Makes me want to brew a quirky Modern deck loaded with Artifacts like Stuffy Doll and red stuff like Boros Reckoner and other Affinity staples and have some fun.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I think it's for the best that red burn becomes more specialized to hit either creatures or players, it makes each burn spell easier to use. With a spell like Lightning Strike, you have to ask, "Do I hit my opponent now or save this to take out one of their creatures?" When I was running Strike in my RTR-Theros RWU deck, I almost always saved it for removal. It might as well have said "Deals 3 damage to target creature." With creatures getting better, red needs less burn to defeat the opponent. That said, they'll always have room for that expensive burn spell that can hit a player for 4-5 damage, generally meant to be your Limited finisher.
I feel as though the art on this card doesn't do a good job of indicating its status as a burn spell, though. It could just as easily have been a new Trash for Treasure-style artifact retrieval.
For the best? I disagree, knowing when to hit a creature or a player is where you develop your skills playing red decks,spells like Incinerate allow you to take the very red gamble of taking damage hoping you can outrace your opponent, and don't become dead cards if you run into a creature-light control deck, or are faced with a big creature you can't burn away with it. This particular card would be maybe too powerful if it could also hit players, since it looks like having 6 artifacts or more is going to be doable in the upcoming metagame, both in Limited and Constructed, however the trend towards creature-only burn is annoying, now you have to pay 3 mana at Sorcery Speed to be able to hit both creatures and players...
I think it's for the best that red burn becomes more specialized to hit either creatures or players, it makes each burn spell easier to use. With a spell like Lightning Strike, you have to ask, "Do I hit my opponent now or save this to take out one of their creatures?" When I was running Strike in my RTR-Theros RWU deck, I almost always saved it for removal. It might as well have said "Deals 3 damage to target creature." With creatures getting better, red needs less burn to defeat the opponent. That said, they'll always have room for that expensive burn spell that can hit a player for 4-5 damage, generally meant to be your Limited finisher.
I feel as though the art on this card doesn't do a good job of indicating its status as a burn spell, though. It could just as easily have been a new Trash for Treasure-style artifact retrieval.
Giving spells fewer options and reducing more and more to sorcery speed is terrible. It takes away lines of play that reward tight play and make games more interesting. The fewer decisions players can make, the more games are determined before a single spell is played. It's a trend I hope Wizards reverses course on soon.
That being said this card would probably be busted in the new standard if it could go upstairs.
At this point, I think a simple Thunderbolt will be enough for Standard. Must be some sort of NWO thing now. No more 1 mana dork (Green), hard counters will be 3 mana (Blue), unconditional creature kill is at 3 mana (Black), Burn is specific or if it hits players+something else it is socrecy speed/other restriction (Red). Can't think of White has lost aside from no more cheap exile removal (Path/Swords).
At this point, I think a simple Thunderbolt will be enough for Standard. Must be some sort of NWO thing now. No more 1 mana dork (Green), hard counters will be 3 mana (Blue), unconditional creature kill is at 3 mana (Black), Burn is specific or if it hits players+something else it is socrecy speed/other restriction (Red). Can't think of White has lost aside from no more cheap exile removal (Path/Swords).
4 mana Wraths probably. Though the quality of Black's 2 drop removal is not as bad as the others, ultimate price and grasp being the notable examples
Damn you are right on that one man. Forgot that last 4 mana wrath without any crazy restriction was Supreme Verdict.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
This makes makes my inner Red Mage sad... so far I haven't seen anything in Red (Kaladesh) that really interests me. You know, outside of the obvious. Where are the player burn spells? Why is everything creature-damage only? Why does the last few sets feel like Red is getting more and more tame?
No land destruction, and now dialing back direct player damage? Why, Wizard's?! You keep printing Blue Counter, Black Target Destruction, Green Ramp and White Removal! Where is my gawddamned burn spells?!
At least this is an instant. I'll give Wizards that at least. Still not sure how playable it is. I probably wouldn't use it in my mono-red deck (although I'm not running any artifacts in it although I'm considering putting in Lupine Prototype to hit madness for Scourge Wolf)
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Rose tint my world, keep me safe from my trouble and pain.
Just this ONE time can we wait until an entire set is spoiled before having this conversation?
Why? This is always the response, and it waiting has never changed the outcome a little bit. Between this and Harness the Lightning, any Lightning Strike variant has been effectively pushed out of the set. Red keeps getting worse and worse and worse to the point we're literally BEGGING for a strictly worse Lightning Bolt like we were doing for freaking Murder before EMN, and we still won't get it. It's both kinda sad and pathetic we have to wish for bad/mediocre cards because both them and their alternatives are "too strong for Standard". Waiting for the set to be spoiled thinking something will happen is deluding ourselves.
Two direct red spells have already been revealed, each had the potential to be good player-damage spells. Each is only creature-damage. If Wizard's wanted to bring Burn into Standard, then they should have started off with a bang; showing off some new tech alongside Torch of Defiance. So far all we've gotten is crumbs, and not particularly tasty crumbs at that. Oh, I'll hold off until all spoilers are a go before I make my final call, but so far Red looks like it's being shafted in this set. Again.
Welding Sparks could have had so much potential within a Red Artifact shell, but now?
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
For the best? I disagree, knowing when to hit a creature or a player is where you develop your skills playing red decks,spells like Incinerate allow you to take the very red gamble of taking damage hoping you can outrace your opponent, and don't become dead cards if you run into a creature-light control deck, or are faced with a big creature you can't burn away with it. This particular card would be maybe too powerful if it could also hit players, since it looks like having 6 artifacts or more is going to be doable in the upcoming metagame, both in Limited and Constructed, however the trend towards creature-only burn is annoying, now you have to pay 3 mana at Sorcery Speed to be able to hit both creatures and players...
With specialized burn, the decision making happens when building your deck as you assess which creatures you're likely to encounter and which spells best deal with them. You have low damage burn for early game designed to stop aggro decks, high damage burn to stop later threats or to punch through early blockers, and multifunctional burn that serves dual purposes like removing artifacts or that also hits players.
Giving spells fewer options and reducing more and more to sorcery speed is terrible. It takes away lines of play that reward tight play and make games more interesting. The fewer decisions players can make, the more games are determined before a single spell is played. It's a trend I hope Wizards reverses course on soon.
That being said this card would probably be busted in the new standard if it could go upstairs.
It's funny, but having more specialized and situational burn spells actually makes building a burn deck easier because you're encouraged to run more burn spells as a result. You can aim for a build consisting of a mix of red aggro creatures for early damage, creature burn for removal, some red card draw, and player burn for the finish. SOI gave us a Madness suite that quite handily supports this blend.
And the fact is, monocolor isn't supposed to be as versatile as multicolor, so monored burn will always have its weaknesses. And I reiterate: strong burn would be bad news for Vehicles, which they've waited a long time to introduce to the game and want to make sure have an impact. So Development is understandably cautious about giving red too much strong burn in this upcoming Standard.
Just look at it as an opportunity for red to do something besides burn: Play with lots of energy and Vehicles. Burn players will also want to pay attention to Dynavolt Tower, as building up five energy should prove ridiculously easy with spells like Harnessed Lightning on top of the above mentioned Madness spells hanging around. Chandra, Torch of Defiance will also provide burn decks with a lot of muscle. Cast her, then use her second +1 to chain into a Lightning Axe-Fiery Temper combo.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
To talk about the pendulum swinging you need to know what they are actually doing as opposed to pointing out all the things you don't like that are happening. Right now they are answering a very large call from the player base to give red a possible control game. To do this they have to power down reds aggro tools or make them more specialized for control. Efficient burn that hits both players and creatures makes aggro better than control so they make burn that is only removal so its better for control. This, with the push for stronger more expensive cards CMC 4+, like the last 2 Chandras, is there attempt at making a red control game. If this isn't for you that is understandable but a significant number of players have asked for this and so they are trying.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
To talk about the pendulum swinging you need to know what they are actually doing as opposed to pointing out all the things you don't like that are happening. Right now they are answering a very large call from the player base to give red a possible control game. To do this they have to power down reds aggro tools or make them more specialized for control. Efficient burn that hits both players and creatures makes aggro better than control so they make burn that is only removal so its better for control. This, with the push for stronger more expensive cards CMC 4+, like the last 2 Chandras, is there attempt at making a red control game. If this isn't for you that is understandable but a significant number of players have asked for this and so they are trying.
I'm very confused. Who asked for Red to have a control game? The only answer I can come up with is non-red players. Red isn't the color of control, it never will be. It should give tools for control as the direct damage and strong spell interaction color, but it shouldn't be a control color by itself. Cause the WHOLE THEME OF RED is speed and aggression. You will have to break Red's color pie to make it a control color. Burn is weak against large or good keyword creatures. Red can't deal with enchantments. Red doesn't have an answer to good life gain. The whole reason for these design choices were that these things take time while Red tries to race them to the end of the player's life total. Even if you gave Red the good options it normally has for control, which btw is usually low cost direct player and creature burn spells, it would never be able to form a control shell itself.
EDIT: That being said, I like the red creatures we have. A lot of red creatures have haste and decent bodies(for Red) with upsides. I like Red this set, few excellent red spells just seems to be the norm right now.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
That's all a part of making less interactive aspects of the game less dominant. For a while their idea of making creatures better to respond to stuff like Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt lead to monstrosities like Baneslayer Angel and the Titans. They realized the power creep that was going on and decided that toning down the control aspects would also allow them to tone down other aspects, in particular the creatures.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
That's all a part of making less interactive aspects of the game less dominant. For a while their idea of making creatures better to respond to stuff like Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt lead to monstrosities like Baneslayer Angel and the Titans. They realized the power creep that was going on and decided that toning down the control aspects would also allow them to tone down other aspects, in particular the creatures.
Why are those regarded as monstrosities though? The Alara - Zendikar meta was a pretty diverse one, with all colors having some sort of representation and lots of archetypes, even things like 5 color Cruel Control, Artifact decks, cascade decks and Landfall aggro decks. I don't know what people see as unhealthy in all of this. Good cards in any given Standard meta doesn't mean that it's broken. Bad cards also doesn't mean the meta is healthy.
Two direct red spells have already been revealed, each had the potential to be good player-damage spells. Each is only creature-damage. If Wizard's wanted to bring Burn into Standard, then they should have started off with a bang; showing off some new tech alongside Torch of Defiance. So far all we've gotten is crumbs, and not particularly tasty crumbs at that. Oh, I'll hold off until all spoilers are a go before I make my final call, but so far Red looks like it's being shafted in this set. Again.
Welding Sparks could have had so much potential within a Red Artifact shell, but now?
...
Who said they're trying to bring burn into standard?
Who said they're trying to bring burn into standard?
Just me!
As Standard is the biggest set releases these days I was hoping that they would. As a strictly Casual, Pauper & EDH player I don't care about the state/design of Standard itself, outside of what cards it brings to the table for the Formats I actually play. If Burn isn't in Standard then I'm always disappointed because its my favorite archetype to build for; my inner Red Mage loves to burn all the things!
That's all a part of making less interactive aspects of the game less dominant. For a while their idea of making creatures better to respond to stuff like Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt lead to monstrosities like Baneslayer Angel and the Titans. They realized the power creep that was going on and decided that toning down the control aspects would also allow them to tone down other aspects, in particular the creatures.
Why are those regarded as monstrosities though? The Alara - Zendikar meta was a pretty diverse one, with all colors having some sort of representation and lots of archetypes, even things like 5 color Cruel Control, Artifact decks, cascade decks and Landfall aggro decks. I don't know what people see as unhealthy in all of this. Good cards in any given Standard meta doesn't mean that it's broken. Bad cards also doesn't mean the meta is healthy.
They were over-the-top and raised the bar for what creatures had to be to see any competitive play. Primeval Titan got banned in Standard once the Prime Time Valakut deck took off. A banning in Legacy or Modern is understandable, but when you have to ban something from Standard, you done forked up. The real issues came with Zendikar-Scars and Scars-Innistrad standards, when the infamous Glistener Elf, Delver of Secrets, Invisible Stalker, Snapcaster Mage, and Geist of Saint Traft all made their impact.
Making the creatures better eventually results in creatures becoming too good, then they have to make the removal better, then they have to make the creatures better - that's the textbook definition of power creep. To stabilize the game and keep the creep from spiraling out of control and killing the game, they have to shift what archtypes and strategies are dominant, and that means having to weaken others each block. Burn won't always be Lightning Strike good. It can't always be Lightning Strike good. And I say this as a fan of Lightning Strike.
Good and bad cards are relative; in a format where all the burn hits for 2 or less and kill spells can only hit creatures with power 2 or less, Hill Giant is a dominant, metagame-defining force of nature. Obviously that isn't going to be the case in a proper Standard environment, but the point is what's good and bad in any metagame environment is entirely dependent on how good you make cards relative to one another. The key is to make sure the bar isn't constantly being raised every set. The bars have to go down as well as up, which means any given archetype will have to be weakened at some point or another.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
That's all a part of making less interactive aspects of the game less dominant. For a while their idea of making creatures better to respond to stuff like Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt lead to monstrosities like Baneslayer Angel and the Titans. They realized the power creep that was going on and decided that toning down the control aspects would also allow them to tone down other aspects, in particular the creatures.
Why are those regarded as monstrosities though? The Alara - Zendikar meta was a pretty diverse one, with all colors having some sort of representation and lots of archetypes, even things like 5 color Cruel Control, Artifact decks, cascade decks and Landfall aggro decks. I don't know what people see as unhealthy in all of this. Good cards in any given Standard meta doesn't mean that it's broken. Bad cards also doesn't mean the meta is healthy.
They were over-the-top and raised the bar for what creatures had to be to see any competitive play. Primeval Titan got banned in Standard once the Prime Time Valakut deck took off. A banning in Legacy or Modern is understandable, but when you have to ban something from Standard, you done forked up. The real issues came with Zendikar-Scars and Scars-Innistrad standards, when the infamous Glistener Elf, Delver of Secrets, Invisible Stalker, Snapcaster Mage, and Geist of Saint Traft all made their impact.
Making the creatures better eventually results in creatures becoming too good, then they have to make the removal better, then they have to make the creatures better - that's the textbook definition of power creep. To stabilize the game and keep the creep from spiraling out of control and killing the game, they have to shift what archtypes and strategies are dominant, and that means having to weaken others each block. Burn won't always be Lightning Strike good. It can't always be Lightning Strike good. And I say this as a fan of Lightning Strike.
Good and bad cards are relative; in a format where all the burn hits for 2 or less and kill spells can only hit creatures with power 2 or less, Hill Giant is a dominant, metagame-defining force of nature. Obviously that isn't going to be the case in a proper Standard environment, but the point is what's good and bad in any metagame environment is entirely dependent on how good you make cards relative to one another. The key is to make sure the bar isn't constantly being raised every set. The bars have to go down as well as up, which means any given archetype will have to be weakened at some point or another.
That's nice and all except Primeval Titan was never banned from Standard, unlike Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. Primeval Titan only got banned from Commander, not from other formats.
That said, the titans (and Wurmcoil Engine) did redefine what a 6 drop needed to do, which was deemed unhealthy. Likewise, Innistrad saw some insanely pushed low-cost creatures to combat other effective spells. By dialing back certain forms of creature removal, they can also dial back the creatures as well.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Huh. I could have sworn that I'd heard it was banned once the Valakut deck took off. Seems I was mistaken.
At any rate, even at 3 mana this is going to wreck a lot of Vehicles.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
To talk about the pendulum swinging you need to know what they are actually doing as opposed to pointing out all the things you don't like that are happening. Right now they are answering a very large call from the player base to give red a possible control game. To do this they have to power down reds aggro tools or make them more specialized for control. Efficient burn that hits both players and creatures makes aggro better than control so they make burn that is only removal so its better for control. This, with the push for stronger more expensive cards CMC 4+, like the last 2 Chandras, is there attempt at making a red control game. If this isn't for you that is understandable but a significant number of players have asked for this and so they are trying.
I'm very confused. Who asked for Red to have a control game? The only answer I can come up with is non-red players. Red isn't the color of control, it never will be. It should give tools for control as the direct damage and strong spell interaction color, but it shouldn't be a control color by itself. Cause the WHOLE THEME OF RED is speed and aggression. You will have to break Red's color pie to make it a control color. Burn is weak against large or good keyword creatures. Red can't deal with enchantments. Red doesn't have an answer to good life gain. The whole reason for these design choices were that these things take time while Red tries to race them to the end of the player's life total. Even if you gave Red the good options it normally has for control, which btw is usually low cost direct player and creature burn spells, it would never be able to form a control shell itself.
EDIT: That being said, I like the red creatures we have. A lot of red creatures have haste and decent bodies(for Red) with upsides. I like Red this set, few excellent red spells just seems to be the norm right now.
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Wizards explicitly said they are trying to buff Red control. Right here.
You know how Maro speaks about the pendulum swinging? Yeah, this is one of those cases. They don't want strong burn or strong artifact removal to mess up Vehicles in Standard. So, the Lightning Strikes are taking a break.
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
I know that Bant CoCo decks have been a dominant force since DTK, but as of Kaladesh's rotation, DTK and CoCo are roating out.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
To talk about the pendulum swinging you need to know what they are actually doing as opposed to pointing out all the things you don't like that are happening. Right now they are answering a very large call from the player base to give red a possible control game. To do this they have to power down reds aggro tools or make them more specialized for control. Efficient burn that hits both players and creatures makes aggro better than control so they make burn that is only removal so its better for control. This, with the push for stronger more expensive cards CMC 4+, like the last 2 Chandras, is there attempt at making a red control game. If this isn't for you that is understandable but a significant number of players have asked for this and so they are trying.
I'm very confused. Who asked for Red to have a control game? The only answer I can come up with is non-red players. Red isn't the color of control, it never will be. It should give tools for control as the direct damage and strong spell interaction color, but it shouldn't be a control color by itself. Cause the WHOLE THEME OF RED is speed and aggression. You will have to break Red's color pie to make it a control color. Burn is weak against large or good keyword creatures. Red can't deal with enchantments. Red doesn't have an answer to good life gain. The whole reason for these design choices were that these things take time while Red tries to race them to the end of the player's life total. Even if you gave Red the good options it normally has for control, which btw is usually low cost direct player and creature burn spells, it would never be able to form a control shell itself.
EDIT: That being said, I like the red creatures we have. A lot of red creatures have haste and decent bodies(for Red) with upsides. I like Red this set, few excellent red spells just seems to be the norm right now.
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Wizards explicitly said they are trying to buff Red control. Right here.
Okay, I read the article. I feel very strange when they consider Big Red control. I always felt Big Red was midrange fliers with burn to keep people down early game. Maybe the confusion is my fault but it still makes me think they don't understand why solo Red can't be a control deck normally. Red just can't deal with big threats(whether they be creatures or enchantments) well. It was never designed to, which means it just can't have answers that a control deck needs. It NEEDS to finish off the opponent in order to ""deal"" with those threats. Like my mind is going to keep looping like this forever: Red = Aggressive = Few Answers to Finishers = Can't Control Properly = Go Faster. Once again, I'm fine with Red in this set, hell I'm fine with breaking the color pie to enable new Red decks, but you are GOING to have to pick either cheap flexible burn spells or breaking the color pie to have Red be a good solo color deck.
I think it's funny that the plane that the main character pyromancer is from can't even print good red spells. Compare the red puzzle to any of the other colors. Seriously, 1 damage? Really? You can spend 5 mana to SHOCK something/someone? What the hell is wrong with just reprinting shock?
I do get that we have two decent to the face burn spells in standard already, but this is like... the pyromancer plane. One would think that the pyromancers would have better spells.
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STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
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For the best? I disagree, knowing when to hit a creature or a player is where you develop your skills playing red decks,spells like Incinerate allow you to take the very red gamble of taking damage hoping you can outrace your opponent, and don't become dead cards if you run into a creature-light control deck, or are faced with a big creature you can't burn away with it. This particular card would be maybe too powerful if it could also hit players, since it looks like having 6 artifacts or more is going to be doable in the upcoming metagame, both in Limited and Constructed, however the trend towards creature-only burn is annoying, now you have to pay 3 mana at Sorcery Speed to be able to hit both creatures and players...
Giving spells fewer options and reducing more and more to sorcery speed is terrible. It takes away lines of play that reward tight play and make games more interesting. The fewer decisions players can make, the more games are determined before a single spell is played. It's a trend I hope Wizards reverses course on soon.
That being said this card would probably be busted in the new standard if it could go upstairs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Damn you are right on that one man. Forgot that last 4 mana wrath without any crazy restriction was Supreme Verdict.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
No land destruction, and now dialing back direct player damage? Why, Wizard's?! You keep printing Blue Counter, Black Target Destruction, Green Ramp and White Removal! Where is my gawddamned burn spells?!
Why? This is always the response, and it waiting has never changed the outcome a little bit. Between this and Harness the Lightning, any Lightning Strike variant has been effectively pushed out of the set. Red keeps getting worse and worse and worse to the point we're literally BEGGING for a strictly worse Lightning Bolt like we were doing for freaking Murder before EMN, and we still won't get it. It's both kinda sad and pathetic we have to wish for bad/mediocre cards because both them and their alternatives are "too strong for Standard". Waiting for the set to be spoiled thinking something will happen is deluding ourselves.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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Two direct red spells have already been revealed, each had the potential to be good player-damage spells. Each is only creature-damage. If Wizard's wanted to bring Burn into Standard, then they should have started off with a bang; showing off some new tech alongside Torch of Defiance. So far all we've gotten is crumbs, and not particularly tasty crumbs at that. Oh, I'll hold off until all spoilers are a go before I make my final call, but so far Red looks like it's being shafted in this set. Again.
Welding Sparks could have had so much potential within a Red Artifact shell, but now?
...
And need I remind everyone that we have freaking Fiery Temper in Standard? The closest we've gotten to Lightning Bolt since Lightning Bolt? Along with some really nice enablers like Lightning Axe, Tormenting Voice, and now Key to the City? It's been one block and already people are complaining that burn is getting worse?
With specialized burn, the decision making happens when building your deck as you assess which creatures you're likely to encounter and which spells best deal with them. You have low damage burn for early game designed to stop aggro decks, high damage burn to stop later threats or to punch through early blockers, and multifunctional burn that serves dual purposes like removing artifacts or that also hits players.
It's funny, but having more specialized and situational burn spells actually makes building a burn deck easier because you're encouraged to run more burn spells as a result. You can aim for a build consisting of a mix of red aggro creatures for early damage, creature burn for removal, some red card draw, and player burn for the finish. SOI gave us a Madness suite that quite handily supports this blend.
And the fact is, monocolor isn't supposed to be as versatile as multicolor, so monored burn will always have its weaknesses. And I reiterate: strong burn would be bad news for Vehicles, which they've waited a long time to introduce to the game and want to make sure have an impact. So Development is understandably cautious about giving red too much strong burn in this upcoming Standard.
Just look at it as an opportunity for red to do something besides burn: Play with lots of energy and Vehicles. Burn players will also want to pay attention to Dynavolt Tower, as building up five energy should prove ridiculously easy with spells like Harnessed Lightning on top of the above mentioned Madness spells hanging around. Chandra, Torch of Defiance will also provide burn decks with a lot of muscle. Cast her, then use her second +1 to chain into a Lightning Axe-Fiery Temper combo.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
The pendulum has been swinging way too low for too many years IMO and each set it keeps swinging lower and lower. No decent 2 CMC counterspells since M12's Mana Leak, no 4 CMC unconditional wraths since Supreme Verdict in RTR, no Doom Blade since M14 (Yeah, there's Ultimate Price but that's weaker), no 1 CMC dorks and now no Searing Spear variant. Fiery Temper isn't even remotely as universal as Spear / Strike. It needs the deck built around it and correct timing to cast it, and the enablers aren't exactly stellar now that Baby Jace is rotating. We're not even asking for Lightning Bolt for Pete's sake.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
I'm very confused. Who asked for Red to have a control game? The only answer I can come up with is non-red players. Red isn't the color of control, it never will be. It should give tools for control as the direct damage and strong spell interaction color, but it shouldn't be a control color by itself. Cause the WHOLE THEME OF RED is speed and aggression. You will have to break Red's color pie to make it a control color. Burn is weak against large or good keyword creatures. Red can't deal with enchantments. Red doesn't have an answer to good life gain. The whole reason for these design choices were that these things take time while Red tries to race them to the end of the player's life total. Even if you gave Red the good options it normally has for control, which btw is usually low cost direct player and creature burn spells, it would never be able to form a control shell itself.
EDIT: That being said, I like the red creatures we have. A lot of red creatures have haste and decent bodies(for Red) with upsides. I like Red this set, few excellent red spells just seems to be the norm right now.
That's all a part of making less interactive aspects of the game less dominant. For a while their idea of making creatures better to respond to stuff like Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt lead to monstrosities like Baneslayer Angel and the Titans. They realized the power creep that was going on and decided that toning down the control aspects would also allow them to tone down other aspects, in particular the creatures.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Why are those regarded as monstrosities though? The Alara - Zendikar meta was a pretty diverse one, with all colors having some sort of representation and lots of archetypes, even things like 5 color Cruel Control, Artifact decks, cascade decks and Landfall aggro decks. I don't know what people see as unhealthy in all of this. Good cards in any given Standard meta doesn't mean that it's broken. Bad cards also doesn't mean the meta is healthy.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Who said they're trying to bring burn into standard?
As Standard is the biggest set releases these days I was hoping that they would. As a strictly Casual, Pauper & EDH player I don't care about the state/design of Standard itself, outside of what cards it brings to the table for the Formats I actually play. If Burn isn't in Standard then I'm always disappointed because its my favorite archetype to build for; my inner Red Mage loves to burn all the things!
They were over-the-top and raised the bar for what creatures had to be to see any competitive play. Primeval Titan got banned in Standard once the Prime Time Valakut deck took off. A banning in Legacy or Modern is understandable, but when you have to ban something from Standard, you done forked up. The real issues came with Zendikar-Scars and Scars-Innistrad standards, when the infamous Glistener Elf, Delver of Secrets, Invisible Stalker, Snapcaster Mage, and Geist of Saint Traft all made their impact.
Making the creatures better eventually results in creatures becoming too good, then they have to make the removal better, then they have to make the creatures better - that's the textbook definition of power creep. To stabilize the game and keep the creep from spiraling out of control and killing the game, they have to shift what archtypes and strategies are dominant, and that means having to weaken others each block. Burn won't always be Lightning Strike good. It can't always be Lightning Strike good. And I say this as a fan of Lightning Strike.
Good and bad cards are relative; in a format where all the burn hits for 2 or less and kill spells can only hit creatures with power 2 or less, Hill Giant is a dominant, metagame-defining force of nature. Obviously that isn't going to be the case in a proper Standard environment, but the point is what's good and bad in any metagame environment is entirely dependent on how good you make cards relative to one another. The key is to make sure the bar isn't constantly being raised every set. The bars have to go down as well as up, which means any given archetype will have to be weakened at some point or another.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
That's nice and all except Primeval Titan was never banned from Standard, unlike Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. Primeval Titan only got banned from Commander, not from other formats.
That said, the titans (and Wurmcoil Engine) did redefine what a 6 drop needed to do, which was deemed unhealthy. Likewise, Innistrad saw some insanely pushed low-cost creatures to combat other effective spells. By dialing back certain forms of creature removal, they can also dial back the creatures as well.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
At any rate, even at 3 mana this is going to wreck a lot of Vehicles.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
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Wizards explicitly said they are trying to buff Red control. Right here.
Okay, I read the article. I feel very strange when they consider Big Red control. I always felt Big Red was midrange fliers with burn to keep people down early game. Maybe the confusion is my fault but it still makes me think they don't understand why solo Red can't be a control deck normally. Red just can't deal with big threats(whether they be creatures or enchantments) well. It was never designed to, which means it just can't have answers that a control deck needs. It NEEDS to finish off the opponent in order to ""deal"" with those threats. Like my mind is going to keep looping like this forever: Red = Aggressive = Few Answers to Finishers = Can't Control Properly = Go Faster. Once again, I'm fine with Red in this set, hell I'm fine with breaking the color pie to enable new Red decks, but you are GOING to have to pick either cheap flexible burn spells or breaking the color pie to have Red be a good solo color deck.
I do get that we have two decent to the face burn spells in standard already, but this is like... the pyromancer plane. One would think that the pyromancers would have better spells.