Ghostly Flame MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	1995-06-03
Set symbol
Set name	Ice Age
Set code	ICE
Number	292
Frame	1993
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Randy Gallegos

Key Takeaways

Ghostly Flame excels in maintaining card advantage and instantaneously influencing board presence.
It introduces additional utility as a mana accelerator, furthering your strategic play.
However, its color-specific and discard demands may limit deck compatibility and breadth.

Text of card

Both black and red permanents and spells are considered colorless sources of damage.

"Walk slowly when in the nether world, and seek that which calls." —Lim-Dûl, the Necromancer

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Ghostly Flame card shines in decks where card advantage is crucial. It contributes to your game plan by smoothly cycling itself from your hand, ensuring that you’re not sacrificing card depth while executing your strategies.

Resource Acceleration: It provides a notable boon to your mana resources. By untapping lands already in play, the Ghostly Flame can effectively serve as a resource accelerator, allowing you to efficiently manage your mana pool for potential plays.

Instant Speed: The swift nature of this spell, castable at instant speed, offers you the flexibility and surprise element crucial in MTG play. You can optimally time the casting of Ghostly Flame, aligning your plays with your opponent’s actions, thus yielding a strategic advantage.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Ghostly Flame requires you to sacrifice otherwise valuable cards from your hand, which might hamper your strategic options, especially when your hand is already near empty.

Specific Mana Cost: Ghostly Flame’s mana cost is tied to particular colors, necessitating a dedicated deck build that may not align with more versatile or multi-colored meta strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a relatively hefty mana cost for its abilities, Ghostly Flame could potentially slow down your momentum against faster, low-cost decks that capitalize on quick plays and rapid board development.

Reasons to Include Ghostly Flame in Your Collection

Versatility: Ghostly Flame offers a dual advantage with both creature and graveyard interaction, making it a flexible addition to decks that maximize on either aspect or leverage both for synergistic play.

Combo Potential: Its ability to return to the battlefield sets up potential combos with sacrifice or death trigger mechanics, integrating well with decks that thrive on such interactions.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where graveyard strategies or evasion abilities are prevalent, Ghostly Flame’s recurrence and potential unblockability can pose a consistent threat to opponents, underscoring its value in such meta contexts.

How to beat

Ghostly Flame is an intriguing card that poses a unique challenge on the battlefield. This spectral force provides a persistent threat that can phase in and out of combat, making it elusive to traditional removal spells. The key to outmaneuvering Ghostly Flame is to adapt strategies that negate its phasing ability or target it when it’s vulnerable. Utilizing cards that can exile or force the owner to sacrifice it during the phase when it’s present can be effective.

Another strategy is to include cards that prevent phasing or alter the timing of the game, thereby disrupting the rhythm that Ghostly Flame relies on. Counterspells that target activated abilities can also be invaluable, allowing players to intercept Ghostly Flame’s attempts to phase out. In terms of creature combat, blockers with enough toughness to survive Ghostly Flame’s assault serve as a solid line of defense. Lastly, pinpointing moments when the card is susceptible to spells or abilities during its owner’s turn is crucial to triumph over this ghostly adversary.

In essence, overcoming the Ghostly Flame card requires a mix of foresight, timing, and the right countermeasures. By planning ahead and deploying these tactics, players can extinguish this persistent flame and maintain control of the game.

Cards like Ghostly Flame

Ghostly Flame introduces itself to players as an intriguing choice in the realm of enchant cards in MTG. Its function mirrors that of other enchantments like Fiery Emancipation, which also emphasizes boosting damage output, tripling the damage dealt to any target. Ghostly Flame, however, distinguishes itself with the additional potential to impact multiple targets, albeit without the tripling effect.

Contemplating other related cards, Spectral Reserves stands out as it produces two spirit tokens and gains you life – quite a different approach but valuable for defense and longevity in the game. Ghostly Flame doesn’t offer token generation or life gain, focusing instead on amplifying existing damage sources. Moreover, we have Pyrohemia, which permits repeated damage to each creature and each player for a single red mana, resonating with Ghostly Flame’s persistent threat, but with a broader damage distribution.

Ultimately, the choice between Ghostly Flame and its counterparts depends on your strategy – do you prioritize widespread damage or targeted amplification? Whatever your play style, Ghostly Flame certainly carries the potential to set the battlefield ablaze with its unique capability within the MTG landscape.

Cards similar to Ghostly Flame by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ghostly Flame MTG card by a specific set like Ice Age, 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 Ghostly Flame and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ghostly Flame has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	Does not make red and black spells and permanents colorless. They still have color. A red spell can’t target a creature with Protection from Red due to this. The spells just act like colorless sources when dealing damage.
2004-10-04	If the source has more than one color but at least one is red or black, then the damage is colorless and all the other colors are forgotten.
2004-10-04	It does not change the color of the source, so that things that trigger on a red spell doing damage will still trigger. The damage itself thinks it came from a colorless source, however.
2004-10-04	The effect is continuous and applies whenever something looks at the damage. If this card leaves the battlefield, damage from red and black spells will appear as its normal color. In other words, the color was not removed from the damage, the color just could not be determined while this card is in effect.