by Can Tran

Created on: November 01, 2009

"Heat Shimmer" is a red sorcery spell printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Lorwyn." In a sense, Heat Shimmer is somewhat red's answer to the blue creature card known as "Clone." However, Heat Shimmer is something that is meant to be used one time in an aggressive deck. If you use Heat Shimmer in an aggressive deck, you should be able to plenty out of this spell. With a certain enchantment, Heat Shimmer becomes quite the handy card for the most part.

The converted mana cost for Heat Shimmer is three. You will need one red mana and two colorless mana to cast Heat Shimmer. For what Heat Shimmer can do, the converted mana cost is well worth it. Keep in mind that Heat Shimmer is a sorcery spell and can only play it during your turn.

What does Heat Shimmer do in the first place?

When Heat Shimmer is cast, you target a creature. Make sure the creature has neither Shroud nor Protection from Red. Heat Shimmer lets you put a token that is a copy of the creature you picked. It has Haste. At the end of the turn, you remove it from the game. So far, this is not a bad sorcery spell to play provided you are playing aggressively. If you are playing aggressively, you can do a number on an opponent.

However, one can ask: How do you get the most out of Heat Shimmer?

It would help if you can play Heat Shimmer on a powerful creature with Trample, Fear, and/or Flying. If you have creatures that cannot be blocked, that is even better. Realistically, you should go for creatures with any of those three abilities. Some examples would be "Lightning Reaver," "Ball Lightning," "Blistering Firecat," or "Darksteel Colossus."

If you have the mana, you can play Ball Lightning and use Heat Shimmer on that. Then can attack with both creatures and deal up to twelve points of damage. Being able to deal twelve points of damage goes a long way. If you have "Rage Reflection" on the battlefield, you can have those creatures deal Double Strike damage. If you already have Darksteel Colossus on the battlefield, you can play Heat Shimmer on that. You can attack with both of them and deal up to twenty-two points of damage. If the opponent blocks, there is still Trample damage. With Rage Reflection, you could defeat an opponent.

In a red shock and burn deck, you can use "Pyromancer Ascension" provided that you have multiples of certain spells. For example, you can play three "Lightning Bolt" cards to put two quest counters on Pyromancer Ascension. You can then play Heat Shimmer. With at least two counters on Pyromancer Ascension, you can use it to copy Heat Shimmer. In this respect, you can use Heat Shimmer twice. You simply pick a powerful creature.

Overall, this is a handy sorcery spell. If you are playing an aggressive deck, you can definitely get a lot out of Heat Shimmer.

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