Sure, Pyxis of Pandemonium does get rid of cards we like on occasion. After extensive testing with it, though, i would say that 98% of the time, it's much more hurtful to our opponents than it is to us. thnkr has a good point in that it allows us to blind-mill without fear of running into Ancient Grudge or Snapcaster Mage targets. Also, deleting turns out of the game does no good when Emrakul, the Aeons Torn negates all the hard work you put into milling. Sure, the deck has other ways around the Eldrazi titan, but Pyxis handles it much more elegantly. Also, it's not like we can never get back cards we've exiled this way; Pyxis does have that second ability. It's typically extremely useful for us, as most of our cards are permanents, and most of our opponents' cards that we worry about are spells.
Here is what i run in my deck:
4 Codex Shredder
2 Ghoulcaller's Bell
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
2 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
0 Ghost Quarter (I really should add one in and replace a Duskmantle)
The Pyxi come in really handy against a large variety of decks, Tron being the obvious one, but also any sort of Twin variant. It's definitely worth it, in my opinion, because it lets us fight through Emrakul and Snapcaster.
I use 2x [[Duskmantle, House of Shadow]] in the main board. It's been working wonders for me as [[Codex Shredder]] 5-6. What is everyone's thoughts on the card?
I run Infernal Tutor in my list. It sucks when you draw two of them, though.
What do you all think of a one-of Helix Pinnacle as a wincon in the sideboard? It could provide another source of inevitability, and i personally just like cards that say "You win the game" on them.
I think Rest in Peace is the best option. Sure, it gets rid of your own graveyard, but if you're gonna win with the mill route, you mill them faster than they mill you, even with Thought Scour.
Rest in Peace does turn off Surgical Extraction...
How's your Jund matchup and what's your sideboard plan against it? I personally would prefer a blacker version if i'd to go in the midrange field, however i'll be curious to see how yours work, let us know about your results and your sideboard plans, something like Dawn Charm is pretty confusing for me.
I side out a lot of my protection and i side in my Geist of Saint Traft, Vapor Snag, Dryad Arbor if i smell a Liliana of the Veil, possibly Dawn Charm to fight against untargeted removal and Tarmogoyf swings. Jund is more than happy to shock their lands and Dismember my infect creatures, and i am more than happy to let them. I watch and play the field long enough to where they have lowered their own life quite a bit; then i open a can of Geist of Saint Traft when they are at 12 life.
I include Dawn Charm as insurance against many things. It saves my creatures from mass destruction, saves my face from a Boros Charm or Inquisition of Kozilek, or can embarrass a Splinter Twin player who thinks they just won. It is a bit expensive as far as mana goes, but i like it a lot.
Hello all! I am here to introduce a couple new ideas that may or may not work... (They have been working for me though).
The first of these is to change the focus from a combo, spell-based glass-cannon build into a more general aggro, creature-based build. This would involve the introduction of more creatures, like Ichorclaw Myr, to make the general strategy more proactive with more creatures and less reactive with protection spells. This new strategy would make use of the persistance of creatures and spell flexibility with cards like Rancor, and make less use of cantrips and single-shot, single-effect cards like Become Immense.
The second strategy (which is not my original idea) is to capitalize on a backup beatdown strategy exemplified with a few Geist of Saint Traft in the sideboard, in order to punish opponents who either bring in removal against us and/or lower their own life totals quicker than normal by fetching and shocking more liberally in an attempt to match our blistering pace. This straregy allows us to play our Glistener Elfes into their Dismembers, then unleash our six power hexproof beater.
I have devised a (somewhat rogue) build that effectively combines these two new strategies. It also introduces a sideboard and mainboard tempo strategy, to dismantle combo decks by countering their finisher and throw off aggro builds by nullifying their alpha strike. This kind of deck is extremely difficult to face, and has fared very well against T1 decks like Jund 'Em Out and Grixis Control, since it has both a solid G1 and G2 strategy. It is adjusted for a meta heavy in creatures and removal.
I encourage you all to playtest this deck and see how it works. I personally have had great amounts of success with it, and fully intend on building it in paper and taking it on some local tournaments.
Named after its cornerstone card, Soulfire Grand Master, the purpose of this deck is to burn out your opponent while maintaining a reasonably high life total. Unlike pure burn, which doesn't care about its own life total, soulburn is designed to maintain as much distance as possible between your and your opponents' life totals. It focuses on dealing damage while healing at the same time, and thereby increasing the efficiency of your burn spells, simultaneously putting pressure on your opponent while making it progressively more difficult for them to kill you.
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Core Cards
The cards i consider to be necessary for the deck.
Soulfire Grand Master
The biggest reason i decided to make this kind of deck. Itself having lifelink is nice, but hardly appropriate for a straight burn deck. The second ability, however, which grants all your instants and sorceries lifelink, is extremely relevant. Gaining three life off a Lightning Bolt is extremely helpful and grants extra utility to an already amazing spell. And if that wasn't good enough, it also gives you excellent card advantage in your mid/late-game by allowing recursion of your best burn spells. I highly recommend a playset of this card for any lifeburn deck.
Searing Blaze
This is my alternate burn spell of choice, although to run it more effectively, you may need more fetch lands. When Landfall triggers, this is two Bolts on one, and with Soulfire on the battlefield, it's two Lightning Helix's for RR.
Boros Charm
All modes of this spell are extremely relevant. When Soulfire is on the battlefield, its first mode is Warleader's Helix priced like a Lightning Helix. The second mode is an excellent answer to Wrath-type effects, and it can also be used during combat to keep your blocking creatures alive for a counterattack. The third mode is best used on a Serra Ascendant, but in certain fringe cases can be used on a Monastery Swiftspear or a Soulfire Grand Master to make it deal first strike damage.
Serra Ascendant
For when you need a cheap, fat beater. Getting to thirty life is surprisingly easy to do with Soulfire on the battlefield when you're gaining six life per burn spell. Even when it's not a 6/6 with flying, it still natively has lifelink and can continue to raise your life total.
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Fringe/Splash Cards
The cards i consider to be helpful, but not required and certainly swappable.
Vexing Devil
I like toying with my opponent's mind a bit. Usually though, it's just a first-mode Boros Charm for R.
Young Pyromancer
Tokens never hurt anybody. You're already casting tons of spells; might as well get some creatures out of the deal!
Jeskai Charm
I've mostly included this card for the third mode. It's quite easy for this deck to have lots of creatures on the battlefield, especially with Young Pyromancer. Granting both the P/T buff and lifelink make this card invaluable when both attacking and blocking, and in my opinion that mode alone makes this card worth mainboarding. Being able to tempo an opponent by both bouncing a creature and screwing up their draw, and also being able to flat out burn their face, grant this card the versatility it needs to function well.
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Sideboarded Cards
Feel free to change these as fits your meta and playstyle.
Holy Day
I'm a really big fan of Fog-style effects. It's a classic maneuver of mine, letting the opponent think they're winning the game, then drop one of these and swing for lethal on my turn's counterattack. I use it in my Infect build for that specific reason, and i have rarely lost the game while holding one in hand.
Blasphemous Act
Red's favorite board wipe. The only reason i'm using this instead of Supreme Verdict is because of the possibility of insane life gain with Soulfire.
Mana Leak
I like being able to side into a more control-oriented strategy if necessary.
Deflecting Palm
I considered mainboarding this, but decided against it since most decks don't swing with giant creatures. I recommend bringing this in against Bogles or Infect, though, especially since Soulfire allows you to gain that life instead of losing it.
| |
Variants
Different ways i imagine people to take this deck.
Naya AggroRGW
I could most certainly envision a splash of green for wonderful cards like Wild Nacatl or Atarka's Command. This would also pave the way for Destructive Revelry as a sideboard option. The only reason i didn't splash for green and go for the Command was because i liked blue for control too much, and don't want or need a shaky four-color mana base.
Boros AggroRW
I personally splashed for blue, but there's really no need to do so. Replacing the Spell Pierce's and Jeskai Charm's with some more burn would work perfectly fine. It would feel a lot more like a burn deck, and may even be more successful than the build i currently have.
| |
Revisions and Playtesting
How my build has changed and how it has fared.
Sideboard
–3 Searing Blaze
+3 Mana Leak
I figured this guy didn't have too many creatures in his deck, and i was right. I brought in Mana Leak so i'd have a better chance of countering Wrench Mind and friends.
Game 2
Turns out Mana Leak was completely useless, as i never came across any lands other than Sacred Foundry and a Mountain. A first-turn Mutavault and The Rack (which i didn't know was Modern legal) really put some pressure on me. His Pack Rats didn't help much either. Fortunately, i was able to draw multiple burn spells, and once again Soulfire kept my life total high, despite being in topdeck mode and losing three life a turn. After trading his Mutavault with a Serra Ascendant and a third-mode Boros Charm (which i should have just burned them with), and gaining eight life by Helixing a Pack Rat and attacking into another with Soulfire, i got them into burn range and won with a second Boros Charm.
| |
Summary
Please leave all kinds of feedback!
I still consider myself to be a novice brewer who hopes to get into the competitive scene. As such, i'd like all your comments and ideas concerning this prototype! Feel free to post your own decklists as well!
4 Codex Shredder
2 Ghoulcaller's Bell
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
2 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
0 Ghost Quarter (I really should add one in and replace a Duskmantle)
The Pyxi come in really handy against a large variety of decks, Tron being the obvious one, but also any sort of Twin variant. It's definitely worth it, in my opinion, because it lets us fight through Emrakul and Snapcaster.
What do you all think of a one-of Helix Pinnacle as a wincon in the sideboard? It could provide another source of inevitability, and i personally just like cards that say "You win the game" on them.
Rest in Peace does turn off Surgical Extraction...
@KeMT -- Against Jund, i sideboard in Geist of Saint Traft, Vapor Snag to get rid of Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant, maybe Dawn Charm as additional insurance against Tarmogoyf, possibly Dryad Arbor if i smell a Liliana of the Veil, and Temple Garden. I side out much of my protection, my Ichorclaw Myrs Breeding Pool. My plan on G2 is to let them use their shocklands liberally in an attempt to outrace my deck, and not stop them from using their Lightning Bolts and Dismembers on my infect creatures. I then punish them for trying to outrace me by using Vapor Snag against their beaters, Dawn Charm against their alpha strike, and of course Geist of Saint Traft to beat them to death. Basically, i only use infect as a distraction in G2; life loss from Dark Confidant and the beatdown from Geist of Saint Traft seal the win for me.
I side out a lot of my protection and i side in my Geist of Saint Traft, Vapor Snag, Dryad Arbor if i smell a Liliana of the Veil, possibly Dawn Charm to fight against untargeted removal and Tarmogoyf swings. Jund is more than happy to shock their lands and Dismember my infect creatures, and i am more than happy to let them. I watch and play the field long enough to where they have lowered their own life quite a bit; then i open a can of Geist of Saint Traft when they are at 12 life.
I include Dawn Charm as insurance against many things. It saves my creatures from mass destruction, saves my face from a Boros Charm or Inquisition of Kozilek, or can embarrass a Splinter Twin player who thinks they just won. It is a bit expensive as far as mana goes, but i like it a lot.
Hello all! I am here to introduce a couple new ideas that may or may not work... (They have been working for me though).
The first of these is to change the focus from a combo, spell-based glass-cannon build into a more general aggro, creature-based build. This would involve the introduction of more creatures, like Ichorclaw Myr, to make the general strategy more proactive with more creatures and less reactive with protection spells. This new strategy would make use of the persistance of creatures and spell flexibility with cards like Rancor, and make less use of cantrips and single-shot, single-effect cards like Become Immense.
The second strategy (which is not my original idea) is to capitalize on a backup beatdown strategy exemplified with a few Geist of Saint Traft in the sideboard, in order to punish opponents who either bring in removal against us and/or lower their own life totals quicker than normal by fetching and shocking more liberally in an attempt to match our blistering pace. This straregy allows us to play our Glistener Elfes into their Dismembers, then unleash our six power hexproof beater.
I have devised a (somewhat rogue) build that effectively combines these two new strategies. It also introduces a sideboard and mainboard tempo strategy, to dismantle combo decks by countering their finisher and throw off aggro builds by nullifying their alpha strike. This kind of deck is extremely difficult to face, and has fared very well against T1 decks like Jund 'Em Out and Grixis Control, since it has both a solid G1 and G2 strategy. It is adjusted for a meta heavy in creatures and removal.
3 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Windswept Heath
1 Gemstone Mine
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Pendelhaven
2 Forest
1 Island
Crearure (15)
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
3 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Spell Pierce
4 Apostle's Blessing
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Groundswell
2 Mutagenic Growth
Sorcery (6)
3 Distortion Strike
3 Gitaxian Probe
Enchantment (3)
3 Rancor
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Nature's Claim
3 Dawn Charm
3 Vapor Snag
1 Ajani's Presence
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Temple Garden
I encourage you all to playtest this deck and see how it works. I personally have had great amounts of success with it, and fully intend on building it in paper and taking it on some local tournaments.
RWx Soulburn
View this deck on MTGVault
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Serra Ascendant
4 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Vexing Devil
3 Young Pyromancer
Instants (21)
3 Boros Charm
3 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Searing Blaze
4 Spell Pierce
4 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Island
3 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Steam Vents
2 Mystic Monastery
1 Mana Confluence
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Holy Day
3 Mana Leak
3 Wear // Tear
3 Blasphemous Act
Named after its cornerstone card, Soulfire Grand Master, the purpose of this deck is to burn out your opponent while maintaining a reasonably high life total. Unlike pure burn, which doesn't care about its own life total, soulburn is designed to maintain as much distance as possible between your and your opponents' life totals. It focuses on dealing damage while healing at the same time, and thereby increasing the efficiency of your burn spells, simultaneously putting pressure on your opponent while making it progressively more difficult for them to kill you.
| |Core Cards
The cards i consider to be necessary for the deck.
Soulfire Grand Master
The biggest reason i decided to make this kind of deck. Itself having lifelink is nice, but hardly appropriate for a straight burn deck. The second ability, however, which grants all your instants and sorceries lifelink, is extremely relevant. Gaining three life off a Lightning Bolt is extremely helpful and grants extra utility to an already amazing spell. And if that wasn't good enough, it also gives you excellent card advantage in your mid/late-game by allowing recursion of your best burn spells. I highly recommend a playset of this card for any lifeburn deck.
Lightning Bolt
The obvious choice. Can become a Lightning Helix for R with Soulfire on your battlefield.
Lightning Helix
Extremely effective on its own as a Lightning Bolt and a Healing Salve in one card, when Soulfire is on the battlefield, it gains crazy amount of life while still dealing damage.
Searing Blaze
This is my alternate burn spell of choice, although to run it more effectively, you may need more fetch lands. When Landfall triggers, this is two Bolts on one, and with Soulfire on the battlefield, it's two Lightning Helix's for RR.
Boros Charm
All modes of this spell are extremely relevant. When Soulfire is on the battlefield, its first mode is Warleader's Helix priced like a Lightning Helix. The second mode is an excellent answer to Wrath-type effects, and it can also be used during combat to keep your blocking creatures alive for a counterattack. The third mode is best used on a Serra Ascendant, but in certain fringe cases can be used on a Monastery Swiftspear or a Soulfire Grand Master to make it deal first strike damage.
Serra Ascendant
For when you need a cheap, fat beater. Getting to thirty life is surprisingly easy to do with Soulfire on the battlefield when you're gaining six life per burn spell. Even when it's not a 6/6 with flying, it still natively has lifelink and can continue to raise your life total.
Monastery Swiftspear
This is essentially Goblin Guide v2.0, and is the new Burn staple. It also fits in quite well in this deck, especially with Jeskai Charm.
| |Fringe/Splash Cards
The cards i consider to be helpful, but not required and certainly swappable.
Vexing Devil
I like toying with my opponent's mind a bit. Usually though, it's just a first-mode Boros Charm for R.
Young Pyromancer
Tokens never hurt anybody. You're already casting tons of spells; might as well get some creatures out of the deal!
Jeskai Charm
I've mostly included this card for the third mode. It's quite easy for this deck to have lots of creatures on the battlefield, especially with Young Pyromancer. Granting both the P/T buff and lifelink make this card invaluable when both attacking and blocking, and in my opinion that mode alone makes this card worth mainboarding. Being able to tempo an opponent by both bouncing a creature and screwing up their draw, and also being able to flat out burn their face, grant this card the versatility it needs to function well.
Spell Pierce
'Cause i'm a troll, and countering Living End is really fun.
| |Sideboarded Cards
Feel free to change these as fits your meta and playstyle.
Holy Day
I'm a really big fan of Fog-style effects. It's a classic maneuver of mine, letting the opponent think they're winning the game, then drop one of these and swing for lethal on my turn's counterattack. I use it in my Infect build for that specific reason, and i have rarely lost the game while holding one in hand.
Blasphemous Act
Red's favorite board wipe. The only reason i'm using this instead of Supreme Verdict is because of the possibility of insane life gain with Soulfire.
Mana Leak
I like being able to side into a more control-oriented strategy if necessary.
Deflecting Palm
I considered mainboarding this, but decided against it since most decks don't swing with giant creatures. I recommend bringing this in against Bogles or Infect, though, especially since Soulfire allows you to gain that life instead of losing it.
| |Variants
Different ways i imagine people to take this deck.
Naya Aggro RGW
I could most certainly envision a splash of green for wonderful cards like Wild Nacatl or Atarka's Command. This would also pave the way for Destructive Revelry as a sideboard option. The only reason i didn't splash for green and go for the Command was because i liked blue for control too much, and don't want or need a shaky four-color mana base.
Boros Aggro RW
I personally splashed for blue, but there's really no need to do so. Replacing the Spell Pierce's and Jeskai Charm's with some more burn would work perfectly fine. It would feel a lot more like a burn deck, and may even be more successful than the build i currently have.
| |Revisions and Playtesting
How my build has changed and how it has fared.
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Serra Ascendant
4 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Vexing Devil
3 Young Pyromancer
Instants (21)
3 Boros Charm
3 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Searing Blaze
4 Spell Pierce
4 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Island
3 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Steam Vents
2 Mystic Monastery
1 Mana Confluence
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Holy Day
3 Mana Leak
3 Wear // Tear
3 Blasphemous Act
2-0 vs. Mono-Black Discard
Led with a Vexing Devil, which the opponent allowed to stay (maybe cause they thought they'd draw into Victim of Night), followed by a Soulfire Grand Master on turn 2. My opponent kept hitting me with Raven's Crime and Wrench Mind, and Victim of Night'd one of my Vexing Devils, but my constant attacks with Soulfire and my consistent burn spells won me the game.
Sideboard
–3 Searing Blaze
+3 Mana Leak
I figured this guy didn't have too many creatures in his deck, and i was right. I brought in Mana Leak so i'd have a better chance of countering Wrench Mind and friends.
Game 2
Turns out Mana Leak was completely useless, as i never came across any lands other than Sacred Foundry and a Mountain. A first-turn Mutavault and The Rack (which i didn't know was Modern legal) really put some pressure on me. His Pack Rats didn't help much either. Fortunately, i was able to draw multiple burn spells, and once again Soulfire kept my life total high, despite being in topdeck mode and losing three life a turn. After trading his Mutavault with a Serra Ascendant and a third-mode Boros Charm (which i should have just burned them with), and gaining eight life by Helixing a Pack Rat and attacking into another with Soulfire, i got them into burn range and won with a second Boros Charm.
| |Summary
Please leave all kinds of feedback!
I still consider myself to be a novice brewer who hopes to get into the competitive scene. As such, i'd like all your comments and ideas concerning this prototype! Feel free to post your own decklists as well!