Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Today I’ll be talking about the return of Spirits and even more ways to play transformed creatures in Midnight Hunt. There are plenty of themes and archetypes living all about Midnight Hunt and one of them is the return of Spirits. Some of these Spirits will show up just as Spirit creatures, while others will transform into Spirits thanks to the new Disturb mechanic. The Disturb mechanic allows you to cast a creature from the graveyard transformed onto the battlefield as a Spirit. This is a great way to use your graveyard as a resource and get more value out of your cards. Each card with disturb becomes two cards for the price of one.
Before I get into some of these Spirits, I want to talk about a sweet reprint coming back to Innistrad. Here's the return of Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration.
Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration
This is a great reprint that is sure to find a home in some sweet Standard decks. Will we see an Izzet deck with some nice removal, burn, and some counterspells? Will we see it played in an Azorius control build as a finisher while trying to protect it at all costs? Are there enough spells in Standard currently to make this worthwhile and allow you to have it transform consistently into a 3/2 flying threat? There are so many questions to ask, but what I do know is that Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration will make an impact on Standard. Potentially having a three-power creature for only one mana is too strong not to play and could force decks to play some early removal or find they have lost a lot of life during the early game.
Now let’s have a look at a card with the new Disturb mechanic and how it can be used to your advantage. Here is Devoted Grafkeeper // Departed Soulkeeper.
Devoted Grafkeeper // Departed Soulkeeper
Now this is what we're looking for to help Disturb become strong in Standard. To start off you get a 2/1 creature for two-mana that helps you get more value in your graveyard by milling you for two. As an extra throw-on ability, any time you cast a spell from your graveyard you get to tap a creature. This is some unexpected bonus value for this card. Once Devoted Grafkeeper // Departed Soulkeeper is in your graveyard, you can recast it for a relatively cheap three mana and start attacking with a three-power Flying creature.
Next up is a sweet one-drop creature that can protect itself and potentially others when transformed. Here is Chaplain of Alms // Chapel Shieldgeist.
Chaplain of Alms // Chapel Shieldgeist
I think having a strong pool of good one-drop creatures is great for Magic. Having First Strike on a one-power creature might seem odd, but this lends itself well to being either enchanted or equipped. It has Ward 1 which makes it more of a pain to deal with and makes your opponent potentially play a turn behind it. Once transformed it becomes a super-powered version of its front side, gaining Flying, extra power, and giving all your creatures Ward 1. Each little part of this card gives it an incremental value which adds up to a strong card.
Finally, I want to talk about a Spirit helps cheapen Disturb costs. Here is Patrician Geist.
Patrician Geist
This Spirit starts as a 2/2 Flying creature but ends up being more a support creature for the synergy of your deck. It's a lord for other Spirit creatures, giving your team a bonus. Where its best value comes from is allowing you to cast Flashback and Disturb spells for one less mana. This can be cumulative with a couple copies of this card and allow you to recast spells on the cheap! It would have been nicer if it was a 3/2 instead of a 2/2, but if you build your deck around this card, its other abilities will make up for its 2/2 stats.
Spirits are flying about Innistrad and it’s time that you jump on board the Spirit train. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Join me again tomorrow as we see what else this new set has in store for us.
