In a red deck that will often tap out every turn
in an effort to off your opponent quickly, this
allows you to play a few fatties like Patron of
the Akki, and use them to kill your opponent
quickly while tapped out. Being able to deal 4-6
extra damage swinging is huge. I think a number
of red decks will not use this card if they
don't have sufficient ammunition, but if you
have a couple fatties in the deck, this may be
what you use to finish them off.
In limited, it can be removal or a kill shot,
and is required in any deck playing red.
It's hard to say if this rare Shoal card will be
valuable at all in limited formats. Spells that
instantly pump the offense of a creature have
been around for a long time, and they have had
little impact on the game. This card is actually
hard to splash even with its flexible alternate
casting cost. If you splash for red in a limited
format deck, you probably can't pay this card's
double red mana cost and you probably won't have
this card AND another red card in your hand at
the same time very often. More importantly, this
card simply doesn't give your deck enough of a
reason to play it in any event. This card is
even worse in constructed either.
While Howl from Beyond may not be the sexiest
card ever printed, in limited it certainly can
be a game winner, acting as a surprise Fireball
to the face to a poor unsuspecting opponent.
Unfortunately, this type of card is really only
good in limited play, as more often than not an
attacking creature powers up by a Burning Shoal
is simply going to be killed in response,
getting your opponent two for one, or even three
for one if you used the alternate casting cost.
This feels like the second most worst of the
shoals to me. If you need to bust one
creature through for the finishing damage,
this card might be OK, but on the whole, I'd
skip over it. I guess casual dragon decks
might like it.
When we got our first peeks at Betrayers,
Blazing Shoal got the most attention of the
Shoals. Though it's moved down a couple ranks,
it is still a game winner for Red. I nice fit in
burn decks. It's a surprise finisher that needs
no mana open to go off, so your opponent will
always be left wondering if you have it
available to finish them off. Leaving any
creature unblocked could be a problem for them.
Very nice in limited also, and for casual burn
fans, good times.
