You know who likes “more powerful individual spells”? Chandra, the Firebrand.

Chandra’s M13 reprinting was met with approximately no reaction, apart from my pre-Ravnica excitement. Chandra doesn’t want for good abilities—the plus ability is repeatable damage, and the ultimate locks up the game while working equally well in duels and multiplayer—but at her printing, there were few spells worth copying with her middle ability. We were leaving a block heavy on permanents (artifacts) and entering a block with flashback, which emphasizes double value out of a medium spell rather than the maximization one giant spell. Return to Ravnica ought to be different by its nature, and it’s the type of thing that justifies the favorite writer’s device of a top ten list, so there’s that.

A couple things to keep in mind when building with Chandra:

• She needs some creature support – Chandra can protect herself with the plus ability, but only if she was about to be attacked by an X/1. A few defensive creatures wouldn’t hurt.
• She only copies things you can cast past a main phase on your turn – There are plenty of instants worth casting on your turn, but it is a restriction. Parallectric Feedback would be an amazing spell to copy in multiplayer, but Chandra’s unlikely to help you. Miracles don’t have the best synergy either.
• She’s best at copying things around her converted mana cost – Cheap spells are usually too minor to copy, while Cruel Ultimatum–level spells aren’t printed often (though I highly recommend copying Cruel Ultimatum). Much of the time, expensive spells are like Planar Cleansing, where you get no value out of a copy. Spells that cost 4 to 5 mana are in the sweet spot for copiability, not only for their abilities, but for their being on-curve the turn after Chandra, when you’re most likely to get off a copy.
• She’s splashable – Chandra’s fine sticking to red, but is easy for any deck to obtain, especially with Return to Ravnica’s mana support.

Now it’s time for the list of what spells work best with Chandra since her initial printing. This list is irrespective of format; some of them are much more likely to occur in big, casual games, and some of them might be more useful in casual, but nothing confines them.

Chandra knows what’s hot this autumn: she is. In a moment, you’ll know, too. Listward ho!

10 – Talrand's Invocation

9 – Dreadbore

There were already ways to copy planeswalker removal—Saltblast representin’—but Dreadbore’s combination of targets makes it great for copying, especially in the late game. In most situations, I’d use double Dreadbore against the best creature and planeswalker, but there will be decks and situations when two planeswalkers are synergizing perniciously, and the option to take them both out is valuable. Dreadbore’s already great removal, but it’s particularly great for copying.

8 – Skull Rend

7 – Epic Experiment

Most Genesis Wave decks are looking for majorly expensive permanents. Epic Experiment's threshold of utility can hit a lower mana cost, depending on what you include. That rewards copying over pumping mana. Rather than finding more mana for a higher X, you could just copy Epic Experiment. And the best part is that Epic Experiment and Chandra both want a high concentration of instants and sorceries. I don’t know what to fill the rest of the deck with, but the two cards want to work together. Some of you need to go make this deck. Here’s my version:

"Izzet Chandra?"

• Creatures (15)
• 4 Frostburn Weird
• 4 Goblin Electromancer
• 4 Hover Barrier
• 3 Krenko, Mob Boss

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Chandra, the Firebrand

• Spells (18)
• 3 Thoughtflare
• 4 Izzet Charm
• 3 Burn at the Stake
• 4 Epic Experiment
• 4 Krenko's Command

• Lands (23)
• 11 Mountain
• 8 Island
• 4 Izzet Guildgate

Buy This Deck

6 – Thoughtflare

5 – Brimstone Volley

Brimstone Volley was the only other spell at that time that seemed to be worth copying. I could enable morbid with a transformed Daybreak Ranger or an opponent’s chump-block, after which I would copy Brimstone Volley for 10 facial damage. Eight months on, that still sounds delicious, and Volley’s strong enough in its weaker states that it works for several deck types. It’s just not hard to get to morbid, and turning 3 damage into 5 works better when you turn that 5 into 10.

4 – Increasing Savagery

3 – Mutilate

Turn-five copied Mutilate goes from killing a few things to killing everything. It’s slower, yes, but it at least does its intended job. Copying in red also lets you play a couple colors but keep most of Mutilate’s power, especially if your red is coming off a Blood Crypt. Chandra’s splashability makes her a good team player (yeah, that sounds strange), and Mutilate’s a good example of when that’s useful.

2 – Boundless Realms

1 – Burn at the Stake

• Turn one: Mountain, Rakdos Cackler (opponent at 20)
• Turn two: Mountain, Krenko's Command, swing with Cackler (opponent at 18)
• Turn three: Mountain, do whatever
• Turn four: Mountain, Chandra, do whatever
• Turn five: Mountain, Chandra copies Burn at the Stake (opponent at 0)

Like the Overrun it’s compared to, Burn at the Stake is only a finisher when you’ve dealt enough damage with other stuff. If your plan is to copy it, however, it takes only three creatures and 2 random damage to finish someone off. These days, a shock land might lower the opponent to 18 naturally, at which point your three creatures for Burn at the Stake might as well be Walls—not to mention that Chandra is quite capable of burning the face. Grab three random creatures, Chandra, and Burn at the Stake, and you win. Krenko's Command is perfect for the deck, as Chandra can copy it first to make all the necessary creatures plus a blocker.

That’s just in Standard. Red’s not the greatest at making tokens, but Goblins are ideal for a casual deck with this combo. From Dragon Fodder to Siege-Gang Commander, it’s easy to assemble Goblin armies. Even better, Skirk Prospector lets you invoke the rule about paying costs in any order, as you could pay for Burn at the Stake with just five Goblins by tapping the creatures and then sacrificing them for R. If you run into a game with those Goblins, Chandra, Burn at the Stake, and no lands, you can still deal 30 damage. There’s something amusing in that, but also something massively powerful, and Chandra upgrades the combo from the frustrating mostly-lethal to thoroughly-lethal.

Conclusion

Reprints aren’t just about format legality; they’re a reminder that a new set might give new life to an old card. Chandra, the Firebrand feels like the gap between old and new potential is huge. Don’t let her price fool you; there are loads of varied, awesome plays to run with her. I’ve only covered the last year. What can you come up with?