I think you're finding things difficult with all this because you'e trying to force alliances between certain decks/colors when that's not really needed.
It's absolutely not needed. But in this case, it's the whole point.
Prid3- Definitely some usable cards there. And I actually like the lifegain cards because these will be pretty moderately powered decks (built mostly from cards I have lying around and anything else that's cheap I can pick up) and we will generally have some less experienced players (who can be particularly sensitive to politics). So I think in this sort of environment of modest decks and noobs the lifegain will actually be fairly relevant. Also, in terms of allegiances, it will actually be decent incentive not to let another player die- even though they're an enemy color.
Decay57- I was considering the idea of dual color decks myself and I definitely like some aspects of the idea.. however I remain torn. My motivation to do mono color decks is twofold- 1)Simplicity and consistency. As mentioned above, I am to an extent trying to cater to noobs and color screw or figuring out which lands to search for is just one less headache. 2) I really want the players to feel the color wheel when playing these decks and I think mono colored decks are the purest way to do that. Mono color also means I don't have to dedicate slots for color fixing cards or use non-basic lands that I might want to use in other decks (and have drawbacks that the noobs have to deal with/think about). What I'm leaning towards is hybrid cards from Lorwyn/Shadowmoor that can go into mono colored decks but give them some exposure to other colors. Plus, several of the Shadowmoor cards have color-based effects.
Also, I agree blue and white have more flexibility and I will definitely incorporate some of that (especially with blue) but I don't want to do too much because that sort of defeats the purpose. The exception would be if I make an artifact deck, which would sort of be ambivalent towards everyone with cards like Thran Lens and maybe some eldrazi with protection from colored spells or something. Also it would have an equal number of each basic land to feel the heat from some of the hate and maybe play some sunburst cards.
Xyx- After digging more into the available cards, allying with enemy colors maybe necessary. And as you mentioned it could be desirable as well. It would be a free for all format.. I'm not familiar with pentagram.
bleedin_eyeball- I completely agree... creatures with protection and whatever will be a major component. Some good suggestions as well.
rtdeeley- I think this basically leads into pitting decks against each other based on the strategies they're playing. I was thinking about this last night and I like the idea because it would allow me to exemplify one of the main themes of each color and add emphasis to the color wheel. I worry it could become complicated, but I have to think more about it.
Speaking of which, my friend and I tried to apply the tribal idea last night... and it turned out to be a royal pain in the ass. So I said screw it, I'm going back to colors lol. The most workable solution we had was to choose some of the larger tribes that have a fair bit of representation in multiple colors and align decks with bonuses based on that. Then each deck which is allied by tribe would have a different enemy. For example, if you made green and white decks with humans, then green would have blue hate and white would have black hate. But I think this is a less clean solution than just sticking to the colors.
So I've had the interesting idea of building a set of decks which, as opposed to a normal multiplayer free-for-all, have some built-in political constraints. Aka the cards will sort of force you to ally with some players and make enemies with others. So I'd like to create 5 mono-colored decks (and maybe one artifact deck) which have a number of cards that hose their enemy colors and support their ally colors. Finding color hosing cards is fairly straightforward, however I've had a harder time finding cards which will encourage alliances between the ally colors. Basically I would need cards that either get or give bonuses to/from other decks on the basis of color. So far the best thing I can find is to use artifacts such as Angel's Feather.
Does anyone know of any cards that would fit the bill for this? My alternative is to use tribes rather than straight colors. I know there'd be a lot more options going that route, but I'm sort of trying to avoid it because it will make the deck building more complicated (each color on the wheel would need to play overlapping tribes and it actually seems complicated to select tribes that will go full circle).
I was afraid that was what I would hear :/. Thanks for the tips though, Hydra looks interesting and Maelstrom Pulse is a good suggestion. I suppose I'll have to cry my way back to the casual forums
This could actually be pretty easily converted to Modern except Saproling Burst hasn't been reprinted
Hello everyone, I'm an older player that's recently started playing again and I always loved Fires decks. I've searched around to see if there's been any major updates to the deck over the years, and so far the main suggestion I've seen is Thrun, The Last Troll. So I'd like to share what I've come up with so far and see if anyone else has any comments or suggestions. I've honestly never heard of Fires having success after leaving standard, but I like the deck so I want to see what I can do. Also, I currently play in a small casual play group, but we may find a local card shop to start attending.
Doubling Season:
In terms of new tech for the deck, this is the 800 LB gorilla. Having this card in play takes the deck from satisfying sometimes over the top beatdown to LITERALLY INSANE. Burst normally swings for 12. Doubling Season will double the number of fade counters Burst comes in with AND double the number of tokens it creates. So if you eat a turn and drop this first, Burst creates 14 7/7's and swings for 98!!! Holy *****. Do you play free-for-all's? I do. You can take out several players at a time with this insanity. I was testing Savage Beating before this, and while it is no doubt a good card, it doesn't match the power of Doubling Season. The only drawback here is that dropping a Season after Burst can potentially be underwhelming (you can still remove a 4th counter for an extra bonus token if the situation calls). However, it also has synergy with several other cards in the deck. Blastoderm also comes in with double the counters, Volt Charge adds double, Fangren Firstborn adds double. If you've got a Fangren and a Burst in play, swing and Fangren gives everything +1/+1 and a Volt Charge will give all your tokens +2/+2 by adding an additional +1/+1 counter and a fade counter to Burst. So the tokens get +3/+3. Got a Season in play? Your tokens now get +6/+6. Raging Ravine would also fit nicely here as it's like a mini Fangren and will benefit from the counter tech. But I've yet to test it and it comes into play tapped. If Season is out of your budget, then Savage Beating is great and Volt Charge is still worth having as it plays well with Derm, Burst, and Fangren.
Jund:
So you can see I've splashed black for Terminate and (kinda) Flesh // Blood. Depending on your meta, you could also swap that for Abrupt Decay, Putrefy, Dismember, or even Vampiric Tutor or the like to make sure I get that Fires. If you like Fling, I consider Blood to be strictly better in G/R decks. It's sorcery speed, but doesn't require you to sac. In the olden days, you could put damage on the stack and then Fling so it didn't matter, but nowadays you have to choose between attacking and Flinging... Blood gives you your cake and lets you eat it too. Also, note that if you fuse the card, the rules say play the left half, THEN the right half. So the ideal play here is to cast Flesh // Blood for 7 and pitch a Derm from the yard targeting Shivan Wurm to make a 12/12 trample, then throw 12 to the face. SWING. You can also turn your Birds into a fat flier mid to late game. Did I mention Doubling Season? If you don't want to splash, Blood is still a great card on it's own and Birds alone will occasionally let you play Flesh. You could swap the Terminates for more burn or Rancor's (I was running Chain Lightning before). Fecundity is also an interesting suggestion.
Dorks:
Birds is obviously a staple. Tribe Elder is a Rampant Growth on a stick, which means it's not a total waste of card late game or if you've got enough mana (even if you don't you can block then sac). I've recently discovered Utopia Sprawl, and may play test that over Tribe Elder or possibly even Birds, because mana dorks are so easily removed as previously mentioned. Also, being that Sprawl is an enchantment it doesn't suffer from summoning sickness, so if you drop it on an untapped Forest you can use it right away even without Fires in play. Also, Eternal Witness is of course a great all around utility creature for any green deck. Need land? Bring back a Foothills/Birds/Elder. Pesky buggers on the other side of the table? Get another use out of your Bolt or Terminate. Etc. It also makes another great target for Shivan Wurm.
Beaters:
Derm, Flametongue, Shivan, and Burst are all staples. I'd swap a Derm for a Thrun, but I don't have one yet. I've been playtesting between Fangren Firstborn and Bloodbraid Elf, and I've decided to go with Fangren because it has more synergy with other cards in the deck, particularly Doubling Season and Volt Charge. Even without that it can grow your dorks and makes them useful later in the game. If you've got one out with Burst then it means your tokens are swinging for 4 every turn. Bloodbraid is a good card and I like that it is independent of Fires and digs into your deck, but it will also throw all your great 4 and 5 drops to the bottom of your library which isn't ideal. Also, the Mosswort Bridge's dig as well and don't care about CMC. Also, for those who don't have Bloodbraid's, Fangren is much cheaper.
Lands:
As mentioned, Mosswort Bridge provides some digging. Here and there it actually hurts, but usually it helps. Note that if you're running Savage Beating, you can still pay the entwine cost off the Bridge. However, with Flesh // Blood, you have to choose one or the other. The best is bridging into a Fires and then dropping a Burst with surprise haste. Gaea's Crade is pretty self explanatory, and supplies the deck with ample mana, especially once a Burst or two hits play. Cradle plus a couple of mana dorks can get the Fires, Season, then Burst in play as early as turn 4. Also note that with the new legend rule, if you haven't dropped a land yet you can tap your Cradle, drop another Cradle (destroying the first) and then tap that for more mana. If you have Stomping Ground's, you could remove some of the basics.
Sideboard:
I've currently got lots of 2 of's in the build for testing and because I play casual right now without a sideboard. I think for a sideboard I'd start with Utopia Sprawl's and Predator Ooze to swap for birds in the face of removal, and Vexing Shusher against permission.
Just checking, you do know that Hull Breach must have both targets to actually work?
First of all, no. Read the card.
Okay, I'm reviving an old thread because I'm in the same boat as the OP was several years ago (old player coming back that loves fires). I came here for the same purpose, to see if there have been some updates to the deck. I haven't found anything major online, so I want to add my contribution. Here's my current build for casual play:
Doubling Season:
OH. MY. GOD. In terms of new tech for the deck, this is the 800 LB gorilla. Having this card in play takes the deck from satisfying sometimes over the top beatdown to LITERALLY INSANE. Burst normally swings for 12. Doubling Season will double the number of fade counters Burst comes in with AND double the number of tokens it creates. So if you eat a turn and drop this first, Burst creates 14 7/7's and swings for 98!!! Holy *****. Do you play free-for-all's? I do. You can take out several players at a time with this insanity. I was testing Savage Beating before this, and while it is no doubt a good card, it doesn't match the power of Doubling Season. The only drawback here is that dropping a Season after Burst can potentially be underwhelming (you can still remove a 4th counter for an extra bonus token if the situation calls). However, it also has synergy with several other cards in the deck. Blastoderm also comes in with double the counters, Volt Charge adds double, Fangren Firstborn adds double. If you've got a Fangren and a Burst in play, swing and Fangren gives everything +1/+1 and a Volt Charge will give all your tokens +2/+2 by adding an additional +1/+1 counter and a fade counter to Burst. So the tokens get +3/+3. Got a Season in play? Your tokens now get +6/+6. Raging Ravine would also fit nicely here as it's like a mini Fangren and will benefit from the counter tech. But I've yet to test it and I agree with the previous comment about it coming into play tapped. If Season is out of your budget, then Savage Beating is great and Volt Charge is still worth having as it plays well with Derm, Burst, and Fangren.
Jund:
So you can see I've splashed black for Terminate and (kinda) Flesh // Blood. Depending on your meta, you could also swap that for Abrupt Decay, Putrefy, or Dismember. If you like Fling, I consider Blood to be strictly better in G/R decks. It's sorcery speed, but doesn't require you to sac. In the olden days, you could put damage on the stack and then Fling so it didn't matter, but nowadays you have to choose between attacking and Flinging... Blood gives you your cake and lets you eat it too. Also, note that if you fuse the card, the rules say play the left half, THEN the right half. So the ideal play here is to cast Flesh // Blood for 7 and pitch a Derm from the yard targeting Shivan Wurm to make a 12/12 trample, then throw 12 to the face. SWING. You can also turn your Birds into a fat flier mid to late game. Did I mention Doubling Season? If you don't want to splash, Blood is still a great card on it's own and Birds alone will occasionally let you play Flesh. You could swap the Terminates for more burn or Rancor's (I was running Chain Lightning before). Fecundity is also an interesting suggestion.
Dorks:
Birds is obviously a staple. Tribe Elder is a Rampant Growth on a stick, which means it's not a total waste of card late game or if you've got enough mana (even if you don't you can block then sac). I've recently discovered Utopia Sprawl, and may play test that over Tribe Elder or possibly even Birds, because mana dorks are so easily removed as previously mentioned. Also, being that Sprawl is an enchantment it doesn't suffer from summoning sickness, so if you drop it on an untapped Forest you can use it right away even without Fires in play. Also, Eternal Witness is of course a great all around utility creature for any green deck. Need land? Bring back a Foothills/Birds/Elder. Pesky buggers on the other side of the table? Get another use out of your Bolt or Terminate. Etc. It also makes another great target for Shivan Wurm.
Beaters:
Derm, Flametongue, Shivan, and Burst are all staples. I've been playtesting between Fangren Firstborn and Bloodbraid, and I've decided to go with Fangren because it has more synergy with other cards in the deck, particularly Doubling Season and Volt Charge. Even without that it can grow your dorks and makes them useful later in the game. If you've got one out with Burst then it means your tokens are swinging for 4 every turn. Bloodbraid is a good card and I like that it is independent of Fires and digs into your deck, but it will also throw all your great 4 and 5 drops to the bottom of your library which isn't ideal. Also, the Mosswort Bridge's dig as well and don't care about CMC. Also, for those who don't have Bloodbraid's, Fangren is much cheaper.
Lands:
As mentioned, Mosswort Bridge provides some digging. Here and there it actually hurts, but usually it helps. Note that if you're running Savage Beating, you can still pay the entwine cost off the Bridge. However, with Flesh // Blood, you have to choose one or the other. The best is bridging into a Fires and then dropping a Burst with surprise haste. Gaea's Crade is pretty self explanatory, and supplies the deck with ample mana, especially once a Burst or two hits play. Cradle plus a couple of mana dorks can get the Fires, Season, then Burst in play as early as turn 4. Also note that with the new legend rule, if you haven't dropped a land yet you can tap your Cradle, drop another Cradle (destroying the first) and then tap that for more mana. If you have Stomping Ground's, you could remove some of the basics.
Tournaments:
I've got a lot of 2 of's in the build. If you're going to tourneys you can certainly tune this. For me, I play casually without a sideboard and I like having a little diversity in the deck so it's not the same story over and over. Full disclosure, I run 2 Skullclamp's. If your play group doesn't mind then they're obviously great.. the only dyssynergy being Derm can't be equipped. Also, if you're going to tourneys, I think 4xUtopia Sprawl should be a staple in your sideboard to swap for Birds.
It's absolutely not needed. But in this case, it's the whole point.
Decay57- I was considering the idea of dual color decks myself and I definitely like some aspects of the idea.. however I remain torn. My motivation to do mono color decks is twofold- 1)Simplicity and consistency. As mentioned above, I am to an extent trying to cater to noobs and color screw or figuring out which lands to search for is just one less headache. 2) I really want the players to feel the color wheel when playing these decks and I think mono colored decks are the purest way to do that. Mono color also means I don't have to dedicate slots for color fixing cards or use non-basic lands that I might want to use in other decks (and have drawbacks that the noobs have to deal with/think about). What I'm leaning towards is hybrid cards from Lorwyn/Shadowmoor that can go into mono colored decks but give them some exposure to other colors. Plus, several of the Shadowmoor cards have color-based effects.
Also, I agree blue and white have more flexibility and I will definitely incorporate some of that (especially with blue) but I don't want to do too much because that sort of defeats the purpose. The exception would be if I make an artifact deck, which would sort of be ambivalent towards everyone with cards like Thran Lens and maybe some eldrazi with protection from colored spells or something. Also it would have an equal number of each basic land to feel the heat from some of the hate and maybe play some sunburst cards.
Xyx- After digging more into the available cards, allying with enemy colors maybe necessary. And as you mentioned it could be desirable as well. It would be a free for all format.. I'm not familiar with pentagram.
bleedin_eyeball- I completely agree... creatures with protection and whatever will be a major component. Some good suggestions as well.
rtdeeley- I think this basically leads into pitting decks against each other based on the strategies they're playing. I was thinking about this last night and I like the idea because it would allow me to exemplify one of the main themes of each color and add emphasis to the color wheel. I worry it could become complicated, but I have to think more about it.
Speaking of which, my friend and I tried to apply the tribal idea last night... and it turned out to be a royal pain in the ass. So I said screw it, I'm going back to colors lol. The most workable solution we had was to choose some of the larger tribes that have a fair bit of representation in multiple colors and align decks with bonuses based on that. Then each deck which is allied by tribe would have a different enemy. For example, if you made green and white decks with humans, then green would have blue hate and white would have black hate. But I think this is a less clean solution than just sticking to the colors.
So I've had the interesting idea of building a set of decks which, as opposed to a normal multiplayer free-for-all, have some built-in political constraints. Aka the cards will sort of force you to ally with some players and make enemies with others. So I'd like to create 5 mono-colored decks (and maybe one artifact deck) which have a number of cards that hose their enemy colors and support their ally colors. Finding color hosing cards is fairly straightforward, however I've had a harder time finding cards which will encourage alliances between the ally colors. Basically I would need cards that either get or give bonuses to/from other decks on the basis of color. So far the best thing I can find is to use artifacts such as Angel's Feather.
Does anyone know of any cards that would fit the bill for this? My alternative is to use tribes rather than straight colors. I know there'd be a lot more options going that route, but I'm sort of trying to avoid it because it will make the deck building more complicated (each color on the wheel would need to play overlapping tribes and it actually seems complicated to select tribes that will go full circle).
Thanks for any input!
I was afraid that was what I would hear :/. Thanks for the tips though, Hydra looks interesting and Maelstrom Pulse is a good suggestion. I suppose I'll have to cry my way back to the casual forums
This could actually be pretty easily converted to Modern except Saproling Burst hasn't been reprinted
4x Taiga
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Mosswort Bridge
2x Gaea's Cradle
1x Badlands
1x Bayou
4x Forest
2x Mountain
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Sakura-Tribe Elder
3x Eternal Witness
3x Flametongue Kavu
3x Blastoderm
2x Fangren Firstborn
2x Shivan Wurm
4x Fires of Yavimaya
4x Saproling Burst
2x Doubling Season
Instants/Sorceries:
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Volt Charge
2x Flesh // Blood
2x Terminate
2x Destructive Revelry
Doubling Season:
In terms of new tech for the deck, this is the 800 LB gorilla. Having this card in play takes the deck from satisfying sometimes over the top beatdown to LITERALLY INSANE. Burst normally swings for 12. Doubling Season will double the number of fade counters Burst comes in with AND double the number of tokens it creates. So if you eat a turn and drop this first, Burst creates 14 7/7's and swings for 98!!! Holy *****. Do you play free-for-all's? I do. You can take out several players at a time with this insanity. I was testing Savage Beating before this, and while it is no doubt a good card, it doesn't match the power of Doubling Season. The only drawback here is that dropping a Season after Burst can potentially be underwhelming (you can still remove a 4th counter for an extra bonus token if the situation calls). However, it also has synergy with several other cards in the deck. Blastoderm also comes in with double the counters, Volt Charge adds double, Fangren Firstborn adds double. If you've got a Fangren and a Burst in play, swing and Fangren gives everything +1/+1 and a Volt Charge will give all your tokens +2/+2 by adding an additional +1/+1 counter and a fade counter to Burst. So the tokens get +3/+3. Got a Season in play? Your tokens now get +6/+6. Raging Ravine would also fit nicely here as it's like a mini Fangren and will benefit from the counter tech. But I've yet to test it and it comes into play tapped. If Season is out of your budget, then Savage Beating is great and Volt Charge is still worth having as it plays well with Derm, Burst, and Fangren.
Jund:
So you can see I've splashed black for Terminate and (kinda) Flesh // Blood. Depending on your meta, you could also swap that for Abrupt Decay, Putrefy, Dismember, or even Vampiric Tutor or the like to make sure I get that Fires. If you like Fling, I consider Blood to be strictly better in G/R decks. It's sorcery speed, but doesn't require you to sac. In the olden days, you could put damage on the stack and then Fling so it didn't matter, but nowadays you have to choose between attacking and Flinging... Blood gives you your cake and lets you eat it too. Also, note that if you fuse the card, the rules say play the left half, THEN the right half. So the ideal play here is to cast Flesh // Blood for 7 and pitch a Derm from the yard targeting Shivan Wurm to make a 12/12 trample, then throw 12 to the face. SWING. You can also turn your Birds into a fat flier mid to late game. Did I mention Doubling Season? If you don't want to splash, Blood is still a great card on it's own and Birds alone will occasionally let you play Flesh. You could swap the Terminates for more burn or Rancor's (I was running Chain Lightning before). Fecundity is also an interesting suggestion.
Dorks:
Birds is obviously a staple. Tribe Elder is a Rampant Growth on a stick, which means it's not a total waste of card late game or if you've got enough mana (even if you don't you can block then sac). I've recently discovered Utopia Sprawl, and may play test that over Tribe Elder or possibly even Birds, because mana dorks are so easily removed as previously mentioned. Also, being that Sprawl is an enchantment it doesn't suffer from summoning sickness, so if you drop it on an untapped Forest you can use it right away even without Fires in play. Also, Eternal Witness is of course a great all around utility creature for any green deck. Need land? Bring back a Foothills/Birds/Elder. Pesky buggers on the other side of the table? Get another use out of your Bolt or Terminate. Etc. It also makes another great target for Shivan Wurm.
Beaters:
Derm, Flametongue, Shivan, and Burst are all staples. I'd swap a Derm for a Thrun, but I don't have one yet. I've been playtesting between Fangren Firstborn and Bloodbraid Elf, and I've decided to go with Fangren because it has more synergy with other cards in the deck, particularly Doubling Season and Volt Charge. Even without that it can grow your dorks and makes them useful later in the game. If you've got one out with Burst then it means your tokens are swinging for 4 every turn. Bloodbraid is a good card and I like that it is independent of Fires and digs into your deck, but it will also throw all your great 4 and 5 drops to the bottom of your library which isn't ideal. Also, the Mosswort Bridge's dig as well and don't care about CMC. Also, for those who don't have Bloodbraid's, Fangren is much cheaper.
Lands:
As mentioned, Mosswort Bridge provides some digging. Here and there it actually hurts, but usually it helps. Note that if you're running Savage Beating, you can still pay the entwine cost off the Bridge. However, with Flesh // Blood, you have to choose one or the other. The best is bridging into a Fires and then dropping a Burst with surprise haste. Gaea's Crade is pretty self explanatory, and supplies the deck with ample mana, especially once a Burst or two hits play. Cradle plus a couple of mana dorks can get the Fires, Season, then Burst in play as early as turn 4. Also note that with the new legend rule, if you haven't dropped a land yet you can tap your Cradle, drop another Cradle (destroying the first) and then tap that for more mana. If you have Stomping Ground's, you could remove some of the basics.
Sideboard:
I've currently got lots of 2 of's in the build for testing and because I play casual right now without a sideboard. I think for a sideboard I'd start with Utopia Sprawl's and Predator Ooze to swap for birds in the face of removal, and Vexing Shusher against permission.
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Vexing Shusher
3x Predator Ooze
4x Stomping Ground
2x Savage Beating
2x Bloodbraid Elf
1x Thrun, The Last Troll
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Putrefy
2x Vampiric Tutor
2x Garruk Wildspeaker
2x Domri Rade
1x Banefire
1x Fecundity
1x Raging Ravine
1x Rolling Earthquake
1x Pyroclasm
First of all, no. Read the card.
Okay, I'm reviving an old thread because I'm in the same boat as the OP was several years ago (old player coming back that loves fires). I came here for the same purpose, to see if there have been some updates to the deck. I haven't found anything major online, so I want to add my contribution. Here's my current build for casual play:
4x Taiga
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Mosswort Bridge
2x Gaea's Cradle
1x Badlands
1x Bayou
4x Forest
2x Mountain
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Sakura-Tribe Elder
3x Eternal Witness
3x Flametongue Kavu
3x Blastoderm
2x Fangren Firstborn
2x Shivan Wurm
4x Fires of Yavimaya
4x Saproling Burst
2x Doubling Season
Instants/Sorceries:
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Volt Charge
2x Flesh // Blood
2x Terminate
2x Destructive Revelry
Doubling Season:
OH. MY. GOD. In terms of new tech for the deck, this is the 800 LB gorilla. Having this card in play takes the deck from satisfying sometimes over the top beatdown to LITERALLY INSANE. Burst normally swings for 12. Doubling Season will double the number of fade counters Burst comes in with AND double the number of tokens it creates. So if you eat a turn and drop this first, Burst creates 14 7/7's and swings for 98!!! Holy *****. Do you play free-for-all's? I do. You can take out several players at a time with this insanity. I was testing Savage Beating before this, and while it is no doubt a good card, it doesn't match the power of Doubling Season. The only drawback here is that dropping a Season after Burst can potentially be underwhelming (you can still remove a 4th counter for an extra bonus token if the situation calls). However, it also has synergy with several other cards in the deck. Blastoderm also comes in with double the counters, Volt Charge adds double, Fangren Firstborn adds double. If you've got a Fangren and a Burst in play, swing and Fangren gives everything +1/+1 and a Volt Charge will give all your tokens +2/+2 by adding an additional +1/+1 counter and a fade counter to Burst. So the tokens get +3/+3. Got a Season in play? Your tokens now get +6/+6. Raging Ravine would also fit nicely here as it's like a mini Fangren and will benefit from the counter tech. But I've yet to test it and I agree with the previous comment about it coming into play tapped. If Season is out of your budget, then Savage Beating is great and Volt Charge is still worth having as it plays well with Derm, Burst, and Fangren.
Jund:
So you can see I've splashed black for Terminate and (kinda) Flesh // Blood. Depending on your meta, you could also swap that for Abrupt Decay, Putrefy, or Dismember. If you like Fling, I consider Blood to be strictly better in G/R decks. It's sorcery speed, but doesn't require you to sac. In the olden days, you could put damage on the stack and then Fling so it didn't matter, but nowadays you have to choose between attacking and Flinging... Blood gives you your cake and lets you eat it too. Also, note that if you fuse the card, the rules say play the left half, THEN the right half. So the ideal play here is to cast Flesh // Blood for 7 and pitch a Derm from the yard targeting Shivan Wurm to make a 12/12 trample, then throw 12 to the face. SWING. You can also turn your Birds into a fat flier mid to late game. Did I mention Doubling Season? If you don't want to splash, Blood is still a great card on it's own and Birds alone will occasionally let you play Flesh. You could swap the Terminates for more burn or Rancor's (I was running Chain Lightning before). Fecundity is also an interesting suggestion.
Dorks:
Birds is obviously a staple. Tribe Elder is a Rampant Growth on a stick, which means it's not a total waste of card late game or if you've got enough mana (even if you don't you can block then sac). I've recently discovered Utopia Sprawl, and may play test that over Tribe Elder or possibly even Birds, because mana dorks are so easily removed as previously mentioned. Also, being that Sprawl is an enchantment it doesn't suffer from summoning sickness, so if you drop it on an untapped Forest you can use it right away even without Fires in play. Also, Eternal Witness is of course a great all around utility creature for any green deck. Need land? Bring back a Foothills/Birds/Elder. Pesky buggers on the other side of the table? Get another use out of your Bolt or Terminate. Etc. It also makes another great target for Shivan Wurm.
Beaters:
Derm, Flametongue, Shivan, and Burst are all staples. I've been playtesting between Fangren Firstborn and Bloodbraid, and I've decided to go with Fangren because it has more synergy with other cards in the deck, particularly Doubling Season and Volt Charge. Even without that it can grow your dorks and makes them useful later in the game. If you've got one out with Burst then it means your tokens are swinging for 4 every turn. Bloodbraid is a good card and I like that it is independent of Fires and digs into your deck, but it will also throw all your great 4 and 5 drops to the bottom of your library which isn't ideal. Also, the Mosswort Bridge's dig as well and don't care about CMC. Also, for those who don't have Bloodbraid's, Fangren is much cheaper.
Lands:
As mentioned, Mosswort Bridge provides some digging. Here and there it actually hurts, but usually it helps. Note that if you're running Savage Beating, you can still pay the entwine cost off the Bridge. However, with Flesh // Blood, you have to choose one or the other. The best is bridging into a Fires and then dropping a Burst with surprise haste. Gaea's Crade is pretty self explanatory, and supplies the deck with ample mana, especially once a Burst or two hits play. Cradle plus a couple of mana dorks can get the Fires, Season, then Burst in play as early as turn 4. Also note that with the new legend rule, if you haven't dropped a land yet you can tap your Cradle, drop another Cradle (destroying the first) and then tap that for more mana. If you have Stomping Ground's, you could remove some of the basics.
Tournaments:
I've got a lot of 2 of's in the build. If you're going to tourneys you can certainly tune this. For me, I play casually without a sideboard and I like having a little diversity in the deck so it's not the same story over and over. Full disclosure, I run 2 Skullclamp's. If your play group doesn't mind then they're obviously great.. the only dyssynergy being Derm can't be equipped. Also, if you're going to tourneys, I think 4xUtopia Sprawl should be a staple in your sideboard to swap for Birds.
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Stomping Ground
2x Savage Beating
2x Bloodbraid Elf
1x Thrun, The Last Troll
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Putrefy
2x Garruk Wildspeaker
2x Domri Rade
1x Banefire
1x Fecundity
1x Raging Ravine
1x Rolling Earthquake
1x Pyroclasm
Necro-Locked
-ThatRedwood