I've been testing a couple copies of Blood Moon in my sideboard. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm on the mana denial plan of Tangle Wire maindeck. But there are some games where Blood Moon is just better. Mainly against control and midrange-ish deck that run more lands. I haven't had a chance to test it against Stoneblade and Deathblade decks yet, but my hope is that it will help keep them off of their mana they need to cast True-Name Nemesis. And the rest of their spells, of course.
I agree that Pillar can potentially be good against Affinity, but it's very dependent on whether or not the Affinity player dumps their hand first. Which can be kind of a coin flip situation.
I only caution that you need to be careful when you play Pyrostatic Pillar. Auto-dropping it on turn 2 is not always correct. I played in an SCG event in St. Louis recently. I was playing Affinity and the opponent was playing Burn. He actually lost game 2 because he dropped the Pillar on turn 2. The problem was that I had already dumped out most of my hand. And the Pillar was hurting him worse than me at that point.
I'm currently testing out a 1-of each of Fire//Ice and Vapor Snag in the maindeck of my Goblin Guide list. I'm really like each more than Forked Bolt in my testing so far. I got to experience how good occasionally Vapor Snagging your own Snapcaster Mage can be last night.
I really like the use of Blood Moon. I really enjoy interfering with people's mana with Tangle Wire, and this is right up that alley. I can see the two doing a very similar thing, but each being better in particular situations/matchups. Honestly, this makes me want to squeeze 2 Blood Moon into my sideboard to help against Stoneblade/UWR/Deathblade matchups.
LOL. I always notice a burly, attractive man in the room. That said, bear hunting is not the purpose of the vacation. Hehehe. Basically, they each have a bunch of spots they want to visit and right now the only place I want to go to that's just for me is China Town. I thought maybe a good gaming shop would be a nice place to visit.
I'm going to be on vacation with the boyfriend and a friend of ours in Chicago the week after Easter. Anyone know of any good gaming shops I shouldn't pass up while I'm there?
I'm just beginning with the deck, but that sounds reasonable. I'm operating off of the Schneider list as a base for my own and bringing in more Burn seems to be the best strategy for that list. I would side out the Forces for Lava Spikes. I would also try to side in any extra Price of Progress I had, but I'm not sure what to cut for that. Maybe a Daze or a Forked Bolt??? I'm not sure what would be best for that...
8. I don't run tangle wire nor do I intend to purchase any, so that argument is basically irrelevant
So... basically, any build beside your own is irrelevant. And people shouldn't consider alternate build as valid. And it doesn't matter because that's not what you want to be doing with the deck. So you don't want to hear about how a card might be good in another situation.
I actually disagree on Arcbound Ravager. I used to be against him based on the anti-synergy argument as well. But the truth is that the anti-synergy isn't all that bad. And it's more than outweighed by Ravager's usefulness.
1. He hoses Bridge from Below. This improves the Dredge matchup.
2. He complicates combat math for the opponent. Meaning that however he chooses to block, you're going to get the trade or damage that YOU want, based on YOUR choices and lines of play, not his.
3. He allows you to retain on board value in spite of removal spells. Someone Lightning Bolt your Vault Skirge or Abrupt Decay your Cranial Plating. You just sac and retain some value. This improves the Burn, UR Delver, UWR Delver, and RUG Delver matchups.
4. He actually gives you maindeck game against a Reanimated Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. I have held off an Elesh Norn from being able to attack with a 5/5 or 6/6 Ravager on turn 2 many times. This improves the Reanimator matchup.
5. He hoses Batterskull. You can safely attack or block into a creature equipped with Batterskull and sacrifice before combat damage to prevent the lifegain. This improves the Stoneblade and Deathblade matchups.
6. He may not synergize well with Cranial Plating, but he does synergize well with Etched Champion. Allowing you to safely dump your counters on a creature that cannot be touched by colored spells or creatures.
7. Players will often sideboard Pithing Needle for Cranial Plating. Ravager essentially gives you backup copies of Plating that get around this or force your opponent to have multiple needles.
8. He can allow you to sacrifice your own Tangle Wire if you need to keep your stuff untapped. A useful trick for those of us on the Wire plan.
9. He gets around Humility. +1/+1 counters are not effected by Humility.
10. He eats extra copies of Mox Opal for value. Cranial Plating cannot get value out of these.
11. At his worst (when you don't want to sacrifice anything), Ravager is a 2 CMC creature that pumps another creature when it dies.
Arcbound Ravager is great once you start looking at the interactions it has with other decks. He is the artifact Tarmogoyf.
Hi. I'm decently experienced Burn player in Legacy. Recently, I began to get a little bored with my old Burn deck and decided to see if maybe I'd like to play UR instead. I proxied up the cards that I was missing to match a recent SCG top 16 list and I have to say that I loved the way that the deck played out. I think I'm sold on changing over from Burn to UR. So my question is this.
Does anyone have any specific starter advice/tips for the deck?
Follow up question - how do you feel about the popularity of Lava Spike in sideboards?
My favorite Commander out of my EDH collection is Ghave, Guru of Spores. He makes tokens, messes with combat math, enables combos, synergizes with Persist and Undying, and acts as a utility mana sink for big mana. What's not to love!?
So... basically, any build beside your own is irrelevant. And people shouldn't consider alternate build as valid. And it doesn't matter because that's not what you want to be doing with the deck. So you don't want to hear about how a card might be good in another situation.
Gotcha.
1. He hoses Bridge from Below. This improves the Dredge matchup.
2. He complicates combat math for the opponent. Meaning that however he chooses to block, you're going to get the trade or damage that YOU want, based on YOUR choices and lines of play, not his.
3. He allows you to retain on board value in spite of removal spells. Someone Lightning Bolt your Vault Skirge or Abrupt Decay your Cranial Plating. You just sac and retain some value. This improves the Burn, UR Delver, UWR Delver, and RUG Delver matchups.
4. He actually gives you maindeck game against a Reanimated Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. I have held off an Elesh Norn from being able to attack with a 5/5 or 6/6 Ravager on turn 2 many times. This improves the Reanimator matchup.
5. He hoses Batterskull. You can safely attack or block into a creature equipped with Batterskull and sacrifice before combat damage to prevent the lifegain. This improves the Stoneblade and Deathblade matchups.
6. He may not synergize well with Cranial Plating, but he does synergize well with Etched Champion. Allowing you to safely dump your counters on a creature that cannot be touched by colored spells or creatures.
7. Players will often sideboard Pithing Needle for Cranial Plating. Ravager essentially gives you backup copies of Plating that get around this or force your opponent to have multiple needles.
8. He can allow you to sacrifice your own Tangle Wire if you need to keep your stuff untapped. A useful trick for those of us on the Wire plan.
9. He gets around Humility. +1/+1 counters are not effected by Humility.
10. He eats extra copies of Mox Opal for value. Cranial Plating cannot get value out of these.
11. At his worst (when you don't want to sacrifice anything), Ravager is a 2 CMC creature that pumps another creature when it dies.
Arcbound Ravager is great once you start looking at the interactions it has with other decks. He is the artifact Tarmogoyf.
That said. I haven't really gotten into the kickstarter thing. But supporting others' projects seems cool.
Also, how much weight are you wanting to lose?
Does anyone have any specific starter advice/tips for the deck?
Follow up question - how do you feel about the popularity of Lava Spike in sideboards?