I've talked ad nauseum about how I wanted to build around Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge ever since we found out we were returning to Innistrad and the set was called Midnight Hunt - implying, of course, a return in a big way to Werewolves from the classic set.

In what was definitely an unexpected twist, we got an "improved" Werewolf mechanic with the day // night mechanic. Which I'll start by saying I liked it quite a bit - it made Werewolves as a mechanic much stronger in gameplay in a way that intuitively made more sense anyway, which was a boost it definitely needed. It also allowed the mechanic to work on more cards in the future that might care about day/night besides just Werewolves. Like City's Blessing and Venturing into the Dungeon before it, the day/night mechanic shows that Magic can succeed when it really leans into flavor influencing gameplay, and I like that they're dipping their toes into this space a little bit carefully (outside of the mistake that was companions).

One of the downsides of this was many of cards that worked well with the Innistrad Werewolves didn't necessarily work as well with the newer cards. Combined with the fact that Midnight Hunt wasn't exactly all-Werewolves all the time like some might have thought - instead we got a balanced dose of Innistrad told over two sets, the second of which being the recently released Crimson Vow.

Even though Tovolar came out several months ago, the Werewolves Commander deck is really just now picking up its full complement of new pieces, and today I want to look at how that's coming together in the decks people are building (as evidenced by EDHREC)!

Tovolar, Dire Overlord Top Cards in Commander

I'm sure there will be another trip to Innistrad or another Wolf/Werewolf-focused plane in the future, so I strongly doubt that this is the "final form" of the Werewolves Commander deck, so to speak. That said, what we have access to now is what we'll likely have access to for the near future.

It makes sense that the most popular cards for Tovolar out of the combined Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow dataset are utility cards for the archetype, which despite the improvements to how these new Werewolves transform still struggles due the fact it's a creature-centric, combat-focused deck in a format not exactly known for those kinds of decks doing well.

But there have been some attempts by Wizards to help out the Wolves a bit, and Kessig Naturalist and Outland Liberator provide some cards that are good at giving the deck something early to do that works fine on rate but scales well later on - keeping around a Naturalize matters.

Remember what I said about creature decks struggling in 40-life, four-player formats? Yeah, creatures not surviving long enough to make many attack steps is a large part of that, and that's exactly why Reckless Stormseeker is the most popular Werewolf out of either Midnight Hunt or Crimson Vow.

I love that they pushed this card enough that it gives haste on the front (day) side - it feels like the kind of card if printed in Shadows over Innistrad might have only granted a combat bonus on the front and saved the haste for the back, but this is 2021 design, baby, so to the (full) moon we go!

Anyway, this card is a must-play in the archetype and a huge piece to your most successful draws.

The common theme of "early drops that scale well into the late game" continues here, as this Watchwolf variant comes with all kinds of upside.

Attacking with total power 6 or greater when the Wolf itself provides half of that is pretty trivial in 60-card formats, and it's definitely not a challenge in Commander. On top of that, the Werewolf Pack Leader can un-humanify itself to get swole. Whatever you choose to do with Werewolf Pack Leader, it does it ahead of the curve.

This is kind of a secret Tovolar card, and it may be more of a product of Unnatural Growth being extraordinarily strong (2021 design DOUBLE IT ALL).

But whatever it owes it to, Unnatural Growth is a very popular and very strong inclusion in Werewolves decks, or really any heavy-Green deck that wants to attack with a handful of creatures. I know Magic has moved on to tripling things from time to time these days, but the doubling power of Unnatural Growth is basically impossible to beat without a boardwipe - it triggers on each combat so attacking into the Growth player isn't any easier than defending.

Speaking of creatures hanging out to attack and block, Tovolar's Huntmaster comes at a heavy cost even in a Green deck as a 6-drop (you only get so many), but it seems to be agreed on by pretty much all the Werewolves players.

It's easy to see why. Again, six mana is a lot but it does come at a good spot on the curve where you're probably looking to rebuild after the first board wipe of the game or so, and the Huntmaster does that very well by instantly rebuilding your board with a whopping 10 power for six mana - with removal stapled do the nightbound side of the card.

The Elvish Piper throwback. As someone who's old enough now to qualify as a longtime Magic player, I appreciate the subtle throwback there for people who might catch it.

I also love how strong this take is. It's still four mana, but that's an easy turn-three play in Commander. And if you ever untap with Howlpack Piper - easier to do since it's uncounterable - you can actually just start to pop off by unloading several Werewolves from your hand onto the battlefield. Sure, it's an easy way to overextend and get punished, but suppose one of those Werewolves is Reckless Stormseeker - suddenly you start to see the explosiveness offered up here.

Graveyard hate for a Werewolf deck! We talked about the importance of utility for a deck bound by a narrow creature type like this, and that's where Cemetery Prowler excels.

Sure, sometimes you'll live the dream of exiling a creature with the Prowler and then coasting your own Werewolves early - in fact that's a reasonable and very desirable outcome with a third-turn Prowler - but even when the Prowler has to eat a card type you're less likely to hugely benefit from, it's Werewolf-synergy graveyard hate, which is something every deck needs. In this case, it comes with a huge 3/4 body for your efforts, and repeats the graveyard hate if it sticks around for an attack step!

Finally, it seems the "set mechanic artifact/enchantment" slot that was dedicated to day/night in The Celestus seems to have been deemed good enough for Tovolar, as it makes the cut in the vast majority of brews.

Investing six mana to flip it once - and only at sorcery speed - seems underwhelming at first, but once you have a good set of creatures out it's a very powerful play. And while that takes some time to set up, The Celestus at least helps you to build toward that state by giving you some incidental lifegain while also setting up your hand via the looting effect.

This is a great example of Wizards designing three-cost mana rocks that make you rethink playing nothing but two-cost Signets and the like. It's also a cool throwback to when Commander was less homogenized, because The Celestus is wanted in basically a Werewolves deck and nothing else, which is a nice unique niche for a mana rock to land.

Are there any favorites from Crimson Vow that I've missed or you feel should be represented more strongly than they are?

Thanks for reading,

Corbin Hosler

@Chosler