Amonkhet Remastered will be coming back to MTG Arena in just a day's time, bringing special Limited events and refreshing Constructed play. Since we’ll be handling many of the iconic cards from the set, it’s worth going back and seeing what dominated the metagame back when original Amonkhet hit the game and search for inspiration for new decks to play.
Undoubtedly one of the best aspects of MTG is diving deep in the card pool and searching for combos, synergies, and general awesomeness to put together in a deck and take it to a game. Now that we have all the roster spoiled, we can start brewing some cool Egyptian-themed decks, but it’s worth looking back in time and checking out what the pros were doing with the original release. Let’s analyze some Pro Tour Amonkhet decks!
Standard was a very different place back then and it shows. Kaladesh really pushed the power level and even saw some bans in Standard, though this looks like a joke compared to the recent ban list cullings.
Generally, three or four types of decks were played back then, each having their own flavors and subtle variations. We’re talking Mardu Vehicles, Aetherworks Marvel, Blue-Red Control, and most notably, Zombies.
Yup, you’ll quickly see that some of these decks don’t have a single Amonkhet card in them (save for Censor here and there), and one uses mainly Amonkhetians - Zombies.
This is due to the great tribal support that came from cards such as Lord of the Accursed and the introduction of white Zombies with great synergies. It also helps that Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon were still in Standard, offering some mighty Zombies and Zombie-related Planeswalkers.
These are no longer in the game, but the Core Sets and various Liliana’s are sure to land a hand there.
Looking at the Hour of Devastation stats paints an entirely different picture - namely, a total dominance of Ramunap Ruins and red aggro. The concept of sacrificing your own lands to deal tons of damage is a rather strong archetype playable even in Modern, and it was sure playable in Standard back then.
So, in conclusion, don’t expect to find the same environment now. We don’t have Fatal Pushes, Vehicles, Energies, and all the other things that we had back then, but we have tons of new toys to play with, so let’s get crafty and use our brains! Brains?! BRAAAAINS!!!
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