Direct damage
Direct damage or burn refers to a spell or ability that deals damage to a target player or creature, not through combat, but rather by spells or effects of cards already in play.[1]
Red
Red is primary in direct damage and has it in many forms, including the most straightforward versions.[2][3] The accompanying flavor and imagery of fire and electricty is responsible for the burn teminology.[4][5] Red will occasionally deal damage to all or a subset of creatures, sometimes dealing a small amount (1 or 2 damage, killing small creatures), sometimes doing larger amounts that kill most creatures. Red's damage in this area most often hits all creatures, including its own.[2]
Red may also deal damage to a creature that's been damaged earlier (preying on the weak). It also may sacrifice a creature and deal damage to creature/player equal to the sacrificed creature's power/toughness.[2]
Famous burn spells
Burn spells are most commonly used in red aggro decks, and have a low mana cost. A typical Burn Deck is a deck that seeks to reduce an opponent's life total from 20 to 0 as fast as possible, usually in the form of instant and sorceries and a few creatures, doing direct damage and with very little interaction. Pure burn decks tend to suffer in the mid-game, when spells have been used up, a hand size is minimal, and there are no creatures to block with.[6]
- Chain Lightning
- Lightning Bolt
- Fireball
- Flamebreak
- Kaervek's Torch
- Disintegrate
- Incinerate
- Fireblast
- Firebolt
- Burst Lightning
- Kindle
- Char, although Flame Javelin is better in mono red.
Black
Black is secondary, it will do direct damage to creatures or players and then gain life (drain).[2] Black will sometimes deal damage to players as a punishment. Black used to mostly do life loss to players, but as R&D has been trying to give black more answers to planeswalkers, they have been shifting this more into damage.
Like red, black may deal damage to a creature that's been damaged earlier or sacrifice a creature to deal damage.[2]
White
White's direct damage only shows up in combat.[2] It is primary in dealing damage to target attacking or blocking creature. White will also occasionally deal damage to multiple creatures or all attackers or blockers.
Green
Green may deal damage to a creature with flying.[2]
In Un-sets
- Unstable 's Super-Duper Death Ray is the first card to combine direct damage with trample.[7]
References
- ↑ Aaron Forsythe (June 3, 2005). "Feel the Burn". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 16, 2017). "In what order are the colors able to deal direct damage (i.e. burn)?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 10, 2014). "How did direct damage get the nickname burn?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (February 01, 2014). "Fire is cool and all, but I feel that this sort of thing could limit Red's repertoire, as far as flavour goes.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 15, 2010). "Feel the Burn". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 16, 2017). "Thank you for Super Duper Death Ray.". Blogatog. Tumblr.