Pointed Discussion

I would definitely use this card in my RDW. I'm not sure how many, but I'd use 2 for sure. Sure, it's only sorcery speed, but I'm fine with that. The fact it can kill off some good undying creatures for good is a decent pay off if you ask me.

I'll be calling this one Inshockerate. Very, very useful against undying creatures. Kills Geralf's Messenger and Gravecrawler dead.

What a tremendous piece of art! Not to mention how much my Koth deck will appreciate getting to spend one mana to exile undying creatures instead of having to use up my Red Sun's Zenith on them.

Magma Spray. Less fast, more targets.

I'm not entirely sold on this, but since people generally give Magma Spray favorable reviews, this surely must be on par with it since it can target players as well. I assume other than in Standard/Limited it won't see much play; however, in the aforementioned formats--especially Limited--this will be a very nice, versatile card.

I literally JUST realized this was a sorcery. Oh well, still a great card.

Even murders the in-color and in-set Hound of Griselbrand.

Looks like Disintegrate's legacy is still strong. I love you Burn.

...So it's just Shock, except you trade instant speed for exile. Sucks.

It's way better than shock for the format it was printed in

So long, Strangly!

If a player dealt damage this way would lose the game this turn, exile them instead.

Regeneration stops this card still. Not quite Disintegrate quality.

Sorcery speed is a major drawback, especially in burn spells like this one. The benefit that you get in return — the ability to exile an enemy creature — is largely situational in its usefulness, though could be invaluable against certain decks. It's not better than Shock in every situation; but it definitely has its uses. Awesome art.

Sorcery speed does hamper this a bit, but man is it satisfying to burn undying creatures off of existence. They're not coming back... At all.

Solid for a common in this block.

Does this trigger Morbid still?

The only reason I ask is due to the wording on the card. It says "IF a creature WOULD die". The verbiage makes it sound like: This effect is Shock, unless the creature would die, then it's Celestial Purge. And to the best of my knowledge Celestial Purge doesn't trigger dying effects such as Morbid.

would this stop a card with undying?

*Muah muah muah* love you Pillar of Flame. Those broken ass persist + Melira, Sylvok Outcast infinites can suck on these flaming hot nuts.

I play 4 of in my Izzet deck. Gets rid of undying creatures, cravecrawler, etc. Hell, even if it only hits a Doomed Traveler its still worth it. I really, really hope they decide to print this card in a later set, its good in limited AND a staple for constructed along with Flames of the Firebrand. 5/5 even at sorcery, its just too versatile to pass on.

It's amazing what you'll use when the power of burn is as depressed as it is now.

If I let myself be guided by art as well as ability, this is a 4-of in Red Deck Wins. If I was considering purely usefulness, I'd probably 1-1 split it with Magma Spray. Instant speed is good for dealing with creatures that Must. Die.

Edit1 : I'm going to go look up Ichorid's and Narcomoeba's Toughness. When I come back for Edit2, I'll let you know if I think this is situationally better than Lightning Bolt, and ALWAYS better than Shock, despite speed difference.

Edit2 : Ichorid, Narcomoeba, Golgari Thug, AND Stinkweed Imp all have Toughness less than or equal 2. Pillar of Flame is the Casual Format answer to Dredge.

Dredge shouldn't BE a Casual Deck, but Premium Deck Series: Graveborn and Duel Decks: Izzet v. Golgari increased card access enough to put almost the whole deck except Ichorid cheaply into a lot of hands that won't actually be good at using it. I know because I'm one of them, and all of the options I had on my turn confuzzdled me and I was probably going to mill myself out if I hadn't lost to damage. :3 While Dredge SHOULD destroy just about anything even without the Bazaars, Noobs can't make it do that, so I think that the best deck to use against "Noob with a Dredge Deck" is probably Mono-Red, and this card is an auto-include in that list because it Exiles for 1 mana and hits players and Planeswalkers for 2 (maybe you're in a multiplayer game against Super Friends and Dredge)

(Life from the Loam was the headache card for me- I don't think it belongs in Dredge Deck Wins. It looks fine for other decks, but I don't see how any land but the T1 Bazaar matters for Dredge- all you want to do is sacrifice Narcomoebas and Ichorids to flashback Dread Return. In some ways, you need the same kind of thinking for Dredge as you do for Channel-Fireball, just with different mechanics producing the exhorbitantly large amount of damage on turn 2 or 3.)

Sorry, but as far as I can tell this card sucks.

It's built for the set, so for most people it's vital for getting rid of Gravecrawler and friends. Worked very well for me, I must admit, and honestly the sorcery speed isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

I'd rather have Magma Spray for the instant speed since I never really see myself firing this at players, but this can be a real lifesaver.

That it’s not an instant limits it in comparison to older cards like Shock and Lightning Bolt so it’s unlikely to see any play outside of limited and standard. However it’s got to be a staple card in any red deck in those categories. Best red burn card available in this set and the fact that it exiles almost makes up for the fact it’s a sorcery considering how regeneration heavy Innistrad is.

This would be great to carry forward into core sets as the 1-cost Red burn spell. Lightning Bolt is just too strong. Searing Spear is a little on the weak side, but 2 mana for 3 damage is the right amount. The new Skullcrack does it right... just not sure that it belongs in a core set as much.

The RFG (removed from game) effect does not even begin to approach making up for this not being instant-speed. I would hardly want this in my red decks, but we're stuck with it for now.

Obligatory sideboard hate in standard against:

Gravecrawler
Pyreheart Wolf
Strangleroot Geist
Geralf's Messenger

...and everything else with undying and power 2 or less.

Hello goodbye to Voice of Resurgence.

How's it taste, Myr Servitor?

And thus cycles out the best answer to Voice of Resurgence. decks will never be able to compete against

The difference between burn spells that can hit players & creatures vs. those that can't is gigantic.
Red is the only color that *can* punch you in the face with kill spells and it's creatures and lack of card advantage is a balance for that. It's balanced around being able to kill you fast and having limitations on it's kill spells.

This is a (most of the time) upgrade to Magma Spray, but IMO; it's also a bit out of color. It hates on it's ally colors the most (black & green) and the low damage has a harder time killing (or mattering) against White or Blue.

Necessary, but very strange design IMO (even if it's been around since Alpha in the form of disintegrate.)