It’s not uncommon for new cards to recreate iconic effects on older MTG cards. Even though those cards were terrifying back in the day, Magic has come a long way. Power levels have crept severely, changing the landscape of various MTG formats into something almost unrecognizable. One of the easiest things to do as a Magic player is to see an ability of a card that’s past its prime printed on a new card and, after seeing an awful mana value, just ignore it. That’s the mistake I made with Festival of Embers.
Festival of Embers
- Mana Value: 4R
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Enchantment
- Card Text: During your turn, you may cast instant and sorcery spells from your graveyard by paying 1 life in addition to their other costs. If a card or token would be put into your graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. (1R): Sacrifice Festival of Embers.
Festival of Embers, at first glance, is a more expensive Past in Flames, or a much more expensive Underworld Breach. Both of these iconic MTG combo cards achieve what Festival of Embers does but at a lower mana value. Each of these has its own downside, but it is much easier to win the game in a blaze of glory when your win condition is easier to cast.
That said, Festival of Embers has a big thing going for it compared to the other two cards. Both Past in Flames and Underworld Breach are temporary, only lasting until the end of the turn. Festival of Embers sticks around for as long as you want it.
Not only does this allow you to spend a turn casting the Enchantment while still having its effects on the following turn, but you don’t need to use Festival of Embers as a combo win condition. You can just use this card to create a ton of value or hold up counterspells that are in your bin. Time is not a limiting factor with Festival of Embers. Instead, mana value and life total becomes the resources you need to spend.
Suddenly, the high mana value of Festival of Embers is a much smaller downside. You don’t need to accrue a ton of resources for a combo finish. You can still do that, but there’s nothing wrong with waiting a turn after casting the enchantment.
That said, Festival of Embers can only interact with Instants and Sorceries, which means that this card is going to lend itself to control and spellslinging decks primarily. You need enough live cards to make sure running this card will have the intended effect.
Tons of Potential
I could easily see Festival of Embers being both a combo win condition and a control finisher. Alternatively, Festival of Embers could even play a role similar to Experimental Frenzy, allowing aggressive decks with lots of burn spells to keep up in grindy matchups. That said, there are better options for this sort of card in post-rotation Standard, like Case of the Crimson Pulse.
Notably, outside of Commander and Standard, Festival of Embers may not see any play as a combo enabler. In Modern, Past in Flames and Underworld Breach are superior options. In Pioneer, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned plays a similar role. Festival of Embers may only see play in Pioneer as a way to Flashback spells that cannot be done so by Lier, namely counterspells.
Either way, Festival of Embers is much better than it looks. Once you recognize that the timing restriction commonly seen with this style of effect has been removed, the possibilities really start to open up.
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