I never understood the point of Blaze when we had this. I never really bother to split it more than twice, but if you get out a Fire Servant... Ka-splode!
Tommy9898
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(5 votes)
It is kinda hard to get right when using in on magic online. wish they had a nice conversion table that does the math for you so you can quickly get it just right. Like what they had in that old Shandalar game. Modo needs an infrastructure overhaul.
auriscope
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
This is so good that I played this as the only red card in a BGW prerelease deck. Somehow it all worked out.
HuntedWumpusMustDie
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(5 votes)
newartneedednewartneedednewartneeded... fireballs have never looked so bland :( and the mirrodin landscape looks awkward as hell.
5 stars for being one of the best in the game though.
AngelPhoenix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Goodness Gracious....
Love that this was reprinted in the same set as Fork's new ieteration Reverberate. The two were meant for eachother. Have never found this hugely useful (always prefered the one extra mana for the instant speed of Volcanic Geyser but this card is classic nonetheless.
Lavrant
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great at killing all the M12 Illusions.
Taegan15
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(14 votes)
I believe that I have found a way to break the laws of mathematics in this card. :P
First of all, look at the rules text: "Fireball deals X damage divided evenly, rounded down, among any number of target creatures and/or players."
Normally, lets say you spend 6 mana on X and you target 2 creatures. The fraction from this would be 6/2, so 3 damage would be dealt to each creature.
"Any number" means that 0 is not exluded (or even negative numbers, but I am not going to go into that here). If you spend 6 mana again, but this time target 0 creatures/players, then the fraction would be 6/0.
Using the rules text from Fireball, I have proven that you can divide by 0.
(Saying that you can choose 0 targets is in the ruling for this card, but it doesn't say anything about breakiing the laws of mathematics by dividing by 0.)
KitaFer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(7 votes)
I fail to see the use of Fireball... Sorry, I just don't think it's that good. 2/5
CrowJonSnow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
pulled this for a RW draft deck, and it was great. the first place guy ran a mostly blue illusion deck, with i think 3 or 4 phantasmal bears.
he had 3 creatures out, 2 of which were bears. i played this, tapped 1 for each bear, 3 for the other creature, and burned him for the rest
great card 4/5
001010011100101110
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is my favorite channel.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Tommy9898 I disagree. Once you've gotten used to the MTGO controls, fireball works just fine, and as it is meant to. Granted, new players sometimes accidentally tap before clicking the card, and cast it with X=0. That's not too different from play mistakes you make in paper, though.
Igooog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Works so well with my Eldrazi Spawn token deck, just pumps out the colorless mana for one massive turn of destruction, along with Raid Bombardment.
Cqis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@CrowJonSnow:
You said "he had 3 creatures out, 2 of which were bears. i played this, tapped 1 for each bear, 3 for the other creature, and burned him for the rest"
I would like to know how you can send 3 damage to a third creature when fireball states: Fireball deals X damage EVENLY, rounded down, among any number of target creatures and/or players.
So in your scenario, by splitting the damage three ways, 1 damage to each bear, and 1 damage to the third creature would have been dealt by the wording of Fireball.
five0ate
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Cqis
I think he is saying that he used 1 mana to split the fireball to target (and kill) the bears and letting the rest of the damage be assigned evenly to the remaining two targets, but he technically didn't have to spend any extra mana to target the Phantasmal Bears because targets of Fireball are chosen before any additional costs are paid. This would kill any of the M12 illusions immediately.
KitaFer, the use of Fireball is that you can kill multiple enemy creatures using a single card of your own. That's card advantage.
Or, of course, you can use it like any other Blaze variant: A variable amount of damage to kill a creature, or to dump a whole bunch of mana into it to end the game. It's that flexibility that makes it great.
nope.avi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
classic card and is still decent not tournament worthy but still good
htgtmd
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you choose 0 as the number of targets, you lose the game.
fencediddy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
quick question. might seems a bit awkward but due to this cards use of any number of targets. could i split the damage at the same target. effectively targeting it multiple times. getting around a spellskite partially without a larger mana / life investment or procing my own livewire lash. I am trying to swing it as a Seeds of Strength
Rahnzan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
This is never worth it. Killing 4 1/1s?, I'd rather summon a Titan. I'd rather play 4 darts, a pair of forked bolts, or even a global spell like pyroclasm. How about 2 2/2s? Or one 1/2 and one 2/2? Consider how much mana you'd need to sweep 2 1/1s and a 1/3. When is splitting this horrible card ever worth it? Every color out there has a better way to deal with a small clump of weenies for a fraction of the mana, including red! Even if you're targetting just one monster or player, there are better cards. This thing is abysmal compared to just about every other sweeper out there! Even early game: turn two and your opponent has two 1/1s with haste. If you wait two turns, and draw a little over the curve, you just might be able to kill them with 4 mana, while your opponent potentially gets out a 2/2 and a 3/3 for your trouble. Someone explain to me how this card isn't terrible. Early game; useless, mid game; expensive, late game? Are you people running 50% mana decks? 2 1/1s. Four Mana. That's terrible! Ignoring Planeswalkers, check all the awesome creatures and spells you could cast for 4 mana!
wstonefi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A classic as always. I wouldn't mind some new art, though. This one is getting a bit stale.
leomistico
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I would like to see a reprint with the original art, maybe with a more saturated color. It would be fantastic!
However, great card, it can delivery card advantage with a lot of mana or can delivery quite a lot of damages without much effort, but without the ability that Demonfire Banefire Red Sun's Zenith Disintegrate Devil's Play (just to name a few) give you. A classic and flavourful card. 4/5
@ Rahnzan: I suggest you to use Pyroclasm or Earthquake cards for that kind of job, because they are more efficient, but if you want versatility Fireball can be a nice choise. You can split the damages, or point all of them at a single creature or, belive it, a player! Its power is that it gives you options. Of course there are situationally better cards, but you can say it about everything in Magic, but at the end you have about 40 nonland card to put in your deck, so you have to choose... There are plenty of damage-based cards, but even playing only 1x of each card, you can't put all of them in your deck!
zakando
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I like seeing it back in every coreset :D personally, I see more flexibility on fireball than the new devil's play. On a side note, in an infinite mana deck, devil's play kills 2 player max, while fireball kills every creature on the field and all other players if its a multi player game
Asiema113
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
HEY ILLUSIONS!!
gman92
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I randomed Stream of Life then this. I wasn't going to comment, but that was very interesting.
Sleaw
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The versatility is what makes it great. Keep at it!
I cannot STAND the stupid comments made by people on this wbsite! First things first, if you want to deal 3 damage to 2 creatures each, you have to spend R, and then 1 extra because you are targeting 1 creature beyond the first, and then you have to spend 6 MORE mana so they each get dealt 3 damage.
And to anyone who says that they don't see the point to the card, then you have not been playing for long enough, or are no good at the game.
Thirdly, it's NOT hard to use on Magic Online... if you cannot do basic addition, then you should NOT be playing this game.
DacenOctavio
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fireball is an elegant finisher, a relic of a brutal past long forgotten, when players had Disintegrate and Mana Flare. Even without ramp, it can be a sinister end your opponent never sees coming. Yesterday I stalled out a game with countermagic and burn until I had 13 islands and mountains, and then sent my opponent to the next dimension!!
. . . KAME-HAME-HAAAAAA!!
Xineombine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(8 votes)
Anyone ever watch Yu-Gi-Oh! at anytime in their lives? If not, this card is from that damn show, I swear. I have lost duels when I had Geth, Lilliana vess (at 9 loyalty), Phyrexian Obliterator and Grimgrin (at 9/9) on the field because of this card. I have 8 life, opponant has 9 mana. I instantly lose. I think this card is WAAAAY to OP of a card to be an uncommon, it should be rare, due to the nature that it can kill anything in 1 hit when you have the mama to do so. you can kill an opponant instantly, even when the WOULD win the next turn. To finish what I was saying about Yu-Gi-Oh!, it's a damn convienece card that always eats your opponants life to nothing. they are fixing this card for Core 2013 by making you pay X twice, thank God, I hate this card...
Travelsonic
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
GraemeGunn, give me a beak / calm the **** down, will you? Sometimes, you need to, instead of getting ***y, explain it to them - because some people just need to have the concept explained to them before they get it. For example, I can do calculus, and it took me a reading or two of the rules to understand how it worked - not the end of the world.
angelheartvial
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This card reads like a math problem. And just to be a prick the teacher adds "... fireball costs 1 more to cast for each target beyond the first. Solve for X".
martianshark
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Useful and super cheap. I like it.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Taegan No, when you cast the spell you have to choose the first legal target, and have the option to declare additional targets. You cant cast this spell with 0 targets.
And if you remove the target while this is on the stack, making it "0" targets, the spell will just fizzle away, not breaking any laws of mathematics.
Its literally impossible within the rules of magic to cast a targeted spell without a legal target. Thats the drawback to Hex. There has to be 6 legal targets on the field to even cast Hex.
AshToMoutHound
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I put this and Dual Casting in the newly released Izzet Duel Deck and handed it to my friend for a multiplayer match. He made three 10+ balls and then it was all over.
Axelle
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@Xineombine: It's not Fireball's fault you can't win with that field.
WilliamBrutal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a question!!! If I have Fireball in my graveyard, and my opponent uses a card whose effect reads, "You may play target instant or sorcery from target opponents graveyard without paying its mana cost." then does the (X) become a zero, or does your opponent pay (X) mana??
Also Magic came before Yugioh and Yugioh is just a cheap knockoff.
@Williambrutal: X is automatically 0.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm still holding out for a card that costs {X}{B}{B}{R}{R} that's ability is: Deal X damage to target opponent. You can only use Black and/or Red mana for X. Gain life equal to the amount of Black mana spent on this card and deal damage to target player equal to the amount of red mana used on this card. @Xineombine So it should be rare because you lost to it? Well then I guess that means Goblin Piker should be rare because my opponent finished me off with it once. Oh wait...
Notus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I have a quick question. Can I cast this for R and target all of my opponents illusions--the ones that get sacrificed when targeted--to kill them all?
Lamaboy4
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fireball is a fun thing to say when you finish off your opponents with this card. It's also very versatile because of it's multi-taget ability and the "X" damage. 5/5
Ginto
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Notus No, because you have to pay {1} for every target beyond the first. Casting it for {r} would work on one illusion, but not all of them. You'd have to effectively pay {r} for each target. The logic of "even 0 damage is enough to destroy them" still stands though, which is why it's hilarious playing Bonfire of the Damned for {r}{r} (or even {r} if you miracle it out) and watching the boardwipe.
z06kicks
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Ginto While Bonfire is lots of fun, an X=0 Bonfire won't trigger Illusions' sacrifice because it targets only a player, not the creatures themselves.
Drewskithelegend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I feel like the wording is really quite strange. Sure, it's clear enough, but I second guessed myself on the meaning a couple times. Basically "so the damage is fixed at x and you pay 1 per target? Oh wait, no because it says evenly. Oh but then why..." And so forth. Probably just my subconscious wishing it was more powerful than it actually is. That being said, good mass removal esp. against weenie decks and a good game ender in all other situations.
talcumpowder0046
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
HADOUKEN!!!!
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Turn 1: Black Lotus, Channel, Fireball Ben Stark and Luis Scott-Vargas show up and win the game for you.
Kura-san
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great design for a card and always happy to see it reprinted.
Comments (46)
5 stars for being one of the best in the game though.
Love that this was reprinted in the same set as Fork's new ieteration Reverberate. The two were meant for eachother. Have never found this hugely useful (always prefered the one extra mana for the instant speed of Volcanic Geyser but this card is classic nonetheless.
First of all, look at the rules text: "Fireball deals X damage divided evenly, rounded down, among any number of target creatures and/or players."
Normally, lets say you spend 6 mana on X and you target 2 creatures. The fraction from this would be 6/2, so 3 damage would be dealt to each creature.
"Any number" means that 0 is not exluded (or even negative numbers, but I am not going to go into that here). If you spend 6 mana again, but this time target 0 creatures/players, then the fraction would be 6/0.
Using the rules text from Fireball, I have proven that you can divide by 0.
(Saying that you can choose 0 targets is in the ruling for this card, but it doesn't say anything about breakiing the laws of mathematics by dividing by 0.)
the first place guy ran a mostly blue illusion deck, with i think 3 or 4 phantasmal bears.
he had 3 creatures out, 2 of which were bears. i played this, tapped 1 for each bear, 3 for the other creature, and burned him for the rest
great card
4/5
I disagree. Once you've gotten used to the MTGO controls, fireball works just fine, and as it is meant to.
Granted, new players sometimes accidentally tap before clicking the card, and cast it with X=0. That's not too different from play mistakes you make in paper, though.
You said "he had 3 creatures out, 2 of which were bears. i played this, tapped 1 for each bear, 3 for the other creature, and burned him for the rest"
I would like to know how you can send 3 damage to a third creature when fireball states: Fireball deals X damage EVENLY, rounded down, among any number of target creatures and/or players.
So in your scenario, by splitting the damage three ways, 1 damage to each bear, and 1 damage to the third creature would have been dealt by the wording of Fireball.
I think he is saying that he used 1 mana to split the fireball to target (and kill) the bears and letting the rest of the damage be assigned evenly to the remaining two targets, but he technically didn't have to spend any extra mana to target the Phantasmal Bears because targets of Fireball are chosen before any additional costs are paid. This would kill any of the M12 illusions immediately.
Technically, you could wipe out an entire field of Phantasmal Bears, Phantasmal Dragons, and Phantasmal Images with a Fireball and one red mana.
Or, of course, you can use it like any other Blaze variant: A variable amount of damage to kill a creature, or to dump a whole bunch of mana into it to end the game. It's that flexibility that makes it great.
However, great card, it can delivery card advantage with a lot of mana or can delivery quite a lot of damages without much effort, but without the ability that
Demonfire
Banefire
Red Sun's Zenith
Disintegrate
Devil's Play
(just to name a few)
give you.
A classic and flavourful card.
4/5
@ Rahnzan:
I suggest you to use Pyroclasm or Earthquake cards for that kind of job, because they are more efficient, but if you want versatility Fireball can be a nice choise. You can split the damages, or point all of them at a single creature or, belive it, a player! Its power is that it gives you options. Of course there are situationally better cards, but you can say it about everything in Magic, but at the end you have about 40 nonland card to put in your deck, so you have to choose... There are plenty of damage-based cards, but even playing only 1x of each card, you can't put all of them in your deck!
personally, I see more flexibility on fireball than the new devil's play. On a side note, in an infinite mana deck, devil's play kills 2 player max, while fireball kills every creature on the field and all other players if its a multi player game
I wasn't going to comment, but that was very interesting.
And to anyone who says that they don't see the point to the card, then you have not been playing for long enough, or are no good at the game.
Thirdly, it's NOT hard to use on Magic Online... if you cannot do basic addition, then you should NOT be playing this game.
. . .
KAME-HAME-HAAAAAA!!
No, when you cast the spell you have to choose the first legal target, and have the option to declare additional targets. You cant cast this spell with 0 targets.
And if you remove the target while this is on the stack, making it "0" targets, the spell will just fizzle away, not breaking any laws of mathematics.
Its literally impossible within the rules of magic to cast a targeted spell without a legal target. Thats the drawback to Hex. There has to be 6 legal targets on the field to even cast Hex.
If I have Fireball in my graveyard, and my opponent uses a card whose effect reads, "You may play target instant or sorcery from target opponents graveyard without paying its mana cost." then does the (X) become a zero, or does your opponent pay (X) mana??
Also Magic came before Yugioh and Yugioh is just a cheap knockoff.
@Williambrutal: X is automatically 0.
@Xineombine So it should be rare because you lost to it? Well then I guess that means Goblin Piker should be rare because my opponent finished me off with it once. Oh wait...
No, because you have to pay {1} for every target beyond the first. Casting it for {r} would work on one illusion, but not all of them. You'd have to effectively pay {r} for each target.
The logic of "even 0 damage is enough to destroy them" still stands though, which is why it's hilarious playing Bonfire of the Damned for {r}{r} (or even {r} if you miracle it out) and watching the boardwipe.
While Bonfire is lots of fun, an X=0 Bonfire won't trigger Illusions' sacrifice because it targets only a player, not the creatures themselves.
Ben Stark and Luis Scott-Vargas show up and win the game for you.