Id like to weigh in on the splash comment...please keep in mind that all of my observations are based on online games in the tournament practice section.
Price is such a devastating card for me, almost all the land i see is non basic. I cant imagine going a different way right now.
That being said, more then a few people ive come across are playing a red blue deck that i think could be considered a burn deck.
I havent seen the actual deck lists, but it seems like theyre just burn spells, counter spells, 4 delver of secrets and 4 thing in the ice. Those creatures are really brutal when almost every other card in the deck helps them transform.
If i were going to add a second color, thats how id go. Its everything you love about playing a burn deck, comboed up with everything you hate about playing against a control deck.
Have you ever had your fireblast get force of willed, and then have the guy fireblast you right back? Lol... Its a tough way to loose...
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i play as aggressively as i can, because frankly, the deck isnt the fastest in the early game, or the most powerful in the late game. even if im sure a spell is going to get countered, ill play it anyway, because i need to get the counterspell out of their hand. if ive got 3 mana on the table, ill often fireblast early. i try not to fireblast myself down to 0 lands before the last turn of the game, but if it looks like im going to loose a land or the fb card, ill use it whenever.
i dont sideboard in very often, because i think that my main deck is the fastest version of my deck. if i find myself facing a deck that theres just no way to beat without different cards, like a reanimation deck, ill take out the 4 swiftspears for the crypts or whatever i feel i need. on the rare occasions that i do sideboard something in, its because i NEED the card or im likely to loose before the 4th turn. in these cases i want to give myself the best chance of getting my save card, so i always sideboard in 4 cards. (ok 3 vortexes. does anyone know why they picked 15 as a side? wouldnt some multiple of 4 make more sense?) the cards arent a secret, anyone playing a reanimation deck knows about our crypt and that theyll be facing it in games 2 and 3. they usually have a way to deal with it. often getting 1 crypt in my hand doesnt mean im going to get to use it.
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Hey all,
Almost time to get my youngest to bed, but I'll try to respond quick at least.
In regards to what I think the deck is lacking, the best way I can put it is longevity. Burn is a deck designed to finish the game quickly, ideally before the game progresses to the midgame stage. In Modern, and even Standard on occasion, this isn't as big of an issue. Certain decks aside, Modern is generally slower than Legacy and posses less counterspells we need to be concerned with, so going mid-to-late game is difficult but possible. In Legacy, however, Burn more often needs to win early, as our spells get outclassed much faster. Burn imo is much more meta dependant than many other decks in the format. Burn's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness I feel. Burn does the same thing with the majority of its cards at the same points on the mana curve, so while that gives it lots of consistency, it also makes the deck very predictable. I just think the deck needs some way to help keep the opponent guessing that can also help bridge it into three mid-to-late turns. I've often wondered if some amount of planeswalkers may be the answer, but I'm not totally sure.
And yes, straight mono red does have the most consistent results. But consistent and winning are not necessarily the same. Looking back at various tournament results, it's been good while since a Burn deck placed in the top 1 on a regular basis, let alone top 8.
Again, I'm just stating what my thoughts have been lately in regards to the deck. I cant say I know what the fix might be, if there is one. But I think it's worth at least examining if we can do better for the deck we enjoy.
I really, really, really want to beat a TES deck with my burn deck.
Sometimes i get lucky and steal a game, but I dont think ive won a 2 of 3 match against one yet.
Any suggestions besides pyrostatic pillar?
Thanks.
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Typically Eidolon and Pillar are the decks' best bet against combo decks. Leyline of the Void can be good too, as long as they use their gy as a resource.
Apparently i have no idea how to work a side board. Can someone explain it to me?
I see people have sideboards with 1 or 2 of a particular card in it.
So lets say you play the 1st game and loose. You realize you have a card in your sideboard that wouldve saved you...so you sideboard ONE in. then what?
How do you get that card in your hand to play with any kind of consistency?
I know when i keep a 1 land opening hand, it could be 6 or more turns until i see another mountain. And theres 20 in the deck. (1 out of every 3 cards)
If you have 1 of a card, 1 out of every 60 cards.
2....1 out of every 30 cards...
How is that helpful?
I basically loose instantly to that jitte artifact that lets you gain 4 life per turn. So i sideboard in 4 smashes....i still almost never have it when i need it. So i sideboard in 4 searing bloods to try and kill the creature with the jitte. Even though theres 8 cards in my deck now to stop me from loosing to that card, i still usually dont have them when i need them and that card kills me.
How does sideboarding in 1 or 2 of an answer help in any way unless you get super lucky? Is there some rule i dont know about that lets you get your sideboard cards?
I didnt know that you coukd scrye if you mulliganed....so maybe theres other things i dont know...
Thanks
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How do you get that card in your hand to play with any kind of consistency?
You either get it or don’t. Mulligan for it if it’s super important. Otherwise, the point of a sideboard is to swap out cards which are weak in a matchup for cards that are bombs. This won’t necessarily make any difference for a particular game, but over the course of many games will have a significant effect.
An example of this is siding is out Searing Blazes for Pillars vs Storm. Blazes are more or less dead-draws, whereas Pillar is a bomb. Drawing a Pillar makes you a favourite to win, while drawing the Blaze means you’re more likely to lose. So over the course of many games, of the 10% of games were you draw the Pillar over Blaze, you are winning those games rather than losing them. That could mean improving the overall matchup by 5-10%.
But how many of a particular card do you have in the side? If i dont get a crypt or an eidolon by the second turn, im dead. In some games, i need it in my opening hand or i loose before i even get 2 turns. Having 1 or 2 in the deck and getting in in my first 9 or 10 cards is impossible to count on.
Even with 4 of a save card in the deck, i mostly loose.
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That’s variance. That’s magic. You can include as many as you want of a particular answer in the side. The trick is to have answers for all the likely matchups you think you need help with. We only have 15 sideboard slots. So often that means only having 1 or 2 cards for a specific matchup. If you can include cards that are good for multiple different matchups, then that helps save slots for others.
So, I'm trying to finalize my list for SCGWOR tommorow. What does everyone think the most stable list currently is? Also, I was looking through some various lists of all deck styles looking for ideas and came across something. Now, I usually run Leyline of the Void as gy hate. For the lists that run it, what are people's thoughts of running Helm of Obedience as well to combo with the Leyline?
So, I'm trying to finalize my list for SCGWOR tommorow. What does everyone think the most stable list currently is? Also, I was looking through some various lists of all deck styles looking for ideas and came across something. Now, I usually run Leyline of the Void as gy hate. For the lists that run it, what are people's thoughts of running Helm of Obedience as well to combo with the Leyline?
Seeing as sideboard space is limited, 4 mana is hard for us to reach, and the odds of having it AND the leyline seems very low; I would say you are probably better off without the combo part
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"What's your plan?" Gideon asked.
"Are you serious?" Chandra replied.
Also, while Leyline of the Void is crushing against some decks, you basically have to mulligan to it. This basically means you have to run four to have a reasonable chance of getting it before you mulligan yourself out of the game. Faerie Macabre and Tormod's Crypt can do a lot of damage when drawn into, even if they're less crushing against some opponents.
Quick tournament report from the Worcester Open:
So far I'm 3-3. Rounds went;
R1 b/r reanimator. Lost in 3. Leyline saved the day in game 2, but couldn't find it or a bridge in game 3.
R2 Eldrazi Post. I don't like trinisphere.....
R3 12 Post. See above.
R4 opponent didn't show. Yay, a win!
R5 Infect. Won in 2.
R6 opponent didn't show. I'm on a streak!
R7 mono red sneak attack. G1 t1 chalice on 1. G2 t2 trinisphere.
Have I mentioned I don't like trinisphere?
R8 Sultai Leovold. Too much disruption and counters. Plus True-Name Nemesis wearing a Jitte is pretty much game.
R9 U/b Reanimator. Lost 2-1. Maindeck Linvala, sideboarded in Echoing Truth and Tidespout Tyrant. Was gg pretty quick.
Event was capped at 900, 720 started the day. Saw a LOT of big mana decks, Reanimator, and Lands. From what I could hear it seems like a lot of Grixis and Sultai too. Mono red Burn just seems so outclassed right now. At least today it was. Trinisphere is SUCH a beating, especially g1. G2 even with artifact removal brought in the trouble was hitting 3 lands most of the time before during to giant Eldrazi.
Hey everyone, I had a question about Swiftspear in Burn. I play a lot of Modern Burn, but not so much Legacy. I'm trying to make a deck, and I notice a lot of people skip Swiftspear in Legacy. Why is this? What's the rationality behind it?
The reason I'm asking is because I'm testing a version of Burn that has 4 Goblin Guides and 2 Swiftspears, to try and see one in my opening hand (sort of like how Modern Jund runs 6 discard spells and 1 CMC removal spells). What makes Swiftspear not an auto-4 of?
Mainly because of the access to a ton more quality options in legacy. Modern doesn’t have Chain Lightning, Price of Progress, Fireblast, etc. Also, meta often makes Grim Lavamancer much more valuable. Swiftspear is definitely a good card and you could run 4-of, it just depends on what sort of build you are going for. It just falls a little short of being a Core card, because the bar is higher.
I'll concur with that. Swiftspear is pretty good, and is frequently used as Guides #5-8, but it doesn't clearly outshine all the other options Legacy presents (compared with Modern, where a splash into a second color is almost required just to fill out the list).
Eidolon and Pillar tend to make it very difficult, but not impossible, for the Storm deck to win. For one, it is actually possible to go off through those cards and win. Secondly, it is possible to remove our Eidolon/Pillar EoT, and then reliably go off. Third, these cards can be countered. Finally, sometimes we simply do not draw them at all. Such effects should not be considered a lock. Legacy storm decks are much more powerful than their modern counterparts (far more so than the power increase to Burn).
Storm decks are some of the hardest decks for me to beat online. Especially the ones that use tendrils of agony. The discard they pack is just crazy. So often im getting thoughtsiezed or duressed on turn 1, hymn to tourach on turn 2.
...cabal therapy they always name eidolon, whether theyve seen my hand or not....
Then, if im not randomly discarding my mountains, they get sinkholed...
And, dont forget you really only have 1 to 3 turns before they usually go off...
Even with 4 eidolons in the main and 3 pillars in the side, i feel like i got lucky if i win a match against a storm deck.
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I'm not sure what your specific Storm opponents look like. I more frequently face the mono- or mostly-blue versions, where countermagic is their main defensive tool, and artifact removal is often relevant. I'm not as familiar with any Storm deck running Sinkhole, but it strikes me that such a deck likely has other types of inefficiencies. Do you have a link to a sample deck list of that type, so we can look at it to counterstrategize?
Regardless. I think it's important to put this all into context. Even if they go turn 1--discard Eidolon, turn 2--Hymn and just win some games that way, you are probably winning a lot of games due to opponents missing a land drop, playing 3-4 nonbasic lands into PoP, or turn-3 nut-draws. I'd guess that you win more games with a turn 3/4 kill against a stumbling opponent than you lose against a perfect turn 1/2 opening on their part. If you start taking data points and we find out that it's not the case, we can work on figuring out how to fix that. Certain metas are very, very unfriendly to Burn.
I came back into the game after a short hiatus to play in a local team tournament last Saturday. I decided to play Burn over Grixis Delver because I knew I'd be much less likely to make mistakes with burn. Despite going 1-3 with the rest of my team, I ended up only having 3 real misplays that day, and none of them really made a difference as to the outcome of the games. I changed up my list from usual, going completely fetchless, and consolidating my sideboard into 5 different cards under 4 distinct matchup categories.
Round 1: Lands (0-2)
This was an interesting round as I ended up playing against Jody Keith; a player who's top 8'd multiple GP's and Opens with Lands, and is probably one of the best Lands players in the world currently. Game 1, he attempts to Crop Rotate on turn 3, sacrificing a Tabernacle and leaving up a Taiga and Wasteland; I respond with a Price of Progress. After that resolves, he gets a Glacial Chasm and stabilizes at 10 life. The following turn, he follows up by manabonding the dark depths combo and I don't have enough instant speed burn to win before he attacks with Marit Lage. Game 2 is the same thing, he gets out a Marit Lage while at 8 life and I don't have enough burn to close the gap (double fireblast definitely would have gotten me there). I will say that after playing against him, I've realized that the Lands matchup is definitely less favorable than it looks on paper. Also I was surprised at his sideboard strategy; he only brought in 2 Krosan Grip against me just in case I brought in Blood Moon or Ensnaring Bridge. He's the first lands player I've seen not to board in Sphere of Resistance or other artifact-based hate against me.
Round 2: Elves (2-1)
This matchup was pretty straightforward. Game 1, I keep my opponent off of enough creatures to stop him from doing anything. Game 2, my opponent manages to Natural Order into Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. I manage to remove it, but at the cost of all my lands and going to 2 life. The end result is that my board is now 2 Eidolon and 0 land. My opponent manages to follow up with a Scavanging Ooze to recover. Game 3, my opponent stumbles and I hit multiple Searing cards.
Round 3: Burn Mirror (0-2)
My opponent straight up drew way better than I did this round. Game 1, I stabilize at 8, and I have the lead in life total with double Eidolon out (he's at 4), but my opponent manages to come back and win with double Fireblast. Game 2, my opponent gets off a late game Swiftspear+2 bolts to put me at 3 life out of nowhere.
Round 4: Grixis Delver (1-2)
Game 1, I play around most of his counters and burn him out while he stumbles with ponders. Game 2, he counters my attempt to remove his turn 1 Deathrite Shaman and then proceeds to power out a turn 2 True-name Nemesis, which ends up beating me in a race. Game 3, we both have slow starts, but he manages to win after getting out a Gurmag Angler and double Flusterstorming my Price of Progress (It would have been for 10 if it had resolved) when I had 3 mana up.
Overall despite the bad record I had a lot of fun and I feel like I still haven't lost my touch actually playing the deck. The only real bummer was that I originally wanted to name our team the Crimson Tide (as all 3 of us were playing burn decks) just to get reactions out of people (I live in Louisiana), but the people running the tournament decided to rename our team as well as a few others. I was so close to living the dream.
After actually keeping track of my games the past week or so, it seems like im winning around 50 percent. I guess its just easier to remember the loses.
Obviously im still trying to up my win percentage. has anyone had any luck with adding planes walkers to their decks? the ones im specifically looking at are Chandra, Torch of Defiance andKoth of the Hammer
the decks i seem to have the most consistent trouble with are storm (tendrils of agony and empty the warrens), Show and Tell, and some lifegain things. im wary of taking things out of my side because its only my side that currently saves me against a bunch of decks.
thanks for your advice
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Red PWs push you towards a slower, more mana-intensive build. This will make you less consistent at putting over enough damage by turn 4. If you want to play those, Red Stompy builds have been doing really well lately.
Your deck looks pretty good, and I wouldn't actually recommend changing much at all. Storm can be rough game 1. Games 2 and 3 are better since you can mulligan to Eidolon or Pillar, but you're often down a game and it can still be dicey on the draw. We all have weak matchups though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
What sort of life-gain are you running into? Right now the only decks I can think of that have it in any quantity worth mentioning are equipment-based decks, and Burn tends to handle those pretty well.
Price is such a devastating card for me, almost all the land i see is non basic. I cant imagine going a different way right now.
That being said, more then a few people ive come across are playing a red blue deck that i think could be considered a burn deck.
I havent seen the actual deck lists, but it seems like theyre just burn spells, counter spells, 4 delver of secrets and 4 thing in the ice. Those creatures are really brutal when almost every other card in the deck helps them transform.
If i were going to add a second color, thats how id go. Its everything you love about playing a burn deck, comboed up with everything you hate about playing against a control deck.
Have you ever had your fireblast get force of willed, and then have the guy fireblast you right back? Lol... Its a tough way to loose...
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4 chain lightning
4 lava spike
4 rift bolt
4 goblin guide
4 monastery swiftspear
4 eidolon of the great revel
4 price of progress
4 flame rift
4 fireblast
20 mountain
my sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Searing Blood
4 smash to smithereens
3 sulfuric vortex
i play as aggressively as i can, because frankly, the deck isnt the fastest in the early game, or the most powerful in the late game. even if im sure a spell is going to get countered, ill play it anyway, because i need to get the counterspell out of their hand. if ive got 3 mana on the table, ill often fireblast early. i try not to fireblast myself down to 0 lands before the last turn of the game, but if it looks like im going to loose a land or the fb card, ill use it whenever.
i dont sideboard in very often, because i think that my main deck is the fastest version of my deck. if i find myself facing a deck that theres just no way to beat without different cards, like a reanimation deck, ill take out the 4 swiftspears for the crypts or whatever i feel i need. on the rare occasions that i do sideboard something in, its because i NEED the card or im likely to loose before the 4th turn. in these cases i want to give myself the best chance of getting my save card, so i always sideboard in 4 cards. (ok 3 vortexes. does anyone know why they picked 15 as a side? wouldnt some multiple of 4 make more sense?) the cards arent a secret, anyone playing a reanimation deck knows about our crypt and that theyll be facing it in games 2 and 3. they usually have a way to deal with it. often getting 1 crypt in my hand doesnt mean im going to get to use it.
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Almost time to get my youngest to bed, but I'll try to respond quick at least.
In regards to what I think the deck is lacking, the best way I can put it is longevity. Burn is a deck designed to finish the game quickly, ideally before the game progresses to the midgame stage. In Modern, and even Standard on occasion, this isn't as big of an issue. Certain decks aside, Modern is generally slower than Legacy and posses less counterspells we need to be concerned with, so going mid-to-late game is difficult but possible. In Legacy, however, Burn more often needs to win early, as our spells get outclassed much faster. Burn imo is much more meta dependant than many other decks in the format. Burn's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness I feel. Burn does the same thing with the majority of its cards at the same points on the mana curve, so while that gives it lots of consistency, it also makes the deck very predictable. I just think the deck needs some way to help keep the opponent guessing that can also help bridge it into three mid-to-late turns. I've often wondered if some amount of planeswalkers may be the answer, but I'm not totally sure.
And yes, straight mono red does have the most consistent results. But consistent and winning are not necessarily the same. Looking back at various tournament results, it's been good while since a Burn deck placed in the top 1 on a regular basis, let alone top 8.
Again, I'm just stating what my thoughts have been lately in regards to the deck. I cant say I know what the fix might be, if there is one. But I think it's worth at least examining if we can do better for the deck we enjoy.
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
Sometimes i get lucky and steal a game, but I dont think ive won a 2 of 3 match against one yet.
Any suggestions besides pyrostatic pillar?
Thanks.
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Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
I see people have sideboards with 1 or 2 of a particular card in it.
So lets say you play the 1st game and loose. You realize you have a card in your sideboard that wouldve saved you...so you sideboard ONE in. then what?
How do you get that card in your hand to play with any kind of consistency?
I know when i keep a 1 land opening hand, it could be 6 or more turns until i see another mountain. And theres 20 in the deck. (1 out of every 3 cards)
If you have 1 of a card, 1 out of every 60 cards.
2....1 out of every 30 cards...
How is that helpful?
I basically loose instantly to that jitte artifact that lets you gain 4 life per turn. So i sideboard in 4 smashes....i still almost never have it when i need it. So i sideboard in 4 searing bloods to try and kill the creature with the jitte. Even though theres 8 cards in my deck now to stop me from loosing to that card, i still usually dont have them when i need them and that card kills me.
How does sideboarding in 1 or 2 of an answer help in any way unless you get super lucky? Is there some rule i dont know about that lets you get your sideboard cards?
I didnt know that you coukd scrye if you mulliganed....so maybe theres other things i dont know...
Thanks
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You either get it or don’t. Mulligan for it if it’s super important. Otherwise, the point of a sideboard is to swap out cards which are weak in a matchup for cards that are bombs. This won’t necessarily make any difference for a particular game, but over the course of many games will have a significant effect.
An example of this is siding is out Searing Blazes for Pillars vs Storm. Blazes are more or less dead-draws, whereas Pillar is a bomb. Drawing a Pillar makes you a favourite to win, while drawing the Blaze means you’re more likely to lose. So over the course of many games, of the 10% of games were you draw the Pillar over Blaze, you are winning those games rather than losing them. That could mean improving the overall matchup by 5-10%.
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)
Even with 4 of a save card in the deck, i mostly loose.
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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)
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
Seeing as sideboard space is limited, 4 mana is hard for us to reach, and the odds of having it AND the leyline seems very low; I would say you are probably better off without the combo part
"Are you serious?" Chandra replied.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
So far I'm 3-3. Rounds went;
R1 b/r reanimator. Lost in 3. Leyline saved the day in game 2, but couldn't find it or a bridge in game 3.
R2 Eldrazi Post. I don't like trinisphere.....
R3 12 Post. See above.
R4 opponent didn't show. Yay, a win!
R5 Infect. Won in 2.
R6 opponent didn't show. I'm on a streak!
R7 mono red sneak attack. G1 t1 chalice on 1. G2 t2 trinisphere.
Have I mentioned I don't like trinisphere?
R8 Sultai Leovold. Too much disruption and counters. Plus True-Name Nemesis wearing a Jitte is pretty much game.
R9 U/b Reanimator. Lost 2-1. Maindeck Linvala, sideboarded in Echoing Truth and Tidespout Tyrant. Was gg pretty quick.
Event was capped at 900, 720 started the day. Saw a LOT of big mana decks, Reanimator, and Lands. From what I could hear it seems like a lot of Grixis and Sultai too. Mono red Burn just seems so outclassed right now. At least today it was. Trinisphere is SUCH a beating, especially g1. G2 even with artifact removal brought in the trouble was hitting 3 lands most of the time before during to giant Eldrazi.
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
The reason I'm asking is because I'm testing a version of Burn that has 4 Goblin Guides and 2 Swiftspears, to try and see one in my opening hand (sort of like how Modern Jund runs 6 discard spells and 1 CMC removal spells). What makes Swiftspear not an auto-4 of?
Thanks for the help.
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)
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
Isn't that Burn just roll over storm decks easily? They don't have many answers to Eidolon
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
...cabal therapy they always name eidolon, whether theyve seen my hand or not....
Then, if im not randomly discarding my mountains, they get sinkholed...
And, dont forget you really only have 1 to 3 turns before they usually go off...
Even with 4 eidolons in the main and 3 pillars in the side, i feel like i got lucky if i win a match against a storm deck.
The Precious
B___U___G___R___W
Regardless. I think it's important to put this all into context. Even if they go turn 1--discard Eidolon, turn 2--Hymn and just win some games that way, you are probably winning a lot of games due to opponents missing a land drop, playing 3-4 nonbasic lands into PoP, or turn-3 nut-draws. I'd guess that you win more games with a turn 3/4 kill against a stumbling opponent than you lose against a perfect turn 1/2 opening on their part. If you start taking data points and we find out that it's not the case, we can work on figuring out how to fix that. Certain metas are very, very unfriendly to Burn.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
This is the 75 I chose to run:
4x Chain Lightning
4x Fireblast
4x Lava Spike
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Price of Progress
4x Rift Bolt
2x Searing Blaze
2x Sulfuric Vortex
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Goblin Guide
4x Monastery Swiftspear
Land
20x Mountain
3x Mindbreak Trap
1x Relic of Progenitus
3x Searing Blood
4x Smash to Smithereens
4x Tormod's Crypt
Round 1: Lands (0-2)
This was an interesting round as I ended up playing against Jody Keith; a player who's top 8'd multiple GP's and Opens with Lands, and is probably one of the best Lands players in the world currently. Game 1, he attempts to Crop Rotate on turn 3, sacrificing a Tabernacle and leaving up a Taiga and Wasteland; I respond with a Price of Progress. After that resolves, he gets a Glacial Chasm and stabilizes at 10 life. The following turn, he follows up by manabonding the dark depths combo and I don't have enough instant speed burn to win before he attacks with Marit Lage. Game 2 is the same thing, he gets out a Marit Lage while at 8 life and I don't have enough burn to close the gap (double fireblast definitely would have gotten me there). I will say that after playing against him, I've realized that the Lands matchup is definitely less favorable than it looks on paper. Also I was surprised at his sideboard strategy; he only brought in 2 Krosan Grip against me just in case I brought in Blood Moon or Ensnaring Bridge. He's the first lands player I've seen not to board in Sphere of Resistance or other artifact-based hate against me.
Round 2: Elves (2-1)
This matchup was pretty straightforward. Game 1, I keep my opponent off of enough creatures to stop him from doing anything. Game 2, my opponent manages to Natural Order into Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. I manage to remove it, but at the cost of all my lands and going to 2 life. The end result is that my board is now 2 Eidolon and 0 land. My opponent manages to follow up with a Scavanging Ooze to recover. Game 3, my opponent stumbles and I hit multiple Searing cards.
Round 3: Burn Mirror (0-2)
My opponent straight up drew way better than I did this round. Game 1, I stabilize at 8, and I have the lead in life total with double Eidolon out (he's at 4), but my opponent manages to come back and win with double Fireblast. Game 2, my opponent gets off a late game Swiftspear+2 bolts to put me at 3 life out of nowhere.
Round 4: Grixis Delver (1-2)
Game 1, I play around most of his counters and burn him out while he stumbles with ponders. Game 2, he counters my attempt to remove his turn 1 Deathrite Shaman and then proceeds to power out a turn 2 True-name Nemesis, which ends up beating me in a race. Game 3, we both have slow starts, but he manages to win after getting out a Gurmag Angler and double Flusterstorming my Price of Progress (It would have been for 10 if it had resolved) when I had 3 mana up.
Overall despite the bad record I had a lot of fun and I feel like I still haven't lost my touch actually playing the deck. The only real bummer was that I originally wanted to name our team the Crimson Tide (as all 3 of us were playing burn decks) just to get reactions out of people (I live in Louisiana), but the people running the tournament decided to rename our team as well as a few others. I was so close to living the dream.
Obviously im still trying to up my win percentage. has anyone had any luck with adding planes walkers to their decks? the ones im specifically looking at are Chandra, Torch of Defiance andKoth of the Hammer
heres the deck im running.
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
3 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Searing Blood
3 Price of Progress
3 Sulfuric Vortex
20 Mountain
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Ensnaring Bridge
the decks i seem to have the most consistent trouble with are storm (tendrils of agony and empty the warrens), Show and Tell, and some lifegain things. im wary of taking things out of my side because its only my side that currently saves me against a bunch of decks.
thanks for your advice
The Precious
B___U___G___R___W
Your deck looks pretty good, and I wouldn't actually recommend changing much at all. Storm can be rough game 1. Games 2 and 3 are better since you can mulligan to Eidolon or Pillar, but you're often down a game and it can still be dicey on the draw. We all have weak matchups though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
What sort of life-gain are you running into? Right now the only decks I can think of that have it in any quantity worth mentioning are equipment-based decks, and Burn tends to handle those pretty well.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
4x Vexing Devil
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Goblin Guide
4x Monastery Swiftspear
Instants/Sorceries
4x Chain Lightning
4x Fireblast
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Rift Bolt
4x Price of Progress
20x Mountain
2x Sudden Shock
3x Pyroblast
3x Molten Rain
3x Smash to Smithereens
4x Exquisite Firecraft
I know storm is popular in my area. So I'm working on getting 4x Mindbreak Trap. Affinity is also popular, outside S2S, should I side more against it?
Vintage >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Legacy