How Did WotC Allow Combustion Man to be Printed?
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Nov. 9, 2025, 6:49 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
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.
DarkKiridon says... #3
It's a punishing effect, which is what red does. It's giving the opponent a choice which is also what red does. Kind of like Combustible Gearhulk in a sense.
It's not a break and Maro clearly said it's not.
November 9, 2025 8:13 p.m.
Crow_Umbra says... #4
To add onto what everyone else stated above, it's also a 5 mv creature that lacks Haste. So it realistically has to wait a whole rotation to maybe remove a permanent, assuming the controller of the permanent doesnt just eat the damage.
Punisher/choice effects are very much in Red and not new. We also had Star Athlete last year in Duskmourn, which has Blitz as a means to give Haste, but then sacs at EOT. Even then, it might not remove whatever if someone chooses to eat the 5 damage instead.
Yes, there are ways to push both of these and make them better in Commander, but you have to think about how Combustion Man would play in other formats like Standard, which dont have the same card pool depth or "clock" to push this.
November 9, 2025 8:25 p.m.
Crow_Umbra says... #5
Also, although Star Athlete is in a similar design space as Combustion Man, it debuted in a commander precon, where as CB is from a Standard set. There's definitely some things that make Star Athlete a bit more pushed, it has more immediate potential for impact compared to CB, at the cost of a slightly narrower means of removal.
November 9, 2025 8:30 p.m.
plakjekaas says... #6
Enchanter's Bane is a very similar effect.
Browbeat as well as Risk Factor show that trading the choice of either damage or a traditionally non-red effect has been part of Red's identity for years.
November 9, 2025 8:31 p.m.
DarkKiridon says... #7
On a side note: The cards depicting the temples are enchantment shrines correct? Didn't Combustion Man attack Team Avatar at one of the air temples and outright kind of destroyed it? Having his card destroy "enchantments" sounds pretty flavorful to me.
November 9, 2025 8:50 p.m.
Forgive me if this is too repetitive:
Red has long gotten what are sometimes called 'Choice' cards, sometimes called 'Punisher' cards depending on who you're talking to, and Combustion Man is one of them. They're normally pie breaks that Red would LOVE to have, such as Skullscorch, Browbeat, Risk Factor, Breaking Point, and Vexing Devil (playable ones I can think of). It's mostly a Red identity at this point, and it still gets support. FWIW most of these are also below normal cost for the effect, at least for the period of play they were in Standard. They are often Timmy type cards, but I have found if you mix them in with the best Burn effects you can find they play better, if people can't afford to lose the life then you can get some pretty sweet upsides. Fortunately none of them are THAT good, and IMHO this isn't changing anything at 5 Mana that Chaos Warp didn't probably do better for only 3, and Wild Magic Surge for only 2. Both have downsides, but this can be ignored for some life, and as Vexing Devil and Browbeat suggest, paying life for a counter is a good deal most of the time (those cards are bad without support IMHO).
Hope this clears things up a bit!
November 10, 2025 11:12 a.m.
I don't feel like writing all too much (cause I'm tired), but I wanted to point out that Red constitutes many colour pie breaks through the punishment effects listed above. Additionally, can consistently destroy or interact with any permanents except for enchantments.
I mostly just wanted to bring to mind Enchanter's Bane for this discussion. Have fun all of you.
November 10, 2025 3:10 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
I do not have time to respond to each individual user, here, but I have no problem with red having "punisher" cards, as I feel that they very much fit the flavor of red as a color, but those should not ever be excuses to break the color pie, as red is supposed to have difficulty in dealing with enchantments.
Idoneity, I do not regard Enchanter's Bane as a color pie break, because it does not actually destory or otherwise remove enchantments, it merely punishes a player for using them.
November 10, 2025 8:33 p.m.
Crow_Umbra says... #11
Neither Combustion Man or Star Athlete have a guaranteed means of removing enchantments or other (non-land) permanents, since they hinge on the choice of another player. That choice and lack of guarantee is a difficult means of removing enchantments and other permanents.
If either of those creatures, or any of the other Punisher/Choice effects in this thread lacked the choice element and instead "guaranteed" removal like Beast Within/Generous Gift, then that would be a more direct break.
November 10, 2025 8:40 p.m.
wallisface says... #12
I agree entirely with what’s already been said by most above, these cards aren’t breaks at all.
They effectively read “target opponent takes X damage unless you’re terrible at threat-assessment or that damage would kill them, in which case they may elect to lose something non-impactful instead”.
November 10, 2025 9:34 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
wallisface, in that case, do you believe that Red Elemental Blast is a color pie break, or is it an acceptable bend?
November 10, 2025 10:34 p.m.
Enchanter's Bane destroys enchantments. It gives the option to sacrifice.
November 10, 2025 11:29 p.m.
wallisface says... #15
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.
November 11, 2025 1:56 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #16
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.
November 11, 2025 8:26 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #17
Idoneity, in that case, I take back what I said previously and regard Enchanter's Bane as a color pie break.
wallisface, I am saying that, if Red Elemental Blast is a color pie break, then Combustion Man definitely is, as well.
November 16, 2025 7:08 p.m.
wallisface says... #18
DemonDragonJ not at all. Red Elemental Blast is doing effects that red shouldn’t be able to do, and the casting player has full control over being able to enact those effects.
Conversely Combustion Man and Enchanter's Bane only permit effects outside of reds colour pie in situations where the opponent refuses to pay the punisher (damage) effect. The casting player has no control over the effect of the card, and the only time the card performs an effect outside of the colours pie is when the opponent allows them to.
November 16, 2025 7:32 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #19
wallisface, I shall concede that point, but I still do not believe that giving an opponent a choice should allow for a violation of the color pie; for example, I have no problem with Painful Quandary, because each option is one that black can normally do.
November 16, 2025 8:19 p.m.
Okay. I mean, Red does this an awful lot for it to be a break. All across the history of Magic too.
Storm Fleet Arsonist, Silverclad Ferocidons, Misguided Rage, Bearer of the Heavens, and Akki Underminer. These are recent and old effects that enable Red to theoretically remove an enchantment if the opponent so chooses.
Breaking Point is a Wrath of God which is definitely outside Red's typical scope of options. Molten Influence just counters a spell. But they delegate control of the effect to the opponent, so they work.
I'm not bringing up anything new to this discuss; it's all divulged above. Just wanted to demonstrate both the vastitude and variety of Red punisher effects, all throughout Magic.
November 16, 2025 8:38 p.m.
wallisface says... #21
DemonDragonJ these cards aren’t violations of the colour pie though - as everyone else has been trying to repeatedly tell you. Red is allowed these kinds of effects within the realm of “punisher” cards.
^ whether you disagree with that statement or not, us also irrelevant. It’s the stance of the company that dictate the colour pie, and from the trend of this thread also almost-universally accepted as being ok by the player base.
November 16, 2025 9:16 p.m.
How much have you actually played with or against Choice cards DemonDragonJ? The reason people don't use them much is that in practice they are only good when you're already doing well, all of the effects should read "this card does Burn, unless your opponent is on Death's doorsteps, then it doesn't do damage, instead it does something that sounds good but is in practice far worse". You're talking about Combustion Man like he's enchantment removal when he almost never is. Browbeat isn't ACTUALLY a draw spell when you play it, it's a Burn spell until Burn is better than draw, at which point your foe can decide the card doesn't even do Burn damage. The fact is the choice is LITERALLY a nerf on the card, you always get the worst outcome. Since they play like Burn they ARE Burn imho, and not really a pie break.
November 17, 2025 6:27 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #23
And everyone is trying to say the same thing in this topic, but according to the most recent upgrade to the color pie according to MaRo himself the punisher choice does not even have to be between damage and another effect, just a choice between X and Y is a primary effect for red. Also, sacrificing an enchantment is listed as a primary effect in red. MaRo confirmed.
November 17, 2025 6:55 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #24
wallisface, plakjekaas, in that case, I am not certain if there is anything else to say, on this subject, but it simply does not make sense, to me, since red is supposed to have difficulty in dealing with enchantments, because they are intangible, and red excels at destroying physical objects.
November 23, 2025 4:52 p.m.
wallisface says... #25
DemonDragonJ as has already been said numerous times, none of these cards even let red destroy an enchantment, unless their opponent is incredibly stupid or would otherwise die.
November 23, 2025 5:01 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #26
wallisface, I suppose that that is an acceptable bend, but how did WotC arrive at the conclusion that it was acceptable?
November 23, 2025 5:57 p.m.
wallisface says... #27
DemonDragonJ it’s not even a bend. And your question has already been answered numerous times by numerous people all above. I assume you’ve read and understood those replies? I’m not sure what else could be said to make this any clearer.
November 23, 2025 5:59 p.m.
Yeah, it definitely feels like a color-pie break. Red isn’t supposed to destroy any permanent, so Combustion Man is surprising. WotC seems to be bending the rules for flavor in these crossover sets, but it still feels off. Curious to see how others read it.
December 11, 2025 6:53 a.m.
No!!!!! Not another one!!
This is heartbreaking.
December 11, 2025 11:08 a.m. Edited.
Crow_Umbra says... #30
Yeah... there's like 20 something comments on here outlining how others feel about Combustion Man not being a color pie break, and being a Punisher. The Scryfall tagger also shows the many other such cases of Punisher effects for comparison.
TL;DR - Combustion Man is a Punisher effect in Red, and is not a break.
December 11, 2025 11:13 a.m.
Crow_Umbra says... #31
I know this thread has been thoroughly discussed already, but just wanted to share a recent post from Mark Rosewater himself on this exact topic.
TL;DR- He says that Combustion Man isn't a strong bend since it is a Punisher effect in Red.
/Thread
legendofa says... #2
It's not quite unconditional removal, since there's a pretty important "unless" in there. Red gets "choice of punishment" effects, but I agree this feels like it's pushing some borders. Maybe they're playing with expanding the range and versatility of these effects? Giving your opponent a choice of effects only really works if both effects are reliably impactful. I'm filing this one as "experimental, will either become a standard effect or a weird one-off".
November 9, 2025 8:08 p.m. Edited.