I'm guessing this card's art was originally
intended for Innistrad - not just because the
ghost looks oddly Victorian for Ravnica, but
because it has about half the color of the
average Ravnica card. Haunter of Nightveil
probably looks like it has the bad half of Curse
of Death's Hold - wouldn't you rather kill
creatures than just slow them down? Personally,
though, I don't think it's quite so cut and
dried. After all, you also get a 3/4 flying
creature in the bargain, and there are decks
that have a surprising amount of trouble against
a 3/4 flying creature.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
an interesting creature that suspiciously looks
like it has flying but alas does not. In
standard this card costs a lot for a minimal
effect, a ¾ body is solid and provides a nice
defense coupled with the -1/0 he grants the
opponents creatures is not enough of a reason
outside maybe suspicious tech against tokens
this creature may see some sideboard play but
unfortunately this creatures simply doesn’t do
enough to justify its inclusion in the current
powerful standard. In modern legacy and vintage
the same concept applies this cards effect is
minimal compared to the powerful cards available
in the formats and its five mana cost just
doesn’t justify its inclusions in most decks. In
casual and multiplayer it could draw fire from
opponents who don’t like having their creatures
power reduced making you a more likely target,
the upside to this however is that you are in a
better position to defend and punish opponents
for attacking you due to their creatures lower
power, making this a double edged sword. It is a
spirit which has some tribal applications this
card is best suited to a specific deck that
wants to avoid being attacked or discourage
attacks in general. In limited it’s a pretty
solid body for its mana cost and the effect is
highly relevant one versus one, its splashable
and just a solid card.
Today's card of the day is Haunter of Nightveil
which is a five mana 3/4 with the effect of
-1/-0 to creatures your opponents control. This
isn't a bad card, just not very impressive as a
five mana with average strength and no evasive
aspect. The -1/-0 is not enough to get it
put into decks outside of very gimmicky power
reduction themes. Overall there are better
ways to deal with a token swarm and the five
mana slots in a deck can hold bigger threats,
which leaves this unlikely to see much play in
Constructed.
For Limited the mana cost is not a major concern
and the low specific color requirements allow it
to reliably work in a variety of builds that
include Dimir's colors. Weakening the
power of an opponent's creatures will generally
have a noticeable impact on the game and makes
dealing with Nightveil itself more difficult.
A strong second pick in Booster and easy
inclusion in Sealed as it has no real drawbacks
while offering an ongoing benefit.
