Sets Hour of Devastation Thread

Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I went loss, loss, draw, bye, win, win today, for 10 points and two boosters. That was a weird run o_O

I played some really cool games today though! The set in general felt fairly forgiving to mulligans, more focused on synergies than raw power. I liked it!


This card came highly recommended by one of the better players in my cube... circle. I am going to try it out and see if it is as fun as he says it is. In general the eternalize cards were fun, so I'll be adding a few.


This card felt really cool, but never was too overwhelming. I am curious how it works out.


I'm kinda apprehensive, because this looks so much like a big version of Brimaz, King of Oreskos, i.e. a bunch of really good stats for the mana cost on top of a good ability. Someone just gave it to me after I mused that it would go together great with the two Wildfires in my cube, so now I have to try it out. I do like that it's a non-haste, non-dragon five drop in red, and that it acts as a very red addition to {R/G} ramp, so there's that. Let's see if it proves awesome or too much!


I had this card played against me multiple times, and it was consistently good, to the point where I hampered myself by keeping cards in hand to play around it.


Another card I was impressed by. Both modes are meh for the cost, but the front is still removal, and the fact that you get to filter through a land glut in the late game was very relevant for my opponents.


Super fun (if you're like me and like your opponents squirming over an agonizing decision), especially the enchantment, but these are enormous time-wasters and ultimately pretty bad. I replaced the enchantment with the 3/1 flyer for {3}{B} and it performed much, much better. Which is sad, because I really like the idea of Torment. Maybe I'll try it out anyway. I do believe it will perform better in a format that already has Smokestack and Braids, Cabal Minion floating around, as well as more ways to apply early pressure.
 
japahn

japahn

So weird and actually kind of a nice change that the common is the best card in the Torment cycle.

I went 3-2, sort of disappointing given I had a pool with double Glyph Keeper (that's right, 2 Keepers in 2 AKH boosters). I have to say Supreme Will was very disappointing - it was just a 3 mana impulse, Mana Leak is remarkably bad at 3 mana.
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

japahn said:
So weird and actually kind of a nice change that the common is the best card in the Torment cycle.

I went 3-2, sort of disappointing given I had a pool with double Glyph Keeper (that's right, 2 Keepers in 2 AKH boosters). I have to say Supreme Will was very disappointing - it was just a 3 mana impulse, Mana Leak is remarkably bad at 3 mana.
Click to expand...

The value of counterspells scales with the power of the format. I'm not surprised it did poorly in retail limited; that's not really at a power level comparable to cube drafting at all. Conditional counterspells are a rough sell even at 2 mana in retail drafts; reactive answers always disappoint when the power level of cards varies so wildly.
 
Kirblinx

Kirblinx

Developer
Staff member
Another prerelease, another chance to post some limited decklists that I made for me to look back on in horror.

All the Rares








I don't know who's grand idea at Wizard's was to put Clear Shot, one of EMN's best tricks at common. But I will take a double Ambuscade. I filled this deck to the brim with every rare I had, even pushing the mana a bit with the Kefnet's Last Word. It did win me a game though stealing and Angel, so it was worth it. I lost round 1 to The Scorpion God. The Unquenchable Thirst wasn't enough to stop it's impact on the board.

I then managed to win the next 3 so ended up 3-1. Raw power backed up by removal spells works.
  • Adorned Pouncer underperformed. Maybe because I never really got to eternalize it. The one game I could, I was too starved for white mana that I couldn't do it. Will still draft it when I see it, and hope to get more pump spells.
  • River Hoopoe is a great card. The ability is costed fairly, the lifegain was surprisingly relevant as well as the defendable body. Best mohawk in the set by far.
  • Angel of Condemnation is quite the bomb. 3 toughness is a bit low for cube probably, but it did a lot, like saving from wraths, untapping exerters and just elixing problems permanently. Really liked it.
  • Bitterbow Sharshooters the second coming of Sentinel Spider. How I missed thee. Card is great.
  • Kefnet's Last Word. Control magic is good. The losing an untap wasn't that back breaking. Unlike losing your best creature ;)

4-Colour Deserts









This deck was just nuts and showed that deserts are a decent little sub theme for the set. I built this just for fun trying to go with a grindy deck with a mill win condition (Ipnu Rivulet and Seer of the Last Tomorrow), but in most cases I managed to drop a 2 or 3 drop and just ride it to victory removing everything in my path. Ended up going 4-0 without dropping a game, which was surprising, but I am not going to complain.
  • Oasis Ritualist was the card that made my deck work more than any other. Helped me cast my double red spells in a pinch, ramp into the Sifter Wurm and be a great blocker. Going to try this guy out in pauper and see how he goes.
  • Speaking of Sifter Wurm, it is like Pelakka Wurm lives! Card is a good top end. It may not give you as much life, or draw you a card on leaving, but scry 3 is almost worth a card. There was one game where I played it and revealed Glorybringer on top. The salt was real.
  • Sidewinder Naga is surprisingly strong. A 4/2 trample for 3 is pretty decent. Hits hard when they don't have anything to block with :p
  • Burning-Fist Minotaur is a great two drop. Blocks well and can threaten big attacks when on the attack. Probably only good in a madness-esque cube due to so many good red 2-drops.
  • Hostile Desert was surprisingly easy to activate once or twice. Probably not good enough to cube, but could be cool in constructed.
  • Sand Strangler is just the FtK of the set. Probably the strongest uncommon in limited as all FtK are.
Feels like a decent add-on to Amonkhet and any set with more cycling is one I can get behind. The desert mechanics are cool but not deep enough for cube (possibly even constucted). Overall a fairly middling set IMO, but some cards will shine through (other than Ramunap Excavator as we all love this card right?). I am just looking forward to building a terrible brew with Lupine Prototype and Hollow One.

EDIT:
I was going to mention how Struggle//Survive is pretty much only one card, but then it hit me how that aftermath could be useful, and my mind was blown that day. Stay tuned to this channel.
 
sigh

sigh

struggle//survive is one of the aftermath cards that can definitely go in the mono-red section. In Rx midrange and control Struggle can scale into murder relatively quickly. If Survive gets cast 2% of the time I still feel it's a decent upside, and a worthy front half.

My big comparison is Roast, except Struggle can hit big fliers like Linvala and Sphinx of Uthuun, etc. Instant speed is also a decent upside over Roast
 
xyz

xyz

Anyone thought about Saving Grace at all? Some people have been fans of Harm's Way and this variant seems reasonably interesting as well. It doesn't quite have the same instant 2 for 1 value, but it has sustained value in combat heavy cubes. It also has enchantment/aura/heroic synergies that the other doesn't.
 
sigh

sigh

Has anyone tried, or thought about trying:
?
This card perfor med very well tonight in draft, effectively ending the game then and there. Two things I like about it that I didnt realize at first:
- triggers at combat, so you can get value basically right away.
- gives haste, so you can really get value right away.

Also turns elvish mystic and so on into 4/4s. Only thing stopping me is 7 mana, but like Welder?
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
I'm tempted because it's really cool in Standard and I need a good non-creature Welder/Trash/Daretti target; maybe as a buy-one-get-one-free with Gate to the Afterlife?
 
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