Burning Oil MTG Card


Burning Oil - Dark Ascension
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityUncommon
TypeInstant
Abilities Flashback
Released2012-02-03
Set symbol
Set nameDark Ascension
Set codeDKA
Number84
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byTrevor Claxton

Key Takeaways

  1. Provides card advantage and disruption with its versatile flashback ability, creating dual usage from a single card.
  2. Instant speed allows for tactical responses, though its specific mana cost can be restrictive in deck creation.
  3. While useful, it faces competition from other cards with lower mana costs for similar damage effects.

Text of card

Burning Oil deals 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Every now and then, a devil's prank can give you a good idea.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: With the ability to flashback from the graveyard, Burning Oil provides an opportunity to utilize the same card twice, maximizing the value you get from a single card slot in your deck.

Resource Acceleration: Although Burning Oil does not directly accelerate resources, the efficient removal it provides can slow down an opponent’s development, allowing you to maintain pace and potentially overtake them in board presence.

Instant Speed: As an instant, Burning Oil can be played on an opponent’s turn, making it a flexible tool in your arsenal for disrupting your opponent’s strategy during crucial moments or in response to their threats.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Burning Oil demands a card to be discarded, which can negatively impact your hand, particularly if you’re in a pinch for options or holding onto key cards.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires a detailed mana investment with a red and white to cast, which restricts its inclusion to decks that can consistently generate both colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that sits at the upper end for its effects, Burning Oil may be overshadowed by other lower-cost spells that deal damage or offer removal abilities.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Burning Oil is a flexible addition to red and white decks, capable of acting as both a combat trick and a source of recurring damage from the graveyard. Its dual utility allows for proactive and reactive plays, fitting into a variety of strategies while keeping opponents on their toes.

Combo Potential: This card’s flashback ability offers unique interactions with other cards that benefit from instant and sorcery casts. Whether it’s fueling spell-based synergies or being recurred for repeated use, Burning Oil enhances decks centered around spell-slinging and graveyard manipulation.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where creature-based strategies are prevalent, Burning Oil serves as a cost-effective way to keep the board in check. Its ability to be used twice—once from hand and once from the graveyard—means it’s particularly adept at dealing with small to mid-sized creatures that dominate aggressive formats.


How to beat

Burning Oil is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering that offers a blend of damage potential and flexibility with its flashback ability. To effectively counter this card, players need to adapt their strategies. One method is to manage the battlefield by maintaining a low creature presence, thus limiting the targets for its initial cast. Additionally, leveraging instant-speed removal can disrupt the timing, making it less effective against your creatures.

Another approach to counteract Burning Oil is through the use of hexproof or indestructible creatures. By employing creatures with these abilities, you’re protecting your board from targeted spells. Instant spells that grant these protections for a turn can also be a timely response to this direct damage card. Similarly, cards that can counter noncreature spells are crucial to stopping Burning Oil from ever hitting the battlefield, preserving your creature’s health and your overall strategy.

Ultimately, understanding how to navigate around the potential damage of Burning Oil is key to overcoming it. Strategic creature management and a deck well-equipped with protective measures or counterspells can diminish the impact of Burning Oil and secure your position in the game.


Cards like Burning Oil

Burning Oil stands out in Magic: The Gathering’s roster of burn spells with its unique flashback ability. This feature is strongly reminiscent of cards like Searing Spear and Lightning Strike, both known for dealing 3 damage to any target for a low mana cost. However, Burning Oil’s flashback potential offers a second burst of damage later in the game, a utility absent in its counterparts.

Comparably, Incinerate represents a similar spell that deals 3 damage, but it includes the additional benefit of preventing regeneration, an edge in matchups against creature-heavy decks with regenerative capabilities. Faithless Looting is another example relevant for its flashback attribute, but as a card draw engine rather than a damage dealer. The act of drawing and discarding with flashback gives it a distinct role in strategic deck building and play.

Weighing the strategic applications, Burning Oil provides flexibility and repeated value with its dual castability, situating it competitively among its peers in the damage-dealing spell niche of Magic: The Gathering. Its blend of immediate impact and long-term potential shapes it as a card worthy of consideration for decks capitalizing on burn tactics.

Searing Spear - MTG Card versions
Lightning Strike - MTG Card versions
Incinerate - MTG Card versions
Faithless Looting - MTG Card versions
Searing Spear - Magic 2013 (M13)
Lightning Strike - Theros (THS)
Incinerate - Ice Age (ICE)
Faithless Looting - IDW Comics Inserts (PIDW)

Cards similar to Burning Oil by color, type and mana cost

Captain's Maneuver - MTG Card versions
Lightning Helix - MTG Card versions
Flamescroll Celebrant // Revel in Silence - MTG Card versions
Lantern Flare - MTG Card versions
Boros Charm - MTG Card versions
Double Cleave - MTG Card versions
Fight to the Death - MTG Card versions
Shattering Blow - MTG Card versions
Aurelia's Fury - MTG Card versions
Martial Glory - MTG Card versions
Ride Down - MTG Card versions
Deflecting Palm - MTG Card versions
Justice Strike - MTG Card versions
Sacred Fire - MTG Card versions
Heartflame Duelist // Heartflame Slash - MTG Card versions
Inventory Management - MTG Card versions
Captain's Maneuver - Planechase (HOP)
Lightning Helix - Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM)
Flamescroll Celebrant // Revel in Silence - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Lantern Flare - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Boros Charm - Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander (ONC)
Double Cleave - Ultimate Masters (UMA)
Fight to the Death - Alara Reborn (ARB)
Shattering Blow - Gatecrash (GTC)
Aurelia's Fury - The List (PLST)
Martial Glory - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Ride Down - Shadows over Innistrad Remastered (SIR)
Deflecting Palm - Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC)
Justice Strike - Guilds of Ravnica (GRN)
Sacred Fire - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Heartflame Duelist // Heartflame Slash - Wilds of Eldraine (WOE)
Inventory Management - Fallout (PIP)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Burning Oil MTG card by a specific set like Dark Ascension, 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 Burning Oil and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Burning Oil has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Burning Oil card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2021-03-19 A spell cast using flashback will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, is countered, or leaves the stack in some other way.
2021-03-19 If a card with flashback is put into your graveyard during your turn, you can cast it if it’s legal to do so before any other player can take any actions.
2021-03-19 To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a flashback cost) you’re paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was.
2021-03-19 You can cast a spell using flashback even if it was somehow put into your graveyard without having been cast.
2021-03-19 You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions, including those based on the card’s type. For instance, you can cast a sorcery using flashback only when you could normally cast a sorcery.
2021-03-19Flashback
-ost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying
-ost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”

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