This card is the means to one of my favorite magic games of all time where I was playing at a get together with a particularly snooty player who had just cast his 2/2 'the game is over now, I'm going to win next turn' card.
So, I casually play a blazing salvo. He takes it.
Keeping a straight face, I play a second blazing salvo. Obviously irked, he still takes it.
I play a third blazing salvo. Clearly unhappy and shaking his head, he says he'll take it.
I, still keeping my poker face, play a fourth blazing salvo. It's at this time he looks like he is going to punch me from across the table and finally lets the creature take it. 4 mana = 15 damage and a dead creature.
Long story short, people are right, this card is NOT that great if you only have one of them and are trying to deal with a threat, but that's not what it is for. You use this card because you have a pretty good idea how the opponent is going to react.
If I blast your creature that you MUST have, I kn... (see all)
Posted By:
DaveKT
(6/17/2012 3:51:42 PM)
It's a bolt for a creature, or a 1-mana instant-speed lava axe. I say you win no matter what your opponent chooses.
Posted By:
NoobOfLore
(4/6/2012 4:38:23 PM)
If I point this at the first creature my opponent lays down, I'm probably going to be pretty happy whichever choice he makes. But not as happy as I'd be if I'd gotten to make the choice. 3/5.
Posted By:
Zuriga_Sungama
(3/5/2011 6:06:27 PM)
I agree with DarthParrallax. The fact that this is being compared to Lightning Bolt should tell us something about it.
Personally i run both. Its great fun. Often the situation goes like this: They have out something threatening. I proceed to cast this on it. Figuring i can follow up with another spell to kill their bomb, they choose to take the five(I have very few creature in my burn deck, so blocking doesn't occur that often, they also typically have little else left, it all got burnt.) I proceed to kill there thing anyway using an x-spell or some other large burn. So net result: I spent two cards, dealt five damage to their face and killed a threat. If they let the creature take the three, i burn it with another smallish spell, like lightning bolt. Next turn, x-spell to the fact. Overall result of this: rather the same.
I find the mind games it causes in my deck very fun.
Posted By:
Avatar_of_Wurms
(3/27/2011 11:11:21 AM)
this is a good card. I can tell that immediately based on one thing: you're all comparing it to Lightning Bolt. Not Shock. Not Incinerate. Lightning Bolt. True, Lightning Bolt is probably better. But then again, Lightning Bolt is the #1 best card to use associated with the entire color 'Red'- almost 1/5 of all Magic cards.
So to even THINK about 'is this really possibly situationally better than Lightning Bolt?' means that at the very least, the card is solid. I would be very happy if Lightning Bolt was replaced by this instead of Shock in M12.
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(3/18/2011 10:43:24 AM)
There are two kinds of these cards; those that always give the opponent the chance to make the right decision and those that just give the illusion of a right choice.
Fact or Fiction and Browbeat are the latter. Book Burning may or may not be, depending on the deck it's in. This card usually gives the opponent a right choice, unless you have tons of card advantage. If it kills a creature it's not that much of a bargain, but if you want to Lava Axe your opponent and can convince him to let you do it for 1 mana instead of 5, you come out way ahead. Oh, and instant speed.
Posted By:
BegleOne
(7/5/2011 8:15:26 PM)
You just gotta play smart, that's all. Salvo a creature that they really don't want to lose so that they take the 5, then follow up with an actual Lightning Bolt to kill the creature or to add 3 more points of unwanted damage.
Posted By:
nammertime
(12/10/2009 6:15:25 AM)
It's an instant speed Flame Slash that deals 1 less damage and gives your opponent the option to negate it. I'm not sure those 2 draw backs are worth instant speed.
Posted By:
iUseBreakOpen
(12/18/2011 11:06:08 AM)
nammertime is right; this card is best used in conjunction with other burn spells, since it's a great way to test the waters on a particular creature. If you're especially sadistic, you can hit the same creature with another Salvo (nothing sucks like choosing to take five to save a creature, then having to decide whether to take another five merely to justify the first five you took). And, of course, if you really need the creature gone, you can just fall back on the good old-fashioned Lightning Bolt.
It also works nicely in decks that attempt to deal massive amounts of damage very quickly as a way to possibly trick opponents into thinking you're trying to control, when you're actually trying to Lava Axe them for a fifth of the normal cost and then beat them over the head with Ball Lightning, Nova Chaser, and Shrapnel Blast.
Posted By:
Ragamander
(1/8/2010 2:30:42 AM)
Great for casuals because of the mindgames, but for real tournaments, stick to reliable bolt.
Posted By:
mdakw576
(2/23/2010 1:01:41 AM)