Storm Strike MTG Card

Ravnica Allegiance (RNA)
2019-01-25 - Number 119

Arena Beginner Set (ANB)
2020-08-13 - Number 86

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Scry

Key Takeaways

Storm Strike provides combat advantage by preserving creatures, enhancing board presence and pressure.
This card’s instant speed allows for surprise maneuvers and flexibility within diverse deck strategies.
Despite a discard cost and specific mana requirements, Storm Strike offers versatility and meta-relevance in MTG.

Text of card

Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. Scry 1.

"My shout is thunder and my fist is lightning!"

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Though Storm Strike doesn’t draw cards by itself, it can significantly tip combat in your favor, helping preserve your creatures that might otherwise be lost. Keeping your creatures on the board can be pivotal for maintaining pressure and board presence.

Resource Acceleration: While Storm Strike doesn’t directly accelerate resources, it is low cost, meaning it fits seamlessly into a variety of turns without hindering the development of your board state. This allows you to optimize your mana usage and keep up the tempo.

Instant Speed: The beauty of Storm Strike is in its instant speed, permitting reactive play during combat. This not only allows you to surprise an opponent but also makes it a flexible inclusion in a deck, offering protection or the ability to remove an opponent’s creature unexpectedly during the heat of battle.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Storm Strike can bolster your creatures in battle, it necessitates discarding a card. This can put you at a disadvantage, especially if your hand is already running thin or the discarded card could be crucial for later plays.

Specific Mana Cost: Storm Strike demands an exact mana alignment to cast—typically involving red mana. This requirement can be restrictive, confining the card to a mono-colored deck or ones with a mana base capable of generating the necessary colors reliably.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Considering its effect, Storm Strike’s mana cost is on the higher side. When it comes to combat tricks or instant-speed interactions, players may find other cards that provide a similar boost without such a steep investment, making it a less preferred choice in competitive settings.

Reasons to Include Storm Strike in Your Collection

Versatility: Storm Strike offers a twofold boon in gameplay by providing a modest combat trick alongside a Scry 1 effect. This makes it a useful card for a variety of decks that aim to maintain board presence while enhancing card quality for subsequent turns.

Combo Potential: Due to its instant speed and ability to alter combat outcomes, Storm Strike can smoothly integrate into strategies aiming to surprise opponents with sudden buffs. It’s also an inexpensive way to increment spell counts for decks focusing on casting multiple spells in a single turn.

Meta-Relevance: In a format that prizes quick interactions and tempo plays, Storm Strike can be a sleeper card. Its low cost and immediate impact make it well-positioned in a meta that values efficiency and the ability to capitalize on opponent missteps during combat.

How to beat

Storm Strike is a card that embodies the quick and surprising turns that Magic: The Gathering games often take. It’s a red instant that gives a creature not only a sudden boost in power but also has the first strike capability for the turn. In essence, it can rapidly turn the tables during combat, potentially making even a seemingly harmless creature a deadly threat.

Dealing with a card like Storm Strike requires a bit of foresight and strategy. Its limitation lies within its nature as an instant that’s reactive rather than proactive. Keeping your removal spells or creatures with flash at the ready can counter the surprise element it brings to the game. Baiting an opponent into using Storm Strike prematurely by threatening a valuable creature could also work in your favor, allowing you to respond with a targeted removal or bounce spell. Additionally, cards that grant hexproof to your creatures can nullify the advantage Storm Strike provides, making it all about anticipating the play rather than reacting to it.

Understanding the potential of combat tricks in Magic: The Gathering is crucial, and Storm Strike is no exception. By keeping the interaction heavy on your side and making calculated plays, you can mitigate the impact of this card and maintain control of the battlefield.

Cards like Storm Strike

Storm Strike enriches the suite of combat tricks within Magic: The Gathering. Its most direct analogs are cards like Sure Strike, which similarly boosts a creature’s power by giving it a considerable attack increase. Sure Strike edges out with an additional power boost, yet it doesn’t offer the scry benefit that Storm Strike does. This simple inclusion grants players foresight, allowing for strategic deck manipulation in the heat of battle.

Brute Strength is another card that enters the fray of comparison. It effectively gives a creature a beefier power and toughness increment but lacks the scry capability that makes Storm Strike a tactical asset during combat. Conversely, Titan’s Strength presents a power enhancement with the added advantage of scry 1, much like Storm Strike; however, it does not provide the same toughness protection as Storm Strike does, which can be crucial for creature sustainability in battle.

Considering the elements of gameplay strategy, card advantage, and power dynamics, Storm Strike stakes its claim as an effective and strategic instant card in the arena of combat boosts. Its balance of creature augmentation with deck manipulation lends itself as a nuanced option for players in MTG.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Storm Strike MTG card by a specific set like Ravnica Allegiance and Arena Beginner Set, 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 Storm Strike and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Storm Strike Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2019-01-25 and 2020-08-13. Illustrated by Dmitry Burmak.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2019-01-25	Ravnica Allegiance	RNA		119	2015	Normal	Black	Dmitry Burmak
2	2020-08-13	Arena Beginner Set	ANB		86	2015	Normal	Black	Dmitry Burmak

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Storm Strike has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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