Amonkhet Remastered (AKR): The Complete Set Guide
Some sets get a second life. Amonkhet Remastered (AKR) is exactly that - a curated reprint set built specifically for MTG Arena, combining the best of Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation into a single, streamlined experience. Released digitally on August 13, 2020, it wasn't just a straight copy-paste of two older sets. Wizards used the opportunity to shape a fresh Draft environment, shore up Historic, and sneak in some genuinely exciting surprises along the way.
What is Amonkhet Remastered?
Amonkhet Remastered is an MTG Arena-exclusive reprint set that merges cards from two previously released sets: Amonkhet (April 2017) and Hour of Devastation (July 2017). Rather than releasing each set separately on Arena, Wizards of the Coast combined them into a single 338-card set (plus one box-topper, for a total set number of 339), curated specifically around Limited play, Pioneer support, and the Historic format.
It is not available in physical form. If you're holding a pack of AKR, something has gone very wrong. 😄
Format check: Amonkhet Remastered cards are legal in Historic and Historic-adjacent formats on MTG Arena. They do not change the legality of their original printings in paper formats like Pioneer or Modern - those cards were already legal from their original sets.
Set size and card breakdown
The 338 main-set cards are distributed across rarities as follows:
| Rarity | Count | |--------|-------| | Common | 108 | | Uncommon | 90 | | Rare | 74 | | Mythic Rare | 31 | | Box-topper | 1 |
The 108 commons break down neatly - 21 in each of the five colors, plus three colorless. Basic lands feature seven different art treatments each, but don't appear in booster packs. Regal Caracal serves as the box-topper with set number #339.
Cards are obtainable through MTG Arena boosters, Limited events (both Sealed and Draft), and through the crafting system using Wildcards.
Themes and mechanics
Amonkhet Remastered carries the mechanical identity of its source sets - a plane built around preparation, trial, and death in service of a god-pharaoh. Mechanically, that translates into a handful of interconnected systems that reward planning and patience.
The set features the mechanics that defined the original Amonkhet block, including embalm (exile a creature from your graveyard to create a token copy of it), eternalize (a stronger version of embalm that creates a 4/4 black Zombie token), and exert (tap a creature with an additional cost to gain a bonus effect, at the price of it not untapping next turn). Cycling - the ability to discard a card for a small cost to draw a new one - returns here as well, and it's even more central to the draft experience than it was in the original sets.
Afflict also makes an appearance, punishing opponents for blocking: when a creature with afflict attacks and a player blocks it, that player loses life equal to the afflict value regardless of the combat outcome.
These mechanics interact beautifully in Limited. Cycling fills your graveyard for embalm and eternalize targets, exert creatures become threats opponents can't easily race, and afflict creates punishing combat math for anyone trying to trade resources.
Limited and Draft
The draft environment was deliberately shaped around the Limited experience, not just ported wholesale from the two source sets. Because Wizards hand-picked which cards to include, the Draft format is tighter and more focused than either original set's environment.
Cycling is arguably the spine of the format. Cards that reward you for cycling - whether by going wide, triggering abilities, or filtering toward specific game plans - incentivize building a deck around the mechanic rather than just using it as a safety valve. A dedicated cycling deck can generate real card advantage and consistency in ways that felt powerful in the original block and remain relevant here.
Embalm and eternalize reward graveyard synergies, making removal that exiles rather than destroys more valuable than usual. Exert rewards you for going tall on creatures and attacking aggressively, but the "doesn't untap" drawback means overextending with exert creatures can leave you vulnerable.
The format tends to reward players who understand the recursive nature of its mechanics - cards that trade resources early often come back around in the mid-to-late game through embalm or eternalize.
The Invocations: the hidden surprise
This is where Amonkhet Remastered gets genuinely interesting. When the set was announced, Wizards hinted at additional cards that would provide Historic and Pioneer support beyond the core set contents. What they revealed turned out to be a creative concept: R&D imagined what beloved Magic cards from other planes and sets would have looked like had they originally been introduced on Amonkhet. Each of these cards received brand-new art reflecting the aesthetic of the Egyptian-inspired plane.
These cards are part of the main set, not a separate bonus sheet. There are two groups.
Original Invocations (reimagined from the original Amonkhet block)
Five cards originally appeared in the Amonkhet Invocations series - a special treatment from the original block release - and return here with updated art in that same spirit:
- Wrath of God
- Thoughtseize
- Pact of Negation
- Shatterstorm
- Lord of Extinction
Additional surprise cards
Nine further cards were added to support Historic and Pioneer, each reimagined through an Amonkhet lens with new art:
- Demonic Pact
- Hornet Queen
- Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
- Chandra, Pyromaster
- Sphinx's Revelation
- Rest in Peace
- Anger of the Gods
- Collected Company
- Perilous Vault
Worth noting: Several of these additions - Thoughtseize, Collected Company, Wrath of God, Rest in Peace - are format staples in Historic and Pioneer. Their inclusion wasn't cosmetic. Bringing them into AKR gave Arena players who hadn't previously opened them a new avenue to acquire these powerful cards through drafting and crafting.
Lore and setting
Amonkhet Remastered draws its story from the Amonkhet block, set on the plane of the same name - a harsh desert world shaped in the image of ancient Egypt, ruled over by the god-pharaoh Nicol Bolas. The original Amonkhet story follows Gideon, Liliana, Jace, Chandra, and Nissa as they arrive on the plane, discover Bolas's horrifying influence over its civilization, and fail to stop the Hour of Devastation - the apocalyptic second act where Bolas's true plan is revealed.
It's one of the darker, more consequential chapters in Magic's recent story history, and the set's mechanics - embalm, eternalize, the cycle of death and trial - are deeply tied to the worldbuilding in a way that doesn't always happen in Magic design. The flavor and function genuinely reinforce each other here.
Set legacy
Amonkhet Remastered holds a specific place in MTG Arena's history as one of the first "Remastered" sets - a format that Wizards has since returned to with Kaladesh Remastered, Dominaria Remastered on paper, and others. The model proved that curating two sets into one could produce a stronger Limited format than either set alone, while also serving as a vehicle for delivering format-specific support cards that players actually needed.
For Historic players in particular, the surprise inclusions - Thoughtseize, Collected Company, Rest in Peace, and friends - had immediate format impact. These aren't fringe cards; they're pillars of competitive decks across multiple formats, and AKR gave Arena players fresh access to them.
In my opinion, the Invocations concept was the most quietly clever part of the release. Rather than just reprinting cards with existing art, Wizards created something that felt like genuine worldbuilding: what would Collected Company look like if it had been designed for Amonkhet? That kind of design imagination is a big part of why Magic remains interesting after thirty years. ✨
