Flaring Pain MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeInstant
Abilities Flashback

Key Takeaways

  1. Instant speed of Flaring Pain allows disruptive play, enhancing a player’s offensive game plan.
  2. Its specific mana cost and discard requirement may limit its use in non-monochromatic decks.
  3. Offers strategic edge in metas dominated by fog effects and damage prevention cards.

Text of card

Damage can't be prevented this turn. Flashback o R (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)

"I don't rub salt in wounds. I use sulfur." —Matoc, lavamancer


Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Flaring Pain doesn’t grant card advantage in the traditional sense, its ability to counteract life-saving measures like fog effects or prevent damage prevention can create situational card advantage. By negating your opponent’s defensive strategies, your attacks can go through unabated, potentially clinching the game.

Resource Acceleration: Flaring Pain itself doesn’t directly offer resource acceleration. However, it can play a pivotal role in aggressive decks that aim to close out games quickly. By ensuring your damage isn’t hindered, it accelerates your path to victory, which is a crucial resource in itself in fast-paced matches.

Instant Speed: The true power of Flaring Pain lies in its instant speed. This allows savvy players to wait for the ideal moment to disrupt opponents’ plans. Casting it in response to damage prevention spells ensures that your efforts to deal damage aren’t in vain, keeping the pressure on your opponent and maintaining the momentum of your strategy.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Flaring Pain demands a card to be tossed aside, manifesting a drawback particularly during moments where your hand is scarce in options, potentially causing a strategic bottleneck.

Specific Mana Cost: Locked into a red mana requisite, Flaring Pain limits harmony with decks not aligned with the fiery hue, thus narrowing its adaptable deployment.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The investment of two mana might seem steep when weighed against other cards offering similar disruptiveness at lower expense, making it a potential budgetary misstep in a tightly tuned matchup.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Flaring Pain can be a dynamic addition to any collection since it can disrupt decks that rely on preventing damage. This can be pivotal in enabling your win conditions in crucial moments.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combination with strategies that deal damage across the board. It ensures your spells and abilities will be unhampered by damage prevention effects that your opponent might deploy.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where fog effects and damage prevention are prevalent, Flaring Pain becomes an essential sideboard card, offering an unexpected edge during matchups. Its relevance increases as it safeguards your strategy against common control tactics.


How to beat

Flaring Pain is a unique card in the vast repertoire of red spells within Magic: The Gathering (MTG). It stands out for its ability to hinder the common strategy of preventing damage with cards like Circle of Protection: Red or damage prevention effects that certain decks rely heavily upon. This instant spell allows damage to go through for a turn, often catching opponents off guard and potentially turning the tide of a match when they least expect it.

To effectively counter Flaring Pain, you’ll want to consider versatile counterspells such as Counterspell or Negate, which excel at shutting down instant spells. Additionally, preemptive measures like discard effects found in Thoughtseize or Duress can disrupt an opponent’s hand, stripping away their Flaring Pain before they get the chance to cast it. Strategies that don’t hinge solely on damage prevention also tend to fare better against it, so adapting your deck to be resilient against a range of threats can diminish the impact of a single Flaring Pain.

In summary, while Flaring Pain can be a formidable tool for red decks in MTG, understanding its function and preparing your deck with appropriate counters and flexible strategies can help ensure it doesn’t invalidate your defensive measures or catch you by surprise.


Cards like Flaring Pain

Flaring Pain is an intriguing card that finds its niche in the realm of red instant spells capable of negating damage prevention in Magic: The Gathering. If we take Moment’s Peace, for example, this card shines by stopping all combat damage that would be dealt for an entire turn. Flaring Pain, conversely, is designed to cut through such defenses, enabling a player to deal damage irrespective of such protective spells.

Examining another counterpart, we delve into Vexing Shusher. This creature is different since it counters spells that would prevent or counter other spells, rather than damage. It presents an ongoing threat that requires a response, whereas Flaring Pain is a one-shot deal that specifically addresses damage prevention for just the turn it’s played. Comparably, there’s also Skullcrack, an instant that functions similarly to Flaring Pain by preventing life gain and ensuring that damage can’t be prevented during the turn it’s cast, yet it also inflicts direct damage to the opponent.

As we juxtapose Flaring Pain alongside its peers, we discern its strategic role in bypassing common fog effects and protective strategies, making it valuable in decks poised to deliver unimpeded damage to seize the win.

Moment's Peace - MTG Card versions
Vexing Shusher - MTG Card versions
Skullcrack - MTG Card versions
Moment's Peace - Odyssey (ODY)
Vexing Shusher - Launch Parties (PLPA)
Skullcrack - Gatecrash (GTC)

Cards similar to Flaring Pain by color, type and mana cost

Shatter - MTG Card versions
Word of Blasting - MTG Card versions
Incinerate - MTG Card versions
Guerrilla Tactics - MTG Card versions
Aleatory - MTG Card versions
Orcish Catapult - MTG Card versions
Blood Frenzy - MTG Card versions
Falter - MTG Card versions
Shattering Pulse - MTG Card versions
Flowstone Strike - MTG Card versions
Starstorm - MTG Card versions
First Volley - MTG Card versions
Surging Flame - MTG Card versions
Psychotic Fury - MTG Card versions
Sudden Shock - MTG Card versions
Fists of the Anvil - MTG Card versions
Release the Ants - MTG Card versions
Magma Jet - MTG Card versions
Seismic Shudder - MTG Card versions
Fling - MTG Card versions
Shatter - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Word of Blasting - Ice Age (ICE)
Incinerate - Duel Decks Anthology: Jace vs. Chandra (JVC)
Guerrilla Tactics - Mystery Booster Retail Edition Foils (FMB1)
Aleatory - Mirage (MIR)
Orcish Catapult - Astral Cards (PAST)
Blood Frenzy - Tempest (TMP)
Falter - Urza's Saga (USG)
Shattering Pulse - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Flowstone Strike - Nemesis (NEM)
Starstorm - Onslaught (ONS)
First Volley - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Surging Flame - Arena League 2006 (PAL06)
Psychotic Fury - Dissension (DIS)
Sudden Shock - Time Spiral (TSP)
Fists of the Anvil - Tenth Edition (10E)
Release the Ants - The List (PLST)
Magma Jet - Friday Night Magic 2009 (F09)
Seismic Shudder - Zendikar (ZEN)
Fling - Magic 2012 (M12)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Flaring Pain MTG card by a specific set like Judgment and World Championship Decks 2003, 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 Flaring Pain and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Flaring Pain Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2002-05-27 and 2003-08-07. Illustrated by Glen Angus.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-05-27JudgmentJUD 891997normalblackGlen Angus
22003-08-07World Championship Decks 2003WC03 we89sb2003normalgoldGlen Angus

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Flaring Pain has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2004-10-04 Spells and abilities that replace or redirect damage are not affected by this card.
2004-10-04 The “damage can’t be prevented” statement overrides all forms of preventing damage. Damage prevention spells and abilities can still be cast and activated, they just don’t do anything.

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