Lightning Strike

Instant

This deals 3 damage to any target any target (creature, player, planeswalker or battle).

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

VladMarkov on First

1 week ago

I reckon, what the deck really needs, is lots of cheap spells that can be cast on every player's turn, to get the most value out of the flurry mechanic. The game plan should be to cast Shiko and Narset, Unified on turn 4, prepare the board beforehand, and then spam small, damage-dealing spells that can easily be brought back with tricks like Underworld BreachGC, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, or by recasting copies with Narset, Enlightened Exile. You could then replace draw-discard effects with more "pure" card draw options like Treasure Cruise (if you have a lot of cards in your graveyard), Quick Study or flexible draw like Flame of Anor. The main gameplay should revolve around cheap, repeatable spells, but there can also be some utility from the Magecraft mechanic. Most importantly, the deck should keep continuous pressure on opponents by dealing large amounts of damage through copying small spells.

Must have: Path to Exile, Cyclonic RiftGC

Useful: Cori Mountain Stalwart, Devoted Duelist, Monk of the Open Hand, Ashling, Flame Dancer, Jori En, Ruin Diver, Ledger Shredder, Smoldering Egg  ^Flip, Burst Lightning, Electrolyze, Virtue of Courage, Fire / Ice, Galvanic Blast, Heartflame Duelist, Ionize, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, Lightning Strike, Magma Jet, Parch, Play with Fire, Punishing Fire, Risk Factor, Sacred Fire, Searing Spear, Shock, Skullcrack, Thunderbolt, Wild Slash

Possible: Taigam, Master Opportunist, Breeches, the Blastmaker, Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy, Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield, Storm of Saruman, Turn / Burn, Price of Progress, Finale of Promise, Increasing Vengeance, Frolicking Familiar, Molten Influence, Slaying Fire, Wizard's Lightning,

DungeonMimic1993 on help with this deck

1 month ago

I would recommend replacing both Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike with Lightning Bolt as the classic is now and forever will be the best option. I'm not really sure how Loot, Exuberant Explorer fits in aside from being an extra land drop for ramp. If you are looking for ramp Azusa, Lost but Seeking is a much better choice. If you are looking for more token creation then Urabrask's Forge will creat constant and heavy hitting creatures for you. Both Axguard Calvery and Raccoon Rallier don't have the best value as the themselves have summoning sickness and tapping a three mana creature for haste to one creature kind of defeats the point of haste. If you like have has on your creatures Anger is fs the best option but Urabrask the Hidden isn't bad option either. Another thing you could do is supplement them with creatures that straight up have haste printed.

SteelSentry on Which is More Important: Total …

4 months ago

Some of those are also relative because sometimes being one bigger than the other is a much bigger deal than just one. I can tell you from Standard that I can remember way more Lightning Strikes being cast than Shocks ever were unless you were in specifically a Prowess-style deck; thrown at a player, 2 and 3 damage is the difference between a playset doing 8 and 12, and 2 toughness and 3 toughness are important breakpoints in creature design for many reasons, the Bolt test being one of them.

Shared Summons is certainly a powerful card, especially in combo decks, but Eladamri's Call letting you find the right creature and casting it the same turn makes it better in most cases than getting two creatures and then dying to some artifact or enchantment you didn't have the mana to remove with Reclamation Sage which means I prefer it in most cases.

Lightning Angel is actually a good example of 3 vs 4. Mantis Rider is good, and also, relevantly, a Human, but it dies to Bolt or a 1/1 plus a Shock, and anything it kills it trades with. In a mirror match, the Angel can block other Angels all day, dodges Bolt, and unless you're playing a cube (Flame Slash and Flametongue Kavu are popular includes) or a format that has playable expensive red removal like Witchstalker Frenzy, a red deck may struggle to kill it 1-for-1.

With the draw spells, this is a very common theory in Yu-Gi-Oh actually, but a card going +1 like Quick Study is very powerful. More cards is always better, as is mana-to-card ratio, but little burst draw or cantrips usually live and die on their efficiency, and Quick Study being the cheapest unconditional way outside power to go card positive makes it incredibly noteworthy. Like the tutor argument, you might prefer card filtering cantrips that leave you neutral because the right card is more important than more cards, but it depends on why you're putting the spell there in the first place.

It's a very interesting topic that is often ignored in Commander due to the nature of the format, but the idea that "1 isn't always 1" is what really makes card analysis for 60 and 40 card formats special to me.

Kazierts on Which is More Important: Total …

4 months ago

The answer is pretty simple, it always depends on context. Magic is a very complex game and situations matter a lot. A lot of examples you gave already mentions different contexts and cannot be judged the same way as other examples.

Of the cards with activated abilities you mentioned, only Spectral Sailor and Faerie Mastermind are any good because they are useful aside from their card draw ability. A lot of times you don't even need to activate them since that's just tge cherry on top. Unless you have a very specific combo with Mystic Archaeologist, it's a horrible card because the only thing you can with it is pay a lot of mana to draw only 2 cards. For 5 mana, Mulldrifter is miles better. However, maybe you're making a weird Wizard EDH with Zirda as a companion and Mystic Archaeologist happens to fit perfectly.

Even the example with Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers and Vernadi Shieldmate is relative. The Cavaliers is an Elf Knight while the Shieldmate is a Human soldier, which means, as more "efficient" as one is over the other, some decks might completely one of them.

Usually, cheaper cards are better, but synergies, strategies and redundancy also influence card choice. Is Searing Spear better than Shock? Maybe, but maybe some people prefer to have only {R} burn spells in their deck. Maybe there's a format where Lightning Bolt doesn't exist and both Shock and Searing Spear (or Lightning Strike since it's the more modern version) go in the same deck.

Very few things are so black and white in MTG.

itsbuzzi on Gruul Zookeepers (Updated after RC Atlanta)

1 year ago

I like the addition of the Chandra walker. Her 0 ability you are most likely to use all the time almost always ensures you can pay {R}{R} and get a Phoenix Chick back from the yard. Also I saw very early spoilers and saw we are getting Lightning Helix in the next set. Complete upgrade from Lightning Strike for you but my list needs to rework a little for it.

Balaam__ on R/B Minotaur

1 year ago

I’d definitely replace Lightning Strike with Lightning Bolt, otherwise looks pretty fun.

Squee_Spirit_Guide on

1 year ago

This looks really good! What do you think about Incinerate instead of Lightning Strike? I'm not sure how often regenration comes up...

I think 1 or 2 Fireblast could be good as a nice surprise finisher :)

legendofa on B/R Goblin Burn

1 year ago

You're not likely to cast Lava Axe or Assembled Alphas off 20 lands with no ramp, unless the game goes long (which is what a burn deck does not want). This is more Goblin tribal than burn; burn wants pretty much every card in the deck either be a land or say "(card name) deals (#) damage to (target)" like Shock or Lightning Strike (and if you can get ahold of some, Lightning Bolt). Every card that's not immediately dealing damage is slowing a burn deck down. Goblin tribal generally focuses on lots of creatures pumping each other up and attacking fast and hard, which is more of what you have here. Both strategies are viable, and there's a little bit of overlap, but they're not interchangeable. To give you an idea of the similarities and differences,

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/burn-a2dd1132-5301-4882-907a-7b668da3b58a#paper is a tournament-level burn deck.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-8-whack#paper is a tournament-level Goblin deck.

Also, look for Goblin Grenade.