I have considered it, although there are other matchups where it has less value, such as jund monsters, GW hexproof, naya monsters, selesnya midrange,
Having the two skullcracks main gives me a much better game 1 vs control decks. nothing i like seeing more than a UWx player confidently tap out for a sphinxes rev, thinking it will get them back in the game, only to be skullcracked.
The shocks replace different cards in different matchups, and have different uses in the matchups; i.e. efficient phoenix recursion, mutavault killing, x/1 and x/2 creatures, and allowing my smaller creatures to trade up with larger creatures, or allowing first strikers to kill x/4 and x/5 creatures.
Here is my sideboarding plans against top tier decks:
vs MONO BLUE:
-4 Reckoner, -2 Frostburn weird -2 Skullcrack
+2 Shock, +3 Mortars, +1 Hammer of Purphoros, +2 Anger of the gods
Mono blue normally brings in domestication against aggro, so giving them reckoners is certainly not something you want to do. In game one they are good for stemming bleeding from tidebinders, mutavaults, weirds and elemental tokens, however after boarding, they are the number one target for Domestication.
Although weirds are good in the match up, they are easily taken by a domestication and both work well against you as well as providing enough devotion to turn Thassa on without any other creatures.
The post board plan is to kill ALL of the creatures that the play with the removal, The extra hammer is for a colourless creature to block/attack in to master of waves. It has won me a game before.
Vs MONO BLACK (& most orzhov control decks)
-4 reckoner, -2 weird, - 1 fanatic of mogis
+2 Skullcrack, +2 Firedrinker satyr, +2 shock, + 1 hammer,
Orzhov control brings mortars as well from the board to as an efficient way of dealing with Blood Baron. In this case i'd take out the extra hammer and firedrinkers if it is more midrangey, or the extra hammer or two and a fanatic if it is basically mono black splashing white for baron/obzedat.
The reckoners and weirds have neither haste nor an effective ETB effect like the fanatic of mogis. They're too slow and just eat removal.
Skullcracks come in to make a full playset for Phoenix Recursion, Gary, Blood Baron and Obzedat.
The hammer comes in to provide an additional source of pressure that once it lands is generally not able to be removed, it also gives a late game if all of your creatures get removed
Shocks come in to allow your creatures to trade up with higher toughness creatures, to do that final little bit of damage, or for my favourite use; to kill mutavaults. Killing mutavaults has a 3 fold effect; it can change their packrat plan from attacking favourably to unfavourably, it reduces their land which may be critical to disrupting their tempo and keeping them off of Desecration Demon/Gary/Obzedat/Baron. The third thing it does is remove a potential blocker before blockers are declared, allowing further damage to get through.
vs AZORIUS CONTROL
-4 Reckoner, -2 Frostburn Weird, -1 Fanatic of purphoros
+2 Firedrinker Satyr, +2 Skullcrack, +1 Hammer of purphoros, +2 Shock
The idea is to lower the mana curve and constantly apply pressure. IT also requires playing around verdicts and d spheres. This is often done well by having 1-2 creatures attacking each turn, and burning in their turn to destroy their ideal reactive game plan; they want to hold mana up to counter your threats. If you present your threats in their turn, they either have to counter it, leaving you free to tap out for big threats or multiple threats, or they accept 2-6 additional damage in their turn; win/win.
Against Esper/Bant/America or any other 3 colour variation of UW control, the burning earths come in, and 2 fanatics come out, so as not to disrupt the curve too much. This is very situational based on what lands you see in play. Even some 2 colour decks are quite greedy; playsets of shock lands, scry lands, mutavault and off colour scry lands can mean that 16/25 lands may be non basic.
vs RG Monsters. Jund monsters is a very similar matchup.
2 Cackler and 2 Ash Z are kept in due to the law of diminishing returns; if it is in your opening hand; great! if not, you will want to see as few as possible. The zealots are good in game one, coupling with lightning strikes and magam jets to remove big bodies like polukranos and courser of kruphix. However they are simply outclassed, as are the cacklers, post board when RG/Jund monsters brings in more removal, normally in the form of shocks.
The reckoners in this matchup are great. Short of eating a mortars or black removal spell, they allow you to stonewall their boardstate. You will have to play around ghor-clan rampager's blood rush, but a board stall in to a fanatic is a pretty common out vs RG monsters. Burning them out is also an option that they generally do not have.
This match requires you to build a strong board presence rather than applying as much pressure as early as possible like in the control matchups. Mizzium Mortars are best saved for Stormbreath Dragons.
vs White weenie variants.
- 2 Hammer of Purphoros, - 2 Fanatic of Mogis, -3 cackler
+2 Shock, +2 Anger of the gods,+1 Frostburn weird, +3 Mizzium Mortars.
Against the more traditional weenie variants, stabilising with frostburns and reckoners, and removing their board presence is key to victory. Skullcracks can be handy for negating protection, namely from brave the elements and soldier of the pantheon. They're not worth bringing in the full 4 though
Burning earth is an absolute powerhouse vs Mazes end. Some maze decks choose to run 0 basic lands, and the skullcracks both negate the fog effects and provide the extra burn damage.
If you would like to know my boarding plan vs other matchups, just ask
Was sorry to see your results on day 2, that game loss was gut wrenching. You looked to have handled it really well. My cousin also got knocked out of contention for top 8. His rnd 14 and 15 were both in & win matches, and he had the best tiebreakers of anyone not already in the top 8.
The viashino firstblade was a cool surprise, i guess it has a similar impact to Spark Trooper, but at the 3cmc. Also with so few creatures in G1 vs control decks, many would side out their supposedly dead cards; creature removal, and then you bring in high impact ones like the fisrtblade and spark trooper.
It was well reported how diverse the field was at the GP, so it does not seem like a deck that has sort of 'surprised' the meta and could actually be a contender for a top tier deck.
Congrats on cashing in and putting the deck thoroughly through its paces, hopefully next time your day 2 goes as well as your day 1 did at melbourne gp
Nice vids Z. I noticed your sideboard doesn't have anything to deal with a flood of creatures efficiently. Other than that, the deck seems really solid. I am also attending melbourne GP this weekend. Hopefully i dont run in to you.
I have been slowly reading through this primer. Thanks and well done to those who have laid the groundwork. Reading through the arguing of Firedrinker and Fanatic was painful, as both are good cards in the right deck.
I noticed that towards the end of the thread that discussion has really died down on the classic RDW. Does wizards hard on for black sound the death knell for RDW? It has been a staple deck for much longer than i have been playing magic, but it seems that it has been relegated to a tier 2 deck in the current competitive meta.
Has Born of the gods or the change in the meta moved RDW's position within the meta? I have seen a lot less mono blue due to the prevalence of Mono Black and UWx control. Currently they are the existing tier 1 decks, and since the release of Born of the Gods, there hasn't been anything that considerably rocks this foundation of top tier decks. RG Monsters being the most likely to move to a top tier, also having gotten a lot from BotG with the Courser of Kruphix and sideboard cards like Unravel the Aether
Another reason for the diminishing number of mono blue decks is that they got very little for their existing decks compared to mono black's sweepers and creature exile, and UWx controls new toys such as Brimaz out of the sideboard.
So... this begs the question; Given how favourable the matchup is between RDW and control variants, does Red Deck Wins have a legitimate chance of sneaking back in to top tier competition?
A few observations of post BotG Standard;
- Bile Blight has essentially just replaced another removal spell, and it can be played around, just as any conditional removal can be.
- 'Cute' 3/4/5 colour decks are starting to pop up. Bant aggro/midrange/control and Big Jund being the ones i have seen the most often. It feels great boarding in burning earths. Between 12 Shocks, 12 Scrys and a few mutavaults, they are going to get burned to remove it, and that is one less D sphere that they can use on the phoenix.
- The relative success of Mazes End at GP Vancouver has seen a few people try to bring life back in to it. At a PTQ in Melbourne recently my brother was questioned as to why the hell he would put burning earth in his gruul monsters deck. His reply of "well it beat 2 different Maze decks" was met with genuine surprise.
-2 Skullcracks mainboard have been working wonders for me. Sphinx decks, Grey Merchant decks, Whip of Erebos decks and blood baron decks make up 52.58% of the meta currently (source:http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard). Add in the protection that is so common now such as soldier of the pantheon, Master of waves and brave the elements, and it is still usable beyond a 3 damage burn for 2 mana in these other matchups. The rise of Boros Burn also brings warleader's helix and spark troopers, as well as things like unflinching courage or trostani out of the sideboard in selesnya decks.
I wouldn't go so far as to say i would side in my other 2 skullcracks against the aggro/midrange decks, but the 2 MB ones are very rarely a bad card to have in hand. I also love the look on the face of opposing UWx players when they feel that they can confidently Sphinx for 6/7 or whatever in my end step, tapping out to do so, only to be met with a skullcrack
Thoughtseize, detention sphere and counterspells. As stated, control heavy meta. Very happy with the way the hammers performed.
It was my first standard tournament outside of FNMs. I went 3-4. It was a good learning experience, but i am going to go back to the drawing board i think.
Local Meta is expected very control and 3 colour heavy, as it normally is, but BotG might shake that up a bit. Hammer has been awesome in testing, with so much mono black. Has anyone else found that on MTGO 90% of decks are mono black?
The reason why it has good value against black is thatay even though it might not damage them as much as an esper deck, they don't have a way to deal with it once it is on the field
The mono black sometimes runs 4 mutavaults and a few temples for the scry. That is a bit of a judgement call, but as they lack enchantment removal it could be an option
I think not have the full fogs is just a mistake I don't normally get upset about ppls ideas but I think running less than 16 is wrong. I think making the deck as strong as possible game 1 is the key and the sb needs to be built to give you the best chance for the next games. To me that means making as much I their cards as dead as possible. Not many ppl play jace adept so I don't think you need to worry about having a second win con in the main. The maze is good enough. To me this is a deck that has to have 1 plan and focus in that plan and making it consistent trying to do too much stuff makes it weaker. I relate it to the fancy play syndrome in poker where ppl try to slow play a big hand and get beat. It's just simpler and more consistent to focus on a plan of attack. And I think the SB needs to be that way as well.
With the Rise of 3 control again I wanted to start a SCD for sideboarding burning earth. My store has multiple control decks running around, Esper, WUG, and sometimes Azorius and American. Considering putting my BEs back in my sideboard now.
As three colour decks creep back in to the meta, Burning Earths value in game skyrockets. Even mono and dual colour decks are starting to run a lot of non basics; 4 mutavault, 4 temple of silence, 4 temple of deceit, 4 hallowed fountain are found in some Azorius lists.
I love the look on players faces when you land a burning earth, and they take 2,3,4 life just to neutralise the threat, if they have the answer in hand.
It is also phenomenal against Mazes End. Even if they have a d-sphere in hand they are likely to take three damage, use 3 mana and lose a dsphere which could have been used on a creature, hammer, chandra etc
Having the two skullcracks main gives me a much better game 1 vs control decks. nothing i like seeing more than a UWx player confidently tap out for a sphinxes rev, thinking it will get them back in the game, only to be skullcracked.
The shocks replace different cards in different matchups, and have different uses in the matchups; i.e. efficient phoenix recursion, mutavault killing, x/1 and x/2 creatures, and allowing my smaller creatures to trade up with larger creatures, or allowing first strikers to kill x/4 and x/5 creatures.
Here is the deck i am using currently:
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
2 Frostburn Weird
4 Burning-tree Emissary
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Hammer of Purphoros
Instants
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Skullcrack
Land
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
19 Mountain
2 Anger of the gods
2 Burning Earth
1 Frostburn Weird
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Firedrinker Satyr
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Shock
2 Skullcrack
Here is my sideboarding plans against top tier decks:
vs MONO BLUE:
-4 Reckoner, -2 Frostburn weird -2 Skullcrack
+2 Shock, +3 Mortars, +1 Hammer of Purphoros, +2 Anger of the gods
Mono blue normally brings in domestication against aggro, so giving them reckoners is certainly not something you want to do. In game one they are good for stemming bleeding from tidebinders, mutavaults, weirds and elemental tokens, however after boarding, they are the number one target for Domestication.
Although weirds are good in the match up, they are easily taken by a domestication and both work well against you as well as providing enough devotion to turn Thassa on without any other creatures.
The post board plan is to kill ALL of the creatures that the play with the removal, The extra hammer is for a colourless creature to block/attack in to master of waves. It has won me a game before.
Vs MONO BLACK (& most orzhov control decks)
-4 reckoner, -2 weird, - 1 fanatic of mogis
+2 Skullcrack, +2 Firedrinker satyr, +2 shock, + 1 hammer,
Orzhov control brings mortars as well from the board to as an efficient way of dealing with Blood Baron. In this case i'd take out the extra hammer and firedrinkers if it is more midrangey, or the extra hammer or two and a fanatic if it is basically mono black splashing white for baron/obzedat.
The reckoners and weirds have neither haste nor an effective ETB effect like the fanatic of mogis. They're too slow and just eat removal.
Skullcracks come in to make a full playset for Phoenix Recursion, Gary, Blood Baron and Obzedat.
The hammer comes in to provide an additional source of pressure that once it lands is generally not able to be removed, it also gives a late game if all of your creatures get removed
Shocks come in to allow your creatures to trade up with higher toughness creatures, to do that final little bit of damage, or for my favourite use; to kill mutavaults. Killing mutavaults has a 3 fold effect; it can change their packrat plan from attacking favourably to unfavourably, it reduces their land which may be critical to disrupting their tempo and keeping them off of Desecration Demon/Gary/Obzedat/Baron. The third thing it does is remove a potential blocker before blockers are declared, allowing further damage to get through.
vs AZORIUS CONTROL
-4 Reckoner, -2 Frostburn Weird, -1 Fanatic of purphoros
+2 Firedrinker Satyr, +2 Skullcrack, +1 Hammer of purphoros, +2 Shock
The idea is to lower the mana curve and constantly apply pressure. IT also requires playing around verdicts and d spheres. This is often done well by having 1-2 creatures attacking each turn, and burning in their turn to destroy their ideal reactive game plan; they want to hold mana up to counter your threats. If you present your threats in their turn, they either have to counter it, leaving you free to tap out for big threats or multiple threats, or they accept 2-6 additional damage in their turn; win/win.
Against Esper/Bant/America or any other 3 colour variation of UW control, the burning earths come in, and 2 fanatics come out, so as not to disrupt the curve too much. This is very situational based on what lands you see in play. Even some 2 colour decks are quite greedy; playsets of shock lands, scry lands, mutavault and off colour scry lands can mean that 16/25 lands may be non basic.
vs RG Monsters. Jund monsters is a very similar matchup.
-2 Ash Zealot, -2 Rakdos Cackler, -2 skullcrack
+3 Mizzium Mortars, + 1 Frostburn Weird, + 2 Shock
2 Cackler and 2 Ash Z are kept in due to the law of diminishing returns; if it is in your opening hand; great! if not, you will want to see as few as possible. The zealots are good in game one, coupling with lightning strikes and magam jets to remove big bodies like polukranos and courser of kruphix. However they are simply outclassed, as are the cacklers, post board when RG/Jund monsters brings in more removal, normally in the form of shocks.
The reckoners in this matchup are great. Short of eating a mortars or black removal spell, they allow you to stonewall their boardstate. You will have to play around ghor-clan rampager's blood rush, but a board stall in to a fanatic is a pretty common out vs RG monsters. Burning them out is also an option that they generally do not have.
This match requires you to build a strong board presence rather than applying as much pressure as early as possible like in the control matchups. Mizzium Mortars are best saved for Stormbreath Dragons.
vs White weenie variants.
- 2 Hammer of Purphoros, - 2 Fanatic of Mogis, -3 cackler
+2 Shock, +2 Anger of the gods,+1 Frostburn weird, +3 Mizzium Mortars.
Against the more traditional weenie variants, stabilising with frostburns and reckoners, and removing their board presence is key to victory. Skullcracks can be handy for negating protection, namely from brave the elements and soldier of the pantheon. They're not worth bringing in the full 4 though
Mazes end
-4 Reckoner, - 2 frostburn weird
+2 Burning earth, +2 Skullcrack, +2 shock
Burning earth is an absolute powerhouse vs Mazes end. Some maze decks choose to run 0 basic lands, and the skullcracks both negate the fog effects and provide the extra burn damage.
If you would like to know my boarding plan vs other matchups, just ask
19 Mountain
3 Mutavault
CREATURES
4 Ash Zealot
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Firefist Striker
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Shock
4 Searing Blood
4 Skullcrack
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Mizzium Mortars
The viashino firstblade was a cool surprise, i guess it has a similar impact to Spark Trooper, but at the 3cmc. Also with so few creatures in G1 vs control decks, many would side out their supposedly dead cards; creature removal, and then you bring in high impact ones like the fisrtblade and spark trooper.
It was well reported how diverse the field was at the GP, so it does not seem like a deck that has sort of 'surprised' the meta and could actually be a contender for a top tier deck.
Congrats on cashing in and putting the deck thoroughly through its paces, hopefully next time your day 2 goes as well as your day 1 did at melbourne gp
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpmel14/welcome#1
not many mountains in there :/
I noticed that towards the end of the thread that discussion has really died down on the classic RDW. Does wizards hard on for black sound the death knell for RDW? It has been a staple deck for much longer than i have been playing magic, but it seems that it has been relegated to a tier 2 deck in the current competitive meta.
Has Born of the gods or the change in the meta moved RDW's position within the meta? I have seen a lot less mono blue due to the prevalence of Mono Black and UWx control. Currently they are the existing tier 1 decks, and since the release of Born of the Gods, there hasn't been anything that considerably rocks this foundation of top tier decks. RG Monsters being the most likely to move to a top tier, also having gotten a lot from BotG with the Courser of Kruphix and sideboard cards like Unravel the Aether
Another reason for the diminishing number of mono blue decks is that they got very little for their existing decks compared to mono black's sweepers and creature exile, and UWx controls new toys such as Brimaz out of the sideboard.
So... this begs the question; Given how favourable the matchup is between RDW and control variants, does Red Deck Wins have a legitimate chance of sneaking back in to top tier competition?
A few observations of post BotG Standard;
- Bile Blight has essentially just replaced another removal spell, and it can be played around, just as any conditional removal can be.
- 'Cute' 3/4/5 colour decks are starting to pop up. Bant aggro/midrange/control and Big Jund being the ones i have seen the most often. It feels great boarding in burning earths. Between 12 Shocks, 12 Scrys and a few mutavaults, they are going to get burned to remove it, and that is one less D sphere that they can use on the phoenix.
- The relative success of Mazes End at GP Vancouver has seen a few people try to bring life back in to it. At a PTQ in Melbourne recently my brother was questioned as to why the hell he would put burning earth in his gruul monsters deck. His reply of "well it beat 2 different Maze decks" was met with genuine surprise.
-2 Skullcracks mainboard have been working wonders for me. Sphinx decks, Grey Merchant decks, Whip of Erebos decks and blood baron decks make up 52.58% of the meta currently (source:http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard). Add in the protection that is so common now such as soldier of the pantheon, Master of waves and brave the elements, and it is still usable beyond a 3 damage burn for 2 mana in these other matchups. The rise of Boros Burn also brings warleader's helix and spark troopers, as well as things like unflinching courage or trostani out of the sideboard in selesnya decks.
I wouldn't go so far as to say i would side in my other 2 skullcracks against the aggro/midrange decks, but the 2 MB ones are very rarely a bad card to have in hand. I also love the look on the face of opposing UWx players when they feel that they can confidently Sphinx for 6/7 or whatever in my end step, tapping out to do so, only to be met with a skullcrack
It was my first standard tournament outside of FNMs. I went 3-4. It was a good learning experience, but i am going to go back to the drawing board i think.
3 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
1 Frostburn Weird
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
1 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Hammer of Purphoros
Instants
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Skullcrack
Land
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
20 Mountain
2 Anger of the gods
2 Burning Earth
2 Frostburn Weird
2 Minsparker
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Rod of Ruin
2 Shock
2 Skullcrack
Local Meta is expected very control and 3 colour heavy, as it normally is, but BotG might shake that up a bit. Hammer has been awesome in testing, with so much mono black. Has anyone else found that on MTGO 90% of decks are mono black?
Do you have a sideboard plan?
When do you bring the perimiters in?
As three colour decks creep back in to the meta, Burning Earths value in game skyrockets. Even mono and dual colour decks are starting to run a lot of non basics; 4 mutavault, 4 temple of silence, 4 temple of deceit, 4 hallowed fountain are found in some Azorius lists.
I love the look on players faces when you land a burning earth, and they take 2,3,4 life just to neutralise the threat, if they have the answer in hand.
It is also phenomenal against Mazes End. Even if they have a d-sphere in hand they are likely to take three damage, use 3 mana and lose a dsphere which could have been used on a creature, hammer, chandra etc