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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Rite of Flame
Cold Snap


Reviewed January 12, 2007

Constructed: 3.3
Casual: 2.97
Limited: 1.92

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


Jeff Zandi

 5 Time Pro Tour
 Veteran

Rite of Flame

Well, I didn’t think too much of this card when I first saw it. I like Dark Ritual, and it’s hard for an old school Magic guy like me to appreciate anything less efficient than the original instant mana accelerator. On the other hand, I eventually learned to love Seething Song a few years ago. On Saturday, I watched the Extended Mind’s Desire deck piloted by my friend and fellow Texas Guildmage Mark “Wilma” Dean win a PTQ for Yokohama with four of these bad boys in his deck, so I guess I’m now a big fan of Rite of Flame.
The first one is not all that exciting (although even a LITTLE mana acceleration is good for the current Goblin decks in Extended), but the second Rite you play is as good as a Dark Ritual and the third and fourth Rites you play are even better. I think this card will be played in all sorts of constructed decks for the next year or two. Extended is all about mana acceleration and speed, and from the looks of Planar Chaos, Standard constructed is probably about to speed up as well. As far as limited play goes, there’s no good reason to play Rite of Flame. But then, there’s really no good reason to play Coldsnap limited…

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 2.0
 

BMoor

Rite of Flame

If you draw 4 in your opening hand, plus a Mountain, you can have 11 mana on turn 1. Really, they never should've printed a "ritual" that only cost one mana. Remember Dark Ritual? All the trouble that caused? Yeah, it's that powerful. At least it can be, especially in a deck with Storm cards, like Dragonstorm. But hey, even Ignite Memories is pretty much a game winner if you Storm it out this early.

Constructed- 4
Casual- 5
Limited- 2.4
 


Jordan Kronick

Rite of Flame

It's not a Dark Ritual, but it can be close. It can even be better. It adds to your storm count while producing more mana than you put into it. In case you've been living in a cave, this is the bread and butter of the Dragonstorm deck. Coldsnap might not be defining the standard envrionment, but little bits and pieces like this will be appearing in standard for as long as it's legal.

Constructed Rating - 2.5
Casual Rating - 2.4
Limited Rating - 1.8
 

Aethereal

Rite of Flame

This sees play only in the Dragonstorm decks, as it helps accelerate quickly to the 9 mana needed for Dragonstorm, as well as fuels the storm count. Outside of that, not many other uses. Its position as a key card in a powerful Standard deck, though, elevates its score.

In casual, play Dark Rit instead, and if you don't want to play black, skip it altogether.

In limited, it has limited use, so skip it.

Constructed - 5 (in the Dragonstorm deck), 2 (everywhere else)
Casual - 1
Limited - 1.5
 
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