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By: TheDwarf, Anton Yuriev Nikolov
Sep 27 2009 11:58pm
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 Hello again to all my readers. Right now I have some free time because of a 4 day holiday for Independence Day (in Bulgaria) and my trip to the mountains was canceled due to bad weather so I decided that I'll write  about a deck that I was testing for some time now - NEXT LEVEL BURN. The idea of creature-less BURN deck has been haunting me ever since I saw that they'll reprint Chain Lightning and Fire Ambush in ME3 and I started tinkering with different builds as soon as ME3 was released.

The Deck:

 The main reason for playing creature-less burn over more traditional builds is that many of the Tier 1 decks have large quantity of creature removal that will be rendered useless! Decks like MBCu (minimum 8 removals MB) and MBC (min 4) have bad match-up vs this deck (before SB) and are the main pray that I targeted with my build. Also as we know Burn decks have really good match-ups vs almost every slow control in general so I think that the current PE meta is the perfect place for this deck to shine. And this is my version: 

Next Level Burn
My Version
Creatures
0 cards

Other Spells
4 Needle Drop
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Shard Volley
4 Fire Ambush
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fireblast
32 cards

Lands
2 Forgotten Cave
18 Mountain
20 cards

Fireblast

Card Draw:

Forgotten Cave Needle Drop

2 Forgotten Cave - I'm not sure if 2 is the right number, but I think that this one smoothes your draws really nice.
4 Needle Drop - I know that some of you think that this one sucks a$$. I know that this is dead draw when you are topdecking, but I like how it helps me deal that 1-2 extra damage that I require to win some of the more tied games.

2cc(3dmg) Burn:

Incinerate Fire Ambush Volcanic Hammer

4 Incinerate - Does this one even need a comment? :)
4 Fire Ambush - I usually SB this one for something more relevant to the Match-up.
4 Volcanic Hammer - I usually SB this one for something more relevant to the Match-up.

Sac Burn:

Shard Volley Fireblast

4 Shard Volley - The weakest card in my build. I'll appreciate a suggestion for substitutes for this slot.
4 Fireblast - "Kill, kill, kill! Die, die, die! “- Ling Ling

1cc(3dmg) Burn:

Chain Lightning Lightning Bolt Lava Spike Rift Bolt

4 Chain Lightning - Just don't forget that your enemy can copy this one.
4 Lightning Bolt - "Extra Crispy" - Blood I
4 Lava Spike - Wow, commenting on burn deck cards is really tough - THEY ARE THE SAME!
4 Rift Bolt - I love when I have one of these and Needle Drop :) They are like best buddies.

Sideboard:

Pyroblast Smash to Smithereens Martyr of Ashes Flaring Pain

4 Pyroblast - Anti Control and Combo. Enough said.
4 Smash to Smithereens - Affinity hate. Useful in a few other matches too.
3 Martyr of Ashes - Anti aggro.
4 Flaring Pain - If your opponent has White in his deck you should side in this one.

What makes this deck tick? 

First I want to point that the deck is fairly easy to pilot and even inexperienced players can achieve really good results with it. But (there is always but :) ) if you want to play perfectly with this one you should be really familiar with the deck. I'll give you a few advice, but I think that 10 games with the deck will be worth 10 000 advice.

The most important thing about this deck is that you should treat it like you are playing combo!

Every burn spell is combos with your enemy’s life total so don’t waste it on his creatures (unless you are dying).

This brings us to the mulligans. You must mulligan almost every hand that has more than 3 non-cycle lands or you are may "fizzle" and die before you are able to kill your opponent.  

Alternative Builds:

There are many different builds that variants by just 4-8 cards so I'll post a few cards that you should consider if you don't like my choice for the deck:

Shock, Tarfire, Seal of Fire, Firebolt 

The match-ups:

Just keep in mind that these match-ups and my advice are relative and apply to my build and play style. Your mileage may vary!

If you think that the builds of some of those decks are suboptimal or plain wrong just show me a link to a more powerful / consistent version and I'll check it out! If you think that I have missed some relevant match-up just show me a link and I'll check it out:

  Storm Combo - This is a tied match that favors them a bit. The two decks kill their opponents on turn 4, 5 (approximately), but they can go off on turn 2-3 and there is nothing you can do about it before SB. Post SB, you have Pyroblast and you should try to keep some mana open for it almost every turn after the third and try to counter their draw 3 spells. I have only one advice - always use your sorcery speed burn on turns 1 to 3 and keep your instant speed ones for later because most of the builds play with Sign in Blood and you don't want them to know how many spare life they have.

Blink - A terribly bad match-up. I'm really close to call this one unwinnable. I was able to win only in the games where I had turn 4 kill, I was first and my opponent had not casted a single Mesmeric Fiend, Aven Riftwatcher, (Lifespark Spellpomb) or Duress! Post SB, things only get worse so I won't even bother to give you advice - just pray and rely on your Pure Skill to win this match for you.

 MBC - The deck that I was aiming at when building my deck. Your main goal in this match is to kill them before the dreaded turn 6 Corrupt. Before SB, you should be able to win this pretty easy, because they have a bunch of dead cards. Don't forget that the MBC player will try to cast Tendrils of Corruption on one of his creatures in order to survive so you have to keep a burn spell to roast the creature. Post SB the match gets even because you don't have anything that relevant to this match and they have Duress. I think that this match is for Burn, but the MBC player can devastate you with some of his draws so don't get too comfortable when you see a first turn Swamp.

MBCu - Almost everything that I wrote about MBC applies here too but the matchup is even more in your favor because they have even bigger amount of dead cards before SB.

Teachings - Easy match. You have to play really carefully because if you don't drop him bellow 8 before he uses his first Teachings you will probably lose. If he is about to stabilize you should try to keep 2-3 burns and try to overwhelm him in a single turn (he will probably counter all your spells if you play them one by one in the middle game).  Don't forget that he has Force Spike and always tap for mana before sacrificing lands to Fireblast! Try to keep instant speed burn if he has Aven Riftwatcher because it won't be pretty if he blinks it. Post SB the match is almost even, but the upper hand is still in our dominion. You should side in Pyroblast and side out Volcanic Hammer.

 Slivers- Bad Match. You are slightly faster than this deck, but almost all of the builds have Prismatic Strands in the main board and Circle of Protection: Red in the SB. Before SB you will probably win if he doesn't draw Strands, can win if he draws 1 and you should concede if he draws 2 or more. Post SB you can bring Martyr of Ashes and Flaring Pain but I don't think that this will be enough to win the match in more than 30-40% of the time. My final advice is to pop your Martyrs as soon as possible because of his pump spells and Strands.

Burn
BURN
Creatures
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Spark Elemental
8 cards

Other Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Fireblast
4 Needle Drop
32 cards

Lands
2 Forgotten Cave
18 Mountain
20 cards

Fireblast

Burn - The mirror (like every other mirror) is tied. Nevertheless I think that Burn versions with creatures have slightly better match because of Keldon Marauders. The game is more basically two combos trying to go off so it is REALLY important who goes first. My only advice is this - try to kill your opponent only on the stack of his burn spell that is going to kill you or when he is tapped out and you are out of Fireblast range.

No SB here.

Affinity - this match is tied. Your clock is as fast as his and the game before SB will be like tossing a coin (like most of the RDW match-ups :) . After SB you have plenty of options - Pyroblast if you want to stop his draws Flaring Pain if you think that he has brought Circle of Protection: Red and Smash to Smithereens which doesn't need explanations. This match is won by keeping only fast hands and praying to Saint Random. 

 W/B Aggro - I think that the match is for us, but there are builds of Mimic aggro that pack really large amount of hand disruption and the match with them will be tied. Just kill his (Nyp Gwyllion) on the spot and you should be able to win the match before SB. Don't forget to bring in your Flaring Pain post SB and the match will be yours unless they draw a really sick amount of hand disruption.

Goblins - Tied Match. The two decks kill on turn 4-5 so in my opinion this match is like tossing a coin. Try to kill him, not his creatures! Post SB you have Martyr of Ashes and he has nothing, so the match is a little bit for us, but most of the time (when both sides have good hands) the game will be decided by the dice before the game.

WW
SpikeBoyM

Creatures
4 Akrasan Squire
4 Order of Leitbur
Aven Riftwatcher
2 Ivory Giant
4 Knight of Sursi
4 Shade of Trokair
4 Razor Golem                        4 Icatian Javelineers
26 cards

Other Spells
4 Sunlance
4 Temporal Isolation
8 cards

Lands
22 Plains
22 cards

Martyr of Sands


WW - As SpikeBoyM stated in his article - the games are too close! The two decks are equally fast and most of the time everything will be decided by the draw of the WW player (If he draws his hate soon enough you are done for). Try to resist the temptation of burning his creatures because your game plan is to kill him before he casts Aven Riftwatcher the pesky Benevolent Unicorn or something like that. Post SB you have Martyr of Ashes and if he is playing with Prismatic Strands or CoP: Red - Flaring Pain.

MUC
MUC
Creatures
4 Spire Golem
2 Fathom Seer
6 cards

Other Spells
4 Exclude
4 Prohibit
2 Repulse
1 Echoing Truth
4 Think Twice
3 Piracy Charm
3 Faerie Trickery
4 Counterspell
4 Force Spike
1 Oona's Grace
30 cards

Lands
24 Island
24 cards

Faerie Trickery


MUC - You’re Arch-nemesis (flavor wise). Really bad match. When we tested I was able to win a single game here and there, but not the whole match! Not even once :( He can counter almost all of your burn so the only game plan is to punish him as much as possible in turns 1 to 3 and hoard your kill spells. When you have more than 3-4 you may try to overwhelm him in one cascade of flame and pain, but most of the time you will just fizzle miserably.  Post SB I recommend Pyroblast and Smash to Smithereens, but it won't help you much.


Parlor Tricks - Easy Match. The deck is just too slow to oppose you. Their only game plan is multiple (and repetitive) Ravenous Rats, but even that won't be enough if you have really good hand. Your only real problem in this match is that post SB they have Circle of Protection: Red so all you need to do in order to win in this match is to side in your Flaring Pain.

Fish
Fish
Creatures
4 Spire Golem
4 Pestermite
4 Zephyr Sprite
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Faerie Squadron
3 Latchkey Faerie
25 cards

Other Spells
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Repulse
8 cards

Lands
22 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
23 cards

Sideboard
2 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River
4 Hydroblast
4 Annul
4 Negate
15 cards
Ninja of the Deep Hours

Fish - Bad match-up. This match favors them heavily because they have really effective counterspells against you. Spellstutter Sprite is practically Counterspell and Daze will make you cry on more than one occasion. Of course you will have really fast hands that they will be unable to stop, but generally they will own you. Post SB the things get even worse because you can bring in only Pyroblast to oppose their Hydroblast + Negate.

 

 Tilling Thunder/Kodama's Thunder - Good match. The deck is too slow to be any real treat. Just burn them to death. I have already discussed this match up in this article: http://puremtgo.com/articles/pure-skill-tilling-thunder . If you are playing vs Kodama's Thunder you should side in Pyroblast and that is all. Just point the burn to their dome and the match should be yours.

 

 Elves - There are many Elf builds, but I think that almost all of them are bad match-up for the Burn deck. They are almost as quick as you are, but also almost all of the builds have Essence Warden and/or Wellwisher.Even If they gain just 1 life with one of those two you are already screwed because you MUST burn the damn creature. Post SB the things get a little better because of the Martyr of Ashes, but they still have the upper edge. 

Bad match-ups - Elves, Slivers, Blink, Fish

Good match-ups - Teachings, MBC, MBCu, Tilling Thunder

Tied match-ups- Mirror, WW, Goblins, Storm Combo, Affinity, Mimic Aggro

Conclusions:

Before everything else I want to confess something to you guys - I freaking hate this deck! The deck is sooooooo boring to play with and against that I was ready to blow my head off in the end of my testing. Maybe I'm not just a "Burn" type of guy, but I won't recommend the deck to players that like different game situations and challenges. But I end my rant here and now.

 As I said earlier in the article - in my opinion this deck is really good meta choice. It rapes most of the top tier control decks, has reasonable match with most of the aggro decks (except slivers) and most of the other decks that have strong match vs Burn are not exactly popular right now. The only problem is that it is really vulnerable to heavy hand disruption (as any other combo) and the last winner of PE is Storm Combo so you should expect exactly that in the future - decks that pack insane amounts of discard as opposed to insane amounts of creature removal like now. 

Few Random Final Words:

I want to thank and credit my editor/friend/roommate/test partner Ste!

If you think that the builds of some of the decks are suboptimal or plain wrong just show me a link to more powerful / consistent version and I'll check it out! If you think that I have missed some relevant match-up just show me a link and I'll check it out :)

Everything that I wrote here is my opinion and I am open to constructive criticism.

“I’m one card short of a full deck, I'm not quite the shilling!”


24 Comments

imo, you show far far more by whiffy at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 00:46
whiffy's picture

imo, you show far far more even and bad matchups then good in your litt;e inventory. are the ques really that lopsided in terms of decks this thing wants to see? it seems like there is just too small a percentage of good matchups to want this deck if you were serious about winning a 6-7 rd event.

Just off the top of my head by Paul Leicht at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 00:57
Paul Leicht's picture

Just off the top of my head replacing Shards with Hammer of Bogardan couldn't be horrible. It gives you some recursion if you fail to win early and hits player or creatures. Yes it is slower but it gives more bang for the buck.

Hammer of Bogardan is a rare. by rukcus at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 01:11
rukcus's picture

Hammer of Bogardan is a rare. This format is all commons.

Format by kalandine at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 10:04
kalandine's picture

Actually, the article never refers to pauper or rarity or commons.

Wow, you are right :) My bad! by TheDwarf at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 10:19
TheDwarf's picture

Wow, you are right :) My bad!

And yet I should have picked by Paul Leicht at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 11:05
Paul Leicht's picture

And yet I should have picked up on that. lol. Sorry that it doesn't fit.

i must admit it wasn't until by bingobongo (not verified) at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 03:32
bingobongo's picture

i must admit it wasn't until i saw the sliver build that i thought hey up is pauper!!

I'd recommend thunderbolt by Anonymous (not verified) at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 01:22
Anonymous's picture

I'd recommend thunderbolt over something like volcanic hammer, shard volley seems bad but now that other red players are running chain lightnings it's beneficial to be able to keep mana open during your opponents turn in the mirror

I was thinking the same :) by TheDwarf at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 03:05
TheDwarf's picture

After I tested with thunderbolt for a while I realize that this card is SUPERIOR to all other 2cc Burn Spells, because it can kill Ephemeron and Spire Golems :0
You can check my latest version of the build in my blog http://thepureskill.blogspot.com/ .

I love accidentally loading by 53N531 at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 01:57
53N531's picture

I love accidentally loading up my burn deck since its the highest alphabetically in my deck folder when I restart the program and open a queue, only to win with it unintentionally.

When I play burn, I usually by Bazaar of Baghdad at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 02:03
Bazaar of Baghdad's picture

When I play burn, I usually slow down my deck with 4 Ghostfire and 4 Pyrite Spellbomb so I can handle the anti-red creatures. Thus equipped I can usually deck Slivers, and the percentage against Affinity is even higher. My win percentage against affinity since I started aiming all the burn at their creatures is like 90%.

I was thinking about MB by TheDwarf at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 02:09
TheDwarf's picture

I was thinking about MB Pyrite Spellbomb too ( I really don't like Shard Volley ) :)

I nominate burn as the least by me, myself and i (not verified) at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 18:36
me, myself and i's picture

I nominate burn as the least fun deck to play or play against. Great for when you are too drunk to make any real decisions though. Otherwise, is this article even necessary? All the choices are extremely obvious, and this deck is played alot, pretty much card for card.

That MBC Build by Amar at Mon, 09/28/2009 - 22:35
Amar's picture
5

I'm not sure about that MBC build you used. Dross Golem in the main? No Crypt Rats or Edict effects? Your analysis of the matchup is still correct. In fact a modern MBC build would probably be even easier for Burn, because they hurt themselves with Sign in Blood. But just for reference, that's not an MBC build I would use.

Also some MBCu builds use Consume Spirit instead of Corrupt. A smart opponent might play it for just 2 or 3, before Corrupt comes online, which can buy a turn (or more if it pushes you to topdeck mode and you draw mountains.) There's not much you can do about that directly, but try to hide how much damage you can do until the last burst so they won't prepare in time, and keep one in the tank if Tendrils on their own critter is an option.

On the deck itself, I personally prefer running the version with Keldon Marauders. However they are a liability against a deck with Tendrils, so the analysis of pure burn is fair. Also I echo the recommendation on Thunderbolt but you alreday acknowledged that.

And vs Parlor Tricks I might only side in 2-3 Flaring Pain. The reason is that they only have 1 Circle (never a CoP around when you need one ;) ) and few ways to get white, so you don't want to dilute the quick kill out of defense for something they might not even find. And if you do need to fight through the Circle of Protection, you can afford to wait a little longer to do so.

Good article. If you want to see a modern MBC deck, you can't go wrong with the one SlashRus switched to here:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/events.aspx?x=mtg/daily/decks/mol5...

how does this beat baneslayer by Anonymous (not verified) at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 02:11
Anonymous's picture

how does this beat baneslayer angel?

it doesn't have too. The deck by ShardFenix at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 03:05
ShardFenix's picture

it doesn't have too. The deck is pauper and baneslayer angel isnt

So true Shard, but if it did by bingobongo (not verified) at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 03:35
bingobongo's picture

So true Shard, but if it did then i guess burn it..

you know maybe you can afford by ShardFenix at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 05:19
ShardFenix's picture

you know maybe you can afford to fling your golems at an angel doing that necessary 5 dmg. but burn cant, especially not this deck. Id be shocked to see a burn spell that could reliably kill a baneslayer angel before she ruined the game. And I dont mean an x-spell. Because in burn having to accept a 1 for 2 is painful, very painful

True again Shard, My answer by bingobongo at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 07:18
bingobongo's picture

True again Shard,
My answer was based more on a differnt deck than the one here
As for this deck i agree she would be a nightmare

For the golems (which i have binned for the moment until i can find the missing link) it would depend on how soon she hit for her to be a problem or not.

It's simple, really. Your by Ste at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 07:22
Ste's picture

It's simple, really. Your opponent casts Baneslayer, ships you the turn and you kill him on your turn thus removing all his cards from the game ;)

oh now i get it ste is right by ShardFenix at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 08:06
ShardFenix's picture

oh now i get it ste is right unless they lotus cobra the angel out on turn 3. you should totally be able to kill them on turn 5

Last time I checked burn by Ste at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 08:28
Ste's picture

Last time I checked burn didn't have problems killing Lotus Cobra :)

yes but some burn decks still by ShardFenix at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 08:31
ShardFenix's picture

yes but some burn decks still let hierarchs and birds live so you never know

It's probably because Birds by Ste at Tue, 09/29/2009 - 08:51
Ste's picture

It's probably because Birds and Hierarchs don't power up turn three Baneslayers. But like you said, you never know.