Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Amonkhet. This week I’m shifting my focus from previewing the cards to getting you ready for your local Amonkhet prerelease starting April 22nd.
When players go to their local gaming store and sit down with a prerelease kit in front of them, they just want to open that kit as quickly as possible. When they do, the first thing they'll want to know right off the bat is, "What promo card did I get to build my deck around?"
But I’m here to let you know that although you'll get a lot of amazing Rares (and hopefully Mythic Rares) from your packs, don’t forget about those 10 cards per pack called Commons. You're only going to get 7-9 Rares or Mythic Rares per prerelease kit, so it's important to review all your cards to figure out how to build your deck. So here's a look at 10 Commons that you'll want to make sure are in your deck.
Compulsory Rest – Having a two-mana aura that can shutdown any creature from attacking or blocking is quite strong. Lately these have been costing three or four mana to cast, so getting back to a two-mana version of the spell is great. I don’t care too much if my opponent can sacrifice their creature to gain two life later on in the game. It's a small price to pay to be able to shutdown an opposing creature.
Djeru’s Resolve – One-mana combat tricks are always something that you want to have in your arsenal. Most players won't see them coming, which can lead to a significant combat trade in your favour. Throw in the fact that Djeru's Resolve works very well with exert creatures, allowing you to prevent the damage during combat and have them untapped for your next untap phase, and it becomes even stronger. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, if you don’t need a combat trick you can always cycle it away for two mana.
Impeccable Timing – This white removal spell is a reprint for a good reason. Being able to take out most attackers and blockers instantly is strong in Limited. It will help you survive aggro decks that try and play lots of creatures early on to swarm you.
Cartouche of Knowledge – Usually I’m not that big of a fan of aura cards, since if your opponent destroys your creature, you lose two cards against their one card. Cartouche of Knowledge replaces itself by drawing a card though, meaning the only resource you need to pay is two mana. To top it off, it gives your creature a power and toughness boost, along with Flying, the best evasion in the game.
Essence Scatter – Usually in Limited formats like the prerelease, players have around 15-20 creatures in their deck. This means that Essence Scatter is well positioned to make sure you hit a good target. This spell is great on turn two, or even turn eight to counter a large threat. I find this to be one of the better counterspells to use in Limited Amonkhet play.
Illusory Wrappings – Blue doesn’t often have a way to deal with a creature that's already on the battlefield. Sometimes it can return it to the owner’s hand or even tap it down for a few turns, but nothing that takes care of a big threat. Illusory Wrappings will help you deal with that large creature that is just too overpowering for you to deal with in any other way.
Final Reward – Black common removal spells that deal with a creature in Limited are usually in the five to six mana range, and Final Reward fits into that range. What makes it better is that it only uses one black mana, making it easier to splash as removal. Since it exiles the creature instead of destroying it, it will deal with a lot more creatures from Amonkhet. It stops any creature with Embalm from going to the graveyard to be cast again. It also stops indestructible gods that can take over a Limited game very easily.
Naga Vitalist – I’ve always been a fan of green one or two drop creatures that can produce mana to help you ramp into your larger spells a turn earlier. Usually the creatures that produce more than one colour of mana aren’t in the common slot, so Naga Vitalist seems strong to me. Combine it with the new common land Painted Bluffs and you'll be able to tap it for any colour mana.
Shed Weakness – Here is another one-mana combat trick that your opponent won’t see coming. It provides the usual +2/+2 pump for one mana with a twist. If you play it on one of your creatures that has a -1/-1 counter on it, from either your own doing or your opponent's, it'll remove one of those counters as well. That’s a +3/+3 turn of events for just one mana.
Evolving Wilds – When building a Limited deck, most often players build a two-colour deck, but there are times when you want to splash some good cards from a third colour to bolster your deck. Evolving Wilds will help make sure you aren’t missing that colour of mana you need to cast all your spells. It will also help thin out your deck so that you are hitting your high-end cards quicker.
So, what commons do you like best from Amonkhet? I hope this helps you in determining which cards to look out for when building your 40-card prerelease deck this upcoming weekend. Thanks for reading another edition of the Daily Dose of Amonkhet and join me tomorrow as I dig into the best Uncommons from Amonkhet.
