We're not really concerned with Shadow itself since we're aiming to kill them through EoT + Untap thus Blaze is used mainly for the 4/5, 2/1 and 5/5 (usually through creature + Blaze or if its early blaze + burn).
Vs Mirror
I don't think Revel is bad on the draw either since like you said "Generally, the player who sticks creatures will win." and we only have so many targeted burn spells.
I am open to suggestions for things that I missed and things that I might have gotten wrong.
I feel kinda bad about suggesting this since its self-serving but maybe regular Modern burn Streamers or Youtubers like RedBaronMTG (on twitch) should get links.
There's a rough sideboard guide in the Matchups section, please let me know if anyone disagrees with it.
I like Searing Blaze against E-Tron for much the same reasons I assume you like Searing Blaze in the GDS MU. Its even better if your also on the Ensnaring Bridge plan.
I'm also strongly in favor of keeping Eidolon in the mirror since it provides pressure and must be removed.
P.S: I play 2 Atarka's SB because of lifegain in my meta, but if I could play something else that would help against UW, please let me know
I play against UW A-LOT online.
I find that if they have those back-to-back T2-T3 Spreading Seas hands or 2 or more Gideon with counter back-up the MU is unwinnable. Thus I suggest racing with everything during T1-3 (beside Boros Charm since you need it for Gideon...) and then stock piling burn so that you can fight the counter war (while hoping they don't draw enough Seas, Gideons and LD effects to limit your off-load).
I don't see any situation where I'd ever side out Goblin Guide, especially in the mirror. The player who plays and sticks creatures and racks up the most recurring damage is likely the one who wins.
I agree, I recall arguing with Loïc Le Briand on reddit about this.
Its funny since he agrees that killing creatures is really important in the mirror and then follow up by suggesting that we should be boarding out those very same creatures (how can you recognize the threat but not see the power?).
I've been thinking about tombstalker as anti eldrazi tron tech. Post board they should be going down dismember, karn and all is dust which leaves them cold to a tombstalker. It can brick wall reshapers and tks and flies right over everything for huge chunks of damage. The idea came from wanting a card to help fight chalice of the void that was still good when the e tron player doesn't draw chalice. It's probably too narrow and clunky and only applies to burn decks running black but I just wanted to throw it out there.
Why not just run Ensnaring Bridge? It hits all the creature MUs as well and is slightly harder to deal with.
You need the back-up shock lands so you don't scoop against LD effects but if your local meta isn't playing LD (which is kinda odd considering E-Tron is the 2nd best deck) then 1x is ok.
I play online with 1850+ rating so I do understand wide metas (you can see it on my youtube channel).
I prefer 6x Anti-lifegain spells in the 75 and I HATE losing against taxes, pox and seas (even Ghost from E-Tron) which is why I don't play Atarka MD.
That said MUs like Titanshift & Ad Nauseam are common enough that I want Atarka as well so I have them in the side with the Lavamancer which people like in SB thrown into the MD (thus not really making a differences from the usual 4-2 split MD-SB).
I'm stuck between Crack and Command. I've been running Skullcrack more. I like that it is less stressful on the mana base. It also allows me another (although conditional) answer to Firewalker in thr mirror, and against any aggresive decks, I value fetching a mountain over my third color. That being said, I would rather Command in the combo matchup, where my life total is irrelevant when a deck combos off, and the differencr between a win or loss is turn 3 or turn 4 kill. It is also good against control, especially getting around Leyline. My meta is pretty diverse, so I definately run into matches where I want Boros with Skullcrack, and others where I want Naya with Atarkas Command. I guess my question is...which will hurt me least when in a less than ideal matchup. I know I'll face matchups where both are adventageous, so looking at the ones where they aren't...which would put me at the greatest disadvantage?
Why not both ;).
I run 2x Skullcrack MD with 4x Atarkas in the SB for combo and other MUs where I don't care about my lifetotal.
I always run 4x destructive revelry and never leave home without them. The difference between 2 and 3 damage isn't enough for me to switch back to smash unless I was mono red. The flexibility of destructive revelry to hit enchantments is just too good for me to live with out. Way I see it is that we only have 15 sideboard slots and I want every card in it to have as much utility as possible. If I'm considering Smash solely to hose artifacts I'd rather play Stony Silence if that was the case. My 2 cents.
Yep - though I'm slowly starting too believe 3x Drev + 2x Spree might be necessary for Chalice
That said I havn't seen as many E-Tron players lately since UW control has picked up (4x Seas, T.Edge &/or Ghost might have something to do with that).
Skullcrack is also useful against things like Burrenton Forge-Tender and Gideon of the Trials (and, much more infrequently, Runed Halo).
That being said, Command obviously has much more powerful and versatile upsides. I stubbornly held onto it for over a month after Boros became the norm, and only switched off of it after MTGO got flooded with land denial strategies and the mirror to the point where maindeck green was more of a liability than it was worth. I've been experimenting with both versions, and the difference between having Command and not having it hasn't usually felt all that significant to me in the current meta.
I havn't tested shrine yet (unless you count builds which I posted years ago) - its just your previous post made it seems like you race aggro. Heck I was under the impression that you never pointed burn at creatures.
The aggro matchups could go long occasionally, but you're going to run out of cards that kill creatures eventually. If you're spending all of your time turning Lightning Bolt into Lava Dart on Shrine, it's going to have to reach well beyond turn 6 before you're capable of winning. It's just nonsense that it's better to turn Bolts into Lava Dart than turning everything they play into a Shock while playing control as necessary
VS Aggro you point burns at creatures while pressuring with your own creatures. Shrine supports this plan better... do you just keep revel and race the aggro decks? Seem risky.
E-Tron is my main consideration for switching from revel to shrine and I do like how shrine still triggers with chalice in play countering our other burns.
I've play many games (few uploaded (300 or so which you can watch) since shadow became a thing and more so before it) and from my experience the aggro MUs can go well over T6 esp. if your targeting creatures.
In regards with Boros I may have overstated the word 'grind' but I find with Mardu and Naya burn requirement for 3c fetches in this current meta can reduce your turns for survival greatly - its gets even worse when you factor in land denial.
Mardu is undeniably faster then the other variants with its Bump in the Night acting like that chain lightning you mention.
EDIT: Just to clarify - when I say 'grind' what I mean is extend the game longer then the other greedy 3C variants, I don't mean trade card for card all day like rock.dec... I'll try and use a different word.
EDIT2: I really don't understand the burst lightning brew... anyhow Mardu has a lower cc then other burn decks while still retaining the powerful cards like Boros Charm - lower cc means less chance for being clogged with 2cc spells which increases the chance for dropping your hand and winning by T3-4 (esp. when you factor in opp. fetch + shock). Boros & Naya burn can do the same but the odds are lower since you need to make more land drops and not hit as many 2cc spells.
Shrine all but fizzles against aggro decks (where Eidolon would shine outside of Affinity), and trying to go long against decks built for disruption plays right into what they want. I'll be honest, it feels like a no brainer.
Shrine is BETTER then Eidolon in the aggro MUs because we're in the control role.
- - -
If we ONLY care about reducing the opp. down into zero as quickly as possible then Mardu Burn would be the best burn deck (since it has the highest chances for goldfishes). I believe the rise of Boros burn shows that grinding out victories is a thing, we should hope for the best (T4 wins) but prepare for the worse (T5+ games due to discard, land denial, taxes, bad draws, counters, life-gain and critical creature kills).
We're not really concerned with Shadow itself since we're aiming to kill them through EoT + Untap thus Blaze is used mainly for the 4/5, 2/1 and 5/5 (usually through creature + Blaze or if its early blaze + burn).
Vs Mirror
I don't think Revel is bad on the draw either since like you said "Generally, the player who sticks creatures will win." and we only have so many targeted burn spells.
I like Searing Blaze against E-Tron for much the same reasons I assume you like Searing Blaze in the GDS MU. Its even better if your also on the Ensnaring Bridge plan.
I'm also strongly in favor of keeping Eidolon in the mirror since it provides pressure and must be removed.
I find that if they have those back-to-back T2-T3 Spreading Seas hands or 2 or more Gideon with counter back-up the MU is unwinnable. Thus I suggest racing with everything during T1-3 (beside Boros Charm since you need it for Gideon...) and then stock piling burn so that you can fight the counter war (while hoping they don't draw enough Seas, Gideons and LD effects to limit your off-load).
I agree, I recall arguing with Loïc Le Briand on reddit about this.
Its funny since he agrees that killing creatures is really important in the mirror and then follow up by suggesting that we should be boarding out those very same creatures (how can you recognize the threat but not see the power?).
Why not just run Ensnaring Bridge? It hits all the creature MUs as well and is slightly harder to deal with.
I prefer 6x Anti-lifegain spells in the 75 and I HATE losing against taxes, pox and seas (even Ghost from E-Tron) which is why I don't play Atarka MD.
That said MUs like Titanshift & Ad Nauseam are common enough that I want Atarka as well so I have them in the side with the Lavamancer which people like in SB thrown into the MD (thus not really making a differences from the usual 4-2 split MD-SB).
I run 2x Skullcrack MD with 4x Atarkas in the SB for combo and other MUs where I don't care about my lifetotal.
Yep - though I'm slowly starting too believe 3x Drev + 2x Spree might be necessary for Chalice
That said I havn't seen as many E-Tron players lately since UW control has picked up (4x Seas, T.Edge &/or Ghost might have something to do with that).
Yep - UW Control is a nightmare + Skullcrack getting around Deflecting Palm is great as well.
I also like how Skullcrack can help you bluff through protection creatures since it has won me many games in mirror and affinity.
VS Aggro you point burns at creatures while pressuring with your own creatures. Shrine supports this plan better... do you just keep revel and race the aggro decks? Seem risky.
E-Tron is my main consideration for switching from revel to shrine and I do like how shrine still triggers with chalice in play countering our other burns.
In regards with Boros I may have overstated the word 'grind' but I find with Mardu and Naya burn requirement for 3c fetches in this current meta can reduce your turns for survival greatly - its gets even worse when you factor in land denial.
Mardu is undeniably faster then the other variants with its Bump in the Night acting like that chain lightning you mention.
EDIT: Just to clarify - when I say 'grind' what I mean is extend the game longer then the other greedy 3C variants, I don't mean trade card for card all day like rock.dec... I'll try and use a different word.
EDIT2: I really don't understand the burst lightning brew... anyhow Mardu has a lower cc then other burn decks while still retaining the powerful cards like Boros Charm - lower cc means less chance for being clogged with 2cc spells which increases the chance for dropping your hand and winning by T3-4 (esp. when you factor in opp. fetch + shock). Boros & Naya burn can do the same but the odds are lower since you need to make more land drops and not hit as many 2cc spells.
Shrine is BETTER then Eidolon in the aggro MUs because we're in the control role.
- - -
If we ONLY care about reducing the opp. down into zero as quickly as possible then Mardu Burn would be the best burn deck (since it has the highest chances for goldfishes). I believe the rise of Boros burn shows that grinding out victories is a thing, we should hope for the best (T4 wins) but prepare for the worse (T5+ games due to discard, land denial, taxes, bad draws, counters, life-gain and critical creature kills).