[Primer] Boros Burn

[Tyrael]

Where's Vexing Devil when we need him



@ Elricity I haven't been able to test the deck against anything else than G/R Ramp and White Weenie (I stomped both with my list) but do you really think it needs defensive cards like Blind Obedience to survive?

[Elricity]

You wouldn't use it as a defensive card. You should actually side it out versus any early agro deck that isn't playing a ton of haste creatures which from what I can tell, is only a couple r/b varients.

It's to prevent last minute blockers from saving people's hide and giving a more consistent form of reach while also feeding your life total as a resource to ignore pesky weenies.

[Tyrael]

Ah, I see

if it ends up helping you in the control matchup, let me know

I'm all for weird inclusions like that

[Elricity]

I want satyr to be better. If I could include the full playset of satyr, it probably would be for consistency or to replace cackler vs the green builds. That would require giving up peak eruption though which I'm liking as the 2 of.

Anyone else have some other ideas of what to put in? I feel dirty playing wear//tear.

That isn't anger that is. I'm still convinced I have those matchups covered. I really think I'm looking for different threats, not defense.

Maybe 2 mutavaults to fuel toil and mortars?

[Purp]

Elric can you post your list? I am about to head home to play some modo and I feel like burning these niggas

[Elricity]

Would help with all the theorycrafting I'm asking for:

[deck]//Creature (10)
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Young Pyromancer

//Enchantment (4)
4 Chained to the Rocks

//Instant (23)
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock
4 Skullcrack
3 Warleader's Helix

//Sorcery (2)
2 Toil // Trouble

//Land (21)
9 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard
2 Blind Obedience (or firedrinker satyr) (or mutavault)
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Peak Eruption
2 Spark Trooper
2 Toil // Trouble
1 Young Pyromancer[/deck]

Last night was a bit annoying losing to tier 2 decks on cockatrice. Maybe geared it too much to the tier 1 meta. Helps if I play properly and not on 4 hours of sleep.

[Elricity]

The more I look at this, two mutavaults are looking pretty good. Helps alleviate my problem of sometimes boarding into a more expensive curve. I definitely don't want to move them mainboard as the only g1 cut that's feasible is YP.

[Tyrael]

[deck]Spells (22)
3 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock
3 Warleader's Helix

Spells (5)
3 Chained to the Rocks
2 Toil // Trouble

Land (23)
9 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Mutavault
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph

Monsters (10)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Stormbreath Dragon


Sideboard
3 Anger of The Gods
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Toil // Trouble
1 Boros Charm
2 Spark Trooper
1 Chained To The Rocks[/deck]

Tried out this list last night vs Esper, Mono U, Mono B, White Weenie and G/R ramp, slammed them all. No U/W players in sight but I feel like I might have a much better matchup vs them now.

[vundo]

have you been able to test against R/x Devotion at all Tyrael? Your list looks really sweet and I'm sweating trying to find a list for the vegas invitational (boros aggro, pyrodragons, or this)

[Tyrael]

Should be fine as long as you can block + burn their dragons as I've done with my old burn list. Also, as with mono blue you should focus on keeping their devotion count low so they don't kill you out of nowhere with a fanatic. Save your chained to the rocks for Reckoners if you can (he's not that big of a threat vs you as most of your damage is either flying or directly to the face but the three devotion to red is HUGE). Purphoros is usually a non-issue as long as he's not active as a creature.

As I've said before: if you feel like Anger is overkill in your meta (a lot of people feel that way so I don't blame you if you do) then you can change up the sideboard a bit with Young Pyromancers for example which should help you wall off their assault but I guess that would bring you closer to the pyro decks . Or you could side in more
Mortars, that could work too. Also: Last Breath to help vs. Mono Black. I am not entirely sure that Spark Trooper is really necessary, I almost never got to use him. Boros Reckoners are a gamble here since they are also running chained but they will have to choose between exiling your phoenix or reckoner either way. Not sure on how to board vs them exactly though. Ideas are welcome.

Personally, I am very afraid of the G/B Kibler-esque decks, they are just insane and they pack enchantment removal too, haven't found a way to run them over yet.

TL;DR the sideboard is extremely volatile atm.

[Valdarith]

I would actually save Chained to the Rocks for Chandra's Phoenix. I have no issue hitting their Reckoner with a Mizzium Mortars, Warleader's Helix, or Lightning Strike.

[Elricity]

Finally getting around to doing my play report from this Monday. Given that I still haven't gotten my two temples of silence in the mail, i traded for one at the store and stuck a blood crypt in to fill out. I was running two firedrinkers in sideboard.

Match 1 vs Jonny: G/r devotion

So, this is my friend and the only reason I gave the store a chance. Any time I go to play standard, I'm guaranteed to play him first match for some reason. I still think this is a weaker version of the G/r devotions I've seen since it's missing either green devotion creature.

Game 1, I do an early opening of removing both a scavenging ooze with shock, take a BTE hit, remove it, and proceed to beat him down with cackler, YP, and elementals.

Game 2, I can't remember exactly how I boarded. -4 cackler, -2 t/t, -3 skullcrack, +1 YP, +4 reck, +2 spark, +2 peak eruption is my best guess. I forgot his deck ran lifegain so the skullcracks
going out were a mistake. I take an early beating down to 7 from BTE, Ooze, and a bloodrushed Ghor clan. He also resolves bow of nylea early in the game which starts making things complicated. I'm slowly flooding but with both mortars, boros charm, and spark trooper in hand, I'm biding my time to 6 lands. I play trooper, boros charm it, and swing the life total from 7-15 to 19-3. I resolve a reckoner, while he starts chump blocking with a 1/4 carytid (from the bow). I get him down to 1, swing all in with everything I have for the kill which I think consisted of 2 tokens and reckoner. He blocks reck with 1/4, ensures he has a creature die, and oozes in response to the 1 damage reckoner trigger. I burn in response, the activates bow, I burn again for the kill.

1-0 (2-0)

Match 2 vs Minh, Esper

Game 1, I mull to 6 and keep a 1 land hand with 2 shocks, 2 chain, 1 sacred foundry and then see he's playing esper. I putter around at one land, discard an early chain and almost consider scooping. At this
point he realizes he's in no danger, shocks himself to 18. I find a land, boros charm him to 14. End of his next turn, I crack and shock him to 9. He resolves jace, -2's back to 7 cards. I trouble him to 2. He sphinxes to 5. I trouble him again. I lucked this win as I should have never kept the hand.

Game 2, -2 YP, 4 chain, +2 toil/trouble, +2 spark trooper, +2 satyr. I didn't see BBV game 1 so I didn't side in mortars. Always side in mortars. He hits me with an early sin collector. I get him down to 3 with a combination of cackler, phoenix and burn. He sphinxes to 5 while i'm in top deck then resolves BBV and I never draw an out.

Game 3, I pull out 2 shocks for 2 mortars. I start off with a cackler/satyr, trade satyr with a sin collector after getting him to 13. He shocks himself to 11 for some reason, I play a phoenix and get him to 7. He sphere's my phoenix, I hit him with cackler and trouble to -1.

2-0 (4-1)

Match 3 vs Kyle, Azorious

Game 1, I burn him down steadily, he sphinxes back
to 10, cackler pushes him down to 4. He sphinxes, I helix in response for the kill.

Game 2, I board -2 YP, -4 chain, +2 t/t, +2 spark, +2 satyr. I get him down to 6 and proceed to run out of gas as he resolves blind obedience. He extorts himself back to 11. I charm him to 7 and can tell he has no counterspells. I take the risk and fuse toil and trouble for exact with him at 5 mana. He responds with a sphinx for 1 and extort to keep him at 2. In hindsight, I had a phoenix in the yard so should have toiled myself, troubled him to get the phoenix back. I scoop to start game 3 so we don't run out of time.

Game 3, I don't even come close. Phoenix gets last breathed. I spark trooper him to 12, helix him to 8. He uses an elixir of immortality to go to 13. He resolves blind obedience again, breaths another phoenix then elspeth. I scoop when I'm at 35 and he's at 12.

2-1 (5-3)

Match 4, Intentional draw vs mono black.

2-1-1 gets me into 6th place before top 8. In hindsight, I should have played it
out to get better standings but I didn't know what he was playing. In double hindsight, it didn't matter.

Top 8 vs...Jonny again. Still G/r dev

He's cursed. Game 1, he mulls to 5, I stomp him. Game 2, -4 cackler, -2 t/t, -2 yp, -2 boros charm, +2 mortar, +4 reck, +2 peak eruption, +2 spark trooper. Game 2, he mulls to 5 again, I stomp him again.

Not a giant fan of the G/r devotion deck because of the sometimes awkward draws.

I wanted to play it out but the azorius vs midrange Dega matchup takes over an hour and by 11:30, I'm ready to go home for quality time and can tell I'll be lynched if I insist on playing. 16 players, make 16 bucks, bought deck sleeves and dice for GP this weekend.

[Tyrael]

I would actually save Chained to the Rocks for Chandra's Phoenix. I have no issue hitting their Reckoner with a Mizzium Mortars, Warleader's Helix, or Lightning Strike.

Devotion to Red doesn't run Phoenix as far as I'm aware of. The deck runs barely any burn.

@ El, thanks for the match reports! Is there any way we can make a primer out of this thread as far as you're aware? I think this archetype might be a tier 1 contender now.

[Elricity]

I think you'd have to ask Helios for permission to have rights over the first post. I certainly won't have time to do this until after the GP this weekend.

[Purp]

Did well in tests last night, I was really liking wear//tear. This deck has trouble verse a resolved whip

[Tyrael]

What list were you running Purp? I always had a skullcrack ready whenever mono B dropped a whip in my testing but I guess you can't always be that lucky.

[Elricity]

Curious too. 1 wear or 2?

[Purp]

I was running pretty much similar to your list, except I had two angers and 2 wears in the side.

I think sometimes I was spending too much time killing opponents creatures instead of burning them

[Tyrael]

I do love wear // tear but I have no idea what to take out for it

hmm

[Elricity]

I was running pretty much similar to your list, except I had two angers and 2 wears in the side.

I think sometimes I was spending too much time killing opponents creatures instead of burning them

You can do this if they are clearly the agro deck. Eventually you will resolve a phoenix and take over the game.

Mono blue looks like it's the agro deck but it's actually the control deck. Thassa, Bident, and Jace add inevitability that you can't keep up with.

I assume you swapped out peak eruption and the 2 flex cards for yours?

[TBuzzsaw]

So I went 3-1 tonight at a local event. All four matches unfortunately were white decks and didn't get to play against anything else.

[deck]
Creatures
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Spells
4 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Skullcrack
2 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Boros Charm
2 Warleader's Helix
4 Chained to the Rocks

Land
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Boros Guildgate
12 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Spark Trooper
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Toil // Trouble[/deck]


Round 1: White Jank
It was a bad home brew white deck that curved out late with nothing good. Simple 2-0 win.

1-0


Round 2: RW Heroic
My opponent managed to get some few creatures that just get burned away. He managed to get a Phalanx Leader with two Ordeals and gained 20 life. Things looked bleak but I Chained the Leader and
dropped two YP$ and Phoenix. Nothing noteworthy came down after and I took game one after burning away more creatures and gaining two tokens each time.
Game two I sided in all my Reckoners and Anger, took out -4 Skullcrack, -2 Helix, -1 Charm. I managed to put two Reckoners out and went to town, finishing off with an Anger and redirecting the damage for lethal.

2-0


Round 3: Boros Weenie
Game one he nut drawed and put out all his 1 drops and two of each of his 2 drops. I couldn't burn them all.
Game two +4 Reckoner, +3 Anger, +2 Trooper, -4 Skullcrack, -4 Charm, -1 YP$. None of my side board cards came up, all while the opponent carried the game off of a Soldier, Captain, and a Priest. He had three Braves and there was nothing I could do about it.

2-1


Round 4: W Devotion (B Splash)
I ran just about the same deck so I knew all the tricks. I took game one when I burned two of his creatures and he flooded out after.
Game two I sided in the
same way as the last game. He managed to put out Elspeth and I couldn't get rid of her.
Game three was epic. It was a back and forth match where every time he put a creature out, I had a response for it. Over 15 dead creatures later (including one Elspeth and both his Angel of Serenities), we were both at 6 life. He had a Spear, Elspeth, and three soldier tokens. I had a Phoenix on the board and top deck a Helix.

3-1


I need more testing, but just my luck I played against the only white decks at the event today. There were quite a lot of green decks along with two Esper. I can't attend FNM tomorrow, but I'm letting my friend pilot it for me. He's had plenty of red aggro experience, so I'm anxious to hear how he does.

[Tyrael]

Tourney tomorrow but I forgot that I lended my dragons to someone

might end up running El's list, or just go ham and put 2 ember swallowers in there instead of dragons, who knows

[InflatablePie]

Think I'm gonna try out Ty's list tonight with some changes.

MB: -1 Skullcrack (to SB), +1 Boros Charm (to MB) [I really like Boros Charm :<]
-1 Shock, +1 Flames otF [comes in handy sometimes]
SB: -2 Anger, +2 Young Pyro [I like having him in some situations, especially to feed DDemon]

I got $60 from my coin jar that I just cashed in after ~6 months of saving so I'm gonna grab two Dargons for $40 :D

[TBuzzsaw]

After my friend's testing I might try out a RB version for these cards:

Tymaret, The Murder King: In a deck with YP$ it can really go to town.
Read the Bones: I know this card is questionable, but sometimes I just want to dig deep to get the burn/removal I need. Again, with YP$ it's not a total waste.
Removals: They can't burn but they can at least get rid of the big ones you can't burn.
Rakdos Charm: I feel this would be a super secret tech in a burn deck after siding out YP$. It can remove the pesky god weapons, but it can punish your opponent for committing too much on the board. Turning someone's Master of Waves against them is too good to pass up, although Mono U shouldn't be a hard matchup in the first place. The card needs some testing.
Crypt Incursion: With everything getting killed
left and right against aggro post SB, it gives a big comfortable cushion while you play your Exava to finish the job.


I'm going to do some testing and put together something.

[Tyrael]

Think I'm gonna try out Ty's list tonight with some changes.

MB: -1 Skullcrack (to SB), +1 Boros Charm (to MB) [I really like Boros Charm :<]
-1 Shock, +1 Flames otF [comes in handy sometimes]
SB: -2 Anger, +2 Young Pyro [I like having him in some situations, especially to feed DDemon]

I got $60 from my coin jar that I just cashed in after ~6 months of saving so I'm gonna grab two Dargons for $40

Let me know how it goes (I love anger which is why I'm sticking to 3 in the SB even though it's usually overkill )

[InflatablePie]

Round 1: Damien on Mono-U, lost 0-2. Coulda won game 1 but played it safe and left a Phoenix back to block only to get Tidebound, missed killing him on the last possible turn by 2 damage. Lost game 2 by playing to my outs and forcing him to topdeck a second MoW... which he did.

Round 2: Alex on Br Aggro. Lost game 1 to Mogis' Marauder, lost game 2 partially due to not killing an Exava a turn earlier ("I can take 4 here..." - five words that end badly), partially due to double-hasty-guys and not having enough blockers. 0-2 / 0-2.

Round 3: Om with Maze's End. We chatted before FNM started, he just got back into playing Magic (he played back when 'walkers first came out... 8th edition maybe?). I got him games one and two, but gave him the 2-0 and dropped so I could get home, eat, and now play video games. I think it was a 5-round, so I couldn't make top 8 with two losses and crap tiebreakers. Oh well.

Didn'
t draw the dragons enough to use them well (played one in the monoU match I think). I dunno, I kinda feel like it doesn't do enough for five mana in this deck. Needs more testing though, I just feel like you could get a similar effect with a well-timed Firstblade, as dargon sucks if they have removal as well, plus it's more expensive.

[Tyrael]

Damn, you got some real bad luck there buddy , though I have to admit there is very little room for error with this deck (even less so than the pyrored variants)

Will test my list at my shop this afternoon

Thanks for your report!

[TBuzzsaw]

So I ended up clearing time in my schedule and was able to make it FNM after all. I finished 3rd out of 45 people going 5-1. Here is my latest list that I used:

[deck]
Creatures
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Spells
4 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Skullcrack
2 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Boros Charm
2 Warleader's Helix
4 Chained to the Rocks

Land
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Temple of Silence
2 Mutavault
10 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Spark Trooper
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Toil // Trouble[/deck]


Round 1: Mono G Devotion w/B splash (2-0)
My opponent first opponent happens to be someone that wins first quite frequently with his deck. Game one double YP$ and burning away three Kalonian Tuskers. He managed to bring out two Reaper of the Wilds, but I sail to victory with three Skullcracks. Game two was almost just about
the same, only he got a Arbor Colossus out and I was able to Chain it. After that two Phoenixes got the job done, even though both got Doom Bladed (coming back after two shocks).

Round 2: Mono U Devotion (2-0)
My opponent is notorious for being a slow player. First game I kept a hand with two lands, and all my Boros Charms. Second game was much harder. He had a good start, but by turn five I Angered two Cloudfins, Nightveil, and MoW's tokens. Nothing really came down after that other than two Judges.

Round 3: Mono G Devotion w/U splash (2-0)
This is the new new list popping up with Master Biomancer and Prime Speaker. It went very similar to Round 1 with nothing worth noting.

Round 4: White Weenie w/R splash (1-2)
First game he got out too many creatures for me to deal with individually without Anger mainboard. Second game he flooded out while in the third game I got stuck on two lands. Both of us wished it went smoother
for a better match.

Round 5: Esper Control (2-0)
The Esper pilot is another opponent that frequently tops local events. I kept a hand with tons of burn. By turn five he was down to 4 life and dropped a Blood Baron. I Mizzium Mortars it, and he passed his sixth turn. I expected a Sphinx but when he didn't play one at the end of my turn I Helixed him. Game two I was able to Trouble him for 7 on turn three. Things slowed down a bit and I got him to 3 life. I held onto a Skullcrack waiting for the opportune time, and low and behold, he tried to Sphinx. After the match he tells me he knew I had him and played Sphinx hoping I was bluffing.

Round 6: Fanatic Red (2-1)
Game one it was close match with both of us down to 2 life each with no cards in hand. However, I had a Mutavault and attacked for the win. Game two I flooded out. Game three was nerve wrecking. I was at 5 life with just a Reckoner on the field. He had a Hammer, Ashley and Emma with 13 life.
With 5 lands I chained Ashley and played Spark Trooper to stabilize at 11 life. Next turn he draws and chuckles. He drops a Fanatic dealing 4 damage and attacking for 6, leaving me at just 1. Next turn I attack with Reckoner while keeping a hand with three more burn cards.


Overall I am very happy with the results. The only loses came from mana flooding/screwed. I'm glad I listened to you guys and put in the Spark Trooper, or else I would have lost the last match. YP$ had been the MVP, especially when I have two out at the same time. The Scry lands are amazeballs. I may add two more.

[Tyrael]

Went 1-4 today so back to the drawing board with my list

Awesome write-up TB! Seems like you're onto something here

edit: I lost two matches due to Fiendslayer Paladin, how do you guys deal with him?

[Elricity]

Why does read the bones keep getting mentioned here? Toil and trouble still seems miles above the better card here.

I continue my trend of facing people I know in tournaments and murdering them. 2-1 at gp Dallas so far. Fuck azorious

[Tyrael]

El, I'd appreciate it a lot if you could write (more or less) detailed matchup guide on the popular decks if you can find the time. I am having big problems atm and I fear it's more a matter of inexperience than it is a matter of how 'good' my decklist is. Except for losing to fiendslayer palading, what the fuck.

[Elricity]

Esper player: "I'm playing against a fucking burn deck"
Me : Yep
Esper: "Whatever, tap out for BBV"
Me: "sure. Trouble you on my turn for the win"
Esper: *signs slip. Gets up and walks off*
3-1

Tyrael, let's see how I do first. I ain't exactly a pro.

[Tyrael]

Esper player: "I'm playing against a fucking burn deck"
Me : Yep
Esper: "Whatever, tap out for BBV"
Me: "sure. Trouble you on my turn for the win"
Esper: *signs slip. Gets up and walks off*
3-1

Tyrael, let's see how I do first. I ain't exactly a pro.

Haha I'm laughing my ass off

Go go Elricity!

[vundo]

man it looks like cuneo's UW is clogging up the top tables
good luck!

[Elricity]

Well, maybe I am qualified with what I've faced but I just went 3-3.

AIR: win.
Azorious control: loss
Rakdos agro: win
Esper: Win
Orhzov midrange: loss
Junk: loss.

Shrug.

Bah thought this submitted.

Anyway:

Big red devotion: win
Esper: win (we were friendly with each other throughout though I was still kindly told to kiss my ass. I deserved it )

[Elricity]

Going into match 9, was near bottom of 15 pt ties. Won vs WBR. Game two I lose to rakdos returns stripping my 4 cards into elspeth. Thing was a bitch for me to sb against and gave up remembering what I did game 2. Burned him out hard game 3. Will see if I can I write up tonight

[Elricity]

So in hindsight, 4 satyr would have helped me win azorious and Orhzov. Never used wear and had it sit in hand a couple games.

I finished 210 6-3. Doing super series tomorrow. About 15 made top 128.

[Elricity]

Fiendslayer should be really trivial game 2 between charm, reckoner, chain. I don't understand.

[Elricity]

So I can sb 2 yp, main 2 satyr, cut wear. How do I get two more satyr main?

[Valdarith]

I'd rather have Rakdos Cackler main honestly. 2 ass, Doom Blade and Ultimate Price immunity, better vs R/x in game one.