Dies to Removal

Here's my current working version of Modern R/b burn -

[deck]
Creatures (10)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer

Spells (31)
4 Bump in the Night
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
3 Shard Volley
3 Magma Jet
3 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
2 Flames of the Blood Hand

Lands (19)
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Torpor Orb
1 Searing Blaze
3 Volcanic Fallout
4 Rakdos Charm
2 Shattering Spree[/deck]

It's been pretty money. I used to have Blood Moon in the side, but I found that I was just faster than Tron unless I flood out. I was playing white for Boros Charm, but Flames of the Blood Hand is an acceptable substitute that punishes me less and doesn't color screw as often.

Ensnaring Bridge is trolololololololololololol, I love that card and am considering putting a 3rd one
in.

Reserved for future primer space

You cut the Stomping Ground?

Oops, I forgot about the SG. I'll edit the OP, I was posting from memory.

My absolute favorite thing to do is kill a Kitchen Finks against Melira Pod/combo and exile it with Deathrite with the persist trigger on the stack.

It's a beautiful thing. I like doing similar shenanigans against Unburial Gifts.

Which leads me to the reason why I've been packing 2 Rakdos Charms main. It's never been a dead card, even if I'm just exiling a GY.

Are there any decks that Rakdos Charm is just completely dead against? Scapeshift, perhaps.

Well, on the other hand, there are also decks where Searing Blaze is a dead card. But, more often than not, Charm will have its uses.

Just want to make sure I'm not missing any interactions - Stomping Ground is in there simply for DRS's 3rd ability and nothing else, right?

Right. Which is what helps stop GY shenanigans as well as keep you from dying to your own shocks.

Indeed, Searing Blaze is so good vs creature decks but so amazingly bad vs everything else. I'm going to try maindeck charms tonight and see how they go.

Indeed, Searing Blaze is so good vs creature decks but so amazingly bad vs everything else. I'm going to try maindeck charms tonight and see how they go.

Let me know. I've only been using it against the handful of players in my area but it's been extremely useful in game 1 for 2 reasons: the surprise factor and good match-ups. The big decks being played in my meta are Twin, Tron, Jund, Breakfast at Urza's (aka Eggs 2.0), Affinity, Melira Pod, Soul Sisters, Faeries, UWR Midrange/Control, Domain Zoo, Boros Weenie w/Isochron Scepters, Gifts Control, and Boggle.

I suspect it's also useful to have against the Vengeance GY decks and Storm. Except nobody plays those in my area. Well, I play Storm, but I don't count.

Figured I'd post my list here too.

[Deck]
Creatures 12
4x Goblin Guide
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Grim Lavamancer

Burn 28
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Rift Bolt
4x Lava Spike
4x Bump in the Night
4x Skullcrack
3x Searing Blaze
3x Rakdos Charm
2x Flames of the Bloodhand

Land 20
4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Marsh Flats
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
3x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
3x Mountain

Sideboard
1x Searing Blaze
1x Rakdos Charm
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Combust
2x Dismember
2x Spellskite
2x Volcanic Fallout
1x Slagstorm
3x Molten Rain
[/deck]

When I was playing with the full book of 8 Deathrite/Lavamancer, I'd often run out of ammo in the graveyard and have a sad face. Are you playing in a removal-heavy meta that requires a lot of backup copies?

Removal heavy fo sho.

I want to ensure I always have a 1 drop too. I'll clutch the rest until one gets removed, usually.

I was actually about to drop the 4th lavamancer for a miser's Shard Volley.

I've found that adding an extra mountain and the 4th Shard Volley has been playing well for racing (replacing the 2 Flames of the Blood Hand).

I havn't played Modern in ages how is Burn fairing in the current meta?

Haven't played much burn lately, but there's a lot of lifegain floating around. Might make things tough without maindeck Skullcrack or a smart sideboard plan to fight it.

EREBOS!!!

Rain of Gore? Leyline of Punishment?

Actually, I'm serious about Erebos.

Shuts down lifegain? Check.
Hard to remove? Check (because let's face it, you're not getting devotion to turn on Path)
Can draw you cards when you need to refill? Check.
Your deck doesn't care so much about your own life total? Check.

Erebos is an interesting choice. I like it as well, but I'm a bit concern about the mana cost. You want to have around 19-20 lands in a burn deck, and will you then be able to cast Erebos fast enough?

Hmm. I thought you meant the whip! At first I thought I'd rather play Leyline of Punishment for 4 CMC because it's less awkward when you draw it late game, but Erebos has more upside.

Indestructible plus card draw... I think it's a very compelling choice.

[deck=Bump//Burn]
Creatures 8
4 Goblin Guide
4 Deathrite Shaman

Burn 32
4 Bump in the Night
2 Burst Lightning
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
2 Flame Javelin

Land 20
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Ground
4 Mountain

Sideboard 15
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Molten Rain
2 Combust
4 Grim Lavamancer
3 Ensnaring Bridge
[/deck]

BOOM!

Your welcome, redbros.

Chandra is insane in modern. Insane. Drawing two a turn with burn is absurd and helps to combat all the life gain.

[deck]
4 arid mesa
4 blackcleave cliffs
2 blood crypt
4 scalding tarn
1 stomping ground
2 verdant catacombs

3 mountain

4 deathrite shaman
4 goblin guide

4 bump in the night
2 burst lightning
2 flames of the bloodhand
4 lava spike
4 lightning bolt
2 pillar of flame
4 rift bolt
4 searing blaze
4 skullcrack
[/deck]

You're 2 cards short, Z. I assume the other 2 are Chandra?

She's amazing when the games go long, but in a 20 land deck I've found her difficult to cast sometimes.

Banning are now in effect in MODO (party time woot woot )

Anyhow I 3-0'ed right away with this list:

[deck=MDU's Rb Burn]Lands 20
6 Mountains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt

Creatures 12
4 Goblin Guide
4 Vexing Devil
4 Grim Lavamancer

Spells 28
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Bump in the Night
4 Skullcrack
3 Searing Blaze
3 Shard Volley
2 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard 15
1 Searing Blaze
2 Spellskite
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Rakdos Charm
3 Smash to Smithereens
3 Rain of Gore[/deck]
Like a Newb I forgot that Destructive Revelry was an instant so I'll be making those changes soon.

G1 Pod (2-0)
G2 Rw burn (2-0)
G3 Rwb burn (2-0)

the card which I'm most interested in is Faithless looting since burn run many bad cards
T3+ like Creatures and Lands.

Hey MDU, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I'd love to see videos of Modern Burn and some sideboarding insights.

A list with Faithless Looting sounds interesting. Discarding [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card] to recur it is too cute right?

How is Vexing Devil? Does it go through periods of playability based on meta, or should you always (or never...) play it?

I'll post the Modern games next week I've always ran Vexing Devil in Modern since it either dealt 4 damage or helped my DrS get by for another turn or two.

On that note: With DrS now banned we may see the return of RDW with Shrines and Chandra's Phoenix (like the Zen-World-wake days) though I'm not sure if that style can keep up with Modern Zoo, Jund or Affinity.

Maybe Dark Confidant to get some more card advantage? Going 2 colors allows it.

Maybe Dark Confidant to get some more card advantage? Going 2 colors allows it.

Bob deck wins improves all the Aggro and some Combo MUs, I actually like it quite a bit - with Jund app. dead I may give it shot

(I'm not sure why it doesn't have as many finishes as Rwb or R though)

Red gets a lot better with drs gone; might be almost playable.

Red gets a lot better with drs gone; might be almost playable.

It was always playable Texeven had a number of high level finishes, I didn't do badly with it either online - though I'll admit it was the death DrS and the return Bitter Blossom which increased the surge of Burn (heck its the reason why I decided to play Modern again ).

It's fine for grinding but I wouldn't take it to a GP. Now it starts to sneak towards competitive.

I've been using Rain of Gore as my horrible answer vs Life-gain effects (I like how its decent vs Control).

I'm starting to believe Flames of the Blood Hand may just be better, also in regard with Destructive Revelry I'm having trouble tossing them in since Artifacts are more common then Enchantments so cutting Smash to Smithereens just feels so wrong.

Gah its going to take awhile till I can settle with a Modern SB plan (though I'm glad it hasn't changed much since I last played it).

I can go with Revelry over Smash, it's only 1 less damage for the added flexibility thought I do know what you mean about cutting Smash

I've played a few matches with the list and I am currently terrible at Modern! I'll get myself swiftly up to speed but in the meantime if you feel kind and like sharing where you're at so far with the SB plan I would be most grateful

I can go with Revelry over Smash, it's only 1 less damage for the added flexibility thought I do know what you mean about cutting Smash

I've played a few matches with the list and I am currently terrible at Modern! I'll get myself swiftly up to speed but in the meantime if you feel kind and like sharing where you're at so far with the SB plan I would be most grateful

I wanted to ask you about SB

I'm still playing the same list I posted and I won two Modern Eliminations (ME)
events so far (if you watch my videos later you'll hear me say in almost every new MU "Ok next time I'll Sb this ").

Deathrite shaman was not such a big problem for burn. Actually, he was played in rwb burn and he made the deck even more consistent, allowing to have access to all 3 colors without the appropriate lands and ramping to 3 mana spells when stuck on 2 lands. He could also beat a leyline of sanctity. All in all, i'm not happy for his banning, also because decks that played shaman were usually good matchups for burn.

Now we'll have to face zoo, and this can be a big problem i think, because they offer a very fast clock + lightning helix + creatures that block profitably or trade with goblin guide/vexing devil since the first turn. racing zoo can be problematic.

Deathrite shaman was not such a big problem for burn. Actually, he was played in rwb burn and he made the deck even more consistent, allowing to have access to all 3 colors without the appropriate lands and ramping to 3 mana spells when stuck on 2 lands. He could also beat a leyline of sanctity. All in all, i'm not happy for his banning, also because decks that played shaman were usually good matchups for burn.

Now we'll have to face zoo, and this can be a big problem i think, because they offer a very fast clock + lightning helix + creatures that block profitably or trade with goblin guide/vexing devil since the first turn. racing zoo can be problematic.

I've been using Anger of the Gods and Spellskite vs Zoo, its not a horrible MU Ill say its 45/55 in Zoo's favor

yes , board sweepers are key against zoo (or ensnaring bridge, although it can be blown by qasali pridemage)

Just went 3-1 in a Daily Event with this list:

[deck]
Lands 20
4 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Mountain
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
3 Stomping Ground

Creatures 12
4 Goblin Guide
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Vexing Devil

Burn 28
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Bump in the Night
4 Skullcrack
4 Searing Blaze
2 Shard Volley
2 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard 15
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Back to Nature
1 Combust
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Dismember
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Rakdos Charm
2 Torpor Orb
[/deck]

R1 Tron (2-1): Lost game 2 because I kept a 1 land hand with a few 2 mana spells.
R2 Pod (2-1): Voice of Resurgence helped power up Rakdos Charm for the last few points of damage in game 3.
R3 Scapeshift (0-2): Would have won game 2 if I didn't cast Lightning Bolt right into his Cryptic Command when I was expecting that (and this was made worse when he had to nearly tap out to cast Anger of
the Gods just to deal with my Lavamancer).
R4 Small Zoo (2-1): For some reason I kept a 4 land, 3 burn spells (with one being Skullcrack) hand in game 2 and wound up being one burn spell short of winning. The other two games were won by turn 4 thanks to my opponent dealing at least 4 damage to himself both times.