Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Amonkhet. Although official previews for the new set don’t begin until Monday, there's still plenty this week to talk about thanks to some early presents in the form of two new cards.
Today I’m going to talk about one card from Amonkhet that is a reprint and one card that is half Snake, half Cat. Yes, don’t worry, you read that correctly. Up until now most of the preview cards that we have seen have been commons including reprints such as Fling, Giant Spider, and Gravedigger. These are all fine cards for Limited play, but we all want to see some new cards from Amonkhet. As mentioned before, we go halfway there, as here is a reprint from Future Sight, Aven Mindcensor.
Aven Mindcensor is a card we often see in Modern play as it is used to shutdown powerful search cards like Fetchlands, but how much of an impact will it have on Standard? Currently there are 36 cards in Standard that search a library, whether it be your own library or your opponent's. Obviously, these cards don’t see consistent play, so let me focus on a few cards that I think Aven Mindcensor could impact the most.
- Attune with Aether – There is nothing more satisfying than bricking someone when they are trying to search for a land they need to progress their game. Hitting a basic land could be a little easier, but there is still a chance they merely get two Energy from this card.
- Evolving Wilds – Evolving Wilds already got worse when Thalia, Heretic Cathar came onto the scene, and now it becomes worse with the possibility of blanking when only searching for a basic land in your top four cards.
- Inventors’ Fair – Being able to stop someone from getting a much needed Metalwork Colossus and making them lose a land could be back breaking for your opponent.
- Nahiri, the Harbinger – This could be one of the most impactful uses for Aven Mindcensor in Standard right now, as it can negate her ultimate Planeswalker ability and prevent a combo from going off or an Archangel Avacyn from coming onto the battlefield.
- Sanctum of Ugin - Like Inventors’ Fair, being able to negate them from getting a creature while they also lose a land can make sure your opponent doesn’t get too far ahead on the battlefield.
- Traverse the Ulvenwald – If you play Aven Mindcensor against Traverse the Ulvenwald, most often they will be getting a land instead of the impactful creature that they wanted to search for.
The next card I’m going to be talking about today is a card with a creature type we haven’t seen before, a Cat Snake. So, I’m not sure if this is a Snake that’s eaten a cat, or a cat that has a long tongue, but there is some animal mixing going on here that just isn’t normal. Let’s have a look at the first Cat Snake, Prowling Serpopard.
There have been some powerful creatures that couldn’t be countered before that have made an impact in Standard before, and here are some of the best.
- Loxodon Smiter – Another four-power creature that couldn’t be countered saw a big splash in Standard. Also, the fact that your opponent couldn’t make you discard it was even better.
- Great Sable Stag – Having one less power was okay thanks to dodging a ton of removal in the format thanks to having protection from blue and black. This card was brought into game two from a sideboard or two back in the day.
- Thrun, the Last Troll – Probably the best of the lot, thanks to having Hexproof and being able to Regenerate made it almost impossible to deal with.
I think that there will be a place for Prowling Serpopard to come out of the Sideboard against certain Control matchups. There aren’t enough counterspells in the Standard format currently that would warrant it being played in your main deck, but this could change if Amonkhet makes changes to the current metagame to allow more Control decks to hit the format. Part of me wishes that it would be a 3/4 instead of a 4/3 creature, but the extra power could come in handy if you are playing an aggressive deck.
It’s great to have these two cards in Amonkhet, and it’s even greater to know that these cards are just the tip of the iceberg that is the wonderful preview week for Amonkhet. It seems like there will be a lot of cards that are rich in flavour and fit in with the theme of Amonkhet, so it will be interesting to see how that translates into playability in the months after release. Things here at the Daily Dose have just begun and the countdown until prerelease weekend on April 22nd has begun! Thanks again for reading and look forward to seeing you next week!
