Ember Gale

A pseudo-Falter spell that smuggles a color-hate clause into the alpha-strike package. The first half, denying a player blockers for a turn, is the classic red enabler for pushing a stalled board through: clear the way and swing for lethal. The second half is where the design gets pointed: the same spell pings down every white and blue creature that player controls. That hybrid targeting is no accident. Blue and white are the colors that build defensive walls and small flying chumps, and a single point of damage is enough to sweep the X/1 utility creatures (mana-tappers, tempo flyers, token bodies) those decks rely on to clog the ground and trade with attackers. So the card does its two jobs in sequence: it strips the blocking option from the whole board, then removes the small white and blue blockers outright. Against a board with no white or blue creatures, the damage clause simply whiffs and the spell shrinks to an overcosted Falter. That whiff potential is what justifies the four-mana price tag: the ceiling against the right colors is a board-clearing finisher, the floor against the wrong ones a clunky tempo play. Baking the hate into the rate rather than offering it as a separate mode is the trade the design makes, and it explains why this never threatened to be a one- or two-mana staple the way an unconditional Falter might.