Not only is it not an instant, it does 2 damage
instead of 3. Given that Lightning Bolt is still
legal in most formats, that's a hard sell. The
two things Forked Bolt can do that Lightning
Bolt can't are-- kill two creatures of one
toughness each, and kill one creature and do 1
damage to an opponent. The latter can also be
done by Searing Blaze, at instant speed, with
the option of doing 3 damage to each target
instead. And the former only works if your
opponent has two 1-toughness creatures out, or
if you attack into some blockers with creature
of power one less than their toughness. The
circumstances under which Forked Bolt is
provably better than other burn spells in
Standard are so narrow, you just shouldn't play
Forked Bolt except in Limited, where there is no
Lightning Bolt or Searing Blaze and you might
not be able to get anything better.
Forked Bolt invites you to use it against a
couple of low-toughness creatures at once, and
it's good at what it does. However, Pyroclasm
and Volcanic Fallout tend to be preferred for
that particular application in competitive
constructed. Even so, I think this card might
find a niche somewhere: it's quick enough to use
against Lotus Cobra to pre-empt the third-turn
Baneslayer Angel. It can also target two
different players (try it with Furnace of Rath!).
Today's card of the day is Forked Bolt which
can deal one damage to two targets or two damage
to one target for a single mana, but only at
Sorcery speed. The slower nature of it is
a big drawback compared to Shock or the strictly
better than Shock option Burst Lightning.
The only advantage to this card is being able to
destroy two creatures with one toughness or
spreading an extra damage to an opponent instead
of wasting two on a creature that will die from
one damage. Fairly situational, but the
option of two for one when needed gives it some
value. This may see some play alongside
Pyroclasm or other burn as a support for
stopping 3/3 or 4/4 creatures that would
otherwise be difficult for Red's usual arsenal
to handle.
For Limited the large number of 0/1 Eldrazi
Spawn tokens are a great target for this spell
and in an odd way the Sorcery aspect works as an
advantage against their sacrifice ability.
Normally the correct play for a burn spell is to
cast it on your opponent's turn, such as before
an attack, to reduce their options and make sure
you remove the biggest threat possible.
With Forked Bolt being a Sorcery you need to use
it on your own turn where an Eldrazi Spawn may
be able to be sacrificed for mana, but it won't
be available for most spells. Aside from the
free reminder on timing this is a solid removal
option, especially when used to get the two for
one, and is a good early pick in Booster when
playing Red. For Sealed this card should
always be included in a deck with any Red mana
as a reliable cheap source of fairly flexible
removal.
In Multiplayer this card can be used early to
clear the first turn plays of two opponents, but
as you will likely only be able to attack one
the advantage is limited outside of Two-Headed
Giant games. In addition a play like that
would create animosity with both players which
is rarely a good idea early on or with such
minimal endgame impact.
