Previous Hour of Devastation Set Reviews

Limited:

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Gold, Artifacts, and Lands

Constructed:

White | Blue | Black | Green | Gold, Artifacts, and Lands

Ratings Scale

5.0: Multi-format all-star. (Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Tarmogoyf. Snapcaster Mage.)
4.0: Format staple. (Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy. Collected Company. Remand.)
3.5: Good in multiple archetypes and formats, but not a staple. (Jace Beleren. Radiant Flames. Shambling Vent.)
3.0: Archetype staple. (Jace, Architect of Thought. Zulaport Cutthroat. Explosive Vegetation.)
2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple. (Jace, Memory Adept. Anticipate. Transgress the Mind.)
2.0: Niche card. Sideboard or currently unknown archetype. (Jace, the Living Guildpact. Naturalize. Duress.) Bear in mind that many cards fall into this category, although an explanation is obviously important.
1.0: It has seen play once. (One with Nothing). (I believe it was tech vs. Owling Mine, although fairly suspicious tech at that.)

Abrade

Constructed: 3.5

I really like this split card. Shatter + Lightning Strike (to creatures only) is a great combination, and this has tons of great targets running around. It’s an interactive card that’s good on turn 2 and still good later, with utility against basically every deck in the format, even Torrential Gearhulk decks. It’s a good place to be, and gives red a big boost here.

Chandra’s Defeat

Constructed: 3.0

Red doesn’t usually lack for removal, but this is still efficient enough that I expect it to see some play. Sniping Glorybringers and Chandras alike is powerful, and costing 1 mana makes this priced to move.

Chaos Maw

Constructed: 2.0

7 is pricey, and is one maw mana than I’d really want to pay here. It’s still a powerful card, but may take some shenanigans before it sees play (like ways to cheat it out).

Earthshaker Khenra

Constructed: 3.0

If there’s a good red beatdown deck, this could be a mover and a shaker. It negates a blocker and gets in for 2 immediately, while giving you a really good mana sink in the late game. That’s exactly what low-curve red decks want, and this has a good shot at seeing play.

Hazoret’s Undying Fury

Constructed: 1.0

I do think this card is unplayable, but it’s so weird that I wanted to mention it anyway. It’s too hard to reliably get enough mana or cards out of this, especially given the not untapping drawback. There are some highs here, but the average case just isn’t good enough.

Hour of Devastation

Constructed: 3.5

Now here is a sweeper I can get behind. It wipes out every creature and planeswalker you care about, with only Heart of Kiran surviving the purge. That’s a great deal for 5 mana, and this could push red-based control into tier 1 almost by itself (though Abrade helps a lot too). I’m a huge fan of this, and expect it to see a lot of play.

Imminent Doom

Constructed: 2.0

There is a payoff here, but building a curve that lines up right does not seem trivial, and if you draw your cards in the wrong sequence you end up with Doom doing nothing and a hand of spells that you feel like you can’t cast yet. That’s a lot of strikes against, despite being a potentially powerful card. X-spells are nice here, so maybe building a deck with enough of those could get you there.

Neheb, the Eternal

Constructed: 2.0

5-drops that don’t do anything right away are hard to justify, even ones that can add a ton of mana to your mana pool. I’m low on this, but the ceiling is high enough that maybe it has a shot (especially if damage-based removal is big, since this has 6 toughness).

Sand Strangler

Constructed: 2.5

This is plausible, since there are a solid number of playable Deserts. If there are enough small creatures for this to gnaw on, it can enable a midrange red deck.

Top 3 Red Cards

3. Chandra’s Defeat
2. Hour of Devastation
1. Abrade

Red is the clear winner here, with potentially the two best cards in the set. Red control really got there, and red aggro even picked up a solid 2-drop. That’s a great haul, especially for a small set, and red is poised to get a lot better.