Red Elemental Blast

Instant

Choose one - Counter target blue spell; or destroy target blue permanent.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Big Apple Highlander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

FormOverFunction on How Did WotC Allow Combustion …

3 days ago

Red has always seemed to orient towards randomness and crazy behavior, but I think people got worn out on ACTUAL randomness (like Scrambleverse) and we’re settling on “choices you didn’t ever plan on making” as the new random. If we go with the “this weighing of which permanent of these four I want to sacrifice is a crazy random problem I didn’t expect today” measure of chaos, then it seems to fit red alright. On a side note: I think Red Elemental Blast falls into the category of “Bad Old Times Color Hate” which exempts it from the color pie. BOTCH covers wild breaks like Acid Rain and Deathgrip and makes them make sense.

wallisface on How Did WotC Allow Combustion …

3 days ago

DemonDragonJ, Red Elemental Blast has been an obvious colour pie break since forever. I’m not sure how that card relates at all to my original comment here.

DemonDragonJ on How Did WotC Allow Combustion …

4 days ago

wallisface, in that case, do you believe that Red Elemental Blast is a color pie break, or is it an acceptable bend?

DemonDragonJ on How Did WotC Allow Combustion …

5 days ago

I have seen the card of Combustion Man in the upcoming Avatar: the Last Airbender set, and his ability can destroy any permanent, which is a break, for red, because red is not supposed to be able to unconditionally destroy creatures or planeswalkers, or to be able to destroy enchantments, at all.

I am rather displeased, about this, because Mark Rosewater has stated numerous times that he considers Red Elemental Blast to be a color pie break, but Combustion Man is a far more egregious break, in my mind, so I would like to ask everyone else here, for their opinions, on this matter.

What does everyone else say, about this? How did WotC allow combustion man to be printed? I certainly am interested to hear your thoughts, on this matter.

Fox_Thot on Obeka, Spreader of Cheeks

6 months ago

Rekt_Angles Very valid suggestions, thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate it. I think I'm gonna start with cutting 1 or 2 lands and see what other kinds of cheap evasion or protection I can stuff in here. Red Elemental Blast is a great thought.

Rekt_Angles on Obeka, Spreader of Cheeks

6 months ago

I don't normally say this, but you could actually probably stand to cut a couple of lands. 39 lands is a lot, especially with the surprisingly reasonable amount of ramp/rocks you're running. I'd recommend cutting about 3 for more way to either A- Increase your commander's power for more upkeeps or B- Make your commander unblockable. Bedlam, Cover of Darkness, and even Levitation/Archetype of Imagination would work for the unblockable side of things. As for the power increases, depending on what you're spending your mana on each turn, Firebreathing style effects could work rather well, turning your extra mana into extra damage and upkeep triggers sounds like good fun.

I would also consider Red Elemental Blast because once someone sees your commander they will know hwo the deck is built and will attempt to counter it asap.

SaberTech on Mad World Rising

6 months ago

Thanks for the questions greyninja!

Grazilaxx is a remnant from an older, pre-banning of Dockside cEDH build for the deck. At that time in cEDH people were running Animar as more of a midrange deck because it wasn't fast enough for a turbo build to work well in the meta. I've kept it now that I run the deck as more of a Bracket 4 build and have to face off against more board wipes in the casual meta. It's mostly in the deck as another way of drawing cards to help recover but if an opponent would rather have me bounce back my creatures so that I can put more counters on Animar and get more ETB effects instead of drawing a card, then who am I to argue?

I've generally been pretty happy with Elvish Spirit Guide and Simian Spirit Guide. Like you pointed out, they help to increase the chances of a turn 2 Animar. There have also been times where I was digging through my deck with the help of something like Glimpse of Nature but have completely tapped out to do it. In those cases, having cards like the Guides, Lotus Petal, and Chrome MoxGC help to give free coloured mana that I might need to help close out the game. In cEDH the guides are a little more useful because they can pay for cards like Red Elemental Blast and Veil of Summer on their own but even in this build they can help to pay for a Wild Cantor or a Talisman so that I have blue mana up for counters to protect Walking Ballista. At 3 mana, the Guides can also be Neoformed into Ancestral Statue.

The 27 lands may not seem like a lot but some of the cEDH builds have even less. Animar doesn't really need many lands to go off considering the various cheap mana dorks and other ramp the deck provides. It is a bit tricky to go that low in lands and can require some aggressive mulligans to get a decent starting hand. While playing though, I've sometimes found that even just 27 lands can result in some mana flooding when I would really rather be drawing spells. The land count is something that you just have to experiment with for your own build to see where that sweet spot is for your own play style.

As for Utopia Sprawl, there are times where it has been a dead draw but it's not that often. Between the Dual Lands, Shock Lands, and Fetch lands in the deck it's not normally that difficult to get access to a land that counts as a forest on turn 1. Using Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth as ramp synergizes well with Arbor Elf and can also net extra mana with the help of cards like Snap, Deceiver Exarch, and Peregrine Drake.

Poly_raptor on 1 Billion Grains Of Salt | Mass Land Destruction

1 year ago

StarRushford thanks for pointing that out, it’s currently in its first draft and I have added a couple things in and thought I had made enough cuts.

Esper Sentinel has gone in and I have removed some cards that buff the tokens, Eldrazi Monument and another, I have added Pyroblast & Red Elemental Blast as interaction for counterspells.