The X-spell has been iterated on almost as
many times as Lightning Bolt, and there's one
for almost every situation nowadays. This one,
it seems, is for the Kiln Fiend/Spellheart
Chimera deck. That deck doesn't really need that
much help in general, but it's a solid addition
anyway and is sometimes even good in decks not
specifically designed around spell mastery. I
still prefer Volcanic Geyser for more general
use, but this will see play in many decks, and
deservedly so.
Today's card of the day is Ravaging Blaze which
is the latest in a long line of Fireball remakes
for Red, as an X mana with two Red plus the
ability to deal damage to a creature and player
at the same time.
Unlike most burn spells this is not ideal as a
finisher or early game play as it works best in
the middle stages as it is less efficient to
kill both the opponent and one of their
creatures at the same time.
Played against a moderate threat of three to
five toughness it is reasonable to have both the
five to seven mana available and two other burn
spells in graveyard. Overall this is a
very strong and efficient card to support
burn/removal builds and should be popular across
current formats and Commander.
In Limited this is removal, direct damage, and
works well even in two color decks using Red.
The only drawback is needing a slightly higher
than minimal number of instants and sorcery
spells to reliably get both effects activated.
Even with that small risk this is a great second
or third pick in Booster and should always be
included in a Red build in Sealed.
I look at this card, and wonder why we couldn't
just get an instant speed blaze for XRR, or even
XRRR. The spell mastery trigger is cool for
doing damage to controller and creature alike,
but there's lots of better options out there,
even in standard. It might win you the game, but
this is pretty big counter-bait. It doesn't set
the world on fire, but it's not the worst burn
spell out there.
