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Welcome back to my set review! Today we’ll be covering the Black cards from Hour of Devastation! Again, I will not be reviewing cards that I believe will not see play in Standard. For example, cards like Grisly Survivor and Lurching Rotbeast will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and me saying, “This is just a Limited card” repeatedly is redundant and not necessary. However, I will be covering all the rare cards. Let’s go over my grading scale for Standard.
RATING — Explanation — Standard Examples
0 — Will never see play in Standard. (0 ratings are not listed).
1 — Unlikely to see play.(Hedron Alignment)
2 — Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card.(Negate, Duress.)
3 — Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Tireless Tracker, Hedron Archive, Oketra's Monument)
4 — Format staple, sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (Torrential Gearhulk, Glimmer of Genius, Traverse the Ulvenwald)
5 — Standard all-star. When building a deck, you keep this card in mind. If you’re playing this color you have this card in your main deck or at the very least, in your sideboard. (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar)
Ammit Eternal — 2.5
I know people think this is an auto include in zombies but I'm skeptical. The 3-drops are already pretty full with Lord of the Accursed, Diregraf Colossus, and sometimes Plague Belcher. Ammit Eternal isn't even better than Plague Belcher most of the time. Maybe there's a world where zombies cuts Lord of the Accursed for Ammit Eternal but I'm not sold just yet.
Apocalypse Demon — 1
So, I need to fill my graveyard up, pay six mana, and then continuously sacrifice a creature on each of my upkeeps to get use out of this guy? That's a very hefty cost, and not one I'm willing to pay. Where are the 6/6 demons for four mana?
Three mana wrath isn't really three mana. It's going to be at least 6+. You want this on turn three against the aggressive decks but not being able to untap lets them reload quickly. I'd rather just splash Red for Radiant Flames and play Hour of Devastation as my go to sweeper. Not fan of this card but people are bound to play it in their sideboard. I believe it’s a trap.
Doomfall — 3
I likeDoomfall, and it fits perfectly into any midrange or control deck. You can't play too many because it costs three mana but choices are very good. Early on you may want to remove a card from your opponent's hand while late you can recast it with Goblin Dark-Dwellers and exile a creature.
Dreamstealer — 2
Menace is what really sells this, it can end a game quick if it is left unchecked. Backed up by a pump spell early on and it's lights out. It's a different type of Hypnotic Specter that you can buyback with Eternalize or threaten to Mind Twist an opponent’s hand. More likely to see Sideboard play than in the maindeck. It's a nice one to have access to though.
Hour of Glory — 2
Gild saw some play in Sideboards. It's nice having a catch all to creatures, even if it's a little overcosted. It's not pretty but it does deal with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger when otherwise you’d just lose to it.
Liliana's Defeat — 2.5
Powerful sideboard card for all constructed formats. This is a better Dark Betrayal. Sure, it's not instant, but it's only one mana and the option of killing a Planeswalker pushes it over the top. It also happens to be that most good black Planeswalkers are Lilianas. This will be draining for three a lot more than you think.
Razaketh is no Griselbrand and trample isn't better than lifelink; but, two life Grim Tutor can be better than pay seven life draw seven cards. I can see Razaketh in some sort of combo deck in older formats while in Standard it can be a reanimator target or go into a 
Cryptolith Rite deck.
Razaketh's Rite — 2.5
Seasons Past is still a card; and, while this is no Dark Petition, it's still good in that deck. Five mana can be a hefty cost but Cycling for a black really helps here. Razaketh's Rite will find a home if the metagame is slow enough.
Torment of Hailfire — 1.5
Let your opponent pick what happens is always bad. I know this looks appealing but it's not good enough, even in a ramp deck. You're telling me you want to pay nine mana to deal 21 damage? That means your opponent must have nothing else in play and no hand. Why ramp into this when you can just pay one more mana and get a threat that will deal with two permanents and end the game (looking at you Ulamog)? The best home for this would be something like zombies. A deck that puts pressure on the opponent's life total and uses this as a pseudo, unreliable burn spell. That doesn't sound appealing at all.
An 0/4 that is good early on but can quickly get out of hand mid to late game is strong. On top of that, when it's not needed you can just cycle it away. It does require you to build around it but this will go into a 
cycling deck if one manages to be good enough.
Wretched Camel — 2
Zombies could adopt this. They’d need to play desert lands and some number of camels. Ifnir Deadlands is a fine Desert but do you want any other ones? Can Zombies afford a tap land like Desert of the Glorified? These are the questions you'll have to answer. Personally, I wouldn't play this camel.
Top 3 Black Cards
Doesn’t look like Black got too much here. The top three cards are all fine but nothing amazing. Doomfall goes into more decks than Ammit Eternal but in less quantity. Liliana's Defeat will be in most Sideboards of Black decks, at least as a singleton. While I didn’t rank Razaketh's Rite in the top three, it’s very close and I do think that card will see play too.
We’ve come to the end for the Black cards, I’ll catch you all at the same time tomorrow for the Red cards!
Thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
@AliEldrazi on Twitter
Hour of Devastation is upon us! Gets singles and sealed at CoolStuffInc.com!" />
