Nocturnal Hunger card art

Nocturnal Hunger

Instant MV 3

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

What it does

Gift a Food (You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, they create a Food token before its other effects. It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")

Destroy target creature. If the gift wasn't promised, you lose 2 life.

Rulings

11 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2024-07-26

    For instants and sorceries with gift, the gift is given to the appropriate opponent as part of the resolution of the spell. This happens before any of the spell's other effects would take place.

  • 2024-07-26

    If a spell for which the gift was promised is countered, doesn't resolve (perhaps because all of its targets are illegal), or is otherwise removed from the stack, the gift won't be given. None of its other effects will happen either.

  • 2024-07-26

    As an additional cost to cast a spell with gift, you can promise the listed gift to an opponent. That opponent is chosen as part of that additional cost. The gift isn't given at this time; rather, it's given at a later time based on whether or not the spell is a permanent spell.

  • 2024-07-26

    Some instant or sorcery spells require alternative or additional targets if the gift was promised. You ignore these targeting requirements if the gifts aren't promised for those spells. On the other hand, you can promise a gift for a permanent spell even if you won't be able to choose targets for an enters ability of that permanent once the spell resolves.

  • 2024-07-26

    For permanent spells with gift, an ability triggers when that permanent enters if the gift was promised. When that ability resolves, the gift is given to the appropriate opponent.

  • 2024-07-26

    In the main set, there are four different kinds of gifts. "Gift a Food" causes the chosen opponent to create a Food token, while "Gift a Treasure" causes the chosen opponent to create a Treasure token. "Gift a card" causes them to draw a card, and "Gift a tapped Fish" causes them to create a tapped 1/1 blue Fish creature token. The Commander decks contain two more kinds of gifts: "Gift an Octopus," which causes the chosen opponent to create an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token, and "Gift an extra turn," which causes them to take an extra turn after the current turn ends.

  • 2024-07-26

    If you copy a spell for which the gift was promised, the gift was also promised to the same opponent for the copy. If a card or token enters as a copy of a permanent that's already on the battlefield, the gift isn't promised for that new permanent, even if it was promised for the original.

  • 2024-07-26

    You can't pay a gift cost more than once.

  • 2024-11-08

    You can't sacrifice a Food to pay multiple costs. For example, you can't sacrifice a Food token to activate its own ability and also to activate Maraleaf Rider's ability.

  • 2024-11-08

    Food is an artifact type. Even though it appears on some creatures, it's never a creature type.

  • 2024-11-08

    Whatever you do, don't eat the delicious cards.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Nocturnal Hunger, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 3
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Glarb, Calamity's Augur 1 0 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Sultai 1 deck

Every version of Nocturnal Hunger

1 printing, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Nocturnal Hunger. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.