Pointed Discussion

because thise kills what bolts don't

i do not think this should be rated so highly.. perhaps time and voters will lower it. as is, it's a flame slash paired with a shock for 2RR. honestly, i can't think of any red deck that would want to expend the mana for it.

@mdakw576: Because it's less situational and/or it fits your curve better.

Bad in constructed, but absolutely house in limited.

Was never unhappy to see this.

It adds versatility to the options burn decks have and that is a good thing. Not everyone or every deck is going to want to play this but it holds a specific niche - removing a blocker/trouble creature that has a toughness of 4 and keeping the pressure on that 20 sided dice. Depending on what the meta looks like, 4 could be the magic number to shine a light on this card.

We've all been in the situation where a burn deck resorts to burning a spell to take out a defender or attacker instead of keeping up the pressure, cards like this make decisions like that a little easier by allowing you to do both.

Seems to fit chandra ablaze playstle more than Nalaar but usable with both.

"I HAVE FURY! -Chandra Nalaar

Clearly the art is Snapping Drake getting hosed, which makes me yearn for a 4 mana instant burn that shocks a creature and blasts the opponent instead.

just plain nasty. like searing blaze wasnt enough

If flame javelin has a high rating I don't see why this wouldn't.. it pings the player, and most likely kills a good majority of creatures, and it combos with the spitfire which they explained on the daily. I can see it being very good with kiln fiend and the spite fire working in concert.

Take that, Snapping Drake.

So this is why Snapping Drake didn't get reprinted in M11...

Works against Leyline of Sanctity.

lunge + shock = this

This works better than you would think in a kiln fiend/ spitfire deck. You knock out a blocker/fatty with the 4 damage, and pump your elementals with the player damage and swing. It's expensive because it normally works as a 2 for 1.

Why put this into a Burn deck?

Well, lets just say you play some deck that works on protection, Leyline of Sanctity, protection from colors that sort of thing, and you direly need to do damage to player and they got the Leyline out.

Get rid of protection - "Damage cannot be prevented" like Unstable footing, Leyline of Punishment.
Flame Servant - Double the damage given out - get all 4 of them out if you can
This card - it doesn't target the player so thus damage goes through wether or not they got Leyline of Sanctity out - it only "cares" about the creature.

Sit back, relax and watch your opponent sweat when you play it. Priceless. Awesome card in a burn deck, and doesn't target a player to do player damage.

mdakw576 and Eternal_Blue just doesn't see the potential for this card lol

Why would you run this over searing blaze? You're paying 2 more mana for no landfall requirement, which is generally silly with fetchlands around. If you're worried about killing 4 toughness creatures, use flame slash. I'll gladly take 3 less mana over instant speed and 2 damage to player.


mdakw576 and Eternal_Blue just doesn't see the potential for this card lol

Apparently none of the pros do either. Do a quick search on magic.tcgplayer.com for deck lists that have won tournaments and you'll find that NONE of them have used this card, only people who have submitted janky budget deck lists.

If a RDW player is scared of leyline of sanctity pwning him, he'll run artifacts that go around it (e.g. masticore) or deal with it (e.g. ratchet bomb). Since the leyline doesn't stop creatures either, they can simply overwhelm with creatures like they normally do. The burns in fact are usually to blow up enemy creatures so their goblin guides and kargans and whatnot can get in, and the burns only go to the dome for the finishing blow or the player has nothing else to use it on.

i've won a draft with this sweet card. Don't underestimate it, noone is waiting for it, they are assuming for a lightning bolt always.

Take a crappy burn spell that no one ever cared for (Lightning Blast), make it harder to cast, disallow it to go to the opponent's head, and justify it by adding an irrelevantly small amount of damage to the creature's controller. The result is not surprisingly garbage.

Ahh! The card that adds insult to injury.

"Take a crappy burn spell that no one ever cared for (Lightning Blast)..."

@scumbling1: what are you talking about? Lightning Blast was quite played in its days, and in Invasion/Odyssey, when Shock was the standard. However,your speech is so hilarious!

When I saw this card I thought that it was quite appealing, but overall isn't that special. I think that I would play Lightning Blast, because it can deals 4 directly at the opponent, even if there aren't any creature in the battelfield...

3/5

I first pick this in drafts.

Around 4th or 5th, it's a good indicator that Red is wide open.
Red's pretty underdrafted in M11 anyways.

Eh, I've never been as thrilled with this card as I have with Searing Blaze.