Hey....chin up there, Vegitas. A streak of bad luck at the card tables - it happens, gambler. First, ya gotta share your decklist alongside the performance, so we can get the full picture. Nevertheless........
Round 1 -- Merfolk? Yeeha, buckaroo. That's a good matchup. It's true that they have splashed white lately, but it's as linear as it gets for the shutdown. Bridge = Win. And, the neat thing is that Blood Moon, heretofore pretty useless except for mishra's factory, now has the ability shut down the multi-colored portion of their deck and their sideboard bring-ins. The merfolk fellas at my LGS dreads our matchups. I have lost exactly one round to merfolk - remember it vividly. You snagged a win with Goblin Rabblemaster - sharp - I usually take them out.
Sideboard:
+3 Anger of the Gods / +1 Torpor Orb / +1 Ratchet Bomb / +1 Witchbane Orb
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster / -1 Magus of the Moon / -1 Phyrexian Metamorph
Question for the Thread: After Sideboarding, To Goblin Rabblemaster or Not To Goblin Rabblemaster?
Round 2 -- EldraziTron: 2-0 Win = Royal Flush
Round 3 -- Blue Moon: Alright, Game 1: You mull to 5 and have 6 spells counterspelled in a row? That's abuse. And, the next game turns into draw-go where he has the answers again? That's cruel and unusual. Platinum Emperion is outrageous - agreed. Modern has a new Show and Tell auto-win play. And, against decks like ours, it's even better than Emrakul, the Aeons Torn....in game 1. Sideboard! Referencing the following deck list by Nick Des Marais https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/instant-deck-tech-madcap-moon-modern
>> In: 2 grafdigger's cage // 2 shattering spree // 1 ratchet bomb // 1 eidolon of the great revel // Hazoret the Fervent // Anger of the Gods
>> Out: 4 Blood Moon // 1 Ensnaring Bridge // 3 Tormenting Voice
Now, according to your synopsis, the word 'hopeless' was used in a matchup against the metalman. Nay, mountainman. Nay. There are 2 cards coming in which will demonstrate what happens when an Unstoppable Force meets an Immovable Object. Simply wait out the game until you draw Shattering Spree and fire it into the face of Emperion on replicate. Like Mr. Miyagi once remarked, "if done correctly, no can defend". Bonus might be knocking out our own bridge to spill pent up goblins across the battlefield for an alpha strike.
Round 4 - U/W control: Not much to go on here, so I'll just leave it on the high note of visualizing that Shattering Spree set to lethal: replicaaaaaaate.
Excellent advice Ray, thank you for taking the time to break it all down. Your sideboarding advice will definitely be taken into consideration. It's very refreshing to have someone as experienced as you to bounce idea's off of.
Merfolk - I play this guy a lot and he's in my wedding party so I know it inside and out. If you never draw into a bridge or chalice after mulling to 4 then there's nothing this deck can do for you. Just the way she goes unfortunately. Hopefully next week I will have better luck but more than half of my matches I flooded out and I'm playing with 21 lands.
Madcap moon - Definitely the deck list I was playing against last night but he had 4 remand because I got hit with three in a row along with spell pierce and mana leak haha. I didn't see any snapcaster mage's or cryptic command but he hand me under his thumb for most of the match so he could have been sandbagging them.
UW Control - This list was using as foretold so they're dropping crazy card draw for free with Ancestral Vision and serum visions every turn (yours and theirs) as well as the previous suite of counterspells and bounce spells. Celestial Colonnade is a beast that just eats our planeswalkers in 1 hit. Unfortunately the bridge is irrelevant because it can easily be bounced or countered or snapcaster will pick up a relevant spell up that they've already used. We can't play around their counters because they're drawing substantially more cards than us right out of the gate and any respecting UW player will always leave up 2 mana even if they have nothing. I find the only way to combat them is to just run into their spells and hope that we have more gas than them.
I feel like the turn 1 blood moon is the best way to stop them from establishing their plan and allowing us enough time to get our pieces into place. I also feel that Shattering spree has no place here as they don't use any artifacts in their main deck.
**Edit** - Big thanks to Caligula as well for his insight. All of this is helping me be a better warden for our pyro prison.
I unfortunately do not have good news to report as I got the snot kicked out of me last night playing our beloved Pyro Prison deck. I managed a 1 - 3 record and I feel it's the first time I have viewed how fragile our lock pieces are and how heavily we rely on them.
Match 1 - Merfolk
Game 1 - Ended up mulling to 4 as I just kept getting flooded. Couldn't do much and got run over with only a chalice on 1 and 6 basic mountains to show for my efforts.
Game 3 - Mulled to 4, couldn't find a lock piece, died turn 4 to a god hand and a hand full of counter spells. I guess merfolk has changed their deck list because I certainly did not expect as many counters that hit me from this deck. Found the bridge when I was at 2 health but he Spell Pierced it and I tapped out.
0 - 1
Match 2 - Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 - God hand. I am on the draw. He plays a tron land, I blood moon turn 1. Turn 2 I rabble on and he has no answers.
Game 2 - Opening hand has blood moon, ensnaring bridge, chandra, mountain, desperate ritual, and something else but it didn't matter. I top deck a simian, turn 1 blood moon, Chandra ends up beating him down and the emblem finishes the job.
1 - 1
Match 3 - Blue Moon
I have never played against this deck but it seems that they have an answer for everything we're doing. I couldn't find any fast ramp after mulling to 5 and every hand did not have a single lock piece. I can't remember the exact details but game one I know he countered 6 (can you believe it) spells of mine in a row followed by serum visions to just help him smash through his deck and drooped a platinum emperion through madcap experiment which we have absolutely no answer to mainboard. The only way I could think of doing anything to change the game state is we get extremely lucky and can chandra into chandra to give that creature 8 damage. Second game was filled with a bunch of "draw, go, counter" plays from him but I ran out of gas and he did not. Platinum Emperion showed his face again through a madcap experiment and that was that. For the record, this deck only has 1 artifact and thats Platinum Emperion and once that hits the board, it negates all damage from the madcap experiment. Food for thought if any of you have the misfortune of sitting across the table from this deck, it feels almost as hopeless as U - Tron. Not sure what we can do other than get lucky with an opening hand and race but chances are they will find the madcap experiment before we do enough damage.
1 - 2
Match 4 - UW control
Countered everything I did, never ran out of gas and I was essentially playing solitare with my graveyard. Died both games to that flying 4/4 land.
1 - 3.
Miserable games and the worst performance I have experienced with our deck. I will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do against a very control heavy meta at a new store. Bad luck had a lot to do with it because many of my games went, draw seven, 6 lands, mull, draw 6, no or 1 land with no ramp, mull, draw 5 and if you mull again you're pretty much dead already due to card disadvantage. Hopefully next week goes a little better but last night left a real salty taste in my mouth and I might switch to my GW tron deck to see if that's better at the new store.
Double 3 verse on Azusa + Excavator seems like a fine alternate line of victory if you happen to naturally draw Wasteland/Strip Mine.
That was the main idea. I already have both wasteland and strip mine in my Yisan deck and I was thinking of biting the bullet and buying a Crucible of Worlds but I think this guy will do just fine. If I happen to play in a meta that has a lot of board wipes, I can regroup, recast yisan with the tax, double fetch on three for Azusa and Excavator and start smashing their lands to protect myself from it happening again.
I agree. Originally when it was unbanned, I tried it out online but it ended up being a dead draw most of the time. I am considering using that new card Ramunap Excavator. Perhaps set out a double 3 verse counter to fetch for Ramunap and Azusa, Lost but Seeking. That synergy would work well with sylvan safekeeper.
Other than that, I don't think HoD or any of the unbannings really change our game plan. Hopefully the set after that has some nice green cards for us.
You were all correct. This card has no place here.
Hazoret's Undying Fury 4RR
Sorcery (Rare)
Shuffle your library, then exile the top four cards. You may cast any number of nonland cards with converted mana cost 5 or less from among them without paying their mana costs. Lands you control don't untap during your next untap step.
096/199
I don't see why it couldn't replace 4 Mountains in a deck. How many times have we seen someone lose to a Grixis player at 1 life?
It looks like hot garbage if I'm going to be honest. You can't fetch for it and if we have 5 lands out (this one plus the four others to cast it) we are probably dead anyways. As a burn player, I never want to have 5 lands on the board.
Earthshaker Khenra 1R Rare
Creature - Jackal Warrior
Haste
When ~ enters the battlefield, target creature with power less than or equal to ~'s power can't block this turn.
Eternalize 4RR
2/1
2/1 with haste with an ETB that stops 1 creature with 2 or less power from blocking you. This will kick ass in limited but I'm still working on my burn skills to find out if this is a budget option for Goblin Guide as a haste that swings for 2 or if the SOB actually has a spot in the modern version.
Eternalize is cool but if we are ever at 6 mana and our opponant isn't dead, we are.
With the exception of the legacy cards that we cannot play, there was one card in there that peaked my interest that I do not think we have discussed among the Mountainfolk.
I think it's a spicy little card and i'm laughing a little bit at the fact that our deck shuts people down with Ensnaring Bridge and then we use that bridge to beat them over their heads. Not sure if it will make it into my list personally but I felt it was worth sharing with you all :).
What do you do to gain an edge in the mirror then?
Probably a combination of smart play and Lightning Helix/Deflecting Palm. I only play Kor Firewalker because there's a ton of Burn players near me. There are tradeoffs that have to be made with your sideboard. It may be a wise decision to shore up another difficult matchup and battle the mirror on the back of playing better than your opponent with less narrow sideboard cards.
It's for this exact reason that my version of boros burn keeps 2 ensnaring bridges (subbed out the skullcracks) main deck because my meta usually has 20+ players and at least 7 of them play merfolk or some explosive aggro zoo build that I simply cannot race even with a hand full of gas.
is anybody able 2 do a breakdown of all current format burn matches. how 2 play + what 2 watch for. it a lot of deck but it help new burn players like myself
elconquistador1985's burn list on Tapped out has some great primers and articles attached to it that helped me a lot when I was first starting out with burn six or so months ago. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-04-15-naya-burn/
I'd also recommend checking out the subreddit for our deck at www.reddit.com/r/lavaspike. You can search through the posts and find some great sequencing advice as well. Hope this helps
I never lost a round, my mountainfolk kin. Not one. There's so much to share - get ready: (2) Youtube videos of the semi-finals and finals, 10 minute online interview about the deck's evolution, Tournament report, and what I have to believe will be a firestorm in the Modern Magic community - a heretofore completely unknown deck claiming champion standing in a premier event. Ooooooh, Yeah!
I will probably run a few of those board wipe enchant destroys. I hate diluting my deck, but I also don't want to lose to the same deck over and over again!
I have the same feeling when it comes to my meta. In the last couple weeks, there have been 4 more players that are now playing merfolk and I have all but stopped playing burn at that store because i'm rather tired of going 1 - 3 every week. I am almost guaranteed to run into two merfolk players a night and I still boast that it is our worst matchup next to ad nauseum.
As for the 'in/out' section of sideboarding that was requested by a couple people, I will kick that idea around - feels like a little too 'paint by numbers' to me.
The paint by numbers doesn't bother me at all to be honest. I just want the most information possible that's available in order to produce the best result with our deck. It feels weird calling ourselves a sideboard deck and then having insufficient sideboard information. I will work on a template for our sideboard given the information that we currently have.
Excellent advice Ray, thank you for taking the time to break it all down. Your sideboarding advice will definitely be taken into consideration. It's very refreshing to have someone as experienced as you to bounce idea's off of.
Merfolk - I play this guy a lot and he's in my wedding party so I know it inside and out. If you never draw into a bridge or chalice after mulling to 4 then there's nothing this deck can do for you. Just the way she goes unfortunately. Hopefully next week I will have better luck but more than half of my matches I flooded out and I'm playing with 21 lands.
Madcap moon - Definitely the deck list I was playing against last night but he had 4 remand because I got hit with three in a row along with spell pierce and mana leak haha. I didn't see any snapcaster mage's or cryptic command but he hand me under his thumb for most of the match so he could have been sandbagging them.
UW Control - This list was using as foretold so they're dropping crazy card draw for free with Ancestral Vision and serum visions every turn (yours and theirs) as well as the previous suite of counterspells and bounce spells. Celestial Colonnade is a beast that just eats our planeswalkers in 1 hit. Unfortunately the bridge is irrelevant because it can easily be bounced or countered or snapcaster will pick up a relevant spell up that they've already used. We can't play around their counters because they're drawing substantially more cards than us right out of the gate and any respecting UW player will always leave up 2 mana even if they have nothing. I find the only way to combat them is to just run into their spells and hope that we have more gas than them.
I feel like the turn 1 blood moon is the best way to stop them from establishing their plan and allowing us enough time to get our pieces into place. I also feel that Shattering spree has no place here as they don't use any artifacts in their main deck.
**Edit** - Big thanks to Caligula as well for his insight. All of this is helping me be a better warden for our pyro prison.
I unfortunately do not have good news to report as I got the snot kicked out of me last night playing our beloved Pyro Prison deck. I managed a 1 - 3 record and I feel it's the first time I have viewed how fragile our lock pieces are and how heavily we rely on them.
Match 1 - Merfolk
Game 1 - Ended up mulling to 4 as I just kept getting flooded. Couldn't do much and got run over with only a chalice on 1 and 6 basic mountains to show for my efforts.
Game 2 - Landed a turn 1 Goblin Rabblemaster and he missed his turn 1 Aether Vial. Dropped blood moon on turn 2 with a chalice of the void on 2 turn 3. He misplayed and didn't block my rabblemaster because he wanted to blast off on my end step with merrow reejerey and aether vial but my magma jet got him.
Game 3 - Mulled to 4, couldn't find a lock piece, died turn 4 to a god hand and a hand full of counter spells. I guess merfolk has changed their deck list because I certainly did not expect as many counters that hit me from this deck. Found the bridge when I was at 2 health but he Spell Pierced it and I tapped out.
0 - 1
Match 2 - Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 - God hand. I am on the draw. He plays a tron land, I blood moon turn 1. Turn 2 I rabble on and he has no answers.
Game 2 - Opening hand has blood moon, ensnaring bridge, chandra, mountain, desperate ritual, and something else but it didn't matter. I top deck a simian, turn 1 blood moon, Chandra ends up beating him down and the emblem finishes the job.
1 - 1
Match 3 - Blue Moon
I have never played against this deck but it seems that they have an answer for everything we're doing. I couldn't find any fast ramp after mulling to 5 and every hand did not have a single lock piece. I can't remember the exact details but game one I know he countered 6 (can you believe it) spells of mine in a row followed by serum visions to just help him smash through his deck and drooped a platinum emperion through madcap experiment which we have absolutely no answer to mainboard. The only way I could think of doing anything to change the game state is we get extremely lucky and can chandra into chandra to give that creature 8 damage. Second game was filled with a bunch of "draw, go, counter" plays from him but I ran out of gas and he did not. Platinum Emperion showed his face again through a madcap experiment and that was that. For the record, this deck only has 1 artifact and thats Platinum Emperion and once that hits the board, it negates all damage from the madcap experiment. Food for thought if any of you have the misfortune of sitting across the table from this deck, it feels almost as hopeless as U - Tron. Not sure what we can do other than get lucky with an opening hand and race but chances are they will find the madcap experiment before we do enough damage.
1 - 2
Match 4 - UW control
Countered everything I did, never ran out of gas and I was essentially playing solitare with my graveyard. Died both games to that flying 4/4 land.
1 - 3.
Miserable games and the worst performance I have experienced with our deck. I will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do against a very control heavy meta at a new store. Bad luck had a lot to do with it because many of my games went, draw seven, 6 lands, mull, draw 6, no or 1 land with no ramp, mull, draw 5 and if you mull again you're pretty much dead already due to card disadvantage. Hopefully next week goes a little better but last night left a real salty taste in my mouth and I might switch to my GW tron deck to see if that's better at the new store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahqLyU1nmDE
That was the main idea. I already have both wasteland and strip mine in my Yisan deck and I was thinking of biting the bullet and buying a Crucible of Worlds but I think this guy will do just fine. If I happen to play in a meta that has a lot of board wipes, I can regroup, recast yisan with the tax, double fetch on three for Azusa and Excavator and start smashing their lands to protect myself from it happening again.
Other than that, I don't think HoD or any of the unbannings really change our game plan. Hopefully the set after that has some nice green cards for us.
Hazoret's Undying Fury 4RR
Sorcery (Rare)
Shuffle your library, then exile the top four cards. You may cast any number of nonland cards with converted mana cost 5 or less from among them without paying their mana costs. Lands you control don't untap during your next untap step.
096/199
It looks like hot garbage if I'm going to be honest. You can't fetch for it and if we have 5 lands out (this one plus the four others to cast it) we are probably dead anyways. As a burn player, I never want to have 5 lands on the board.
Creature - Jackal Warrior
Haste
When ~ enters the battlefield, target creature with power less than or equal to ~'s power can't block this turn.
Eternalize 4RR
2/1
2/1 with haste with an ETB that stops 1 creature with 2 or less power from blocking you. This will kick ass in limited but I'm still working on my burn skills to find out if this is a budget option for Goblin Guide as a haste that swings for 2 or if the SOB actually has a spot in the modern version.
Eternalize is cool but if we are ever at 6 mana and our opponant isn't dead, we are.
https://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-mengucci-legacy-moon-stompy/
With the exception of the legacy cards that we cannot play, there was one card in there that peaked my interest that I do not think we have discussed among the Mountainfolk.
There is a single copy of Quicksmith Rebel.
I think it's a spicy little card and i'm laughing a little bit at the fact that our deck shuts people down with Ensnaring Bridge and then we use that bridge to beat them over their heads. Not sure if it will make it into my list personally but I felt it was worth sharing with you all :).
It's for this exact reason that my version of boros burn keeps 2 ensnaring bridges (subbed out the skullcracks) main deck because my meta usually has 20+ players and at least 7 of them play merfolk or some explosive aggro zoo build that I simply cannot race even with a hand full of gas.
elconquistador1985's burn list on Tapped out has some great primers and articles attached to it that helped me a lot when I was first starting out with burn six or so months ago. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-04-15-naya-burn/
I'd also recommend checking out the subreddit for our deck at www.reddit.com/r/lavaspike. You can search through the posts and find some great sequencing advice as well. Hope this helps
Excellent news man. Congratulations on your victory
When you say "painless mana base", I think you actually mean "burn yourself as much as your opponent" lol
I have the same feeling when it comes to my meta. In the last couple weeks, there have been 4 more players that are now playing merfolk and I have all but stopped playing burn at that store because i'm rather tired of going 1 - 3 every week. I am almost guaranteed to run into two merfolk players a night and I still boast that it is our worst matchup next to ad nauseum.
The paint by numbers doesn't bother me at all to be honest. I just want the most information possible that's available in order to produce the best result with our deck. It feels weird calling ourselves a sideboard deck and then having insufficient sideboard information. I will work on a template for our sideboard given the information that we currently have.