MTG Top 10: X-Burn Spells | "Fireball" Effects

[@camdenharper7244]

Another fun fact about fireball. It (and channel) were responsible for the first change in the mulligan rule. The original mulligan rule was "all land, no land". If your hand had no lands or was all lands you would show your opponent and you got to mulligan. People figured out if you played no lands but had black lotus and moxen and channel/fireball, you could just mulligan until you had lotus, a mox, channel and fireball in your hand and have a guaranteed turn one win.

[@bradcallahan3546]

Ok? And?

[@cayden5257]

@@bradcallahan3546I hope your day gets better

[@systmerr9445]

⁠@@bradcallahan3546 And what? It seems like it was just a neat thing they wanted to share related to the video topic.

[@kasuto-no-machi]

Unfortunately a lot of the early history is apocryphal. Black Lotus and the moxen were banned in January 1994, the 4-of rule was introduced in Jan as well, Channel restricted in March, then a bit later that year the first mulligan rule was introduced. That rule allowed you to show the opponent you had no lands or all lands then draw a fresh seven, once per game.

[@andrewnash5813]

I don’t care how big the room is, I cast fireball

[@ScratchReed]

Found the wizard.

[@Dazllingston]

There are two types of problems, before fireball and after fireball

[@ianh1504]

what kind of wizard doesnt wear a ring of fire resistance?

[@NoahTakai]

​@@ianh1504uh, to be fair .. it generally isn't the wizard themselves who have to worry about when a Fireball is cast😂

[@ianh1504]

@@NoahTakai what you mean npcs?

[@OrbGoblin]

Thx for including Drain Life, it was an iconic finisher back in the old days.

[@superbaas8822]

Wasn't his choice whether or not to include it. This is a data driven list, not an opinion based one.

[@pabloangelzarateperez7400]

U can thanks drain life itself for it's long standing competitive impact

[@enlongjones2394]

Banefire is always gonna be one of my favorite cards, just from the concept and the really cool art. It just looks as violent as the effect.

[@fontainelefunk]

I feel the same way about disintegrate.

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

I love the Fireball is the only black-bordered spell in Magic history to have a tournament legal printing with the "Y" variable in the casting cost. It's in the Beatdown version.

[@marioroz3142]

There was a time when I used to have Banefire in every deck that can make big mana, not only red decks.

[@BatCaveOz]

I was surprised that HURRICANE didn't make the list. It had tons of play in the 1990s.

[@NizzahonMagic]

It was kind of close. See my list on mass burn.

[@Jude30]

I thought the same thing. I’ve been thinking of tossing one in my Chatterfang aristocrats commander deck to board wipe fliers and for a wincon.

[@wavesofbabies]

I remember running a one-of of Banefire during Standard of Core Set 2019 in Izzet Adeliz Wizards Aggro. Won me quite a few games against control decks running Nexus of Fate shenanigans as they took their sweet time trying to kill me. First time hitting Mythic.

[@mikenahmias7102]

The good ol' days of Magic, where you can sit and build up a Red Mana Battery for a lethal Fireball, or end the game in a draw with a giant Earthquake or Hurricane.

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

This is actually a goal of mine in Commander. I have a mono-green ramp deck with Kamahl, Fist of Krosa as the commander. I announce my intention at the beginning of each game and turbo fog until I can land a huge Hurricane, Squall Line, or Borrowing the East Wind to draw the game. Unrelated, I don't understand why I don't get invited to parties.

[@rafaelsousa2633]

One of my favorite decks ever was a blue white control pile with a ton of cantrips. The idea was to flip a Primal Amulet and then use the single copy of Banefire to win the game.

[@Mas1337]

This is just one of those random facts i happen to know... :) Drain life was in top 8 deck on PT Chicago 99.

[@SirZapdos]

Yep, and it's at the centre of one of the biggest misplays in PT history. That match, Brian Davis v Bob Maher (aka Dark Confidant) is posted on KZbin and has several insane moments.

[@LunarWingCloud]

Expansion // Explosion is a favorite of mine. I love the utility of each half

[@jackkingsman2758]

The background art of the card is always so high quality. I can never find art like that in this resolution. How do you do that, Nizzahon?

[@systmerr9445]

I don’t know where he gets card art for videos, but Scryfall has relatively high resolution full card images, and Art of Magic the Gathering has even higher resolution card art.

[@briankennedy4141]

fireball was played as the win con in nicholas labarre's combo deck that got top 4 at the 2000 world championship. idk where that event falls on your scoring sheet, but your timeline for the cards success may be incorrect.

[@mispelledtempest]

I wonder if Worlsoul's Rage could get on this list someday, its not very common but I have seen Ramp Burn decks on standard Arena, so maybe it could pass crater's claws someday, maybe.

[@oxpolitik]

Would be fun if there was a Hinata-style commander that lets you leverage all of these in one deck...

[@henlohenlo689]

my top 3 favorite is: fanning the flames fireball crackle with fire. close to make my top 3 is, like ones that can do aoe damage and love buyback on an x cost burn spell is amazing the decks generate tons of mana fast or has damage amplifiers dont care about buyback cost: sudden demise banefire savage twister hurricane earthquake i love to play x burn spells in decks with cards like mana flare. heartbeat of spring. unbound flourishing. gauntlet of might. fire servant. fiery emancipation. overabundance.

[@CocoMura]

Whenever a blue player hears ***BaleFire*** a red player gets their (draconic) wings.

[@Shivan_16]

Top 10 Best Blue X Spells next? Thank you for all you do Nizz! :D

[@hallorette5059]

I wonder if Crackle With Power makes the list. It basically has the best rate of any X burn card.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Nah. It's never been played in 60 card formats. Rate is great, but only once you are paying 2 or more for X. That's kind of a problem.

[@Nouxatar]

I played it in an Izzet Control shell back in 2022 Standard when it was legal there alongside Goldspan Dragon and Izzet Control was the best deck in the format. Unfortunately, Standard wasn't exactly prominent then (for multiple reasons) so it didn't get to put up results.

[@gakk8658]

No Electrodominance, I didn't think it had a chance but I gotta hope for my favorite card. Then again I guess beaming someone to the dome and having a Phyrexian Obliterator pop out is something you can really only do in Commander. Still, best combat trick while blocking, ever.

[@johnruhd5917]

I've had the joy of winning a game largely off of Misdirecting a Banefire for 5, with me at 5, running a counterspell deck.

[@UnholyWrath3277]

Magus lucea kane in commander makes these cards insane. Add untap shenanigans and I can send 1 million x is 5 banefires at everyone and at worst get swerved on 1 of them for a garunteed win. My magus deck really does basically become 1 good draw away from winning at any time after turn 4

[@TrumanTheGrayMerchant]

This list is a real nightmare for Wizards of the Coast Customer Service

[@holotori_senior_admin_teno]

Kinda sad Disintegrate didn't make it. When I started collecting during Fallen Empires and Revised, it was my favorite red X spell by far over Fireball or Earthquake. Heard about Channel + Fireball in a magazine at the time and wondered why it wasn't Channel + Disintegrate. I know better now, but still have a nostalgic soft spot for Disintegrate to this day.

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

What Primeval Titan decks were playing Fireball before 2005?

[@stefanoriva1738]

the card "Drain Life" also gave the not official name to the effect in black when you gain life making a creature or opponent lose it.

[@jesok3761]

You should make a video for black x burn, or Red x burn.

[@ulrichs.3228]

Out of curiosity: has anybody ever seen a fireball being split across targets? (Apart from infinite-mana setups maybe?) Because I don't think I have. Six mana to take out three Llanowar Elves? (This probably says more about me than about Fireball, though.)

[@philippschmidt9499]

I did that a lot. 4 mana two kill 2 birds of paradise or two 2/1s can save your life. Really good against banding creatures. But Pyrotecnics does a better job, I have to admit.

[@ulrichs.3228]

@@philippschmidt9499 OK, we were too kitchen table for that, I've never seen BoPs in the flesh (feather?). And I know what you mean, but "good against banding creatures" gave me a good chuckle, many would call that "damning with faint praise".

[@riccardocalosso5688]

I understand why torment of hailfire was not on the list, but I think it would at least earn an honoranle mention. I also admit I am completely biased, as it's one of my favorite finisher in my Breya storm deck.

[@DaveyDAKFAE]

Disintegrate, drain life, earthquake, fireball, hurricane- weren't there 5 in alpha? All of those cost X and some other mana to do X to an opponent and also some other stuff

[@raedien]

Huh, No Comet Storm. Wonder where Molten Disaster lands. My favorite is Sickening Dreams. :)

[@joshuapolacheck8879]

The way I see it played in Legacy, Forth Eorlingas! is a Fireball 😂

[@natenathan2654]

Why is fireball so much more popular than disintigrate? The ability to devide damage is super clunky, i dont think ive ever seen it used. On the other hand red doesnt have a lot of exile effect, and that was even more true in early mtg. Also the art for disintigrate is torally sweet. Such a slept on card

[@marsgreekgod]

Top ten side board?

[@MichaelDRDunn]

Ooo I like this idea

[@strawhataddison]

I think they reprinted earthquake in LoTR.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Not Standard-legal

[@cax1175]

3:25 And I knew that because I read Nizzahon's article on underrated Commander cards from Mirage yesterday.

[@marcellachine5718]

I always liked disintegrate myself

[@shuboy05]

That Disintegrate art is still amazing!

[@mantissaPuc]

Do Firestorm have few points, or was not considered for this top 10? (I expect it to show on the lower part of the top 10..)

[@magicsinglez]

91 ‘X’ burn spells? That’s surprising.

[@smartfoam5107]

I play an obosh commander deck so this was just “ten spells for obosh”

[@TheMisleduser]

10 year old me in 94 thinking a good strategy was to get 21 mountains and cast fireball.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

As someone who has never actually cast a Fireball spell before, I can't confirm a single thing about these. What I can confirm, is that none of these look like they'd make it onto "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)"!

[@henlohenlo689]

in the right decks the x burn spells are hella strong.

[@PokeBattlerJaze]

Bonfire of the Damned? Edit: Well shit, forgot about that card AND didn't think it would pop off that much.

[@deathshand4248]

Sadly lately it seems that Wizards is moving away from New burn spells and is now just rummaging and playing from exile

[@laxbum321]

I would love to do X damage to my opponent tbqh

[@magicsinglez]

‘Conflagration’ looks pretty bad. I’m sure there are many X-spells I like that didn’t make the list. Rakdos Return looks like it would be powerful/coveted in Legacy. It’s almost Mind Twist, I believe a card completely banned in competitive magic.

[@goobyplease]

imagine hitting ur opponent with those old spells, meh winners and losers are announced, game night ends, we all get on with our lives, we all move on with life. but when they actually die… due to mtg ruling, they arent even allowed to be buried in any graveyard, and u wont even realize, it was ur fault. 👀 :C

[@FlawlessRhythmGG]

Really surprised that Shatterskull Smashing didn't have enough points for this list.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Can't hit players

[@krisdaschwab912]

Still better than Pitbull.

[@Artharios77]

First = o