@muffunz: Do you know what the meta is likely to favor for this PTQ? And where is it? Location helps, as some people here might be able to give you better advice regarding MD/SB loadouts. I also agree with calvinw that if you aren't running fetches, GL should be a 2x at most, not 4x, since your yard isn't going to fill as quickly, and Searing Blaze is only "useful" at Sorcery speed, since you can't crack and fetch when your opponent drops a [c]Deathrite Shaman[/c].
You also may want a "soft" sweeper, if not in your MD, then your SB at least. I usually run at least one Volcanic Fallout MD, with two more in the side.
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May your games be chaotic and your decks be Rogue.
I'm a cockatrice veteran with cash flow problems. This makes the ptq I went to this past saturday my first constructed tournament (Ive played 3 limited gps). I handled myself all right, going 5-3. Here's an extensive tournament report (I'm a journalist/english major, writing's what I do)
Tournament Report PTQ Boston Saturday 3/2/13
I got all the cards I needed the night before and split the finals of a gatecrash draft, giving me the money to buy a scalding tarn. The friend I was staying with doesn’t play Magic, and had me meet up with him and his GF at a bar. 3 beers turned into 5. “I’m passing out when we get back to your apartment” turned into 2 shots and a mixed drink while we stayed up ‘til 4am watching “The Last Waltz” and catching up.
I sleep through my alarm and am woken at 8:15am when my buddies gf has to step over the aeromatress I’m sleeping on in order to take a morning pee. I bolt upright. It’s too late to take a bus, so I hail the first cab I see and get to the tournament by 9:15am. My decklist:
The vexes are because he's good in many matchups. He gets sided out against anyone with lots of removal.
Round 1: (Win 2-0) I win the roll and find out my opponent is on GR Tron. I start celebrating because this is a great matchup. It goes just like the testing predicted, and I win easily 2-0.
SB In: 2 molten rain, 1 suppression field, 1 rakdos charm. Out: 2 searing blaze, 2 magma jet.
Round 2: UG Scapeshift (Win 2-1). I lose the roll. He slows me down by bouncing my deathrite shaman. I’m at 18 with no white sources, a fetchland and lightning helix in hand. He scapeshifts to deal exactly 18 to me the turn before I would kill him. I only need to gain 1 life, but searching for my sacred foundry negates the lifegain from Lightning Helix. In game 2 I have 3 vexing devils and he doesn’t come close. In game 3 he draws poorly, not having green for a while. When he finally gets a breeding pool I respond with a molten rain. I take it with room to spare through a cryptic.
SB In 2 molten rain. Out 2 searing blaze.
Round 3: BUG (Win 2-1). He 3 for 1s me with a Liliana. I had played a turn 2 magma jet to kill a deathrite shaman, leaving searing blaze and deathrite shaman on top. When he responds with lili, I’m screwed. He inquisitions and picks apart my hand while holding the board. In game 2 I get out fast but he has counters and removal. He starts beating at me with ub manland and a snapcaster. Eventually I draw the third mana for my volcanic fallout. When he declares attacks I respond with fallout, going to 1 with him at 2 and me with no cards in hand. He plays deathrite shaman, leaving up remand. I untap, draw bump in the night, and win through the remand. Game 3 is close. He plays an early dark confidant and draws well. He’s beating me down with tarmogoyf. I’m at 8 and he has 6 power on board. He’s at 5 life and I have a skullcrack. If dark confidant does 2 damage to him then skullcrack wins, but even if he flips land I win if I draw a burn spell. The math is moot because he kills himself with a flipped batterskull.
Round 4 Goryo’s Griselbrand. (I win 2-1) This was easily one of the craziest matches I’ve ever played. We’re both at 3-0 so I know he’s on the griselbrand reanimator combo kill. I win the roll and he mulls to 5 while I keep a strong hand and and go turn 1 goblin guide. Attack, he shows faithless looting. His turn, city of brass, faithless looting, pitch griselbrand. On his turn 2, goryo’s veangence, Grislebrand attacks for 7, draw 14, combo kill. Jeezums. He mulled to 5 and still won on turn 2.
In: 2 ensnaring bridge, 2 war priest of thune, 4 rakdos charm,. Out: 4 lava spikes, 4 bump in the night.
I have lots of gy hate and feel confident. Also, skullcrack keeps him off lifegain, which limits his griselbrand searching.
I open on Deathrite Shaman. He casts Soul Spike on it but I respond with Skullcrack. He pitches a griselbrand but I respond to goryo’s veangence with rakdos charm and hes out of cards.
Game 3 Is ridiculous. I mull to 6 and keep goblin guide, rakdos charm, skull crack, gemstone mine, bump in the night, and vexing devil. It ends up with my gemstone mine at 1 counter with goblin guide out and him at 8. On his turn he pitched griselbrand, and I know from goblin guide that he has a goryo’s veangence. With no second land, I’m forced to lava spike him down to 5. This uses up the last counter on gemstone mine, so I have guide out but no lands. I'm forced to do this because it keep him from drawing 14 cards as he’ll only go back up to 12 after a swing with brand. He reanimates Brand, gaining 7 up to 12, then drawing 7 and going back to 5. He doesn’t draw what he needs, and is forced to pass back to me, discarding another brand. I can only assume he has a reanimation spell. I topdeck a land, and cast what would be a lethal bump. He pact of negations it, but is one mana short of being able to pay for the negation.
At this point I’m 4-0 and feeling great. My next match I get paired down and play against a UWR deck whose match I just watched. I lose the roll, but draw into a triple Goblin guide hand. However, he plays it very well. When the gguide triggers go on the stack he checks top card, then activates a fetch if its not a land on top, giving him multiple chances to draw. He stunts my aggression with lightning helix, then plays another lightning helix and a path, then has snapcaster lightning helix, and I end up losing the game. The ending was very close, and I lose because of a major misplay. At one point I had 3 rift bolts in hand. To play around counters I dropped a lava spike instead of a rift bolt when he was tapped out. The game ends with my last rift bolt suspended. If I had drawn a land to hardcast it or had had the lava spike instead I would have won.
I board in 2 ensnaring bridges, 2 volcanic fallouts, 2 molten rains, and 2 rakdos charm. Out goes vexing devil, 2 searing blaze, 1 shard volley and 1 magma jet.
I get him down to 2, but proceed to draw 2 lands while he beats me down with geist.
Salty about my misplays and poor topdecks, I’m still at 4-1 I get paired with UWR again. I lose the roll and he drops the early geist and I run out of gas. Game 2 I make the worst misplay yet. I have him down to 2 after a long game. This is the point where my hangover catches up to me. I have Volcanic Fallout and Rift bolt in hand while He’s at 2. Like an overeager virgin busting off in his pants because he thinks he's about to punch his v-card, I mainphase my volcanic fallout into his untapped lands, thinking he has either countermagic in hand or snapcaster. He responds with lightning helix. I was crushed and kicking myself. If I had been patient or had suspended the rift bolt then I’m almost guaranteed to win.
At 5-2 I’m out of contention for top 8. I get paired up against UWR again. I finally win the roll and win game 1. Games 2 and 3 he has helixes, removal, sphinxes revelation and timely reinforcements.
I win round 8 easily versus Revengevine, an aggro-y gobbling guide+vengevine list. Game 1 he fetched into shock into thoughtsieze. Ouch.
So that’s the tournament. 5-0 vs everything except UWR. While I catalogued my mistakes, the 1-6 record in games shows that it’s a tough matchup. Hangover was a factor, but my mind felt sharp even though my stomach couldn’t handle food till 1pm.
I won 3/8 rolls which isn’t bad. Rolling well is real important for this deck. In the three matches vs. uwr I never once connected with a deathrite shaman. They just have too much removal. In the future, I think the best plan is to side out all of your creatures except for Goblin guide. I’m also going to consider 1 volcanic fallout main.
I never felt like I had color screw problems.
Best of luck, and thank you for reading through this.
I'm visiting my dad in San Diego next week, and I'll get to play in both a ptq and GP San Diego.
YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
I have the question who tear me apart: in your opinion, basing on your matches, do you feel deathrite shaman is SO better than Grim Lavamancer, or it is simply a matter of personal feelings? Let me say that I prefer Lavamancer since I play 8 fetches and shard volley, so he's costantly fueled up
Thanks
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with 8 fetches there's a legitimate argument. Still, I think that deathrite is quite a bit better. Grim can kill opposing deathrites, but deathrite can "counter" the abilities of opposing deathrites. There are very few matchups where grim is better than deathrite. Versus Affinity and other aggro decks grim is better. When you have 3 cmc cards in your board, drs is better. When you're playing gy decks, drs is better. That drs takes 1 card and grim 2 is huge in itself, not to mention how drs can take from their gy too. Grim's casting R instead of B is relevant. If you want to play a 2-2 or a 3-3 split, I think that that's arguable, but I would not play 4 grims and 0 drs. I cannot recall a situation where I would've rather had grim than drs.
As for the uwr matchup, yeah, it's tough. the cards I sided in helped a lot. Goblin guide turn 1 is almost automatically 4 damage, because they almost always need to fetch or shock in order to bolt it. I never drew my ensnaring bridge when several times it would've won the match on the spot. Still, I don't think you want more than 2.
The bad news: I don't think it's a completely swingable matchup. You could potentially preboard vs. them by dropping vexing devil or playing only goblin guide for creatures. Every dead card helps.
YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
How many lands? What does your finished decklist look like with the flames in it?
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YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Realize doesn't Torpor orb help our UWR matchup (along with a few other matchups)? Also w/out 8 fetches I was under the impression that searing blaze becomes clunky?
How important is 4x Rakdos charm in sb, does twin expect charm now and plays around it? Can we conceivably drop to 3x in sb to be able to run orb, rain, fallout, and maybe even suppression field (though i'm not really sure how what our % is against eggs).
Dragon's claw for the mirror seems better than sanctimony.
I wouldn't play torpor orb against uwr. You can play around vendillion clique, and it doesn't really hit anything else they play (it's good vs uw, but we have less trouble beating them (no lightning helix)). I play 4x Rakdos Charm in part because I play no other artifact hate, in part because it beats gys, in part because it beats pod. As for splinter twin, yes, they play around rakdos charm. However, they rarely play against bolt + rakdos charm or the like. Fallout is nuts vs pestermite, but blank vs exarch. As has been mentioned, you need to leave up an extra (black) mana because they can flash in and tap your land.
I also would be careful about playing molten rain. It can timewalk them, but it can also timewalk you because of its cost/potential to be countered.
If you're worried about uw specifically then torpor orb is better than suppression field for your board. I would argue that vs. twin, melira pod, kiki pod and eggs suppression field is much better.
Against eggs we're not terrible game 1. We can race them well; very well on the play because lotus bloom wont hit till turn 4. However, they play 4x leyline, so that brings our % way way down post board. They have bounce for something like suppression field in their board, but they wont bring it in against us cuz they'll never see it coming.
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YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
My 3/3 Deathrite/Lavamancer split has felt clunky lately, so I tested briefly with Shrine. I liked it because it was less vulnerable to removal, but it's certainly slower. It does give a lot of inevitability though.
I think I am ok with being slower against UWr if it means more inevitability. I just can't beat them when they start casting lightning helix and snapping it back.
I had a game last night against them where I got him down to 6 and had already skullscracked one helix. I had another skullcrack in hand, but I knew he had another helix. It turned into this game of draw go where neither of us wanted to tap out. He was able to hit more land drops and start lighting bolting my life.
The game ended in a gigantic flurry of snapcaster, lightning helix, skullcrack, snapcaster, lightning bolt, and an enormous complicated stack as we both put potential lethal onto it.
Its the games like that where I just want to sit behind a shrine and force them to do something. They don't seem to run any answers to it either.
EDIT: I am looking at this right now. http://deckstats.net/decks/1389/3542-modern-burn I am really happy with where the sideboard ended up, the only thing I am not too fond of is the Vexing Devils, but I just don't know what else to slot there. I was never a fan of magma jet and I was not happy with a RWB mana base.
I think I am ok with being slower against UWr if it means more inevitability. I just can't beat them when they start casting lightning helix and snapping it back.
I had a game last night against them where I got him down to 6 and had already skullscracked one helix. I had another skullcrack in hand, but I knew he had another helix. It turned into this game of draw go where neither of us wanted to tap out. He was able to hit more land drops and start lighting bolting my life.
The game ended in a gigantic flurry of snapcaster, lightning helix, skullcrack, snapcaster, lightning bolt, and an enormous complicated stack as we both put potential lethal onto it.
Its the games like that where I just want to sit behind a shrine and force them to do something. They don't seem to run any answers to it either.
EDIT: I am looking at this right now. http://deckstats.net/decks/1389/3542-modern-burn I am really happy with where the sideboard ended up, the only thing I am not too fond of is the Vexing Devils, but I just don't know what else to slot there. I was never a fan of magma jet and I was not happy with a RWB mana base.
I know we've been back and fourth on rain of gore (RoG) but could it be a decent answer to them trying to LH and then snap it back.
IT seems like a fine RBW very aggro/burnish version. The only thing that pops in my mind is whether he came across any leylines or not^^ cuz he seems totally defenseless ( am i right about this word? ) against it.
Actually, he doesn't even care about the Leyline and for good reason - his creature suite is actually pretty good. If DRS sticks around, he can get around the Leyline since his ability actually does not target. VD, as much as I hate to say it, is pretty good against Leyline since the sacrifice clause isn't targeted. And GG is just...well, it's GG and he's ****ing awesome.
Against decks like Eggs that actually use Leyline, there are other cards in the board that get around Leyline - Flamebreak, Smash to Smithereens, and Molten Rain.
Simply put, Leyline of Sanctity just doesn't matter to this build.
I think I am ok with being slower against UWr if it means more inevitability. I just can't beat them when they start casting lightning helix and snapping it back.
I had a game last night against them where I got him down to 6 and had already skullscracked one helix. I had another skullcrack in hand, but I knew he had another helix. It turned into this game of draw go where neither of us wanted to tap out. He was able to hit more land drops and start lighting bolting my life.
The game ended in a gigantic flurry of snapcaster, lightning helix, skullcrack, snapcaster, lightning bolt, and an enormous complicated stack as we both put potential lethal onto it.
Its the games like that where I just want to sit behind a shrine and force them to do something. They don't seem to run any answers to it either.
EDIT: I am looking at this right now. http://deckstats.net/decks/1389/3542-modern-burn I am really happy with where the sideboard ended up, the only thing I am not too fond of is the Vexing Devils, but I just don't know what else to slot there. I was never a fan of magma jet and I was not happy with a RWB mana base.
Against UWr decks I'd opt for inevitability over speed too. I have very similar experiences with the same kind of deck in my meta. It's frustrating enough that I sideboard Volcanic Fallout just for that guy and his stupid Geists.
I've been considering dropping vexing devil specifically because he's bad in the UWR matchup, and that's a very common very tough matchup. I would consider replacing him and shard volley with 2 flames of the bloodhand maindeck, 2 more magma jets, and the 19th land. I don't think you should run both shard volley and 3 cmc spells.
With 2 flames you go up to 6 anti lifegain cards. Perhaps I'm on tilt because I wasn't drawing my skullcracks enough, but lifegain is one of the most key difficulties in this matchup. Furthermore timely reinforcements are entering the UWR board with the rise of aggro in the meta. It's not unreasonable to expect UWR to have 8 lifegain spells post board (helix, sphinx rev, timely reinforcements) and on top of that they have snapcaster.
If I drop vexing devil, i would have only 8 creatures in the deck, and only 4 postboard. Drs looks good on paper but with all their removal he NEVER connects.
The idea is to be more preboarded vs UWR while not sacrificing too much.
I absolutely destroyed a scapeshift player with a 3x vexing devil draw, but I feel that it was winmore as I could've beaten him easily even if vex dev had been shock.
The other option is to drop 4x vexing devil and replace him with 2 shard volleys and 2 magma jets. This keeps the curve lower. Magma jet has been an absolute boss for me.
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YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
So after playing in a PTQ last week with burn, and going 5-3, I have come to a few conclusions I thought I'd share with the fellow burn players.
There is so much life gain in the format now. From snapcasters casting multiple Lightning Helix's to main deck finks in jund to side board baloths and the like, life gain is a huge thorn in our side. I lost a round to scapeshift where he cast 3 obstinate baloths. I only was able to skull crack one. That's why I'm debating going to 4 skullcracks as well as 4 flames of the blood hand. before boros charm 3 for 4 was the universal norm, with a clause usually. I dont mind it. Having said that, I dont think you could go below 20 lands now.
Scapeshift really sucks. I won one game only because he was land screwed in that set. Unless you nut draw them with burn, it's really hard. I saw a lot of it around. While it seems like a very "meh" sideboard option, i'm seriously considering some Tunnel Ignus in the sideboard - I saw so much scapeshift in my meta that I think it could be worth it.
My other two losses were to U/W/x control variants. Between multiple helix's and counterspells, I just ran out of gas. That's why I'm also debating tossing in Shrine of Burning Rage. While yes, it slows us down somewhat, it really shines against any of the control or mid-rangeish type decks. In my recent testing this week, landing a shrine against U/W pretty much can seal up the game - sometimes you dont even have to use it. Just the fact it's sitting there makes them scramble to do something about it, giving you time to just collect burn and wait for the opportune moment. I feel like we already beat all the fast decks - the zoo varients, affinity with a good sideboard - that I need to start thinking about the harder, control type matchups.
I feel like we already beat all the fast decks - the zoo varients, affinity with a good sideboard - that I need to start thinking about the harder, control type matchups.
My matches vs. aggro are close enough and frequent enough that I think shrine would be too much of a liability MD.
You also may want a "soft" sweeper, if not in your MD, then your SB at least. I usually run at least one Volcanic Fallout MD, with two more in the side.
Tournament Report PTQ Boston Saturday 3/2/13
I got all the cards I needed the night before and split the finals of a gatecrash draft, giving me the money to buy a scalding tarn. The friend I was staying with doesn’t play Magic, and had me meet up with him and his GF at a bar. 3 beers turned into 5. “I’m passing out when we get back to your apartment” turned into 2 shots and a mixed drink while we stayed up ‘til 4am watching “The Last Waltz” and catching up.
I sleep through my alarm and am woken at 8:15am when my buddies gf has to step over the aeromatress I’m sleeping on in order to take a morning pee. I bolt upright. It’s too late to take a bus, so I hail the first cab I see and get to the tournament by 9:15am. My decklist:
4 Goblin Guide
4 Vexing Devil
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Bump in the Night
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
2 Searing Blaze
1 Shard Volley
2 Magma Jet
1 Lightning Helix
1 Blood Crypt
3 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
1 Sacred Foundry
2 City of Brass
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Rakdos Charm
2 War Priest of Thune
2 Volcanic Fallout
1 Suppression Field
2 Molten Rain
2 Searing Blaze
The vexes are because he's good in many matchups. He gets sided out against anyone with lots of removal.
Round 1: (Win 2-0) I win the roll and find out my opponent is on GR Tron. I start celebrating because this is a great matchup. It goes just like the testing predicted, and I win easily 2-0.
SB In: 2 molten rain, 1 suppression field, 1 rakdos charm. Out: 2 searing blaze, 2 magma jet.
Round 2: UG Scapeshift (Win 2-1). I lose the roll. He slows me down by bouncing my deathrite shaman. I’m at 18 with no white sources, a fetchland and lightning helix in hand. He scapeshifts to deal exactly 18 to me the turn before I would kill him. I only need to gain 1 life, but searching for my sacred foundry negates the lifegain from Lightning Helix. In game 2 I have 3 vexing devils and he doesn’t come close. In game 3 he draws poorly, not having green for a while. When he finally gets a breeding pool I respond with a molten rain. I take it with room to spare through a cryptic.
SB In 2 molten rain. Out 2 searing blaze.
Round 3: BUG (Win 2-1). He 3 for 1s me with a Liliana. I had played a turn 2 magma jet to kill a deathrite shaman, leaving searing blaze and deathrite shaman on top. When he responds with lili, I’m screwed. He inquisitions and picks apart my hand while holding the board. In game 2 I get out fast but he has counters and removal. He starts beating at me with ub manland and a snapcaster. Eventually I draw the third mana for my volcanic fallout. When he declares attacks I respond with fallout, going to 1 with him at 2 and me with no cards in hand. He plays deathrite shaman, leaving up remand. I untap, draw bump in the night, and win through the remand. Game 3 is close. He plays an early dark confidant and draws well. He’s beating me down with tarmogoyf. I’m at 8 and he has 6 power on board. He’s at 5 life and I have a skullcrack. If dark confidant does 2 damage to him then skullcrack wins, but even if he flips land I win if I draw a burn spell. The math is moot because he kills himself with a flipped batterskull.
Round 4 Goryo’s Griselbrand. (I win 2-1) This was easily one of the craziest matches I’ve ever played. We’re both at 3-0 so I know he’s on the griselbrand reanimator combo kill. I win the roll and he mulls to 5 while I keep a strong hand and and go turn 1 goblin guide. Attack, he shows faithless looting. His turn, city of brass, faithless looting, pitch griselbrand. On his turn 2, goryo’s veangence, Grislebrand attacks for 7, draw 14, combo kill. Jeezums. He mulled to 5 and still won on turn 2.
In: 2 ensnaring bridge, 2 war priest of thune, 4 rakdos charm,. Out: 4 lava spikes, 4 bump in the night.
I have lots of gy hate and feel confident. Also, skullcrack keeps him off lifegain, which limits his griselbrand searching.
I open on Deathrite Shaman. He casts Soul Spike on it but I respond with Skullcrack. He pitches a griselbrand but I respond to goryo’s veangence with rakdos charm and hes out of cards.
Game 3 Is ridiculous. I mull to 6 and keep goblin guide, rakdos charm, skull crack, gemstone mine, bump in the night, and vexing devil. It ends up with my gemstone mine at 1 counter with goblin guide out and him at 8. On his turn he pitched griselbrand, and I know from goblin guide that he has a goryo’s veangence. With no second land, I’m forced to lava spike him down to 5. This uses up the last counter on gemstone mine, so I have guide out but no lands. I'm forced to do this because it keep him from drawing 14 cards as he’ll only go back up to 12 after a swing with brand. He reanimates Brand, gaining 7 up to 12, then drawing 7 and going back to 5. He doesn’t draw what he needs, and is forced to pass back to me, discarding another brand. I can only assume he has a reanimation spell. I topdeck a land, and cast what would be a lethal bump. He pact of negations it, but is one mana short of being able to pay for the negation.
At this point I’m 4-0 and feeling great. My next match I get paired down and play against a UWR deck whose match I just watched. I lose the roll, but draw into a triple Goblin guide hand. However, he plays it very well. When the gguide triggers go on the stack he checks top card, then activates a fetch if its not a land on top, giving him multiple chances to draw. He stunts my aggression with lightning helix, then plays another lightning helix and a path, then has snapcaster lightning helix, and I end up losing the game. The ending was very close, and I lose because of a major misplay. At one point I had 3 rift bolts in hand. To play around counters I dropped a lava spike instead of a rift bolt when he was tapped out. The game ends with my last rift bolt suspended. If I had drawn a land to hardcast it or had had the lava spike instead I would have won.
I board in 2 ensnaring bridges, 2 volcanic fallouts, 2 molten rains, and 2 rakdos charm. Out goes vexing devil, 2 searing blaze, 1 shard volley and 1 magma jet.
I get him down to 2, but proceed to draw 2 lands while he beats me down with geist.
Salty about my misplays and poor topdecks, I’m still at 4-1 I get paired with UWR again. I lose the roll and he drops the early geist and I run out of gas. Game 2 I make the worst misplay yet. I have him down to 2 after a long game. This is the point where my hangover catches up to me. I have Volcanic Fallout and Rift bolt in hand while He’s at 2. Like an overeager virgin busting off in his pants because he thinks he's about to punch his v-card, I mainphase my volcanic fallout into his untapped lands, thinking he has either countermagic in hand or snapcaster. He responds with lightning helix. I was crushed and kicking myself. If I had been patient or had suspended the rift bolt then I’m almost guaranteed to win.
At 5-2 I’m out of contention for top 8. I get paired up against UWR again. I finally win the roll and win game 1. Games 2 and 3 he has helixes, removal, sphinxes revelation and timely reinforcements.
I win round 8 easily versus Revengevine, an aggro-y gobbling guide+vengevine list. Game 1 he fetched into shock into thoughtsieze. Ouch.
So that’s the tournament. 5-0 vs everything except UWR. While I catalogued my mistakes, the 1-6 record in games shows that it’s a tough matchup. Hangover was a factor, but my mind felt sharp even though my stomach couldn’t handle food till 1pm.
I won 3/8 rolls which isn’t bad. Rolling well is real important for this deck. In the three matches vs. uwr I never once connected with a deathrite shaman. They just have too much removal. In the future, I think the best plan is to side out all of your creatures except for Goblin guide. I’m also going to consider 1 volcanic fallout main.
I never felt like I had color screw problems.
Best of luck, and thank you for reading through this.
I'm visiting my dad in San Diego next week, and I'll get to play in both a ptq and GP San Diego.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
Modern:
B 8Rack
RX Goblins
BG Elves (Attempting)
UBW Mill
G Stompy
UB Tezzerator
Legacy:
W Stax
Modern:
B 8Rack
RX Goblins
BG Elves (Attempting)
UBW Mill
G Stompy
UB Tezzerator
Legacy:
W Stax
I have the question who tear me apart: in your opinion, basing on your matches, do you feel deathrite shaman is SO better than Grim Lavamancer, or it is simply a matter of personal feelings? Let me say that I prefer Lavamancer since I play 8 fetches and shard volley, so he's costantly fueled up
Thanks
Level 2 Judge
As for the uwr matchup, yeah, it's tough. the cards I sided in helped a lot. Goblin guide turn 1 is almost automatically 4 damage, because they almost always need to fetch or shock in order to bolt it. I never drew my ensnaring bridge when several times it would've won the match on the spot. Still, I don't think you want more than 2.
The bad news: I don't think it's a completely swingable matchup. You could potentially preboard vs. them by dropping vexing devil or playing only goblin guide for creatures. Every dead card helps.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
How important is 4x Rakdos charm in sb, does twin expect charm now and plays around it? Can we conceivably drop to 3x in sb to be able to run orb, rain, fallout, and maybe even suppression field (though i'm not really sure how what our % is against eggs).
I wouldn't play torpor orb against uwr. You can play around vendillion clique, and it doesn't really hit anything else they play (it's good vs uw, but we have less trouble beating them (no lightning helix)). I play 4x Rakdos Charm in part because I play no other artifact hate, in part because it beats gys, in part because it beats pod. As for splinter twin, yes, they play around rakdos charm. However, they rarely play against bolt + rakdos charm or the like. Fallout is nuts vs pestermite, but blank vs exarch. As has been mentioned, you need to leave up an extra (black) mana because they can flash in and tap your land.
I also would be careful about playing molten rain. It can timewalk them, but it can also timewalk you because of its cost/potential to be countered.
If you're worried about uw specifically then torpor orb is better than suppression field for your board. I would argue that vs. twin, melira pod, kiki pod and eggs suppression field is much better.
Against eggs we're not terrible game 1. We can race them well; very well on the play because lotus bloom wont hit till turn 4. However, they play 4x leyline, so that brings our % way way down post board. They have bounce for something like suppression field in their board, but they wont bring it in against us cuz they'll never see it coming.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
I don't like Flamebreak, I prefer Volcanic overall... The rest is pretty standard burn
Level 2 Judge
RGStandard Gruul AggroRG
My 3/3 Deathrite/Lavamancer split has felt clunky lately, so I tested briefly with Shrine. I liked it because it was less vulnerable to removal, but it's certainly slower. It does give a lot of inevitability though.
Watch my Twitch.tv stream.
Take the Ham Challenge.
I had a game last night against them where I got him down to 6 and had already skullscracked one helix. I had another skullcrack in hand, but I knew he had another helix. It turned into this game of draw go where neither of us wanted to tap out. He was able to hit more land drops and start lighting bolting my life.
The game ended in a gigantic flurry of snapcaster, lightning helix, skullcrack, snapcaster, lightning bolt, and an enormous complicated stack as we both put potential lethal onto it.
Its the games like that where I just want to sit behind a shrine and force them to do something. They don't seem to run any answers to it either.
EDIT: I am looking at this right now. http://deckstats.net/decks/1389/3542-modern-burn I am really happy with where the sideboard ended up, the only thing I am not too fond of is the Vexing Devils, but I just don't know what else to slot there. I was never a fan of magma jet and I was not happy with a RWB mana base.
RGStandard Gruul AggroRG
I know we've been back and fourth on rain of gore (RoG) but could it be a decent answer to them trying to LH and then snap it back.
I guess it to isn't worth it but yeah
Actually, he doesn't even care about the Leyline and for good reason - his creature suite is actually pretty good. If DRS sticks around, he can get around the Leyline since his ability actually does not target. VD, as much as I hate to say it, is pretty good against Leyline since the sacrifice clause isn't targeted. And GG is just...well, it's GG and he's ****ing awesome.
Against decks like Eggs that actually use Leyline, there are other cards in the board that get around Leyline - Flamebreak, Smash to Smithereens, and Molten Rain.
Simply put, Leyline of Sanctity just doesn't matter to this build.
Against UWr decks I'd opt for inevitability over speed too. I have very similar experiences with the same kind of deck in my meta. It's frustrating enough that I sideboard Volcanic Fallout just for that guy and his stupid Geists.
I've been considering dropping vexing devil specifically because he's bad in the UWR matchup, and that's a very common very tough matchup. I would consider replacing him and shard volley with 2 flames of the bloodhand maindeck, 2 more magma jets, and the 19th land. I don't think you should run both shard volley and 3 cmc spells.
With 2 flames you go up to 6 anti lifegain cards. Perhaps I'm on tilt because I wasn't drawing my skullcracks enough, but lifegain is one of the most key difficulties in this matchup. Furthermore timely reinforcements are entering the UWR board with the rise of aggro in the meta. It's not unreasonable to expect UWR to have 8 lifegain spells post board (helix, sphinx rev, timely reinforcements) and on top of that they have snapcaster.
If I drop vexing devil, i would have only 8 creatures in the deck, and only 4 postboard. Drs looks good on paper but with all their removal he NEVER connects.
The idea is to be more preboarded vs UWR while not sacrificing too much.
I absolutely destroyed a scapeshift player with a 3x vexing devil draw, but I feel that it was winmore as I could've beaten him easily even if vex dev had been shock.
The other option is to drop 4x vexing devil and replace him with 2 shard volleys and 2 magma jets. This keeps the curve lower. Magma jet has been an absolute boss for me.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
There is so much life gain in the format now. From snapcasters casting multiple Lightning Helix's to main deck finks in jund to side board baloths and the like, life gain is a huge thorn in our side. I lost a round to scapeshift where he cast 3 obstinate baloths. I only was able to skull crack one. That's why I'm debating going to 4 skullcracks as well as 4 flames of the blood hand. before boros charm 3 for 4 was the universal norm, with a clause usually. I dont mind it. Having said that, I dont think you could go below 20 lands now.
Scapeshift really sucks. I won one game only because he was land screwed in that set. Unless you nut draw them with burn, it's really hard. I saw a lot of it around. While it seems like a very "meh" sideboard option, i'm seriously considering some Tunnel Ignus in the sideboard - I saw so much scapeshift in my meta that I think it could be worth it.
My other two losses were to U/W/x control variants. Between multiple helix's and counterspells, I just ran out of gas. That's why I'm also debating tossing in Shrine of Burning Rage. While yes, it slows us down somewhat, it really shines against any of the control or mid-rangeish type decks. In my recent testing this week, landing a shrine against U/W pretty much can seal up the game - sometimes you dont even have to use it. Just the fact it's sitting there makes them scramble to do something about it, giving you time to just collect burn and wait for the opportune moment. I feel like we already beat all the fast decks - the zoo varients, affinity with a good sideboard - that I need to start thinking about the harder, control type matchups.
My matches vs. aggro are close enough and frequent enough that I think shrine would be too much of a liability MD.
4x Goblin Guide
3x Grim Lavamancer
4x Vexing Devil
or
4x Goblin Guide
3x Grim Lavamancer
3x Deathrite Shaman
Level 2 Judge