Dies to Removal

After having some more terrible games online, I went back to Mono Red, using Firedancer in the board (cuz YOLO), and went 2-1 in an 8-man. I beat some awful U/W Ghostly Prison deck, and Boros Burn before losing in Game 3 to Amulet Combo. The dude had Amulet T1, never mulliganed, and in Game 3, he landed a T2 HASTY Primeval Titan. He said that happens 1 out of every 5 games.

One easy way to stop all the bickering, post something that everyone can/will point and laugh at. Now that there is a Modern thread that I don't feel completely out of place in, I may as well throw in my less than good sense.

This is the tried and true deck that I have been working on since I was first forced to learn Modern:
[deck]Dega Burn[/deck]

The deck has been pretty solid for me for as long as I have been playing Modern. However, I have an addiction to Snapcaster Mage and
Geist of Saint Traft (even though Hexproof is an abomination and the person who suggested it should suffer greatly for all time). I take great joy in my opponent thinking they have dodged the silver bullet card and then crush their spirit by recasting it. Also, Helix, Snap, Helix is just so demoralizing. I came up with this:

[deck]Raka Burn[/deck]

This version is still very much a burn deck but can sometimes get free wins with Geist, make greedy mana bases cry by flashing back Molten Rain, and finally gives me a real answer to Pod with Anger of the Gods. There are likely
a few holes in the deck but I am working on ironing them out.

Did you play that Blue version recently online against Filthy_Elves?

My game history doesn't show it but I reinstalled recently due to some settings getting fucked hard. I only have one account so they would be able to find it easily enough on their logs. I did play it a good bit a week or two ago so it is possible.

This was either today or yesterday

My days are running together

Then no, it would not have been me.

Deck looks like it should support delver.

Deck looks like it should support delver.

I have been trying to decide between Delver and Goblin Guide since I built the deck. I have been having a bad string of luck with GG drawing them cards which has been pushing me towards Delver but the haste and self-sufficiency of Guide keep pulling me back. I would have to probably realign the mana base a bit for Delver but that should be a minor thing at most.

[deck]Raka Burn[/deck]

Card which I need to borrow so I can test this awesome build (Ham or anyone help me!!!)
2 Steam Vent
2 Electrolyze
1 Snapcaster Mage <-- this one is odd, I could have sworn I had 4.... the same thing happen with my Loyal Legionnaire (I think I must have lent them out but forgot who I lent
them too or I may have sold them by mistake;/)
1 Geist of Saint Traft

- - - - - -

Two reasons why I believe Goblin Guide is better then Delver in this deck

1) Fetching for Steam Vents T1 every game doesn't seem appealing
2) The MUs where burn struggles against (Combo and UWr, GG would be better)

- - - - -

Suggestion 1

Run more lands (21 at the very least), Snappy is usually a 3-4cc spell and with Snappy drawing lands isn't as horrible anyways (esp. with Molten Rain Fun times).

[deck]Raka Burn[/deck]

Card which I need to borrow so I can test this awesome build (Ham or anyone help me!!!)
2 Steam Vent
2 Electrolyze
1 Snapcaster
Mage <-- this one is odd, I could have sworn I had 4.... the same thing happen with my Loyal Legionnaire (I think I must have lent them out but forgot who I lent them too or I may have sold them by mistake;/)
1 Geist of Saint Traft

- - - - - -

Two reasons why I believe Goblin Guide is better then Delver in this deck

1) Fetching for Steam Vents T1 every game doesn't seem appealing
2) The MUs where burn struggles against (Combo and UWr, GG would be better)

- - - - -

Suggestion 1

Run more lands (21 at the very least), Snappy is usually a 3-4cc spell and with Snappy drawing lands isn't as horrible anyways (esp. with Molten Rain Fun times).

Have Geist, Snapcaster and 2 steam vents that am not using curretly. find me in game (msg on dtr before woul be cool, have mail notification).

Surprisingly I have little trouble with the quantity of lands. The deck is a little bit slower than the other burn decks and we have a few draw and manipulation spells. The mana issue I have more often is simply being color starved. The mana base could likely use some optimizing in that regard but I personally have a 4 basic land minimum for my Modern decks to ensure I have a chance against Blood Moon and search targets after Ghost Quarter and Path to Exile.

PTQ Khans of Tarkir (Grosseto, Italy)

[deck=Conti's Red Burn (2nd Place)]Creatures 12
4 Vexing Devil
4 Goblin Guide
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

Burns 28
4 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Shard Volley
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Flames of the Blood Hand
4 Skullcrack

Lands 20
20 Mountain

Sideboard 15
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Torpor Orb
1 Volcanic Fallout
2 Searing Blaze
4 Molten Rain
4 Smash to Smithereens[/deck]

I'm going to assume he didn't run fetches too take as little damage as possible - or he is a budget hero either way still good.

I like it

No Combust is surprising though

Well, Torpor Orb is alright, I suppose

Going down that rabbit hole...

[deck=MDU's Tribal Burn]Lands 20
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
2 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Mountain

Creatures 08
4 Goblin Guide
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells 32
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Boros Charm
4 Rift Bolt
4 Bump in the Night
4 Tribal Flames
4 Lava Spike
4 Manamorphose

Sideboard 15
4 Searing Blood
2 Searing Blaze
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Combust
2 Shattering Spree
3 Wear // Tear[/deck]

Manamorphose is just for those times when your require too fetch horrible lands which don't produce effective colors.

Did that Mono Red actually win the PTQ?

Did that Mono Red actually win the PTQ?

He came 2nd losing against GP Fail aka Tron... here is the source, its interesting to note that Dega Burn came (3rd/4th).

Weird that he lost to Tron with all the hate, but then again, it's been known to happen

I'm living proof. Sometimes they just magically happen to have "OOPS! Natural Tron into Wurm Engine! "

Going down that rabbit hole...

I had to take a look at the lands, but that Manamorphose looks like a stroke of genius. I would love to know if this deck can accomplish more than killing itself with lands, the list looks sweet. I know Tribal Zoo is a thing, but has a similar Burn list ever put in a result?

I played Tribal Burn before Boros Charm came out. Tribal Flames was 4 damage on average and we had access to DRS, it worked ok. Boros Charm just made things so much less complicated that I dropped the idea at that point. I am not convinced the Bumps are worth it in such a list but I will let MDU test more before such a verdict is given.

I discovered last night that the actual worst feeling ever is a Boggles player putting Spirit Link on your Eidolon. For extra rub-ins, it was game 3 and I had kept a pretty Leyland the proof hand on the play (and he had Leyline in his 7):

2 Mountain
1 Goblin Guide
1 Vexing Devil
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel.

Even past spirit link and Leyline I got him to 2. Decks powerful.

Ouch

So Monastery Swiftspear is a thing now.

Monastery Swiftspear R
Creature Human Monk, Uncommon
Haste, Prowess
(1,2)

That may act as an alternative to Goblin Guide, but I doubt it. Testing required.

I think it's more of a card to compliment Young Pyromancer in an aggressive tempo deck.

Budgcaj goblin guide.

Budgcaj goblin guide.

That may act as an alternative to Goblin Guide, but I doubt it. Testing required.

Seems like a nice complement to Goblin Guide. Unless you have an awkward creature draw (which probably puts you in a fine position post-board if they've adjust their removal suite to account for your surplus of spells), he probably will average the same amount of damage over the course of a 3-5-turn game.

Would it be reasonable to play Monastery Swiftspear as a 4 of in a deck with 4 Goblin Guides and 4 Grim Lavamancers? I'm thinking of taking out Hellspark Elementals to make space.

Would you take out vexing devil for this ?

I don't think Swiftspear is good in Modern Burn, but that's like, my opinion, man.

Far out

It isn't good enough. Being forced to cast on our turn to keep up the same damage as Guide is too much of a downside.

Aren't like more than half of our spells sorcery speed anyway?

In RWB only Spike, Rift Bolt, and Bump are sorceries.
In RWU only Spike and Visions are sorceries.

Right, which is half. Since 12-18 creatures, 20 lands, 22-28 spells. Not sure if it's excellent, but I don't think playing at sorcery speed is really something we care about.

18 creatures? Maybe in the mono red version. RWB is generally just Guide, Eidolon and maybe Devil or Lavamancer. RWU is 14 because of the Snap/Pyro package but still not 18.

Adding to my comments, the problem is the lack of flexibility. Being required to cast a spell on each of our turns instead of waiting for when it is appropriate just to match the damage output of Guide is the problem. It also means that we can't just sit on a few creatures and hold our burn until they die or get brick walled. I was hopeful for the card. I really wanted to stop letting my opponent draw lands off the top of their deck. It just didn't work out that way.

RWB would have 4 Guide, 4 new dude, 4 Devil, 4 Eidolon, 2 Lavamancer or so? In any case, you're probably right, it just doesn't seem terrible. I'll be getting a playset to playtest with regardless and will let you know if I have any developments