Carrion Feeder could push the old Finks combo decks. Now each piece of the combo has a 5-8 of redundancy: Melira/Vizer, Finks/Redcap, Feeder/Viscera Seer.
I also believe Eldamaris Call is being slept on. Possibly as inclusion in the above-mentioned combo deck but also in many other creature decks that might like a toolbox approach.
I actually think Electrostatic Field probably deserves an inclusion. It's really strong vs lots of early aggro with it's 0/4 body, and the incremental damage really adds up over time, especially in the builds that plan to win with either teferi lock or burn damage. Kind of reminds me of wall of omens except instead of replacing itself it's a clock of sorts and much better in multiples.
its also important to note that with more 'destroy' anything effects around in the main deck it effectively frees up sideboard space.
This point cannot be overstated. BGx lists typically run 3-4 sideboard slots dedicated solely to *****ty cards like fulminator mage. This safely lets them ditch him entirely, as well as any other anti-tron tech they had. Frees up considerable space to improve the other matchups that need improvement.
Coming at this from a slightly different angle, I think I've got something here. I've been testing this list on cockatrice/xmage/untap and the other free testing sites since the spoilers first came out. I know those places are not a fantastic sample because people play cards they don't own, don't know all the rules, and there is no judge.
The biggest choice I made when starting was based on the meta. Looking at almost all of the top8 results of the past several various competitive tournaments, leagues, etc, every deck seems like a creature-based deck that wants to win with 2-3 critters on the board. That plus the newly printed Carnage Tyrant suggests to me that the IXA meta will be filled with decks that win with creatures. One other VERY important fact is that the 3 biggest reasons to not go ham on board wipes just rotated (avacyn, gideon ally of zendikar, selfless spirit)
Which is why I run 8 wrath effects.
Fumigate is an allstar once you get to 5 lands, which you will because of all the card filtration. Since this deck only runs 1 creature, Tocatli Honor Guard, what this card basically reads is 3WW: Destroy all your opponent's creatures, you gain 1 life for each creature killed this way. Pretty sweet.
Settle the Wreckage is F**KING INCREDIBLE. At 4 mana, it's just fast enough to save us vs Ramunap Red if we're on the draw, as even their quickest starts won't have us anywhere near dead by their turn 4. It's also the best answer we have vs Hazoret.
Tocatli Honor Guard is the only creature in the deck and he puts in some WORK. At 1/3, he's the perfect size chump blocker vs most cards in ramured, and his static ability turns earthshaker khenra and the rest of their etb critters into vastly worse versions of themselves. He's also a fantastic play vs Temur Energy, bricking their entire deck until removed. He also shuts down gearhulks and much much more. Truly an incredible card that hits a ton of cards that are very popular right now. He's easy to remove at 3 toughness, but even if he eats a lightning strike, it's worth it.
Search for Azcantl is low-key my favorite card in the deck. I only run 2 because it's legendary, but the first mode is a fantastic filtration engine, and the 2nd mode is insane inevitability that combos great once you windmill slam down your approach. Once it flips it almost feels like you're playing with divining top in standard, but better.
the rest of the choices are fairly obvious, 4x essence scatter mainboard over censors or anything else because creatures are the hottness in this meta. Essence Scatter is the best counter post-rotation no doubt in my mind, and I've never regretted having 4 mb. Once we're in g2 i can swap out a few or all if need be.
I'd love any thoughts. Scarab God is in my sb as my best way to win around a Gideon of the Trials which is otherwise a pretty tough-to-beat play vs this deck. He's also decent at gy interaction as all the gy cards right now are creatures and you can respond to their god pharaohs gift targeting a critter by stealing it yourself, if you were bad enough to let gift hit the battlefield and reach their combat step.
I've been considering vraska's contempt over never/return in the sb because i find myself wanting more ways to deal with hazoret than I currently have. If only declaration in stone were still legal.
The deck plays like a cross between a prison deck and a control deck. 8 wrath effects means I spend the first several turns establishing a board state with cards like honor guard and search, while using supreme will and essence scatter to keep their board relatively controlled. I will often let them resolve a few creatures turns 3 and 4, even allowing them to take a swing or two so they over-extend, then start raining down the fumigates and wrath-to-exiles. Finish off with Approach as a wincon and serve over-easy with a side of saltiness as they watch you durdle durdle durdle into a win.
I don't want to oversell this, but I have yet to face a deck that I don't think I have at least a 50% matchup against, and vs most decks (like ramured, temur energy, and other grindy creature-based midrange decks) I almost feel like i'm facerolling unless they have really good draws. Ramured is obviously the toughest matchup, although 8x wrath effects against a deck with zero protection from a wrath is pretty good MB, and once I can put in 3 Authority of the Consuls from the SB it feels like an unlosable matchup (unless I lose to variance and draw a ***** ton of lands or no lands at all)
VERY interesting. I agree on Vraska's Contempt over Never/Return. Mainly due to the instant speed, but the 2 life looks good for your end goal as well.
I'm actually thinking i may do cast out over both, since it costs the same as vraskas but hits much more.
One thing I will say about the list I posted that runs 6-8 wrath effects, I have a nearly 100% winrate vs temur energy and the new dino deck. That said, Ramured is a real tough matchup.
Coming at this from a slightly different angle, I think I've got something here. I've been testing this list on cockatrice/xmage/untap and the other free testing sites since the spoilers first came out. I know those places are not a fantastic sample because people play cards they don't own, don't know all the rules, and there is no judge.
The biggest choice I made when starting was based on the meta. Looking at almost all of the top8 results of the past several various competitive tournaments, leagues, etc, every deck seems like a creature-based deck that wants to win with 2-3 critters on the board. That plus the newly printed Carnage Tyrant suggests to me that the IXA meta will be filled with decks that win with creatures. One other VERY important fact is that the 3 biggest reasons to not go ham on board wipes just rotated (avacyn, gideon ally of zendikar, selfless spirit)
Which is why I run 8 wrath effects.
Fumigate is an allstar once you get to 5 lands, which you will because of all the card filtration. Since this deck only runs 1 creature, Tocatli Honor Guard, what this card basically reads is 3WW: Destroy all your opponent's creatures, you gain 1 life for each creature killed this way. Pretty sweet.
Settle the Wreckage is F**KING INCREDIBLE. At 4 mana, it's just fast enough to save us vs Ramunap Red if we're on the draw, as even their quickest starts won't have us anywhere near dead by their turn 4. It's also the best answer we have vs Hazoret.
Tocatli Honor Guard is the only creature in the deck and he puts in some WORK. At 1/3, he's the perfect size chump blocker vs most cards in ramured, and his static ability turns earthshaker khenra and the rest of their etb critters into vastly worse versions of themselves. He's also a fantastic play vs Temur Energy, bricking their entire deck until removed. He also shuts down gearhulks and much much more. Truly an incredible card that hits a ton of cards that are very popular right now. He's easy to remove at 3 toughness, but even if he eats a lightning strike, it's worth it.
Search for Azcantl is low-key my favorite card in the deck. I only run 2 because it's legendary, but the first mode is a fantastic filtration engine, and the 2nd mode is insane inevitability that combos great once you windmill slam down your approach. Once it flips it almost feels like you're playing with divining top in standard, but better.
the rest of the choices are fairly obvious, 4x essence scatter mainboard over censors or anything else because creatures are the hottness in this meta. Essence Scatter is the best counter post-rotation no doubt in my mind, and I've never regretted having 4 mb. Once we're in g2 i can swap out a few or all if need be.
I'd love any thoughts. Scarab God is in my sb as my best way to win around a Gideon of the Trials which is otherwise a pretty tough-to-beat play vs this deck. He's also decent at gy interaction as all the gy cards right now are creatures and you can respond to their god pharaohs gift targeting a critter by stealing it yourself, if you were bad enough to let gift hit the battlefield and reach their combat step.
I've been considering vraska's contempt over never/return in the sb because i find myself wanting more ways to deal with hazoret than I currently have. If only declaration in stone were still legal.
The deck plays like a cross between a prison deck and a control deck. 8 wrath effects means I spend the first several turns establishing a board state with cards like honor guard and search, while using supreme will and essence scatter to keep their board relatively controlled. I will often let them resolve a few creatures turns 3 and 4, even allowing them to take a swing or two so they over-extend, then start raining down the fumigates and wrath-to-exiles. Finish off with Approach as a wincon and serve over-easy with a side of saltiness as they watch you durdle durdle durdle into a win.
I don't want to oversell this, but I have yet to face a deck that I don't think I have at least a 50% matchup against, and vs most decks (like ramured, temur energy, and other grindy creature-based midrange decks) I almost feel like i'm facerolling unless they have really good draws. Ramured is obviously the toughest matchup, although 8x wrath effects against a deck with zero protection from a wrath is pretty good MB, and once I can put in 3 Authority of the Consuls from the SB it feels like an unlosable matchup (unless I lose to variance and draw a ***** ton of lands or no lands at all)
Claim/fame isn't a burn card. It makes our overall strategy worse.
Are there times it works and has power? Sure.
Are there times we draw it and needed any burn spell instead and cry? Yup.
Devil is bad. Just because you found a reanimate card, it's still bad.
Yes nobody have the different opinion must play same deck all time. any who have the new idea any who want 2 do something different shame on u. each burn have 2 be the same blah blah blah. watch video the man have lot of fun. he win 13 lose 3. good 4 any who want have fun
You must be a little confused as to where you are. This isn't the "lets figure out what the most fun way to play a burn deck is" thread. This tier 1 competitive discussion thread is several years old and reflects the theorycrafting/work of thousands of burn players attempting to make Burn the best deck it can be.
Claim / Fame does not belong in Burn. Vexing Devil only belongs if you are running a budget version and don't intend to take it to tournaments or anything. Imagine it's turn 4, you're in topdeck mode and your opponent is at 3 life. This is a scenario any burn player is quite used to finding themselves in. Topdeck mode is part of what makes burn great: When it comes down to it we basically run 3 or so spells and then dozens of versions of those spells. When we're in topdeck mode we want to draw that lightning bolt that closes the game out, not a claim/fame to reanimate a guide/swiftspear into their 3 drop and 4 drop blockers, or a vexing devil that they can fatal push.
This deck really hasn't made much of a splash, but I think it could be very well positioned with the release of Riddleform, so I thought I'd do a breakdown of the current metagame and see where we stand:
Top tier:
Zombies
Monument
Both decks play their hands as quick as possible, both have plenty of value and recursion, and both can kill quite quickly. The best cards we can run vs zombies is Magma Spray, followed by Incendiary Flow, and the best cards we can run vs Monument is Abrade (as it can kill their threats or their monument) followed by Sweltering Suns/other sweepers that do 3 damage. Thing in the Ice is solid vs both. The fact that both of these decks are the top tier is a solid reason to run this deck, as we definitely have a favored matchup vs both.
Monument is definitely the tougher matchup, they have flying blockers and can interact via spell quellers as well as a very solid clock. Sweepers win that matchup.
Tier 2:
Temur Energy
Mardu Ballista
URx Control
Energy is a really tough matchup, they have more than enough removal for all of our threats while we don't really have enough for theirs. Magma Spray is much less valuable here and they really don't run artifacts so Abrade isn't good either. Sweltering Suns is a good card for the matchup, assuming you can resolve it before their Bristling Hydras or Longtusk Cubs can get to 4 toughness. Hour of Devastation is a solid addition to our sb for this matchup, and unsummon is good too. Thing in the Ice actually pretty significantly helps this matchup as an early blocker and a pseudo wipe that removes counters from cub and hydra. This is a midrange deck and the best way we could increase our win percentage against them is to give ourselves some much-needed recursion/grindyness. Grapple with the Past is great for this matchup, as is Blossoming Defense. If you're staying in UR then Unsummon can pull double duty as protection for our own critters or "removal" for theirs. Best when backed up by an Essence Scatter or Censor to counter their recast.
Ballista is an easier matchup, but still very grindy. The presence of these 2 decks as such a force in the meta is a very good argument for going Temur and including Grapple with the Past and/or Blossoming Defense. Magma Spray is much better here than vs temur energy, and Abrade has a lot more targets too. Sweepers are still great vs both these matchups (as well as the top tier matchups)which seems to me to be very strong arguement to run at least 3 Sweltering Suns MB alongside 4 Thing in the Ice.
Control is our worst matchup easily. It's why all of my sideboards include 6 slots dedicated almost entirely to the control matchup. I run 3x Dispel and 3x Negate. An argument could be made for Fevered Visions, which is very good vs control, or for Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but the issue with both is actually resolving one. I'm open to suggestions on this matchup.
Tier 3
Red Deck Wins
Emerge
Misc Decks
From here on out it's quite tough to plan for these matchups because the decks vary so much. Generally speaking, Abrade is great and Magma Spray is great and Sweltering Suns is great. Emerge is a tough matchup and one of the easiest ways to deal with it is to kill off their emerge sac targets while they are tapped out. Counterspells like Essence Scatter are also awesome for the Emerge matchup, as you can potentially 2-for-1 them by countering their emerged critter.
Notes: One obvious theme is that red is great vs most of the meta.Magma Spray and Abrade and Sweltering Suns are great vs the top tier, good vs Mardu Ballista, and Sweltering Suns is good vs Temur Energy. Spray and Abrade aren't entirely worthless vs energy, but there are lots of critters that dodge them entirely. Spray/Abrade/Suns is also a solid removal suite against unknown/rogue decks.
We need to be able to grind better. Midrange makes up a huge chunk of the meta, and UR is not a great midrange color combo. We need more recursion to be able to survive the long and grindy matchups, and to me it seems like going Temur is the best way to do this. Grapple with the Past is great, Blossoming Defense is solid. I'm not sure what the other grindy options are, white doesn't give us much and neither does black in terms of grindyness. One solution instead of running temur would be to run more grindy pw's like Chandra, but then that lowers the I/S count for our big drakes and cheap serpents and TITI flips, which are already lowered to make room for Riddleform. One possible solution is Bloodwater Entity which gives us a nice 2/2 flying body with prowess and guarantees our next draw to be gas. It can't bring back a creature or a riddleform though, but it can bring back a sweeper or something else. Now that we're playing Riddleform, Benefaction of Rhonas seems like it could be great for this role, dumping useless lands and filling our gy with i/s's while giving us new critters. Champion of Wits is also interesting, both as a 3 mana faithless looting stapled to a 2/1 body and for the late-game ability to get a 4/4 and draw 4 discard 2. CoW does decrease our i/s count however.
We need an answer for creatures with toughness 4 or more. Harnessed Energy won't do the trick as we don't run the full energy suite. This is as good a reason as any to run W or B instead of G as our splash. White has all sorts of great removal for critters like Glorybringer or Bristling Hydra or whatever x/4 is currently beating your face. Black has fewer answers but has more recursion to handle our other weaknesses.
Right now I'm contemplating either a strict UR list running the 60 I posted earlier with a sideboard containing Unsummon, Bloodwater Entity, and Champion of Wits, or a Temur list containing Grapple with the Past, Benefaction of Rhonas, or Bloodwater Entity, or trying a Grixis list with Never // Return, Wander in Death.
Finally, a fourth route I've been considering would be to try 4 colors. The pieces are there and thankfully the landbase isn't too challenging if you toss in a playset of Attune with Aether, Aether Hubs, etc. The issue there is that Cryptic Serpent and Bedlam Reveler are both UU or RR creatures, which is really tough for a 4c mana base.
Uncage is a fantastic sideboard card for Devoted Druid combo, where it will likely see play as a 2-of for grindy matchups. 4 and 5 mana is easy for that deck as soon as turn 3, and being able to X = 3 for Witness, Rallier, Rhonas, or Witness, Rallier, Finks, or X = 2 for Druid & Vizier is fantastic. It won't see maindeck play because it's a sorcery and doesn't put them onto the battlefield, but expect to see it in sideboards.
We most certainly did not have the effect on those cards because they only targeted a limited number of creatures and didn't provide trample. Nor did they add another function like despair does.
So what kind of deck do you think:
1) will have at least 3 creatures in play, or
2) has creatures with high enough power and no innate evasion, or
3) plays both green and black
in order to make this worth playing over Warriors' Lesson?
1) Dredge
2) Dredge
3) Dredge
As a dredge player, I typically lose games in one of 4 ways: 1) Variance, 2) Combo decks that I can't interact with, 3) They hit grave hate before turn 3, 4) They stabilize and land enough solid blockers like goyfs/deaths shadow/tasigur to be able to stop my amalgams and ghasts from connecting to eek out that last 4 or 5 damage.
Ultimately, it may not make the cut in the end but the idea of being able to give my ghasts and my amalgams menace and potentially empty their hands with one attack is quite appealing. The discard is up to them, so that's not as good but if i'm facing down an anger of the gods + 3 random cards in my opponent's hand, I'd rather just have to deal with Anger than have to deal with anger + whatever else comes afterwards. (This assuming that they pitch the 3 randoms for "Despair"'s effect)
1
I also believe Eldamaris Call is being slept on. Possibly as inclusion in the above-mentioned combo deck but also in many other creature decks that might like a toolbox approach.
1
1
1
This point cannot be overstated. BGx lists typically run 3-4 sideboard slots dedicated solely to *****ty cards like fulminator mage. This safely lets them ditch him entirely, as well as any other anti-tron tech they had. Frees up considerable space to improve the other matchups that need improvement.
1
I'm actually thinking i may do cast out over both, since it costs the same as vraskas but hits much more.
One thing I will say about the list I posted that runs 6-8 wrath effects, I have a nearly 100% winrate vs temur energy and the new dino deck. That said, Ramured is a real tough matchup.
1
That said, in 166 matches i've won 128.
3 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Tocatli Honor Guard
4 Opt
4 Essence Scatter
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Supreme Will
4 Fumigate
4 Settle the Wreckage
2 Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the sunken ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Fetid Pools
3 Irrigated Farmland
2 Concealed Courtyard
3 Swamp
3 Island
5 Plains
2 The Scarab God
3 Never // Return
3 Authority of the Consuls
3 Spell Pierce
4 Negate
The biggest choice I made when starting was based on the meta. Looking at almost all of the top8 results of the past several various competitive tournaments, leagues, etc, every deck seems like a creature-based deck that wants to win with 2-3 critters on the board. That plus the newly printed Carnage Tyrant suggests to me that the IXA meta will be filled with decks that win with creatures. One other VERY important fact is that the 3 biggest reasons to not go ham on board wipes just rotated (avacyn, gideon ally of zendikar, selfless spirit)
Which is why I run 8 wrath effects.
Fumigate is an allstar once you get to 5 lands, which you will because of all the card filtration. Since this deck only runs 1 creature, Tocatli Honor Guard, what this card basically reads is 3WW: Destroy all your opponent's creatures, you gain 1 life for each creature killed this way. Pretty sweet.
Settle the Wreckage is F**KING INCREDIBLE. At 4 mana, it's just fast enough to save us vs Ramunap Red if we're on the draw, as even their quickest starts won't have us anywhere near dead by their turn 4. It's also the best answer we have vs Hazoret.
Tocatli Honor Guard is the only creature in the deck and he puts in some WORK. At 1/3, he's the perfect size chump blocker vs most cards in ramured, and his static ability turns earthshaker khenra and the rest of their etb critters into vastly worse versions of themselves. He's also a fantastic play vs Temur Energy, bricking their entire deck until removed. He also shuts down gearhulks and much much more. Truly an incredible card that hits a ton of cards that are very popular right now. He's easy to remove at 3 toughness, but even if he eats a lightning strike, it's worth it.
Search for Azcantl is low-key my favorite card in the deck. I only run 2 because it's legendary, but the first mode is a fantastic filtration engine, and the 2nd mode is insane inevitability that combos great once you windmill slam down your approach. Once it flips it almost feels like you're playing with divining top in standard, but better.
the rest of the choices are fairly obvious, 4x essence scatter mainboard over censors or anything else because creatures are the hottness in this meta. Essence Scatter is the best counter post-rotation no doubt in my mind, and I've never regretted having 4 mb. Once we're in g2 i can swap out a few or all if need be.
I'd love any thoughts. Scarab God is in my sb as my best way to win around a Gideon of the Trials which is otherwise a pretty tough-to-beat play vs this deck. He's also decent at gy interaction as all the gy cards right now are creatures and you can respond to their god pharaohs gift targeting a critter by stealing it yourself, if you were bad enough to let gift hit the battlefield and reach their combat step.
I've been considering vraska's contempt over never/return in the sb because i find myself wanting more ways to deal with hazoret than I currently have. If only declaration in stone were still legal.
The deck plays like a cross between a prison deck and a control deck. 8 wrath effects means I spend the first several turns establishing a board state with cards like honor guard and search, while using supreme will and essence scatter to keep their board relatively controlled. I will often let them resolve a few creatures turns 3 and 4, even allowing them to take a swing or two so they over-extend, then start raining down the fumigates and wrath-to-exiles. Finish off with Approach as a wincon and serve over-easy with a side of saltiness as they watch you durdle durdle durdle into a win.
I don't want to oversell this, but I have yet to face a deck that I don't think I have at least a 50% matchup against, and vs most decks (like ramured, temur energy, and other grindy creature-based midrange decks) I almost feel like i'm facerolling unless they have really good draws. Ramured is obviously the toughest matchup, although 8x wrath effects against a deck with zero protection from a wrath is pretty good MB, and once I can put in 3 Authority of the Consuls from the SB it feels like an unlosable matchup (unless I lose to variance and draw a ***** ton of lands or no lands at all)
1
You must be a little confused as to where you are. This isn't the "lets figure out what the most fun way to play a burn deck is" thread. This tier 1 competitive discussion thread is several years old and reflects the theorycrafting/work of thousands of burn players attempting to make Burn the best deck it can be.
Claim / Fame does not belong in Burn. Vexing Devil only belongs if you are running a budget version and don't intend to take it to tournaments or anything. Imagine it's turn 4, you're in topdeck mode and your opponent is at 3 life. This is a scenario any burn player is quite used to finding themselves in. Topdeck mode is part of what makes burn great: When it comes down to it we basically run 3 or so spells and then dozens of versions of those spells. When we're in topdeck mode we want to draw that lightning bolt that closes the game out, not a claim/fame to reanimate a guide/swiftspear into their 3 drop and 4 drop blockers, or a vexing devil that they can fatal push.
1
Top tier:
Zombies
Monument
Both decks play their hands as quick as possible, both have plenty of value and recursion, and both can kill quite quickly. The best cards we can run vs zombies is Magma Spray, followed by Incendiary Flow, and the best cards we can run vs Monument is Abrade (as it can kill their threats or their monument) followed by Sweltering Suns/other sweepers that do 3 damage. Thing in the Ice is solid vs both. The fact that both of these decks are the top tier is a solid reason to run this deck, as we definitely have a favored matchup vs both.
Monument is definitely the tougher matchup, they have flying blockers and can interact via spell quellers as well as a very solid clock. Sweepers win that matchup.
Tier 2:
Temur Energy
Mardu Ballista
URx Control
Energy is a really tough matchup, they have more than enough removal for all of our threats while we don't really have enough for theirs. Magma Spray is much less valuable here and they really don't run artifacts so Abrade isn't good either. Sweltering Suns is a good card for the matchup, assuming you can resolve it before their Bristling Hydras or Longtusk Cubs can get to 4 toughness. Hour of Devastation is a solid addition to our sb for this matchup, and unsummon is good too. Thing in the Ice actually pretty significantly helps this matchup as an early blocker and a pseudo wipe that removes counters from cub and hydra. This is a midrange deck and the best way we could increase our win percentage against them is to give ourselves some much-needed recursion/grindyness. Grapple with the Past is great for this matchup, as is Blossoming Defense. If you're staying in UR then Unsummon can pull double duty as protection for our own critters or "removal" for theirs. Best when backed up by an Essence Scatter or Censor to counter their recast.
Ballista is an easier matchup, but still very grindy. The presence of these 2 decks as such a force in the meta is a very good argument for going Temur and including Grapple with the Past and/or Blossoming Defense. Magma Spray is much better here than vs temur energy, and Abrade has a lot more targets too. Sweepers are still great vs both these matchups (as well as the top tier matchups)which seems to me to be very strong arguement to run at least 3 Sweltering Suns MB alongside 4 Thing in the Ice.
Control is our worst matchup easily. It's why all of my sideboards include 6 slots dedicated almost entirely to the control matchup. I run 3x Dispel and 3x Negate. An argument could be made for Fevered Visions, which is very good vs control, or for Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but the issue with both is actually resolving one. I'm open to suggestions on this matchup.
Tier 3
Red Deck Wins
Emerge
Misc Decks
From here on out it's quite tough to plan for these matchups because the decks vary so much. Generally speaking, Abrade is great and Magma Spray is great and Sweltering Suns is great. Emerge is a tough matchup and one of the easiest ways to deal with it is to kill off their emerge sac targets while they are tapped out. Counterspells like Essence Scatter are also awesome for the Emerge matchup, as you can potentially 2-for-1 them by countering their emerged critter.
Notes:
One obvious theme is that red is great vs most of the meta. Magma Spray and Abrade and Sweltering Suns are great vs the top tier, good vs Mardu Ballista, and Sweltering Suns is good vs Temur Energy. Spray and Abrade aren't entirely worthless vs energy, but there are lots of critters that dodge them entirely. Spray/Abrade/Suns is also a solid removal suite against unknown/rogue decks.
We need to be able to grind better. Midrange makes up a huge chunk of the meta, and UR is not a great midrange color combo. We need more recursion to be able to survive the long and grindy matchups, and to me it seems like going Temur is the best way to do this. Grapple with the Past is great, Blossoming Defense is solid. I'm not sure what the other grindy options are, white doesn't give us much and neither does black in terms of grindyness. One solution instead of running temur would be to run more grindy pw's like Chandra, but then that lowers the I/S count for our big drakes and cheap serpents and TITI flips, which are already lowered to make room for Riddleform. One possible solution is Bloodwater Entity which gives us a nice 2/2 flying body with prowess and guarantees our next draw to be gas. It can't bring back a creature or a riddleform though, but it can bring back a sweeper or something else. Now that we're playing Riddleform, Benefaction of Rhonas seems like it could be great for this role, dumping useless lands and filling our gy with i/s's while giving us new critters. Champion of Wits is also interesting, both as a 3 mana faithless looting stapled to a 2/1 body and for the late-game ability to get a 4/4 and draw 4 discard 2. CoW does decrease our i/s count however.
We need an answer for creatures with toughness 4 or more. Harnessed Energy won't do the trick as we don't run the full energy suite. This is as good a reason as any to run W or B instead of G as our splash. White has all sorts of great removal for critters like Glorybringer or Bristling Hydra or whatever x/4 is currently beating your face. Black has fewer answers but has more recursion to handle our other weaknesses.
Right now I'm contemplating either a strict UR list running the 60 I posted earlier with a sideboard containing Unsummon, Bloodwater Entity, and Champion of Wits, or a Temur list containing Grapple with the Past, Benefaction of Rhonas, or Bloodwater Entity, or trying a Grixis list with Never // Return, Wander in Death.
Finally, a fourth route I've been considering would be to try 4 colors. The pieces are there and thankfully the landbase isn't too challenging if you toss in a playset of Attune with Aether, Aether Hubs, etc. The issue there is that Cryptic Serpent and Bedlam Reveler are both UU or RR creatures, which is really tough for a 4c mana base.
1
1
1) Dredge
2) Dredge
3) Dredge
As a dredge player, I typically lose games in one of 4 ways: 1) Variance, 2) Combo decks that I can't interact with, 3) They hit grave hate before turn 3, 4) They stabilize and land enough solid blockers like goyfs/deaths shadow/tasigur to be able to stop my amalgams and ghasts from connecting to eek out that last 4 or 5 damage.
Ultimately, it may not make the cut in the end but the idea of being able to give my ghasts and my amalgams menace and potentially empty their hands with one attack is quite appealing. The discard is up to them, so that's not as good but if i'm facing down an anger of the gods + 3 random cards in my opponent's hand, I'd rather just have to deal with Anger than have to deal with anger + whatever else comes afterwards. (This assuming that they pitch the 3 randoms for "Despair"'s effect)