This is another article written by me, I'll do my best to make it coherent.
{Bonfire of the Damned} is a very popular card, and rightfully so. But is it because of its Miracle cost? I'll maintain that it isn't.
Any deck built around miracles has to understand the inherent flaw: deck reach. A typical game of standard lasts around 9 turns. Given that idea, you've draw 7 and seen 9 of your cards from the deck. A typical deck contains 60 cards. 1:13 chance of pulling that {Bonfire of the Damned} (assuming you haven't drawn it initially).
Between turns 1 and 9, the mana you can pump into it grows exponentially. You can deal 9 damage to the face and 9 to each creature! That is great. But what are really the chances of hoping for that top deck? More often then not {Bonfire of the Damned} will be cast from the hand, and nothing is wrong with that.
A 5 mana {2}{2}{R} will deal 2 damage to each creature, likely kill most things (if you're ramping). Even then, not shabby at all. Based on probability, you should probably expect a {Bonfire of the Damned} in your opening hand, and from each turn on (when you likely won't be able to capitalize on its effect), expect to draw it at an inopportune time. Miracle is a great mechanic because you can't anticipate drawing it, and therefore should be willing to cast it from hand. Is it OP? Not really, it's luck, and learning when to use it properly.
Bonfire I expect to be like that. Entreat is the one that scares me
something you aren't mentioning though is what type of decks these cards go into. for typical ramp decks, bonfire is good miracle or not because you will be hitting all of your land drops regardless. But in a miracle deck which relies on instant speed draw
and possibly deck manipulation, you are
really trying to milk the miracles because what mana you have is already devoted to
setting them up.
Quote from: Testset on August 26, 2012, 01:11:56 PM
Are we speaking of their use in Standard?
Yep. It was more an article aimed at newer players.
Or you could shove a bunch of miracles in a deck. That way you could hold out untill u could hard cast em. Or make the other player gg. miracles are very powerfull even when hard cast. I think most player would like to chose when to cast a spell. That is why you have instant speed card draw {thought scour} or {think twice} then you can miracle on there turn too. Allways thought scour yourself. It thins down your deck and you don't want to give there {snapcaster Mage} any help. You want to have spells in your GY. It is like having more spells in your hand if you run snap. Just my 2 cents.