I'm playing 22 lands in my version, with 4 Servant of the Conduit and 4 Attune with Aether and I feel like I mulligan only slightly more often than with my Naya Burn deck in Modern. That should give you a good idea of how consistent the deck is. I keep any hand that has at least one 2-drop and can make the mana to play it by turn 3. I don't mind playing a Servant of the Conduit on turn 2 rather than a Voltaic Brawler because we're not a hyper-aggressive deck. R/G Energy is based on the quality of its individual cards and the synergy they have with one another.
I don't like playing Smuggler's Copter in this deck because our creatures have better things to do than crew a copter. Skysovereign is a lot better since it has an effect as soon as it hits the board. The answer to Fumigate isn't playing more artifacts, it's learning not to overextend.
I don't think cutting a Bristling Hydra is the right answer either. He forces the opponent to have a very specific answer otherwise he just wrecks them. Decks that don't have white are forced into chumping it so you prevent them from developing their board.
Arlinn Kord has been simply too slow in my experience since she has to flip to get to her business abilities. Chandra, Torch of Defiance does a lot better since she can function as removal right from the moment she hits the board. Arlinn is often a 2RG grizzly bear in my experience, which is not what I want from a planeswalker. If you want more walkers and don't want to drop the money for Chandra, pick up an extra Nissa, Vital Force or two, she does a lot of work against control decks.
I also strongly recommend playing a full playset of Tireless Tracker. If you're flooding out he helps you stay in the game while growing into a big threat. If they deal with him then they will be unlikely to be able to deal with your next threat.
Another strong recommendation is to play a full set of Blossoming Defense. It forces the opponent to try and kill our creatures on *their* turn rather than ours because nothing feels worse than having the problematic creature you tried to remove come out of the exchange swinging even harder. As soon as the first one has been played, you just need to leave up G to force them to play around it.
I've cut Lathnu Hellion from my list entirely. He can be nice against very durdly decks or very low-to-the-ground aggressive decks but neither of those strategies sees much play in the current meta. Against the fast decks I'd rather side in a set of Galvanic Bombardments and against durdly control decks cards like Nissa, Vital Force are more resilient.
Generally speaking, I think this is the core for the R/G version:
With 22 land that leaves 8 flex-slots to play with, although personally I don't like playing less than the full sets of Longtusk Cub and Blossoming Defense so I only use 4 flex slots. If you end up adding mostly cards of 3 CMC or lower you can shave another land. Personally I've filled my last slots with a Chandra, a Nissa and 2 Incendiary Flow at the moment, although I am planning to acquire another Chandra and move Nissa to the sideboard completely.
I like the low curve and the manabase I've built seems solid as far as getting the colours goes but it deals me a lot of damage so I may switch out some fetches for fastlands. I frequently end up with multiple Geist of Saint Traft in my hand so I am considering cutting one even though he feels like the best creature in the deck. If I do cut one I'd probably play an extra Snapcaster mage or maybe a singleton Thing in the Ice to have a different angle for the deck. So far the 3/3 split of Remand and Mana Leak works well for me since both cards have their uses in different cases. Remand also lets you make fun plays such as Probe --> Remand --> Remand the Remand to swing with a big Swiftspear and get 2 cards. I am still experimenting heavily with my sideboard but so far I really like Deflecting Palm, Negate and Dispel. Currently my anti-artifact option is Wear // Tear but I'm considering Smash to Smithereens instead to be a little faster in those matchups where you need it.
Nature's Way? Fighting in a format with instant speed removal seems ill advised unless it's relegated to the SB in mirror sorts of MUs.
Nature's Way is slightly better than you evaluate since it doesn't fight, the targeted creature deals damage equal to its power. This means they can't just use a 'small' removal card to clean up your creature, they have to use hard removal.
I do agree with you that it's probably not the direction the deck wants to go. I would consider playing Magmatic Chasm first if I wanted to push damage through and if it's removal we want then there are better options.
I finished 3-1-1 which was enough for a top 8 finish, but I lost my very first match in the top 8 to G/B Delirium.
First round I played against U/W Spirits and won, second round I played against Jeskai Control and lost, after that I beat B/W Control and G/B Delirium. My 5th opponent then offered me a draw into top 8 which I took, but we still played for fun. Had I played, I would have lost. In the top 8, I played against that same G/B Delerium opponent I drew with and this time I lost to him for real.
Overall the build felt decent. The singleton Hanweir Battlements was a real value card. In the lategame when you have a bunch of mana, having access to haste makes topdecking a creature a lot better. There weren't as many Smuggler's Copter decks as I expected so my Natural States never came in and my Galvanic Bombardments felt lackluster. I think I'm going to try adding blue to see if I can get a better matchup against G/B Delirium out of the deal because that definitely feels like the worst matchup. A bunch of decks are playing colourless spells so Ceremonious Rejection in the sideboard might just be what I'm looking for. I also want too look into an answer for an Emrakul since the mind control can really do a lot of damage against this deck, but she seems to see relatively little play so it might just be something we just hope to dodge.
If anyone has any questions or feedback I'd love to hear it.
Woodland Wanderer is terrible unless you aggressively build your mana base around it. WW will often just be a 4/4 for 4cmc which relegates it to draft chaff.
I'm not sure I follow the reasoning here. The deck has 4 Aether Hubs and 4 Servant of the Conduit and I'm playing a Botanical Sanctum. This gives a total of 9 sources of non-g/r mana so most of the time Woodland Wanderer will be at least a 5/5 trample vigilance. Even at 4/4 trample and vigilance are relevant keywords, if that's not playable then how are we able to play Bristling Hydra? Is the potential hexproof really enough to push it over the top? Don't get me wrong, I think that the Hydra is one of the best cards in the deck, I just fail to see how the Wanderer is so much worse.
Having said that I am going to strongly consider replacing them with Longtusk Cub. When playing with the Wanderer I do frequently end up with a pile of energy which a Cub could make good use of.
Sorry for getting a little ranty back there. There are some things to chew over for any considering playing Oath.
Updated my list, putting more of Papathor's recommendations in place. Remember, it's to combat my seemingly control/grindy heavy meta. It's faster than my previous lists, and hopefully a bit more resilient. Lathnu Hellion and Fleetwheel Cruiser along with Arlinn Kord keeps things hasty while getting some benefit before being removed if our opponent has only sorcery-speed removal in hand. Fleetwheel and Arlinn also help fight Fumigate to some degree.
[ Updated list ]
Your updated list seems to have 59 cards in the mainboard and the 75 74 has 5x Tireless Tracker in total. I'd also advise swapping the numbers of Oath of Nissa and Attune with Aether since the deck makes use of energy *really* well. I don't like the Sylvan Advocates or the Fleetwheel Cruisers but that could just be my personal bias. I also highly doubt that cutting Servant of the Conduit is the right direction for the deck, especially if you're playing Lathnu Hellion. Even at its worst, if the only thing the Servant does is chump and enable the Hellion to stay around for another turn that seems well worth the card. As soon as it eats removal it has generated 2 energy and protected one of our actual threats so the value just increases. If you draw no Hellion you can still use it to power a big Harnessed Lightning to remove a big threat, it gets you 2/3rds of the way to a Hydra activation or it gives you Voltaic Brawler activations. Lastly, I don't see why you wouldn't play Aether Hub even without the changes I mentioned. It gives you coloured mana at least once and if you don't need the coloured mana, a Servant or Attune = the Aether Hub is another Hydra activation.
I understand that you're trying to go a slightly different route from the 'stock' lists but there's a reason they exist. I can't help but feel that you're straying so far off the beaten path that you've lost sight of what makes the deck work.
Considering adding U for:
Serum Visions
Probe
Stormchaser
Snapcaster
Delver
Geist
Mantis Rider
Jeskai Charm
counters out of the SB
Vapor Snag
Wouldn't you rather play something like Journey to Nowhere over Declaration in Stone? Giving your opponent a card is a very real cost in a tempo deck I think.
Trust the Naya, I believe its a fair matchup against Skred, without Blood Moon on the field, I think Skred deck isn't that scary tho but once Blood Moon hit the field, it screws your mana (maybe play 1 plains just so you can cast boros charm or 1 forest to cast atarka's command reliably)
Pls do not play any nonmountains -it screws you way more then bloodmoon ever could
yes I agree never play any non-mountain basics,
for me, as I tend to get clogged up with multicolor spell, I prefer to use 1 forest
No, never use any land that does not tap for red or fetch for something that taps for red. There's no room for a plains or mountain in Burn. Just accept that you're going to get color screwed by Blood Moon and deal with it. If possible, keep up 2 lands, float RG in response to Blood Moon being cast, and cast Destructive Revelry after Moon enters.
Yeah, I've heard from way too many people that you should never play non red fetches or non mountain basics to try it. I'm seeing most lists play Wild Nacatl now, is it considered the "better" choice as opposed to more burn spells?
The trend is that people are embracing the slight drop in consistency that Wild Nacatl versions bring in favour of the explosiveness it can provide. I still maintain that both versions are strong enough and the non-nacatl version is simply seeing less play by high skill-level players. That said, I'm also planning to grab the Copperline Gorges I need to be able to play the Nacatl version as well. Honestly, once you're investing in a modern deck anyways, the last bit of money it costs to have the cards for both versions is negligible.
Obviously I'm new to the deck, but if Preordain were legal I'm pretty sure it would replace Serum Visions wholesale. I'd probably replace the 4th Gitaxian Probe with Serum Visions but I wouldn't want to cut Gitaxian Probe much further, my experience with the card especially in a deck such as this is that the information it gives is invaluable and the strong early turn plays it enables seem important to the consistency of the deck.
I normally play Burn so from that perspective, I want to convert cards into damage somehow and preferably as early as possible. Starting with Monastery Swiftspear + probe means you're attacking for 2 at the very least and you also get to see what your opponent kept, informing your next few turns. In magical Christmas land you can deal around 10-15 damage in your first two turns if you know the coast is clear. In any case, you're putting a lot of pressure on your opponent (as long as they're not on Death's Shadow) and force them to either fetch basics and disrupt their mana or get good mana but get close to death. I'd value that over the scry from Serum Visions
I guess I'm rambling on a bit about Gitaxian Probe which was not the card under discussion but I think that in a world where Preordain is legal, the choice becomes whether Serum Visions or Gitaxian probe should be cut and I don't think the answer is to cut Probe entirely.
I've also taken the time to type out Robert Green's list for further discussion:
It seems like a slightly heavier list manabase-wise, which is probably explained by the presence of Cryptic Command which you want to be able to flashback with Snapcaster Mage. I'm not sure about Eiganjo Castle in this list since it can only protect the Geist which already has Hexproof, so it's basically there to protect from combat damage. I'd probably trim it in favour of a Mutagenic Growth which can basically perform the same function but does so for all our creatures.
Robert green was in first place after 7 rounds of GP Dallas Fort Worth playing Jeskai Prowess!!!
He lost on camera to Bant Eldrazi. The Eldrazi player drew like a god which was unfortunate. I missed the decklist and only caught game 2, but I do know he was playing Delver of Secrets and Geist of Saint Traft. He also had two Cryptic Command (not sure if they were sided in or not.
Either way it's pretty exciting to see a jeskai player at table one at a GP. Hopefully he can win round 9 and stay near the top 8 for tomorrow. Also hopefully they post his decklist if he wins round 9. I will keep you all posted.
I actually came here looking for Robert Green's list, it doesn't appear on MTGGoldfish and I've yet to find it anywhere else either...
While brewing I'm going back and forth between a more prowess-y list and a more 'suicide bloo' version that plays Thing in the Ice to get extra value...in any case, I think this weekend's GP has proven that aggressive strategies in the Jeskai colours have real merit.
I alwase strongly consider bolting the birds, I do it probably 90% of the time.
Every guide I've read about Burn says to bolt the bird and I agree. The only reason I wouldn't bolt it is if I'm holding a Searing Blaze and can set up landfall for it.
Has anyone tested Fevered Visions and Dynavolt Tower MD? Do you take one out for the other when you SB? Whats the floor on MD instants/sorceries before you start hamstringing the engine of the deck?
In the current meta, I think Fevered Visions is mainly good against control decks, but actively bad against most of the aggro decks that make up a large part of the format. Dynavolt Tower on the other hand does work against all types of decks.
As for the floor on MD instants and sorceries, there's a lot of approaches to that question.
Personally, I think the deck wants around 22 land and I think the maindeck can support about 8 creatures for just 4 Towers, leaving 26 slots for instants and sorceries.
I think you want the maximum amount of burn spells that can go to the face (4x Incendiary flow and 4x Fiery Temper) because if you need to rely on just Dynavolt Tower you're gonna need to cast 18 other spells *after* casting the Tower to deal enough damage to win (20+ damage needed to win, meaning 7 activations for 21 damage, meaning 7 x 5 = 35 energy, meaning 36/2 = 18 spells).
Assuming a hand with 3 lands, Dynavolt Tower, 3 spells and *none of those* spells cast before the Tower, that would mean drawing and casting 15 more spells. Surviving on just removal and counterspells for 15 turns, with no creatures or planeswalkers, seems a bit optimistic to me.
Since the main primer here seems to be pretty out of date (I see no mention of Nahiri Jeskai or Dredge, and Amulet Bloom is still in there), would someone be kind enough to write up what Burn's worst matches are? In my experience Merfolk and Death and Taxes are both huge headaches, and Dredge/Affinity tend to be just a bit faster than us, so they can be hard, too (although Dredge seems to be worse). What else am I missing out of Tier 1 and 2?
My experience is that RGW Burn has a strong game against all decks that aren't Soul Sisters or Ad Nauseum. The decks you mention feel about 50/50 since it's very dependant on who draws what. On the whole I think Burn is pretty well positioned. Unfortunately it seems like there aren't very many PT/GP level players that play the deck though, so the deck isn't putting up as many results in big tournaments. I do feel like Atara's Command and Destructive Revelry are a large part of what makes the deck good so playing a mono-R or RW version may not be where you want to be for tournaments. For FNM they are fine.
This archetype was basically nowhere to be seen at the GP top tables this weekend, with only one single list in the top 64 placings of both events combined. Here`s that list, coming in at 50th in Kuala Lumpur.
It seems to be a classic combo oriented main with a midrange sideboard plan.
I still can`t believe Built to Smash is the commonly played card over Rush of Adrenaline. I just don`t get it.
This basically takes the same basic shell and adds WU cards to it. Spell Queller does seem really tempting.
I didn't get my cards in the mail in time to take the deck to the Game Day unfortunately. Looking at the tournament results from the past weekend I'm convinced that a midrange version of the deck can be found that will beat both the aggro decks and the control decks. I'm not sure the Electrostatic Pummeler 'combo' version is where the deck wants to be.
I can't recall the last 4 sideboard cards right now but I don't recall using them in any matchups. I went 2-1, winning against two G/W Humans lists and losing 2-1 against B/W control. When I lost against B/W control, the first time I missed two Thermo-Alchemist triggers either of which would have gotten me the win and the game after that I had to mulligan to 5 and never really recovered. Chandra, Torch of Defiance was a workhorse for me the two times I got to cast her. I mostly used her +1: get RR to cast extra spells which kept the board clear, got me more cards, removed Ice counters from Thing in the Ice and generated energy for Dynavolt Tower.
This version of the deck feels really strong against aggro decks. I'd have to do more testing against midrange and control but those also seem beatable. I'm still on the fence which deck I'll play going forward between this or G/R Energy but with the right adjustments the deck seems like it could work well.
I'm playing 22 lands in my version, with 4 Servant of the Conduit and 4 Attune with Aether and I feel like I mulligan only slightly more often than with my Naya Burn deck in Modern. That should give you a good idea of how consistent the deck is. I keep any hand that has at least one 2-drop and can make the mana to play it by turn 3. I don't mind playing a Servant of the Conduit on turn 2 rather than a Voltaic Brawler because we're not a hyper-aggressive deck. R/G Energy is based on the quality of its individual cards and the synergy they have with one another.
I don't like playing Smuggler's Copter in this deck because our creatures have better things to do than crew a copter. Skysovereign is a lot better since it has an effect as soon as it hits the board. The answer to Fumigate isn't playing more artifacts, it's learning not to overextend.
I don't think cutting a Bristling Hydra is the right answer either. He forces the opponent to have a very specific answer otherwise he just wrecks them. Decks that don't have white are forced into chumping it so you prevent them from developing their board.
Arlinn Kord has been simply too slow in my experience since she has to flip to get to her business abilities. Chandra, Torch of Defiance does a lot better since she can function as removal right from the moment she hits the board. Arlinn is often a 2RG grizzly bear in my experience, which is not what I want from a planeswalker. If you want more walkers and don't want to drop the money for Chandra, pick up an extra Nissa, Vital Force or two, she does a lot of work against control decks.
I also strongly recommend playing a full playset of Tireless Tracker. If you're flooding out he helps you stay in the game while growing into a big threat. If they deal with him then they will be unlikely to be able to deal with your next threat.
Another strong recommendation is to play a full set of Blossoming Defense. It forces the opponent to try and kill our creatures on *their* turn rather than ours because nothing feels worse than having the problematic creature you tried to remove come out of the exchange swinging even harder. As soon as the first one has been played, you just need to leave up G to force them to play around it.
I've cut Lathnu Hellion from my list entirely. He can be nice against very durdly decks or very low-to-the-ground aggressive decks but neither of those strategies sees much play in the current meta. Against the fast decks I'd rather side in a set of Galvanic Bombardments and against durdly control decks cards like Nissa, Vital Force are more resilient.
Generally speaking, I think this is the core for the R/G version:
4x Voltaic Brawler
2x Longtusk Cub
4x Tireless Tracker
4x Bristling Hydra
2x Verdurous Gearhulk
2x Blossoming Defense
4x Harnessed Lightning
With 22 land that leaves 8 flex-slots to play with, although personally I don't like playing less than the full sets of Longtusk Cub and Blossoming Defense so I only use 4 flex slots. If you end up adding mostly cards of 3 CMC or lower you can shave another land. Personally I've filled my last slots with a Chandra, a Nissa and 2 Incendiary Flow at the moment, although I am planning to acquire another Chandra and move Nissa to the sideboard completely.
4x Monastery Swiftspear
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
4x Serum Visions
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Spell Snare
3x Remand
3x Mana Leak
4x Arid Mesa
4x Spirebluff Canals
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Island
I like the low curve and the manabase I've built seems solid as far as getting the colours goes but it deals me a lot of damage so I may switch out some fetches for fastlands. I frequently end up with multiple Geist of Saint Traft in my hand so I am considering cutting one even though he feels like the best creature in the deck. If I do cut one I'd probably play an extra Snapcaster mage or maybe a singleton Thing in the Ice to have a different angle for the deck. So far the 3/3 split of Remand and Mana Leak works well for me since both cards have their uses in different cases. Remand also lets you make fun plays such as Probe --> Remand --> Remand the Remand to swing with a big Swiftspear and get 2 cards. I am still experimenting heavily with my sideboard but so far I really like Deflecting Palm, Negate and Dispel. Currently my anti-artifact option is Wear // Tear but I'm considering Smash to Smithereens instead to be a little faster in those matchups where you need it.
Nature's Way is slightly better than you evaluate since it doesn't fight, the targeted creature deals damage equal to its power. This means they can't just use a 'small' removal card to clean up your creature, they have to use hard removal.
I do agree with you that it's probably not the direction the deck wants to go. I would consider playing Magmatic Chasm first if I wanted to push damage through and if it's removal we want then there are better options.
4x Servant of the Conduit
4x Voltaic Brawler
4x Longtusk Cub
4x Tireless Tracker
4x Bristling Hydra
2x Verdurous Gearhulk
Spells
4x Attune with Aether
4x Blossoming Defense
4x Harnessed Lightning
2x Incendiary Flow
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Nissa, Vital Force
Land
4x Aether Hub
4x Game Trail
4x Cinder Glade
7x Forest
3x Mountain
1x Hanweir Battlements
4x Galvanic Bombardment
3x Natural State
3x Rush of Adrenaline
2x Appetite for the Unnatural
2x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1x Nissa, Vital Force
I finished 3-1-1 which was enough for a top 8 finish, but I lost my very first match in the top 8 to G/B Delirium.
First round I played against U/W Spirits and won, second round I played against Jeskai Control and lost, after that I beat B/W Control and G/B Delirium. My 5th opponent then offered me a draw into top 8 which I took, but we still played for fun. Had I played, I would have lost. In the top 8, I played against that same G/B Delerium opponent I drew with and this time I lost to him for real.
Overall the build felt decent. The singleton Hanweir Battlements was a real value card. In the lategame when you have a bunch of mana, having access to haste makes topdecking a creature a lot better. There weren't as many Smuggler's Copter decks as I expected so my Natural States never came in and my Galvanic Bombardments felt lackluster. I think I'm going to try adding blue to see if I can get a better matchup against G/B Delirium out of the deal because that definitely feels like the worst matchup. A bunch of decks are playing colourless spells so Ceremonious Rejection in the sideboard might just be what I'm looking for. I also want too look into an answer for an Emrakul since the mind control can really do a lot of damage against this deck, but she seems to see relatively little play so it might just be something we just hope to dodge.
I'm not sure I follow the reasoning here. The deck has 4 Aether Hubs and 4 Servant of the Conduit and I'm playing a Botanical Sanctum. This gives a total of 9 sources of non-g/r mana so most of the time Woodland Wanderer will be at least a 5/5 trample vigilance. Even at 4/4 trample and vigilance are relevant keywords, if that's not playable then how are we able to play Bristling Hydra? Is the potential hexproof really enough to push it over the top? Don't get me wrong, I think that the Hydra is one of the best cards in the deck, I just fail to see how the Wanderer is so much worse.
Having said that I am going to strongly consider replacing them with Longtusk Cub. When playing with the Wanderer I do frequently end up with a pile of energy which a Cub could make good use of.
Your updated list seems to have 59 cards in the mainboard and the
7574 has 5x Tireless Tracker in total. I'd also advise swapping the numbers of Oath of Nissa and Attune with Aether since the deck makes use of energy *really* well. I don't like the Sylvan Advocates or the Fleetwheel Cruisers but that could just be my personal bias. I also highly doubt that cutting Servant of the Conduit is the right direction for the deck, especially if you're playing Lathnu Hellion. Even at its worst, if the only thing the Servant does is chump and enable the Hellion to stay around for another turn that seems well worth the card. As soon as it eats removal it has generated 2 energy and protected one of our actual threats so the value just increases. If you draw no Hellion you can still use it to power a big Harnessed Lightning to remove a big threat, it gets you 2/3rds of the way to a Hydra activation or it gives you Voltaic Brawler activations. Lastly, I don't see why you wouldn't play Aether Hub even without the changes I mentioned. It gives you coloured mana at least once and if you don't need the coloured mana, a Servant or Attune = the Aether Hub is another Hydra activation.I understand that you're trying to go a slightly different route from the 'stock' lists but there's a reason they exist. I can't help but feel that you're straying so far off the beaten path that you've lost sight of what makes the deck work.
4x Servant of the Conduit
4x Voltaic Brawler
4x Tireless Tracker
4x Bristling Hydra
4x Woodland Wanderer
2x Verdurous Gearhulk
Spells
4x Attune with Aether
4x Blossoming Defense
4x Harnessed Lightning
2x Incendiary Flow
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Nissa, Vital Force
Land
4x Aether Hub
4x Game Trail
4x Cinder Glade
7x Forest
3x Mountain
1x Botanical Sanctum
4x Galvanic Bombardment
3x Natural State
3x Rush of Adrenaline
2x Appetite for the Unnatural
2x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1x Nissa, Vital Force
If anyone has any questions or feedback I'd love to hear it.
Wouldn't you rather play something like Journey to Nowhere over Declaration in Stone? Giving your opponent a card is a very real cost in a tempo deck I think.
The trend is that people are embracing the slight drop in consistency that Wild Nacatl versions bring in favour of the explosiveness it can provide. I still maintain that both versions are strong enough and the non-nacatl version is simply seeing less play by high skill-level players. That said, I'm also planning to grab the Copperline Gorges I need to be able to play the Nacatl version as well. Honestly, once you're investing in a modern deck anyways, the last bit of money it costs to have the cards for both versions is negligible.
I normally play Burn so from that perspective, I want to convert cards into damage somehow and preferably as early as possible. Starting with Monastery Swiftspear + probe means you're attacking for 2 at the very least and you also get to see what your opponent kept, informing your next few turns. In magical Christmas land you can deal around 10-15 damage in your first two turns if you know the coast is clear. In any case, you're putting a lot of pressure on your opponent (as long as they're not on Death's Shadow) and force them to either fetch basics and disrupt their mana or get good mana but get close to death. I'd value that over the scry from Serum Visions
I guess I'm rambling on a bit about Gitaxian Probe which was not the card under discussion but I think that in a world where Preordain is legal, the choice becomes whether Serum Visions or Gitaxian probe should be cut and I don't think the answer is to cut Probe entirely.
I've also taken the time to type out Robert Green's list for further discussion:
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Geist of Saint Traft
Spells (23):
4x Serum Visions
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Remand
4x Lightning Helix
2x Cryptic Command
1x Gitaxian Probe
4x Flooded Strand
3x Arid Mesa
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Spirebluff Canal
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Island
4x Kor Firewalker
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Negate
1x Vendillion Clique
1x Shattering Spree
1x Arc Trail
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Spell Queller
2x ?? (costs 2RR)
It seems like a slightly heavier list manabase-wise, which is probably explained by the presence of Cryptic Command which you want to be able to flashback with Snapcaster Mage. I'm not sure about Eiganjo Castle in this list since it can only protect the Geist which already has Hexproof, so it's basically there to protect from combat damage. I'd probably trim it in favour of a Mutagenic Growth which can basically perform the same function but does so for all our creatures.
I actually came here looking for Robert Green's list, it doesn't appear on MTGGoldfish and I've yet to find it anywhere else either...
While brewing I'm going back and forth between a more prowess-y list and a more 'suicide bloo' version that plays Thing in the Ice to get extra value...in any case, I think this weekend's GP has proven that aggressive strategies in the Jeskai colours have real merit.
Every guide I've read about Burn says to bolt the bird and I agree. The only reason I wouldn't bolt it is if I'm holding a Searing Blaze and can set up landfall for it.
In the current meta, I think Fevered Visions is mainly good against control decks, but actively bad against most of the aggro decks that make up a large part of the format. Dynavolt Tower on the other hand does work against all types of decks.
As for the floor on MD instants and sorceries, there's a lot of approaches to that question.
Personally, I think the deck wants around 22 land and I think the maindeck can support about 8 creatures for just 4 Towers, leaving 26 slots for instants and sorceries.
I think you want the maximum amount of burn spells that can go to the face (4x Incendiary flow and 4x Fiery Temper) because if you need to rely on just Dynavolt Tower you're gonna need to cast 18 other spells *after* casting the Tower to deal enough damage to win (20+ damage needed to win, meaning 7 activations for 21 damage, meaning 7 x 5 = 35 energy, meaning 36/2 = 18 spells).
Assuming a hand with 3 lands, Dynavolt Tower, 3 spells and *none of those* spells cast before the Tower, that would mean drawing and casting 15 more spells. Surviving on just removal and counterspells for 15 turns, with no creatures or planeswalkers, seems a bit optimistic to me.
My experience is that RGW Burn has a strong game against all decks that aren't Soul Sisters or Ad Nauseum. The decks you mention feel about 50/50 since it's very dependant on who draws what. On the whole I think Burn is pretty well positioned. Unfortunately it seems like there aren't very many PT/GP level players that play the deck though, so the deck isn't putting up as many results in big tournaments. I do feel like Atara's Command and Destructive Revelry are a large part of what makes the deck good so playing a mono-R or RW version may not be where you want to be for tournaments. For FNM they are fine.
This basically takes the same basic shell and adds WU cards to it. Spell Queller does seem really tempting.
I didn't get my cards in the mail in time to take the deck to the Game Day unfortunately. Looking at the tournament results from the past weekend I'm convinced that a midrange version of the deck can be found that will beat both the aggro decks and the control decks. I'm not sure the Electrostatic Pummeler 'combo' version is where the deck wants to be.
4x Thermo-Alchemist
4x Thing in the Ice
Removal/Burn
3x Harnessed Lightning
4x Incendiary Flow
4x Fiery Temper
4x Collective Defiance
2x Lightning Axe
Planeswalkers
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Other spells
4x Dynavolt Tower
4x Tormenting Voice
2x Dispel
2x Unsubstantiate
4x Highland Lake
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Aether Hub
2x Wandering Fumarole
1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
5x Mountain
4x Island
4x Fevered Visions
4x Galvanic Bombardment
2x Bedlam Reveler
1x Torrential Gearhulk
4x ??
I can't recall the last 4 sideboard cards right now but I don't recall using them in any matchups. I went 2-1, winning against two G/W Humans lists and losing 2-1 against B/W control. When I lost against B/W control, the first time I missed two Thermo-Alchemist triggers either of which would have gotten me the win and the game after that I had to mulligan to 5 and never really recovered. Chandra, Torch of Defiance was a workhorse for me the two times I got to cast her. I mostly used her +1: get RR to cast extra spells which kept the board clear, got me more cards, removed Ice counters from Thing in the Ice and generated energy for Dynavolt Tower.
This version of the deck feels really strong against aggro decks. I'd have to do more testing against midrange and control but those also seem beatable. I'm still on the fence which deck I'll play going forward between this or G/R Energy but with the right adjustments the deck seems like it could work well.