Monday 11-9-09 

Chandra Ablaze 

Constructed: I can see one of her in a Red deck wins type of deck. Once she hits the battlefield her first ability can really put a hurt on you or help remove a 4 toughness creature. If her ultimate goes off its game over. 

Casual & Multiplayer: If she can stay around for 2 turns and you have a graveyard full of instants and sorceries its game over. Just think after you use her ultimate the spells you cast from your graveyard are still there. Ready to be cast again. 

Limited: She is basically 4 damage for 6 mana. And will absorb at least 6 damage for you also. Top pick for any draft. If the sealed pool has enough good red cards which it should most of the time.  

Overall I really like this version for more on fun decks. 

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Limited: 4

Later

Miguel

Today's card of the day is Chandra Ablaze a six mana Planeswalker with some interesting abilities.  The +1 turns any Red spell into a Flame Javelin with no mana cost and after two uses the ultimate becomes available allowing any number of instant and sorcery cards to be played from the graveyard.  At that point it wouldn't take much in the graveyard to end the game making Chandra Ablaze an efficient and almost pure burn card.  The second ability I do not see getting as much use as it can benefit the opponent as well and there isn't as much support for discarding in Red compared to Black or even Blue.  It can be used to restore some burn to your hand for a finishing move, but the timing is both critical and somewhat limited. 
 
For Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this can be a really dangerous card later in the game as it can potentially clear the board of all opposing players or creature threats.  An aggressive build that can keep Chandra around long enough through creature burn is limited in scope, but potentially effective.  Any kind of protection from Red or higher defense creature that can keep pressure on Chandra seriously limits her impact and running enough instant and sorcery cards in the deck can leave it vulnerable when Chandra is unavailable.
 
With Limited almost any Planeswalker is good and just getting two shots from the four damage +1 makes this worth playing.  As a Mythic and very playable threat it should be a first pick in Booster, even if it doesn't quite have the field control of some other first picks.  For Sealed it depends on your pool of support, but the likelihood of needing a second color is a dramatic lessening of her ultimate's power.  It is far more likely that the +1 will be used repeatedly to remove threats and burn the opponent. 
 
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 3.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 3.0

Magic The Gathering COTD: Chandra Ablaze
 
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is one of the powerful planeswalkers from Zendikar, Chandra Ablaze. The appeal of this card is how brutally efficient it makes already efficient red spells. The abilities completely complement each other allowing for the ultimate ability go off and do all sorts of nasty things. Ion current standard this card has not seen play yet but I doubt it will not see play in some bizarre possibly combo oriented deck. In extended and eternal formats I doubt it will see much play except sporadically in heavy red decks or spawn an archetype filled to the brim with burn spells. In casual and multiplayer the ability to pull all your red instant and sorcery cards make for a powerful combination that can insure you defeat each player at the table. Imagine dropping a cruel ultimatum then playing it again later for free. Casual and multiplayer games have almost unlimited potential to explore with this planeswalker. In limited if you’re heavy in red and have enough instants and sorcery’s this card can be a game winner and a prime candidate for rare drafting. Overall a powerful planeswalker that may spawn an archetype or just exist as a powerful tool in the red mages arsenal time will tell.
 
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 3.0
Multiplayer: 3.0