Welcome all to the end of the second preview week here on the Daily Dose of Hour of Devastation. Before I start talking about Prerelease weekend on Monday, there are still some hot new cards that deserve a look. Today I want to talk about a card that, for the second time in history, has the same name as the set it's appearing in (the first was Conflux). On top of that there a couple of other cards that have some firsts associated with them.
Let’s start things off with a card that for the first time in Magic gives other Horses a bonus. Here's Crested Sunmare.
So, if you can gain life, you get to create a 5/5 indestructible Horse creature every turn. Sweet!
You're probably asking yourself, how many other Horse creatures are even in Standard right now? There are three, Ghoulsteed, Nightmare and Stallion of Ashmouth. None of them are really that playable in Standard. So if one is to make Crested Sunmare work, you'll have to find multiple ways to gain life instead. Here are some of the best cards to do so currently in Standard that are White or colourless.
- Aerial Responder
- Aethersphere Harvester
- Glory-Bound Initiate
- Sacred Cat
- Aetherflux Reservoir
- Authority of the Consuls
- Blessed Alliance
As you can see, there are some good options to gain life on a consistent basis. When in doubt you can always just play a second Crested Sunmare and make them both indestructible.
Over the years, there have plenty of creatures that have their power and toughness equal to the number of creatures you control. There's never been a card that has power and toughness equal to twice the number of creatures you control though, until now! Let’s have a look at Majestic Myriarch.
The first card that comes to mind when I see this is Odric, Lunarch Marshal. It doesn’t give all your creatures abilities, but Majestic Myriarch makes up for it with an always growing power and toughness.
Imagine already having Majestic Myriarch in play, and following it up by playing an Angel of Invention. Even with no other creatures on the battlefield, Majestic Myriarch becomes an 8/8 creature with Flying, Vigilance, and Lifelink. The speed at which its power and toughness can grow to a large number is very quick. I can see this card seeing play in a White/Green tokens deck, allowing it to get big in a hurry.
Lastly, I want to talk to you about the namesake card for the set. Here is a card that create a lot of destruction on the battlefield, Hour of Devastation.
I’ve always been a fan of Red sweeper cards, from the early beginnings of Earthquake to one of the most recent ones, Sweltering Suns. Cards like Sweltering Suns, Kozilek’s Return, and Radiant Flames are great for dealing with a large army of small aggressive creatures. Sometimes you need to deal with a larger board of creatures though, like when you're playing a Green/Black deck.
Hour of Devastation is an alternative Red sweeper that will allow you to clear the battlefield of most, if not all, creatures at any point in the game. Where sweepers in general often fail in recent years is that they destroy all the creatures on the battlefield, but leave behind some pesky Planeswalkers, like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, to wreak havoc afterwards. Hour of Devastation fixes this problem.
This concludes the second preview week here on the Daily Dose of Hour of Devastation. Next week, the focus on the Daily Dose will shift to Limited play and the Prerelease weekend. I want to talk about the best hidden gems, Limited archetypes, and help you have fun and do well at your local Prerelease event. Thanks for joining me today, and I look forward to seeing you again on Monday!
