[MtG] [HOU] Hour of Devastation Spoilers - Week 1

[bury the year]

Suggestion for the crowd, but since we have two full weeks of spoilers for a small set this time, let's try to keep the threads more compact. I've noticed in the past that things tend to get a bit... well, lost otherwise.

 

 

Also, don't know if we've posted these yet, but here are the actual arts for the four leaked promos.

 

 

And last bit of info gleaned from articles:

• There are fifteen Deserts in the set: five of which we've seen already, five are another colored cycle, and five are colorless. There are also sixteen nonlands that care about either controlling a Desert or having one in your graveyard.
• The remaining two gods (scarab and locust?) are blue-red and blue-black, although we don't know which is which.
• Yes, the "God's Last ___" is a cycle, and they all share the "exert your lands" mechanic. (Poor cat mom.)
• We're getting afflict on blue, black and red zombies.
• Eternalize creatures are in all five colors.
• Exert remains in red, green and white.
• Aftermath returns as well. Judging by the distribution of the cards in the number crunch, I'm guessing we have an enemy-color rare cycle and an ally-color uncommon cycle this time around, to complement those from Amonkhet.

---

Keeping a tally of spoiled cards per day, to make it easy to look back.

 

[spoiler=Cards Previously Spoiled]

[spoiler=Cards Spoiled on Monday, June 19]

[spoiler=Cards Spoiled on Tuesday, June 20]

[spoiler=Cards Spoiled on Wednesday, June 21]

[spoiler=Cards Spoiled on Thursday, June 22]

[spoiler=Cards Spoiled on Friday, June 23]

 

[evilfusion]

Oh, so the three gods that Bolas stole WILL have the Grixis color combination? Cool.

 

And I am a bit interested to see what the other "God's Last X" do. Oketra's is also pretty decent, since regaining your starting life partially mitigates the "exerted land" issue. But I don't think I'd ever run the card because it doesn't do anything proactive.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Oketra's is so funking good with Lich holy sheet

[Sixty]

last mercy seems fun with boon reflection, al's archive, etc.

[Flame Dragon]

I'm down for bunching all the cards into only a couple threads and seeing how that plays out.

 

Last Mercy doesn't seem like an effect I'd want to give up my following turns mana for. But, no, cat mom.

 

As for the Making Magic notes.

15 lands in a small set is a TON. Curious what the other colored cycle is going to be. My guess is a duel land cycle. REALLY wish it was the other half of the cycling lands, but those aren't going to have basic land types and "desert" so :(.

 

Called the gods being Bolas colors. Though that was kind of obvious.

 

I'm really sad they are killing off the gods. Really hope they have some way to have them not stay dead.

 

Bolos colored Eternals make a ton of sense. Also means we'll have Red zombies, something we've really never had.

 

Aftermatch flipping the rarity of the cycles if an expected twist.

 

Anyway, new card

 

This thing seems insanely powerful.

 

Also the last Invocations are the 3 gods. Here is the first.

[evilfusion]

I'm not TOO surprised all the gods are getting killed off, if that's indeed what is happening (though the phrase "X's LAST Y" should probably make that obvious to me. Bolas easily beat all 8 gods when he first showed up on Amonkhet. If his plan revolves around obliterating the entire plane (which is looking increasingly likely the more cards we see from the set that involve artwork of things being destroyed, corrupted, and killed), the gods would be no exception.

 

...I'm still convinced the end result of this story arc is Amonkhet being completely destroyed. If even the gods are being killed, and the other 3 gods are corrupted tools of Bolas...what could possibly remain of the plane after this?

 

Pride Sovereign has convinced me that a Green/White Cat Deck is totally possible. Amonkhet gave a bunch of the tools, Hour of Devastation is giving us more.

[Delibirb]

I'm not TOO surprised all the gods are getting killed off, if that's indeed what is happening (though the phrase "X's LAST Y" should probably make that obvious to me. Bolas easily beat all 8 gods when he first showed up on Amonkhet. If his plan revolves around obliterating the entire plane (which is looking increasingly likely the more cards we see from the set that involve artwork of things being destroyed, corrupted, and killed), the gods would be no exception.

 

...I'm still convinced the end result of this story arc is Amonkhet being completely destroyed. If even the gods are being killed, and the other 3 gods are corrupted tools of Bolas...what could possibly remain of the plane after this?

 

Pride Sovereign has convinced me that a Green/White Cat Deck is totally possible. Amonkhet gave a bunch of the tools, Hour of Devastation is giving us more.

Minor note, but Bolas was only able to dispatch the Gods so easily when he arrived because he came immediately following (the start of) the mending, still possessing but quickly losing omnipotence. He could probably kill them again, but not as effortlessly, depending on what is necessary for him to regain his power.

 

I think "the last" cycle doesn't necessarily mean their last act of life.

[evilfusion]

Minor note, but Bolas was only able to dispatch the Gods so easily when he arrived because he came immediately following (the start of) the mending, still possessing but quickly losing omnipotence. He could probably kill them again, but not as effortlessly, depending on what is necessary for him to regain his power.

 

I think "the last" cycle doesn't necessarily mean their last act of life.

 

Really? I didn't actually realize that, though it does explain why the narration mentions he had to do his plan swiftly because he wouldn't have enough magic to do it otherwise.

[Flame Dragon]

New card. Last one until tonight most likely.

 

How do we break this?

 

...I'm still convinced the end result of this story arc is Amonkhet being completely destroyed. If even the gods are being killed, and the other 3 gods are corrupted tools of Bolas...what could possibly remain of the plane after this?

 

Pride Sovereign has convinced me that a Green/White Cat Deck is totally possible. Amonkhet gave a bunch of the tools, Hour of Devastation is giving us more.

 

Again, Maro has noted that Wizards is now much more conscious of the fact that they may want to revisit worlds later down the line. Couple this with Egypt World being such a requested plane I still don't believe they will out an out blow it up. That being said wha they'll be able to do with it after the hours have passed is very much in the air.

 

I think "the last" cycle doesn't necessarily mean their last act of life.

Yea, expect we have this

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

New card. Last one until tonight most likely.

How do we break this?

Dark Depths.

[NeoRWBY65]

Dark Depths.

That seems to be the best idea I've seen so far. It just interests me because I just overall like mimic cards

[Delibirb]

New card. Last one until tonight most likely.

 

How do we break this?

 

 

Again, Maro has noted that Wizards is now much more conscious of the fact that they may want to revisit worlds later down the line. Couple this with Egypt World being such a requested plane I still don't believe they will out an out blow it up. That being said wha they'll be able to do with it after the hours have passed is very much in the air.

 

 

Yea, expect we have this

I'm still not fully convinced. There is a chance that the death of the gods is allegorical.

[NeoRWBY65]

Ramunap Hydra

3G

Creature - Hydra

 

Vigilance, reach, trample 

As long as you control a Desert, Ramunap Hydra gets +1/+1. 

As long as there is a Desert card in your graveyard, Ramunap Hyra gets +1/+1.

 

 

EDIT: It is possible that it is a snake as well, but I don't have confirmation on that yet.

[Flame Dragon]

Ramunap Hydra

3G

Creature - Hydra

 

Vigilance, reach, trample 

 

As long as you control a Desert, Ramunap Hydra gets +1/+1. 

 

As long as there is a Desert card in your graveyard, Ramunap Hyra gets +1/+1.

 

 

EDIT: It is possible that it is a snake as well, but I don't have confirmation on that yet.

This is likely also a snake given that the other one is.

 

Card seems ok. I like that you can get double boosted and for limited having this as a 4/4 shouldn't be hard. Getting this to 5/5 in constructed shouldn't be hard either, but there this is likely not good enough. They really did try with the desert land mechanic, so you never know.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

How is a 5/5 vigilance reach trample for 4 not good enough?

 

What has siege rhino done to us???

[Simping For Hina]

How is a 5/5 vigilance reach trample for 4 not good enough?

 

What has siege rhino done to us???

Given us standards.

[Poc]

How is a 5/5 vigilance reach trample for 4 not good enough?

 

What has siege rhino done to us???

 

Undercosted beasticks have been in standard for a while. Unless they have an ETB ability the dies to doomblade argument applies here. Standard has trash removal right now though...

[Flame Dragon]

Today's spoilers

Scavenger Grounds

Land - Desert

T: Add ◊ to your mana pool.

 

2, T, Sacrifice a desert: Exile all cards from all graveyards.

Fraying Sanity

2U

Enchantment - Aura Curse

Enchant Player

 

At the beginning of each end step, enchanted player puts X cards from the top of his or her library into their graveyard, where X is the number of cards that went to their graveyard from anywhere this turn.

Swarm Intelligence

6U

Enchantment

Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.

 

 

How is a 5/5 vigilance reach trample for 4 not good enough?

 

What has siege rhino done to us???

I think the reason it is so easy to write it off is because of this dude

 

They are super comparable and Wanderer has done next to nothing during its time in standard.

[Poc]

Scavenger Grounds seems really good. Good grave hate is pretty common in non rotating formats but this could fit right into an Eldrazi shell. Lands are much harder to interact with than spells.

[goodfusion]

The Locust God is really cool, being Blue/Red it fits nicely into my deck if I get it!

 

Fraying Sanity is an Aura Curse. I haven't seen a Curse card before. Are they a new thing?

 

I like Swarm Intelligence a lot, however it looks too expensive to be practical.

[Flame Dragon]

Scavenger Grounds seems really good. Good grave hate is pretty common in non rotating formats but this could fit right into an Eldrazi shell. Lands are much harder to interact with than spells.

 

I can certainly see it showing up a lot in commander lists that don't have black for Bog. Speaking of graveyard hate, this hasn't been posted to Mythic Spoiler for some reason.

Bad Relic is likely still fine for standard.

 

The Locust God is really cool, being Blue/Red it fits nicely into my deck if I get it!

 

Fraying Sanity is an Aura Curse. I haven't seen a Curse card before. Are they a new thing?

 

I like Swarm Intelligence a lot, however it looks too expensive to be practical.

See, part of me wants to build a commander deck for him, but part of me is like I only want to do that because I want to fill out my grid and I just like the Locust God more than all the other UR legendary creatures.

 

We had Curses in both Innistrad blocks, a commander precon, and 2 were in Amonkhet.

 

Swam seems like it can be really good in commander. Also seems fun with the Locust God.

[bury the year]

This is likely also a snake given that the other one is.

 

It is a Snake Hydra. (Source: can read Chinese.) The one thing that separates this from Wanderer is reach, though, since the Hydra can block HoK while the other can't. I don't think that makes enough difference, but who knows...

 

The Locust God is neat. Don't have a deck for him, but he looks pretty annoying to play against. Don't think he's good enough for other eternal formats, though, what with being a 6-drop that doesn't do anything right away.

 

Neheb, though, is spicy. Jumped on ordering an Aggravated Assault as soon as I saw him, as he goes infinite with that and 5 damage. May take Xenagod out of Saskia for him, as the ramp is not bad and I need the god in another deck.

 

Solemnity... eurgh. Very powerful hate card: as others have said, not only does this neuter Temurgy and GB in Standard and Infect and Devoted Company in Modern, but it gives persist and Dark Depths combos another way to go off. As for EDH, this is such a narrow hate card that unless you're playing with a fixed meta or are using the above combos, I wouldn't bother. (Except if you play Zur.)

 

Fraying Sanity will give Mono-U Mill in Standard a kick in the pants, maybe even for Modern as well. Incredibly efficient for what it does: Startled Alive and Archive Trap each mill 26 cards with this out.

 

I really like Scavenging Grounds. It's (theoretically) repeatable, it's colorless, it doesn't have to be activated immediately, and it enters untapped. All good things. Will probably pick up a copy to have on reserve.

 

Shame that Cloven Casting is so firmly outclassed now by Swarm Intelligence. I always tried to rep that card, but its days have officially passed.

[Flame Dragon]

The Locust God is neat. Don't have a deck for him, but he looks pretty annoying to play against. Don't think he's good enough for other eternal formats, though, what with being a 6-drop that doesn't do anything right away.

 

Neheb, though, is spicy. Jumped on ordering an Aggravated Assault as soon as I saw him, as he goes infinite with that and 5 damage. May take Xenagod out of Saskia for him, as the ramp is not bad and I need the god in another deck.

 

Solemnity... eurgh. Very powerful hate card: as others have said, not only does this neuter Temurgy and GB in Standard and Infect and Devoted Company in Modern, but it gives persist and Dark Depths combos another way to go off. As for EDH, this is such a narrow hate card that unless you're playing with a fixed meta or are using the above combos, I wouldn't bother. (Except if you play Zur.)

I realized the Locust God is SUPER comparable to Niv for commander. You lose the ability to go infinite with just one card (Skullclamp + Mana Echoes/Ashnod's Alter do go infinite though) but avoid the commander tax and I think the 1/1 flying haste is a LITTLE stronger than the ping.

 

Neheb also combos with Hellkite Charger. He is certainly one of those cards that can slot in well in just about any aggressive commander.

 

The cool thing about Solemnity for me is that it lets undying creatures now go infinite. I'm also interested in the story implications of this. We know the Locust God is meant to destroy the barrier protecting the city and Mark's Tales from the Pit suggests that the Scorpion is meant to kill the 5 gods. This would make sense since -1/-1 counters get around indestructible. However this would make it so the gods can't actually die. Also, another nice detail, the invocation art suggests the gods got released in a certain order, first Scorpion, second Locust, and third presumably a Scarab.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

The infinite combos with niv were far from overwhelming, as you couldn't reliably win without also casting laboratory maniac, which has a wide variety of weaknesses.

 

Locust God is better. It effectively has double the damage output, can create lethal if you have infinite mana and run an eldrazi Titan, and its recursion is not irrelevant, especially with cards like rolling earthquake, chain reaction, etc.

 

This is more than worth the loss of synergy with curiosity, mind over matter, and grafted exoskeleton.

 

Won't cut it in eternal formats. Keranos's protection is far too relevant and there is nothing else it could even try to replace.

[Poc]

Keranos is good in other formats because its an indestructible source of card advantage that occasionally throws bolts. Locust could potentially be a win condition for U/R decks in standard and the already mentioned skullclamp syngergies.Other than that hes not that appealing.