Rain of Embers MTG Card

Rain of Embers - Ravnica: City of Guilds

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	2005-10-07
Set symbol
Set name	Ravnica: City of Guilds
Set code	RAV
Number	138
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Tsutomu Kawade

Key Takeaways

Rain of Embers provides card advantage by eliminating multiple threats with a single card.
Its flexibility at instant speed allows for strategic advantages and surprise plays.
Despite its strengths, it may not fit all deck types and strategies effectively.

Text of card

Rain of Embers deals 1 damage to each creature and each player.

There's plenty to talk about in the marketplaces of Ravnica, be it the latest feud between guilds or the terrible weather.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Rain of Embers offers a strategic edge by potentially clearing multiple low-toughness creatures from the board with a single spell. When facing off against decks that flood the battlefield with creatures, Rain of Embers can serve as a one-sided wrath, skewing card advantage in your favor as you deal with numerous threats at once.

Resource Acceleration: Although Rain of Embers does not directly provide resource acceleration in the form of additional lands or mana, its low casting cost enables you to clear the board while still holding up mana for other plays within the same turn. This can indirectly accelerate your game plan by keeping the opponent’s board state manageable, allowing you to advance your strategy without heavy investment.

Instant Speed: The real strength of Rain of Embers lies in its ability to be cast at instant speed. This flexibility allows strategic players to wait until the most opportune moment—perhaps in response to an opponent’s creature summoning or at the end of their turn—creating a surprise element that can shift the game’s momentum while preserving the element of surprise for your own turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Rain of Embers does not ask for discarding directly, using it can deplete your hand, leaving you with fewer options later on, especially if you’re trying to maintain card advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Necessitating a precise amalgamation of red mana, Rain of Embers may not seamlessly fit into multicolor strategies, sometimes forcing players to adjust their mana base or deck design to accommodate it.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For three mana, its damage output may not align with the needs of faster, more aggressive decks that require immediate and significant impact on the board state, potentially making it a suboptimal choice in such builds.

Reasons to Include Rain of Embers in Your Collection

Versatility: Rain of Embers is a powerful inclusion in decks focused on dealing damage across the board. It serves as a great option for players who need an affordable spell that can target multiple creatures and players simultaneously.

Combo Potential: This card shines in situations where you are looking to amplify damage, possibly combining with cards that double the damage dealt or in a deck that benefits from spells with low mana costs.

Meta-Relevance: In game formats where creature-heavy strategies dominate, having Rain of Embers can decisively shift the tide of the game by clearing the board of smaller threats or finishing off weakened opponents.

How to beat Rain of Embers

Rain of Embers stands as an efficient red sorcery capable of distributing a blanket of damage across the board in games of Magic: The Gathering. This card delivers a strategic blow, dealing one damage to each creature and each player for a cost of three mana. The strength of Rain of Embers lies in its ability to whittle down swarms of low-toughness creatures or finish off weakened opponents.

To counteract the effects of Rain of Embers, savvy players might turn to cards that offer protection from red, such as Mark of Asylum, which prevents noncombat damage to creatures you control. Another effective strategy is to fortify your battlefield with creatures that have sufficient toughness to withstand the damage, or to utilize instant-speed spells that can increase a creature’s toughness temporarily. Furthermore, deploying cards with life-gain effects can quickly negate the life loss and maintain a sturdy life total, ensuring Rain of Embers becomes but a minor obstacle.

Ultimately, understanding your opponent’s potential plays, including damage-dealing spells like Rain of Embers, is crucial. By proactively reinforcing your position or keeping mana open for responsive spells, you’ll turn what could be a devastating tide into a manageable drizzle.

Cards like Rain of Embers

Rain of Embers has carved out its niche among red damage spells in Magic: The Gathering as a handy tool for dealing incremental damage to each creature and each player. Its direct comparison, Pyroclasm, also sweeps the board with damage, affecting each creature for two damage at the same cost point. The difference lies in Rain of Embers’s ability to extend its reach to players, a tactful advantage in multiplayer games or against planeswalker strategies.

Electrickery is another spell that resonates with Rain of Embers in terms of flexibility. Initially, it can be a one-target spell, but with its overload cost, it mirrors Rain of Embers’s board-wide effect. Unlike Rain of Embers, Electrickery can spare your creatures if strategically played, offering a selective edge in creature combat scenarios. Arc Trail also intersects with Rain of Embers’s direct damage capabilities yet distinguishes itself by dealing varying damage to two targets, providing more control over damage allocation.

In sum, whether it’s the unpreventable, distributed damage from Rain of Embers or the targeted efficiency of Arc Trail, each card plays a strategic role in the MTG arsenal, with Rain of Embers standing solid as a versatile option for reaching multiple targets simultaneously.

Cards similar to Rain of Embers by color, type and mana cost

Embereth Shieldbreaker // Battle Display - MTG Card versions

Nahiri's Lithoforming - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Rain of Embers MTG card by a specific set like Ravnica: City of Guilds, 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 Rain of Embers and other MTG cards: