Fantastic Chaos removal card, incredible with Zarathur. 4/5.

Recur this thing with the Shrine of Warpflame...even if just to reuse for the shields. Crazy good card.

You will often find yourself using them as shields rather than damage. They're nice with Zarathur but only on the planet he is commited, so it won't be beefed if played in the deployment phase to gain time and remove high on command units. They're also nice with Ku'Gath, so you can pick off already wounded units.

But, and there's always a but, it's not particulalry good in early game. If opponent denies it with a shield, he loses 1 card and 0 resources. You've lost 1 card and X resources, which can put you painfully behind in the command struggle run or combat.

If opponent has no shields in hand, though, dealing a single damage in the deployment turn and killing a 2 cost unit with 2 command points is priceless.

So I feel it's some sort of "high risk / high reward" card.

2 shields in turn 1 is very handy though, as often a planet battle will be won or lost with small damage numbers.

The worst time to draw this card is when you have no cards in hand, its midgame, and you're hoping for a decent fighting unit on your HQ draw. Thats the time when it becomes a blaster effect.

I find this a little weak compared to most ambush units, as they tend to offer roughly x damage for x resource as well. Pros of this: shields, action versus a unit attack, and variability  cons: doesn't produce a body on the field (which has a lot of implications). It's good for chaos just because of the shield, but I don't think it's a good thing for a card's longevity if the actual effect is considered secondary to the shield value. That and the fact that chaos is curiously lacking ambush options at the moment.

Still a key component for Zarathur because his signature support allows you to recycle this or other Tzeentch cards. Recycling Firestorm is ideal because it gives you direct damage or shields, repeating.

hmmm.. this card is mostly used for shields.. it's obviously good during battle once you've gained production from the command phase, but it's expensive and even though it can do double damage it's way too risky to use. It's a good card and I would put it in if you want to, it has good use, but do you really need the extra damage with this meta?

I used this card to great effect to force a game to go to last planet by knocking out the only defender on the first planet. It's a very precise and useful attack when you need it. The fact that you can over pay let's you toss 1 or 2 extra damage when you've got the resources to kill that Honored Librarian or AOE guy when you need to and they'll almost certainly not be able to shield. 

True. I found myself spending 7 resources to take out an Elite and avoid those doubleshields in a game I was plenty of resources but very short on cards. My opponent didn't expect it. But the card is commonly a double shield (and the only one in Chaos, so far).

Yeah, especially with the current Zarathur build, I often found myself in endgame with 6+ resources in hand after deploying all units in hand (especially if not drawing Ammo Depots in early game). I've often gone "hell with it" and launched a Firestorm in the last battle equal to the HP of a critical unit +2, or +3 if we haven't seen that 3-shielder yet.

For the same reason, I've justified 1x Heldrake in my deck: its surprising how often you can afford in in late game.