Pointed Discussion

I wonder on what prevented them for making this deal 2 dmg or costing just R.
if it just cost R, you have to pay only red mana for every dmg u want to deal and that is a good limitation.

I like you now, Blizzardspectre. Thank you for not saying "1st comment"

He looks like the Hobgoblin from Spider Man

@blizzardspectre

If it was R / replicate R, it would be better than every other XR spell like fireball and Devil's play because it would be more cost effective, able to redistribute damage however you want (note that you have to pay extra for this with a fireball), and nigh uncounterable (you would have to counter each copy individually as I understand it).

It would be one of the best burn spells ever printed.

It's usually pretty crap, but it's actually better than banefire when you have infinite mana.

This card should have cost , and had a replicate of I think. If that proved too strong then move it up to with replicate of . Or another take of cost of , with replicate of . This version feels a little weak when compared with Arc Trail or Flames of the Firebrand.

While I agree that it's very lackluster as it's printed here, it's one of the few {X} burn spells that can be imprinted on an Isochron Sceptre. And that's very relevant for the Izzet deck.

Blaze Commando triggers each time a copy does damage. I'd imagine the same concept works with any card that could trigger due to separated damage source, on that sense Pyromatics is very combolitious.

Just have your Nivmagus Elemental eat all the copies.

The difference between this and something like, say, Comet Storm is the awesome synergy with Anax and Cymede.
Not only can you repeatedly buff your army, you can also eliminate pesky creatures.

Shouldn't Goblin Electromancer solve the whole Replicate issue?
In fact, wouldn't that essentially make this a strictly-better Fireball? (Aside from having to pay only red mana to cast it)

Basically, you'd be paying 1 to cast, and 1 for each copy, so you'd basically have a spell that costs X red mana to play X duplicates of itself, which can all be targeted separately...

@Locke66: Not quite correct. A Pyromatics with cost and replicate would still be very red mana-intensive, rendering it usable only in mono-red (or in dual land-heavy decks). Fireball and co. can still be splashed.

@Lord_of_Gelectrodes: This doesn't have that much synergy with heroic creatures such as Anax and Cymede. Copying a spell isn't casting it. Now, some things can copy spell cards - eg. cipher, the stick - and there the copy is being created elsewhere, usually from exile, so it needs to be cast. Here, the copy's created on the stack, so it doesn't need to be cast to get on the stack. But the easy way to tell: Does the effect say "cast"? If so, you're casting, and it'll trigger heroic. If not, you're not, and it won't. (See the last ruling on Anax and Cymede.)

@Krysto: No. Goblin Electromaner lowers the cost paid to cast a spell. Replicate is a triggered ability that lets you pay a cost to copy a spell. Entirely different. (It'd have been great flavor-wise if he'd help... Not so much balance-wise though.)