Threats - There are basically two (non-Burn) threats in the deck: Arclight Phoenix and Dragon's Rage Channeler. DRC is the presumably inauspicious 1-drop that, once turning
delirium on, acts like some kind of "Mono-Red Delver"; whilst AP provides recurrable go-wide undercosted fliers.
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Dragon's Rage Channeler
is the slow-and-steady "Delver"-esque half of our battle-plan. (Play: 4)
An inauspicious 1-drop 1/1 it typically won't draw much flak. However, it becomes a real threat once *delirium* "flips" it into a 3/3 flyer. The surveil ability is also surprisingly well-synergized with the spell-chaining involved in getting APs into and then out-of the yard. The *Juggernaut* effect is a significant liability in terms of blocking opposing crackbacks, but we can often hold back Phoenixes or burn spells to make up for that.
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Arclight Phoenix
is the go-wide half of our battle-plan. (Play: 4)
Phoenix shines best when it can be resurrected, en masse and on-the-cheap, as a hasty aggro threat from our graveyard. Secondarily, it provides some number of recurrable blockers when our DRCs are in auto-attack mode.
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Vexing Devil
is basically burn. (Play: 1?)
Right now this little devil is added as a piece of creature-typed burn which is semi-useful as another *delirium* enabler. There is also good synergy with Claim // Fame in the late game.
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Monastery Swiftspear
/
Soul-Scar Mage
/
Flameblade Adept
are better elsewhere. (Play: 0?)
While MS/SSM both play well with the "Phoenix Count", and FA is explosive with the "Hollow Count", all of these creatures tend to peter out as 1/2s in lategame topdeck mode compared to DRC.
Velocity - The delirium and Arclight gameplans both rely upon casting spells and churning through our library; a "Hollow One"-esque spread of Burning Inquiry and Goblin Lore help to make that happen.
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Burning Inquiry
is "weaponized variance". (Play: 4)
Pseudo-milling three cards while refreshing our own hand can be very good for both card filtering and *delirium*, but occasionally destroying an opponent's opener is icing on the cake. This 1-cmc "cantrip" can be a brutal opener, but in the late-game it also becomes exceedingly good at sending Phoenixes and Darts to the bin.
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Manamorphose
is a free "Phoenix Count" that manafixes. (Play: 4)
Just like in previous incarnations of Arclight Phoenix decks manamorphose is a major player. Here, the instant plays well into sorceries like
Burning Inquiry
/
Cathartic Reunion
/
Goblin Lore
to fuel *delirium* whilst also upping the turn's "Phoenix Count". Manafixing can also be extremely useful as the deck tends to be pretty liberal with the use of a *flashback* Lava Dart.
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Goblin Lore
ain't just for "Hollow One". (Play: 4)
The amount of cards this thing churns through is insane. Something like "Mill-3, Draw-1" could have been decent, but good sequencing giving this card the ability to randomly refresh a dead hand is not to be underestimated.
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Cathartic Reunion
digs deep. (Play: ~2-4)
Whilst it doesn't dig as fast as Goblin Lore, Reunion does provide more selective filtering which can be particularly useful on turns 2-through-4 or so. Unfortunately, it becomes a bad topdeck when we're going hellbent, so cutting a copy or two might be the correct choice.
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Light Up the Stage
is solid card advantage. (Play: ~3-4)
This is another Sorcery that plays well with our instants; a
Lava Dart
from hand or grave can easily enable *spectacle* to "pseudo-draw" two cards at the low, low, cost of R. This effect is great for the deck, firstly on account of how well flashback'ed-
Lava Dart
s can enable alpha-strike on an already-low land count, but also on account of how phenomenally well
Cathartic Reunion
/
Goblin Lore
/
Burning Inquiry
can sequence a hand when cast from exile.
Burn - The most interactive part of the deck.
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Lightning Bolt
is as good as it gets. (Play: ~4)
The any-target 3-damage-for-R spell is simply the epitome of efficiency and flexibility; we can't honestly or legitimately ask for more.
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Lava Dart
feels like cheating. (Play: 4)
While a 1-damage burn spell could typically only snipe Nobles or Thalias at best, the flashback mode on this spell essentially gives you the flexibility to use it as a Forked Bolt if things get dicey. Alternatively, sandbagging these "Gut Shots from the graveyard" is key to helping us resurrect Arclights on demand.
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Tarfire
is good enough. (Play: ~2)
Whilst a 2-damage "Lightning Bolt" is generally unplayable in Burn, *delirium* synergy with DRC means you'll usually make up the difference plus interest by "flipping Delver". Getting a 3/3 DRC on turn-2 after lines like "fetch, Tarfire, Burning Inquiry" or "fetch, Cathartic Reunion discarding Tarfire" aren't uncommon.
"Flashback" - The recursive bit that enables everything.
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Lava Dart
is still primo. (Play: ~4)
As stated above, the flexibility of the card is especially superb when coming from the graveyard no matter if it got there after resolving, being surveiled, or being looted.
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Claim / Fame
is surprisingly useful. (Play: ~2)
Getting DRC or Devil back into play for B while upping the "Phoenix Count" is decent value but not particularly noteworthy; the additional "+2/+0 haste" for 1R does change the math a little, however. A few sandbagged copies of Lava Dart or Fame in the graveyard is often all you need to trigger Arclight for an alpha-strike even when in a hellbent topdeck-mode.
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Maximize Velocity
is more value. (Play: ~2)
Mostly here to up the "Phoenix Count" from the graveyard (like Dart/Fame), the Jump-Start mode can also help discard a topdecked Phoenix in a pinch.
