Modern Masters 2015 turned out to be a pretty strong set. It also has probably the best mix of mythic rares that a set has ever seen, with one exception, a card that has been printed several times: Comet Storm. It is widely panned as one of the worst mythic rare inclusions in any set by competitive players. Having been printed in Worldwake, as a pre-release promo, Commander 2011, and Modern Masters 2015, it’s pretty much a bulk mythic rare. Yet, it’s usually on plenty of buylists for more than a quarter – the usual bulk mythic rare. So where’s the demand coming from if the card’s so bad?

Comet Storm is basically a functionally better Fireball, one of the iconic burn spells of Magic. Whereas Fireball divides the damage among targets, Comet Storm deals X damage to each target. That sounds pretty good, right? Plenty of Commander players think so. With so many ways to copy big spells in the format, such as Increasing Vengeance, Reiterate, and Reverberate, it can serve as a finisher in a format otherwise flooded by mana. It’s also at Instant speed, meaning you can unleash it on anyone’s turn.

Beyond just being a really big burn spell, it has some synergies with a few Commanders, as well. The most notable is that with the Red/Green Legendary Giant from Shadowmoor: Rosheen Meanderer. This Giant Warrior has the ability to add 4 colorless mana to your mana pool, but it can only be used for X spells. In a deck mostly populated by Hydras with X costs in their casting requirements, Comet Storm helps finish the deal.

Wort the Raidmother is a popular Red/Green Goblin Commander that not only brings a couple of Goblins into play when she enters, but also gives your red and green instant or sorcery spells conspire. Conspire is a really cool mechanic that allows you to simply tap two creatures that share a color with the spell that you are casting; you then get to copy it and are also able to choose new targets for it. A massive Comet Storm or Banefire is often the endgame for this really powerful Goblin Commander and her army.

Melek, Izzet Paragon is well known as one of the best Budget commanders out there due to the fact that he can cast any red or blue instant or sorcery spell from the top of your deck and copy it. Comet Storm is a particularly juicy burn spell for him to Fork.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is one of the most popular Angel Commanders for good reason: she doubles all of the damage that your opponents receive (yes, this includes the damage your other opponents would do to each other!) Comet Storm is pretty nasty in this deck, even though you would rarely play copy spells in the deck.

Riku of Two Reflections can copy any instant or sorcery spell for only UR (Blue/Red). Two mana to copy a Comet Storm is pretty sweet.

Other Commanders that like to include Comet Storm among their 99 are: Ashling the Pilgrim, Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Heartless Hidetsugu, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Rakka Mar, Urabrask the Hidden, and others.

So next time someone hates on Comet Storm, remind them that Wizards knows how good this card is in Commander. Why it was included in Modern Masters 2015 is beyond me, but it’s far from the worst mythic rare ever printed.

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How many times does Wizards of the Coast need to print the mythic rare Comet Storm? Since it’s original printing in Worldwake, it’s been released as a prerelease promo, in the first Commander decks in 2011, and most recently in Modern Masters 2015. So why reprint this for a fourth time? It’s pretty good in Commander, and really good with one of the exclusive Legendary Creatures from Commander 2015, Mizzix of the Izmagnus.

As it turns out, Mizzix of the Izmagnus works really well with X cost spells. The cheaper your X  spells get with Mizzix’s ability, the more powerful they become. As a late-game finisher, Comet Storm works brilliantly.

Comet Storm was always meant to be a functionally better version of the most iconic burn spell of Magic,Fireball. But Fireball divides the damage among targets, and Comet Storm deals X damage to each target. That sounds pretty good, right? It always proved to be too expensive to bother with in competitive Constructed environments. But it did find a home in Commander. Thus, Wizards keeps finding excuses to reprint it.

With so many ways to copy spells in the Commander format, Comet Storm is a great way to finish a game by giving you something to do with all that late game mana. It’s also at Instant speed, meaning you can unleash it on anyone’s turn. Increasing Vengeance, Reiterate, and Reverberate – as well as the classic Fork, which is basically the original version of Reverberate – allow you to do twice as much damage for 2-3 extra mana. That’s what Wizards wanted out of this splashy mythic, but putting it in a set like Modern Masters 2015, which had arguably had one of the best selections of mythic rares of any set. A pre-constructed deck like this is a much better place for it.

Besides the strong interaction between Comet Storm and Mizzix, there are other Commanders happy to have this spell in their arsenals. Melek, Izzet Paragon is known as one of the best Budget commanders out there, as not only can he cast any red or blue instant or sorcery spell from the top of your deck, but he can copy it. Comet Storm is one of the more juicy burn spells for him to Fork.

Another Commander that has long had Comet Storm in the arsenal is the Red/Green Legendary Giant from Shadowmoor: Rosheen Meanderer. Rosheen has the ability to add 4 colorless mana to your mana pool, but that mana can only be used for X spells. In a deck mostly populated by Hydras with X costs in their casting requirements, Comet Storm helps seal victories by burning away those final life points.

Wort the Raidmother is a popular Red/Green Goblin Commander brings a couple of Goblins into play when she enters. But more importantly, she also gives your red and green instant or sorcery spells conspire. Conspire is a really cool mechanic that allows you to simply tap two creatures that share a color with the spell that you are casting. You then get to copy it and are also able to choose new targets for it. A massive Comet Storm or Banefire is often part of the endgame for this really powerful Goblin Commander and her army.

Other Commanders that like to include Comet Storm among their 99 include:

Ashling the Pilgrim, Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Heartless Hidetsugu, Riku of Two Reflections, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Rakka Mar, Urabrask the Hidden, and more.

Wizards knows how good this card is in Commander. Why it was included in Modern Masters 2015 is still beyond me. Still, it’s far from the worst mythic rare ever printed. We didn’t really need yet another printing, but it’s a card that’s always going to see play.