Violent Impact

The four-mana price on this kind of destruction has always been a deliberate tax: red can answer either an artifact or a land cleanly, but it rarely gets to hit both at the rate of a dedicated Shatter or a Stone Rain. Folding the two targets into one sorcery pushes the cost up, and cycling is the concession that makes that price livable. Drawn against an opponent with no relevant artifact or land worth destroying, a narrow answer like this rots in hand; discarding it for two generic mana swaps the dead card for a live draw instead. That is why a four-mana single-target destruction spell can earn a slot: it is never a total blank. The cycling cost being colorless rather than red does real work too, since the card stays cyclable from a hand stranded off its red source, smoothing the opening turns it would otherwise clog. Pure removal-for-removal's-sake is a luxury most decks cannot afford, and the escape hatch here is what lets a specialist effect ride along without dragging.