[Primer] Boros Burn

[zemanjaski]

61 card main?

[Lightning_Dolt]

-1 Mutavault.

[GodzillaAteMe]

Quick report before I sleep, pretty tired. Went 4-0-1 with this deck today (will post full decklist later), losing to U/W control in Top 8 when he had 2 Blind Obedience turn 2 and 3 in Games 2 and 3.

Highlights of the night: 3x Viashino Firstblade victims, and getting to Wild Ricochet a Boros Charm in the mirror.

[zemanjaski]

That feel when your oppoent mulls to 6 and plays a turn 1 Elixir of Immorality, "you're on a double mulligan then?"

[Redzone]

So after 2 DE wth bo main and wild ricochet side, here are my thoughts:
I've started tracking my win/lose by matchup now, so far I'm at
mirror 3-0
hexproof 0-1 (close)
esperhumans 1-0
mono u 0-1
bw midrange 1-0
mbc 2-1
esper 1-0

Overall I've experienced a lot more mirrors (or sort of mirrors, people running about 70 of the 75 cards), which makes g1 trivial if I draw bo early enough.
Games 2 and 3 it's still amazing, and the 1-of wild ricochet has proven itself for me the moment I countered a peak eruption.

Mbc generally is still good, there can be bad draws where you don't get skullcrack and they have merchants for turn 5 and 6 though, just scratching it up and moving on.
Esper is great when you draw creatures, with creatureless hands with nothing but burn it can be close.

Packing chains to sideboard has only cost me one game versus mono blue so far, aside from that bo has been just as good if not
better g1.

[zemanjaski]

Went 1-2 in the DE

But won 3x 8-mans LOL.

[Jonnymagic]

Went to FNM tonight and played two b/w midrange. Both opponents had turn 2 BO, turn 4 whip, turn 5 ghost daddy. I was as close to flipping tables as I come. I was definitely tilted lol. I'm putting wear/tear in the s/b somehow -- I'm tired of losing to those damn cards -- and apparently BO is picking up steam in that deck, as if it wasn't a bad enough matchup lol.

[lorddax]

What are you guys playing in the mirror? Are you keeping hasty threats on the play? I've been pulling blood for vfb and chained for BO

[Lightning_Dolt]

-4 ashley
+2 BO, +2 C2R

[Lightning_Dolt]

Chain teh phoenixes.

[Lightning_Dolt]

And thats how you own them.

Watch zems video to observe ownage.

[amcfvieira]

This is my games data from last Saturday tournamnet and last night FNM.

Matchup - win / Lose
RG Monsters - 1 /0
Esper control - 2/0
UW control - 1/0
Monored agroo/burn - 1/0
Rw devotion - 1/0
Jund Monsters - 0/1
Esper agroo/midrange - 0/1

Lose tonight to Esper creatures. Play bad in game 3 where if I choose other line in the middle of the game I could win. Game 2 I stuck on 2 lands and don't play magic.
RG monster win 2-1. Win Esper control 2-0. Win 2-0 against Mono Red agroo/burn. I sideboard very bad against Esper mid. Not prepare a cohesive plan and don't chose the best line of play in the end of the game. But this matchup is certainly a good matchup for my deck.

[cloudscraper]

Hi guys, i've read the last 10 pages of so of the thread, and i've enjoyed James articles and videos A LOT.

Gonna play in a 50 men tournament tomorrow with the deck, sticking with the list from the latest videos, but i have a few questions:

- is playing the 3rd boros guildgate over the 4th mutavault something really established and proven?

- how do you usually sideboard against creature based "midrange" decks, like Esper Humans (Obzedat Brimaz Skynight DSpheres etc)? I've found it hard to approach such matchups: i don't know if I should try to out-control them or keep tempoing.

- are Spark Troopers good against RW devotion? They don't have much instant speed interaction and they have both reckoner and zealot as first strike blockers, but the lifeswing seems awesome IF IT WORKS. I've been doing -4 zealot -4 skullcrack + 2 obedience + 2 mortars +2 chained + 2 troopers, i'm a little unsure about the
skullcracks because a few lists (mostly old ones) are running their own Helixes in the board.

- I don't think i've read a sideboarding strategy for fringe matchups like White Weenie or GW, which aren't really played online but which are still somehow relevant in real life (i'm Italian). I think we want Chained, Mortars, and Troopers. Ash Zealot is probably a good blocker and could cooperate with a burn spell to deal with bigger blockers (smiter etc). Is cutting a mix of Boros Charms and like shocks or magma jets too bad? Skullcrack seems good vs "armadillo cloak"

[AKIRADEATH]

Hello fellow Red Mages. I've mostly been lurking so I figured I would make a post. I took the following list to FNM:

[deck]
Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Enchantments
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Blind Obedience

Instants
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blood
2 Shock
4 Skullcrack
3 Warleader's Helix

Land
3 Boros Guildgate
9 Mountain
3 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard
1 Blind Obedience
1 Wild Ricochet
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Satyr Firedancer
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Viashino Firstblade
2 Spark Trooper[/deck]

My thoughts on changes I made:

1. The new manabase seems much better. I was getting a surprising amount of problems with colours before this.

2. BO in the main was a cool idea, but it did not become relevant in any match. I really want to test more with it, I see the potential, but I suspect its probably best left in the
sideboard.

3. Going down to 2 shocks wasn't good, there were often games where I was wishing I had one. I think I will go back to 3.

4. Firedancer was good against the decks I was matched with. He's useful in an FNM environment, as I expected.

Record:
2-0 vs U/G homebrew
Not much to say, he was a newer player with a deck that didn't present early threats.

2-1 vs B/W/G homebrew thing
It went as you would expect against a slow three-colour deck, though he brought out a Blood Baron I couldn't kill in game two that won a game for him.

1-2 vs G/R monsters
Spark Trooper did so much work by getting blocked by a T3 Polukranos. I was sure I would win the third game, having him down to 1 life and only needing to topdeck a burn spell, and I drew three lands in a row

2-1 vs U/W midrange thing
His creatures were difficult to kill, he had Brimaz, Fiendslayer, Archangel, and was running Brave the Elements, but I
drew my sideboarded removal and it worked out fine. Firedancer worked well. He won the first game by surprising me with an Azorius Charm that gained him 7 life. Afterwards I learned to keep skullcrack up and the games weren't difficult having enough removal in hand.

I'm still loving the deck. Hoping to refine it and get better at playing it week by week. This thread has been immensely helpful. Looking forward to bringing it to a GPT soon.

[BrainsickHater]

So I played the deck at FNM last night and Spark Trooper was VERY bad for me. I brought it in against GR monsters, and my opponent was pretty competent, which meant I never had good swings with a Spark Trooper, making it a dead card in my hand for half the game. The only game that I saw the card, the turn before I have land for sparky, my opponent taps out with caryatid ramp to play a Stormbreath Dragon AND DOESN'T SWING. I kill the dragon with Searing Blood + burn because it's dragon, and next turn he plays another Caryatid and leaves them back as blockers for most of the game. I don't think I'll be playing Sparky anymore, I think it's just far too difficult to connect with the card. Also, in defense of the card, I think there were way too many SB slots of my list dedicated to creature matchups, which means when I'm trying to side in 12 cards I end up removing too much burn. I lost that game because in order to
fit all my SB cards I had to side out 4 burn spells; if I had one of the burn spells instead of Sparky I would have won.

With that said, here's my FNM report, the list I ran, and my thoughts.

[deck]
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix

2 Chained to the Rocks

4 Warleader's Helix
4 Boros Charm
4 Searing Blood
4 Skullcrack
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
3 Shock

9 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mutavault
2 Boros Guildgate

Sideboard:
3 Satyr Firedancer
3 Spark Trooper
2 Blind Obedience
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Chained to the Rocks
3 Viashino Firstblade
[/deck]

Game 1 vs GR Monsters:
Game 1 he stumbles on his mana for a couple turns and while the game started out pretty close, I quickly pull ahead and end the game.

Sideboarding (Which I'm sure is wrong): -4 AZ, -4 Skullcrack, -1 Helix, -1 Magma Jet, -1 Shock, -1 LIghtning Strike / +3 Sparky +3 CTR + 3SFD +2 MM +2 BO
The last four one-of burns spells I sided
out I took out because I was unsure what else to do. In hindsight I definitely should have left the Helix in. Overall I think I was trying to bring in too much.

Game 2 he gets double Courser of Kruphix draw, and a Sacred Foundry that I scried to the bottom of the deck early in the game ends up being the land I needed to overload Mizzium mortars to give me a chance to stay in the game. I don't think I would have won anyway since my hand was pretty sparse and he was still sitting at 18 life because of the stinking 2x Coursers.

Game 3 is the game I mentioned above. This game my opening hand was a pretty strong hand for racing, so I ignored the Domri he played and pointed stuff at his face. I figured that I could get my Sparky to connect through a caryatid for at least 3 and gain me 6 life, but he ends up playing around Spark Trooper all game and the damage I need from Spark Trooper to close the game never ends up being realized. Eventually he ultimates the Domri that I totally forgot about because
I ignored it from the start, but I think that game was pretty much lost anyway. At that point he has Courser and another Dragon, and I doubt I could have pointed a burn spell at Domri and survived long enough to find enough burn to kill my opponent.

Game 2 vs Bant Homebrew Aggro: My opponent was playing GW aggro splashing U for Prophet of Kruphix and Dispel out of the board (maybe other stuff but I never saw it).
Game 1 he plays all the scry lands and I just burn him out before he really does anything.

Sideboarding: The only dudes I saw that game were tokens made from instants, so I brought in BO to prevent surprise blocks. -4 Zealot, +2 Chained +2 BO

Game 2: He surprises me with Dispel on an early burn spell, but my hand is very heavy on burn and I just play around Dispel until he dies. Between all the scry lands and trying to play Prophet every game, his deck was too slow to really have a chance of racing (or more likely he just played it too slowly).


Game 3 vs BW Midrange: This was closer to Paul Rietzl's list from PT Theros. It played Soldier of the Pantheon and I didn't see pack rat.
Game 1 it looks like he's playing a weenie deck as his first two plays are SotP. My hand is full off CIPT lands, but Searing Blood and shock matched up well against his deck. I eventually realize he's playing more of a midrange build as he uses some removal on an ash zealot I play later. I curved out into two Phoenixes and he dies to a reasonable clock with burn backup.

Sideboarding: I realize I want BO in case of Obzedat, and CTR in case I actually see big dudes this game. I don't remember what I sided out. -? / +2CTR and +2 BO.

Game 2 he leads with a soldier which I searing blood. I get double pheonix again which is the nuts. He plays a Desecration Demon, and I sac into it to swing by and have enough burn to burn him on his end step and untap for lethal. He taps out for Blood Baron and dies.

Game 4 vs WW:
nGame 1 he gets off to a very good start with Soldier into Precinct Captain into Soldier. On my second turn I have Searing Blood for the Precinct captain, but I let him untap and get destroyed by Brave the Elements. After that I'm just so far behind the race and so down on tempo I don't stand a chance.

Sideboarding: -4 Skullcrack -1 Magma Jet / +3 Satyr Firedancer +2 Chained to the Rocks

Game 2: I play a turn 2 firedancer and at that point he might as well have sccoped. Everything he plays dies and before long I burn him out.

Game 3: I mull to 6 and my new six has firedancer and lands to cast it. He has a good draw with T2 Precinct captain, but my T3 is Chain the captain and SFD. GG.

Overall I went 3-1 and really enjoyed the deck. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not sold on Spark Trooper. I can definitely see that if you can connect with it for a reasonable amount of damage, then he's extremely good, but I think the card is very dead against opponents who know what they're doing. My
sideboard was not very great, as I was constantly put in positions where I wanted too many cards out of the board. In the 2nd-4th games I sided much more conservatively, only bringing in things that I thought were very strong. I don't think I want to dedicate many more slots to control however, as the meta at my LGS is all creatures.

Satyr Firedancer is a card that has fallen in and out of favor on this forum, but I think it deserves some slots in the 75. My match against WW was a bye post-board. SFD is so good against the smaller creature decks it's just insane.

Here's what I'm considering as my new SB:
[deck]
3 Satyr Firedancer
3 Blind Obedience
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Wild Ricochet
3 Viashino Firstblade
3 Mizzium Mortars
[/deck]

With this board, I think my plan against GR monsters becomes: -4 AZ, -4 Skullcrack, -3 Shock / +3 SFD +3 BO +2 CTR +3 MM. I feel fine siding out shock here because it's good in the same situations SFD is good; when you're on the draw, you need to
remove your opponent's creatures, and you can couple it with burn.

[rcwraspy]

So I played the deck at FNM last night and Spark Trooper was VERY bad for me. I brought it in against GR monsters, and my opponent was pretty competent, which meant I never had good swings with a Spark Trooper, making it a dead card in my hand for half the game. The only game that I saw the card, the turn before I have land for sparky, my opponent taps out with caryatid ramp to play a Stormbreath Dragon AND DOESN'T SWING. I kill the dragon with Searing Blood + burn because it's dragon, and next turn he plays another Caryatid and leaves them back as blockers for most of the game. I don't think I'll be playing Sparky anymore, I think it's just far too difficult to connect with the card. Also, in defense of the card, I think there were way too many SB
slots of my list dedicated to creature matchups, which means when I'm trying to side in 12 cards I end up removing too much burn. I lost that game because in order to fit all my SB cards I had to side out 4 burn spells; if I had one of the burn spells instead of Sparky I would have won.

So you had the opportunity to let him sacrifice 2 Caryatids and you could gain 6 life and you didn't take it? I'd say that trade is well in our favor.

[Aodh]

4-mana double Tribute to Hunger seems good against hexproof creatures.

[JohnnyfnB]

Well, FNM started out bad and ended on a good note. I am not one to make excuses, but I bought MAT sleeves (12 friggen bucks) and they are horrible. Everyone I played agreed with me. My cards were sticking together in chunks. I shuffled the shit out of it as best I could and had mana clogs all night. I was very frustrated and knew that the 2 games I lost, I could have and should have easily won. I easily beat these players and their decks before. I used the same main with the exception of swapping in the BO's. My board is as follows and will be changed:

4 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Viashino Firstblade
1 Blind Obedience
3 Spark Trooper
3 Satyr Firedancer


Rd 1 Esper Control (1-2)

Game 1: I had my opponent down to 5 health and I was at 26. If you guys remember I swapped my 2 main board Chained's for 2 BO's. Thus, my life gain. I never drew a skullcrack that game and ran out of gas. 3
rev's and 3 big swings from Aetherling we went to game 2.

Game 2 : I sided in the VFB's (Zem, I am completely sold on these guys! ty) He scooped when I cracked his rev while he was at 4 life.

Game 3: After the deck running perfect and what I though was a good shuffle, I only drew 3 lands the whole game and no skullcracks. I was so far behind at that point he countered everything. The sleeves once again made my deck shit on itself.

(0-1)

Rd 2 Mono White aggro (0-2)

Game 1: I draw 3 Temples in a row followed by a guild gate (are you fucking kidding me!), while he drops T1 Soldier, T2 Capt., T3 Brimaz, T4 Spear and Brave the elements. The game ends quick.

Game 2: I board Mizzium Mortars, sub out the BO's for Chains, bring in the SFD and side out all the Warleader Helix's and 2 Ash Zealots. I'm sure I could have done a better side board than that, but at this point I wanted to rip my sleeves in half. Again, I'm not making excuses. I draw Chained, SFD, shock and 3 lands. I
keep and flood out and don't draw another burn spell.

(0-2)

Rd 3 W/G Auras

Game 1: I have a hand of hotness. I remove his board and burn him easily without taking a single point of damage.

Game 2: I only board in the SFD and sub out the BO's for chained. I started off good, but then we both flooded. My deck cleared itself and I burned him down.

Finally, it's getting better.

(1-2)

Rd 4 Mono White Devotion

Game 1: My hand is good, but this is my close friend and his deck is designed for survivability against spot removal. Weird deck, but most times works. Braves, Gods Willings, Gideon etc. Close game, but rebuying Phoenix from burns and chump blocking Gideon, won me the game.

Game 2: Almost exactly same results, he boards in Fiendslayer Paladin, so it makes my job a little harder, but win a close one again.

(2-2)

Well I will be changing these sleeves that's for sure. Regarding playing BO over CttR, I think if you have a heavy control meta or lots of red decks,
it's a good swap. I really didn't miss it (CttR), but in a tourney I would play the Chained's and will be maining them again. This deck is awesome and barring sticking sleeves and a few questionable boarding choices, this deck has game! I test with my group every Wed and will post my results on Thrs.

on!

[JohnnyfnB]

Am I crazy in saying that maybe we should consider Anger of the Gods for a sideboard option (subbing out Ash Zealots)? A well placed AotG against G/R, Jund, WW, Mono U or against Pack rats is a game changer. I know if your local meta is heavy with those decks, it might be a consideration. Even a turn 4 AotG with a shock exiles any 4 or 5 toughness creature. I know it's a very controlish card, but that really slows down G/R and Jund. No rampers equals slower threats and faster deaths... for them.

[rcwraspy]

Am I crazy in saying that maybe we should consider Anger of the Gods for a sideboard option (subbing out Ash Zealots)? A well placed AotG against G/R, Jund, WW, Mono U or against Pack rats is a game changer. I know if your local meta is heavy with those decks, it might be a consideration. Even a turn 4 AotG with a shock exiles any 4 or 5 toughness creature. I know it's a very controlish card, but that really slows down G/R and Jund. No rampers equals slower threats and faster deaths... for them.

I had a similar thought, but in the G/R or Jund matchups we're riding 4x Chained and 4x Phoenix pretty hard. Do you think there's some tension there? Their deck only runs 8 accelerators (4x Mystic, 4x Caryatid) and you can profitably deal with 4
of them. But aggro seems to be popping up a bit, and if we can make the case that it will be a 2+ for 1 a fair percent of the time it may be good. I just hate to spend 3 mana on something that doesn't hit the face.

[lorddax]

1-0 record 2-0 mbc. Game 1 burn sequence. Game 2 AZ into CP into AZ vs life bane and night veil ate mortars. One az downfalled other pharkiad to jump to 8 life. Poke with cp to six, tap for Gary respond crack he saw on bane, scoop with ls in hand

[Khaospawn]

I went 4-1 at FNM last night to make Top 8 before getting knocked out by B/W deck.

I'm gonna make this short and sweet:

R1 - Hours later, I still can't figure out what I played against. The guy was playing Bant colors but was sticking all sorts of weird shit in there, like Nykthos, Kioras' Follower, some green lifegain creature, Nylea, Jace, Revelation. His weirdness worked to his advantage, causing me to sideboard incorrectly. I lost when I ran out of gas.

R2 - I beat a R/g Monsters deck. The deck sucked and my opponent sucked. We played for funsies afterwards to make him feel better. I still beat him.

R3 - Another R/g Monster deck. I lose game 1 really quickly when he gets out T3 Polu and a T4 Stormbreath. I die. He mumbles "R/w Devotion" as he sideboards. Game 2 ends just as quickly as the first one, except that I'm the winner this time. In Game 3, I'm facing another big ole Polu, but I've known
he was dead for almost 2 turns. A flurry of spells at the end of his turn, a couple of spell on my turn, and he's done. After he makes a few salty remarks about "always having it" and "not a real deck," I have him sign the match slip.

R4 - This time it's Jund Monsters. This match played out a little bit like the last one, but it was by far my most exciting. In Game 3, I was facing lethal in another turn, so I blasted him with some Boros Charms, bringing him to 5. In my upkeep, I used Magma Jet to bring him to 3 and scry'd away 2 lands from the top. I topdecked a Lightning Strike to finish him off and the 3 or 4 people watching the match were like, "Awwwwww shit! Nigga please!" I felt smart.

R5 - I beat B/W, but there really isn't much to tell. He must've had some clunky draws. Match was literally over in 10 minutes. 2-0, in my favor.

Top 8 Match - I lost to B/W when my opener of Guildgate and Mutavualt fail to improve, despite playing 2 Magma Jets to scry away 4
cards. Meanwhile, Porky McWeasley (which is what I'm calling this kid because I can't remember his name. He looks like miss Piggy and Ronald Weasley did the fusion dance. He's a cool kid, he just...looks like a goddamn pig-Weasley), manages to curve into Brimaz, Dessie Demon, and Blood Baron. In Game 2, I FINALLY get my first Firstblade victim. Man it felt so sweet. However, the sweetness became bittersweet in Game 3 when I had a similar land issue from game 1 and he plays Obzedat and Blood Baron to wreck me.

After losing, I congratulated Porky and went to spend my hard-earned winnings on completing my Foil Lightning Strike set and snagging some Foil Searing Bloods.

Who's got the best looking Red deck on this side of the East Coast? Dis nigga right here.

[lorddax]

Meta 2 gr monster, gu?? Mono g, grill aggro, bug, mbc, rw burn, american control.

Thoughts?

[BrainsickHater]

So I played the deck at FNM last night and Spark Trooper was VERY bad for me. I brought it in against GR monsters, and my opponent was pretty competent, which meant I never had good swings with a Spark Trooper, making it a dead card in my hand for half the game. The only game that I saw the card, the turn before I have land for sparky, my opponent taps out with caryatid ramp to play a Stormbreath Dragon AND DOESN'T SWING. I kill the dragon with Searing Blood + burn because it's dragon, and next turn he plays another Caryatid and leaves them back as blockers for most of the game. I don't think I'
ll be playing Sparky anymore, I think it's just far too difficult to connect with the card. Also, in defense of the card, I think there were way too many SB slots of my list dedicated to creature matchups, which means when I'm trying to side in 12 cards I end up removing too much burn. I lost that game because in order to fit all my SB cards I had to side out 4 burn spells; if I had one of the burn spells instead of Sparky I would have won.

So you had the opportunity to let him sacrifice 2 Caryatids and you could gain 6 life and you didn't take it? I'd say that trade is well in our favor.

Idk I guess I was stuck in the mentality that I HAD to be doing damage during each of my turns or else I just wasn't gaining any ground. Slamming a spark trooper didn't seem like a play that pressured my opponent since he could just block, but considering that he was playing around haste so heavily as to leave his Stormbreath back to block, playing spark trooper is probably
the most pressuring play I could have made. I would have gained 6 life, maybe done damage, and if I didn't then he probably would have left dudes back to block, slowing his clock and giving me time to burn him out. But this is why I'm here; I'm bad and I gotta learn to play this deck.

[JohnnyfnB]

If he blocked your Sparky with SBD, he would have taken all 6 dmg. If he double blocked like rcwraspy suggested earlier, he would have been down 2 blockers. I agree, that you should have swung with him. Try it next time and share your results, I'll bet you will be happier.

[lorddax]

Doubt you have to assign 4 to sbd?

[rcwraspy]

If he blocked your Sparky with SBD, he would have taken all 6 dmg. If he double blocked like rcwraspy suggested earlier, he would have been down 2 blockers. I agree, that you should have swung with him. Try it next time and share your results, I'll bet you will be happier.

Well, I agree with his line to Searing Blood + Burn the Dragon. But the turn after that it sounded like he had Sparky in hand and the opponent's battlefield was 2x Caryatid. I swing Sparky with glee into that every time.

Getting rid of 2 Caryatids is incredibly good against them. It potentially clears the way for more ground beaters like Ash Zealot, Mutavault, or more Troopers, and it really puts them back on resources (the biggest bonus).

If you swing the Spark
Trooper into the Dragon you'd still have 2 damage trample over. With trample against a creature with protection, you still have to assign lethal but anything else can trample over. The dragon won't die, the spark trooper will, and your opponent gets hit for 2. Not entirely sure how much life you gain. But Searing Blood + Burn the dragon followed up by Trooper into 2x Caryatid seems really strong to me.

[rcwraspy]

Doubt you have to assign 4 to sbd?

yes

[BrainsickHater]

He had more than 2x caryatid, but I don't remember what. I think there was a Courser of Kruphix, but it's not like he would have blocked with that anyway.

[Ajak]

I think 4 mortars in the 75 might be the way to go. I like MM better than firedancer, spark trooper, and even chained to the rocks in some cases. Mortars can combo efficiently with searing blood or shock to kill demon and polukranos, and I feel safer killing an early problem creature like courser, brimaz, specter, or frostburn weird when I have more single-card answers to dragons and blood barons later on. Spark trooper and Firedancer feel really powerful, but they take extra work to set up and sometimes you just can't cast them. It's also nice to be able to handle a large creature without needing a white source for chained, especially since we only have 4 that can come in untapped.

What do you guys think about 2 mortars main deck instead of chained and this sideboard?

[deck]
3 Blind Obedience
3 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Viashino FIrstblade
4 Firedrinker Satyr[/deck]

2 chained could still be
the best in the main deck, maybe with a 3/1 or 4/1 split of mortars and chained in the sideboard.

It could be a little weaker against chandra's phoenix in the mirror and desecration demon, but even against blue I'm happier to have less answers to master of waves if he's just coming down with 1-2 elementals and giving me more targets for searing blood. It's still the best answer to demon against mono black, but I think chained is a lot riskier now that blue devotion is playing detention sphere and Jund has access to golgari charm and abrupt decay. Based on the matches I've played this week against some friends playing B/W midrange, G/R and Jund monsters, and Uw devotion I'm finding mortars to be the best option for dealing with their creatures. I know that's not a wide variety, but they have been difficult matchups for me and mortars seems really good against those decks. With the extra mortars, I also like a 4th shock back in the maindeck in place of a helix. I'm curious what you all think
about mortars vs. our other removal options.

[Khaospawn]

I love Mortars in the deck, and I even overloaded one against a R/G deck to wipe out 2 Caryatids, a Stormbreath, and a Courser. With that said, I've never felt that I ever needed more than 2 in a game. One is usually enough to take out whatever big threat you need to in order to buy you 1 or 2 more turns to burn your opponent out. I can see 3 being a reasonable number in a sideboard, but 4 is just too much.

[Ajak]

I love Mortars in the deck, and I even overloaded one against a R/G deck to wipe out 2 Caryatids, a Stormbreath, and a Courser. With that said, I've never felt that I ever needed more than 2 in a game. One is usually enough to take out whatever big threat you need to in order to buy you 1 or 2 more turns to burn your opponent out. I can see 3 being a reasonable number in a sideboard, but 4 is just too much.

That's true. Multiple mortars in the opening hand would probably be too slow to win and you don't want to draw too many when you need to be hitting them directly. How do you think it compares to chained to the rocks vs. the field? The possibility of a boardwipe is definitely an upside, but I think it also makes an opening hand with
mutavault+mountain or mutavault+ some combination of guildgates and/or temples a better keep.

[DXI-Edge]

Guys honestly, I dont see the appeal to spark trooper. I just dont.

With that being said, this is my 75 for now, due to my meta being less monsters and more everything else:

[deck]
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Satyr Firedancer

3 Shock
3 Warleader's Helix
4 Searing Blood
4 Skullcrack
4 Boros Charm
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

3 Mutavault
3 Boros Guildgate
9 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard
4 Chained to the Rocks
2 Blind Obedience
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Firedrinker Satyr
3 Viashino Firstblade
[/deck]

Basically, I want cards that arent dead vs. BW/Esper, and Chained to the Rocks main are. Plus with all the aggro decks, he's really good right now.

Spark Trooper hasnt impressed me terribly, so this allows me to run the 15 card sideboard I really want and has answers to everything I need answers to!

[cloudscraper]

Basically, I want cards that arent dead vs. BW/Esper, and Chained to the Rocks main are.

while satyr firedancer is AWESOME against esper... LOL

[LP, of the Fires]

There's a difference between bad and dead. A big difference actually.

[Redzone]

just made top 8 in a premier daily, will do a write up tomorrow

[Jedi_Knight]

Burn them to the ground!

[cloudscraper]

There's a difference between bad and dead. A big difference actually.

Considering "not useless" a 1/1 that makes you more vulnerable to bad cards of theirs (like Verdict) while removing your opportunity to have a card (chained) which is awesome in 95% of the matchups is an argument that doesn't convince (me) at all, sorry.

If you don't want dead cards against esper, and you think you won't need chained anywhere, feel free to replace it. But not with 1/1 no abilities.

[LaZerBurn]

just made top 8 in a premier daily, will do a write up tomorrow

Well done! Great result

[Kaitscralt]

just made top 8 in a premier daily, will do a write up tomorrow

nice work, i dropped out of that premier after facing 3 control mirrors in the first 3 rounds