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Smaug, the Great Calamity // Spew Flame

common Legendary Creature — Dragon // Sorcery — Adventure

[Smaug, the Great Calamity] — Creature — Dragon

[Spew Flame] — —

Spew Flame deals 5 damage to target creature. (Then this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)

B- Grade from the win rate

Win rate when drawn 56.7% +0.5 vs average 33,601 games

Win rates and picks

56.3% 74,556 games
Average pick ()
7.1

By deck

  • Goblin Army 57.3% 17,928 games
  • Dwarves & Equipment 56.1% 11,199 games
  • Burn and Draw 58.2% 1,508 games

Win rates from , 323,114 games. This card is compared with the set average (56.2%).

Reviews

In most sets these days, red usually gets a 5-mana burn spell that does about 5 or 6 damage with a very minor upside. In this case, Spew Flame gives us perhaps the biggest upside we've ever seen, in the form of a 5/5 dragon for you to play later! Smaug, the Great Calamity looks really excellent, and it's something I'd be very keen to ramp into. It's hard to get solid at the common level, and this very much is one, despite the amount of mana it costs.

How to draft it

Roles in each deck

  • Goblin Army Removal

    Treat it as a spell first. Spew Flame deals 5 damage to target creature for 5 mana, and the 7-mana 5/5 is a late bonus.

    How to play it

    Spew Flame almost always goes first, as soon as a creature is worth 5 damage, because casting the Dragon straight from hand throws the away. A second copy is still a Spew Flame.

    Learn the Goblin Army deck

  • Dwarves & Equipment Removal

    Spew Flame kills the 4- and 5-toughness blockers that Pinecone Strike can't , and the Dragon half is there if the game goes long.

    How to play it

    Cast Spew Flame first almost every time, and stop at two copies so the deck doesn't get slow.

    Learn the Dwarves & Equipment deck

  • Burn and Draw Removal

    Five damage kills almost every common creature, and the Dragon waiting in gives you a 5/5 for the late game. This deck gets more out of it than most, because its card draw keeps games going long enough to find a seventh land.

    How to play it

    Pinecone Strike already handles toughness 3, so save Spew Flame for the creatures it can't kill. Seven lands is a lot to ask of a 17-land deck, so count on the 5 damage and treat the Dragon as a bonus. The lets you keep only one Smaug, the Great Calamity on the battlefield, but a second copy's Spew Flame is still full value.

    Learn the Burn and Draw deck

  • Beasts and Burn Removal

    Spew Flame is a 5-mana that deals 5 damage to a creature. The card then waits in , and later you can cast its creature half from there, Smaug, the Great Calamity, a 7-mana 5/5 Dragon (a different card from the mythic Smaug the Magnificent).

    How to play it

    Casting the Dragon straight from your hand skips the , so start with Spew Flame almost every time. The 's , Glóin's and from Dori and the Grey Dog 7 mana sooner.

    Learn the Beasts and Burn deck