Let's start with some excerpts from my Mirage/Visions Limited tournament report Last Chance at the Big Time from 1997:

In this one our hero's Sealed Deck was gifted with both of these much sought-after cards for the Swiss portion:

One x-spell was exciting for most Sealed decks. But two?

As you'll see below, comedy (or more often, combustion) often ensued.

"ROUND ONE

"... I don't remember much of this match, but I have a feeling there was some Red-X involved somewhere. I take it 2-0.

"ROUND TWO

"Game 2:

"This one was a classic! Probably the hardest-fought win in my recent tournament career, Dennis and I trade blows for quite a while. I sense he is holding Memory Lapse, and throw a large Kaervek's Torch to try to bleed it out of his hand... and do. I get it back, and hit him hard. This time I Torch his Green Drake (his Breezekeeper was phased out) to get more attack creatures through his defenses. I Cache the Torch, and wait on a 7th mana.

"... I draw a land, and play it. Dennis says "Well, it was a good match!"Jedi Mind Tricks? I sensed again that he had some way of dealing with my Cached Torch, but if I fell for the apparent bluff and lost, I would be an idiot. I of course Torched him for 6. POWER SINK! He explains to me that drawing off the top of your deck is the primary skill of tournament championship Magic. I laugh. He attacks with his Breezekeeper, and because I tapped out, I am forced to mutual with the Pearl Dragon. I draw another land, and say "Got another one, Dennis?" Volcanic Geyser for 6. He laughs and tosses down his Island.

"ROUND FOUR

"Anyway, in the midgame, I am taking much Nettletooth damage, and Eric is starting to gain control of the board with his big Green and White fatties. He taps out to match my Scalebane's Elite. I Torch him for 7 while he is tapped out, with my Geyser in my hand. Eric shakes his head, and shows me his Honorable Passage. He concedes."

"Dennis" in Round Two was then-reigning US National Champion Dennis Bentley; and Round Four "Eric" was World Series of Poker bracelet winner (and Grand Prix Champion, and Demonic Attorney) Eric Kesselman. The presence of Kaervek's Torch and Volcanic Geyser went beyond "Better Lucky Than Good" ... The ability to pair one Red mana (or two, I guess, at instant speed) with however much more mana gave me an immediate route to victory no matter how many opposing blockers were gumming up The Red Zone.

In the Top 8 it was even more ridiculous. I "only" managed to draft one Kaervek's Torch; but with two copies of Elven Cache, I literally won every game in the Top 8 with that Torch, and oftentimes multiple successful Torches via Elven Cache.

It was great!

And such was born, some twenty-five years ago, my second trip to the Pro Tour.

Red x-spells like Kaervek's Torch were widely applicable in not just Limited, but Constructed formats. I played a Fireball way back in my 1996 Dallas Necrodeck, but really slammed my foot on the gas with Demonfire from Ravnica Block. Not only was it a four-of Metsu Hadoken game-ender in KarstenBot BabyKiller (how did we get away with these names wow); but also 2006 New York States winning This Girl by Brian Kowal. According to Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner I won both rounds three and four with Demonfire through Circle of Protection: Red, but also both my quarterfinals and semifinals matches.

Demonfire has an extra clause which allows it to plow through Counterspells given certain conditions. This is a little worse than Fireball's ability to split between multiple targets... But not that much worse (based on their relatively high costs, x-spells generally go after only a single target); and it was actively better against Blue decks.

On a "rate" basis, all these cards fit within a specific band. For x mana, you basically did x-1 (or very occasionally, as with Volcanic Geyser, x-2) damage. Not only way this kind of an effect good in both Limited and "fair" Standard decks, the great Zvi Mowshowitz played one Blaze in his hugely influential ID19 deck from US Nationals 1999:

Zvi Bargain | Zvi Mowshowitz, US Nationals 1999

• Instants (12)
• 1 Intuition
• 3 Turnabout
• 4 Dark Ritual
• 4 Vampiric Tutor

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Blaze
• 1 Yawgmoth's Will
• 3 Show and Tell

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Delusions of Mediocrity
• 4 Yawgmoth's Bargain

• Artifacts (16)
• 4 Grim Monolith
• 4 Mox Diamond
• 4 Scroll Rack
• 4 Voltaic Key

• Lands (20)
• 3 Swamp
• 2 Rootwater Depths
• 3 Crystal Vein
• 4 City of Brass
• 4 City of Traitors
• 4 Underground River

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Yes, Zvi played a lot of powerful fast mana cards like Mox Diamond and Grim Monolith; and elite tutoring in the form of Vampiric and Intuition; and in Yawgmoth's Bargain itself, a card that is banned even in beloved Premodern when Land Tax and Survival of the Fittest are not.

But my man killed you with a solo Blaze.

Let's look at a card with a similar casting cost from the upcoming Dominaria United:

In some sense this card is just a Blaze / Demonfire / finishing Kaervek's Torch.

While you don't deal damage directly to the opponent, for essentially the "same" mana you can do the same damage immediately, via haste; combined with the evasion of flying.

Only it can be better!

Imagine your opponent is at 10. To kill them with a Fireball or Kaervek's Torch, you'll generally have to wait until you have 11+ mana to do the final deed. But Shivan Devastator will do you a favor there. Don't worry about the eleventh land drop. Six will do you fine, provided you get an untap [which is what you're hoping for with any non-hasty creature you play, anyway].

That's kind of cool for a "burn spell" right? Being able to connect over the course of multiple turns, but with only a single investment in mana? A mid-sized Shivan Devastator is kind of like a Goblin Guide when playing with The Philosophy of Fire; if you get in any number of times more than one, you're ahead of the game.

A Blaze, Kaervek's Torch, or Demonfire (or Disintegrate, Lava Burst, or Banefire) has a function other than finishing an opponent off to the face. They can kill creatures.

Shivan Devastator can't explicitly "trade" with a creature in play... But given the right sets of resources, can oddly do you better.

Imagine your opponent is beating you down with a pesky Grizzly Bears. It doesn't matter if you only have three mana, or thirty-three... In the abstract, three-mana Blaze is going to do the same to that poor 2/2 Grizzly Bears as one powered by twice as much mana. But the same is not true of a Shivan Devastator.

If you make one for a mere three mana... You'll get a 2/2 Dragon. In a situation where you're getting beaten up by a Grizzly Bears, it might make sense to stay back on defense to trade (which, we've established, is all a traditional x-spell can do). But what if you have more mana? You can have a potentially dominating blocker. You'll be able to gobble up on the measly 2/2, and have a body ready to devour the next one, too.

I mean, no one really blocks - and even rarer should this be the plan with a haste creature - but it's nice to know that while straight up removal isn't an obvious use, a kind of creature containment is within the range of Shivan Devastator's kit.

Finally let's look at the most obvious view of this card.

For six mana you get a 5/5 flying Dragon. Does that sound at all familiar?

Shivan Dragon might not be on your most sought after cards in 2022, but the original big bad of Magic: The Gathering has always had an unexpectedly solid Standard pedigree. It might surprise you to know that the last time it was legal, Shivan Dragon made Day Two of a Standard Pro Tour, and was in the sideboards of former Grand Prix and PT winners, and even a Hall of Famer!

The "rate" on Shivan Devastator isn't bad at all, just on a vanilla creature basis. Everything from Keiga, the Tide Star to Mahamoti Djinn to Shivan Dragon (of course) is 5 power for six mana; and that's just one of the infinite modes on this creature. And while the Devastator lacks Firebreathing... None of those classics has the much more compelling haste.

Still, more interesting to think about as a Fireball to the face.

The Secret of Shivan Devastator

I'm sure that you can imagine Shivan Devastator in a Control deck. Maybe even a Control deck of some sort. It only has a single Red in its casting cost, and by invoking the name of This Girl you're probably already in the mindset of a powerful mid-range Jeskai deck playing both Lightning Angel and Demonfire. Shivan Devastator is both.

But that's not its secret!

Imagine this card in a sideboard. Sure, it offers multiple dimensions. Opponents who get haphazard with life points might find themselves on the wrong end of a single big swing. Lightning Angel-style Shivan Devastators (you know, 3 power flyers for four) or traditional Shivan Dragon-sized (but with haste!) can both challenge an opposing Contol deck's sideboarding savvy.

But what about a low-to-the ground one? Part of the absurd flexibility of this card is not just how big it can get, but also how small. Imagine a tiny Devastator, on the order of a Robber of the Rich from World Championships past. While it will have none of the Robber's incentives (beyond haste) the Shivan Devastator will do one thing will: Get under the opposing permission wall. Even a 1/1 or 2/2 can wreak all kinds of havoc once you no longer have to tap mana on your own turn.

LOVE

MIKE