Decided to get rid of Simian Spirit Guides and I don't like Rituals in this archetype. This is the list I will start playing with and I won't be making more changes until I have enough games under my belt:
I'd really like to go down to 17 lands in the deck as that's the amount of lands with highest % to get exactly 2 lands in the opening hand, but in the end I decided to cut the 4th Bedlam for the 18th land, at the very least to support 3cc cards in the SB. Maindeck has felt very solid. Sideboard choices reflect the more aggressive nature of my build as Molten Rain deals damage to opponent, while Blood Moon is certainly a more powerful option. Same goes for Volcanic Fallout instead of Anger of the Gods, but there is also the fact that Monastery Swiftspear survives Fallout because of Prowess. Rampaging Ferocidon is something I want to try instead of Skullcrack, and is something I feel necessary (anti-life gain) as my build does not have the same kind of one-shot-combo potential with Insult as the 'proven' 5-0 MODO League builds. Ravenous Trap could very well be Surgical Extraction, but with the rise of Dredge I can see Ravenous Trap being a solid choice as well.
Few more words about Gut Shot:
While objectively speaking it is an underpowered card, it basically functions as a Ritual in the deck. You get the same kind of speed boost, but in different ways and in different situations. It sometimes helps recur Phoenixes one turn earlier than a Ritual would have. You also have options on how to and when to use it. Consider the following sequence for example:
t1, Land, Swiftspear.
t2, Land, Looting, discard Fiery Temper + Phoenix, cast Fiery Temper. Now, with Gut Shot, you can choose to cast it and get the Phoenix back, but in a situation where you didn't have the Phoenix already in hand, you would've had to go for the Ritual before Looting to have three spells cast on turn 2 if you happened to draw the Phoenix.
I haven't missed Tormenting Voices or other discard outlets for Fiery Temper as in this aggressive build, most of the time even just 3 damage for 1RR is good enough. We all know how good Fiery Temper is with Faithless Looting and if you have 4 mana, the interaction with Risk Factor is great as well.
Green splash is strong for life from the loam-flame jab-and side.
I haven't tried green but Flame Jab has been impressive for me. It feeds Steam-Kin, Reveler and Swiftspear, which I agree is pretty good. It's a discard outlet for Phoenix that I find better than Wild Guess / Tormenting Voice, often too expensive for what it does.
I think I would play Rokla's list with Jabs instead of Gut Shots, and not sure about Lava Spike over Crash Through (or a split among those 3 cards). Magmatic Insight makes sense with a couple of Life from the Loam, although I don't like non-red spells in the deck at all (I'd run no more than 2 Loams to start).
Did you guys notice Faithless Looting was awkward sometimes ? It's not like Dredge where we want half our deck in the yard. It's definitely not the best card in the deck here. Btw playing Loam and Jab really makes Looting less average.
I'd really like to go down to 17 lands in the deck as that's the amount of lands with highest % to get exactly 2 lands in the opening hand,
What is your source to say that ? Because I have played Burn at 18 lands, having 1 land in your opening hand happens very often times.
My source is simple hypergeometric distribution calculation done in excel. It's the same thing as with how one calculates the probability of having at least one Leyline in opening seven, with n amount of Leylines in the deck.
Please find the enclosed image for more information.
I haven't tried green but Flame Jab has been impressive for me. It feeds Steam-Kin, Reveler and Swiftspear, which I agree is pretty good. It's a discard outlet for Phoenix that I find better than Wild Guess / Tormenting Voice, often too expensive for what it does.
Sadly Flame Jab doesn't work as a discard outlet for Phoenix as Retrace requires you to discard a land. But as Retracing Jab doesn't exile it, I feel that you pretty much need only one or maximum of two copies if you want to run it and have space for it.
SCG IQ 7th place list (enclosed picture) from 14th of October is delightfully close to mine. I'm certain you need to have either Rituals or Gut Shots in the deck for the speed boost, but I'm going to start testing with Gut Shots even though that's the unorthodox choice.
Has an considered running 2-3 copies of Conflagarate & 1-2 Experimental Frenzy? I feel like 18-19 land, some number of 4-6 rituals with this strategy can really bury and opponent.
Has an considered running 2-3 copies of Conflagarate & 1-2 Experimental Frenzy? I feel like 18-19 land, some number of 4-6 rituals with this strategy can really bury and opponent.
Conflagrate is best with loads of cards in hand, and this deck struggles to keep cards in hand a lot of the time. Sure, it draws cards a lot, but the reason Conflagrate is good in Dredge is because of Life from the Loam to fill the hand with lands to discard for a big Conflagrate. Maybe in the Life from the Loam versions of the deck it can be good, but in the mono red version it's not as good.
Has an considered running 2-3 copies of Conflagarate & 1-2 Experimental Frenzy? I feel like 18-19 land, some number of 4-6 rituals with this strategy can really bury and opponent.
The 4 Bedlam Revelers in this deck conflict huge-time with Experimental Frenzy. This deck is often strapped for mana and has a hard time casting 4-drops, so as much as Experimental Frenzy has increasingly become a pet card of mine, I don't support it in this deck.
This deck also tends to shed cards from its hand at an alarming rate, so you're likely casting Conflagrate for X = 3 at most.
We ditched Insult // Injury for not doing enough despite working in the graveyard; I don't think we'll play Conflagrate.
I'm testing the black splash for Claim // Fame and it's been very good. When I tried that card in Cheeri0s, the problem was not only the colors but also the fact we don't care attacking with a lord. Here though things are different :
RS-K gets killed on sight, so Claim, which is often a dead card early game, is here very key, because you want to attack with it and discard it at will if unnecessary. Reanimate it, give it +2/+0 and haste and attack for 4. That's a nice deal. It's a red spell in comparison to Chart a Course or Life from the Loam for example. It also have incidental value by growing Swiftspear, Reveler or Young Pyromancer when they're on the board.
Speaking of, Claim really makes me want to sneak some YP in the main, and it also works great with another mentionned by @Scalding Yawn : Maximize Velocity. I mean this card is great with Reveler and RS-K too, don't get me wrong.
So far, I prefer the black splash over the green one. Loam is a ton of durdlefest for not so much besides Flame Jab. I still don't love Reveler as a 4-of, I think it's better to play 2-3 along with 4 Risk Factor. Gut Shot really helps recurring Phoenixen, but I have broader positive results with Max Velocity.
I tried 4 Ramunap Ruins at first, then found myself pinging myself too often and my opponent too little. 2 Ruins seems about right.
I tend to play this in a more controlling fashion--kill opposing creatures with burn, then end the game in 1-2 mighty turns--so I prefer Young Pyromancer and a higher cantrip count. Fiery Temper was starting to fail me, and Risk Factor always feels bad when it refuses to be a Draw 3, so I trimmed their numbers. And yes, Young Pyromancer has been awesome in this deck.
I like 4 Bedlam Reveler. Multiples are easy discard fodder, it blocks fairly well, and it attacks even better if you kill all the blockers.
The sideboard is pretty untested, but the Roast should give some breathing room against opposing aggro decks, especially BR Hollow One.
Wouldn't Lava Coil be better in that specific MU ?
The problem I have with 4 Revs is that they're hard to cast early with no Ritual. Both cards go hand to hand. As I stopped playing Rituals, I want my Revs only as a T4+ play, which is not what I want to do in this archetype anyway. YP with Claim and Risk Factor is nice, so I prefer 4 RF in such a build.
Fiery Temper was starting to fail me, and Risk Factor always feels bad when it refuses to be a Draw 3
To me discard + Temper is key to bring back Phoenix and build up RSK. But you're not the only one to have cut a Temper, so I won't judge. ^_^'
After few games against Bant Spirits, Devoted Company and Jund and countless hours of goldfishing and finetuning, here's the 56 that I feel confident about.
For the remaining 4 slots, I've had really hard time to find a configuration that I like. I'm pretty sure I will end up with some configuration of additional lands, Desperate Rituals and Gut Shots, but time will tell.
Not the biggest fan, but this is not based on the build being good or not. For me Steam-Kin is one of the angles/things that made this deck interesting as I’ve always considered traditional burn to be boring.
That Modern Constructed League also has a more traditional list with 2 Gut Shot and 3 Lava Spike but only the usual set of 12 creatures (i.e. no Monastery Swiftspear).
This is my take currently. Black splash for Collective Brutality main, Thoughtsieze side.
Funnily enough, this has proved to be an excellent Thoughtseize deck post-board, as we can grind very well, and Thoughtsieze is an easy and useful part of a 3 spell chain to recur Phoenix that also lets you attack with Phoenix through hate like Settle the Wreckage, PtE or Celestial Purge. Needless to say t1 Thoughtseize you take your RiP is very satisfying.
Main-deck brutalities have been excellent, and combined with Fiery Temper is a 7 point life swing with extra value. I also feel this is a huge upgrade to the sideboard (although i know Dragons Claw is stupidly effective in this deck).
I gave this deck my first run in paper today. Played against Affinity, Abzan, and 4c Saheeli. The deck is pretty ridiculous. My Saheeli opponent had a Lyra Dawnbringer on board since turn 3 and I still just eventually beat him to death.
My main comment for this deck is that is is very tempting to keep one landers with this deck, but if you don't have Faithless Looting that, uh. Doesn't work out great.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
It basically just substitutes steam-kin for baral, and turns into this weird blue dredge deck. It didn't feel like a good deck. I had a an early soft match, and I just felt like my opponents got unlucky (beat Jeskai control 2-1, and Hardened Scales 2-1, lost to Amulet 1-2). So while I wouldn't go to bat for it, I did like Baral's interaction with Dream Twist a lot. It allowed me to hit Arclights for a harder one hitter quitter, play Reveler sooner, and there were times where I'd hit enough retrievals to end up reloading bolts like candy.
The deck felt messy. Like it doesn't know if it wants to be a burn deck or a dredge deck, but I've had a lot of fun playing with Arclight. I feel like this card is just scratching the surface.
Hey there, I wanted to share a version I've been running locally to some successes. While very similar to the stock list being discussed, I felt it worth mentioning my build as I've diverged a bit in the sideboard.
Notable changes include 4x Destructive Revelry, the land base to support the green splash and 2x Empty the Warrens. I've found the Destructive Revelry very potent so far in a meta full of graveyard hate for Dredge, Leylines, etc. While the deck can run without access to the yard, Destructive Revelry provides an answer to many threats alongside the 2 points of burn. The mana base required to support this inclusion is very light and often a complete non-issue as we will spend these fetches for only 1 life while helping to thin lands from our deck.
The 1-of Stomping Ground actually acts as a reasonable bait for Ghost Quarter etc. in Game 1's where our opponent has no idea what we're playing/why it's in there. While I can't by any means say this is the "correct" land structure to support this, I have felt happy at 8 fetch, 1 shock so far and don't see need for a ton more flexing there.
Empty the Warrens is an inclusion to get us through some of the grindier match-ups out there (control, Jund, etc). Empty can make for great late-game gas through a wall of counter spells, or an early 6-8 goblins off a Manamorphose+Desperate Ritual. While I don't know the ultimate staying power of Empty in this list, I've seen it put in work through multiple matchups and I'm content with it's spot for the time being.
I'm playing a somewhat creature heavy list, with 4x of each of the main faces. While this can make Bedlam Reveler slightly harder to bring online through discard spells, I like having the consistent chip damage from the Monastery Swiftspears, without sacrificing any of the deck's main creature engine. Including 4x Tormenting Voice makes this creature base feel better than a burn spell in its place, as some lists have been running, as I feel Tormenting Voice produces more substantial gas to carry on than a Lava Spike for example.
Gut Shot is my preferred choice for the Flame Jab/Gut Shot people have been running, as it can be a free spell to help trigger Arclight Phoenix when digging off a Tormenting Voice or something of the sort. As well as the Phoenix trigger, Gut Shot can be situationally relevant against early Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, etc. While Flame Jab goes deeper into grindy matchups, I am currently on the Gut Shot train for the potential explosiveness and early pressure.
Really enjoying this new archetype, with a lot of potential to still heavily modify the different variations of it.
Decided to get rid of Simian Spirit Guides and I don't like Rituals in this archetype. This is the list I will start playing with and I won't be making more changes until I have enough games under my belt:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Bedlam Reveler
Spells (27)
4 Faithless Looting
4 Gut Shot
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Fiery Temper
3 Risk Factor
14 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
2 Abrade
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Molten Rain
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Volcanic Fallout
I'd really like to go down to 17 lands in the deck as that's the amount of lands with highest % to get exactly 2 lands in the opening hand, but in the end I decided to cut the 4th Bedlam for the 18th land, at the very least to support 3cc cards in the SB. Maindeck has felt very solid. Sideboard choices reflect the more aggressive nature of my build as Molten Rain deals damage to opponent, while Blood Moon is certainly a more powerful option. Same goes for Volcanic Fallout instead of Anger of the Gods, but there is also the fact that Monastery Swiftspear survives Fallout because of Prowess. Rampaging Ferocidon is something I want to try instead of Skullcrack, and is something I feel necessary (anti-life gain) as my build does not have the same kind of one-shot-combo potential with Insult as the 'proven' 5-0 MODO League builds. Ravenous Trap could very well be Surgical Extraction, but with the rise of Dredge I can see Ravenous Trap being a solid choice as well.
Few more words about Gut Shot:
While objectively speaking it is an underpowered card, it basically functions as a Ritual in the deck. You get the same kind of speed boost, but in different ways and in different situations. It sometimes helps recur Phoenixes one turn earlier than a Ritual would have. You also have options on how to and when to use it. Consider the following sequence for example:
t1, Land, Swiftspear.
t2, Land, Looting, discard Fiery Temper + Phoenix, cast Fiery Temper. Now, with Gut Shot, you can choose to cast it and get the Phoenix back, but in a situation where you didn't have the Phoenix already in hand, you would've had to go for the Ritual before Looting to have three spells cast on turn 2 if you happened to draw the Phoenix.
I haven't missed Tormenting Voices or other discard outlets for Fiery Temper as in this aggressive build, most of the time even just 3 damage for 1RR is good enough. We all know how good Fiery Temper is with Faithless Looting and if you have 4 mana, the interaction with Risk Factor is great as well.
I haven't tried green but Flame Jab has been impressive for me. It feeds Steam-Kin, Reveler and Swiftspear, which I agree is pretty good. It's a discard outlet for Phoenix that I find better than Wild Guess / Tormenting Voice, often too expensive for what it does.
I think I would play Rokla's list with Jabs instead of Gut Shots, and not sure about Lava Spike over Crash Through (or a split among those 3 cards). Magmatic Insight makes sense with a couple of Life from the Loam, although I don't like non-red spells in the deck at all (I'd run no more than 2 Loams to start).
Did you guys notice Faithless Looting was awkward sometimes ? It's not like Dredge where we want half our deck in the yard. It's definitely not the best card in the deck here. Btw playing Loam and Jab really makes Looting less average.
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Bedlam Reveler
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Crash Through
2 Flame Jab
3 Life from the Loam
4 Manamorphose
4 Fiery Temper
3 Risk Factor
4 Copperline Goorge
2 Stomping Ground
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
Edit : Loam need for Jab after rtfc.
My source is simple hypergeometric distribution calculation done in excel. It's the same thing as with how one calculates the probability of having at least one Leyline in opening seven, with n amount of Leylines in the deck.
Please find the enclosed image for more information.
Sadly Flame Jab doesn't work as a discard outlet for Phoenix as Retrace requires you to discard a land. But as Retracing Jab doesn't exile it, I feel that you pretty much need only one or maximum of two copies if you want to run it and have space for it.
The 4 Bedlam Revelers in this deck conflict huge-time with Experimental Frenzy. This deck is often strapped for mana and has a hard time casting 4-drops, so as much as Experimental Frenzy has increasingly become a pet card of mine, I don't support it in this deck.
This deck also tends to shed cards from its hand at an alarming rate, so you're likely casting Conflagrate for X = 3 at most.
We ditched Insult // Injury for not doing enough despite working in the graveyard; I don't think we'll play Conflagrate.
RS-K gets killed on sight, so Claim, which is often a dead card early game, is here very key, because you want to attack with it and discard it at will if unnecessary. Reanimate it, give it +2/+0 and haste and attack for 4. That's a nice deal. It's a red spell in comparison to Chart a Course or Life from the Loam for example. It also have incidental value by growing Swiftspear, Reveler or Young Pyromancer when they're on the board.
Speaking of, Claim really makes me want to sneak some YP in the main, and it also works great with another mentionned by @Scalding Yawn : Maximize Velocity. I mean this card is great with Reveler and RS-K too, don't get me wrong.
So far, I prefer the black splash over the green one. Loam is a ton of durdlefest for not so much besides Flame Jab. I still don't love Reveler as a 4-of, I think it's better to play 2-3 along with 4 Risk Factor. Gut Shot really helps recurring Phoenixen, but I have broader positive results with Max Velocity.
Black also offers Dark Confidant, Collective Brutality, Rakdos Charm, Fatal Push... Feedback will be appreciated, you guys must already know better what MUs are tough.
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
2 Young Pyromancer
4 Arclight Phoenix
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maximize Velocity
4 Manamorphose
2 Claim // Fame
4 Fiery Temper
4 Risk Factor
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Alpine Moon
2 Fatal Push
2 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Ramunap Ruins
16 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Young Pyromancer
Spells
2 Risk Factor
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Fiery Temper
4 Manamorphose
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
1 Tormenting Voice
4 Crash Through
1 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Blood Moon
2 Abrade
1 Risk Factor
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ravenous Trap
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Grapeshot
1 Roast
I tried 4 Ramunap Ruins at first, then found myself pinging myself too often and my opponent too little. 2 Ruins seems about right.
I tend to play this in a more controlling fashion--kill opposing creatures with burn, then end the game in 1-2 mighty turns--so I prefer Young Pyromancer and a higher cantrip count. Fiery Temper was starting to fail me, and Risk Factor always feels bad when it refuses to be a Draw 3, so I trimmed their numbers. And yes, Young Pyromancer has been awesome in this deck.
I like 4 Bedlam Reveler. Multiples are easy discard fodder, it blocks fairly well, and it attacks even better if you kill all the blockers.
The sideboard is pretty untested, but the Roast should give some breathing room against opposing aggro decks, especially BR Hollow One.
The problem I have with 4 Revs is that they're hard to cast early with no Ritual. Both cards go hand to hand. As I stopped playing Rituals, I want my Revs only as a T4+ play, which is not what I want to do in this archetype anyway. YP with Claim and Risk Factor is nice, so I prefer 4 RF in such a build.
To me discard + Temper is key to bring back Phoenix and build up RSK. But you're not the only one to have cut a Temper, so I won't judge. ^_^'
Jim Davis's impressions on the archetype :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shoa-TkCK3c
18 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Monastery Swiftspear
Spells
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lava Spike
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
3 Risk Factor
2 Abrade
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Blood Moon
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Surgical Extraction
18 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
Spells
4 Faithless Looting
3 Lava Spike
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Fiery Temper
2 Gut Shot
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
3 Risk Factor
1 Risk Factor
2 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Blood Moon
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Surgical Extraction
It would be better against the Hollow Ones...except for those darn Delve creatures. I like my anti-creature hate to kill Gurmag Angler and Tasigur.
After few games against Bant Spirits, Devoted Company and Jund and countless hours of goldfishing and finetuning, here's the 56 that I feel confident about.
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Fiery Temper
2 Risk Factor
16 Mountain
2 Ramunap Ruins
For the remaining 4 slots, I've had really hard time to find a configuration that I like. I'm pretty sure I will end up with some configuration of additional lands, Desperate Rituals and Gut Shots, but time will tell.
17 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
Spells
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
2 Risk Factor
4 Faithless Looting
1 Insult // Injury
3 Lava Spike
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Dragon's Claw
1 Shrine of Burning Rage
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Blood Moon
2 Abrade
1 Lightning Axe
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Shattering Spree
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
11 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Bedlam Reveler
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Desperate Ritual
2 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
3 Risk Factor
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lava Spike
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Blood Moon
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Extirpate
1 Searing Blaze
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Anger of the Gods
That Modern Constructed League also has a more traditional list with 2 Gut Shot and 3 Lava Spike but only the usual set of 12 creatures (i.e. no Monastery Swiftspear).
Funnily enough, this has proved to be an excellent Thoughtseize deck post-board, as we can grind very well, and Thoughtsieze is an easy and useful part of a 3 spell chain to recur Phoenix that also lets you attack with Phoenix through hate like Settle the Wreckage, PtE or Celestial Purge. Needless to say t1 Thoughtseize you take your RiP is very satisfying.
Main-deck brutalities have been excellent, and combined with Fiery Temper is a 7 point life swing with extra value. I also feel this is a huge upgrade to the sideboard (although i know Dragons Claw is stupidly effective in this deck).
Runaway Red: Black Splash
3 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
Spells (26)
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Collective Brutality
3 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Fiery Temper
3 Risk Factor
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
7 Mountain
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Thoughtseize
1 Abrade
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Molten Rain
3 Shrine of Burning Rage
Shared via TopDecked MTG
https://www.topdecked.me/decks/caddcaee-5502-48b4-85d4-5b3eb266ed17
------------
URW Jeskai Control
GUWRB Amulet Titan
GR Ponza
My main comment for this deck is that is is very tempting to keep one landers with this deck, but if you don't have Faithless Looting that, uh. Doesn't work out great.
19 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
Spells
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lava Spike
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
3 Risk Factor
3 Abrade
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Blood Moon
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Tormod's Crypt
And not only that, we finally got a StarCityGames Open(/Classic) result!
1 Ramunap Ruins
18 Mountain
Creatures
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Bedlam Reveler
2 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
Spells
2 Burst Lightning
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
2 Risk Factor
4 Faithless Looting
3 Tormenting Voice
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Blood Moon
2 Abrade
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Molten Rain
There was also a list with Arclight Phoenix but without Runaway Steam-Kin in that tournament. Does it count?
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Wooded Foothills
2x Steam Vents
3x Shivan Reef
2x Mountain
2x Island
Creature
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
1x Goblin Electromancer
4x Arclight Phoenix
4x Bedlam Reveler
4x Dream Twist
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Manamorphose
4x Izzet Charm
Sorcery
4x Faithless Looting
4x Rift Bolt
3x Mystic Retrieval
1x Insult // Injury
3x Spell Pierce
1x Echoing Truth
2x Abrade
1x Young Pyromancer
2x Molten Rain
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Monastery Siege
1x Dismember
1x Talrand, Sky Summomer
It basically just substitutes steam-kin for baral, and turns into this weird blue dredge deck. It didn't feel like a good deck. I had a an early soft match, and I just felt like my opponents got unlucky (beat Jeskai control 2-1, and Hardened Scales 2-1, lost to Amulet 1-2). So while I wouldn't go to bat for it, I did like Baral's interaction with Dream Twist a lot. It allowed me to hit Arclights for a harder one hitter quitter, play Reveler sooner, and there were times where I'd hit enough retrievals to end up reloading bolts like candy.
The deck felt messy. Like it doesn't know if it wants to be a burn deck or a dredge deck, but I've had a lot of fun playing with Arclight. I feel like this card is just scratching the surface.
UW, Surge Counters, Something Green Ramp, and Tron.
18 Mountain
//Bolts
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Fiery Temper
//Creatures
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Kiln Fiend
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Faithless Looting
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Manamorphose
2 Risk Factor
2 Abrade
2 Alpine Moon
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Molten Rain
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Dragon's Claw
Still not sure I like Dragon's Claw at all, but the rest seemed fine.
Spirits
Notable changes include 4x Destructive Revelry, the land base to support the green splash and 2x Empty the Warrens. I've found the Destructive Revelry very potent so far in a meta full of graveyard hate for Dredge, Leylines, etc. While the deck can run without access to the yard, Destructive Revelry provides an answer to many threats alongside the 2 points of burn. The mana base required to support this inclusion is very light and often a complete non-issue as we will spend these fetches for only 1 life while helping to thin lands from our deck.
The 1-of Stomping Ground actually acts as a reasonable bait for Ghost Quarter etc. in Game 1's where our opponent has no idea what we're playing/why it's in there. While I can't by any means say this is the "correct" land structure to support this, I have felt happy at 8 fetch, 1 shock so far and don't see need for a ton more flexing there.
Empty the Warrens is an inclusion to get us through some of the grindier match-ups out there (control, Jund, etc). Empty can make for great late-game gas through a wall of counter spells, or an early 6-8 goblins off a Manamorphose+Desperate Ritual. While I don't know the ultimate staying power of Empty in this list, I've seen it put in work through multiple matchups and I'm content with it's spot for the time being.
I'm playing a somewhat creature heavy list, with 4x of each of the main faces. While this can make Bedlam Reveler slightly harder to bring online through discard spells, I like having the consistent chip damage from the Monastery Swiftspears, without sacrificing any of the deck's main creature engine. Including 4x Tormenting Voice makes this creature base feel better than a burn spell in its place, as some lists have been running, as I feel Tormenting Voice produces more substantial gas to carry on than a Lava Spike for example.
Gut Shot is my preferred choice for the Flame Jab/Gut Shot people have been running, as it can be a free spell to help trigger Arclight Phoenix when digging off a Tormenting Voice or something of the sort. As well as the Phoenix trigger, Gut Shot can be situationally relevant against early Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, etc. While Flame Jab goes deeper into grindy matchups, I am currently on the Gut Shot train for the potential explosiveness and early pressure.
Really enjoying this new archetype, with a lot of potential to still heavily modify the different variations of it.
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Arclight Phoenix
Land
1 Stomping Ground
4 Arid Mesa
10 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Gut Shot
4 Fiery Temper
Sorcery
4 Faithless Looting
4 Tormenting Voice
1 Blood Moon
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Tormod's Crypt
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Molten Rain
2 Empty the Warrens
2 Anger of the Gods
There are so many new decklists coming up, which is awesome, but also makes it tough to see where the optimal list is going to end up.
Two somewhat conflicting takes on the direction to take the deck, but super cool articles nevertheless.
https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/jimdavis-11052018-jim-plays-modern-steam-kin-red
https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/rudybriksza-11052018-runaway-red-is-moderns-next-breakout-deck
I will admit I lean towards Rudy's decklist and favoring the combo aspect of the deck.