[MtG] [HOD] Hour of Devastation Leaks

[bury the year]

Note that these are screencaps from Wizards' official site, so these are in all likelihood legit. Warning: very key cards to next set's plot. You've been informed.

 

Link.

 

[spoiler=Text spoilers.]Bontu's Last Reckoning 1BB

Sorcery (Rare)

Destroy all creatures. Lands you control don't untap during your next untap step.

To the last, Bontu only wanted to be first among the God-Pharaoh's subjects.

 

Samut, the Tested 2RG

Planeswalker — Samut (Mythic)

[+1]: Up to one target creature gains double strike until end of turn.

[-2]: ~ deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two target creatures and/or players.

[-7]: Search your library for up to two creature and/or planeswalker cards, put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

[4]

 

Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh 4UBR

Planeswalker — Bolas (Mythic)

[+2]: Target opponent exiles cards from the top of his or her library until he or she exiles a nonland card. Until end of turn, you may cast that card without paying its mana cost.

[+1]: Each opponent exiles two cards from his or her hand.

[-4]: ~ deals 7 damage to target opponent or target creature an opponent controls.

[-12]: Exile all nonland permanents your opponents control.

[7]

 

[evilfusion]

HA! I knew that would be Bolas' card name. I knew it!

 

It's soooo beautiful, too. Cheaper to cast than "Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker", but still quite vicious. I admittedly like originally Planeswalker Bolas' effects more, but this one is more flexible and just as cruel. Tsk, shame they already planned for it NOT to be an auto-win with Dark Intimations. For that matter, its ultimate isn't as much an instant win as its Planeswalker counterpart. But its other effects are so good, it doesn't really need the Ultimate, but is glad to have it.

 

...yes, Bolas IS the card I care about the most in this set!

 

Other cards look pretty cool, too.

[Simping For Hina]

Standard is going to be

 

4 Marvel

4 Bolas

4 Ulamog

 

How fun.

 

The other cards are terrible.

[Poc]

Yep. Marvelworks meta confirmed.

 

 

Samut is pretty bad IMO. No one wants a 4 mana forked lightning and it does nothing on an empty board.

 

The boardwipe is hard to evaluate. a 3 mana wrath is amazingly good but giving your opponent a timewalk is not so great.

[Simping For Hina]

Yep. Marvelworks meta confirmed.

 

 

Samut is pretty bad IMO. No one wants a 4 mana forked lightning and it does nothing on an empty board.

 

The boardwipe is hard to evaluate. a 3 mana wrath is amazingly good but giving your opponent a timewalk is not so great.

It is 6 mana, half of it being delayed.

[Poc]

It gets worse as the game goes on if you look at it that way then. I doubt control or midrange decks will want to give their opponent a timewalk regardless.

[Simping For Hina]

It gets worse as the game goes on if you look at it that way then. I doubt control or midrange decks will want to give their opponent a timewalk regardless.

The card is good in decks that don't provide a clock through a creature, but still have some way to pressure the opponent or have a better time setting up without the need of mana. 8Rack is the main thing, but could help some Zombie strategies too. It is usually more sufficient to play Drown in Sorry, as that doesn't clean things up nicely. The only deck that this helps against is Elves if you're trying to play the safe way, there are better options for that.

[evilfusion]

Bontu's Last Reckoning, while definitely not amazing, seems at least like a DECENT card. Not necessarily something you'd play in a Competitive Standard deck or anything, but within a more Limited format or casual, it could be pretty potent. The downside of not untapping your lands can be played around, and I assume you'd use the card mostly as a last resort, or in preparation of something else. Then again, that's probably your point - running cards purely as a last resort option is not a good idea, especially not if it potentially cripples you for a turn.

 

But I imagine that, late game, when your resources may be running low, and you have more expendable mana, it could be used to buy some time to recover, while messing up your opponent's board.

 

Samut...I'm torn on her. I think the Creature version was better. Mana cost is fine, 4 Loyalty is fine, the +1 effect is good, but not great, the -2 ability is mediocre, and the Ultimate is amazing, but because the other 2 effects are so meh, I probably wouldn't ever use her. When I look at a Planeswalker to see whether it's worth using, I always want its non-ultimate effects to be useful, because those are the effects you'll use the most, and the Ultimate is usually just something to drastically swing things in your favor (or in some cases, essentially auto-win) in the unlikely event they go off.

 

And I suppose my only disappointment with the God-Pharaoh is that the ultimate is the main way he touches the Field. Well, apart from the -4 to burn a creature for 7, but I imagine that you're more likely to use that effect to burn a PLAYER for 7, but at least it's flexible.

 

On a random side note, I read somewhere that when Planeswalker Bolas was designed, they considered setting his mana cost to 2UUBBRR as a parallel to his Creature version, but due to the length of his name, they only had room for 5 mana symbols, which is why his cost was 4UBBR.

 

"God-Pharaoh" is one character longer than "Planeswalker". They only have room for 4 symbols...and that is why His cost is 4UBR.

[Flame Dragon]

Bolas seems pretty sweet. Not all purpose like the last one but he does put in some work.

 

Samut just seems bad. Like I don't see anything redeeming to her.

 

Reckoning seems awesome if you can cheat with the cost. Personally what I find interesting is it not being a story spot light.

[Poc]

I think the proper way to use Reckoning is to develop your board with dudes that replace themselves on death and use it as a way to break through locked up board states. Then the tempo loss isint so painful.

[Simping For Hina]

I think the proper way to use Reckoning is to develop your board with dudes that replace themselves on death and use it as a way to break through locked up board states. Then the tempo loss isint so painful.

Zombies. ZOmbardment might be a tasty inclusion if Toxic Deluge would do well. Have you seen the list that did well at a GP Kobe side event, (obviously in Legacy)? Looks interesting. And Deathrite Shaman cleans up after board. There is that land that bounds back to its hand after it adds mana, helping Bloodghast.

[NeoRWBY65]

I was seeing some people talk about the possibility that the other gods also get a "last reckoning" card as well, with the same end drawback of exerting your own lands.

 

Bolas trades his old +3 for having both a +2 and a +1, but his minuses take more of his loyalty away than their counterparts on his old card. I guess this is what we get for having a one-mana less walker

[evilfusion]

I was seeing some people talk about the possibility that the other gods also get a "last reckoning" card as well, with the same end drawback of exerting your own lands.

 

Bolas trades his old +3 for having both a +2 and a +1, but his minuses take more of his loyalty away than their counterparts on his old card. I guess this is what we get for having a one-mana less walker

 

It's a possibility. I don't think we know the full extent of what Bolas has been plotting on Amonkhet or exactly how the gods figure into it.

 

But here's something I realized about Bontu's Last Reckoning. It kills all creatures. Bontu (and the other gods) are Indestructible. Bontu can't attack or block unless one of your creatures died that turn...a condition possibly achieved via Last Reckoning, while leaving Bontu himself unscathed. And since it only works on CREATURES, it leaves Artifacts and Planeswalkers alone.

 

Bolas also comes in with 7 Loyalty compared to his former counterpart's 5, so the more costly minuses seem appropriate based on that, as well as the existence of Dark Intimations. I feel that all his abilities are just very potent, in a similar vein to his Conflux counterpart. Casting an opponent's spell from their Deck for free is luck-based, but very powerful, exiling 2 cards from the hand is just cruel, and burning a player or creature for 7 can end games. The -12 is the one I'm least impressed by, and even that is essentially a win.

 

The more I think about it, the more I like God-Pharaoh, maybe a little more than Planeswalker.

[Flame Dragon]

I think one of the cool things about the design of the new Bolas is the fact it exiles things. In Amonkhet where things going to the grave isn't always the biggest issue, Bolas stop thats cold. I know I was disappointed because the orginial Bolas' gain control effect would have been perfect for the new one given how we takes control of the 5 gods, but the fact he can still other people's things is a nice, and more subtle, nod to that fact.

[evilfusion]

I think one of the cool things about the design of the new Bolas is the fact it exiles things. In Amonkhet where things going to the grave isn't always the biggest issue, Bolas stop thats cold. I know I was disappointed because the orginial Bolas' gain control effect would have been perfect for the new one given how we takes control of the 5 gods, but the fact he can still other people's things is a nice, and more subtle, nod to that fact.

 

Yeah, I definitely always liked Planeswalker Bolas' ability to rewrite an enemy creature's mind permanently, and essentially on a whim. I'll definitely miss that. But I also like the +2 stealing a spell from the opponent's Deck. Could be a creature, or an enchantment, or artifact, or sorcery. Hell, could even be a Planeswalker. And if you don't want to cast it, then it stays in exile, along with any Lands you hit on the way.

 

Come to think of it, both of Bolas' + abilities reflect eliminating something BEFORE it's a threat. Hit the spell from the Deck, and use it yourself. Hit two cards in the hand, so if the opponent was saving something in reserve, too bad for them. And it's not as simple as just discarding it and putting in the Graveyard. No, it's gone for good in exile. Even though the opponent decides which 2 cards get exiled from hand...that's not exactly a fun decision, when there are so many cards that normally don't mind going to the Graveyard.

 

His - abilities deal DECISIVELY with whatever is opposing him. Most creatures can't afford to be zapped for 7. Most players can't afford being zapped for 7, either. And -12...everything on your board, other than your lands, are GONE.

 

Seems like God-Pharaoh Bolas' style is more the long haul. Planeswalker Bolas was more "in the moment", so to speak. +3 "That non-creature dies now". -2 "That creature is mine now". -9 "Bolas, Obliterate. All you have NOW is gone".

 

God Pharaoh Bolas is more crafty in a way. +2, steal your future spell. +1, remove what you held in reserve. -4 "Pain leading to likely death". -12 "Everything begone".

 

...I feel like I might be geeking out about Bolas a bit too much, but he seriously was the card I was most eager to see in the set, and I'm thrilled to see that it isn't a disappointment. And my fascination with Bolas in general was fairly recent, when I saw Dark Intimations in Aether Revolt. I knew already that there wasn't a Bolas Planeswalker in the set, so I looked up previous Bolas Planeswalkers, found there was just the one, thought it was awesome, and then found out more about his character. I adore villainous masterminds. I previously never paid much attention to the story or lore, but have started looking into it more.

[NeoRWBY65]

New bolas also plays into my mentality with EDH of if I can't win immediately, I recycle my stuff back to my deck while making sure I exile as much of my opponent's stuff as possible.