I feel like this card isn't quite there yet. You can certainly get value out of it, but I think that there needs to be one or two more solid Flashback spells before this one will start paying dividends. Even if it doesn't take off immediately, it's a card to watch out for with Dark Ascension and "Roll" come out.
Card template for a red enchantment every set / block:
Whenever you ~use the prominent mechanic in this block~, this deals ~number~ damage to target creature or player.
~number~ can also be replaced with one of the stats from the card you're casting which uses the mechanic in question, most often cmc or power.
swords_to_exile
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I think this will take off with the release of more flashback spells. As Lyoncet said, there aren't quite enough yet to make it worthwhile unless you build a 3-color deck. That being said, I am going to do my best to make U/R combo work with this.
God_of_Chaos
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Grixis Vengeance.. I'm still expecting more red, blue and black with flashbacks in the upcoming sets... With what we have now, Grixis colors offers the best deck built around this enchantment.. Bump in the Night, Sever the Bloodline, Desperate Ravings, Devil's Play, Think Twice, Forbidden Alchemy, Dream Twist.. Add some burn and removals of your choice and you have a Grixis control deck.. I'm definitely assured that this card will see tournament plays as Innistrad block advances.. =)
I agree with Lyoncet, It will take a while before this proves or disproves itself of being the next Lightning Rift in standard, but even so, Casual is going to eat this up. Your local cardshop Johnny is going to have fun with this one.
All are under 3 mana. (Rite of Flame I'm looking at you) Seems very silly to have better Magma Rift's at will.
ShadyBabs
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Much better than previous enchantments of similar effect because you're not at all interrupting tempo trying to get it to work with flashback cards - cast the card from your hand turns 1-4 as nomral, field burning vengeance and then enjoy even further value by casting from the graveyard.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This + Gheistflame + Past in Flames. I know it doesn't look like much YET- but if you think about what ELSE might get printed for Red Flashback stuff in Dark Ascension, then I do think there is room for, not alarm, but just actual excitement. Which is pretty nifty for a card that 'only' does 1 damage. (If you're playing it wrong) :)
Past in Flames only works for the deck if we get a good 2 drop Red flashbacker, so we have 8 total that will give us enough copies to have a chance at casting a bunch for the discount. They won't give us another 1-drop like Gheistflame unless they're nuts. Still. Oh and if it absolutely comes down to it- Bump in the Night, splash Black, hey lookie now we have an excuse to run Go for the Throat and whatever broken doohickeys they give Sorin 2.0, who I predict will be 1BBB mana.
:)
Narim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
At first, I wanted to abuse it in a Flashback and Unearth deck. I was so dissapointed that Unearth actually "put cards from your graveyard to play." Well, I guess using flashback will be enough :)
leomistico
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Nice card, I like this kind of red enchantment that deals damages while doing your work, like Warstorm Surge, Rage Extractor, Searing Meditation, Where Ancients Tread and the like... They give you a lot of inevitability and card advantage... In certain situations, you could win without even trying...
This is one of the more elegant version of this kind of cards, and the next expansions of the block could push this card in the tournament-worth zone. It's even funnier that it doesn't say "flashback", so it's usable even with Retrace and is pretty synergic with River Kelpie. I like it very much!
4.5/5
P.S.: I use to give such high rating even to not-black-lotus-level cards because I appreciate their flavour, balanceness, elegance and/or because they belong to my style of play... Just for the note...
infernox10
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The pure advantage that Flashback cards give in this set, Combined with the pure advantage an additional 2 damage can bring... This card is insanely efficient in a deck built to support it. Think Twice, Geistflame, Desperate Ravings? Jesus. Even better, this is just passive. While doing all your Flashback shenannigans, this sits on the sideline helping you in the long run. I've realized that when running a deck like this, that the mass amount of card advantage completely outweighs any negativity from half-relying on this card. All the spells allow a reliable flip from Delver of Secrets, too. My main strategy with this is to clear the board of my opponent's creatures systematically, getting damage in whenever possible, Countering things with Shroud/Hexproof, and boarding in Phantasmal Image for Thrun, the Last Troll. So much fun, I tell ya.
RegalFanton
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Honestly, I've seen a lot of people try to build around this and I think that a lot of the time they do it wrong. They try to turn this into a win-condition where you flashback and burn your opponent down to zero. I've found a much better use of this card is in a Rock style control deck, which helps you generate even more card advantage off of each spell you flashback, sometimes burning, sometimes acting as removal, grinding your opponent down until you can safely resolve a finisher to kill them. So as a word of advice, feel free to build around this card, it's a great card, but plan to include a couple of other finishers in your deck.
Sobieski
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is a really FUN card. I use it in a flashback deck. REMEMBER WHEN YOU SNAPCASTER MAGE BACK A SPELL THIS STILL ACTIVATES which makes this card easily playable in blue red black even without dark acension. The idea is to kill using this and slagstorm, all the oppenents cretures and/or planeswalkers, until you play something along the lines of SORIN'S VENGENCE or sorin himself. Olivia voldaren should also never be counted out and delver of secrets goes so well with flashback. I normally just stop the other guy's plan until turn 7. sorin's vengence and then use snapcaster mage to FLASHBACK sorin's vengence turn nine. It sounds bad but control decks can't normally win and aggro decks are hosed by slagstorm
LilyOola
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Dark Ascension is now out, and with it, this R/B/U "infinite burn" combo:
1. Cast Burning Vengeance and Heartless Summoning. 2. Cast Rooftop Storm, then cast any Zombie with 2 or more toughness. 3. Cast Gravecrawler, it dies instantly from Heartless Summoning. 4. Gravecrawler can be recast from the graveyard (for free thanks to Rooftop Storm), and dies instantly again. 5. Burning Vengeance deals 2 damage to your opponent. 6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you win.
MagnaLynx21
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love how people that run this use this as there ONLY win condition. On it's own, it really doesn't do enough to win you the game. If you can't back it up with even a single creature, then it's just not going to win. You run out of gas, or this gets removed; you lose. It is as simple as that.
While Black traditionally has had strong associations with managing a stocked graveyard, I have to disagree that Grixis us the way to go with a Burning Vengeance deck. Instead, I'm inclined to go with RUG. Think about it. Memory's Journey. Roar of the Wurm. Grizzly Fate. Tracker's Instinct. In a build with a dozen or so Merfolk Looter variants, Gnaw to the Bone! Mulch! Green is definitely the way to go here.
Bobth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Same picture as Sever the Bloodline, but more fiery. This one is much more relevant to its ability.
Buljinn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@sorensson
No, bringing back Magma Phoenix won't trigger this. Phoenix has an ability that lets you recur it, but you are not casting the spell when you do that.
TheManakinTransfer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Toshiro Umezawa for the potential to do a massive sweep fairly early.
Even with a deck somewhat built around it, I found it often didn't help as much as simply casting Staggershock. One gives an immediate and reliable benefit, the other requires 3 cards (sort of) and 3 mana investments to do the same. I get that in the long term this will be beneficial, but in the long term I'll draw into more staggershocks..
Excellent combo with Flame Jab when you can get it off. Works best (for me) as a 2-of to get the side benefit while not taking up the card slots of more important things, such as the aforementioned staggershock..
Osprey_93
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The problem with my Legacy Zombie deck is Gravecrawler, Carrion Feeder and Gravepact made for a very unfun lock. this is an answer to all my problems!
dsdnova
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This + ashnods alter + havengul lich + any 1 drop artifact creature = infinite damage
TowerDefender
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Should have been in Tibalt's Duel Deck, with all his flashback and Unearth spells.
Comments (35)
Whenever you ~use the prominent mechanic in this block~, this deals ~number~ damage to target creature or player.
~number~ can also be replaced with one of the stats from the card you're casting which uses the mechanic in question, most often cmc or power.
With what we have now, Grixis colors offers the best deck built around this enchantment.. Bump in the Night, Sever the Bloodline, Desperate Ravings, Devil's Play, Think Twice, Forbidden Alchemy, Dream Twist.. Add some burn and removals of your choice and you have a Grixis control deck.. I'm definitely assured that this card will see tournament plays as Innistrad block advances.. =)
I agree with Lyoncet, It will take a while before this proves or disproves itself of being the next Lightning Rift in standard, but even so, Casual is going to eat this up. Your local cardshop Johnny is going to have fun with this one.
You just hit on some hilarity that i have seen.
Pyromancer's Swath
Pyromancer Ascension
Burning Vengeance
Flame Jab
All are under 3 mana. (Rite of Flame I'm looking at you)
Seems very silly to have better Magma Rift's at will.
Past in Flames only works for the deck if we get a good 2 drop Red flashbacker, so we have 8 total that will give us enough copies to have a chance at casting a bunch for the discount. They won't give us another 1-drop like Gheistflame unless they're nuts. Still. Oh and if it absolutely comes down to it- Bump in the Night, splash Black, hey lookie now we have an excuse to run Go for the Throat and whatever broken doohickeys they give Sorin 2.0, who I predict will be 1BBB mana.
:)
They give you a lot of inevitability and card advantage... In certain situations, you could win without even trying...
This is one of the more elegant version of this kind of cards, and the next expansions of the block could push this card in the tournament-worth zone. It's even funnier that it doesn't say "flashback", so it's usable even with Retrace and is pretty synergic with River Kelpie.
I like it very much!
4.5/5
P.S.: I use to give such high rating even to not-black-lotus-level cards because I appreciate their flavour, balanceness, elegance and/or because they belong to my style of play... Just for the note...
Combined with the pure advantage an additional 2 damage can bring...
This card is insanely efficient in a deck built to support it.
Think Twice, Geistflame, Desperate Ravings?
Jesus.
Even better, this is just passive. While doing all your Flashback shenannigans, this sits on the sideline helping you in the long run. I've realized that when running a deck like this, that the mass amount of card advantage completely outweighs any negativity from half-relying on this card.
All the spells allow a reliable flip from Delver of Secrets, too.
My main strategy with this is to clear the board of my opponent's creatures systematically, getting damage in whenever possible,
Countering things with Shroud/Hexproof, and boarding in Phantasmal Image for Thrun, the Last Troll.
So much fun, I tell ya.
1. Cast Burning Vengeance and Heartless Summoning.
2. Cast Rooftop Storm, then cast any Zombie with 2 or more toughness.
3. Cast Gravecrawler, it dies instantly from Heartless Summoning.
4. Gravecrawler can be recast from the graveyard (for free thanks to Rooftop Storm), and dies instantly again.
5. Burning Vengeance deals 2 damage to your opponent.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you win.
On it's own, it really doesn't do enough to win you the game. If you can't back it up with even a single creature, then it's just not going to win. You run out of gas, or this gets removed; you lose. It is as simple as that.
No, bringing back Magma Phoenix won't trigger this. Phoenix has an ability that lets you recur it, but you are not casting the spell when you do that.
Excellent combo with Flame Jab when you can get it off. Works best (for me) as a 2-of to get the side benefit while not taking up the card slots of more important things, such as the aforementioned staggershock..
5 damage for 1 mana and discarding a land? Yes please