UR Budget

[John Galli]

The copies of RW that I posted are pretty different from most of the stock lists out there, and the ones posted on Starcity, and I believe that's what enabled them to do well this past weekend. The biggest differences-

- Less Scry lands, and instead a full playset of Mutavault
- Playset of Ash Zealot, no Reckoners, no Stormbreaths
- Spark Trooper sideboard for Mono Blue and GR matchups
- Less land

Satyr Firedancer has been really strong against all the decks except UW/x Control and sometimes Mono Black (since they have infinite removal). I personally think he belongs in the board, but I also think it's a very close metagame call. That's one of the reasons the two pilots I listed went different directions on that.

I talked to James today, he said that Viashino Firstblade was easily his best sideboard card (and was a late addition we discussed), being very good against Control.

I don't think Ash Zealot and Firedancer are vying for the same spot despite the casting cost. Ash Zealot performs really well in this particular build because you can either clear a path for it, combine its first strike damage with Searing Blood to kill x/4s, or just put a faster clock on the opponent than the otherwise straight forward burn package would. At first I was hesitant about having him in the list, but heavy testing from both their end and mine revealed that he was definitely worth playing.

Peak Eruption was a card that we had some folks suggest to us for the board, and obviously it worked out well for you, especially if it's timed well. The problem is, it's not always great despite always being a burn spell, and it's not very good against 90% of the field. I wouldn't even really want it against GR, because they usually can just out-tempo you if you cast it.

Justin mentioned that Blind Obedience was a complete house for him against GR, I'd really like to try that one out.

[JediCheese]

For the R/U deck, I'm curious on your thoughts on a few things:

1. Mizzium Mortars vs Anger of the Gods. Both are good in some situations, but bad in others. I'm leaning toward Mizzium Mortars, despite it's board wipe ability coming online later. The deck has enough spot removal to keep the enemy creature count down, and 4 damage allows me to reliably kill almost all creatures when combined with another burn spell.
2. Mizzium Skin? I'm thinking about playing it because it keeps my stuff alive vs the heavy removal decks. Should I play it mainboard? SB? Drop the idea because it's too reactive?
3. Syncopate vs Dissolve vs Counterflux. I'm not sold on which way to go. Vs control Counterflux is ideal. Vs aggro Syncopate is idea because it's cheapest. Vs midrange decks Dissolve is best because I can see more cards. Any thoughts? I already run 2-3 Izzet Charms that give me limited countering ability.
4. Is it just my playshop or is there a bunch of mill in the format? I'm thinking about putting in a copy or two of Psychic Spiral in my SB.
5. Hammer of Purphos might be another interesting card to play. It gives my Elemental tokens and Spellheart Chimeras haste, which can punch through a few extra points of damage (especially the Spellheart Chimera)

I played tonight and went 2-1. I had 1x Anger of the Gods MD, 3x Anger of the Gods SB, and 3x Mizzium Mortars SB. Totally over committed vs aggro and didn't usually have enough spots to take out cards.

On Wed, I'm testing by taking out the Chandra's Phoenix and playing more draw. Also I'm putting in a Singleton Jace, Architect of Thought to test his abilities. I don't yet have a Ral Zarek, else I would also test him.

Finally, Uncovered Clues might be a good card to play instead of Divination/Glimpse the Future. There is so much good draw available, I'm not sure what works best and how all the pieces fit together.

[JediCheese]

I went 3-2-1 at FNM. From my testing results at FNM:

1) Mizzium Mortars is the way to go. Anger of the gods is good, but I need higher damage and wiping the board isn't often as useful.
2) Skip Mizzium Skin. Voyage's End keeps everything in line vs removal and also helps offensively. Multiple games I got it and used it to out tempo an opponent.
3) I played Syncopate. Still not in love with it. I'll test out Dissolve next week.
4) Psychic Spiral as a two of in the SB is INSANE. It also murders the Maze's End deck.
5) Stop! Hammer time! I played one and am thinking about playing two. I was never unhappy to see this card.

I didn't miss Chandra's Phoenix. Hypersonic Dragon resulted in many strange looks from my opponents but typically it went the distance due to them already blowing all the removal on my other creatures.

Jace was nuts. Often the opponents didn't know quite what was going on. The aggro deck just went hardcore control? You could smell the fear, to the point where I was seeing preventative pithing needles for Jace game 2/3.

Ral Zarek is meh, but I didn't give him many chances in a singleton SB slot. He'll get another week or two, and I might try him in MD instead of SB, but I have a feeling he's getting cut.

I played a single of Divination and Glimpse the Future. I wasn't watching how they turned out, next tournament.

I feel I have a good matchup vs any deck except mono-black. I'm looking into SB options, primarily against Desecration Demon and Whip of Erebos. Hellkite Tyrant may be what's needed: Big, Flying, Trample, and steals their lifelink artifact. Swan Song might be another option, it hits the artifact and removal. Curse of Swine stops Whipping stuff back and wipes out their team.

I'm also tempted to try out Whelming Wave or Fated Conflagration to see how they work out.

[crazedferret]

Hey chris, post a list please. I've been trying to work with grixis colors and want to see what you are doing with blue red. I've been trying breaking entering in just about every combination I can think of and it has worked best in grixis colors. A hasted in chimera is quite enjoyable as is a hasted in lord of the void. With breaking entering, I don't really care about them killing a creature either plus it mills for bigger chimera's. Added protection verse maze's end too.

Syncopate seems a necessary evil in my opinion. Being able to stop turn two plays - particularly burning tree emissary - seems important. And at least for the first five or so turns, it is relevant. Then again I played anger of the gods main too, which make me wonder what your removal package is.

What do you do verse master of waves? Or have you not played verse that yet?

I liked the hammer when I played it. Although it was met several times with an immediate blind obedience, but that is probably because I was entering in huge threats the games before.

I've found ral zarek to be weak in general verse agro decks. He seems to shine best verse U/W control where he can mess with mana left open as well as threaten to give you extra turns. Even there though he might just be better as a Jace memory adept or even an ashiok.

[JediCheese]

The decklist as of yesterday:

---

Creatures (13):
1x Hypersonic Dragon
4x Guttersnipe
4x Spellheart Chimera
4x Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers (1):
1x Jace, Architect of Thought

Artifacts/Enchantments (1):
1x Hammer of Purphoros

Sorceries (2):
1x Divination
1x Glimpse the Future

Instants (20):
3x Izzet Charm
4x Magma Jet
4x Lighting Strike
3x Turn // Burn
4x Steam Augury
2x Quicken

Lands (23):
4x Steam Vents
4x Izzet Guildgate
7x Island
8x Mountain

SB:
1x Pithing Needle
2x Syncopate
1x Izzet Charm
1x Ral Zarek
2x Searing Blood
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Cyclonic Rift
2x Psychic Spiral
2x Voyage's End

[JediCheese]

I haven't played vs Master of Waves. I can Turn the Master of Waves, then once he's lost protection just burn him out (or Turn him when he's attacking or blocking). They are also aggro, so it's very possible I keep them from getting enough devotion out of a critical Master of Waves and kill them with a Spellheart Chimera.

I have 11 pieces of burn, so it's very reasonable for me to clean up Pack Rat/Burning Tree Shamen and trade one burn for one creature. Doubly true when I get a Guttersnipe or Young Pyromancer out and proceed to get massive value out of each spell. I will say an x/4+ is problematic and I often can handle fast starts.

Vs Control, also I have the option of trying to burn them out when they get low. Also, a resolved Guttersnipe results in massive damage if I'm allowed to untap due to his triggers (even if nothing else of mine resolves).

[John Galli]

Hey Chris, sorry it took a while to get back to ya. My thoughts with regards to your questions-

- Mizzium vs Anger: I think Mortars is a better place to be at the current moment. Aggro is pretty much non-existent in the current "big meta". Not sure what your local meta is like. As you said, this deck and these style of burn decks have a lot of spot removal that can go either downstairs or upstairs, so you have the ability to control a game on the ground if you need to already. Even Mortars is largely unnecessary except it is nice to have against GR Monsters (Stormbreath + a slew of other things), BW Midrange (Blood Baron), and UW Control (Archangel, Blood Baron). I've also (at least with my RW Burn deck) not had much of a problem versus stuff like white weenie. RDW might be a different story though, but even then I'd value instant speed removal over either of these options.

- Mizzium Skin is way too reactive and not powerful enough. I'd consider it in a creature heavy deck like Mono Blue Devotion before I'd consider it here, and even there, it's just not good enough. Possibly suitable for a Hexproof deck that has a few non hexproof creatures, but it's just unnecessary

- I like Counterflux a lot because it's not only a hard counter but it's the best one when battling other control decks. It's possible you just want it in the sideboard, but I figured since you have access to it and it's a nice trump for whatever big move your opponent has you might just want to jam 3-4 of them main. You'll have to keep playing the deck to get a feel for what you want on that. I think Syncopate and Dissolve are much better in decks that reliably have a certain threshhold of countermagic which this deck won't have.

- There is no mill in any meta I've seen outside of the occasional Esper Mill deck online. I'd say it's very safe to say that's some casual jank at your local shop

- I played two hammer of purphoros in the Puerto Rico's top 8 states list months back and I really liked how it flowed with this deck. I think it's worth trying, but I don't know if you want it or not. It's always great versus control but it's probably a liability versus everything else that's popular these days (outside of Mono Black)

- Spellheart Chimera is easily the weakest creature in the suite, but he's a build around card so I think you'll find faster than I will if you like him or not since I haven't played the archetype a lot. It's possible he's a great 1-of miser to walk into, unsure though.

- I'm skeptical on the draw package you're playing. If anything I like the cards that are shared with UW Control more, like Divination and Quicken, and even UW has leaned away from those at the moment. You should have plenty of spell choices available to you with scry, but you might have to supplement those since you're not playing scry lands. Are you playing vaults now?

- I feel like Chandra's Phoenix is integral to this style of archetype, and I'm rarely mad to see one. Not sure why you've leaned away from him. There's so much value and so many little situations where he can provide card advantage. Don't forget too that if you sideboard into some planeswalkers (aka Zarek or Chandra) they can get him back in addition to your burn spells.

- Against Mono Black you're certainly at a disadvantage not having white for Chained to the Rocks or Assemble the Legion, but I think you can make up for it with some counter-magic and/or cards like Cyclonic Rift / Turn // Burn. That's really going to require some testing to figure out. Obviously Young Pyromancer is great against Demon as well. The biggest problem for your solution cards is Thoughtseize followed by their sideboard plan of additional discard in the form of Duress. There's not much you can do to combat this other than to board into things that are either more answers for your problem or to board into higher card advantage cards. Additional Counterspells are always fine too, preferably hard counters like Dissolve against MBC. If you're having trouble with removal, I still think Dispel is one of the best counters in Standard right now as it stops so many things and takes your opponent by surprise in many situations. Rapid Hybridization and Domestication are other options that you could easily employ that are used by Mono Blue Devotion. You can't Domesticate a Demon for value, but you can steal other useful things like Nightveil Specter or simply slow them down. Rapid is probably your best tool, especially a lot of your burn suite can take care of the token if it gets out of hand. Also don't forget about Ratchet Bomb for their Pack Rats and three drops (underworld connections)

- One card I've been recently testing that has worked very well in my sideboard against other Control decks is Satyr Nyk-Smith. Dude is just insane, and 80% of the time he's a better Hammer of Purphoros. I'd try him out if you haven't already. Not sure how much GR Monsters you face, but I've been wanting to test out Fated Conflagration more as well, as that card looks like it has potential despite not seeming good initially.

Let me know how it goes

[John Galli]

4 Boros Burn decks in top 16 of SCG Seattle, one of which is almost identical to the one in my last article-
sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/deckshow.php?&t%5BC1%5D=1&start_date=03/15/2014&end_date=03/16/2014&start=1&finish=16

[JediCheese]

I want to play Boros Burn, but R/u is so much fun/frustration. There are times where the deck feels AMAZING and it's having the best aggro hand you'll ever play. One game you are slaughtering the opponent on multiple guttersnipes and killing the opponent by chaining Izzet Charms for draw 2/discard 2 or Magma Jets (I get to play aggro, combo, AND control at the same time? HOLY FUCK!). The next you are dying because infinite Izzet Charms aren't doing you any good and you can't find a way to deal with Polukranos, World Eater.

I'm giving it the tournament today with a few more mods, but if it doesn't absolutely destroy opponents I'm going Boros Burn.

[John Galli]

Check out @grapplingfarang's Tweet:

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[Ellesseft]

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