Myth-Direction Amonkhet

Angel Of Sanctions

Our first Mythic rare we're taking a look at today is Angel Of Sanctions, a fairly aggressively costed creature cone removal spell. From a purely constructed point of view, Angel Of Sanctions is the type of creature that white control decks love; it gives you a way to deal with an opposing threat and a body to put some pressure on, and late on in the game you can Embalm Angel Of Sanctions if needed. Looking at it from Mythic Rare point of view, the effects and stats that Angel Of Sanctions brings to the table are what makes it a Mythic Rare to me as taken as separate parts they aren't anything special. A five mana 3/4 with flying is middle of the road, the Oblivion Ring effect is fine but when you have an uncommon that does the same thing in the same set but with Flash and it costs one less, Cast Out, then the effect doesn't seem particularly pushed. Finally, the Embalm mechanic follows the flavours and themes of Amonkhet and therefore adds more value to Angel Of Sanctions which is the main reason I think it's a Mythic Rare. On the whole, I don't think Angel Of Sanctions really hits the Mythic spot as a concept.

As Foretold

This feels more like a Mythic Rare just in power level. As Foretold is a less broken Aether Vile and Aether Vile was an uncommon, granted it came at a time with a less refined rarity system and it should have been Rare in my opinion, but the difference between As Foretold and Aether Vile is that the latter only let you put creatures into play and As Foretold lets you cast spells full stop. Yes, Aether Vile let you put creatures into play in your opponents turn and As Foretold doesn't, but just by adding the option of any spell and not just creatures really pushes the power of the enchantment and for that reason I feel As Foretold has hit the Mythic card level.

Bontu, The Glorified

The gods will be difficult to evaluate in a Mythic respect as they are all designed as Mythic Rares, but I'm going to look at them on the broader level. Bontu as a three mana, 4/6, menace, indestructible is obviously super pushed as it is and when it comes with an activated ability it becomes so much better, for obvious reasons, but when it's put into the context of your deck, everything becomes a little bit more in the details. Bontu is great if you can funnel creatures through it often, the problem comes when you have a drought in creatures and at that point Bontu becomes pretty useless despite how much power and value potential it has. As a concept, it definitely hits the Mythic Rate status, as a card it does but it can be a bit clunky at times, what I'm trying to say is that just because a card is a Mythic Rare it doesn't mean it will always win you the game or be the big game changer, but they often are.

Combat Celebrant

There are things that Magic design try not to do all that often, like extra turns; since Time Walk it has become obvious that extra turns can be incredibly powerful. It's a similar feel with additional combat phases; giving a player an additional combat phase is almost like giving all of your creatures Double Strike in a way, you're able to capitalise on your opponents weak blocking options with your biggest creatures and then once they're dealt with, alpha strike. In this day of Magic design, if you have the potential to get an additional combat phase it will always come with hoops to jump through, in this case Exerting Combat Celebrant and, if it survives with its one toughness, not having it able to untap the next turn which prevents you from abusing the additional combat phase effect. I love the power level of Combat Celebrant and the promise of additional combat phases is one that I think a lot of players can get behind especially for the low cost of three mana and for that reason I think Combat Celebrant has hit the Mythic mark.

Cruel Reality

The return of the curses is something that was expected when you think about it, the curse of the mummy's tomb for example. The context and the power level of Cruel Reality in my mind are spot on, it's thematic and for its cost it potentially has devastating, game winning power. The feel of the card on the whole though doesn't evoke a Mythic Rare to me but just a Rare so for this enchantment I don't think it hits the necessary Mythic Status.

Gideon, Of The Trials

Planeswalkers nowadays are all Mythic. Even if it is under-powered, looking at Tibalt, the status of Planeswalker takes it to Mythic, however I'm going to look at the abilities separately to see if the power level hits Mythic as well. Gideon's first ability kind of protects itself, as long as your opponent doesn't have multiple creatures or ways of dealing damage, which is pretty standard for a planeswalker and gaining the loyalty can take him out of range of dying potentially. As protection abilities go, I think it's fine and necessary in this instance, maybe not super powerful but always useful. His second ability is the one that will probably get used the most, not only because it costs zero loyalty but because you can have a three mana 4/4 indestructible and on a power level sense, this ability definitely hits hard and will do a lot of work for you. The last ability is an odd one, it costs zero and gives you an embalm that says "You cannot lose the game and your opponent cannot win the game as long as you control a Gideon planeswalker.". It's a weird one to evaluate because it puts Gideon, and every Gideon you play after the first, on the same level as Worship and you only need to use this once per game as multiple do literally nothing for you. Keep in mind that it's not just this Gideon that stops your losing the game but any Gideon as it just asks for a Gideon planeswalkers to be under your control, also you still lose life so you can go to minus life and then find yourself in a very tentative situation. All in all I think Gideon, Of The Trials hits the Mythic Rare card level mainly just for the second ability but if utilized, you can get some good mileage out of the last ability.

Glorious End

This is a very subtle yet powerful card, Glorious End essentially works as a red counterspell, it can stop an Ulamog in body and effect by exiling it while on the stack and it works as a fog when necessary. Think of Glorious End as the Swiss Army knife of red instants and because of that power level and versatility, Glorious End hits the Mythic Rare status.

Hazoret, The Fervent

Onto our next god, Hazoret, which offers a great way to ditch cards in your hand to enable attacking or blocking. It's not always about attacking or blocking however, as just by paying three mana to use Hazoret's ability is still a Shock and if you can discard say, a Fiery Temper and pay the madness cost, suddenly it's turned into pay four mana deal five damage. With a mana cost of four for a 5/4 with Haste may seem pretty strong but I feel that most of the time the Haste on Hazoret will be needless as there may not be many times when it's the last card in your hand. As far as the effect is concerned, it's pretty much just a very aggressive enchantment which you won't be unhappy with but you could always want more out of your cards. Hazoret just about hits the Mythic Rare spot but I feel the cost of the ability could've been pushed a little more, maybe only costing 1R instead.

Kefnet, The Mindful

Kefnet, the blue god, was always going to have a very tempting ability when it involves drawing cards. Just taking the ability of drawing cards and returning a land to your hand evokes both Treasure Trove and Meloku, The Clouded Mirror just without the added bonus of getting a 1/1 flying creature. Keep in my The returning a land to your hand is optional so at worst Kefnet is just four mana draw a card which is nothing to turn your nose up at, but if you do choose to return a land when you draw a card, it already takes you a third of the way to enabling the attacking and blocking clause. With the value it can give you and the power it has when you have enough cards in hand I think Kefnet has hit the Mythic Rare level quite comfortably.

Liliana, Deaths Majesty

Liliana is a very powerful planeswalker, out of the three in Amonkhet I think she's the most powerful. She comes in and whichever of the first or second ability you use she protects herself and if you use the first it takes her two turns away from a Wrath and, if you can wait another turn to ultimate her and still keep her in play, she could take a game over really easily just by fueling your yard and making creature after creature. On the whole, Liliana, Deaths Majesty has the power level of the Mythic and the feel.

Nissa, Steward Of Elements

I like Nissa, another card in Amonkhet  that has a lot of versatility. The problem is she doesn't protect herself but the trade off for that is that she can be cheap, turn three at the earliest. Being able to fix the top two cards of your library is powerful throughout the game but the main part of the first ability is the +2 loyalty. If you can drop Nissa early and +2 her the next turn you could find a three drop creature, which if you hit a creature can protect her. She could also hit a land and ramp you but the worst case scenario is you get to look at the top card of your library and gain some extra information. My issue is with the ultimate ability, specifically the fact that the lands are creatures until end of turn as opposed to permanently, I can understand why as you don't want to turn sweeper effects into double Stone Rains, but I think it could have been pushed to that extent. Nissa, Steward Of Elements is nifty and quirky and definitely on the Mythic level.

Oketra, The True

Oketra is the white god and, in true white fashion, makes creature tokens. Four mana for a 1/1 vigilant creature isn't awful, but it's much more effective in the late game when you aren't depleting most of your mana sources to do it. What I like about Oketra is that it costs four, which means, if your playing a heavy white deck, you're quite likely to have three other creatures by turn four/five which enables Oketra to attack or block quite efficiently. And when it can attack or block, the Double Strike will do a lot of work in combat, making it difficult to attack into Oketra or make profitable blocks. Again, as a god and the concept, Oketra hits the Mythic status, as a card I think it does as well, it may seem slower than the other gods but I don't think it's any less powerful.

Rhonas, The Indomitable

Another god that is difficult to block when enabled, Rhonas comes down early and it's ability takes you half way to enabling him to attack or block, if you control another creature that is. As the abilities on the gods go, Rhonas's might not seem as strong as drawing a card, making a token, shooting your opponent for 2 or draining life and scrying, but pumping a creatures power for two and giving it trample is going to give you a fair amount of power over the coming turns, especially when you can activate it twice in the same turn to force some damage through. Rhonas hits the Mythic level, just about. The fact that it's a god pushes that in my mind coupled with the added Trample on his activated ability as opposed to just pumping.

Samut, Voice Of Dissent

This is probably the easiest card to evaluate on a Mythic level as it seems to have been designed in such a way that it will almost always be absurd. So many keywords, a static ability and an activated ability, what's not to like on Samut? The only problem could come with having so many things on a card making it difficult to find the right spot for Samut; Five mana for a 3/4 Double Strike, Vigilance, Haste and Flash would seem great in an aggro deck, along with giving your other creatures Haste and being able to give one sudo Vigilance, but it could also work nicely in a midrange deck that more relies on the Flash aspect of Samut, or maybe even a control deck as an end of turn threat. Whichever way you decide to use Samut I'm sure you will get the mileage you want out of her and she obviously hits the Mythic Rare card level in both feel and especially power.

Lastly...

Vizier Of The Menagerie

Oracle Of Mul Daya was a great card, it ramped you a lot and gave you more info by letting you play with the top card of your library revealed. Vizier Of The Menagerie works similarly to Oracle but instead of lands, it lets you play creatures, and instead of playing with the top card of your library revealed, so your opponent gets to see it as well, Vizier allows you to look at it instead. It just keeps getting better though, you get to play off the top of your deck as long as it's a creature and you can use whatever mana you want to play creature spells, oh and where Oracle Of Mul Daya was a 2/2 and pretty brittle, Vizier Of The Menagerie is a 3/4 and can enter combat a lot more successfully. In almost every way Vizier seems like a pushed Oracle Of Mul Daya and it definitely hits the Mythic Rare level.

That brings us to the end of our look at all the Mythic Rares in Amonkhet. I think on the whole it's been a pretty solid and successful design space with a lot of interesting and quirky cards to build around.

I hope you've enjoyed our trip through the Mythic Rares, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.