Coming at this from a slightly different angle, I think I've got something here. I've been testing this list on cockatrice/xmage/untap and the other free testing sites since the spoilers first came out. I know those places are not a fantastic sample because people play cards they don't own, don't know all the rules, and there is no judge.
The biggest choice I made when starting was based on the meta. Looking at almost all of the top8 results of the past several various competitive tournaments, leagues, etc, every deck seems like a creature-based deck that wants to win with 2-3 critters on the board. That plus the newly printed Carnage Tyrant suggests to me that the IXA meta will be filled with decks that win with creatures. One other VERY important fact is that the 3 biggest reasons to not go ham on board wipes just rotated (avacyn, gideon ally of zendikar, selfless spirit)
Which is why I run 8 wrath effects.
Fumigate is an allstar once you get to 5 lands, which you will because of all the card filtration. Since this deck only runs 1 creature, Tocatli Honor Guard, what this card basically reads is 3WW: Destroy all your opponent's creatures, you gain 1 life for each creature killed this way. Pretty sweet.
Settle the Wreckage is F**KING INCREDIBLE. At 4 mana, it's just fast enough to save us vs Ramunap Red if we're on the draw, as even their quickest starts won't have us anywhere near dead by their turn 4. It's also the best answer we have vs Hazoret.
Tocatli Honor Guard is the only creature in the deck and he puts in some WORK. At 1/3, he's the perfect size chump blocker vs most cards in ramured, and his static ability turns earthshaker khenra and the rest of their etb critters into vastly worse versions of themselves. He's also a fantastic play vs Temur Energy, bricking their entire deck until removed. He also shuts down gearhulks and much much more. Truly an incredible card that hits a ton of cards that are very popular right now. He's easy to remove at 3 toughness, but even if he eats a lightning strike, it's worth it.
Search for Azcantl is low-key my favorite card in the deck. I only run 2 because it's legendary, but the first mode is a fantastic filtration engine, and the 2nd mode is insane inevitability that combos great once you windmill slam down your approach. Once it flips it almost feels like you're playing with divining top in standard, but better.
the rest of the choices are fairly obvious, 4x essence scatter mainboard over censors or anything else because creatures are the hottness in this meta. Essence Scatter is the best counter post-rotation no doubt in my mind, and I've never regretted having 4 mb. Once we're in g2 i can swap out a few or all if need be.
I'd love any thoughts. Scarab God is in my sb as my best way to win around a Gideon of the Trials which is otherwise a pretty tough-to-beat play vs this deck. He's also decent at gy interaction as all the gy cards right now are creatures and you can respond to their god pharaohs gift targeting a critter by stealing it yourself, if you were bad enough to let gift hit the battlefield and reach their combat step.
I've been considering vraska's contempt over never/return in the sb because i find myself wanting more ways to deal with hazoret than I currently have. If only declaration in stone were still legal.
The deck plays like a cross between a prison deck and a control deck. 8 wrath effects means I spend the first several turns establishing a board state with cards like honor guard and search, while using supreme will and essence scatter to keep their board relatively controlled. I will often let them resolve a few creatures turns 3 and 4, even allowing them to take a swing or two so they over-extend, then start raining down the fumigates and wrath-to-exiles. Finish off with Approach as a wincon and serve over-easy with a side of saltiness as they watch you durdle durdle durdle into a win.
I don't want to oversell this, but I have yet to face a deck that I don't think I have at least a 50% matchup against, and vs most decks (like ramured, temur energy, and other grindy creature-based midrange decks) I almost feel like i'm facerolling unless they have really good draws. Ramured is obviously the toughest matchup, although 8x wrath effects against a deck with zero protection from a wrath is pretty good MB, and once I can put in 3 Authority of the Consuls from the SB it feels like an unlosable matchup (unless I lose to variance and draw a ***** ton of lands or no lands at all)
VERY interesting. I agree on Vraska's Contempt over Never/Return. Mainly due to the instant speed, but the 2 life looks good for your end goal as well.
I'm actually thinking i may do cast out over both, since it costs the same as vraskas but hits much more.
One thing I will say about the list I posted that runs 6-8 wrath effects, I have a nearly 100% winrate vs temur energy and the new dino deck. That said, Ramured is a real tough matchup.
Coming at this from a slightly different angle, I think I've got something here. I've been testing this list on cockatrice/xmage/untap and the other free testing sites since the spoilers first came out. I know those places are not a fantastic sample because people play cards they don't own, don't know all the rules, and there is no judge.
The biggest choice I made when starting was based on the meta. Looking at almost all of the top8 results of the past several various competitive tournaments, leagues, etc, every deck seems like a creature-based deck that wants to win with 2-3 critters on the board. That plus the newly printed Carnage Tyrant suggests to me that the IXA meta will be filled with decks that win with creatures. One other VERY important fact is that the 3 biggest reasons to not go ham on board wipes just rotated (avacyn, gideon ally of zendikar, selfless spirit)
Which is why I run 8 wrath effects.
Fumigate is an allstar once you get to 5 lands, which you will because of all the card filtration. Since this deck only runs 1 creature, Tocatli Honor Guard, what this card basically reads is 3WW: Destroy all your opponent's creatures, you gain 1 life for each creature killed this way. Pretty sweet.
Settle the Wreckage is F**KING INCREDIBLE. At 4 mana, it's just fast enough to save us vs Ramunap Red if we're on the draw, as even their quickest starts won't have us anywhere near dead by their turn 4. It's also the best answer we have vs Hazoret.
Tocatli Honor Guard is the only creature in the deck and he puts in some WORK. At 1/3, he's the perfect size chump blocker vs most cards in ramured, and his static ability turns earthshaker khenra and the rest of their etb critters into vastly worse versions of themselves. He's also a fantastic play vs Temur Energy, bricking their entire deck until removed. He also shuts down gearhulks and much much more. Truly an incredible card that hits a ton of cards that are very popular right now. He's easy to remove at 3 toughness, but even if he eats a lightning strike, it's worth it.
Search for Azcantl is low-key my favorite card in the deck. I only run 2 because it's legendary, but the first mode is a fantastic filtration engine, and the 2nd mode is insane inevitability that combos great once you windmill slam down your approach. Once it flips it almost feels like you're playing with divining top in standard, but better.
the rest of the choices are fairly obvious, 4x essence scatter mainboard over censors or anything else because creatures are the hottness in this meta. Essence Scatter is the best counter post-rotation no doubt in my mind, and I've never regretted having 4 mb. Once we're in g2 i can swap out a few or all if need be.
I'd love any thoughts. Scarab God is in my sb as my best way to win around a Gideon of the Trials which is otherwise a pretty tough-to-beat play vs this deck. He's also decent at gy interaction as all the gy cards right now are creatures and you can respond to their god pharaohs gift targeting a critter by stealing it yourself, if you were bad enough to let gift hit the battlefield and reach their combat step.
I've been considering vraska's contempt over never/return in the sb because i find myself wanting more ways to deal with hazoret than I currently have. If only declaration in stone were still legal.
The deck plays like a cross between a prison deck and a control deck. 8 wrath effects means I spend the first several turns establishing a board state with cards like honor guard and search, while using supreme will and essence scatter to keep their board relatively controlled. I will often let them resolve a few creatures turns 3 and 4, even allowing them to take a swing or two so they over-extend, then start raining down the fumigates and wrath-to-exiles. Finish off with Approach as a wincon and serve over-easy with a side of saltiness as they watch you durdle durdle durdle into a win.
I don't want to oversell this, but I have yet to face a deck that I don't think I have at least a 50% matchup against, and vs most decks (like ramured, temur energy, and other grindy creature-based midrange decks) I almost feel like i'm facerolling unless they have really good draws. Ramured is obviously the toughest matchup, although 8x wrath effects against a deck with zero protection from a wrath is pretty good MB, and once I can put in 3 Authority of the Consuls from the SB it feels like an unlosable matchup (unless I lose to variance and draw a ***** ton of lands or no lands at all)
Tried Old-Growth Dryads in Small Naya Revolt Zoo (y'know, the type with Hidden Herbalists, Narnam Renegade, and a ton of creatures). It was significantly better than I thought! I thought the downside would be significant, but it turns out that Merfolk and Eldrazi Tron still kept losing to this guy, even when it was played in the first 2 turns and they cheated out a basic land with it. Heck, often even when I played multiples! Path to Exile has a funny synergy with OGD, as they both can make the opponent run out of basics to cheat out fairly fast. (Hollow Vengevine Goryo's often barely eked out a win thanks to the extra basic or two, though.)
Now I have more hope for Wanted Scoundrels (although being 2 cmc and black hurts it quite a bit in the aggro category). They get 2 Lotus Petals instead of a basic land if this guy shows up...but they have to kill it first, and that'll take some time.
Shared downside is not a synergy and while a few games may have been better than anticipated, that doesn't make it playable. Wanted Scoundrels is similarly okay but I don't think people will run it. What decks would run those that can't run better cards?
Any sweeper for nonartifact, nonland, colorless permenants...
Or spot removal for the same.
Eldrazi needs a check / balance.
This past weekend, we had 3 High Profile Modern events. 2 GPs, and an SCG Open. Over all 3 tournaments Top 32, there were only 5 Eldrazi Tron decks. Bant Eldrazi only had 2 decks. So out of 96 decks, only 7 were Eldrazi. That's literally just 7%. Eldrazi are not a problem. If they are in your metagame, then your metagame is abundant with decks that the Eldrazi decks prey on. And that isn't the fault of the Eldrazi decks.
Swashbuckler 1R
Pirate Soldier
Mutiny - When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control 2 other pirates, gain control of target permanent with CMC 3 or less for as long as you control Swashbuckler.
2/1
Deckhand U
Pirate Soldier
Mutiny - When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control 1 other pirate, you may put a +1/-1 counter on target creature you control.
2/1
First Mate 1RU
Pirate Soldier
Mutiny - When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control 3 other pirates or any pirate with the word "captain" in it's name, pick one:
Search your library for a Pirate with cmc 1 or less and put it into play.
Search your library for a Pirate with cmc 4 or less and put it into your hand.
3/3
Captain ~ 2RU
Legendary Pirate Soldier
When Captain ~ enters the battlefield, search your library for a pirate creature and put it into play.
2/2
Crazed Raptor G
Whenever another Dinosaur enters the battlefield, place a +1/+1 counter on Crazed Raptor.
Sacrifice Crazed Raptor: Place X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is equal to Crazed Raptor's power.
1/1
Angry Stegasaurus 1WG
Vigilance
Angry Stegasaurus attacks each turn if able.
2/6
Violent T-Rex 3RR
Haste
When Violent T-Rex deals combat damage, you may reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a dinosaur, put it into play.
4/5
Claim/fame isn't a burn card. It makes our overall strategy worse.
Are there times it works and has power? Sure.
Are there times we draw it and needed any burn spell instead and cry? Yup.
Devil is bad. Just because you found a reanimate card, it's still bad.
Yes nobody have the different opinion must play same deck all time. any who have the new idea any who want 2 do something different shame on u. each burn have 2 be the same blah blah blah. watch video the man have lot of fun. he win 13 lose 3. good 4 any who want have fun
You must be a little confused as to where you are. This isn't the "lets figure out what the most fun way to play a burn deck is" thread. This tier 1 competitive discussion thread is several years old and reflects the theorycrafting/work of thousands of burn players attempting to make Burn the best deck it can be.
Claim / Fame does not belong in Burn. Vexing Devil only belongs if you are running a budget version and don't intend to take it to tournaments or anything. Imagine it's turn 4, you're in topdeck mode and your opponent is at 3 life. This is a scenario any burn player is quite used to finding themselves in. Topdeck mode is part of what makes burn great: When it comes down to it we basically run 3 or so spells and then dozens of versions of those spells. When we're in topdeck mode we want to draw that lightning bolt that closes the game out, not a claim/fame to reanimate a guide/swiftspear into their 3 drop and 4 drop blockers, or a vexing devil that they can fatal push.
I was thinking of a similar concept, but why just BW? Adding red gives access to Sweltering Suns and other great sweepers, which I think is essential to beating RDW.
Also it's important to remember that while RDW is certainly the king of the meta, it's not the only deck. You don't want to build this incredible anti-RDW deck and get buttblasted by UR control or BG Constrictor every time you play them.
This deck really hasn't made much of a splash, but I think it could be very well positioned with the release of Riddleform, so I thought I'd do a breakdown of the current metagame and see where we stand:
Top tier:
Zombies
Monument
Both decks play their hands as quick as possible, both have plenty of value and recursion, and both can kill quite quickly. The best cards we can run vs zombies is Magma Spray, followed by Incendiary Flow, and the best cards we can run vs Monument is Abrade (as it can kill their threats or their monument) followed by Sweltering Suns/other sweepers that do 3 damage. Thing in the Ice is solid vs both. The fact that both of these decks are the top tier is a solid reason to run this deck, as we definitely have a favored matchup vs both.
Monument is definitely the tougher matchup, they have flying blockers and can interact via spell quellers as well as a very solid clock. Sweepers win that matchup.
Tier 2:
Temur Energy
Mardu Ballista
URx Control
Energy is a really tough matchup, they have more than enough removal for all of our threats while we don't really have enough for theirs. Magma Spray is much less valuable here and they really don't run artifacts so Abrade isn't good either. Sweltering Suns is a good card for the matchup, assuming you can resolve it before their Bristling Hydras or Longtusk Cubs can get to 4 toughness. Hour of Devastation is a solid addition to our sb for this matchup, and unsummon is good too. Thing in the Ice actually pretty significantly helps this matchup as an early blocker and a pseudo wipe that removes counters from cub and hydra. This is a midrange deck and the best way we could increase our win percentage against them is to give ourselves some much-needed recursion/grindyness. Grapple with the Past is great for this matchup, as is Blossoming Defense. If you're staying in UR then Unsummon can pull double duty as protection for our own critters or "removal" for theirs. Best when backed up by an Essence Scatter or Censor to counter their recast.
Ballista is an easier matchup, but still very grindy. The presence of these 2 decks as such a force in the meta is a very good argument for going Temur and including Grapple with the Past and/or Blossoming Defense. Magma Spray is much better here than vs temur energy, and Abrade has a lot more targets too. Sweepers are still great vs both these matchups (as well as the top tier matchups)which seems to me to be very strong arguement to run at least 3 Sweltering Suns MB alongside 4 Thing in the Ice.
Control is our worst matchup easily. It's why all of my sideboards include 6 slots dedicated almost entirely to the control matchup. I run 3x Dispel and 3x Negate. An argument could be made for Fevered Visions, which is very good vs control, or for Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but the issue with both is actually resolving one. I'm open to suggestions on this matchup.
Tier 3
Red Deck Wins
Emerge
Misc Decks
From here on out it's quite tough to plan for these matchups because the decks vary so much. Generally speaking, Abrade is great and Magma Spray is great and Sweltering Suns is great. Emerge is a tough matchup and one of the easiest ways to deal with it is to kill off their emerge sac targets while they are tapped out. Counterspells like Essence Scatter are also awesome for the Emerge matchup, as you can potentially 2-for-1 them by countering their emerged critter.
Notes: One obvious theme is that red is great vs most of the meta.Magma Spray and Abrade and Sweltering Suns are great vs the top tier, good vs Mardu Ballista, and Sweltering Suns is good vs Temur Energy. Spray and Abrade aren't entirely worthless vs energy, but there are lots of critters that dodge them entirely. Spray/Abrade/Suns is also a solid removal suite against unknown/rogue decks.
We need to be able to grind better. Midrange makes up a huge chunk of the meta, and UR is not a great midrange color combo. We need more recursion to be able to survive the long and grindy matchups, and to me it seems like going Temur is the best way to do this. Grapple with the Past is great, Blossoming Defense is solid. I'm not sure what the other grindy options are, white doesn't give us much and neither does black in terms of grindyness. One solution instead of running temur would be to run more grindy pw's like Chandra, but then that lowers the I/S count for our big drakes and cheap serpents and TITI flips, which are already lowered to make room for Riddleform. One possible solution is Bloodwater Entity which gives us a nice 2/2 flying body with prowess and guarantees our next draw to be gas. It can't bring back a creature or a riddleform though, but it can bring back a sweeper or something else. Now that we're playing Riddleform, Benefaction of Rhonas seems like it could be great for this role, dumping useless lands and filling our gy with i/s's while giving us new critters. Champion of Wits is also interesting, both as a 3 mana faithless looting stapled to a 2/1 body and for the late-game ability to get a 4/4 and draw 4 discard 2. CoW does decrease our i/s count however.
We need an answer for creatures with toughness 4 or more. Harnessed Energy won't do the trick as we don't run the full energy suite. This is as good a reason as any to run W or B instead of G as our splash. White has all sorts of great removal for critters like Glorybringer or Bristling Hydra or whatever x/4 is currently beating your face. Black has fewer answers but has more recursion to handle our other weaknesses.
Right now I'm contemplating either a strict UR list running the 60 I posted earlier with a sideboard containing Unsummon, Bloodwater Entity, and Champion of Wits, or a Temur list containing Grapple with the Past, Benefaction of Rhonas, or Bloodwater Entity, or trying a Grixis list with Never // Return, Wander in Death.
Finally, a fourth route I've been considering would be to try 4 colors. The pieces are there and thankfully the landbase isn't too challenging if you toss in a playset of Attune with Aether, Aether Hubs, etc. The issue there is that Cryptic Serpent and Bedlam Reveler are both UU or RR creatures, which is really tough for a 4c mana base.
So I've been doing lots of testing (along with enjoying other decks) and I think Riddleform is an auto-include as a 4-of here. It's a real sleeper and I think it could be the next smuggler's copter, minus the filtering.
I think it's probably a bit too early to be talking about what happens post-rotation, but that said I think the loss of fumarole and the gain of the new fastlands will make Grixis or Esper a bit more viable. We'll have to see until the rest of Ixalan spoilers drop, but my guess is the deck shifts to Grixis control.
Harmful Tendencies1BR Instant
Target player loses X life, where X is 3 plus the amount of life they lost this turn.
Players cannot gain life this turn, and damage cannot be prevented.
Regulator3 Artifact - Creature
All other creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness equal to their converted mana cost. 3/3
Magus of Fairplay1W Creature - Wizard
Players may play no more than 2 spells per turn.
Lands may not tap for more than 1 mana of whatever color they would normally produce.
Permanents with activated abilities may only activate those abilities once per turn. 2/2
Return to Valuetown2GU Instant
Pick 2:
-Search your library for a card, shuffle your library and put the chosen card on top.
-Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
-Draw a Card.
-Return target nonland permanent to it's owners hand.
Slow BurnRR
Enchantment
At the beginning of each upkeep, target opponent may pay 1 life. If they do not, put a burn counter on on Slow Burn.
Sacrifice Slow Burn: Each opponent loses life equal to twice the amount of burn counters on Slow Burn.
Pay 5 life: Destroy Slow Burn. Any player may activate this ability.
Mana Burn1R Instant
Mana Burn deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the amount of mana target opponent has spent this turn.
Furious Firestalker1R
Haste
When Furious Firestalker dies, draw a card. 3/1
Balanced Counterspell1U Instant
Counter target spell.
Skip your next draw step.
Balanced HymnBB
Sorcery
Target player discards 2 cards from their hand at random.
Skip your next draw step.
Fill the CryptUB
Instant
Search your library for up to 2 cards and put them into your graveyard.
Bontu's Last ChanceBBBB Sorcery
Search your library for any 3 non-legendary permanent cards and put them into play.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, you lose the game.
Oketra's Last ChanceWWWW Sorcery
You may gain any amount of life.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, pay X life, where X is twice the amount you initially gained with Oketra's Last Chance. If you do not, you lose the game.
Hazoret's Last ChanceRRRR Sorcery
Pay any amount of life: Target player loses X life, where X is 1 plus however much life you paid to activate this ability.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, pay X life. If you do not, you lose the game.
Kefnet's Last ChanceUUUU Sorcery
Draw 8 cards. You have no maximum hand size for the remainder of the game.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, discard 7 cards. If you do not you lose the game.
And they almost never use it to gain life. They just want to 2 for 2 you, which is bad enough when combined with what the rest of the deck does. You'll rarely (if ever) be holding up Skullcrack mana for that T2 Brutality, which is when it matters most.
I disagree, in my experience once you get to g2 vs either grixis or jund shadow, their main gameplan becomes winning via tasigur/angler and tearing apart our hand with discard. In those cases, they usually use brutality for all 3 modes.
It's not broken because of its cost. If it were less than 5 mana I'd agree with you but at 5 mana it's just right. If your opponent is smart, then they are holding some bombs in their hand because they know UR control runs sweepers and want to have something to toss down when we seem to be out of answers/are tapped out. If they are dumb, then they overextend and you 5-for-1 them with Hour of Devastation.
More likely what happens is you get a 2-for-1 or maybe a 3-for-1, a very solid tempo swing, and then they untap and throw down another gideon, or a glorybringer, or whatever. Bottom line, it's am amazing card and a welcome addition, but not game-breaking. Any match in which you win with Hour of Devastation alone is probably a match you could have also won with Fumigate alone, although I will admit Hour is much better vs avacyns, vs selfless spirits, and vs gods.
I do entirely agree that between Abrade and Hour of Devastation, UR control has lots of fairly efficient answers to all sorts of threats, and is generally in a great position right now. Glad I bought my deck before hour spoilers were fully released, because you better believe gearhulks and all the rest are about to spike.
Abrade alone did it really. It's an instant speed 1R answer to:
Every creature and vehicle in Mardu Vehicles except Avacyn
Every creature and artifact in Golgari except for Rampager
Every creature in Zombies
Every creature in Azorious Aggro / Mono White Monument
Pretty much every creature that costs 3 or less in the format which is like 90% of creatures.
All artifacts.
Abrade x 4 is an absolute must for mainboard.
What are people thinking of for numbers of Hour to run in main/side? I've honestly been considering a 3/1 split rather than 2/2, since it is quite a good card.
I'm actually thinking i may do cast out over both, since it costs the same as vraskas but hits much more.
One thing I will say about the list I posted that runs 6-8 wrath effects, I have a nearly 100% winrate vs temur energy and the new dino deck. That said, Ramured is a real tough matchup.
That said, in 166 matches i've won 128.
3 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Tocatli Honor Guard
4 Opt
4 Essence Scatter
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Supreme Will
4 Fumigate
4 Settle the Wreckage
2 Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the sunken ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Fetid Pools
3 Irrigated Farmland
2 Concealed Courtyard
3 Swamp
3 Island
5 Plains
2 The Scarab God
3 Never // Return
3 Authority of the Consuls
3 Spell Pierce
4 Negate
The biggest choice I made when starting was based on the meta. Looking at almost all of the top8 results of the past several various competitive tournaments, leagues, etc, every deck seems like a creature-based deck that wants to win with 2-3 critters on the board. That plus the newly printed Carnage Tyrant suggests to me that the IXA meta will be filled with decks that win with creatures. One other VERY important fact is that the 3 biggest reasons to not go ham on board wipes just rotated (avacyn, gideon ally of zendikar, selfless spirit)
Which is why I run 8 wrath effects.
Fumigate is an allstar once you get to 5 lands, which you will because of all the card filtration. Since this deck only runs 1 creature, Tocatli Honor Guard, what this card basically reads is 3WW: Destroy all your opponent's creatures, you gain 1 life for each creature killed this way. Pretty sweet.
Settle the Wreckage is F**KING INCREDIBLE. At 4 mana, it's just fast enough to save us vs Ramunap Red if we're on the draw, as even their quickest starts won't have us anywhere near dead by their turn 4. It's also the best answer we have vs Hazoret.
Tocatli Honor Guard is the only creature in the deck and he puts in some WORK. At 1/3, he's the perfect size chump blocker vs most cards in ramured, and his static ability turns earthshaker khenra and the rest of their etb critters into vastly worse versions of themselves. He's also a fantastic play vs Temur Energy, bricking their entire deck until removed. He also shuts down gearhulks and much much more. Truly an incredible card that hits a ton of cards that are very popular right now. He's easy to remove at 3 toughness, but even if he eats a lightning strike, it's worth it.
Search for Azcantl is low-key my favorite card in the deck. I only run 2 because it's legendary, but the first mode is a fantastic filtration engine, and the 2nd mode is insane inevitability that combos great once you windmill slam down your approach. Once it flips it almost feels like you're playing with divining top in standard, but better.
the rest of the choices are fairly obvious, 4x essence scatter mainboard over censors or anything else because creatures are the hottness in this meta. Essence Scatter is the best counter post-rotation no doubt in my mind, and I've never regretted having 4 mb. Once we're in g2 i can swap out a few or all if need be.
I'd love any thoughts. Scarab God is in my sb as my best way to win around a Gideon of the Trials which is otherwise a pretty tough-to-beat play vs this deck. He's also decent at gy interaction as all the gy cards right now are creatures and you can respond to their god pharaohs gift targeting a critter by stealing it yourself, if you were bad enough to let gift hit the battlefield and reach their combat step.
I've been considering vraska's contempt over never/return in the sb because i find myself wanting more ways to deal with hazoret than I currently have. If only declaration in stone were still legal.
The deck plays like a cross between a prison deck and a control deck. 8 wrath effects means I spend the first several turns establishing a board state with cards like honor guard and search, while using supreme will and essence scatter to keep their board relatively controlled. I will often let them resolve a few creatures turns 3 and 4, even allowing them to take a swing or two so they over-extend, then start raining down the fumigates and wrath-to-exiles. Finish off with Approach as a wincon and serve over-easy with a side of saltiness as they watch you durdle durdle durdle into a win.
I don't want to oversell this, but I have yet to face a deck that I don't think I have at least a 50% matchup against, and vs most decks (like ramured, temur energy, and other grindy creature-based midrange decks) I almost feel like i'm facerolling unless they have really good draws. Ramured is obviously the toughest matchup, although 8x wrath effects against a deck with zero protection from a wrath is pretty good MB, and once I can put in 3 Authority of the Consuls from the SB it feels like an unlosable matchup (unless I lose to variance and draw a ***** ton of lands or no lands at all)
Shared downside is not a synergy and while a few games may have been better than anticipated, that doesn't make it playable. Wanted Scoundrels is similarly okay but I don't think people will run it. What decks would run those that can't run better cards?
I would love something like this though
Wrath of the Color Wheel 2WWW
Sorcery
Pick a Color, or no color.
Destroy all nonland permanents of whichever type you chose.
5 cmc because at 4cmc that seems a bit too good.
Or maybe All is Dust
Swashbuckler 1R
Pirate Soldier
Mutiny - When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control 2 other pirates, gain control of target permanent with CMC 3 or less for as long as you control Swashbuckler.
2/1
Deckhand U
Pirate Soldier
Mutiny - When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control 1 other pirate, you may put a +1/-1 counter on target creature you control.
2/1
First Mate 1RU
Pirate Soldier
Mutiny - When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control 3 other pirates or any pirate with the word "captain" in it's name, pick one:
Search your library for a Pirate with cmc 1 or less and put it into play.
Search your library for a Pirate with cmc 4 or less and put it into your hand.
3/3
Captain ~ 2RU
Legendary Pirate Soldier
When Captain ~ enters the battlefield, search your library for a pirate creature and put it into play.
2/2
Crazed Raptor G
Whenever another Dinosaur enters the battlefield, place a +1/+1 counter on Crazed Raptor.
Sacrifice Crazed Raptor: Place X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is equal to Crazed Raptor's power.
1/1
Angry Stegasaurus 1WG
Vigilance
Angry Stegasaurus attacks each turn if able.
2/6
Violent T-Rex 3RR
Haste
When Violent T-Rex deals combat damage, you may reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a dinosaur, put it into play.
4/5
You must be a little confused as to where you are. This isn't the "lets figure out what the most fun way to play a burn deck is" thread. This tier 1 competitive discussion thread is several years old and reflects the theorycrafting/work of thousands of burn players attempting to make Burn the best deck it can be.
Claim / Fame does not belong in Burn. Vexing Devil only belongs if you are running a budget version and don't intend to take it to tournaments or anything. Imagine it's turn 4, you're in topdeck mode and your opponent is at 3 life. This is a scenario any burn player is quite used to finding themselves in. Topdeck mode is part of what makes burn great: When it comes down to it we basically run 3 or so spells and then dozens of versions of those spells. When we're in topdeck mode we want to draw that lightning bolt that closes the game out, not a claim/fame to reanimate a guide/swiftspear into their 3 drop and 4 drop blockers, or a vexing devil that they can fatal push.
Also it's important to remember that while RDW is certainly the king of the meta, it's not the only deck. You don't want to build this incredible anti-RDW deck and get buttblasted by UR control or BG Constrictor every time you play them.
Top tier:
Zombies
Monument
Both decks play their hands as quick as possible, both have plenty of value and recursion, and both can kill quite quickly. The best cards we can run vs zombies is Magma Spray, followed by Incendiary Flow, and the best cards we can run vs Monument is Abrade (as it can kill their threats or their monument) followed by Sweltering Suns/other sweepers that do 3 damage. Thing in the Ice is solid vs both. The fact that both of these decks are the top tier is a solid reason to run this deck, as we definitely have a favored matchup vs both.
Monument is definitely the tougher matchup, they have flying blockers and can interact via spell quellers as well as a very solid clock. Sweepers win that matchup.
Tier 2:
Temur Energy
Mardu Ballista
URx Control
Energy is a really tough matchup, they have more than enough removal for all of our threats while we don't really have enough for theirs. Magma Spray is much less valuable here and they really don't run artifacts so Abrade isn't good either. Sweltering Suns is a good card for the matchup, assuming you can resolve it before their Bristling Hydras or Longtusk Cubs can get to 4 toughness. Hour of Devastation is a solid addition to our sb for this matchup, and unsummon is good too. Thing in the Ice actually pretty significantly helps this matchup as an early blocker and a pseudo wipe that removes counters from cub and hydra. This is a midrange deck and the best way we could increase our win percentage against them is to give ourselves some much-needed recursion/grindyness. Grapple with the Past is great for this matchup, as is Blossoming Defense. If you're staying in UR then Unsummon can pull double duty as protection for our own critters or "removal" for theirs. Best when backed up by an Essence Scatter or Censor to counter their recast.
Ballista is an easier matchup, but still very grindy. The presence of these 2 decks as such a force in the meta is a very good argument for going Temur and including Grapple with the Past and/or Blossoming Defense. Magma Spray is much better here than vs temur energy, and Abrade has a lot more targets too. Sweepers are still great vs both these matchups (as well as the top tier matchups)which seems to me to be very strong arguement to run at least 3 Sweltering Suns MB alongside 4 Thing in the Ice.
Control is our worst matchup easily. It's why all of my sideboards include 6 slots dedicated almost entirely to the control matchup. I run 3x Dispel and 3x Negate. An argument could be made for Fevered Visions, which is very good vs control, or for Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but the issue with both is actually resolving one. I'm open to suggestions on this matchup.
Tier 3
Red Deck Wins
Emerge
Misc Decks
From here on out it's quite tough to plan for these matchups because the decks vary so much. Generally speaking, Abrade is great and Magma Spray is great and Sweltering Suns is great. Emerge is a tough matchup and one of the easiest ways to deal with it is to kill off their emerge sac targets while they are tapped out. Counterspells like Essence Scatter are also awesome for the Emerge matchup, as you can potentially 2-for-1 them by countering their emerged critter.
Notes:
One obvious theme is that red is great vs most of the meta. Magma Spray and Abrade and Sweltering Suns are great vs the top tier, good vs Mardu Ballista, and Sweltering Suns is good vs Temur Energy. Spray and Abrade aren't entirely worthless vs energy, but there are lots of critters that dodge them entirely. Spray/Abrade/Suns is also a solid removal suite against unknown/rogue decks.
We need to be able to grind better. Midrange makes up a huge chunk of the meta, and UR is not a great midrange color combo. We need more recursion to be able to survive the long and grindy matchups, and to me it seems like going Temur is the best way to do this. Grapple with the Past is great, Blossoming Defense is solid. I'm not sure what the other grindy options are, white doesn't give us much and neither does black in terms of grindyness. One solution instead of running temur would be to run more grindy pw's like Chandra, but then that lowers the I/S count for our big drakes and cheap serpents and TITI flips, which are already lowered to make room for Riddleform. One possible solution is Bloodwater Entity which gives us a nice 2/2 flying body with prowess and guarantees our next draw to be gas. It can't bring back a creature or a riddleform though, but it can bring back a sweeper or something else. Now that we're playing Riddleform, Benefaction of Rhonas seems like it could be great for this role, dumping useless lands and filling our gy with i/s's while giving us new critters. Champion of Wits is also interesting, both as a 3 mana faithless looting stapled to a 2/1 body and for the late-game ability to get a 4/4 and draw 4 discard 2. CoW does decrease our i/s count however.
We need an answer for creatures with toughness 4 or more. Harnessed Energy won't do the trick as we don't run the full energy suite. This is as good a reason as any to run W or B instead of G as our splash. White has all sorts of great removal for critters like Glorybringer or Bristling Hydra or whatever x/4 is currently beating your face. Black has fewer answers but has more recursion to handle our other weaknesses.
Right now I'm contemplating either a strict UR list running the 60 I posted earlier with a sideboard containing Unsummon, Bloodwater Entity, and Champion of Wits, or a Temur list containing Grapple with the Past, Benefaction of Rhonas, or Bloodwater Entity, or trying a Grixis list with Never // Return, Wander in Death.
Finally, a fourth route I've been considering would be to try 4 colors. The pieces are there and thankfully the landbase isn't too challenging if you toss in a playset of Attune with Aether, Aether Hubs, etc. The issue there is that Cryptic Serpent and Bedlam Reveler are both UU or RR creatures, which is really tough for a 4c mana base.
That plus the new
I'm trying a list like this:
4 Enigma Drake
4 Riddleform
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Cryptic Serpent
2 Bedlam Reveler
Removal
4 Incendiary Flow
3 Abrade
2 Lightning Axe
2 Magma Spray
2 Collective Defiance
2 Sweltering Suns
3 Strategic Planning
2 Cathartic Reunion
Lands
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Ramunap Ruins
5 Island
5 Mountain
Instant
Target player loses X life, where X is 3 plus the amount of life they lost this turn.
Players cannot gain life this turn, and damage cannot be prevented.
Regulator 3
Artifact - Creature
All other creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness equal to their converted mana cost.
3/3
Magus of Fairplay 1W
Creature - Wizard
Players may play no more than 2 spells per turn.
Lands may not tap for more than 1 mana of whatever color they would normally produce.
Permanents with activated abilities may only activate those abilities once per turn.
2/2
Return to Valuetown 2GU
Instant
Pick 2:
-Search your library for a card, shuffle your library and put the chosen card on top.
-Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
-Draw a Card.
-Return target nonland permanent to it's owners hand.
Slow Burn RR
Enchantment
At the beginning of each upkeep, target opponent may pay 1 life. If they do not, put a burn counter on on Slow Burn.
Sacrifice Slow Burn: Each opponent loses life equal to twice the amount of burn counters on Slow Burn.
Pay 5 life: Destroy Slow Burn. Any player may activate this ability.
Mana Burn 1R
Instant
Mana Burn deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the amount of mana target opponent has spent this turn.
Furious Firestalker 1R
Haste
When Furious Firestalker dies, draw a card.
3/1
Balanced Counterspell 1U
Instant
Counter target spell.
Skip your next draw step.
Balanced Hymn BB
Sorcery
Target player discards 2 cards from their hand at random.
Skip your next draw step.
Fill the Crypt UB
Instant
Search your library for up to 2 cards and put them into your graveyard.
Bontu's Last Chance BBBB
Sorcery
Search your library for any 3 non-legendary permanent cards and put them into play.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, you lose the game.
Oketra's Last Chance WWWW
Sorcery
You may gain any amount of life.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, pay X life, where X is twice the amount you initially gained with Oketra's Last Chance. If you do not, you lose the game.
Hazoret's Last Chance RRRR
Sorcery
Pay any amount of life: Target player loses X life, where X is 1 plus however much life you paid to activate this ability.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, pay X life. If you do not, you lose the game.
Kefnet's Last Chance UUUU
Sorcery
Draw 8 cards. You have no maximum hand size for the remainder of the game.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, discard 7 cards. If you do not you lose the game.
I disagree, in my experience once you get to g2 vs either grixis or jund shadow, their main gameplan becomes winning via tasigur/angler and tearing apart our hand with discard. In those cases, they usually use brutality for all 3 modes.
More likely what happens is you get a 2-for-1 or maybe a 3-for-1, a very solid tempo swing, and then they untap and throw down another gideon, or a glorybringer, or whatever. Bottom line, it's am amazing card and a welcome addition, but not game-breaking. Any match in which you win with Hour of Devastation alone is probably a match you could have also won with Fumigate alone, although I will admit Hour is much better vs avacyns, vs selfless spirits, and vs gods.
I do entirely agree that between Abrade and Hour of Devastation, UR control has lots of fairly efficient answers to all sorts of threats, and is generally in a great position right now. Glad I bought my deck before hour spoilers were fully released, because you better believe gearhulks and all the rest are about to spike.
Abrade alone did it really. It's an instant speed 1R answer to:
Every creature and vehicle in Mardu Vehicles except Avacyn
Every creature and artifact in Golgari except for Rampager
Every creature in Zombies
Every creature in Azorious Aggro / Mono White Monument
Pretty much every creature that costs 3 or less in the format which is like 90% of creatures.
All artifacts.
Abrade x 4 is an absolute must for mainboard.
What are people thinking of for numbers of Hour to run in main/side? I've honestly been considering a 3/1 split rather than 2/2, since it is quite a good card.