I'm a little surprised that the name "Dragonrage"
hadn't been used until now - especially
considering how popular dragons are in Magic.
This card wouldn't have been out of place in
Scourge! At least we got it in Fate Reforged,
though, and I think it has some potential. If
you're being especially analytical, you might
consider it to be basically the same effect as a
direct damage spell, but it shouldn't be
dismissed or overlooked on that ground. Not only
does it have a very different (and very cool)
concept, it also interacts with double strike,
lifelink, and pretty much any of the recent
Boros cards with the battalion ability.
Today's card of the day is Dragonrage which is
a three mana Red instant that adds one Red mana
to your pool for each attacking creature you
control and gives each of them the Firebreathing
effect until end of turn. This is quite an
efficient combat trick for Red swarm builds if
at least three creatures are attacking as it
adds unexpected damage potential to any blocked
or unblocked creature. Paired with First Strike,
Double Strike, or a larger number of creatures
and this can cut outright win the game or at
least cut the clock in half for an opponent.
The flexibility of this adding mana to be spent
as needed, particularly spread across as many
attackers for damage as is necessary, gives this
quite a bit of competitive value and it will see
play across current and Casual formats.
In Limited this is a bit weaker as swarms are
harder to assemble, but in the later game this
can be a serious threat with any evasive target
and stockpiled mana sources. An easy
second or third pick in Booster after a Red rare
and solid enough in most situations to be
included whenever using Red in Sealed.
This is a tricksy card. It's narrow in its use
because it can only be used on attackers, but
it's wide in how it can be used with your
attackers. You could use it to give all
attackers +1/+0 so your tokens can punch through
their 2 toughness blockers. Or, you can use it
to make one attacker much larger, leaving others
untouched. In other words, it's very difficult
for opponents to predict this card.
This clearly of most use in a creature rush
strategy, but creature rush strategies want
decks of mostly creatures and land. I doubt in
most cases that this instant is good enough to
make the cut.
In limited, however, it is a flexible offensive
combat trick that's worth playing. Don't pick it
super highly, but don't overlook it either.
