Pointed Discussion

Another one to keep your eye on depending on how the meta shapes up. There are so many high value X/1 creatures that see play right now. Grim Lavamancer, Inkmoth Nexus, and Signal Pest stand out in particular. Being able to trade 2-for-1 (and offing the first one for {R}, no less) with those little pesks who despite their small size can easily swing a game is always a huge benefit, and it can be backbreaking against tempo decks.

It's not Firebolt or Staggershock levels of good, but it's much more powerful than it looks in a vacuum.

That flashback cost is ridiculous. i don't think people would like it if the flashback cost was . I'd stick with Shock, actually.

Not a fan of the flashback cost here... even with it, it's just a recurrable Hornet Sting.

I can understand it's application in standard and limited, but pretty much everywhere else I'd pass on it. Nice art.

Interesting card, it's at its best against aggro decks with lots of 1/1s. I can see myself running this over Shock in control decks.

I hope this exists to contrast against more aggressive flashback costs in the rest of the block :\
3/5, as there happen to be plenty of 1 toughness ppl in the set.

Ghostflame
hmm, pyro-spirit burn deck?

A poor substitute for Forked Bolt.

Hey guys, we haven't even seen the Dark Ascension card that makes something terrible happen when you flashback. Once that card is revealed, won't you all look so foolish?

Dis card be a double Hornet Sting. All the way. I would know. I've won games with that card.

Looks kinda like Engulfing Flames.

The flashback cost HAS to be high because it allows for really powerful card advantage any time you want that's very difficult to deal with. It's a much more powerful effect than people give it credit for.

This is a recurring point of damage that will more often than not take out a utility creature or serve as a halfway decent combat trick. Also, at least in the early days of the return of flashback, people frequently forget this is in your graveyard.

Will it be an automatic four-of in every Top 8 deck ever? Of course not. But it's a decent card, and people who complain about flashback costs underestimate the utility of flashback.

yeah a better lava dart!

@ Zoah: All those cards you losers named? Strictly worse art.

Being a Johnny, I would love this card even more if it actually did 0 damage. literally if it read "deal 0 damage to target creature or player".

Doing actual damage, AND having a freaking zombie-ghost-dragon-haunted sword thing?!
Thank you, Wizards! ^_^ I understand this card, even if Zoah doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

If EVERY card were the spikeyest darn thing you ever saw, then the power balance of the game would be completely wrecked, and Standard would have turn 0 kills eventually.

so some cards have to look relatively unimpressive. what do they do to fix that? they give us bad ass art on almost every single card in every single pack. Next time you bust open a pack of Magic cards, old school, new school, ANY pack from Alpha to Innistrad, (not quite every single card if you go back far enough, but pretty much every set there are some good ones at every rarity) look at the artwork on the commons and ask yourself: isn't this worth it's online price, just for that kick ass picture? I would say that the majority of Magic cards look damn fine and that a dollar is actually a reasonable bottom price for any card. This doesn't quite work as you go up the rarities and start finding nuts 3 digit figures on the foils or the really old stuff, but it justifies the existence of all the 'unplayable' cards in my honest opinion.

Imagine if for the heck of it they started releasing triple or 10x oversized versions of every card. There are some commons out there that beat some of the Mythic Rares, visually. I'm dead serious.

The only reason this isn't a more common opinion is because almost everyone thinks of the cards in the context of the game. That's fine, these are all 'game pieces'. But there really is so much more to Magic than JUST playing, it's ridiculous. Don't even get me started on the flavor texts....

Vorthos, and proud of it. :)

Extremely powerful in draft. Everyone likes 1 drop X/1 and even 2 drops 2/1 or 3/1. It served as the removal that was kind of lacking in Innistrad altogether.

Also, it's good when your opponent makes a block he thinks was good and then you flashback this card to finish it off. One of the cards that won me Innistrad draft, a 4.5/5 for sure.

The art looks like it should do at least 3 damage. (sigh) More awesome art on a less than awesome card.

Still, it's usable... maybe.

@Lyoncet: couldn't agree more. Aside from the art, this card left a really good impression when I tried playing it in limited. If nothing else, this is a really neat trick to enable morbid-cards. Casting a Geistflame targeting something like Vampire Interloper and following up with a Brimstone Volley can really catch the opponent off-guard. In casual, you could kill a 1st turn Llanowar Elves/Noble Hierarch/Birds of Paradise and then later kill off another 1-toughness creature, should your opponent forget about your Geistflame.

it's useable and very good in standard
i just don't like it

AWESOME Flavortext, Artworkd and everything about it....
EXCEPT the effect completly SUCKS x.x T-T

As has been already said... it's quite nice card, it's not broken, it's certainly not useless. At first, you have 1 damage for R, which is nothing spectacular, but it kills all those 1 toughness creatures which can trouble you.
To improve it's effect, you can use Burning Vengeance... you know, your deck isn't about cards in vacuum, but about cards working together, so with burning vengeance you can get 1+2 damage (you can divide it) for 3R which is nice for not losing card advantage. You can have more that one Burning Vengeance in play, so that this will scale. You can get the idea and that's where this card begins to shine.
Don't be spoiled by Lightning Bolts...

Underrated card. Almost always a 2-for-1, and a two-one-that you don't have to wait until it's appropriate to cast (like waiting for that second creature to play your Arc Trail. The instant speed is huge too; this might be the best defense in standard against Inkmoth Nexus. In limited this is always good. In standard right now, the only thing comparable is Shock, and how often have you used shock against a 1-tough utility creature anyway. I'd say this card is better in many cases. Ah, burn is so much more interesting since Lightning Bolt got out of town.

Edit: It's amazing to see how many people maintain that this card sucks, when it is seeing all sorts of play in all sorts of competitive constructed decks, AND it's a workhorse in limited too. This card is strong and well-balanced. What's not to like?

This card is sweet. Removal wins limited, and this card is two easy pieces of it. There aren't THAT many X/1s in draft, but the first time you take out a Vampire Interloper and clear out a Typhoid Rats with one card, you'll be sold.

@darth parallax, I Play 4 Tha Art Too BRO!

@DarthParallax: Why aren't there people like you where I live. That's my opinion exactly. I wish there was some way to blow the artwork up to a size bigger than the what, 2"x2". There are some cards that I don't like using because their art is bad. Of course bad art won't stop me from using a good card, but I'd definitely prefer good art. Vorthos own!

I really like this card. However, in my UR tempo I will still be using Lava Dart...

Incredibly fun in my Death Pits of Rath deck. Two creatures WILL die, barring any white shenanigans.

2 damage and it would be perfect

Yep Tsunaki hit the nail square on the head folks.. Shame, such a cool drawling..

"BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL... I ping you. ... For one."

Whatever else you think of it, this card's a blast to play. Especially if you like bellowing nonsense in a booming voice. :)

To add to what Narim said, pair Burning Vengeance with Secrets of the Dead to give all of Flashback spells 2 damage and cantrip to add card advantage. This card has a place.

Everyone's already doing it so, I think I'll just make a list:

Lightning Bolt, Galvanic Blast, Skred, Tarfire, Burst Lightning, Magma Spray, Dead // Gone (Dead), Electrostatic Bolt, Chaos Charm, Midnight Charm, Gut Shot, Engulfing Flames, Forked Bolt, Shower of Sparks, Needle Drop, shock, Death Spark (My current favorite), and debatably better for combos: Singe.

They all do the job mostly better, all for reasons of their own... At least in my opinion.
(Needless to say, flashback doesn't impress me much)

Hornet Sting is green, so it deserves special mention
Harm's Way, takes a bit of set up, but it's also worth mentioning for being damage in white...

So no... I'm not impressed.

I think this one is underrated. Great for early-game removal, as well as being a flashbacker that'll spark Burning Vengeance... And Secrets... Plus some Kikkin' art...
'Scuse, me, I have a deck to build. :)

Sorry, but no, the artwork does not stop a bad card from being bad. Besides, I'm really not a fan of this card's artwork anyway. That sword/flame thing is pretty awkwardly drawn.

I'll take a forked bolt over this any day

Flashback is excessive, but might make the difference between life and death.

I was really hoping for yet another "Strictly better than Shock" though.

Underwhelming. I know every card can't be a powerhouse: but as the flagship, common instant burn of the set this card kind of sucks.

R for 1 damage is subpar, unearth is always great... but 4 mana to do 1 damage? Really? I pay 2 to smack you in the face with hellspark elemental for 3

Doesn't mean it's useless in limited, but if you put this in your constructed deck I will be forced to slap you silly. And airtravel is expensive these days, so for both our sakes, don't.

Engulfing Flames...

This, Tragic Slip, and Gut Shot are the reason I dont maindeck X/1 Utility creatures.

Flashback does not have to be in tempo. Its the fact they have that play in their back-pocket for the rest of the game... Unless you maindecked some graveyard hate.

I run this card, no one expects you to play a red deck and then not play anything on the first turn, then when they drop their 1/1 rare creature or the 0/1 birds of paradise, you go blam this card that people think is useless. Not so useless anymore since I destroyed your good 1 drop creature.

@DarthParallax, 2 thumbs up ! This is one of my favourite pieces of artwork in MTG, I haven't played it yet but could see using with Goblin Electromancer and Talrand, Sky Summoner. Would love a foil one!

I've found it works well enough with guttersnipe and burning vengence in a burn deck, alongside things like think twice and desperate ravings.

Still. the flashback seems overcosted for 1 damage.

Feels like a weaker darkblast for some reason. Thisd probably play well with dredge i suppose. pillar of flame and brimstone volley saw a lot more standard play, imo. Not to mention the miracle burns

By no means a bad card. Burn is one of the riskiest things to put Flashback on, if you want to keep the spell balanced, so Wizard's caution with such cards is sensible. Still, this card could have used a -little- more of a boost than it got- the damage is right, but 2R seems like a better place for the Flashback cost.

-1 star for overcautious Flashback cost, 4/5 overall.