Red may normally be the color known for aggression, speed, and ending games ofMagic: The Gatheringas quickly as possible, but this certainly wasn’t always the case. In fact, Dominaria Remastered shows a much older and often forgotten side of the Red Magic color pie that focuses more on direct damage and unique gameplay interactions than anything else.
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In the earlier days of Magic, red identified more with chaos, random chance, and strokes of luck than pure aggression. Consequently, the best red cards in Dominaria Remastered call back to these long-forgotten traits, introducing an added element of disorder to our games of Magic.
8Worldgorger Dragon
At first glance, this seems like an incredibly weird card with an ability that’s difficult to receive any value from. However, as with many of Magic’s best cards, Worldgorger Dragon is a creature whose strange ability was so powerful that it led to it originally being banned in both Commander and Legacy. Thankfully, both of those bans have since been rescinded, allowing you to play Worldgorger Dragon in any format you prefer. The combo here involves bringing Worldgorger Dragon back from your graveyard using a card like Animate Dead, Necromancy, or Dance of the Dead.
Thanks to Worldgorger’s enter the battlefield trigger, the enchantment you use to bring Worldgorger back instantly leaves the battlefield. As a result, Worldgorger dies and brings the enchantment back onto the battlefield, allowing you to target Worldgorger Dragon from your graveyard once more. This is a neverending loop that will result in a draw unless your opponent can somehow stop it. However, the loop also provides infinite mana since your basic lands return to the battlefield untapped and can be used in tandem with cards like Dragon Tempest or Altar of the Brood to provide you with an instant victory.
7Grapeshot
Grapeshot is yet another innocuous Magic card that has been used to great success in many variations of a Magic archetype belovedly known as Storm. Named for their keyword trigger, Storm decks seek to cast enough spells in a single turn to give them enough copies of a storm card to kill their opponent.
They accomplish this by usingcheap draw spellslike Opt and Serum Visions in tandem with creature cards that benefit from noncreature spells being cast, including creatures such as Guttersnipe, Young Pyromancer, and Archmage Emeritus. That being said, Grapeshot also functions okay asremoval in decksthat aren’t built entirely around the storm mechanic.
6Sulfuric Vortex
This enchantment is a very old card that isn’t legal in Modern due to originally being printed in a non-legal Modern set. Despite its age, Sulfuric Vortex is a powerful enchantment to this day that is quite capable of finishing games as long as you’re ahead of your opponents.
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Vortex gets very good mileage in Commander, especially thanks to it triggering on twice as many players and preventing all players from gaining life while it remains on the battlefield. That being said, it’s a good way to make yourself a target for opposing players, so pick the moment when you cast it carefully.
5Last Chance
Nowadays, this sort of effect usually costs at least three mana total. The ability to access it for one mana less is notable, but it comes with the same drawbacks that this effect always carries.
Namely, relevant instant speed spells cast by your opponents are likely to lead to you losing the game. Even so, Last Chance still makes for a great finisher in many Commandercombo decks, thanksto its low mana cost. Hence the nearly $20 price tag.
4Gamble
Gamble is yet another combo card that mostly sees plays in Commander but does make an appearance in a Legacy list as well if you can believe it. Decks that make use of Gamble overcome its random discard clause by taking advantage of their graveyard in one way or another.
This way, no matter what gets discarded to Gamble, you can still get value out of the search effect. However, Gamble’s discard effect does still have more ideal targets in the decks that make use of it. If you enjoy additional variance in your Magic games, look no further than Gamble.
3Chain Lightning
This variation on the epitimous Lightning Bolt essentially allows decks that want Lightning Bolts to add even more copies of the card into their list. Of course, Chain Lightning does come with a drawback in that it provides your opponent with a chance to copy the spell.
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However, the opponent has to have access to two red mana when you cast Chain Lightning, which is a tall order for most decks. On top of that, even if they do copy Chain Lightning, it costs them twice as much mana to do so.
2Fireblast
Now we’re cooking with gas. Fireblast sees play in burn lists across every format in which it’s viable, including Pauper, Legacy, and Commander. This is thanks to the card’s ability to discount itself to zero mana cost as long as you sacrifice two Mountains.
While this might seem like a bad deal at first glance, you won’t need the Mountains if your opponent dies from the Fireblast. Additionally, burn decks that flood on mana will hardly miss two Mountains disappearing from their side of the battlefield.
1Sneak Attack
Sneak Attack is an old enchantment that most Magic enthusiasts are quite familiar with thanks to it enabling players to play ridiculously large creatures in the earliest turns of the game. Common creatures that players will use to take advantage of this enchantment include Griselbrand / Emrakul, the Aeons Torn / and Archon of Cruelty.
In case you’re curious about this card’s power, Sneak Attack is so good that there’s even a Legacy deck named after it called Sneak and Show. Beyond that, Commander players who enjoy slamming down the biggest creatures Magic has to offer often include copies of this enchantment in their decks. If you plan on playing Sneak Attack, just remember to watch out for the card’s arch nemesis: rock.
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