@elconquistador1985 been a while since I have posted in here but was curious if any cards lost/gained value from the planeswalker redirect erratas that came out on Friday? Thoughts?
I don't think anything happened that will change our deck, but some cards did change.
Things that can't hit planeswalkers: Atarka's Command, Volcanic Fallout, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Searing Blood, Smash to Smithereens, Destructive Revelry, Molten Rain.
Basically, if it says "target player", you're golden. Searing Blaze still can, which is the weird one to me because planeswalkers don't control creatures.
I would recommend getting an app on your phone so you can look up new Oracle text during things like FNMs.
Some matchups are bad and it's not worth making an 80:20 unfavorable matchup into 75:25.
Yeah, that’s probably a good point. I guess my frustration stems from running across a much higher percentage of these unfavorable to terrible matchups now. Pre-unbanning, it felt like 90-95% of the games were against favoured or at least even matchups, with really only the rare Ad Nauseum appearance showing up to ruin a run. Hollow One and Bogles feel way more overrepresented online now and it feels like you end up playing at least one bad matchup every league now no matter what (and even then Jund and Humans are about 50/50 so losing runs just happen more often). This really feels like a strictly worse meta for Burn and I’m not sure how that changes without any major shakeups. Damping Sphere just seems like it will make things worse by further pushing out more favorable matchups in Tron and Storm (as well as also being annoying against us).
I think I might experiment with both Ensnaring Bridge and Deflecting Palm in the side. Ensnaring Bridge especially seems solid since it can come in for Humans too. I dislike Deflecting Palm a lot, so I’m usually pretty hesitant to run it, but it does feel like it at least gives us a couple different outs to Bogles and can maybe slow down Hollow One a bit as a souped up Lightning Helix.
It is definitely starting to feel like RWg with only Destructive Revelry using green in the side is just flat out wrong though. Bogles is really the only enchantment deck in the meta, and in that case running Atarka’s Command over Skullcrack would be better. The question is how much would going full RWG drop your win percentage against the rest of the field versus just giving up entirely on Bogles to go straight Boros.
Quick FNM report: went 0-1-1 drop after the worst showing with the deck I've ever had. 4/6 games the deck failed to produce 20 points of burn... insanity.
Round 1: some type of sultai midrange deck. Basically played a bunch of serum visions, scavenging ooze and kitchen finks, and finish with JTMS. Game 1 went to me in convincing fashion. Game 2 he sided in tons of lifegain creatures and I drew too many lands. Game 3 I drew too many lands and managed to cast a Bridge, but he just played his 1 copy of JTMS left in his deck and ultimated me. 1-2
Round 2: U/B control. Game 1 went easily to me. Game 2 they played a Kalitas and beefed it up and gained way too much life. Game 3 neither of us could come up with lethal damage and the round went to time. 1-1-1
It is frustrating how often burn floods. Watching burn in the top 8 of the finals of GP Hartford he got screwed massively. 6 lands in play and he still draws 3 in a row, savage.
We already know 4 land hands are unkeepable, but honestly, so are 3 land hands. We need Barbarian Ring desperately. I run 19 lands and snap mull any 4 land hand and any 3 land hand that doesn't have several creatures/1 drops. 3 lands and all 2 drops is a snap mull. This seems like a deck that shouldn't lose to itself, but boy does it.
It is definitely starting to feel like RWg with only Destructive Revelry using green in the side is just flat out wrong though. Bogles is really the only enchantment deck in the meta, and in that case running Atarka’s Command over Skullcrack would be better. The question is how much would going full RWG drop your win percentage against the rest of the field versus just giving up entirely on Bogles to go straight Boros.
What makes it "just flat out wrong"?
Having outs to enchantments, including Bogles, seems sensible.
The way I see it is we have 2 options:
1. Ignore enchantments totally and run straight RW, maybe running a 1-of SB Wear // Tear. The DRev slots would be for Smash to Smithereens and maybe Ensnaring Bridge or an extra Searing Blood for Humans/Elves/Merfolk etc.
2. Splash green for 3 or 4 Destructive Revelry. Most of the time you'd just fetch for Sacred Foundry in G1, not even show your opponent the green if you have it. The only painful time is if you have Stomping Ground in your opener so you need to fetch for white = 5 damage potentially by T2... Or the problem of not having a fetch to go get your single green source...
Personally, I like Deflecting Palm against ETron, Goyfs and Bogles, sometimes random combo decks with Emrakul - DRev helps the Bogles matchup too.
This is what I mean:
Bogles is the only real threatening deck in the meta with enchantments. UW Control and Merfolk are really the only other ones that have any other enchantments of note and neither are very popular in the meta. Blood Moon is ignorable in my opinion, especially since the window to respond to it is so narrow that DRev is basically just a dead card if you don’t have it in hand and the Stomping Ground already in play/fetchable.
So, I feel like we need to decide if we care about trying to improve the Bogles matchup, which means running Ensnaring Bridge, Deflecting Palm and the full playset of Destructive Revelry in the sideboard. It also arguably means that we should probably just go ahead and also play another Stomping Ground and Atarka’s Command over Skullcrack for another spell that can punch through Leyline of Sanctity and increase our creature damage to try to race them faster.
On the other hand, if we just concede Bogles as an unwinnable matchup, we should just run Boros for Smash to Smithereens for the extra damage against artifacts in matchups that are more winnable.
Going half in with only DRev in the sideboard just to still have a nigh unwinnable matchup even if we draw it against Bogles while giving up free points of damage in other matchups that could use it seems silly.
Basically it boils down to whether trying to improve a 20-30% matchup to 30-40% is better than trying to swing 50% matchups to 55%. That may very well be the case with Bogles being overrepresented right now. The argument against AComm would be that adding it also demonstrably lowers our win rate in other matchups where it matters, which then could make the middle ground option of just running green for only DRev the best because it improves the Bogles matchup enough without hurting the rest. Maybe that’s actually where we’re at. I’m just raising the question.
I agree with playing AC if you splash green at all. You're already paying the opportunity cost of including Stomping Ground by playing DRev in the side, which means you lose at least 1 Inspiring Vantage to play SG and might lose another to fetches and that means your RW maindeck is more painful (back to what it would have been pre-Kaladesh). If you're going to pay that cost, you might as well add another SG and play AC in the maindeck because it's a very powerful card. If you think that Modern is a matter of winning via speed, then I think that AC is a strong card to help you get there.
However, I don't think that it's worth it to do that just because of Bogles. Bogles is playing maindeck Leylines and is an abysmal matchup in game 1 because of it. If you run into Bogles, you're most likely 0-1 heading into sideboarded games and that means you need the stars to align twice in order to win the match against a deck that can just win if you don't see your anti-hate cards. I would just concede that it's unwinnable and only play hate cards for it that you also think will help other matchups. Bridge might help both, but it's awfully slow and Hollow One is filling their graveyard with cards and playing Ancient Grudge.
Did this for a facebook page figured you guys wouldnt mind reading it either.
GP Hartford Adventures with Burn
Round 1: A good way to break the ice on my first GP. My opponent did not show up so I got a free win/bye!
Round 2: Beat Mono Green Tron 2-1. I lost the opening game after a turn 3 wurmcoil. Game 2 was a pretty easy win on the play, and Game 3 was a very grindy game. Opponent ended up drawing 7-8 lands in a row while I was able to destructive revelry a wurmcoil and its lifelink token spawn. Eventually I drew the burn to finish him off. (2-0)
Round 3: Beat Jund 2-0. It was a pretty typical jund/burn match. Game 1 I was able to just burn him out before Liliana became a problem. Game 2 I kept a 5 hand with no lands and scryed a land to the top. Ended up with 3 cards in hand path to exile, path to exile, and a burn spell. He made me discard a path with K-command and then he dropped a Kalitas. I path’d the Kalitas and the opponent was pretty salty I had the 2nd one. Was able to close it out by playing ensnaring bridge shortly after and stalling a few turns while bolting him 3 a turn. (3-0)
Round 4: Lost to Elves 1-2. Probably one of the most memorable rounds for me as I was paired with 27 time pro tour competitor Eduardo Sajgalik. I ended up sneaking out game 1 on the draw thanks to drawing multiple lands/searing blazes. I was able to blaze the dorks/devoted druid while beating down with a couple creatures. Games 2 and 3 were less competitive as I didn’t really see any sideboard cards or ensnaring bridge ect. Game 3 was over when Eduardo dropped a worship onto the battlefield. BTW Eduardo was a super nice dude and even asked for my thoughts on the matchup and on elves in general. (3-1)
Round 5: Beat BR Hollow One 2-0. This was one of the matchups that I was fearing for the weekend as in the weeks leading up to the event my record against hollow one was fairly poor. Game 1 I was able to just race and get there before him. My opponent who it turns out was top 4 in another GP this year missed a few bloodghast triggers. Game 2 I dropped an ensnaring bridge. My opponent said all of his ways to get out of a bridge lock were milled (2 liliana of the veils) and he scooped the match. (4-1)
Round 6: Beat GR Tron 2-1. I won game 1 on the draw in the typical way burn beats tron. Game 2 I lost on the draw due to multiple wurmcoils hitting the field. Game 3 I won on the play in pretty easy fashion. Was able to keep him off gaining life by skull cracking at the right times. (5-1)
Round 7: Beat Burn Mirror 2-0. Here was my win and in to Day 2 match. Something which my overall goal for the event was to have even a chance of making the 2nd day. I was able to beat the mirror on the draw twice. Game 1 was very close and I was able to just sequence things right to hit a lightning helix while he was tapped out and control the board. Game 2 he got stuck on one land with a hand full of 2 mana spells which seems like a bad keep in my opinion. I beat him before he could even get the 2nd land onto the battlefield with multiple boros charms. I made it into the 2nd day officially.
Round 8: Lost UR Moon 1-2. This matchup I think is pretty favorable for burn, however he was playing the thing in the ice version, and I was not able to deal with the thing before it flipped and killed me pretty quickly. The opponent played a very tight match and ended up finishing the whole event in the top 32. I don’t remember many specifics from this match other than I could have played around some things better. Another cool thing was that this match was at a very high table and ended up sitting next to Mike Sigarist and Reid Duke. (6-2 going into day 2).
Round 9: Lost Humans 0-2. Humans would end up killing me on the 2nd day as I really struggled against it. Game 1 I tried to deal with problematic creatures on the board but was swarmed by multiple creatures very quickly. Game 2 I didn’t see any sideboard cards and had to fight through 3 meddling mages and a selfless spirit. It was close but I got him to 6 life and loss. (6-3)
Round 10: Beat Jeskai Control 2-0. This match felt pretty easy however overall it’s a 50/50 match. I was on the play and my opponent kept a 1 land hand with jeskai????? Didn’t see a land for a while and he was dead quickly. Game 2 I was able to hit exquisite firecraft from the board and burn him out. Turns out he had sahelli guardian combo, and I was able to path at the right times to keep him off the combo twice. (7-3)
Round 11: Beat Mardu Pyro 2-0. This match has felt pretty free every time I have played it. The mardu deck just durdles around while im hitting him for 5 a turn. This is an extremely good match for burn. Postboard it is a little tougher but he kept blood moon in against me and I was able to fight through one collective brutality. (8-3)
Round 12: Lost Burn Mirror 1-2. I lost the die roll again to the mirror. This time my opponent was definitely better than my last one. It played out like a pretty normal burn vs burn match. As a note I only won two die rolls for the entire event which is extremely unfortunate I felt if I had some better luck with rolls I could have done much better than 10-5. (8-4)
Round 13: Beat Jund 2-0. Another easy Jund match. Jund is still highly overrated. My opponent just durdled around and did really nothing for two matches other than play a couple tarmogoyfs. As the burn player attack early and then block goyfs later on. Was able to finish him off with burn. (9-4)
Round 14: Beat Hollow One 2-0. Once again I destroyed hollow one. I did not even see a bridge this time. He spun the wheel with burning inquiry game 1 and ended up giving me a hand with 4 goblin guides in it while all he could hit for creatures was a flamewake phoenix. I overran the board and killed him. Game two he mulled down to 5 and he couldn’t do anything. (10-4)
Round 15: Lost Humans 0-2. After looking at the standings both of us were out of top 64 contention even if we won, so we had some fun and played the game. Was rolled over again by humans. It feels to me like the humans matchup is find ensnaring bridge or bust. I think the matchup is better being on the play, but once again I could not win a die roll.
All in all it was a fun weekend. The wear and tear started to take its toll on me after about round 12 as I was dealing with a major headache. My goal is to use this as a good first experience and a stepping stone to continue a run into competitive magic.
Over that we saw a new incredible deck called "Land Burn" on semi finals (https://bit.ly/2Hl86Bd from 9h27), that is a real pride to be able to switch to that strategy when needed...
I've been searching but can't find this 'Land burn' you mention anywhere. Could you point it out please? Or is it just mentioned in the stream?
Over that we saw a new incredible deck called "Land Burn" on semi finals (https://bit.ly/2Hl86Bd from 9h27), that is a real pride to be able to switch to that strategy when needed...
I've been searching but can't find this 'Land burn' you mention anywhere. Could you point it out please? Or is it just mentioned in the stream?
Cheers
He was joking. The Burn player in the GP semi finals drew something like four or five lands in a row in his last game when any two spells would have won it for him.
He was joking. The Burn player in the GP semi finals drew something like four or five lands in a row in his last game when any two spells would have won it for him.
Oh I didn't get that hehe, I was like, did I miss something interesting here? It sounded fun though, Land Burn. Made me think of the previous cards I posted here where tapping lands for mana hurts, like Contaminated Ground and Corrupted Roots.
Due to the increase of popularity of discard and Jace, I am going to test sideboard Leyline of Sanctity in place of my graveyard hate. I think that many decks that we use the graveyard hate for, we could also bring Leyline in for. I also like it as surprise protection versus Ad Nauseum, Valakut decks, and the mirror.
Due to the increase of popularity of discard and Jace, I am going to test sideboard Leyline of Sanctity in place of my graveyard hate. I think that many decks that we use the graveyard hate for, we could also bring Leyline in for. I also like it as surprise protection versus Ad Nauseum, Valakut decks, and the mirror.
We do not want 4 mana spells.
We have a good matchup vs valakut. We can't beat Ad nauseum.
Most Discard spells depend on the GY--GY hate is good. And it costs 1-2
Round 1 vs Sultai Control (2-1)
This was a pretty standard control matchup. Game two he was able to stabilize with discard and removal and ride a Tasigur to victory, but games one and three I had fast enough hands that he couldn't. We didn't even get to the point where I had to bottleneck his blue mana. I love the control matchups with Burn.
Round 2 vs Ponza (2-0)
He plays forest, Arbor Elf, and I start sweating. I bolt the bird, which slows him down enough that I can get some Guides and an Eidolon out. I flood a little bit which would typically be bad, but against this deck felt good, because I could still cast spells after two Stone Rains. He casts Bloodbraid Elf and next turn Stormbreath Dragon, but he's so low that he has to use them to block, and I close the game out with burn spells. Game two, the poor guy has to mull to five and I bolt his first Arbor Elf, which scores me an easy win on a hard matchup.
Round 3 vs Grixis Control (2-1)
Game one was pretty uneventful, I played out my hand and he doesn't have the discard or counterspells to stop it. Game two, I hit Rest in Peace, which feels good, but he has three discard spells which equals nine points of lifegain. I got him down to 1, but couldn't finish him off. Game three involved bottlenecking blue mana. We did a lot of draw-go for awhile until we both reloaded, but it's hard two counter two Gonti's, a Helix, a Rift Bolt, and a Lava Spike. Have I mentioned I love the control matchups with Burn?
Round 4 vs Madcap Experiment (1-2)
This guy is GOOD. You know those people who just seem to get Magic? Their brains are like a computer solving the game? He was one of those. Game one I have a stupid hand consisting of three Guides, a Swiftspear, an Eidolon, and two mana. We both commented on it after I won, because it was pretty ridiculous. However, I still don't know what he's playing as a results, aside from red blue, so I don't really know how to board. He played Blood Moon and Spreading Seas, so I bring in Wear//Tear. Game two he plays a slower game and I have a more sane hand, so it's more of a game. He's durdling around for awhile and playing the control game, I tap out to get him down to about half, then he untaps and plays Madcap Experiment into Platinum Emperion. Oh. I'm glad I brought in Wear//Tear, but I don't see one in time for his two turn clock. Game three, knowing what he's on, I also bring in Path to Exile. The game starts off well enough, I get an opening hand with Wear//Tear AND Path. Unfortunately, he has a bunch of Spreading Seas. I had four lands out, one was a Sacred Foundry and three were Islands. I think in hindsight I misplayed, I was saving Wear//Tear for Emperion, or another land so I could fuse the two to get a Blood Crypt back. Maybe I should have just gotten rid of a Seas. Regardless, he combos out and I destroyed it with Wear//Tear. Here I know I misplayed, I should have used Path first. Some time goes on and we're both playing smart except for my messups. He combos out again and I Path the second one. Since he's out of the combo, we both do a lot of drawing. I get some more lands but I'm totally locked out of Black, which hurts me a lot. In the end, he sculpts his hand with Desolate Lighthouse, flashes in a Snapcaster, and rides counterspells to victory. I was mad at myself for messing up, but it was a really fun game of Magic. My favorite of the night, even though I lost.
Round 5 vs Ironworks Combo (2-0)
I offer the draw, but he wants to play. Game one was really fast, he plays a bunch of artifacts to try to set up, but I kill him before he can payoff. Unfortunately, because of the speed and my unfamiliarity with the deck I'm once again not sure what he's on. I figure it's some sort of combo deck but I don't know how. I bring in Wear//Tear again because I saw draft-level artifacts, so I'm sure the payoff is artifact-related. Game two is pretty much the same thing, he doesn't set up quickly enough. He tries to Nature's Claim one of his artifacts, but I Wear it in response, turning it into a Boros Charm. At the end of the game I ask him what he's playing, and he tells me. Had I known, I would have brought in Rest in Peace as well.
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I don't think anything happened that will change our deck, but some cards did change.
Things that can't hit planeswalkers: Atarka's Command, Volcanic Fallout, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Searing Blood, Smash to Smithereens, Destructive Revelry, Molten Rain.
Basically, if it says "target player", you're golden. Searing Blaze still can, which is the weird one to me because planeswalkers don't control creatures.
I would recommend getting an app on your phone so you can look up new Oracle text during things like FNMs.
Yeah, that’s probably a good point. I guess my frustration stems from running across a much higher percentage of these unfavorable to terrible matchups now. Pre-unbanning, it felt like 90-95% of the games were against favoured or at least even matchups, with really only the rare Ad Nauseum appearance showing up to ruin a run. Hollow One and Bogles feel way more overrepresented online now and it feels like you end up playing at least one bad matchup every league now no matter what (and even then Jund and Humans are about 50/50 so losing runs just happen more often). This really feels like a strictly worse meta for Burn and I’m not sure how that changes without any major shakeups. Damping Sphere just seems like it will make things worse by further pushing out more favorable matchups in Tron and Storm (as well as also being annoying against us).
I think I might experiment with both Ensnaring Bridge and Deflecting Palm in the side. Ensnaring Bridge especially seems solid since it can come in for Humans too. I dislike Deflecting Palm a lot, so I’m usually pretty hesitant to run it, but it does feel like it at least gives us a couple different outs to Bogles and can maybe slow down Hollow One a bit as a souped up Lightning Helix.
It is definitely starting to feel like RWg with only Destructive Revelry using green in the side is just flat out wrong though. Bogles is really the only enchantment deck in the meta, and in that case running Atarka’s Command over Skullcrack would be better. The question is how much would going full RWG drop your win percentage against the rest of the field versus just giving up entirely on Bogles to go straight Boros.
Round 1: some type of sultai midrange deck. Basically played a bunch of serum visions, scavenging ooze and kitchen finks, and finish with JTMS. Game 1 went to me in convincing fashion. Game 2 he sided in tons of lifegain creatures and I drew too many lands. Game 3 I drew too many lands and managed to cast a Bridge, but he just played his 1 copy of JTMS left in his deck and ultimated me. 1-2
Round 2: U/B control. Game 1 went easily to me. Game 2 they played a Kalitas and beefed it up and gained way too much life. Game 3 neither of us could come up with lethal damage and the round went to time. 1-1-1
It is frustrating how often burn floods. Watching burn in the top 8 of the finals of GP Hartford he got screwed massively. 6 lands in play and he still draws 3 in a row, savage.
We already know 4 land hands are unkeepable, but honestly, so are 3 land hands. We need Barbarian Ring desperately. I run 19 lands and snap mull any 4 land hand and any 3 land hand that doesn't have several creatures/1 drops. 3 lands and all 2 drops is a snap mull. This seems like a deck that shouldn't lose to itself, but boy does it.
What makes it "just flat out wrong"?
Having outs to enchantments, including Bogles, seems sensible.
The way I see it is we have 2 options:
1. Ignore enchantments totally and run straight RW, maybe running a 1-of SB Wear // Tear. The DRev slots would be for Smash to Smithereens and maybe Ensnaring Bridge or an extra Searing Blood for Humans/Elves/Merfolk etc.
2. Splash green for 3 or 4 Destructive Revelry. Most of the time you'd just fetch for Sacred Foundry in G1, not even show your opponent the green if you have it. The only painful time is if you have Stomping Ground in your opener so you need to fetch for white = 5 damage potentially by T2... Or the problem of not having a fetch to go get your single green source...
Personally, I like Deflecting Palm against ETron, Goyfs and Bogles, sometimes random combo decks with Emrakul - DRev helps the Bogles matchup too.
Bogles is the only real threatening deck in the meta with enchantments. UW Control and Merfolk are really the only other ones that have any other enchantments of note and neither are very popular in the meta. Blood Moon is ignorable in my opinion, especially since the window to respond to it is so narrow that DRev is basically just a dead card if you don’t have it in hand and the Stomping Ground already in play/fetchable.
So, I feel like we need to decide if we care about trying to improve the Bogles matchup, which means running Ensnaring Bridge, Deflecting Palm and the full playset of Destructive Revelry in the sideboard. It also arguably means that we should probably just go ahead and also play another Stomping Ground and Atarka’s Command over Skullcrack for another spell that can punch through Leyline of Sanctity and increase our creature damage to try to race them faster.
On the other hand, if we just concede Bogles as an unwinnable matchup, we should just run Boros for Smash to Smithereens for the extra damage against artifacts in matchups that are more winnable.
Going half in with only DRev in the sideboard just to still have a nigh unwinnable matchup even if we draw it against Bogles while giving up free points of damage in other matchups that could use it seems silly.
Basically it boils down to whether trying to improve a 20-30% matchup to 30-40% is better than trying to swing 50% matchups to 55%. That may very well be the case with Bogles being overrepresented right now. The argument against AComm would be that adding it also demonstrably lowers our win rate in other matchups where it matters, which then could make the middle ground option of just running green for only DRev the best because it improves the Bogles matchup enough without hurting the rest. Maybe that’s actually where we’re at. I’m just raising the question.
However, I don't think that it's worth it to do that just because of Bogles. Bogles is playing maindeck Leylines and is an abysmal matchup in game 1 because of it. If you run into Bogles, you're most likely 0-1 heading into sideboarded games and that means you need the stars to align twice in order to win the match against a deck that can just win if you don't see your anti-hate cards. I would just concede that it's unwinnable and only play hate cards for it that you also think will help other matchups. Bridge might help both, but it's awfully slow and Hollow One is filling their graveyard with cards and playing Ancient Grudge.
GP Hartford Adventures with Burn
Round 1: A good way to break the ice on my first GP. My opponent did not show up so I got a free win/bye!
Round 2: Beat Mono Green Tron 2-1. I lost the opening game after a turn 3 wurmcoil. Game 2 was a pretty easy win on the play, and Game 3 was a very grindy game. Opponent ended up drawing 7-8 lands in a row while I was able to destructive revelry a wurmcoil and its lifelink token spawn. Eventually I drew the burn to finish him off. (2-0)
Round 3: Beat Jund 2-0. It was a pretty typical jund/burn match. Game 1 I was able to just burn him out before Liliana became a problem. Game 2 I kept a 5 hand with no lands and scryed a land to the top. Ended up with 3 cards in hand path to exile, path to exile, and a burn spell. He made me discard a path with K-command and then he dropped a Kalitas. I path’d the Kalitas and the opponent was pretty salty I had the 2nd one. Was able to close it out by playing ensnaring bridge shortly after and stalling a few turns while bolting him 3 a turn. (3-0)
Round 4: Lost to Elves 1-2. Probably one of the most memorable rounds for me as I was paired with 27 time pro tour competitor Eduardo Sajgalik. I ended up sneaking out game 1 on the draw thanks to drawing multiple lands/searing blazes. I was able to blaze the dorks/devoted druid while beating down with a couple creatures. Games 2 and 3 were less competitive as I didn’t really see any sideboard cards or ensnaring bridge ect. Game 3 was over when Eduardo dropped a worship onto the battlefield. BTW Eduardo was a super nice dude and even asked for my thoughts on the matchup and on elves in general. (3-1)
Round 5: Beat BR Hollow One 2-0. This was one of the matchups that I was fearing for the weekend as in the weeks leading up to the event my record against hollow one was fairly poor. Game 1 I was able to just race and get there before him. My opponent who it turns out was top 4 in another GP this year missed a few bloodghast triggers. Game 2 I dropped an ensnaring bridge. My opponent said all of his ways to get out of a bridge lock were milled (2 liliana of the veils) and he scooped the match. (4-1)
Round 6: Beat GR Tron 2-1. I won game 1 on the draw in the typical way burn beats tron. Game 2 I lost on the draw due to multiple wurmcoils hitting the field. Game 3 I won on the play in pretty easy fashion. Was able to keep him off gaining life by skull cracking at the right times. (5-1)
Round 7: Beat Burn Mirror 2-0. Here was my win and in to Day 2 match. Something which my overall goal for the event was to have even a chance of making the 2nd day. I was able to beat the mirror on the draw twice. Game 1 was very close and I was able to just sequence things right to hit a lightning helix while he was tapped out and control the board. Game 2 he got stuck on one land with a hand full of 2 mana spells which seems like a bad keep in my opinion. I beat him before he could even get the 2nd land onto the battlefield with multiple boros charms. I made it into the 2nd day officially.
Round 8: Lost UR Moon 1-2. This matchup I think is pretty favorable for burn, however he was playing the thing in the ice version, and I was not able to deal with the thing before it flipped and killed me pretty quickly. The opponent played a very tight match and ended up finishing the whole event in the top 32. I don’t remember many specifics from this match other than I could have played around some things better. Another cool thing was that this match was at a very high table and ended up sitting next to Mike Sigarist and Reid Duke. (6-2 going into day 2).
Round 9: Lost Humans 0-2. Humans would end up killing me on the 2nd day as I really struggled against it. Game 1 I tried to deal with problematic creatures on the board but was swarmed by multiple creatures very quickly. Game 2 I didn’t see any sideboard cards and had to fight through 3 meddling mages and a selfless spirit. It was close but I got him to 6 life and loss. (6-3)
Round 10: Beat Jeskai Control 2-0. This match felt pretty easy however overall it’s a 50/50 match. I was on the play and my opponent kept a 1 land hand with jeskai????? Didn’t see a land for a while and he was dead quickly. Game 2 I was able to hit exquisite firecraft from the board and burn him out. Turns out he had sahelli guardian combo, and I was able to path at the right times to keep him off the combo twice. (7-3)
Round 11: Beat Mardu Pyro 2-0. This match has felt pretty free every time I have played it. The mardu deck just durdles around while im hitting him for 5 a turn. This is an extremely good match for burn. Postboard it is a little tougher but he kept blood moon in against me and I was able to fight through one collective brutality. (8-3)
Round 12: Lost Burn Mirror 1-2. I lost the die roll again to the mirror. This time my opponent was definitely better than my last one. It played out like a pretty normal burn vs burn match. As a note I only won two die rolls for the entire event which is extremely unfortunate I felt if I had some better luck with rolls I could have done much better than 10-5. (8-4)
Round 13: Beat Jund 2-0. Another easy Jund match. Jund is still highly overrated. My opponent just durdled around and did really nothing for two matches other than play a couple tarmogoyfs. As the burn player attack early and then block goyfs later on. Was able to finish him off with burn. (9-4)
Round 14: Beat Hollow One 2-0. Once again I destroyed hollow one. I did not even see a bridge this time. He spun the wheel with burning inquiry game 1 and ended up giving me a hand with 4 goblin guides in it while all he could hit for creatures was a flamewake phoenix. I overran the board and killed him. Game two he mulled down to 5 and he couldn’t do anything. (10-4)
Round 15: Lost Humans 0-2. After looking at the standings both of us were out of top 64 contention even if we won, so we had some fun and played the game. Was rolled over again by humans. It feels to me like the humans matchup is find ensnaring bridge or bust. I think the matchup is better being on the play, but once again I could not win a die roll.
All in all it was a fun weekend. The wear and tear started to take its toll on me after about round 12 as I was dealing with a major headache. My goal is to use this as a good first experience and a stepping stone to continue a run into competitive magic.
I've been searching but can't find this 'Land burn' you mention anywhere. Could you point it out please? Or is it just mentioned in the stream?
Cheers
He was joking. The Burn player in the GP semi finals drew something like four or five lands in a row in his last game when any two spells would have won it for him.
Oh I didn't get that hehe, I was like, did I miss something interesting here? It sounded fun though, Land Burn. Made me think of the previous cards I posted here where tapping lands for mana hurts, like Contaminated Ground and Corrupted Roots.
We do not want 4 mana spells.
We have a good matchup vs valakut. We can't beat Ad nauseum.
Most Discard spells depend on the GY--GY hate is good. And it costs 1-2
Thank You!
4 Lava Spike
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Boros Charm
4 Goblin Guide
2 Arid Mesa
4 Searing Blaze
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Mountain
3 Path to Exile
2 Kor Firewalker
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Searing Blood
1 Rest in Peace
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Exquisite Firecraft
12x Fetches
3x Sacred Foundry
2x Blood Crypt
2x Mountain
Creatures
4x Goblin Guide
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Rift Bolt
4x Bump in the Night
4x Gonti's Machinations
4x Lightning Helix
3x Skullcrack
2x Shard Volley
1x Skullcrack
4x Searing Blaze
3x Path to Exile
3x Rest in Peace
4x Wear//Tear
Round 1 vs Sultai Control (2-1)
This was a pretty standard control matchup. Game two he was able to stabilize with discard and removal and ride a Tasigur to victory, but games one and three I had fast enough hands that he couldn't. We didn't even get to the point where I had to bottleneck his blue mana. I love the control matchups with Burn.
Round 2 vs Ponza (2-0)
He plays forest, Arbor Elf, and I start sweating. I bolt the bird, which slows him down enough that I can get some Guides and an Eidolon out. I flood a little bit which would typically be bad, but against this deck felt good, because I could still cast spells after two Stone Rains. He casts Bloodbraid Elf and next turn Stormbreath Dragon, but he's so low that he has to use them to block, and I close the game out with burn spells. Game two, the poor guy has to mull to five and I bolt his first Arbor Elf, which scores me an easy win on a hard matchup.
Round 3 vs Grixis Control (2-1)
Game one was pretty uneventful, I played out my hand and he doesn't have the discard or counterspells to stop it. Game two, I hit Rest in Peace, which feels good, but he has three discard spells which equals nine points of lifegain. I got him down to 1, but couldn't finish him off. Game three involved bottlenecking blue mana. We did a lot of draw-go for awhile until we both reloaded, but it's hard two counter two Gonti's, a Helix, a Rift Bolt, and a Lava Spike. Have I mentioned I love the control matchups with Burn?
Round 4 vs Madcap Experiment (1-2)
This guy is GOOD. You know those people who just seem to get Magic? Their brains are like a computer solving the game? He was one of those. Game one I have a stupid hand consisting of three Guides, a Swiftspear, an Eidolon, and two mana. We both commented on it after I won, because it was pretty ridiculous. However, I still don't know what he's playing as a results, aside from red blue, so I don't really know how to board. He played Blood Moon and Spreading Seas, so I bring in Wear//Tear. Game two he plays a slower game and I have a more sane hand, so it's more of a game. He's durdling around for awhile and playing the control game, I tap out to get him down to about half, then he untaps and plays Madcap Experiment into Platinum Emperion. Oh. I'm glad I brought in Wear//Tear, but I don't see one in time for his two turn clock. Game three, knowing what he's on, I also bring in Path to Exile. The game starts off well enough, I get an opening hand with Wear//Tear AND Path. Unfortunately, he has a bunch of Spreading Seas. I had four lands out, one was a Sacred Foundry and three were Islands. I think in hindsight I misplayed, I was saving Wear//Tear for Emperion, or another land so I could fuse the two to get a Blood Crypt back. Maybe I should have just gotten rid of a Seas. Regardless, he combos out and I destroyed it with Wear//Tear. Here I know I misplayed, I should have used Path first. Some time goes on and we're both playing smart except for my messups. He combos out again and I Path the second one. Since he's out of the combo, we both do a lot of drawing. I get some more lands but I'm totally locked out of Black, which hurts me a lot. In the end, he sculpts his hand with Desolate Lighthouse, flashes in a Snapcaster, and rides counterspells to victory. I was mad at myself for messing up, but it was a really fun game of Magic. My favorite of the night, even though I lost.
Round 5 vs Ironworks Combo (2-0)
I offer the draw, but he wants to play. Game one was really fast, he plays a bunch of artifacts to try to set up, but I kill him before he can payoff. Unfortunately, because of the speed and my unfamiliarity with the deck I'm once again not sure what he's on. I figure it's some sort of combo deck but I don't know how. I bring in Wear//Tear again because I saw draft-level artifacts, so I'm sure the payoff is artifact-related. Game two is pretty much the same thing, he doesn't set up quickly enough. He tries to Nature's Claim one of his artifacts, but I Wear it in response, turning it into a Boros Charm. At the end of the game I ask him what he's playing, and he tells me. Had I known, I would have brought in Rest in Peace as well.