I've been testing out exquisite Firecraft. I've been against the card in modern for a long time. But It's tested phenomenally well. I still think against control, your first idea is to bottleneck their mana. That said, the card has a couple of interesting functions.
Against GDS--you can't bottlekneck them. They run 2-3 stubborn denials. They will discard the hell out of this. They'll often put themselves to 4 or 5. You're trying to fend off lethal attacks, burn at the end of their turn and then untap and finish them. They'll often have the counter magic to keep themselves at 3-4. Firecraft fixes this. It's important to note, spellmastery matters. If you're going this route, Consider backing off of your GY hate. Or leaning towards Relic and targeting them or Grafdigger's cage.
The second cool thing it does: It's CMC is 3. Gets around Chalice on 1 and 2. I fired off 2 of these Against Eldrazi Tron tonight and it felt amazing. I've been running 2 for several days now.
Let's talk Deflecting Palm: What's it good against? GDS puts it in a weird spot with discard and counter magic. Eldrazi tron puts it in a weird spot between Chalice countering it and thought-knot seers taking it pre-combat. It's nice vs affinity when they have plating on something. It's nice vs Wurmcoil engines, and it's nice vs Infect. Infect is fringe at this point, though somewhat on the rise. Gx Tron decks we're favored against. You're better off blowing up the wurmcoil during combat, maybe trying path, skullcrack. And then affinity--we've got a lot of other options. I'm down to a 1 of, but after I complete this next league on MTGO, I'm going to cut it.
Another card that keeps being an absolute all-star: Searing Blood. I'm running it as a 2 of presently. Great against elves, infect, humans, affinity. Sometimes it takes a little work to set up. But I've never had a problem getting full value out of it.
GY hate: I think Relic is still the best burn card. However, I'm going to try 2 Relics and a single Grafdigger's Cage for a while going forward. I think the collected company idea is often overstated. But against Company decks--you often run into kitchen finks. And being able to shoot it and rid yourself of it or attack into it and kill it forever means the Cage still holds value even if you don't stop the collected companies. The other part of this--a friend pointed out we maybe water down our plan by bringing in a ton of GY hate vs Goyf decks. So I started doing just 2 relics there.
Shattering Spree: While I think having a prayer for Chalice on 1 and 2 isn't the answer. I do se benefit in being able to blow up multiple artifacts. This is NOT for affinity. While it says artifact--they have man-lands and Arcbound Ravager. Avoid.
It works as a fine option to blow up chalice on 1 or 2 or 1 and 2. I think Revelry and Smash to Smithereens are better. But a 1 of is fine. If they go turn 1 maps and turn 2 Chalice and you're able to blow up both or even just 1--you're doing alright.
Lantern is a thing. G/x Tron is a thing. KCI has been gaining popularity online again. I think it's fine as a 1-of.
Other cards that are interesting:
1. Direfleet Daredevil
-In the mirror he gives you a first strike body and a bolt. He also dies to lavamancer and searing blaze.
-You could consider him vs death shadow. The problem is going to be if you target their instants--they can snapcaster on top of you and take it out of play.
2. Harsh Mentor
-There's a place for him.
3. Rampaging Ferocidon
-Costs 3, which I don't love
-Menace could still be relavent in combat
-Shuts off kitchen finks, Scavenging Ooze.
-Blocks
Path: I'd like to drop it to 2. I feel naked without 3. In large part now due to Kor Firewalker. I've lost a decent bit of post-sideboard burn games because of him. Burn pilots almost always know the skullcrack trick. Path also hits mana-reducers for storm. Hits merfolk lords. Hits big-dumb dudes in humans.
There are several ways to look at any given matchup.
Since I like to play in medium to big tournaments, I think about the deck in terms of "What 75 gives me the best chance of doing well in this tournament?"
With that mind-set, there are certain matchups I plan on giving up. Ad Nauseum is one of those. I've won games vs it, but I've never won a match. It's just hard. And then they bring in leyline of sanctity post-board. It's a small enough percentage of the meta, that you just hope to dodge it. I've rarely encountered it at tournaments. You can do tons of things to try to make that matchup better. But you'll likely make other matchups worse.
You can look at it like "There's a lot of Ad Nauseum at my FNM, so I want to beat it." If your local meta is that hateful towards burn--maybe burn isn't the best deck to be playing there.
All that said, you don't scoop. You do what you can to get there. But, it's almost impossible.
Eldrazi tron is a bit better. You're going to lose a fair bit to the deck. If they get chalice on 1 and 2, you're going to lose. Hoping to play 1-2 shattering spree to draw it in the right situation is insanity. You don't keep a 2nd pair of underwear on you, and you're more likely to crap yourself than you are to beat chalice on 1 and 2. You have to have it at the right time. They can still play thought-knot seer to take it away. It's just hard. Play the best game you can against it, but understand you'll often lose.
That said, I don't hate the idea of a 1 of shattering spree for Eldrazi tron/Lantern/8 Rack. I think you want 3 copies of Smash to smithereens or Destructive Revelry in addition to it. I wouldn't go with more than 1.
I've been playing online and ran into some tough spots that I'm pleased to report the deck has gotten itself out of.
I was previously on X-Mage, I got a cheap PC for the sake of getting MTGO, and you see so many more real decks.
1. Jeskai control/Tempo. I think this is one of our biggest boogie men. 3-4 Helix in the main with Snapcaster Mage to bring it back. I've had 6 life gained on me on multiple occasions and gotten the games. The articles about burn vs counters is great. I read it maybe over a year ago, but getting the reps in to practice against it has been huge. I think one of the things that has helped me the most is understanding the pressure they've got on me.
When I started playing, I'd get them close to dead and then offer up spells as I top-decked them. This often gets met with a counter. I had this internal panic--if they're not dead after so long, control will always win. Turns out, burn makes it hard for other decks to put pressure back on you. If they activate up their Cellestial Colonade, then they won't have the mana for multiple counterspells.
The other thing--I've beaten two collective brutalities in multiple matchups of late. Holding up a skullcrack with a swiftspear on board obviously destroys that card. But a lot of times guys are discarding 2 cards and despite us being in a bad position--they have no pressure on us. I used to think that 1 was usually GG. But now that I've played my way through 2 on multiple occasions, It's doable.
In general, 3 to 4 goblins hitting for 1-2 each per turn with the likes of Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker is going to win the race. We have to play control and throw them off course.
I've been running ~2 Searing blood in my side for a month or 2 now. Searing blaze and Searing Blood are huge. Path to exile is huge in this matchup. In most of these small creature matchups, deflecting palm is fine because their guys get to be big ala humans or merfolk. In Goblins I don't like it.
Grim Lavamancer can really hurt them too. Kor Firewalker--he's narrow so I rarely run him. But, he can be a monster vs Goblins.
Consider also how they will sideboard: Dragon's claw is their best antiburn card. Consider bringing in 2-3 artifact hate cards.
Out: Things that don't kill dudes. Some number of Boros Charm and Lavaspike. Skullcrack doesn't really do what you want it to do here. But sometimes if you're able to hold onto 2-3 spells, you can skullcrack and then cast other spells after it resolves. I'm also tempted to take Eidolon out on the draw. They can be fast. But they're not nearly as fast as affinity or elves.
Playwise:
Their guy goal is to get you to 5 and then Goblin Grenade your face for lethal. I always stay above 5 when possible. They usually run a playset of lightning bolts as well. Protect your life total more aggresively than usual.
Game 1, Is play/draw dependant. If you can get down a turn 2 Eidolon before they get ahead of you--that's huge. Otherwise you may throw Eidolon down to eat an attacker. Swiftspear is huge in all of these matchups. A lot of times they'll have guys with 2 or 3 power. Blocking them with swiftspear, then killing a different guy or two to accumulate swiftspear triggers is huge.
In some cases you'll get ahead of them early--press it. Force them into situations where they have to block by being extra aggressive early. If they're at 10 on turn 3 and having to trade their guys with a Goblin Guide--you've got more burn spells than they do.
Games 2/3 more or less the same as above and play/draw dependant. We rarely play against Goblin Guide. Remember to let it attack, trigger before you kill it if you're going to.
Overall, I don't think it's terribly hard to beat. Especially with 3-4 Helix in the main deck.
The Naya version used to struggle a bit more, but running straight boros has been $$
I usually bring in relics to hate on snaps, and it cycles. But outside of that, I've always been of the mindset that against control, I don't want removal so much as I want more threats (burn spells in our case)
Also friends: If you're going to to do anything to Colonade, make sure to do it pre-combat so they can't attack AND use it for mana. May be obvious to everyone else, but I've been burnt by it by not knowing the first time.
Giving your opponent an option is only ok to good when you're guaranteed to win regardless of choice.
By itself Vexing Devil isn't anything special. If they don't choose to take 4 damage--maybe you're on the draw and they play a turn 2 Goyf. Maybe those 2 creatures trade. Alright! We got rid of a Tarmogoyf. Burn does not want to play that game. Maybe you go turn 1, and they have fatal push, Path to exile, their own lightning bolt. Are there times it works? Yes. Are there times it doesn't work? Yes. Given that we're burn and we need to chain together 7 cards to get 20 damage--we can't afford to have 1 card not work.
Browbeat is the worst of wall. Take away the choice aspect, let yourself choose the mode:
3 mana: Draw 3 cards. It's just not what we want. Burn wants to get the opponent dead as quickly/efficiently as possible. I don't want reach. I want a more effective early game. 3 mana goes against this.
3 mana: deal 5 damage--again--this is incredibly inefficient. I could cast 3 lightning bolts instead
Against Noble/Elves/Birds of paradise--you want it turn 1 on the draw, 2 on the play. You're gonna keep 1 landers. You're gonna keep 2 land hands with 2 cantage.
In sideboards, you're interested in blowing up Blood Moon, Leyline, maybe Grid (though you'd see it from artifact decks and would be happy blowing those up with Smash), maybe Rule of Law (probably not sided in against us though), Runed Halo (might be a show stopper), Spreading Seas (maybe you can weather it better without green).
Just glancing at these, it seems like enchantments aren't that big of a deal in general, but that they could be show stoppers when they matter. It's unlikely that you'll be able to ever deal with Blood Moon, because you need 2 mana open and DRev or Wear//Tear in hand so that you can float mana and blow it up immediately. It kind of just leaves Leyline, Seas effects, and the things that Titanshift/Ponza play.
Having played both Naya and Boros extensively, I got better against a lot of matchups when I stopped making my mana-base worse vs Moon/Seas.
Merfolk--I stopped bringing in Revelry. You can play around Seas when you only need a 2nd color. Much harder when you're on Atarka's command or Revelry. If they get your Foundry--you'll likely have a chance to get another one. But if they get a Foundry AND I need a Stomping Ground--life's trickier.
Merfolk is the 2nd Modern deck I play. And vs Naya, I felt it was 55-45 for Fish. Vs Boros--I think it's 55-45 burn.
Blood moon--I think we're better off taking out some white cards if we can, letting them have it, and reducing it's effect on us. Like you said, if you don't have the answer right then, you don't have it. Which potentially means you have more dead cards in your deck by bringing them in.
Which brings us to the devil...Leyline. It seems to be decreasing enough in popularity. People seem to like having other options to beat burn. It's beatable with a creature heavy hand. Maybe we're in the place now where we can get away without enchantment hate. I've been testing on a strictly boros version of late with Wear/Tear instead of Revelry--still haven't gotten any use out of wear/tear. I think we're at a place where maybe 2 is the max. And the other 2 Revelry slots can go to Smash to Smithereens--which feels the role Revelry did vs Affinity.
1. Inspiring vantage is NOT Plateau. It's nice to have a Boros Fast land. But, you cannot search for it. It does not have The sub type of mountain. This means you can also not put chained to the rocks on it.
While they make multiple good points, the above represents a huge downside to chained to the rocks. I am incredibly happy if my opening hand contains two liens and they are both inspiring vantage. But, they do not let me play CTTR. Obviously I want to take out Noble Hierarches turn 1-2.
CTTR is weak to Spreading Seas and Ghost Quarter.
It's not instant speed. I appreciate the sentiment it preventa you from getting cute. But if they end of turn coco into infinite mana, you can cry. If Merfolk vials in a lethal lord--chained isnt saving you.
I've been off modern for a month or so now. Came back for Tuesday night modern, we had 16. A few new guys that I didn't know what they were playing. A few old faces back in town for Winter break, etc.
Round 1: 5 color humans 2-0
He has a painful mana base. Doesn't have all of the creature lands. That helped. Also, he kept a 1 lander with a mana dork. Turn 1 Guide, Turn 2 kill the dork, go to game 3.
In: Anger of the Gods x 2, 1 Ensnaring Bridge, 3 path 2 palm
Out: 4 Charm, 4 Eidolon. Turns out he plays the coco version. Can't cast 'em on 3 lands and no mana dorks. I killed a mayor, pathe'd one other thing, the rest was creature beats and pressing the temp. Never saw Anger/Bridge
Round 2: Jund Loam Identity Crisis
2-1
Kept a greedy opening hand. Guide, Swift Spear, Eidolon, 4 lands--on the draw. T1 Inquisition pretty much meant the game. I actually made it close, thought I was going to steal it, and then Scavenging Ooze happened.
Game 2/3: Relic beats Tarmagoyf. I put him in awkward spots with combat the rest of the games. I got T2 relic both games, started targeting both graveyards to keep Goyfs small. Blew it up when I had to. Best Sideboard card.
Round 3: Dredge.
Game 1: Mulled to 5. Searing Blaze on a Amalgam helped provide some nice temp. Got stuck on 3 lands, couldn't get landfall for the last blaze. Complicated last sequence--I planned to blaze a bloodghast which would mean I take 8 damage--he conflagarate (sp) for 2 to put me from 11 to 9, gets a 2nd bloodghast into play--now with haste--to ruin my math.
Game 2: Got stuck on 1 land early, Swift spear into Relic, chipped away at his GY--didn't do much to leave up the 1 mana for the relic. Finally cracked the relic to dig up the 2nd land at the end of his turn. Cast 2nd relic, had to hold up mana for 1 more turn. Finally pressed through. No anger or Bridge.
Game 3: On the draw, I wanted Deflecting Palm to help the race, felt Eidolon could be bad if they just dredge up an army. Not sure if this was right.
Put 2 Boros Charm back in, 2 Deflecting Palms, -4 Eidolon
He got 3 Narcomeba pretty quickly, I searing Blaze away an Amalgam--his board stayed at 3 Narcomeba for a minute. It was a bit of a race of burn spell for 3, attack for 3. I had him at 7 with Skullcrack, Lavcaspike, Boros Charm all in hand. He casts the Despair portion of Driven//Despair. Only deals 3 damage, but the discard is back breaking. I topdeck a helix shoot him and pass. He attacks to put me down to 4 with more than lethal on board next turn. Only Two Boros Charms in deck, I just discarded one to Despair. Sure enough, I drew the second one.
Round 4: Eldrazi Tron: 0-0-3. The event was 5 rounds cut to top 4. This guy was one of my buddies--So was the dredge guy, but round 3 is harder to draw into top 4. So we drew and figured we'd take our chances.
Round 5: 5-Color Death Shadow--another friend of mine. 2-0. Standings were now such that this round's opponent had 9, the guy I just drew with had an opponent at 9. And then there was a guy with 9 that got paired down. TL;DR none of the 9 pointers could reasonably draw and be assured top 4. So played we did.
Game 1: He mulligans to 6. He damages his own life a good bit. I get him down to 3, his only untapped land is a Verdant Catacombs, which I honestly went to sleep on. I started playing around Stubborn denial and he made the comment I must be holding 3 lands if I'm not just killing him and then I realize it and show him a burn spell.
Game 2: My finest hour vs Death Shadow decks. Swift Spear, Eidolon, Eidolon, 2 Lava Spikes, and 2 lands in the opener. He Baubles and saw the Goblin Guide I would draw next. He gets a couple of discard spells in on me. I get to a board of Guide, Eidolon, Swift Spear vs Death Shadow, Death Shadow, Goyf. Between his damage and mine he gets down to 6, he's swinging in with a goyf per turn to deal 5 damage. I only have lava spike in hand. He has Breeding Pool and Blood Crypt as his only lands. I've seen a terminate off a Guide trigger that he can't cast. A few turns of standoffs, followed by two turns of Goyf Beats, I finally drew a palm and passed. I figure at this point, I block the DS if he attacks out, take the Goyf damage, and try throwing out the Palm and let him Denial it if he has it--that means I can attack back with the Swift Spear, lava spike, and hopefully I topdeck a burn spell. I'm on 4 lands at this point, so even a rift Bolt off the top is live. Plan seems good. After I declare blocks he starts doing a lot of counting/math. Now I think he's onto Temur Battle Rage. He blood rushes Ghor Clan Rampager. I show him the palm and breathe a sigh of relief.
Hand 1: Keep. I've got a Turn 1 guide, 2 more things to play if I don't draw my 2nd land right away--and an Eidolon which is the best card in the deck. Hand is puregas, got a couple of turns to draw a land.
Hand 2: I'm probably keeping this. Makes the scry a bit awkward, but when you've already mulliganed once, having a Guide and something else to you can do with 1 land is about a good a start as you can hope for.
Hand 3: Keep. Can't imagine ever mulliganing to 4.
Hand 4: It's close. You've got a Guide and a Rift bolt you can play on 1 land. Feels like the type of hand that gets me in trouble though. Mulligan.
Hand 5: Keep. It's a good 7. Maybe on the draw I'm more concerned about playing control. But this is a get there hand.
If I mulligan to 6, what's the best I can hope for? 4 Bolts, 1 Guide, and a land? I'll probably see a couple of two drops and want a 2nd land--so I ship 5 spells and 2 lands and hope for 4 and 2 or 5 and 1. Either option is inferior. We can race affinity.
Round 1: Jeskai Control 2-0
Game 1, he got off two Helix. Swift Spear did a little work early, Eidolon got in for 2 and helped make the first Helix not as bad. I got my 4th land and passed woth Searing Blaze and Skullcrack in hand. He plays Vendillion Clique EoT: Fetch into blaze and skullcrack ftw.
In: 2 Relic, 1 Skullcrack
Out: 2 Blaze, 1 Helix
Game 2: Dont remember much he flooded a bit. Never drew a helix. I suspended a rift bolt to bottleneck his mana, untap and he cast a clique on himself to find a counter, didnt and lost.
Game 2: Fast start with 3 creatures, a bolt and 2 Helix. Kept him off his dudes.
Game 3: he mulled to 5. Guide and swiftspear did early work. Bolted the first reducer, Pathed the 2nd, he cast 3 spells and a grapeshot to kill my creatures and I butrnt him a few times to win.
Round: GDS 0-2
Game 1: I backed off when he was at 10. He cast 2 Death shadows and a Tasiguar and killed me too quickly.
In: 3 Path, 2 Palm, out: 4 Blaze, 1 Helix
Game 2: He got off two collective Brutality. I had him at 2 with a swiftspear, he had an angler. He had a stubborn. I decided to not cast Path--which would have forced his hand on the stubborn. He let me path it on his turn, he plays a death shadow, I was out of cards, he passes and I flip a boros charm and he shows me the stubborn. If I path on my turn, he stubborns it or dies. The Boros charm wins the game.
Round 4: Temur Tempo 1-2
Game 1, I wasnt even sure what was going on. Key misplay here: turn 3 he flashes in a snapcaster and targets bolt, I had Searing Blaze but no landfall. I let him block and trade, which meant the bolt went to my face. He killed me with Goyf beats, and 1 more turn may have stolen it. I died with cards in hand to boot.
Game 2 I had all 1 cost cards and tan him over.
Game 3: mulled to 6, kept a 1 lander, never saw land 2.
Boarded in paths, Relics, Skullcrack. Took out Helix, Lavamancer, 2 Boros.
Round 5: Living End 2-0
Game 1 he mulled to 5 and went off turn 3, but did a ton of damage himself.
In: 3 Relic, 2 Palm
Out: Lavaman, 3 Helix
T2 Relic kept his yard emtpy.
3-2. Wound up 10/28. 2-3 better decisions and maybe top 8.
Never played Revelry, never saw LeyLine. Tempted to go straight Boros and run a couple wear/Tear.
Never played Searing Blood. There were a few merfolk lists and 1 humans list, but meta was weird.
I've been testing out exquisite Firecraft. I've been against the card in modern for a long time. But It's tested phenomenally well. I still think against control, your first idea is to bottleneck their mana. That said, the card has a couple of interesting functions.
Against GDS--you can't bottlekneck them. They run 2-3 stubborn denials. They will discard the hell out of this. They'll often put themselves to 4 or 5. You're trying to fend off lethal attacks, burn at the end of their turn and then untap and finish them. They'll often have the counter magic to keep themselves at 3-4. Firecraft fixes this. It's important to note, spellmastery matters. If you're going this route, Consider backing off of your GY hate. Or leaning towards Relic and targeting them or Grafdigger's cage.
The second cool thing it does: It's CMC is 3. Gets around Chalice on 1 and 2. I fired off 2 of these Against Eldrazi Tron tonight and it felt amazing. I've been running 2 for several days now.
Let's talk Deflecting Palm: What's it good against? GDS puts it in a weird spot with discard and counter magic. Eldrazi tron puts it in a weird spot between Chalice countering it and thought-knot seers taking it pre-combat. It's nice vs affinity when they have plating on something. It's nice vs Wurmcoil engines, and it's nice vs Infect. Infect is fringe at this point, though somewhat on the rise. Gx Tron decks we're favored against. You're better off blowing up the wurmcoil during combat, maybe trying path, skullcrack. And then affinity--we've got a lot of other options. I'm down to a 1 of, but after I complete this next league on MTGO, I'm going to cut it.
Another card that keeps being an absolute all-star: Searing Blood. I'm running it as a 2 of presently. Great against elves, infect, humans, affinity. Sometimes it takes a little work to set up. But I've never had a problem getting full value out of it.
GY hate: I think Relic is still the best burn card. However, I'm going to try 2 Relics and a single Grafdigger's Cage for a while going forward. I think the collected company idea is often overstated. But against Company decks--you often run into kitchen finks. And being able to shoot it and rid yourself of it or attack into it and kill it forever means the Cage still holds value even if you don't stop the collected companies. The other part of this--a friend pointed out we maybe water down our plan by bringing in a ton of GY hate vs Goyf decks. So I started doing just 2 relics there.
Shattering Spree: While I think having a prayer for Chalice on 1 and 2 isn't the answer. I do se benefit in being able to blow up multiple artifacts. This is NOT for affinity. While it says artifact--they have man-lands and Arcbound Ravager. Avoid.
It works as a fine option to blow up chalice on 1 or 2 or 1 and 2. I think Revelry and Smash to Smithereens are better. But a 1 of is fine. If they go turn 1 maps and turn 2 Chalice and you're able to blow up both or even just 1--you're doing alright.
Lantern is a thing. G/x Tron is a thing. KCI has been gaining popularity online again. I think it's fine as a 1-of.
Other cards that are interesting:
1. Direfleet Daredevil
-In the mirror he gives you a first strike body and a bolt. He also dies to lavamancer and searing blaze.
-You could consider him vs death shadow. The problem is going to be if you target their instants--they can snapcaster on top of you and take it out of play.
2. Harsh Mentor
-There's a place for him.
3. Rampaging Ferocidon
-Costs 3, which I don't love
-Menace could still be relavent in combat
-Shuts off kitchen finks, Scavenging Ooze.
-Blocks
Path: I'd like to drop it to 2. I feel naked without 3. In large part now due to Kor Firewalker. I've lost a decent bit of post-sideboard burn games because of him. Burn pilots almost always know the skullcrack trick. Path also hits mana-reducers for storm. Hits merfolk lords. Hits big-dumb dudes in humans.
What I'm planning on running going forward:
Since I like to play in medium to big tournaments, I think about the deck in terms of "What 75 gives me the best chance of doing well in this tournament?"
With that mind-set, there are certain matchups I plan on giving up. Ad Nauseum is one of those. I've won games vs it, but I've never won a match. It's just hard. And then they bring in leyline of sanctity post-board. It's a small enough percentage of the meta, that you just hope to dodge it. I've rarely encountered it at tournaments. You can do tons of things to try to make that matchup better. But you'll likely make other matchups worse.
You can look at it like "There's a lot of Ad Nauseum at my FNM, so I want to beat it." If your local meta is that hateful towards burn--maybe burn isn't the best deck to be playing there.
All that said, you don't scoop. You do what you can to get there. But, it's almost impossible.
Eldrazi tron is a bit better. You're going to lose a fair bit to the deck. If they get chalice on 1 and 2, you're going to lose. Hoping to play 1-2 shattering spree to draw it in the right situation is insanity. You don't keep a 2nd pair of underwear on you, and you're more likely to crap yourself than you are to beat chalice on 1 and 2. You have to have it at the right time. They can still play thought-knot seer to take it away. It's just hard. Play the best game you can against it, but understand you'll often lose.
That said, I don't hate the idea of a 1 of shattering spree for Eldrazi tron/Lantern/8 Rack. I think you want 3 copies of Smash to smithereens or Destructive Revelry in addition to it. I wouldn't go with more than 1.
I was previously on X-Mage, I got a cheap PC for the sake of getting MTGO, and you see so many more real decks.
1. Jeskai control/Tempo. I think this is one of our biggest boogie men. 3-4 Helix in the main with Snapcaster Mage to bring it back. I've had 6 life gained on me on multiple occasions and gotten the games. The articles about burn vs counters is great. I read it maybe over a year ago, but getting the reps in to practice against it has been huge. I think one of the things that has helped me the most is understanding the pressure they've got on me.
When I started playing, I'd get them close to dead and then offer up spells as I top-decked them. This often gets met with a counter. I had this internal panic--if they're not dead after so long, control will always win. Turns out, burn makes it hard for other decks to put pressure back on you. If they activate up their Cellestial Colonade, then they won't have the mana for multiple counterspells.
The other thing--I've beaten two collective brutalities in multiple matchups of late. Holding up a skullcrack with a swiftspear on board obviously destroys that card. But a lot of times guys are discarding 2 cards and despite us being in a bad position--they have no pressure on us. I used to think that 1 was usually GG. But now that I've played my way through 2 on multiple occasions, It's doable.
In general, 3 to 4 goblins hitting for 1-2 each per turn with the likes of Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker is going to win the race. We have to play control and throw them off course.
I've been running ~2 Searing blood in my side for a month or 2 now. Searing blaze and Searing Blood are huge. Path to exile is huge in this matchup. In most of these small creature matchups, deflecting palm is fine because their guys get to be big ala humans or merfolk. In Goblins I don't like it.
Grim Lavamancer can really hurt them too. Kor Firewalker--he's narrow so I rarely run him. But, he can be a monster vs Goblins.
Consider also how they will sideboard: Dragon's claw is their best antiburn card. Consider bringing in 2-3 artifact hate cards.
Out: Things that don't kill dudes. Some number of Boros Charm and Lavaspike. Skullcrack doesn't really do what you want it to do here. But sometimes if you're able to hold onto 2-3 spells, you can skullcrack and then cast other spells after it resolves. I'm also tempted to take Eidolon out on the draw. They can be fast. But they're not nearly as fast as affinity or elves.
Playwise:
Their guy goal is to get you to 5 and then Goblin Grenade your face for lethal. I always stay above 5 when possible. They usually run a playset of lightning bolts as well. Protect your life total more aggresively than usual.
Game 1, Is play/draw dependant. If you can get down a turn 2 Eidolon before they get ahead of you--that's huge. Otherwise you may throw Eidolon down to eat an attacker. Swiftspear is huge in all of these matchups. A lot of times they'll have guys with 2 or 3 power. Blocking them with swiftspear, then killing a different guy or two to accumulate swiftspear triggers is huge.
In some cases you'll get ahead of them early--press it. Force them into situations where they have to block by being extra aggressive early. If they're at 10 on turn 3 and having to trade their guys with a Goblin Guide--you've got more burn spells than they do.
Games 2/3 more or less the same as above and play/draw dependant. We rarely play against Goblin Guide. Remember to let it attack, trigger before you kill it if you're going to.
Overall, I don't think it's terribly hard to beat. Especially with 3-4 Helix in the main deck.
The Naya version used to struggle a bit more, but running straight boros has been $$
I usually bring in relics to hate on snaps, and it cycles. But outside of that, I've always been of the mindset that against control, I don't want removal so much as I want more threats (burn spells in our case)
Also friends: If you're going to to do anything to Colonade, make sure to do it pre-combat so they can't attack AND use it for mana. May be obvious to everyone else, but I've been burnt by it by not knowing the first time.
By itself Vexing Devil isn't anything special. If they don't choose to take 4 damage--maybe you're on the draw and they play a turn 2 Goyf. Maybe those 2 creatures trade. Alright! We got rid of a Tarmogoyf. Burn does not want to play that game. Maybe you go turn 1, and they have fatal push, Path to exile, their own lightning bolt. Are there times it works? Yes. Are there times it doesn't work? Yes. Given that we're burn and we need to chain together 7 cards to get 20 damage--we can't afford to have 1 card not work.
Browbeat is the worst of wall. Take away the choice aspect, let yourself choose the mode:
3 mana: Draw 3 cards. It's just not what we want. Burn wants to get the opponent dead as quickly/efficiently as possible. I don't want reach. I want a more effective early game. 3 mana goes against this.
3 mana: deal 5 damage--again--this is incredibly inefficient. I could cast 3 lightning bolts instead
Every time I play the mirror, if the other guy sticks a Hydra--I find myself back pedaling the rest of the game. any tips?
Having played both Naya and Boros extensively, I got better against a lot of matchups when I stopped making my mana-base worse vs Moon/Seas.
Merfolk--I stopped bringing in Revelry. You can play around Seas when you only need a 2nd color. Much harder when you're on Atarka's command or Revelry. If they get your Foundry--you'll likely have a chance to get another one. But if they get a Foundry AND I need a Stomping Ground--life's trickier.
Merfolk is the 2nd Modern deck I play. And vs Naya, I felt it was 55-45 for Fish. Vs Boros--I think it's 55-45 burn.
Blood moon--I think we're better off taking out some white cards if we can, letting them have it, and reducing it's effect on us. Like you said, if you don't have the answer right then, you don't have it. Which potentially means you have more dead cards in your deck by bringing them in.
Which brings us to the devil...Leyline. It seems to be decreasing enough in popularity. People seem to like having other options to beat burn. It's beatable with a creature heavy hand. Maybe we're in the place now where we can get away without enchantment hate. I've been testing on a strictly boros version of late with Wear/Tear instead of Revelry--still haven't gotten any use out of wear/tear. I think we're at a place where maybe 2 is the max. And the other 2 Revelry slots can go to Smash to Smithereens--which feels the role Revelry did vs Affinity.
1. Inspiring vantage is NOT Plateau. It's nice to have a Boros Fast land. But, you cannot search for it. It does not have The sub type of mountain. This means you can also not put chained to the rocks on it.
While they make multiple good points, the above represents a huge downside to chained to the rocks. I am incredibly happy if my opening hand contains two liens and they are both inspiring vantage. But, they do not let me play CTTR. Obviously I want to take out Noble Hierarches turn 1-2.
CTTR is weak to Spreading Seas and Ghost Quarter.
It's not instant speed. I appreciate the sentiment it preventa you from getting cute. But if they end of turn coco into infinite mana, you can cry. If Merfolk vials in a lethal lord--chained isnt saving you.
Round 1: 5 color humans 2-0
He has a painful mana base. Doesn't have all of the creature lands. That helped. Also, he kept a 1 lander with a mana dork. Turn 1 Guide, Turn 2 kill the dork, go to game 3.
In: Anger of the Gods x 2, 1 Ensnaring Bridge, 3 path 2 palm
Out: 4 Charm, 4 Eidolon. Turns out he plays the coco version. Can't cast 'em on 3 lands and no mana dorks. I killed a mayor, pathe'd one other thing, the rest was creature beats and pressing the temp. Never saw Anger/Bridge
Round 2: Jund Loam Identity Crisis
2-1
Kept a greedy opening hand. Guide, Swift Spear, Eidolon, 4 lands--on the draw. T1 Inquisition pretty much meant the game. I actually made it close, thought I was going to steal it, and then Scavenging Ooze happened.
In: 3 Relics 3 Path, 2 Palm
Out: 4 Searing Blaze, 2 Lavamancer, 2 Boros Charm
Game 2/3: Relic beats Tarmagoyf. I put him in awkward spots with combat the rest of the games. I got T2 relic both games, started targeting both graveyards to keep Goyfs small. Blew it up when I had to. Best Sideboard card.
Round 3: Dredge.
Game 1: Mulled to 5. Searing Blaze on a Amalgam helped provide some nice temp. Got stuck on 3 lands, couldn't get landfall for the last blaze. Complicated last sequence--I planned to blaze a bloodghast which would mean I take 8 damage--he conflagarate (sp) for 2 to put me from 11 to 9, gets a 2nd bloodghast into play--now with haste--to ruin my math.
In: 3 Relic, 2 Anger, 1 Ensnaring Bridge
Out: 2 Lavamancer, 4 Boros Charm
Game 2: Got stuck on 1 land early, Swift spear into Relic, chipped away at his GY--didn't do much to leave up the 1 mana for the relic. Finally cracked the relic to dig up the 2nd land at the end of his turn. Cast 2nd relic, had to hold up mana for 1 more turn. Finally pressed through. No anger or Bridge.
Game 3: On the draw, I wanted Deflecting Palm to help the race, felt Eidolon could be bad if they just dredge up an army. Not sure if this was right.
Put 2 Boros Charm back in, 2 Deflecting Palms, -4 Eidolon
He got 3 Narcomeba pretty quickly, I searing Blaze away an Amalgam--his board stayed at 3 Narcomeba for a minute. It was a bit of a race of burn spell for 3, attack for 3. I had him at 7 with Skullcrack, Lavcaspike, Boros Charm all in hand. He casts the Despair portion of Driven//Despair. Only deals 3 damage, but the discard is back breaking. I topdeck a helix shoot him and pass. He attacks to put me down to 4 with more than lethal on board next turn. Only Two Boros Charms in deck, I just discarded one to Despair. Sure enough, I drew the second one.
Round 4: Eldrazi Tron: 0-0-3. The event was 5 rounds cut to top 4. This guy was one of my buddies--So was the dredge guy, but round 3 is harder to draw into top 4. So we drew and figured we'd take our chances.
Round 5: 5-Color Death Shadow--another friend of mine. 2-0. Standings were now such that this round's opponent had 9, the guy I just drew with had an opponent at 9. And then there was a guy with 9 that got paired down. TL;DR none of the 9 pointers could reasonably draw and be assured top 4. So played we did.
Game 1: He mulligans to 6. He damages his own life a good bit. I get him down to 3, his only untapped land is a Verdant Catacombs, which I honestly went to sleep on. I started playing around Stubborn denial and he made the comment I must be holding 3 lands if I'm not just killing him and then I realize it and show him a burn spell.
Game 2: My finest hour vs Death Shadow decks. Swift Spear, Eidolon, Eidolon, 2 Lava Spikes, and 2 lands in the opener. He Baubles and saw the Goblin Guide I would draw next. He gets a couple of discard spells in on me. I get to a board of Guide, Eidolon, Swift Spear vs Death Shadow, Death Shadow, Goyf. Between his damage and mine he gets down to 6, he's swinging in with a goyf per turn to deal 5 damage. I only have lava spike in hand. He has Breeding Pool and Blood Crypt as his only lands. I've seen a terminate off a Guide trigger that he can't cast. A few turns of standoffs, followed by two turns of Goyf Beats, I finally drew a palm and passed. I figure at this point, I block the DS if he attacks out, take the Goyf damage, and try throwing out the Palm and let him Denial it if he has it--that means I can attack back with the Swift Spear, lava spike, and hopefully I topdeck a burn spell. I'm on 4 lands at this point, so even a rift Bolt off the top is live. Plan seems good. After I declare blocks he starts doing a lot of counting/math. Now I think he's onto Temur Battle Rage. He blood rushes Ghor Clan Rampager. I show him the palm and breathe a sigh of relief.
Hand 2: I'm probably keeping this. Makes the scry a bit awkward, but when you've already mulliganed once, having a Guide and something else to you can do with 1 land is about a good a start as you can hope for.
Hand 3: Keep. Can't imagine ever mulliganing to 4.
Hand 4: It's close. You've got a Guide and a Rift bolt you can play on 1 land. Feels like the type of hand that gets me in trouble though. Mulligan.
Hand 5: Keep. It's a good 7. Maybe on the draw I'm more concerned about playing control. But this is a get there hand.
If I mulligan to 6, what's the best I can hope for? 4 Bolts, 1 Guide, and a land? I'll probably see a couple of two drops and want a 2nd land--so I ship 5 spells and 2 lands and hope for 4 and 2 or 5 and 1. Either option is inferior. We can race affinity.
3-2 after punt town USA
Round 1: Jeskai Control 2-0
Game 1, he got off two Helix. Swift Spear did a little work early, Eidolon got in for 2 and helped make the first Helix not as bad. I got my 4th land and passed woth Searing Blaze and Skullcrack in hand. He plays Vendillion Clique EoT: Fetch into blaze and skullcrack ftw.
In: 2 Relic, 1 Skullcrack
Out: 2 Blaze, 1 Helix
Game 2: Dont remember much he flooded a bit. Never drew a helix. I suspended a rift bolt to bottleneck his mana, untap and he cast a clique on himself to find a counter, didnt and lost.
Round 2: Storm 2-1
Game 1: Mulled to 5, lost
In: 3 Path, 3 Relic
Out: 2 Lavamancer, 3 Skullcrack, 1 Lava Spike
Game 2: Fast start with 3 creatures, a bolt and 2 Helix. Kept him off his dudes.
Game 3: he mulled to 5. Guide and swiftspear did early work. Bolted the first reducer, Pathed the 2nd, he cast 3 spells and a grapeshot to kill my creatures and I butrnt him a few times to win.
Round: GDS 0-2
Game 1: I backed off when he was at 10. He cast 2 Death shadows and a Tasiguar and killed me too quickly.
In: 3 Path, 2 Palm, out: 4 Blaze, 1 Helix
Game 2: He got off two collective Brutality. I had him at 2 with a swiftspear, he had an angler. He had a stubborn. I decided to not cast Path--which would have forced his hand on the stubborn. He let me path it on his turn, he plays a death shadow, I was out of cards, he passes and I flip a boros charm and he shows me the stubborn. If I path on my turn, he stubborns it or dies. The Boros charm wins the game.
Round 4: Temur Tempo 1-2
Game 1, I wasnt even sure what was going on. Key misplay here: turn 3 he flashes in a snapcaster and targets bolt, I had Searing Blaze but no landfall. I let him block and trade, which meant the bolt went to my face. He killed me with Goyf beats, and 1 more turn may have stolen it. I died with cards in hand to boot.
Game 2 I had all 1 cost cards and tan him over.
Game 3: mulled to 6, kept a 1 lander, never saw land 2.
Boarded in paths, Relics, Skullcrack. Took out Helix, Lavamancer, 2 Boros.
Round 5: Living End 2-0
Game 1 he mulled to 5 and went off turn 3, but did a ton of damage himself.
In: 3 Relic, 2 Palm
Out: Lavaman, 3 Helix
T2 Relic kept his yard emtpy.
3-2. Wound up 10/28. 2-3 better decisions and maybe top 8.
Never played Revelry, never saw LeyLine. Tempted to go straight Boros and run a couple wear/Tear.
Never played Searing Blood. There were a few merfolk lists and 1 humans list, but meta was weird.