Part 1—Midnight Hunt
Modern has settled into a fantastic landscape. Yes, the Darcy-Saga-Cascade triumvirate still reigns, but it doesn’t reign supreme. Plenty of classics have returned and performed well: Burn, Tron, Mill, UW Control, Affinity, and on the list goes. Newcomers like 5c Elementals and Velomachus Turns have maintained a decent position in the meta. Even more obscure decks like Kirin Combo, a deck I nearly top 8’d with at my store last weekend, can put up solid showings without the “must play” MH2 cards. With Modern being as wide open as it has been, what do we still have to explore?

A lot. So much so, in fact, that I’ve had to break this watch list into three parts. For this first part, we’ll take a look at the new toys in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and see what decks might benefit from or be realized because of these new cards. Then, we’ll go through the “honorable mentions,” things that might be pet cards or generic enough to make an impact but not particularly flashy. For the final list, we’ll catch up on some Forgotten Realms cards that have slipped through the cracks, as well as some MH2 cards that still haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. But the shiny new toys are shiny and new, so let’s get on with the Midnight Hunt hopefuls.
Five Cards to Monitor in the Meta

I know, I know. Arclight Phoenix isn’t a “Midnight Hunt” card, but with how many new spells this card got, I had to put them under the bird’s umbrella to keep the list from being dominated by new Phoenix toys.
While everyone was hyped for Phoenix the moment Consider was spoiled, I didn’t (and still don’t) think it’s the card Phoenix has been waiting for. Yes, it’s worth testing, but my money’s on Otherworldly Gaze or Faithful Mending. Gaze is effectively a Thought Scour that you can filter, letting you bin cards you don’t want to draw and being flashbackable on your opponent’s end step thanks to it being an instant.
Faithful Mending is also extremely promising for being an instant-speed Faithless Looting. Yes, two mana on the front half is expensive, but you can bin this with Dragon’s Rage Channeler or Otherworldly Gaze and flash it back, you guessed it, on your opponent’s end step as well. Cathartic Pyre is a serious sideboard consideration for being an Abrade that can rummage.
While I don’t think Phoenix is the only card that’s going to end up employing these four, it’s the best banner to put them under. Mending could get an entire article on its own, but there’s still more spice to monitor.

On paper, Curse of Shaken Faith looks insane. It’s not quite an Eidolon of Rhetoric, but it certainly punishes the enchanted player for trying to play through it. For two mana, Shaken Faith can slow down Murktide Regent churn (Expressive Iteration looks especially painful into Shaken Faith), makes the RBx Ragavan decks think twice about unloading their discard and spot removal, and adds yet another layer of difficulty to decks that have struggled recently, such as Prowess and Storm.
This might also be a preemptive hate piece for Phoenix which, given all the new toys, will almost certainly make a return to the meta. The key factor to this card’s potency is it hitting all spells and not just noncreature spells and gives me Roiling Vortex vibes, but for multi-spell decks instead of Control and Lifegain.

3. Rem Karolus, Stalwart Slayer
I love tribal decks, and my first thought reading this card was that it’s a better Tajic, Legion’s Edge. Humans had tried Tajic as extra copies of Mantis Rider while also using his static to dodge Anger of the Gods and Sweltering Suns, but he wasn’t good enough. Rem might be a better fit, given his evasion, but what really caught my eye was his second tribe: Knight.
Ever since Eldraine gave us Tournament Grounds, I’ve kept an eye on Knights. An untapped triome that can cast Embercleave in a tribe with such terrific one drops as Knight of the Ebon Legion and Fervent Champion is certainly something to take note of. Stormfist Crusader is an extremely aggressive Dark Confidant that dodges Wrenn and Six, Sunrise Cavalier has a nasty Mantis Rider impersonation, and Inspiring Veteran is a two-mana lord. Mardu colors give you access to Lightning Bolt, Prismatic Ending, and Thoughtseize, as well as fantastic sideboard hate like Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, and Stony Silence. Overall, the tribe ticks a lot of boxes that merit consideration.

Speaking of tribes, it was tough to choose the vampire watch card between Socialite and Slaughter Specialist as the watch list card. I like both for different reasons, but I think Socialite has a better chance of being Modern viable than Specialist, which is just a cute two-mana 3/3. Socialite being a vampire Thalia’s Lieutenant is huge, albeit a little less consistent. However, Socialite plus Aether Vial gives you some interesting options, such as punishing your opponent for cracking a fetch or playing an untapped shockland. And her second line of text is super interesting with cards like Bloodghast. That’s a vampire, remember?
With the tribe’s fairly consistent aristocrat theme, it wouldn’t be too difficult to use Viscera Seer or Bloodthrone Vampire to loop Bloodghast and trigger Blood Artist or Cruel Celebrant to activate Socialite. Cordial Vampire heavily rewards you for killing your own vampires, and Indulgent Aristocrat can function as extra copies of Cordial Vampire in a pinch. Standard all-star Adanto Vanguard can exploit that lifegain subtheme to be almost perpetually indestructible.
While there is a two-mana lord, Legion Lieutenant, with the +1/+1 counters from the other vampires, I’m not sure it’s necessary, and Vampire Nocturnus has been so thoroughly outclassed by recent cards that it bears mentioning only in memory of a bygone era of the tribe. Final food for thought: Insolent Neonate and Knight of the Ebon Legion are vampires as well.

Goodbye, Qasali Pridemage, hello, good cards. While Outland Liberator has similar utility to Commando and can be repeatable artifact/enchantment hate if it flips, that “if” is such a massive liability. Commando has me excited because her stats are nothing to sniff at, she has flash, and she dodges Torpor Orb effects, which have seen an increase in play thanks to the Evoke elementals from MH2. As a Humans player, the fact that her color requirement is white instead of green (or green-white) is even more promising because of how smoothly she can slot into the deck. While I don’t see her finding a home in Humans’ main board, she’ll do quite nicely in place of Knight of Autumn.
What really makes Cathar Commando a watchlist card for me is her flash ability. Over the years, White Weenie decks have floated around the fringes of the format. While Disenchant on a 3/1 body isn’t going to make white aggro a tiered deck anytime soon, it’s certainly a nice upgrade. And, unlike Humans, White Weenie can potentially run Lurrus as a companion. Yes, we just got Seal of Cleansing with MH2, but I think the body on Commando makes it a much better option, especially for aggro decks.
Parting Thoughts:
Wow, there’s a lot of potential gems in this set. Four new graveyard-centric spells, decent tribal support, and plenty of not flashy but serviceable utility creatures and spells. With how many cards there were to cover, only these ones showed enough promise to merit highlighting. (Thanks, Arclight Phoenix.) That being said, I’ll see all of you tomorrow for Part 2: Honorable Mentions.