Pointed Discussion

I absolutely fell in love with this at the Judgment prerelease. A lot of players don't like giving an opponent any choices, but personally I enjoy playing mind games, trying to get them to make the wrong choice - or else forcing them into a lose/lose situation and throwing them off their game, mentally, and this is one of the best cards for that. If only I could play it without humming Rob Van Dam's WWE theme music...

Cheap Wrath of God or cheap 6 damage. Unfortunatly, when you most need a Wrath, it doesn't work unless opponent has < 7 life. But one of the best cards for a simple burn if played correctly. 3 mana for 6 damage is otherwise nonexistent on any individual card.

I agree with you guys. Breaking Point is probably one of the most solid red cards I've ever seen. It's either a cheap Wrath, else it's one of the most efficient burn spells in Magic. But, as stated by Piechart, this usually doesn't work when you need a wrath the most. Therefore, I suggest playing it alongside some Volcanic Fallouts, Pyroclasms and Furnace of Rath to maximize the carnage. With a Furnace on the battlefield, your opponent is usually more likely to let you sweep the board than take 12 direct damage - especially if you're running a burn deck!

And I agree with you, Stygimoloch; this card excells at messing with your opponent's plans. Now, not only does he have to worry about his life total becoming a constant target for your burn spells, but he also have to take care not to have too many creatures on the battlefield while having a low life total. Playing around the Breaking Point is a pretty harsh challenge unless you're running a life gain or control deck.

Love it. Just because you don't control everything about your spells in a game, that doesn't mean your opponent will never make mistakes. So much fun!

I love the cycle of the "pick your poison" cards. Browbeat is my favorite one.

18scsc, you spelling and grammar is worse than usual, a nde very ot he rwo rd (and every other word) has some mess up in the spacing.

there i sonly one reson i hate this car d : i cant gold fish with it . i have a deck that sears in for some early burn and then in late/mid game brings out some fatys so this eathier clears the playinh feild for my big guys or deals a niec 6 damege to them @ bjaet duath so you only comtedt to remark on my horbil cominting

I want 4 of this card. Now.

I have 5 copies of this card, that's just how much i love it. And it's also pretty cheap on the singles market. Brutal in a burn deck that takes advantage of the condition of the game, it sinergizes wonderfully with Browbeat, Blazing Salvo, and pretty much any good burnspell-based deck.

Giving choice is bad. The question is, are the effects the opponent can choose devastating enough that they outweigh the fact you gave them that choice?

In the case of this card, in a burn deck, absolutely.

4.5/5

I must admit, I have a fondness for "choice" cards, Choice of Damnations being my favorite. I like how R&D used the choice element of this card to give red an effect it doesn't usually have, in a manner that stays within red's flavor.
Also, 18scsc, you should give some serious thought to writing your comments in microsoft word or one of its equivalents before you post them.

fork/reverberate/reiterate it, to make sure you get the board cleared if you want to.

What a powerhouse.

@18scsc You type like a retarded gerbil.

I know that when I am facing down a horde of creatures, the first card I want to see is Ball Lightning. I deal them six damage, and then I lose.

This entire cycle of cards is a joke.

hey! interesting card. i would love to include this to a deck with creatures that deals damage when they die. mudbutton torchrunner, stalking vengeance, perilous myr. even murderous redcap and kokusho, the evening star!

do you want to destroy all our creatures or do you want to take six and i'm going to swing my creatures for more damage.

@ 18scsc: Blindthrall is totally right, i logged on only to agree that you must be a gerbil without legs...

Card: Could be cool with "leave Battlefield" creatures 2, forces the opponent to take them 6 dmg.

Not best, but solid

Hmm, if you're facing down a horde of creatures while playing burn you might be doing it wrong. That said, Echo Mage might be a good friend if you want the wrath to hit.

@Blindthrull
Best comment I've ever seen on Gatherer.

Anyway, this card is cool, but it suffers from Browbeat syndrome, in that the effect you need most will nearly never occur, somewhat obsoleting the card's efficiency. Of course, it's useful without a doubt when going against a creature heavy deck with a burn deck. But that's about it.

The flavor text on Gatherer for this card is missing the exclamation point.

Unlike many of the other cards of this type, Breaking Point's cost and alternate effect make it potent. Often in a burn deck your opponent must choose between losing all their creatures and thus losing the damage race, or taking 6 and losing on the spot to the rest of your burn.

Seriously? This card is so overpowered. Mono red is all burn, creatures are not a big priority. You burn, burn, and burn. You've got 6 life, your opponent has 4. Your opponent has lets say, a craterhoof behemoth, and like three other giant creatures that will kill you. You put this card down and he refuses to take 6, so he loses all his creatures and you lose, let's say a Ash zealot or a Hellrider on your side. You really could not care and you double pillar him. Solid red. 5/5

A fun card for kitchen table magic (I use this in a punisher deck that I pull out when I play inexperienced players), but it will probably never see play in competitive eternal formats. People blame the punisher mechanic for this card's weakness, but that is only one of many reasons this card is lacking.

Breaking Point, like most board wipes, is worthless against most combo decks and is weak against control decks which diversify their permanent types. It only works against creature heavy decks. Unfortunately, the punisher mechanic only works in aggressive decks, so you end with a board full of Goblin Guides and Grim Lavamancers and a Breaking Point in your hand wondering if losing all your creatures is worth getting rid of 2 Tarmogoyfs. I have tried running Breaking Point in a creature-less deck, but have not been able to make it work. If you are running red, you are probably going to be playing Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, etc. so that you can remove pesky creatures when necessary and speed up the clock when not necessary. It's inefficient to bolt a Deathrite and then drop a board wipe just a few turns later, but that's what you end up doing because letting DRS be active for a few turns is back-breaking. Also, most of the decks you would want to use this against usually run cards like Cursecatcher and Thalia that boost the cost up to 4. That doesn't sound like much, but it's quite burdensome for an aggressive deck which likely has a low curve and few land.

The one thing Breaking Point has over other red board wipes (Volcanic Fallout, Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods) is the ability to kill high toughness and protection from red creatures. Unfortunately, this just isn't enough to overcome all the other shortcomings.