Who wants to play BURN now?

[warble]

A half-broken burn card has just been printed . . .

3R

Hidetsugu's Second Rite

Instant

If target player has exactly 10 life, Hidetsugu's Second Rite deals 10 damage to that player.

My question, how many people are going to switch to blue/red burn now?  Will this card + Lightning Bolt + Chain Lightning + Shrapnel Blast + Lava Dart spell the end of all decks but burn?

The only thing that burn was missing was a "combo finish" if you will.  Dealing the first 10 damage for a burn deck has never been a problem.  The question I have is, is Force of Will combined with fetchlands powerful enough to take this card out of Type 1 contention?  Type 2 it's a must-have for red, but can the card make the jump to Type 1?

My initial take is no, simply because a mainstay of most decks is taking fetchland damage and force of will (the reason oath is a 2-turn clock for akroma-SotN) However, at 10 life (considerably early in the game for burn) having a must-counter might be enough of a tempo boost to swing burn decks the match.

Or is this just some artifact of type 2 cards that will never see play because it's just too conditional/easy to disrupt with fetch/force.

[crazynlazy]

I wouldn't play it (if I played burn) simply because it can be easily countered and in game 2 and 3 they can just take mana burn to avoid being hit (provided they're not holding a counter.) it's also very conditional if you want them at ten they are at twelve and you have a chain lightning in hand, it just doesn't have that much synergy with other burn spells costing 2 or 3 instead of something that can be changed like blaze can (and I'm not saying to play blaze, blaze is terrible.)

[Vegeta2711]

You read the card right? You notice it says exactly 10 life?

That makes it way too conditional to ever rely on.

[Machinus]

This card is soo easy to play around. All you have to do is fetch in response to counter it. Here are some cards that negate the card...

Bargain
Necro
Force
Vamp
Vault
All 5 Fetchlands
Boseiju
City of Brass
Ancient Tomb
Fire/Ice
Spoils of the Vault

...or you could just stay at =/= 10 life and stay with with any number of other cards that I'm not going to try to list here.

[Nantuko Rice]

Would mana burn really negate this card? You only burn at the end of a phase. The spell would have to resolve before the phase ends and they burn.

[ELD]

Sorry, there is just no way this is a good card in type 1.  It is only good if your opponent is not below 10 life, costs a ton of mana and has nothing going for it at all. 

[warble]

Ouch, everyone hates it.

So to summarize what I thought would be different, I'm talking fully powered burn (with mana drain + force).  Yes, it's no good at below 10 life, but with lava dart and shrapnel blast I was really thinking maybe control-burn was an option.  Back in '96 drain-fireball was really popular in my tiny type-1 meta (well so were shivan dragon and fork and mono-black but...) I was just hoping maybe my friends with mana drains would emerge from their hiding in the woodwork for a 10-damage 4-mana burn card.

My main point (fetchlands and force) being able to actually disrupt the card without countering is a really efficient method for countering the card.  Of course, playing control-burn means holding a shrapnel blast or 3 with lava dart in the graveyard.  That being said, with red/blue burn really doesn't have enough extra slots for any dead cards.  I guess I'll continue the search for control burn evolution.

I was rooting for you, 10 damage burn card.  You let me down *sob*