Another gorgeous piece by Min Yum. His steed has a bat-like appearance that I can get behind. This serves a much different function than Vampire Nighthawk which it will probably be compared to, this is a Memory Plunder with wings , and I would argue that this one is much cooler.
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
Make sure to have your Chromatic Lantern (which probably-not-coincidentally also belongs to the Dimir, as per the flavor text) when using this guy.
RiftenBlack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Does anyone know if you can cast those spells on any turn? The card doesn't state "until the end of turn", which is really amazing. If they have an Ultimate Price that's been exiled, your opponent may even forget and you can cast it many turns later to kill one of his fatties or something. This card seems really strong. 4.5 / 5 from me.
LordOfTheFlies87
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Powerful.
enjoy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
chromatic lantern, realwright, prophetic prism... aw yeh, let's do this =D
Cyberium
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
There are many mono-black decks using dual lands just so they can gain access to spells like Engineered Explosives, casting opponent's spells are entirely possible with Nightveil Specter. The only down side is that you cannot be sure whether the card is worthwhile to play.
Purplerooster
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I won't beat you with my deck....I'll beat you with your deck!
handoflazav_414
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Return of the... Nazgul? Waaaiiitt...
SRSFACE
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is absolutely crazy good in limited. I'm sure people will find fun things for constructed as well. I took first at the pre-release in my store, mostly because of this guy. Syncs up very nicely with Prophetic Prism which you're likely to get one or two of in any sealed deck format.
MisterAction
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(11 votes)
This card is MADE by the fact that it says "You may play cards," not "You may cast spells."
He stopped laughing the next turn when I exiled a Mountain.
The turn after, I exiled a Plains and he conceded.
Always attack with him before you play your land for the turn.
NurinsMagemark
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a ruling question, this came up in the prerealease: I control Nightveil Specter and my opponent casts Act of Treason and takes the Specter and attacks, exiling a card from the top of my library. Then at the end of the turn the Specter returns to my control. Could I cast the spell that is exiled? My first impression is yes, since it didn't leave the battlefield and just changed control, the card's controller (me) can cast the spell. Am I correct in thinking this?
majinara
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The little guy is interesting. But he's no good card for mill decks. His mill effect is far too slow, and it's very unlikely that your opponent will play a mill deck too, so the cards you can play from your opponents deck will rarely help you (except from lands).
Maybe in a casual standard multiplayer deck?
For Commander... Well, he can be fun there if played early, but later on might be too wimpy to actually ever hit anyone.
MANABURNWASGOOD
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
He'snot as useful in commander unless you're playing the exact same colors as your opponent. he's funny in that if you remove a land, you can play them! so removing cards in general could be annoying but you couldn't really play anything you remove,
Per the EDH rules;
"if your deck generates mana outside it's commanders color profile, the mana is colorless instead" so even if you had a chromatic lantern out you still couldn't play a green card for example, since if you generate green, it's colorless.
wholelottalove
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This card would be no good in commander unless you had a five color deck. Notice the card doesn't say, without paying its mana cost, so there's a good chance you wouldn't be able to use the card.
Gonna try to play him in my Bug deck that already uses Chromatic Lantern.
azure_drake222222
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I was playing against this, and I was playing blue-black too. He didn't do much with it though.
Lohegrin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Probably the most fun card printed in Gatecrash. It can make for some really interesting scenarios even when you don't have access to a Chromatic Lantern or exile the opponents lands and play those. This is because of Prophetic Prism, an awesome mana fixer which is also found in Gatecrash and is a common to boot.
Dabok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dimir player plays this. Boros player : Hah! You'll never be able to use my spells against me! I'm playing colors you don't play! Dimir player swings with this. Reveals Mountain. Plays it.
Yozuk
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@NurinsMagemark
There is no reason you shouldn't be able to. All it says is you may play cards exiled with it. It doesn't say from where or who was in control of it when they where exiled.
RustyKeyes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
An amazing godsend with tear-jerking artwork. Flagship card of my Butt Burglars deck.
"Strap your gloves on. It's time for the big heist."
This card is only ever good when you don't afford as good cards as your opponent. Card advantage IS card advantage, though -- but a flier that let you draw cards from the top of your own deck would be strictly better in most cases.
And lo, specters no longer force discard.
occamsrazorwit
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Overrated in my opinion. It's good but not amazing. A 2/3 flying for 3 restrictive mana that comes with a bad Curiosity effect attached - the card that you get may be unplayable, can be useless with your deck, and is less easily manipulated (cards that manipulate your opponent's deck are scarce compared to those that manipulate your own). I'll take Nighthawk over this.
Gonna pick up a few more of these guys. Even if you're not playing against similar colors, the ability to steal their lands and ramp quickly is powerful. If nothing else, you exile their cards which is always useful. I'd love to make a deck built around this guy and praetor's grasp type cards where you just pull all the combo pieces out of their deck.
edit: I run between 3 and 4 of these guys and I love every time I drop em on the board. Especially with a few Thespian's Stage to make sure you have the mana to cast their stuff he's golden. IF YOU PLAY DIMIR, GET YOURSELF SOME!!
TheCommittee
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I created an account just to say realmwright don't even know if i linked the card correctly, don't even care.
Odee
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why are people not happier with this card? I personally am a constant victim of mana starvation due to bad luck, with this fellow I've been able to steal other people's mana by turn four and I run it in an IZZET deck. Just imagine if this thing was running in a black and blue deck. Contaminated Ground and Chronic flooding to make things worse for them and you'll be blowing games wide open very quickly.
If nothing else it's great because even Mystic Retrieval can't bring the stolen card back for your opponent. Having those exiled cards as an uncounted extension of your hand just makes it that much sweeter. "Ooohhh...a Chromatic Lantern. Hope you weren't planning on using that - Yeah, you're right, I'm not even close to sorry."
igniteice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is a brutally powerful card and I'm not sure why anyone would say otherwise. The mana isn't restrictive -- it is versatile, giving you the opportunity to pay any part of it with any of its dual colors. It has evasion, a low CMC, it steals unknown cards (e.g. you have access to a lot more cards to take with it than just what is in your opponent's hand), and it lets you play them at any time thereafter. Sure it doesn't force a random discard, but Hypnotic Specter is also incredibly overpowered. Not everything is up at that level. Some things are a few levels below that, while maintaining some level of frustration for opponents.
ryeb012
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Question, So youre playing a multiplayer game and you exile and play land and creatures of a certain player with nightveil, when that opponent loses i was told i lose all the cards i played by nightveil. That doesnt make since to me because if you have mana and an army built up if someone else takes out the opponent youre playing from would obliterate you late game. whats the ruling?
spiney
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A foil one of these found A place inside my 5 colour EDH rather quickly.
Winhert
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Combos with Azorius Charm - you get to steal their blocker
Combo with Totally Lost to exile / be able to play their nicest permanent! Nice Planeswalker you've got there.. mind if I borrow it this game?
RamenAwesome
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
For such an easy cast cost I'm rather surprised that his p/t ratio is better than most specters, and his effect is no joke either if you can find a way to generate mana outside Dimir colors. It definitely seems like you are supposed to run this card with Chromatic Lantern or some other multi-color mana source so that you'll be able to play whatever gets exiled.
Majora_13
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Your spells are not your own. Even your deepest secrets are not hidden to us.
Welcome to Nightveil.
cotf1692
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
For awhile I was working on a mill deck that used Chromatic Lantern and Havengul Lich to cast my opponents creatures from the graveyard. This just does such a better job though!
Edit: Devotion paints him in a whole new light, especially if blue or black heavy control decks get an opportunity to shine
Deadling
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
My favorite part of this card, is taking your opponents land, lol. And the more land I steal, the more chances I have to play the other cards I've exiled using him. I'm thinking I need to complete my play set of these little baddies. Low mana cost, and hybrid mana cost at that, and an awesome effect. And with them finally releasing a blue/black plainswalker, I'm sure the devotion of this card towards blue or black, will give it some time to shine in Theros.
Sucal
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I can't wait to add this to my soon to exist Mono Black devotion deck. Play this on turn 3, bestow it with a turn 4 nighthowler then a turn five Gray Merchant gives a 14 point swing.
And this is before we get into the Abhorrent Overlord or the fun that wi'll come from future unreleased cards
Oniwa
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Delicious flavor if you cast Totally Lost before swinging with this.
JimmyNoobPlayer
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
The price of this card quadrupled in a week thanks to Master of Waves.
Carbonated_Dan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Perfect in any U, B or UB deck - control or midrange the nightveil pays for itself
For a mere three mana you get a 2/3 flyer that decimates your opponent's deck and can even play their cards against them
A card so strong it almost single-handedly demands all other decks include its counter, which isn't easy because it's got three full toughness and flies and it's only three mosherducking mana and it steals your cards right out of your deck
Arcesious
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card sat in my rares binder for a whole year until it found its niche in theros devotion decks... It is one of the most fun cards I have ever played. In mono blue, running this amazing card, I've managed to steal other player's lands and best cards, often turning them against the other player.
Continue
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Currently the most-played creature in Standard, after players neglected it for almost eight months.
johnnyinabucket
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I found an old (letter)(letter)(letter)player dotcom letter when i purchased 4 of these for the price of $0.72 for those that don't know starcity put it in Mono U for theros pro tour and made it jump to around $6.00 and they put it in mono B GP nashville i believe and it jumped and has sat at $10.00. awesome
AngelDragonDemon1994
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card works great with chromatic lantern. Being able to use whatever your opponent has against him is just so satisfying!
mdakw576
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This thing is largely comparable to Scroll Thief variants, perhaps Shadowmage infiltrator. You gain 1 power and a different form of evasion, in exchange for something that's usually worse than just drawing a card (not only could you exile something you can't play, but once this thing dies you lose access to those cards. Yes, you could exile something relevant from your opponent's deck, but you are just as likely to exile something that's not.)
The real reason why this is played is because of devotion strategies. This is a fine card on its own, but there was a reason why no one played this until Theros came along. Also the fact that restoration angel kinda laughed at this.
ChippyForever
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
And now, the weather.
K34
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
How does he combo with master of waves?
Belgarath123
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just to be clear, before devotion came out, this guy was cheap as dirt... then monoblue and monoblack... Now, he is pretty pricey. Just like Jace, Architect of Thought
MechaKraken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the best early-game fliers for black. This creature can be useful even in decks that don't play off cutting down the opponents library or stealing lands. I've been including it in my zombie decks and it doesn't disappoint =)
Combining this with Daxos of Meletis can be great too to whittle down the opponents library and land drops. And that's just in standard!
SevesDariku
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh Wizards, a Mana Confluence? Just for me? You shouldn't have...
Seriously. Playing standard? Playing Nightveils? Play Mana Confluence too. As a bonus, you can still run your Chromatic Lantern in the same deck, and it's still a good play if you have a Mana Confluence out already, as you'll get to skip the damage.
Snoof
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fits nicely in Sen Triplets Commander, since you should have access to diverse mana anyway.
JojoTheSummonner
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Does this give you 3 devotion to blue & 3 devotion to black or one or the other?
Comments (57)
aw yeh, let's do this =D
Waaaiiitt...
My opponent laughed at me when I exiled a Fortress Cyclops.
He stopped laughing the next turn when I exiled a Mountain.
The turn after, I exiled a Plains and he conceded.
Always attack with him before you play your land for the turn.
Maybe in a casual standard multiplayer deck?
For Commander... Well, he can be fun there if played early, but later on might be too wimpy to actually ever hit anyone.
Per the EDH rules;
"if your deck generates mana outside it's commanders color profile, the mana is colorless instead" so even if you had a chromatic lantern out you still couldn't play a green card for example, since if you generate green, it's colorless.
Boros player : Hah! You'll never be able to use my spells against me! I'm playing colors you don't play!
Dimir player swings with this.
Reveals Mountain.
Plays it.
There is no reason you shouldn't be able to. All it says is you may play cards exiled with it. It doesn't say from where or who was in control of it when they where exiled.
"Strap your gloves on. It's time for the big heist."
Card advantage IS card advantage, though -- but a flier that let you draw cards from the top of your own deck would be strictly better in most cases.
And lo, specters no longer force discard.
"Your deck looks fun. Can I try it?"
edit: I run between 3 and 4 of these guys and I love every time I drop em on the board. Especially with a few Thespian's Stage to make sure you have the mana to cast their stuff he's golden. IF YOU PLAY DIMIR, GET YOURSELF SOME!!
don't even know if i linked the card correctly, don't even care.
I personally am a constant victim of mana starvation due to bad luck, with this fellow I've been able to steal other people's mana by turn four and I run it in an IZZET deck. Just imagine if this thing was running in a black and blue deck. Contaminated Ground and Chronic flooding to make things worse for them and you'll be blowing games wide open very quickly.
If nothing else it's great because even Mystic Retrieval can't bring the stolen card back for your opponent. Having those exiled cards as an uncounted extension of your hand just makes it that much sweeter. "Ooohhh...a Chromatic Lantern. Hope you weren't planning on using that - Yeah, you're right, I'm not even close to sorry."
If only there were a way to ignore mana costs in EDH
Such narrow-minded thinking from kids these days.
Welcome to Nightveil.
Edit: Devotion paints him in a whole new light, especially if blue or black heavy control decks get an opportunity to shine
And this is before we get into the Abhorrent Overlord or the fun that wi'll come from future unreleased cards
For a mere three mana you get a 2/3 flyer that decimates your opponent's deck and can even play their cards against them
A card so strong it almost single-handedly demands all other decks include its counter, which isn't easy because it's got three full toughness and flies and it's only three mosherducking mana and it steals your cards right out of your deck
The real reason why this is played is because of devotion strategies. This is a fine card on its own, but there was a reason why no one played this until Theros came along. Also the fact that restoration angel kinda laughed at this.
Combining this with Daxos of Meletis can be great too to whittle down the opponents library and land drops. And that's just in standard!
Seriously. Playing standard? Playing Nightveils? Play Mana Confluence too.
As a bonus, you can still run your Chromatic Lantern in the same deck, and it's still a good play if you have a Mana Confluence out already, as you'll get to skip the damage.