Midnight Oil is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
This enchantment enters with seven hour counters on it. At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card and remove two hour counters from this enchantment. Your maximum hand size is equal to the number of hour counters on this enchantment. Whenever you discard a card, you lose 1 life.
Complete guide
Midnight Oil is a high-risk, high-reward enchantment from Kaladesh that forces you to balance an influx of cards against a dwindling hand capacity. While it grants you incredible card advantage early on, the ticking clock of hour counters eventually turns your grip into a liability. Mastering this card requires understanding how to manage your resources before the oil runs dry.
The Mechanism of the Clock
When Midnight Oil enters the battlefield, it starts with seven hour counters. Its primary function is two-fold: it provides an extra card during your draw step and simultaneously sets your maximum hand size to the current number of counters remaining on it. Additionally, it punishes you for discarding, meaning every card you can't play will cost you life.
Step-by-Step Resolution
The triggered ability occurs at the beginning of your draw step. First, you perform your normal draw for the turn. Then, the Midnight Oil trigger goes on the stack. When it resolves, you draw one additional card and remove two hour counters. If there is only one counter left, you remove that one; if there are zero, you still draw the card but remove nothing. Your maximum hand size updates immediately as counters are removed, but this is only checked during your cleanup step.
Common Pitfalls
A common mistake is forgetting that maximum hand size is only enforced during the cleanup step. You can hold twenty cards during your main phase even if Midnight Oil has zero counters. However, once you move to your cleanup step, you must discard down to your current counter count. Because Midnight Oil triggers whenever you discard, this will cause you to lose life and will also trigger a new round of priority, resulting in a second cleanup step.
Strategic Timing
Midnight Oil is best played in aggressive or low-curve decks that can empty their hand quickly. Since the hand size restriction becomes more oppressive every turn, you want to be able to cast everything you draw. If you have other effects that set your hand size, remember that the most recently created effect (the one with the latest timestamp) is the one that applies.
Interaction examples
Phyrexian ArenaWith both cards on the field, your turn begins with a flurry of activity. During your upkeep, Phyrexian Arena triggers, causing you to draw a card and lose 1 life. Then, in your draw step, you draw your normal card and the Midnight Oil trigger resolves, drawing you a third card and removing two counters. This combination provides massive card advantage but accelerates how quickly your hand size shrinks.
Black Market ConnectionsIf you use Black Market Connections to 'Buy Information', you draw a card in your main phase at the cost of 2 life. If Midnight Oil has run out of counters, your maximum hand size is zero. After drawing multiple cards from both enchantments, you will reach your cleanup step and be forced to discard your entire hand. Midnight Oil will trigger for each card discarded this way, potentially dealing a lethal amount of damage to you.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Midnight Oil
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If multiple effects try to set your maximum hand size to a certain number or state that you have no maximum hand size, the one created latest is the one that applies.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If Midnight Oil has only one hour counter on it, its first triggered ability will remove that one counter.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
If Midnight Oil has no hour counters on it, its first triggered ability will continue to trigger and have you draw an additional card, even though you can't remove any counters from it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Your maximum hand size is only checked during the cleanup step of your turn. At other times, you may have more cards in hand than your maximum hand size.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
If you discard a card during your cleanup step while you control Midnight Oil, its last ability will trigger, and players will get priority in your cleanup step. You'll have another cleanup step after that one before continuing to the next player's turn.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Midnight Oil
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.