Another question: why do we play Destructive Revelry over Shattering Spree? Yes Revelry hits enchantments an deals 2 but doesn't a Chalice of the Void shut us DOWN? Wouldn't it be better to have a playset of Shattering Spree to potentially destroy Chalices? Also Spree seems better against Affinity too, just blow up their whole board.
Searing effects are good enough against Affinity (Blood, Blaze, Revelry, Smithereens). Yes, we lose to Chalice on 2 on turn 3-4 IF we don't already have them very low or have a bunch of 1-cost spells, but we lose to Leyline on turn 0 unless we have a creature nut draw opener.
Hey guys! I'm fairly new to MTG Salvation and was hoping I could get some advice on my Naya Burn deck. As far as I can tell it's a fairly standard build except for the 3 Rampaging Ferocidon main deck and the pair of Harsh Mentor in the sideboard.
As far as playing the Ferocidons, I was curious to try it. So far I've been fairly happy with it. It's good paired with the other creatures because menace makes it a little harder to block when swinging in with several creatures at once. It's also a very solid body that goes well with both Atarka's Command and Boros Charm. The main reason I added them was for the Command as I wanted to up my creature count a little bit. I've had a few games won because of these guys. The main drawback is that I can't play Lightning Helix very effectively in the deck because I can't gain life, and it sits a little higher on the curve than our other cards.
When it comes to the Mentors, I'm really just trying them out. So far I've only used it once against a Sultai Thopter Foundry deck, but it was great. I think it might also be good against Hatebearers by taxing Vial/GQs, and hurting Affinity's manlands and maybe taxing Death's Shadows' fetches a little more than they can handle.
Do you think these are good innovations, or should I try to cut it down to a more typical Burn list? So far it seems solid with most of my losses being a matter of me messing up my sequencing or just making dumb plays.
I play Atarka's Command on 13 creatures (the 12 usual suspects plus 1 Grim Lavamancer). I'm of the opinion that that's sufficient for AC. I'd personally rather play Helix than Ferocidon, because it lets you gain 3 back from the painful fixing you have to do with a Naya maindeck. I think Ferocidon is better suited as a sideboard hate card if your local meta has a lot of Soul Sisters. I see it as a better card in situations where you'd play Leyline of Punishment.
Mentor is interesting, but it's basically a weaker/narrower version of Eidolon like Ash Zealot is. Both can be killed before they impact the game, and that's less likely with Eidolon because most of what kills it will still Shock them. If it works out for you in your local meta, that's a good reason to play it. It's alright in the Lantern matchup, too.
The following is a lot of data that's tough to digest, but it might be helpful to you to know what kind of lifegain to expect at various times and what counterspells people are playing. This analysis comes from MTGGoldfish data with some cleaning procedure applied to it to try to clean up any bad deck names. I then go through these deck lists and find instances of "counter target", "lifelink", and "gain N life"/"gains N life" in the card text. On top of that, I search for Leyline of Sanctity, Oketra's Last Mercy (no one plays it anyway), Chalice of the Void, Phyrexian Unlife, and Spellskite (forgot it last time). The November 2017 deck population is 756 decks.
Card fractions: This is averaged over the whole meta and is the fraction of decks that play the card in the maindeck/sideboard without taking into account how many copies they play. These give a general idea of what cards to expect from a randomly chosen deck.
Maindeck: The top cards are Cryptic, Helix, Remand, Scooze, Spell Snare, Brutality. Compared to last month, Cryptic is up 5%, Helix up 2.5%, Remand is the same, Scooze is down 2%, Brutality is about the same. Chalice is down 2%.
Sideboard: The top sideboard hate cards are Brutality, Dispel, Leyline, Negate, Stubborn Denial, and Thragtusk. Compared to last month, Brutality is up 3%, Dispel is up 3%, Leyline is down slightly, Negate is the same, Stubborn Denial is down slightly, Thragtusk is up, Finks is down.
Hate cards by meta decks: Go here if you want to see what kind of hate cards specific decks play.
The first column is the average copies per deck of this archetype if the deck plays this card, so that this number is not affected by a deck that doesn't play the card. The second column is the fraction of decks of this archetype playing this card, and this number is affected by decks that don't play the card.
Meta composition: This is just a core dump of the fraction of decks out of the total for this month with each name. Some of these deck names might be fuzzy, so the results are approximate.
6.88% Affinity
6.35% WUR Control
5.42% Five-Color Humans
5.03% UR Gifts Storm
4.76% Vizier Company
4.63% Eldrazi Tron
4.63% Burn
4.50% UBR Death's Shadow
3.44% RG Titanshift
3.17% Dredge
3.17% Abzan
3.04% WU Control
3.04% Lantern Control
3.04% BG Tron
2.12% Eldrazi and Taxes
1.72% Jund
1.72% WUBRG Death's Shadow
1.46% Blue Moon
1.46% BGx Midrange
1.32% Elves
1.32% G/R Land Destruction
1.32% Bogles
1.19% Mardu
1.19% UG Infect
0.93% URG Gifts Storm
0.79% WU
0.79% UR Control
0.66% Death and Taxes
0.66% G Tron
0.66% Ad Nauseam
0.66% UR
0.66% G/W Company
0.66% Mono U Tron
0.66% BRG
0.66% URG Control
0.53% UBR
0.53% Amulet Combo
0.53% UBR Delver
0.53% Merfolk
0.53% 8-Rack
0.53% Abzan Eldrazi
0.53% Living End
0.53% RG Tron
0.53% BRG Death's Shadow
0.53% B/R Hollow One
0.40% R/G Vengevine
0.40% WUBRG Humans Company
0.40% WUB Death's Shadow
0.40% UBR Control
0.40% Titan Shift
0.40% UBRG Death's Shadow
0.40% Bant Eldrazi
0.26% Goblins
0.26% URG
0.26% BRG Titanshift
0.26% WG Hatebears
0.26% WUBR Death's Shadow
0.26% WUR Gifts Storm
0.26% W
0.26% W/R Prison
0.26% WUBR Control
0.26% Skred Red
0.26% Mardu Midrange
0.26% WUBRG
0.26% WURG Knightfall
0.26% WB Smallpox
0.13% WB
0.13% WUB Control
0.13% BRG Tron
0.13% BR
0.13% UBRG
0.13% RG
0.13% UBG Control
0.13% Mardu Pyromancer
0.13% WUB
0.13% Mill
0.13% WBRG
0.13% Zoo
0.13% UBRG Delver
0.13% Temur Midrange
0.13% UB
0.13% WURG Scapeshift
0.13% WURG Control
0.13% Bant Company
0.13% WUBRG Kiki-Resto
0.13% WUBG Death's Shadow
0.13% Counters Company
0.13% Junk Hatebears
0.13% WUBR
0.13% WUG Control
0.13% WBG
0.13% WUG Knightfall
0.13% WUBG Humans Company
0.13% BG Infect
0.13% Martyr Proc
0.13% UBG Infect
0.13% Goodstuff 3c
0.13% Kiki Chord
0.13% WG Tron
0.13% Humans
Per card splits: Go here if you want to find a list of what decks play specific cards.
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.143 0.146 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
2.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
2.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.182 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.514 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
1.074 0.771 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.000 0.086 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.200 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.000 0.038 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.000 0.200 0.00661 UR
1.000 0.043 0.03042 BG Tron
1.000 0.087 0.03042 WU Control
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
1.182 0.478 0.03042 WU Control
1.000 0.104 0.06349 WUR Control
1.250 0.250 0.02116 Eldrazi and Taxes
1.750 1.000 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
2.000 0.182 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.200 0.00661 Death and Taxes
1.000 0.028 0.04762 Vizier Company
2.000 0.042 0.03175 Abzan
1.000 0.111 0.01190 Mardu
1.857 0.009 0.01323 Other
1.500 0.400 0.00661 Mono U Tron
2.219 0.941 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
1.409 0.458 0.06349 WUR Control
1.625 0.348 0.03042 WU Control
2.000 1.000 0.00794 WU
1.500 0.545 0.01455 Blue Moon
2.500 1.000 0.00529 Merfolk
1.750 0.800 0.00661 URG Control
2.333 0.750 0.00529 UBR Delver
1.667 0.333 0.01190 UG Infect
3.000 0.028 0.04762 Vizier Company
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
4.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.200 0.00661 UR
1.000 0.077 0.01720 WUBRG Death's Shadow
2.000 0.167 0.00794 UR Control
1.000 0.019 0.06878 Affinity
2.067 0.020 0.02778 Other
3.941 0.971 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.333 0.600 0.00661 Mono U Tron
4.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
2.143 0.269 0.03439 RG Titanshift
2.000 0.079 0.05026 UR Gifts Storm
1.000 0.600 0.00661 Mono U Tron
3.000 0.400 0.00661 BRG
1.000 0.029 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
2.000 0.043 0.03042 BG Tron
1.000 0.019 0.06878 Affinity
2.000 0.004 0.00397 Other
1.105 0.792 0.03175 Abzan
1.571 0.609 0.03042 Lantern Control
2.667 0.522 0.03042 BG Tron
1.750 0.727 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.667 0.250 0.03175 Dredge
1.000 0.750 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
4.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR Delver
2.000 0.077 0.01720 Jund
2.571 0.009 0.00926 Other
2.000 0.941 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
1.583 1.000 0.03175 Abzan
2.348 0.958 0.03175 Dredge
2.875 0.696 0.03042 BG Tron
2.154 1.000 0.01720 Jund
1.455 0.478 0.03042 Lantern Control
2.000 0.615 0.01720 WUBRG Death's Shadow
1.500 0.545 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.333 0.188 0.02116 Eldrazi and Taxes
1.000 0.750 0.00529 UBR Delver
2.667 0.750 0.00529 BRG Death's Shadow
2.000 0.222 0.01190 Mardu
2.000 0.100 0.01323 Elves
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 8-Rack
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
2.000 0.200 0.00661 BRG
2.000 0.250 0.00529 B/R Hollow One
1.773 0.029 0.03175 Other
4.000 1.000 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
1.500 0.500 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR Delver
2.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR Delver
1.750 0.005 0.00661 Other
1.000 0.194 0.04762 Vizier Company
3.800 1.000 0.00661 G/W Company
1.800 0.500 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.500 0.182 0.01455 BGx Midrange
2.000 0.038 0.03439 RG Titanshift
2.167 0.008 0.01058 Other
2.000 0.001 0.00397 Other
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
3.375 1.000 0.06349 WUR Control
3.043 1.000 0.03042 WU Control
2.636 1.000 0.01455 Blue Moon
3.667 1.000 0.00794 UR Control
2.000 1.000 0.00661 UR
3.200 1.000 0.00661 URG Control
4.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
4.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
4.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
2.800 0.013 0.01587 Other
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
3.667 0.750 0.00529 Merfolk
4.000 1.000 0.01323 Bogles
1.000 0.001 0.00397 Other
1.000 0.043 0.03042 WU Control
4.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.875 0.833 0.06349 WUR Control
1.500 0.647 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
1.400 0.435 0.03042 WU Control
2.400 0.769 0.01720 WUBRG Death's Shadow
2.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.400 0.00661 UR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR Delver
1.000 0.091 0.01455 Blue Moon
3.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
1.000 0.167 0.00794 UR Control
2.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
1.733 0.020 0.02910 Other
2.000 0.400 0.00661 URG Control
1.750 0.917 0.06349 WUR Control
1.613 0.816 0.05026 UR Gifts Storm
1.333 0.913 0.03042 WU Control
2.364 1.000 0.01455 Blue Moon
1.286 0.778 0.01190 UG Infect
2.833 1.000 0.00794 UR Control
1.600 0.714 0.00926 URG Gifts Storm
2.000 1.000 0.00529 Merfolk
2.333 0.600 0.00661 UR
2.333 0.600 0.00661 URG Control
2.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR
2.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR Delver
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
2.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
3.000 0.200 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.583 0.016 0.01852 Other
1.286 0.778 0.01190 Mardu
3.000 0.750 0.00529 B/R Hollow One
3.750 0.005 0.00529 Other
2.000 0.200 0.00661 BRG
1.250 0.005 0.00661 Other
1.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.000 0.059 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.001 0.00397 Other
1.286 0.700 0.01323 Elves
1.250 0.400 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.200 0.00661 G/W Company
1.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
2.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
2.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
1.000 0.250 0.03175 Dredge
1.067 0.625 0.03175 Dredge
2.333 0.750 0.00529 Living End
4.000 0.600 0.00661 BRG
4.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
1.500 1.000 0.00529 Amulet Combo
3.250 1.000 0.00529 RG Tron
2.000 0.250 0.00529 Living End
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
2.000 0.077 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.000 0.100 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
2.143 0.700 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.154 0.01720 Jund
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
2.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.231 0.01720 Jund
1.000 0.038 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.000 0.100 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
1.087 1.000 0.03042 Lantern Control
2.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.000 0.545 0.01455 Blue Moon
1.000 1.000 0.00794 UR Control
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
2.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.091 0.01455 Blue Moon
1.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
1.500 0.167 0.03175 Abzan
2.000 0.182 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.154 0.01720 Jund
1.667 0.004 0.00794 Other
2.000 0.500 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
1.000 0.042 0.03175 Abzan
1.000 0.077 0.01720 Jund
1.500 0.003 0.00529 Other
1.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.000 0.438 0.02116 Eldrazi and Taxes
1.000 0.556 0.01190 Mardu
2.000 0.073 0.05423 Five-Color Humans
1.000 0.500 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
2.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.800 0.007 0.00661 Other
3.815 0.750 0.04762 Vizier Company
2.000 0.182 0.01455 BGx Midrange
3.000 0.043 0.03042 WU Control
2.000 0.100 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
2.000 0.007 0.00926 Other
1.500 0.333 0.03175 Abzan
2.250 0.800 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.750 0.154 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.750 0.174 0.03042 WU Control
2.333 0.231 0.01720 Jund
3.000 0.333 0.01190 UG Infect
1.500 0.125 0.02116 Eldrazi and Taxes
2.000 0.056 0.04762 Vizier Company
1.000 0.100 0.01323 Elves
1.000 0.200 0.00661 G/W Company
1.800 0.007 0.00926 Other
2.421 0.543 0.04630 Burn
2.000 0.125 0.02116 Eldrazi and Taxes
1.000 0.056 0.04762 Vizier Company
1.000 0.200 0.00661 Death and Taxes
1.000 0.100 0.01323 Elves
1.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.500 0.049 0.05423 Five-Color Humans
1.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
3.000 0.600 0.01323 Bogles
3.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
4.000 0.043 0.03042 Lantern Control
2.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
2.818 0.957 0.03042 Lantern Control
3.200 0.385 0.03439 RG Titanshift
2.714 0.700 0.01323 Bogles
4.000 1.000 0.00661 Ad Nauseam
2.250 0.105 0.05026 UR Gifts Storm
2.000 0.042 0.06349 WUR Control
4.000 0.500 0.00529 Amulet Combo
2.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
1.000 0.042 0.03175 Abzan
3.000 0.200 0.00661 G/W Company
3.000 0.200 0.00661 Mono U Tron
4.000 0.200 0.00661 BRG
4.000 0.250 0.00529 BRG Death's Shadow
3.125 0.011 0.01587 Other
1.000 0.077 0.01720 Jund
3.125 1.000 0.06349 WUR Control
3.882 0.971 0.04630 Burn
2.000 0.889 0.01190 Mardu
3.000 0.008 0.00926 Other
1.000 0.057 0.04630 Burn
1.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
2.674 0.958 0.06349 WUR Control
1.214 0.609 0.03042 WU Control
1.000 0.400 0.00661 UR
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
2.000 0.008 0.01058 Other
1.000 0.042 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.889 0.783 0.03042 WU Control
2.250 0.083 0.06349 WUR Control
2.000 1.000 0.00529 UBR Delver
3.500 0.333 0.00794 WU
1.500 0.400 0.00661 UR
2.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
1.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
3.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
2.545 0.015 0.01455 Other
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR Delver
4.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
4.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.000 0.957 0.03042 Lantern Control
2.182 0.957 0.03042 BG Tron
1.882 0.708 0.03175 Dredge
1.333 0.462 0.03439 RG Titanshift
2.000 0.778 0.01190 UG Infect
2.600 1.000 0.00661 G Tron
2.500 1.000 0.00529 RG Tron
2.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.875 0.011 0.01190 Other
1.100 0.870 0.03042 WU Control
1.000 0.400 0.00661 URG Control
1.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.200 0.00661 UR
1.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.129 0.646 0.06349 WUR Control
1.533 0.652 0.03042 WU Control
1.000 0.273 0.01455 Blue Moon
1.000 0.600 0.00661 UR
1.000 0.600 0.00661 URG Control
1.000 0.056 0.04762 Vizier Company
1.000 0.053 0.05026 UR Gifts Storm
2.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
2.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR Delver
1.714 0.009 0.00926 Other
1.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.231 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.833 0.600 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
2.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
1.654 1.000 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.000 0.500 0.00529 Amulet Combo
1.500 0.200 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
2.000 0.250 0.00529 RG Tron
1.700 0.013 0.01323 Other
3.000 1.000 0.00661 Ad Nauseam
1.000 1.000 0.00529 Amulet Combo
1.000 0.043 0.03042 WU Control
2.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
2.000 0.600 0.00661 BRG
1.000 0.500 0.00529 Amulet Combo
1.000 0.400 0.00661 Ad Nauseam
3.800 1.000 0.00661 Ad Nauseam
1.000 0.200 0.00661 Ad Nauseam
1.143 0.700 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.038 0.03439 RG Titanshift
2.500 0.003 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.100 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
2.000 0.038 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.000 1.000 0.00529 Amulet Combo
1.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
3.000 1.000 0.05026 UR Gifts Storm
3.909 1.000 0.01455 Blue Moon
3.000 1.000 0.00926 URG Gifts Storm
4.000 1.000 0.00794 UR Control
3.600 1.000 0.00661 UR
2.800 1.000 0.00661 Mono U Tron
3.600 1.000 0.00661 URG Control
1.500 0.500 0.00529 UBR Delver
2.000 0.029 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
2.400 0.007 0.00661 Other
1.000 0.750 0.04762 Vizier Company
2.042 1.000 0.03175 Abzan
2.083 0.923 0.01720 Jund
1.800 1.000 0.00661 G/W Company
2.250 0.364 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.200 0.01323 Elves
2.000 0.100 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
1.556 0.012 0.01190 Other
1.000 0.306 0.04762 Vizier Company
1.222 0.900 0.01323 Elves
1.000 0.042 0.03175 Abzan
3.000 0.100 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.009 0.01058 Other
4.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
2.143 0.875 0.03175 Abzan
2.438 1.000 0.02116 Eldrazi and Taxes
3.200 0.455 0.01455 BGx Midrange
2.000 0.500 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
3.667 0.004 0.00529 Other
1.824 0.708 0.03175 Abzan
2.000 0.333 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
2.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.042 0.03175 Abzan
2.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
2.000 0.200 0.00661 Mono U Tron
2.000 0.556 0.01190 UG Infect
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.607 0.538 0.06878 Affinity
1.875 0.889 0.01190 UG Infect
1.000 0.800 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
2.000 0.003 0.00529 Other
1.711 0.792 0.06349 WUR Control
1.333 0.391 0.03042 WU Control
1.333 1.000 0.00794 UR Control
1.600 0.455 0.01455 Blue Moon
1.667 0.600 0.00661 UR
1.667 0.600 0.00661 URG Control
2.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR Delver
1.000 0.250 0.00529 UBR
3.000 0.200 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.833 0.008 0.00926 Other
1.000 0.400 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
2.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
2.000 0.043 0.03042 Lantern Control
2.000 0.111 0.01190 UG Infect
1.857 0.778 0.01190 UG Infect
1.000 0.167 0.04762 Vizier Company
1.000 0.261 0.03042 Lantern Control
1.000 0.038 0.06878 Affinity
2.000 0.029 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.000 0.100 0.01323 Elves
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
1.000 0.043 0.03042 BG Tron
2.000 0.250 0.00529 RG Tron
1.333 0.004 0.00661 Other
4.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
4.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
2.455 0.971 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
2.700 0.769 0.01720 WUBRG Death's Shadow
1.000 0.038 0.06878 Affinity
2.600 0.013 0.01323 Other
1.375 0.706 0.04497 UBR Death's Shadow
1.353 0.327 0.06878 Affinity
1.455 0.846 0.01720 WUBRG Death's Shadow
1.500 0.011 0.01587 Other
1.000 0.833 0.00794 UR Control
1.000 0.130 0.03042 WU Control
1.000 0.021 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.200 0.00661 URG Control
2.000 0.001 0.00132 Other
1.000 0.001 0.00265 Other
2.000 1.000 0.00529 Amulet Combo
1.667 0.079 0.05026 UR Gifts Storm
1.000 0.250 0.00529 Merfolk
1.000 0.143 0.00926 URG Gifts Storm
1.667 0.004 0.00529 Other
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
4.000 0.500 0.00529 UBR
1.714 0.700 0.01323 G/R Land Destruction
1.000 0.154 0.03439 RG Titanshift
1.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
2.130 1.000 0.03042 BG Tron
1.300 0.385 0.03439 RG Titanshift
2.200 1.000 0.00661 G Tron
1.000 1.000 0.00529 Amulet Combo
2.000 0.750 0.00529 RG Tron
1.000 0.154 0.01720 Jund
1.667 0.004 0.00661 Other
1.176 0.739 0.03042 WU Control
1.750 0.083 0.06349 WUR Control
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.000 0.091 0.01455 BGx Midrange
1.000 0.250 0.00529 8-Rack
1.000 0.003 0.00265 Other
2.000 1.000 0.03042 BG Tron
2.000 1.000 0.00661 G Tron
1.200 1.000 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.000 0.114 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.750 1.000 0.00529 RG Tron
1.667 0.004 0.00529 Other
1.000 0.229 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.500 0.087 0.03042 BG Tron
1.000 0.250 0.00529 RG Tron
1.000 0.200 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.667 0.600 0.01323 Bogles
2.100 0.278 0.04762 Vizier Company
2.500 0.500 0.00529 Merfolk
4.000 0.200 0.00661 G/W Company
3.167 0.008 0.01058 Other
3.750 1.000 0.06878 Affinity
1.000 0.500 0.00529 Abzan Eldrazi
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
1.750 0.457 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
2.000 0.200 0.00661 G Tron
1.000 0.250 0.00529 RG Tron
2.000 0.800 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
2.500 0.174 0.03042 BG Tron
2.000 0.750 0.00529 RG Tron
3.000 0.200 0.00661 G Tron
2.739 1.000 0.03042 BG Tron
1.000 0.571 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
3.200 1.000 0.00661 G Tron
1.600 1.000 0.00661 Mono U Tron
3.250 1.000 0.00529 RG Tron
1.000 0.167 0.00794 WU
3.500 0.003 0.00265 Other
1.000 0.371 0.04630 Eldrazi Tron
1.000 0.600 0.00661 Mono U Tron
1.000 0.003 0.00529 Other
Link to previous month: October 2017 (apologies if it goes to the wrong spot on the page, it's post 302)
Not much I can do about that, but I think it should be on every page so you don't have to open two tabs to go between the poll and the page where people are discussing the poll.
I'd think of that core dump of data as a look up table rather than something to pore over. If you want to know what decks play what card or vice versa, you can find it there.
My feedback on the Shrines vs Eidolons at this early stage basically becomes - shrine lets you be the control deck sometimes. Even against something like Jeskai, if you can concentrate on landing shrine, it makes things really awkward for the opponent. You can just make land drops and pass the turn, and as long as there's no clock, you don't have to do anything. When you finally start playing spells in their end step, they're almost forced to cryptic bounce your shrine - which puts you in a position to either crack it in response, force through more spells, or just untap and cast it again. That eats their resources in a way other cards don't (e.g. if they can counter-draw, they just 2-1ed, if they counter bounce, its just a 1 for 1).
If they cryptic/counter+draw a burn spell a) they spent 4 mana b) they went card neutral which isn't always a good thing.
If they cryptic/counter+bounce a) they spent 4 mana b) they've locked up 2 of your mana next turn c) they've negated however much investment you've put into the thing.
It's not a good thing to let them counter/bounce rather than counter/draw.
If your game against a control deck goes long, you're significantly not favored to win. You're not bottlenecking their mana or card resources, you're not putting pressure... it's not a good idea.
So has anyone play tested gonti enough to decide the proper number to run? and has anyone seen the youtube vids of claim/fame burn? is there actually potential in it? heres the link to claim/fame burn:
idt zero is the right answer. its easily turned on and its a 1 mana helix that doest target creatures sure but it to me seems very viable. whats your reasoning? i dont run boros burn nor naya burn. im on rakdos with a double splash in sb for green and white cards
idt zero is the right answer. its easily turned on and its a 1 mana helix that doest target creatures sure but it to me seems very viable. whats your reasoning? i dont run boros burn nor naya burn. im on rakdos with a double splash in sb for green and white cards
If you're working that hard to include other colors for sideboard answers, maybe splashing the color mainboard is the right answer.
If you're running RB you should probably run Machinations. I'd first encourage you not to run RB though - you don't gain anything worth the loss of flexibility.
idt zero is the right answer. its easily turned on and its a 1 mana helix that doest target creatures sure but it to me seems very viable. whats your reasoning? i dont run boros burn nor naya burn. im on rakdos with a double splash in sb for green and white cards
If you're working that hard to include other colors for sideboard answers, maybe splashing the color mainboard is the right answer.
If you're running RB you should probably run Machinations. I'd first encourage you not to run RB though - you don't gain anything worth the loss of flexibility.
I gain speed by running a lower CMC overall. The only reason I even have a sideboard color splash is because of leyline. otherwise i wouldnt run the white nor green. the only benefit to those colors is AC, palm, and ways to destroy leyline. all 3 of which im not too scared to drop. i alrdy run a set of skullcrack, and AC i use as sb specifically for lifegain so i could replace them with rain of gore , palm, to me, isnt necessary, so all that leaves is leyline removal which can be solved in a less than decent card of rachet bomb.
2 of us here are testing with Gonti's machinations. With bump in the night, the speed of burn goes up considerably higher at an average of 8.3 mana for a kill.
The cons of both gonti's and bump not being able to point to the ground are real, but in return it changes your state of mind altogether: the deck is a lot faster. I outrace elves (2 of 3), (edit1: my memory is poor) infect (3 of 4), and even affinity ( 1 in 2 ) with the 18 lands. Against mirror it's been 100% match wins: it's faster; tit for tat we have 2 more threats at lower mana. And long game at 6 mana bump recurses.
The only thing I can not do is MTGO, so am forced to test only with LGS meta but so far it's 21 out of 36 match wins. Not great I know: but I'm still tweaking it, as I believe most of the sideboard options have a great bearing on what I'm trying to do. Lately I've been giving eldrazitron a really hard time pre (speed) and post (sideboard needs tuning) game. Current build looks like this:
* Combo decks get outraced badly (100% 2-0's against storm, on the draw if needed; rakdos charm wrecks them).
* 100% match wins against mirror burns (I'm faster, and fish better even despite kor firewalker). One of my reasons for getting rid of paths
* Not worried about ponza (it's prevalent here) or blood moon decks.
* 18 lands is still a little too much, but willing to stick to it for the sake of exquisite firecraft (speed curve out to mid game 3 mana)
* Chalice on 1 while on the draw have still been close games pre-board; no need for affinity hate (speed is nearly equal)
* The 2x grims are flex slots. Flip/flip's between that and shard volley. With shards resolving it means bump don't go late game (meh....never reached that stage yet)
So has anyone play tested gonti enough to decide the proper number to run? and has anyone seen the youtube vids of claim/fame burn? is there actually potential in it? heres the link to claim/fame burn:
I think that would work very well for a jund based suicide zoo or something, but so far as burn we don't really have enough creatures to justify it. Extra value it provides:
- goblin guide: T1 guide T1 push T2 claim? Maybe midgame there's some value?
- swiftspear: T1 swiftspear T1 push T2 claim? no prowess *Sigh* so need another 1 mana spell (easy with mardu burn)
- eidolon: er....
- grim lavamancer: er..... T3 haste? 2 mana for fame then 1 for shooting off 2 GY pieces for 2 damage immediately?
So far I'm thinking about liliana's defeat against abzan-heavy meta. Sometimes grixis DS love playing lili's aye? Now that's a card I could consider: no need to depend on creatures, nukes off DS, but more importantly a conditional lili searing blaze
2 of us here are testing with Gonti's machinations. With bump in the night, the speed of burn goes up considerably higher at an average of 8.3 mana for a kill.
The cons of both gonti's and bump not being able to point to the ground are real, but in return it changes your state of mind altogether: the deck is a lot faster. I outrace elves (2 of 3), merfolk (3 of 4), and even affinity ( 1 in 2 ) with the 18 lands. Against mirror it's been 100% match wins: it's faster; tit for tat we have 2 more threats at lower mana. And long game at 6 mana bump recurses.
The only thing I can not do is MTGO, so am forced to test only with LGS meta but so far it's 21 out of 36 match wins. Not great I know: but I'm still tweaking it, as I believe most of the sideboard options have a great bearing on what I'm trying to do. Lately I've been giving eldrazitron a really hard time pre (speed) and post (sideboard needs tuning) game. Current build looks like this:
* Combo decks get outraced badly (100% 2-0's against storm, on the draw if needed; rakdos charm wrecks them).
* 100% match wins against mirror burns (I'm faster, and fish better even despite kor firewalker). One of my reasons for getting rid of paths
* Not worried about ponza (it's prevalent here) or blood moon decks.
* 18 lands is still a little too much, but willing to stick to it for the sake of exquisite firecraft (speed curve out to mid game 3 mana)
* Chalice on 1 while on the draw have still been close games pre-board; no need for affinity hate (speed is nearly equal)
* The 2x grims are flex slots. Flip/flip's between that and shard volley. With shards resolving it means bump don't go late game (meh....never reached that stage yet)
my only difference is im running straight rb in the main to prevent damage to myself. also running 2 vexing devils and 3 shard volley. i plan on taking 1 volley out and possibly 1 gonti out for 2 lavaman. but if it works out better due to gonti not being an auto 4 of, i might take 2 out for 2 lavaman. i have like 27 burn spells plus 2 devils that ive had work plenty well for me
So has anyone play tested gonti enough to decide the proper number to run? and has anyone seen the youtube vids of claim/fame burn? is there actually potential in it? heres the link to claim/fame burn:
I think that would work very well for a jund based suicide zoo or something, but so far as burn we don't really have enough creatures to justify it. Extra value it provides:
- goblin guide: T1 guide T1 push T2 claim? Maybe midgame there's some value?
- swiftspear: T1 swiftspear T1 push T2 claim? no prowess *Sigh* so need another 1 mana spell (easy with mardu burn)
- eidolon: er....
- grim lavamancer: er..... T3 haste? 2 mana for fame then 1 for shooting off 2 GY pieces for 2 damage immediately?
So far I'm thinking about liliana's defeat against abzan-heavy meta. Sometimes grixis DS love playing lili's aye? Now that's a card I could consider: no need to depend on creatures, nukes off DS, but more importantly a conditional lili searing blaze
if you watch the video, he talks about its uses with devil and swiftspear and watching his vids, it is much better than i thought
if you watch the video, he talks about its uses with devil and swiftspear and watching his vids, it is much better than i thought
I loved it except for one fact: it's running 20 lands and given his threat density maybe there should be more threat density? Perhaps 19 or even 18 lands? Loved his gameplay: he doesn't talk about it but I'm trying to put myself in the opponent's shoes and can imagine the slight surprise factor of facing a resolved vexing devil (he had it in opening hand) well after T1. That's the complacency setup: the KO comes about with claim // fame thereafter.
So basically that's really cool: there are now 2 combo choices available:
- stacked gonti's mechanitions. Having 2 of them is usually lethal. 2 out of 4 in 75
- stacked vexing devil (+ optional swiftspear) + claim // fame. My math is rusty but I think starting or even drawing till 2 or even 3 of these components to combo off is a lot higher than gonti's mechanitions.
What I like is the core philosophy about it (keeping in mind legacy burn is a combo deck). Firstly, increase the creature count density so that the non direct threats like claim // fame are relevant -- if vexing devil is not the target then at least recur repeatable damage. Secondly, he's right about lightning helix, and I'm thinking that gonti's philosophy for being a non-ground helix replacement (look ma it's 1 drop only) weakens the gonti's combo argument quite a bit: both RB versions of burn are fast already why bother with lifegain or anti lifegain mainboard? And third, I like the repeatable and GY recurring 4 damage from vexing devil: tradeoff is obviously 1 white mana for another 2 modes but keeps to the speed philosophy.
I like it. It also solves my ponza/land destruction problems of late. Land base wise I think that needs a little more work (maybe some objective calculations) for optimum builds. Moving forward I'd like to test this and see more of his tests as well, especially against all other serious decks especially eldrazitron. *sigh* without mtgo we only have that many modern events....so little
Add1:
Oh, another thing of forgotten mention: Rakdos charm. In the current meta of creature-heavy decks (humans, taxes -- e.g. his G1, storm empty-the-warrens, coco-based decks, etc) and GY-based decks (living end, dredge when meta is GY hate low, storm upon past in flames etc) while maintaining artifact heavy decks (SCG premium harps on lantern control, there's chalice-based decks, and affinity) rakdos charm really shines with all its modes.
Searing effects are good enough against Affinity (Blood, Blaze, Revelry, Smithereens). Yes, we lose to Chalice on 2 on turn 3-4 IF we don't already have them very low or have a bunch of 1-cost spells, but we lose to Leyline on turn 0 unless we have a creature nut draw opener.
I play Atarka's Command on 13 creatures (the 12 usual suspects plus 1 Grim Lavamancer). I'm of the opinion that that's sufficient for AC. I'd personally rather play Helix than Ferocidon, because it lets you gain 3 back from the painful fixing you have to do with a Naya maindeck. I think Ferocidon is better suited as a sideboard hate card if your local meta has a lot of Soul Sisters. I see it as a better card in situations where you'd play Leyline of Punishment.
Mentor is interesting, but it's basically a weaker/narrower version of Eidolon like Ash Zealot is. Both can be killed before they impact the game, and that's less likely with Eidolon because most of what kills it will still Shock them. If it works out for you in your local meta, that's a good reason to play it. It's alright in the Lantern matchup, too.
The following is a lot of data that's tough to digest, but it might be helpful to you to know what kind of lifegain to expect at various times and what counterspells people are playing. This analysis comes from MTGGoldfish data with some cleaning procedure applied to it to try to clean up any bad deck names. I then go through these deck lists and find instances of "counter target", "lifelink", and "gain N life"/"gains N life" in the card text. On top of that, I search for Leyline of Sanctity, Oketra's Last Mercy (no one plays it anyway), Chalice of the Void, Phyrexian Unlife, and Spellskite (forgot it last time). The November 2017 deck population is 756 decks.
Card fractions: This is averaged over the whole meta and is the fraction of decks that play the card in the maindeck/sideboard without taking into account how many copies they play. These give a general idea of what cards to expect from a randomly chosen deck.
Maindeck: The top cards are Cryptic, Helix, Remand, Scooze, Spell Snare, Brutality. Compared to last month, Cryptic is up 5%, Helix up 2.5%, Remand is the same, Scooze is down 2%, Brutality is about the same. Chalice is down 2%.
Sideboard: The top sideboard hate cards are Brutality, Dispel, Leyline, Negate, Stubborn Denial, and Thragtusk. Compared to last month, Brutality is up 3%, Dispel is up 3%, Leyline is down slightly, Negate is the same, Stubborn Denial is down slightly, Thragtusk is up, Finks is down.
Hate cards by meta decks: Go here if you want to see what kind of hate cards specific decks play.
The first column is the average copies per deck of this archetype if the deck plays this card, so that this number is not affected by a deck that doesn't play the card. The second column is the fraction of decks of this archetype playing this card, and this number is affected by decks that don't play the card.
Meta composition: This is just a core dump of the fraction of decks out of the total for this month with each name. Some of these deck names might be fuzzy, so the results are approximate.
6.88% Affinity
6.35% WUR Control
5.42% Five-Color Humans
5.03% UR Gifts Storm
4.76% Vizier Company
4.63% Eldrazi Tron
4.63% Burn
4.50% UBR Death's Shadow
3.44% RG Titanshift
3.17% Dredge
3.17% Abzan
3.04% WU Control
3.04% Lantern Control
3.04% BG Tron
2.12% Eldrazi and Taxes
1.72% Jund
1.72% WUBRG Death's Shadow
1.46% Blue Moon
1.46% BGx Midrange
1.32% Elves
1.32% G/R Land Destruction
1.32% Bogles
1.19% Mardu
1.19% UG Infect
0.93% URG Gifts Storm
0.79% WU
0.79% UR Control
0.66% Death and Taxes
0.66% G Tron
0.66% Ad Nauseam
0.66% UR
0.66% G/W Company
0.66% Mono U Tron
0.66% BRG
0.66% URG Control
0.53% UBR
0.53% Amulet Combo
0.53% UBR Delver
0.53% Merfolk
0.53% 8-Rack
0.53% Abzan Eldrazi
0.53% Living End
0.53% RG Tron
0.53% BRG Death's Shadow
0.53% B/R Hollow One
0.40% R/G Vengevine
0.40% WUBRG Humans Company
0.40% WUB Death's Shadow
0.40% UBR Control
0.40% Titan Shift
0.40% UBRG Death's Shadow
0.40% Bant Eldrazi
0.26% Goblins
0.26% URG
0.26% BRG Titanshift
0.26% WG Hatebears
0.26% WUBR Death's Shadow
0.26% WUR Gifts Storm
0.26% W
0.26% W/R Prison
0.26% WUBR Control
0.26% Skred Red
0.26% Mardu Midrange
0.26% WUBRG
0.26% WURG Knightfall
0.26% WB Smallpox
0.13% WB
0.13% WUB Control
0.13% BRG Tron
0.13% BR
0.13% UBRG
0.13% RG
0.13% UBG Control
0.13% Mardu Pyromancer
0.13% WUB
0.13% Mill
0.13% WBRG
0.13% Zoo
0.13% UBRG Delver
0.13% Temur Midrange
0.13% UB
0.13% WURG Scapeshift
0.13% WURG Control
0.13% Bant Company
0.13% WUBRG Kiki-Resto
0.13% WUBG Death's Shadow
0.13% Counters Company
0.13% Junk Hatebears
0.13% WUBR
0.13% WUG Control
0.13% WBG
0.13% WUG Knightfall
0.13% WUBG Humans Company
0.13% BG Infect
0.13% Martyr Proc
0.13% UBG Infect
0.13% Goodstuff 3c
0.13% Kiki Chord
0.13% WG Tron
0.13% Humans
Per card splits: Go here if you want to find a list of what decks play specific cards.
Link to previous month: October 2017 (apologies if it goes to the wrong spot on the page, it's post 302)
If they cryptic/counter+draw a burn spell a) they spent 4 mana b) they went card neutral which isn't always a good thing.
If they cryptic/counter+bounce a) they spent 4 mana b) they've locked up 2 of your mana next turn c) they've negated however much investment you've put into the thing.
It's not a good thing to let them counter/bounce rather than counter/draw.
If your game against a control deck goes long, you're significantly not favored to win. You're not bottlenecking their mana or card resources, you're not putting pressure... it's not a good idea.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A0iuv2STWTg
Zero.
It was discussed here but to be a successful deck goes pretty far away from what Burn is.
Gonti's Machinations is a different card from Gonti, Lord of Luxury - and TBH I'd forgotten Machinations exists.
If you're working that hard to include other colors for sideboard answers, maybe splashing the color mainboard is the right answer.
If you're running RB you should probably run Machinations. I'd first encourage you not to run RB though - you don't gain anything worth the loss of flexibility.
I gain speed by running a lower CMC overall. The only reason I even have a sideboard color splash is because of leyline. otherwise i wouldnt run the white nor green. the only benefit to those colors is AC, palm, and ways to destroy leyline. all 3 of which im not too scared to drop. i alrdy run a set of skullcrack, and AC i use as sb specifically for lifegain so i could replace them with rain of gore , palm, to me, isnt necessary, so all that leaves is leyline removal which can be solved in a less than decent card of rachet bomb.
The cons of both gonti's and bump not being able to point to the ground are real, but in return it changes your state of mind altogether: the deck is a lot faster. I outrace elves (2 of 3), (edit1: my memory is poor) infect (3 of 4), and even affinity ( 1 in 2 ) with the 18 lands. Against mirror it's been 100% match wins: it's faster; tit for tat we have 2 more threats at lower mana. And long game at 6 mana bump recurses.
The only thing I can not do is MTGO, so am forced to test only with LGS meta but so far it's 21 out of 36 match wins. Not great I know: but I'm still tweaking it, as I believe most of the sideboard options have a great bearing on what I'm trying to do. Lately I've been giving eldrazitron a really hard time pre (speed) and post (sideboard needs tuning) game. Current build looks like this:
4 monastery swiftspear
4 eidolon of the great revel
2 grim lavamancer
4 lightning bolt
4 lava spike
4 rift bolt
4 bump in the night
4 gonti's machinations
4 boros charm
2 mountain
2 sacred foundry
2 blood crypt
4 wooded foothills
4 bloodstained mire
4 arid mesa
4 rakdos charm
4 skullcrack
3 exquisite firecraft
4 wear // tear
* Combo decks get outraced badly (100% 2-0's against storm, on the draw if needed; rakdos charm wrecks them).
* 100% match wins against mirror burns (I'm faster, and fish better even despite kor firewalker). One of my reasons for getting rid of paths
* Not worried about ponza (it's prevalent here) or blood moon decks.
* 18 lands is still a little too much, but willing to stick to it for the sake of exquisite firecraft (speed curve out to mid game 3 mana)
* Chalice on 1 while on the draw have still been close games pre-board; no need for affinity hate (speed is nearly equal)
* The 2x grims are flex slots. Flip/flip's between that and shard volley. With shards resolving it means bump don't go late game (meh....never reached that stage yet)
I think that would work very well for a jund based suicide zoo or something, but so far as burn we don't really have enough creatures to justify it. Extra value it provides:
- goblin guide: T1 guide T1 push T2 claim? Maybe midgame there's some value?
- swiftspear: T1 swiftspear T1 push T2 claim? no prowess *Sigh* so need another 1 mana spell (easy with mardu burn)
- eidolon: er....
- grim lavamancer: er..... T3 haste? 2 mana for fame then 1 for shooting off 2 GY pieces for 2 damage immediately?
So far I'm thinking about liliana's defeat against abzan-heavy meta. Sometimes grixis DS love playing lili's aye? Now that's a card I could consider: no need to depend on creatures, nukes off DS, but more importantly a conditional lili searing blaze
my only difference is im running straight rb in the main to prevent damage to myself. also running 2 vexing devils and 3 shard volley. i plan on taking 1 volley out and possibly 1 gonti out for 2 lavaman. but if it works out better due to gonti not being an auto 4 of, i might take 2 out for 2 lavaman. i have like 27 burn spells plus 2 devils that ive had work plenty well for me
my list for reference is:
4 arid mesa
2 blood crypt
1 stomping ground
1 sacred foundry
3 city of brass
4 mountain
4 goblin guide
4 monastery swiftspear
4 eidolon of the great revel
2 vexing devil
4 bump in the night
4 gonti's machinations
4 lightning bolt
4 rift bolt
4 lava spike
3 shard volley
4 skullcrack
2 atarka's Command
2 deflecting palm
2 rakdos charm
3 searing blaze
2 volcanic fallout
1 grim lavamancer
if you watch the video, he talks about its uses with devil and swiftspear and watching his vids, it is much better than i thought
I loved it except for one fact: it's running 20 lands and given his threat density maybe there should be more threat density? Perhaps 19 or even 18 lands? Loved his gameplay: he doesn't talk about it but I'm trying to put myself in the opponent's shoes and can imagine the slight surprise factor of facing a resolved vexing devil (he had it in opening hand) well after T1. That's the complacency setup: the KO comes about with claim // fame thereafter.
So basically that's really cool: there are now 2 combo choices available:
- stacked gonti's mechanitions. Having 2 of them is usually lethal. 2 out of 4 in 75
- stacked vexing devil (+ optional swiftspear) + claim // fame. My math is rusty but I think starting or even drawing till 2 or even 3 of these components to combo off is a lot higher than gonti's mechanitions.
What I like is the core philosophy about it (keeping in mind legacy burn is a combo deck). Firstly, increase the creature count density so that the non direct threats like claim // fame are relevant -- if vexing devil is not the target then at least recur repeatable damage. Secondly, he's right about lightning helix, and I'm thinking that gonti's philosophy for being a non-ground helix replacement (look ma it's 1 drop only) weakens the gonti's combo argument quite a bit: both RB versions of burn are fast already why bother with lifegain or anti lifegain mainboard? And third, I like the repeatable and GY recurring 4 damage from vexing devil: tradeoff is obviously 1 white mana for another 2 modes but keeps to the speed philosophy.
I like it. It also solves my ponza/land destruction problems of late. Land base wise I think that needs a little more work (maybe some objective calculations) for optimum builds. Moving forward I'd like to test this and see more of his tests as well, especially against all other serious decks especially eldrazitron. *sigh* without mtgo we only have that many modern events....so little
Add1:
Oh, another thing of forgotten mention: Rakdos charm. In the current meta of creature-heavy decks (humans, taxes -- e.g. his G1, storm empty-the-warrens, coco-based decks, etc) and GY-based decks (living end, dredge when meta is GY hate low, storm upon past in flames etc) while maintaining artifact heavy decks (SCG premium harps on lantern control, there's chalice-based decks, and affinity) rakdos charm really shines with all its modes.