I've been having a lot of fun building decks containing red and in the sorceries section in EDHREC, [[Blasphemous Act]] is almost always present near the top. It is the most popular red card, sitting at 34% inclusion, and I think it's worth discussing if it still lives up to the glory.

The Good

Blasphemous Act does one thing, and it does it very well, it deals a lot of damage to everything for very cheap. It will usually wipe the board outside of massive/indestructible creatures. It will typically only cost one red, so you have the mana to start building your board state before anyone else, and if it gets countered it doesn't leave you in an awkward spot with no mana left. We've also seen a shift towards creatures lately. Rather than an effect as a sorcery, it's a creature with an ETB trigger. Something focusing on creatures feels like a growing priority.

The OK

Damage is the most basic way to kill a creature, and there are a lot of ways around it. If you're running a lot of indestructible creatures, or you're playing +1/+1 counters with creatures that have 14+ toughness, then this can act as a one-sided board wipe. Unfortunately your opponents may be doing the same thing. [[Heroic Intervention]] is one of the most popular green cards. It's also strong on enchantment decks or others with far fewer creatures. It will still hurt you, but will hurt your opponents more. Maybe you even want your creatures to go to the graveyard because you're running an aristocrat deck with [[Marionette Apprentice]]

The Bad

This will usually wipe your board as well, and if someone responds with a Heroic Intervention or [[Teferi's Protection]] you may end up in a worse position that you started. It also sends the creatures to the graveyard. There is significantly more graveyard support in every color recently to recover valuable spells, and the graveyard is really only a minor inconvenience for a lot of black decks. Damage is simply damage. It's not -X toughness like [[Toxic Deluge]], it's not exile like [[Farewell]], it's not sacrifice like [[Blasphemous Edict]], and it's not return to hand like [[Cyclonic Rift]]. It's the most easy form of board wipe to handle.

The Alternatives

There has been so many cards lately supporting partial board wipes. There's kindred focused cards like [[Swarmyard Massacre]], [[Winnowing]], [[Raise the Palisade]], and even most recently [[Desolation of Smaug]]. There are cards for grounded creatures [[Earthquake]], and for fliers [[corrosive gale]] or either [[Heaven // Earth]]. You have support for counters decks in [[Wave Goodbye]], and you even can choose even or odd with [[Mutinous Massacre]].

Now if you're in mono red there are far fewer options so I understand running Blasphemous Act. It will typically create a more even board state and you just need to hope you can get going faster than your opponents, but it definitely feels like it doesn't carry the same weight it once did. Maybe an A-, or B grade board wipe.

That's just my opinion but would love to hear other peoples thoughts