Amonkhet
"Say hello to King Tut, asshole."
- – Jack O'Neill, Stargate
Egypt ruled by Nicol Bolas. The setting for the Spring/Summer 2017 Amonkhet block, comprised of "Amonkhet" and "Hour of Devastation". One of Lili's demon friends lives there. The lottery cards for the block are called Invocations, and do not follow any mechanical theme.
The Egyptian-inspired plane is a giant desert with only one habitable city, protected from the desert by a shield. Nicol Bolas conquered it ages ago and created a religion based around training to become the best one can be under each of the five mana colors, dying, and coming back as a mummy that does pretty much everything that keeps the civilization continuing. When God-Pharaoh Bolas returns, the mummies will live on as his immortal servants in the afterlife. When he did come back, he took control of the mummies, now magic lapis lazuli-coated "Eternals", and destroyed everything else, having no more use for the city now that he got his zombie army.
The god Hazoret survived and gave her spear to Planeswalkers so they could kick Bolas’s ass for her while she was busy leading the survivors of the city in an exodus through the desert before looping back around and reclaiming the now ruined city.
Mechanics[edit | edit source]
Exert[edit | edit source]
Lets your attacking creature do something extra. If it does, it doesn't get to untap next turn. In Hour of Devastation, the second set in the block, exerting is also used on some abilities that require creatures to tap.
Embalm[edit | edit source]
Exile a creature from your graveyard to create a token that is an exact copy of it, except it's white and a zombie. (Amonkhet set only)
Eternalize[edit | edit source]
Exile a creature from your graveyard to create a token that is a nearly exact copy of it, except it's black, a zombie, and has 4/4 for power and toughness. Basically Megamorph 2.0, being a "better" (but not strictly better depending on your deck) version of Embalm. (Hour of Devastation only)
Afflict[edit | edit source]
Trample not enough direct damage for you? Any creature with afflict that gets blocked deals direct damage to the blocking opponent's life. (Hour of Devastation only)
-1/-1 Counters[edit | edit source]
Back from our brief return to them in Scars of Mirrodin block, these little suckers can be put on creatures to weaken them. Handy for taking out anything with Indestructible.
Brick Counters[edit | edit source]
Certain artifacts in the Amonkhet set need to be built up by putting brick counters on them. Once they have three or more bricks, their effects get more powerful. In Hour of Devastation, certain artifacts enter the battlefield with brick counters, which you can remove to activate more powerful effects than their ordinary ones.
Deserts[edit | edit source]
As expected of an Egyptian-themed plane, lots of lands have the Desert subtype. Only one card in Amonkhet (set) interacts with Deserts. There's a bit more in Hour of Devastation.
Cycling[edit | edit source]
Not able or willing to play a card right now? Pay a simple cost and discard it, and you get to draw a new card!
Notable Cards[edit | edit source]
"Gatewatch Defeat" cycle[edit | edit source]
Beyond the oldfags' rejoicing over the b8watch getting absolutely wrecked, each one of these cards is an absolutely ridiculous form of color hosing for the cost.
| Settings of Magic: The Gathering | |
|---|---|
| Pre-revisionist: | First Magic Sets - First Urza Block - Arabian Nights Legends - Homelands - Ice Age - Mirage |
| Weatherlight Saga: | Portal Starter Sets - Second Urza Block Tempest Block - Masques Block - Invasion Block |
| Post-Weatherlight: | Otaria Block - Mirrodin - Kamigawa - Ravnica - Time Spiral |
| After the Mending: | Lorwyn - Alara - Zendikar - New Phyrexia Innistrad - Return to Ravnica - Theros - Tarkir - Eldraine - Ikoria |
| Two-Block Paradigm: | Kaladesh - Amonkhet - Ixalan |
| Post Two-Block Paradigm: | Eldraine - Ikoria - Kaldheim - Strixhaven |
| Never in a standard set: | Fiora (Where the Conspiracy sets take place) - Kylem (Battlebond) |
Plane Shift: Amonkhet[edit | edit source]
On July 5th of 2017, Wizards of the Coast released Plane Shift: Amonkhet, which examined the mechanics of a pre-Hour of Devastation Amonkhet as one of the potential campaign settings for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. It converted the Aven, Khenra, Minotaurs and Nagas of Amonkhet to PC races, and featured four new Cleric Domains: Ambition, Solidarity, Strength and Zeal.