Notes on the manabase:
Sunbaked Canyon has seemed good enough that leaning less into fetch lands is something I’m interested in doing. I’m down to 7 fetches (good for turn 2 instant Searing Blaze two thirds of the time) and 0 Grim Lavamancer in the 75. Lavamancer has been difficult to turn on early game with less ways to get cards into the bin for 0 mana.
I still think Inspiring Vantage is the best land in the deck. Sunbaked Canyon plays nicely alongside it, as it can get your third land off the board sometimes so that a mid-game Vantage comes into play untapped. I do not want to cut any Vantages given how often Burn is racing in the current format.
Sunbaked Canyon has been good enough at helping find an extra spell in long and drawn out games, that I’m comfortable not running any extra material Burn spells in the board like Exquisite Firecraft. I think having Skullcracks to board in for Searing Blazes when they have no/minimal targets is good enough vs UWx control and similar decks.
I love going up to 20 lands to increase frequency in making the third land drop, while having good flood mitigation baked into the manabase.
On the sideboard:
The Hogaak matchup has not been so horrific that I want to take extreme measures. I’m exactly 50% in the matchup so far (which does make the matchup unfavorable, considering my general winrate) and it’s not as bad as the Dredge matchup is. A quick clock and a little GY disruption from Crypt is often enough to get there. Winning the die-roll feels critical, similar to the Humans matchup. A very large % of my games have gone to the pilot on the play. I continue to dislike Rest in Peace in Burn, as current graveyard decks want to race you, and they have tempo positive answers to RIP. The Hogaak matchup often comes down to a timely topdecked Burn spell to secure a race to a turn 4 kill. RIP is also frequently too slow on the draw to stop Hogaak from being cast on turn 2. I strongly recommend doing your homework on this matchup, as there are many small decision points for both players that can win/lose games.
I dislike playing any 3 mana cards in the board, as Sunbaked Canyon effectly costs 2 mana to cycle. The loosest slot currently is the third Searing Blood, and I have not found another option yet that I like more since removing Grim Lavamancer from the 75.
I will continue to respect the new Urza Thopter/Sword deck with at least 2-3 Smash to Smithereens.
Yeah, I tend to agree. I don't think that it's a revolutionary card of any kind. In addition to several hundred matches of Burn since the printing of Spectacle cards, including more than 50 with RB + LUtS, I'm taking this GP's data as another data point that supports the opinion I have of LUtS. It's just another Lightning Strike with upside, and not clearly better than other Lightning Strike+ cards that see play like Boros Charm, Lightning Helix, and Skullcrack.
Skewer seems to be fairly universally acceptable. I haven't seen very many people oppose it, with the exception of that Modern Nexus article, which didn't really make any compelling arguments, IMO.
Ravnica Allegiance brought Burn two potential improvements: Skewer the Critics and Light Up the Stage. Let’s try to figure out whether these cards actually constitute an improvement or not, and if so, how big of an improvement.
Skewer the CriticsLight Up the Stage
The problem is that we don’t have a proper control group for one of the two cards. Virtually none of Toronto’s Burn players failed to update their decks with Skewer the Critics. A grand total of five players ran none, and all of them failed to get to Sunday. That may make Burn decks with Skewer better, but it could just as well mean that players who don’t keep up with trends are generally more prone to losing.
Across the GPs in Port- and Oakland, 17.9% of the then still Skewerless Burn players qualified for the second day. 20% is an improvement but falls within the range of natural fluctuation. I’m inclined to take the almost universal adoption of Skewer as evidence of the card’s merits. Though that is all we have to go by, really. The data tells us no more than that it wasn’t any kind of game changer.
Light Up the Stage is a more interesting case, if only because we find the perfect control group within our sample. Among the Burn players whose lists are available to me, 45 ran Light Up the Stage and 45 didn’t. This success story is one the card itself couldn’t live up to, unfortunately. Only six players who lit up the stage made it to the second stage of the tournament, whereas 12 of those without Light did.
Once there, light Burn players again fared way worse than heavy Burn players. None of the versions with Light Up the Stage placed anyone within the Top 100, whereas five of the versions without it did. For reference, here are the lists of the highest finisher with a full playset and of the highest finisher with zero copies:"
While not statistically significant, 45 decks with and 45 decks without Light Up the Stage is a convenient comparison, if nothing else.
Played 2 more leagues today, and got a 3-2 and a 5-0, that makes 13-2 over 3 leagues (first league was a 5-0 as well).
Notably, I won a game vs Grixis Death Shadow that no 2 cmc card would have won, I was able to cast Skewer for lethal after Rift Bolt came off suspend, resolved, Helix was countered, and Skewer finished the game with 3 lands in play.
26 more games with Skewer x 4. I'm all but sold now, as I've only had cast it for 3 mana twice. I'm fairly confident that it's consistent enough to play 4 copies:
I've played 36 games since adding 4 Skewer the Critics. I've tried to log what happened when I saw them. Here's the casting turn:
0
8
10
3
2
0
2
1
Here's the count of ways I triggered it (or didn't):
3CMC - 2
Boros Charm - 4
Eidolon Trigger - 1
Fetch - 1
Goblin Guide - 3
Lava Spike - 2
Lightning Bolt - 2
Not cast - 3
Rift Bolt - 11
I've been able to play 20 test games on MTGO with 4 copies of Skewer, and it has seemed good enough to me. I've had minimal awkwardness with the card, and I'm fairly sold on 4 copies of it. Of note, I had 1 game where I started with 3 copies of Skewer in hand, and cast them all by turn 4.
Only card I see myself playing is Fanatical Firebrand. Going to start post set rotation with a pretty aggressive slant (10 1 drops, maindeck a Key to the City).
I think that if you’re looking to really beat the mirror, then you play Harvester. Its abilities to crew after stun effects and gain life are very good. However, I do think it is getting worse with Harsh Mentor and Ferocidon being in a large number of RR lists now. I’m currently off Harvester because of that. It’s not quite as good as it used to be, and I feel like I have more matchups to have board cards for now (Tokens, Vampires etc) that require some of the sideboard slots that used to be devoted to the mirror.
It's not quite that simple. If you look at the post again, you'll notice that while the extra two Ferocidon come in for most matchups, it's not always the same things coming out.
Agreed. I’ve thought about 4 main Ferocidon, and I just don’t see anything worth taking out against the field. I want 7 2 mana/3 damage removal spells and 7 2 mana creatures. I want 4 Shock. I definitely want 4 Hazoret and 4 Earthshaker Khenra. I want 8 1 mana creatures and 24 lands. That leaves Ahn-Crop Crasher vs Rampaging Ferocidon. I want Ahn-Crop Crasher more, because it’s a more proactive card for game 1. More Ferocidon post board makes sense to me, because more life gain frequently comes in against RDW post board, and sometimes Ferocidon is a liability, especially in multiples (Mardu/BB Aggro).
It might look a little crazy at first, but having maindeck hate for the worst matchup in the format has freed up some sideboard slots for decks like tokens, and the other aggro decks that are popping up in my area (Mardu, BR, BB).
I know it's a small sample size, but I've won 16/20 games at my last 5 weeklies at two different stores, including 3-1 vs Temur Energy, and going 4-0 twice. I've also tested favorably against energy decks (BUG and RUG against a few different players/builds of the decks).
Harsh Mentor and Rampaging Ferocidon have swung more than their fair share of games. Harsh Mentor makes Aethersphere Harvester a sad card, as well as all of the activated abilities in Energy decks, and hits utilities lands in control decks, the mirror. Ferocidon turning off lifegain has swung UW approach games several times, and seeing Ferocidon get hit by Essence Extraction against UB feels really good too.
I'm missing out on two key cards with this build, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, and Pia Nalaar. I know this may seem like heresy, but I don't like Kari Zev with maindeck Ferocidon, and it has actually created a weird dynamic in the mirror when an opponent has a Kari Zev pre-board. They stop attacking with her more often than not. Ferocidon is good against the Pia Nalaar and Aethersphere Harvester board plan (perhaps not quite as good as that sideboard plan), and I've been able to devote more sideboard cards towards other matchups that are more swingable (like tokens and other aggro decks).
I've never been lower on Chandra, Torch of Defiance in the maindeck. There are too many matchups where it's hard to block up for her (Mardu, BB, Tokens, and the Mirror). I also find myself only bringing her in against Energy and Control decks for reach/lategame value.
Sideboarding isn't quite set in stone, but I've been doing the following:
Eidolon of Rhetoric is mostly a sideboard card for storm, so if that's not expected, I'd want to add extra removal, like another Sunlance (small creature/mana dork decks) or a Declaration in Stone (token/Lingering Souls decks). I run a Dec in Stone along with 1 Wrath of God and 1 Dusk // Dawn as my sweeper package. Usually 2/3 of those can come in when a matchup calls for sweepers. Lastly, Dec in Stone is great vs Blade Splicer tokens in the mirror as well.
I don't think I'd want to be casting any creature for 8 mana in modern. Akroma, Angel of Wrath probably isn't where you want to be. Maybe you mean Akroma, Angel of Fury? Kind of gimmicky, but can blow people out.
Hey guys im building the mono white version which one is better for sideboard rest in peace or relic of progenitus?
I run a spread because in some matchups I don't want to bring it all in:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rest in Peace
Cage can come in against Collected Company/Chord of Calling/Eldritch Evolution decks, Relics come in against decks that leverage their graveyards (Snapcaster Mage, Lingering Souls, Delve Fatty and Tamogoyf) decks. RIP comes in against dedicated graveyard decks (Dredge, Living End, Reanimator type decks) and Junk.
I’ve won roughly 2/3 of my 50 matches so far and arrived at this list after a little bit of tweaking:
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Instants/Sorceries
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Helix
4 Searing Blaze
4 Rift Bolt
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Sunbaked Canyon
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Path to Exile
3 Searing Blood
4 Skullcrack
3 Smash to Smithereens
Notes on the manabase:
Sunbaked Canyon has seemed good enough that leaning less into fetch lands is something I’m interested in doing. I’m down to 7 fetches (good for turn 2 instant Searing Blaze two thirds of the time) and 0 Grim Lavamancer in the 75. Lavamancer has been difficult to turn on early game with less ways to get cards into the bin for 0 mana.
I still think Inspiring Vantage is the best land in the deck. Sunbaked Canyon plays nicely alongside it, as it can get your third land off the board sometimes so that a mid-game Vantage comes into play untapped. I do not want to cut any Vantages given how often Burn is racing in the current format.
Sunbaked Canyon has been good enough at helping find an extra spell in long and drawn out games, that I’m comfortable not running any extra material Burn spells in the board like Exquisite Firecraft. I think having Skullcracks to board in for Searing Blazes when they have no/minimal targets is good enough vs UWx control and similar decks.
I love going up to 20 lands to increase frequency in making the third land drop, while having good flood mitigation baked into the manabase.
On the sideboard:
The Hogaak matchup has not been so horrific that I want to take extreme measures. I’m exactly 50% in the matchup so far (which does make the matchup unfavorable, considering my general winrate) and it’s not as bad as the Dredge matchup is. A quick clock and a little GY disruption from Crypt is often enough to get there. Winning the die-roll feels critical, similar to the Humans matchup. A very large % of my games have gone to the pilot on the play. I continue to dislike Rest in Peace in Burn, as current graveyard decks want to race you, and they have tempo positive answers to RIP. The Hogaak matchup often comes down to a timely topdecked Burn spell to secure a race to a turn 4 kill. RIP is also frequently too slow on the draw to stop Hogaak from being cast on turn 2. I strongly recommend doing your homework on this matchup, as there are many small decision points for both players that can win/lose games.
I dislike playing any 3 mana cards in the board, as Sunbaked Canyon effectly costs 2 mana to cycle. The loosest slot currently is the third Searing Blood, and I have not found another option yet that I like more since removing Grim Lavamancer from the 75.
I will continue to respect the new Urza Thopter/Sword deck with at least 2-3 Smash to Smithereens.
Bump in the Night doesn't deal damage. Worship cares about damage.
Skewer seems to be fairly universally acceptable. I haven't seen very many people oppose it, with the exception of that Modern Nexus article, which didn't really make any compelling arguments, IMO.
Excerpt from the article:
"A Skewed Stage
Ravnica Allegiance brought Burn two potential improvements: Skewer the Critics and Light Up the Stage. Let’s try to figure out whether these cards actually constitute an improvement or not, and if so, how big of an improvement.
Skewer the CriticsLight Up the Stage
The problem is that we don’t have a proper control group for one of the two cards. Virtually none of Toronto’s Burn players failed to update their decks with Skewer the Critics. A grand total of five players ran none, and all of them failed to get to Sunday. That may make Burn decks with Skewer better, but it could just as well mean that players who don’t keep up with trends are generally more prone to losing.
Across the GPs in Port- and Oakland, 17.9% of the then still Skewerless Burn players qualified for the second day. 20% is an improvement but falls within the range of natural fluctuation. I’m inclined to take the almost universal adoption of Skewer as evidence of the card’s merits. Though that is all we have to go by, really. The data tells us no more than that it wasn’t any kind of game changer.
Light Up the Stage is a more interesting case, if only because we find the perfect control group within our sample. Among the Burn players whose lists are available to me, 45 ran Light Up the Stage and 45 didn’t. This success story is one the card itself couldn’t live up to, unfortunately. Only six players who lit up the stage made it to the second stage of the tournament, whereas 12 of those without Light did.
Once there, light Burn players again fared way worse than heavy Burn players. None of the versions with Light Up the Stage placed anyone within the Top 100, whereas five of the versions without it did. For reference, here are the lists of the highest finisher with a full playset and of the highest finisher with zero copies:"
While not statistically significant, 45 decks with and 45 decks without Light Up the Stage is a convenient comparison, if nothing else.
Starting the paper grind tomorrow with this after about 100 matches on MTGO with RW Burn:
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Spells (29)
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Helix
3 Searing Blaze
2 Skullcrack
4 Rift Bolt
4 Skewer the Critics
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Path to Exile
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Searing Blaze
2 Searing Blood
2 Skullcrack
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Risk Factor
Notably, I won a game vs Grixis Death Shadow that no 2 cmc card would have won, I was able to cast Skewer for lethal after Rift Bolt came off suspend, resolved, Helix was countered, and Skewer finished the game with 3 lands in play.
26 more games with Skewer x 4. I'm all but sold now, as I've only had cast it for 3 mana twice. I'm fairly confident that it's consistent enough to play 4 copies:
Turn Cast:
Spectacle Triggers:
I've been able to play 20 test games on MTGO with 4 copies of Skewer, and it has seemed good enough to me. I've had minimal awkwardness with the card, and I'm fairly sold on 4 copies of it. Of note, I had 1 game where I started with 3 copies of Skewer in hand, and cast them all by turn 4.
Turn Cast:
Spectacle Triggers:
Agreed. I’ve thought about 4 main Ferocidon, and I just don’t see anything worth taking out against the field. I want 7 2 mana/3 damage removal spells and 7 2 mana creatures. I want 4 Shock. I definitely want 4 Hazoret and 4 Earthshaker Khenra. I want 8 1 mana creatures and 24 lands. That leaves Ahn-Crop Crasher vs Rampaging Ferocidon. I want Ahn-Crop Crasher more, because it’s a more proactive card for game 1. More Ferocidon post board makes sense to me, because more life gain frequently comes in against RDW post board, and sometimes Ferocidon is a liability, especially in multiples (Mardu/BB Aggro).
4 Bomat Courier
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Harsh Mentor
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Shock
3 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
Lands:
4 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Sunscorched Desert
15 Mountain
2 Chandra's Defeat
2 Magma Spray
1 Abrade
1 Harsh Mentor
1 Key to the City
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Glorybringer
It might look a little crazy at first, but having maindeck hate for the worst matchup in the format has freed up some sideboard slots for decks like tokens, and the other aggro decks that are popping up in my area (Mardu, BR, BB).
I know it's a small sample size, but I've won 16/20 games at my last 5 weeklies at two different stores, including 3-1 vs Temur Energy, and going 4-0 twice. I've also tested favorably against energy decks (BUG and RUG against a few different players/builds of the decks).
Harsh Mentor and Rampaging Ferocidon have swung more than their fair share of games. Harsh Mentor makes Aethersphere Harvester a sad card, as well as all of the activated abilities in Energy decks, and hits utilities lands in control decks, the mirror. Ferocidon turning off lifegain has swung UW approach games several times, and seeing Ferocidon get hit by Essence Extraction against UB feels really good too.
I'm missing out on two key cards with this build, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, and Pia Nalaar. I know this may seem like heresy, but I don't like Kari Zev with maindeck Ferocidon, and it has actually created a weird dynamic in the mirror when an opponent has a Kari Zev pre-board. They stop attacking with her more often than not. Ferocidon is good against the Pia Nalaar and Aethersphere Harvester board plan (perhaps not quite as good as that sideboard plan), and I've been able to devote more sideboard cards towards other matchups that are more swingable (like tokens and other aggro decks).
I've never been lower on Chandra, Torch of Defiance in the maindeck. There are too many matchups where it's hard to block up for her (Mardu, BB, Tokens, and the Mirror). I also find myself only bringing her in against Energy and Control decks for reach/lategame value.
Sideboarding isn't quite set in stone, but I've been doing the following:
RDW:
Chandra's Defeat +2
Magma Spray +2
Abrade +1
Harsh Mentor +1
Rampaging Ferocidon +2
Lightning Strike -4
Ahn-Crop Crasher -4
Temur Energy:
Abrade +1
Harsh Mentor +1
Rampaging Ferocidon +2
Chandra, Torch of Defiance +2
Ahn-Crop Crasher -2
Shock -4
Sultai Energy:
Abrade +1
Harsh Mentor +1
Rampaging Ferocidon +2
Chandra, Torch of Defiance +2
Glorybringer +2
Ahn-Crop Crasher -4
Shock -4
Dimir/Grixis Control
Harsh Mentor +1
Rampaging Ferocidon +2
Chandra, Torch of Defiance +2
Glorybringer +2
Shock -4
Abrade -3
UW Approach
Harsh Mentor +1
Rampaging Ferocidon +2
Chandra, Torch of Defiance +2
Shock -4
Abrade -1
Esper Gift
Magma Spray +2
Abrade +1
Harsh Mentor +1
Ahn-Crop Crasher -4
Tokens
Abrade +1
Harsh Mentor +1
Key to the City +1
Rampaging Ferocidon +2
Glorybringer +2
Ahn-Crop Crasher -3
Shock -4
Mardu/BB Aggro
Magma Spray +2
Abrade +1
Harsh Mentor +1
Ahn-Crop Crasher -4
I'd drop the Kitchen Finks for Burrenton Forge-Tender. BFT comes down earlier against burn and blocks Goblin Guide and Monstery Swiftspear. It also shuts down red sweepers like Pyroclasm in GR Tron, Whipflare in Affinity, and Anger of the Gods in Jeskai/Scapeshift. If I played Finks, it would be in the maindeck.
Eidolon of Rhetoric is mostly a sideboard card for storm, so if that's not expected, I'd want to add extra removal, like another Sunlance (small creature/mana dork decks) or a Declaration in Stone (token/Lingering Souls decks). I run a Dec in Stone along with 1 Wrath of God and 1 Dusk // Dawn as my sweeper package. Usually 2/3 of those can come in when a matchup calls for sweepers. Lastly, Dec in Stone is great vs Blade Splicer tokens in the mirror as well.
I largely prefer Relic of Progenitus to Grafdigger's Cage if I don't expect Collected Company/Chord of Calling/Eldritch Evolution decks, and I especially like Relic for decks like Abzan and Jeskai. Opponents tend to bring in artifact/enchantment hate against D&T, so I mostly like graveyard hate that exiles cards due to that.
As for Birds of Paradise, I'd run a Gavony Township if I had Birds in my deck.
I run a spread because in some matchups I don't want to bring it all in:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rest in Peace
Cage can come in against Collected Company/Chord of Calling/Eldritch Evolution decks, Relics come in against decks that leverage their graveyards (Snapcaster Mage, Lingering Souls, Delve Fatty and Tamogoyf) decks. RIP comes in against dedicated graveyard decks (Dredge, Living End, Reanimator type decks) and Junk.