I love this card. Burn spells are about as solidly red-flavored as you can get, but there's definitely room for some interesting cross-over burn spells like this one. This card is ready-made for any black deck (splashing red, ideally) with a win con of directly killing the other player, whether it's hyper-aggro beatdown or something more high concept.
True, it can't target creatures, but if you're putting this into an aggro black deck with some red splash, chances are the entire rest of your deck is effective at killing and blocking creatures, lol. And yeah, it's sorcery speed, but that really doesn't bother me. If it targeted creatures then yeah you would definitely want instant speed, but there's actually not a lot of situations where you need to do damage to an opponent at instant speed. And it only costs one mana; you're not likely to be limiting your options too much by playing it on your turn.
Posted By:
blindloyalty
(4/20/2012 3:44:43 PM)
I'd like to take this and Guttersnipe for a ride...
Posted By:
alphagprime
(9/8/2012 3:38:51 PM)
Well now, what do we have here? With the new Rakdos, Lord of Riots and some other RTR cards, this baby will finally find a home with open arms. Seriously, it can enable Rakdos cast, and if he is on the field you get a 2 mana discount on a creature (on top of 3 to the dome). Will be using it quite a bit in standard soon
Posted By:
GunG12aVe
(9/18/2012 2:35:38 AM)
Guys, the flashback is for much later in the game. 3 quick damage now, 3 finishing damage a few turns down the road.
Posted By:
Continue
(11/2/2012 6:54:29 AM)
Lightning bolt you've changed!
Posted By:
marwinshieldscale
(9/22/2011 2:50:17 PM)
Maybe Burn in Modern could splash black now for this and Blightning.
Posted By:
dudecow
(9/23/2011 3:48:00 PM)
@luca_barelli : the reason this card is worse than lava spike in a vacuum is because black doesn't play aggro well. With Lava spike, you can easily get your opponent to 6 life and then bolt/lava spike/rift bolt FTW. Black is a more controlling color so this card often doesn't get a chance to shine. In red-black aggro, however, this is amazing. Suddenly, you have lava spike 5-8 that can be lava spike 9-12 late game, though the only way you'll reach late game is because you ran out of steam in the first place. The use for this card is slightly less-obvious than lava spike, and the fact you have to use 2 colors in an aggro deck (GOD FORBID) put people off this card more. Sure, it's a card you have to build around, but to do so is quite simple. Throw in ALL the bolts and some blightlings for card denial and additional damage, and you'll have the skeleton of an aggressive deck that is even legal in pauper. Solid common, I rate 4/5.
Posted By:
RikerBlake
(11/23/2011 10:41:09 AM)
Fantastic burn option for black, and if anyone felt a little cheated from the spell specifying only an opponent as a target, there’s the flashback option. I do feel the flashback cost is too high, and in times of trouble I should hope that if I have 6 mana available I would be able to cast something just a bit more lifesaver-like. I try not to put cards in my deck just for those special moments when an opponent has 1 or 2 or 3 life left (but sometimes that is the style certain decks can support). The gameplay that got your opponent to 3 life should also get your opponent to 0. However, at face value or generally speaking, this card is fantastic; having splashed red into the flashback I would be ok with a total of 5 mana to flashback the spell. At a draft it’s definitely a no-brainer, and also great cheap soc spell for current standard.
Way cool art.
Posted By:
Chrs84
(4/14/2012 4:00:12 PM)
Shadowlurker says I'M WATCHING YOU SLEEP.
Posted By:
Villainous1
(11/2/2011 2:42:13 PM)
A lightning bolt that eradicates an entire town is not just a "bump in the night."
Posted By:
AnTzero
(9/25/2011 7:06:35 PM)