Dies to Removal

Scumbaggery!

Sounds like you played the quarter finals Affinity match perfectly.

Also, regarding that Bloom match, if he had a Leyline out, you shouldn't have been able to play Searing Blazes because you have to target a player and a creature.

Yeah, you're right about that. Forgot the exact wording on it when I wrote that.

Updated my report with the metagame, and the top 8 decks.

Once again, nicely done, redbro.

Whenever I get my DTK cards...

[deck]
Creature 14
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

Burn 26
2 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
1 Shard Volley
4 Boros Charm
3 Skullcrack
2 Searing Blaze
2 Lightning Helix

Land 19
4 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodtstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground

Sideboard 15
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Atarka's Command
2 Searing Blaze
2 Molten Rain
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Path to Exile
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Rending Volley
[/deck]

Looks like a good starting point, if you add a card to the maindeck...

Fuck it, make it another Lavamancer.

Hey guys, I want to play Burn at states in a couple weekends, but I've never played it before. Is this just terrible?:

[deck]
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

4 Bump in the Night
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Shard Volley
4 Atarka's Command
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Rift Bolt

3 Arid Mesa
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Mountain
1 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills

4 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Destructive Revelry
1 Rakdos Charm
2 Searing Blood
2 Molten Rain
2 Murderous Cut
[/deck]

You're going to have a bad mirror matchup.

Aren't 4 spellbombs a bit too many?

I can't comment on Atarka's Command, because I haven't tried them yet. But I'd definitely go with white instead of black. There's no way Bump is better than Boros Charm and/or Lightning Helix. And Murderous Cut than Path to Exile in the SB. I wouldn't go with 4 Spellbombs either. If you have the cards for white, go with that instead.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I figured I would get the ol' "bad mirror matchup" and "just play powerful white cards" advice!

The deck sketch was an attempt to 1) lower the mana curve of the deck compared to the Rwg version, and 2) build a less painful manabase than the Rwg version. I also wanted to max out on Skullcrack effects and have lots of Searing effects (6, though maybe Smash is a better one in the SB than Blood? idk). I maxed out on Spellbombs because, well, if I can't play Firewalker myself, I sure as hell want to kill my opponents'! Also the fact that it is a SB card that deals damage made it feel like it wasn't a terrible transgression.

I thought that with a sack of spellbombs, more spell density, less pain from lands, lower curve, and more searing effects, I could reasonably battle the mirror, but like I said I'm new to this and just theorycrafting. I trust y'alls experience IRL with the powerful white cards! Thanks again...any other further tips in general or any thoughts on Atarka's would be most welcome. Cheers.

I actually never played burn in modern, so take my posts with a huge grain of salt, but Burn is pretty popular around here so I happen to see mirrors every now and then.

Anyway:
- Skullcrack often prevents them from blocking with Firewalkers;
- even without playing white, you can play Spellskite, Dragon's Claw or other non-white antiburn cards;
- Rain of Gore is funny with Helices and Firewalkers.

Searing Blood isn't well positioned right now.

Play Blaze, it still does damage even if it doesn't kill the creature.

Blood is fine in the board. I enjoy its flexibility.

I didn't mind the single one I had in the SB either. You only board it in against the decks you know have small creatures anyway (Affinity, Mirror, GW Hatebears maybe, Delver, Merfolk).

Good against Affinity and fringe matches.

Not always good against Merfolk cuz Lords and spellskite.

Searing blood is great against mana dorks and lingering souls. Worth keeping an eye on if collected company decks become popular.

Wut.

Collected company in merfolk. Think about it.

Yes, Collected Company is becoming a thing.

Collected company in merfolk. Think about it.

That's actually kinda funny.

I played against it on 'trice. I was playing jund, and of course had all the answers, but EOT, drop 12 power into play is a thing.

2 lords by themselves are AT LEAST 6 power and in combination with reejory can do stupid things.

I was experimenting with it in my Sliver deck as well as an alternative to Chord. Kinda sick.

Neat idea, but AEther Vial is already the best part of their deck. Are they cutting creatures to put in CC? Isn't a 4 mana "draw 2" a bit win-more for a low curve aggro deck?

It can be, especially if they have Vial. Since I don't play Vial in Slivers, it gives me an instant speed way to add creatures or blow out my opponent in combat if I flip one or two of my 8 lords.

Feature videos!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9qZZo-8Dg - Round 5 against UR Twin, starts around 1:35:00.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5UUErOZnqM - Third game in the quarter-finals, against GW Hatebears, starts around 39:00 (Bad mistake from me on his second turn...).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWiwC0Zo8Wc - Finals, second game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd3HJFsUC0k - Finals, third game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsaKw-XEEII - Finals, third game, trigger mistake.

Wow. He really did miss the trigger. How luck sack was that drawing 3 thragtusks there though. Also i think you where casting to much on main phase especially on turns where you had to keep up crack mana. Like the turn he had 4 mana out and you main phased a lighting bolt and a boros charM, you could of easily done that eot bluffing or keeping up skullcrack mana/grim lavamancer mana

I haven't rewatched those games from the finals yet, but yeah I know I probably made several mistakes in them. Fatigue errors, most likely, and I was very unfamiliar with this matchup.

Its a hard match up to get familiar with. You have a faster average goldfish but they can have a faster win (can win on turn 2) i beat it when i went 7-2 in Columbus back in January.

Keeping life gain prevention up is important, thragtusk or baloth are ehat they use the most and can come down as early as turn 2 or three. Often cracking (commanding) the first is all you need to win. I never tap out after turn 3 main phase in that match up unless its for a molten rain or the kill. The threat of life gain is to high. Also if they have the turn 2 or turn 3 kill they have it, but dont play thinking they are going to go off on those turns it is very tough to get that draw.

I probably overestimated the early turn kills possibilities and rushed my plays. I had only played against the deck a year ago (same tournament) but I had UR Storm then. Turn 3 combo kill and turn 2 ritualed out Blood Moon won that match.

I was playing this in the practice room today on MODO. Beat a bunch of bad decks. And by bad decks, I mean things like Restore Balance and sub-par Zoo decks.

[deck]
Creature 14
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

Burn 27
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
1 Shard Volley
4 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
3 Searing Blaze
3 Lightning Helix

Land 19
4 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodtstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground

Sideboard 15
3 Destructive Revelry
1 Smash to Smithereens
2 Molten Rain
3 Kor Firewalker
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Path to Exile
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Combust
[/deck]

Mtggoldfish had an article on budget Restore Balance today, so it's hanging out a lot in the practice room.

The first time i played against it, I didn't know what to do lol. I won, but seeing Outposts and stuff freaked me out. Eidolon was good.

Neat idea, but AEther Vial is already the best part of their deck. Are they cutting creatures to put in CC? Isn't a 4 mana "draw 2" a bit win-more for a low curve aggro deck?

I think they just shave Master of waves. Something like this?

[deck]2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Master of Waves
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Cursecatcher

4 AEther Vial
3 Collected Company
2 Spreading Seas
3 Vapor Snag

23 lands. [/deck]

I don't really play mefolk(though I like the deck). Just guessing.

In other news, anyone tested atarka's command much? I'm guessing it's probably an automatic 4-of, but I could see it being something people adapt to slowly(swiftspear). The powerlevel is just so fucking high that it demands to be played.

By the numbers, if everything deals three, anything that does more is golden(boros charm) and the ceiling of this card is limited only by the amount of creatures you have in play and/or the amount of lifegain in the format. You lose out on lightning helix as white would become the splash for Charm most likely, but that's not the biggest deal in the world though it makes the already aweful mirror match worse.

It's also better against leyline, and spellskite in addition to improving our matchup vs. Kitchen finks and siege rhino(scavenging ooze probably doesn't care that much). Blocking gets a hell of a lot worse for opponents.

Also, even if the card isn't good or you aren't excited about it, it should definitely be tested as a 4-of to shortcut the process of actually drawing it in test games and seeing how it performs.

I think I'm almost settled on what I want to play for States if I go:

[deck]
Creature 14
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

Burn 28
2 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
1 Shard Volley
4 Boros Charm
3 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
2 Lightning Helix

Land: 18
4 Arid Mesa
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground

Sideboard 15
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Smash to Smithereens
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Path to Exile
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Rending Volley
2 Molten Rain
2 Volcanic Fallout
[/deck]

It's greedy as fuck on 18 land. I'm taking a cue from Anthony Lowry.

I think I'm almost settled on what I want to play for States if I go:

[deck]
Creature 14
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

Burn 28
2 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
1 Shard Volley
4 Boros Charm
3 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
2 Lightning Helix

Land: 18
4 Arid Mesa
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground

Sideboard 15
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Smash to Smithereens
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Path to Exile
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Rending Volley
2 Molten Rain
2 Volcanic Fallout
[/deck]

It's greedy as fuck on 18 land. I'm taking a cue from Anthony Lowry.

My problem with 18 lands aside from wanting to hit 3 every game is that you have 4 3 drops in your SB.

I'm all for supporting greed, but if you go that way, I'd prefer to see a board plan that goes smoother with your ambition.

Like, molten rain is much less good if you can't cast it turn 3 consistently which fetching aside you're only hitting ~68% of the time. Other then that, list looks fine.

I wouldn't go with 18 lands either. 19 maybe, because 20 sometimes felt like too much.