Matchups where a deck with creatures is trying to race you, generally go in our favor. Kill the creatures if they threaten to be worth more in the race than a Bolt to their face is.
Best bet - read the classic articles regarding Burn
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In general, 3 to 4 goblins hitting for 1-2 each per turn with the likes of Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker is going to win the race. We have to play control and throw them off course.
I've been running ~2 Searing blood in my side for a month or 2 now. Searing blaze and Searing Blood are huge. Path to exile is huge in this matchup. In most of these small creature matchups, deflecting palm is fine because their guys get to be big ala humans or merfolk. In Goblins I don't like it.
Grim Lavamancer can really hurt them too. Kor Firewalker--he's narrow so I rarely run him. But, he can be a monster vs Goblins.
Consider also how they will sideboard: Dragon's claw is their best antiburn card. Consider bringing in 2-3 artifact hate cards.
Out: Things that don't kill dudes. Some number of Boros Charm and Lavaspike. Skullcrack doesn't really do what you want it to do here. But sometimes if you're able to hold onto 2-3 spells, you can skullcrack and then cast other spells after it resolves. I'm also tempted to take Eidolon out on the draw. They can be fast. But they're not nearly as fast as affinity or elves.
Playwise:
Their guy goal is to get you to 5 and then Goblin Grenade your face for lethal. I always stay above 5 when possible. They usually run a playset of lightning bolts as well. Protect your life total more aggresively than usual.
Game 1, Is play/draw dependant. If you can get down a turn 2 Eidolon before they get ahead of you--that's huge. Otherwise you may throw Eidolon down to eat an attacker. Swiftspear is huge in all of these matchups. A lot of times they'll have guys with 2 or 3 power. Blocking them with swiftspear, then killing a different guy or two to accumulate swiftspear triggers is huge.
In some cases you'll get ahead of them early--press it. Force them into situations where they have to block by being extra aggressive early. If they're at 10 on turn 3 and having to trade their guys with a Goblin Guide--you've got more burn spells than they do.
Games 2/3 more or less the same as above and play/draw dependant. We rarely play against Goblin Guide. Remember to let it attack, trigger before you kill it if you're going to.
Overall, I don't think it's terribly hard to beat. Especially with 3-4 Helix in the main deck.
The Naya version used to struggle a bit more, but running straight boros has been $$
I've been playing online and ran into some tough spots that I'm pleased to report the deck has gotten itself out of.
I was previously on X-Mage, I got a cheap PC for the sake of getting MTGO, and you see so many more real decks.
1. Jeskai control/Tempo. I think this is one of our biggest boogie men. 3-4 Helix in the main with Snapcaster Mage to bring it back. I've had 6 life gained on me on multiple occasions and gotten the games. The articles about burn vs counters is great. I read it maybe over a year ago, but getting the reps in to practice against it has been huge. I think one of the things that has helped me the most is understanding the pressure they've got on me.
When I started playing, I'd get them close to dead and then offer up spells as I top-decked them. This often gets met with a counter. I had this internal panic--if they're not dead after so long, control will always win. Turns out, burn makes it hard for other decks to put pressure back on you. If they activate up their Cellestial Colonade, then they won't have the mana for multiple counterspells.
The other thing--I've beaten two collective brutalities in multiple matchups of late. Holding up a skullcrack with a swiftspear on board obviously destroys that card. But a lot of times guys are discarding 2 cards and despite us being in a bad position--they have no pressure on us. I used to think that 1 was usually GG. But now that I've played my way through 2 on multiple occasions, It's doable.
I used to be Creevy on here, but for some reason when MTGS merged with Twitch it locked me out of my account. I tried to get past it to no avail, so I bit the bullet and made a new account instead.
I've recently been testing a lack of Boros Charm in my Mardu build. It got to the point where, between mainboard and sideboard, I had to cut something even when using very broad sideboard answers (a problem that I don't believe Burn has ever had before). It came down to Boros Charm and Helix. Charm does more damage, but Helix is more versatile and provides removal and lifegain against creature decks. I was trying to decide whether four damage is significantly better than three damage, to the point where it could change the outcome of a game, and my current theory is no. That split into a thought process on how much Helix is actually worth in terms of damage, because it's a six point lifeswing, and assuming the lifegain translates into another draw step in a 20 land deck there's a 2/3 chance you draw another burn spell. But even that gets mucked up, because you may draw a creature that can't profitably attack, and we aren't always guaranteed that the three life will be enough to get us an extra turn. Is it fair to say that Helix can reasonably represent at least four damage like Charm? I'm not sure.
It could very well be the wrong choice, I'm confident enough to bother testing it but not yet confident enough to call it right. I was hoping to spark some discussion on the subject, and any math-savvy calculations would be welcome.
All things being equal, you'd take 4 damage over 3 damage. It's whether you value being able to target a creature and being able to gain 3 life more than being able to deal 4. Personally, I'd prefer the 4 damage because gaining 3 life might be important sometimes but will often be the difference between ending at 4 life or 7 life and I value that less than being able to kill them from 4. You're already playing as much life gain as most other Burn decks via Gonti's Machinations (though I'd rather play Helix than that, personally). Charm means that you can kill in 6 spells if they fetch once, or 5 spells if they get down to 16. Helix can't unless they shock once/fetch twice or shock and fetch+shock.
I know I've won games where I topdecked Charm and lost games where I needed 3 more life against a Valakut deck or aggro deck. Both happen.
If I'm remembering right, the impetus to play white was the printing of Boros Charm shortly followed by Wear//Tear. I'm not sure if white started picking up after Boros Charm, but it wasn't very prevalent previous to that time (most decks were R or RB). Lightning Helix had been around for a long time by then, though.
I've been playing online and ran into some tough spots that I'm pleased to report the deck has gotten itself out of.
I was previously on X-Mage, I got a cheap PC for the sake of getting MTGO, and you see so many more real decks.
1. Jeskai control/Tempo. I think this is one of our biggest boogie men. 3-4 Helix in the main with Snapcaster Mage to bring it back. I've had 6 life gained on me on multiple occasions and gotten the games. The articles about burn vs counters is great. I read it maybe over a year ago, but getting the reps in to practice against it has been huge. I think one of the things that has helped me the most is understanding the pressure they've got on me.
When I started playing, I'd get them close to dead and then offer up spells as I top-decked them. This often gets met with a counter. I had this internal panic--if they're not dead after so long, control will always win. Turns out, burn makes it hard for other decks to put pressure back on you. If they activate up their Cellestial Colonade, then they won't have the mana for multiple counterspells.
The other thing--I've beaten two collective brutalities in multiple matchups of late. Holding up a skullcrack with a swiftspear on board obviously destroys that card. But a lot of times guys are discarding 2 cards and despite us being in a bad position--they have no pressure on us. I used to think that 1 was usually GG. But now that I've played my way through 2 on multiple occasions, It's doable.
It's a nice feeling when you figure out how to play against control and then execute it flawlessly, isn't it? You go from feeling helpless because they always have an answer to feeling like you've almost got the game locked down. It's one thing to read about how to do it, but once you do it, it solidifies.
Brutality is overrated, which I think a lot of players have realized. It's very expensive to get the full effect, and it's possible to negate all of it and make it a blowout in your favor. I think it's only good in decks that want to fill their graveyard, like dredge. Regular old mid-range decks that play it because "zomg! it beats burn soOoOo bad!"? Not so much. On our end, it's all about how you approach the game, and you can mitigate it if you do it right.
On the topic of playing around counterspells, does anyone have advice on how to approach RUG Midrange? It seems like they basically have the best of all worlds by running lots of counterspells, while also presenting a much faster clock than control with creatures on the board, plus incidental lifegain (e.g. Courser of Kruphix, Pulse of Murasa, Huntmaster of the Fells). I had a hard time approaching this matchup since it wasn’t possible to stockpile cards and wait for them to tap out like you would against Jeskai/UW Control (they would just happily keep mana open and swing in with creatures) but most attempts to remove creatures were met with a counter.
Does it really just come down to hoping to have an immediate answer to creatures as they come into play while they’re still tapped out?
That deck's not popular, so don't change your decklist to try to beat it. Within the game, you probably want extra Lavamancers and Searing Bloods. You may not want Paths since they're already going to be trading counterspells for some of your cards, so you don't want your other draws to also trade with their cards. Also DRev hits Courser.
Why is Eldrazi Tron marked as a bad matchup? I understand how crippling Chalice of the Void is, but when they do not have it, Burn is very favored. Shouldn't this be in the even matchups category then?
Because Burn is not favored even if they don't have Chalice. There's a 48% chance that they have a chalice after seeing 9 cards and that is basically a guaranteed lost game in g1. TKS is disruptive and a fast clock. Smasher is painful to remove and an even faster clock. Add in the fact that they play some life gain like basilisk collar and batterskull and it gets worse. When maybe half of your g1's are guaranteed losses, it's just not possible to call the match "favorable", even if that 52% is substantially in your favor (and it isn't).
Gx Tron is a favorable matchup, because we are close to closing the game out by the time they get Tron and often can't touch your creatures before that time. Eldrazi Tron is a faster deck because of Eldrazi Temple and they can nullify your creatures with a 4/4 quickly.
what do u think about siding in roast against Etron?
What does it do that Path to Exile doesn't? If anything, Chained to the Rocks is ok-ish there because it's a triggered ability that doesn't make you discard when the trigger targets Reality Smasher. It's still not enough to swing the tide in your favor. Even Ensnaring Bridge doesn't get there, because it's 3 mana and has a decent shot of being taken by TKS before you can play it, it's hard but not impossible to remove (Karn, but it's out of favor, also Ratchet Bomb), and it doesn't stop them from pinging you to death with Walking Ballista and Endbringer.
If you aren't in white and need sideboard removal for big stuff, you might be locked in to something like Roast, but if you're in white then I don't see why you'd cut Path for it.
I'm no expert on this subject, but Chained to the Rocks seems fine. From what I've seen, many popular decks struggle with their mana because they are so greedy, so Path to Exile is not necessarily the best option. Since Burn is a tempo deck, getting Chained to the Rocks destroyed by Ghost Quarter is okay because we only need to deal with threats temporarily. Besides, not many decks with big creatures would actually run Ghost Quarter.
As for Eldrazi Tron, we just talked about it, and from what I've heard, it's tough. There's not really much you can do except hope your opponent doesn't have Chalice of the Void or doesn't get their big mana. Someone at my LGS told me Chained to the Rocks is better against them than Path to Exile, because you don't want to give a big-mana deck extra land, because that will just let them cast their Endbringer or whatever one turn earlier. If they use Ghost Quarter on Chained to the Rocks to get their creature back, it's no big deal because they lost a land, instead of gaining a land. Just keeping a Reality Smasher off for one or two turns will be a great tempo swing.
Also, as someone mentioned before, you don't need to discard a card when targeting Reality Smasher with Chained to the Rocks.
4 copies of Destructive Revelry should be in your sideboard too.
Ad Naus does seem tough, but it's not very popular, so I've never played against it with any deck. Honestly, I wouldn't change the deck just for that, but if you do have the 4 copies of Destructive Revelry, bring them in. Ill wait for elconquistador to reply to this one, because I have no experience against the deck.
Hey guys. Long time burn player here and I've been on another deck for a while. Looks like I'll be sleeving up burn again and had a few questions.
What is the verdict on chain to the rocks?
Any new tech to help the Eldrazi deck or Ad Naus?
Those always felt like my worst matchups.
I tried Chained to the Rocks a little bit and wasn't very impressed. You can never bring it in against a deck that plays land destruction, like D&T. It's purported to be strong in Hierarch matchups where you can get rid of T1 Hierarch with it. I still think I'd rather play Path.
There's nothing new about ETron or Ad Nauseam. ETron is fast and highly disruptive. Your only out to Chalice is Shattering Spree, and you don't have it game 1. Ad Nauseam is almost unwinnable. Your best hope is trying to disrupt their mana rocks, but they play Leylines and can just play Unlife to gain 10 life and buy time to beat you. It really requires you to have a very fast hand and for them to have a very bad hand. If it's something you have to deal with all the time, you might try Teeg or Canonist or something. Dromoka's Command won't work for the same reason that Deflecting Palm won't work: when you cast it, they've drawn their deck and have multiple Pact of Negation to stop it.
There are several ways to look at any given matchup.
Since I like to play in medium to big tournaments, I think about the deck in terms of "What 75 gives me the best chance of doing well in this tournament?"
With that mind-set, there are certain matchups I plan on giving up. Ad Nauseum is one of those. I've won games vs it, but I've never won a match. It's just hard. And then they bring in leyline of sanctity post-board. It's a small enough percentage of the meta, that you just hope to dodge it. I've rarely encountered it at tournaments. You can do tons of things to try to make that matchup better. But you'll likely make other matchups worse.
You can look at it like "There's a lot of Ad Nauseum at my FNM, so I want to beat it." If your local meta is that hateful towards burn--maybe burn isn't the best deck to be playing there.
All that said, you don't scoop. You do what you can to get there. But, it's almost impossible.
Eldrazi tron is a bit better. You're going to lose a fair bit to the deck. If they get chalice on 1 and 2, you're going to lose. Hoping to play 1-2 shattering spree to draw it in the right situation is insanity. You don't keep a 2nd pair of underwear on you, and you're more likely to crap yourself than you are to beat chalice on 1 and 2. You have to have it at the right time. They can still play thought-knot seer to take it away. It's just hard. Play the best game you can against it, but understand you'll often lose.
That said, I don't hate the idea of a 1 of shattering spree for Eldrazi tron/Lantern/8 Rack. I think you want 3 copies of Smash to smithereens or Destructive Revelry in addition to it. I wouldn't go with more than 1.
I've been testing out exquisite Firecraft. I've been against the card in modern for a long time. But It's tested phenomenally well. I still think against control, your first idea is to bottleneck their mana. That said, the card has a couple of interesting functions.
Against GDS--you can't bottlekneck them. They run 2-3 stubborn denials. They will discard the hell out of this. They'll often put themselves to 4 or 5. You're trying to fend off lethal attacks, burn at the end of their turn and then untap and finish them. They'll often have the counter magic to keep themselves at 3-4. Firecraft fixes this. It's important to note, spellmastery matters. If you're going this route, Consider backing off of your GY hate. Or leaning towards Relic and targeting them or Grafdigger's cage.
The second cool thing it does: It's CMC is 3. Gets around Chalice on 1 and 2. I fired off 2 of these Against Eldrazi Tron tonight and it felt amazing. I've been running 2 for several days now.
Let's talk Deflecting Palm: What's it good against? GDS puts it in a weird spot with discard and counter magic. Eldrazi tron puts it in a weird spot between Chalice countering it and thought-knot seers taking it pre-combat. It's nice vs affinity when they have plating on something. It's nice vs Wurmcoil engines, and it's nice vs Infect. Infect is fringe at this point, though somewhat on the rise. Gx Tron decks we're favored against. You're better off blowing up the wurmcoil during combat, maybe trying path, skullcrack. And then affinity--we've got a lot of other options. I'm down to a 1 of, but after I complete this next league on MTGO, I'm going to cut it.
Another card that keeps being an absolute all-star: Searing Blood. I'm running it as a 2 of presently. Great against elves, infect, humans, affinity. Sometimes it takes a little work to set up. But I've never had a problem getting full value out of it.
GY hate: I think Relic is still the best burn card. However, I'm going to try 2 Relics and a single Grafdigger's Cage for a while going forward. I think the collected company idea is often overstated. But against Company decks--you often run into kitchen finks. And being able to shoot it and rid yourself of it or attack into it and kill it forever means the Cage still holds value even if you don't stop the collected companies. The other part of this--a friend pointed out we maybe water down our plan by bringing in a ton of GY hate vs Goyf decks. So I started doing just 2 relics there.
Shattering Spree: While I think having a prayer for Chalice on 1 and 2 isn't the answer. I do se benefit in being able to blow up multiple artifacts. This is NOT for affinity. While it says artifact--they have man-lands and Arcbound Ravager. Avoid.
It works as a fine option to blow up chalice on 1 or 2 or 1 and 2. I think Revelry and Smash to Smithereens are better. But a 1 of is fine. If they go turn 1 maps and turn 2 Chalice and you're able to blow up both or even just 1--you're doing alright.
Lantern is a thing. G/x Tron is a thing. KCI has been gaining popularity online again. I think it's fine as a 1-of.
Other cards that are interesting:
1. Direfleet Daredevil
-In the mirror he gives you a first strike body and a bolt. He also dies to lavamancer and searing blaze.
-You could consider him vs death shadow. The problem is going to be if you target their instants--they can snapcaster on top of you and take it out of play.
2. Harsh Mentor
-There's a place for him.
3. Rampaging Ferocidon
-Costs 3, which I don't love
-Menace could still be relavent in combat
-Shuts off kitchen finks, Scavenging Ooze.
-Blocks
Path: I'd like to drop it to 2. I feel naked without 3. In large part now due to Kor Firewalker. I've lost a decent bit of post-sideboard burn games because of him. Burn pilots almost always know the skullcrack trick. Path also hits mana-reducers for storm. Hits merfolk lords. Hits big-dumb dudes in humans.
Best bet - read the classic articles regarding Burn
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In general, 3 to 4 goblins hitting for 1-2 each per turn with the likes of Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker is going to win the race. We have to play control and throw them off course.
I've been running ~2 Searing blood in my side for a month or 2 now. Searing blaze and Searing Blood are huge. Path to exile is huge in this matchup. In most of these small creature matchups, deflecting palm is fine because their guys get to be big ala humans or merfolk. In Goblins I don't like it.
Grim Lavamancer can really hurt them too. Kor Firewalker--he's narrow so I rarely run him. But, he can be a monster vs Goblins.
Consider also how they will sideboard: Dragon's claw is their best antiburn card. Consider bringing in 2-3 artifact hate cards.
Out: Things that don't kill dudes. Some number of Boros Charm and Lavaspike. Skullcrack doesn't really do what you want it to do here. But sometimes if you're able to hold onto 2-3 spells, you can skullcrack and then cast other spells after it resolves. I'm also tempted to take Eidolon out on the draw. They can be fast. But they're not nearly as fast as affinity or elves.
Playwise:
Their guy goal is to get you to 5 and then Goblin Grenade your face for lethal. I always stay above 5 when possible. They usually run a playset of lightning bolts as well. Protect your life total more aggresively than usual.
Game 1, Is play/draw dependant. If you can get down a turn 2 Eidolon before they get ahead of you--that's huge. Otherwise you may throw Eidolon down to eat an attacker. Swiftspear is huge in all of these matchups. A lot of times they'll have guys with 2 or 3 power. Blocking them with swiftspear, then killing a different guy or two to accumulate swiftspear triggers is huge.
In some cases you'll get ahead of them early--press it. Force them into situations where they have to block by being extra aggressive early. If they're at 10 on turn 3 and having to trade their guys with a Goblin Guide--you've got more burn spells than they do.
Games 2/3 more or less the same as above and play/draw dependant. We rarely play against Goblin Guide. Remember to let it attack, trigger before you kill it if you're going to.
Overall, I don't think it's terribly hard to beat. Especially with 3-4 Helix in the main deck.
The Naya version used to struggle a bit more, but running straight boros has been $$
I was previously on X-Mage, I got a cheap PC for the sake of getting MTGO, and you see so many more real decks.
1. Jeskai control/Tempo. I think this is one of our biggest boogie men. 3-4 Helix in the main with Snapcaster Mage to bring it back. I've had 6 life gained on me on multiple occasions and gotten the games. The articles about burn vs counters is great. I read it maybe over a year ago, but getting the reps in to practice against it has been huge. I think one of the things that has helped me the most is understanding the pressure they've got on me.
When I started playing, I'd get them close to dead and then offer up spells as I top-decked them. This often gets met with a counter. I had this internal panic--if they're not dead after so long, control will always win. Turns out, burn makes it hard for other decks to put pressure back on you. If they activate up their Cellestial Colonade, then they won't have the mana for multiple counterspells.
The other thing--I've beaten two collective brutalities in multiple matchups of late. Holding up a skullcrack with a swiftspear on board obviously destroys that card. But a lot of times guys are discarding 2 cards and despite us being in a bad position--they have no pressure on us. I used to think that 1 was usually GG. But now that I've played my way through 2 on multiple occasions, It's doable.
I used to be Creevy on here, but for some reason when MTGS merged with Twitch it locked me out of my account. I tried to get past it to no avail, so I bit the bullet and made a new account instead.
I've recently been testing a lack of Boros Charm in my Mardu build. It got to the point where, between mainboard and sideboard, I had to cut something even when using very broad sideboard answers (a problem that I don't believe Burn has ever had before). It came down to Boros Charm and Helix. Charm does more damage, but Helix is more versatile and provides removal and lifegain against creature decks. I was trying to decide whether four damage is significantly better than three damage, to the point where it could change the outcome of a game, and my current theory is no. That split into a thought process on how much Helix is actually worth in terms of damage, because it's a six point lifeswing, and assuming the lifegain translates into another draw step in a 20 land deck there's a 2/3 chance you draw another burn spell. But even that gets mucked up, because you may draw a creature that can't profitably attack, and we aren't always guaranteed that the three life will be enough to get us an extra turn. Is it fair to say that Helix can reasonably represent at least four damage like Charm? I'm not sure.
It could very well be the wrong choice, I'm confident enough to bother testing it but not yet confident enough to call it right. I was hoping to spark some discussion on the subject, and any math-savvy calculations would be welcome.
For reference, here's my list:
12x Fetches
2x Blood Crypt
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Mountain
Creatures (12)
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
2x Shard Volley
Other Burn (8)
4x Lightning Helix
4x Skullcrack
3x Rest in Peace
3x Path to Exile
4x Searing Blaze
1x Searing Blood
4x Wear//Tear
I know I've won games where I topdecked Charm and lost games where I needed 3 more life against a Valakut deck or aggro deck. Both happen.
If I'm remembering right, the impetus to play white was the printing of Boros Charm shortly followed by Wear//Tear. I'm not sure if white started picking up after Boros Charm, but it wasn't very prevalent previous to that time (most decks were R or RB). Lightning Helix had been around for a long time by then, though.
It's a nice feeling when you figure out how to play against control and then execute it flawlessly, isn't it? You go from feeling helpless because they always have an answer to feeling like you've almost got the game locked down. It's one thing to read about how to do it, but once you do it, it solidifies.
Brutality is overrated, which I think a lot of players have realized. It's very expensive to get the full effect, and it's possible to negate all of it and make it a blowout in your favor. I think it's only good in decks that want to fill their graveyard, like dredge. Regular old mid-range decks that play it because "zomg! it beats burn soOoOo bad!"? Not so much. On our end, it's all about how you approach the game, and you can mitigate it if you do it right.
Does it really just come down to hoping to have an immediate answer to creatures as they come into play while they’re still tapped out?
Gx Tron is a favorable matchup, because we are close to closing the game out by the time they get Tron and often can't touch your creatures before that time. Eldrazi Tron is a faster deck because of Eldrazi Temple and they can nullify your creatures with a 4/4 quickly.
What does it do that Path to Exile doesn't? If anything, Chained to the Rocks is ok-ish there because it's a triggered ability that doesn't make you discard when the trigger targets Reality Smasher. It's still not enough to swing the tide in your favor. Even Ensnaring Bridge doesn't get there, because it's 3 mana and has a decent shot of being taken by TKS before you can play it, it's hard but not impossible to remove (Karn, but it's out of favor, also Ratchet Bomb), and it doesn't stop them from pinging you to death with Walking Ballista and Endbringer.
If you aren't in white and need sideboard removal for big stuff, you might be locked in to something like Roast, but if you're in white then I don't see why you'd cut Path for it.
What is the verdict on chain to the rocks?
Any new tech to help the Eldrazi deck or Ad Naus?
Those always felt like my worst matchups.
As for Eldrazi Tron, we just talked about it, and from what I've heard, it's tough. There's not really much you can do except hope your opponent doesn't have Chalice of the Void or doesn't get their big mana. Someone at my LGS told me Chained to the Rocks is better against them than Path to Exile, because you don't want to give a big-mana deck extra land, because that will just let them cast their Endbringer or whatever one turn earlier. If they use Ghost Quarter on Chained to the Rocks to get their creature back, it's no big deal because they lost a land, instead of gaining a land. Just keeping a Reality Smasher off for one or two turns will be a great tempo swing.
Also, as someone mentioned before, you don't need to discard a card when targeting Reality Smasher with Chained to the Rocks.
4 copies of Destructive Revelry should be in your sideboard too.
Ad Naus does seem tough, but it's not very popular, so I've never played against it with any deck. Honestly, I wouldn't change the deck just for that, but if you do have the 4 copies of Destructive Revelry, bring them in. Ill wait for elconquistador to reply to this one, because I have no experience against the deck.
I played against etron friday and it was much like i remembered. Only my real explosive hands were good enough. Turn 2 TKS is a hell of a thing.
I tried Chained to the Rocks a little bit and wasn't very impressed. You can never bring it in against a deck that plays land destruction, like D&T. It's purported to be strong in Hierarch matchups where you can get rid of T1 Hierarch with it. I still think I'd rather play Path.
There's nothing new about ETron or Ad Nauseam. ETron is fast and highly disruptive. Your only out to Chalice is Shattering Spree, and you don't have it game 1. Ad Nauseam is almost unwinnable. Your best hope is trying to disrupt their mana rocks, but they play Leylines and can just play Unlife to gain 10 life and buy time to beat you. It really requires you to have a very fast hand and for them to have a very bad hand. If it's something you have to deal with all the time, you might try Teeg or Canonist or something. Dromoka's Command won't work for the same reason that Deflecting Palm won't work: when you cast it, they've drawn their deck and have multiple Pact of Negation to stop it.
Since I like to play in medium to big tournaments, I think about the deck in terms of "What 75 gives me the best chance of doing well in this tournament?"
With that mind-set, there are certain matchups I plan on giving up. Ad Nauseum is one of those. I've won games vs it, but I've never won a match. It's just hard. And then they bring in leyline of sanctity post-board. It's a small enough percentage of the meta, that you just hope to dodge it. I've rarely encountered it at tournaments. You can do tons of things to try to make that matchup better. But you'll likely make other matchups worse.
You can look at it like "There's a lot of Ad Nauseum at my FNM, so I want to beat it." If your local meta is that hateful towards burn--maybe burn isn't the best deck to be playing there.
All that said, you don't scoop. You do what you can to get there. But, it's almost impossible.
Eldrazi tron is a bit better. You're going to lose a fair bit to the deck. If they get chalice on 1 and 2, you're going to lose. Hoping to play 1-2 shattering spree to draw it in the right situation is insanity. You don't keep a 2nd pair of underwear on you, and you're more likely to crap yourself than you are to beat chalice on 1 and 2. You have to have it at the right time. They can still play thought-knot seer to take it away. It's just hard. Play the best game you can against it, but understand you'll often lose.
That said, I don't hate the idea of a 1 of shattering spree for Eldrazi tron/Lantern/8 Rack. I think you want 3 copies of Smash to smithereens or Destructive Revelry in addition to it. I wouldn't go with more than 1.
I've been testing out exquisite Firecraft. I've been against the card in modern for a long time. But It's tested phenomenally well. I still think against control, your first idea is to bottleneck their mana. That said, the card has a couple of interesting functions.
Against GDS--you can't bottlekneck them. They run 2-3 stubborn denials. They will discard the hell out of this. They'll often put themselves to 4 or 5. You're trying to fend off lethal attacks, burn at the end of their turn and then untap and finish them. They'll often have the counter magic to keep themselves at 3-4. Firecraft fixes this. It's important to note, spellmastery matters. If you're going this route, Consider backing off of your GY hate. Or leaning towards Relic and targeting them or Grafdigger's cage.
The second cool thing it does: It's CMC is 3. Gets around Chalice on 1 and 2. I fired off 2 of these Against Eldrazi Tron tonight and it felt amazing. I've been running 2 for several days now.
Let's talk Deflecting Palm: What's it good against? GDS puts it in a weird spot with discard and counter magic. Eldrazi tron puts it in a weird spot between Chalice countering it and thought-knot seers taking it pre-combat. It's nice vs affinity when they have plating on something. It's nice vs Wurmcoil engines, and it's nice vs Infect. Infect is fringe at this point, though somewhat on the rise. Gx Tron decks we're favored against. You're better off blowing up the wurmcoil during combat, maybe trying path, skullcrack. And then affinity--we've got a lot of other options. I'm down to a 1 of, but after I complete this next league on MTGO, I'm going to cut it.
Another card that keeps being an absolute all-star: Searing Blood. I'm running it as a 2 of presently. Great against elves, infect, humans, affinity. Sometimes it takes a little work to set up. But I've never had a problem getting full value out of it.
GY hate: I think Relic is still the best burn card. However, I'm going to try 2 Relics and a single Grafdigger's Cage for a while going forward. I think the collected company idea is often overstated. But against Company decks--you often run into kitchen finks. And being able to shoot it and rid yourself of it or attack into it and kill it forever means the Cage still holds value even if you don't stop the collected companies. The other part of this--a friend pointed out we maybe water down our plan by bringing in a ton of GY hate vs Goyf decks. So I started doing just 2 relics there.
Shattering Spree: While I think having a prayer for Chalice on 1 and 2 isn't the answer. I do se benefit in being able to blow up multiple artifacts. This is NOT for affinity. While it says artifact--they have man-lands and Arcbound Ravager. Avoid.
It works as a fine option to blow up chalice on 1 or 2 or 1 and 2. I think Revelry and Smash to Smithereens are better. But a 1 of is fine. If they go turn 1 maps and turn 2 Chalice and you're able to blow up both or even just 1--you're doing alright.
Lantern is a thing. G/x Tron is a thing. KCI has been gaining popularity online again. I think it's fine as a 1-of.
Other cards that are interesting:
1. Direfleet Daredevil
-In the mirror he gives you a first strike body and a bolt. He also dies to lavamancer and searing blaze.
-You could consider him vs death shadow. The problem is going to be if you target their instants--they can snapcaster on top of you and take it out of play.
2. Harsh Mentor
-There's a place for him.
3. Rampaging Ferocidon
-Costs 3, which I don't love
-Menace could still be relavent in combat
-Shuts off kitchen finks, Scavenging Ooze.
-Blocks
Path: I'd like to drop it to 2. I feel naked without 3. In large part now due to Kor Firewalker. I've lost a decent bit of post-sideboard burn games because of him. Burn pilots almost always know the skullcrack trick. Path also hits mana-reducers for storm. Hits merfolk lords. Hits big-dumb dudes in humans.
What I'm planning on running going forward: