Looking for the perfect partner for Braid of Fire? Ever heard of Brand of Ill Omen? Have Fun...

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on November 09, 2010

When coldsnap came out I bought 5 packs and got 3 of these and a dark depths... I thought what a rip off! then they killed mana-burn, and now I am very happy about it. If you want all your this mana can only be used in the upkeep problems to be solved just play with Vedalken Orery, nuff said.

  -- By Eric from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada on February 11, 2010

With the new ruling, that there's no more mana burn. This card is really broken, a free cumulative mana! All you need is an instant X damage spell (ghitu fire).

  -- By m o x e o u s from Indonesia on October 16, 2009

This card's lost some power as of Magic 2010. Don't get me wrong, it's still a 5 star card, but since mana doesn't stay in your pool from stage 2 stage nemore, you've now got to figure out how to spend all of the mana this thing produces in your upkeep. So for instants and abilities this card rocks, but you'll never get a creature without flash out with this thing.

  -- By Anonymous from Netherlands on October 02, 2009

Yep, mana burn will no longer be in existence after Magic 2010 comes out. I was going to say combo this with Upwelling, but that doesn't seem necessary anymore. Combined with Paradox Haze and some cards such as Shivan Dragon, I could see this card being the core of a really, really good deck.

  -- By Greg from Atlanta on June 25, 2009

If you manage your mana right, this is nice with blaze/fireball etc.

  -- By Anonymous from Anonymous on April 18, 2009

In m10, I've heard rumors that mana burn will be removed. Also removing any downside what so ever to running this card. Who knows, this might become the next hot tournament staple.

  -- By Anonymous from Earth on April 11, 2009

Use this with helix pinnacle, gemstone array, or any other permanents that can store mana like that.

  -- By Anonymous from Wilmette, IL USA on August 26, 2008

It was made for paying Cumulative upkeep costs. There are many great cards in magic with a Cumulative upkeep restriction. This card takes that restriction away from those cards.

  -- By Anonymous from wisconsin on February 17, 2008

use a deck built around it like aetherflame wall, wall of fire, ghitu firebreathing, furnace whelp, etc. that can use the extra mana. Molten slagheap is a great sponge. Of course, have conflagrates and blazes and beware of demystify.

  -- By Anonymous from nc on August 18, 2007

Use this card to feed your Shivan Dragon a constant supply of red mana!

  -- By Will B. Staples from Springfield, MA USA on August 07, 2007

This card is still sick today. I took 4

  -- By Anonymous from Davie, FL USA on June 14, 2007

Funnel excess mana into a pygmy pyrosaur. Use the mana created by it in clockspinning's cost (buyback), add more counters. Once enough is built up, paradox haze, and fireball FTW!

  -- By Anonymous from Jurai on March 16, 2007

Funnel excess mana into a pygmy pyrosaur, then use clockspinning with buyback(using mana from braid of fire) to increase number of counters until a big old fireball/blaze/ghitu fire/demonfire comes into play FTW!

  -- By Anonymous from Earth on March 13, 2007

Eww....I'm really sry for anyone who loves this card, but im not a fan. I've tried to find a lot of way's for this combo to work out. The only way i see it is Upwelling, Invoke the Firemind, or several Soul Foundrys. But not just that but the mana comes up during your upkeep which just makes it even tougher to pull off any of the nasty tricks that your thinking of. Unless your planning to mana burn yourself and then Reverse the Sands

  -- By Anonymous from in front of his computer on September 20, 2006

This has got to be the most interesting card I've ever seen. This could easily be abused, especially with blue's card drawing ability and red's nasty x damage spells. Broken? Probably.

  -- By Kristen P. from Madison,WI on July 25, 2006

broken! its good in any type 2 format

  -- By Ben Robinson from Richmond, Va on July 21, 2006