Flare of Duplication copies an instant or sorcery spell and lets you choose new targets for the copy. You can pay three mana or sacrifice a nontoken red creature instead, creating a way for a red deck to copy an important spell even when its lands are tapped. The target can be your own spell or another player's spell, giving the card both planned and opportunistic uses.
Copying a large draw spell, removal spell, or mana-producing spell can improve a decisive turn. A red creature that already supplied an entry ability, such as Imperial Recruiter, can be useful material for the alternative cost. Tokens do not qualify, so a deck full of Goblin tokens still needs a nontoken red creature if it wants to avoid the mana payment.
The original spell remains on the stack and can still resolve. Copying an opponent's removal spell does not by itself protect their original target, though redirecting your copy toward another threat may improve the exchange. The copy normally retains choices such as modes and the value of X, while the permission to change targets does not allow every other choice to be rewritten.
A spell copy created directly on the stack is not cast, so cast-only triggers do not happen from that copy. Magecraft abilities that care about copies can still benefit. Include the Flare when your deck has worthwhile spells to copy and enough expendable red creatures to make its alternative payment a dependable option.
