The X-cheese first gained notoriety when Fireball had its intimate love affair with Channel, with Black Lotus as matchmaker. Since then, X-cheese has always been a part of classic red lore. Here's my take on these spells.
Fireball - The grandfather of all cheese. Though Disintegrate came out at the same time, Fireball was more popular because of its ability to take out multiple weenie targets, or hit one target with a lot of force. This made it a choice burn spell for many years, in tandem with the ever-present Lightning Bolt.
Disintegrate - Virtually ignored in the old days. Where players would play 4 Fireballs, only 1 or 2 Disintegrates would show up in decks. It only stopped regenerators, and there weren't that many regenerators worth using a Disintegrate on. Add the fact that the control black had over the graveyard was minimal, and this became a secondary option.
Earthquake - This spell was so powerful that it hurt everybody, including yourself and your own creatures. While this served to clear the board, few players could afford to sacrifice their creatures this way. Nevertheless, this spell is superior to all others in certain deck types, such as those which use Armageddon and Mogg Maniacs.
Lava Burst - A lesser Disintegrate that did not remove creatures from the game, but prevented regeneration. This spell only served to increase Disintegrate's popularity slightly. Why bother when Incinerate does the job so much better? How many regenerators were there with more than 3 toughness?
Kaervek's Torch - The ultimate anti-blue cheese, this was a choice card in the proper meta-game. Otherwise, it is an ordinary spell against 4 other colors, no better than Blaze.
Volcanic Geyser - The first instant-speed red x-spell. For an additional point of red mana, you could use this during your opponent's turn. However, with both the Bolt and Incinerate readily available, this spell also did not see much use.
Rolling Thunder - This is it, the biggest threat to Fireball's throne as king of x-cheese. For an additional red mana, the Thunder could spread its damage any way it wanted, whereas in Fireball's case spreading damage was a case of diminishing returns. However, it has mana-disadvantage when it came to larger critters.
Blaze - This signalled the downfall of x-cheese. It had no special attributes. Red players cried out in pain.
Heat Ray - Instant speed at no extra charge, but could only target creatures. Ick.
For players like me, it has always been an eternal war between Rolling Thunder and Fireball. These are the 2 most versatile X-burns available. My personal top 3 priority rating:
1. Fireball - most useful, most of the time
2. Rolling Thunder - almost as versatile as Fireball, most useful if you aren't packing a lot of other burn spells for it's unbeatable ability to pick out multiple weenies an targets
3. Earthquake - the ultimate in red board creature control, leaves room for the big guys to fight in, a lovely little panic button
I'll take on the instants at another time.
