Is 18 lands too greedy? I tried going with 20 but I feel like I really don't need that much because I curve out at 3 and i am only running 3 spells main board that have a CMC of 3. I was also thinking of trying out Shrine on Burning rage but I am not sure where to put it.
Eighteen should be fine. Just test it out - it's easy enough to sub in another. I would consider dropping one of Deathrite Shaman and one of Grim Lavamancer. They aren't great when you draw multiples and can slow you down.
Unlike the others here, MY opinion is that the Modern Burn should be played RB. It is way more consistant, not near as suicidal as the RBW one and enables you one of the best sideboard options besides Rakdos Charm: Blood Moon.
Because apparently you would like to play RW, I'll just comment a few of your card choices:
1. Spark Elemental: By having access to 3 colors, you shouldn't play this dude, even in mono-red burn it is a bad choice. You almost everytime have to get him out on your first turn, which should be reserved for Goblin Guide. Later on he just gets blocked and is a terrible, terrible topdeck. Please cut this.
2. Hellspark Elemental: As I mentioned above, the three-color version aims to be a bit more faster than the BR one, so try to stick to this. While Hellspark can be a mana sink and gets a little bit more value out of your card, it is way too slow for this kind of build.
3. Grim Lavamancer:Being the second best red creature ever printed, every red deck where this is legal should run at least 3 of it. It seems like contradictory to what I said about Hellspark Elemental but this is just at first glance. Lavaboy helps you clear out little mana dorks that must be killed without wasting your precious burn spells. The fetchlands you play also provide a great synergy with it. Please run 3 or 4.
4. Slagstorm and Volcanic Fallout: This is if everything sideboard material. Don't waste your slots on this one. Imagine playing against storm (is this still a thing) or second sunrise. It is sad enough that you have Searing Blaze (which is a MD must-be nevertheless), and then you got 2 other dead cards. Cut them.
5. Teetering Peaks : This is just the wrong deck to run those. While in creature heavy decks, they provide a little pepper, here it is mostly just a mountain that ETB tapped, which is always, always, ALWAYS a Bad thing. We want speed... pure speed and taplands are just like driving formula 1 with the handbreak on.
6.Bump in the Night : A wise saying about red decks goes something like this: This is the concept of burn. Now because we cant have to have this, we are looking for cards that are nearly as good as the Bolt. We got Lava Spike and Rift Bolt but we also got Bump in the Night which is essentially a Lava Spike just in Black. Therefore I highly recommend running B in this Deck to gain extra speed.
7. Sideboard: For the Sideboard I just say that stick to what seems to be the general consensus here. Take a playset Rakdos Charm, some Ensnaring Bridge against aggro creatures, some Shattering Spree against Affy, godlike Blood Moon and maybe some Torpor Orb and you'll be fine.
And one last thing: every red or burn player has his or her own distinct playstyle, playtest as much as you can and keep up getting better
Thank you for the advice! I did try the more traditional BR and BRw versions with Bump, lavamancers, ensnaring bridge, and so on, but I never approached the level of success I've been having with this kind of setup. I was not sideboarding blood moon, though.
The thing about the elementals and teetering peaks is that of course they're underwhelming on their own but as a package they are really powerful. Peaks becomes a mountain that says "draw a shock" which is just amazing. I find that they really don't end up blocked that much... but of course they do sometimes, and it sucks, so maybe I'm overestimating them. I wonder what other people who have run this kind of package think.
As for the sweepers, the MODO meta seems to be littered with hexproof and weenie decks, and they're really good in those matchups. They're inefficient burn vs. the decks you mentioned but they still do damage which makes me feel like they're never actually dead.
That said I think I'm going to try a more traditional BR list. You emphasize blood moon: is it important enough that you'd consider it maindeck? It does seem great.
Round 10: JUND win 2-1
This game was great. He loses a game because of dark confidant but wins one off of discard, finks and goyfs. Game 3 I have a good start but he discards my gas and stabilizes at 6 life. He has out a tarmogoyf then drops a sword of light and shadow. My hand is lightning bolt. I draw magma jet one short of killing him. I use both spells to off his goyf in response to the equip. I leave a boros charm on top, which brings him down to 2. He plays liliana. I draw land. On his turn he draws and plays a goyf. I have one topdeck, and it’s rakdos charm. I destroy sword in response to liliana’s +1, and he gets all in a huff. I’m at about 16 life so I have 4 turns to draw a burn spell, which I do. He asks me why I would play a rakdos charm, and I say I brought in 1 because Jund can play batterskull, has utility vs. drs and goyf, and is good for at least 2 damagepretty much every game. He gets into a huff, saying how lucky I was to draw the only card that would save me. I point out that any burn spell in my entire deck kills him outright, so rakdos charm is a weaker draw.
Round 11: Living End lose 1-2
This one hurts. This is a fantastic matchup for me, but he pulled it out. Game one I keep a strong one lander but never see a second land. I bolt/ lava spike him 3 times but he reanimates 2 creatures turn 4 or so. One of them is architects of will, so he is able to put the lands under my other spells. Most of the damage was done with the 6/3, so it turns out I should have kept my lightning bolt.
Game 2 goes exactly as you would expect. I absolutely annihilate him while leaving up rakdos charm for his graveyard. He has a cool play where he lands a finks then beast withins his own finks. Gaining 4 life and having 2 creatures. I still win easily.
Game 3 he’s on the play and leads by cycling a creature. We had been chatting and I make a noob mistake: I don’t draw for my turn. I lead blackcleave cliffs + deathrite shaman then realize I need to draw. The judge gives me a warning and lets me draw. The card? Goblin guide. Against a gy deck I might not lead with goblin guide, but I took the option away from myself. He plays a second land and passes back to me, one creature in his gy. With a green source in my 2 lands I tank for a minute, then play goblin guide. This was definitely wrong, as it’s terrible vs a turn 3 living end, but he had only one creature in his gy. He cycles 3 creatures (including a street wraith) at the end of my turn. Untaps and living ends. Ouch. I exile a 4/4 but he adds 9 power to the board. I’m dead in two turns. There is no set of burn draws that kill him, so I magma jet twice to dig for ensnaring bridge. At the last possible moment I hit ensnaring bridge. I play it, stabilizing at 9 life. He stares. His creatures are now completely blanked. His top deck? 1 of his 2 beast withins. I survive an extra turn because of my beast token, but am drawing dead because fetching would kill me as I’m at 1. Frustrating. I still think keeping the one lander game 1 was correct (it had searing blaze and magma jet, so any land and I can dig/ catch up on the board) but my game 3 keep might have been terrible. We talked after the game and agreed on how bad deathrite shaman is on the draw. I probably should’ve mulled looking for my 4 of rakdos charm, as I can’t lose if I draw that card. gemstone mine hurt me game 3 as i used up its counters.
Round 12: JUNK win 2-1
This wasn’t very interesting. He wins the roll and gets me game 1. On the play I beat him pretty handily. Game three he mulls to 4. Inquisitions me twice, stumbles on mana, and loses.
Round 13: UW lose 0-2
This was against Matt Sperling. Both games are close, and I’m always within topdecks, but his build was good vs agro. He has finks, resto+finks, second finks and countermagic the first game. Gemstone mine screws me over because the game drags on and I end up without the right mana.
In the second game I mulligan, he has finks and resto again. Game ends with him on 4 and me with a bunch of lands.
Round 14: Grixis Scapeshift lose 1-2
Game 1 I’m on the draw. After a turn or two of being clueless I realize he’s on some sort of grixis + scapeshift. I poop all over him and it on to Game 2. He’s on the play and he gets out quick. I still have him dead to rights, but he mana leaks into cryptic into cryptic to hold me off long enough for him to shift. Game 3 I have a creatureless hand with enough burn to be good. He has perfect painless mana. He leaves up izzet charm mana, but I walk into it, getting countered. He then has cryptic into cryptic again into dispel. He gets up to 8 lands, Casting Scapeshift showing me the cryptic he has in hand. He only plays 3 cryptics. This drags on me. Because of my breakers I’m pretty sure that even if I win the last round I’ll miss the money. Also, on the play I shouldn’t lose this race. That his mana was so perfect in a 4 color deck and that he drew all of his counters and none of his dead cards is hard to get over.
Round 15: BR Burn win 2-1
Game 1
Him: mountain, goblin guide reveal spell.18-20
Me: fetch into mountain, goblin guide reveal land. 17-18
Him: play fetch, swing reveal spell. 15-18
Me: second goblin guide swing with both saying “go ahead and play your searing blaze.” He does. I lava spike 12-12
Him: swing, lightning bolt, lightning bolt 4-15
Me: magma jet leaving up bolt for his guide. Swing: 4-11
Him: shows me skullcrack + bolt. On to game 2.
Game 2 I don’t recall nearly so well. I win a close one. Gemstone mine is worth it’s weight in gold, as it lets me search for basics.
Game 3 I have one of those hands that lets you relax. Blackcleave cliffs, Sacred Foundry, goblin guide, lightning helix, magma jet, Searing blaze and lightning bolt. Even on the draw I’m not really scared of anything.
I finish 72nd, just out of the money. I’d change the mana base to this:
The main reason I didn’t play that in the first place was because I didn’t have the scalding tarns or $90 to spare. As I noted, gemstone mine is great vs aggro but bad in grindy long games.
I’ll have some more analysis later.
As a last note: I might consider playing blood moon even in this list. It's just that good versus scapeshift, which i'm 1-2 versus in my last 2 tournaments
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.
Grats on the finish still. I've only been playing this deck for 2 weeks and my mana base has 8 fetch 4 blackccleave 2 blood crypt 2 foundry, I'm wondering if anyone ever got their shockland ghost quartered/tectonic edged when it was their only source of that color? I think it's no secret we don't play swamp or plains. Just wondering if going 1 foundry 1 crypt is viable.
This card will be the worst rare in RTR and less remembered than skaab ruibator in three months. It struggles to be on the same power level as mass of ghouls, even in limited.
That its not simply "not good enough for competitive", or underpowered. But that this is offensively bad, the real stinker tier.
Still, my best evaluation is that its approximately on the same power level as a 4/4 for 4 vanilla beater.
It's certainly viable to only play one of each land. There was one game where I had to play around tec edge by not playing a 4th land, but that's not a problem. Play your colored spells first and you'll be fine. Blood moon can be a problem, but not much of one.
I would rather play 1 of each of the three shocks (br, wr, gr) than 2 of the br wr ones. Fetching for deathrites last ability is surprisingly relevant, as decks like grizzly reanimator, gifts ungiven and living end should be accounted for.
Oh, and against scapeshift blood moon is an autowin, so i might just put it in my board even thought its theoretically terrible in the tri color version.
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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.
Just a question: I personally prefer grim over drs, so do you think 1 of foundry and crypt are enough? Yeah, tec is not a problem since I can't recall a time when I played a 4th land, but ghost quarter messed me up a couple of times...
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The Father of Machines will free these creatures from the shackles of their imperfect flesh. All glory to Phyrexia!
Realize, I was also at GP San Diego over the weekend. I must admit, I was not playing Burn, but Kiki Pod.
I should have been playing Burn though, looking at the matchups I played and other decks that I saw. I won a GPT with my pod deck so I just kept it going. Good to see you made second day though.
I will probably go back to burn for FNMs though. I really missed the quick games that you have with burn; almost all of my game with Pod went to time.
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@Karham: Where have you seen ghost quarter? As far as i know only eggs plays it. They destroy us with 4x leyline anyway, so my current sideboard plan against them is to wait for eggs to get banned... Hmm. Splinter twin might play it, but I haven't seen that lately either. As far as grim vs drs, in my mind it isnt close. You can always always always activate drs. You usually want to dome them with grim anyways, and one of the resons our mana still works vs. blood moon or GQ is because of drs' gy ability.
@karemom: Congrats on the gpt. The time factor is one of the big advantages to playing burn. I didn't go to time once in 15 matches, and the only time I got close was vs eggs in round 2. Also, with the exception of eggs, I felt even or favored in all of my matches. I was lucky enough to not play the martyr proc decks going around, but my 5 losses were to Eggs, UWR, scapeshift, living end and uw. eggs is terrible, uwr and uw are tough but winnable, i got unlucky to lose to scapeshift and i should never, ever, ever have lost to living end, but it happened because I didn't draw a second land one game and he went off turn 3 another game and still only won because he topdecked his only out.
In short, I'm going to play burn every chance i get this season, and am going to invest further money into its mana base.
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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.
@Karham: Where have you seen ghost quarter? As far as i know only eggs plays it. They destroy us with 4x leyline anyway, so my current sideboard plan against them is to wait for eggs to get banned... Hmm. Splinter twin might play it, but I haven't seen that lately either. As far as grim vs drs, in my mind it isnt close. You can always always always activate drs. You usually want to dome them with grim anyways, and one of the resons our mana still works vs. blood moon or GQ is because of drs' gy ability.
Around here there are a lot of GW Hatebears deck, and they run 4 of Ghost...
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The Father of Machines will free these creatures from the shackles of their imperfect flesh. All glory to Phyrexia!
@Karham: Where have you seen ghost quarter? As far as i know only eggs plays it. They destroy us with 4x leyline anyway, so my current sideboard plan against them is to wait for eggs to get banned... Hmm. Splinter twin might play it, but I haven't seen that lately either. As far as grim vs drs, in my mind it isnt close. You can always always always activate drs. You usually want to dome them with grim anyways, and one of the resons our mana still works vs. blood moon or GQ is because of drs' gy ability.
Aside from what is mentioned in the post above, Soul Sisters also runs 2-3 GQ. My list runs 3 to hedge against tron because its one of the deck's bad matchups.
I agree with Lavamancer vs Deathrite, deathrite is just hands down better. The only reason to favor lavamancer is for budget reasons.
Most importantly, deathrite -2 life loss goes past leyline of sanctity, that can be relevant at times.
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Standard UWUW Spirit FlashUW Modern BWEldrazi and TaxesBW UMono Blue ControlU WURGRestore BalanceWURG Legacy WDeath and TaxesW
Gets around spellskite too. I run a 3/3 split now, in theory shooting down creatures is worth it but in practice my lavamancer hasn't shot down any opposite deathrite shamans yet ;/.
This card will be the worst rare in RTR and less remembered than skaab ruibator in three months. It struggles to be on the same power level as mass of ghouls, even in limited.
That its not simply "not good enough for competitive", or underpowered. But that this is offensively bad, the real stinker tier.
Still, my best evaluation is that its approximately on the same power level as a 4/4 for 4 vanilla beater.
Hey, I've been playing burn on MtGO for the last couple weeks (Just the practice room so far), slowly improving my list, and I think it's ready to start cashing some dailies for me. I just wanted to post my list and see if there is anything I can do to improve it (without buying more expensive cards than I already have)
I have been paying with this list for the last couple days and really like it, the FlamesotB really help me make sure I can get some anti-lifegain if I need it. The Dragonskull Summit's are a budget choice over Blood Crypt OBV (I need to cash some dailies before I can afford them), but it only affects my hands about 10% of the time (which is admittedly, a decent amount of the time).
Any suggestions for my deck (against the MTGO meta)?
EDIT: Also, once I have some tickets to spend on improving this deck, would it be better to first get Blood Crypts/Fetches or better sideboard cards (I want to get 2x ensnaring bridge and 2x blood moon)?
Thanks in advance.
Hey, I'm brand new to modern, and I've bought some playsets of fetch lands, and I'm itching to use them. I figured that there is no better way than to stick em all in a burn deck.
I'm really looking for some solid critique, so fire away, gentlemen! The mana base is the thing I've got least confidence in, I'm uncertain on how to construct a good mana base for burn. Any pointers would be highly appreciated.
I'd replace 2 of the Blood Crypts and either some Mountains or all the City of Brass with 4 Blackcleave Cliffs. Pain-free sources of black and red mana with nearly no drawbacks (Burn is starting to mana flood at 3+ lands, and definitely is flooding at 4+ lands) are awesome.
I'm doubtful that Rakdos Charm deals enough damage to deserve to be maindeck. It's very versatile, though, and the full playset deserves to be in your 75. I'd rather play the damage-efficient Shard Volley instead of maindecking Rakdos Charm, and make the swapped-out Rakdos Charms displace the Dragon's Claws in the board (UR Storm is sadly dead, the mirror doesn't occur that often).
Ello, new to posting to the forums but have been lurking this post and playing burn for a few months.. and I'm still flip-flopping on deck lists, any comments I can get to improve this? (Can't afford Fetches atm)
This is what I''m working with right now, I'm thinking that I'll need to drop flames down to a 2-of, and one of my biggest concerns are the viability of lavamancer and searing blaze without fetches, my indecision when it comes to ash zealot vs keldon marauders vs vexing devil, number of lands to run, and my poor w/r/u matchup, (both versions)
Anything anyone can add to help me out is much appreciated, tyvm in advance
I'm really looking for some solid critique, so fire away, gentlemen! The mana base is the thing I've got least confidence in, I'm uncertain on how to construct a good mana base for burn. Any pointers would be highly appreciated.
I think lightning helix is a better answer to the mirror than Dragon's Claw.
I run a similar list but with the land changes suggested previously and 4x deathrite shaman (taking out the ash zealots). I also run 18 lands which seems fine with no card in my 75 over 2cmc.
So I had 3 spots that I rotated through testing out different things. But I added another Mountain, so I have 2 free spots. In those spots I have tested Vexing Devil (which I didnt care for, nor have an interest in buying), Dangerous Wage (I kinda liked it, but not convinced and even considered Browbeat in this spot), and Searing Blaze (With the lack of fetchs, this card doesnt seem that great, but havent tested it enough to get a good idea).
The number one downfall of this deck is lifegain, I have considered adding more sideboard options to combat that, but dont know what else I could consider except Leyline of Punishment.
My true goal is to get this ready to play in local tournaments. I have the whole deck put together minus some sideboard cards and those 2-3 free slots. I dont want to spend any more money on the deck. So theres no chance of me adding fetchs, orf more colors (granted I do like what white/black bring to the deck).
Level 2 Judge
Eighteen should be fine. Just test it out - it's easy enough to sub in another. I would consider dropping one of Deathrite Shaman and one of Grim Lavamancer. They aren't great when you draw multiples and can slow you down.
Thank you for the advice! I did try the more traditional BR and BRw versions with Bump, lavamancers, ensnaring bridge, and so on, but I never approached the level of success I've been having with this kind of setup. I was not sideboarding blood moon, though.
The thing about the elementals and teetering peaks is that of course they're underwhelming on their own but as a package they are really powerful. Peaks becomes a mountain that says "draw a shock" which is just amazing. I find that they really don't end up blocked that much... but of course they do sometimes, and it sucks, so maybe I'm overestimating them. I wonder what other people who have run this kind of package think.
As for the sweepers, the MODO meta seems to be littered with hexproof and weenie decks, and they're really good in those matchups. They're inefficient burn vs. the decks you mentioned but they still do damage which makes me feel like they're never actually dead.
That said I think I'm going to try a more traditional BR list. You emphasize blood moon: is it important enough that you'd consider it maindeck? It does seem great.
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Goblin Guide
4 Bump in the Night
4 Mountain
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Arid Mesa
4 Boros Charm
1 Sacred Foundry
2 City of Brass
2 Gemstone Mine
4 Skullcrack
2 Searing Blaze
4 Magma Jet
1 Lightning Helix
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Flames of the Blood Hand
Round 10: JUND win 2-1
This game was great. He loses a game because of dark confidant but wins one off of discard, finks and goyfs. Game 3 I have a good start but he discards my gas and stabilizes at 6 life. He has out a tarmogoyf then drops a sword of light and shadow. My hand is lightning bolt. I draw magma jet one short of killing him. I use both spells to off his goyf in response to the equip. I leave a boros charm on top, which brings him down to 2. He plays liliana. I draw land. On his turn he draws and plays a goyf. I have one topdeck, and it’s rakdos charm. I destroy sword in response to liliana’s +1, and he gets all in a huff. I’m at about 16 life so I have 4 turns to draw a burn spell, which I do. He asks me why I would play a rakdos charm, and I say I brought in 1 because Jund can play batterskull, has utility vs. drs and goyf, and is good for at least 2 damagepretty much every game. He gets into a huff, saying how lucky I was to draw the only card that would save me. I point out that any burn spell in my entire deck kills him outright, so rakdos charm is a weaker draw.
Round 11: Living End lose 1-2
This one hurts. This is a fantastic matchup for me, but he pulled it out. Game one I keep a strong one lander but never see a second land. I bolt/ lava spike him 3 times but he reanimates 2 creatures turn 4 or so. One of them is architects of will, so he is able to put the lands under my other spells. Most of the damage was done with the 6/3, so it turns out I should have kept my lightning bolt.
Game 2 goes exactly as you would expect. I absolutely annihilate him while leaving up rakdos charm for his graveyard. He has a cool play where he lands a finks then beast withins his own finks. Gaining 4 life and having 2 creatures. I still win easily.
Game 3 he’s on the play and leads by cycling a creature. We had been chatting and I make a noob mistake: I don’t draw for my turn. I lead blackcleave cliffs + deathrite shaman then realize I need to draw. The judge gives me a warning and lets me draw. The card? Goblin guide. Against a gy deck I might not lead with goblin guide, but I took the option away from myself. He plays a second land and passes back to me, one creature in his gy. With a green source in my 2 lands I tank for a minute, then play goblin guide. This was definitely wrong, as it’s terrible vs a turn 3 living end, but he had only one creature in his gy. He cycles 3 creatures (including a street wraith) at the end of my turn. Untaps and living ends. Ouch. I exile a 4/4 but he adds 9 power to the board. I’m dead in two turns. There is no set of burn draws that kill him, so I magma jet twice to dig for ensnaring bridge. At the last possible moment I hit ensnaring bridge. I play it, stabilizing at 9 life. He stares. His creatures are now completely blanked. His top deck? 1 of his 2 beast withins. I survive an extra turn because of my beast token, but am drawing dead because fetching would kill me as I’m at 1. Frustrating. I still think keeping the one lander game 1 was correct (it had searing blaze and magma jet, so any land and I can dig/ catch up on the board) but my game 3 keep might have been terrible. We talked after the game and agreed on how bad deathrite shaman is on the draw. I probably should’ve mulled looking for my 4 of rakdos charm, as I can’t lose if I draw that card. gemstone mine hurt me game 3 as i used up its counters.
Round 12: JUNK win 2-1
This wasn’t very interesting. He wins the roll and gets me game 1. On the play I beat him pretty handily. Game three he mulls to 4. Inquisitions me twice, stumbles on mana, and loses.
Round 13: UW lose 0-2
This was against Matt Sperling. Both games are close, and I’m always within topdecks, but his build was good vs agro. He has finks, resto+finks, second finks and countermagic the first game. Gemstone mine screws me over because the game drags on and I end up without the right mana.
In the second game I mulligan, he has finks and resto again. Game ends with him on 4 and me with a bunch of lands.
Round 14: Grixis Scapeshift lose 1-2
Game 1 I’m on the draw. After a turn or two of being clueless I realize he’s on some sort of grixis + scapeshift. I poop all over him and it on to Game 2. He’s on the play and he gets out quick. I still have him dead to rights, but he mana leaks into cryptic into cryptic to hold me off long enough for him to shift. Game 3 I have a creatureless hand with enough burn to be good. He has perfect painless mana. He leaves up izzet charm mana, but I walk into it, getting countered. He then has cryptic into cryptic again into dispel. He gets up to 8 lands, Casting Scapeshift showing me the cryptic he has in hand. He only plays 3 cryptics. This drags on me. Because of my breakers I’m pretty sure that even if I win the last round I’ll miss the money. Also, on the play I shouldn’t lose this race. That his mana was so perfect in a 4 color deck and that he drew all of his counters and none of his dead cards is hard to get over.
Round 15: BR Burn win 2-1
Game 1
Him: mountain, goblin guide reveal spell.18-20
Me: fetch into mountain, goblin guide reveal land. 17-18
Him: play fetch, swing reveal spell. 15-18
Me: second goblin guide swing with both saying “go ahead and play your searing blaze.” He does. I lava spike 12-12
Him: swing, lightning bolt, lightning bolt 4-15
Me: magma jet leaving up bolt for his guide. Swing: 4-11
Him: shows me skullcrack + bolt. On to game 2.
Game 2 I don’t recall nearly so well. I win a close one. Gemstone mine is worth it’s weight in gold, as it lets me search for basics.
Game 3 I have one of those hands that lets you relax. Blackcleave cliffs, Sacred Foundry, goblin guide, lightning helix, magma jet, Searing blaze and lightning bolt. Even on the draw I’m not really scared of anything.
I finish 72nd, just out of the money. I’d change the mana base to this:
8 fetch
4 blackcleave
1 blood crypt
1 sacred foundry
1 stomping ground
4 mountains
The main reason I didn’t play that in the first place was because I didn’t have the scalding tarns or $90 to spare. As I noted, gemstone mine is great vs aggro but bad in grindy long games.
I’ll have some more analysis later.
As a last note: I might consider playing blood moon even in this list. It's just that good versus scapeshift, which i'm 1-2 versus in my last 2 tournaments
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 would rather play 1 of each of the three shocks (br, wr, gr) than 2 of the br wr ones. Fetching for deathrites last ability is surprisingly relevant, as decks like grizzly reanimator, gifts ungiven and living end should be accounted for.
Oh, and against scapeshift blood moon is an autowin, so i might just put it in my board even thought its theoretically terrible in the tri color version.
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
Level 2 Judge
I should have been playing Burn though, looking at the matchups I played and other decks that I saw. I won a GPT with my pod deck so I just kept it going. Good to see you made second day though.
I will probably go back to burn for FNMs though. I really missed the quick games that you have with burn; almost all of my game with Pod went to time.
@karemom: Congrats on the gpt. The time factor is one of the big advantages to playing burn. I didn't go to time once in 15 matches, and the only time I got close was vs eggs in round 2. Also, with the exception of eggs, I felt even or favored in all of my matches. I was lucky enough to not play the martyr proc decks going around, but my 5 losses were to Eggs, UWR, scapeshift, living end and uw. eggs is terrible, uwr and uw are tough but winnable, i got unlucky to lose to scapeshift and i should never, ever, ever have lost to living end, but it happened because I didn't draw a second land one game and he went off turn 3 another game and still only won because he topdecked his only out.
In short, I'm going to play burn every chance i get this season, and am going to invest further money into its mana base.
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
Around here there are a lot of GW Hatebears deck, and they run 4 of Ghost...
Level 2 Judge
Aside from what is mentioned in the post above, Soul Sisters also runs 2-3 GQ. My list runs 3 to hedge against tron because its one of the deck's bad matchups.
I agree with Lavamancer vs Deathrite, deathrite is just hands down better. The only reason to favor lavamancer is for budget reasons.
Most importantly, deathrite -2 life loss goes past leyline of sanctity, that can be relevant at times.
UWUW Spirit FlashUW
Modern
BWEldrazi and TaxesBW
UMono Blue ControlU
WURGRestore BalanceWURG
Legacy
WDeath and TaxesW
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Mountain
4 Bump in the Night
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Shard Volley
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Hellspark Elemental
2 Magma Jet
4 Skullcrack
3 Ash Zealot
1 Flames of the Blood Hand
4 Rift Bolt
1 Slagstorm
1 Volcanic Fallout
I have been paying with this list for the last couple days and really like it, the FlamesotB really help me make sure I can get some anti-lifegain if I need it. The Dragonskull Summit's are a budget choice over Blood Crypt OBV (I need to cash some dailies before I can afford them), but it only affects my hands about 10% of the time (which is admittedly, a decent amount of the time).
Any suggestions for my deck (against the MTGO meta)?
EDIT: Also, once I have some tickets to spend on improving this deck, would it be better to first get Blood Crypts/Fetches or better sideboard cards (I want to get 2x ensnaring bridge and 2x blood moon)?
Thanks in advance.
What I'm going for is something like this:
4x Arid Mesa
3x Blood Crypt
2x City of Brass
5x Mountain
2x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Bump in the Night
4x Lava Spike
4x Rift Bolt
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Searing Blaze
4x Skullcrack
4x Ash Zealot
4x Goblin Guide
4x Vexing Devil
2x Rakdos Charm
3x Shattering Spree
4x Torpor Orb
4x Volcanic Fallout
I'm really looking for some solid critique, so fire away, gentlemen! The mana base is the thing I've got least confidence in, I'm uncertain on how to construct a good mana base for burn. Any pointers would be highly appreciated.
Tricolour Burn
aReGee Tron
UWR Control
Legacy
Old school Goblins
I'm doubtful that Rakdos Charm deals enough damage to deserve to be maindeck. It's very versatile, though, and the full playset deserves to be in your 75. I'd rather play the damage-efficient Shard Volley instead of maindecking Rakdos Charm, and make the swapped-out Rakdos Charms displace the Dragon's Claws in the board (UR Storm is sadly dead, the mirror doesn't occur that often).
4 Ash Zealot
4 Goblin Guide
4 Grim Lavamancer
Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
12 Mountain
4 Flames of the Blood Hand
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Bump in the Night
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Blood Moon
4 Rakdos Charm
3 Smash to Smithereens
4 Sudden Shock
This is what I''m working with right now, I'm thinking that I'll need to drop flames down to a 2-of, and one of my biggest concerns are the viability of lavamancer and searing blaze without fetches, my indecision when it comes to ash zealot vs keldon marauders vs vexing devil, number of lands to run, and my poor w/r/u matchup, (both versions)
Anything anyone can add to help me out is much appreciated, tyvm in advance
I think lightning helix is a better answer to the mirror than Dragon's Claw.
I run a similar list but with the land changes suggested previously and 4x deathrite shaman (taking out the ash zealots). I also run 18 lands which seems fine with no card in my 75 over 2cmc.
17x Mountain
2x Keldon Megaliths
Creatures:
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Goblin Guide
4x Grim Lavamancer
3x Ball Lightning
2x Keldon Marauders
2x Faithless Looting
2x Unknown
Burn:
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Skullcrack
4x Rift Bolt
2x Earthquake
2x Flames of the Blood Hand
4x Torpor Orb
4x Smash to Smithereens
4x Stigma Lasher
3x Vexing Shusher
So I had 3 spots that I rotated through testing out different things. But I added another Mountain, so I have 2 free spots. In those spots I have tested Vexing Devil (which I didnt care for, nor have an interest in buying), Dangerous Wage (I kinda liked it, but not convinced and even considered Browbeat in this spot), and Searing Blaze (With the lack of fetchs, this card doesnt seem that great, but havent tested it enough to get a good idea).
The number one downfall of this deck is lifegain, I have considered adding more sideboard options to combat that, but dont know what else I could consider except Leyline of Punishment.
My true goal is to get this ready to play in local tournaments. I have the whole deck put together minus some sideboard cards and those 2-3 free slots. I dont want to spend any more money on the deck. So theres no chance of me adding fetchs, orf more colors (granted I do like what white/black bring to the deck).
Anyways, does anyone have suggestions?
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B