[Primer] Boros Burn

[Elricity]

How does Bile Blight drastically affect Assemble the Legion? Not to say that Assemble is good for this deck, but the plays I can think of where Bile Blight loses you a game despite having an active Assemble are incredibly specific.

It's win more in the sense that if you're winning, it's overkill. If you're using it for defense, they can build up their demons or cards in play and then sweep your tokens for the kill. There are some occassions where it alone can win the game where other cards couldn't but it's not as surefire now.

[amcfvieira]

@Zemanjaski

Great article Zemanjaski. I will try it this week in gameday, and if I really like it maybe I day 8 to sevilla to a PTQ in Spain with that. Can this deck replace some cards for a couple of Stormbreath Dragon? Maybe cutting a Toil/Trumble? Stormbreath is not bad against UW control and maybe it can improve RG matchup?

When I was testing with my weird version of Pyrodragons, sometimes I board in Assemble the Legion against RG Monsters and RG devotion and in game 2 if I put it in play I usually win. They usually don't are prepare for it, and If they don't have many times trample (I usually don't see Nylea this days) it can overwhelming they board. One bad thing is that if we go to game 3 they will side-in all their enchantments removal and our Chain to the Rocks will be sometimes a trap to us...

[zemanjaski]

There is a good chance that I will cut Toil // Trouble for Stormbreath Dragon this weekend honestly.

[zenbitz]

I love how the list is back to exactly 3 damage for ~2 mana average for all the burn spells.

[amcfvieira]

There is a good chance that I will cut Toil // Trouble for Stormbreath Dragon this weekend honestly.

Thinking in adding a 24 land? Or 23 is enough to cast the Dragon?

[zemanjaski]

23 land plus 2 dragon with all the scry seems fine too me.

[Crims0n]

I like 22 land with 18 red sources.

[zemanjaski]

Frank Karsten told me 19 red so I run 19 red!

[zemanjaski]

I need 19 because there's 8 RR spells at two.

[Crims0n]

I'm gonna run your deck but I only currently have 2 vaults right now. What are good replacements? 2 vault/2 temple of silence split?

[zemanjaski]

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... melbourne/

[Mr. Metronome]

If you cut the 3 Toil/Trouble, and put in 2 Dragons, that leaves room for 1 card. Is 4 Sparktrooper too many against MonoU/GR?

90% playing this list in a 1k this weekend, BUG Midrange just isn't quite there.

[zenbitz]

Watched the video last night -- it's pretty good. I think you do a fantastic job of outlining your thoughtprocess and lines, and sideboard decisions. Better than the usual.

I think the only black mark is that you ran hot and very few of the games were even close. Consider that if we treat MBD as a "fair" match and GR monsters as a poor (45-55?) that is some serious luckboxing. But certainly you played well, I just would have like to see more 2-1 matches vs. 2-0 blowouts. I do give you credit in your CFB article for not saying how every match is favorable. It seems whenever I read a breakdown of a Standard deck on a website it always has "Very favorable matchups". That doesn't seem possible, since all these decks have to play each other.

I did matchup up against GW hexproof on cockatrice last night. That is not a favorable matchup for this deck - in fact we cannot generally beat
unflinching courage on a hexproof dude, but whaddyagonnado?

[Self Medicated]

If you cut the 3 Toil/Trouble, and put in 2 Dragons, that leaves room for 1 card. Is 4 Sparktrooper too many against MonoU/GR?

90% playing this list in a 1k this weekend, BUG Midrange just isn't quite there.

I'm wondering if that last card should be [card]Wear // Tear[/card]?

[zenbitz]

revoke existence might be better. Thassa isn't that big a deal but Xenagos is a problem. boarding in singleton enchantment hate seems like long odds against any MU where it actually matters. I guess long odds are better than 0 odds though

[Crims0n]

[deck]10 Mountain
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Mutavault
2 Boros Guildgate


3 Chained to the Rocks
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock
4 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
4 Searing Blood


4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Spark Trooper


SB: 3 Toil // Trouble
SB: 4 Firedrinker Satyr
SB: 4 Satyr Firedancer
SB: 2 Warleader's Helix
SB: 2 Revoke Existence
[/deck]

taking this to gameday. spark trooper has been really good imo.

[amcfvieira]

Zemanjaski is burning everyone in Melbourne. )-0 and undefeated in day one - SUPERB!
Go Z!!

Before the GP he released a new article that complement the video.

[Mr. Metronome]

::D Awesome. Taking this to a 1k in a couple hours.

[Kyarie]

Awesome job, James! Read the written coverage of your match. Do they have the matches up on YouTube? I would love to see it.

I'm still debating Burn or MonoBlack Aggro for today and James is sure making me want to play burn.

Good luck to all playing in Game Day today.

[sin]

Best of luck zemanjaski! A true inspiration for red mages everywhere!

[GodzillaAteMe]

Go Z!!! I see you in that feature match!

[Googims]

awesome work zem! eat them up!

[Deht]

Nice work James!

[dauntless268]

Good luck for day 2! What a deck!

[agrevall]

Great going Z! Best of luck for day 2!

[PrimalBurn]

Way to go Z! Went 4-0 last night at fnm with your list and Im playing it at gameday. This deck is so much fun to play! Give em hell in day 2

[zenbitz]

I played the new list but -4 mutavault +4 temple of silence. Not a strategic commentary, just a lack of 'vaults. I think I mean to run 3 BW temples and 1 Boros guild gate but I ended up running both (mis counted right before the tournament). the Guildgates were wretched and I don't want them no more.

I went 2-2, which is not too disappointing considering how little I have played.

Match 1 was the worst - playing against slow newbie running janky white enchant-y heroic
Game 1 we both flooded a bit and had life game (I had 2 helices). Took 25 minutes before I outraced him, down to 2 life.
+3 troopers +1 firedancer -4 skullcrack +1 chained... -1 shock?
Game 2, mulled to 6, he got an early 5/5 double striker (fabled hero) that I was forced to chump. I just got behind 20-8 with 5 minutes left and conceeded to try to win game 3.
I did not win game 3. We went to turns but he had an 8/8 double striker and
a 6/6 double striker and I died being only able to chump 1.

I was actually not sure how to board here since I thought the deck was pretty well set up to deal with a bunch of 1/1s and 1/2s. It is -- BUT bestowed guys actually really suck.
Basically, his deck's weakness is getting 2-for-1'd and that's not that easy to burn without a firedancer out. And the tempo hit for playing fire dancer instead of jetting a little hero is pretty huge.
I don't think I played it great - but a better version of this deck worries me.

Match 2 I played BW Midrange (basically MBD with BBoV and Obzedat). Game 1 he flooded and died. Game 2 I learned that you cannot keep a hand without early pressure, even if it has a 3/4 split (it might have been a 4 lander too which is a loose keep). He stuck a Demon AND an Obzedat and I could chain the Demon but no answers for Ozzie so I conceeded.
Game 3 was probably the best game of the whole tournament. Mid game I had 2 phoenix and an ashley out and was in control until
they got wiped by Drown in Sorrows. I later 2xPhoenix against his BBoV. He Drowned them again and got in for 4 lifelink. I jet+searing blood his baron and we are both at 6 life, recurring 2 phoenix. He plays DD, I draw... a third phoenix instead of needed helix or boros charm.

I know I made a couple mistakes in this match - in one I was thinking about dodging bile blight or drown and ended up skipping main phase 2 for a land drop and a zealot (he did kill the first zealot). I also think I ran into the first drown in sorrows in game 3 although the second one I pretty much knew he had it but it wasn't relevant as I had nothing else to do with 3 mana.

Ironic that I ran into trouble with getting 2 for one'd by bile blight because I post board I was running 3/3 Firedrinkers (which I never drew) / Ashley. +3 firedrinker -3 firedancer +4 chained -1 ash zealot -3 shock.

Matches 3 and 4 I won easily against decks that had almost no chance. Match 3 was mono-black aggro humans which just dies to
firedancer and can't afford the tempo hit of removing it with stuff like heros' downfall I did drop game 2 where I mulled to 5 -- I still almost came back thanks to spark trooper. What was interesting about this match was losing game 2. Basically the burn deck loses when someone sticks a big lifelink guy OR you get behind on board by > 1 creature before enemy is on the top deck clock (6-8 life). If your board is clear -- even against against 2-3 little guys you need a firedancer in hand + 4 mana + a burn spell to begin to catch up. I wouldn't add it, but I do understand why various people played Anger in the sideboard now. Overloaded Mortars would be too slow I think.

Match 4 was against store employee filling out the tree. He was running simic ramp biovisionary. Game 1 I killed elvish mystics on turns 2, 3, 4, and 5 and he never found a 3rd land. For this I earned a promo elvish mystic from him. Game 2 wasn't close either as I had a firedancer and he never managed to pull any of his
hexproofing spells.

All in all - deck was all I hoped it to be, and frankly against these match ups I could have gone 4-0... interesting and challenging to play. Rest of the meta was mostly black although only 1-2 mono-black. One GW aggro but he didn't have unflinching courage so probably had a shot . One young woman runs a wierd orzhov extort deck... which might have been an interesting game. Good for me: She runs a bunch of little guys with extort. Bad for me... life gain.

[Longtoe]

Keep going Z!!!

[PrimalBurn]

Small turnout today for our gameday but I managed to go 4-1 and take home my first champion playmat Played Zs stock RW burn list and it was as consistent as ever. Man I love this deck!

[dauntless268]

Zem will tell us the details, but he got awarded a really awkward game loss Rd 10 G2 against UW control, for... having his sideboard cards upside down...??

EDIT: Upon LaZer's Recommendation, I picked up the deck and tore through two 8-mans on MODO. The deck is super awesome... You are a master deckbuilder, Zem!

[zemanjaski]

Four of us ran the decklist, going 30-6 on day 1; all our of us cashed at 10-4-1 or better; I went 11-4 finishing 23rd.

Re: the game loss, the judge who awarded it has offered to write an official statement for me to publish with my cfb article on the gp, so i won't say much until I can just post what he says, but basically it was pretty shitty and titled me off, but I do see where they are coming from.

All of my cards had been oriented one way for my deck tech the night before; then, when sideboarding for game 2, i just placed the sideboard cards I was adding on top of the deck facing the other orientation. So, if viewed from underneath, the entirety of the maindeck faced one way, and the sideboard faced the other. When you play exclusively om MTGO, this isn't something that you think about, but the rules are the rules and I think given the circumstances it was handled well by all involved.

[dejection]

Played zem's exact list posted on CFB for GP Melbourne, and went 11-4 for 31st. Met James in person and chatted. Will post some thoughts on the deck tomorrow, when I'm not burnt out (geddit?). Deck was awesome, and was definitely 'the rogue deck' to make it to the top tables, where you look around and see everyone playing blue, black, GR, UW, and then just one or two players burning people out During day two, several times I walked past people talking about the deck and how scary it is to face.

[droolster]

I saw a tweet about James running Viashino Firstblade. Was that a troll or legit?

[Googims]

sideboard tech, that he brought in in rd10 @feature match

[droolster]

thanks. did he run them over toil/trouble?

[LaZerBurn]

Yep

[droolster]

Just heard a control player whimper a bit after I cast Firstblade. Man-tears followed.

[dejection]

GP Melbourne. Played zem's list that was posted on CFB

Play number 1 of the GP: In round 5 or 6 I was losing to a UW control player, because over the course of the game I had drawn three searing bloods and a firedancer. He was stuck on lands, and he had managed to remove two mutavaults and two phoenixes. He's at 8 life, finally draw's his 6th land, and taps out for elspeth. He ticks it up, I show him my hand and he scoops.

Play number 2 of the GP: In round 10 I'm playing against a mono blue player who seems relatively inexperienced. It's game one, and he hasnt curved out perfectly but I couldn't kill his weird and never had time to kill a 1/2 cloudfin so he's managed to land a master for 4. His weird and cloudfin are tapped from attacking me, and I have a phoenix and firedancer on board, life totals are still high. I have three lands in play, draw ashley, play my 4th land and ashley and attack with both. He tanks
for a while, hovering his master over ash while I hold my head to the skies and drink my water. After two minutes he finally blocks, and I have the skullcrack for the blowout. He asked a judge to confirm that my mono red deck had just killed his prot. red creature.

Play number 3 of the GP: In round 12 I'm playing against GW aggro. This is game 3, and my opponent is on the play, and is turn 3. My side of the board is 2 lands, and his is a voice and a banisher priest with my firedancer locked under it. I draw, and play searing blood on the banisher priest. Priest dies and I get my firedancer back, then the delayed trigger of searing blood resolves, hitting him for 3 and triggering firedancer, killing the voice. I play mountain, and shock him to kill off the voice token. I asked a judge before making the play, he said no, then I explained why I thought it worked and he asked a higher level judge. This is the advantage to know the intricacies of the rules.

My thoughts on the deck: Deck is super fun to
play, and no one was prepared for it. You get many free wins from your opponent playing badly against you (control decks leaning too hard on blood baron/sphinxes rev, G/R not casting mortars on your 1/1, people siding in/keeping in mass removal because they think you're sligh, not playing around maindeck skullcrack). But on the other hand, G/R is a bad matchup and its the most popular deck right now, and mono blue is very hard, and in my own experience was 40-60 (I knows others have had better experiences). Deck also loses to random decks like BW midrange (if they play well), has a very tough time vs whip of erebos and can never beat a bow of nylea. That said, I will still play the deck because it's really fun, it's a deck that clicks with me and has a great control matchup (half my local meta is control).

Mutavault: Best card in the deck for me. The package of ashley, vault and phoenix is really what makes this deck what it is. Without them, the deck would play out much differently and I would call it
a different deck. They allow the deck to transition between playing burn and sligh. In matchups or scenarios where you want to be a burn deck, mutavault taps for colourless, and the other two are shocks that make your opponent tap out and discard a card. At times where you want to play as a slight deck, they deal 4 damage over the course of the game, which is awesome when the average card in your deck does 3. And if your WW or U or B opponent doesnt happen to have removal, they can deal the full 20 while you burn all their creatures.

Magma Jet/Scrylands: Quote zem, "Deck is unplayable without these". Jet provide so much value at so little cost, and it allows the deck to sequence and plan efficiently. The games you win are the games you cast your spells efficiently and use your mana efficiently (or at least more efficiently than your opponent is). The games you lose are the ones where you are forced to use your spells on the wrong things, such as lightning striking a mana dork instead of shock/
searing blood/jet, or not being able to save skullcrack, or getting bottlenecked on coloured mana when you need to cast charm/searing blood, or not drawing the 4th land to cast two spells/helix, or just flooding out. They allow you to apply constant pressure and force your opponent to make inefficient plays. The scrylands are insanely good, most often played turn 3 I think to either find the 4th land or to find more action. You have nothing to play on three usually, and even if you have phoenix you have so many two cost spells that it's still fine. The magma jet on your own upkeep deserves special mention for getting that extra bit of value, it actually really adds to the flexibility of the deck and is a testament to how strong it is to have your whole deck run at instant speed.

Satyr firedancer: I was fairly happy with it overall, but I did notice I was getting less and less happy with it as I got to the higher tables. The card is ridiculously powerful, but I've found that it's either too slow or too
vulnerable. There were multiple times when I had the dancer and drew no burn spells over the course of the game, but I think that is due to the sideboard plan of taking out skullcracks and boros charms to be incorrect. So that will need to be tested. Right now I still think it's powerful enough to warrant inclusion, and it's only really bad against control, it's great against G/R, U, and B. Nuts with searing blood obviously.

Shock: Early on when I tried this deck I hated shock, and sided it out against almost every matchup. As I played more I've come to be completely OK with the card, and I only sided it out vs mono black. The card is unexciting, but it's fine. Against control you don't need to race to kill them, so the 1 damage less is not as relavent. Against mono blue it kills all their 1 drops and tidebinder, and it's the one spell you don't feel bad killing a judge's familiar with. Killing mana dorks is obviously good, and teaming up with another spell to kill a monster is extremely relevant,
becuase it will always take two spells to kill a monster and being able to d it on three mana is a really big deal.

Searing blood: Nuts in every matchup but control, that needs no elaboration. It's bad against control, but they still have mutavaults and elspeth. As control players get more experience, this card probably does end up becoming blank versus them, though.

Nothing to say about the other burn spells. I'm excited to play with viashino firstblade, toil and trouble is extremely good, but sometimes was a dead topdeck. Which I'm fine with, there's scry around and one bad topdeck won't kill you against control, but the firstblade seems insane.

There are these lines between aggro, midrange, control, and lines within the categories, eg, within red aggro theres burn, sligh, saito aggro. I love the decks that are powerful and flexible enough to ride the lines between these categories, and be able to switch between them at will. This deck allows that.

James and Jacob, meeting you guys at the
GP was really, really awesome.

[surelock]

Love the list z, thanks much for the work and effort you put into it. Also congrats on your nice finish at GP Melbourne with the same deck (mostly ). I played this at 2 Gamesday events and took second in the first event (first time playing the deck competitively) and went 4-1 with it losing to the eventual winner (who also played your list). I made only the mb change of a single Aurelia's Fury in place of the 3rd shock and 2 Temple of Malice in place of 2 mountains(to potentially take advantage of the Toil side), and when I drew the Fury (twice in the tourney) I was always glad it was not a shock. I then proceeded to play the second event and won it, with the same decklist, once again the Fury was better than a shock the 2 times I pulled it.

Now on to the tuning, I am asking you if I add a third Temple of Malice in place of the 4th
Mutavault (right now I have it in the sideboard) and add 2 Ultimate Price or Dreadbores and a single Erebos to the sb is that bad, unnecessary or possibly viable? Also are Minotaur Skullcleavers or Kragma Butchers acceptable in place of the Firstblades (easing the mana requirements of 1WR to 2R)? I love the list but cannot help but try to tweak it.

I have a PTQ coming up on 3/8 and am wanting to play this list or 1 very close to it at it. Thanks much for any assistance.

[DriftingLifted]

@surlock
Kragma Butcher doesn't fill the role that the Firstblade is trying to perform; namely as a sideboard option against UW control decks when they're tapped out or likely to have no answer, getting in for 4 damage. If he sticks around afterwards it's all bonus. The Butcher would not have any impact the turn he comes down and only hits for 2 the first swing, and you can't reliably cout on it ever untapping and hitting for 4.
Skull cleaver has the hasted 4 damage but I believe Zem or somebody else mentioned the point that as an X/2 Skullleaver trades against Mutavault, significantly lowering it's value and chances of you coming out ahead casting it.