I feel like it's a flavor flop. There are so many csrds that don't fit the Egyptian flavor pallet. Minotaurs, angels, masticores, none of these belong. Too many of the chaff cards could have had more resonance.
Where's the cool mummy or lich? Pharaoh?
The trials all seem weak as well. The Gods are meh.
With Theros block there might have been mechanical issues, but the block screamed Greek myth and was rich with flavor. But this set seems mostly generic with some Egyptish art platered on the cards, and much of that is weak.
I feel that ultimately WOTC had such a great opportunity to create an amazing set and they missed it both in flavor and mechanic.
I'm not one to usually complain about sets I'm unimpressed with, I just normally keep quiet and wait for them to print a set I'll enjoy. This time however, I had my hopes set a little higher and felt that they didn't deliver.
I feel wizards really dropped the ball with flavour and mechanics this set. As Perodequeso said, too many odd creature types that don't really fit the theme. I feel they had the chance to create a lot of cards based off a few Arabian Nights ideas. I understand the Arabian Nights lore is very different to egypt, but there are some similar elements. While I'm fine with the power level of the set, there is a tonne of chaffe, but that is a problem with most new sets these days. It reallt just feels like generic mtg with some pyramids in the art.
When most people think of egypt they think of monuments and huge amounts of people building impossible constructs. Religion was key as well, but the Gods are not very interesting or God-like. They are essentially just big beat sticks with no connection to anything else. In Theros, devotion made sense. UNnderstand they don't want to do the same thing though.
I think they missed the mark with lands as well. I would have liked to have seen a 'Monument' land type.
Something like: Pyramid of the Sun
T - Add W to your mana pool. If there are five brick counters on Pyramid of the Sun add WWW instead.
WWT - Tap another target creature you control. Add 1 brick Counter to Pyramid of the Sun.
I dunno something like this. It just feels more on theme if the momument like effect is on a land.
A fixed pyramids would have been cool:
Pyramid of the God Pharaoh - 2
Artifact
Lands you control indestructible and hexproof
T - Regenerated target creature you control.
And why no Oasis or Desert! I find it laughable Desert is "too powerful" for standard...sure WoTC.
I have no real issues with Amonkhet so far except that they reprinted Liliana and Gideon, and we've seen enough of them lately. As for flavor, I found plenty! I read MaRo's articles, and the set does fit the real-life Egyptians' fascination with death and the afterlife, and there's even a small subtheme of sacred cats. Not to mention all the other, smaller detail that add up. And what's more, Amonkhet is based on Egypt, not an exact replica with mana costs added. There's some creative liberties that Wizards can take, such as adding minotaurs. For me, while minotaurs are obviously based on the legend of Crete and Knossos, they feel at least somewhat similar to the vein of Egyptian lore and worlds, and that's good enough for me. Besides, there wouldn't be very many creature types if Wizards left out anything that wasn't based on real Egypt. As for the five Gods, I agree that they're not as interesting as the Theros ones. Devotion was a much better way to show how they're otherworldly supreme beings that sometimes come to earth to fight personally.
And besides, Amonkhet as Nicol Bolas as the pharaoh. We'll see him soon, and that makes me very happy
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UBR Sedris RG Omnath, Locus of Rage UB The Scarab God RUG Maelstrom Wanderer WU Dragonlord Ojutai
I agree that the zombie theme, the cats, and even the Naga were flavor sucesses. But they should have included a stronger cleric theme. If the stuff they chose was too subtle then what's the point. I get it that WOTC takes liberties, and is creating an Egypt themed set, not historical Egypt, they still could have done a better job creating resonance.
There's historical Egypt and pop/fantasy Egypt. It seems that WOTC landed somewhere in the bland center missing the mark.
I was kind of hoping they whould make more pyramids, and that they would be Forifications.
I have been testing sealed with cockatrice and i really like the limited format of Amonkhet. On the surface it looks grindy but most of the colors have answers (albeit junky ones) and the mechanics are not very parasitic so you dont get pushed into archetypes in deck builds. But i guess thats the other side of the sword - if the mechanics are parasitic it helps to make the flavour stronger.
As far as power level - my opinion is skewed as I fall into Limited and Commander only formats and there are some really good cards here for my Commander decks as well as some build around Legends.
Unfortunately I don't really love Egypt themed stuff so my opinion on that is fairly bias towards dislike - but I do think that we need to look to Hour of Devastation before we rule out what wizards missed regarding Egyptian lore - i mean they did design a second set here.
I have some preconceived ideas based on what I've seen, but it would be hasty to judge before I've actually played with the cards. While I have reservations about MtG's direction since BFZ, I'm still not willing to pass judgment until I have real experience with the set.
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Can you name all of the creature types with at least 20 cards? Try my Sporcle Quiz! Last Updated: 6/29/20 (Core Set 2021).
I like it, but BFZ and Oath being in Standard with Amonkhet is going to mess with things a lot. WotC didn't test BFZ/Oath with Amonkhet cards because the two blocks were never supposed to be in the same standard environment. Now they are. I think it's obvious that we were never meant to put Ulamog into play on turn 5 with Champion of Rhonas and it has already been said that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar wasn't supposed to be around with new Gideon. Someone at R&D should probably be fired, though. WotC is making some painfully egregious errors...like how there's now a turn-two, two card infinite mana combo in Modern. Either Magic is growing too rapidly and it's difficult for WotC to keep up with balancing or something else is going on.
All that having been said, I do like the return of cycling and the whole -1/-1 counters thing. It should add a bit more complexity to Standard.
The mechanics are almost all rehashes and not in interesting ways. Cycling is great, but the set does less with it than Onslaught did over a decade ago, to say nothing of Time Spiral's treatment of it. Flashback is great too, which means that Aftermath and Embalm have a lot of potential. But this design space is mostly squandered on uninteresting effects with a few pushed Mythics/Rares having some semblance of intriguing play (just like Madness, Vehicles, and practically every mechanic from Origins on).
The flavor is garbage, just like Kaladesh. Once again, we have an entire plane, a whole world that basically exists in one city, with some outlying wildlands, whose citizenry have a singular purpose. Amonkhet feels less like a civilization and more like a jRPG theme town for the Jacetice League to show up and save the day in; but I guess that's the point.
Limited looks like another curve-out format with the same tired variations of "staples" filling out the set (e.g. 5CMC Instant-speed Black kill spell, bears with block mechanic upside, goofy build-around enchantment in Blue, Red dude that uses set mechanic to make opposing critters unable to block). Since Origins, draft sets have become incredibly formulaic, likely caused, at least in part, by the expedited release schedule.
I suppose the silver lining is that none of the cards scream "format staple" a la Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Archangel Avacyn, Liliana TLH, the good Gearhulks, etc. It seems as though power is well-distrusted, at least from my viewpoint right now.
Looks like it's mostly the usual vitriol. I don't understand how the devoted fans of a thing can constantly seem to hate it so much. I've never seen an environment where the community seemed generally happy with the state of things.
To be fair, I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, but I find it difficult to trust when people get swept up in the "hot garbage" rhetoric.
Looks like it's mostly the usual vitriol. I don't understand how the devoted fans of a thing can constantly seem to hate it so much. I've never seen an environment where the community seemed generally happy with the state of things.
To be fair, I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, but I find it difficult to trust when people get swept up in the "hot garbage" rhetoric.
While this is certainly true, it also shows that many players have high expectations from WotC based on what WotC has done in the past.
I personally am disappointed because I wanted Modern playable cards, especially counter/draw type cards. As Foretold is a HUGE plus in my book, but that's about it. (forgot about that Vizier that works with Devoted Druid - he's cool too)
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I like it, but BFZ and Oath being in Standard with Amonkhet is going to mess with things a lot. WotC didn't test BFZ/Oath with Amonkhet cards because the two blocks were never supposed to be in the same standard environment. Now they are. I think it's obvious that we were never meant to put Ulamog into play on turn 5 with Champion of Rhonas and it has already been said that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar wasn't supposed to be around with new Gideon. Someone at R&D should probably be fired, though. WotC is making some painfully egregious errors...like how there's now a turn-two, two card infinite mana combo in Modern. Either Magic is growing too rapidly and it's difficult for WotC to keep up with balancing or something else is going on.
All that having been said, I do like the return of cycling and the whole -1/-1 counters thing. It should add a bit more complexity to Standard.
See bolded part. What do you mean? I.e. where did you get this info from? What changed?
Blood Block was supposed to rotate when Barrel Block rolled in. Blood being BFZ and Oath, Barrel being Amonkhet. However then they latter went and changed their release schedule again two years.
I don't know how I feel yet, it's too early. I'm a kitchen table player who looks for strong cards that fall through the cracks and never find a home in popular decks, cards I can pick up I expensively in multiples. I won't know what Amonkhet offers me until the meta settles.
Looks like it's mostly the usual vitriol. I don't understand how the devoted fans of a thing can constantly seem to hate it so much. I've never seen an environment where the community seemed generally happy with the state of things.
To be fair, I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, but I find it difficult to trust when people get swept up in the "hot garbage" rhetoric.
While this is certainly true, it also shows that many players have high expectations from WotC based on what WotC has done in the past.
I personally am disappointed because I wanted Modern playable cards, especially counter/draw type cards. As Foretold is a HUGE plus in my book, but that's about it. (forgot about that Vizier that works with Devoted Druid - he's cool too)
But is it that people have felt that way at the time or that the rose tint of retrospecticals is clouding their vision?
On topic, the set doesn't seem as overtly powerful as Kaladesh but certainly more so than BFZ. Im more excited to play this limited than SOI, BFZ or Kaladesh and that is without playing all bar the latter at pre release only. The invocations are a bit of a hot mess, im not a collector but I can appreciate nice art and its a shame more than anything.
It would have been nice to see a few more Sphinxes and a bit more flavour but I think this set has more cards tham im interested in picking up than most of the recent sets combined so overall I think it looks interesting.
I like it, but BFZ and Oath being in Standard with Amonkhet is going to mess with things a lot. WotC didn't test BFZ/Oath with Amonkhet cards because the two blocks were never supposed to be in the same standard environment. Now they are. I think it's obvious that we were never meant to put Ulamog into play on turn 5 with Champion of Rhonas and it has already been said that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar wasn't supposed to be around with new Gideon. Someone at R&D should probably be fired, though. WotC is making some painfully egregious errors...like how there's now a turn-two, two card infinite mana combo in Modern. Either Magic is growing too rapidly and it's difficult for WotC to keep up with balancing or something else is going on.
All that having been said, I do like the return of cycling and the whole -1/-1 counters thing. It should add a bit more complexity to Standard.
See bolded part. What do you mean? I.e. where did you get this info from? What changed?
Blood Block was supposed to rotate when Barrel Block rolled in. Blood being BFZ and Oath, Barrel being Amonkhet. However then they latter went and changed their release schedule again two years.
Sets are tested and sent to print way in advance of actual release. There's no time to rectify balancing issues between two blocks that weren't tested together short of either banning the cards in question or, more damning, banning all of BFZ/Oath from Standard for the remainder of it's stay.
I don't really know what to make of the set. From a flavor standpoint it feels mixed. There are great nods to egypt like Prowling Serpopard and various mummies, but we needed more something. I'm kind of wondering if they stuck the missing half of the setting flavor in Hour of Devastation, but I would have liked to see a living pharaoh as a card, a less zombie filled desert with a rich farmland community and more emphasis on the positive aspects of egyptian life. At least that is how I feel.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I don't really know what to make of the set. From a flavor standpoint it feels mixed. There are great nods to egypt like Prowling Serpopard and various mummies, but we needed more something. I'm kind of wondering if they stuck the missing half of the setting flavor in Hour of Devastation, but I would have liked to see a living pharaoh as a card, a less zombie filled desert with a rich farmland community and more emphasis on the positive aspects of egyptian life. At least that is how I feel.
Well the positive side of Egypt was in Amonkhet, I wish I was joking. Also for some reason pop culture dictates that Ancient Egypt must be evil somehow.
I think the biggest problem with how this plane feels is the set doesn't focus mainly on an egyptian-like society, but on Bolas' sandbox with added egyptian flavor.
In that way it makes sense that we don't see any other cities or pharaos (how would Bolas allow for any other ruler than himself), but it feels a bit lacking in some aspects.
However, I wouldn't say this set is a complete flavor fail. I like the heavy emphasis on death and the afterlive. Also i.e. minotaurs might not be the most egyptian thing, but in this ram-people iteration, they don't feel out of place either.
And for all complaining about the gods feeling less impressive in comparison to the theros ones: The gods of Theros are very powerfull, actually godly beings that act to their own liking, while the Amonkhet ones are installed by Bolas to herd his people - makes sense for them to be less outstanding imo.
I think they did ok with Amonkhet. I still don't like the invocations though. I wasn't very fond of aftermath cards either when I first saw them but I've come to appreciate the small but still wide screen art, and the fact that it will be much difficult to forget these cards in the graveyard because there will be a side sticking out. Coming from someone who still forgets cards with flashback in the GY I like that they addressed that with the aftermath cards.
As for the other mechanics, I don't see anything particularly exciting, but I guess they are saving the coolest things for the Fall blocks, as they are the ones that are going to stay longer in rotation.
Other than that, there are plenty other cards that I like for the art and flavor, and I think they did a good job with the ancient egyptian theme.
There are also some comical cards in the set. For those claiming wotc has no sense of humor these days here's the cat mummy:
I guess the marketing section of WOTC is great, but it's one to create hype, another - good product. Returns to Innistrad and Zendikar were mostly failures, because the fans had enormous expectations. Kaladesh wasn't hyped so much and was a decent block.
Amonkhet - the flavour of many cards is a fail, no Bolas, no exciting chase cards for the older formats when Standard is mostly dead in many countries... It can be a good set for drafting, but I don't know, I don't like it, I won't buy box or support WOTC this time.
Its been known for months that Nicol Bolas wasn't even going to be in Amonkhet set but rather instead in Hour of Devastation.
There's some creative liberties that Wizards can take, such as adding minotaurs. For me, while minotaurs are obviously based on the legend of Crete and Knossos, they feel at least somewhat similar to the vein of Egyptian lore and worlds, and that's good enough for me.
Egypt also had the Apis Bulls, which recent archaeology proved were actual animals and not solely mythological. (As in, they literally found mummified bulls that match the description of the cult's animal.)
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Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not watching.
There's some creative liberties that Wizards can take, such as adding minotaurs. For me, while minotaurs are obviously based on the legend of Crete and Knossos, they feel at least somewhat similar to the vein of Egyptian lore and worlds, and that's good enough for me.
Egypt also had the Apis Bulls, which recent archaeology proved were actual animals and not solely mythological. (As in, they literally found mummified bulls that match the description of the cult's animal.)
Very true. Also they had the Egyptian god Montu. He was either depicted as a falcon-headed or bull-headed man and one of his abilities allowed him to take the form of a white bull. Montu was known as a nomadic war-god. General-kings would call themselves Mighty Bulls, Sons of Montu. One such figure is Ramses II. Which circles back in on Neheb as he was named after a ruler in lower Egypt with the same name.
In a similar circumstance to Montu, Thoth, although known for being depicted as ibis-headed he also was depicted as a baboon-headed man as well.
Well, as a whole it feels like one of the weakest sets wizards has ever printed, with only a handful of notable cards that barely compare in utility or power to Kaladesh or even BFZ. They don't have enough good creatures with Embalm to make that mechanic worth pursuing outside of limited, we have yet another set of split cards that have always been unpopular historically, and they needed more cycling cards.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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Where's the cool mummy or lich? Pharaoh?
The trials all seem weak as well. The Gods are meh.
With Theros block there might have been mechanical issues, but the block screamed Greek myth and was rich with flavor. But this set seems mostly generic with some Egyptish art platered on the cards, and much of that is weak.
I feel that ultimately WOTC had such a great opportunity to create an amazing set and they missed it both in flavor and mechanic.
I'm not one to usually complain about sets I'm unimpressed with, I just normally keep quiet and wait for them to print a set I'll enjoy. This time however, I had my hopes set a little higher and felt that they didn't deliver.
When most people think of egypt they think of monuments and huge amounts of people building impossible constructs. Religion was key as well, but the Gods are not very interesting or God-like. They are essentially just big beat sticks with no connection to anything else. In Theros, devotion made sense. UNnderstand they don't want to do the same thing though.
I think they missed the mark with lands as well. I would have liked to have seen a 'Monument' land type.
Something like:
Pyramid of the Sun
T - Add W to your mana pool. If there are five brick counters on Pyramid of the Sun add WWW instead.
WWT - Tap another target creature you control. Add 1 brick Counter to Pyramid of the Sun.
I dunno something like this. It just feels more on theme if the momument like effect is on a land.
A fixed pyramids would have been cool:
Pyramid of the God Pharaoh - 2
Artifact
Lands you control indestructible and hexproof
T - Regenerated target creature you control.
And why no Oasis or Desert! I find it laughable Desert is "too powerful" for standard...sure WoTC.
And besides, Amonkhet as Nicol Bolas as the pharaoh. We'll see him soon, and that makes me very happy
UBR Sedris
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage
UB The Scarab God
RUG Maelstrom Wanderer
WU Dragonlord Ojutai
There's historical Egypt and pop/fantasy Egypt. It seems that WOTC landed somewhere in the bland center missing the mark.
I was kind of hoping they whould make more pyramids, and that they would be Forifications.
As far as power level - my opinion is skewed as I fall into Limited and Commander only formats and there are some really good cards here for my Commander decks as well as some build around Legends.
Unfortunately I don't really love Egypt themed stuff so my opinion on that is fairly bias towards dislike - but I do think that we need to look to Hour of Devastation before we rule out what wizards missed regarding Egyptian lore - i mean they did design a second set here.
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All that having been said, I do like the return of cycling and the whole -1/-1 counters thing. It should add a bit more complexity to Standard.
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-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
The mechanics are almost all rehashes and not in interesting ways. Cycling is great, but the set does less with it than Onslaught did over a decade ago, to say nothing of Time Spiral's treatment of it. Flashback is great too, which means that Aftermath and Embalm have a lot of potential. But this design space is mostly squandered on uninteresting effects with a few pushed Mythics/Rares having some semblance of intriguing play (just like Madness, Vehicles, and practically every mechanic from Origins on).
The flavor is garbage, just like Kaladesh. Once again, we have an entire plane, a whole world that basically exists in one city, with some outlying wildlands, whose citizenry have a singular purpose. Amonkhet feels less like a civilization and more like a jRPG theme town for the Jacetice League to show up and save the day in; but I guess that's the point.
Limited looks like another curve-out format with the same tired variations of "staples" filling out the set (e.g. 5CMC Instant-speed Black kill spell, bears with block mechanic upside, goofy build-around enchantment in Blue, Red dude that uses set mechanic to make opposing critters unable to block). Since Origins, draft sets have become incredibly formulaic, likely caused, at least in part, by the expedited release schedule.
I suppose the silver lining is that none of the cards scream "format staple" a la Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Archangel Avacyn, Liliana TLH, the good Gearhulks, etc. It seems as though power is well-distrusted, at least from my viewpoint right now.
To be fair, I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, but I find it difficult to trust when people get swept up in the "hot garbage" rhetoric.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
While this is certainly true, it also shows that many players have high expectations from WotC based on what WotC has done in the past.
I personally am disappointed because I wanted Modern playable cards, especially counter/draw type cards. As Foretold is a HUGE plus in my book, but that's about it. (forgot about that Vizier that works with Devoted Druid - he's cool too)
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mm/metamorphosis
Blood Block was supposed to rotate when Barrel Block rolled in. Blood being BFZ and Oath, Barrel being Amonkhet. However then they latter went and changed their release schedule again two years.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/revisiting-standard-rotation-2016-10-19
But is it that people have felt that way at the time or that the rose tint of retrospecticals is clouding their vision?
On topic, the set doesn't seem as overtly powerful as Kaladesh but certainly more so than BFZ. Im more excited to play this limited than SOI, BFZ or Kaladesh and that is without playing all bar the latter at pre release only. The invocations are a bit of a hot mess, im not a collector but I can appreciate nice art and its a shame more than anything.
It would have been nice to see a few more Sphinxes and a bit more flavour but I think this set has more cards tham im interested in picking up than most of the recent sets combined so overall I think it looks interesting.
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Sets are tested and sent to print way in advance of actual release. There's no time to rectify balancing issues between two blocks that weren't tested together short of either banning the cards in question or, more damning, banning all of BFZ/Oath from Standard for the remainder of it's stay.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
In that way it makes sense that we don't see any other cities or pharaos (how would Bolas allow for any other ruler than himself), but it feels a bit lacking in some aspects.
However, I wouldn't say this set is a complete flavor fail. I like the heavy emphasis on death and the afterlive. Also i.e. minotaurs might not be the most egyptian thing, but in this ram-people iteration, they don't feel out of place either.
And for all complaining about the gods feeling less impressive in comparison to the theros ones: The gods of Theros are very powerfull, actually godly beings that act to their own liking, while the Amonkhet ones are installed by Bolas to herd his people - makes sense for them to be less outstanding imo.
W(W/U)U Ephara - Flash & Taxes W(W/U)U || B(B/G)G Meren - Circle of Life B(B/G)G
RGW Marath - Ever shifting Wilds RGW || (U/R)C(W/B) Breya - Artificial Dominion (U/R)C(W/B)
UBR Becket Brass - take what you can, give nothing back UBR
As for the other mechanics, I don't see anything particularly exciting, but I guess they are saving the coolest things for the Fall blocks, as they are the ones that are going to stay longer in rotation.
Other than that, there are plenty other cards that I like for the art and flavor, and I think they did a good job with the ancient egyptian theme.
There are also some comical cards in the set. For those claiming wotc has no sense of humor these days here's the cat mummy:
http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?productids[]=1311319
and the live version. sacred cat
Egypt also had the Apis Bulls, which recent archaeology proved were actual animals and not solely mythological. (As in, they literally found mummified bulls that match the description of the cult's animal.)
In a similar circumstance to Montu, Thoth, although known for being depicted as ibis-headed he also was depicted as a baboon-headed man as well.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
That's how I feel.