MTG Salvation

I am currently running one copy of Risk Factor in my deck. I think it's the perfect number of copies to run. Burn's biggest problem is losing momentum and flooding into lands. EVERY game I've lost usually comes down to whether or not I'm top decking more burn, or top decking lands. More often than not this happens when you just need one or two more spells to get in that last big of damage. One copy of risk factor sufficiently mitigates this problem:

If I start the game with my one Risk factor in my hand, it could be annoying, but it makes me feel okay if I start to flood out, cuz then I can just get it out of my hand as soon as I draw my third land - and if I'm casting it on turn 3, it's still 4 damage to the face, and becomes a late game threat in my graveyard.

If I don't start with Risk Factor in my hand, that's great! it just means that when it comes down to top deck mode and my fear of flooding out, there's at least a chance that the flooding will be rewarded by drawing into a Risk Factor that can be immediately cast. At that point in the game, our opponent is usually at a low enough life total that they might be forced to choose the Draw 3 mode - which essentially lets us win the game.

So one copy is the sweet spot for me - it's never a dead card in the deck, and if it stays dead in my hand, then I was probably losing the game anyway. I know Burn's sweet spot for lands in play is about 3, but I've always felt cramped with only 2 lands in play, and if I'm not screwed on one mana, or cramped on 2, then I'm usually flooding out. Risk Factor just makes any of the above mentioned situations feel just a bit better.

The only painful situation is if I keep a one-lander, and draw into Risk Factor when I need mana instead. This is an unfortunate situation, but that's why I only run one copy - to lessen my chances of drawing it when I want it least.

I've been happy with this set up so far.

Psyched to see David Hauser playing Possibility Storm combo! I have that deck myself, but it's very outdated. I like his toolbox-style build.

Has anyone else faced Emeria Titan decks? TWO people at my lgs play it, and it’s a pretty bad matchup for burn. The deck just has so many outs and doesn’t really rely on one way to win. One of the guys was really friendly and wanted to help me brainstorm what to sideboard in against it. We figured it would actually make sense to board out Goblin Guides, and possibly all our creatures, since the deck pretty quickly starts to stick 4 toughness creatures that we just can’t get through and don’t want to waste burn removing. Sans creatures we can keep in all of our burn to the face, while also making room for Path, DR, and Relic.

For reference, the key cards in the deck are
Sun titan
Emeria, the sky ruin
Wall of omens
Felidar guardian
Lone missionary - main deck!!
Panharmonicon
And sides in leyline.

We also discussed rampaging ferocidon as a 1-of in the sideboard. Treating it like an enchantment and just using it to turn off/punish Dredge, token, and Emeria Titan-style strategies.

I run 4 Destructive Revelrys in my sideboard, with one Stomping ground in my deck. I've never regretted it or wished I had a different configuration. From what I can tell, people's worry about running DR only comes down to concern over their single Stomping Ground getting Ghost Quartered. From my experience, the decks that run GQ are rarely decks where I'd side in DR. Furthermore, we're playing BURN - I have never needed to cast more than one DR in a game to close the game. DR deals damage to our opponent, bringing us 2 points closer to winning. Burn should never be playing a game where you're hoping to snipe EVERY SINGLE artifact/enchantment that comes down. One DR should take out any pesky Worship or Leyline, then we're free to continue winning the way we want to be. Sure, against Affinity you may hope to see all 4 copies of DR, but again, I've only ever needed to kill one big thing against affinity, and then I usually have Deflecting Palm sided in as backup to negate any other big creature they throw at us.

Hey gang,

I've been playing in an eclectic meta recently, and I've been noticing an abundance of life gain in a lot of decks. Last week two players were running Emmeria Titan and one of them went 3-0. I've been consistently going 2-1 at my modern nights, usually losing to decks like death & taxes, UW control, and the above mentioned decks. Mixed into the meta are some elves, burn, tron, affinity, dimir shadow, and storm. A dredge player also showed up and creeping chill is a really nasty card. Currently, based on what I've seen, I'm running this deck:



Ever since I saw Loic Le Briand win GP Birmingham with his shrine of burning rage deck, I've been wanting to explore a slower deck with a stronger late game - that's where I always get blown out against the great number of decks I face that can draw things out. I was wondering what you thought of this build. Sideboard stays the same, I up the lands, add another risk factor and only run 3 shrines over 4 eidolons.

So I agree that Rest In Peace has become somewhat sub-optimal with the abundance of Nature's Claim I've been seeing in sideboards recently. My question is - why do we then run Relic of Progenitus over Tormod's Crypt? Relic gets the cantrip, but Crypt costs nothing to cast, allowing us to leave mana open for something like Skullcrack should we need it (as in, against Creeping Chill). Relic's cantrip is sweet for burn, but since it costs 2 to go off on casting, or requires one open mana, is it really better than Crypt?

It depends on what you want your dimir to be doing in your cube. Dimir Informant has been performing amazingly in GRN draft; surveil 2 is very powerful on a 3 drop that can hold off aggro and set up your next draws. If you have a black/red aggro theme then perhaps you'd want Whisper Agent to support that as well?

Some sort of White/Brown artifacts brew

I went 4-0 with Dimir at my prerelease - It was a pretty stacked deck. My final match was a mirror against a very subpar Dimir deck that had gone 3-0 up to that point. Dimir is monstrously overpowered in sealed.

Affectionate Indrik: I was just reading LSV's article about GRN green cards and he said this about the Indrik, "Note that you target what you want to fight, and if the opponent plays a pump spell in response, you can decline to fight. It’s a quirk of the templating, and gives you a pretty big advantage in spots like that."

Can someone explain to me how the wording of the card allows for that, and how I might explain that to someone at prerelease should it come up? (I'm aware we could just call a judge, but I'd like to understand the specifics better myself)

Thanks,
CatParty

Quote from Creevian_Legacy »

Let me just say that, with the printing of Assassin's Trophy, I believe that Burn is in a better place than it ever has been. Competivitely costed permanent removal is something Burn didn't know it's wanted forever. It makes me mad at myself I didn't think to run Anguished Unmaking in my board, and this is miles ahead of that. I think if people catch on to the card for us, we're poised to see the strongest version of Burn Modern has ever seen.

Are you thinking about RBg Burn? I really don't think Assassin's Trophy is something burn wants. Destructive Revelry gets rid of 2 permanent types AND brings us closer to our end goal. I play WR Burn and run Path to Exile for those situations where I need to get rid of a HUGE creature - it's 1 cmc and exiles the card - and even then I feel bad sacrificing a burn effect for removal. Trophy is a 2 mana spell that adds nothing to Burn's agenda.

Quote from Pouncing Kavu »

Also, there's coffee in the Magic universe? Not magical enough!

Did you expect Starbucks to ignore an urban-sprawl plane like Ravnica? They've got at least one location in every district!

With that art you might as well have called it Team Spirit.

Unaligned cards like this are interesting - what is their intended purpose? This cat can block small tokens, can be pumped by mentor effects, and replaces itself so you feel fine getting it in the graveyard for undergrowth. I like the versatility.

Do we think this might be good enough to see play as a one-of in modern burn? Could just be the extra gas that deck needs in the late game.