Lightning Blast

Instant

Lightning Blast deals 4 damage to target creature or player.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (6)

lespaul977 on

2 years ago

You have a lot of really cool burn cards in this deck! Maybe this is a newbie question, but if you are in a situation where your opponent is able to get creatures out quickly, how do you defend yourself? In my Burninate The Countryside (Goblin/Burn Deck), I use goblins as my frontline so I can block somewhat effectively and attack quickly while still dishing damage with burn cards like Blaze and Lightning Blast. What situations do you find where your deck is most effective? Thank you in advance for sharing your strategies with me!

berryjon on Pattern Recognition #153 - Teferi …

3 years ago

ClockworkSwordfish: Quicken says it does!~

Also, it was the first four-damage red spell that came to mind. Lava Coil can't target 'Walkers or players so I suppose a better example should have been.... Lightning Blast or more recently Flame Lash.

Tzefick on Two Life-Draining Spells

4 years ago

WizardOfTheNorthernCoast But Warleader's Helix is generally considered overcosted - although that's maybe not entirely a fair appraisal.

Lightning Helix is the combination of Healing Salve and Lightning Bolt. We all know the value of Lightning Bolt, but much less so that of Healing Salve. These days, Lightning Bolt is too strong for Standard and we refer to Lightning Strike for a more appropriately costed card for that damage range. If we look at specifically instants or sorceries that deal 4 damage, we come into the midrange territory and the costs are similarly higher or with extra conditions or restrictions. Char, Collective Defiance, Electrify, Flame Lash, Exquisite Firecraft, Lightning Blast, Slaying Fire, Stoke the Flames. On the cheaper side we have Cut, Flame Slash, Heartfire, Galvanic Blast, Lava Coil, Reckless Abandon.

I think at the least we can say that dealing 4 damage to any target unconditionally is more likely a CMC 4 spell that usually has some additional benefit stuck onto it or a 3 CMC with some requirements. So the raw unconditional 4 damage is somewhere around 3,X CMC.

Now healing 4 is way cheaper and can be done with Life Goes On for a single mana, at instant speed, with a condition to gain more life. The only other card to note is Sacred Nectar, which I believe we can quickly agree is overcosted and underperforming. All other cards that gain life around these ranges have something else going on for them, Feed the Clan, Blessed Alliance, Life Burst. As such, the raw 4 life is not even worth a mana.

So 4 damage is roughly worth 3,X CMC and 4 life is worth 0.Y CMC. Put those effects together on a multicolor card and Warleader's Helix seems like a fairly costed card at uncommon. Although fair does not equal good.

That was a rather long way to go just to say that Warleader's Helix is a fairly costed card... but not a very good one.

A condition may shave off a mana in the cost, but that leaves us at 3 CMC for a 4 damage, 4 life spell. The Vampiric Helix is definitely undercosted by 1 or needs a tougher condition, say control 2 or more vampires.

Now the biggest issue I take to this card is the ability to play it mono black. Mono black is not that efficient, seeing cards like Consume Spirit or Agonizing Syphon, Pharika's Cure. However neither red nor white has these effects by themselves. I think a good midway would be to have black as a required cost and then have the supplementary color be hybrid: would be fair in my eyes. Alternatively you could have white as the primary color and black/red as the supplementary, but that is not very flavorful as far as Vampire tribal goes. To compensate the increased cost, you could have the base version be 3 damage/3 life.

FLATSO99 on

7 years ago

@nojuice1 the card that is not standerd legal is Lightning Blast you can see if the deck is not legal by looking to the right below the deck price under the catogory legality:)

forevermayhem on Johan

7 years ago

I went through the rest of the cards in the shoebox and made the following tweaks. With the few cards I have, it looks like I can lead toward elf tribal. I should probably post this as a new deck because it's very much different.

Land:

In: Forgotten Cave, Contested Cliffs, Tranquil Thicket, 1 Forest, 1 Mountain

Creatures:

In: Clockwork Steed, Clockwork Swarm, Mobile Fort, Kelsinko Ranger, Nomad Decoy, Witch Hunter, Seasoned Marshal, Ardent Militia, Anger, Wall of Fire, Wall of Diffusion, Centaur Chieftain, Harvester Druid, Werebear, Wall of Ice, Sylvan Hierophant, Llanowar Knight, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Scrapper, Wellwisher, Wirewood Elf, Wirewood Herald, Skyshroud Elf, Fyndhorn Elder, Elvish Pathcutter, Symbiotic Elf, Heedless One

Out: Balduvian Barbarians, Centaur Rootcaster, Dire Wolves, Folk of the Pines, Horned Kavu, Hungry Mist, Ironroot Treefolk, Kavu Climber, Kei Takahashi, Krosan Tusker, Lightning Elemental, Marble Titan, Panther Warriors, Pincher Beetles, Rowan Treefolk, Ruham Djinn, Sawtooth Ogre, Soldevi Golem, Spined Wurm, Treespring Lorian, Viashino Grappler

Instants:

In: Giant Growth, Run Wild, Moment's Peace, Wirewood Pride, Shatter, Lead Astray, Shield Wall, Accelerate

Out: Alabaster Potion, Ambush, Aura Blast, Blood Lust, Death Ward, Fiery Temper, Lightning Blast, Naturalize, Second Thoughts, Serene Offering, Soothing Balm, Thunderbolt, Violent Eruption

Sorcery:

In: Defiant Stand, Sacred Nectar, Reckless Charge, Nature's Lore, Aftershock

Out: Desert Twister, Lava Axe, Nostalgic Dreams, Scorching Missile, Sizzle

Enchantments:

In: Wild Growth, Serra's Embrace, Shackles, Primal Order, Elvish Guidance

Out: Arcane Teachings, Armor of Faith, Goblin War Drums, Granite Grip, Holy Armor, Primal Frenzy, Regeneration, Seton's Desire

Artifacts:

In: Touchstone, Jade Monolith, Icy Manipulator

Out: Crown of the Ages, Thran Forge

Busse on Chandra, the Great Revel

8 years ago

Hey man! My thoughts on this build of yours:
Go to 3x Reverberate, as that is a dead card without another. Most of the times you will draw more of those than you need.
Quest for Pure Flame is something I use and has 2 advantages: the first and obvious one is doubling the damage. The other is psychological, putting pressure on your opponent. The sweet spot is usually 3x copies.
I see Shard Volley in your maybeboard: it's good, but I wouldn't play more than 2x or 3x of them. Losing a land in RDWs can hurt your tempo a lot.
Not budget, and somewhat off, but seeing all your CMC spells makes me think of Isochron Scepter. Just a thought.
And... what's your opinion on sweepers like Earthquake (staying in modern) or spells with lower costs, like Lightning Blast? I ask this because of your actual mana curve.

This is my take on RDW:

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Luxuria (RDW)

Legacy Busse

SCORE: 168 | 2 COMMENTS | 21444 VIEWS

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The suggestions where based on the performance of that deck... different terms and conditions may apply to your metagame and playstyle.
Cheers mate!