Wow, a decent serpent card. Not exactly as good as Blaze (or Banefire for the matter) but it is interesting and quite useful with the right cards.
themicronaut
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
zk3: Chord of Calling will bring it into play as a 2/1 b/c the X cost was not paid from your hand. Read the errata on this card. That being said, this is a splashable ball-lighting, but I would rather have a red X spell over this thing.
Omenchild
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
honestly, i think its pretty bad unless you give it first strike or even double strike. otherwise its blaze when your opponent prefers, or a dwarven catapult that your opponent chooses
=Edited= @Omenchild could pump that up with a easy Double Cleave. (5)+R+1+R, 8 mana deals 14 damage.
AkaruiRain
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Why in the world did Red get to have the better serpent? It's red, not blue!!!
Diachronos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Chord of Calling only needs 1 for the X cost to bring it in since Lightning Serpent's CMC is 1; {X} costs aren't counted for effects based off CMC. Spending more than 1 on Chord of Calling's X is just wasting mana.
Besides, if you wanted to take advantage of the mana acceleration that Green has, why not use all that mana to pay for Lightning Serpent's X cost?
BrendanAdkins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
There's gotta be some card with a "throw" mechanic that lets you sac this before end of turn and get double damage out of your mana, right?
why does every one say its just another blaze? Blaze dosnt have trample, and while the opponent may get to chose were it hits, it will often hit both, which blaze cannot do. plus it deals 2 more damage than blaze would under normal circumstances. Admitently its not worth 4 in an elemental deck, but i usually run at least 2 just as a secondary finisher if they manage to survive the initial strike.
Awesome with some Mana accelleration on first turn...
Anubisisking
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This feels like you get a little more for you mana than you would with, say blaze... its a little smaller at it's different mana costs than some of it's counter parts (like spark elemental and ball lightning) but its versatility seems to make it a better card in most situations...
tcollins
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Judging by the awesome artwork, it makes me sad that this serpent dies to hornets! That's right, Hornet Sting can ruin your day, not to mention more viable kill spells, such as Lightning Bolt, Go For The Throat. Also would be hilarious to cast Twisted Image after someone pumps this guy up to say a 14/1...Regardless, the card itself is very red in terms of flavour and is a playable serpent. It's a risky card to play, and sometimes you will come out on the losing end, but that's how the game works!
desolation_masticore
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Then theres Pandemonium.
Hoonster
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
'I think people need to remember that: It's a creature. Don't use it like a damage spell...' Pandemonium says what!?
blurrymadness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I think people need to remember that: It's a creature. Don't use it like a damage spell... There aren't "{R} Double the damage of target sorcery or instant" cards, but there are {R} - Assault Strobe {R}{1} - Double Cleave {R}{1} -Fling {R}{2} - Soul's Fire and similar (among myriad buffs like brute force which also can be doubled up)
You can also reduce it's cost (more damage per mana) with ruby medallions and such as normal, BUT you can also reduce it's cost with cards like Brighthearth Banneret.
Certainly there are good combos for damage spells but often you lose out on something special to gain those comboable bits. Here we have a spell that is fairly efficient, can kill a creature and hit the opponent (maybe twice)
I think it's rating is right about where it should be but that the comments could be a little more favorable.
@TCollins It would be funny to cast twisted image on it. It'd become a 13/2 (I.E. they wasted a card)
kajillion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The flexibility makes up for it not being as good as ball lightning or blistering firecat at 3 CMC and 4 CMC. It's almost a steal seeing as it could be either of those or a lot of other things.
This is great in EDH as well as any burn deck, because although Lightning Elemental costs less, and Hellspark Elemental has unearth, they have a set amount of damage, while Lightning serpent can change it's power.
As well, it doesn't have any of that idiocy that Consume Spirit has, so you could use it in any deck. In fact, I am currently playing it in a 5-colour EDH deck now.
NoobOfLore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Better than blaze, because this one actually gets you one more point of damage than you paid into it, unlike all the Fireball clones, which give you one less.
Being a creature, it lets you work with cards that have creature synergy, like equipment, or combat tricks (Tainted Strike, anyone?).
RunedServitor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
It's kind of overcosted, in my opinion. You could use a Ball Lightning for 3 mana to do what this card does for 5. By the time it's worth playing over Ball Lightning or Blistering Firecat, if you're playing the kind of deck that would use this card, you've either won or you've lost, and this card won't change anything.
@applecom: In no way is this a Lightning Elemental with tramble. Lightning Elemental doesn't sac itself at end of turn.
Axelle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Currently the highest-rated Serpent in all of Magic.
I took one look at this card and I instantly thought Boros Recruit
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nice little ball lightning variant. Could be a finisher with stuff like Caged Sun, and Koth of the Hammer in Mono Red Control.
Equinox523
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The lovechild of Ball Lightning and Blaze. An interesting card when compared to Pyre Charger, especially since it has trample. I mean, when's the last time you blocked with Pyre Charger? Or used it, for that matter? This, however, can be quite nasty with Assault Strobe or Fling.
HuntingDrake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
By far the most recently-created card to use unconventional P/T-changing counters (the next-last one was Fungus Elemental, from Weatherlight).
It dies at end of turn anyway, so excepting first strike and burn, these might as well been plain ol' +1/+1 counters. Of course, the intent was to echo old Ice Age-era cards.
Snoof
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's interesting that this is a Serpent, since Serpents seem mostly to be sea-monsters. It's kind of odd that you can fetch this with Quest for Ula's Temple. I'd probably make it an Elemental Snake, not an Elemental Serpent, though then it has tribal interactions with the Kamigawa Orochi.
Meatloaf_Wizard
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Whitemain lion, roar! Or fling, or rupture for board wipe. Versatile card in the right deck.
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@RunedServitor
Unlike Ball Lightning, Lightning Serpent is playable outside of monored. Another thing to remember is, just because you are using an aggro deck doesn't mean that you automatically lose the game on turn 6 or whatever. If your opponent has stabilized, Lightning Serpent can be great for turning the tide.
Comments (30)
=Edited=
@Omenchild
could pump that up with a easy Double Cleave. (5)+R+1+R, 8 mana deals 14 damage.
Besides, if you wanted to take advantage of the mana acceleration that Green has, why not use all that mana to pay for Lightning Serpent's X cost?
It's a creature. Don't use it like a damage spell...'
Pandemonium says what!?
It's a creature. Don't use it like a damage spell...
There aren't "{R} Double the damage of target sorcery or instant" cards, but there are
{R} - Assault Strobe
{R}{1} - Double Cleave
{R}{1} -Fling
{R}{2} - Soul's Fire
and similar (among myriad buffs like brute force which also can be doubled up)
You can also reduce it's cost (more damage per mana) with ruby medallions and such as normal, BUT you can also reduce it's cost with cards like Brighthearth Banneret.
Certainly there are good combos for damage spells but often you lose out on something special to gain those comboable bits. Here we have a spell that is fairly efficient, can kill a creature and hit the opponent (maybe twice)
I think it's rating is right about where it should be but that the comments could be a little more favorable.
@TCollins
It would be funny to cast twisted image on it. It'd become a 13/2 (I.E. they wasted a card)
This is great in EDH as well as any burn deck, because although Lightning Elemental costs less, and Hellspark Elemental has unearth, they have a set amount of damage, while Lightning serpent can change it's power.
As well, it doesn't have any of that idiocy that Consume Spirit has, so you could use it in any deck. In fact, I am currently playing it in a 5-colour EDH deck now.
Being a creature, it lets you work with cards that have creature synergy, like equipment, or combat tricks (Tainted Strike, anyone?).
@applecom: In no way is this a Lightning Elemental with tramble. Lightning Elemental doesn't sac itself at end of turn.
Scrapdiver Serpent, Spire Serpent, and Denizen of the Deep are the 3 next best Serpents.
The rest just plain suck.
It dies at end of turn anyway, so excepting first strike and burn, these might as well been plain ol' +1/+1 counters. Of course, the intent was to echo old Ice Age-era cards.
Unlike Ball Lightning, Lightning Serpent is playable outside of monored. Another thing to remember is, just because you are using an aggro deck doesn't mean that you automatically lose the game on turn 6 or whatever. If your opponent has stabilized, Lightning Serpent can be great for turning the tide.