Spoiler Highlight: Lightning Helix on Standard & Pioneer

Between the launch of the last expansion in 2023 and a banned and restricted update that changed the structure of the competitive environment, there appears to be no end to Magic: The Gathering news - In the first panel with previews of Murder at the Karlov Manor, a set with scheduled for release in February 2024, a big revelation was made: Lightning Helix, one of the cards that marked history in the game, will be reprinted.

Lightning Helix was a Modern staple and an emblematic piece of the game, to the point of starring in one of the most iconic moments ever recorded live in the game in 2006, during the Pro Tour Honolulu - known as "The Topdeck of the Century".

Its reprint in Murders at Karlov Manor opens up new possibilities for the card, as it will be legal on Standard and Pioneer . In this article, we evaluate its potential for both formats!

After all, what is the big deal withLightning Helix?

The spell originally released in Ravnica: City of Guilds has an excellent design and play style: the card is nothing more than a combination of Lightning Bolt and Healing Salve, two spells released in theMagic set, Alpha, in every sense: it adds costs, effects and casting speed and turns it into an elegant proposal, which has been on the competitive scene for a decade.

With the current power creep, Lightning Helix is no longer a staple, and its presence is limited to Boros Burn and occasional Domain Zoo lists in Modern. In Pioneer and Standard, it is a Lightning Strike on steroids, but whose price is the concession of colors in its cost.

Its highlight, however, is its flexibility. Lightning Strike is an excellent card for Aggro decks because it guarantees interaction and clock in a single slot. Lightning Helix guarantees this same flexibility and an extra breath against these same aggressive strategies - Therefore, it stops being important only for strategies that seek to play under, to become a crucial removal both for Aggro and for those that require just one more turn, such as Midrange and Control.

Its viability depends on the average resistance of the format's threats, the efficiency of the mana available to cast spells with the cost without making too many concessions, and the importance of Aggro in the Metagame. If at least two of these three prerequisites are positive, the presence of Lightning Helix in that format matters to the point that the card becomes a potential staple.

Predicting the Murders at Karlov Manor Standard three months before its release, with less than a month since Lost Caverns of Ixalan is out, and with a RCQ season on the way, is an impossible task. A lot can still happen in the format, and the viability of Lightning Helix in certain strategies depends on which land cycle will be released with the spell, if there is a cycle.

The main Boros-colored deck in the current Standard has very little interest in Lightning Helix, as its strategies involve a high number of creatures to take advantage of Knight-Errant of Eos and Imodane's Recruiter. In this case, the spell can enter the Sideboard against other Aggros, where the extra life gain is one of the reasons why certain lists run Lantern Flare.

Today, things don't look very favorable for Lightning Helix because its range doesn't affect some of Standard's main threats or some of its main blockers. On the other hand, it is excellent against Mono Red, Soldiers and a vast majority of other creatures, and can give it space in decks more focused on Midrange and/or Ramp in environments where they need to hold the game.

Things get more interesting if the next set brings efficient support for three-color lists in enemy combinations, such as Mardu () and Jeskai (). These would open up space for Midrange and/or Aggro archetypes that could extract a lot of value from the spell and maintain a proactive stance, doubling its value in the same way that Mono Red Aggro doubles that of Lightning Strike, while accessing more colors would increase flexibility when changing posture.

The hype around Lightning Helix in Pioneer revolves around two or three distinct archetypes: Boros Burn, Niv-to-Light, and Jeskai Control.

In the first case, Boros Burn or the variants of Boros Pia, Lightning Helix is comparable to Lightning Strike, which barely sees play in current lists because it is too slow. Having eight Incinerate effects at Instant-Speed and also improving the match against Aggro can benefit the use of the card, but the lack of Burn in Pioneer today is the lack of enough speed to play under the value piles with the same efficiency that Boros Heroic achieves.

In this case, I don't believe that the inclusion of another three-damage Burn for two mana will put the archetype back in the Metagame.

On the other hand, if your deck needs to hold the game to bury the opponent in value, Lightning Helix is the card for you! And what's the best possible removal against these archetypes for Niv-to-Light than a spell in colors, which we can fetch with Niv-Mizzet Reborn?

The color combination for Lightning Helix is much more beneficial for Niv-to-Light than other two-mana removals like Abrupt Decay, given the number of times it starts its game with a white-colored Triome to enable Leyline Binding as early as the second turn.

Before all the changes that Magic Arena underwent in the last year that made it very different from Pioneer, Jeskai Control was one of the best decks in the format due to its efficiency in holding back aggressive strategies until making its absurd play - whether with Magma Opus, Mizzix's Mastery and Torrential Gearhulk, or with Indomitable Creativity and Serra's Emissary.

Since then, a lot has changed, and Pioneer doesn't have Mizzix's Mastery to cast Magma Opus too early, nor Serra's Emissary to "lock" the game. Several archetypes have become faster, and the cost of playing three colors has become more punishing in the format. However, Lightning Helix is a valid reason to start experimenting with three colors.

Without knowing what's in store until February, Lightning Helix seems only important for lists like Niv-to-Light, but its potential to hold back aggressive decks while dealing with other Midrange creatures and combos like Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Bonecrusher Giant, Smuggler's Copter, and even Planeswalkers, amplify its potential to impact the competitive scene.

That's all for today.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!