Pointed Discussion

the art is too dark

So...nine mana to deal 1 damage to a creature and its controller with a cantrip? Pardon me if I'm not a fan.

actually, if you are paying 9 mana you are getting 2 damage, but i think the point was to be a more versatile spell, not throw all the abilities in at once.

A blue kicker if you need to fill up on cards, and a red one to get more burn from your spell.

If you had 9 mana you'd probably only use one of the kickers and either blow away your opponent and their creature or fill you hand up with some goodies, and still blow away your opponent's creature.

lololol - I pulled off a 4-point red-kicked Illuminate vs Precursor golem for perfect damage in a casual Cube draft!

I like this card. Versatility often costs mana so thats no surprise here

Good thing red and blue have so much mana acceleration.

Rosheen, to the rescue.

I do believe that is Lord Windgrace, illuminating some Phyrexians up.

It's like a confusing blaze, that becomes awesome if you have enough mana.

Seems better than Invoke the Firemind in a RU draw deck. Especially in EDH.

Card is sweet, a master of versatility. 2 mana to kill a turn 1 Llanowar Elves? 8 mana for a Lightning Bolt stapled to a Concentrate? 7 mana for a makeshift Searing Blaze? Yes, yes and yes.

My favorite play with this so far has been paying 9, killing Jor-Kadeen and drawing 4. 5-for-1s: pretty good! Won me the game, anyway.

It's a good card for very slow formats, such as Commander/EDH. Most newer players see only the high kicker cost, and dismiss the card immediately. But it's better than that.

First, the kicker cost is optional. When you just want to kill a creature, it's exactly as efficient as any other red X spell, requiring only one colored mana in addition to the X value. At the same time, the card gets much more efficient in the late game, where every single mana spent for X translates into one damage to a creature, one card drawn, and one damage to a player.

For example, play a 13 mana illuminate with all kickers in a late Commander game. X is then 5. A five damage blaze to a creature would cost normally six mana. A five damage blaze to a player would also cost six. A five card brain geyser would cost seven mana. That would cost together 19 mana, instead of 13. In addition, you'd have to spend three cards for these effects, instead of one, so to come out with the same card advantage, you'd have to cast a 9 mana braingeyser, ending up with a total cost of 21 mana, instead of 13. AND the mana cost would require four colored mana, instead of three on illuminate. AND it would take up three card slots in your deck, instead of one.

This is practically screaming 'Play me in Riku EDH!'

I may pick one up and do just that actually

3/5 Stars

Very sexy options. But unless serious ramp or really late game, the deal is only thing gona be used, but at least its efficient for that.