Whenever a new set arrives it brings a new slate of cards for everyone to poke and prod like a prize-winning tomato that someone else brought to the County Fair. Since you didn’t make it, and it beat your own submission, you try to find some flaw that you can point out to everyone and make yourself feel better. But then you realize that you can’t find anything wrong with the tomato, and you need to respect the tomato as the fine, prize-winning work of gardening that it is. Look at the tomato!

Most sets are like that, especially the ones that come 2nd or 3rd in a block, because they are often not bringing a lot of new innovation to the table. At best, they may take a mechanic and push it a little. (Morph into megamorph, cycling into landcycling, buyback adding non-mana costs, etc.) Where’s the great innovation? Where is the awesome newness of the first set in a block? But then, after spending some time with the spoiler and cards, we learn to appreciate the set for what it is. New Cards.

I’ll say that again . . . 

NEW CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah baby! New cards it is.

Now I play a lot of casual Magic. Like the vast majority of players out there, I play considerably more games around my kitchen table, office desk, and pickup games at the local card store than in tournaments. That’s who I be. And cards often have a different play value here where you are often playing against multiple people at the same time, whether or not we are talking about Commander.

So, what are the best cards from Hour of Devastation for casual and multiplayer games? What cards are making me all a-twitter? Let’s take a look!

Now, this is not a top-heavy set with a group of super power Top Ten. This set does have a lot of useful tools that can easily slide into existing projects, but without as many obvious or dominating cards. Consider cards like Resilient Khenra, Quarry Beetle, Hour of Promise, Sand Strangler, Without Weakness, Doomfall, Hour of Glory, Tragic Lesson (for your landfall triggers), Strategic Planning (for filling up your graveyard), Countervailing Winds, Saving Grace, and the cycling Deserts as good examples of the utility that Hour of Devastation has. But the sheer power isn’t here as much. Like a well, it’s very, very deep, but not splashy. And that’s okay. Next week, my article looking at additions to my decks and projects from this set is going to clock it at more than 4000 words long, or two full articles of length, with all of the utility and stuff to talk about and consider for my decks. But it’s not a sexy set. And remember, this is one of the last two small sets ever, so keep that in mind too.

Like the tomato, appreciate it for what it is.

So, let’s unpack it, and see what the Top Ten Cards for casual, multiplayer, and Commander are.

(You might notice a few of these are out of order. Check out the Gods later at #3 to see why).

10. Imaginary Threats

Without cycling, I would not be having this conversation right now. With it, this is an amazing card. Most situational cards like Fight to the Death are rough because you sometimes hold them where they aren’t doing you any good. Enter Imaginary Threats, which is awesome in multiplayer. Force someone to attack to open up their defense for a pair of turns. If they would lose a bunch of creatures by coming your way they might not even attack you, and then you get a turn of free attacks in there. But there are times when you have this in hand and it won’t work on the board, so no worries, just cycle away and move on. It’s perfect for Commander or multiplayer.

8. Mirage Mirror

Is this a good card? Sure! Get your copy on! But it feels like a swing and a miss to me in terms of flavor. Neither its name, nor its mechanics, particularly evoke Egypt, or the nature of Nicol Bolas. This card could have been printed in Kaladesh with the same name and ability and had a better home. Why here? I mean, it’s not a bad card, and it’s mechanically a good card for your decks, but the mechanics aren’t a nice fit, and adding ”Mirage” in front of it doesn’t really work for me as a way to run it here. Now, if you had called this False Oasis and made it a land that taps for colorless with this ability then maybe. But this? Nah, it feels like a flavor miss to me.

7. Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Well, we know the last of the four Demons Liliana will have to kill will (likely) be a 9-mana 9/9 Demon. (They have been Kothophed, Soul Hoarder a 6-mana 6/6, and Griselbrand, an 8-mana 7/7. Probably 8 mana because of how powerful Griselbrand can be.). Razaketh works in a lot of powerful shells, costs no mana or resource commitment after arriving at the battlefield other than life and creatures, and can give you a lot in return for his service. In Commander, with the 40 life start, and the repeating tutors, it’s just downright nasty. And we have the notable ways of getting Razaketh out early, from mana accelerants like Cabal Coffers and mana rocks to reanimation and more. I would love to drop this off a Show and Tell all day long. I can even see this as a powerful card in an Esper artifact shell, with a bunch of mana rocks and Voltaic Key effects dropping it quickly and then you running cheap artifact creatures to sacrifice. Razaketh is the real deal.

Control – Wants this as a game-ending body, and major threat to sacrifice cards like Mulldrifter to for tutors.

Reanimation – Wants this as a great 8/8 flample body with the ability to sacrifice pawns for more reanimation effects or to stock the graveyard.

Combo – Wants to use this as a repeatable one-sided tutor effect to get the engines need to win the game.

Artifacts – Want to drop this early, then use it for many repeatable tutors to potentially win the game right there, or to grab synergetic elements to overrun the game.

Self-Sacrifice – Decks like Jund’s Shattergang Brothers or Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper want to use this to sacrifice stuff to rack up triggers while using other effects.

Orzhov Life Fun Times – This deck wants to use its life gain tricks to have enough to run out Razaketh to use.

Lots of cards for Razaketh! Golgari Life and Death? Sultai? Everybody can see value for Razaketh, save for maybe traditional aggro or tempo decks. Get ready for the Era of Razaketh!

6. Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh

He’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. We all knew he’d be here in this set, heading back two sets to Aether Revolt. He’s big and fast and will break some boards open and crack some skulls for you. Make them all exile two cards from their hand or some from their library while actively building up Bolas’s loyalty. Make something take a face-smashing seven damage. (Note that you can redirect the damage to a person to their ‘walker, so NB, GP can kill most ‘walkers at that damage level too.) Exile all of their nonland stuff. Get your Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh on and get ready to break out in song and spin a tale of how Nicol Bolas just dominated a table.

4. Hour of Devastation

This is one of the best damage-based sweepers Red has ever had. It’s not tied to non-flyers like Earthquake. It’s not set to a lower damage level like Anger of the Gods which often doesn’t kill a lot of stuff at the kitchen table. It’s got an agreeable casting cost-to-damage ratio with five mana for five damage, a full two mana better than Starstorm for five damage would be. This is right where you want damage. Now we have a few more things going here too. Note that this is one of the few answers Red has to indestructible. There is an increasingly large amount of indestructible junk, either permanently or with tricks like Boros Charm. So this will end that crap immediately. But note that this also cleanses a lot of Planeswalkers too. Five damage to most ‘walkers is enough to kill them, and those that survive are going to be on notice. You can easily play around it with fat creatures like Inferno Titan, Combustible Gearhulk, or big Dragons in your own colors alone. This is undeniably a powerful entry into Red for kitchen tables everywhere.

9. The Locust God, 5. The Scorpion God, 3. The Scarab God

I rate The Scarab God as the best of the three for a few reasons. The ability that the three new Gods have to come back post-death is really great in places that are grind-y. Longer games that want to eke out card advantage and opportunities over time. These Gods play right into formats, metagames, and places that want cards like Genesis, Volrath's Stronghold, Academy Ruins, a lot of typical Planeswalkers like Sarkhan Unbroken, Ob Nixilis Reignited, or Nahiri, the Harbinger that have multiple avenues for card advantage and quality. The Gods’ ability to head back really works well in these formats and metagames, which is precisely the sort of metagame you typically see in multiplayer generally, and Commander specifically.

Now of the three Gods, the one that is the best at the long game is The Scarab God. By, far, the best. It plays the strongest with the self-recursive aspects and abilities. Why? Well, firstly, you have the ability to exile any creature to get a 4/4 copy from someone’s graveyard. You can turn this on your foes. You can use this to exile junk so they can’t keep repeating use of their dead cards. It’s both exiling graveyard removal and reanimation for you of a sort. Make a 4/4 Zombie every time, even if all you have to exile is your foe’s Llanowar Elves! It can work again and again to make a 4/4 token horde, and you can make multiple tokens as long as you have the mana and the targets. And your creatures still have their abilities, so you can exile Akroma and get a 4/4 flying, haste, vigilance, pro-Red, pro-Black, trample Angel Zombie and swing, or that annoying indestructible creature you just countered, well, get a 4/4 indestructible Zombie! And then, in addition, you have the free scry and drain life each upkeep for a few based on your Zombie total. Now you do not have to put The Scarab God into a Zombie deck, although if you do, it’s going to be a quick game unless it is answered. It just works with its own tokens. And you have a few Zombies you can toss in as a few adjuncts to your strategy like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Cackling Fiend, Fleshbag Marauder, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Custodi Lich, all great Zombies with strong abilities for multiplayer already built in, without really committing to a Zombie theme.

Now compare that to the other Gods. Both are fine. But they don’t have that level of mid-late game dominance that The Scarab God has, nor do they actively attack resources that you want to take out either. The Locust God is pricier with a smaller flying body, and I rate it as the worst of this set but still the 9th best card in the set for casual and multiplayer games. It makes 1/1 flying tokens for free each time you draw a card and can loot for mana. But 1/1s aren’t exactly world beaters. You often need a lot to slip through, or a deck dedicated to making them. Making 3 or 4 1/1s over two turns is nice, and there’s value in it, but you aren’t attacking opposing graveyards or lands or hands or anything. You aren’t hurting their board position. You are just making a few tokens.

The Scorpion God is a little better, it’s cheaper and beefier. It’s the 5th best card in the set as a result with a strong board presence on the level of a Spiritmonger or Inferno Titan. You can throw -1/-1 counters on stuff and then laugh as they die. And draw cards too. Don’t forget that you can throw a counter on a creature that was going to die from blocking or a Wrath of God or something to draw a card from its death. It’s got a better long game as a result compared to The Locust God.

2. Uncage the Menagerie

I like this card a lot, in the same way that I like Hibernation's End, Wild Pair, Birthing Pod and Protean Hulk. It requires a fun and different way to craft your deck. They require different names with the same cost. Do you have enough 2-dropss? Do you have enough 3-drops? Do you have enough 4-drops? Go fish! Plus, you’ll note that the creatures in question come to your hand. So, you can get stuff with cycling or channel or transmute or cast triggers and similar effects. This is not a pure Spike card at all, but instead a fun card for the Jenny and Johnny combo players out there to make work. It’s also obviously stronger in Commander where no cards have the same name and your creature list should already accommodate it.

1. Ramunap Excavator

We all know how good Crucible of Worlds is. We all know how good creatures are that add effects that were strong artifacts or enchantments and put them on bodies that can swing. Windborn Muse as a Ghostly Prison or Propaganda effect is one example of that. These are always strong. We all know how good the Excavator is going to be. It’ll be weaker than Crucible in some respects, because it will be more vulnerable to removal as a creature. It’ll be strong in other respects, because it is a creature that can swing, pick up a piece of equipment, and be involved in the redzone. Pretty much any deck that wants one will want the other, and the extra duplicate option for Commander is sexy nice. No one questions the presence of the Excavator on this list. Some might question the validity of this list if it weren’t here though, because it’s that good and powerful. And that obvious too.

And there we have it. Another set hitting the streets, with cards that will have an impact all over. So, what are your favorite cards? What are you most exciting to open? What did you think of my list?

Get your Hour of Devastation on!