The art for this card was used in a lot of the
promo material for Dark Ascension, and it took
me forever to find the card it was on. I kept
expecting it to be a creature. Honestly, I kind
of wish it had been. Fires of Undeath is a
decent removal spell for small creatures, and
any card that can kill two creatures is worth
consideration, but it's far under the curve for
what we're used to paying for burn. Three mana
for a two damage instant puts it in league with
Staggershock, and with that, the second shot was
free! Fires of Undeath's second shot costs SIX
mana just for the privilege of getting it at
all! I get why-- if you can dump this into the
graveyard you can cast it without a single red
mana source in your deck. And a mono-black deck
might appreciate having this as a way to kill
creatures with protection from black, just like
mono-red decks like to use Dismember to get
around protection from red. But the mono-black
deck still needs to find a way to discard this
card just so it can pay six mana to deal two
damage. That six mana could've been spent on a
Carnifex Demon that does much of the same thing
and then swings for 6 flying.
Red probably has more powerful damage spells
than Fires of Undeath, but it has very few that
are also card advantage spells. While it won't
be replacing anything in Legacy burn decks, it
definitely has a role to play: there's almost no
bad way to kill things in limited games, and
Innistrad constructed's red-black vampire decks
will always need a source of card advantage
and/or a way to force direct damage past Mana
Leak (plus the art's on-theme for them!).
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Fires of Undeath an interesting burn spell with
a high flashback cost. In standard much better
burn spells are available for players to use
making this a not very efficient choice although
flashback helps in that regard. In extended and
modern this card is simply outclassed by more
efficient burn spells making it basically not a
competitive card. In legacy and vintage card
power has to be incredibly high to even stand a
chance of seeing play this does not quite cut it
being a poor card and all. In casual better burn
spells are available making this extremely poor
as you got so many better burn spells even in
block, Geistflame, Brimstone Volley and even
Bump in the Night is a little better than this
being a black lava spike. In multiplayer burn
spells are not the best strategy to be using and
even flashback does not help this much. In
limited it’s a totally playable card removal is
king and reoccurring removal is even better
making this a powerful pick. Overall a card best
suited for limited and not the top tables nor
the kitchen tables.
Today's card of the day is Fires of Undeath
which is a three mana Red instant that deals two
damage and has a Flashback with Black mana cost
of six. In anything Constructed this is a
terrible card as Red has no shortage of more
cost efficient burn and the Flashback is
drastically overpriced.
For Limited almost any removal is playable
and this is not an exception. The high cost
Flashback is less of an issue in the format and
Black/Red is a strong baseline for a deck,
particular when using vampires. Multiple copies
of this are welcome and should be drafted fairly
aggressively in Booster, as early as the second
or third pick.
Any presence in your Sealed pool should promote
playing at least Red, if not both colors, and is
even worth splashing if no other removal is
available.
Welcome to another great card of the day review
here at Pojo.com. Today we are taking a look at
Fire of Undeath from Dark Ascension. Fires of
Undeath is a common red instant that costs two
generic and one red mana. Fires of Undeath deals
two damage to target creature or player, and has
a Flashback cost of five generic and one black
mana.
Really not much to say about the Fires of
Undeath. It is what it is at face value, nothing
special. The two damage is ok for the three
mana, although steep compared to Shock,
reprinted in M12. The thing is the Flashback
cost. You would either be desperate or able to
kill your opponent for two damage to ever
consider paying six mana for just two damage.
The only way six mana is worth two damage would
be if you had the Buring Vengeance and Secrets
of the Dead in play, while using Altar of the
Lost. This way you deal four damage and draw a
card. Now perhaps that is worth six mana.
