Planning to take this to MFLA/GPLA so I haven't changed it yet, but after the last 4 FNM's I feel like it's time to tweak things a bit. Notably, my LGS is having a big Modern tournament the week before LA as a tune-up. I have played D&T, Jund, Burn, and UW in the past, but may have found a new favorite in The Rock because it's a deck where I get to play a catch-all removal spell like Trophy (in addition to some favorites in Bob and TS) and feel more comfortable with this over Jund because I also get 7 maindeck ways to deal with problematic lands. Any suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated.
I feel like I want to cut to 24 land (maybe for 4th Bob or 4th Scooze) but at the same time want a 4th FOR although there are some awkward opening hands, and I don't really want to play Twilight Mire. Playing 4 manlands + 3 FOR seems to be fine so I likely won't change it. Regarding Bob #4, maybe cut a Brutality for it, but I am worried I have just been missing the Burn matchup and feel like it's growing in popularity with Skewer. Also, based on local meta, I may go to a 3/3 IoK/TS split as I have actually whiffed on T1 IoK a couple times and there seem to be multiple Tron/Scapeshift players (there were 2-3 KCI players weekly before the ban). The one definite change I will make for this week is to move 1 Kalitas to the board and main 1 Pulse. Oh, and I HATE TRON (and I am so glad they banned KCI, but wish it was Stirrings that was banned instead).
1/4 (2-2, 5-5)
Titanshift 0-2
Storm 2-0
Mono U Living End 1-2 (Misplayed game 3 and should have won)
Turbo Grisel 2-1
1/18 (2-2, 4-5)
KCI 0-2
4C Midrange 2-0
Breach 2-1
Izzet Phoenix 0-2 (seemed like a decent matchup, but he had nutty draws w/2x Phoenix T2 both games)
2/1 (1-2, 4-5 drop)
Bant Spirits 2-1
Tron 1-2 (Won game 1 - he mulled to 4 but only needed to topdeck land T5 to O-Stone but whiffed
Lost game 2 - T3 Fulminator > Surgical but lost drawing lots of lands, even through LotV ult, I drew no threats and eventually he got to Ugin
Lost game 3 - He had T1 Relic so I couldn't T2 Trophy > Surgical, long game, kept him off Tron for a long while but had to fight through 2 O-Stones and eventually Ugin won the game)
Bant Midrange 1-2 (was a homebrew, but I was tilted from Tron matchup so I was super sloppy and didn't even want to play round 4)
Jund is about 550-600tix on MTGO to build. The big hitters are KCommand (~15tix), Goyf (~16tix), and LotV (~30tix). As for SB options, LtLH (~33tix), Brutality (~18tix), and EE (~40tix) are the expensive ones.
Comp Leagues are 12tix/120PP but going 3-2 or better means you get your entry fee back and then something extra. I think the payout goes like this:
Does the prevalence of BBE decks give enough of a reason to maindeck Mirran Crusaders again? And does the expectation of more Kommands warrant taking Copter out?
This is what I was running, followed by the possible changes:
I feel like I want to maindeck the Crusaders regardless (and add Relic-Warders to the SB), but I don't know if cutting Copters or Selfless Spirits is the better choice assuming an increase in Jace/BBE decks. Jace may mean less sweepers, relegating SS to the board, but I'm afraid of the vulnerability of Copter.
Interested to see how the meta shakes out with the unbannings, but now I just want to play a JTMS deck (particularly UW Control). I just rebuilt D&T in Modern (and Legacy Burn) because of how relatively cheap they were not having to run fetches/duals, so that's probably not happening, but it's kinda nice to see D&T under the radar again so people won't be expecting it.
This is what I'm running right now. I think I agree on the 4x Contempt idea, and will likely be cutting the Chupas for the 4th Contempt and 2nd Craving (still leaving Craving #3 in the side). I don't think Essence Extraction is necessary, but I'm still toying with SB as I'm not really sure about the local meta yet, although I am probably going to try cutting a Negate and Duress for 2x Lost Legacy. I just like to run a lot of hate for the control mirrors but I think it's already overboard.
edit: The more I think about it, the more I like the idea about the 1x Mastermind's Acquisition. Might just cut the 2x Supreme Will and add 1x Negate/Illumination #4, although the versatility of Will is great. So many choices and so few slots. I really want to add W for more options, especially sweepers/Authority, but I hate 3-color manabases in Standard.
I was running 4 Thraben Inspector for a while, but wasn't impressed. The card draw was nice, but I think having a playset of Horizon Canopy would negate the need for them - unfortunately, I don't own any right now.
I'm on the fence about the Inspectors, but feel like I need them without Canopy (I'm going the Desert route instead). Main reason is not wanting to spend almost ~$400 on a playset and I believe they'll be reprinted soon. Also, I've never been a fan of Copter in this deck from my testing with it in the past and that makes Inspector more valuable. I'm just not keen on adding any more non-creature spells in a deck focused on Vial + Thalia. If I ever bite the bullet on Canopy or they get reprinted and the price drops dramatically, I would definitely rather have other creatures in place of the Inspectors. This deck still
Any reason for not running the 4th Thalia, Guardian? Otherwise, looks good!
Can't speak for tlhunter07, but I cut the card to down to 3 copies a few years ago as the 5% loss of chance of having it in my opener was preferable to repeatedly log-jamming my hand with it mid-late game.
Makes sense. I usually have those concerns with Legendary Creatures, but she's such a removal magnet, I haven't really run into that problem. And I think my reasoning is I always want her out in games where she's relevant (most matchups) and if she doesn't have much effect, she gets sided out in G2/G3 anyway.
I know I can respond to tidehollow scullers etb effect on the stack to permanently exile a card.
And I know i can do it multiple times with, say, Eldrazi Displacer. But I dont understand how the latter works.
Could someone please explain as precise as possible?
And also, should I keep priority?
Thanks!
Hope I have this right:
1. Tidehollow resolves, ETB effect (1st triggered ability) goes on stack.
2. With ability on stack, hold priority, activate Displacer ability.
3. Tidehollow LTB effect (2nd triggered ability) goes on stack.
4. Tidehollow LTB effect (2nd triggered ability) resolves (no card to return).
5. Displacer ability resolves, Tidehollow 'blinks', triggers ETB effect (1st triggered ability).
6. Repeat 2-5 as many times as you want cards exiled forever.
7. Resolve most recent Tidehollow ETB effect trigger (1st triggered ability) - this one will be exiled under Tidehollow.
8. Resolve all other Tidehollow ETB effect triggers (1st triggered ability).
9. Cards exiled with Tidehollow's ability (except the last) will be gone forever, since LTB triggers already resolved.
10. Opponent hopefully has no nonland cards in hand.
If you do this 3 times, exiling 2 cards permanently, this is the order of how the stack resolves for these portions to show why those cards get exiled forever:
Tidehollow LTB (2nd time - no card to return, card not chosen yet)
Tidehollow LTB (1st time - no card to return, card not chosen yet)
Tidehollow ETB (3rd time - choose no card, or card will return when Tidehollow LTB)
Tidehollow ETB (2nd time - choose card, exiled forever, LTB trigger already resolved)
Tidehollow ETB (1st time - choose card, exiled forever, LTB trigger already resolved)
Only went 3-3 at the PPTQ. Made last minute change going to a stock death and taxes list since i saw a lot of scapeshift decks around I wanted tec edge over temple and I am much more experienced with the lines of the stock list. if a couple things fell slightly different could have gone x-0, but it is what it is.
Even wit the not great record, this deck is still very powerful and I have all the faith in it. With slightly different draws on my side or opponent's could have been much better outcome its just the way variance falls some times.
As of now, the list is -1 Militant, +1 Thalia in the main. I also cut the Revoker for a BFT, the Purges for 2 Relic-Wanderers, and the Firewalkers for Oblivion Rings.
Interested to see how that works out for you. I've tried O-Ring, even Cast Out before, but seemed too slow/mana intensive. What are your main reasons for O-Ring?
Any reason for not running the 4th Thalia, Guardian? Otherwise, looks good!
I am intrigued by the 2 Dryad Militants in addition to 4 Inspectors. Might have to test something like that out. May try 3 Inspector, 2 Militant, and find a cut with a Serra Avenger or something.
Was out of Modern for a while, and just drafting a ton, but my friend convinced me to get back in since he made a deck. Here's my new list based on the recent top finishes, and recent (albeit minimal) testing has gone well.
I'm still not sure on the manabase though. I ran 22 lands on the old build (pre-desert) but I like the 1-of Hostile as the 23rd with 2 Dunes for some extra push. For reference, my new manabase is +1 Hostile Desert, +2 Shefet Dunes, +1 Cavern, -1 Mutavault, -2 Plains, and the extra land meant the 3rd Crusader went to the SB. I've never run Canopies though because of the price tag, but may try one especially with the Hostile Desert by cutting a Plains. I just don't see room for any more.
I do want to find room for a 2nd big Thalia, but I just see nothing else to cut. The only choice would likely be one Serra Avenger, but I do like that extra 2-drop there. She usually is the cut for the 3rd Crusader though out of the board.
I also see a lot of lists run only 3 Inspector, but I feel I need the 4th since I don't run Canopy, and getting that extra 1-drop is nice. I am still hoping we will find another 1-drop in the near future.
I've been putting up some results at my local FNM! Thanks for the advice on my previous post. I piloted it to first place in a mini 4 person tournament on it's maiden voyage. Second place tonight out of 8!
I'm currently without Eidolon and trying to fill the slot with budget options. What do you all think of the proposed changes in my deck for next time?
Changes include:
Minus a land to include Faithless Looting.
Up to 11 fetchlands, down to one bloodcrypt.
Minus 2 Vexing Devil +1 Grim Lavamancer +1 Harsh Mentor
Slight changes to the sideboard.
I'm curious about faithless looting in place of a land. 20 land seemed to feel like too many after some play testing. Looting can fix a hand with too many land in it, add cards to graveyard for mentor, help us dig for sideboard cards and be flashbacked in a particularly long game. It also is a 1 cost prowess trigger for Monastery Swiftspear. I have high hopes for a one of copy of this card. I think the potential to filter lands and give us extra chances to find much needed sideboard cards will give the deck more reach than a land.
Sideboarding in Bloodmoon for Bump in the Night has been ruining the resident Tron deck. There are quite a number of greedy mana bases at my shop, so moon almost always hurts them more than me.
Should I have Harsh Mentor mainboard? Maybe 2? He seems like he might fill the Eidolon of the Great Revel slot better than Vexing Devil. He seems potentially good against Affinity, Tron, elves and a 4 colored Coco deck running around my shop. Then again 2 mana vs. 1 mana is something to be considered.
Thanks again for the support everyone! I'm stoked to be taking home some prizes at FNM. This deck is stronger than I expected! Looking forward to switching over to a Naya build in the future.
Interesting list, and congrats on the results so far!
Personally, I don't like the looting because it does nothing to advance our gameplan. We typically do not want a long game, because that means we're behind, and would rather topdeck an extra spell/creature over it. I think we want every card to be able to push damage the turn it hits the board (or cause damage to remove it, like Eidolon). That said, because you don't have Eidolons, another Harsh Mentor might be worth it to try and get similar value. I run 19 lands and am happy with it, and in this type of deck, I'd much rather have the extra spell. The only time I sometimes feel like 20 may be better is when I sideboard any of my 3CMC cards (2 Firecraft, 2 Anger). Regardless if you run 19 or 20, the deck is designed to not get flooded, and when it does, I chalk it up to variance.
Also, I'd be a little worried that Collateral Damage may be stuck in hand sometimes, since we only have 12 creatures.
For consistency sake, my suggestion would be to take out the CD and Looting, make it so you have 4 Mentor or 4 Vexing, whichever you decide will have the bigger impact based on your meta.
Good luck and I hope you can get those Eidolons in the near future; you'll notice a difference with the impact it makes in a lot of matchups.
I agree that it can give you an edge, but it can also do the opposite. You add variance in that you now have garbage top decks and hands of multiple vials. I feel like the minor edge in extra damage or counterspells (which are hardly in the meta ATM) may not balance out in the end. I'm not really a fan of Serra Avenger anyway due to it being clunky and dying to bolt anyway. I'll definitely proxy up a vial and non vial list and post my results if I get a chance.
Same goes with any Vial deck. I feel it's more about forcing the opponent to play around more things to avoid getting blown out, rather than extra damage or counterspells. From my experience, it seems like the deck is somewhat reliant on turn 1 Vial as those games feel much better in terms of lines of play. IMO, the deck is worse without Vial and I'd much rather play any other creature-based deck in this meta if you told me to take Vial out of the main.
The play of the evening was using Shard Volley to kill his land that he tried to nature's claim to desperately gain life which allowed me to win on the turn after.
Sorry something don't sound right, can you explain... thanks...
Probably meant that there was an animated Inkmoth/Blinkmoth Nexus.
I'm leaning towards Ash over Eidolon because I know I'll be playing against a zoo-ish deck and I believe my opponent is going to have a series of drops that may try to use Eidolon to his advantage. On the other hand, part of me want to play something like Blood Knight for the protection of white or Koth's Courier for the forest walk. Neither creature has haste so I'm not seriously considering them as an option. Satyr Firedancer seemed like a good card, but when I playtested the card it seemed that damage was not quick enough... Maybe there is something else or that Eidolon is the best creature for the slot.
I like forked bolt because for years I'd used to play Fire/Ice and there was a lot of times that divided 2 damage came really handy.
In legacy I stopped playing with Rift Bolt for over a year! I don't have too many opportunities to play Rift Bolt in the start of the game and at the end of the game Rift Bolt is either sucking up all my mana or giving the opponent an extra turn. This is my first time playing against another modern deck(s) so I'm not exactly sure how good Rift Bolt is or if it's just like my experience in Legacy (the card is too slow). I might change Rift Bolt to Shard Volley... I'm undecided at the moment.
This makes it sound like you're meta-gaming against a specific deck. Is this for casual, FNM, competitive?
For Burn in general in Modern, I don't think there's any reasonable argument that can be made for not at least using the shell of 24 (4x Guide/Swiftspear/Eidolon/Lava/Rift/Bolt) as they are the most efficient creatures/spells we have access to. Eidolon is an all-star in a lot of matchups and a big reason Burn has been able to stay around Tier 1.
The other slots can all be debated. My personal take on Shard Volley is that it's terrible turns 1-3. I never want to see it there, but I'd consider cutting 1/4 Blaze again to run 1 copy in a Boros/Naya build. It's just that in this meta, Blaze has been great. But in a mono-red build, I can see it running 2-3 to get more reach since you don't have access to cards like Boros Charm or Lightning Helix.
Forked Bolt seems like a cute card, and it's nice to 2-for-1 something like Vizier and Birds, but it just seems bad most of the time and every point of damage matters for us, especially since the main goal is to throw as much as you can at their face.
As much as I don't like the card, Vexing Devil seems like one of the better creatures for a mono-red build. And with your only 12 creatures, I'm not sure how great Fervor would be. Seems like a pretty big tempo loss in most cases since it is easy to get 2-for-1ed and you have no way of forcing damage through with something like trample, and there will be a lot of times the card is just stuck in hand. Fatal Push and PtE are everywhere, so auras seem very bad in decks other than Bogles.
TL;DR
A lot of different cards have been tried in all versions of Burn, but the core is the core for a reason. Unless you're tuning for a very specific metagame, the old, boring card choices are still the best ones.
I currently have 3 colonnades, 2 snaps, 3 cryptics, and I'm pretty sure I want to pick up a 4th colonnade, but uncertain on how many snaps/cryptics to run these days? There are currently some decent deals online for AV and snaps and I'm not sure if I want to pull the trigger, or if this cheaper version will be just fine. Appreciate any feedback, thanks!
Edit: Also, what matchups do you want Vendilion Clique for? I used to play it in Grixis control and it was always a weird card to me. Is Spell Queller ever worth it in the main, and what are you usually looking to target with it?
I see most lists run 2 or 3 Snaps; I ran 2 myself. I started with 4 Cryptic but cut it to 3 eventually and it felt better. Deck needs a lot more early game interaction. I also felt like the deck wanted 4 Colonnades since that is a primary win condition. I ran the Sphinx/Burkhart/Cheon version mostly because I preferred that version, but a small part of me didn't want to spend ~$60 on AVs.
Clique (and Queller) come in against Combo, and some control matchups. Queller is a nonbo with Verdict in the main, so in most cases I side out at least 2 of my 3 Verdict when Queller comes in.
What do you all think are the preferred Planeswalkers in this deck? I'm building this deck for my son as a birthday present.
I've bought an Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Gideon Jura that will go in it for sure.
I have these being unused now (pulled from packs at some point), considering putting all three in:
Jace, Memory Adept
Jace, Architect of Thought
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
I also have two unused, less sure about these:
Venser, the Sojourner
Also, what is the consensus on Tamiyo, the Moon Sage in this deck?
The 3 you see most often are:
Gideon Jura (just great all around)
Jace, Architect of Thought (if you feel you need more card draw/advantage)
Elspeth, Sun's Champion (great finisher, but some don't like the 6CMC)
I personally ran 2 Jura, 1 Jace, 1 Elspeth which seemed like a nice mix, and also because I love using planeswalkers.
Jace, Memory Adept and Tamiyo seem less efficient cards at 5CMC where Jura can buy you time regardless of how many creatures they have, act as removal, then turn into a beater. Some even say Jace, AOT isn't good enough at the 4CMC slot because you're usually using his minus to get 1 card, and it doesn't do great against most creatures in the meta, but it was fine as a 1-of for me, and the upside of his ultimate was worth it. Venser just seems like a worse version of Restoration Angel, so if you wanted to go with the value route, the more creature-heavy build is the better choice, and you probably don't want to run many PW in that version.
Sadly, I've moved away from this deck for now. I want to focus on getting better at my other two modern decks (Burn/D&T), so to compromise, I've built a version of it to play in standard that is fine for FNMs, but I'll keep monitoring as I always have a soft spot for UW Control.
I feel like I want to cut to 24 land (maybe for 4th Bob or 4th Scooze) but at the same time want a 4th FOR although there are some awkward opening hands, and I don't really want to play Twilight Mire. Playing 4 manlands + 3 FOR seems to be fine so I likely won't change it. Regarding Bob #4, maybe cut a Brutality for it, but I am worried I have just been missing the Burn matchup and feel like it's growing in popularity with Skewer. Also, based on local meta, I may go to a 3/3 IoK/TS split as I have actually whiffed on T1 IoK a couple times and there seem to be multiple Tron/Scapeshift players (there were 2-3 KCI players weekly before the ban). The one definite change I will make for this week is to move 1 Kalitas to the board and main 1 Pulse. Oh, and I HATE TRON (and I am so glad they banned KCI, but wish it was Stirrings that was banned instead).
1/4 (2-2, 5-5)
Titanshift 0-2
Storm 2-0
Mono U Living End 1-2 (Misplayed game 3 and should have won)
Turbo Grisel 2-1
1/18 (2-2, 4-5)
KCI 0-2
4C Midrange 2-0
Breach 2-1
Izzet Phoenix 0-2 (seemed like a decent matchup, but he had nutty draws w/2x Phoenix T2 both games)
1/25 (2-2, 6-4)
Tron 1-2
Breach 2-0
BW Tokens 2-0
Jund 1-2
2/1 (1-2, 4-5 drop)
Bant Spirits 2-1
Tron 1-2
(Won game 1 - he mulled to 4 but only needed to topdeck land T5 to O-Stone but whiffed
Lost game 2 - T3 Fulminator > Surgical but lost drawing lots of lands, even through LotV ult, I drew no threats and eventually he got to Ugin
Lost game 3 - He had T1 Relic so I couldn't T2 Trophy > Surgical, long game, kept him off Tron for a long while but had to fight through 2 O-Stones and eventually Ugin won the game)
Bant Midrange 1-2 (was a homebrew, but I was tilted from Tron matchup so I was super sloppy and didn't even want to play round 4)
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Dark Confidant
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Assassin's Trophy
4 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Collective Brutality
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Hissing Quagmire
2 Treetop Village
3 Field of Ruin
5 Swamp
2 Forest
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Duress
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Languish
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damping Sphere
Comp Leagues are 12tix/120PP but going 3-2 or better means you get your entry fee back and then something extra. I think the payout goes like this:
3 Wins - 120PP, 1 Chest
4 Wins - 180PP, 8 Chests
5 Wins - 180PP, 16 Chests
This is what I was running, followed by the possible changes:
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
2 Selfless Spirit
4 Flickerwisp
3 Blade Splicer
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Restoration Angel
4 Path to Exile
3 Smuggler's Copter
4 Aether Vial
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Field of Ruin
2 Shefet Dunes
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Flagstones of Trokair
8 Plains
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Sunlance
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Rest in Peace
1 Oblivion Ring
I feel like I want to maindeck the Crusaders regardless (and add Relic-Warders to the SB), but I don't know if cutting Copters or Selfless Spirits is the better choice assuming an increase in Jace/BBE decks. Jace may mean less sweepers, relegating SS to the board, but I'm afraid of the vulnerability of Copter.
+2 Mirran Crusader
+1 Blade Splicer/Restoration Angel
-3 Smuggler's Copter
or
+2 Mirran Crusader
-2 Selfless Spirit
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Censor
3 Essence Scatter
4 Disallow
2 Supreme Will
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Fatal Push
1 Moment of Craving
3 Vraska's Contempt
1 Consign//Oblivion
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
2 Field of Ruin
2 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
6 Swamp
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Archfiend of Ifnir
4 Negate
1 Moment of Craving
4 Duress
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
edit: The more I think about it, the more I like the idea about the 1x Mastermind's Acquisition. Might just cut the 2x Supreme Will and add 1x Negate/Illumination #4, although the versatility of Will is great. So many choices and so few slots. I really want to add W for more options, especially sweepers/Authority, but I hate 3-color manabases in Standard.
I'm on the fence about the Inspectors, but feel like I need them without Canopy (I'm going the Desert route instead). Main reason is not wanting to spend almost ~$400 on a playset and I believe they'll be reprinted soon. Also, I've never been a fan of Copter in this deck from my testing with it in the past and that makes Inspector more valuable. I'm just not keen on adding any more non-creature spells in a deck focused on Vial + Thalia. If I ever bite the bullet on Canopy or they get reprinted and the price drops dramatically, I would definitely rather have other creatures in place of the Inspectors. This deck still
Ahh, good point, forgot it's not a 'may'.
Cool, I'm sure I'll see you there and maybe you can give me some tips.
Makes sense. I usually have those concerns with Legendary Creatures, but she's such a removal magnet, I haven't really run into that problem. And I think my reasoning is I always want her out in games where she's relevant (most matchups) and if she doesn't have much effect, she gets sided out in G2/G3 anyway.
Hope I have this right:
1. Tidehollow resolves, ETB effect (1st triggered ability) goes on stack.
2. With ability on stack, hold priority, activate Displacer ability.
3. Tidehollow LTB effect (2nd triggered ability) goes on stack.
4. Tidehollow LTB effect (2nd triggered ability) resolves (no card to return).
5. Displacer ability resolves, Tidehollow 'blinks', triggers ETB effect (1st triggered ability).
6. Repeat 2-5 as many times as you want cards exiled forever.
7. Resolve most recent Tidehollow ETB effect trigger (1st triggered ability) - this one will be exiled under Tidehollow.
8. Resolve all other Tidehollow ETB effect triggers (1st triggered ability).
9. Cards exiled with Tidehollow's ability (except the last) will be gone forever, since LTB triggers already resolved.
10. Opponent hopefully has no nonland cards in hand.
If you do this 3 times, exiling 2 cards permanently, this is the order of how the stack resolves for these portions to show why those cards get exiled forever:
Tidehollow LTB (2nd time - no card to return, card not chosen yet)
Tidehollow LTB (1st time - no card to return, card not chosen yet)
Tidehollow ETB (3rd time - choose no card, or card will return when Tidehollow LTB)
Tidehollow ETB (2nd time - choose card, exiled forever, LTB trigger already resolved)
Tidehollow ETB (1st time - choose card, exiled forever, LTB trigger already resolved)
Not terrible.
Interested to see how that works out for you. I've tried O-Ring, even Cast Out before, but seemed too slow/mana intensive. What are your main reasons for O-Ring?
I am intrigued by the 2 Dryad Militants in addition to 4 Inspectors. Might have to test something like that out. May try 3 Inspector, 2 Militant, and find a cut with a Serra Avenger or something.
I'm still not sure on the manabase though. I ran 22 lands on the old build (pre-desert) but I like the 1-of Hostile as the 23rd with 2 Dunes for some extra push. For reference, my new manabase is +1 Hostile Desert, +2 Shefet Dunes, +1 Cavern, -1 Mutavault, -2 Plains, and the extra land meant the 3rd Crusader went to the SB. I've never run Canopies though because of the price tag, but may try one especially with the Hostile Desert by cutting a Plains. I just don't see room for any more.
I do want to find room for a 2nd big Thalia, but I just see nothing else to cut. The only choice would likely be one Serra Avenger, but I do like that extra 2-drop there. She usually is the cut for the 3rd Crusader though out of the board.
I also see a lot of lists run only 3 Inspector, but I feel I need the 4th since I don't run Canopy, and getting that extra 1-drop is nice. I am still hoping we will find another 1-drop in the near future.
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
2 Serra Avenger
1 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Flickerwisp
4 Blade Splicer
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Restoration Angel
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Hostile Desert
2 Shefet Dunes
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Flagstones of Trokair
9 Plains
Interesting list, and congrats on the results so far!
Personally, I don't like the looting because it does nothing to advance our gameplan. We typically do not want a long game, because that means we're behind, and would rather topdeck an extra spell/creature over it. I think we want every card to be able to push damage the turn it hits the board (or cause damage to remove it, like Eidolon). That said, because you don't have Eidolons, another Harsh Mentor might be worth it to try and get similar value. I run 19 lands and am happy with it, and in this type of deck, I'd much rather have the extra spell. The only time I sometimes feel like 20 may be better is when I sideboard any of my 3CMC cards (2 Firecraft, 2 Anger). Regardless if you run 19 or 20, the deck is designed to not get flooded, and when it does, I chalk it up to variance.
Also, I'd be a little worried that Collateral Damage may be stuck in hand sometimes, since we only have 12 creatures.
For consistency sake, my suggestion would be to take out the CD and Looting, make it so you have 4 Mentor or 4 Vexing, whichever you decide will have the bigger impact based on your meta.
Good luck and I hope you can get those Eidolons in the near future; you'll notice a difference with the impact it makes in a lot of matchups.
Same goes with any Vial deck. I feel it's more about forcing the opponent to play around more things to avoid getting blown out, rather than extra damage or counterspells. From my experience, it seems like the deck is somewhat reliant on turn 1 Vial as those games feel much better in terms of lines of play. IMO, the deck is worse without Vial and I'd much rather play any other creature-based deck in this meta if you told me to take Vial out of the main.
This is the 2nd biggest reason for me to play this deck, with the first being able to play a deck with Thalia.
Probably meant that there was an animated Inkmoth/Blinkmoth Nexus.
This makes it sound like you're meta-gaming against a specific deck. Is this for casual, FNM, competitive?
For Burn in general in Modern, I don't think there's any reasonable argument that can be made for not at least using the shell of 24 (4x Guide/Swiftspear/Eidolon/Lava/Rift/Bolt) as they are the most efficient creatures/spells we have access to. Eidolon is an all-star in a lot of matchups and a big reason Burn has been able to stay around Tier 1.
The other slots can all be debated. My personal take on Shard Volley is that it's terrible turns 1-3. I never want to see it there, but I'd consider cutting 1/4 Blaze again to run 1 copy in a Boros/Naya build. It's just that in this meta, Blaze has been great. But in a mono-red build, I can see it running 2-3 to get more reach since you don't have access to cards like Boros Charm or Lightning Helix.
Forked Bolt seems like a cute card, and it's nice to 2-for-1 something like Vizier and Birds, but it just seems bad most of the time and every point of damage matters for us, especially since the main goal is to throw as much as you can at their face.
As much as I don't like the card, Vexing Devil seems like one of the better creatures for a mono-red build. And with your only 12 creatures, I'm not sure how great Fervor would be. Seems like a pretty big tempo loss in most cases since it is easy to get 2-for-1ed and you have no way of forcing damage through with something like trample, and there will be a lot of times the card is just stuck in hand. Fatal Push and PtE are everywhere, so auras seem very bad in decks other than Bogles.
TL;DR
A lot of different cards have been tried in all versions of Burn, but the core is the core for a reason. Unless you're tuning for a very specific metagame, the old, boring card choices are still the best ones.
I see most lists run 2 or 3 Snaps; I ran 2 myself. I started with 4 Cryptic but cut it to 3 eventually and it felt better. Deck needs a lot more early game interaction. I also felt like the deck wanted 4 Colonnades since that is a primary win condition. I ran the Sphinx/Burkhart/Cheon version mostly because I preferred that version, but a small part of me didn't want to spend ~$60 on AVs.
Clique (and Queller) come in against Combo, and some control matchups. Queller is a nonbo with Verdict in the main, so in most cases I side out at least 2 of my 3 Verdict when Queller comes in.
The 3 you see most often are:
Gideon Jura (just great all around)
Jace, Architect of Thought (if you feel you need more card draw/advantage)
Elspeth, Sun's Champion (great finisher, but some don't like the 6CMC)
I personally ran 2 Jura, 1 Jace, 1 Elspeth which seemed like a nice mix, and also because I love using planeswalkers.
Jace, Memory Adept and Tamiyo seem less efficient cards at 5CMC where Jura can buy you time regardless of how many creatures they have, act as removal, then turn into a beater. Some even say Jace, AOT isn't good enough at the 4CMC slot because you're usually using his minus to get 1 card, and it doesn't do great against most creatures in the meta, but it was fine as a 1-of for me, and the upside of his ultimate was worth it. Venser just seems like a worse version of Restoration Angel, so if you wanted to go with the value route, the more creature-heavy build is the better choice, and you probably don't want to run many PW in that version.
Sadly, I've moved away from this deck for now. I want to focus on getting better at my other two modern decks (Burn/D&T), so to compromise, I've built a version of it to play in standard that is fine for FNMs, but I'll keep monitoring as I always have a soft spot for UW Control.