I also play Atarka's Command as a 4 of main board but even if I didn't I don't think I'd go down to 1 or even 0 Stomping Ground main board. Ghost Quarter effects are scary.
I'm actually finding that there's a dearth of sideboard cards I really want to bring in. I have 4 Path for Eldrazi/Shadow/Finks, 4 Rev for Affinity/Lantern/Merfolk, 2 Palm for Affinity/Shadow, 2 Relic for Abzan/Control/Dredge/Shadow, and 2 Kataki (soon to be Mentor) for double-tap artifact hate. My 15th sideboard card was a Lavaman that was frankly performing pretty poorly. I guess I could jam a 1-of Kor Firewalker in there for the mirror, but it isn't quite as common as it once was. I'm not really seeing a "better sideboard card" to invest in.
Kor Firewalker is definitely not a 1-of in my opinion. I think Deflecting Palm is an appropriate 1-of as it is a lot more relevant to a wider range of decks and you also never seem to need more than 1 (and honestly quite horrible in multiples if your opponent knows you have it).
Funnily, that's the reason I first began to consider this effect. One of my good friends was playing Boros Burn with only 2 basics, and he fell victim to the Spreading Seas + Ghost Quarter plan that UW Control is currently employing (he got his basics Seased, and his shocklands Quartered), which pushed me in the direction of finding more ways to squeeze basics into the 75.
Funnily, that's the reason I first began to consider this effect. One of my good friends was playing Boros Burn with only 2 basics, and he fell victim to the Spreading Seas + Ghost Quarter plan that UW Control is currently employing (he got his basics Seased, and his shocklands Quartered), which pushed me in the direction of finding more ways to squeeze basics into the 75.
I think the major issue with that is you begin hurting your consistency against every other deck in the format. I think the best plan is to board in 4 drevs and float the red mana in response to the enchantment and then revelry it. It's just super difficult because you have to keep mana up and have revelry in hand.
How does removing Stomping Ground from the maindeck hurt your consistency in Boros Burn? I'm confused. I think that if you expect to get Ghost Quartered, you need to pack basics.
How does removing Stomping Ground from the maindeck hurt your consistency in Boros Burn? I'm confused. I think that if you expect to get Ghost Quartered, you need to pack basics.
No I mean by adding more basics you hurt consistency. You are less likely to find white or green mana you need and having more basics definitely hurts in that regard.
I suppose if you went to a critical mass of basics, that could be true. But not in this case. The sideboard plan to bring in Stomping Ground against UW Control would be to trim an Inspiring Vantage for it. If you were on a 4-Vantage, 2-Foundry, 10-fetch build of Burn, trimming one would leave you with 15 virtual sources of W, which is easily enough to expect seeing it on T1 (as noted in Frank Karsten's seminal mathematical analysis on the subject). There really isn't much downside to this plan.
Except you're dedicating a sideboard slot to a land that doesn't need to be a land. If you're speaking specifically to UW control, I am not really worried about seeing that deck in a vast sea of Jund, Death's Shadow, Grixis Delver, Merfolk, Eldrazi, Tron, and whatever else is Tier 1 and Tier 2. Also, I really don't see the point of putting a Stomping Ground in my sideboard when I have enough access to White sources that it doesn't hurt that much to include one or two Stomping Ground in my main board. I think it hurts way more to give up a sideboard slot to Stomping Ground when it can be devoted to something to fix more matchups.
The downside to putting your green sources in the sideboard is that you've essentially lost those sideboard slots. That's a huge downside, and it's far worse than playing the Stomping Ground in the maindeck and eating the potential shock if you draw it naturally. You can easily drop down to 14 white sources to make room for Stomping Ground.
I'm actually finding that there's a dearth of sideboard cards I really want to bring in. I have 4 Path for Eldrazi/Shadow/Finks, 4 Rev for Affinity/Lantern/Merfolk, 2 Palm for Affinity/Shadow, 2 Relic for Abzan/Control/Dredge/Shadow, and 2 Kataki (soon to be Mentor) for double-tap artifact hate. My 15th sideboard card was a Lavaman that was frankly performing pretty poorly. I guess I could jam a 1-of Kor Firewalker in there for the mirror, but it isn't quite as common as it once was. I'm not really seeing a "better sideboard card" to invest in.
KFW is training wheels. Unless your meta is jam-packed with Burn, just play better than your opponent.
Just finished FNM, went 1-2, very close matches. Mono Red Burn.
Some thoughts:
-On Harsh Mentor: Honestly, while most people use fetches, almost everyone has their mana fixed by turn 3. If we do not hit Harsh mentor turn two, it will feel bad. This is a sideboard card at best.
-eidolon is still the best card in the deck.
-I only have one goblin guide. In its place I used 2 keldon marauders and 1 chandra's phoenix. Keldon is really a good substitute for flex spots, he hit hard and even if he was path'd, he still got in two damage for 2. The phoenix was nice, but it was a path target and at 3 mana, it was wayyy too slow. The Pheonix would only hit once before getting removed.
-Spark elemental is still worth the spot as a 4 of. The only time he did not do 3 damage was when I was staring down a 4/4 death's shadow, and a regular lava spike wasn't going to work.
-Always bolt the bird/mana generator (the exception to this maybe being elves). Otherwise, your gonna be staring down a 5/5 trampling hasty eldrazi turn 3
I prefer Relic. You can cash it in for an extra card, and that helps advance the gameplan. Rest in Peace is a powerful hoser, but it costs 2 and it doesn't draw cards.
I prefer Relic. You can cash it in for an extra card, and that helps advance the gameplan. Rest in Peace is a powerful hoser, but it costs 2 and it doesn't draw cards.
Seconded. At least if your opponent goes to remove relic, you can cash it in.
I only like Rest in Peace if you're in a meta where almost every opponent is on a graveyard deck (I haven't had RiP in my sideboard since Dredge stop being THE deck). Question for me is usually "Relic or Grafdigger's Cage"? Overall Relic is usually better, but I prefer Cage if I'm likely to be up against a lot of some combination of Abzan Company/Dredge/Kitchen Finks Deck.
Yeah, I thought having a flying body would make up for it. In a lot of ways the flying haste was relevant, but it's just too draining to play a three mana spell to have it killed. Maybe if we got a RR 2/1 with flying and haste one day, that might be worth a spot. Maybe if when it dies it does two damage to the controller to balance out.
For RDW/Mono Red Builds Chandra's Phoenix was ok when it was in Standard. I tested it in Modern and it would be better if they combined it with Flamewake Phoenix (it requires a 4 power we'll almost never have) and making a card that says it came back on the battlefield then its way more useful and less of a mana sink that Chandra's is.
However that make believe/hope to have that option in the future/please Wizards make that card may be playable with that very repeatable damage. Speaking of 4 power Hell's Thunder is another card I looked at but its still on the outside of my 75.
The problem with repeatable damage sources is that it benefits other decks more then burn. Punishing fire/grove in control/JUND decks. Cursed scroll is another example that ended up in a lot of decks. What we need is just another bolt clone or another top notch creature on the level of guide or eidolon. Or barbarian ring. I would be very happy with barbarian ring.
Personally i'm very excited to test with Harsh Mentor, the level of arguing alone makes me believe this card has a chance. I'm hoping it fits as a 1/2x in Modern and 4x in Legacy. However I'm very skeptical as in Legacy what we really need is another good proactive combo answer.
This is my current Boros Burn deck list. Any suggestions?
Also, I'm having a hard time dealing with Control. I keep getting stone walled by them. Do you guys have any tips against control decks like Grixis, U/W tron and general U/W in regards to playstyle, hand-keeps and sideboarding? Thanks!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Kor Firewalker is definitely not a 1-of in my opinion. I think Deflecting Palm is an appropriate 1-of as it is a lot more relevant to a wider range of decks and you also never seem to need more than 1 (and honestly quite horrible in multiples if your opponent knows you have it).
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I think the major issue with that is you begin hurting your consistency against every other deck in the format. I think the best plan is to board in 4 drevs and float the red mana in response to the enchantment and then revelry it. It's just super difficult because you have to keep mana up and have revelry in hand.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
No I mean by adding more basics you hurt consistency. You are less likely to find white or green mana you need and having more basics definitely hurts in that regard.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
KFW is training wheels. Unless your meta is jam-packed with Burn, just play better than your opponent.
Some thoughts:
-On Harsh Mentor: Honestly, while most people use fetches, almost everyone has their mana fixed by turn 3. If we do not hit Harsh mentor turn two, it will feel bad. This is a sideboard card at best.
-eidolon is still the best card in the deck.
-I only have one goblin guide. In its place I used 2 keldon marauders and 1 chandra's phoenix. Keldon is really a good substitute for flex spots, he hit hard and even if he was path'd, he still got in two damage for 2. The phoenix was nice, but it was a path target and at 3 mana, it was wayyy too slow. The Pheonix would only hit once before getting removed.
-I still think 1 Grim Lavamancer is the right call.
-Spark elemental is still worth the spot as a 4 of. The only time he did not do 3 damage was when I was staring down a 4/4 death's shadow, and a regular lava spike wasn't going to work.
-Always bolt the bird/mana generator (the exception to this maybe being elves). Otherwise, your gonna be staring down a 5/5 trampling hasty eldrazi turn 3
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Seconded. At least if your opponent goes to remove relic, you can cash it in.
I only like Rest in Peace if you're in a meta where almost every opponent is on a graveyard deck (I haven't had RiP in my sideboard since Dredge stop being THE deck). Question for me is usually "Relic or Grafdigger's Cage"? Overall Relic is usually better, but I prefer Cage if I'm likely to be up against a lot of some combination of Abzan Company/Dredge/Kitchen Finks Deck.
However that make believe/hope to have that option in the future/please Wizards make that card may be playable with that very repeatable damage. Speaking of 4 power Hell's Thunder is another card I looked at but its still on the outside of my 75.
Personally i'm very excited to test with Harsh Mentor, the level of arguing alone makes me believe this card has a chance. I'm hoping it fits as a 1/2x in Modern and 4x in Legacy. However I'm very skeptical as in Legacy what we really need is another good proactive combo answer.
GRWNaya BurnGRW
GRWJundGRW
CAffinityC
UGUG EldraziUG
GRWBushwhacker ZooGRW
UBWRAd NauseamUBWR
Legacy
RBurnR
UBSneak & ShowUB
CEldrazi AggroC
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Spells (29)
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Shard Volley
4 Boros Charm
3 Lightning Helix
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Rift Bolt
3 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Path to Exile
3 Deflecting Palm
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pyroclasm
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Atarka's Command
This is my current Boros Burn deck list. Any suggestions?
Also, I'm having a hard time dealing with Control. I keep getting stone walled by them. Do you guys have any tips against control decks like Grixis, U/W tron and general U/W in regards to playstyle, hand-keeps and sideboarding? Thanks!