Modern tournament - 22 players - May 21st, 2016

Before this I was thinking about running mardu burn but I was getting mana issues running 3 colors in the deck.

Round 1, vs Boros Burn (0-2)

We went very close on both matches, I got him twice at 1 or 2 points but I get myself plenty of damage for fetching-shocking myself. His Eidolons ended up winning the games for him.

Round 2, vs G/R Tron (2-0)

I usually have very good matches against tron, on both games I started very fast with spark elementals, bump in the night, lightning bolts and all my one drops. I won both games on turn 3 or 4.

Round 3, vs Zoo (1-2)I won the first game, he fetch/shock himself for 5 lives and I was faster than him.

Second and third game, he displayed the entire Zoo against me, Wild Nacatl's, Kird Ape, Loxodon Smither. I got him at 3 lives but Zoo was a difficult match for me with my original list.

Round 4, vs Dimir Mill (2-0)The first game was quite fast and easy, hellspark elementals, and my one drops got me the game, even when he milled half my deck I was able to unearth my other 3 hellspark's.

The second game was difficult, I got mana screwed with only 1 mana and most of my hand were 2 drop spells for about 4-5 turns, he got me until 10 cards on my deck, but I was able to draw 2 consecutive lands and got him from 15 lives to nothing in 2 turns.

Round 5, vs Abzan midrange (2-1)

All of the 3 games were very long matches, he won ony 2-3 lives on all the games, but he give me 5-6 inquisitions / thoughtsizes, he landed his tarmos and I had to spent many of my spells to kill the goyfs.I think I just got lucky here, he also ended up fetch/shocking himself for 3-5 lives on each match and that is something that helped me a lot.

Top 8, vs Jund reanimator (1-2)

The first game was very fast, I got him on the 3rd turn and his hand was very bad, he had to mulligan once and he didnt got the combo even when he dug about 15 cards on his deck.

The other two games were easy for him, he got me on his second turn on both games, he discarded Griselbrand and dug his deck and got goryos vengeance to reanimate him. This was the first time I played against this type of deck, and I wasnt able to know how to play against it so I tapped myself and I didnt left my lands ready to skullcrack him in response to Griselbrand.

Resume

I ended up going kind of mono red with splash for black, white and green; I cut the boros charm because I have 19 one drop burn spells and I was getting to much damage or mana screwed trying to get the 3 colors.I also cut 4 hellspark elementals, 1 plains and I put 4 goblin guides and 3 Eidolon of the great revel which I didnt had before. In my sideboard I cut 2 Kor Firewalkers since It is very difficult for me to get 2 white mana sources on the battlefield at the same time, I also cut 2 rakdos charm, Wear and Tear. I replace this with 2 reflective palm, 3 destructive revelry, 2 Tormods Crypt and 2 Lightning Helix.

Im going on 15 creatures and 26 spells, I have 26 one drops or 30 if we include rift bolt.

FNM - 22 players - May 20th, 2016

Before this I was thinking about running mardu burn but I was getting mana issues running 3 colors in the deck. finish 3-2 after 5 rounds and made it to the top 8, not bad for my first modern fnm.

Round 1, vs Boros Burn (0-2)

We went very close on both matches, I got him twice at 1 or 2 points but I get myself plenty of damage for fetching-shocking myself. His Eidolons ended up winning the games for him.

Round 2, vs G/R Tron (2-0)

I usually have very good matches against tron, on both games I started very fast with spark elementals, bump in the night, lightning bolts and all my one drops. I won both games on turn 3 or 4.

Round 3, vs Zoo (1-2)I won the first game, he fetch/shock himself for 5 lives and I was faster than him.

Second and third game, he displayed the entire Zoo against me, Wild Nacatl's, Kird Ape, Loxodon Smither. I got him at 3 lives but Zoo was a difficult match for me with my original list.

Round 4, vs Dimir Mill (2-0)The first game was quite fast and easy, hellspark elementals, and my one drops got me the game, even when he milled half my deck I was able to unearth my other 3 hellspark's.

The second game was difficult, I got mana screwed with only 1 mana and most of my hand were 2 drop spells for about 4-5 turns, he got me until 10 cards on my deck, but I was able to draw 2 consecutive lands and got him from 15 lives to nothing in 2 turns.

Round 5, vs Abzan midrange (2-1)

All of the 3 games were very long matches, he won ony 2-3 lives on all the games, but he give me 5-6 inquisitions / thoughtsizes, he landed his tarmos and I had to spent many of my spells to kill the goyfs.I think I just got lucky here, he also ended up fetch/shocking himself for 3-5 lives on each match and that is something that helped me a lot.

Top 8, vs Jund reanimator (1-2)

The first game was very fast, I got him on the 3rd turn and his hand was very bad, he had to mulligan once and he didnt got the combo even when he dug about 15 cards on his deck.

The other two games were easy for him, he got me on his second turn on both games, he discarded Griselbrand and dug his deck and got goryos vengeance to reanimate him. This was the first time I played against this type of deck, and I wasnt able to know how to play against it so I tapped myself and I didnt left my lands ready to skullcrack him in response to Griselbrand.

Resume

I ended up going kind of mono red with splash for black, white and green; I cut the boros charm because I have 19 one drop burn spells and I was getting to much damage or mana screwed trying to get the 3 colors.I also cut 4 hellspark elementals, 1 plains and I put 4 goblin guides and 3 Eidolon of the great revel which I didnt had before. In my sideboard I cut 2 Kor Firewalkers since It is very difficult for me to get 2 white mana sources on the battlefield at the same time, I also cut 2 rakdos charm, Wear and Tear. I replace this with 2 reflective palm, 3 destructive revelry, 2 Tormods Crypt and 2 Lightning Helix.

Im going on 15 creatures and 26 spells, I have 26 one drops or 30 if we include rift bolt.

I've been interested in creating my own burn deck, and this one seems really fun to pilot. :) I do have just a few questions/thoughts, though.

I noticed that for most of the common archetypes, you're siding out Rift Bolt in honor of Path to Exile (with other cards as well, of course). Is main boarding Rift Bolt exceptionally game-changing, or would it be more prudent to main PtE in the first place, to clear up the sideboard for additional coverage options? I saw that in your most recent FNM, pretty much all losses were due to big creatures. Path to Exile would definitely help more in those situations than additional bolts would. What are your thoughts?

Hi Hexcimal

It is actually really fun to play this deck, the meta game is always and at the same time never prepared to face burn decks.The reason for the change on those games is because you are facing creatures that cannot be killed with Lighting bolt or Searing Blaze, creatures like Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, Wurmcoil Engine, Eldrazis or such.Usually I only take out a couple of rift bolts but when I need proper removal I take out searing blaze.The point of burn is to do damage with every spell that you cast, so main boarding PtE will be actually reducing the amount of damage that you can do and for game one that is not the best option.

nice deck but you should drop black altogether. yes you do have 4 more bolts and lover curve but you have to search for shocks potentially dealing with dead cards and unnecessary life loss. out of 10 machups you covered you sideboarded in Lightning Helix 6 times - running it main board instead would be much more efficient particularly against affinity. speaking of which, Kataki, War's Wage just shuts it down. Deflecting Palm against Griselbrand is just hilarious:).

I think the single best card to have in a list like this (at 1-2 copies TOPS, maybe 1 main and 1 board) is Toil / Trouble.

Swing with Guide. They get a land. You burn for 8.

OR...

Late-game. Need ~2 bolts of damage to win, but you're top-decking. Best possible top-deck.

Like, the amount of damage the card gets in always takes people by surprise -- when doing the math they don't think any one card in your hand POSSIBLY hits for more than 4.

vexingozar I'm going to follow your advice regarding mainboard lightning helix for competitive events because I need more 2 for 1 effects vs certain decks like affinity or Melforks, However I will keep at least 2 Bump in the Night on the mainboard.

However on my LGS, I think I will stick with more one drop spells unless something came up. I have to keep testing this Mardu version.

tettsui77 I'm going to try that card but on my Nekusar commander list. It is a nice card, however the cmc is a little high for my list and I already have the 3cmc covered with Anger of the Gods or Molten Rain.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Hi again. Just notice that you have no enchantment removal. While you should be fast enough without it Leyline of Sanctity is a thing you are quite likely to run into especially if you start winning fnms on regular basis and other players start to sideboard against you. Wear / Tear works well and gives a boost against artefacts as a bonus. Also if you want to stick with black consider Rain of Gore. I know that scissor sisters are rare nowadays but it's about the only other black card I can think of that seams useful other than Bump in the Night. Just mind that it does not stop lifelink but hey that's what Skullcrack is for. If you are going 3 colors why not green? Atarka's Command and Destructive Revelry are weiting for you there ;)

vexingozar I do have a couple of Atarka's Command and a play set of Destructive Revelry for the Naya version of this deck, however right now I'm fully committed on making the Mardu version to work.

I also have a set of Wear/Tear but I only put those for non FNM environments because I know the type of decks assisting to my LGS and none of them has any enchantment to worry about.

No worries. I sugested it because you have only 4 black cards in your main and none in your sideboard. I personally use a boros build as I don't think there are enough powerful cards in other colours. But this should work too. Speaking of boros -Boros Charm is by far your most powerful 2 mana spell - I would put 4 instead of shard volley.

For the life combo guy try Everlasting Torment. He will most likely not expect an enchantment from the sideboard and that card will just shut his deck down :)

vexingozar, Melira company is definitely my worst match so I'm bringing some extra hate for it, more 2x1 spells that control their board and an extra Path to Exile to get rid of Kitchen Finks forever.

Surgical Extraction works well with Kitchen Finks and other graveyard threats. Just cast it in response to the persist trigger :)

Also you seam to deviate from the sacred path of burn strategy :) do not kill creatures unless they gain your opponent million life. Path to exile is an excellent removal but it does not do any damage and your game is a race so you are looking for a tempo solutions. There is Skullcrack obviously but against abzan lifelink you also got Deflecting Palm and maybe Rakdos Charm if they tend to put 3+ creatures on. A copy or two of Surgical Extraction is worth considering just because you can cast it for free so they never see it coming.