I guess this week's theme is "common cards that
are decent in Limited but nowhere else". A burn
spell that hits a creature and its controller is
kind of a cool idea, and 4 damage will kill most
creatures, but for four mana you could be
casting Chandra herself! Burn spells need to be
cheap to cast if they're really going to make an
impact. A creature will stay on the board and
can generate a bigger and bigger life swing the
longer they're there, but a burn spell goes off
once. To get your value's worth out of a burn
spell, you need it to be significantly cheaper
than the creature it killed. Chandra's Outrage
costs as much as you'd expect a 4/4 to cost. If
it's white or green, that four-mana creature
might be a 5/5, and thus too big for the Outrage
to kill. If that happened, then I'd really feel
the Outrage's other downside-- I can't target a
player directly for four damage. It's nice that
I can kill a creature and hit him for two at the
same time, but if there's nothing on board for
me to kill, Outrage is a dead draw. Good burn,
like Lightning Bolt and even Searing Spear in
this scenario, is at least good for those last
three points to the dome.
I like Lightning Bolt. Always have, ever
since the Fourth Edition version was the most
recent one. The problem with it, though, is that
it's pretty vanilla and it is an elephant in the
room. It draws your eye away from cards that
actually have more interesting designs and
create more interesting game states. It reminds
me of the weapon selection in Baldur's Gate II -
there are literally dozens of unique and cool
weapons, but the only ones internet people ever
talk about are Carsomyr and the Flail of Ages,
glossing over the fact that you can finish most
fights with other ones just as much, and in a
more interesting way too.
So if Lightning Bolt is Carsomyr, Chandra's
Outrage is the Blade of Roses. It's obviously
not as powerful, but why should it be? It does
what it's supposed to do, it adds strategic
depth to your decisions, it doesn't steamroll or
homogenize games, it's visually and conceptually
appealing, and it fits exactly right in certain
situations. I really like it.
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is
Chandra’s Outrage a powerful limited removal
spell and sadly outclassed elsewhere. Instant
speed removal for creatures combined with damage
to creatures controller is a powerful card but
requires a commitment to red. In all constructed
formats this card is just not efficient enough
to consider seeing play compared to other burn
spells. In casual and multiplayer it can be
solid at picking off utility creatures and
dealing a bit of damage to their controllers, it
has a somewhat steep mana cost but provides a
decent removal spell in red but nothing terribly
impressive. In limited it’s a fantastic card its
removal and direct damage rolled into one at
instant speed. The double casting requirement
requires a firm commitment to red however.
Overall a great limited card with some casual
playability as well.
Today's card of the day is Chandra's Outrage
which is a four mana Red instant that deals four
damage to a target creature and two damage to
that creature's controller. This is a decent
card, particularly in a somewhat Chandra themed
build as it supports the Phoenix while still
acting as removal. The mana cost is reasonable
for six total damage, though is not overly
impressive and only makes a larger impact as
part of a combo. Overall this is a great card
with Chandra's Phoenix and is likely to see
frequent play in decks using it.
In Limited this is a common source of removal
with high damage for the cost and with the added
bonus of direct damage is a very strong card.
The double Red is not much of a drawback at four
mana and it is an automatic inclusion for any
Sealed and potentially a second or third pick in
Booster as efficient removal against most
threats.
