MTG Salvation

"Is Arc Lightning (or Flames of the Firebrand) still good enough?"
This one's been nagging me for a while now. I guess you could call it one of those "always wanted to know but were afraid to ask" questions. AL has been a staple for as long as I can remember. Yet I've heard of people who refused to add Flames because they think it's not an effect worth duplicating (despite play other functional reprints).

Personally, I just can't shake the feeling that 3 CMC send Sorcery speed are too much to ask in terms of drawbacks. I mean, we live in an era where we have Twin Bolt and Arc Trail.

Make no mistake, the divisibility of the damage is awesome, but not worth paying an extra mana over Trail AND losing the Instant speed of Bolt.
Besides, it's not like red is hurting for burn or CA options.

Am I crazy here?

Arc Trail is definitely the best card mentioned here, but they are both better than Twin Bolt in my experience. Even if we disregard the potential for a 3-for-1 and the higher reach they give for aggressive decks, there are many times a two damage burn spell will not kill anything but 3 damage would. Arc Lightning is a lot more desirable to splash for as a removal/control card, as you are very unlikely to have that red source by turn two and the need to cast it.
Other than that, splittable damage spells have likely become better with time, as they are effective against planeswalkers. I disagree that red has enough ways to gain card advantage. In any way, Fire // Ice is strictly better than Twin Bolt, and I currently play that instead in my red section.

I certainly wouldn't run these cards instead of Lightning Bolt or Arc Trail, but for the cost you get a bit more versatility that justifies their inclusion. You may not feel like you're getting your 3 mana's worth when you use Arc Lightning to take down a single X/3 target, or to take down an X/2 and an X/1 but the versatility to be able to do either as well as every now and again take down 3 X/1s one makes it worth it. They're not the best burn spells in my cube, but WoTC seems to be depowering the burn that they print in Standard sets these days, so I'd be surprised if we get anything better any time soon.

I mean, we live in an era where we have Twin Bolt and Arc Trail.

Arc Trail's great, but Twin Bolt is strictly worse than Fire // Ice. I know that's not kosher for your cube because it's not Modern legal, but that's why you probably don't see it many cubes besides your own.

Besides, it's not like red is hurting for burn or CA options.

Your cube's red section seems to be going a lot deeper than many on the Elkin Bottle effects that have come our recently like Chandra, Pyromaster, Outpost Siege, and Commune With Lava. I can't say I was considering cutting Arc Lightning or Flames of the Firebrand for any of those, but since it looks like you have how's that been working out?

With a 450 powered cube, AL and FotF are no where near the chopping block. Too versatile and they really help the Wildfire deck. I actually don't think red has enough good CA burn spells so I wouldn't dream of cutting these two or Arc Trail.

Cheers,
rant

I cut Arc Trail, Arc Lightning and Flames of the Firebrand because they were too effective as removal against aggro decks. They often are 2-for-1s or even 3-for-1s against the aggro decks. I play an incredibly powered cube where aggro is already a hard sell among other insane unfair decks, so I try to give aggro the edge as much as possible.

Arc Trail is the best card of the bunch, but Arc Lightning/Flames of the Firebrand are WAY better than Twin Bolt. The 3rd damage creates so many more CA opportunities, and makes it better against 'walkers and bigger threats too. I think both of the 3cc versions are easily still good enough, even for tight powered lists.

So I personally am having a difficult time justifying Arc Trail to myself. I definitely see the strength in it, but without physically testing it myself, I keep feeling it's just too low impact for a direct damage spell at 360. Can anyone give some personal examples of it really putting in work?

I think Arc Trail is the best non-sweeper damage spell in red.

Just count up the number of X/2s and X/1s in your cube, and understand that Arc Trail can not only kill any of them while sending a point or 2 to the opponent's face, but often take out 2 of them for a blowout. It's a great deal for 1R. Every once in a while, it'll also finish off a planeswalker.

I did not even know that Flames of the Firebrand existed! I am totally running that along with Arc Lightning.