Now With More Goat Support!
Bonecrushers have finally made it in, more for Stomp than for the Giant. Burn decks are notoriously prone to losing due to running out of cards, this is a great helper with that issue. This is probably better described as a slower, steadier Red Deck Wins deck, despite being quite capable of a fast win it excels in matchups where a normal burn deck will run out of gas and be stuck top decking bolts when they need 4 or more damage. Bigger, splashier effects are everywhere here compared to traditional burn, but it is Legacy, so our curve really goes up to 3.
Fireblast is probably the best card over all, and wins a disproportionate number of games, one of the reasons I run Risk Factor is to dig for Fireblasts, because you can only run x4 Fireblasts, card draw helps me find my aces. The next big surprise is probably the Ball Lightnings, at x2 people are very likely to be surprised by one, and 6 damage for 3 mana feels really good.
This isn't the most complex of decks, though it plays interestingly with the array of choice cards, making for a more interactive game experience that can be quite satisfying compared to 'traditional' Burn. Risk Factor only deals 4 damage, but 4 for 3 mana is sadly on curve for Red it seems, and 2 casts make that into 8 potentially, I adore turning a Mountain I drew into 4 damage when a regular Burn deck probably just lost the game due to drawing a 4th Mountain. In the event I have a decent amount of land out, drawing 3 will likely let me play 1 or even 2 more spells, and can end games on the spot with drawn Fireblasts. During the 'longer' games (going to turns 4 and 5) is when Risk Factor tends to shine, when giving me cards is going to be damage right away, possibly more than just taking the 4.
I set the CMC of Fireblast, Bonecrusher, and Rift Bolt at 0, 2, and 1, because I don't think I've yet cast Rift Bolt for 3, and I am not usually in good shape if the game goes long enough for me to hit 6 lands. Stomp might seem like a bad card, but 2 damage is just enough to be worth bothering with, while a 4/3 that's hard to remove is just fast enough to be worth casting, this greatly improved the consistency of the deck by adding 2 'meh' cards, glad I finally tried them out, even if I change my mind later! I also set this to custom categories, so it shows Bonecrusher as both a Creature and an Instant, Stomp ends up being cast more often anyways, I don't run other 2 drops and 2 damage comes up surprisingly often, and the damage clause can win me the odd game.
The sideboard stuff is for matchups where I have zero chance otherwise, putting in Meekstones pretty much requires me to pull my creatures with power > 3, which is 12 cards, and if I pull DRCs I should pull my DRC support cards (which is 3 cards), so to support my Meekstones I added Flamebreathers to my sideboard over Chainwhirlers. I still have a wipe with Disk, and Meekstone can delay the game until I can wipe, at which point I should have the advantage I hope! I'm not sure if Flamebreather is better or worse than Young Pyromancer, but 1/1s are pretty bad with Meekstone out because people will have lots of blockers, Breather can wall a 2/x while dealing damage.
In short, this is a fun deck to try out if you want Burn but don't want to be stuck in perpetual topdeck, it offers enough speed to threaten early wins alongside enough diesel to power out big finishes vs decks that can gain life or otherwise make life difficult. This is not the deck for you if you like playing the most mainstream decks, this is fairly janky homebrew. In my experience it's a less salty play experience than most Burn decks since you play spells that aren't 'Burn for 3', and some even offer the opponent a choice, even if the two options both obviously suck.
Not sure if I'll keep them in, but I pulled my Browbeats for a pair of Gamble, mostly because I think it'll work well with DRC on turn 2, there are few things sweeter than a turn 2 3 damage from your DRC, and Gamble means 2 cards end up in your graveyard, and DRC can put a 3rd if it's not the best card in your deck situationally, so if I have a 2nd spell to trigger DRC again the odds are reasonable that I'll have 4 types.
