MTG Salvation

Sudden Demise xR
Sorcery
Choose a color. Sudden Demise deals X damage to each creature of the chosen color.

Finally a red X spell that control decks love all around. Possibly better than Pyroclasm?

Quote from NathanZimmerer

Finally a red X spell that control decks love all around. Possibly better than Pyroclasm?

Starstorm ?

Quote from N0oh

Starstorm ?

I was never a fan of that card, nor almost all red X sweepers that had RR in their mana cost.

I like it for the Aggro decks, actually. Paying 1R to clear off opposing X/1s in order for me to punch through? Seems good.

Bonfire is the only red X spell I play and I think this is not on that level. But it is not bad, maybe for the 540+ cube folks.

I would gladly pay an extra mana for a (usually) one-sided Pyroclasm. The fact that this one scales is just gravy.

Too many decks we play against have threats of different colors, and I don't see this reliably hitting more than 1 target. I think I'm better off with other dividable damage spells and sweepers I know will hit all their creatures.

I'm on the same page as wtwlf. I like this card, but I don't foresee it being a one sided sweeper that often. It will occasionally be a two for one, but I think the average with this card will end up being one or two creatures. Earthquake and Rolling Earthquake both do this job better and they both double as finishers since they hit players as well. I could definitely see this card in larger cubes, though, as a supplement to those two X spells.

This seems very good in both aggro and control. I think this will be an auto-include for most sizes (probably not 360 though).

Sure, there are some matchups where it's bad because your opponent has creatures of all different colors on the board, but there's also a lot of situations where they have all one color and you get a 3- or 4-for 1.

I think it's definitely worth testing at as small as 450. Worse than Mizzium Mortars and Bonfire, sure, but probably better in a bigger variety of red decks than Rough // Tumble and Whipflare, both of which are in there for controlling strategies.

I dislike Mortars more than I thought I would after playing it, the triple R is just too hard to hit.

This one is very easy to cast but it's not flexible.

We tested it today. Sometimes it worked well, other times you face down an artifact creature and wish it was any other card. =).

On the fence, but with earthquake, better earthquake, and bonefire, I am pretty happy not including it at 450.

I added this card in for testing a couple months ago and wow has it been good. With Wizards printing more and more token support, I'm surprised to see hardly anyone else running or discussing this card. Randomly hitting 2-3 moderately sized threats or a board full of tokens is worth not being able to hit artifacts IMO. Most burn won't help when you're staring down a Wurmcoil Engine anyways unless you use it as a combat trick alongside another creature, which is a losing game already.

Clearing a board full of Bitterblossom tokens for 2 mana or those Garruk beasts that are starting to clog up the field for 4 while leaving your guys intact (most of the time) where Earthquake would not is pretty sweet. It doesn't even have to be tokens. In a typical two color deck, there's a pretty good chance your opponent will have 2+ creatures of the same color in play at some point, so it doesn't take much for an opportunity to blow them out. Just suggesting a second look at this card, especially if tokens are starting to run wild in your games like they are for ours.

I am guessing it is just too narrow with the color requirement.

I've tested it. High variance but probably good enough for lower powered or large cubes. I cut it once I got a copy of Rolling Earthquake.

I’m wondering if Sudden Demise ever spent significant time in Cubes. I’ve been displeased with the Earthquakes ever since redirect damage to walkers was removed. Generally the damage to players ends up being a downside in most decks that want the effect.


I’m trying to not bias myself with a “best case scenario” lens on Sudden Demise, but in theory it’s interesting in more decks than Earthquake because of the one-sided nature which could lead to blowouts. Interested to hear experiences.

I've tried it. It was worse in our experience. Usually decks here are two plus colors and the inability to reliably stabilize was a greater drawback than the self damage. Not hitting artifacts is also a big limitation. The one-sided board wipe can happen, but is a best case scenario. The average one is closer to a 1-for-1, that still leaves something relevant on the other side of the board.

That makes sense - thanks for the feedback!

I've been running this card for years. It's great for us.

At worst it's a blaze for creatures that can't hit colorless (and gets around hexproof). At best, it's a one-sided board sweep. It's usually a lot closer to the latter than the former, and it's pretty unusual for this not to be a two-for-one or better.