Dies to Removal

Did you ever have a turn 1 where your only 1 drop was a berserker? I could see it being a 2 zurgo /1 berserker split. I prefer the 2 Zurgo 1 Berserker. A lot of times you are tapping out to kill their threat , especially on the draw, and if you are doing that it means you normally dont have mana to pump Bezerker and attacking for 1 doesnt do a whole ton. I felt that way sometimes with Foundry Street as well. If I was killing your guy he just attacked for 1 and sucked. Not a fan of Rabblemasters - never got them rolling, however there isnt anything better... I kinda agree. Rabble seems so good but he just hasnt done much for me in this deck. Wonder if Outburst is just better than Rabble in the deck. Arguably better with Command/Stoke and strong vs Removal but lower upside. Also triggers Prowess, which is pretty big when running 8 prowess creatures...

@MDU are you playing the heavy token version because of the red-heavy online meta? Or because you believe it's the best in the abstract. Wanted to throw out a few things I've seen floating around. A Jeskai burn deck I saw on reddit with 4 Stoke, Firecraft and charm. Really maxing out on 4 damage spells and jace, mantis n soulfire. Kinda interesting but probably too clunky. Also I saw the same guy top8 two Super IQ with a Atarka Goblins build splashing Shivan Reef for Treasure Cruise/Days undoing. Could be interesting since running mana confluence already and would only run 2 Cruise...

Thanks LP. Are you guys basically playing Abbot in the Outpost Seige spot? Seige is a bit better going long obviously but they both give you a card in the short term. Seige is better after 2 turns. Abbot is a lot more flexible as it won't rot in your hand, gives you a turn 2 play if necessary and can save you if stuck on lands. Often times Abbot is a 4 or 5 drop just like Seige...

[deck] Creatures/Tokens 2 Zurgo Bellstriker 2 Lightning Berserker 4 Monastery Swiftspear 2 Abbot of Keral Keep 3 Goblin Rabblemaster 2 Dragon Fodder Burn 3 Wild Slash 4 Searing Blood 4 Lightning Strike 4 Atarka's Command 4 Exquisite Firecraft 4 Stoke the Flames 1 Become Immense Lands (21) 4 Wooded Foothills 3 Mana Confluence 2 Temple of Abandon 11 Mountain 1 Forest [/deck] This is what I'm thinking, but could cut the 21st land and the Become Immense for 2 more Fodder or Outburst...

So I tested Jaspers latest tonight and his other list last night. First I just have to vent, the deck performed very well over about 30-40 games, however I was about to throw the deck out the window when in 55-65% of the games I hit my first SIX land drops(my first 7 or 8 on a couple occasions). I never kept any 5 land hands. I know its just variance and that probability is strongly against this happening in a 21 land deck but HOLY SHIT it is frustrating as hell. Ok that out of the way, love the deck. My favorite thing in magic is to have your opponent do all this shit on their turn, then be like ok , End Step, Stike you, Command you, Untap, Stoke you GG. Brings a smile to my face =) Ok alrighty now onto the deck itself. - 4 Searing Blood felt good, except against my friends more typical creature/artifact-less control deck. Luckily these arent that popular right now. - 4 Abbot - I'm not as sure. I've tested this card a bunch since Origins and he's been pretty good but really shines in a deck with more 1-drops I think. Maybe better off as a 2-of honestly as I wasnt a huge fan of having 2 in my opening hands. For a turn 4 play, I think Id rather cast Seige but maybe not. - Pia and Kilar were meh....the 2/2 body didnt do a ton, and the Thopters were fine but it just didnt really do enough most of the time. I think Outpost Seige might be a better fit. - Become Immense wasnt that great with only 2 token makers. This card is at its best with the full 8 token spells where one can easily sneak through. - Likewise, Command wasnt nearly as good without tokens to fully take advantage of it. I was rarely able to attack with 2 or more creatures. It was skullcrack more often than not which is still plenty good but just not being maximized to full potential. - With 4 Searing Blood and 4 Lightning Strike at the 2 mana spot- maybe Hordling is better than Dragon Fodder. - Games with Swiftspear vs without Swiftspear were wildly different. I think I want the full 8 one-drops. 2 Zurgo, 2 Bezerker or possibly back to Denizen if more tokens are added...

Well I wiped the floor with Jeskai tonight. Any matchup that can't answer tokens and has plenty of x/2's seems really good for us. The post board games where I had 4 Searing Blood in were a joke. I was coming to same conclusion yesterday Jasper, there is legit no matchup where Searing Blood is bad. Even if it isnt great, it lets you use 2 burn to kill something and still come out roughly equal. And man..double Searing Blooding something feels so good. I remember double Blooding a Stormbreath to win States last year. Man just 2 Token producers, does that hinder Command at all? It still seems fine as skullcrack and sometimes pump but are we missing out not running more tokens? Big playtesting day for my Regionals group today. Hopefully I can give some better feedback...

Thanks man, I'm going to try those tweaks tonight as well...

Chandra's parents are good with Command too and work great with Stoke. Maybe just the 4th Stoke and 3rd Searing Blood is better. Would love to see your list. Testing Jaspers tonight for a few hours vs mostly jeskai...

Won a game last night with a single mountain! Vs Abzan Rally that hit their first 6 lands. Ended up with triple Swiftspear, getting in a few beats, then casted 3 stokes and his mana confluence with a Wild Slash off the top did it...

Jasper, how was the singleton Roast in your main board? Worth it instead of the Stoke? Assuming your logic was cutting a Stoke for a Roast. Even Scout seems better than Valley Dasher.....

Yeah MDU, I just had a lot of hands(limited testing) where was my only creature in opening 7 and or maybe 2 creatures but even then he just wasn't that good. Then on any turn past turn 1 he was pretty bad in general. He definitly contributes to the nuttier draws of the deck, but is he the best for consistency? RE: Wild Slash- not sure if you guys have SCG Prem or follow Tom Ross but he just had an article about "Breaking Serve" and one his favorite cards for doing it is Wild Slash. It trades up a lot and lets you get a little ahead even on the draw. Also combos nicely on turn 3 with any of the 2-drop burns. I would also argue that aside from Mono R it is very good in keeping up with Devotion as turn1 Elf on the play can lead to crazy stuff and being able to Slash it right away is nice. I agree on Searing Blood, it has been reallllly good. With Control running Hangerback and thopters an the midrange decks running Satyr Wayfinder, and the new Abzan Rally deck runs a ton of targets. Really cant see where Searing Blood is bad. Pia and Kiran Nilar into Command was so sweet. MDU 22 lands on the latest list without any 4 drops...

Good job Jasper!!! You the man. I love how the deck plays the best red 1-drop, 2-drop,3-drop and 4-drop and has a pretty high overall card quality. Obviously you won a lot with only 4 1-drops in the deck, are they not as big of a deal as I originally thought? EDIT: Wow just destroyed my friend, longtime junk aggro player 6-0 in games. Definitly running some version of these decks for Regionals. Both feel very strong but not super impressed by Foundry Street so far...

Word I got a big testing day Wednesday and can hopefully give my own tested input. Hoping to get some games in vs Abzan Rally Company as it feels like it could be real popular coming up. I think we can be fast enough to beat them but they do play a lot of early creatures.. Like a lot. Searing Blood looking reaaaal good now with control running creatures too...

I've been thinking about the deck and wondering if you want another 1 or 2 one-drop creatures, either Lightning Berserker or Zurgo - whichever you are not running. Both just seem so good, it would be a shame not to run one of them. That said, there certainly is a point of diminishing returns with 1 drops but opening hands with 3 of them just feel so good...

I see your point but the deck has 21 burn spells...

I think adding the extra 3 drops def warrants the 21st land, depending on what 2 cards you are cutting for them so that works well to include the Nest in the board. The lightning bezerker are also great follow ups to languish. I will certainly be running them in my Abzan / Control heavy meta. Rabble is probably just too powerful not to run especially in a deck with earlier removal targets and plenty of burn to clear the way. Really glad to be discussing burn with you again. Your videos etc really helped me play the burn deck optimally last season to really good results and made a lot of money in the process...

Ugh my phone keyboard does Crazy things when editing on here for some reason so sorry to double post. I've heard many people saying Outburst isn't that great right now. Rabble might just be better in that 3 drop spot otherwise too much action at 3 mana...

Really interested too see what you come up with. Rabble does seem at his best in a deck full of burn. Was thinking with Nest vs Heroic,, we do need to consider they run 4 Aqueous form which kinda hoses that plan. Become Immense was always awesome when I was playing the Pro Tour atarka red deck, steals some games with a token sliding through blockers...

Dancer used to be amazing back in the day with a 24 land deck and Boros Charm which made a great turn 4 play. It was also very good against Mono Blue devotion without removal but that's not relevant. Not sure if it's as good in this deck where you may not hit 4 as fast and there isn't a player-only burn spell to take advantage of. Nest is certainly wayyyy better in the aggro mirror as they can't just burn it and move on. Dancer is probably better than Nest against Devo, since you need to be attacking their mana. Nest is still plenty fine though in the matchup...

Thanks for the Zurgo insight. I rarely play against red aggro in my meta, mostly green decks n control. Is your 21st land just a mountain? Wow Hornet Nest is clever man, never would have thought of it for this deck but it's perfect. Maybe Hornet Nest over Firedancer...

Thanks for the list, I love it. Gonna start testing with this for StarCity Regionals. To get a little discussion going, have you considered any Lightning Berserker? Sometimes having multiple Zurgo did hurt me when running 3. Also, is Arc Lightning still the best card over Scouring Sands or Circle of Flame or Twin Bolt? Are you gonna do any videos or streams? That would be awesome. I miss those...