Lightning Strike

Instant

Lightning Strike deals 3 damage to target creature, player or planeswalker.

Discussion (51)

Akromathia on Werewolves 30$ budget build

1 day ago

I would:

1. Replace Prey Uponwith Moonlight Hunt: Superior speed, and superior damage output, without risking the loss of a unit. And I would also add 1-2 more copies to the main board.
2. Replace Shockwith Lightning Bolt / Lightning Strike: Better damage output for (almost) the same mana.
3. Lower mainboard Moonmistto 2 or 3 and replace them with Moonlight Hunt. The 1 or 2 other copies would be side boarded.
4. Replace Ulrich of the Krallenhorde  ^Flip with Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip: Cheaper, almost as stronger and has greater impact on the battlefield (removal + life gain + token generator vs buffer + removal).
5. Replace Wolfbitten Captive  ^Flipwith 2x Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flipand 1x Lambholt Pacifist  ^Flip.
6. Replace 1x Geier Reach Bandit  ^Flipwith 1x Daybreak Ranger  ^Flip.

The Lands need some heavy rework. Having 22 is a good number, but you need to improve your chances to hit duals.

1. 4x Game Trail
2. 4x Rootbound Crag- Evolving Wilds or similar.
3. 8x Forest
4. 5x Mountain
5. 1x Kessig Wolf Run (maybe make space for another)

Would you like some side board suggestions? Hope it helps, have a good day.

Annnd-I-Lost-Again on Kess, Breaker of Combos( multi win con)

1 week ago

Ryland7 because Lightning Strike can target planes walkers Lightning Bolt can’t. Hope that was good clarification.

SoggyWaffles777 on Burning a hole

1 week ago

ok a couple things. so i really think that you should be running Lightning Bolt in this deck. it is strictly better than Lightning Strike and possibly one of the best spells in burn. ALSO. Skullcrack is verry good. i think that you should cut down on the aria of flame down to like 2. not much else on my mind now, but i think torbran is awesome. good job!

Ryland7 on Kess, Breaker of Combos( multi win con)

1 week ago

Hello, I'm curious why you run Lightning Strike but not Lightning Bolt

Thanks!

Tzefick on Two Life-Draining Spells

1 week 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.

alexon1000 on Boros Burn

1 month ago

Gracco Thanks a lot for your feedback, I think we are definitely on the same page as to what the deck should be, a few thoughts on your points however:

• I think Searing Blood is a must on this decks sideboard? I think, my BEST possible turn 2 against lets say mono green or gruul or mono black would be searing blood + attack with Monastery Swiftspear .

-Same for Smash to Smithereens ? except its actually even better

- Deflecting Palm for now the meta is quite diverse in non competitive play that i think is fun to have

-Ok on the -1 Titan's Strength , its just a one off i like to have because theres a fun combo with Boros Charm and prowess, but I actually think x2 Shock is better than x2 Lightning Strike .. its a cheaper way to set off prowess, if this was a 12 creature burn deck i would agree and even think about Skullcrack , but I think this deck is strongest when turn 2 is and turn 3 its hitting with one or more monastery swiftspear or Soul-Scar Mage , hence go for the 2x shock 2x lightning strike, and I need to think about setting off spectacle as cheaply as possible if needed..

-Unfortunately if I want to run the Wizard's Lightning efficiently I need to have all the wizards i can get, and i think soul scar is better than viashino as it is one mana and has an ability that can be useful recurrently as opposed to the one off 2 damage. That said runaway steam kin is a great card that I play in my standard mono red deck.

-Im worried about the damage coming from this mana base.. hence my doubts on the ruins. Could I maybe only run 2 Battlefield Forge ? I find myself that sometimes against aggro decks i end up killing myself with the mana base and Eidolon of the Great Revel

-Ill think about throwing in one or two more exquisite firecraft, i agree its an awesome card against control, and may I say a very satisfying way to win the game :D

Joe_Ken_ on Prossh Token Hell

1 month ago

Probably Domri, City Smasher since it is pretty high cost and dosen’t bring all that much to the table.

Lightning Strike since 3 damage to a target won’t come in handy that often. Abrade is effectively the same but also artifact removal.

Trespasser's Curse is only really good if you are up against another token deck.

Possibility Storm isn’t all that necessary and you don’t want the randomness too often in edh.

Ayula's Influence since triple green can be hard to cast sometimes and discarding cards for 2/2 tokens isn’t all that great.

Wolf's Quarry costs way too much for what it does.

Nissa's Triumph dosen’t really ramp, only guarantees some land drops.

Zhur-Taa Goblin he is an early drop, but dosen't do much beyond like turn 4.

Edh is a marathon for the most part. You want to ramp and get momentum to bring you to the end game and keep yourself in a better position than other players. Getting ramp and removal is necessary to make sure they don’t pull too far ahead of you. I’d check YouTube and EDHrec for other Prosh decks to get some more ideas for your deck.

wisegreenbean on Simic Flash

1 month ago

It's a neat concept! Leyline of Anticipation is a neat card for enabling your style of deck and boosting devotion. That said...I don't think Prophet of Kruphix is remotely playable in competitive formats. It's a 5 mana ramp spell at the top of your curve that dies to Lightning Strike . It's like a really vulnerable Fires of Invention . Drop prophet if nothing else, it's so much worse than leyline for you.

I feel pretty confident in saying that your green splash just isn't worth it as this build stands now. It severely strains your mana, prophet isn't worth it, Growth Spiral is decent but not something to splash for, and while Frilled Mystic is pretty good, double green is so hard. Your green splash sacrifices your ability to consistently play Gadwick, or have a t4 play of cutthroat into > trickster. 3 forest + 3 nykthos will absolutely to back to haunt you in terms of mana consistency. Alternately, look into some Nightpack Ambusher if you want a payoff for playing at instant speed. Also, if you do stay in green, see about Scavenging Ooze for your sideboard.

I also think the Torrential Gearhulk + Dig Through Time package doesn't make a lot of sense. Gearhulk is NOT good if he just opts; he's only impressive if he has a variety of spells to choose from, like counterspells or removal. But you're a creature deck, and he synergizes with noncreatures. Similarly, dig synergizes with high volumes of instants and sorceries going to the graveyard, and 8 pieces of fuel is NOT enough.

Lastly, the inclusion of Flood of Tears confuses me. You don't have high CMC payoffs, so it's just a boardwipe that you get to recover from faster. If you really want that effect, Cyclonic Rift is superior in almost every way(though I'm not SURE you want the effect at all).