As soon as I saw Collective Brutality spoiled I instantly started trying to figure out how many slots I could make for it in my Sideboard. It's a little odd, but I play Jund, and this is the first viable means of gaining life we've had access to. It's for the mirror, hatebears, aggro, and things we generally have to race.
Best case scenario, we make out opposing Burn player very sad after they drop a t2 Kor Firewalker by not only killing it, and not allowing them to gain any life from it, but also by pitching the Searing Blaze we don't know if we'll be able to cast for 3 damage, extra land, or Shard Volley to also put us up 4 life in the race.
If you can utilize it in a scenario where you t2 kill a guy, pitch a less than great card, and gain 2 and have your opponent lose 2, it is beneficial. It's even not dead as a top deck, but not great admittedly. At my LGS there is a significant showing of burn, and it is great in that matchup.
Basically, it has great early game potential, gives us a way to kill a Firewalker without giving them a free land, and is never a dead draw. It's the Swiss Army sideboard card against aggro.
As for the first part, I can understand this in the context of Jund. But like you said, primarily it will be a 33% worse Lightning Helix, but decks that have white are choosing to run it.
As for killing firewalker, why not self-inflicted wound?
The biggest question I have is the "less than great" card comment. What cards are these? Burn's core concept is to maindeck 60 cards that are universally useful. Outside of the rare land, I can't envision wanting to pitch extra cards. Blaze vs other burn, i'd want it for GG/SS/etc. Shard Volley I'd want to hold because it's a great finisher. Even in your best case scenario it seems good, but still not amazing...primarily because Helix exists.
Primarily it will not be a worse Helix, primarily it will kill a Firewalker, or Master of Waves. White decks run it because it kills those types of guys. I've even killed a Burrenton Forge-Tender with it.
Simply, Self-Inflicted Wound does not target, and the can sac a Nacatl instead. That's not always the case, and occasionally uou can Bolt a Nacatl then cast SIW, but it's much preferable to be able to target imo.
The less-than-great comment was about situationally less than great cards. Say on T3 when you have two Lands in play and two copies of Searing Blaze and a Collective Brutality. Being Flooded allows us to pitch a land. Shard Volley is sometimes a smart pitch t2-3. Especially if we are only on two Lands. It puts us 4 life away from our opponent. Yes, we want to get our opponent to 0 as quickly as possible, but we also have to stay alive to get there. This 2 measly life we gain from it has saved me from my wife's zoo deck more than once.
Best case scenario is best case scenario because it does what no other card burn has access to, that is never a dead draw, can, which is kill pro red guys.
Do current results warrent a shift to Nacatl's? SCG Indy featured a win from and the highest ranked finishes from Burn decks running the cat (I believe 4of the 5 top finishing burn decks ran Nacatl.)
In testing I have been incredibly back and forth on it, but it seems to have its advantages, especially against pro-red cards and in a format where burn usually needs consistent damage to win.
For reference I am currently playing Naya-AC burn without Nacatl.
I may be in the minority in this, but the way I see it if you run Naya colors, you should almost certainly be running cats. But I also still think it's certainly possible to run non-naya burn(Jund/Mardu), where you have a lot of tools from black to deal with the pro-red problem. Haven't really felt too many situations myself where I felt like consistent damage was the answer more so than we already get from guides and to a lesser extent lavamancers for the long games.
On another note. I've been seeing Collective Brutality showing up as a 1-2 of in sideboards. This is a card I don't understand and feel like I have to be missing something. I can't see pitching extra cards very often in burn when every one needs to be value. And even if you have lands to throw, what modes do we even want? I'm just trying to understand where it helps us.
As soon as I saw Collective Brutality spoiled I instantly started trying to figure out how many slots I could make for it in my Sideboard. It's a little odd, but I play Jund, and this is the first viable means of gaining life we've had access to. It's for the mirror, hatebears, aggro, and things we generally have to race.
Best case scenario, we make out opposing Burn player very sad after they drop a t2 Kor Firewalker by not only killing it, and not allowing them to gain any life from it, but also by pitching the Searing Blaze we don't know if we'll be able to cast for 3 damage, extra land, or Shard Volley to also put us up 4 life in the race.
If you can utilize it in a scenario where you t2 kill a guy, pitch a less than great card, and gain 2 and have your opponent lose 2, it is beneficial. It's even not dead as a top deck, but not great admittedly. At my LGS there is a significant showing of burn, and it is great in that matchup.
Basically, it has great early game potential, gives us a way to kill a Firewalker without giving them a free land, and is never a dead draw. It's the Swiss Army sideboard card against aggro.
I've been trying Bedlam Reveler in jund burn a bit. Jund burn has a lower curve and therefore gets more cards to the yard a bit faster. Jund Burn also doesn't have Wild Nacatl which also increases the value of Bedlam Reveler since you'll be running more instants and sorceries.
That being the preface, the card seems to be 1-2 mana too expensive to be great. So far it has been ok, but not great. It often just takes a turn or two too long to get down to 2-3 mana to cast. I'm going to keep trying it, but so far the 8 cmc has been a bit too slow - which is frustrating because of how close it is to being great.
You have to limit other creatures for it to be useful. Honestly, in my experience, it is best as a Sideboard 1 of vs discard or counter magic. If you wanted to run it main board, I would try a version with the only creatures being Eidolon of the Great Revel as a four of, and then 3 Bedlam Reveler, dedicate the rest to Instants and Sorceries. I think Mardu is better suited for this application with Boros Charm and Lightning Helix
And 4 guides.
I strongly disagree. In testing, I can't tell you how many times I wished that the Monastery Swiftspear I had in my yard was an Instant or Sorcery. You really want to be able to cast him t4 or t5 for either 1RR or RR. 1 guide in the yard, or even on the battlefield, instead of an instant or sorcery could be the difference in him costing 4 and 3, and in turn whether or not yu could cast him.
What you really want to do in order to maximize your likelihood of winning the game is to maximize your early damage and you do that through creatures. The best games I have are ones when an early Guide sticks. Creatures that deal recurring damage are the key to the game and that's especially true in the mirror.
However, if you're trying to cast a Bedlam Reveler, obviously you want to load up on things that make it cheaper. Thing is, I have little interest in loading up on inferior Burn spells by cutting Swiftspear or Guide.
That's true, but he was talking about continuing to try Reveler. As such, I was giving him best case scenario for Reveler to run effectively. In a meta heavy with discard and counter spells, it could be viable. It pulled me out of a few games vs Jeskai, Jund, and Junk.
I play jund and mardu burn and i wouldnt run reveler in either. Nor in burn period. The game is over before needing to cast him. And if we are running him as a 1 of, then why are we running him at all? Its a similar idea to us arguing about why we would run a 1 of thunderous wrath. Its pointless at that point. Hes just to slow and not worth it when the game should already or almost be over by the time we cast him. If we do our job correctly and the way modern drains everybodys life totals (fetches, shocks, bob's, thoughtseizes etc), we should have the game over by the time reveler matters. And if they are holding back those or letting their lands come in tapped, fine... ill burn you out before you do your thing.
This is somewhat my final thoughts about him, as far as main board goes. However, I've found that he is actually good vs discard/counter magic. As a 1 or 2 of - 1 in my case, for now - in the Sideboard, I think he's quite valuable. Being able to draw 3 cards, and have a 3/4 prowess body, for 2-3 mana on t4-5 with your opponent at 5-6 and a couple of burn spells in the yard that where either forced out of your hand, or countered, is phenomenal.
I've been trying Bedlam Reveler in jund burn a bit. Jund burn has a lower curve and therefore gets more cards to the yard a bit faster. Jund Burn also doesn't have Wild Nacatl which also increases the value of Bedlam Reveler since you'll be running more instants and sorceries.
That being the preface, the card seems to be 1-2 mana too expensive to be great. So far it has been ok, but not great. It often just takes a turn or two too long to get down to 2-3 mana to cast. I'm going to keep trying it, but so far the 8 cmc has been a bit too slow - which is frustrating because of how close it is to being great.
You have to limit other creatures for it to be useful. Honestly, in my experience, it is best as a Sideboard 1 of vs discard or counter magic. If you wanted to run it main board, I would try a version with the only creatures being Eidolon of the Great Revel as a four of, and then 3 Bedlam Reveler, dedicate the rest to Instants and Sorceries. I think Mardu is better suited for this application with Boros Charm and Lightning Helix
And 4 guides.
I strongly disagree. In testing, I can't tell you how many times I wished that the Monastery Swiftspear I had in my yard was an Instant or Sorcery. You really want to be able to cast him t4 or t5 for either 1RR or RR. 1 guide in the yard, or even on the battlefield, instead of an instant or sorcery could be the difference in him costing 4 and 3, and in turn whether or not yu could cast him.
I've been trying Bedlam Reveler in jund burn a bit. Jund burn has a lower curve and therefore gets more cards to the yard a bit faster. Jund Burn also doesn't have Wild Nacatl which also increases the value of Bedlam Reveler since you'll be running more instants and sorceries.
That being the preface, the card seems to be 1-2 mana too expensive to be great. So far it has been ok, but not great. It often just takes a turn or two too long to get down to 2-3 mana to cast. I'm going to keep trying it, but so far the 8 cmc has been a bit too slow - which is frustrating because of how close it is to being great.
You have to limit other creatures for it to be useful. Honestly, in my experience, it is best as a Sideboard 1 of vs discard or counter magic. If you wanted to run it main board, I would try a version with the only creatures being Eidolon of the Great Revel as a four of, and then 3 Bedlam Reveler, dedicate the rest to Instants and Sorceries. I think Mardu is better suited for this application with Boros Charm and Lightning Helix
But what decks are those cards well-positioned against, exactly? Deflecting Palm against Infect or Zooicide? Burn's already favored against those decks. Path to Exile for Tron's Wurmcoil Engine? Ditto. These days, I'd rather have Destructive Revelry to punish all sorts of decks than a Kor Firewalker that's only any good in the mirror (which has been dwindling of late) along with a Wear // Tear that doesn't actually deal damage. Boros Charm is neat, but Atarka's Command has always been more potential damage. Furthermore, not having access to those other W sideboard cards is less of a big deal when you can throw in some Rakdos Charms to punish Dredge and some Dismembers or Terminates as reasonable facsimiles of Path to Exile.
Collective Brutality and Self-Inflicted Wound really make me not care too much about that Firewalker. I ran a Terminate in board for a while, but it only really did work against Tron, when I could be killing their guys with Rakdos Charm anyhow. Jund does damage really quickly with the extra one drop, and helps survive longer by taking less damage from the mana base.
Last question... since ive been playing mardu burn, with the 4th color in the sb, for a long time, i kinda want to slim down to 2 colors main and 3rd in sb. What do you guys feel is the better color with red to go main? Black for bump? White for charm? Or green for command? Obviously gree would probably be my sb color for revelry but as fas as maindeck, im assuming the charm with different modes is better than bump but playing bump turn 2 allows 6 dmg with a wnd bolt while charm you tap out for 4 dmg turn 2. But obviously charm has other uses, but keeping on winning asap, what is the better color pair? Or is green the better 2nd color for nactal. To me, i dont like playing any creature that doesnt have haste. Thats kinda the standard rule ive always been told and followed. I also try very hard to keep the lowest cmc over all for the entire deck so my lists hardly, if ever, have more than like 8 cards at 2 cmc.
No point splashing green for Cat as you'll still to fetch up a RW source in the game to get it to 3/3, although Atarka's is a great card that you would have access to.
I'd say play Boros colours as your main as it adds both Boros Charm and Lightning Helix as options for the main, whereas Green will just add atarka's main.
If you're going to play Naya out the sideboard though, you might as well play Naya to begin with at that point.
A way to break it down and look at it is to write a list of what each colour will add to your deck.
Black:
Bump in the night - basically lava spike 5-8
Rakdos Charm (SB) - great against zoo decks or abzan, or anything with a look of creatures really.
White:
Boros Charm - outstanding card and fairly versatile if needed
Lightning Helix - Gives you game vs Aggro and the mirror
Kor Firewalker (SB) - for the mirror and some zoo variants, swings the matchup heavily in your favour
Deflecting Palm (SB) - solid card to bring in against decks that can easily hit for 4+ from one source, also not bad for the mirror as it's effectively lightning helix 5 and 6 (you prevent 3 damage and deal 3)
Path to exile (SB) - great against decks that have the creatures you can't kill via bolts
Green
Atarka's Command - 3 damage, doesn't target so gets around hexproof, with a creature can effectively become a boros charm or better, can also double up as skullcrack or a way to turn on Searing Blaze without a fetch
Destructive Revelry (SB) - brilliant against Affinity and anything else that runs artifacts/enchantments
I've been running Jund(Burn) for a few months now. The best thing about black is the Sideboard, and Blackcleave Cliffs. Bump in the Night helps keep the curve lower than Naya generally, and the flashback is mostly irrelevant, but it has won me a couple games when both my opponent and I both stalled out, hitting land pickets. Having Blackcleave Cliffs and Copperline Gorge is great in the mirror. Also the new Collective Brutality is great vs the mirror or aggro. Dealing with a t2 threat, and draining for 2 is good, even if it means pitching a card. It's especially good when they have Kor Firewalker. Surprisingly Rain of Gore can do work if they have Firewalker and Helix. Self-Inflicted Wound does great vs Hate bears, Elves, and is an all star vs Bogles. I even bring it in vs Nacatl burn. It hits either the cat or Firewalker. I usually only bring in one to supplement my Collective Brutality, but it's proven worthy in those situations. I think the only card I miss from white is Deflecting Palm, and the upside has been worth it to me. I feel stoner vs Fish, Tron, and Affinity, as well as aggro. I guess it's really only matchups that Deflecting Palm helps out a ton in, like Jund or Jeskai Nahir, and Bedlam Reveler helps out there.
Tried piloting Burn a month or two ago to poor results (most likely due to my inexperience), but now I want to return to it. My meta is overflowing with Tron and Infect, with a good showing of Dredge, and I've been told Burn is a good way to combat them. My decklist is below: what would you all suggest to fine tune it? I have Atarka's Commands, but I'm not running them currently; should I be? Also, as I'm already running a Naya mana base, is it worth throwing in Wild Nacatls? Thanks!
I'm running 4 Skullcrack and 4 Atarka's Command in my Jund build. It's useful against Wurmcoil and nature's claim. Also against opposing Helix. Searing Blaze is great against Infect, but I've recently replace one of my DRevs with Searing Blood. It helps vs infect and the like. Even if it doesn't kill their guy, if you can make them use a pump/protection spell out of combat, that's pretty much a win every time.
Hey Burn players, what's your opinion on Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet? I'm kind of using him as my go to card against Burn. I play Grixis and find burn super tough to beat. Is he a legitmately good card to use against you or is he easily dealt with/played around? Thanks in advance.
He is a must deal with. The only problem is he is somewhat slow, not being able to attack until t5. With the counter spells and discard available in grixis, it shouldn't be too difficult to allow him to swing. We have to kill him before he can start swinging in, plus he can stonewall most Creatures in burn.
He's part of the reason I have a Terminate in board. Naya will bring in PtE to deal with him.
Was that the head judge that made that ruling? The game state had significantly changed since the eidolon resolved. I can't fathom a level 2 judge ruling that way. Either way he should be reported.
As far as Bedlam Reveler goes, you absolutely have to limit the number of creatures to make it viable. I ran it as a 1 of in Jund with 4 Eidolon and 4 Swiftspear. It did it's job as well as it could. Casting for rr is nice, and easy to do with only 4-8 other creatures. I'd say we'd have to run eidolon as a 4 of, and then 3 Bedlam Reveler, with no other creatures, to make him work main board. I think he serves a fine purpose against Jund/Junk, maybe even Zooicide. Anything that makes you discard, he is golden. I feel like a Sideboard slot would be good, but you'd have to board out some Creatures when you bring him in. He shows potential against Countermagic as well.
His synergy with Lavamancer is awful. I can't imagine them playing nicely together.
Well, went to the PPTQ, and went 3-3 technically, but I only actually won one match. It was just one if those days where my opponents just seemed to have the exact answers they needed. I have mixed feelings about Bedlam Reveler, but there's definitely potential in certain matchups. I'll share my exact feelings on him momentarily. Anyhow, here's how the day played out:
Match 1: Zooicide.
G1 - He was on the play. T1 fetch, shock, cycle, and Nacatl. So my opponent starting on 15 was fantastic for me. I ended up only having to actually do 11 damage to win the game.
G2 - read game 1 again.
Match 2: U Tron.
G1 - He assembled Tron on t4, his life total was low, but Sundering Titan with counter magic backup got him there.
G2 - He never found his 3rd Tron land before my Swiftspear and Eidolon were able to bash in for the win.
G3 - T4 Tron again. I was able to get his life total to 4 before he blew up my Lands again. I had 10 Instant/Sorcery Spells in the GY. I had one land, an Atarka's Command and a Bedlam Reveler in Hand. I draw a land. I play the land, hoping to draw some gas and having a body to block before taking lethal. He counters. Game over.
Match 3: G/W Hate bears
G1: Ghost Quarter plus Leonin Arbiter kept me off of green mana for long enough to get out a couple of Loxodon Smiters before I could finish the game.
G2: Self-Inflicted Wound was an all star this game, and Collective Brutality was able to deal with his pro red guy. His T2 Thalia was saced to it, as was his T3 one. I was then able to get in enough damage before he could get enough Creatures out to matter.
G3: this game was grindy. He played arbiter and Thalia. I was able to deal with them and get the game going in my direction. I had a Reveler in Hand and enough Instants and Sorceries to cast him for rr on my next turn, with him at 3 life. This is when he played his second Ghost Quarters and killed both my Blackcleave Cliffs and Stomping ground, to leave me with one Mountain. I had 3 draw steps to draw into a Lava Spike, Lighting Bolt, or land to potentially end the game. I drew AC, Skullcrack, and Eidolon.
Match 4: Bant
I don't really remember how these games went, but it was typical counter magic mixed with Resto, Snap, and Voice. Both games they were left below 6 life, but I couldn't finish either of them through the counter magic and instant speed Creatures.
Match 5: Bye
Match 6: Opponent dropped after match were made.
So, the build to get Bedlam Reveler to work in Jund burn seems too slow. I like Bedlam Reveler against counter magic. It gives us an out after out spells have been countered, plus a blocker to extend the game if need be. When I drew him game one against Hate bears and Zooicide it felt awful. Luckily Zooicide did enough damage to himself where the effect was negligible. In friendly games vs discard it was pretty much always great to see him.
I think I'll keep one in the Sideboard for now. Keep testing against Jund/Junk/Countermagic. However, arranging the main deck to get him to work there, just isn't worth it. Though, I could reasonably see Mardu make it work with 4x Charm, Helix, and Bump.
I'll do my best to answer based on my experience, though I am currently playing a Jund variant.
The Nacatl debate boils down to personal preference really. I don't think there can be a diffinitive answer, as versions both with and without are performing well. It changes your play style is the largest implication in my experience. My personal preference is that I'd rather not top deck a Nacatl late game, and I also would prefer to have options with the card I play. There is one option with Nacatl: play t1, swing, swing, and possibly block or eat a Bolt/PtE.
If you are playing Naya colors, even with Nacatl, 20 seems to be perfect, with 10-11 fetches. You have more 2 CMC spells, and with Nacatl, having that Foundry after playing a t1 Stomping Ground is critical.
As far as mulling goes, I keep 4 land hands only if the 3 Spells are exactly what I need for a particular matchups - like 2 Destructive Revelry and a Searing Blaze against Affinity, or something of that nature. Otherwise, I pretty much always regret keeping. As far as one landers my rule of thumb is to only keep if there is at least one Lightning Bolt or Monastery Swiftspear, and 2 more turns of play(Lava Spike or Bump for me).
Sideboarding vs Burn could be an entire article on its own. Tron will bring in Nature's Claim, and they typically have some number of Skite. Jund will have Finks. Zooicide will bring in Pharexian Unlife.
Sideboarding for us is also hard to give a brief answer. When you face Jund take out Eidolon on the draw, and Rift Bolt/Charm on the play. Infect take out things that can't target Creatures. Affinity is the same. Basically just go through the list and think about what you would/wouldn't want to draw when playing whatever deck. It's tedious, and I think an updated "Modern Burn Bible" would be beneficial for these scenarios.
When to be the control deck is very much based on board state in a lot of instances, but is very matchups dependant as well. I don't have access to path, but I do have Terminate as a one of, and I don't bring it in unless I'm going to fave something I can't otherwise kill, or out race. In Jund, Goyf and Kalitas can often get out of hand and need to be taken out. I think PtE would be useful in scenarios like that.
Bringing in Path vs Zooicide is not horrible, especially since they may be playing Phyrexian Unlife, and a 13/13 will have a couple turns to swing before you can burn them out.
Lastly, I domt think hiding what you're playing is beneficial t1. I would never play a fetch and delay a Rift Bolt. T2 they are going to know what plan you're on, so you can't hide it for long enough for it to matter.
Is jund burn gaining any steam lately? Last night I was thing about all the side board cards it can run and to me it seems to answer more than most other variants . Currently running mardu burn but considering making the switch. anyone here play it?
I'm running Jund with only a few creatures, including Bedlam Reveler. The Sideboard was the biggest draw for me. Rakdos Charm, Rain of Gore, Self-Inflicted Wound, and now Collective Brutality make bad matchups much better. Boggles, Fish, Elves all improve after board a lot more than they do with Naya.
Destructive Revelry is an all Star, and you can never have too many Skullcrack effects (Atarka's Command). Destructive Revelry is really the only reason to play Jund over Mardu in my opinion. It's just so versatile. Spreading Seas, Aether Vial, anything in Affinity, Leyline, etc. All while progressing the game plan - damage to the face.
Primarily it will not be a worse Helix, primarily it will kill a Firewalker, or Master of Waves. White decks run it because it kills those types of guys. I've even killed a Burrenton Forge-Tender with it.
Simply, Self-Inflicted Wound does not target, and the can sac a Nacatl instead. That's not always the case, and occasionally uou can Bolt a Nacatl then cast SIW, but it's much preferable to be able to target imo.
The less-than-great comment was about situationally less than great cards. Say on T3 when you have two Lands in play and two copies of Searing Blaze and a Collective Brutality. Being Flooded allows us to pitch a land. Shard Volley is sometimes a smart pitch t2-3. Especially if we are only on two Lands. It puts us 4 life away from our opponent. Yes, we want to get our opponent to 0 as quickly as possible, but we also have to stay alive to get there. This 2 measly life we gain from it has saved me from my wife's zoo deck more than once.
Best case scenario is best case scenario because it does what no other card burn has access to, that is never a dead draw, can, which is kill pro red guys.
As soon as I saw Collective Brutality spoiled I instantly started trying to figure out how many slots I could make for it in my Sideboard. It's a little odd, but I play Jund, and this is the first viable means of gaining life we've had access to. It's for the mirror, hatebears, aggro, and things we generally have to race.
Best case scenario, we make out opposing Burn player very sad after they drop a t2 Kor Firewalker by not only killing it, and not allowing them to gain any life from it, but also by pitching the Searing Blaze we don't know if we'll be able to cast for 3 damage, extra land, or Shard Volley to also put us up 4 life in the race.
Worst case scenario, it is a 33.33% worse Lightning Helix.
If you can utilize it in a scenario where you t2 kill a guy, pitch a less than great card, and gain 2 and have your opponent lose 2, it is beneficial. It's even not dead as a top deck, but not great admittedly. At my LGS there is a significant showing of burn, and it is great in that matchup.
Basically, it has great early game potential, gives us a way to kill a Firewalker without giving them a free land, and is never a dead draw. It's the Swiss Army sideboard card against aggro.
That's true, but he was talking about continuing to try Reveler. As such, I was giving him best case scenario for Reveler to run effectively. In a meta heavy with discard and counter spells, it could be viable. It pulled me out of a few games vs Jeskai, Jund, and Junk.
This is somewhat my final thoughts about him, as far as main board goes. However, I've found that he is actually good vs discard/counter magic. As a 1 or 2 of - 1 in my case, for now - in the Sideboard, I think he's quite valuable. Being able to draw 3 cards, and have a 3/4 prowess body, for 2-3 mana on t4-5 with your opponent at 5-6 and a couple of burn spells in the yard that where either forced out of your hand, or countered, is phenomenal.
I strongly disagree. In testing, I can't tell you how many times I wished that the Monastery Swiftspear I had in my yard was an Instant or Sorcery. You really want to be able to cast him t4 or t5 for either 1RR or RR. 1 guide in the yard, or even on the battlefield, instead of an instant or sorcery could be the difference in him costing 4 and 3, and in turn whether or not yu could cast him.
You have to limit other creatures for it to be useful. Honestly, in my experience, it is best as a Sideboard 1 of vs discard or counter magic. If you wanted to run it main board, I would try a version with the only creatures being Eidolon of the Great Revel as a four of, and then 3 Bedlam Reveler, dedicate the rest to Instants and Sorceries. I think Mardu is better suited for this application with Boros Charm and Lightning Helix
Collective Brutality and Self-Inflicted Wound really make me not care too much about that Firewalker. I ran a Terminate in board for a while, but it only really did work against Tron, when I could be killing their guys with Rakdos Charm anyhow. Jund does damage really quickly with the extra one drop, and helps survive longer by taking less damage from the mana base.
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Ground
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Arid Mesa
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Copperline Gorge
4 Mountain
Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Atarka's Command
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Lightning Bolt
Sorceries
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Bump in the Night
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Searing Blood
1 Bedlam Reveler
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Rain of Gore
2 Collective Brutality
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
I've been running Jund(Burn) for a few months now. The best thing about black is the Sideboard, and Blackcleave Cliffs. Bump in the Night helps keep the curve lower than Naya generally, and the flashback is mostly irrelevant, but it has won me a couple games when both my opponent and I both stalled out, hitting land pickets. Having Blackcleave Cliffs and Copperline Gorge is great in the mirror. Also the new Collective Brutality is great vs the mirror or aggro. Dealing with a t2 threat, and draining for 2 is good, even if it means pitching a card. It's especially good when they have Kor Firewalker. Surprisingly Rain of Gore can do work if they have Firewalker and Helix. Self-Inflicted Wound does great vs Hate bears, Elves, and is an all star vs Bogles. I even bring it in vs Nacatl burn. It hits either the cat or Firewalker. I usually only bring in one to supplement my Collective Brutality, but it's proven worthy in those situations. I think the only card I miss from white is Deflecting Palm, and the upside has been worth it to me. I feel stoner vs Fish, Tron, and Affinity, as well as aggro. I guess it's really only matchups that Deflecting Palm helps out a ton in, like Jund or Jeskai Nahir, and Bedlam Reveler helps out there.
I'm running 4 Skullcrack and 4 Atarka's Command in my Jund build. It's useful against Wurmcoil and nature's claim. Also against opposing Helix. Searing Blaze is great against Infect, but I've recently replace one of my DRevs with Searing Blood. It helps vs infect and the like. Even if it doesn't kill their guy, if you can make them use a pump/protection spell out of combat, that's pretty much a win every time.
Personally, I would amend the deck as follows:
Lands
-1 Mountain
+1 Stomping Ground
+1 Copperline Gorge
Creatures
-1 Grim Lavamancer
I/S Spells
-2 Shard Volley
-3 Lightning Helix
+1 Searing Blaze
+4 Atarka's Command
Sideboard
-1 DRev
-1 Searing Blaze
-1 Dragon's Claw
+2 PtE
+1 Searing Blood
You can cut the Cracks for Nacatl if you'd like, they are actually pretty good in a matchup vs Tron/Infect/Dredge.
He is a must deal with. The only problem is he is somewhat slow, not being able to attack until t5. With the counter spells and discard available in grixis, it shouldn't be too difficult to allow him to swing. We have to kill him before he can start swinging in, plus he can stonewall most Creatures in burn.
He's part of the reason I have a Terminate in board. Naya will bring in PtE to deal with him.
As far as Bedlam Reveler goes, you absolutely have to limit the number of creatures to make it viable. I ran it as a 1 of in Jund with 4 Eidolon and 4 Swiftspear. It did it's job as well as it could. Casting for rr is nice, and easy to do with only 4-8 other creatures. I'd say we'd have to run eidolon as a 4 of, and then 3 Bedlam Reveler, with no other creatures, to make him work main board. I think he serves a fine purpose against Jund/Junk, maybe even Zooicide. Anything that makes you discard, he is golden. I feel like a Sideboard slot would be good, but you'd have to board out some Creatures when you bring him in. He shows potential against Countermagic as well.
His synergy with Lavamancer is awful. I can't imagine them playing nicely together.
Match 1: Zooicide.
G1 - He was on the play. T1 fetch, shock, cycle, and Nacatl. So my opponent starting on 15 was fantastic for me. I ended up only having to actually do 11 damage to win the game.
G2 - read game 1 again.
Match 2: U Tron.
G1 - He assembled Tron on t4, his life total was low, but Sundering Titan with counter magic backup got him there.
G2 - He never found his 3rd Tron land before my Swiftspear and Eidolon were able to bash in for the win.
G3 - T4 Tron again. I was able to get his life total to 4 before he blew up my Lands again. I had 10 Instant/Sorcery Spells in the GY. I had one land, an Atarka's Command and a Bedlam Reveler in Hand. I draw a land. I play the land, hoping to draw some gas and having a body to block before taking lethal. He counters. Game over.
Match 3: G/W Hate bears
G1: Ghost Quarter plus Leonin Arbiter kept me off of green mana for long enough to get out a couple of Loxodon Smiters before I could finish the game.
G2: Self-Inflicted Wound was an all star this game, and Collective Brutality was able to deal with his pro red guy. His T2 Thalia was saced to it, as was his T3 one. I was then able to get in enough damage before he could get enough Creatures out to matter.
G3: this game was grindy. He played arbiter and Thalia. I was able to deal with them and get the game going in my direction. I had a Reveler in Hand and enough Instants and Sorceries to cast him for rr on my next turn, with him at 3 life. This is when he played his second Ghost Quarters and killed both my Blackcleave Cliffs and Stomping ground, to leave me with one Mountain. I had 3 draw steps to draw into a Lava Spike, Lighting Bolt, or land to potentially end the game. I drew AC, Skullcrack, and Eidolon.
Match 4: Bant
I don't really remember how these games went, but it was typical counter magic mixed with Resto, Snap, and Voice. Both games they were left below 6 life, but I couldn't finish either of them through the counter magic and instant speed Creatures.
Match 5: Bye
Match 6: Opponent dropped after match were made.
So, the build to get Bedlam Reveler to work in Jund burn seems too slow. I like Bedlam Reveler against counter magic. It gives us an out after out spells have been countered, plus a blocker to extend the game if need be. When I drew him game one against Hate bears and Zooicide it felt awful. Luckily Zooicide did enough damage to himself where the effect was negligible. In friendly games vs discard it was pretty much always great to see him.
I think I'll keep one in the Sideboard for now. Keep testing against Jund/Junk/Countermagic. However, arranging the main deck to get him to work there, just isn't worth it. Though, I could reasonably see Mardu make it work with 4x Charm, Helix, and Bump.
I'll do my best to answer based on my experience, though I am currently playing a Jund variant.
The Nacatl debate boils down to personal preference really. I don't think there can be a diffinitive answer, as versions both with and without are performing well. It changes your play style is the largest implication in my experience. My personal preference is that I'd rather not top deck a Nacatl late game, and I also would prefer to have options with the card I play. There is one option with Nacatl: play t1, swing, swing, and possibly block or eat a Bolt/PtE.
If you are playing Naya colors, even with Nacatl, 20 seems to be perfect, with 10-11 fetches. You have more 2 CMC spells, and with Nacatl, having that Foundry after playing a t1 Stomping Ground is critical.
As far as mulling goes, I keep 4 land hands only if the 3 Spells are exactly what I need for a particular matchups - like 2 Destructive Revelry and a Searing Blaze against Affinity, or something of that nature. Otherwise, I pretty much always regret keeping. As far as one landers my rule of thumb is to only keep if there is at least one Lightning Bolt or Monastery Swiftspear, and 2 more turns of play(Lava Spike or Bump for me).
Sideboarding vs Burn could be an entire article on its own. Tron will bring in Nature's Claim, and they typically have some number of Skite. Jund will have Finks. Zooicide will bring in Pharexian Unlife.
Sideboarding for us is also hard to give a brief answer. When you face Jund take out Eidolon on the draw, and Rift Bolt/Charm on the play. Infect take out things that can't target Creatures. Affinity is the same. Basically just go through the list and think about what you would/wouldn't want to draw when playing whatever deck. It's tedious, and I think an updated "Modern Burn Bible" would be beneficial for these scenarios.
When to be the control deck is very much based on board state in a lot of instances, but is very matchups dependant as well. I don't have access to path, but I do have Terminate as a one of, and I don't bring it in unless I'm going to fave something I can't otherwise kill, or out race. In Jund, Goyf and Kalitas can often get out of hand and need to be taken out. I think PtE would be useful in scenarios like that.
Bringing in Path vs Zooicide is not horrible, especially since they may be playing Phyrexian Unlife, and a 13/13 will have a couple turns to swing before you can burn them out.
Lastly, I domt think hiding what you're playing is beneficial t1. I would never play a fetch and delay a Rift Bolt. T2 they are going to know what plan you're on, so you can't hide it for long enough for it to matter.
Anyhow, that's my .02
I'm running Jund with only a few creatures, including Bedlam Reveler. The Sideboard was the biggest draw for me. Rakdos Charm, Rain of Gore, Self-Inflicted Wound, and now Collective Brutality make bad matchups much better. Boggles, Fish, Elves all improve after board a lot more than they do with Naya.
Destructive Revelry is an all Star, and you can never have too many Skullcrack effects (Atarka's Command). Destructive Revelry is really the only reason to play Jund over Mardu in my opinion. It's just so versatile. Spreading Seas, Aether Vial, anything in Affinity, Leyline, etc. All while progressing the game plan - damage to the face.