Whats so great about bonfire of the damned?
General forum
Posted on Nov. 1, 2012, 8:57 p.m. by SamuelThrasher1996
I have been playing magic for about a month now and me and a few friends, longtime players, went out a few nights ago and bought some booster packs. I got this card called "bonfire of the damned". They all freaked out, but I don't see what so great about it? Will someone explain to me? I know, I'm a newb.
Normally, you have to run one of two decks.
The difference is what the plan is: Board wipe or creatures...
Control runs draw and stall spells to get them to their board wipes.
Aggro runs creatures, and doesn't run board wipes because otherwise you would kill your own creatures.
However, since Bonfire of the Damned doesn't kill your own creatures, you can disrupt your opponent's creatures without hurting your own. Thus, having what aggro shouldn't have: board wipes.
November 1, 2012 9:06 p.m.
SamuelThrasher1996 says... #4
But what makes it any better than say... Street Spasm ?
November 1, 2012 9:06 p.m.
GreatSword says... #5
It costs a lot less mana, deals damage to your opponent, and hits flyers.
November 1, 2012 9:08 p.m.
Um, besides the instant speed, Bonfire of the Damned is strictly better.
- It kills creatures with flying
- It has a miracle cost of XR and retains the normal mana cost of XXR, which both are cheaper than Street Spasm
- It deals damage to the player.
November 1, 2012 9:10 p.m.
The reason bonfire is so damn good no pun intended is its MIRACLE COST. check it out
If you read right, yes, you only need to pay 1 red and X (X being as much damage as you want to deal), lets say you tap 1 red and 10 other mana. That means you can deal 10 damage to every creature ur opponent has and 10 directly to them. The two XX without miracle cost means you have to pay that 10 twice to deal 10 damage. By paying 10, you would only be able to deal 5. So its not that great without the miracle cost.
November 1, 2012 9:22 p.m.
rckclimber777 says... #8
A one-sided board wipe is ridiculously good in pretty much any context. In this case you get to deal damage to the opponent as well, making it amazing. Mizzium Mortars is the only other card that is anywhere close to that and it is a bit limited and doesn't deal damage to the opponent.
I think to get an idea of how powerful this card is, it would be good to see what happens if you draw this card.
The board is this. You have 3 2/2s on the field and a single 4/4. Your opponent on the other hand has 2x Drogskol Reaver a Geist of Saint Traft with a Spectral Flight enchanted on it, and a restoration angel. They're at 10 life and you're at 5 life. They're gonna swing for lethal next turn. You flip up this card up. You cast it for 6 mana, dealing 5 damage to all of their creatures and then swing for lethal. GG.
This is just a random situation, but is a representation as to why this card is so good. Even not miracled it is still a great card. Being able to board wipe is a powerful ability. Being able to one-side board wipe is insane.
November 1, 2012 10:50 p.m.
I recently read an article saying how Mizzium Mortars can actually be a better card is some situations. We can all agree that playing bonfire for the miracle cost is amazing. It can just end the game. But how often, especially if you are a deck with any sort of drawing mechanisms, do you draw bonfire when you don't need it or can't play it for the miracle cost? Or even have it in your opening hand but don't want to mulligan. Well Mizzium Mortars doesn't have that problem, if you have the mana for the overload cost, and you have that same mana for a Bonfire of the Damned without the miracle, the mortars will actually end up doing more damage to your opponents creatures. The only downsides is that you don't end up doing damage to the opponent and it does take extra red mana (3 red in total). But if you have mixed lands, then hopefully that wont be a problem for you on turn 6 or so to get 3 red sources. But on the plus side, with out the overload cost, you still can do 4 damage to any creature that you can target with the mortars. My favorite part is that there is nearly a $45 difference in price between the two cards.
November 1, 2012 11:25 p.m.
GriffinRider says... #10
But if you don't like bonfire you can still sell if for like $50. Every games store I've been to has it on their buylist.
November 2, 2012 12:59 a.m.
Mizzium Mortars is a decent comparison, at best. As mentioned earlier, being able to run an aggro deck with a one-sided board sweep is absolutely amazing. Mizzium Mortars is hard to cast in a three color deck, whereas Bonfire of the Damned would be much easier to cast.
Another highly important aspect of Bonfire of the Damned , is the fact that it hits players as well. That makes it waaaaaaaaay better than Mizzium Mortars IMO due to the simple fact that you can redirect the damage that WOULD be dealt to the player, to that annoying, board-stalling, advantage-gaining Jace, Architect of Thought or Tamiyo, the Moon Sage . If used in an aggro deck, and it's in your opening hand, you can still effectively cast it with only 5, hell, MAYBE 3, mana. You swing out with your creatures, they assign blockers, cast bonfire for 1 or 2 damage and voila, you have an equalizer/advantage!
Mizzium Mortars is better in the sideboard in my opinion. It is waaaay cheaper spot removal. Also, you can't beat that price tag! ;)
November 2, 2012 1:15 a.m.
evil_monkey says... #12
You can't cast bonfire during combat. It's a sorcery.
November 2, 2012 1:23 a.m.
You are quite correct; however, damage stays through phases ;)
November 2, 2012 1:32 a.m.
evil_monkey says... #14
And you are very correct there :) An equalizer it is!. I like Bonfire a lot. The price tag keeps me from playing it, but one can wish. lol
November 2, 2012 1:35 a.m.
I fully and utterly agree with you! I feel like I could be one of the best magic players, as could a TON of people, if those damned purse strings weren't just. so. tight!
November 2, 2012 1:43 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #16
The deck doesn't make a player good. It just makes him or her known.
November 2, 2012 2:02 a.m.
You can also cast miracle cards on your opponent's turns if you have a way to draw cards at instant speed (Think Twice for example).
The rules text on miracles like Bonfire of the Damned is very particular, and makes the card inherently more valuable. Why wouldn't it, when "sorcery" can sometimes mean "instant"? With the amount of damage and board advantage Bonfire gives you, the potential to cast it anytime gives you an additional large advantage.
November 2, 2012 2:15 a.m.
You are correct, but having the better cards can augment your abilities as a thinking, focused magic player.
November 2, 2012 2:16 a.m.
The_Darkhorse says... #19
Arguably the deck does make a player good. Skill can only take you so far in this game, unfortunately much of the time it comes down to money.
November 2, 2012 2:48 a.m.
Having a good deck can mean that either they are using a net deck, or they are a good deck builder. How they play it would make them a good or bad player. There is a difference. Deck building is a very important aspect but how you play with the deck that you built is what makes the magic player.
November 2, 2012 4:15 a.m.
evil_monkey says... #22
Perhaps the phrase we would be looking for is more along the lines of; we would be more formidable players, yes?
November 2, 2012 6:54 a.m.
I've Bonfired on my opponents combat step to kill all of his creatures. It's a great card in my opinion.
November 2, 2012 9:48 a.m.
Now, just an idea and its not standard legal, but imagine this: Brainstorm with any miracle card... :O
I built a deck around this: deck:why-dont-you-have-any-creatures
GreatSword says... #2
Not really the kind of question for this forum....it's for weird rules questions.
But, the ability to randomly deal a large amount of damage to both a player and every creature he controls is very potent. It breaks up board stalls, takes you ahead if you're behind, and finishes your opponent if you're already ahead.
November 1, 2012 9:01 p.m.