Chandra, Flame’s Fury - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

In most cases, a planeswalker-deck exclusive like Chandra, Flame’s Fury would be a fun casual curiosity. The planeswalkers in these Planeswalker decks are greatly powered down mirrors of their counterparts in their respective sets. But, with Magic’s Core Set 2020, Chandra planeswalkers are more important than ever. Thanks to a little rare called Chandra’s Regulator, suddenly every Chandra planeswalker ever printed becomes quite a bit more powerful.


What is Chandra's Regulator?

Chandra’s Regulator is a two-mana Red Artifact that allows you for a single generic mana to copy any loyalty ability of a Chandra planeswalker that you activate. So, even powered-down Planeswalker deck Chandra planeswalkers suddenly become a lot better than they first appear. In the case of Chandra, Flame’s Fury, her abilities become surprisingly a lot more relevant than they would be ordinarily on a comparatively under-powered six-mana planeswalker.


What Does Chandra, Flame's Fury Do?


Chandra, Flame’s Fury is a six-mana planeswalker with a casting cost of 4 colorless and 2 red. She enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters, which isn’t bad, but not great. Her +1 loyalty ability reads: “Chandra, Flame’s Fury deals 2 damage to any target.” A Shock is always a nice ability to have, but extremely underwhelming on a six-mana walker. However, with the Chandra’s Regulator, this is an ability well worth copying for the extra colorless mana.


Flame’s Fury’s −2 loyalty ability reads: “Chandra, Flame’s Fury deals 4 damage to target creature and 2 damage to that creature’s controller.” This is actually a semi-decent ability. If you were to just use this ability twice before losing Chandra, Flame’s Fury, that’s not a terrible return. However, with Chandra’s Regulator, this becomes a very potent ability.


Chandra, Flame’s Fury’s “ultimate” ability is actually a pretty good one. Her −8 loyalty ability reads: “Chandra, Flame’s Fury deals 10 damage to target player and each creature that player controls.” This is actually a nice finisher, even if it’s unlikely that you’ll usually get her up to the eight necessary loyalty counters. Chandra’s Regulator’s ability copying makes this pretty much an “oops, I win” ability.


How Good is Chandra, Flame's Fury?


As planeswalker cards go, Chandra, Flame’s Fury is pretty much the casual-only curiosity that you would expect. But, because of Chandra’s Regulator, and the presence of three other new Chandra planeswalkers, “Chandra Planeswalker Tribal” is actually now a thing. Chandra, Flame’s Fury may be a fringe planeswalker, but with Chandra’s Regulator around, she will show up in at least a few Oathbreaker and Commander decks in the future.