Ember Shot

I touched on this card in my Razor Boomerang review and I thought I should elaborate on this card's badness. While not the 1:5 damage to mana ratio of the aforementioned card, this card is still really, really, bad. Before I rip it apart, let's get the positives of this card out of the way (yes, this card has a tiny good side). First, it's instant-speed. This may not seem important, but there are a fair number of red damage spells that are sorcery-speed (such as Burn Trail or Rekindled Flame) and depriving a player of being able to damage creatures/players at will is a detriment to red. Secondly, it cantrips. Again, it may not be much, but to burn players, keeping a full hand can be a problem at times. Finally, it references Urza. Anytime that happens is a positive. 

Do I really even need to go into why this card is so bad? It's a Lightning Bolt for the cost of an Inferno (CMC-wise). It's just... so bad. There are no words for it. I know that WotC doesn't like reprinting Lightning Bolt, but there are better options. In Judgement, there was Book Burning, Lava Dart, and Lightning Surge. There was no reason to run this card then and there's no reason to run it now.

Pros: Instant-speed, cantrips

Cons: 7 mana for 3 damage

Rating: 0/5

Fun fact: Inferno and Ember Shot are the only mono-red 7-cost instants and Firemind's Foresight is the only 7-cost instant with red in it.