Monday, March 31, 2014

Modern Mondays: Improved Red/White Burn

After getting third place at an FNM with my original Red/White burn deck, I decided to make modifications to it in order to make it faster and make it even more "modern."

This, of course, means including cards such as Path to Exile.

Path to Exile

Red/White Burn

Creatures

x2 Spark Elemental
x2 Vexing Devil
x2 Spark Trooper

Land

x4 Clifftop Retreat
x4 Sacred Foundry
x2 Plains
x10 Mountain

Artifacts

x2 Isochron Scepter

Other Spells

x2 Lava Spike
x4 Lightning Bolt
x2 Path to Exile
x4 Boros Charm
x4 Lightning Helix
x2 Searing Blood
x2 Mizzium Mortars
x2 Browbeat
x4 Rift Bolt
x2 Thunderous Wrath

Planeswalkers

x2 Ajani Vengeant
x2 Koth of the Hammer

Sideboard

x2 Path to Exile
x2 Chained to the Rocks
x2 Pithing Needle
x2 Lava Spike
x2 Molten Rain
x1 Echoing Ruin
x2 Metal Fatigue
x2 Wear // Tear

The original deck was pretty much ripped apart to improve it leaving the land and the planeswalkers alone. As far as the creatures go, the only thing done was the removal of the Ash Zealots. I instead added Vexing Devils. They're a turn one 4/3 that either can stick around or deals 4 damage to an opponent right off the bat, which is faster than a turn one Lightning Bolt.

Vexing Devil  Lava Spike  Thunderous Wrath

In the spells category, I added two Path to Exile since it is a staple to the format and this way I could take out some creatures without wasting my burn spells on creatures (or trying to stop larger creatures with multiple spells). I also added in a couple Lava Spikes which are sorcery speed Lightening Bolts that target only players. After removing a couple Searing Bloods and Mizzium Mortars each, I was able to add in two Thunderous Wraths. I only wanted two Thunderous Wraths because I don't want to see one until I have at least one red mana open. As long as the only cost payed is the miracle cost, this is a perfect card for the deck.

Browbeat  Isochron Scepter

Now we get to the fun part. Card draw in Red is a difficult thing to come by without immediately discarding or else discarding at random. That's where both Browbeat and Isochron Scepter come in. Browbeat is great in that an opponent can take five damage or else let me refill my hand on turn three. Isochron Scepter is quite a different side though. At some point along the way, I will find myself topdecking lands trying to get my last burn spell to finish my opponent. If I played an Isochron Scepter and exiled Lightning Bolt or Lightning Helix, I don't have to worry about anything. Sure I'll lose the chance to burn my opponent on turn two, but I'll have this fun toy to keep burning my opponent with long into the game after I no longer hold cards in my hand. This replaces the need to constantly draw burn spells because I can continue paying two mana each turn.


In theory this would work even better than the previous deck, but it didn't quite work out how I wanted it to work out. I went 2-2 with it but was able to pull out both Isochron Scepters and exile a Lightning Helix with one and a Lightning Bolt with the other which secured the game. This deck definitely could use more refining and hopefully I will get that chance soon.

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