Like Entreat the Angels last week, this card
encourages you to tap out as soon as you draw
your card for the turn, which is usually bad
technique. But while that card puts an army of
tokens on the board and then dares the opponent
to find an answer, this card IS what you do
about it. It wipes out small creatures and puts
damage on larger ones, making your opponent
think twice about using them to block. But they
may have to block, considering the Bonfire hit
them too. If Entreat the Angels' main flaw was
giving the opponent a turn to find an answer,
then Bonfire is the superior card because it
can't be "answered" except by counterspell.
Entreat promises a massive attack the next turn,
Bonfire is a massive attack this turn, that
clears the opponent's side of the board for your
SECOND massive attack with whatever creatures
you have when you play it. Its non-Miracle cost
is also a bit more reasonable compared to its
Miracle cost than Entreat's.
Fun fact: the first spell to use the X symbol
twice in its cost was Recall, from all the way
back in Legends. Now, as then, it's generally
used by designers as a way to balance out a very
powerful effect, as should be apparent from
reading today's card. The scary thing about
Bonfire of the Damned is that it's not "just" a
Fireball variant - it's capable of functionally
ending a game in more than one way. An early
"discounted" casting can buy time or prevent an
opponent from buying time more efficiently than
almost any other recent spell, and holding one
until late can smash straight through otherwise
oppressive cards like Kor Firwalker and Sphere
of Law.
The number four card of the year is Bonfire of
the Damned which is a one Red and two X or one
Red with one X through Miracle that deals X
damage to target player and each creature they
control. Even at three mana this is
potentially useful against a weak swarm and five
mana should be enough to clear the opposing
board when used with Miracle. Overall this
is a one-sided source of flexible mass damage
for Red that will definitely be seeing play at
least in sidedecks and likely maindecked in
current burn builds.
For Limited this is a removal bomb that is an
easy first pick in Booster and with only a
single Red to worry about becomes an easy splash
choice in Sealed. There's no real drawback
to running this in the format and the typical
excess of mana and creature based games should
often make this a finisher when it is drawn and
played in late stages of the game.
Even if Red is not your color of choice or it is
the last pack it should not be ignored or passed
as it will clear the board or burn for the win
whether it is you playing it or the person that
gets it passed over to them.
