There are mixed reviews of this card, everyone either LOVES or HATES this. I am in the Hates camp. Pure player burn and discard are both inheritly bad in multiplayer and just considered cruel. In duels maybe, but in multiplayer leave this one in the dime box.
Fire_hive
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(4 votes)
for players of the burn deck this card grants you the edge a bit quicker by draining their opponents hand while you burn away yours. if it discarded only one card i would oppose its use, and as an instant it would be almost too good, but its neither so I feel its relatively solid when playing one on one.
When combined with Megrim, it can dish out some serious damage whild discarding.
return
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Its grate in combination with Megrim and Pain Magnificator
-ChrisC-
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(5 votes)
You can't complain about a card being good can you? Take 3 and discard 2? Me likey...
SavageBrain89
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Its actually a pretty useful card. Discard can easily throw off your opponents game tempo and hinder their strategies.
True_Mumin
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(10 votes)
What's the matter with these comments? How about:
Blightning rules!!!1
Now that's more like it. Seriously though, this card is insanely powerful, especially for a common! I LOVE IT!
blindcansee
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(5 votes)
I have the agree the card is amazing. Only I think it's too good. It's basically Mind Rot on steroids. Not only does it cost the same as Mind Rot (2)B ~ (1)RB but it's a burn card. Where is the balance in that?
Piechart
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(8 votes)
Really? Blightning? Is that supposed to be funny? I wish there were no stupid puns in Magic. Also, this card is too powerfull for just three mana. The damage is just a free add-on to a basic discard.
GrimGorgonBC
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(9 votes)
This card is sooo good after a few turns and a player has a couple cards in his/her hand. They hate me so when i make them discard their heat!
BrutalJim
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(10 votes)
Mind Rot is the same Converted Mana cost with Blightning only being more specific so it has to be at least a little better. Also Blightning isn't a "stupid pun" it's a clever and badass name. Regardless of any of that it's a good card without being too powerful.
goldbones
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(5 votes)
This card is so much FUN!
A little damage, a little discard. It can win you a game when the damage race is tough but it isn't enough alone - even with the discard.
Blightning is Lava spike combined with minor discard. Being at turn 3 it's nothing like Hymn or Duress\Thought Seize.
Semi-Competitive but mostly Fun.
MasterOfEtherium
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
BLIGHTNING RULES!
Dark_Raider
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(5 votes)
Wait, wait, wait... so prodigal pyromancer became an uncommon, while they have these kinds of commons out in standard? Very powerful in any deck that can use it.
One_Winged_Angel
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(4 votes)
This card hurts a lot more than it reads. Combined with Megrim, they just took 7 damage and lost 2 cards. I once hit with this thing with 2 Megrims out and it won the game. Regardless, even 3 damage and discarding 2 cards can be crippling.
This card is awesome. Burn a player for 3 and force him to get rid of two cards for only three mana.
4.0
Magasul
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Extremely annoying card.
s0phocles
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Awesome name, awesome card. Probably the best card in shards of alara
True_Smog
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Aggressive discard spell ? yes please.
Caldlow
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Question...
My mother and I play Magic, and now we have this problem.
If I play blightning, and she plays let's say safe passage, does the discarding of the two cards count as damage.
I think it doesn't, but my mother thinks it does.
bigdave0908
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(6 votes)
No, discarding does NOT count as "damage." Consider the Basking Rootwalla. It has a Madness cost of 0, which means if you discard it, you can play it directly for no mana cost . . . and no rule I have ever seen equates the drawing or discarding of cards with damage . . .
applecorn
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(7 votes)
@Caldlow She wouldn't take the 3 damage, but would still discard. Read errate.
durdent
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
In my experience playing Jund, 80% of the time I'll play this on turn 3 even if I have a Sprouting Thrinax at hand. A couple of Blightnings in the first 10 turns or so usually spells victory, that's how powerful this card is. Card advantage plus direct damage, what more can you ask for?
Johnald
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I'd be happy if it cost another 1 colorless for what it does.
Mylon
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(9 votes)
This card is too good. Three mana and it grants card advantage. The damage is merely icing on the cake.
SleetFox
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(4 votes)
This card is great. It's fun to play, it's powerful but (barely) not overpowered, and it has a great name. I'm sure in standard it gets kind of annoying since 75% of the big tournament decks use it, but in a vacuum it's pretty cool.
Layton
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(5 votes)
so timmy...
BobTheBuillder
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
wish it was instant or it can deal damage to a creature. Still an amazing card and is one of the better burns. This killed my stregy when it was cast
ratchet1215
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(11 votes)
Stupidly, ridiculously good spell, especially for common, and if you can get off multiples in the first few turns then it'll probably be game. It's Lava Spike glued to Mind Rot, and that 2-for-1 convenience somehow equates to costing one mana LESS. This is the lovely little lady that makes Jund the force it is, and a Bloodbraid Elf towing one of these along is probably the best use of 2RG that has ever been. Really great card, just all-around awesome, and not playing it in a B/R deck these days is all but inexcusable. Go get yourself a playset; it's common and cheap. 5/5
MagicFellow
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(5 votes)
The damage this card does to the opponent and its a common? Makes no sense..BLIGHTNING FTW!
Rice8021
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Does anyone else find it rediculous that a s s anywhere gets censored like in passage
Gilder_Bairn
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(6 votes)
The power of Jund: Bituminous blast into bloodbraid elf into blightning, swing with bloodbraid elf. 10 damage and discard two cards, good sir. and on turn 5, that usually wins. That's why they call a double cascade "living the dream." :)
EvilCleavage
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
When I pulled this card I was blown away, a lightning, and a discard 2!? For 3!? WHAT! And on top of that, the art is bad a**. Every time I'm going through my deck or multicolored cards, this one always catches my eye. The art and flavor is awesome, and I'm still shocked (no pun intended), that this is a common!!
achilleselbow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm conflicted about this card. On the one hand it seems extremely annoying and overpowered, and when you play against Jund, there is very little you can do to win if the opponent happens to draw two of them over the course of the game. On the other hand, if you look at the card itself, it has the same CMC and discard effect as Mind Rot (which no one considers overpowered), and gets a bonus 3 damage to the player (which isn't really that big a deal in most games) in exchange for being multicolored. Normally this would make it balanced, however: 1) multicolored stopped being a drawback when they started exclusively focusing entire sets on it and printing tons of dual lands, 2) Three damage is a bit too much - two would probably have been more fair, and 3) Cascade from Bloodbraid Elf is actually the biggest thing that makes this card broken. So in conclusion, it's not so much the card itself as it is the Alara standard environment. Fortunately, it's going to rotate out soon.
SereneChaos
★☆☆☆☆ (1.4/5.0)(4 votes)
"Hmm, how do we make Lightning Bolt and Hymn to Tourach un-broken? I know! Make Hymn's mana cost less restrictive and then combine them into one card!!"
OutlawD1
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
one word OP
Blackworm_Bloodworm
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
@Mylon: The damage is more than just 'icing on the cake'. Otherwise, it would be worse than Mind Rot.
@ratchet1215: It costs one less because it's a multi-colored card. They make up their 'better than' abilities with requiring you to pay more than one color. Call me shallow, but I think all multi-color cards should be at least somewhat better than mono-colored cards. (Except for those that have a large amount of colored mana symbols in their cost)
n00bmag1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
5/5 for great tempo swing.
MrBarrelRoll
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Something I think the creation of Obstinate Baloth had something to do with this card.
"Blightning? Nah, but I do get two 4/4s and gain 5 life"
Alceron
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
evil card!
Mnemonic_Jabberssac
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Guilder_Bairn, you misread Bituminous blast. It can only deal damage to creatures.
DellamorteDellamore0
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
In a world where cards like Platinum Angel is printed, this is not only a fair card but its a nessessary card.
Kelrath
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
@Caldlow: Blighting has two separate effects: "Blightning deals 3 damage to target player." "Target player discards two cards."
Preventing one does not prevent the other. Though, according to the syntax of the card, if you cannot target a player with the first ability, the second ability has no target.
metalevolence
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(5 votes)
more like the smell of smoldering planeswalker, amirite
http404error
★☆☆☆☆ (1.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Too good for common, I think.
Nathreet
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(18 votes)
Don't complain about it being common, be grateful. Widely useful cards should be common. More specialized cards should be uncommon.
Enemy_Tricolor
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(35 votes)
I used to have friends and a vibrant social life. Then I put Blightning in all my decks. Now no one will speak to me, acknowledge that they once knew me, or look in my direction.
But I won a few more games, so the tradeoff was worth it, I think.
spirit_of_blue
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(14 votes)
I think, it is overpowered for its CMC. I think, it should made player discard only 1 card as a kind of cousin of Electrolyze.
For Enemy_Tricolor: But afterall you still had one friend, whom you liked very much. Then he put Redirect in all his decks. Now you do not speak to him, acknowledge that you once knew him or look in his direction. :-)
Wulfsten
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(4 votes)
This is a very good card, but it's not at all broken. It's essentially Mind Rot, but in exchange for making it a little more colour intensive by adding red to the cost, they've given it a lava spike attached to it. Everyone waxing lyrical about this card goes on about what an amazing thing it is to make someone discard 2 cards for 3 mana is forgetting about a very old, very common card.
The 3 damage is a little unbalanced, I would have kept it at 2, or even 1, but because it's straight to the player, it doesn't really gain you board advantage early on, it just puts you a bit ahead in the life race. That's nice, maybe too nice, but not broken. If it targeted creatures, it would be ridiculously broken, because you'd be getting 3-for-1 card advantage for 3 mana, which is insane. As is it's just about as good as a Magic card should be.
Axelle
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(4 votes)
@dberry02: Your list is automatically incorrect because it lacks Hymn to Tourach.
NuckChorris
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Sadly, this made many people go crazy, even outside of the Magic world, after being continually hammered by this. Do not take this card lightly.
I remember getting this in a booster and going "Feh, it's a common, how powerful could this effect really be?"
Wizpal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Enemy_Trycolor For a moment, I though it was an Skyrim to the knee joke =D
I used to have friends and a vibrant social life, then I took a Blightning to the deck.
Okuu-chan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Target player's head asplodes."
Bonghoots
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
With Liliana's Caress this card is absolutely broken if its in the opening hand. I play my brothers discard deck often, and losing 7 life while discarding 2 cards by turn three puts you so far behind it makes the game nigh unwinnable in most cases. If they have 2 blightnings in hand that's ~14 life by the next turn with 4 card disadvantage, and it's game for sure. And the combo is stupid easy to pull off. Should have a more demanding casting cost imho.
Silence9
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I want 4 of these in foil. Black/Red death will ensue! 5/5 for flavor and fun!
BoBoCTiberius
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
As if this card needed to be anymore powerful, they made Megrim cost one less, so you can have it out on turn three when you drop one of these. If you bolted them on turn one, you just knocked out half their life and disrupted them, setting up for a potential turn four win.
T1 Mountain bolt T2 Swamp Liliana's Caress T3 Mountain Blightning T4 Unload the rest of your burn spells.
gman92
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think that this card is more like Lava Spike attached to a (slightly better) Hymn to Tourach. It's really nice though, possibly my favorite red/black card.
storophanthus
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I got a lot of this when I unpacked my Alara Reborn box. I didn't use it back then, and my brother (who usually build deck by using cards that I don't use) use this spell against me. Then I know how disturbing the effect is. Sometimes I kinda "don't care anymore" the lost of 3 life, while thinking which cards I should discard..
dberry02
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I hate Blightning! I hate this card with a passion! I instantly try to kill people who have blightning in their deck. This card gets a 5/5 for simply being such a hassle to deal with.
"While the smell of burning flesh is COMMON in Grixis, the odor of smoldering brain matter is a RARE treat."
Blightning: Common
MindAblaze
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love the odor of smoldering brain in the morning.
Henrietta
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is great, but it's a bit overrated. People calling it Mind Rot + Lightning Bolt are beyond stupid, considering it's a sorcery that only hits players. You know what a sorcery that only hits players for 3 damage for R is? Lava Spike. Lava Spike is not even in the same class as Lightning Bolt.
Shadoflaam
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
My prog metal band just found the new name for its hit single instrumental.
Isnith
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Please, reprint for Rakdos in Return to Ravnica!
BloodCrank
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Its almost hard to believe this crap is legal. GO BLACK/RED!
bfellow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@ Henrietta, so you cast Bloodbraid Elf into Lava Spike? Most people don't even cast this from their hand!
Zaskist
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Friends stopped playing against my Jund deck after I put in a playset of my favorite sorcery...
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The funniest thing about this card? It's hard to remember that IT doesn't actually have Cascade :P
@Henrietta: And actually, yes Lava Spike is in the same league as Lightning Bolt. 3 damage, 1 mana. That's why those decklists look like they do. Overanalyzing Lava Spike and Lightning Bolt and thinking one is better than the other is using a Blue mind to evaluate Red cards. *yes*, you're TECHnically right, but the reality is that the differences hardly matter- you target the opponents' faces with both cards, every time, you play them as soon as you draw them, you make your deck to hit all its land drops, and you deal 21 damage in 7 cards: 1 card on turn 1, 3 cards on turn 2 (Fireblast), 1 card on turn 3, and any damage not dealt yet on turn 4 (up to 9 cards can be played by Turn 4 using just Lava Spike/Lightning Bolt/Spark Elemental/Fireblast/Chain Lightning and Mountains.)Creature-targetting matters very much for X/red decks, but for RDW, much less so.
@bfellow: you seem to be misinterpretting her, and you seem to think she is saying Lava Spike > Bolt. She is saying Lava Spike is much worse than Lightning Bolt. My opinion is it's 90% of a Lightning Bolt if that's what you want, and if you like the other half of Lightning Bolt, I'd recommend you go Black instead. The only real reason why Lightning Bolt is 'better' is because it fits into pretty much any part-red deck as a strong card, but the one deck that Lava Spike fits into, it is about as good as Lightning Bolt in.
kor6sic6
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The artwork on this card alone is worth a 5. I'd totally get this tattooed if it included the rest of the skull and whatnot.
Continue
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
This card is just incredible. A Lava Spike and a Mind Rot smashed together... and it costs less than the two spells combined! Of course, that doesn't matter when you cascade into it, but that just makes it even better. 5.5/5
pedrodyl
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
One of the few cards I've ever rated a 5/5
azure_drake222222
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Usually cards like this have the cards discarded first. This one is different.
TheWrathofShane
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I think this card was so good because of cascade. Its already a hyper efficient spell, and because of the 3 CMC, you almost always got this out for free.
Also another thing that broke cascade. If you Bloodbraid into this, literally both parts of the cascade are worth spending a counter on. So basically cascade is also extremely resistant to counters. I think if they would have made the chain vulnerable to one single target counter, it would have balanced it out more.
I prefer Hymn To Tourach, but there's nothing wrong with running both. And by 'Nothing wrong', I mean 'Something horribly wrong''.
blurrymadness
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
It's interesting how much better 3 damage makes this look than Mind Rot. That said, this guy is more of a modern and casual treat (as well as a block terror) and less of an excellent card.
I realize that sounds harsh but I'd point to how many legacy/vintage deck slots can afford to be allocated to it. I imagine this has to do with being mediocre late game and being unable to affect board position; making it a bad top-deck mid-late game and making it hurt your own tempo/board position early game; despite being damage + card advantage.
That said, I may still attempt a 2-of of it.
I hope they eventually make a version of it that can hit creatures or players, but make it {B}{B}{R}; heck, {B}{B}{R}{1} may still be worth that card.
Comments (85)
When combined with Megrim, it can dish out some serious damage whild discarding.
Blightning rules!!!1
Now that's more like it. Seriously though, this card is insanely powerful, especially for a common! I LOVE IT!
A little damage, a little discard. It can win you a game when the damage race is tough but it isn't enough alone - even with the discard.
Blightning is Lava spike combined with minor discard. Being at turn 3 it's nothing like Hymn or Duress\Thought Seize.
Semi-Competitive but mostly Fun.
Very powerful in any deck that can use it.
Oh, and the name just rules.
4.0
My mother and I play Magic, and now we have this problem.
If I play blightning, and she plays let's say safe passage, does the discarding of the two cards count as damage.
I think it doesn't, but my mother thinks it does.
She wouldn't take the 3 damage, but would still discard. Read errate.
Bituminous blast into bloodbraid elf into blightning, swing with bloodbraid elf.
10 damage and discard two cards, good sir.
and on turn 5, that usually wins.
That's why they call a double cascade "living the dream." :)
@ratchet1215: It costs one less because it's a multi-colored card. They make up their 'better than' abilities with requiring you to pay more than one color. Call me shallow, but I think all multi-color cards should be at least somewhat better than mono-colored cards. (Except for those that have a large amount of colored mana symbols in their cost)
"Blightning? Nah, but I do get two 4/4s and gain 5 life"
"Blightning deals 3 damage to target player."
"Target player discards two cards."
Preventing one does not prevent the other. Though, according to the syntax of the card, if you cannot target a player with the first ability, the second ability has no target.
But I won a few more games, so the tradeoff was worth it, I think.
For Enemy_Tricolor:
But afterall you still had one friend, whom you liked very much. Then he put Redirect in all his decks. Now you do not speak to him, acknowledge that you once knew him or look in his direction. :-)
The 3 damage is a little unbalanced, I would have kept it at 2, or even 1, but because it's straight to the player, it doesn't really gain you board advantage early on, it just puts you a bit ahead in the life race. That's nice, maybe too nice, but not broken. If it targeted creatures, it would be ridiculously broken, because you'd be getting 3-for-1 card advantage for 3 mana, which is insane. As is it's just about as good as a Magic card should be.
I am no longer unsure.
For a moment, I though it was an Skyrim to the knee joke =D
I used to have friends and a vibrant social life, then I took a Blightning to the deck.
T1 Mountain bolt
T2 Swamp Liliana's Caress
T3 Mountain Blightning
T4 Unload the rest of your burn spells.
My Top 5 Punch-Your-Friend-in-the-Face Card List:
#1. Haunting Echoes
#2. Extirpate
#3. Mind Shatter
#4. Blightning
#5. Sadistic Sacrament
Blightning: Common
It's hard to remember that IT doesn't actually have Cascade :P
@Henrietta: And actually, yes Lava Spike is in the same league as Lightning Bolt. 3 damage, 1 mana. That's why those decklists look like they do. Overanalyzing Lava Spike and Lightning Bolt and thinking one is better than the other is using a Blue mind to evaluate Red cards. *yes*, you're TECHnically right, but the reality is that the differences hardly matter- you target the opponents' faces with both cards, every time, you play them as soon as you draw them, you make your deck to hit all its land drops, and you deal 21 damage in 7 cards: 1 card on turn 1, 3 cards on turn 2 (Fireblast), 1 card on turn 3, and any damage not dealt yet on turn 4 (up to 9 cards can be played by Turn 4 using just Lava Spike/Lightning Bolt/Spark Elemental/Fireblast/Chain Lightning and Mountains.)Creature-targetting matters very much for X/red decks, but for RDW, much less so.
@bfellow: you seem to be misinterpretting her, and you seem to think she is saying Lava Spike > Bolt. She is saying Lava Spike is much worse than Lightning Bolt. My opinion is it's 90% of a Lightning Bolt if that's what you want, and if you like the other half of Lightning Bolt, I'd recommend you go Black instead. The only real reason why Lightning Bolt is 'better' is because it fits into pretty much any part-red deck as a strong card, but the one deck that Lava Spike fits into, it is about as good as Lightning Bolt in.
I'd totally get this tattooed if it included the rest of the skull and whatnot.
Also another thing that broke cascade. If you Bloodbraid into this, literally both parts of the cascade are worth spending a counter on. So basically cascade is also extremely resistant to counters. I think if they would have made the chain vulnerable to one single target counter, it would have balanced it out more.
I realize that sounds harsh but I'd point to how many legacy/vintage deck slots can afford to be allocated to it. I imagine this has to do with being mediocre late game and being unable to affect board position; making it a bad top-deck mid-late game and making it hurt your own tempo/board position early game; despite being damage + card advantage.
That said, I may still attempt a 2-of of it.
I hope they eventually make a version of it that can hit creatures or players, but make it {B}{B}{R}; heck, {B}{B}{R}{1} may still be worth that card.
4 Blightning
4 Burning Inquiry
4 Megrim
4 Underworld Dreams
4 The Rack
4 Terminate
4 Damnation
4 Anvil of Bogardan
4 Smallpox
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
11 Swamp
5 Mountain
Substitute cards to fit whatever format.