I am running a naya burn without nacatl with land count of 20. My deck has 4 charm + 2 helix. 2 Vantage is going well so far by reducing unnecessary shock in early games.
So, I have been playing Nacatl burn for a while, and I just tried out making the switch over to Boros (with the green splash for SB). I really liked how the deck performed. Here's my list:
In the current meta with a lot of aggro decks, I thought it would be nice to play with fewer colors so I could more easily fetch for my basics and save a number of life points. With Naya, I found that every game I was effectively starting at 14, since I would fetch and shock turn 1 and 2 so I could cast the Nacatl and have it be a 3/3, and also so I could cast both Atarka's Command and Boros Charm. I replaced the Atarka's Command with Skullcrack and the Wild Nacatl with some Lightning Helix and pushed myself to the full set of Searing Blaze.
I have noticed that this version seems to be just a little less explosive without the Commands and Nacatls, but I have felt it to be more consistent so far. Drawing a Nacatl on turn 6 when they are at 3 life and have a board is the worst. I have also run up against a decent number of opposing burn decks, and the Kor Firewalker is just killer in the mirror. Running Naya made it really hard to get those deployed due to the WW cost, and I know how back-breaking they can be when they land, so now that I feel I can cast them, I bumped them up to 3 in the SB.
I took this out the other day and went 4-0 beating Naya Coco Spirits, Turbo Turns, and then Jund 2 rounds in a row.
Spirits and Turns went to 3. Spirits got a crazy hand of 2 Spellskite in their opener game 1.
Game 1 against turns I ended up drawing 4 lands in a row and he took me down while at 4 life.
Neither Jund player was able to keep around their Goyfs for long and both ended up bottle-necked on lands, and I was even able to fight through a Collective Brutality both matches. Luckily I dodged the Kitchen Finks in both the SB matches and came away with the
Overall, I have been very pleased with the switch so far. The Lightning Helix life gain has been a champ, and the extra burn spells have been nice in the late game when the board gets bogged up. I'll keep trying this one out for a bit I think.
I went to a Modern GPT for GP Vancouver last night. I took my Boros Burn deck from above and put up some decent results.
There were 21 people that showed up. Interestingly, there was no Dredge and no Affinity. I think the most represented decks were 4 Burn and 3 Infect.
Here's my report. I forgot to write down my SB choices, so I'm guessing on those.
R1 Win Against Gifts Ungiven (2-0)
Took down them down pretty easily in game 1. Just got a quick start and they stumbled a bit. Killed them turn 4 or 5.
Game 2 was a little closer, I had no creatures, and they got a lili ticked up to 6. I had a Path To Exile in hand and they used Unburial Rites to get back Iona, and named red, so I pathed it and closed out the game on the next turn.
SB: +3 Rest In Peace and +3 Path to Exile, -2 Grim Lavamancer -4 Searing Blaze.
R3 Loss against Kiki Chord (0-2)
Was a close matchup, game 1 he had a Scavenging Ooze at 3 toughness with 1 green up. I attacked with my Monastery Swiftspear which was blocked by the Scavenging Ooze. I cast a Skullcrack with a Lighning Helix in hand, hoping he would go for the life gain with the Skullcrack on the stack so I could finish off the Scooze. He thought for a while, but didn't take the bait. So after the combat damage killed my Swiftspear, I cast the Helix to kill the Ooze. Since he didn't take my bluff, I wasn't able to gain the 3 off the helix which ended up costing me the game.
Game 2 I made a play mistake that probably cost me the game. I had him at 2 life, and he only had 2 lands untapped, so I cast Skullcrack on my second main, expecting to close it out, but he had a Lighning Helix in hand and kept himself in the game. If I had held it up, there's no guarantee I would have got him, but it was probably not the right play.
SB: I didn't really know what to expect from this, so I brought +2 Path to Exile, +2 Rest In Peace, and +2 Destructive Revelry, and -2 Grim Lavamancer and -4 Lava Spike. Destructive Revelry was probably wrong. I was worried about possible Leyline of Sanctity. Luckily I was able to hit a Spellskite with one, so it wasn't totally dead, but I think it might have been wrong.
R4 Win against Madcap Moon Jund (2-1)
G1 I got lost to the Madcap Experiment into Platinum Emperion. I had 2 Eidolon of the Great Revel out, which locked me out of being able to kill him off.
G2 I kept a super risky hand. I knew that he relied on Birds of Paradise to ramp into moon and madcap. My hand was 1 basic mountain, 3 Searing Blaze, Lighning Bolt, Goblin Guide, and Monastery Swiftspear. Since I knew I needed to kill him off fast, I figured this would be a good gamble, since he would usually have a creature out quickly for the Searing blaze if I drew the second land. It was really a super risky keep, and probably should have been mulled. Anyways, my bad call paid off and I topdecked 2 fetches in a row. I went T1 Goblin Guide, he cast a T1 Birds of Paradise. I got the Fetch off the top, and and cast the first Searing Blaze. T2 he drops his second land (Forest, Copperline Gorge at this point) and plays the second Birds. Again, I topdeck the second fetch, so I play the fetch, Blaze the Bird, and swing in with the GG. Meanwhile, it's been black spells on top every time. T3 he misses his land drop and plays a 3rd bird. So I leave my Fetch up for the next turn, play my swiftspear, fetch and Blaze.
G3 was a closer game. Luckily I got to Blaze the Bird again, and it came down to him having 4 lands at 4 life with a Blood Moon out and he just needed to topdeck the Madcap Experement to lock the win, but he didn't.
SB: +3 Path to Exile, +3 Destructive Revelry, -2 Grim Lavamancer. I think I took out some combo of Eidolons and Lava Spikes.
R5 ID into the top 8. It was a burn deck, but we were both a lock for top 8.
R6 Loss to the Same Kiki Chord deck again. (1-2)
I had the lower seed, so he got to choose to be on the play.
Game 1 was super close, but at 4 life he was able to chord into the kiki Combo while I was tapped out.
G2 I was able to take with a well timed 2 Goblin Guides, a Seaing Blaze, and a well timed Skullcrack.
G3 Came down to a long game, I had him at 4 life, and drew 2 lands in a row then a skullcrack. He ended up gaining out of range with a Scavenging Ooze. My Boros Charm was just 1 draw step too late to finish out the game.
SB: +3 Path to Exile, and I don't remember what came out.
Overall, it was an awesome tournament. I was pleased to top 8. I think it would have been an easier task to win if I had been paired against the 2 infect, 2 Merfolk, or the other Burn deck. The last deck in the top 8 was another toolbox type deck with Eldritch Evolution and Chord. It was probably ever worse to beat than the Kiki Chord, since he was playing Kitchen Finks.
I noticed that I saved a lot of life over the course of the day since I dropped green from the deck. I was pleased to have Inspiring Vantage almost every time I drew it. It only came in tapped once, but I was using it to fire off a searing blaze, and just had another 1 cost in hand then anyways.
I was dissapointed at first that I didn't play against any of the other burn decks. Part of my switch out of green was so I could save the life fetching, and to be able to more easily cast the Kor Firewalker from the SB. Although, after the rounds were over, I tested the main deck against 2 different Burn decks and lost a lot of my matches. I've not really played the Mirror much, and I think I don't know it very well. I'll definitely try to get some more reps in before the GP comes around.
Piloted this to a 3-1 finish in a 25 man field. I just rebuilt my burn deck so I'm still waiting on the Grim Lavamancers and the rest of my wooded foothills. Normally I would run a light G splash for [[destructive revelry]], but with such a low land count I decided to go pure Boros. This did give me a good opportunity to test the windswept heaths as fetches 9+10 instead of arid mesas. I can say it definitely cost me two games. One game I had 2 boros charms in hand, 2 life, and 3 lands on the field with a heath in hand. Another allowed grixis to race me faster. Therefore, going forward I'll just use 8 fetches and not use the heaths.
Round 1 - Bant Company 2-0
Game one he starts off strong with a hierach into a T2 spell queller on my searing blaze. I bolt his queller and target the hierach with the SB giving my swiftspear a pump. Cruise to the win. Game two I had a grip of spells vs his path to exiles so no interaction equals my win.
Round 2 - Slivers 2-1
Game one I just win by turn three off the back of a guide, some bolts, and a boros charm. Game two he resolves a lifelinl sliver and I can't answer it. Game three I race him goblin guides and a timely skullcrack. Not much to say about this matchup.
Round 3 - Grixis Delver 0-2
Lost this match mostly to resolved collective brutality in games 1 and 2. How to beat that card? Its so fast and all 3 modes were relevant... Felt bad.
Round 4 - Grixis Control Ultimatum 2-0
He was playing mostly stuff like mana leak and cryptic command. Too slow for my deck game 1. Collective brutality game 2 made things closer, but I played around his counterspells for the win.
Other than the obvious inclusion of a singeleton stomping ground and the rest of the wooded foothills[edit] changes I would make are:
I have been considering dropping the green and going with Wear // Tear in the place of the Destructive Revelry in my SB. How has that treated you so far?
It would definitely let me cut the Stomping Ground to add another Inspiring Vantage or a 3rd Mountain. My main reservation is that Destructive Revelry is adding in 2 damage which helps our normal game plan. On the other side it will make the mana base a little easier, since paying 2 life for the Stomping Ground game 1 was annoying since there is no need for the green.
I wonder if the life points and consistency you gain are worth the loss of the extra damage from revelry. Any thoughts?
The other option could be to make some split between Smash to Smithereens and some enchantment destruction. Realistically, there are not that many targets for the enchantment destruction right now. I have seen very few Leyline of Sanctity which would be the most likely candidate. There is Eidolon of Rhetoric which some decks will SB against us. Blood moon is another enchantment we might see, but there are not too many matches that will matter that much. We might want to destroy a Phyrexian Unlife or a Worship in some games.
Collective Brutality: Against a deck carrying this, you should probably be more proactive with your spells so that you don't get caught with a Sorcery in hand and you should dump instants in response to it. Gaining 2 life once isn't the end of the world, and neither is losing one creature. Your opponent is going to wreck their own hand if they nail you with all 3 modes. It's like a Burn spell getting FoW'd in Legacy where they lose an extra card for the effect. Also, keep lands in your hand if you don't necessarily need them so that you bait your opponent into discarding for the discard ability and you've made them waste a card for no effect.
How would you build burn for the following meta? Assume that this is the exact meta and that the bracketed cards are the only hate cards seen. The ors are for players with multiple decks.
Jund
Jeskai Nahiri
U Tron
GW Taxes
Abzan Company
GW Tron
Fish
Affinity or Infect
Bogles or Naya Burn
Bogles
Lantern
Pox or Esper Brain in the Jar
Affinity
Dredge
4C Bring to Light
4C Control
In particular, is Wild Nacatl good here? It only looks good vs. 4C Bring to Light, Pox, U Tron, and GW Tron. In the other match-ups, it either allows the control deck (Jeskai Nahiri, Jund, etc.) to interact, is poorly-aligned in combat (Abzan Company, Fish, Affinity, etc.), or costs too much life to cast (Burn, Bogles, Affinity, Fish, etc.).
If Nacatl doesn't look good, is Green worth the splash given that I've seen 0 Leyline (or other troublesome enchantments, for that matter) locally? I've played Boros SB green for 3-4 Revelry and 2 Atarka's Command before, but if I can cut green all the way, that'd be pretty cool. I could likely run Smash to Smithereens in the Destructive Revelry spots, then either just bank on 4 Skullcrack effects being enough in the 75, or run some spicy cards like red Leyline or Flames of the Bloodhand for more anti-lifegain. I'm not sure if 6 effects is necessary given that the main sources of lifegain locally are Kitchen Finks (where we should be playing to the board in those early turns anyway), Lightning Helix (the two RWx(x) control players typically play around Skullcrack effects), and Scavenging Ooze.
How many Searing Blaze/Grim Lavamancer should be in the 60? In the 75? Traditionally, there are usually 4 Blaze/1 Lavamancer, but my meta might have enough small creature decks to merit more Lavamancer, some Blood over Blaze, or some Lavamancer over Blaze. I don't really want Blaze nor Lavamancer against Tron, Jund, or RWx(x) control, but Lavamancer might have more impact than Searing Blaze 2-3 or 4 G1 against those decks.
How many fetches do you want per Searing Blaze/Lavamancer?
How would you build burn for the following meta? Assume that this is the exact meta and that the bracketed cards are the only hate cards seen. The ors are for players with multiple decks.
Jund
Jeskai Nahiri
U Tron
GW Taxes
Abzan Company
GW Tron
Fish
Affinity or Infect
Bogles or Naya Burn
Bogles
Lantern
Pox or Esper Brain in the Jar
Affinity
Dredge
4C Bring to Light
4C Control
In particular, is Wild Nacatl good here? It only looks good vs. 4C Bring to Light, Pox, U Tron, and GW Tron. In the other match-ups, it either allows the control deck (Jeskai Nahiri, Jund, etc.) to interact, is poorly-aligned in combat (Abzan Company, Fish, Affinity, etc.), or costs too much life to cast (Burn, Bogles, Affinity, Fish, etc.).
If Nacatl doesn't look good, is Green worth the splash given that I've seen 0 Leyline (or other troublesome enchantments, for that matter) locally? I've played Boros SB green for 3-4 Revelry and 2 Atarka's Command before, but if I can cut green all the way, that'd be pretty cool. I could likely run Smash to Smithereens in the Destructive Revelry spots, then either just bank on 4 Skullcrack effects being enough in the 75, or run some spicy cards like red Leyline or Flames of the Bloodhand for more anti-lifegain. I'm not sure if 6 effects is necessary given that the main sources of lifegain locally are Kitchen Finks (where we should be playing to the board in those early turns anyway), Lightning Helix (the two RWx(x) control players typically play around Skullcrack effects), and Scavenging Ooze.
How many Searing Blaze/Grim Lavamancer should be in the 60? In the 75? Traditionally, there are usually 4 Blaze/1 Lavamancer, but my meta might have enough small creature decks to merit more Lavamancer, some Blood over Blaze, or some Lavamancer over Blaze. I don't really want Blaze nor Lavamancer against Tron, Jund, or RWx(x) control, but Lavamancer might have more impact than Searing Blaze 2-3 or 4 G1 against those decks.
How many fetches do you want per Searing Blaze/Lavamancer?
Vote for nacatl burn
In fact, I would say that nacatl burn is great in turn 1 for most of matchups listed here for possible dealing early damage ( its bad if eat a removal spell without dealing damage as opponent respond it). Its more explosives compared ordinary burn with combined with atarka's command together with few goblins/swiftspears for early damage. Drawback, you might need to shock left 14-15 life make use of turn 2 with a 3/3 nacatl. Obviously, pray not to get it in a topdeck mode where oppenent are 3 life. You probable need side in out proper card playing against Bogle, affinity, company.
Against creature, your aggro make their creature blocking it, backed it with burn spell to finish it if it survives under nacatl. For ordinary burn, you might also using burns to kill his creature anyways. I feeling sometime jamming lot 2 cc spell in hand with 3 lands while playing ordinary burns.
Smash to Smithereens is slightly worse to destructive revelry as it can't smash leyline of sanctity, spreading seas (fish), daybreak coronet (bogle), blood moon etc which ruined burn's day. Its good to run 4 searing blaze to dealing with some bad matchups such as fish, affinity, abzan company. You might jamming blaze in hand aginst tron or others non-interactive deck like ad nauseam, lantern. Drop them in game 2. I played 11 fetches for searing and lavamancer with land count of 20.
Well, those are some personal opinions. You can have a try with nacatl and drop them anytime that you feel not necessary for you.
Hi folks, recently i obtain many great results online with my BURN W/R version with 2 montains, 1 Plains and 4 Inspiring vantage. My SB has Bridge and blood moons for a tout macthes, the deck with fast land not loose much life and eidolon plus some monastery and burns shine a lot.
Hi folks, recently i obtain many great results online with my BURN W/R version with 2 montains, 1 Plains and 4 Inspiring vantage. My SB has Bridge and blood moons for a tout macthes, the deck with fast land not loose much life and eidolon plus some monastery and burns shine a lot.
That statement doesn't really add anything insightful to any conversation. Do you have more to say besides 12 words and a number?
I agree that Nacatl is a bad top deck, not even good played on T2, and is really only desirable on T1. That's why I don't play it. But I do not believe that Bump in the Night is superior to either Boros Charm/Helix/Path/Kor Firewalker or Atarka's Command/Destructive Revelry, so I don't see the reason to play black. Bump is just an extra Lava Spike, and Lava Spike is probably the first spell I'd cut if a legitimate new Bolt variant got printed. Even Boros Burn splashing 1 Stomping Ground for DRev is a thing today and was a thing before Atarka's Command was printed. DRev is very important.
I like the way he thinks about atarka command and nacatl, althought I think he should a stomping ground and destructive revelry in his sideboard
I don't really like his argument against Grim Lavamancer... I could understand cutting him because he doesn't have haste, or because he 'dies to removal'... but cutting him because it's hard to decide whether to attack or use it's ability? Are you kidding me?
He really makes it sounds like burn is a "DUR I BURN TO FACE I WIN" kind of deck :/
Also, I'm kind of surprised that he only ever used the +1/+1 on Atarka's Command once; I'm pretty sure I used it way more often than the anti life gain. Also interesting that he points out how Skullcrack protect you against Fog (seriously? of all damage prevention card he used fog?) but leaves out that AC gets around leyline & can give reach (although I could see how using reach would be hard for his 'let's avoid decisions' play style)
Seriously, this article makes it sound like Lava Spike is better than bolt since you don't have to use any brain power to decide the target
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"What's your plan?" Gideon asked.
"Are you serious?" Chandra replied.
I thought it was a fun read. That being said, I disagree with the argument that cards like Wild Nacatl are not good in the deck (or in Modern) because it makes you make more decisions. Decision-making is just part of the game. Overall, green has been a great addition to the Burn archtype and I think it is a mistake to cut it from the deck.
Thoughts on cutting Firewalker from the board? I find that what I REALLY want in a burn mirror is to kill the opposing Firewalkers, and be more efficient with fetching less painful mana. I've considered running 4 PtE in the sideboard instead of my 50/50 split of Firewalker and PtE at the moment. Helps into the Tasigur/Tarmagoyf/TKS/Reality Smasher matches (it's hard to push through bodies that big) as a side-benefit. Having Deflecting Palm or 2 PtE in the deck is great, but when they get taken by a TKS on turn 2, it's a difficult game. Firewalkers basically come in for one matchup, where paths are useful in loads more - seems like better use of the small number of SB slots you get?
I would rather play a card which 'furthers the plan', and definitely considered Reality Haemorrhage (hits Firewalker, Etched Champion and Aurok Champion). I'd rather topdeck that than a PtE when the opponent is on 2 life, even if it is an inefficient 2 mana shock, but it's just not a heavy enough lifter to deal with the big creatures.
Thoughts on cutting Firewalker from the board? I find that what I REALLY want in a burn mirror is to kill the opposing Firewalkers, and be more efficient with fetching less painful mana. I've considered running 4 PtE in the sideboard instead of my 50/50 split of Firewalker and PtE at the moment. H from my sbelps into the Tasigur/Tarmagoyf/TKS/Reality Smasher matches (it's hard to push through bodies that big) as a side-benefit. Having Deflecting Palm or 2 PtE in the deck is great, but when they get taken by a TKS on turn 2, it's a difficult game. Firewalkers basically come in for one matchup, where paths are useful in loads more - seems like better use of the small number of SB slots you get?
I would rather play a card which 'furthers the plan', and definitely considered Reality Haemorrhage (hits Firewalker, Etched Champion and Aurok Champion). I'd rather topdeck that than a PtE when the opponent is on 2 life, even if it is an inefficient 2 mana shock, but it's just not a heavy enough lifter to deal with the big creatures.
Same thought with me. I have remove 2 firewalker from my SB cause my mirror opponent might have path or skullcrack to deal with him. Instead, I run 3 path and 2 skullcrack to deal with possible opponent's firewalker.
I admit Bant Eldrazi gives burn hard time for able to cast big creature in mid game. Yet, playing with them need to be play early disruption from their mana dorks and destroy their temple, with continuous to burn them. Little mind game is required.
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I went to a Modern GPT for GP Vancouver last night. I took my Boros Burn deck from above and put up some decent results.
There were 21 people that showed up. Interestingly, there was no Dredge and no Affinity. I think the most represented decks were 4 Burn and 3 Infect.
Here's my report. I forgot to write down my SB choices, so I'm guessing on those.
R1 Win Against Gifts Ungiven (2-0)
Took down them down pretty easily in game 1. Just got a quick start and they stumbled a bit. Killed them turn 4 or 5.
Game 2 was a little closer, I had no creatures, and they got a lili ticked up to 6. I had a Path To Exile in hand and they used Unburial Rites to get back Iona, and named red, so I pathed it and closed out the game on the next turn.
SB: +3 Rest In Peace and +3 Path to Exile, -2 Grim Lavamancer -4 Searing Blaze.
R2 Win against Infect (2-0)
This is a pretty easy matchup for me. Kept a hand with bolt and Searing Blaze both games and he was never able to keep a creature long.
SB: +2 Path to exile and +2 Destructive Revelry, +2 Deflecting Palm, -4 Lava Spike, -2 Rift Bolt
R3 Loss against Kiki Chord (0-2)
Was a close matchup, game 1 he had a Scavenging Ooze at 3 toughness with 1 green up. I attacked with my Monastery Swiftspear which was blocked by the Scavenging Ooze. I cast a Skullcrack with a Lighning Helix in hand, hoping he would go for the life gain with the Skullcrack on the stack so I could finish off the Scooze. He thought for a while, but didn't take the bait. So after the combat damage killed my Swiftspear, I cast the Helix to kill the Ooze. Since he didn't take my bluff, I wasn't able to gain the 3 off the helix which ended up costing me the game.
Game 2 I made a play mistake that probably cost me the game. I had him at 2 life, and he only had 2 lands untapped, so I cast Skullcrack on my second main, expecting to close it out, but he had a Lighning Helix in hand and kept himself in the game. If I had held it up, there's no guarantee I would have got him, but it was probably not the right play.
SB: I didn't really know what to expect from this, so I brought +2 Path to Exile, +2 Rest In Peace, and +2 Destructive Revelry, and -2 Grim Lavamancer and -4 Lava Spike. Destructive Revelry was probably wrong. I was worried about possible Leyline of Sanctity. Luckily I was able to hit a Spellskite with one, so it wasn't totally dead, but I think it might have been wrong.
R4 Win against Madcap Moon Jund (2-1)
G1 I got lost to the Madcap Experiment into Platinum Emperion. I had 2 Eidolon of the Great Revel out, which locked me out of being able to kill him off.
G2 I kept a super risky hand. I knew that he relied on Birds of Paradise to ramp into moon and madcap. My hand was 1 basic mountain, 3 Searing Blaze, Lighning Bolt, Goblin Guide, and Monastery Swiftspear. Since I knew I needed to kill him off fast, I figured this would be a good gamble, since he would usually have a creature out quickly for the Searing blaze if I drew the second land. It was really a super risky keep, and probably should have been mulled. Anyways, my bad call paid off and I topdecked 2 fetches in a row. I went T1 Goblin Guide, he cast a T1 Birds of Paradise. I got the Fetch off the top, and and cast the first Searing Blaze. T2 he drops his second land (Forest, Copperline Gorge at this point) and plays the second Birds. Again, I topdeck the second fetch, so I play the fetch, Blaze the Bird, and swing in with the GG. Meanwhile, it's been black spells on top every time. T3 he misses his land drop and plays a 3rd bird. So I leave my Fetch up for the next turn, play my swiftspear, fetch and Blaze.
G3 was a closer game. Luckily I got to Blaze the Bird again, and it came down to him having 4 lands at 4 life with a Blood Moon out and he just needed to topdeck the Madcap Experement to lock the win, but he didn't.
SB: +3 Path to Exile, +3 Destructive Revelry, -2 Grim Lavamancer. I think I took out some combo of Eidolons and Lava Spikes.
R5 ID into the top 8. It was a burn deck, but we were both a lock for top 8.
R6 Loss to the Same Kiki Chord deck again. (1-2)
I had the lower seed, so he got to choose to be on the play.
Game 1 was super close, but at 4 life he was able to chord into the kiki Combo while I was tapped out.
G2 I was able to take with a well timed 2 Goblin Guides, a Seaing Blaze, and a well timed Skullcrack.
G3 Came down to a long game, I had him at 4 life, and drew 2 lands in a row then a skullcrack. He ended up gaining out of range with a Scavenging Ooze. My Boros Charm was just 1 draw step too late to finish out the game.
SB: +3 Path to Exile, and I don't remember what came out.
Overall, it was an awesome tournament. I was pleased to top 8. I think it would have been an easier task to win if I had been paired against the 2 infect, 2 Merfolk, or the other Burn deck. The last deck in the top 8 was another toolbox type deck with Eldritch Evolution and Chord. It was probably ever worse to beat than the Kiki Chord, since he was playing Kitchen Finks.
I noticed that I saved a lot of life over the course of the day since I dropped green from the deck. I was pleased to have Inspiring Vantage almost every time I drew it. It only came in tapped once, but I was using it to fire off a searing blaze, and just had another 1 cost in hand then anyways.
I was dissapointed at first that I didn't play against any of the other burn decks. Part of my switch out of green was so I could save the life fetching, and to be able to more easily cast the Kor Firewalker from the SB. Although, after the rounds were over, I tested the main deck against 2 different Burn decks and lost a lot of my matches. I've not really played the Mirror much, and I think I don't know it very well. I'll definitely try to get some more reps in before the GP comes around.
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
2 Lightning Helix
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
2 Shard Volley
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
7 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Windswept Heath
1 Volcanic Fallout
2 Path to Exile
2 Wear//Tear
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Smash to Smithereens
3 Kor FireWalker
Round 1 - Bant Company 2-0
Game one he starts off strong with a hierach into a T2 spell queller on my searing blaze. I bolt his queller and target the hierach with the SB giving my swiftspear a pump. Cruise to the win. Game two I had a grip of spells vs his path to exiles so no interaction equals my win.
Round 2 - Slivers 2-1
Game one I just win by turn three off the back of a guide, some bolts, and a boros charm. Game two he resolves a lifelinl sliver and I can't answer it. Game three I race him goblin guides and a timely skullcrack. Not much to say about this matchup.
Round 3 - Grixis Delver 0-2
Lost this match mostly to resolved collective brutality in games 1 and 2. How to beat that card? Its so fast and all 3 modes were relevant... Felt bad.
Round 4 - Grixis Control Ultimatum 2-0
He was playing mostly stuff like mana leak and cryptic command. Too slow for my deck game 1. Collective brutality game 2 made things closer, but I played around his counterspells for the win.
Other than the obvious inclusion of a singeleton stomping ground and the rest of the wooded foothills[edit] changes I would make are:
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Lightning Helix
-1 Searing Blaze
-1 Mountain
-1 Shard Volley
SB
-1 Volcanic Fallout
-3 Smash to Smithereens
-2 Wear//Tear
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+4 Destructive REvelry
+1 Searing Blaze
I would also like to hear better strategies for combating collective brutality.
It would definitely let me cut the Stomping Ground to add another Inspiring Vantage or a 3rd Mountain. My main reservation is that Destructive Revelry is adding in 2 damage which helps our normal game plan. On the other side it will make the mana base a little easier, since paying 2 life for the Stomping Ground game 1 was annoying since there is no need for the green.
I wonder if the life points and consistency you gain are worth the loss of the extra damage from revelry. Any thoughts?
The other option could be to make some split between Smash to Smithereens and some enchantment destruction. Realistically, there are not that many targets for the enchantment destruction right now. I have seen very few Leyline of Sanctity which would be the most likely candidate. There is Eidolon of Rhetoric which some decks will SB against us. Blood moon is another enchantment we might see, but there are not too many matches that will matter that much. We might want to destroy a Phyrexian Unlife or a Worship in some games.
So, does anyone have any ideas on Destructive Revelry vs Wear // Tear vs Smash to Smithereens in a Boros Burn deck?
I second that! Anyone?
"Are you serious?" Chandra replied.
Jund
Jeskai Nahiri
U Tron
GW Taxes
Abzan Company
GW Tron
Fish
Affinity or Infect
Bogles or Naya Burn
Bogles
Lantern
Pox or Esper Brain in the Jar
Affinity
Dredge
4C Bring to Light
4C Control
In particular, is Wild Nacatl good here? It only looks good vs. 4C Bring to Light, Pox, U Tron, and GW Tron. In the other match-ups, it either allows the control deck (Jeskai Nahiri, Jund, etc.) to interact, is poorly-aligned in combat (Abzan Company, Fish, Affinity, etc.), or costs too much life to cast (Burn, Bogles, Affinity, Fish, etc.).
If Nacatl doesn't look good, is Green worth the splash given that I've seen 0 Leyline (or other troublesome enchantments, for that matter) locally? I've played Boros SB green for 3-4 Revelry and 2 Atarka's Command before, but if I can cut green all the way, that'd be pretty cool. I could likely run Smash to Smithereens in the Destructive Revelry spots, then either just bank on 4 Skullcrack effects being enough in the 75, or run some spicy cards like red Leyline or Flames of the Bloodhand for more anti-lifegain. I'm not sure if 6 effects is necessary given that the main sources of lifegain locally are Kitchen Finks (where we should be playing to the board in those early turns anyway), Lightning Helix (the two RWx(x) control players typically play around Skullcrack effects), and Scavenging Ooze.
How many Searing Blaze/Grim Lavamancer should be in the 60? In the 75? Traditionally, there are usually 4 Blaze/1 Lavamancer, but my meta might have enough small creature decks to merit more Lavamancer, some Blood over Blaze, or some Lavamancer over Blaze. I don't really want Blaze nor Lavamancer against Tron, Jund, or RWx(x) control, but Lavamancer might have more impact than Searing Blaze 2-3 or 4 G1 against those decks.
How many fetches do you want per Searing Blaze/Lavamancer?
Vote for nacatl burn
In fact, I would say that nacatl burn is great in turn 1 for most of matchups listed here for possible dealing early damage ( its bad if eat a removal spell without dealing damage as opponent respond it). Its more explosives compared ordinary burn with combined with atarka's command together with few goblins/swiftspears for early damage. Drawback, you might need to shock left 14-15 life make use of turn 2 with a 3/3 nacatl. Obviously, pray not to get it in a topdeck mode where oppenent are 3 life. You probable need side in out proper card playing against Bogle, affinity, company.
Against creature, your aggro make their creature blocking it, backed it with burn spell to finish it if it survives under nacatl. For ordinary burn, you might also using burns to kill his creature anyways. I feeling sometime jamming lot 2 cc spell in hand with 3 lands while playing ordinary burns.
Smash to Smithereens is slightly worse to destructive revelry as it can't smash leyline of sanctity, spreading seas (fish), daybreak coronet (bogle), blood moon etc which ruined burn's day. Its good to run 4 searing blaze to dealing with some bad matchups such as fish, affinity, abzan company. You might jamming blaze in hand aginst tron or others non-interactive deck like ad nauseam, lantern. Drop them in game 2. I played 11 fetches for searing and lavamancer with land count of 20.
Well, those are some personal opinions. You can have a try with nacatl and drop them anytime that you feel not necessary for you.
Mind to share your list?
18 LANDS
4 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
2 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Inspiring Vantage
12 CREATURES
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
30 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Skull Crack
4 Boros Charm
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
2 Shard Volley
4 Lightining Helix
SIDEBOARD
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Deflecting Palm
1 Wear/tear
3 Smash to smiterrings
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Kor Firewalker
3 Path to Exile
1 Stony Silence
2 Blood Moon
1 Ensnaring Bridge
Was this for real events, or things like kitchen table magic and cockatrice?
18 LANDS
4 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
2 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Inspiring Vantage
12 CREATURES
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
30 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Skull Crack
4 Boros Charm
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
2 Shard Volley
4 Lightining Helix
SIDEBOARD
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Deflecting Palm
1 Wear/tear
3 Smash to smiterrings
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Kor Firewalker
3 Path to Exile
1 Stony Silence
2 Blood Moon
1 Ensnaring Bridge
That statement doesn't really add anything insightful to any conversation. Do you have more to say besides 12 words and a number?
I agree that Nacatl is a bad top deck, not even good played on T2, and is really only desirable on T1. That's why I don't play it. But I do not believe that Bump in the Night is superior to either Boros Charm/Helix/Path/Kor Firewalker or Atarka's Command/Destructive Revelry, so I don't see the reason to play black. Bump is just an extra Lava Spike, and Lava Spike is probably the first spell I'd cut if a legitimate new Bolt variant got printed. Even Boros Burn splashing 1 Stomping Ground for DRev is a thing today and was a thing before Atarka's Command was printed. DRev is very important.
I don't really like his argument against Grim Lavamancer... I could understand cutting him because he doesn't have haste, or because he 'dies to removal'... but cutting him because it's hard to decide whether to attack or use it's ability? Are you kidding me?
He really makes it sounds like burn is a "DUR I BURN TO FACE I WIN" kind of deck :/
Also, I'm kind of surprised that he only ever used the +1/+1 on Atarka's Command once; I'm pretty sure I used it way more often than the anti life gain. Also interesting that he points out how Skullcrack protect you against Fog (seriously? of all damage prevention card he used fog?) but leaves out that AC gets around leyline & can give reach (although I could see how using reach would be hard for his 'let's avoid decisions' play style)
Seriously, this article makes it sound like Lava Spike is better than bolt since you don't have to use any brain power to decide the target
"Are you serious?" Chandra replied.
I would rather play a card which 'furthers the plan', and definitely considered Reality Haemorrhage (hits Firewalker, Etched Champion and Aurok Champion). I'd rather topdeck that than a PtE when the opponent is on 2 life, even if it is an inefficient 2 mana shock, but it's just not a heavy enough lifter to deal with the big creatures.
Same thought with me. I have remove 2 firewalker from my SB cause my mirror opponent might have path or skullcrack to deal with him. Instead, I run 3 path and 2 skullcrack to deal with possible opponent's firewalker.
I admit Bant Eldrazi gives burn hard time for able to cast big creature in mid game. Yet, playing with them need to be play early disruption from their mana dorks and destroy their temple, with continuous to burn them. Little mind game is required.