Hour of Devastation Card Image Gallery

T

Terentius

Guest
A lotta really strong cards. Wildfire Eternal? Helloooooo Jeleva!
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Mechanically, I think the set is interesting, but, as with some other recent sets, too many of the cards are overcosted or have exorbitant limitations placed on them. Some potential diamonds in the rough, though. And as always, there's the caveat that some of the potential of a brand new set is not obvious at first glance.

But man, there are some duds here. Open Fire? Because now apparently Lightning Strike is too good. :confused: Razaketh's Rite? We already had ample evidence that Diabolic Tutor is a mediocre, draft fodder card; we didn't need an even more expensive version of it. Overwhelming Splendor? More like Overwhelmingly Expensive Enchantment.

The one that bugs me is Hazoret's Undying Fury, because it's so reminiscent of Mind's Desire and also so unplayable. I think Mind's Desire was probably a hopelessly broken effect, one which they couldn't really balance in a way that would make it "safe" in a format with access to a lot of mana acceleration. But brokenness aside, playing the card is an amazing experience. Mind's Desire flipping another Mind's Desire is unlike anything else in Magic. It's extremely fun, but it's also something that can probably never reappear in any tournament format in the future and I accept that. But this garbage new version of it is just rubbing salt in the wound. It's also a little weird. I mean, yeah, they can't make anything like Mind's Desire that is as good as Mind's Desire. But even if it had just been...

Hazoret's Nerfed Version of Desire
4RR
Sorcery
Shuffle your library, then exile the top four cards. You may cast any number of nonland cards from among them without paying their mana costs.

...then I'd have thought, "Well, it's a new wannabe Mind's Desire. But maybe it's playable."

Add the "with converted mana cost of 5 or less" clause and I lose all interest. They'd be going from making an interesting card to making a lousy one. Even still, some determined "Johnny" player might try to find a way to make this worthwhile. But I'd give up on it. And yet, they didn't stop there. It's like they thought, "This card isn't bad enough." So they made it so that your lands don't untap on your next turn. This is basically "Hey Combo Players, Want a New Toy? Well, You Don't Get One and Also We Hate Your Guts" the card.
 
T

Terentius

Guest
But man, there are some duds here. Open Fire? Because now apparently Lightning Strike is too good. :confused: Razaketh's Rite? We already had ample evidence that Diabolic Tutor is a mediocre, draft fodder card; we didn't need an even more expensive version of it. Overwhelming Splendor? More like Overwhelmingly Expensive Enchantment.
I assume, at this stage of the game's lifespan and development, that cards like this come from the question "what's the best thing that does X in Standard/Limited right now?" If X in this question is "instant that does 3 to creature or player", then I'm guessing Open Fire has replaced whatever the answer is, or there is no card in current Standard/Limited that fits this role. Lightning Strike was last in 2015 Core, and I think Lightning Bolt was last in 2012 Core.


Oversoul said:
The one that bugs me is Hazoret's Undying Fury, because it's so reminiscent of Mind's Desire and also so unplayable. I think Mind's Desire was probably a hopelessly broken effect, one which they couldn't really balance in a way that would make it "safe" in a format with access to a lot of mana acceleration. But brokenness aside, playing the card is an amazing experience. Mind's Desire flipping another Mind's Desire is unlike anything else in Magic. It's extremely fun, but it's also something that can probably never reappear in any tournament format in the future and I accept that. But this garbage new version of it is just rubbing salt in the wound. It's also a little weird. I mean, yeah, they can't make anything like Mind's Desire that is as good as Mind's Desire. But even if it had just been...

Hazoret's Nerfed Version of Desire
4RR
Sorcery
Shuffle your library, then exile the top four cards. You may cast any number of nonland cards from among them without paying their mana costs.

...then I'd have thought, "Well, it's a new wannabe Mind's Desire. But maybe it's playable."

Add the "with converted mana cost of 5 or less" clause and I lose all interest. They'd be going from making an interesting card to making a lousy one. Even still, some determined "Johnny" player might try to find a way to make this worthwhile. But I'd give up on it. And yet, they didn't stop there. It's like they thought, "This card isn't bad enough." So they made it so that your lands don't untap on your next turn. This is basically "Hey Combo Players, Want a New Toy? Well, You Don't Get One and Also We Hate Your Guts" the card.
It's definitely incomparable to Mind's Desire. It's really more like Epic Experiment. Actually, it's decently better than that card, because Epic Experiment for 6 CMC would only let you cast up to 4 instant/sorcery spells with CMC 4 or less.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I mean, in common with Mind's Desire but not Epic Experiment, Hazoret's Pity Party has...
  • It costs six mana, two of a particular color and two generic.
  • If shuffles your library before you get any cards from it, so you can't try to stack the top in preparation for the spell.
  • It exiles cards and keeps them exiled unless you cast them, otherwise they stay exiled. They do not automatically migrate to some other zone without being cast.
  • It can let you cast spells of any type for free (technically, Mind's Desire also lets you play lands).
On the other hand, in common with Epic Experiment, but not Mind's Desire, it has...
  • Mana cost restriction on the free spells (flat at 5 CMC for this and modular at X for Epic Experiment).
  • It cannot be chained into itself (technically, Epic Experiment could be used to cast another Epic Experiment, but it would be at X=0 and of no value other than increasing the storm count).
  • It is red (although Epic Experiment is also blue).
  • It is a much, much worse card than Mind's Desire.
Which one it is closer to conceptually is a matter of emphasis. If you focus on the theoretical potential for the card to actually be used in a deck or powerlevel or whatever, then it's really far away from Mind's Desire and I'd agree closer to Epic Experiment. I didn't have those terms in mind, though. My reaction was more like, "I see a six-drop sorcery that shuffles your library, pulls random cards out, and lets you cast them for free." How many of those cards are there? I can only think of two: Mind's Desire and Hazoret's Very Upset. I suppose which card you compare it to depends on context, but that was my context. I can see how, in another sense, it makes more sense to compare it to Epic Experiment.

However, I do think it's a bit of a stretch to call it better than Epic Experiment. OK, that's a lie: I consider it to be a huge stretch. Epic Experiment, while not amazing, is playable. I could see myself trying to build a blue/red combo deck with it. Its X cost scales along two axes: the more mana you can manage to pump into the spell, the more cards it will flip and the more expensive the cards you can flip become. It has strong potential with Past in Flames, and has been used in Modern tournament play for that reason, despite Modern banning Seething Song and Rite of Flame. Use rituals and cantrips to get a nice Epic Experiment, then hopefully get more rituals and Past in Flames, so you can recast everything for an even bigger Epic Experiment into even more rituals and cantrips, eventually into a win condition. I don't see Hazoret's Whatever pulling that off.
 
T

Terentius

Guest
Right, I guess I meant you get more bang for your buck at the 6 CMC price point. There's also the land exertion cost though.
 
Top