I tend to agree with you there. However, the SCG Premier IQ are the ones run along side the Open Series, so they are a bit better. They tend to get over 100 players. For example the recent one in Milwauke had 212. Unsure exactly how many on this one, but likely similar. Grinders that bombed out day 1 are sometimes in attendance, so it ups the skill level a bit as well. These Premier IQ are pretty decent to reference as far as I can tell. They tend to be on par with a RPTQ or some of the non-American WMCQ. Now your base level SCG IQ are another story. Those are run by LGS and can be fairly tiny in comparison.
So I'm sure this was a fluke and probably wouldn't work at a more competitive environment, but I had an idea the other day and took it to a local FNM and 3-0'd it.(except it was really on a wednesday night because that's when my LGS plays modern). Basically, my thought was: Burn has a great matchup with most decks pre-board. But it gets a bit tougher post board, especially against decks that can toss in some lifegain effects. So what if instead of worrying about having to deal with all that, I instead just confused the ***** out of my opponent?
So the idea is you play Game 1 as one of the best decks in the game against a blind matchup. If it's already a favorable matchup, awesome. Stay Boros Burn and win. If it's not a favorable matchup, just swap in your entire sideboard in place of 3x Boros Charm, 4x Skullcrack, 2x Monastery Swiftspear, 2x Grim Lavamancer, 2x Eidolon of the Great Revel, and turn the deck into a Boros Twin deck with a secondary game plan of burning the opponent to death. Meanwhile, your opponent will have boarded in a ton of useless lifegain spells and other anti-burn cards like Leyline of Sanctity, slowing their deck and increasing your win %.
Here's my match write-up:
Round 1: Temur Twin
G1: Nut draw of 2x goblin, 2x bolt, 2 lands, and a Lava spike. Turn 3 kill
G2: I boarded in my twin combo. I drew a hand with Splinter Twin and Village Bell-Ringer, some burns and some land. Game progressed as usual, with him on the play. he tapped out on turn 4 for a goyf as a 4/5, followed by feed the clan for 10 life, and had the biggest sh*t eating grin on his face when I didn't skullcrack it. Then he ended his turn. at EoT, I flashed in Village Bell-Ringer and died laughing as I combo'd out on my t4. He was just straight up perplexed, but I made him promise not to give it away and he didn't.
Round 2: Soul Sisters
G1: Lost hard, as happens with Soul Sisters.
G2: Didn't draw any parts of the combo in my opening hand, but I still put up pressure with a few guides and some burns, then I drew into the combo and won on turn 6 or 7 with it, while he had 22 life and would clearly have otherwise won.
G3: This was my first time playing someone who knew both sides of the deck I was playing, and so I was definitely worried he would be prepared for Twin as well as Burn, but I drew 1x Village Bell-ringer and 1x Midnight Guard and 1x Splinter Twin in my opener. When I flashed in Village Bell-Ringer at EoT, he answered with a Path, but that actually just fixed up my mana enough to actually cast twin, and I dropped Midnight Guard during my turn and he didn't draw/have an answer for it, so I won the next turn.
Round 3: Infect
2 easy games, didn't bother switching to Twinmode because Burn is a great matchup against infect as it is. 2-0
I don't know what would happen if other people played this, or if I just got supremely lucky, after all the Boros Twin version isn't nearly as good as it's other compatriots, but I think the element of surprise definitely made up for that. I'd love to see if anyone thought this was a fun idea and wanted to help me improve it.
wow I like this
would it be better to play 4 Village Bell-Ringer and maybe switch-out the Midnight Guard & Elemental Mastery for something else (This version makes more sense in running 2 colors)
The relics in the board are a bit atypical. Though the major thing of interest is a full 4 Skullcrack along side Command in the main.
There was two other decks in the same top8. One finished 3/4, the other finished 6-8. Both were Naya with command. The latter included Nacatl.
Yeah i was the one in top 6-8 that lost to the twin deck in top 4. I kept a mana confluence one lander on the draw, never saw another land and then he turn 4 blood moon stranding me with 3 boros charms and 2 atarka's commands in hand. Then game two i mana flooded, kept a three lander on the play with 2 fetches and drew 4 lands off the top in first 4 draws, and 5 lands in first 6 draws after double fetching at the start. Derek is a good player as well, played against him a few times in the chicago area. Also shard volley is needed less imo because amulet bloom and infect are not heavy in the meta game, you can use a slower clock and you need less bolts as spot removal. The real choice is how many dudes(nacatl or not, and what is the mix of searing blazes in the board).
guys have anyone tried abbot? in a good sample I feel that im lacking creatures and often times I feel out of gas when I don't have creatures than lack of burn spells.
I tried nacatl but didn't like it and thinking maybe the additional draw for abbot can give us an extra reach for that needed gas.
Abbot is not good in this deck. You need 3 mana for it to be even playable, and 4 mana to reliably cast all your spells off of it. It doesn't have haste, or immediately affect the board on T2.
Abbot is not good in this deck. You need 3 mana for it to be even playable, and 4 mana to reliably cast all your spells off of it. It doesn't have haste, or immediately affect the board on T2.
This why it is a good card for jund and a poor card for us.
Abbot. Man was I wrong on that card. I panned it when it was spoiled. This is in context of Standard. Anyway, was just having a look at decklists in Modern that have given it a go. Jund has several lists including 1-2 on SCG. Then I saw 4 Burn lists from a few small IQ that were running 3-4 Abbot. I'd tend to agree in theory with Tippsy and Jex on this, but those lists are making me wonder.
I think the card is the current "best" option for burn, but at the same time burn has so many great options anyway that having the best one isn't as necessary as in other decks. Someone could easily play Boros Burn and probably still compete with the guy using Atarka's in Naya. The advantage of AC is that it's a card that can be mainboarded 24/7 vs some of the other good options, like Lightning Helix or skullcrack. Also, there currently is no equivalent card that allows creature buffing and damage to a player at the same time that I can think of.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Abbot is not good in this deck. You need 3 mana for it to be even playable, and 4 mana to reliably cast all your spells off of it. It doesn't have haste, or immediately affect the board on T2.
This why it is a good card for jund and a poor card for us.
If I had to guess I would say cause Jund is more mid-rangy and we are a very quick deck in comparison.
Abbot. Man was I wrong on that card. I panned it when it was spoiled. This is in context of Standard. Anyway, was just having a look at decklists in Modern that have given it a go. Jund has several lists including 1-2 on SCG. Then I saw 4 Burn lists from a few small IQ that were running 3-4 Abbot. I'd tend to agree in theory with Tippsy and Jex on this, but those lists are making me wonder.
I wouldn't say the card is nonviable, but if your going to add creatures wild nacatl is miles better imo. It would help with flood however, since you get two cards for the low price of one.
I tend to agree with what others have said. If you want to play the party cat, build zoo. That deck is where the card thrives and belongs. On turn 1 and 2 we want to be playing guide or Taylor. Turn 3 is to slow to be playing the cat as it won't even impact the game until turn 4.
Adding Abbot and Nacatl makes it not a burn deck at all. It becomes a Zoo deck, and Abbot isn't even particularly good in Zoo either.
Nacatl does not make you a zoo deck. You are still running 23 burn spells and possibly more after sideboard. Zoo decks focus on the creatures. The deck does not play like zoo at all.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
RWG Burn
GW Abzan Company
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
Spells
4 Skullcrack
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Searing Blaze
4 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
2 Arid Mesa
2 Searing Blaze
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Rending Volley
The relics in the board are a bit atypical. Though the major thing of interest is a full 4 Skullcrack along side Command in the main.
There was two other decks in the same top8. One finished 3/4, the other finished 6-8. Both were Naya with command. The latter included Nacatl.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
wow I like this
would it be better to play 4 Village Bell-Ringer and maybe switch-out the Midnight Guard & Elemental Mastery for something else (This version makes more sense in running 2 colors)
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
Yeah i was the one in top 6-8 that lost to the twin deck in top 4. I kept a mana confluence one lander on the draw, never saw another land and then he turn 4 blood moon stranding me with 3 boros charms and 2 atarka's commands in hand. Then game two i mana flooded, kept a three lander on the play with 2 fetches and drew 4 lands off the top in first 4 draws, and 5 lands in first 6 draws after double fetching at the start. Derek is a good player as well, played against him a few times in the chicago area. Also shard volley is needed less imo because amulet bloom and infect are not heavy in the meta game, you can use a slower clock and you need less bolts as spot removal. The real choice is how many dudes(nacatl or not, and what is the mix of searing blazes in the board).
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Abbot of the keral keep
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
2 Skullcrack
2 Searing Blaze
4 bloodstained Mire
4 sacred foundry
4 stomping ground
3 mountain
1 grafdigger's grave
1 relic
1 deflecting palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile
2 Stony Silence
2 rending volley
guys have anyone tried abbot? in a good sample I feel that im lacking creatures and often times I feel out of gas when I don't have creatures than lack of burn spells.
I tried nacatl but didn't like it and thinking maybe the additional draw for abbot can give us an extra reach for that needed gas.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
This why it is a good card for jund and a poor card for us.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I think the card is the current "best" option for burn, but at the same time burn has so many great options anyway that having the best one isn't as necessary as in other decks. Someone could easily play Boros Burn and probably still compete with the guy using Atarka's in Naya. The advantage of AC is that it's a card that can be mainboarded 24/7 vs some of the other good options, like Lightning Helix or skullcrack. Also, there currently is no equivalent card that allows creature buffing and damage to a player at the same time that I can think of.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
If I had to guess I would say cause Jund is more mid-rangy and we are a very quick deck in comparison.
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
I wouldn't say the card is nonviable, but if your going to add creatures wild nacatl is miles better imo. It would help with flood however, since you get two cards for the low price of one.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Nacatl does not make you a zoo deck. You are still running 23 burn spells and possibly more after sideboard. Zoo decks focus on the creatures. The deck does not play like zoo at all.
Nacatl wants to be a zoo deck. Putting Nacatl in Burn makes it a bad hybrid of Zoo and Burn that isn't optimized for being either.