Hour of Devastation

Hour of Devastation

 

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Hour of Devastation
[[File:{{#setmainimage:HOU set logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Nicol Bolas' horns
Design	Shawn Main (lead) Ken Nagle Jackie Lee Jules Robins Sam Stoddard Mel Li Mark Rosewater
Development	Dave Humpherys (lead) Bryan Hawley Ian Duke Eric Lauer Jackie Lee Ari Levitch Kimberly J. Kreines Tim Aten Mons Johnson
Release date	July 14, 2017
Plane	Amonkhet
Themes and mechanics	Nicol Bolas, Deserts, Curses, Brick counters, -1/-1 counters, Split cards
Keywords/​ability words	Afflict, Eternalize, Exert, Cycling, Aftermath
Set size	199 cards +10 Planeswalker deck exclusives
Expansion code	HOU
Development codename	Laughs
Amonkhet block
Amonkhet Hour of Devastation N/A
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas Hour of Devastation Commander 2017

Hour of Devastation is the 75th Magic expansion, and the second in the Amonkhet block. It was released on July 14, 2017, and is a small expansion.

Set details

Hour of Devastation contains 199 cards (15 basic lands, 70 commons, 60 uncommons, 42 rares, 12 mythic rares) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The expansion symbol represents the horns of Nicol Bolas. The Planeswalker decks contain 10 additional cards that are considered to be part of the set (2 mythic planeswalkers, 2 rares, 2 uncommons, 2 commons and 2 common dual taplands). These are numbered #200/199 to #209/199). Five of basic lands are full-art (different art from the Amonkhet ones).

While the previous set mostly was top-down design inspired by Egypt with some top-down Bolas, Hour of Devastation is mostly top-down Bolas with some top-down Egypt. Starting with Hour of Devastation R&D pulled back significantly on how often Gatewatch planeswalkers appear as cards. The non-full art basic lands were previewed in Archenemy: Nicol Bolas.

Storyline

“

Unleash your Endgame

”

As promised, the God-Pharaoh has returned. Unfortunately, the promise of a glorious afterlife wasn't quite what everyone thought it was. Nicol Bolas has come to claim his perfect Zombie army, the Eternals. The Gatewatch is easily defeated. Samut's planeswalker's spark is ignited.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Hour of Devastation are: Hour of Revelation, Hour of Glory, Hour of Promise, Hour of Eternity, Hour of Devastation.

Magic Story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
The Hour of Revelation	Alison Luhrs	2017-06-07	Amonkhet	Nicol Bolas, Gods of Amonkhet, Samut, Djeru
Feast	Alison Luhrs	2017-06-14	Amonkhet	Razaketh and the Gatewatch
Hour of Glory	Michael Yichao	2017-06-21	Amonkhet	Rhonas, Oketra, Kefnet, Hazoret, Bontu
The Hour of Promise	Alison Luhrs	2017-06-28	Amonkhet	Hapatra, Kefnet, Oketra, Samut, Djeru, Gideon
Favor	Michael Yichao	2017-07-05	Amonkhet	Hazoret, Bontu, Nicol Bolas, Samut, Djeru
Hour of Eternity	Ken Troop	2017-07-12	Amonkhet	Nylah, the Scarab God, Asenue, Genub, Makare, Kawit, Nicol Bolas, Amenakhte
Endure	Michael Yichao	2017-07-19	Amonkhet, Theros	Samut, Djeru, Hazoret, the Scorpion God, Haq, Neheb, the Eternal, Hapatra, the Gatewatch, Masikah, Nicol Bolas
Hour of Devastation	Ken Troop	2017-07-26	Amonkhet	the Gatewatch, Nicol Bolas

Marketing

Hour of Devastation is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), two planeswalker decks and the Hour of Devastation bundle. The boosters feature artwork from Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, Samut, the Tested, Fame (Claim/Fame), The Scarab God and Angel of Condemnation. Like Magic 2013 before, the packaging is mostly Bolas-flavored.

Amonkhet Invocations

Hour of Devastation booster

The Masterpiece Series for Amonkhet block are called Amonkhet Invocations. These are all premium foil cards with a special Amonkhet card frame and a separate expansion symbol (). Thus, they are not part of the sets. Amonkhet Invocations are all about the Amonkhet gods, their magic and their servants. They include all new art, a card frame inspired by Egyptian steles without flavor text. They appear slightly more often than premium mythic rares. These cards are playable in limited and formats where they're already legal. 30 Invocation cards previously appeared with Amonkhet and 24 more cards appear in Hour of Devastation.

Events

• Prerelease Events took place on July 8, 2017.

Promotional Cards

• Magic Open House: full-art Hour of Devastation basic land
• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare from the set.
• Draft Weekend: Ramunap Excavator
• Game Day: full-art Abrade
• Game Day (Top 8): full-art Adorned Pouncer
• Buy-a-Box: Wildfire Eternal

Tokens

Punch card

There are 12 tokens for Hour of Devastation. Every creature spell with Eternalize has a unique matching token.

1. 4/4 Eternalized Adorned Pouncer
2. 4/4 Eternalized Champion of Wits
3. 4/4 Eternalized Dreamstealer
4. 4/4 Eternalized Earthshaker Khenra
5. 4/4 Eternalized Proven Combatant
6. 4/4 Eternalized Resilient Khenra
7. 4/4 Eternalized Sinuous Striker
8. 4/4 Eternalized Steadfast Sentinel
9. 4/4 Eternalized Sunscourge Champion
10. 5/5 Horse for Crested Sunmare
11. 5/4 Snake for Rhonas's Last Stand
12. 1/1 Insect with flying and haste for The Locust God

The following tokens printed in Amonkhet are also used for cards in Hour of Devastation:

• 1/1 Cat with lifelink for Pride Sovereign
• 1/1 Warrior with vigilance for Steward of Solidarity
• 2/2 Zombie for Dunes of the Dead and Hour of Promise

In addition some boosters feature a punch card with markers for exerted and eternal, brick counters and -1/-1 counters.

Themes and mechanics

-1/-1 counters, Exert, Cycling and Aftermath split cards are carried over from the previous set. Exert now shows up as an activated ability.

Brick counters are used again as well, only this time they represent the dismantling of the monuments (cards start with 3 counters; removing one creates an effect).

There are two new named mechanics:

• Eternalize — a keyword ability which is an evolved Embalm. Eternalize can only be activated if the creature is in the graveyard. When activated, the card is exiled and creates a token copy of itself. This creature token is a copy of the eternalized creature, except that it is a zombie in addition to its other creature types and monocolored black. Its power/toughness becomes 4/4. Many creatures with eternalize have abilities that get better because of their increased power.
• Afflict — a triggered ability with a variable value. Whenever a creature with this ability becomes blocked, the defending player loses life equal to the Afflict value.

Card types

This set adds the three forgotten Gods from Amonkhet.

The desert theme of Amonkhet is expanded on. There are cards throughout the set that reward you for either controlling a Desert or having a Desert card in your graveyard.

Cycles

Hour of Devastation has thirteen cycles, two of which are partial and one other vertical:

Cycle name
Cycling Deserts	Desert of the True	Desert of the Mindful	Desert of the Glorified	Desert of the Fervent	Desert of the Indomitable
	Five common cycling lands with the Desert subtype, which artistically are degraded versions of the Monument cycle in the previous set.
Spell Deserts	Shefet Dunes	Ipnu Rivulet	Ifnir Deadlands	Ramunap Ruins	Hashep Oasis
	Five uncommon pain lands with the Desert subtype, which tap for both colorless and colored mana, and allow the controller to sacrifice a Desert to get an effect.
Deserts matter	Solitary Camel	Unquenchable Thirst	Wretched Camel	Gilded Cerodon	Sidewinder Naga
	Five common spells that improve if a Desert is under your control or in your graveyard.
Defeats	Gideon's Defeat	Jace's Defeat	Liliana's Defeat	Chandra's Defeat	Nissa's Defeat
	Five uncommon same-color hoser spells, which gain strength if used against a specific planeswalker of the Gatewatch. Each has art by Kieran Yanner.
"Power matters" eternalizers	Sunscourge Champion	Champion of Wits	Dreamstealer	Earthshaker Khenra	Resilient Khenra
	Five creatures featuring the eternalize mechanic, with effects that scale with the power of the creature.
God's last actions	Oketra's Last Mercy	Kefnet's Last Word	Bontu's Last Reckoning	Hazoret's Undying Fury	Rhonas's Last Stand
	Five under-costed rare spells flavored to match the Gods that cause your lands to not untap on your next turn, inspired by exert.
Hours	Hour of Revelation	Hour of Eternity	Hour of Glory	Hour of Devastation	Hour of Promise
	Five rare spells named after the Hours, which serve as the Story Spotlight cards of the set and have mechanics that twist the Hours' flavor.
Cycle name
Allied colored uncommons	Farm // Market	Consign // Oblivion	Claim // Fame	Struggle // Survive	Appeal // Authority
	Five split cards taking the place usually reserved for draft-guiding multicolor and featuring the aftermath mechanic.
Cycle name
Reversed enemy colored rares	Grind // Dust	Refuse // Cooperate	Driven // Despair	Leave // Chance	Reason // Believe
	Split cards featuring the aftermath mechanic.
Draft archetypes	Unraveling Mummy (Zombies)	Bloodwater Entity (instants and sorceries)	Obelisk Spider (-1/-1 counters)	Resolute Survivors (Exert)	River Hoopoe (Ramp)
	Five uncommon cards in the enemy color pairs which each represent a two-colored draft archetype

Partial cycles

As a tribute to Bolas, several three-card cycles within the Grixis arc were present in the set.

Cycle name
Afflict creatures	Spellweaver Eternal	Khenra Eternal	Frontline Devastator
	Eternal of Harsh Truths	Merciless Eternal	Manticore Eternal
	A set of zombie creatures with Afflict at common and uncommon.
Modal uncommon spells	Supreme Will	Doomfall	Abrade
	Three uncommon spells that have a choice of two complementary options.
Mythic Legends	Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign	Razaketh, the Foulblooded	Neheb, the Eternal
	Three mythic Legendary creatures.
Cycle name
Forgotten Gods	The Scarab God	The Scorpion God	The Locust God
	The three mythic rare gods that Bolas corrupted, with each god having two of the Grixis colors.

Vertical cycle

Cycle name
Torments	Torment of Venom	Torment of Scarabs	Torment of Hailfire
	Three black punisher spells with the choice of losing three life, discarding a card in hand, or sacrificing a nonland permanent.

Reprinted cards

• Kindled Fury, first printed in Morningtide, last seen in Dragons of Tarkir.
• Manalith, first printed in Magic 2012.
• Sandblast, first printed in Fate Reforged.
• Strategic Planning, first printed in Portal Three Kingdoms, last seen in Commander 2013 and for the first time in an expert-level expansion.
• Traveler's Amulet, first printed in Innistrad, last seen in Theros.
• Unsummon, first printed in Alpha, last seen in Magic 2013.

Functional reprints

• Aven Reedstalker is a functional reprint of Nephalia Seakite and Sentinels of Glen Elendra, except for creature types.
• Aven of Enduring Hope is a functional reprint of Angel of Mercy, except for creature types.
• Defiant Khenra is a functional reprint of Falkenrath Reaver, except for creature types.
• Harrier Naga is a functional reprint of Nessian Courser and Centaur Courser, except for creature types.
• Survivors' Encampment is a functional reprint of Holdout Settlement, except for land types.

Preconstructed decks

Hour of Devastation has two planeswalker decks:

Planeswalker deck name	Colors Included					Planeswalker
Nissa		U			G	Nissa, Genesis Mage
Nicol Bolas		U	B	R		Nicol Bolas, The Deceiver

Notable cards

• Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh is a powerful four-loyalty-ability planeswalker. It was printed eight years after the first Planeswalker card for Nicol Bolas.
• God-Pharaoh's Gift is mentioned by Gate to the Afterlife, which was released in Amonkhet before.
• Crested Sunmare is a Horse Lord, and its flavor text references populated areas on Amonkhet outside of Naktamun.
• The Scarab God was the premier midrange power card for most of its Standard life span despite being originally overlooked at spoiler season. At a reasonable cost for its' size, the ability to generate a stream of 4/4s was extremely relevant in the creature-dominated Standard season. Additionally, the removal was notoriously weak during this time, making its recursion and reanimation doubly relevant, and its closing power was unmatched, considering the draining ability on upkeep. Even after rotation, it has continued to see play in Pioneer, and it remains one of the most popular blue-black commanders in the Commander format.
• Hollow One is part of numerous graveyard-oriented decks from Modern to Vintage. In Modern and Legacy, it is combined with spells like Faithless Looting to discard enough cards to cast it for free as early as turn 1, and in Vintage it is combined with the powerful Bazaar of Baghdad to similar effect.
• The Locust God is often used as a target in Pioneer Indomitable Creativity decks, and is one of the most heavily played red-blue commanders in the Commander format, where it has numerous infinite combos with cards like Kindred Discovery.
• Ramunap Excavator is a Crucible of Worlds with a body. While it has seen play as a value creature from Standard to Modern, it has been most successful in Legacy, where it is a key part of land combo decks.
• Abrade is one of the best red removal spells ever printed, combining two flexible modes and allowing for main deck artifact removal.
• Firebrand Archer is a powerful tool for Pauper burn decks.
• Neheb, the Eternal is among the most powerful Minotaur cards and has multiple notorious combos with cards such as Aggravated Assault.
• Hour of Promise is used in some variety of Modern ramp decks that look to abuse cards like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, and Field of the Dead.
• Nimble Obstructionist has seen inconsistent play in decks in a variety of different formats, particularly because of its ability can evade opposing counterspells.
• Solemnity has a unique and powerful effect and is the basis for various locks in enchantment-based decks in Modern such as with Nine Lives or Phyrexian Unlife.
• Supreme Will was a staple in Standard control decks as it could provide both countermagic and card selection as needed.
• Overwhelming Splendor is tied for the most expensive Aura card ever printed, and has a devastating effect on the enchanted opponent as a one-sided variant of Humility.
• Striped Riverwinder is a key part of Modern Living End decks, which can cycle it to help find their combo piece and then reanimate it with the titular spell.
• Bontu's Last Reckoning is the cheapest spell to unconditionally destroy all creatures but has a hefty drawback. It has been played in decks from Modern to Vintage that need a cheap wrath and/or have ways of avoiding the downside.
• Earthshaker Khenra was a staple in aggressive red decks in Standard thanks to its hasty stats, ability to make creatures unable to block, and recursive nature.

Banned and restricted cards

• While the entire painland desert cycle has seen consistent play in Standard and Pioneer, Ramunap Ruins was especially notable. It powered up the already dominant Red Deck Wins archetype in Standard by making it nearly impossible for the opponent to stabilize, as even the lands could deal extra damage. It was so influential to the deck's success that it began receiving the title Ramunap Red. After more than a year of dominance, it and its fellow Red Deck Wins threat Rampaging Ferocidon were banned out of Standard in early 2018, but it continues to see play in similar styles of decks in Pioneer.