Hour of Devastation is the card red control decks have always wanted.

Hour of Devastation deals 5 damage to each creature…

Red has long had the ability to deal two to three points of damage to multiple creatures for about three mana. Examples include Standard Staples like Kozilek’s Return, Radiant Flames, or Sweltering Suns.

But five damage?

Historically, red mages would have had to pay seven or more mana for a big sweep like this. Worse yet, in earlier eras, they would have to take five damage themselves! Earthquake, for example, only hit non-flying creatures.

From these perspectives, Hour of Devastation is really something special.

Blah blah blah… Each non-Bolas Planeswalker

One of the fantastic aspects of Hour of Devastation is how it can deal with Planeswalkers.

Forget about the fact that it can deal with Planeswalkers directly at all, the fail state of this card falls into a convenient place. What is the kind of deck where you would want Hour of Devastation? Something like Zombies, right? A deck where the opponent plays multiple creatures, that sometimes get big… The ability to deal five to all of them is quite attractive against Zombies.

But what about when you don’t want a big creature sweeper? Oftentimes, the opposite number to Zombies will be a Control deck. Those decks will very often give you one or more Planeswalkers to kill, especially board control decks.

Hour of Devastation works great in Grixis

This set is very Grixis-oriented. There is a Grixis themed cycle of Gods, and of course the God Pharaoh is in Grixis colors.

Hour of Devastation (red) is highly complimentary to other key Grixis cards. For example, this card does five… And Torrential Gearhulk has six toughness. It’s one thing for Torrential Gearhulk to live through the Hour… But what about being able to swing directly?

Consider:

• Turn 6 – Flash out Torrential Gearhulk (to stabilize, stay alive, just get an advantage)
• Turn 7 – Play a land; cast it leaving up UU. Get in there for five!

And more! Much more! in “Hour of Devastation is the Best of the Bunch”:

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The Locust God may be on the art, but our bet is that Hour of Promise will be ushering in Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

Hour of Promise is no Explosive Vegetation

Mike initially misreads Hour of Devastation as an overcosted Explosive Vegetation. It’s not a surprising mistake. Explosive Vegetation costs four, but Hour of Promise costs five. They both go and get two lands; Hour of Promise sometimes makes two zombies.

Oh wait… basic.

Sorry: basic

That is, unlike Explosive Vegetation, Hour of Promise can search up any lands, not just more Forests or whatever!

Example: Go and get two copies of Shrine of the Forsaken Gods

All you have to do is hit your land drop next turn to have ten mana for Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger!

Hour of Promise is More a Thalia’s Lancers than an Explosive Vegetation

Mike loves to mark for 4/4 creatures for five mana that have a cool or card advantageous abilities.

Examples:

• Goblin Dark-Dwellers
• Indrik Stomphowler
• Thalia’s Lancers

Hour of Promise is like one of those, but possibly better. Why? Instead of one 4/4 creature, your payoff is two 2/2 creatures. Two 2/2s are sometimes more useful than just one 4/4, but Hour of Promise generates about the same amount of power and toughness.

The “Desert” Clause isn’t that big a deal

All you need is one Desert in your first five lands and you’ll be dripping in Zombie tokens!

Why? You can just go and get two other Deserts and put them on the battlefield. Now, armed with three Deserts in play, you will soon the be the owner of a pair of Zombie tokens.

The deck design implications are open to explore. Do you want to play lots of Deserts? That would increase your chances of having a Desert in play on turn five. Or, you might only play three total Deserts. Card selection aside, you will have a lot of specialty lands fighting for space in your mana base… You might not have room for too many Deserts.

Pro Tour Champion Patrick Chapin and Resident Genius Michael J. Flores cover many more Hour of Devastation cards in this great podcast. Two words: “horse tribal” … Check it out now!

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Doomfall is an extremely flexible, potentially main-deck, card.

Meet the Cruel Edict

Doomfall costs one more mana than Cruel Edict, but even beyond its ability to act as a discard spell, there may be good reason to pay three instead of two.

Rather than merely destroying a creature (as Cruel Edict did), Doomfall exiles it. That is bad news for Scrapheap Scrounger decks! Any creatures that rely on durability or coming back from the dead might have problems with it (e.g. The Scorpion God)

Playing as Transgress the Mind

Again, we see a card that, at 2b, costs a little more than Transgress the Mind. Part of that is just a tax levied against the creature removal side of the spell (you can’t very well have a functional reprint of Staple Transgress the Mind that also kills creatures).

But the reality is, Doomfall is not “just” a reprint of Transgress the Mind. It costs one additional mana, but on the other hand you can take anything, rather than only cards that conform to a particular mana profile. That might not feel like it’s worth three mana in isolation… But you’ve always got the Edict opion!

Ultimately, it Can Get Everybody

This card lets you beat a combo deck with creature removal, or kill an attacker with your extra Duress.

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To be honest The Scorpion God is actually near the end of the episode… Still great.

The Defeat Cycle

The Defeat Cycle (Jace’s Defeat, Gideon’s Defeat, etc.) is a quintet of fast color hosers. Most will be Staple in Standard, with a couple of them likely growing up to be cross-format All-Stars (Liliana’s Defeat especially).

• Jace’s Defeat – This card is basically Gainsay. You’re unlikely to get the Scry 2 very often, but that’s not a big deal… Gainsay has been Staple every time it has been available in Standard. Consequently, Jace’s Defeat is going to be a great way to compress sideboard slots; it’ll be nice having one card that can answer Torrential Gearhulk or Glimmer of Genius.
• Gideon’s Defeat – Mike loves this one, largely because he’s been beaten up by Gideon, Ally of Zendikar so much the past year. This card will be great at slowing down everything from Toolcraft Exemplar to the newcomer Adorned Pouncer to Mike’s hated Gideon.
• Liliana’s Defeat – Wow, what an All-Star (to be). Super mana efficient; more importantly, in Modern, this will be a Bump in the Night / Lava Spike that also kills Liliana of the Veil at the same time.
• Chandra’s Defeat – Will be bananas in largely the same way as Liliana’s Defeat. Will be best buddies with Snapcaster Mage.
• Nissa’s Defeat – While this will be the “clear fifth place” Defeat, it will create a position of privilege for green creatures. Every other color’s creatures are poised to be Defeat-ed. Not so green.

Nissa’s Defeat creates a privileged position for green creatures and adds a three-mana Stone Rain back into Standard.

Adorned Pouncer and Eternalize

Adorned Pouncer is strictly superior to Fencing Ace

Adorned Pouncer is everything Fencing Ace was… and Also a Cat. And also has Eternalize.

Would you pay five mana for just the 4/4 double striker? Patrick wouldn’t. Mike would at least look at it. That the boys are even having this discussion should tell you how good Adorned Pouncer will be.

Thank goodness for Gideon’s Defeat’s exile clause! Magma Spray will continue to do work.

The Scorpion God

“This God doesn’t require worshippers.”
-Patrick

If you just start with 6/5 for five mana… But with this level of resilience… It’s at least worth a conversation. A 6/5 body for five mana isn’t too bad; and if you can’t kill it?

There are two other abilities, still.

The Scorpion God can mow down a ton of small creatures (and probably draw cards at the same time). It can also shoot at big creatures to get them small enough to tussle with and draw).

This summary doesn’t do justice to “The Scorpion God is Just the Beginning” … The only way to hear everything we’re thinking about Hour of Devastation right now, you best give a listen!

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