daybound/Nightbound permanent, it enters the battlefield on its Nightbound side, which is usually the stronger side of any transform card.
Let’s have a look at our first Werewolf to use this new mechanic. Here is Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge.
Tolovar, Dire Overlord // Tolovar, the Midnight Scourge
Tolovar is an amazing card for Werewolf decks. Each side of the creature has a Werewolf-tribal version of Toski, Bearer of Secrets, meaning you can get immediate impact if you already have some creatures on the battlefield that can attack. Next up, it has the ability to transform all your Human Werewolves if you have three on the battlefield. This is a great way to change it to Night and improve all your Werewolves into their Nightbound form. On the Nightbound side of this card, you get a Kessig Wolf Run-like ability that powers up your Wolves or Werewolves. This is a great finisher and makes it hard for your opponent to block your creatures profitably.
Next up is a Werewolf that can help you banish multiple creatures. Here is Brutal Cathar // Moonrage Brute.
Brutal Cathar // Moonrage Brute
On its Daybound side, you get a 2/2 creature for three mana that can exile a creature when it enters the battlefield. Where it becomes interesting is that you can exile multiple creatures if you can keep transforming it. On its Nightbound side, you get a 3/3 First Strike creature that has Ward of three life. The downside of this card is that no matter how many creatures you exile, if your opponent is able to remove Brutal Cathar // Moonrage Brute, they'll get all their creatures back.
Finally, we have the return of Arlinn the planeswalker. Heres Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope // Arlinn, the Moon’s Fury.
Arlinn, the Pack's Hope // Arlinn, the Moon's Fury
I love the design of this card and the potential based on if it’s night or day to have it enter the battlefield on either side. Let’s break down the abilities of this planeswalker.
Daybound
+1: Until your next turn, you may cast creature spells as though they had flash, and each creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. – This is strong for two reasons. First off it allows you to transform Arlinn by not playing cards during your turn. Secondly, it’ll make it hard on your opponent to deal with the unknown of what you're casting, especially if you can cast them and have other Werewolves enter in their Nightbound form.
-3: Create two 2/2 green Wolf creature tokens. – Being able to have four power of creatures on the battlefield will help you protect and transform your Arlinn.
Nightbound
+2: Add RG – This is a great way to build its loyalty back up and give you enough mana to cast two spells to allow you to transform it back to its daybound form if you want to.
0: Until end of turn, Arlinn, the Moon’s Fury becomes a 5/5 Werewolf creature with trample, indestructible, and haste. – The keyword on this is Haste. If you're able to cast Arlinn while it's night, it'll enter in its Nightbound form, and you can attack for five right away without losing any loyalty.
As you can see, there are plenty of strong Werewolves in Midnight Hunt, and I can’t wait to see what else the set has in store for these Nightbound creatures. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Innistrad Midnight Hunt. Join me again next week as we get to see more new cards from the set and unlock some more potential decks for the new Standard format.
