Day Bound And Nightbound Mtg

Nosotros've reached the sunset of another spoiler season, so it's time to innovate the mechanic which defines Innistrad: Midnight Chase, if not the plane of Innistrad as a whole!

With a struggle breaking out in the lore over the threat of eternal nighttime, what has previously been of concern to Werewolves alone is now heavily intertwined through all colors and archetypes in the set.

Mean solar day and nighttime in Midnight Hunt are a fundamental part of the game. It'southward constantly going on in the background, whether or not in that location are Werewolves or other cards in play that intendance about it. Y'all tin see whether it'due south 24-hour interval or night by checking the new reminder card — there'south only one mean solar day/nighttime wheel for everyone at the table, so every card that cares about the time of day should always stay in sync.

At the stop of each player's plough, a simple question decides whether the time of twenty-four hours flips over. If it was daytime during your plow, and you lot didn't cast whatsoever spells during that plough, information technology becomes night to start the next actor's plough. If your turn was during nighttime, and you cast ii or more spells during that turn, it turns back into day.

Only spells bandage by the actor whose plough information technology is are counted for this rule — ane of several very important differences from older Werewolf cards without daybound/nightbound. There are too cards in Midnight Hunt which just tell you lot "it becomes solar day" or "it becomes night" every bit role of their effects.

As yous might estimate, these cards bypass the normal rules and alter the time of day in the middle of your turn. This is the just out-of-sequence way to change the time of day, and the only mode that it can change more than than once a turn.

DAYBOUND & NIGHTBOUND

While enough of cards in Midnight Hunt reference the new day/night cycle, the ones it's most important to are those with the daybound/nightbound mechanic. These cards all take ii sides: the forepart side shows their casting cost and default "daybound" country, and the dorsum shows what they transform into one time twenty-four hours turns to night (their "nightbound" side).

These cards transform dorsum and forth betwixt their two sides whenever day turns to night, or night turns to twenty-four hours. They volition always have the right side facing upwardly to match the current time of day, no matter what. If yous cast them during night, they will transform correct as they go out the stack and enter play already night-side-up. Essentially, nothing tin can forcefulness them out of sync with the natural cycle of sunday and moon, for whatsoever reason.

This rule makes daybound/nightbound cards dissimilar to other transforming or double-faced permanents. You lot cannot transform them through other ways, like casting Moonmist during the mean solar day. And if you exile a card that's nighttime-side-up and return it to play before the sun rises, information technology volition return to play still transformed, instead of "resetting" to the front (or daybound) side.

THE CLOCK STARTS… Now

The other important part of this rule is knowing when and how the day/night bicycle begins. Like the three dungeons from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms or the monarch emblem from Commander sets, you lot only have to worry most day and nighttime one time there'southward a card in play that references information technology. If that get-go card is a daybound permanent, information technology immediately becomes day for the rest of the plough and you brainstorm checking for changes with that end step. If the first card enters play already on the nightbound side — much trickier to practice — so the bike volition brainstorm with nighttime, to match upwardly.

Of course, if the beginning carte du jour in play explicitly causes it to "become" day or night… it merely becomes day or night. Regardless of how the cycle kicks off, both players are now responsible for tracking fourth dimension of solar day and checking for changes in their end stride for the residue of the game, even on turns where no cards that care about day or nighttime are in play.

This adds a lot of actress dimension to decks focused on daybound/nightbound cards. Even your slower turns can prepare upward future creatures to enter play already transformed!

A LITTLE LIGHT Atmosphere

I have to say, I'thousand a huge fan of this mechanic, and for dissimilar reasons than coven, which I discussed last week. Where I praised coven for how well it could play with cards from any Magic set or archetype, day/night is a great example of a mechanic which volition gear up a deck or typhoon format autonomously from others in Magic.

It's totally possible to have only i daybound/nightbound animal in your Modernistic or Legacy deck, where the time of mean solar day may feel like a fleck of extra text on that one carte du jour. But with a higher concentration of such cards — especially in Standard or Express, where both players are likely to intendance about the mechanic — you lot now take an engaging tug-of-war going on alongside the natural flow of play. Daybound/nightbound encourages you to program across multiple turns, and it might even affect when and how y'all cast your spells. I've said more than than once that Magic could use more reasons for players to concord back on playing all their cards every bit before long equally possible, and the need to manipulate twenty-four hours and night is admittedly that!

Yes, it'south a bit of extra complexity, and I think this mechanic could testify even more mentally taxing than recent standouts like dungeons or mutate. Information technology'southward a completely external extra rule that both players can interact with; you have to pay close attention, even if your own cards technically don't care about it.

Only by making day and nighttime a fundamental mechanic for the whole of Midnight Chase (non but Werewolves), WotC has prevented players from having to manage day/night AND another equally complicated affair. This is simply the twenty-four hours/night ready, and similar dungeons earlier it, I'thousand sure the moment-to-moment calculations around this mechanic volition soon go second nature.

The only real complaint I can encounter players lodging against this mechanic is that they differ from past Werewolf designs. The differences in the rules mean that synergy between old and new cards isn't perfect, and we're unlikely to have cards like Mayor of Avabruck errata'd to sync up with the new day/night cycle.

Just I also don't think much of a problem. The new rules mean nighttime volition be much more than mutual and easier to accomplish in spite of your opponents — specially in multiplayer. While cards like Moonmist or the new Unnatural Moonrise won't reliably affect your whole board anymore, others similar Immerwolf (which prevents transformation instead of causing it) should all the same work. And WotC did go out of their way to ensure that Tovolar, Dire Overlord works as well with both versions of the rule, and so Werewolf fans tin finally take their long-awaited tribal commander.

Tom'south fate was sealed in 7th class when his friend lent him a pile of eatables to play Magic. He quickly picked upwardly Boros and Orzhov decks in Ravnica cake and has remained a staunch white wizard ever since. A fan of all Constructed formats, he enjoys studying the history of the tournament meta. He specializes in midrange decks, particularly Expiry & Taxes and Martyr Proc. One twenty-four hour period, he swears he will win an MCQ with Evershrike. Enquire him how at @AWanderingBard, or watch him stream Magic at twitch.television/TheWanderingBard.