In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, each playable character has unique traits and cards that players must learn to combine and strategize on the battlefield. Attack, heroic, and skill cards are all played with status effects and abilities in mind, and choosing which characters will accompany Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Hunter will be no simple task as a result. Thankfully, YouTuber Christopher Odd’s gameplay showcases have invited fans to learn about each character’s play style in-depth.

The latest character to receive their own gameplay showcase is Illyana Rasputin’s Magik, a mystical mutant wielding the Soulsword and capable of “extraordinary teleportation abilities.” One of the arguably lesser known characters in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Magik has also been seemingly hidden from most of the game’s marketing thus far. This may or may not imply her narrative significance, but Magik’s abilities are surely exciting as a character who can manipulate the environment, particularly through the inter-dimensional portals that she manifests.

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Magik’s Portals Steal the Show in Marvel’s Midnight Suns

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These aforementioned portals are absolutely integral to Magik’s gameplay in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and also make for some fascinating animations and cinematics. Portals are used to “move enemies, allies, and objects around the map,” which is simple on paper, but can generate high-damaging Knockback effects if portals are placed appropriately.

Indeed, Magik is considered by Odd to be “Knockback-heavy.” For example, playing Magik’s Quick Soulslash attack card could hurl an enemy backward through a portal aimed at an electrical box. Magik’s Gather heroic card orients crowd control on the stage as it damages and moves each enemy in an area to the center of the AoE circle, which will effectively “group enemies together for setup potential.” Upon upgrade, the Gather heroic card has an increased AoE and has a 50 percent chance to apply one Marked.

Like all characters, Magik has a passive ability upgraded through Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Abbey activities. Magik’s Relay passive ability grants a 10 percent chance to generate a Limbo Portal card once an enemy has been knocked back into a portal. Upon upgrade, this percentage increases to 25. As Odd himself admits, this does not seem like an overly powerful passive ability.

Because Magik already has many portal-usage cards, this passive ability may have the chance to oversaturate the player’s hand with superfluous cards. Magik’s damage seems to be derived wholly from portals, however, so perhaps that is in players’ best interests when it comes to optimizing her on the battlefield.

Further, Magik’s Limbo’s Grasp skill card also generates heroism and deals a certain amount of damage to enemies knocked through any portals for the rest of the mission. Upon upgrade, Limbo’s Grasp creates a portal and grants two redraws. This appears to be one of Magik’s best damage-dealing cards revealed in Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ gameplay showcase, at least if it can be played early in the mission.

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Magik Introduces Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Drop Mechanic

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Magik’s iconic portals seem important for granting a bit of damage and stage manipulation. But where Magik truly becomes an intriguing character with fascinating options on the battlefield is within her Banish heroic card. Banishing an enemy consists of a portal whisking them from the battlefield until the next turn, and in their place rests a Drop. Drops are portals that lay on the spot where the enemy was Banished from, and if another enemy is knocked back into it, they have a chance to be KO’d.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ tutorial text continues to explain that the percentage chance of a KO occurring increases “as the enemy’s Health is reduced,” which suggests that enemies with lower health have a better chance to be KO’d. Still, there is a chance that knocking a powerful enemy at full health into a Drop could result in a KO, and that is incredibly exciting.

Upon upgrade, players can gain one heroism on redraw and even Banish their own allies. Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ heroes and supervillains reportedly cannot be knocked into Drops, but they can be Banished, omitting them from the battlefield for a turn. Allies being Banished seems fortuitous if they have low health or are targeted when players may want to have them evade inevitable damage; on the other hand, super villains being Banished seems fortuitous if players evade their damage altogether. Therefore, Magik’s Banish heroic card has a lot of utility that players can consider.

Drops should be advantageously explored with other portal Knockback effects that could string together a combination, and perhaps result in an enemy having low enough health to be expelled from the battlefield once they hit the Drop. Either way, Banishing seems undeniably crucial as it creates these Drops while removing an ally or enemy from the battlefield at the same time. In these turns, players should decide what their actions will be in the turns that follow once the ally or enemy reappears.

Illyana’s Dark Magic Comes in Clutch in Marvel’s Midnight Suns

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Lastly, Odd briefly touches on Magik’s Darkchylde heroic card, which is her Marvel’s Midnight Suns gold card and therefore has Exhaust on card play. Players may want to hold off on using her Darkchylde heroic card until the last possible instance, because its utility grants Magik with one Invulnerable for a turn, as well as Taunting all enemies on the battlefield.

This is great as a last defense shield mechanic, but that is not where it is most effective. Upon upgrade, Magik also gains one Counter, meaning she will reciprocate attacks on all enemies for that turn. This is huge as a last-ditch effort and especially if many enemies are remaining, but again it must be held off as long as possible for optimal effect. Overall, Magik earns classification as a support character in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, coming in clutch for the player when they may need it the most.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns launches December 2 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S with PS4, Switch, and Xbox One versions coming later on.

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