Last week, I took a look at the Amonkhet pack. Today, it's time to open the other from the follow-up set, Hour of Devastation. As usual, I will start with the common-rarity cards. There were 10, so no foils this time.
Countervailing Winds is a nice counterspell, since it targets any spell type and gets harder to pay the graveyard tax as the game progresses. 2U seems about right for cost, too.
Sandblast costs 2W, and deals 5 damage to an attacking or blocking creature. Not bad, not great. Removal like this is not too common in white, though. It's more a red or black tactic. Useful as a surprise? Maybe.
Kindled Fury is a classic red style of spell. Pay R and make one of your creatures hit first and just a little bit harder to boot. I can see uses for it.
Grisly Survivor would be a strict no at 2B for a mere 2/3, but in a deck built around cycling and discarding, he could become quite the interesting addition.
Bitterbow Sharpshooters costs 4G for a 4/4 with both Reach and Vigilance, so I'd consider it for sure. I think it has a place in at least the test version of my potential Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons Commander deck from last week, anyway.
Marauding Boneslasher: 2B for a 3/3. Fine in a Zombie Tribal deck, but otherwise, I'd pass. Good thing zombie tribal is quite feasible in this set or in general.
Thorned Moloch is another card that requires the right deck. 2R for a 2/2 is a bad deal, but first strike when attacking is good in an aggressive deck, and +1/+1 boosts for each non-creature spell could make it quite the surprise heavyweight from time to time.
Without Weakness: 1B to make something indestructible, or 2 to cycle it. Potential? Yes. Must-have? Not sure. Again, a card I'll try it with Hapatra.
Cunning Survivor is another otherwise-average creature card that gets a boost from cycling. 1U for a 1/3 isn't too bad to start, and if it becomes unblockable with some boosts to its power, it could be another surprise heavyweight, too.
Lastly, we have a non-basic land in Desert of the Mindful. It enters tapped, and only adds U, so it's not great as land cards go, but it does add a cycling option to a deck that relies on cycling triggers.
On to the Uncommons and the Rare!
Angel of the God-Pharaoh: 4WW for a 4/4 with Flying is 1 more than average for those stats and abilities. Again, we see a cycling option on the card, but that's very set-specific, or requires a dedicated Commander deck to exploit. Pass.
Sinuous Striker is just not very good. 2U for a 2/2 is bad, and it costs another U to swap the stats to 3/1. Externalize costs 3UU and a discarded card for a mere 4/4. I could see it working in a deck that really benefits from discards and "enter the battlefield" effects, but it's just not very useful in general.
Struggle // Survive is an odd card. To cast Struggle, pay 2R to deal damage to a target creature equal to the number of lands you control does become more powerful as the game progresses, though I dislike the restriction against targeting players. Once the card is in the graveyard (discard pile), the Survive half can be played instead. The card is printed so this portion can be left exposed as discards accumulate. It looks like a good way to rebuild the library (draw pile,) though.
The rare card, Leave // Chance, is another price disappointment at a mere 40¢ at the time of this post. Leave at 1W might be a good way to prevent destruction of specific cards during a board wipe or in response to a removal spell, and Chance might save a bad hand, but red/white Boros decks historically are just not very competitive in general, and I don't see this card adding much to one.
For a basic land, we get a Plains, and at least the insert is a token creature instead of a boring advert card. And hey, it enhances the Sinuous Striker we pulled by adding its companion token in proper card form, so there's that.
What do you think? Chime in with your comments! What would you draft, what odd combos tickle your inner Johnny, or what card art do you like best?
