MTG Bloodthirsty Adversary competes for 2-drop slot in Mono-Red Aggro

Wizards of the Coast revealed the upcoming Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Red Adversary cycle card today in the form of a Magic: The Gathering vampire with Haste.

Standard 2022 contains a number of solid two-drop Red MTG cards, from Dragon Berserker and Magda, Brazen Outlaw to Hobgoblin Captain and Kargan Intimidator. Another option was revealed today by WotC, a two-drop Haste vampire within the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (MID) Mythic Adversary cycle called Bloodthirsty Adversary. 

Bloodthirsty Adversary

• CMC: 1R
• Type: Creature—Vampire
• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Stats: 2/2
• Keyword: Haste
• Ability: “When Bloodthirsty Adversary enters the battlefield, you may pay 2R any number of times. When you pay this cost one or more times, put that many +1/+1 counters on Bloodthirsty Adversary, then exile up to that many target instant and/or sorcery cards with mana value three or less from your graveyard and copy them. You may cast any number of the copies without paying their mana costs.”

A five mana 3/3 with Haste in Red is far from top-tier status and it’s likely that Mono-Red Aggro decks will only be able to pay the 2R mana sink cost once. But being able to play cheap spells from the graveyard without paying any mana costs in addition to a 3/3 creature with Haste is a huge edge that Mono-Red Aggro decks can take advantage of. 

The color Red in Magic has an abundance of good and cheap Instant/Sorcery spells within the Standard format, from Frost Bite and Dragon’s Fire to Magic Missle and Play with Fire. Bloodthirsty Adversary hits hard and fast as a two-drop while resurrecting a key Instant/Sorcery that can end the game for five mana later in the game. 

Players can test out whether Bloodthirsty Adversary is worth putting into a Mono-Red Aggro build when MID releases digitally on Sept.16. A global MTG tabletop launch is scheduled to take place on Sept. 24.