There are a good number of powerful payoffs and even more plentiful enablers. This was one of the first formats where Blue/Red started to solidify itself in the role of spells-matter in limited. I imagine this will be the Spider Spawning Deck of this format and will likely be overdrafted during this week, but I still have hope! Izzet Spells But this format is filled to the brim with cards that go in each of these four categories. The same rules apply to this style of deck as they always do: you need bombs, removal, fixing, and card draw/card filtering. It’s backed up by an abundance of colorless fixing with Traveler’s Amulet, Evolving Wilds, Survivors' Encampment, Painted Bluffs, and Manalith. The fact that this can exert to produce two sources of a single color makes splashing for powerful spells actually quite doable. The headliner of this deck is Oasis Ritualist.
If you’ve never played this format, you might be thinking, “Of course Ethan thinks 5 Color Green is one of the best decks in the set.” But I assure you, I’m not memeing. Imminent Doom, Abandoned Sarcophagus, Fraying Sanity, and Swarm Intelligence from Hour of Devastation and Anointed Procession, Approach of the Second Sun, and Drake Haven from Amonkhet are just a few of the cards I hope to maximize in a draft this week while we have the opportunity. Last thing before diving into the color pairs is to point out the amount of incredibly fun buildaround rares that exist in the format that may look terrible at first glance. Gideon’s Defeat, Liliana’s Defeat and Chandra’s Defeat should all be fairly high picks since they are A grade level removal spells out of the sideboard. There is also a cycle of color hosing cards at uncommon called Defeats. Because of the abundance of this kind of effect, be wary of overextending when you don’t need to. There are certainly good aggressive decks in the format but the presence of so many ways to clear out an early onslaught of attackers definitely slows down a format. Hour of Revelation, Hour of Devastation, Bontu’s Last Reckoning, Chaos Maw, Dusk // Dawn, Heaven // Earth, and Rags // Riches. There are a lot of wrath-type effects in this format. I hate to let the Sacred Cat of the bag, but these are fairly high picks and are often reasons to move into a color if you see them going late.īeyond the mechanics and themes of the set are a few big picture things to keep in mind. They allow you to mitigate mana screw and flood in a very real way as well as enabling some incredibly potent cards in the format like Sand Strangler, Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs, or Ifnir Deadlands.
The cycling deserts are some of the best commons in the set. To begin with, each color has its own cycling land at common and a land that can sacrifice deserts for a bonus at uncommon.
This mechanic is concentrated in the Grixis colors.ĭeserts existed in Amonkhet but became a huge theme in Hour of Devastation. The number of Afflict a creature has is the amount of life an opponent will lose if they block that creature. The way Aftermath cards work is that the first half can be cast from your hand and the second half can only be cast from your graveyard.Īfflict is a triggered ability that exists on creatures that is followed by a number. Eternalize allows you to exile the creature from your graveyard for a cost and make a creature token that’s a copy of that creature except it is a black zombie with base power and toughness 4/4.Īftermath is a variation on split cards that we’ve seen before. Both of these are abilities on creatures that allow them to essentially come back from the dead. This mechanic is concentrated in the Naya colors and leads to some very aggressive decks.Įternalize is a mechanic that builds upon Embalm from Amonkhet. Some are a holdover from Amonkhet and some are brand new.Įxert is a mechanic that allows creatures to do something extra powerful when they become tapped (either by attacking or activating an ability.) The catch is that exerted creatures don’t untap during their controller's next untap step. We've got much to discuss so let's jump right in! Mechanics and Themesīefore we get in to the color pairs specifically, I want to give you an overview of the mechanics and themes that the format has to offer. And to spread the love and joy that is HOU draft, I’m going to give you a fast and loose draft primer of this format so you can partake as well. It was the set that came out when I started “Lords of Limited” and I drafted it happily until the day the leagues ended. This format is near and dear to my heart. I am, of course, talking about Hour of Devastation Flashback Drafts coming to MTGO. I’ve been eagerly anticipating one day for a long time and today it’s finally here.
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