First, congrats on a super awesome GP Vancouver finish! You're all foil Japanese sushi deck is really sweet. Secondly, thank you for posting your opinion on these new cards in the thread.
You've outlined well the arguments, I personally think the fetch land aspect alone might make this worth inclusion in the few flex spots as having either this or Eidolon T2 every game seems good vs the field. However I do believe the card will be more impactful in Legacy then in Modern. But testing will tell.
Also, we were discussing Merfolk either and the question of Vial came up and how often do you side them out? Do you generally side them out on the draw or against match ups you're expecting artifact/enchantment hate game 2 & 3?
thanks!
Mentor will look okay on the play because of fetchlands, but that's why it will be catastrophic on the draw. Knowing the existence of Mentor will force people to play their fetchlands first and play their non-fetch lands later in the game. If the opponent has removal, then what they do on the play/draw doesn't matter.
Against burn I cannot afford to ever take out Aether Vial because Eidolon would just ruin me. I also want to be able to deploy creatures and hold up counter magic. I understand I run into Smash to Smitherines or Destructive Revelry, but that's a risk I have to take. Even if you don't play Eidolon, if I take out Vial it's highly likely I'll get tempo'd out more often than not by just 1-2 creatures backed up by a bunch of burn.
Otherwise, I almost never think about vial destruction. Most decks don't care about my vial Sometimes I'll side it out if a UWx control deck sided in Stony Silence. I do side out Vial often though, but for the purposes of keeping the threat density of my deck high.
I'm certain Burn is a 50-50 match up vs Merfolk even though the Merfolk forum thinks it's favourable and the Burn forum thinks their a dog. 90% of my burn wins come from my opponent making blunders. If I had their hands I would beat myself. Certainly there are some Merfolk lists that are favourable vs burn, but I think you should still have a lot of game.
Care to outline some strategy tips for beating Merfolk then? Whats sideboard cards dont you want to see come in vs you?
A lot more has to do with how the burn player plays, ideally I think they should play like a zoo deck. A card I definitely hate though is Searing Blood in addition to Searing Blaze. Give a list and your sideboard strategy and I'll tell you what you should be really doing.
A lot more has to do with how the burn player plays. A card I definitely hate though is Searing Blood in addition to Searing Blaze. Give a list and your sideboard strategy and I'll tell you what you should be really doing.
Currently I'm tuned mostly to trying to beat eldrazi and DSJ. But I like to add options to my list if they give enough points in more then one match up. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Edit: vs fish I would probably only board in d rev for sea and vial and side out skullcrack and some number of lava spike
A lot more has to do with how the burn player plays. A card I definitely hate though is Searing Blood in addition to Searing Blaze. Give a list and your sideboard strategy and I'll tell you what you should be really doing.
Currently I'm tuned mostly to trying to beat eldrazi and DSJ. But I like to add options to my list if they give enough points in more then one match up. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Edit: vs fish I would probably only board in d rev for sea and vial and side out skullcrack and some number of lava spike
So first off, you have to beat merfolk with creatures. If you have a starting hand without creatures, send it back for 6. All your spells should ideally interact with creatures. For that Reason I would bring in 4x path and 2-3x Destructive Revelry. Path will tempo out the creatures to clear the way for yours. Revelry will set Merfolk way back if you nail their Vial and it will protect you from Spreading seas/Sea's Claim. Likely you'll Definitely want this card on the draw when Seas is strongest and maybe you can shave one on the play because many Merfolk players don't want to play seas on the draw vs burn.
Play
+4 Path (isn't 4 path a lot for a burn deck?)
+3 Destructive Revelry
-4 Boros Charm
-2 Skull Crack
-1 Lava spike.
Draw
+4 Path (isn't 4 path a lot for a burn deck?)
+3 Destructive Revelry
-3 Boros Charm
-4 Atarka's Command
I'm hoping 4 paths isn't too many, probably it's still good. This is a plan made in the dark without knowing our merfolk opponent's plan. Atarka's Command is very powerful on the play especially when you won't be vulnerable to spreading Seas. On the draw you'll have trouble getting creatures to stick efficiently through harbinger and tidebinder Mage. Also your mana might get ruined by Spreading Seas/Seas Claim which is why Boros charm is also awkward. At least Skull Crack can use the Spreading Seas Mana.
Some things to consider:
If the opponent plays chalice or spellskite, bring in all the Revelries.
If the opponent plays Chalice, side out Lava Spike and Keep in Boros Charm/Skull Crack to play around chalice on 1.
If you can, play around spell pierce in the late game by always holding up 2 extra mana when you play your spells.
be patient with some of your burn spells that can target creatures. They likely should be killing merfolk to clear the way for your creatures instead of going to the player's face. The creatures are worth so much damage.
Remember, Rift Bolt plays around Dispel
Obviously the best time to play around counterspells is when Merfolk is tapped out, thats when you can carelessly send all the burn like Skull Crack, 1 Boros Charm, and Atarka's Command to their face.
I think that's all I can think of.
In the event that the Draw plan doesn't work because Path is awkward on the draw, you can just go with this:
Draw
+3 Destructive Revelry
-3 Atarka's Command
I don't know all the match ups you're hoping to improve with this thing, but Lantern is already a win, and affinity is not even worth preparing for given you may not even see it more than once in a 15 round GP, or at all. Not to mention your 75 has so much game against it anyway.
Well Affinity is still a Tier 1 deck and I may not be at a GP but in the 2 metas/states I play/played in Affinity was is like 1 in 4 games. Everyones meta is different. Thats why my sideboard pile is almost a full deck depending on a variety of factors since metas and the format continues to grow and switch directions. It wasnt long ago Burn needed cards to deal with Twin and Pod (Damn Kiki Pod/Resto Angel) variants so cards like Rending Volley and Combust were around. And who knows maybe the meta shifts again or a new deck will emerge like Death's Shadow and we will need Harsh or we may not need it for 5 years. Its just nice to know we have more options/tech which Im sure every deck wants.
I don't know all the match ups you're hoping to improve with this thing, but Lantern is already a win, and affinity is not even worth preparing for given you may not even see it more than once in a 15 round GP, or at all. Not to mention your 75 has so much game against it anyway.
Well Affinity is still a Tier 1 deck and I may not be at a GP but in the 2 metas/states I play/played in Affinity was is like 1 in for games. Everyones meta is different. Thats why my sideboard pill is almost a full deck depending on a variety of factors since metas and the format continues to grow and switch directions. It wasnt long ago Burn needed cards to deal with Twin and Pod (Damn Kiki Pod/Resto Angel) variants so cards like Rending Volley and Combust were around. And who knows maybe the meta shifts again or a new deck will emerge like Death's Shadow and we will need Harsh or we may not need it for 5 years. Its just nice to know we have more options/tech which Im sure every deck wants.
Something a lot of Magic players have trouble accepting is that they can't beat everything. If you're a world class player you're only winning 2/3 games. I'm offering the advice to just dump the affinity match. Its a unique deck because if everyone's prepared, it generally folds to hate. Even if it doesn't fold to hate, you have natural sideboard cards you can bring in against it. I could be wrong but I feel burn has more important battles to fight.
Certainly if you play in a small meta and there is tons of affinity, then do what you have to do. Though I figure red already has all the sideboard cards to hate on affinity if it really wants to without the aid of mentor.
4 path is a lot for burn, it shows how much I dislike eldrazi and DSJ. I think typically it's a 2-3.
I've often felt it's very hard to keep up with the amount of lords you have and that my creatures are quickly outclassed. But I will definitely give this a try.
If your ever interested I'd love to get some games in on MTGO, try out your suggestions vs a skilled fish pilot.
Something a lot of Magic players have trouble accepting is that they can't beat everything. If you're a world class player you're only winning 2/3 games. I'm offering the advice to just dump the affinity match. Its a unique deck because if everyone's prepared, it generally folds to hate. Even if it doesn't fold to hate, you have natural sideboard cards you can bring in against it. I could be wrong but I feel burn has more important battles to fight.
Certainly if you play in a small meta and there is tons of affinity, then do what you have to do. Though I figure red already has all the sideboard cards to hate on affinity if it really wants to without the aid of mentor.
Oh yes you cant side for everything. You see that when you see players who have their side 15 cards all different thinking in each match they'll draw that once answer. And Im not even thinking of Mentor for Affinity. You side smartly for what your walking into if you have an idea. If Im walking into a blind meta Id tweak it a little differently but having extra cards as options vs being limited is always better. My metas plays 35+ people usually and Ive played at Channel Fireball and Card Kingdom.
I see your point for forgetting Affinity and thats been your experience and many will have ta similar and many will have an opposite. This forum for the most part is great for trading ideas, experiences and whats worked/not worked but some (Im not saying you and I wont post their handles so I dont get a warning) try to act like Mr. Know it all and any opinion different then theirs should be banned from MTG). I just dont think there is a end all be all 75 for any deck which is good keeps things fresh and betters players by dealing with different threats/strategies/responses.
4 path is a lot for burn, it shows how much I dislike eldrazi and DSJ. I think typically it's a 2-3.
I've often felt it's very hard to keep up with the amount of lords you have and that my creatures are quickly outclassed. But I will definitely give this a try.
If your ever interested I'd love to get some games in on MTGO, try out your suggestions vs a skilled fish pilot.
Also how insane is grim lavamancer vs you?
I always felt Lavamancer was situational. From my personal experience I've beaten the card more often than not. He's mana intensive, does not have haste, can sometimes be staring at an empty graveyard, sometimes my creatures are out of range for him. I can interact with harbinger and tidebinder. He's not useless, I've definitely lost to him before.
We can probably arrange playing a match or two, though I generally prefer to play in competitive leagues.
4 path is a lot for burn, it shows how much I dislike eldrazi and DSJ. I think typically it's a 2-3.
I've often felt it's very hard to keep up with the amount of lords you have and that my creatures are quickly outclassed. But I will definitely give this a try.
If your ever interested I'd love to get some games in on MTGO, try out your suggestions vs a skilled fish pilot.
Also how insane is grim lavamancer vs you?
You know for a while I was really doubting 4 Path's but taking out turn 3 stuff like Rhino, Tasigur, Wurmcoil or other stuff was more useful then not. Vs Merfolk some players bring in Spellskite and it was perfect hit that. Being one mana plus Exile is in my opinion better then Fatal Push Ive seen some Mardu players put in cause their reasoning was not giving the free land. The problem there is you cant hit bigger stuff. Call me crazy but also useful in some rare cases when in a reactive move you can Path your own creature to get a Plains or Forest if the Blood Moon or Spreading Seas you locking out mana you may need. In Burn we wanna play offense as much as possible but there are just too many times where you need more then Bolt damage and a creature to be Exiled.
Merfolk is such a good deck because of the redundancy and consistency like Burn. Take one Lord out and we got another, counter my Rift Bolt I git a Lava Spike and so on. I used to run Volcanic Fallout because it cant be countered but many times theyd get out the 2nd Lord and past the 2 damage. Running Anger of the Gods is good but Cursecatcher needs to die first. Path helps against Spellskite and Master of Waves (This guy is one of the reasons I dont run Mono Red anymore, for me its more efficient to go 2 or 3 color) in this match. You know some great advice was given to me years ago and that was if your having trouble against a deck, proxy it, get to know it and then you'll have a better understanding of it, what their weaknesses are and how others attack that deck. Heck print out a few pages, cut out the photos onto lands, shuffle and go. Im sure if you were to play against Burn tomorrow with whatever deck you'd feel good about how to beat it.
Lol, the burn community is just burning themselves to the ground
Harsh Mentor is too niche. It will get some value sometimes on the play because of fetchlands but be pretty awful on the draw. Most critical is that if this trades for a removal spell without getting in damage, you're at a huge loss. It's like inquision, save 2-3 life. You're effectively a combo deck and these exchanges are catastrophic. It doesn't help that Fatal Push is the premiere removal spell of the format.
The only positive side I see is that it is an extra creature that you can use to hedge against Leyline of Sanctity decks to sort of zoo them out.
To side this in from the sideboard, however, sounds disgusting. Your opponents are siding in haymakers, as you know, so this "incremental value" won't cut it.
Giving your opponent the choice to deal damage to themselves or not will ALWAYS work out in their flavour. It's not like Eidolon that restricts them from casting spells which otherwise gives you a lot of tempo.
I don't know all the match ups you're hoping to improve with this thing, but Lantern is already a win, and affinity is not even worth preparing for given you may not even see it more than once in a 15 round GP, or at all. Not to mention your 75 has so much game against it anyway.
It's harder to tell if Soul-Scar Mage will do a good nacatl impersonation given Burn has moved away from the green. The Mage is likely only as positioned as Nacatl is positioned. I would be concerned that if the sorcery speed 3/3 turn 1 creature doesn't cut it, neither will the Mage. Or the turn 2 mentor!
I personally haven't played Burn in modern but I've played my fair share of RDW over my lifetime so my opinion isn't completely baseless.
Of course everyone is going to playtest both (as they should anyway). I would put my bet on the Mage though, given Nacatl has proven its worth at least once in history. It also has the potential to get value before perishing to removal.
Sorry if the vid looked clickbaity. Obviously I rarely post anything here so if I did I figured it would have been useful for you.
But I totally get why you're all upset.
I would hate losing to lifegain too
This is the kind of post that should accompany a video link, rather than what you normally do. If I go look at your last 30 posts, 15 are a video title followed by a video link. If I ignore the 8 posts you've made in this thread since getting called out for clickbait, that goes up to 23/30 are self-promotion, clickbait videos.
The Burn community isn't "burning themselves to the ground". There was genuine discussion involving these new cards before your clickbait came along and derailed it.
It's fair to bring up removal and Fatal Push in regards to SSM and HM. It sounds like you're arguing against a position is being taken by people who don't know anything about Burn, and that position is that HM is an auto 4-of and reminiscent of Eidolon. People who do know something about Burn and recognize that the current removal heavy environment implies that a 16-18 creature Burn deck is undesirable right now. Those people are willing to explore maybe 1 Harsh Mentor in a Grim Lavamancer or other flex slot and are willing to explore it as a sideboard card against removal light decks that will have trouble killing it before they trigger it or the existence of it may completely disrupt their game plan (either way it's a positive outcome for Burn).
Soul-scar Mage is just a slow Swiftspear with an irrelevant ability. It doesn't let you mirror bolts to the face to -1/-1 counters in a fashion analogous to Satyr Firedancer. You get no benefit from its ability unless you're targeting the creature already. I would much prefer to Bolt Goyf's owner and block it with a creature than Bolt Goyf to put some counters on it. Burn's creatures get outclassed quickly and that's fine. You simply don't come out ahead if you are wasting a Lightning Bolt to turn a 5/6 Goyf into a 2/3 Goyf. Soul-Scar Mage's problem isn't solely that there's too much removal around, it's that SSM isn't worth playing in Burn in the first place. The deck Soul-scar Mage would find a home in is a UR Prowess Delver deck where it replaces Stormchaser Mage.
You say you haven't played Burn before, and it's quite obvious from your statements so far. Soul-scar might have replaced Nacatl if Nacatl hadn't already been largely dropped. I consider 16-18 creatures too many for Burn, anyway. You apparently brought up Keldon Marauders in your video. You do realize that Keldon Marauders and Harsh Mentor would fill totally different roles, right? The former is a budget deck 4-of and the latter is more of a narrow hate card. It's not a meaningful comparison to make, even if it's correct that Keldon's guaranteed 2 damage every time it resolves is greater than the expectation value of damage from Harsh Mentor against a randomly chosen deck and that randomly chosen deck's removal suite.
From what I can gather, your last 8 posts in this thread are the exception rather than the rule. Far too many of your posts are links to youtube videos. I stand by my assessment. Good luck finding a time where more than half of my posts in any given time period are shameless self-promiting clickbait.
4 Path is a must right now, IMO. Eldrazi and Shadow alone ensure that you have enough targets, and then there are random threats like Kitchen Finks that just need to be killed on sight if your gameplan is to progress. I disagree with playing Burn as a Zoo deck right now. There's a reason this is a top-5 deck in the format while Zoo is down in the Tier 3 doldrums - swarms of non-evasive creatures aren't that well-positioned at the moment. I've even cut Lavamancer from my 75, because it's just not doing that much.
Going back to Harsh Mentor... Affinity's a matchup that's close enough to make cards like Mentor worth investing in for Burn (unlike in Merfolk). The fact that it can potentially stymie them and stuff Abzan Company's annoying infinite-life combo is good enough for me to consider it. There are several matchups in which Eidolon is pretty bad, and this makes for a palatable replacement in many of those cases.
In the interest of putting up another topic of conversation... how do we feel about the decision to sideboard the Stomping Ground we use to splash for Destructive Revelry, as this deck did? I think it's very clever.
In the interest of putting up another topic of conversation... how do we feel about the decision to sideboard the Stomping Ground we use to splash for Destructive Revelry, as this deck did? I think it's very clever.
It looks like you linked the wrong deck, since that one doesn't have a sideboarded Stomping Ground. In any case, I think it's not a wise decision to sideboard Stomping Ground. The trade off is occasionally losing 2 life from naturally drawing it versus losing a valuable sideboard slot that could have been used on something else. Which is more important to you, not getting shocked occasionally when you don't want to or having 3 Paths instead of 2 (or whatever else would be lost from the side)? For me, it's far more important to use those 15 slots effectively.
In the interest of putting up another topic of conversation... how do we feel about the decision to sideboard the Stomping Ground we use to splash for Destructive Revelry, as this deck did? I think it's very clever.
It looks like you linked the wrong deck, since that one doesn't have a sideboarded Stomping Ground. In any case, I think it's not a wise decision to sideboard Stomping Ground. The trade off is occasionally losing 2 life from naturally drawing it versus losing a valuable sideboard slot that could have been used on something else. Which is more important to you, not getting shocked occasionally when you don't want to or having 3 Paths instead of 2 (or whatever else would be lost from the side)? For me, it's far more important to use those 15 slots effectively.
I'd rather just keep my 2 stomping grounds mainboard. You rarely never have enough white mana with a number of inspiring vantage and sacred foundry +10~ fetches. No need to clutter the sideboard.
I agree, I tried 1x sideboard stomping ground in a boros build but I already feel like we need a few more SB slots and losing 1 to land did not feel worth it at all. Most games with the single 1x main you won't draw it. It is like an 18% chance to draw it by turn 5 on the play and 20% on the draw.
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.
Care to outline some strategy tips for beating Merfolk then? Whats sideboard cards dont you want to see come in vs you?
GRWNaya BurnGRW
GRWJundGRW
CAffinityC
UGUG EldraziUG
GRWBushwhacker ZooGRW
UBWRAd NauseamUBWR
Legacy
RBurnR
UBSneak & ShowUB
CEldrazi AggroC
4 spear
4 guide
4 eidolon
4 bolt
4 rift bolt
4 spike
4 blaze
4 atarka's command
2 lightning helix
2 skullcrack
4 charm
11 fetches
2 grounds
2 sacred foundry
3 inspiring vantage
2 mountain
Sideboard
4 path
4 revelry
4 relic of progenitus
3 deflecting palm
Currently I'm tuned mostly to trying to beat eldrazi and DSJ. But I like to add options to my list if they give enough points in more then one match up. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Edit: vs fish I would probably only board in d rev for sea and vial and side out skullcrack and some number of lava spike
GRWNaya BurnGRW
GRWJundGRW
CAffinityC
UGUG EldraziUG
GRWBushwhacker ZooGRW
UBWRAd NauseamUBWR
Legacy
RBurnR
UBSneak & ShowUB
CEldrazi AggroC
Play
+4 Path (isn't 4 path a lot for a burn deck?)
+3 Destructive Revelry
-4 Boros Charm
-2 Skull Crack
-1 Lava spike.
Draw
+4 Path (isn't 4 path a lot for a burn deck?)
+3 Destructive Revelry
-3 Boros Charm
-4 Atarka's Command
I'm hoping 4 paths isn't too many, probably it's still good. This is a plan made in the dark without knowing our merfolk opponent's plan. Atarka's Command is very powerful on the play especially when you won't be vulnerable to spreading Seas. On the draw you'll have trouble getting creatures to stick efficiently through harbinger and tidebinder Mage. Also your mana might get ruined by Spreading Seas/Seas Claim which is why Boros charm is also awkward. At least Skull Crack can use the Spreading Seas Mana.
Some things to consider:
If the opponent plays chalice or spellskite, bring in all the Revelries.
If the opponent plays Chalice, side out Lava Spike and Keep in Boros Charm/Skull Crack to play around chalice on 1.
If you can, play around spell pierce in the late game by always holding up 2 extra mana when you play your spells.
be patient with some of your burn spells that can target creatures. They likely should be killing merfolk to clear the way for your creatures instead of going to the player's face. The creatures are worth so much damage.
Remember, Rift Bolt plays around Dispel
Obviously the best time to play around counterspells is when Merfolk is tapped out, thats when you can carelessly send all the burn like Skull Crack, 1 Boros Charm, and Atarka's Command to their face.
I think that's all I can think of.
In the event that the Draw plan doesn't work because Path is awkward on the draw, you can just go with this:
Draw
+3 Destructive Revelry
-3 Atarka's Command
Well Affinity is still a Tier 1 deck and I may not be at a GP but in the 2 metas/states I play/played in Affinity was is like 1 in 4 games. Everyones meta is different. Thats why my sideboard pile is almost a full deck depending on a variety of factors since metas and the format continues to grow and switch directions. It wasnt long ago Burn needed cards to deal with Twin and Pod (Damn Kiki Pod/Resto Angel) variants so cards like Rending Volley and Combust were around. And who knows maybe the meta shifts again or a new deck will emerge like Death's Shadow and we will need Harsh or we may not need it for 5 years. Its just nice to know we have more options/tech which Im sure every deck wants.
Certainly if you play in a small meta and there is tons of affinity, then do what you have to do. Though I figure red already has all the sideboard cards to hate on affinity if it really wants to without the aid of mentor.
I've often felt it's very hard to keep up with the amount of lords you have and that my creatures are quickly outclassed. But I will definitely give this a try.
If your ever interested I'd love to get some games in on MTGO, try out your suggestions vs a skilled fish pilot.
Also how insane is grim lavamancer vs you?
GRWNaya BurnGRW
GRWJundGRW
CAffinityC
UGUG EldraziUG
GRWBushwhacker ZooGRW
UBWRAd NauseamUBWR
Legacy
RBurnR
UBSneak & ShowUB
CEldrazi AggroC
Oh yes you cant side for everything. You see that when you see players who have their side 15 cards all different thinking in each match they'll draw that once answer. And Im not even thinking of Mentor for Affinity. You side smartly for what your walking into if you have an idea. If Im walking into a blind meta Id tweak it a little differently but having extra cards as options vs being limited is always better. My metas plays 35+ people usually and Ive played at Channel Fireball and Card Kingdom.
I see your point for forgetting Affinity and thats been your experience and many will have ta similar and many will have an opposite. This forum for the most part is great for trading ideas, experiences and whats worked/not worked but some (Im not saying you and I wont post their handles so I dont get a warning) try to act like Mr. Know it all and any opinion different then theirs should be banned from MTG). I just dont think there is a end all be all 75 for any deck which is good keeps things fresh and betters players by dealing with different threats/strategies/responses.
Cheers
We can probably arrange playing a match or two, though I generally prefer to play in competitive leagues.
You know for a while I was really doubting 4 Path's but taking out turn 3 stuff like Rhino, Tasigur, Wurmcoil or other stuff was more useful then not. Vs Merfolk some players bring in Spellskite and it was perfect hit that. Being one mana plus Exile is in my opinion better then Fatal Push Ive seen some Mardu players put in cause their reasoning was not giving the free land. The problem there is you cant hit bigger stuff. Call me crazy but also useful in some rare cases when in a reactive move you can Path your own creature to get a Plains or Forest if the Blood Moon or Spreading Seas you locking out mana you may need. In Burn we wanna play offense as much as possible but there are just too many times where you need more then Bolt damage and a creature to be Exiled.
Merfolk is such a good deck because of the redundancy and consistency like Burn. Take one Lord out and we got another, counter my Rift Bolt I git a Lava Spike and so on. I used to run Volcanic Fallout because it cant be countered but many times theyd get out the 2nd Lord and past the 2 damage. Running Anger of the Gods is good but Cursecatcher needs to die first. Path helps against Spellskite and Master of Waves (This guy is one of the reasons I dont run Mono Red anymore, for me its more efficient to go 2 or 3 color) in this match. You know some great advice was given to me years ago and that was if your having trouble against a deck, proxy it, get to know it and then you'll have a better understanding of it, what their weaknesses are and how others attack that deck. Heck print out a few pages, cut out the photos onto lands, shuffle and go. Im sure if you were to play against Burn tomorrow with whatever deck you'd feel good about how to beat it.
This is the kind of post that should accompany a video link, rather than what you normally do. If I go look at your last 30 posts, 15 are a video title followed by a video link. If I ignore the 8 posts you've made in this thread since getting called out for clickbait, that goes up to 23/30 are self-promotion, clickbait videos.
The Burn community isn't "burning themselves to the ground". There was genuine discussion involving these new cards before your clickbait came along and derailed it.
It's fair to bring up removal and Fatal Push in regards to SSM and HM. It sounds like you're arguing against a position is being taken by people who don't know anything about Burn, and that position is that HM is an auto 4-of and reminiscent of Eidolon. People who do know something about Burn and recognize that the current removal heavy environment implies that a 16-18 creature Burn deck is undesirable right now. Those people are willing to explore maybe 1 Harsh Mentor in a Grim Lavamancer or other flex slot and are willing to explore it as a sideboard card against removal light decks that will have trouble killing it before they trigger it or the existence of it may completely disrupt their game plan (either way it's a positive outcome for Burn).
Soul-scar Mage is just a slow Swiftspear with an irrelevant ability. It doesn't let you mirror bolts to the face to -1/-1 counters in a fashion analogous to Satyr Firedancer. You get no benefit from its ability unless you're targeting the creature already. I would much prefer to Bolt Goyf's owner and block it with a creature than Bolt Goyf to put some counters on it. Burn's creatures get outclassed quickly and that's fine. You simply don't come out ahead if you are wasting a Lightning Bolt to turn a 5/6 Goyf into a 2/3 Goyf. Soul-Scar Mage's problem isn't solely that there's too much removal around, it's that SSM isn't worth playing in Burn in the first place. The deck Soul-scar Mage would find a home in is a UR Prowess Delver deck where it replaces Stormchaser Mage.
You say you haven't played Burn before, and it's quite obvious from your statements so far. Soul-scar might have replaced Nacatl if Nacatl hadn't already been largely dropped. I consider 16-18 creatures too many for Burn, anyway. You apparently brought up Keldon Marauders in your video. You do realize that Keldon Marauders and Harsh Mentor would fill totally different roles, right? The former is a budget deck 4-of and the latter is more of a narrow hate card. It's not a meaningful comparison to make, even if it's correct that Keldon's guaranteed 2 damage every time it resolves is greater than the expectation value of damage from Harsh Mentor against a randomly chosen deck and that randomly chosen deck's removal suite.
From what I can gather, your last 8 posts in this thread are the exception rather than the rule. Far too many of your posts are links to youtube videos. I stand by my assessment. Good luck finding a time where more than half of my posts in any given time period are shameless self-promiting clickbait.
Going back to Harsh Mentor... Affinity's a matchup that's close enough to make cards like Mentor worth investing in for Burn (unlike in Merfolk). The fact that it can potentially stymie them and stuff Abzan Company's annoying infinite-life combo is good enough for me to consider it. There are several matchups in which Eidolon is pretty bad, and this makes for a palatable replacement in many of those cases.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Insightful, care to elaborate?
GRWNaya BurnGRW
GRWJundGRW
CAffinityC
UGUG EldraziUG
GRWBushwhacker ZooGRW
UBWRAd NauseamUBWR
Legacy
RBurnR
UBSneak & ShowUB
CEldrazi AggroC
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
It looks like you linked the wrong deck, since that one doesn't have a sideboarded Stomping Ground. In any case, I think it's not a wise decision to sideboard Stomping Ground. The trade off is occasionally losing 2 life from naturally drawing it versus losing a valuable sideboard slot that could have been used on something else. Which is more important to you, not getting shocked occasionally when you don't want to or having 3 Paths instead of 2 (or whatever else would be lost from the side)? For me, it's far more important to use those 15 slots effectively.
I'd rather just keep my 2 stomping grounds mainboard. You rarely never have enough white mana with a number of inspiring vantage and sacred foundry +10~ fetches. No need to clutter the sideboard.
GRWNaya BurnGRW
GRWJundGRW
CAffinityC
UGUG EldraziUG
GRWBushwhacker ZooGRW
UBWRAd NauseamUBWR
Legacy
RBurnR
UBSneak & ShowUB
CEldrazi AggroC
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.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers: