The challenge with Affinity is the T2 5/5 indestructible, thanks to Darksteel Citadel. When the Cranial Plating comes down on T3, it's lights out. It's happened to me 3 times now - in the top 8 of an IQ and twice online.
R/w Burn has a couple of exiling answers, but Mono Red and Bump/Burn is kinda stuck.
That's quite the play. I'm probably going to be facing a few of those today at the PTQ. I better keep an eye out for that, and make sure I keep mana open to destroy the Plating.
Bump/Burn usually plays one stomping ground and a few other green lands to have Destructive Revelry in the board.
Cheapest good deck in modern is affinity. Even with all the artifact hate in the format, its proven to be a contender over and over again. Affinity is similar to hexproof in the current standard except well, its good lol. The deck is just very solid since it can bring it cards from all different colors and can kill your opponent extremely quickly with multiple angles of attack. Theres also Storm, which is a hard deck to play, but is another pretty decent budget option thats a serious contender.
Burn is pretty poor in Modern. I would not recommend it. Theres too many bad match ups for the deck, especially Pod which is the most popular deck in the format. The burn cards in modern arent good enough. You have to play jank like Shard Valley and Spark Elemental and your sideboard options are pretty bad without splashing another color. Plus Eidolon isnt that great in Modern since theres many decks that play things like Cryptic Command, Restoration Angel and Shriekmaw that get around it.
You basically just named the only cards in the format that are 4 or more mana. Scapeshift and Pod are pretty much the only other commonly played 4 drop spells in all of modern. Literally every other card in all of those decks is 3 mana or less. Burn is quite potent, and it is definitely good against Pod. I've played burn for a while now, and if I could play against Pod every round, I would.
Wurmcoil, Karn, Batterskull, Restoration Angel, Splinter Twin, Obstinant Baloth, Redcap, Archangel, Garruk, theres plenty of 4 drops in the format. Burn is pretty abysmal against a deck with 4 Kitchen Finks and potentially other types of lifegain.
Theres nothing that could convince me to take burn to a major tournament. Its got too many bad MUs and too few good ones. Plus the deck is just inconsistent. Having only 1 card that can deal 4 damage feels pretty weak. Theres also too many cards in the modern version that really feel like filler. If the deck didnt have to play cards like Shard Valley or the elementals or Vexing Devil, it would probably be pretty good. With those cards in the deck you just get too many games to where you cant win since whatever you got is too situational.
Those decks are still likely 75% cards that are 3 mana or less. Also, the burn deck has more anti-lifegain cards in the deck than there are lifegain cards in the other decks. Many burn lists are playing black, for bump in the night (also splashing green for destructive revelry in the side), and there are RW lists as well. Vexing devil and Hellspark elemental are very bad (which is why I do not play either), and you have pointed out that shard volley isn't that good as well. Those statements are all true. Pod is incredibly weak to cards like Searing Blood and Searing Blaze, and even Volcanic Fallout. They typically take some amount of damage from their lands (as most decks in modern do). They have very few ways to keep their creatures on the board, and have fewer ways in their deck to kill Eidolons than there are Eidolons in the burn deck.
I'm not claiming it is the best deck, but it is certainly better than you are giving it credit for. It has quite a few very good matchups, such as any type of BGx deck, and Pod. The more difficult matchups are Twin if they just naturally combo on 4, and affinity can be difficult if they have a good draw.
Cheapest good deck in modern is affinity. Even with all the artifact hate in the format, its proven to be a contender over and over again. Affinity is similar to hexproof in the current standard except well, its good lol. The deck is just very solid since it can bring it cards from all different colors and can kill your opponent extremely quickly with multiple angles of attack. Theres also Storm, which is a hard deck to play, but is another pretty decent budget option thats a serious contender.
Burn is pretty poor in Modern. I would not recommend it. Theres too many bad match ups for the deck, especially Pod which is the most popular deck in the format. The burn cards in modern arent good enough. You have to play jank like Shard Valley and Spark Elemental and your sideboard options are pretty bad without splashing another color. Plus Eidolon isnt that great in Modern since theres many decks that play things like Cryptic Command, Restoration Angel and Shriekmaw that get around it.
You basically just named the only cards in the format that are 4 or more mana. Scapeshift and Pod are pretty much the only other commonly played 4 drop spells in all of modern. Literally every other card in all of those decks is 3 mana or less. Burn is quite potent, and it is definitely good against Pod. I've played burn for a while now, and if I could play against Pod every round, I would.
I feel mono-R is the best variant. Bump in the Night is a bad card, and Tyrant's Choice(whatever it's called) is a close second. Bump and Tyrant can't hit creatures, which is sometimes relevant. I do think that a version with DRS should be experimented with to prove me wrong.
I can't think of any acronym for DRS that isn't Deathrite Shaman, which is currently banned in modern. Is it some other card you're speaking of?
Also, I believe RW is the best, as it offers the most options. Black doesn't add nearly as much as white in terms of maindeck and SB options.
I totally agree. It's legitimate, makes total sense, and is pretty cool bc of how progressive it is. The problem comes from other people not liking that the top 2 can do it and remain top 2. They shouldn't have a right to have a problem with it, but it's enough of a problem for the small store I go that it's better to just not have an incentive for doing it.
To prevent the people in 1st/2nd from being able to draw, the solution is simple: Beat them in the earlier rounds.
Played this in an 8 round PTQ last weekend. Lost rnd 1 to games 1-2 Affinity nut draws (which I believe is likely the deck's most difficult matchup anyways) and then in round 7 to a Boros deck, who surprised me with Ball Lightnings, when I was light-landed. Eidolon was simply incredible. Most creature decks simply cannot beat it efficiently, while dealing with the rest of the burn spells in a timely manner. I have played Melira 4 times and none of the games have been particularly close. The deck is a very real threat in the metagame. Hopefully the successes it has been having will not lead people to play more Leyline of Sanctity, as that card is going to be a very difficult issue for it to deal with. Transitioning to a more-creature based deck is unlikely to work, as nearly every deck's creatures will outclass the ones Burn will want to play. I will definitely be playing this in the rest of the PTQs I attend this season. Have to figure what to put in for 1-2 of the Shard Volley, as they have been the worst card in the deck by far. Sideboard, the tempest of light's will probably come out as well, because Boggle just isn't a popular deck anymore.
I imagine storm doesn't lose that many cards if its all pre-Mirrodin. You only really lose a couple draw spells (Ponder, Preordain, and Gitaxian Probe).
Protection refers to Damage/Enchant (Equip)/Block/Target. An item with protection from whatever cannot have those things done to it by anything of that color, etc. Something like wrath of god does not do any of those things, so creatures would be destroyed in that case. If a Mizzium Mortars, for instance, is overloaded, anything that has protection from Red would not receive damage because it would be prevented by the protection.
Mono black is actually a really weak deck in this weird devotion strat
It only works because people don't understand how to deal with Packrat or Desecration Demon and save their removal for high value threats.
Basically kill the Rats before they multiply and Downfall the Demons.
Win through a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon
The window for killing rats before they multiple is usually one turn. Simply saying "always have the removal for a turn two pack rat" is very nice and all, but doesn't happen very often because most decks don't play many removal spells.
I'm surprised they didn't sponsor a team of up and coming players. Even if you don't have the biggest names, there are still other very good players out there.
They have no incentive to sponsor up and coming players. The reason they sponsored the super teams in the past is so they can get their name and brand more exposure. Paying people who are seemingly unlikely to win the event either doesn't interest them or expand the SCG brand.
Bump/Burn usually plays one stomping ground and a few other green lands to have Destructive Revelry in the board.
Those decks are still likely 75% cards that are 3 mana or less. Also, the burn deck has more anti-lifegain cards in the deck than there are lifegain cards in the other decks. Many burn lists are playing black, for bump in the night (also splashing green for destructive revelry in the side), and there are RW lists as well. Vexing devil and Hellspark elemental are very bad (which is why I do not play either), and you have pointed out that shard volley isn't that good as well. Those statements are all true. Pod is incredibly weak to cards like Searing Blood and Searing Blaze, and even Volcanic Fallout. They typically take some amount of damage from their lands (as most decks in modern do). They have very few ways to keep their creatures on the board, and have fewer ways in their deck to kill Eidolons than there are Eidolons in the burn deck.
I'm not claiming it is the best deck, but it is certainly better than you are giving it credit for. It has quite a few very good matchups, such as any type of BGx deck, and Pod. The more difficult matchups are Twin if they just naturally combo on 4, and affinity can be difficult if they have a good draw.
You basically just named the only cards in the format that are 4 or more mana. Scapeshift and Pod are pretty much the only other commonly played 4 drop spells in all of modern. Literally every other card in all of those decks is 3 mana or less. Burn is quite potent, and it is definitely good against Pod. I've played burn for a while now, and if I could play against Pod every round, I would.
I can't think of any acronym for DRS that isn't Deathrite Shaman, which is currently banned in modern. Is it some other card you're speaking of?
Also, I believe RW is the best, as it offers the most options. Black doesn't add nearly as much as white in terms of maindeck and SB options.
To prevent the people in 1st/2nd from being able to draw, the solution is simple: Beat them in the earlier rounds.
Here is my list (RW Burn)
4 Goblin Guide
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Spells:
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava spike
4 Skullcrack
4 Lightning Helix
4 Boros Charm
4 Rift Bolt
3 Shard Volley
3 Flames of the Bloodhand
3 Searing Blaze
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Searing Blood
2 Tempest of Light (This is going to change soon)
2 Wear/Tear
2 Combust
2 Relic of Progenitus
Played this in an 8 round PTQ last weekend. Lost rnd 1 to games 1-2 Affinity nut draws (which I believe is likely the deck's most difficult matchup anyways) and then in round 7 to a Boros deck, who surprised me with Ball Lightnings, when I was light-landed. Eidolon was simply incredible. Most creature decks simply cannot beat it efficiently, while dealing with the rest of the burn spells in a timely manner. I have played Melira 4 times and none of the games have been particularly close. The deck is a very real threat in the metagame. Hopefully the successes it has been having will not lead people to play more Leyline of Sanctity, as that card is going to be a very difficult issue for it to deal with. Transitioning to a more-creature based deck is unlikely to work, as nearly every deck's creatures will outclass the ones Burn will want to play. I will definitely be playing this in the rest of the PTQs I attend this season. Have to figure what to put in for 1-2 of the Shard Volley, as they have been the worst card in the deck by far. Sideboard, the tempest of light's will probably come out as well, because Boggle just isn't a popular deck anymore.
Don't do this for any event where you can get deck-checked. You cannot have extra MTG cards in your deckbox regardless of if they are sleeved or not.
Posts like yours are not constructive. You are lumping every single player into a stereotype that not every player fits in to.
The window for killing rats before they multiple is usually one turn. Simply saying "always have the removal for a turn two pack rat" is very nice and all, but doesn't happen very often because most decks don't play many removal spells.
They have no incentive to sponsor up and coming players. The reason they sponsored the super teams in the past is so they can get their name and brand more exposure. Paying people who are seemingly unlikely to win the event either doesn't interest them or expand the SCG brand.