So before we begin, I want to say this is not a riff or pun of any political slogan. Rather, it's something you hear many Red Mages that like burn complain about Standard season after Standard season. I personally don't play Modern all that often, but I hear burn is a thing there (cheap burn like Lightning Bolt, [card]Forked Bolt[/any cheap burn spells in recent years (past two years, if I'm not mistaken). But what we do know is that Wizards has been intentionally slowing the Standard format down these past couple of years to make the format feel more interactive. It's for this reason that I think burn may have a chance to shine with the release of Kaladesh. We got some decent burn spells, as well as decent card draw/discard/madness cards in the format via SOI block. Enough to make a decent Tier 2, maybe even Tier 1 Standard burn deck (not holding my breathe, but a man can hope). Anyhoo, on with the deck:
Some of you may be wondering why I didn't go U/R or R/B with the deck. I've spoken in length about the strength of both color combinations in the past in the Standard Card Discussion Forums, as well as what I thought some of their strengths and weaknesses may be. I think going R/x with a splash of G may be the way to go for a number of reasons:
Nissa, Vital Force: It may seem odd that she's in this style of deck, but she def serves a purpose. For starters, her +1 gives the deck reach and allows us to create a blocker or beater (depending on the situation), when our burn simply cannot get the job done on it's own. Her -3 allows us to retrieve a Chandra from the graveyard if need be, and her ult helps us dig for more burn.
Splendid Reclamation: I like this card as a "one of" due to it's casting cost and the statistics behind it's use. The deck actually pitches very few lands, but will do so if need be to satisfy another card's madness effect. Reclamation gets us those cards back, and allows us to draw more cards with the Vital Force ult.
Clip Wings: A SB card that helps deal with pesky Emrakuls and the like. Red has very few (none in Standard I believe) ways of dealing with creatures that big. Wings helps mitigate that.
Natural State: Well, I had thought in an artifact block like Kaladesh, cards like Back to Nature and Naturalize might be reprinted. But then I remembered Wizards wants players to actually enjoy all the artifact cards printed this set. Which means we'll have to wait a little while (at least another set or two) before we see unconditional artifact/enchantment destruction. So bigger artifacts will survive for a time. State is the next best thing.
I get the idea behind going green with this but I still feel that black is the better colour to go with for burn simply put it gives you access to Alms of the Vein and Collective Brutality, which are essentially Fiery Temper copies 5-8 and an enabler for both stapled to a hybrid burn/removal/discard card, they're simply too good to not run if you're trying to kill with burn.
Nissa really seems a bit to slow for burn too, Lathnu Hellion does the job of her +1 2 turns earlier and you don't really have time to be faffing about plucking permanents out of your graveyard (if you can even find a worthwhile target for it) on turn 5 or later in a deck like this, similar problem with Splendid Reclamation, as for Clip Wings, if you're playing a burn deck and have given your opponent enough time to cast a "pesky Emrakul" you probably should have lost a few turns ago.
One card from the new set that might be worth running is Bomat Courier, burn's biggest problem is running out of cards and even if you can't come in swinging on turn 1 you can still cantrip him when you're in topdeck mode end game, if that doesn't quite work out Village Messenger is no Goblin Guide but he'll be the best we've got for a turn 1 play.
Tbh I'd also be tempted to cut the Chandra, Flamecaller for either Goblin Dark-Dwellers or Bedlam Reveler, not entirely sure which, both are faster and give you burn spells to throw past blockers rather than 3/1s to get chumped but it depends whether more ammo in the form of 3 cards or a burn spell cast right there and then and an evasive body is more important, it could be that even those are a bit too slow though, in which case Lathnu Hellion might be a decent pick being the hasty 4/4 trampler it is.
Thank you for the response. I want to take this post paragraph by paragraph to address some of the things you've mentioned:
1) I like Alms of the Vein, sure enough. My hesitance comes from the fact that I don't know quite where it could and should fit. If I took out both Nissa, Vital Force and Splendid Reclamation MB, and both my extra copies of of Collective Defiance and Incendiary Flow SB, I'd see making room for it then, perhaps. Madness is a game mechanic that requires the perfect balance between discard and enabling madness effects. I fear having too many cards with Madness, and not enough discard outlets would be the decks undoing. I could be wrong about this.
2) Nissa, Vital Force may indeed be too slow for burn. However, Lathnu Hellion is not the answer. Outside of Hellion's ETB effect, the deck has no way of keeping him on the battlefield the turn after you've played him because we have no way to create more Energy with him. Both Nissa and Chandra, Flamecaller are better in-so-that their activated abilities are repeatable, which makes a huge difference late game when you simply don't have enough burn/cards in hand in hand to close the game out. You could be right about Clipped Wings, but I built this deck predicated on the fact that, again, burn hasn't been a thing in Standard for a LONG time. It may not be able to get the job done on it's own. You can't look at the deck as a regular burn deck, because it simply cannot be. We don't have the card support/cheap one drop burn spells to play it like a classic burn deck. So we have to solve the problem some other way.
3) I hate Bomat Courier. Honestly, I think you'll maybe get one (or two at most) hits off of him before he becomes obsolete and gets chumped for days. And if he dies or LTB all those cards you exile with him are lost to you. I don't think a burn deck wants to be worried about having to leave a mana up just make sure we keep our exiled cards.
4) Yeah, I agree with you on this. Both are good suggestions. I included Chandra, Flamecaller because her plus can close games out quickly. I was using her for reach, but Goblin Dark-dwellers may be the better call.
Thank you for your suggestions. I'll try testing this out soon as I can. The whole purpose of this thread is to get the discussion started in the Standrad Deck Creation Forum.
I was actually going to make a burn primer (for madness) but here we go, lol.
Personally, I'm not quite sure if I like Collective Brutality myself in the madness build. Yes it IS a tad more efficient than Collective Defiance and is an enabler, but I feel I don't need any more enablers with 8+ already, and in my playtests I was running out of cards slightly quicker.
Furthermore, I'm on the Dynavolt Tower route, as opposed to Thermo-Alchemist, who I'd most likely relegate to the side and bring in versus aggro. Dynavolt has the advantage of being able to hit creatures and being slightly harder to remove, but I can see the case for the latter. Because of my choice in that regard, I really want to have Harnessed Lightning in my list over Galvanic Bombardment, since there are times where we can keep the excess energy for use with the Tower. However, missing out on EVER having a turn-1 play hurts (especially against aggro), but I'm not convinced we need it with this slower format.
Hypothetically, we pass turn 1 and turn 2 zap something with one of our 2-mana burn spells. Turn 3 we madness our "Lightning Bolts" and go from there. If this is the case, I would rather have more 2-mana burn than the 1-mana option and the energy provided is swaying my opinion. Either way, I'll for sure test both out.
Anyway, here's my list. If you'll use it in your first post, I may write up a full primer for both bR and uR versions of burn.
We may also be able to put some Aether Hubs in the manabase, I dunno. Also as I said, Collective Brutality may be better than the red one. I need to test in a real world setting more. Let me know what you think and if you want me to write a primer I can :).
I see your point and may do some more testing. On your last paragraph though, I'm really not afraid of the 1-drop aggressive creatures that all lack haste. Even our weakest burn can dispatch the best of them on turn 2 and that's not considering how much better our potential sideboard can be against aggro. On the reverse, there isn't too much they can do to help them against us.
Hey Guys, I've been looking at running a list similar to the Grixis Spell list that ChannelFireball put up some what recently. It only plays blue for Thing in the Ice and sideboard cards (such as Fevered Visions, I'm unsure if it's going to be maindeck worthy with the talk of aggro decks running around). Here's the list.
So the maindeck is pretty basic, and I'm unsure what I want in the board (although I think some number of Radiant flames and some number of Fevered Visions are highly likely) it is quite nice, Ideally you're playing a 2 drop creature then playing a 2cmc spell that has a discard attached and getting value out of madness. you can win quite quick if your creature goes unanswered, however if they do and you don't draw into a second it can be a little rough (althought you do have 8 ways to draw 2+ cards).
Since they reprinted a Mana Leak variant, sorcery speed Cathartic Reunion may not actually be better than Tormenting Voice (for those decks running fewer than 4 copies of Voice). Both Reunion and Voice enable madness and are +0 card advantage on their own (card advantage gained by using madness and card quality gained by pitching extra lands). But if Reunion gets countered, you get blown out that much more, since discarding is the cost. The upside of Reunion is that you can save it until turn 4 to double madness 2 Fiery Temper, but you're more likely to use it on turn 3 with 1 Temper and pitching a land.
I agree the green splash seems awful. Returning lands to the battlefield is too slow and durdly. The Chandras do a lot more for this deck than a single Nissa. 7 or more walkers seems excessive with almost no blockers and no mass removal main. You won't be able to burn all their creatures, so how are your walkers going to do much?
I like the Dynavolt Tower idea, although it will be quite slow. If you're playing that build, I think you want 4 Lathnu Hellion. If your deck uses energy as a resource, you want as many energy cards as possible. Hellion can either burn them for 4 to the dome and add 2 energy for Tower or it can use Tower's energy to stay alive and fight for many turns, depending on whether your board state needs a 4/4 or Bolts more.
The challenge with dynavolt tower is that we want to burn fast and hard. In that regard, we want to be emptying our hands asap. This hurts energy generation on tower and makes us depend on a hellbent Chandra to fuel it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Yes, but once you are casting spells then Dynavolt Tower becomes extra means of dealing damage to the face. Cast Harnessed Lightning with the tower out, chose 0 for energy damage to creature and you are redirecting the damage to opponent. Every 5 spells cast with 1 out does 6 pts of damage to opponent and you should be able to control the board quite well. Probably should only run 2 or 3 of and in a deck that also runs Aethertorch Renegade or Aether Theorist as the second creature to go with Thermo-Alchemist.
I just feel it's like another Harness the Storm. It sounds great on paper but ends up not really doing much on it's own in a traditional shell. The tower has some advantages over harness the storm and even though I am comparing the two Dynavolt Tower is still the better of the two.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
I think that in a Burn deck, if you're not casting spells then you're already dying.
I think that with a Thermo-Alchemist and a Dynavolt Tower on the board, every spell you cast gets that much more value. In a deck that's trying to count to 20, one card that gives more power to your other cards is a big help. Dynavolt Tower strongly reminds me of Shrine of Burning Rage and that was a real player in standard. This one even has the synergetic potential with Lathnu Hellion by helping it stay alive for longer.
By the same reasoning, I feel that playing a Burn deck without Thermo-Alchemist is the wrong answer. There's not enough lightning bolts/lightning strikes/shocks in the format that we can afford not playing a card that adds 1 damage to every instant and sorcery we cast. Mono-red doesn't seem to be enough so I'm personally going to go into the direction of an 'Izzet Machinegun' style deck.
I was thinking of making the UR spells deck but after seeing this thread, I like running Black even better. Here's the list I'm looking at running... Still working on a sideboard.
Lots of good reviews on Dynavolt Tower. I agree with some of you that it works very well in a dedicated Burn/Energy producing deck alongside Harnessed Lightning. I'm ditching the green cards, adding Tower, and adding a few more burn additions. Decklist will be edited in the first post of this thread.
Interesting. So you're going heavier on the energy plan.
4 Blossoming Defense main seems really bad when you only have 8 creatures and 4 self-implode if you decide to save your energy for Dynavolt. I get that you want to protect your guys, but won't that spell just be dead often?
Interesting. So you're going heavier on the energy plan.
4 Blossoming Defense main seems really bad when you only have 8 creatures and 4 self-implode if you decide to save your energy for Dynavolt. I get that you want to protect your guys, but won't that spell just be dead often?
You can cast it on their creatures if you don't have one of yours out and it will give you the last couple energy to set Dynavolt off again. You can even respond to the cast by using Dynavolt to hit the creature you are targeting with Blossoming defense. But ideally you protect your Alchemist with it. It may be dead for a short spell, but if it is in hand you hope to hit a creature eventually. Also with Hellion and Dynavolt out, it creates enough energy to keep Hellion alive another turn.
Interesting. So you're going heavier on the energy plan.
4 Blossoming Defense main seems really bad when you only have 8 creatures and 4 self-implode if you decide to save your energy for Dynavolt. I get that you want to protect your guys, but won't that spell just be dead often?
You can cast it on their creatures if you don't have one of yours out and it will give you the last couple energy to set Dynavolt off again. You can even respond to the cast by using Dynavolt to hit the creature you are targeting with Blossoming defense. But ideally you protect your Alchemist with it. It may be dead for a short spell, but if it is in hand you hope to hit a creature eventually. Also with Hellion and Dynavolt out, it creates enough energy to keep Hellion alive another turn.
Unfortunately if won't/doesn't work that way because Blossoming Defense only works on creatures you control. And because you're running so few creatures, it'll be a dead card in your hand most of the time.
Interesting. So you're going heavier on the energy plan.
4 Blossoming Defense main seems really bad when you only have 8 creatures and 4 self-implode if you decide to save your energy for Dynavolt. I get that you want to protect your guys, but won't that spell just be dead often?
You can cast it on their creatures if you don't have one of yours out and it will give you the last couple energy to set Dynavolt off again. You can even respond to the cast by using Dynavolt to hit the creature you are targeting with Blossoming defense. But ideally you protect your Alchemist with it. It may be dead for a short spell, but if it is in hand you hope to hit a creature eventually. Also with Hellion and Dynavolt out, it creates enough energy to keep Hellion alive another turn.
Unfortunately if won't/doesn't work that way because Blossoming Defense only works on creatures you control. And because you're running so few creatures, it'll be a dead card in your hand most of the time.
You are correct sir. I apparently can't read.
I'm not sure how often it is going to be dead though. Still running 2x as many creatures as protection spell and it is nice to have protection when you do draw the creature. I mean it is 60% you still see 0 or 1 of with the game going to round 12 and 75% you see 0 or 1 through round 8.
I guess this makes the black inclusion obvious, I was already leaning towards Lightning Axe and Fiery Temper paired together for the copter.
This deck has been pretty fun to play so far. I've only done a little bit of testing so I do not have any ideas of changes, I have not even been able to cast a Bedlam Reveler yet but every other card has been great for me.
4 Game Trail
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
11 Mountain
1 Forest
CREATURES
4 Thermo-Alchemist
2 Bedlam Reveler
PLANESWALKERS
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Cathartic Reunion
3 Incendiary Flow
4 Fiery Temper
3 Collective Defiance
ARTIFACTS
4 Dynavolt Tower
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Incendiary Flow
2 Chandra's Pyrohelix
1 Collective Defiance
2 Kozilek's Return
2 Hijack
2 Natural State
2 Clip Wings
2 Deadlock Trap
Some of you may be wondering why I didn't go U/R or R/B with the deck. I've spoken in length about the strength of both color combinations in the past in the Standard Card Discussion Forums, as well as what I thought some of their strengths and weaknesses may be. I think going R/x with a splash of G may be the way to go for a number of reasons:
Nissa, Vital Force: It may seem odd that she's in this style of deck, but she def serves a purpose. For starters, her +1 gives the deck reach and allows us to create a blocker or beater (depending on the situation), when our burn simply cannot get the job done on it's own. Her -3 allows us to retrieve a Chandra from the graveyard if need be, and her ult helps us dig for more burn.Splendid Reclamation: I like this card as a "one of" due to it's casting cost and the statistics behind it's use. The deck actually pitches very few lands, but will do so if need be to satisfy another card's madness effect. Reclamation gets us those cards back, and allows us to draw more cards with the Vital Force ult.Clip Wings: A SB card that helps deal with pesky Emrakuls and the like. Red has very few (none in Standard I believe) ways of dealing with creatures that big. Wings helps mitigate that.
Natural State: Well, I had thought in an artifact block like Kaladesh, cards like Back to Nature and Naturalize might be reprinted. But then I remembered Wizards wants players to actually enjoy all the artifact cards printed this set. Which means we'll have to wait a little while (at least another set or two) before we see unconditional artifact/enchantment destruction. So bigger artifacts will survive for a time. State is the next best thing.
Thank you for the response. I want to take this post paragraph by paragraph to address some of the things you've mentioned:
1) I like Alms of the Vein, sure enough. My hesitance comes from the fact that I don't know quite where it could and should fit. If I took out both Nissa, Vital Force and Splendid Reclamation MB, and both my extra copies of of Collective Defiance and Incendiary Flow SB, I'd see making room for it then, perhaps. Madness is a game mechanic that requires the perfect balance between discard and enabling madness effects. I fear having too many cards with Madness, and not enough discard outlets would be the decks undoing. I could be wrong about this.
2) Nissa, Vital Force may indeed be too slow for burn. However, Lathnu Hellion is not the answer. Outside of Hellion's ETB effect, the deck has no way of keeping him on the battlefield the turn after you've played him because we have no way to create more Energy with him. Both Nissa and Chandra, Flamecaller are better in-so-that their activated abilities are repeatable, which makes a huge difference late game when you simply don't have enough burn/cards in hand in hand to close the game out. You could be right about Clipped Wings, but I built this deck predicated on the fact that, again, burn hasn't been a thing in Standard for a LONG time. It may not be able to get the job done on it's own. You can't look at the deck as a regular burn deck, because it simply cannot be. We don't have the card support/cheap one drop burn spells to play it like a classic burn deck. So we have to solve the problem some other way.
3) I hate Bomat Courier. Honestly, I think you'll maybe get one (or two at most) hits off of him before he becomes obsolete and gets chumped for days. And if he dies or LTB all those cards you exile with him are lost to you. I don't think a burn deck wants to be worried about having to leave a mana up just make sure we keep our exiled cards.
4) Yeah, I agree with you on this. Both are good suggestions. I included Chandra, Flamecaller because her plus can close games out quickly. I was using her for reach, but Goblin Dark-dwellers may be the better call.
Thank you for your suggestions. I'll try testing this out soon as I can. The whole purpose of this thread is to get the discussion started in the Standrad Deck Creation Forum.
Personally, I'm not quite sure if I like Collective Brutality myself in the madness build. Yes it IS a tad more efficient than Collective Defiance and is an enabler, but I feel I don't need any more enablers with 8+ already, and in my playtests I was running out of cards slightly quicker.
Furthermore, I'm on the Dynavolt Tower route, as opposed to Thermo-Alchemist, who I'd most likely relegate to the side and bring in versus aggro. Dynavolt has the advantage of being able to hit creatures and being slightly harder to remove, but I can see the case for the latter. Because of my choice in that regard, I really want to have Harnessed Lightning in my list over Galvanic Bombardment, since there are times where we can keep the excess energy for use with the Tower. However, missing out on EVER having a turn-1 play hurts (especially against aggro), but I'm not convinced we need it with this slower format.
Hypothetically, we pass turn 1 and turn 2 zap something with one of our 2-mana burn spells. Turn 3 we madness our "Lightning Bolts" and go from there. If this is the case, I would rather have more 2-mana burn than the 1-mana option and the energy provided is swaying my opinion. Either way, I'll for sure test both out.
Anyway, here's my list. If you'll use it in your first post, I may write up a full primer for both bR and uR versions of burn.
4x Lightning Axe
4x Tormenting Voice
3x Bedlam Reveler
2x Cathartic Reunion
Burn
4x Fiery Temper
4x Alms of the Vein
4x Harnessed Lightning
4x Collective Defiance
3x Incendiary Flow
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3x Dynavolt Tower
Land
4x Foreboding Ruins
3x Geier Reach Sanitarium
11x Mountain
4x Swamp
We may also be able to put some Aether Hubs in the manabase, I dunno. Also as I said, Collective Brutality may be better than the red one. I need to test in a real world setting more. Let me know what you think and if you want me to write a primer I can :).
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Smoldering Marsh
8 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Thermo-Alchemist
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Lightning Axe
4 Collective Brutality
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Alms of the Vein
4 Fiery Temper
4 Incendiary Flow
So the maindeck is pretty basic, and I'm unsure what I want in the board (although I think some number of Radiant flames and some number of Fevered Visions are highly likely) it is quite nice, Ideally you're playing a 2 drop creature then playing a 2cmc spell that has a discard attached and getting value out of madness. you can win quite quick if your creature goes unanswered, however if they do and you don't draw into a second it can be a little rough (althought you do have 8 ways to draw 2+ cards).
I agree the green splash seems awful. Returning lands to the battlefield is too slow and durdly. The Chandras do a lot more for this deck than a single Nissa. 7 or more walkers seems excessive with almost no blockers and no mass removal main. You won't be able to burn all their creatures, so how are your walkers going to do much?
I like the Dynavolt Tower idea, although it will be quite slow. If you're playing that build, I think you want 4 Lathnu Hellion. If your deck uses energy as a resource, you want as many energy cards as possible. Hellion can either burn them for 4 to the dome and add 2 energy for Tower or it can use Tower's energy to stay alive and fight for many turns, depending on whether your board state needs a 4/4 or Bolts more.
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!
2x Aethertorch Renegade
4x Dynavolt Tower
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4x Galvanic Bombardment
4x Harnessed Lightning
4x Incendiary Flow
4x Collective Defiance
4x Fiery Temper
2x Reality Hemorrhage
2x Fall of the Titans
4x Lightning Axe
4x Savage Alliance
Looking at that I think you almost have to splash either black or blue
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!
I think that with a Thermo-Alchemist and a Dynavolt Tower on the board, every spell you cast gets that much more value. In a deck that's trying to count to 20, one card that gives more power to your other cards is a big help. Dynavolt Tower strongly reminds me of Shrine of Burning Rage and that was a real player in standard. This one even has the synergetic potential with Lathnu Hellion by helping it stay alive for longer.
By the same reasoning, I feel that playing a Burn deck without Thermo-Alchemist is the wrong answer. There's not enough lightning bolts/lightning strikes/shocks in the format that we can afford not playing a card that adds 1 damage to every instant and sorcery we cast. Mono-red doesn't seem to be enough so I'm personally going to go into the direction of an 'Izzet Machinegun' style deck.
4 Thermo-Alchemist
3 Bedlam Reveler
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Fiery Temper
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Collective Defiance
4 Collective Brutality
4 Alms of the Vein
2 Live Fast
2 Tormenting Voice
1 Cathartic Reunion
2 Aether Hub
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
6 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Thermo-Alchemist
4 Dynavolt Tower
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
//Spells: 24
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Fiery Temper
4 Collective Defiance
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Reality Hemorrhage
2 Geier Reach Sanitarium
4 Aether Hub
4 Cinder Glade
2 Game Trail
12 Mountain
4x Thermo-Alchemist
4x Lathnu Hellion
4x Dynavolt Tower
Sorceries (15)
3x Attune with Aether
4x Tormenting Voice
4x Collective Defiance
4x Incendiary Flow
4x Fiery Temper
4x Harnessed Lightning
4x Blossoming Defense
Land (21)
4x Aether Hub
4x Cinder Glade
2x Geier Reach Sanitarium
7x Mountain
4x Forest
4x Lightning Axe
4x Galvanic Bombardment
4x Noose Constrictor
3x Kozilek's Return
4 Blossoming Defense main seems really bad when you only have 8 creatures and 4 self-implode if you decide to save your energy for Dynavolt. I get that you want to protect your guys, but won't that spell just be dead often?
You can cast it on their creatures if you don't have one of yours out and it will give you the last couple energy to set Dynavolt off again. You can even respond to the cast by using Dynavolt to hit the creature you are targeting with Blossoming defense. But ideally you protect your Alchemist with it. It may be dead for a short spell, but if it is in hand you hope to hit a creature eventually. Also with Hellion and Dynavolt out, it creates enough energy to keep Hellion alive another turn.
4x Thermo-Alchemist
4x Aberrant Researcher
4x Dynavolt Tower
Sorceries (14)
2x Confiscation Coup
4x Tormenting Voice
4x Collective Defiance
4x Incendiary Flow
Instants (12)
4x Fiery Temper
4x Harnessed Lightning
2x Negate
2x Convolute
4x Aether Hub
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Wandering Fumarole
7x Mountain
5x Island
4x Lightning Axe
4x Galvanic Bombardment
4x Lathnu Hellion
3x Kozilek's Return
Unfortunately if won't/doesn't work that way because Blossoming Defense only works on creatures you control. And because you're running so few creatures, it'll be a dead card in your hand most of the time.
You are correct sir. I apparently can't read.
I'm not sure how often it is going to be dead though. Still running 2x as many creatures as protection spell and it is nice to have protection when you do draw the creature. I mean it is 60% you still see 0 or 1 of with the game going to round 12 and 75% you see 0 or 1 through round 8.
http://www.hareruyamtg.com/jp/k/kD16199S/
I have it put together, and it's been a blast to play.
Here's the translated decklist
4 Thermo-Alchemist
4 Bedlam Reveler
Spells (28)
2 Lightning Axe
4 Fiery Temper
4 Alms of the Vein
4 Collective Brutality
3 Collective Defiance
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Tormenting Voice
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Swamp
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
11 Mountain
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Goldnight Castigator
2 Weaver of Lightning
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Lightning Axe
1 Collective Defiance
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Burn, by Miyamoto Hiroya
I guess this makes the black inclusion obvious, I was already leaning towards Lightning Axe and Fiery Temper paired together for the copter.
This deck has been pretty fun to play so far. I've only done a little bit of testing so I do not have any ideas of changes, I have not even been able to cast a Bedlam Reveler yet but every other card has been great for me.
Modern: RW Burn
4 Weaver of Lightning
3 Skyship Stalker
2 Combustible Gearhulk
2 Noxious Gearhulk
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Collective Brutality
4 Incendiary Flow
3 Collective Defiance
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Swamp
11 Mountain
Here is something I want to try out in an attempt to maximize Prodder for burn instead of Thermo with the Gearhulks and Stalker as a plan B.