MTG Salvation

Does anyone have ideas on how to make an EDH burn deck using all the huge burn spells like Urza's Rage and Searing Wind alongside damage boosters/doublers like Furnace of Rath and Fire Servant? Any card ideas?

I don't have any experience with burn in EDH but Riku seems like a great general to be able to copy the burn spells as well as the access to green for ramping to maximize those X burn spells. On top of that, I would run instant and sorcery recursion like Mystic Retrieval and Nostalgic Dreams.
Just my 2 cents.

I think the most efficient strategy for burn-lovers right now is Purphoros, God of the Forge. it scales better in multiplayer games than spell based burn decks. I do like the challenge of making a spell based burn deck though.

If you're going to do that I would start with red sweepers, as it's unlikely your spells will end the game before traditional creature based strategies would overwhelm you.

Critical cards I would consider for my strategy would be: Heartless Hidetsugu, Sulfuric Vapors, Repercussion, Burning Sands, Stigma Lasher.

Priorities would be off-setting the card disadvantage of dealing direct damage, dealing with aggressive decks while being nimble enough to beat control decks, and effects that scale well for giant 40-life total games.

If you're playing black, Repay in Kind will drag everyone down to your level and make your spells far more relevant than theirs. Sorin Markov is great there too, of course, as long as your social contract tolerates him.

With these things in mind, cool generals might be Akroma, Angel of Fury, Olivia Voldaren, Keranos, God of Storms, Heartless Hidetsugu, Toshiro Umezawa (Weird black burn deck??).

You need some major ramp to make this work. The big burn spells take a lot of resources... if your late game turns consist of "Mountain, Urza's Rage you for 10, pass the turn" then it honestly won't be good enough. In mono-red you can pull it off with the full suite of mana doublers (Mana Flare, Gauntlet of Power, etc.).

Repercussion has already been mentioned but I want to reiterate it because it is very important.

Firestorm is an often overlooked card that always pulls its weight for me. Use it right before a Wheel effect or right at the end of the game for some unexpected reach.

Stuffy Doll has great synergy with what you are trying to do -- it indirectly acts as a Furnace of Rath, it stays around to satisfy Pyrohemia's requirement, and it blocks too!

Hammer of Bogardan, Magma Phoenix, and Shard Phoenix are useful if you need some card advantage or find yourself stalling out. They're not great, but okay.

Hope this helps!

Past In Flames and/or Praetor's Counsel could help you finish out in the late game, and I agree that Riku would be great for the deck. Also in G/R you have the Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combo which can be amazing especially because you are running doublers. Also: Young Pyromancer with Purphoros, God of the Forge, Guttersnipe, Goblin Electromancer, Isochron Scepter and Elite Arcanist (because you can copy it with Riku and it allows you to cast spells, which can be doubled with Riku).

Possible Commanders:

Rosheen Meanderer
Riku of Twin Reflections
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Jeleva, Nephalia Scourge
Kaervek the Merciless

Huh, Kaervek playing X spells with all of Blacks mana ramp might be kinda interesting to make, actually.

Riku is a good idea for a general! But I was thinking about mono-red since it gives me access to mana-doublers for those sweet, sweet Fireballs. Kreanos also seems super cool, though.

Stuffy Doll is also a brilliant suggestion! Thanks for all the help everyone. I know this isn't going to be the best deck ever, I'm not expecting it to be. But I just kind of want to do it for the fun of it.

If you are going to use burn + damage doublers, why not use Mrs. Double Damage herself. Having access to white also gives you some additional options. I'm a little biased because I run a Gislea deck (link in my sig) and the deck is a lot of fun because it attacks a table in a way that people aren't used to in EDH.

I agree with the idea of using Gisela, I've also built a sort of burn deck with her.

In addition to straight burn, I included redirection cards such as Reflect Damage, Mirror Strike, and Boros Fury-Shield to "burn" people with their own creatures.

I made a very few creatures Rakdos Punisher deck (Kaervek Punisher) which makes the most use of AoE Burn spells and Repercussion or other Punisher related effects

Kaervek the Merciless is the best burn commander.


The other really scary burn mode is Wort, the Raidmother

Because Gruul can pump an ungodly number of tokens with her to them sac to fuel the craziest X spells.

Ashling, The Pilgrim is board control and burn on a body that you can voltron out with early if your meta has very little targeted removal or keep as a repeatable wrath effect late game. Running the copy effects like Fork, Reiterate, Reverberate, and Wild Ricochet give you protection from counter magic, access to your opponents terrifying late game spells, and the ability to double down on your burn effects. Increasing Vengeance is amazing too despite it only being able to copy your own things for greater effect. Consider Mirari, Bösium Strip, Recoup, and Past in Flames to also get further value out of your burn spells. Charmbreaker Devils, Fire Servant, Galvanoth, Satyr Firedancer, Guttersnipe are all dudes that are relevant though I don't particularly like relying on them.

Mana shouldn't be an issue if you run Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun, Doubling Cube, Extraplanar Lens, and if you can afford it or proxy it - Gauntlet of Might. Damage doublers like Furnace of Rath and Dictate of the Twin Gods can quickly speed the clock up. Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle can deal a fair amount of damage over time as well with the two clone lands Vesuva and Thespian Stage or utilizing Thawing Glaciers and Deserted Temple to just pound out mountains. Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum also work well with Goblin Welder and Trading Post at powering out Valakut triggers and powering up your mana for big spells later. You can quickly become public enemy number one.

This Rakka Mar deck I'm building right now is somewhat kind of a burn. With the endless 3/1 Elemental generated, add in some Pandemonium, it can pop bolts every drop~

I have lots of burn in my Gisela, Blade of Goldnight deck. I'll edit in specifics when I'm not about to sleep.

EDIT:
In addition to combos with Stuffy Doll and the like, I run damage doublers Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and Quest for Pure Flame. Depending on your deck, you'll probably also want either Flame Servant or Gratuitous Violence.

My burn suite is primarily for damage to creatures; I have Blasphemous Act, Chain Reaction, Comet Storm, Inferno, Bonfire of the Damned, and little Breath of Darigaaz. If you want burn to the face as a win condition, you might want additional X-spells--Fanning the Flames for a more controlling build, or perhaps Devil's Play/Demonfire. Your options increase as you add more colors, too.

Burn in EDH is god tier

I've debated Rosheen Meanderer or Wort, the Raidmother for burn, but haven't tried yet. I like that Meanderer focuses X spells, seems appropriate.

A well-timed Glacial Chasm lets you survive the mass-burn X-spells, like Fault Line and Squall Line, as well as spells like Acidic Soil and Price of Progress.

Cheers!

Wort is way scarier because Rosheen is a 4 add and Conspire is a 2x Not to mention that applies to the non X spells too.

Mana Geyser >> Comet Storm is a pretty solid way to send some damage across the board in multiplayer, and is extra potent if you are intending to play Past in Flames to help throw damage around.

Also, Radha, Heir to Keld is reasonable as a Commander if you want to pilot something akin to an old-school Elf-ball deck.

Having tried to do this multiple times I'd say your best bets are:

R: Jaya (also she's fun to play
RG: Wort
RU: Any, not many are supper special
RUG: Riku (I think I've got an old list posted on here, it hasn't been updated in a long while though)

RW: Gisela (she seems the best, I had never considered the combination before)

For generals, Heartless Hidetsugu is the way to go. Just a single activation can bring a whole table down into burn range, and I've pretty handily taken players out with Lightning Bolt-level burn after they let me tap Heartless 2-3 times.

Fanatic of Mogis is an all-star in my decks that like burn. Lay some Furnace of Rath damage-doubling goodness, then drop the Fanatic. It's not uncommon to slam the board for 8-12 damage in a deck that likes stuff like Hammer of Purphoros and Sulfuric Vortex. And then the fanatic swings for another 4. Erratic Portal lets you replay him, and copy effects like Heat Shimmer, Twinflame, and Kiki-Jiki let you double up on his ETB ability.

Quote from Taleran »

Wort is way scarier because Rosheen is a 4 add and Conspire is a 2x Not to mention that applies to the non X spells too.

While this is true, Wort doesn't (Directly) benefit from cards like Mana Reflections and untap effects.

Quote from Slarg232 »

Quote from Taleran »

Wort is way scarier because Rosheen is a 4 add and Conspire is a 2x Not to mention that applies to the non X spells too.

While this is true, Wort doesn't (Directly) benefit from cards like Mana Reflection and untap effects.

Wort benefits even more from those kinds of cards because Wort decks can generate all sorts of mana from a multitude of different sources to channel into x-spells (Earthcraft being the primary offender). My first RG deck used to be Rosheen Meanderer as kind of an 'x-spell matters' theme. Wort was in the deck and was an absolute all-star whenever he stuck, so I revamped the deck to take advantage of him. The deck is one of my more combo-ish decks that I run and is capable of some epic turns.

Personally, I don't like using burn as an aggro strategy in EDH. Wort and Rosheen is cute, but getting to the state where they are effective enough to matter either takes too long or won'y be relevant. It's actually better to try to play burn like a really messed up control deck, and making sure everyone knows that life doesn't matter until the last (X spell that you play which just so happens to be enough to kill the table)