I took the unmodified build I listed above to an IQ last saturday. Didn't do too well and didn't stick around past round 4 but it was an interesting experience.
Round 1: Elves (0-2)
Game 1 (draw): My opening 7 is solid but I don't see any removal spells this game and he combos off on turn 4. I don't remember the exact contents but it contained guide and swiftspear, and was definitely a hand I would normally keep blind.
Game 2 (play): My opening 7 is this hand: Scalding Tarn, Monastery Swiftspear, Sensei's divining top, Lightning Bolt, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and 2x Searing Blaze. I keep this hand because I know I will definitely win if I can draw a second land. However, I fail to draw a second land even after spinning top and I die turn 4. The kicker? The land was 4 cards down before I spun top. I don't know if keeping the 7 was a mistake or not but either way it sure blew up in my face. Thoughts?
Round 2: RUG Delver (0-2)
I don't remember much either game except I have no way of dealing with his Nimble mongoose, and he was able to land multiples of each against me both games. I think he had 3 out on game 2. I've only played this matchup once so I ended up getting some key spells countered.
Round 3: Bye. Played some commander while getting the fuming about going 0-6 with burn over the past 2 days out of my system before round 4. If you want, I could probably recall some of my matches on Friday where I played MUD, Jeskai stoneblade, Miracles, and Loam pox.
Round 4: Shardless BUG (2-0)
Game 1: I end up landing an early Sulfuric Vortex and I end up redirecting its damage to his planeswalkers. Sensei's Divining Top single handedly won me the game here. The turn after I played top, I spun it and saw I was about to flood out with 3 land on top, so I shuffled using a fetch and spun again. This time, top shows me a Lava Spike, Lightning Bolt, andPrice of Progress. I pass the turn and my opponent goes to 13, while upticking Liliana and casting Jace, the Mind sculptor. On my next turn, I draw bolt, and then use top to draw a lethal Price for 8.
Game 2: I don't have top this time around but it was ok this time because my opponent met a swift death.
Top definitely has put in hella work over the weekend for me, and it only ever disappointed me once against the elf deck, but that's not even the card's fault. I've loved playing with it every single time I've drawn it, and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. I also like it as a 2-of. Even though I wish I could draw it more often, it's probably for the best if I keep it at 2, and I feel like 1 isn't sufficient enough to add to the deck's consistency. There's few games I've actually lost when I've played it and it's definitely single-handedly won me more games than just the one against Shardless BUG. Since you're a burn deck, nobody's going to side in Top hate against you for the time being at least since nobody expects it and it's generally not worth doing so. I will try Nevelo's modded main next Friday with 2 REB sideboard and see how that goes.
Round 1: Elves (0-2)
Game 1 (draw): My opening 7 is solid but I don't see any removal spells this game and he combos off on turn 4. I don't remember the exact contents but it contained guide and swiftspear, and was definitely a hand I would normally keep blind.
Game 2 (play): My opening 7 is this hand: Scalding Tarn, Monastery Swiftspear, Sensei's divining top, Lightning Bolt, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and 2x Searing Blaze. I keep this hand because I know I will definitely win if I can draw a second land. However, I fail to draw a second land even after spinning top and I die turn 4. The kicker? The land was 4 cards down before I spun top. I don't know if keeping the 7 was a mistake or not but either way it sure blew up in my face. Thoughts?
Game 2 you probably have to mulligan a hand that doesn't have interaction T1-3 against elves. Blind against any deck that hand would be a snap keep. This is how I look at that hand:
Elves goes off T3-5.
I'm playing Top T1 and upkeep spinning to hit a land T2. If I don't hit a land I'm dead. If I do hit a land I probably have to bolt one of his guys. I still only have 2 lands and no landfall so my searing blazes are mini which probably means my clock isn't fast enough.
It's a tough call, but that hand wins if you don't play top and naturally draw a second and maybe a third land which seems loose. The top versions of burn mulligan really well so I tend to be on the side of mulligan aggressively. I'm glad top is working out for you though! I've personally never loved the deck this much and I've been on legacy burn for as long as I can remember.
BasedFuster, I feel the hand you kept against Elves was a trap, as most 1 landers are, top makes it seem like a decent gamble, but what I saw was an all or nothing gamble on whether or not you see a land from top activation, and considering that you ddin't have a shuffle trigger, the chances are very real that you get top locked any ways. I personally wouldn't have kept that hand unless I had another land.
Too bad about your matches, keep pushing, lady luck will smile on you again.
Also RUG was rampant in my area, with some very experienced players, as the burn player you have to react to their plays, since there isn't one single plan of attack against them. I usually sit back and play defensively killing their few clocks, and baiting their counters and let price mop up. Then there are games where you just race like crazy against mongoose. I actually like swift spear in this match up over guide, since all their creatures out race guide. I've had games where swift spear, and a healthy hand held mongoose in check long enough for me to dig for price. Luckily they didn't find a second clock in time.
After some more thought I really feel the deck should only pack either swift spear or guide right now, and swift spear just can't match guide's power. Even though I side guides out alot, I much rather see him game 1 blind then swift spear, but with sufficient information, swift spear is usually more useful for me in post-board games.
Given what my opponent had drawn his first few turns I definitely would have won if I had gotten a second land. He had to use Glimpse of Nature turn 3 to set up the win and given that I had Eidolon, that would have shut off his glimpse turn had I gotten a second land, so it didn't really matter that searing blaze would have been somewhat dead without a third land.
I know I definitely would have mulliganed that hand vs a blind deck as I generally don't keep one-landers for the exact reason I lost that game.
The hand looked fine to me. Bolt on T1 if needed. T2 Searing Blaze or Eidolon if you draw the land. Top for when we get past Turn 3 and need to keep things moving. Sometimes with Burn you have to risk these sort of mana light hands which otherwise have the tools to win.
It's probably best to distance ourselves from what happened that game, because while the best decision-in-hindsight can change on a case-by-case basis, the best strategy overall should stay the same because you don't know if they've got the nuts. Or as Tim Cook says, "this isn't about one phone."
As an early supporter of SDT, I never thought of it as an early-game mana fixer the way RUG Delver might Ponder on their first turn to dig for land. Its role for me is like a really bad Sylvan Library: a mid-game tool to ensure a steady flow of action. More to the point, I don't expect SDT to work well outside of this role.
If you're counting on spinning SDT on turn 2 to dig for land, my turn two sequence would be to draw first and then spin. That's the "best worst case" scenario for a buried land, but assuming that SDT finds a land and flips to draw it, I've gotten a single usable mana across two turns to play after spending two mana digging for land, not to mention the relatively dead turn 3 draw that SDT would be. Compared to that, a mulligan + scry doesn't seem so bad.
Just to sanity-check my "draw first" reasoning: let's say the second land is:
On top: best to draw first. If you spin, you waste the mana (though arguably reordering #2 and #3 could be useful). 2nd from top: best to spin first. Drawing first would miss it, or force you to spin+flip after drawing. * 3rd: best to spin first. See above. 4th: best to draw first. Spinning first would miss it until turn 3. Drawing first gives you a non-land spell, then you could spin+flip for the land. *
* Depending on whether the land you find is a Mountain or a fetch, that either shuffles away your SDT (fetch) or leaves it on top of the deck (Mountain). Whether that's good or bad depends on whether or not you want the Top, but you're highly unlikely to want to draw a SDT on turn 3 when you're on the ropes after a slow start.
So just to recap: If the goal is to dig as deep as you can, you draw first. If the second land was on top, you never had to play Top turn 1 anyway: you were just lucky enough to draw your second land the precise instant you needed it. If the second land is 2nd through 4th, you'll find your land at the cost of 2 mana and the roughly-half chance of a dead turn 3 draw.
Or to boil it down further, the only times that Top saves you by finding your second land on turn 2 are times that you have to pay dearly for it.
tl;dr mull it.
So am I crazy for being so mull-happy? That analysis seems to support it, but of course my opinion on the matter biases me. I just don't see the net benefit of losing tons of tempo to find a land.
Had I found a land with SDT early on I could still have bolted his guy despite all the tempo loss and I would be on track for at least a solid game. Elves doesn't play that tempo game like RUG delver does.
Mostly I just view top as something to help me get what I need in a timely fashion (this obviously applies more so late game when I'm topdecking and want spells over land but I figured it could have worked here as well). Top was actually not my turn 1 play, I ended up playing it turn 2 for a prowess trigger then I finally got around to spinning it on my turn 3. I feel like it was just unfortunate variance that I didn't see a land in my top 3 cards.
I generally think that burn players don't mulligan enough. I totally agree with Curby's rundown, SDT is just a very complex card and adds a new level of thinking when planning each turn. With top in the deck though, we can mulligan more aggressively to hands that have action; and the scry rule is awesome for us. Hands that have top are generally plus a card or so otherwise (spinning and draw smoothing seems to be about a card's worth of value).
TL;DR: Mulligans don't hurt the way they used to anymore.
Can someone please reenforce my beliefs that this is just shy of playable.
To me the challenge is not the card itself. In a void this thing is actually quite a decent on turn 1 play. It's more so that it does not stack favorably with swiftspear and Swiffty is a better partner with Goblin Guide. That plus I am not sure how many one drop creatures are the correct amount at this point, sometimes i feel like we want 12 so long as they don't lose too much power later on to maximize our turns one and two.
It has haste and costs 1, which meets the basic requirements. The problem is that this isn't going to flip in Legacy. Raging Goblin is not good enough.
I don't think this hand beats elves in the average case. Assuming they keep a hand that does stuff and that we're both playing magic.
Go through it, IF you draw running lands without manipulation (you're roughly a 33% to hit a second land and an 11% chance running lands) you're probably in an okay spot IF your eidolon lives and you have time to cast it. Okay, so you're not casting Top T1, that's fine, you probably have to bolt T1.
T1: Bolt their guy.
T2: Draw land, probably play eidolon because we killed their one guy.
T3: Okay, then you're probably going to want to fire off a searing blaze on their following play. Our hand is now Swifty, Searing Blaze, and Top. Probably play top and pass.
T4: Top on upkeep and then we have options.
At this point, they're somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 (maybe an eidolon trigger + attack + searing blaze). We have 3-ish points of burn left in our hand, a mostly dead swifty, and a top to find more action. We are at 15ish (one fetch + 2 eidolon triggers). At best we kill them in two/three more turns (three burn spells, plus two more eidolon triggers). Putting them dead T7-ish.
We are hoping that they: A) don't have an abrupt decay/reclamation sage/green sun's zenith for our eidolon since, in this case, it's representing about 10 damage; and B) they don't just play dude into Natural Order and find Progenitus or Ruric Thar, the Unbowed or some nonsense which we have no chance of racing/beating.
Thoughts? How do you envision this hand playing out? Even in the best case it seems like a very mediocre pace when our deck has so many more explosive draws. Obviously there are a thousand possibilities but I don't know how much better it could get...
TL;DR: The best case seems not great. I think this hand is a mulligan.
It likely belongs in that deck right next to reckless waif, another card that honestly hits just shy of being worth it. Thought to be truthful I could imaging a Mono Red werewolf aggro burn deck being a thing if they make a tribal card that plays nice specifically with the flip creatures. The loss of Swiftspear is something that would really have to be made up but in a longer game these 2 could easily outclass goblin guide with his downside.
Probably not burn though, though there is another 1 drop flip card coming called Skin Invasion that sounds more like a sorcery than a creature, so who knows...
It likely belongs in that deck right next to reckless waif, another card that honestly hits just shy of being worth it. Thought to be truthful I could imaging a Mono Red werewolf aggro burn deck being a thing if they make a tribal card that plays nice specifically with the flip creatures. The loss of Swiftspear is something that would really have to be made up but in a longer game these 2 could easily outclass goblin guide with his downside.
Probably not burn though, though there is another 1 drop flip card coming called Skin Invasion that sounds more like a sorcery than a creature, so who knows...
I've been trying for years to make reckless waif awesome but the only thing I can do is make a casual werewolf deck.
I still think Vexing Devil is far better then Swiftspear and the wolves, especially with Eidolon (or Pillars)...
2R
Creature - Devil
Menace
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. Any opponent may have you put that card into your graveyard. If a player does, Sin Prodder deals damage to that player equal to that card's converted mana cost. Otherwise, put that card into your hand. http://imgur.com/G02u9ha
I think this is much more viable than SDT in a burn deck. Yes it's weak to removal, but so it SDT. It's a 3/2 so it swings for 3 if needed and has evasion, it gives you an extra card or free damage or thins out land draws (face it, once burn hits 3 land, we should be in full swing), it also fuels lavamancer. As a one off in legacy burn, this card I think is a new staple.
Yeah, and wouldn't it be cool to be able to sculpt your topdeck when you already have 8-10 fetchlands?
Seriously, the thing about our 3-drops is they need to pretty much win or totally flip a board state all by themselves. My gut tells me that Prodder doesn't do enough, but it would be sweet if it worked out. Burn's one of the few decks without mainstream library manipulation options (after dropping Magma Jet).
2R
Creature - Devil
Menace
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. Any opponent may have you put that card into your graveyard. If a player does, Sin Prodder deals damage to that player equal to that card's converted mana cost. Otherwise, put that card into your hand. http://imgur.com/G02u9ha
I think this is much more viable than SDT in a burn deck. Yes it's weak to removal, but so it SDT. It's a 3/2 so it swings for 3 if needed and has evasion, it gives you an extra card or free damage or thins out land draws (face it, once burn hits 3 land, we should be in full swing), it also fuels lavamancer. As a one off in legacy burn, this card I think is a new staple.
If he was 2cc we could be talking about staple... 3cc, I'm not sure if he's worth playing. I might get a playset if he's under a dollar each
I think it's best as a 1 off of in the deck. At 3cc is when burn starts to run out of gas with cards in hand etc. This gets you past the pesky land top deck when you are looking for a spell, it also gets you instant free damage if your opponent decides to graveyard your card and then you still get a draw. Even with menace it is a viable attacker if needed. Yes it's susceptible to removal, but it makes the opponent choose to remove this or eidolon. A 1 off I think is best, maybe replacing a swiftspear depending on the build. I will try it out and see how it goes. I think it's a better option than SDT because it's ability is free and it can deal damage or help deal damage on a consistent basis.
The odds of a creature without haste making the list now days is pretty slim, and for good reason.
Yes if he resolves he will likely either remove a land from the top of your deck or start to ping your opponent. More likely than that though is that your opponent will kill it and you spent 3 mana on nothing instead of burning their face off. At two mana we are looking at a mostly broken red dark confidant, at 3 it is probably better suited for a U/R control list.
2R
Creature - Devil
Menace
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. Any opponent may have you put that card into your graveyard. If a player does, Sin Prodder deals damage to that player equal to that card's converted mana cost. Otherwise, put that card into your hand. http://imgur.com/G02u9ha
I think this is much more viable than SDT in a burn deck. Yes it's weak to removal, but so it SDT. It's a 3/2 so it swings for 3 if needed and has evasion, it gives you an extra card or free damage or thins out land draws (face it, once burn hits 3 land, we should be in full swing), it also fuels lavamancer. As a one off in legacy burn, this card I think is a new staple.
SDT is actually not weak to removal at all (basically the only way to remove it after it resolves is with Krosan Grip or in response to an activation of the draw ability).
The extra draw is pretty nifty, although I see this as more of a synergy than a replacement for Top. The stats and menace aren't too relevant when it doesn't have haste because it's easy to remove. I agree with the guy who said at 2cmc it's a broken dark confidant though. At 3CMC it's questionable because we are a 19 land deck after all.
This looks like another trap. Three mana is a huge investment, you're basicly skipping a big turn to put this on the field, and it suffers the same issue every other 'almost' playable creature does, it doesn't do anything the turn it hits. You won't net gain with this until you untap.
If browbeat is unplayable in burn I don't think this will either. Both are the same casting cost, there is a chance that browbeat does 5 damage, but only when its irrelevant, otherwise you draw three cards, you still have to untap to take advantage of these three cards(unless you drew into fireblast). My point is that if three mana for potential three cards is unplayable, then three mana for potential 1 card is even less playable. I can go deeper into this, but I don't think its necessary.
Why couldn't they have made this 1R, 2/1 menace with said ability. Thats the two mana powerhouse red needs.
This looks like another trap. Three mana is a huge investment, you're basicly skipping a big turn to put this on the field, and it suffers the same issue every other 'almost' playable creature does, it doesn't do anything the turn it hits. You won't net gain with this until you untap.
If browbeat is unplayable in burn I don't think this will either. Both are the same casting cost, there is a chance that browbeat does 5 damage, but only when its irrelevant, otherwise you draw three cards, you still have to untap to take advantage of these three cards(unless you drew into fireblast). My point is that if three mana for potential three cards is unplayable, then three mana for potential 1 card is even less playable. I can go deeper into this, but I don't think its necessary.
Why couldn't they have made this 1R, 2/1 menace with said ability. Thats the two mana powerhouse red needs.
That would basically be Dark Confidant on steroids. However, Browbeat is only unplayable because it's an opponent's choice card. It would be very playable if it was just 3cmc for drawing 3 cards.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Round 1: Elves (0-2)
Game 1 (draw): My opening 7 is solid but I don't see any removal spells this game and he combos off on turn 4. I don't remember the exact contents but it contained guide and swiftspear, and was definitely a hand I would normally keep blind.
Game 2 (play): My opening 7 is this hand: Scalding Tarn, Monastery Swiftspear, Sensei's divining top, Lightning Bolt, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and 2x Searing Blaze. I keep this hand because I know I will definitely win if I can draw a second land. However, I fail to draw a second land even after spinning top and I die turn 4. The kicker? The land was 4 cards down before I spun top. I don't know if keeping the 7 was a mistake or not but either way it sure blew up in my face. Thoughts?
Round 2: RUG Delver (0-2)
I don't remember much either game except I have no way of dealing with his Nimble mongoose, and he was able to land multiples of each against me both games. I think he had 3 out on game 2. I've only played this matchup once so I ended up getting some key spells countered.
Round 3: Bye. Played some commander while getting the fuming about going 0-6 with burn over the past 2 days out of my system before round 4. If you want, I could probably recall some of my matches on Friday where I played MUD, Jeskai stoneblade, Miracles, and Loam pox.
Round 4: Shardless BUG (2-0)
Game 1: I end up landing an early Sulfuric Vortex and I end up redirecting its damage to his planeswalkers. Sensei's Divining Top single handedly won me the game here. The turn after I played top, I spun it and saw I was about to flood out with 3 land on top, so I shuffled using a fetch and spun again. This time, top shows me a Lava Spike, Lightning Bolt, andPrice of Progress. I pass the turn and my opponent goes to 13, while upticking Liliana and casting Jace, the Mind sculptor. On my next turn, I draw bolt, and then use top to draw a lethal Price for 8.
Game 2: I don't have top this time around but it was ok this time because my opponent met a swift death.
Top definitely has put in hella work over the weekend for me, and it only ever disappointed me once against the elf deck, but that's not even the card's fault. I've loved playing with it every single time I've drawn it, and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. I also like it as a 2-of. Even though I wish I could draw it more often, it's probably for the best if I keep it at 2, and I feel like 1 isn't sufficient enough to add to the deck's consistency. There's few games I've actually lost when I've played it and it's definitely single-handedly won me more games than just the one against Shardless BUG. Since you're a burn deck, nobody's going to side in Top hate against you for the time being at least since nobody expects it and it's generally not worth doing so. I will try Nevelo's modded main next Friday with 2 REB sideboard and see how that goes.
Game 2 you probably have to mulligan a hand that doesn't have interaction T1-3 against elves. Blind against any deck that hand would be a snap keep. This is how I look at that hand:
Elves goes off T3-5.
I'm playing Top T1 and upkeep spinning to hit a land T2. If I don't hit a land I'm dead. If I do hit a land I probably have to bolt one of his guys. I still only have 2 lands and no landfall so my searing blazes are mini which probably means my clock isn't fast enough.
It's a tough call, but that hand wins if you don't play top and naturally draw a second and maybe a third land which seems loose. The top versions of burn mulligan really well so I tend to be on the side of mulligan aggressively. I'm glad top is working out for you though! I've personally never loved the deck this much and I've been on legacy burn for as long as I can remember.
And apparently I've changed my name: Ugh
Too bad about your matches, keep pushing, lady luck will smile on you again.
Also RUG was rampant in my area, with some very experienced players, as the burn player you have to react to their plays, since there isn't one single plan of attack against them. I usually sit back and play defensively killing their few clocks, and baiting their counters and let price mop up. Then there are games where you just race like crazy against mongoose. I actually like swift spear in this match up over guide, since all their creatures out race guide. I've had games where swift spear, and a healthy hand held mongoose in check long enough for me to dig for price. Luckily they didn't find a second clock in time.
After some more thought I really feel the deck should only pack either swift spear or guide right now, and swift spear just can't match guide's power. Even though I side guides out alot, I much rather see him game 1 blind then swift spear, but with sufficient information, swift spear is usually more useful for me in post-board games.
RIP Karn EDH
I know I definitely would have mulliganed that hand vs a blind deck as I generally don't keep one-landers for the exact reason I lost that game.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
As an early supporter of SDT, I never thought of it as an early-game mana fixer the way RUG Delver might Ponder on their first turn to dig for land. Its role for me is like a really bad Sylvan Library: a mid-game tool to ensure a steady flow of action. More to the point, I don't expect SDT to work well outside of this role.
If you're counting on spinning SDT on turn 2 to dig for land, my turn two sequence would be to draw first and then spin. That's the "best worst case" scenario for a buried land, but assuming that SDT finds a land and flips to draw it, I've gotten a single usable mana across two turns to play after spending two mana digging for land, not to mention the relatively dead turn 3 draw that SDT would be. Compared to that, a mulligan + scry doesn't seem so bad.
On top: best to draw first. If you spin, you waste the mana (though arguably reordering #2 and #3 could be useful).
2nd from top: best to spin first. Drawing first would miss it, or force you to spin+flip after drawing. *
3rd: best to spin first. See above.
4th: best to draw first. Spinning first would miss it until turn 3. Drawing first gives you a non-land spell, then you could spin+flip for the land. *
* Depending on whether the land you find is a Mountain or a fetch, that either shuffles away your SDT (fetch) or leaves it on top of the deck (Mountain). Whether that's good or bad depends on whether or not you want the Top, but you're highly unlikely to want to draw a SDT on turn 3 when you're on the ropes after a slow start.
So just to recap: If the goal is to dig as deep as you can, you draw first. If the second land was on top, you never had to play Top turn 1 anyway: you were just lucky enough to draw your second land the precise instant you needed it. If the second land is 2nd through 4th, you'll find your land at the cost of 2 mana and the roughly-half chance of a dead turn 3 draw.
Or to boil it down further, the only times that Top saves you by finding your second land on turn 2 are times that you have to pay dearly for it.
tl;dr mull it.
So am I crazy for being so mull-happy? That analysis seems to support it, but of course my opinion on the matter biases me. I just don't see the net benefit of losing tons of tempo to find a land.
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
Mostly I just view top as something to help me get what I need in a timely fashion (this obviously applies more so late game when I'm topdecking and want spells over land but I figured it could have worked here as well). Top was actually not my turn 1 play, I ended up playing it turn 2 for a prowess trigger then I finally got around to spinning it on my turn 3. I feel like it was just unfortunate variance that I didn't see a land in my top 3 cards.
TL;DR: Mulligans don't hurt the way they used to anymore.
And apparently I've changed my name: Ugh
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
To me the challenge is not the card itself. In a void this thing is actually quite a decent on turn 1 play. It's more so that it does not stack favorably with swiftspear and Swiffty is a better partner with Goblin Guide. That plus I am not sure how many one drop creatures are the correct amount at this point, sometimes i feel like we want 12 so long as they don't lose too much power later on to maximize our turns one and two.
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Go through it, IF you draw running lands without manipulation (you're roughly a 33% to hit a second land and an 11% chance running lands) you're probably in an okay spot IF your eidolon lives and you have time to cast it. Okay, so you're not casting Top T1, that's fine, you probably have to bolt T1.
T1: Bolt their guy.
T2: Draw land, probably play eidolon because we killed their one guy.
T3: Okay, then you're probably going to want to fire off a searing blaze on their following play. Our hand is now Swifty, Searing Blaze, and Top. Probably play top and pass.
T4: Top on upkeep and then we have options.
At this point, they're somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 (maybe an eidolon trigger + attack + searing blaze). We have 3-ish points of burn left in our hand, a mostly dead swifty, and a top to find more action. We are at 15ish (one fetch + 2 eidolon triggers). At best we kill them in two/three more turns (three burn spells, plus two more eidolon triggers). Putting them dead T7-ish.
We are hoping that they: A) don't have an abrupt decay/reclamation sage/green sun's zenith for our eidolon since, in this case, it's representing about 10 damage; and B) they don't just play dude into Natural Order and find Progenitus or Ruric Thar, the Unbowed or some nonsense which we have no chance of racing/beating.
Thoughts? How do you envision this hand playing out? Even in the best case it seems like a very mediocre pace when our deck has so many more explosive draws. Obviously there are a thousand possibilities but I don't know how much better it could get...
TL;DR: The best case seems not great. I think this hand is a mulligan.
And apparently I've changed my name: Ugh
... yeah, getting points out of this isn't as easy as Swiftspear. We'd occasionally have to not cast spells.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
RIP Karn EDH
Probably not burn though, though there is another 1 drop flip card coming called Skin Invasion that sounds more like a sorcery than a creature, so who knows...
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
I've been trying for years to make reckless waif awesome but the only thing I can do is make a casual werewolf deck.
I still think Vexing Devil is far better then Swiftspear and the wolves, especially with Eidolon (or Pillars)...
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
2R
Creature - Devil
Menace
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. Any opponent may have you put that card into your graveyard. If a player does, Sin Prodder deals damage to that player equal to that card's converted mana cost. Otherwise, put that card into your hand.
http://imgur.com/G02u9ha
I think this is much more viable than SDT in a burn deck. Yes it's weak to removal, but so it SDT. It's a 3/2 so it swings for 3 if needed and has evasion, it gives you an extra card or free damage or thins out land draws (face it, once burn hits 3 land, we should be in full swing), it also fuels lavamancer. As a one off in legacy burn, this card I think is a new staple.
I could see it in the board against grindy matchups.
And apparently I've changed my name: Ugh
Yeah, and wouldn't it be cool to be able to sculpt your topdeck when you already have 8-10 fetchlands?
Seriously, the thing about our 3-drops is they need to pretty much win or totally flip a board state all by themselves. My gut tells me that Prodder doesn't do enough, but it would be sweet if it worked out. Burn's one of the few decks without mainstream library manipulation options (after dropping Magma Jet).
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
If he was 2cc we could be talking about staple... 3cc, I'm not sure if he's worth playing. I might get a playset if he's under a dollar each
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
Yes if he resolves he will likely either remove a land from the top of your deck or start to ping your opponent. More likely than that though is that your opponent will kill it and you spent 3 mana on nothing instead of burning their face off. At two mana we are looking at a mostly broken red dark confidant, at 3 it is probably better suited for a U/R control list.
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
SDT is actually not weak to removal at all (basically the only way to remove it after it resolves is with Krosan Grip or in response to an activation of the draw ability).
The extra draw is pretty nifty, although I see this as more of a synergy than a replacement for Top. The stats and menace aren't too relevant when it doesn't have haste because it's easy to remove. I agree with the guy who said at 2cmc it's a broken dark confidant though. At 3CMC it's questionable because we are a 19 land deck after all.
If browbeat is unplayable in burn I don't think this will either. Both are the same casting cost, there is a chance that browbeat does 5 damage, but only when its irrelevant, otherwise you draw three cards, you still have to untap to take advantage of these three cards(unless you drew into fireblast). My point is that if three mana for potential three cards is unplayable, then three mana for potential 1 card is even less playable. I can go deeper into this, but I don't think its necessary.
Why couldn't they have made this 1R, 2/1 menace with said ability. Thats the two mana powerhouse red needs.
RIP Karn EDH
That would basically be Dark Confidant on steroids. However, Browbeat is only unplayable because it's an opponent's choice card. It would be very playable if it was just 3cmc for drawing 3 cards.