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Welcome back! We’ll be going over the red cards from Hour of Devastation today. Red has some of the strongest cards from this set and they will be the ones that influence Standard the most. Keep in mind that I’ll just be going over the cards that I believe might see Standard plays. Cards strictly for limited I’ll be skipping over. Before we get into the good stuff, let’s go over my rating system.
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)
Now that we have that out of the way, it’s time to get to it!
Abrade — 3.5
Great for Red decks, especially control since you rarely want to burn your opponent's face for three damage. The Shatter option is what pushes this card over the top, killing things like Oketra's Monument, Gearhulks, Hedron Archive, or any vehicle is big game.
Chandra's Defeat — 2
Solid Sideboard card that will be in Sideboards for as long as it is in Standard. Hitting Chandras and Glorybringers alike for one mana is extremely convenient and powerful. It lets you have up the minimal amount of mana so you can do other things too.
Chaos Maw — 1.5
If this sees play it will be because it was reanimated. Seven for the effect it gives isn't worth what you pay for it. Especially since Hour of Devastation is an option.
Crash Through — 2.5
Cheap spells that pump your creatures and cantrip have proven to be strong in aggressive strategies, especially ones that have Prowess. I expect we'll see this in some sort of aggressive shell or 
shell, possibly even around Fevered Visions.
Earthshaker Khenra — 3
Goes into any Red aggressive deck. Stopping blockers and having haste is what Red aggressive decks really want. I remember people playing Goblin Heelcutter for a similar ability and that thing cost four. Eternalizing the Khenra late game is another perk that will kill your opponent.
Hazoret's Undying Fury — 1
Mind's Desire this is not. Not being able to hit itself and keep going makes it very bad. Heaven forbid you miss on it because you'll just die for paying at least twelve mana over the course of two turns. I don't mind this card being bad, I'm okay without having a good RNG card like Collected Company or Aetherworks Marvel in Standard.
Hour of Devastation — 4
This will see more and more play as time goes on. It is one of the best 5-mana board wipes we've seen in a very long time. The last one was probably Hallowed Burial? This one gets Planeswalkers too?! A Control player's dream. It’s also solid in ramp and midrange decks.
Imminent Doom — 1.5
A build around me card for sure but it's asking too much. Having to play certain spells at certain times isn't where you want to be. Eventually this will get to a point where it just stops doing damage because it has too many counters on it. Not a fan of this one.
Neheb, the Eternal — 2
Six toughness is a solid start for this card. Not dying to Hour of Devastation is a good place to be. The problem is that it's a five-cost creature that doesn't do anything the turn you play it. Even if you untap with it you still need another card in your hand for it to payoff. Not being able to do a ton of damage on its own is a glaring drawback. However, when you do have a follow up play after Neheb attacks then you could do some severe damage or just end the game on the spot.
Sand Strangler — 2
Flametongue Kavu sees play in cubes and commander decks to this day. If the meta warps a certain way where three damage to a creature kills it, then this little beast will be good. If not, then it can still be a solid sideboard option for midrange red decks.
Wildfire Eternal — 1.5
We don't have spells as powerful as Cruel Ultimatum to cast off this Jackal. Keep an eye out for expensive and powerful instants and sorceries in future sets but for now, I don't expect this to see much play.
Top 3 Red Cards
Red easily takes the cake her for best cards in the set. Hour of Devastation is the best card while Abrade might likely be the second best. Red is giving all the other colors a run for their money.
Make sure to tune in tomorrow for Green, Gold, Artifacts, and lands. We’ll go out with a bang!
Thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
Hour of Devastation is upon us! Gets singles and sealed at CoolStuffInc.com!" />
