History of deck
Back in my day we called it Sligh, though it was apparently designed by Jay Schneider
Style popularized by Paul Sligh, played at a PT Qualifier in ‘96 (beaten by Necropotence in finals). This deck was suboptimal to say the least, as the format required 5 cards from every legal expansion (thus the 2-2 split of Orcish Artillery & Orcish Cannoneers)
Tempest block changed it a bit, with the archetype splintering out a bit - some into more direct damage-based glass cannon-y strategies, and other, more creature curve-based strategies, using fast creatures to get their opponents on the back foot, controlling the board with cursed scroll & fireslinger, & backing it up with scalding tongs & jinxed idol.
A major update of the concept was piloted to 2nd place @ worlds ‘98 by a 15 year old Ben Rubin - this deck with playsets of Ball Lightning, Jackal Pup, Cursed Scroll, & even Ironclaw Orcs was maybe the biggest splash made by the burn archetype. I played something like this around then, though with more viashino sandstalkers & a couple maindeck Final Fortune, occasionally splashing black for Reanimate & Unearth for my Ball Lightnings in Extended during Saga block.
Subsequently your mono-red decks were generally some sort of Sligh variant (RDW & Burn as we know it now fit here), some kind of Goblin tribal (which is really just a sligh subtype), or Ponza (substitute land destruction for direct damage). The big decision when building & playing is how much to stray from game plan A, which is to deal as much damage to your opponent as possible as quickly as possible, based on what you think you’ll run into. Bit by bit, burn has gotten a lot of new tools that can make it easy to adjust to different metagames.
Some myths about burn:
Burn players are bad / Burn is just a budget deck
Let’s make a distinction. As the cost to build the deck & the basic lines of play are fairly straightforward, you will see a good number of players who are novice or new to a format. That doesn’t mean you should assume the player you’re facing is bad, or you’ll soon find yourself at 3 life with 2 bolts on the stack from someone who counted on you to underestimate them. So I’d say burn has a low skill barrier, low financial barrier, & a very high skill ceiling. 3 of the last 5 Legacy Win-A-Dual tournaments in my local meta have ended up with Burn on top (twice it was me).
Burn is the only way most people will be able to play legacy
There are a number of budget decks, and while burn is among the most affordable, a lot of modern decks like Merfolk, Death & Taxes, and Death’s Shadow are fairly easy to convert to legacy, especially following some recent reprints like Rishadan Port & Wasteland. Additionally, Force of Negation is often a passable substitute for the more expensive Force of Will, with some control decks playing a 2-3 split or altogether replacing Force of Will due to its difficulty to hardcast.
Burn is a simple aggro deck with limited lines of play
Burn has the ability to close out games in 3 turns if unchallenged, but that doesn’t mean it can’t win grindy matchups if played properly. Against Elves in legacy & modern, every spell that can target creatures, does, in order to prevent them from achieving critical mass. Similarly, against Delver archetypes, a winning burn player will focus more on controlling the board & punishing misplays, leaning especially on Eidolon of the Great Revel. In storm- & delver-heavy metas, my deck may have as many as 4 Eidolon & 4 Pyrostatic Pillar in the 75.
Ok, here are your basic tools for an optimal list.
Creatures
Aggro
Goblin Guide: Non-negotiable 4-of.
This is potentially the best card in the deck, often dealing 6 or more damage for 1 mana on the play.
Monastery Swiftspear: Non-negotiable 4-of.
Less explosive a start than Goblin Guide, it can get in there for that crucial last few points or trade with a large opposing blocker with a few instants to pump it up.
Utility
Eidolon of the Great Revel: 3-4 of.
Archetype-defining power. I always run 4 in modern to help against shockland-heavy decks. I’ve been running 3 in legacy, both due to the meta + the fact that it stacks poorly with Flame Rift. Allows you to slow down play & have a chance in the late game if the opponent can’t remove it early. Often bad in multiples, so carefully consider whether your opponent can just hold off a few turns & cast something big before stacking eidolons.
Grim Lavamancer: 1-2-of
Another control element, Grim can control the board or do a lot of damage to an opponent who doesn’t deal with him quickly. He’s not good in multiples, so you won’t see more than 2 in my decks. Stacks nicely with Fireblast to work around Eidolon in tight games.
Direct Damage
Straight to the Face
Flame Rift/Price of Progress: 4 total in main
Know your meta. When the big decks are mana greedy, Price of Progress is a powerhouse. When you expect to see more mono-color decks, or decks that can play around it effectively with fetches, Price can frequently become dead in the main. I’m currently running 4 Rift main, with 3 Price in the board for greedy decks.
Lava Spike: 3 damage for R. 4-of.
Strictly worse Lightning bolt. Good value.
Versatile
Lightning Bolt: 4.
These are the last spells you want to cast from your hand when possible. Great for combat tricks with Swiftspear, to fill up the graveyard for Grim, and don’t underestimate the instant on their turn when tapped out to draw out Force of Will rather than Force of Negation when life totals are tight.
Chain Lightning: 4
Strictly worse Lightning Bolt. Be sure to play when your opponent doesn’t have RR to spend, & don’t forget that you can send it right back in the mirror match.
Fireblast: 3-4
Often bad in multiples, as you’re rarely going to hardcast this spell. Don’t forget to float mana before sacrificing lands or you’ll cry as it’s dazed. Good in grindy games where you want to fill up the graveyard for Grim. Don’t be afraid to use it to kill an opponent’s large creature (or JTMS) if that threat is a game-ender or if it’s their last-ditch effort.
Spectacle cards (Light Up the Stage / Skewer the Critics): 3-5 total
Also bad in multiples, the more you run the more often you’ll find yourself with 3 lands on board & only spectacle cards for 3 mana in hand. Creatures & Rift Bolt can help there though. Currently running 3 LutS, 0 Skewer.
Lands
There are essentially 2 variants in legacy: with & without fetchlands.
Without fetchlands: 19 mountains or subtract 3-4 for Horizon lands (Sunbaked Canyon/Fiery Islet)
With fetchlands: Fetches, often splashing a color & a dual land or two for sideboard options like Destructive Revelry. Also capable of running Searing Blaze effectively in creature-heavy metas. Can also potentially run a 3rd Grim if ya nasty.
Sideboard options as of now:
Artifact hate (prison decks, Stoneforged Mystic decks, anything that runs Chalice)
Smash to Smithereens (3-4) wins out over Shenanigans, Ingot Chewer, & Shattering Spree due to its damage dealing ability. Only concern is playing around Chalice, but most Chalice players will cast it on 1, allowing you to Smash right through. If you’ve got a Chalice-heavy meta, consider swapping some over to Shattering Spree, as the copies won’t be countered.
Graveyard hate: (dredge variants, reanimator, loam/lands)
Tormod’s Crypt (4) and/or Faerie Macabre over Grafdigger’s cage, Relic of Progenitus, Silent Gravestone, Leyline, RiP, etc. With Force of Vigor out there, the static GY hate abilities can be dealt with. Crypt empties the whole yard & triggers Prowess for Monastery Swiftspear without taking you off progressing your board state for a turn.
Price of Progress: (greedy mana bases) 0-4
Generally Rift Bolt comes out for Price against greedy mana bases to give me more padding. If you think it’ll get 4 damage or more on the average cast, go for it. If your opponent might be running Leyline of Sanctity, take out Lava Spikes for Price to add 1 more non-targeting spell, leaving the rest of the burn spells as removal to clear the way for creatures.
Sulfuric Vortex: (life gain / grindy decks) 3-4
The best way to win against Death & Taxes or any other deck that runs Batterskull. All you have to do is land this on curve, kill the Thalia, & race the 4/4
Ensnaring Bridge: (midrange creature strategies) 0-3
This is a meta call. Too slow to do anything about Reanimator, this is a sideboard call for when you expect to run into a lot of fair decks (not often in legacy)
Pyrostatic Pillar: (storm, delver, control, cantrips) 0-4
If the meta is super fast with lots of cantrips, this can be a great sideboard call. This may become more important in the near future with the new Delver variants popping up that use Seasoned Pyromancer & Dreadhorde Arcanist to provide fuel.
Searing Blood: (small creatures) 0-4
These are great out of the board when you expect to see lots of burn mirrors, Death & Taxes, & even Merfolk.
Sweepers: (small creatures)
Anger of the Gods / Pyroclasm/Volcanic Fallout are good in swarm-heavy metas. Anger is better when you’re dealing with more merfolk lords or recurring threats like in Dredge. Just remember Pyroclasm can still be great against Dredge because it’ll kill your Guides/Lavamancers (which will exile Bridge from below while wiping most of their board) but leave your Swiftspears alive. Volcanic fallout is another nice option, especially in metas where Delver & Czech Pile decks are good.
Game 1: You want to be on the play if possible. Your ideal first hand on the play in Game 1 includes 2 mountains, a Goblin Guide, an Eidolon, and various damage spells. Land the Eidolon & hope it punishes them for a few turns then eats a removal spell. Lots of hands will work, but you’re gonna want some diverse threats and enough mana to keep them. 1-land hands are fine if they include at least 1 goblin guide & mostly 1-mana spells otherwise. It’s easier to keep 1-landers on the draw.
Game 2/3: Usually you’re gonna be on the draw on game 2 here because you played game 1 properly. Your big decision is going to be whether you want to deviate from Game Plan A & play more of a board control strategy after they sideboard. In general, I find most burn players probably sideboard too much. That said, on the draw if there’s something worth bringing in, you can pull Eidolons for it since it’ll be hard to land them before the opponent has advanced their board state.
As for changing up the list, you basically have two main things to consider:
1) Do I want to play Searing Blaze? If the meta is extremely creature-heavy, you can add some number of fetch lands (4-8), 3-4 Searing Blaze, & up to 1 more Grim Lavamancer due to the extra stuff in the graveyard. The fetch lands will put extra pressure on your life total though, so at this point you'll want to consider removing Flame Rift for your Searing Blazes, which means you'll want to bring your total Price of Progress in the 75 up to 4, so maybe go 2 main/2 side. You could go down to 3 Eidolon to allow for this, but if you're moving to Searing Blaze, the meta is probably already removal heavy so I wouldn't recommend it. Make them regret using that removal. If you're running the max 8 fetches, you may also want to dial back the number of Horizon lands. Use your best judgment & do plenty of testing. Definitely goldfish against a mountains-only build of burn to make sure you won't give away too many free wins just by bolting yourself with lands.
2) Do I want to run Flame Rift or Price of Progress in the main? These are your 2-mana 4-damage spells. If the meta is heavy with mono-color decks (or just basic land-heavy decks right now with the snow decks), you're running Flame Rift in the main with Price in the side. Right now there's also a lot of removal in the meta so I'm comfortable running 4 Eidolons with 4 Flame Rift, though often I'll dial back to 3 Eidolon & bring in another Firecraft.
My deck is almost entirely misprinted. Here are my wants:
I need ONE [Light Up the Stage] to make the deck 75/75 misprints or NFC.
I'm actively looking for upgrades with front-visible major factory errors on the following cards:
Eidolon of the Great Revel,
Chain Lightning,
Fireblast,
Price of Progress (Exodus),
Exquisite Firecraft
But if you have serious errors of anything on this list, please contact me!
