MTG Salvation

Out of curiosity, hiw many of you have done well at major events with your list? A buddy took mine to day two at GP Minneapolis (I was playing Hatebears and also made day two). He went 2-4 on day two (11-6 overall), and the only difference was Harmonic Sliver in place of Reclamation Sage. Pridemage and Sage were swapped between maindeck and sideboard due to the EtB trigger not being optional on Sliver. I was also running Misty Rainforest before Windswept Heath became legal.

Quote from MemoryLapse »

Quote from ktkenshinx »

It isn't hard to figure out where the line is. If it's a discard control deck, it can definitely go here. If it's a rack-based other deck, just use common sense. I shouldn't need to post a guide for how to do this; it works just fine in every other thread.

This is where the problem lies! It ISN'T hard to figure out where the line is, yet the last 10 pages are filled with people that have no idea where it is all the same. I do not know why this thread attract these types of people, but since it obviously does, we obviously need special "mod approved" rules for posting in this thread.

So far we have:

1) Deck must contain a minimum of 6 Racks
2) Deck must have a good reason to radically depart from certain core cards (Lili, bridge, ???)

Its a really good start. Can we start the process of infracting decks that do not meet these requirements?

I don't think you're going to get people infracted for posting their own take on the deck.

Quote from Fishumi »

Mono red Burn runs Fetches becuase of Grim Lavamancer and that's Modern/Legacyy Stuff. Fetchland in T2 are almost pointless.

Ontopic: I don't quite Like Paragon of Fierce Defiance I would prefer Hall of Trimuph Searing Blood may not be too good in this format and Chandra is jsut another 4CMC...you are palying Rabble Red which is supposed to win turn 5 not start doing things on turn 4.

Lower you curve. Try Valley Dasher, move these Searing Blood to the SB, cut the Chandra to 1 or none, get a 4 Stoke the Flame, Swiftspear Monastery is another 1 drop which can get bigger using your burn to clear a path.

Maybe you want to to splash White to add Ride Down or Deflection Palm.


Just remmber you need to be fast and effcient.

I agree on Hall of triumph. I'm going to give it a go.

I will also cut Chandra down to a 1 of. I like that her +1 can prevent blocking. I probably don't need more than 1, but I will stick a second in the sideboard for ckntrol decks.

I'm going to use the extra room to test out Altac Bloodseeker and Valley Dasher, and see which I like more in the deck.

Thanks for the input.

Quote from DeadManSeven »

Reveillark also hits for 4+ in the air and isn't a good target for any removal. The majority of my games are won by 'Lark beats - it's already all the nail in the coffin you need, as much as I would love to be playing Sun Titan to value opponents to death.

What I am saying is that it is good to have a target to Pod Lark into if you are going to run him. If you Pod into Sun Titan you can retrieve Melira, Redcap or Viscera Seer with Lark, and then grab Finks or one of your other pieces with Titan. I've even grabbed Eternal Witness, grabbed Chord, and then fetched my last combo piece.

I really don't like the idea of playing Reveillark without something to Pod him into, but then again I don't play him anymore either.

I don't play a ton of Standard. It's not really the format I like to focus on. I do play Standard events about once every week or so, and usually do well enough to win packs for drafting the following week. Actually, up until a week ago, I was also playing RW Burn in Standard. Mostly because I had the cards more than it was the deck I wanted to play. Now that stuff is rotating, I am looking for something new to play. After playtesting a few brews I had been kicking ideas around for, this is the one that seemed to be winning games despite being underdeveloped.

What else would you suggest I run in the board? Satyr Firedancer perhaps? Maybe it's too soon to tell what I should be looking out for.

Quote from Into_The_Inferno »

thats why every mono red burn deck runs 8 min fetches.., you dont wanna be drawing lands, you want gas, fetches produce gas

You don't run fetch lands in a mono colored deck unless they serve some other purpose. Resetting the top deck for Courser of Kruphix for example would be a good use for fetch lands in a mono colored deck. This deck does not need fetch lands for any function, and therefore does not need fetch lands.

I did say that I want to lower my curve. Some constructive discussion on what to do about it would be more helpful.

I've been looking for a new deck to play post rotation. I've been liking Goblin Rabblemaster, and were looking for other cards to build around him. Obviously he synergizes with Goblins, so those were the first I looked at. Foundry Street Denizen, Frenzied Goblin and Hordeling Outburst were the first cards to go in, followed by Lightning Strike, Searing Blood and Stoke the Flames for a removal package. Paragon of Fierce Defiance also fit the build pretty well. I fit in Chandra to help with some evasion, and Purphoros as another way to pump all my dudes and offer an additional win condition, but I am not sure how well I like them. My deck is currently bottlenecked at the 4cmc slot, and I am feeling a need to trim it down to smooth out the mana curve.

The sideboard is more or less just a bunch of cards I threw in for the sake of having a sideboard. I'm not sure exactly what I want or what I will need in the next phase of development. I suppose it really depends on what becomes the major decks coming out of rotation. Arc Lightning has been really solid though. Possibly good enough for the main deck.



Notes about the current build through my testing thus far:

I don't know what it is about this deck, but I tend to get either flooded or mana screwed more often than not. I know capping out at 4cmc I want 23 lands. It's the right number but I just don't draw very well. It's not anything that I can change, but just something worth noting. Maybe Magma Jet in the main deck is the route to go. It certainly fits in my curve pretty well.

War-Name Aspirant has been kinda meh. I don't like that it has bad synergy with Denizen. I want to play creatures before I attack with Denizen, but I don't want to play War-Name Aspirant until after I attack. I'm thinking it should go. Generator Servant, Borderland Marauder and Valley Dasher all come to mind. I really like Altac Bloodseeker as well, but I am not sure how good he is outside of limited. He was crazy good in draft, but idk how well he fits into a Standard deck.

Crowd's Favor has been good. I don't get 2 for 1'ed with it as often as I thought. I love casting it after tapping out, but maybe it's too cute. It could probably be cut to make room for something else. It's just one of those cards I put in because I like, but it does have it's inherent weakness.

Hordeling Outburst has been really really good. It synergizes well with Denizen and Stoke the Flames. These guys also get nuts with Paragon, and can make Rabblemaster insane. I have yet to cast one after dropping Purphoros, but it looks really solid on paper. Purphoros on the other hand has been kinda meh, but I have not played with him enough to really decide how I feel about him.

I tried running Fanatic of Mogis when I first put this together, but he was just not doing very much. I end up with a lot of tokens, and not so much devotion to red. While I like Fanatic, I feel he is not best suited for this particular deck.

At this point I am just looking for some input. Maybe some considerations that I haven't made yet.

I think Damnation is a fine choice. There were a lot of players running Drown in Sorrow a while back (including MemoryLapse), but I felt it wasn't quite good enough.

Quote from Player292 »

How does burn deal with T1 Leyline of Sanctity?

Goblin Guide, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Vexing Devil, etc... don't care about Leyline. I run creatures that you can sac to blow up enchantments, such as Keening Apparition. Other players like to run War Priest of Thune. Some decks splash green for Destructive Revelry.

I feel like if you are going to run Reveillark, you want a 6 drop to pod into. I've seen some people running Wurmcoil Engine and I have played Sun Titan in the past. Podding Rev into Sun Titan can create insane card advantage.

Quote from vegantoad »

Is running a single angels grace as a side board card worth it? What do you consider your chances of drawing it?

I'm actually considering running more than one. Ad Nauseam is not a huge part of the field though, but it is incredibly difficult to beat.

Quote from headminerve »

I'm asking you implying the fact Qasali has been the the way to go so far. He's a better body, can be cast earlier, Chord the same way as Rec Sage.
I assumed a few details like Resto Angel, your build more combo than beatdown, and the heavy 2-drop count would play in favor of Rec Sage here. Were there points taken in consideration to make you choose Sage ?

I run Sage maindeck and Qasali in the board. I don't expect to see Torpor Orb effects in game 1, but I will usually bring in Pridemage post board. The strength in Sage is that you get the effect you need and then can Pod him into something else. With Pridemage you have to activate and sacrifice him, which means you aren't going to Pod him into something else.

Blood Moon is a terrible choice for this deck. We should be winning on turn 4, not gimping our opponents land on turn 3 with a card that deals no damage. Any deck that gets hosed by Blood Moon should be losing to our aggressive game plan to begin with. Mainboard Blood Moon? Might as well play maindeck Grafdigger's Cage while you're at it.

I like having the maindeck artifact and enchantment removal on hand in game 1. There are times when you can just Chord it up after Splinter Twin is cast, or you can Pod it out to blow up a Cranial Plating or some other relevant threat. There are a lot of match ups where it can be relevant, and having a singleton in there to fetch out is a good call. It also has the all important "may" clause, which allows you to play it without having to blow up your own Birthing Pod (unlike Harmonic Sliver). Worst case scenario, I just play it and then Pod into the 4 drop of choice.

Quote from Alix444 »

I am totally not trying to be a snob, but as an affinity player I can't remember losing to burn this season. It's close most of the time but I can vividly recall how much harder life is with a stony in play. I guess I understand if you just aren't playing white, but it doesn't make sense to me otherwise.

Affinity does have the edge over Burn. There is a reason I have 3x Rakdos Charm, extra Searing Blaze and Smash to Smithereens in my board. Rakdos Charm has been the best, as sometimes I can just hit for 5+ if they spit their whole hand on the board, but can also be used to remove Cranial Plating or some other valuable target. I don't run Stony Silence because it just seems unnecessary.

Quote from Player292 »

Hey guys, I was wondering if the deck retains its competitive edge without fetchlands? If so, what can I replace them with?

You can play without fetch lands, but it does make the deck worse. You don't have extra lands to pitch for Grim Lavamancer, and it makes it harder to fix your colors for Boros Charm and Bump in the Night. Pick them up if you can. With reprinting of the Onslaught fetches in Khans, you should be able to pick up stuff like Bloodstained Mire and Wooded Foothills for reasonable prices. I would not go mono red, as you lose a lot of your power and sideboard options.