Top 10 Worst Burn Spells in Magic

[@AxolotldelaAnimacion]

The reason backdraft says it only works on sorceries may be due to old Magic speed system, in which instants beat sorceries and interrupts beat instants. Seems like they wrote that to keep in flavor that card and its ability to respond to a burn spell. Granted, why that's not an interrupt is beyond me.

[@MiReiGi1984]

Backdraft is an Instant because playing it as an Interrupt has no effect. The damaging spell has to resolve and actually deal damage before Backdraft will do anything. It is meant to be a sort of trap spell, where your opponent deals damage to several of your creatures, and you hurt them for it. E.g. Earthquake/Hurricane dealing 3 damage to each of your 6 non-flying/flying creatures. That's 18 total damage, which Backdraft turns into 9 damage against your opponent.

[@chapmanandchapmanproductio974]

Bro … this dude is legit

[@roguebanshee]

Backdraft was afaik meant as a way to punish Hurricane and other damage based mass removal sorceries that were (infrequently) used in the very early days of MtG. A player casting a Hurricane with X = 3 to remove 3 flying creatures in a duel would deal 15 total damage (assuming no other flying creatures) since it also hits players, a Backdraft in response to this would then hit that player for 7 damage (on top of the 3 they took from the Hurricane). A reasonable enough rate, but not good enough to see competetive use since damage based sorcery removal wasn't much of a thing outside casual play.

[@williamdrum9899]

Now what would be funny if someone made a Shared Fate deck (Shared Fate forces players to "draw" from any library except their own) full of hurricane cards just to win with a backdraft

[@triopsate3]

I mean in commander blasphemous act isn't extremely uncommon and if you happen to know someone who plays blasphemous act, you could in theory drop a backdraft on them for the laughs. Probably still too terrible to use but could be hilarious as hell to watch.

[@williamdrum9899]

@@triopsate3 It would be hilarious

[@chapmanandchapmanproductio974]

Are you aware of rbis dude being legit

[@petrie911]

For another Boulderfall comparison, it has the exact same effect as Bogardan Hellkite, except without the hellkite.

[@MatthewOstergren]

Came down to the comments section to say the same thing myself.

[@laerson123]

A pattern that I noticed is that most spells on this list are bad not because of the effect, but because they are too expensive to be useful in any way. I do have an impression that wizards don’t know how to create good burn spells with CMC greater than 2. With 1 mana, they have lbolt as a standard to design the card around, but as they increase the cost, it seems that they think they need to add drawbacks for every upside, even if the card is already costing too much.

[@MiReiGi1984]

The majority of the cards on the list is from before 2000. MTG was very much still in its infancy back then. 3 mana for a plain 2/2 was considered good value. Therefore paying 6 mana to get rid of two such creatures was considered equal value.

[@yoman8027]

In defense of Scorching Spear, it's a card from the first Portal set. It was a set designed for beginners, containing only basic lands, creatures and sorceries. Probably they thought Magic novices would find 1 mana removal unfunny, so they designed it terrible on purpose.

[@abderianagelast7868]

Edit: The card is Chain Reaction, not Chain Lightning, I'm a fool. Funnily enough, Backdraft might actually have the biggest impact on Commander in theory, it's just that in practice the situation is fairly niche and a bit of a breach of the social contract. Two of the most popular board wipes in Red are Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction, with the former being near ubiquitous. Act deals 13 damage to each creature and costs 1 less for every creature on the battlefield, so while its mana value is 9, you'll usually cast it for just R because 8 creatures is really easy to reach. Reaction, on the other hand, always costs 4 but deals damage equal to the number of creatures to each creature. And since they're both sorceries, Backdraft can turn into an instant kill on a player who plays one of these into a big enough board. Now here's the problems: First, you need an opponent that's playing Red. Second, they have to play one of these specific spells instead of any other wipes in their color identity. And finally, your payoff is killing the player who probably just saved the table from the biggest threat, which is generally something people try to avoid. Now, if you can set up a board state where the damage gets redirected somehow, maybe you could cast your own Act and then use this to kill someone else, but I'm pretty sure even those decks would rather run anything else other than Backdraft.

[@fatefulwaffle]

*chain reaction

[@kyubikirby]

it has by far the lowest floor out of any of the cards on the list, and I don't feel he's wrong in putting it at #1. but it also has the highest ceiling in formats like EDH, which is the only place I ever run it, for the aforementioned Blasphemous act or Chain Reaction

[@afriendofafriend5766]

I think Magic-Christmas-Landing a scenario in which a card is good because it hard counters one card proves it's bad.

[@abderianagelast7868]

@@afriendofafriend5766 It's not Christmas Land if people can regularly cast Act for 1 mana. Which they regularly do. I agree that Backdraft is still a really bad card, don't get me wrong, but Act sees enough play that Backdraft can produce some sort of value more often than a Christmas Land scenario. However, it is predicated on the fact that Act is a staple, so if it gets ousted for nondamaging removal in Red then I think it would be fair to call it Christmas Land.

[@abderianagelast7868]

@@fatefulwaffle Shit you right, I just always think of it as lightning lol

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

Fun fact: Backdraft was given its name due to the constant times you would see it cycle back to you in drafts.

[@dark_rit]

Draft wasn't even a format when legends came out. It was even created by a couple of guys in Vancouver and not WotC. So they were bound to have some oddball cards in the Legends set.

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

👏👏👏 Folk, we got one

[@malcolmhays2726]

I do notice that several of these spells come from the Odyssey block, which was considerably lower on the power curve compared to its predecessor, Invasion block. Others are also from lower-tier sets like Kamigawa block (compared to Mirrodin) and Ice Age (an early set when they hadn't quite figured out a lot about power curves). So the power curve of the overall set seems to be a factor in why these are all terrible burn spells.

[@kennydarmawan13]

11:15 You know the card is bad when TheDuelLogs is calling it trash. And I love how TheDuelLogs is just showing better options left and right.

[@dangentry5160]

I really enjoy your videos. I haven’t played in many years but I love the format and seeing how things have changed. I think it’d be fun to see a video based on card artwork good or bad.

[@stigmaoftherose]

Scorching spear works great with the izzet ping commander from the Warhammer set. As he only fires if you deal exactly one damage and you can give him deathtouch meaning it can be better than bolt for killing creatures in very specific circumstances.

[@guardianeifie]

Backdraft reads “you win the game” if cast in response to a card like Blasphemous Act, Star of Extinction, or even smaller damage based board wipes like Burn Down the House or Hour of Devastation. It has actual reason to see play in Commander - red decks in Commander use these as their board wipes, so it basically reads “kill target red player who wiped the board this turn”. Green has similar cards that hit flyers like Nylea’s Intervention.

[@quanquin3822]

I was surprised I didn't see Death Spark. It's an instant for R that deals 1 damage, and can return from the graveyard to the hand under very narrow conditions.

[@christopherb501]

3 - I could almost get the cost if it came out in the Scourge set, the one with ample "reward the high cost" effects. But that was a year later. I don't know what was happening here.

[@nobodyimportant72]

A suggestion: Ten oldest playable creatures.. Excluding Mana dorks. Maybe should even be creatures used as "creatures" instead of just for their ability. I suspect Lord of Atlantis may be one of the oldest but may be there are others from that age that still see regular play where legal. As for a possible "worst burn spell" I was thinking Ragefire from Ravnica Allegiance. 1R at SORCERCY speed for just 3 damage to some target creature. Ok, maybe not as bad as what show up here but even in it's own block it compares poorly to Jaya's Greeting which has the same targeting but is Instant speed and allows Scry 1 as well or Lava Coil which would deal 4 damage instead and exile the target. Guess that was just a horrible time for burn overall.

[@nobodyimportant72]

@Random Username I wasn't even comparing Ragefire to more distant burn (Flame Slash looks like it could be useful) but to its contemporaries. It may have only been available through a planeswalker deck but when Lightning Strike was just as available it was so illogical; then the very next set comes out with another common that does the same thing but at instant speed and lets you scry. I guess if you cam across it in limited you may pick it up with the idea 'removal is removal' but it's pretty terrible.

[@nobodyimportant72]

@Random Username You may get it but I really don't see the reason to make them so weak in the first place. I always got a kick out of various "upgrade" videos that could turn out a much better deck for pretty much the same price. The sad thing is that it would have cost WotC no more to actually put in good cards as opposed to the chaff. PS. While Ragefire certainly sucked the Domri deck as a who may have been one of the better ones.

[@SomeGuy712x]

I was wondering if Unyaro Bee Sting might end up on this list, but it didn't. It's a green sorcery for 4 mana that deals just 2 damage to any target. Yes, it's a color pie break, but only 2 damage for 4 mana is still a bad rate.

[@tychoMX]

There's awful burn spells in other colours for sure. I think one of the OGs would be psionic blast (2U - 4 damage to target and 2 damage to yourself) or Psychic Purge (U - deal 1 damage to any target, and if you were made to discard this card, opponent takes 5 damage). Niche cases, they were used at the time when Hypnotic Spectre terrorized the board, both cards were "useful" against that specific matchup. White has some silly stuff, too. Black has some more reasonable spells, but almost everything was less practical than drain life.

[@dark_rit]

@@tychoMX I mean psionic blast has seen competitive play I'm pretty sure, 4 damage for 3 mana in blue is a great rate. It is basically the same as char from the OG ravnica, where char absolutely saw play too. Unyaro bee sting is fine honestly just because it is a color break. You almost never get burn spells in green and the cards on this list are pretty horrible rate wise.

[@sagacious03]

Neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

[@Phazonfarmer]

I feel like Backdraft _could_ see usage in Red Aggro decks, as a way to counter board wipes. Like, if you've got 10 weenies on the field, and your opponent plays End the Festivities or something, you could respond with Backdraft and smack them in the face for 5. Not ideal, but at least you got _some_ value out of those creatures. Of course, that assumes your opponent is playing sorceries that deal damage, as opposed to a Wrath, but it's still _A_ possible use.

[@vDeadbolt]

I mean it's too specific of a counter to even play against a board wipe that consists of damage. Usually red doesn't play the weenie style since that's whites specialty.

[@williamdrum9899]

@@vDeadbolt Goblins: "Bonjour"

[@vDeadbolt]

@@williamdrum9899 I mean the only goblin deck that is played like a weenie is in legacy and that deck isn't even meta at all. Usually the goblin decks would try to combo out because of the synergy due to the good anthems not being legal in other formats

[@williamdrum9899]

@@vDeadbolt Eh, I suppose it's a matter of semantics. I consider any deck that makes 1/1 tokens a weenie deck

[@afriendofafriend5766]

Your videos are great Maybe Parallectric Feedback could be good in Commander but burn doesn't work so well there.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

Too many life points

[@monikatelescope9311]

Backdraft should have been a counterspell.

[@williamdrum9899]

Either that or have it regenerate all creatures.

[@NateTmi]

9 is easy to fix, there are cards like bag of holding that puts discarded cards under it or there are a few ways to bring back what u discarded & even a way to draw cards for each thing u discarded. I think u could build around it & fix the problems I see with the right cards out & make it cost 1 less even.

[@mitchpich1604]

If we're gonna do staple effects for the colors, how about worst blue draw spells or worst green pump spells

[@marcoottina654]

and worst white life gain spell oh, wait .. it's just __all__ of them ... except for Archangel of Thune (and Lyra Dawnbinger, maybe)

[@Those_Weirdos]

The big takeaway: Balance in old MTG is weird.

[@williamdrum9899]

Some video ideas for top 10s: * Spells with X in the cost * Counterspells * Lands that always enter tapped * Cycling cards * Confusing card mechanics * Cards whose oracle text got more confusing over time (e.g. Animate Dead) * Significant rules changes that created/destroyed meta decks (split cards now have mana value equal to the sum of the halves rather than whichever side benefits you at that moment) * Cards you want to stay in your library

[@TheLaughingMax]

would double down on the idea of "confusing card mechanics"

[@williamdrum9899]

@@TheLaughingMax These come to mind, in no particular order: * Split cards (how their mana value used to be calculated) * Banding * Miracle (is a triggered ability which must resolve before you can cast the spell for its miracle cost. Therefore if opponent can force you to discard the card with miracle, you don't get to cast it) * Protection * Entering "tapped and attacking" bypasses all attack triggers and attack prevention effects * Regenerate * -1/-1 counters and how they interact with modular * Casting "without paying its mana cost" * Copying "a card" vs. Copying "a spell"

[@stbd2773]

I'd love to see this type of video for Mill

[@oliverbehrer5252]

thats a lot of old bad magic cards

[@docterfantazmo]

Old magic is either you having a bad time or your opponent having a REALLY bad time.

[@BanditZRaver]

Thats part of the charm, your opponent will be spending more time wondering if its worth countering it or just letting it go and watching how it plays out.

[@Kalisparo]

Look at old series like ice age, dark, etc etc. They were basically just a collection of uselessness.

[@izme1000]

Boulder fall vs Tolling thunder actually makes a lot of sense. Costing effectively 1 more to deal damage at instant speed tracks. There's a card for XRR that's basically fireball as an instant for one more red mana.

[@jettblade]

Hanabi Blast can work with Madness and Containment Construct, so basically you could build around it or at least mitigate some of the downside. If it were cheaper like Shock it would be better. Paralletric Feedback is a card that could do some work in Commander. I have been in tons of situations where people are casting 8+ mana spells. Would be really fun to see someone try to cast a X spell for a ridiculous amount and then die because of Feedback. PF should be lower as in further away from worst because it does have a higher ceiling in Commander.

[@nobodyimportant72]

Hanabi Blast at Shock mana would certainly be interesting.

[@williamdrum9899]

Hanabi Blast is still bad since you could accidentally discard a land and screw yourself big time

[@jettblade]

@@williamdrum9899 I didn't say it was good, I just said you could work around it. At least with Containment Construct you could still play lands you discard.

[@STS-qi1qy]

While flaming gambit definitely *should* be on the list I do think it's better than the number 2 slot. It at least has the chance to be situationally useful depending on what's on the opponent's side of the field. I'd probably have bumped it up to number 8.

[@williamdrum9899]

Seems like more often than not it will be very bad. Early game, the player will just take the damage. Late game, if you tap 10 lands for this you just spent 10 mana on a diabolic edict (a 2 mana card). If it was reversed, where it deals X damage to target creature but its controller can pay X life to counter it, it might be a bit better, but not by much.

[@meatshield_]

I was looking through my old Theros cards and found two copies of a rare called firedrinker satyr. Top ten best cards that shoot their owner in the face as a downside (if there are even that many). or top ten best/worst satyrs

[@williamdrum9899]

Carnival of Souls The painlands/City of Brass/etc. Madcap Experiment Ad Nauseam

[@ultratog1028]

Odyssey block really hated burn players, didnt it? Gave them Grim Lavamancer and literally nothing else good.

[@getpiston2221]

Could backdraft deal a ton of damage from a blasphemous act or am I thinking about it wrong?

[@NateTmi]

Boulderfall seems fixable too. I remember an enchantment that lets u play a spell for free from the grave each time you cast a spell. So u just discard Boulderfall & then play other stuff will having that out. If I could fully remember the card I am thinking of.

[@UnholyWrath3277]

For commander X spells are amazing with magus lucea kane as ur commander. Add some untap and make however many copies on top of doublers ive had games where im dropping turn 7 or 8 3 64/64s on top of what ive played previously

[@genericstarburst29]

I feel like Parallectric Feedback might work against a sneak and show type deck, where you target a big creature they cheated out, like an Emrakul.

[@abigaylegeisel]

Would Parallectric Feedback work better in commander?

[@nickbianchini3967]

Do Top 10 Elves

[@andynonya1490]

Would Backdraft even work if the sorcery is only dealing 1 damage to something?

[@floriandyck3534]

When I saw Backdraft I though of red board wipes. When your opponent deals lots of damage to each creature, you can really punish them. Example: Say 4 creatures on the board, opponent plays Blasphemous Act, 13 damage to each creature. That's a total of 52 Damage. In this case Backdraft can deal 26 damage to your opponent.

[@lincolngerace2882]

Funnily enough, I actually think using something like backdraft in commander isn't completely unreasonable, at least in my playgroup where blasphemous act is a pretty common card. If the actually wipe anything off the board, backdraft will kill them.

[@MrAskmannen]

Wouldn't backdraft instakill a person who uses a damage based boardwipe in EDH?

[@icephoenix174]

I actually think meteor shower would have been neat if you got to target X cards to do X damage. Maybe XX if thats more balanced but 6 to do 5 damage 5 times doesnt seem too wild as long as theyre separate targets

[@SufferingPlanet]

While this is an absurdly niche situation, couldn't Backdraft be used to nuke a player casting Blasphemous Act, Chain Reaction, or other similar spells? Also, a little surprised that Rhystic Lightning wasn't on the list.

[@williamdrum9899]

Yes, but it's not worth having in your main deck. Maybe as a sideboard card.

[@SufferingPlanet]

@@williamdrum9899 I'd see it more as a Commander card, but more a "my local meta runs a lot of damage-based board wipes".

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

Scorching Spear is MTGs Yugioh Sparks, particularly the early game version that deals a pitiful 50 damage & has a monster with that effect there.

[@mattm7798]

The only reason i could see they would print backdraft is if giant x burn spells were really really good but not game ending good. Like a fireball for 8. Backdraft could do 4 damage for 2. The thing with big x burn spells is they are typically meant to win the game.

[@johncosco2348]

You should do Top 10 Best Burn Spells

[@DAsrada]

I do use Ember Shot in a CopyStorm deck - because the idea of an opponent dying to 10 copies of Ember Shot is manifestly hilarious.

[@lincolnmiller4757]

Video suggestion: best creatures with Unearth

[@7Alberto7]

amazing!

[@staciefreshener4032]

EMBERSHOT ! I know that Sheet , I know that card. I was not a fan of using it I thought , drawing a card for no punishment because red is angry and fury , made it expensive , aside from " 3 damage " . I even thought it's expensive , because you can only put 4 cards of same name in deck and maybe one day , when it's late game , 3 damage will be helpful + draw a card. But price is too high . 7 mana is nuts. better 2 normal + 3 red . or sth like that.

[@makingmagic-rea]

Don't think they realized that you can oneshot in commander with Backdraft if someone casts a Blasphemous act or something similar, honestly i have a copy of it just to be able to spite some of my mono red friends from time to time, and the best part is, they usually never see it coming as they don't really care if their 1 mana Blasphemous or 4 mana Chain reaction gets countered as it isn't that much mana but damn Backdraft wrecks face in the right situation, plus in commander you three times the amount of chance to run into a damage boardwipe due to the multiplayer format

[@LexAnarchy]

Couldn't you use Backdraft against someone casting a huge Blasphemous Act in Commander? I mean it's not good but it's a use for the card at least and it'd be funny to see the Blasphemous Act player burn themselves lol.

[@abderianagelast7868]

I was just writing about that actually lol. It would be pretty spiteful, but technically not unplayable.

[@mightyfp]

Blasphemous Act, star of extinction, earthquake, wildfire, anger of the gods bonfire of the damned, brotherhood's end, Lots of damage based board wipes around 150 that this punishes.

[@CallMeAirChaps]

Yes, which makes the card a very fun, unexpected card. That said, it's a little too situational. You have to be playing against a red deck, have them actually draw the damage-based board wipe, and then have the open mana to do this to them. People also rarely play board wipes that hit everyone when they're winning, so you end up eliminating a player who was behind and trying to come back instead of the biggest threat at the table lmao

[@bjarnivalur6330]

6:09 Oh, Look, It's Sparks

[@Lembo101]

Man...I got wrecked by Boulderfalls at Theros pre-release.

[@mekokishude3980]

Parallectric Feedback seems like a hilarious card for Commander. not a GOOD card, but really funny. I can see it being used to just irk anyone trying to play a big boardwipe or eldrazi. and even then, it'd only be usable in a spellslinging copy deck, where that damage can be done multiple times in one (effective) casting.

[@ultratog1028]

Bogardon Hellkite is the same thing as Boulderfall but with a 5/5 flyer attached

[@Ryan_Dye-r]

I knew Scorching Spear had to be on this list!

[@joaodejesus3762]

Did you use a different microphone or maybe didn't use a pop shield this video? The plosive sounds on your p and b's are very noticeable

[@magicsinglez]

Oh, man. I’ve seen Flaming Gambit played. . . I think that was the flashback/burn spell I’ve seen played. I think. It probably beat me.

[@Corescos]

Scorching Spear is the Sparks of MTG

[@HazhMcMoor]

For #5 i wonder if it'll be devastating against delve deck

[@paypamario]

how do you have scorching spear at 5 and meteor shower at 10 when meteor shower is strictly better?

[@frenzy3930]

When the Red player in your Commander pod plays Star of Extinction. Time to meme them with Backdraft. :^ )

[@aegisofhonor]

Odyssey Block was a particularly bad time for burn spells. They were over balancing burn spells to be super weak and pathetic around this time to the point of being utterly unplayable. Many of the worst cards from Odyssey block were the pathetic red burn spells that block had. One card that defiantly should have been on this list was Swirling Storm. A spell that doesn't even have an effect if you don't have Threshold (7 cards in your graveyard) and even then it's effect is mediocre. So any cards from those sets, Swelter, Liquid Fire, Acceptable Losses, and several others are other examples of very bad burn spells in those sets.

[@filipjphry3282]

I remember playing duels of the planeswalkers on my 360. First time exposed to magic. I saw ember shot in the red deck and even as a brand new player, I knew it was instantly shit. In fact, every deck in that game had at least one terrible card in it.

[@jshtng78]

Top 10 easiest ways to deplete all a player's life points in a single turn?

[@williamdrum9899]

Grapeshot

[@SingingInferno]

Looking at Backdraft and then seeing that Fork is {R}{R}, can respond to instants AND sorceries, and lets you choose any target for the copy of the spell is just... sad.

[@ezrarose5922]

Browbeat is an amazing card in a burn deck. They either have to take 5 damage, or let you refill your hand with unavoidable burn spells. You win either way

[@Wyvirnn]

I'm pretty casual, but I'm surprised Lava Axe isn't on this list. It's gotten so many reprints I thought it was noob trap, or was it used as a finisher in burn decks for a while?

[@freddiesimmons1394]

You should probably play lava axe over all of these. Except for the 1 mana deal 1 spell. That was probably a mistake to put on the list

[@dark_rit]

@@freddiesimmons1394 Nah, lava axe can at least finish games. 1 mana 1 damage is almost never going to be lethal. Sure it isn't good rate or anything, but plenty of people have died to lava axe in limited or just casual. Scorching spear I doubt anyone got lethal with that card.

[@freddiesimmons1394]

@@dark_rit the 1 damage spell hits creatures

[@WookieRookie]

Player 1: I cast Blasphemous Act Player 2: I cast Backdraft targeting your Blasphemous Act Player 1: What does it actually do? Player 2: **Takes Magnum from his pocket**

[@luckilyduckily]

i personally would put fireball as an honorable mention. its a great mana sink finisher, but as soon as you hit more than one target, it absolutely sucks

[@FlakManiak]

My beloved Hanabi Blast, SLANDERED by being put on this list...!

[@thisissostupidqsdfva]

Imagine if Natalie Ryan was actually good at disc. It would be a much more blaring issue if her win rate was higher. Part of Natalie's argument was "well I don't win THAT much..." like bruh💀

[@Moshladaan]

Oh my - I forgot that Bogardan Hellkite has Flash! Strictly better 99.9% of the time than Boulderfall!

[@Troopergreen818]

Top ten worst artifacts would be neat Everyday I always find an artifact and ask why? There are so many clunky artifacts.

[@williamdrum9899]

Yeah, some of them cost obscene amounts of mana for a poor effect. I know they were trying to be cautious after printing black lotus but some of them (like Pyramids) are just hilariously bad

[@dark_rit]

@@williamdrum9899 They knew lotus was broken as soon as they printed, they just tried to balance OP cards by making them rares/people usually wouldn't have them. Then ebay and such happened so anyone with big enough bankroll can buy any card. Pyramids was just early magic design where they did not know how powerscaling worked and kind of just guessed at things because you had stuff like tabernacle that would never be printed today on one end for being OP, and other cards they would never print for being so underpowered that they are useless.

[@rosecooldude1024]

So backdraft can kill a player if they cast act of blasphemy that turn. Act of blasphemy is a 1 red deal 13 to all creatures. (Yes it does cost more but there usually is enough creatures to cast it for 1 red.) And backdraft would send back damage from each target added together then halfed. That's the only use I can think of and it's not great but it's funny.

[@angelpotatogirl2218]

hey. At least backdraft will win you the game if your opponent plays blasphemus act

[@f4u5tus]

Power creep exists: the KZbin list video.

[@zanereilly4097]

I'm so in to run backdraft in a blasphemes act meta

[@louiskemner3216]

Maybe Backdraft is meant to be used against a huge Fireball? Still not good, though

[@calemr]

I am surprised (And pleasantly so!) That Book Burning wasn't on this list. It appears on a lot of these kinds of lists, and it shouldn't, because it actually had an important niche usage when it was originally printed.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

What's it do?

[@calemr]

@@Prince_Eva_Huepow Sorcery, 1R, "Any player may have Book Burning deal 6 damage to them. If no one does, target player mills six cards." A lot of people think it's a bad card because there's no real hybrid burn/mill incentive, so they think "If someone targets me with this, I'll just mill 6 if it's a burn deck, or take 6 if it's a mill deck." But it came out in the same set as Threshold (A keyword where some cards are stronger if you have 7 cards in your graveyard). You're meant to target Yourself, and go "Do you take 6 damage, or do I have threshold on turn 2?". Either of which would be useful for an agro deck.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

@@calemr Thanks. There are plenty cards that benefit from being in the gys. This heavy mill is a great thing for that. Target can't make use of the gy? Target relies on drawing cards? This is a possible game loss for them. You need low life? You need more gy advantage? This is a potential game winner. 1 red mana? Easy almost anywhere. Browbeat (regardless of artwork) is effectively the opposite since it: •Costs moar to cast •Gives less card advantage •Less damage •Gives anyone advantage since any target player can draw •Is overall a far weaker mill since it adds less cards to hand than Book Burning does to the gy. I see no reason BB qualifies for this list considering it's a powerful card. It comes close since all players benefit from it.

[@calemr]

@@Prince_Eva_Huepow Minor correction: "1R" means "1 generic, one red" in M:tG shorthand. Still good at that rate. 6 burn or threshold for 2 mana. And if your opponent takes the burn and you play a second next turn, that can be a real threat.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

@@calemr Thanks. Would be good in Commander even though it takes eons longer to finish everyone.

[@EggsOverNovice]

Hanabi Blast would be great if you have a lot of madness costs...and mana

[@chapmanandchapmanproductio974]

This dude is legit yo

[@Mrbananasgfan]

If wizards wasn't completely stupid about the color wheels, these bad burn spells would be right at home in other colors. Red is the best at burn. However, just like how blue isn't the only color with card draw, other colors should have access to shitty and gimmicky burn. Instead, someone thinks all burn should automatically be red, both good and bad

[@williamdrum9899]

If red gets shitty card draw then blue should get shitty burn

[@alex_zetsu]

I miss the days when he knew as much magic as me (almost 0 beyond the basic mechanics) so actual MtG players could do videos with him of "can a YGO player guess if these cards are any good?"

[@joshngoozen]

Hanabi Blast was decent in limited actually. Was good for the format

[@dark_rit]

Yeah, makes sense that it would be decent in limited at least because kamigawa was that weak where having a potentially repeatable source for 2 damage could just destroy some decks. In constructed though it would have to have insane madness support to make it maybe worth considering.

[@abe10alpha]

I’ve never seen the card backdraft and I never want to see it again

[@phyrexian_dude4645]

8:15 Man... im not surprised to see this piece of garbage on this list. Even when i was 10 and starting to play Magic i tought that card was terrible even by the logic of "Why would i play this over a Lava Hammer?", freaking Lava Hammer.

[@williamdrum9899]

Wow that is terrible. It really needed "Threshold- Costs 4 less"

[@Chippylapil]

Flaming Gambit doesn’t deserve to be number 2. The fact that it’s an instant wasn’t even considered. At worst it’s number 10. Against control decks it’s a killer.

[@freddiesimmons1394]

Here for ember shot

[@nanya524]

The 10 best counter spells printed in the past 10 years. (No reprints if possible)

[@jarzz3601]

the best use I could think of for backdraft is a self burn deck but even in a self burn deck it's not very good

[@MiReiGi1984]

Edit: Nevermind, was a bit too focused on punishing opponent cast. It'll work with self-burn. Won't work. Whatever self-burn you use will still be cast you. Backdraft specifically states it deals its damage to the controller of the source. Meaning it'd target yourself.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

@@MiReiGi1984 So, how does that not work?

[@MiReiGi1984]

@@Prince_Eva_Huepow You're right, it would work. I was locked into the headspace of it being a punisher against opponents.

[@magicsinglez]

10 mana: dealt 2 damage to your opponent if they have no green cards and if it’s Tuesday

[@Death2010]

If you flip flaming gambit's effects it's a little better... not much, but a little.

[@dark_rit]

I mean you have the choice of where it goes even if you flip it's effects, it's just the same card.

[@Death2010]

@@dark_rit .... it quite literally wouldn't be. Now the player has to chose do they have the creature YOU want to hit take the damage or take it to the face; You getting to chose the creature at least makes it where the opponent isn't just moving the damage to there worst creature. They're still going to chose the option that is best for them, but now at least you are getting two decent possible outcomes instead of a almost assuredly getting next to no benefit. Not great, but still an improvement.

[@johnshouse5360]

Backdraft does not even stop the damage. the target of the burn spell still gets hurt.

[@QuinceyGames]

5:55 Lightnig Strike lol

[@hetstandaardkanaal7167]

Scorching spear should be higher in the list, it is wat better then the cards before. I think every meta red deck would play this over the other cards.

[@tibalt966]

I will say in defense of backdraft, if you play this in a game of commander after somebody plays a blasphemous act it will be the funniest magic moment of all time

[@7deuc2e38]

Odyssey block burn spells were just hilariously bad god damn

[@spareumbrella8477]

I think the most shocking thing about Hanabi Blast is that it's uncommon.

[@dark_rit]

It was original kamigawa, their uncommons were usually worse than commons from other sets at the time because of how weak the set was.