Burn Spells
Features
squire1
2 November 2010
11535 views
2 November 2010
11535 views
Burn cards
Face burn
Spot removal burn
Sweep burn
Limited use burn
Conditional burn
Top 10 Burn Spells
Burn cards
Burn cards are some of the most popular cards in all of magic and have become an ingrained part of the red card paradigm. From conversations that I have had with people in the TappedOut community and just in card shops, there is no true consensus on what a burn card is. I have hear some people argue about whether or not Ball Lightning is burn or not. I see both sides, but have a leaning of my own. Most people seem to define burn as a card that does direct damage, meaning non combat damage. So that is a good vague definition, but what about the exceptions, like Black Vise; it does to direct damage, straight to the player, but I would not call that burn. So then some people would say that burn is an instant/sorcery thing, but I would think that Mogg Fanatic is burn (good enough burn to almost single handedly change the rules).
So where do we look from here if there is no real definition for burn that can be determined. I would say that we should make subcategories of burn cards. There really are differnt levels and themes within them, burn spells can do a myriad of things in a myriad of ways. So I assert that we categorize burn spells into 5 main categories: Face burn, spot removal burn, sweep burn, limited use burn, and conditional burn. in my opinion "face burn" would be the truest form of burn, but that is just me.
We will revisit the categories in a bit. First, lets take a look at the origins of burn. In Limited Edition Alpha, WOTC printed at least 5 cards that could easily be considered burn. These cards were mostly "face burn" and/or "board control" cards as seen below:
Now the real problem is that I missed some cards that some people may consider burn, hence subcategories. Of these cards WOTC made: Black Vise, Copper Tablet, Dingus Egg, Earthbind, Manabarbs, Orcish Artillery, Power Surge, Prodigal Sorcerer, Earthquake, Rod of Ruin, and Volcanic Eruption all in LEA witch is quite a bit of burn if you think about it. It also shows that in the beginning Grixis (blue, red, black) was all about burn and control in general since the beginning. Now before we get into the categories I would like to explain that still not all burn cards will fit nicely into these categories, and that some may qualify as both (e.g., Prodigal Sorcerer is both "face burn" and "board control burn").
Face burn
Face burn is kind of the basis of most burn decks. Face burn by definition is a card that does direct, non-combat damage to a player, namely your oppoent(s). Cards that define this are things like Lava Axe and Blightning that can only target a player and just flat out hit him/her for "x" damage. Now the the thing with straight forward face burn is that it will say, "CARDNAME deals 'x' damage to target player"(e.g., Lava Axe). That said there are even more cards that say, "CARDNAME deals 'x' damage to target creature or player" (e.g., Lightning Bolt). These cards are face burn but they are also another subcategory. This crossover between categories makes for some very versitile cards, arguably some of the best burn in the game.
Some examples of face burn cards are:
Spot removal burn
Spot removal is a basic concept of MTG. Each color has their own form of spot removal for specific types of cards. In black there are creature destruction spells, blue has bounce abilities, green has some flying, enchantment, and artifact spot removal, white has exile spot removal, and red has burn creature removal, artifact kill, and land destruction. Spot removal is basically the opposite of sweep. Spot removal is a way to remove a specific card from the battlefield. Red tends to attempt to keep this accomplished by using direct lethal damage to creatures through burn spells and effects. As with face burn, spot removal burn is specific to a target. In this case it is a creature, where it was to a player in face burn. Again the hybrid category of these two are some of the best burn spells in the game, due to the utility that they provide.
Some examples of spot removal burn cards are:
Sweep burn
Sweep burn is one of the more useful and fun subtypes of burn card. Occasionally red had the power to destroy all the creatures on the board, which still appears in red cards like Decree of Annihilation, Desolation Giant, Jokulhaups; this is not often the case though. Red cards primarily depend on burn to sweep the board (or destroy all creatures in play). This is where sweep burn comes into play. Sweep burn is intended to do enough damage to all the creatures on the board that is sweeps the board or at least partially sweeps the board. Green also makes use of limited sweep cards for destroying creatures with flying, like with Arashi, the Sky Asunder and other such cards. White and blue have no real sweep burn, white depends on Wrath of God-like cards, while blue would only have a couple of sweep options like Evacuation. Black cards do the best at using similar sweep burn effects with cards like Pestilence and Pestilence Demon.
In all, red has a real lock on the sweep burn. An additional bonus and drawback to most sweep burn cards is that they do damage to each player also. So these cards act as face burn as well, but also hit you for damage. The real benefit with these cards is in multiplayers games. If I can pay 3 for Volcanic Fallout, sweep the board of weenies and hit all of my opponents for 2 and only lose two life in the process, then sign me up with a playset of Reverberates, Forks, and Twincasts!
Some examples of sweep burn cards are:
Limited use burn
Limited use burn, brought to you by white creatures everywhere. See the thing is that white wants to use burn, but they just can't bring themselves to do it without provocation, enter limited use burn. This type of burn is generally an offshoot of spot removal burn but can only target creatures that are attacking and/or blocking. While these are very useful in some cases, they are only useful if your opponent is attacking or blocking for the most part.
Many players will not consider Desert or Elite Archers a form of burn, but we must consider the greater meaning of a burn card. A burn card deals non-damage directly to a target. Well these cards do that they are limited use spot removal basically. Almost all of the limited use burn cards are variants of spot removal burn cards. In some cases they specify that they damage attacking creatures, blocking creatures, flying creatures, or non-flying creatures. The point is that they do what other burn spells do but with a limit to what they can do that to. Some examples of limited use burn cards are:
Conditional burn
Now this is the one that gives me the most trouble. Is a spell a burn spell if it does 1 damage to a creature if I pay {1} after I play an "ouphe" spell? Well technically yes. It does do non-combat damage to a target. So burn it is. Crappy burn sure, but burn nonetheless. These cards are refereed to as conditional burn and can be in any other subcategory simultaneously. Conditional burn cards have burn effects, pending you meet the conditions on the card. I am not talking about paying the casting cost, additional casting cost, or alternate casting cost of a card. I mean that once it is cast you have to meet certain conditions, again not to be confused with paying the activation cost. You should start to see why these cards are usually not that good already.
A good example here would be Lightning Rift. First you pay 2CMC to play it. Then you pay {1} to do 2 damage to a creature or player; however, you can only do so if someone cycled a card. That is the condition. In the case of Lightning Rift, the condition of "a player cycles a card" before the card can take effect. Now these clearly have use. I pride myself on being a Johnny, and could surely make a deck around Lightning Rift or a slew of other conditional burn cards. I could make a deck. Not going to, and I never said it would be a great deck. The point is that in many cases the condition to these cards are such infrequent occurrences that the cards become prohibitive to play. On the other hand some of these get to be completely broken.
Some examples of conditional burn cards are:
Next Week: Top 10 burn spells
The next article in this series is Top 10 Burn Cards
ilikeoldcardsbetter says... #1
is there anything you don't do on this site; multiple articles, decklord, and now the community set?
November 3, 2010 10:39 a.m.