Has anyone thought of organizing a MTGA tournymant now that we can challenge each other to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-duels?
Also, i can't seem to be able to pick my land art anymore.
Yeah sure why not. Round robin, best of three, start playing matches Friday afternoon, let's say... one match a day? actually it might be hard for people to coordinate so let's see how many we can get through on Friday.
I'll add a link to a spreadsheet for usernames etc. later tonight.
Bottom paged, an auspicious start.
I just actually looked at the time for this...4 pm on Friday (or indeed any weekday) is going to be hard to swing for me so I'll probably have to back out.
I thought the intent was that we would find out our first matchup, then coordinate with that person on when to play any time after 4pm friday. If we're trying to actually schedule a time in advance I don't think I could do it either (unless it's at 11PM).
Oh, that would make sense also. I could do one match at that time certainly.
0
SurfpossumA nonentitytrying to preserve the anonymity he so richly deserves.Registered Userregular
Has anyone thought of organizing a MTGA tournymant now that we can challenge each other to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-duels?
Also, i can't seem to be able to pick my land art anymore.
Yeah sure why not. Round robin, best of three, start playing matches Friday afternoon, let's say... one match a day? actually it might be hard for people to coordinate so let's see how many we can get through on Friday.
I'll add a link to a spreadsheet for usernames etc. later tonight.
Bottom paged, an auspicious start.
I signed up - is it actually possible to do Bo3 in direct challenge now, or do we need to manually sideboard by creating new decks and re-challenging?
Edit: Actually, I assume that you mean Bo3 w/sideboarding when you say Bo3, but it's possible you could mean something like "bring 3 different decks, play 3 Bo1 matches", so I should clarify. Is it a normal Bo3 sideboarded match? (I'll have to actually build a sideboard...)
I haven't directly challenged anyone yet, so dunno. I was thinking a normal Bo3 with sideboard, yes, and I assume we'll need to manually fiddle between games.
I guess it's also worth noting that typically decks need to be reset to your initial list between matches.
I have done it a couple of times with my son, and there doesn't appear to be any option for Bo3. I think I've seen others say this too.
Yeah, I *think* the best way to do it is to make a 75 card deck separate from your main deck. Use your main deck for every game 1 (or if you don't want to sideboard anything), and then grab the 75 card deck and duplicate/edit it quick before game 2. I guess you could just pre-make sideboarded versions for popular matchups too...
i am a bit confused why they didn't just make Bo3 an option.
You can create a sideboard in the deck editor, so there shouldn't be any need to make 75 card decks.
But yeah having a "master" list that you create a fresh duplicate of at the start of each match is probably a good idea.
Quick question: are there any red/blue cards that can clear the board of opponent creatures? Something along the lines of Settle the Wreckage or Golden Demise? I'm making an Izzet counter/burn deck based on/inspired by the one on Merchant's channel, but I keep getting swarmed with creatures by the time I'm able to counter easily. I have 4 each of Shock and Lightning Strike to help deal with creatures if I can't counter them, but a lot of times I'm swarmed by the time I can rattle a few off, and can only pick off the weaker guys.
PSN/XBL/Nintendo/Origin/Steam: Nightslyr 3DS: 1607-1682-2948 Switch: SW-3515-0057-3813 FF XIV: Q'vehn Tia
Quick question: are there any red/blue cards that can clear the board of opponent creatures? Something along the lines of Settle the Wreckage or Golden Demise? I'm making an Izzet counter/burn deck based on/inspired by the one on Merchant's channel, but I keep getting swarmed with creatures by the time I'm able to counter easily. I have 4 each of Shock and Lightning Strike to help deal with creatures if I can't counter them, but a lot of times I'm swarmed by the time I can rattle a few off, and can only pick off the weaker guys.
Fiery Canonade
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
+4
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
Quick question: are there any red/blue cards that can clear the board of opponent creatures? Something along the lines of Settle the Wreckage or Golden Demise? I'm making an Izzet counter/burn deck based on/inspired by the one on Merchant's channel, but I keep getting swarmed with creatures by the time I'm able to counter easily. I have 4 each of Shock and Lightning Strike to help deal with creatures if I can't counter them, but a lot of times I'm swarmed by the time I can rattle a few off, and can only pick off the weaker guys.
Has anyone thought of organizing a MTGA tournymant now that we can challenge each other to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-duels?
Also, i can't seem to be able to pick my land art anymore.
Yeah sure why not. Round robin, best of three, start playing matches Friday afternoon, let's say... one match a day? actually it might be hard for people to coordinate so let's see how many we can get through on Friday.
I'll add a link to a spreadsheet for usernames etc. later tonight.
Bottom paged, an auspicious start.
I just actually looked at the time for this...4 pm on Friday (or indeed any weekday) is going to be hard to swing for me so I'll probably have to back out.
I thought the intent was that we would find out our first matchup, then coordinate with that person on when to play any time after 4pm friday. If we're trying to actually schedule a time in advance I don't think I could do it either (unless it's at 11PM).
Oh, that would make sense also. I could do one match at that time certainly.
Yeah, I won't actually be home until about 3pm PST myself, so the start time is more just to give people a point where they can start looking for matches.
Quick and dirty spreadsheet for info that I'll try to make nice later.
Quick question: are there any red/blue cards that can clear the board of opponent creatures? Something along the lines of Settle the Wreckage or Golden Demise? I'm making an Izzet counter/burn deck based on/inspired by the one on Merchant's channel, but I keep getting swarmed with creatures by the time I'm able to counter easily. I have 4 each of Shock and Lightning Strike to help deal with creatures if I can't counter them, but a lot of times I'm swarmed by the time I can rattle a few off, and can only pick off the weaker guys.
Fiery Canonade
Only problem with fiery cannonade is that it doesn't do too much vs white weeny tournament lists with the body guards and adanto vanguards. Half their board is gonna survive it. But most people are playing jank budget weeny lists.
Oh, nope. He has no win condition. His deck is now just four nexus of fates. Great.
I will say that you should know what your win condition is and not play out games if you know you can't win. I myself put in a Mastermind's Aquisition so I can pull an additional win con from my sideboard if Chromium gets exiled somehow.
Are you running turbofog with black, or a totally different control deck?
Oh, nope. He has no win condition. His deck is now just four nexus of fates. Great.
I will say that you should know what your win condition is and not play out games if you know you can't win. I myself put in a Mastermind's Aquisition so I can pull an additional win con from my sideboard if Chromium gets exiled somehow.
Are you running turbofog with black, or a totally different control deck?
This list started out as 2x Nexus, Chromium, Amulets, Search and like 30 cantrips. So pretty much pure Combo. I've added more Settles and Novas and Vreska's over time to have a better game against fast agro starts.
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
0
KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
Has anyone thought of organizing a MTGA tournymant now that we can challenge each other to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-duels?
Also, i can't seem to be able to pick my land art anymore.
Yeah sure why not. Round robin, best of three, start playing matches Friday afternoon, let's say... one match a day? actually it might be hard for people to coordinate so let's see how many we can get through on Friday.
Quick question: are there any red/blue cards that can clear the board of opponent creatures? Something along the lines of Settle the Wreckage or Golden Demise? I'm making an Izzet counter/burn deck based on/inspired by the one on Merchant's channel, but I keep getting swarmed with creatures by the time I'm able to counter easily. I have 4 each of Shock and Lightning Strike to help deal with creatures if I can't counter them, but a lot of times I'm swarmed by the time I can rattle a few off, and can only pick off the weaker guys.
Fiery Canonade
Only problem with fiery cannonade is that it doesn't do too much vs white weeny tournament lists with the body guards and adanto vanguards. Half their board is gonna survive it. But most people are playing jank budget weeny lists.
IN an Izzet dekc like mine it'll probably work
If I need to finish off a big creatures there's always other burn to add.
0
SurfpossumA nonentitytrying to preserve the anonymity he so richly deserves.Registered Userregular
Has anyone thought of organizing a MTGA tournymant now that we can challenge each other to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-duels?
Also, i can't seem to be able to pick my land art anymore.
Yeah sure why not. Round robin, best of three, start playing matches Friday afternoon, let's say... one match a day? actually it might be hard for people to coordinate so let's see how many we can get through on Friday.
I'll add a link to a spreadsheet for usernames etc. later tonight.
Bottom paged, an auspicious start.
Surfpossum Just a heads up - your google sheet isn't editable by anyone other than yourself.
Given that I'm on GMT, is it worth me even attempting this?
Thanks, should be fixed.
For a round robin thing like this I dunno, but if we actually manage to get people playing games I'll probably try to do more structured brackets (fewer matches due to eliminations etc) maybe?
Oh, nope. He has no win condition. His deck is now just four nexus of fates. Great.
I will say that you should know what your win condition is and not play out games if you know you can't win. I myself put in a Mastermind's Aquisition so I can pull an additional win con from my sideboard if Chromium gets exiled somehow.
Are you running turbofog with black, or a totally different control deck?
This list started out as 2x Nexus, Chromium, Amulets, Search and like 30 cantrips. So pretty much pure Combo. I've added more Settles and Novas and Vreska's over time to have a better game against fast agro starts.
This feels like a really sub-optimal Nexus deck, tbh. Not having green means no ramp, no fixing, and no fogs, and it looks super greedy in terms of color requirements for its spells (especially with no Orzhov or Azorius shocks). Combine that with (apparently) no Teferi and relying on Primal Amulet to make up for only two copies of Nexus and it seems higher risk than regular turbofog.
Regular turbofog also has the advantage in that cards it can feel comfortable dropping early with some upside (Karn for draw, Dawn of Hope for cantripping green ramp and chump generation) are also wincons lategame, while Chromium is really expensive to drop while still going infinite
Man, it's getting harder and harder to do even 2 runs in constructed events a day. The 8 different decks I've imported are slowly looking more and more complete as I go but it is a freaken chore to get 15 wins a day. On the plus side, I've been on fire the last 4 days. I need to start buying into other decks or I'm gonna burn out. Only so much golgari I can play.
Also, the chromatic black control deck below looks like the coolest deck of all time.
Noxious some how went 7-0 in constructed events with it too. His run seems extremely lucky. He had 6 games against weeny decks and was running multiple copies of golden demise and ritual of soot... Still a cool deck.
My burn deck still sucks.
But I did get to kill someone with their own Rite of Belonzok this morning, so that's not all bad.
The Rite of Belonzok doesn't really ever seem good though.
Can bounce the demon, kill the dudes so the opponent has to sac good stuff, and so on..
If you want suggestions on improvements, post the list and I'll take a look.
Burn is basically my jam.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
0
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
This has been a rough day of games so far. A couple of really good ones, but over half my games have had over 50% of the cards I've seen in them be lands.
Which may be normal and I just also got bad cards to go with them, I dunno, but I am rull mad about it.
Well, generally a third of your deck is lands.
Yeah, but statistics being what they are, having a substantial portion of your games be more than 50% land might not be that rare, even if the average per game is closer to 40% (which, now that I write it out, is a lot closer to 50% than I vaguely thought 24 lands would be).
I guess normal isn't exactly the right word. Maybe "may not be unusual."
Anyway, had a horrible competitive constructed run today. Lost the last two from my previous set and went 3-2, then three 0-2 sets and one 1-2 set. And while there were definitely plenty of matches where I felt outclassed, it felt like nearly every match had at least one loss due to bad luck.
The bright side is that I'm still really enjoying the deck, because it really does deliver some magnificent games.
The reason why I keep making the joke "that's statistics" when people complain about how they got particular draws is because people are using a too small sample size to have it be legitimate.
Like, say you play 7 games in a day and half your draws are over 50% lands.
That sounds perfectly normal!
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
I was playing nearly-mono-white aggro and my Golgari opponent was grinding out with a lot of explore creatures as blockers and kept hitting land drops, to the point he had ~10 mana. He has enough blockers on the board to survive/trade and it feels certain he'll draw into recursion, Find/Finality, or a Wildgrowth Walker and explore to seal the game soon.
Then, he plays a Midnight Reaper.
Then, a second Midnight Reaper.
Then, a third Midnight Reaper.
He got to draw 12 cards on my next attack! He only had 8 life left!
I ate an engineer
+4
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Jaya never ults
Tempted to replace with chandra for a RR + 2 dmg for a +1, for the one turn she's out until she gets totalled (buying me time to burn more)
Keld lore damage was good, but seemed too slow still somehow.
Experimental's draw is also a bit meh.
If Keld Lore damage was too slow, then why are you running a 5 mana do-nothing walker? Keld or Jaya are both "untap, draw 3 cards" as their best case scenario.
You should be running four lightning strikes and possibly cutting the electrostatic walls for fanatical firebrands; your goal is to be on the beatdown 100% of the time and you're more creature-heavy than the Rakdos burn where wall is maybe arguable as a way to stall out other aggro lists. I also think that a playset of risk factor and 3 Experimental Frenzy and two banefires is too many reach cards; I'd probably leave the Banefires in the sideboard, play 4 Frenzy, and drop a risk factor or two.
You also definitely want to be running more lands if you have Jaya and Banefire in the deck, but if you cut those 20 is probably all right.
(also Experimental might be slow because you're running bad cards for it; Jaya, Banefire, dual shot, and lava coil are all bad to terrible topdecks if you're using Frenzy for reach, though Lava Coil should absolutely stay in the deck as a concession to a lot of beefbois that need removing).
Also also, there is almost never a reason to play a Planeswalker Deck planeswalker, which Chandra is. They are designed to be intentionally, unplayably bad. It's only in extreme circumstances where they have mechanically unique abilities that they become standard playable, like this super janky pre-Dominaria precursor to a Nexus of Fate deck. And even that deck was still pretty bad and could win the same way any ramp-control deck won: hit a nut draw against a bad aggro draw or play against durdly midrange jank, then use 15 mana to cast whatever the hell you want.
Don't know.
Was originally running Keld, lava axes, Inescapable Blazes, Radiating, with Jaya and 24 land.
But it was outpaced constantly, so have been slowly moving to a lower mana profile, which is why Jaya hasn't been cut yet.
Don't know.
Was originally running Keld, lava axes, Inescapable Blazes, Radiating, with Jaya and 24 land.
But it was outpaced constantly, so have been slowly moving to a lower mana profile, which is why Jaya hasn't been cut yet.
I mean, that's because Lava Axe and Radiating Lightning are bad cards (seriously, Lava Axe is like a routine "this card is a trap" for limited, let alone constructed), and Inescapable Blaze is a card to allow control decks instant speed uncounterable interaction in the mirror.
The goal of burn is to overwhelm your opponent with cheap, redundant threats. Merely being capable of doing face damage does not make something a burn card.
Then read up on mono red aggro decks and see the kind of cards they play, and think very, very carefully before you deviate from that with cards that don't serve a similar purpose at a similar cost.
Then read up on mono red aggro decks and see the kind of cards they play, and think very, very carefully before you deviate from that with cards that don't serve a similar purpose at a similar cost.
We (the magic community and PA folks) can get kind of heartless with our advice here. The thing is a lot of us have played magic or games like it for decades, so this stuff seems super obvious. In text especially, this can make it sound like someone is saying you're dumb for not knowing that Lava Axe is bad.
But you're not. *Everyone* thinks Lava Axe is good the first time they see it. It does a bunch of damage! If you cast a creature for 5 mana, it might only be a 4/4, or they might kill it. This just hits their face and they can't do anything about it. If you have 4 Lava Axe and some mana, you could kill them in 2 turns!
Those things are all true, so don't think you're crazy for thinking them. It's just that after getting (a lot) of experience (or reading about) with magic, you'll know that it doesn't work out that way. 5 mana to damage to a face is bad in almost every circumstance except when the opponent has 5 health, because it means you're not doing anything else, and they are still trying to kill you. If you fall behind, it can't help the board. If they have a counterspell, it costs them 2 or 3 mana to stop your 5. If you draw 2 of them, you have 2 dead cards in hand until your 5th turn, etc. etc.
"Burn" is usually good because it is cheap (2 or 3 damage for 1 or 2 mana), it can hit creatures too to help the board or if you're behind. Instant, so it can be cast on the opponent's turn, as cheap as a counterspell, etc.
PSN: Broodax- battle.net: broodax#1163
+7
21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
Mastery traps suck but they’re a result of so many moving parts.
Jaya never ults
Tempted to replace with chandra for a RR + 2 dmg for a +1, for the one turn she's out until she gets totalled (buying me time to burn more)
Keld lore damage was good, but seemed too slow still somehow.
Experimental's draw is also a bit meh.
My main recommendation would be to cut some cards for the full four Lightning Strikes. Candidates include Electro Wall thinger, Dual Shot, and Jaya.
I don't think running Dual Shot as a "budget" Chainwhirler is worth it -- the main draw of Chainwhirler is that it's a 3/3 first strike for 3 with an incidental bonus tacked on, not that it specifically kills X/1's.
EDIT: you should have at least one copy of Rekindling Phoenix in your collection, which I would definitely include as well. It's a nice recurring threat that attacks from a different angle than the rest of your deck.
Jaya never ults
Tempted to replace with chandra for a RR + 2 dmg for a +1, for the one turn she's out until she gets totalled (buying me time to burn more)
Keld lore damage was good, but seemed too slow still somehow.
Experimental's draw is also a bit meh.
Right, @discrider . So. You have two options here.
You can shave down the curve to a more traditional (i.e. close to netdecked) Red Deck Wins/Burn list, meaning lose the walls, Dual Shots, Jayas and Banefires, and add in Fanatical Firebrands, Lightning Strikes (actually a very good card indeed here) and Chainwhirlers. Nothing above 3 mana in the list, other than perhaps a Rekindling Phoenix and/or Experimental Frenzy. On that note, make the choice between Experimental Frenzy or Risk Factor + Flame of Kheld. If you take Frenzy, you can leave 1-2 Risk Factors in, but they're a bit of a nonbo together. Experimental Frenzy paired with Flame of Kheld is not good.
Your other option is to perhaps go more Big Red, which isn't exactly a meta call, but might be what you want right now. Look at Dragon's Hoards, Demanding Dragon, Jaya and red Kicker spells, Sarkhan maybe. This is where Banefire and Treasure Maps come in and are great. I could post more on that sort of list later, but I'm about to leave for work now.
We (the magic community and PA folks) can get kind of heartless with our advice here. The thing is a lot of us have played magic or games like it for decades, so this stuff seems super obvious. In text especially, this can make it sound like someone is saying you're dumb for not knowing that Lava Axe is bad.
But you're not. *Everyone* thinks Lava Axe is good the first time they see it. It does a bunch of damage! If you cast a creature for 5 mana, it might only be a 4/4, or they might kill it. This just hits their face and they can't do anything about it. If you have 4 Lava Axe and some mana, you could kill them in 2 turns!
Those things are all true, so don't think you're crazy for thinking them. It's just that after getting (a lot) of experience (or reading about) with magic, you'll know that it doesn't work out that way. 5 mana to damage to a face is bad in almost every circumstance except when the opponent has 5 health, because it means you're not doing anything else, and they are still trying to kill you. If you fall behind, it can't help the board. If they have a counterspell, it costs them 2 or 3 mana to stop your 5. If you draw 2 of them, you have 2 dead cards in hand until your 5th turn, etc. etc.
"Burn" is usually good because it is cheap (2 or 3 damage for 1 or 2 mana), it can hit creatures too to help the board or if you're behind. Instant, so it can be cast on the opponent's turn, as cheap as a counterspell, etc.
This.
Like, I've considered sending PMs to people I know are actually kind and thoughtful people saying "You're kind of being a total fucking asshole to people for no reason! What the hell?" but I realize it's just that this all seems obvious to them because they've put in their 10000 hours and ffs why would you even put that garbage in your deck.
I mean I think it'd be nice if people worded advice in less of a "What are you a fucking moron?" tone but, eh, I can sympathize with hearing the same complaints over and over and having to explain something for the hundredth time.
+1
KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
edited November 2018
Let’s consider Lava Axe vs Banefire.
Lava Axe: R4 Sorcery, deal 5 damage to target player or planeswalker.
Banefire: RX Sorcery, deal X damage to any target. If X is 5 or greater, Banefire cannot be countered.
Cast for five mana, Lava Axe looks more efficient, but can’t hit creatures, so they seem pretty comparable. But Lava Axe can only be cast for R4. In a pinch, Banefire could be cast for R1 to kill an X/1 that’s going to kill you next turn, or R2 for an X/2, etc. Banefire is more versatile. As a finisher, Banefire is even better, especially in a Big Red style deck. Tap 7, deal 6 damage to your opponent, and it can’t be countered. Awesome! Absolute edge case - cast Banefire with X=0 to kill Departed Deckhand!
Banefire is a better card because it’s far more versatile, However, in the right deck, you could include a couple of Lava Axes as “almost Banefire copies 5 and 6” if your strategy is to ramp up or hit land drops consistently (big red big red) and finish your opponent’s off with big dragons and big burn spells.
Kay on
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
0
ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
Lava Axe: R4 Sorcery, deal 5 damage to target player or planeswalker.
Banefire: RX Sorcery, deal X damage to any target. If X is 5 or greater, Banefire cannot be countered.
Cast for five mana, Lava Axe looks more efficient, but can’t hit creatures, so they seem pretty comparable. But Lava Axe can only be cast for R4. In a pinch, Banefire could be cast for R1 to kill an X/1 that’s going to kill you next turn, or R2 for an X/2, etc. Banefire is more versatile. As a finisher, Banefire is even better, especially in a Big Red style deck. Tap 7, deal 6 damage to your opponent, and it can’t be countered. Awesome! Absolute edge case - cast Banefire with X=0 to kill Departed Deckhand!
Banefire is a better card because it’s far more versatile, However, in the right deck, you could include a couple of Lava Axes as “almost Banefire copies 5 and 6” if your strategy is to ramp up or hit land drops consistently (big red big red) and finish your opponent’s off with big dragons and big burn spells.
But why would you need Lava Axe when you can include Lightning Strike or Fight with Fire or Wizard’s Lightning or Inescapable Blaze or even Repeating Barrage or Shock?
All either faster or more versatile (or both!)
Edit: But that’s the thing: it’s sometimes hard to see what the better card is for a given task, and it’s very hard to evaluate a card in a vacuum. You need to know what else it’s competing with in the format.
Like when I first saw Lightning Strike I thought “wow that’s a trash card, why would you ever play that over Lightning Bolt?” But it’s probably the most efficient removal and burn spell in the entire format: Lightning Bolt hasn’t been reprinted in standard for years
Elldren on
fuck gendered marketing
0
KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
I'm comparing two 'similar spells', explaining why Banefire is much better, then going on to say why you might include a couple of Lava Axes.
Fight with Fire is pretty much better in every way, for reasons similar to Banefire. But, with the right deck, inefficient spells can find a place. If you're playing Jaya though, you totally want Fight with Fire. And Treasure Map. And Banefire.
Posts
Oh, that would make sense also. I could do one match at that time certainly.
But yeah having a "master" list that you create a fresh duplicate of at the start of each match is probably a good idea.
Switch: SW-3515-0057-3813 FF XIV: Q'vehn Tia
Fiery Canonade
River's Rebuke for the big stuff
Quick and dirty spreadsheet for info that I'll try to make nice later.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zIpl4bk1GBc9wAP66IBrXQNpWNplJ2YKX5wKA6R14NQ/edit?usp=drivesdk
Only problem with fiery cannonade is that it doesn't do too much vs white weeny tournament lists with the body guards and adanto vanguards. Half their board is gonna survive it. But most people are playing jank budget weeny lists.
Are you running turbofog with black, or a totally different control deck?
This list started out as 2x Nexus, Chromium, Amulets, Search and like 30 cantrips. So pretty much pure Combo. I've added more Settles and Novas and Vreska's over time to have a better game against fast agro starts.
@Surfpossum Just a heads up - your google sheet isn't editable by anyone other than yourself.
Given that I'm on GMT, is it worth me even attempting this?
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
IN an Izzet dekc like mine it'll probably work
If I need to finish off a big creatures there's always other burn to add.
For a round robin thing like this I dunno, but if we actually manage to get people playing games I'll probably try to do more structured brackets (fewer matches due to eliminations etc) maybe?
This feels like a really sub-optimal Nexus deck, tbh. Not having green means no ramp, no fixing, and no fogs, and it looks super greedy in terms of color requirements for its spells (especially with no Orzhov or Azorius shocks). Combine that with (apparently) no Teferi and relying on Primal Amulet to make up for only two copies of Nexus and it seems higher risk than regular turbofog.
Regular turbofog also has the advantage in that cards it can feel comfortable dropping early with some upside (Karn for draw, Dawn of Hope for cantripping green ramp and chump generation) are also wincons lategame, while Chromium is really expensive to drop while still going infinite
Also, the chromatic black control deck below looks like the coolest deck of all time.
Noxious some how went 7-0 in constructed events with it too. His run seems extremely lucky. He had 6 games against weeny decks and was running multiple copies of golden demise and ritual of soot... Still a cool deck.
But I did get to kill someone with their own Rite of Belonzok this morning, so that's not all bad.
The Rite of Belonzok doesn't really ever seem good though.
Can bounce the demon, kill the dudes so the opponent has to sac good stuff, and so on..
If you want suggestions on improvements, post the list and I'll take a look.
Burn is basically my jam.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
The reason why I keep making the joke "that's statistics" when people complain about how they got particular draws is because people are using a too small sample size to have it be legitimate.
Like, say you play 7 games in a day and half your draws are over 50% lands.
That sounds perfectly normal!
Then, he plays a Midnight Reaper.
Then, a second Midnight Reaper.
Then, a third Midnight Reaper.
He got to draw 12 cards on my next attack! He only had 8 life left!
It's currently something like:
4x Ghitu
4x Shiavino
3x Runaway Flamekin
3x Electro wall
4x Shock
4x Wizard's lightning
4x Lava Coil
3x Dual Shot (for /1s; was Radiating lightning)
4x Risk Factor
3x Experimental
2x Jaya
2x Banefire
20 mountains?
Jaya never ults
Tempted to replace with chandra for a RR + 2 dmg for a +1, for the one turn she's out until she gets totalled (buying me time to burn more)
Keld lore damage was good, but seemed too slow still somehow.
Experimental's draw is also a bit meh.
You should be running four lightning strikes and possibly cutting the electrostatic walls for fanatical firebrands; your goal is to be on the beatdown 100% of the time and you're more creature-heavy than the Rakdos burn where wall is maybe arguable as a way to stall out other aggro lists. I also think that a playset of risk factor and 3 Experimental Frenzy and two banefires is too many reach cards; I'd probably leave the Banefires in the sideboard, play 4 Frenzy, and drop a risk factor or two.
You also definitely want to be running more lands if you have Jaya and Banefire in the deck, but if you cut those 20 is probably all right.
(also Experimental might be slow because you're running bad cards for it; Jaya, Banefire, dual shot, and lava coil are all bad to terrible topdecks if you're using Frenzy for reach, though Lava Coil should absolutely stay in the deck as a concession to a lot of beefbois that need removing).
Was originally running Keld, lava axes, Inescapable Blazes, Radiating, with Jaya and 24 land.
But it was outpaced constantly, so have been slowly moving to a lower mana profile, which is why Jaya hasn't been cut yet.
I mean, that's because Lava Axe and Radiating Lightning are bad cards (seriously, Lava Axe is like a routine "this card is a trap" for limited, let alone constructed), and Inescapable Blaze is a card to allow control decks instant speed uncounterable interaction in the mirror.
The goal of burn is to overwhelm your opponent with cheap, redundant threats. Merely being capable of doing face damage does not make something a burn card.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
Then read up on mono red aggro decks and see the kind of cards they play, and think very, very carefully before you deviate from that with cards that don't serve a similar purpose at a similar cost.
Nah.
We (the magic community and PA folks) can get kind of heartless with our advice here. The thing is a lot of us have played magic or games like it for decades, so this stuff seems super obvious. In text especially, this can make it sound like someone is saying you're dumb for not knowing that Lava Axe is bad.
But you're not. *Everyone* thinks Lava Axe is good the first time they see it. It does a bunch of damage! If you cast a creature for 5 mana, it might only be a 4/4, or they might kill it. This just hits their face and they can't do anything about it. If you have 4 Lava Axe and some mana, you could kill them in 2 turns!
Those things are all true, so don't think you're crazy for thinking them. It's just that after getting (a lot) of experience (or reading about) with magic, you'll know that it doesn't work out that way. 5 mana to damage to a face is bad in almost every circumstance except when the opponent has 5 health, because it means you're not doing anything else, and they are still trying to kill you. If you fall behind, it can't help the board. If they have a counterspell, it costs them 2 or 3 mana to stop your 5. If you draw 2 of them, you have 2 dead cards in hand until your 5th turn, etc. etc.
"Burn" is usually good because it is cheap (2 or 3 damage for 1 or 2 mana), it can hit creatures too to help the board or if you're behind. Instant, so it can be cast on the opponent's turn, as cheap as a counterspell, etc.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
My main recommendation would be to cut some cards for the full four Lightning Strikes. Candidates include Electro Wall thinger, Dual Shot, and Jaya.
I don't think running Dual Shot as a "budget" Chainwhirler is worth it -- the main draw of Chainwhirler is that it's a 3/3 first strike for 3 with an incidental bonus tacked on, not that it specifically kills X/1's.
EDIT: you should have at least one copy of Rekindling Phoenix in your collection, which I would definitely include as well. It's a nice recurring threat that attacks from a different angle than the rest of your deck.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
got a good Pack 1 Pick 1 this draft!
Ajani meant i got a lot of decent 2 drops! i hope it'll go well when i pilot it in the morning.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
You can shave down the curve to a more traditional (i.e. close to netdecked) Red Deck Wins/Burn list, meaning lose the walls, Dual Shots, Jayas and Banefires, and add in Fanatical Firebrands, Lightning Strikes (actually a very good card indeed here) and Chainwhirlers. Nothing above 3 mana in the list, other than perhaps a Rekindling Phoenix and/or Experimental Frenzy. On that note, make the choice between Experimental Frenzy or Risk Factor + Flame of Kheld. If you take Frenzy, you can leave 1-2 Risk Factors in, but they're a bit of a nonbo together. Experimental Frenzy paired with Flame of Kheld is not good.
Your other option is to perhaps go more Big Red, which isn't exactly a meta call, but might be what you want right now. Look at Dragon's Hoards, Demanding Dragon, Jaya and red Kicker spells, Sarkhan maybe. This is where Banefire and Treasure Maps come in and are great. I could post more on that sort of list later, but I'm about to leave for work now.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
This.
Like, I've considered sending PMs to people I know are actually kind and thoughtful people saying "You're kind of being a total fucking asshole to people for no reason! What the hell?" but I realize it's just that this all seems obvious to them because they've put in their 10000 hours and ffs why would you even put that garbage in your deck.
I mean I think it'd be nice if people worded advice in less of a "What are you a fucking moron?" tone but, eh, I can sympathize with hearing the same complaints over and over and having to explain something for the hundredth time.
Lava Axe: R4 Sorcery, deal 5 damage to target player or planeswalker.
Banefire: RX Sorcery, deal X damage to any target. If X is 5 or greater, Banefire cannot be countered.
Cast for five mana, Lava Axe looks more efficient, but can’t hit creatures, so they seem pretty comparable. But Lava Axe can only be cast for R4. In a pinch, Banefire could be cast for R1 to kill an X/1 that’s going to kill you next turn, or R2 for an X/2, etc. Banefire is more versatile. As a finisher, Banefire is even better, especially in a Big Red style deck. Tap 7, deal 6 damage to your opponent, and it can’t be countered. Awesome! Absolute edge case - cast Banefire with X=0 to kill Departed Deckhand!
Banefire is a better card because it’s far more versatile, However, in the right deck, you could include a couple of Lava Axes as “almost Banefire copies 5 and 6” if your strategy is to ramp up or hit land drops consistently (big red big red) and finish your opponent’s off with big dragons and big burn spells.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
But why would you need Lava Axe when you can include Lightning Strike or Fight with Fire or Wizard’s Lightning or Inescapable Blaze or even Repeating Barrage or Shock?
All either faster or more versatile (or both!)
Edit: But that’s the thing: it’s sometimes hard to see what the better card is for a given task, and it’s very hard to evaluate a card in a vacuum. You need to know what else it’s competing with in the format.
Like when I first saw Lightning Strike I thought “wow that’s a trash card, why would you ever play that over Lightning Bolt?” But it’s probably the most efficient removal and burn spell in the entire format: Lightning Bolt hasn’t been reprinted in standard for years
Fight with Fire is pretty much better in every way, for reasons similar to Banefire. But, with the right deck, inefficient spells can find a place. If you're playing Jaya though, you totally want Fight with Fire. And Treasure Map. And Banefire.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
I want to draft that set sooo bad.
I also swapped out 2x Jaya for 2x Radiating, and 3x Dual Shot for 3x Bolt.
Deck seems to be working now.
Stacking Runaway Steamkins is cheating.
Jaya is Chandra for olds
But with much better quips
She definitely has the best quotes in the flavour text.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991