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From 3 PM (UTC) on Friday, May 25 through 5 PM (UTC) on Monday, May 28, Hour of Devastation Quick Draft will be available. In this format you will draft three boosters: the first two will be Hour of Devastation followed by a single pack of Amonkhet. To help people prepare, I thought I’d supply some links to good resources for players new to the format, as well as some information condensed from some of those resources.

First, Neal Oliver has a couple of good articles discussing this format’s two-color draft archetypes:

The Draft Archetypes of Hour of Devastation: Allied Color Pairs

The Draft Archetypes of Hour of Devastation: Enemy Color Pairs

Limited Resources is a great resource for limited players in general. They often break down draft archetypes for each format, but they didn’t do that for Hour of Devastation. Their Hour of Devastation Sunset Show has a lot of good information on the format, though (it also has Ixalan previews).

Luis Scott-Vargas has a series of limited set reviews for each set, and these are an indispensable resource for card evaluation. I will provide links to the relevant reviews here, then add aggregated versions of some of the most salient information below.

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Review: White

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Review: Blue

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Review: Black

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Review: Red

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Review: Green

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Review: Gold, Artifacts, and Lands

Hour of Devastation Limited Set Re-Do

Amonkhet Limited Set Review: White

Amonkhet Limited Set Review: Blue

Amonkhet Limited Set Review: Black

Amonkhet Limited Set Review: Red

Amonkhet Limited Set Review: Green

Amonkhet Limited Set Review: Gold, Artifacts, and Lands

Here are some highlights/takeaways from the resources linked above:

Top White Commons

Aven of Enduring Hope

Compulsory Rest

Dauntless Aven

Fan Bearer

Oketra’s Avenger

Tah-Crop Elite

Unwavering Initiate

Winged Shepherd

Top Blue Commons

Aerial Guide

Aven Initiate

Cartouche of Knowledge

Essence Scatter

River Serpent

Shimmerscale Drake

Unquenchable Thirst

Unsummon

Top Black Commons

Final Reward

Horror of the Broken Lands

Lethal Sting

Marauding Boneslasher

Soulstinger

Splendid Agony

Torment of Venom

Unburden

Top Red Commons

Desert Cerodon

Electrify

Emberhorn Minotaur

Frontline Devastator

Magma Spray

Minotaur Sureshot

Open Fire

Puncturing Blow

Top Green Commons

Ambuscade

Bitterblade Warrior

Cartouche of Strength

Greater Sandwurm

Harrier Naga

Naga Vitalist

Quarry Hauler

Rhonas’s Stalwart

All Cards Sorted into Tiers, By Color

Note: For very situational cards, we either look at the average-case scenario here, or they show up twice with a red asterisk * .

Some notes on situational cards (marked by red asterisks * above) from LSV…



Imminent Doom

“This is still a miss in most decks–that hasn’t changed. What has is that I’ve seen this be very effective in decks with four 1-drops, and great in decks with 5+ 1-drops (assuming you curve 2-4 normally, with a couple 5s). This is doable, and given the amount of playable 1s in the format, I’ve actually been happy taking this in the middle of pack 1 and working toward it, though I wouldn’t first-pick it. It’s also cute with aftermath cards, as they can often trigger it twice.” – LSV



Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh

“This is still not the safest first pick, but given the speed of the format, I’d be more inclined to take it than I was. You can make green ramp decks, and 3-color nongreen control decks are very doable too. That makes Bolas a legit bomb, even though he will rot in your sideboard a decent amount of the time.” – LSV



Djeru, with Eyes Open

“Without a planeswalker to fetch, this is almost unplayable (you can do so much better than a 5-mana 4/3 these days). Once you have a ‘walker, this becomes great, though you will still probably wheel it. A 2-for-1 that tutors up one of your best cards and protects it is sick, and all you need is a rare plus a mythic to get there.” – LSV



Solitary Camel

“Once you get over the hump of finding your first Desert, this is a good deal for 3 mana. It’s marginal without a Desert, and desireable once you have 4+ Deserts in your deck.” – LSV



Unconventional Tactics

“I really like this card. It’s not good in non-Zombie decks, but it offers a sick win condition if you’ve got 5+ Zombies, and that doesn’t seem all that hard to assemble. Every Zombie offering at least 5 points of evasive damage is no joke, and I suspect this will finish many games that looked unwinnable for the Zombie deck.” – LSV



Riddleform

“In the spells deck, this is a solid finisher and can even be a nice surprise defender. You leave mana up and your opponent might not attack into it, after which you just get to scry end of turn. Of course, it’s just dead in a spell-light deck, so keep in mind that you want 10+ spells for this to be a riddle worth solving.” – LSV



Gilded Cerodon

“Without any Deserts, this is mediocre at best. Once you have a few Deserts, it’s solid, though not as good as gold. It pressures the opponent effectively, and is a fine use of your 5-drop slot, though that’s not a slot you usually have trouble filling.” – LSV



Magmaroth

“In a spell-heavy deck, this card is rock-solid. Casting a spell each turn isn’t that hard in a deck with 10+ spells, and a 4-mana 5/5 is enough above rate to be worth the trouble. It even is somewhat immune to -1/-1 counter based removal, which is a cute upside.” – LSV



Hour of Promise

“In a deck without Deserts, this is a bad expensive ramp spell. In a deck where you have the promise of getting Zombies, it becomes quite strong, and worth doing some work for. I’d want 5+ Deserts before playing this, and ideally a high curve to use the mana, at which point this is a good 5-mana play.” – LSV



Sidewinder Naga

“In a deck without Deserts, this is a curve-filler and nothing more. In a deck with Deserts, it represents a lot of damage, though it still dies easily. The dream of playing this as a 4/2 and backing it up with removal and tricks is a real one, and this could make a green beatdown deck tick.” – LSV



Abandoned Sarcophagus

“Making all your cycling cards into cantrips (since you get to cycle them and then play them) is cute, and this does get value when it comes down late since your graveyard is stocked. This is likely too slow, but I’m sure interested in seeing how it plays out.” – LSV



Time to Reflect

“In a deck with 7+ Zombies, this is a great removal spell. In a deck with fewer or none, it is quite poor. Act accordingly.” – LSV

Hopefully this will be helpful to someone who is drafting this format for the first time this weekend. It was definitely helpful to me to put it together.

As always, feel free to send any questions, comments and criticisms to me here, on Reddit, on Twitter at @DailyArena or on Facebook via the @DailyArenaMTG page.

Joseph Eddy is a Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Software Developer, and Gamer. Magic is his favorite hobby, and he’s looking forward to seeing you all on Arena. He streams Magic Arena on a weekly basis (or more), but currently is unable to keep to a set schedule.