Welcome all to the end of week two of preview season here at the Daily Dose of Amonkhet, where today I’ll be looking at some of the remaining Mythics of Amonkhet.
When most players view the new cards from a set, they start off by looking at the Mythics. Sometimes they're supremely powerful like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and sometimes they have a unique place in casual and Limited games like Exquisite Archangel. Either way, players want to peek behind the uncommons when opening a pack and find a Mythic card. So, let’s see some of those sweet Amonkhet Mythic cards.
The first Mythic I want to talk about is a new take on an old card called Final Fortune. Here is Glorious End.
Taking extra turns has usually been seen in powerful blue spells, like Time Warp. Although Glorious End doesn’t say “take an extra turn”, since you can instantly end a turn it acts as an extra turn for you.
Ending the turn, is something that we’ve rarely seen on a Magic card because it's so powerful. As an Instant it's even more valuable, as you can end a turn while your opponent is attacking, or when a spell or ability is on the stack. Glorious End states that at the end of your next end step, you lose the game. This sounds very final, but there are a few ways to get around it. You can save yourself for a turn by playing an additional Glorious End and chaining them together.
An even better solution is to play Gideon of the Trials and make an emblem that makes it so you can’t lose the game if you control a Gideon Planeswalker. This will allow you to continue with the rest of the game as normal. I believe this is a card that will see a lot of play in the upcoming Standard season.
The next Mythic is a powerful creature that has so many keywords that you must read the card twice. Let’s have a look at Samut, Voice of Dissent.
I love myself a Flash creature and this one certainly packs a punch. Look at all those wonderful keywords. Double strike will ensure it does some damage on offense and defense, and vigilance allows it to get in for damage while also holding the fort on defense. Haste will mean that you can hit for six damage out of nowhere to deliver a finishing punch to your opponent. To top it all off, if the game goes longer you'll be able to give all your other creatures Haste as well. This can deliver a one-two Haste punch that your opponent will probably not survive.
I think the main use of Samut, Voice of Dissent’s untap creature ability will be to help creatures that have exerted themselves during your most recent attack phase. Sure, you might use it to help a creature with a good tap ability, but using it to help exerted creatures during your opponent's end step seems like the most powerful way to go.
Planeswalkers are always some of the favourite Mythic cards of players, and in Amonkhet they made a change to a classically Green Planeswalker. Here is the newly multicolour, Nissa, Steward of Elements.
That’s right folks, a Planeswalker that has an X in the casting cost. This allows you to cast Nissa, Steward of Elements on turn three, four, or anytime after that. The longer you wait, the more powerful she'll be. Let’s break down her Planeswalker abilities.
[+2]: Scry 2. – This +2 ability is a quick way to set your deck up for not only better card selection, but for her second Planeswalker ability as well. +2 Planeswalker abilities in general are always very strong in my opinion, as it acts as protection for the Planeswalker itself, as its loyalty counters raise at a fast pace.
[0]: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card or a creature card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of loyalty counters on Nissa, Steward of Elements, you may put that card onto the battlefield. – This is the bread and butter ability of this creature and what you're striving to use when casting Nissa, Steward of Elements. This ability acts as a mana ramp by getting extra lands onto the battlefield, and to bring some additional creatures into play. Building your deck to have a ton of three drop creatures will allow you to often get two creatures onto the battlefield in one turn.
[-6]: Untap up to two target lands you control. They become 5/5 Elemental creatures with flying and haste until end of turn. They're still lands. – There are a couple of options for this ability. You can build Nissa, Steward of Elements by using her +2 ability every turn and then eventually using this ability to attack for 10 Flying damage. Another option is to wait until you have enough mana to give her 6 or more loyalty counters when you cast her, so that you can surprise your opponent with 10 Haste damage from your attacking lands. Either way is great, but it’s always nice to have options.
So, what do you think about some of the powerful new Mythics from Amonkhet? Let me know which one you are looking to play the most. Thanks again for joining me today on the Daily Dose of Amonkhet. Next week, I'll change my focus to prerelease week and how you can prepare for your local Amonkhet prerelease events starting April 22nd. So, join me next week, where we'll take the next step together towards unlocking the power of Amonkhet.
