I love playing red, and aggro is my favorite way to play Magic. Whether it’s scrubbing out in an RCQ or spellslinging in Commander, there are tons of ways to increase the amounts of damage being dealt to your opponents.
Over the years, lovers of red aggro have enjoyed an increase in cards that multiply forms of damage, particularly enchantments. With March of the Machine dropping this weekend (and with it a new damage multiplier), I thought it would be fun to take a brief look at the history of damage-multiplying enchantments.
The ’90s: Furnace of Rath
Let’s start with the very first damage doubling enchantment: Furnace of Rath. First released in October 1997 in Tempest, this card is the blueprint for all things painful. This card weighs in at a whopping four mana and burns everyone at the table, including the caster. It also doubles all damage, even combat damage. This specific wording definitely gives players pause when slotting it into their commander decks. In fact, there have been many times when I have cast this card, only to die to it on the next player’s turn. Fortunately, an updated version printed in Journey into Nyx fixes this flaw, but that’s still two decades away…
The ’00s: Gratuitous Violence
We got our next enchantment in October 2002 in the form of Gratuitous Violence, first printed in Onslaught. I originally hesitated to include this piece in my exploration due to how narrow it is compared to the others, as it only affects the controller’s creatures. However, it is more broad than pieces like Bitter Feud, Curse of Bloodletting, Impulsive Maneuvers, and Quest for Pure Flame, so it makes the timeline.
Because Gratuitous Violence focuses on creatures you control, this enchantment likes combat-focused decks and creatures that deal noncombat damage. The only other enchantments we’ve seen focus on creatures alone are Impulsive Maneuvers and the newly printed Uncivil Unrest, both of which require jumping through some major hoops. Fortunately for those who enjoy casting big burn spells, the remaining pieces on this list do not follow this trend.
The ’10s: Dictate of the Twin Gods
Our next damage doubling enchantment came in May 2014 in the form of Dictate of the Twin Gods. This Journey into Nyx enchantment sought to right the wrongs of Furnace of Rath. How, you may ask? Well, this enchantment has flash!
While, yes, Dictate may be one more mana than the Furnace, it seems well worth it to flash it in during someone else’s combat step, killing off an unsuspecting opponent. Or you can go easy street with it and flash it in at the end step before your turn! This enchantment has a special place in my heart due to the many ‘Gotcha!’ moments it has made for me in Commander pods.
The ’20s: Fiery Emancipation
This enchantment is without a doubt my favorite of all the damage doublers triplers! Released in Core Set 2021 in July 2020, Fiery Emancipation flipped the design on its head, tripling damage rather than doubling it. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Fiery Emancipation only cares about sources you control! We see this enchantment also follow the subtle increase in mana value trend, capping at six mana. The trade-off seems to be worth it, in my opinion, as this card has won me many games in my Chandra deck.
Honorary Enchantment: Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
When writing this article, I originally wanted to cover every example of damage multipliers in Magic. However, after research, I discovered that many came in the form of creatures or were incredibly narrow in their designs (dealing with Giant sources or coming in the form of instants and sorceries). I decided to focus on broad enchantments instead. Even so, one card kept creeping into the forefront of my mind: Solphim, Mayhem Dominus.
Printed in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, Solphim is a weird standout. It’s not an enchantment, for one. It’s a creature, and yet I wanted to include it as an honorable mention in my timeline. Why? Well, because it can be made indestructible with great ease. Simply pay some combination of mana or life and discard two cards, and suddenly Solphim becomes incredibly difficult to remove. Its only weaknesses are bounce or exile spells.
While Solphim (and the rest of the cycle for that matter) is a creature, it feels like an enchantment to me. Once that indestructible counter is placed on that card, it feels as statuesque and hard to get rid of as an enchantment. I would be remiss to not at least acknowledge this particular damage multiplier.
Future Classic: City on Fire
Out of all the cards in March of the Machine, one stood out to me the most: City on Fire, the most recent iteration of the damage multiplier spells.
Like Fiery Emancipation, this enchantment triples damage and only focuses on sources you control. However, there is a key difference: the mana value. City on Fire is a whopping eight mana (which is the highest of all the damage multiplier enchantments). Thankfully, this spell will rarely cost you eight mana, as it has convoke, meaning that tapping your creatures will help reduce the cost of the spell.
As March of the Machine drops this weekend, I will be searching for a foil to add to my Chandra deck.
Trends and What’s Next
Damage multipliers have become staples in mono-red commander decks, as they lead to explosive plays and memorable moments. As someone who adores this card design space, I am excited to see that it has appeared within Magic’s two most recent sets.
What I’ve noticed with this timeline is the increase in broadness, amount of damage multiplied, and mana value. These cards now seem to care only about sources you control. Damage is now tripled (exemplified in Fiery Emancipation and City on Fire), not merely doubled. We have also seen a steady incline in mana value, with the lowest (and oldest) being at four mana and the highest (and newest) being at eight.
Seeing these trends has me hoping for a possible damage quadrupler in the future. I mean, a card like Fiery Emancipation was once thought farfetched, and yet here we are now. Set your pods on fire, deckbuilders, and may your damage be ever multiplied.
