Rx Burn

[Platypus]

I'm no expert. But waiting to play Eidolon until your hand is empty is certainly wrong, almost always.

It's better on the play than on the draw, so against some decks you might want to side out all of them or a few at least when on the draw.

Playing it turn 2 on the play is something you often want to do. You then force them to react to it. Most often by removing it and then they take 2 damage and waste a precious removal spell, or if they don't have removal they are forced to take more damage in order to find removal or just by playing their decks (playing Serum Visions, for instance, or everything Affinity plays). If they decide to bide their time, you can usually attack with it for some extra damage. You on the other hand can sandbag Bolts, play some land etc and wait until they remove it, and then throw what you got at them. Sometimes you can wait for the removal, throw some bolts and then drop a second Eidolon to replace the one they removed. Of course, sometimes you have to play spells with Eidolon on board, but 1-2 spells are usually ok.

[magicdownunder]

Eidolon is really good depending on the meta vs Twins, Grixis Delver, Mirror, infect and Random Combo he is good or great (basically most of the T1 decks).

Against aggro, collective company decks and the like not so much.... I play on MODO so I face basically everything and I find the above MU decent or favorable already so I like running the deck to give me a shot vs the others (that said if your entering a typical large event not running Eidolon would be a mistake).

[GoblinWarchief]

Waiting to play eidolon is not the way to go. We maindeck him because we always want to be the aggressor game 1, so the correct play is just jam him turn 2 and have the opponent either find an answer for him or lose life while casting other spells. If we are both losing life it's completely fine, i don't mind being at one life if my opponent is dead. Of course you have to play carefully with an eidolon on the board, not just empty your hand brainlessly.

The only decks against which eidolon is really bad are the mirror if you are on the draw, and affinity even if you are on the play because they can just empty their hand turn one sometimes. Against any green deck with lots of creatures (zoo, company) i usually board him out on the draw and keep him in on the play.

In the end he is usually not that different from keldon marauder, because he will just get killed and deal two to the opponent. But the huge upside is that if they can't kill him, they could just lose on the spot because they can't cast their spells.

[Valdarith]

Watching some of your games now, MDU. Just commented on your Jund match.

[GoblinWarchief]

I watched most of your games too but my pc has serious problems and it doesn't let me comment on youtube.

[Toddington]

Assuming you have access to 8, and your opponent is running the standard suite of 14 creatures, how many Searing effects do you want in the mirror?

On the play / draw? (Leaving your Eidolons in, them taking theirs out?)

With(out) Lightning Helix?

Priority to Blaze or Blood?

For Game 2 it feels safe to stick with 3/4 Blazes until you see what their post-board deck looks like.

[GoblinWarchief]

I never have access to the full 8 searing effects in the 75. They can just be clunky at times and you need space in sideboard for other things.
I like having 6 though, and usually i have all 6 in my deck against the mirror post side. I know sometimes they may have no creature to target, but the mirror is basically a coinflip and you can get an edge only relying on swingy cards like helix, firewalker, and searing effects. I like taking the risk of having a dead card in hand if that card is a 2 for 1 when it works.

[Whole]

Haven't played Magic in over a week. Has the modern metagame changed that much since pre GP Charlotte? Just looking at tournament results, I'm thinking of adding just 1 more Searing Blood for Merfolk and Elves that might be more popular.

[Khaospawn]

Fallout is real good against both those decks.

[Toddington]

How does Skullcrack interact with [card]Angel's Grace[/card]?

[Khaospawn]

Like a 2 mana bolt that resolves after Angel's Grace.

[RedNihilist]

Angel's Grace doesn't gain life or prevent damage.

[BigMana]

Maybe I'm just lucky but I've been getting extremely good luck running Hellspark Elemental for the added push when topdecks get less-than-stellar. It's somewhat situational but it's been doing well for me. Will keep testing (it also hits past leyline).

Also, Flamebreak is now my favorite sweeper of all time. Maindeck worthy.

[warwizard87]

Got 3rd-4th last night with naya burn at my first fnm in about a year.

[magicdownunder]

Got 3rd-4th last night with naya burn at my first fnm in about a year.

Well done~

- - - - -

Here is a video I made which reflects my views on Soul Sisters.....

https://youtu.be/uN03sHmQMpg

[Whole]

how do yall side versus Merfolk? Do y'all just max out on Searing Blaze/Searing Blood, and some Destructive Revelry and yolo? I've been bringing in Paths too, but I'm not sure if that is correct.

[magicdownunder]

Merfolk? If they go double Spreading Sea it almost autolose.

Fallout out tend to deal much to little, Anger gets countered so pyroclasm works but that card is narrow as heck, thus I go with the Searing Blaze/Searing Blood, and some Destructive Revelry, path and yolo plan. I view Merfolk in the same light as Bloom one of those really hard MUs where we can sometimes win but not often.

[GoblinWarchief]

I hate merfolk, it is just winnable if you are on the play and have a fast start with a couple creatures. Otherwise spreading seas, cursecatcher, tidebinder mage, random counterspells or even monastery siege just ruin your day. I feel like everything has to go perfect to win against them.

Yes, i board all the searing effects i have at disposal (although if they land a kira they are the worst cards ever), volcanic fallout if i have it, and sometimes a couple revelries. i tend to avoid totally reactive cards like path or palm.
I side out anti life gain cards and on the draw eidolon. If it's possible i like not to play 3 colors after board because spreading seas it's already devastating and i don't want to make it completely unbeatable.

[DixieFlatline]

Hey what's up hello.

I haven't posted here in a while but I've been lurking. Grats to Whole for the top 8 in Charlotte. I was there as well and was able to watch a few of your matches. Good stuff dude! MDU, I've been watching your YouTube videos, always good to hear your thoughts on matchups so thanks for those.

How do we feel about adding Wild Nacatl to the Naya Burn list? A friend of mine top 8'ed an 86 person PPTQ running Wild Nacatl and Copperline Gorge in the Naya Burn list. I believe it looked something like this.

[deck]Naya Nacatl Burn[/deck]

Thoughts? I think it's definitely worth testing. Swinging for six on turn two with Nacatl, Guide and Swiftspear seems great especially when you consider your opponent has to waste cards and tempo in dealing with the higher number of creatures, leaving more openings for burn.

While the Copperline Gorge seems like a non-bo with Nacatl, I like the ability to more reliably cast Nacatl on turn one and then fetch a Sacred Foundry on turn two. I'm going to start testing it and if anyone is interested I'll post results here.

[DixieFlatline]

I hate merfolk, it is just winnable if you are on the play and have a fast start with a couple creatures.

As I mentioned in my last post, I played in an 86 person PPTQ yesterday. Did horribly, went 4-3 and two of my three losses was to Merfolk. One of decks was piloted by a good player, the other was BS (opponent tried to spell pierce my rending volley) but that's how it is I reckon. In game one on the draw against the good fish Pilot I died to my own Eidolon. I think we should probably be boarding out 2, and probably all 4, Eidolons on the draw.

Got game two by hanging on to tempo. Game three on the draw my opponent played Cursecatcher into Spellskite into Monastery Siege into Master of Waves. Completely and utterly destroyed. You may just have to hope to win the die roll and in game three have Revelry to answer the Spellskite. We may also be priced into bringing in Path for Master of Waves.

Disgusting matchup.

[Valdarith]

Did this happen to be the Atlanta PPTQ? A friend of mine was there and I know that one was in the 80s.

[DixieFlatline]

Did this happen to be the Atlanta PPTQ?

Yep it was.

[Valdarith]

Cool. That's a big PPTQ. I believe my friend was also on Burn. Did you play a mirror in round 2 against a guy named JW?

[DixieFlatline]

No I managed to dodge the mirror all day but I definitely know of JW. Pretty well know dude around here. I'm sure we've played each other a few times around town.

[magicdownunder]

Not sure how I feel about Wild Nacatl, I know JHS ran Tasigur, the Golden Fang in that slot before with success but I feel that if your going to run a creature which doesn't impact the game right away (which isn't Grim, since Grim is more of a control card) you might as well run Tarmogoyf since he is a least hard to kill.

I def. respect JHS as a grinder though so you guys just might be on to something with adding extra creatures so just test it out and report back.

[Valdarith]

No I managed to dodge the mirror all day but I definitely know of JW. Pretty well know dude around here. I'm sure we've played each other a few times around town.

Awesome. We go back. Waaaaaaay back. Known him since I was 12 and first got into Magic.

[DixieFlatline]

Not sure how I feel about Wild Nacatl, I know JHS ran Tasigur, the Golden Fang in that slot before with success but I feel that if your going to run a creature which doesn't impact the game right away (which isn't Grim, since Grim is more of a control card) you might as well run Tarmogoyf since he is a least hard to kill.

The difference with using Wild Nacatl here, I think, is our ability to flood the board with early threats to to regain tempo from a deficit or pull further ahead. I hate calling burn a "tempo" deck but on the draw the burn player often needs to win back initiative, especially against countermagic. Flooding the board is obviously not an option with Tasigur and Tarmogoyf.

I could be wrong but it's my suspicion that Nacatl brings a fair amount of additional pressure on board presence, life total and tempo that burn spells can easily capitalize on. I'll start testing that suspicion this evening.

[Whole]

I think it has merit. Josh Utter Leyton was actually running Nacatl Burn at GP Charlotte. I'm not sure what he cut from the stock lists for it though...I think it might've been EIdolon of the Great Revel, but I'm not entirely sure.

[DixieFlatline]

I think it has merit. Josh Utter Leyton was actually running Nacatl Burn at GP Charlotte. I'm not sure what he cut from the stock lists for it though...I think it might've been EIdolon of the Great Revel, but I'm not entirely sure.

Oh wow I didn't know that, thanks for pointing it out. Looks like he Tweeted out his list and he did in fact cut Eidolon.

That seems pretty bad. In the flex slots of the deck I was running 2 Lighting Helix and 2 Skullcrack. I just moved Skullcrack to the board, cut Helix entirely and moved one Searing Blaze to the board to make room for the 20th land.

Can't understand why he would cut Eidolon.

[Valdarith]

I actually think there's merit to a creature-heavy build if you're committing to Atarka's Command. Might as well go the extra mile and play Nacatl, no?

That said, cutting Eidolon seems very wrong.

[Whole]

i don't know if i actually posted it here, but you guys might find it amusing. in my top 8 profile, the last question was "what was the most interesting play you made this weekend." Well...I mean, other than beating a Spellskite & Leyline w/ 0 destructive revelry, I didn't do anything spectacular

[Whole]

on a more serious note, how is everyone's sideboard looking like? I didn't change mine much. It currently is:

2 Path to Exile
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Searing Blood (I have 3 blazes main)
2 Molten Rain
4 Destructive Revelry
1 Deflecting Palm
1 Torpor Orb


The only thing I'm not sure about is Torpor Orb, and that is literally only because I played it once throughout my whole time with burn so far. I really like the idea of it though...it hoses twin hard. (All their combo and value creatures get turned off)

[Pedrobear]

I have a question about siding versus UWR (which is still popular in my local meta), do you guys think it's good to keep Searing Blaze after G1 to target Snap/Spellskite ? Or it is too few creatures to be reliable ?

[DixieFlatline]

I have a question about siding versus UWR (which is still popular in my local meta), do you guys think it's good to keep Searing Blaze after G1 to target Snap/Spellskite ? Or it is too few creatures to be reliable ?

I definitely think you should be boarding out Searing Blaze against UWR. The only other target for it other than Snapcaster is Clique which is probably coming out against you. Bring in 2-3 Destructive Revelry to hit Spellskite (and maybe Batterskull if they're bad and left it in) and 2 Skullcrack effects if they aren't already in your main deck. You don't want to be stuck with two Searing Blaze in your hand, hoping to draw a land, just so you can target a Geist angel to deal 3 damage to your opponent.

Try and leave up Skullcrack for Helix if you can and light em' up.

[DixieFlatline]

Played about 20 games last night with the Naya Nacatl Burn list against Affinity for testing. I went 11-9 (no sideboard) against a decent pilot. Nacatl really forced the Affinity player to hold back a bit and be more careful to leave up blockers so I'd call it a success at least in that matchup. Small sample size but promising results for a poor matchup.

After testing I won the local Monday night Modern tournament (35 players, very competitive environment). Funnily enough, I was paired against Affinity, Fish and Junk and was able to get the win in all three matches. I'm pretty impressed with the deck.

This is the list I ran.

[deck]Naya Nacatl Burn[/deck]

I also asked Utter-Leyton on Twitter about his decision to cut Eidolon from his Naya Nacatl Burn list for GP Charlotte. Here is that exchange.



I think he has a point but I'm not sure he's 100% correct. Since Eidolon can be poor on the draw, especially in our poor aggro matchups, I'm going to try using two in the maindeck instead of four and add Lightning Helix back to the deck as a concession to poor matchups (Affinity, Fish) and the mirror. Maybe it's insane to cut any number of Eidolon but I'm going to try it since Josh Utter-Leyton is better at Magic than I am.

[Valdarith]

I agree with his logic, especially if he was expecting a lot of matchups where Eidolon is bad (Affinity, mirror). You want to be drawing spells that go to the dome late in the game, so you have to keep the creature count low.

[Whole]

I think Wrapter is correct. A big strength of the deck is to be able to just chain 2-3 top deck burn spells to close out any game, and topdecking creatures in these spots is awful. I think 12 creatures is about the max burn wants to run (if you run more, it should be Grim Lavamancer imo)

[Khaospawn]

Call me crazy, but I think that right now Vexing Devil can be used to speed up the deck's attack.

I'm crazy.

[magicdownunder]

Vexing Devil is at least better then Wild Nacatl imo, so no I don't think your crazy.

[Valdarith]

Vexing Devil is at least better then Wild Nacatl imo, so no I don't think your crazy.

You're crazy.