This card has incredible art, but sadly, that's the nicest thing to say about it.
Aaron_Forsythe
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(18 votes)
Aaron’s Random Card Comment of the Day #46, 12/8/10
I mentioned back on my comment on Canopy Spider that Tempest and Stronghold contained an amazing number of Core-Set-ready creatures with stats and abilities that still hold up well a decade later. Lightning Elemental is one of them.
If I had to put together a Core Set to stick in a time capsule, Lightning Elemental would almost certainly be in it. Heck, it was in Magic 2010, which was my attempt at a total philosophical reboot in which no conventional wisdom was safe. He’s that perfect, especially with that sweet Kev Walker art.
Ideally, Core Sets want to show off keyword mechanics one at a time of “French vanilla” common creatures that have stats conducive to making the mechanic work well. Haste on a 4/1 has such great gameplay--you can often ambush your opponent for 4 damage, but then he merely needs to leave an Elf or a token back to trade with it. Speaking of blocking, Lightning Elemental, like most high-power-low-toughness creatures, makes a mean blocker himself, creating just the right amount of tension with his haste ability.
Right around Sixth Edition (known, somewhat ironically now, as “Classic”), I believe the philosophy of Core Sets was to iterate them a tiny bit at a time, creeping slowly toward the Platonic ideal. Lightning Elemental was added in Seventh Edition as another step towards that goal. With Eighth Edition, however, R&D realized that the slow perfection of the Core Set didn’t particularly lend itself to shaking up Standard or to getting players excited about the product, so we moved to a Core Set model that more deliberately embraced change for change’s sake. Yet Lightning Elemental persisted into Ninth Edition (as we see here), and onto the black-bordered Tenth Edition, and then into M10.
Even with the new model, we still embrace change for change’s sake to keep both Standard and Limited fresh and interesting. To that end, Lightning Elemental (and its rare progenitor, Ball Lightning) was replaced by the slightly-off-kilter Elemental Ox, Arc Runner, breaking a nine-year stretch of being in print.
Don’t think for a minute that’s the last we’ve seen of Lightning Elemental. Too perfect!
willpell
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I agree with Aaron that this card is nigh-perfect. But I'm sad that they gave up on the idea of creating a perfect core set, as that's exactly what I wish they'd do. The expansions should have the job of shaking up standard; I would rather the core set was a timeless ideal.
ChibiUnunnilium
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
The ever-changing core set is far more fun than some Platonic ideal of what a core set should be.
SgtPepperjack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is an awesome card, just not a good one. :P
Saraneth888
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I too have to agree that this card is wonderful for limited. It even found its way into my Pauper cube and has been functioning just fantastically there.
I think people get all fussy because cards aren't good or playable in constructed formats. Their view of solid limited cards is tainted by the never-ending pursuit of constructed-playable cards that generally gives players the "everything is garbage except the super-good rares that I use in my standard deck" tilt.
Comments (6)
I mentioned back on my comment on Canopy Spider that Tempest and Stronghold contained an amazing number of Core-Set-ready creatures with stats and abilities that still hold up well a decade later. Lightning Elemental is one of them.
If I had to put together a Core Set to stick in a time capsule, Lightning Elemental would almost certainly be in it. Heck, it was in Magic 2010, which was my attempt at a total philosophical reboot in which no conventional wisdom was safe. He’s that perfect, especially with that sweet Kev Walker art.
Ideally, Core Sets want to show off keyword mechanics one at a time of “French vanilla” common creatures that have stats conducive to making the mechanic work well. Haste on a 4/1 has such great gameplay--you can often ambush your opponent for 4 damage, but then he merely needs to leave an Elf or a token back to trade with it. Speaking of blocking, Lightning Elemental, like most high-power-low-toughness creatures, makes a mean blocker himself, creating just the right amount of tension with his haste ability.
Right around Sixth Edition (known, somewhat ironically now, as “Classic”), I believe the philosophy of Core Sets was to iterate them a tiny bit at a time, creeping slowly toward the Platonic ideal. Lightning Elemental was added in Seventh Edition as another step towards that goal. With Eighth Edition, however, R&D realized that the slow perfection of the Core Set didn’t particularly lend itself to shaking up Standard or to getting players excited about the product, so we moved to a Core Set model that more deliberately embraced change for change’s sake. Yet Lightning Elemental persisted into Ninth Edition (as we see here), and onto the black-bordered Tenth Edition, and then into M10.
Even with the new model, we still embrace change for change’s sake to keep both Standard and Limited fresh and interesting. To that end, Lightning Elemental (and its rare progenitor, Ball Lightning) was replaced by the slightly-off-kilter Elemental Ox, Arc Runner, breaking a nine-year stretch of being in print.
Don’t think for a minute that’s the last we’ve seen of Lightning Elemental. Too perfect!
I think people get all fussy because cards aren't good or playable in constructed formats. Their view of solid limited cards is tainted by the never-ending pursuit of constructed-playable cards that generally gives players the "everything is garbage except the super-good rares that I use in my standard deck" tilt.