Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury – Modern Horizons 3
Date Reviewed: December 30, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed:
Casual:
Limited:
Multiplayer:
Commander [EDH]:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale: 1 is bad; 3 is average; 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
This card was #5 on my Top 10 list.
I’m rather tired of the memes about red and white being weak which have been going around for the last few years. They’re weak if you decide to push formats which don’t cater to their historic strengths, and the memes also skew our assessment of good cards like Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury. He doesn’t result in blatant card advantage like Uro and Kroxa do, but mimicking Lightning Helix is a hint to readers and players. That card is a form of card advantage in its own, because it has the abilities of two efficient cards and disrupts an opponent’s ability to win by attacking (as many opponents do, and the majority in some settings). A repeatable Lightning Helix would be a devastatingly unstoppable force in smaller formats with creature decks, and is somewhat held in check in Modern by the fact that red and white are less effective at filling their graveyard compared to blue, black, and green. Yet Phlage is still good enough to make powerful creatures and planeswalkers feel very unsafe, brutally chop down and demoralize opponents as the game goes on, and do things that even Lightning Helix can’t (try him with Knight-Errant of Eos).
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander: 4
This card was #9 on my Top 10 list.
Lightning Helix has long been a card that’s lurked at the periphery of various Constructed formats at the worst of times; in its initial and current Standard run, it’s been a threatening force, and it’s even seen play in deeper formats over the years. While Phlage is initially just a “bad” Lightning Helix, it being a creature means there’s a lot of fun things you can do, particularly with Boros’s predilection towards caring about small creatures. Phlage only sticks around if it escapes, but even something as simple as reanimating it, or blinking it before it gets sacrificed, can generate crazy swings. And, again, while it’s nothing fancy on the surface, this is both a serviceable early play and a late-game threat with a swingy, horrifying attack trigger. It definitely plays a lot better than it looks…and it looks pretty solid, all things considered.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4
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