A-Unholy Heat MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Instant |
| Abilities | Delirium |
| Released | 2021-06-18 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Modern Horizons 2 |
| Set code | MH2 |
| Number | A-145 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Kari Christensen |
Key Takeaways
- A-Unholy Heat excels in removal, potentially eliminating multiple threats with effective graveyard utilization.
- It’s cost-efficient, allowing players to manage threats while advancing their board position.
- The instant’s flexibility shines by disrupting plays at crucial moments, offering tactical diversity.
Text of card
Unholy Heat deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker. Delirium — Unholy Heat deals 4 damage instead if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: A-Unholy Heat offers significant utility by allowing you to deal 6 damage under certain conditions, potentially eliminating two creatures with one card if played strategically. This translates to a superior card advantage as you can dispatch key threats without depleting your hand resources.
Resource Acceleration: While A-Unholy Heat doesn’t directly provide mana, it effectively accelerates your resources by dealing with threats for a low mana cost. This efficiency helps you allocate mana elsewhere, maintaining tempo and potentially leading to an acceleration in your overall game plan.
Instant Speed: The instant speed nature of A-Unholy Heat provides flexibility in gameplay. It allows you to respond during your opponent’s turn, keeping your options open until the best moment arises to maximize its effectiveness, whether it’s disrupting an opponent’s combo or removing a blocker before damage calculations.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Unholy Heat relies on having delirium—a condition that requires you to have four or more card types among cards in your graveyard to achieve its full potential. Without fulfilling this requirement, the damage dealt by the spell may be insufficient to remove larger threats from the board.
Specific Mana Cost: Unholy Heat requires red mana to cast. While this is a common color in aggressive and burn-oriented decks, it can restrict the card’s inclusion in multi-colored decks that may not have consistent access to red mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: For one red mana, Unholy Heat delivers solid damage. However, in a fast-paced game, achieving delirium to unlock its full power may be too slow, especially when other low-cost removal options could be utilized without the graveyard setup.
Reasons to Include Unholy Heat in Your Collection
Versatility: Unholy Heat is a low-cost instant capable of dealing 6 damage if there are enough card types in your graveyard to achieve delirium. Because of this condition, it’s an excellent fit in decks focused on filling the graveyard, offering significant removal for just one red mana.
Combo Potential: This card can easily slide into various red deck archetypes and complements strategies that involve spell synergies or graveyard manipulations. It’s also a reliable way to eliminate key creatures or planeswalkers, setting up for game-changing combos.
Meta-Relevance: With many decks running powerful creatures and planeswalkers, Unholy Heat stands out in the current meta. Its ability to deal substantial damage at instant speed for a minimal mana investment makes it a valuable tool in any player’s arsenal, especially in high-paced, competitive play.
How to beat Unholy Heat
Unholy Heat is a formidable instant that offers red decks a powerful tool for removal in MTG. It brings to the table not only damage potential but also the ability to take down larger threats once delirium is active. This escalates its base two damage to a massive six, capable of eliminating most creatures and planeswalkers caught in its fiery path.
To strategically tackle Unholy Heat, efficient hexproof creatures or those with protection from red stand strong against it. Incorporating cards such as Blossoming Defense or Shalai, Voice of Plenty can shield your valuable creatures from being scorched. Diversification is also key; using creatures with varying toughness can mitigate the risk of a sweeping loss from a single Unholy Heat.
By staying aware of the conditions for delirium and playing around them, one can diminish the impact of Unholy Heat. Employing graveyard hate cards such as Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze limits the ease of achieving delirium, rendering Unholy Heat as a less threatening presence on the battlefield. As you navigate against this potent card, these strategies can be your guiding light towards victory.
Cards like A-Unholy Heat
Unholy Heat is an intriguing instance of efficient removal spells within MTG. Its closest relatives include Lightning Bolt, a staple in many decks for its instantaneous damage output. Unholy Heat provides similar spot removal capabilities but has the additional potential to deal a staggering six damage if there are six or more card types among cards in your graveyard and on the battlefield, enabling it to take down far larger threats.
Another similar card is Shock, which offers a quick two damage for one red mana. While it lacks Unholy Heat’s ceiling, its consistency without the graveyard setup is noteworthy. Skewer the Critics also presents an interesting comparison. It can deal three damage for a single red mana after spectacle is enabled but operates at sorcery speed, meaning it doesn’t share Unholy Heat’s flexibility.
Evaluating them side by side, Unholy Heat shines in environments that quickly fill the graveyard, allowing it to exceed the limitations of its counterparts. Its adaptability as a one-mana spell capable of dealing with formidable creatures gives it a notable edge in the vast array of red removal spells in MTG.
Cards similar to A-Unholy Heat by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase A-Unholy Heat MTG card by a specific set like Modern Horizons 2, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the A-Unholy Heat and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where A-Unholy Heat has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |