Rain of Gore would come in for Scapeshift not as defense against their mainboard, but against their sideboard. Almost every Scapeshift deck will run Obstinate Baloth sideboard, and occasionally main. Taking away the 4 life gain is important, otherwise they could combo off before you kill them. It would come in against Melira Pod because of a very important card in that deck, Kitchen Finks . The way it works is that the deck will use Melira, Sylvok Outcast , a persist creature like Kitchen Finks or Murderous Redcap and a sacrifice engine, usually Viscera Seer , to gain infinite life or infinite damage, respectively. If Kitchen Finks will now infinitely burn them, that takes away both the Finks combo, and their ability to simply play Finks for lifegain.

Ohhh okay. I've seen a Melira Pod deck that never got to combo off due to getting stomped by affinity. I saw all of those cards except Melira on the board; Pod was in hand.

I thought Skullcrack /Flames of the Blood Hand was enough to prevent that from happening?

Well, being that the combo is instant speed, it doesn't. The finks will still return to the battlefield, and when the turn ends they can immediately combo. On top of that, they can still infinite sac and scry

Consider Dragon's Claw for the mirror, as well as Spellskite because it is an incredibly powerful card.

No Lightning Helix ? Maybe you don't need it, but it is pretty good.

It's good, but I find it clogs up my hand. Possibly with so much other burn and burn/delver floating around it will be worth it, but as of now I find it's a little too slow as a Searing Spear with lifegain.

You might consider Monastery Swiftspear instead of Goblin Guide. This card is basically a goblin guide that doesn't give your opponents an advantage and gets bigger just for playing the things you were going to play anyways. Other than that, looks great!

teotherlegoguy I've considered it, but Guide is just a better creature in modern. Swiftspear limits you to playing pre-combat burn spells, which can be less than ideal, especially against counters or creatures you want to remove. Also, if you drop a turn 2 Eidolon, than Swiftspear is swinging in for 2 damage total by the end of turn 2 against Guide's 4. That means that you have to drop triple 1-drop precombat burn spells to match Guide's damage output of 6 by turn 3.
Guide's "downside" isn't even that harmful, while they can draw a land or two off of him, he gives information about counters and removal in their hand, and can give a turn 1 insight into what they're playing.
Guide is also a better topdeck, as he doesn't need other cards to make him strong.

Monastery Swiftspear is proven to be at least as good. You should certainly be playing it over Vexing Devil.

I'd argue that he's not nearly as good, for the reasons I said above. A cheap, pretty efficient substitute yes, but not as good.

As for Vexing Devil, he's in because I personally love the card and a great many opponents simply make the wrong play when deciding on him. He's really in because my local store isn't extremely skilled, and because it's so gratifying to hit them for 4 damage turn one. In a competitive setting I would most likely bring in Swiftspear in his place as Guide's little cousin.

nice work maybe add a Chandras Phoenix

Deck needs 4x Monastery Swiftspear

T1 Rift Bolt T2 Monastery Swiftspear + Lightning Bolt = 9 damage. T3 3x Boltalikes for 9 more damage and 4 from Swifty for 13 total = 22

Means Swifty can get u lethal with 22 damage by turn 3. For comparison sake, the most damage Goblin Guide can get u by T3 is 21.

I'd also consider dropping 1x Grim Lavamancer for 1x Forked Bolt. Both are good but just for variance.

4x Arid Mesa would work better with Searing Blaze and Grim Lavamancer in place of Mana Confluence

There's no reason to play a card just to try and take advantage of people, because they will get better. Just play the card that will deal more damage over the course of the game. More Goblin Guides is always good.

APPLE01DOJ actually, if the Swiftspear is dropped turn one than it will be 23 damage, as the Rift Bolt will be able to trigger prowess on turn 3. However, I like to include an Eidolon into my curve on turn 2, as that is a more realistic game. Monastery Swiftspear makes wins bigger, however it's not quite as consistent, and I personally love playing my instants in response to things or on their end step. I very much would like to put in 4x Arid Mesa, or even 4x Wooded Foothills, however at the moment I only have Confluence. When I get more I'll definitely replace them. Thanks for your advice!

GlistenerAgent I'm very much considering it, however it requires some major playtesting and a bit of a change in my play style. I love playing instants around counters, so being stonewalled into predictable pre-combat use isn't something I really look forward to. Also, Vexing Devil will deal comparable amounts of damage. With Swiftspear, it'll either be removed immediately or get in some damage until removal is found or a big blocker is made. Devil will either land and be Bolt'd or deal 4, unblockable damage. For now I'll stick with Devil, but you've convinced me to try playtesting with Swiftspear. Thanks for your suggestions!

WizBiz142 Thanks! Don't forget to +1 :)

I loved using phoenix during it's time in standard, however in Modern a 3CMC creature is too slow for burn. For comparison, Goblin Guide, while it does lack flying and has a possibly harmful ability, is a 2/2 haste that costs only 1. Monastery Swiftspear, which isn't included in the deck, can also very easily deal 2 or more damage per attack, for a cost of only 1.

Bigbadbear88 Eidolon of the Great Revel kicks ass too. I love the card, especially with all the naysayers about it :).

Here is my build, RDW maybe u could also give me some advice in return? I know it needs Goblin Guides but it's not my main deck so I'm gonna wait til the price sinks back down a bit.

And the only unrealistic thing about either of those games was the fairy tale T3 assuming u hit a land drop or two and had enough Lava Spikes/Lightning Bolts in hand to make it happen. Seriously though, since I added Monastery Swiftspear my wins are more frequent and faster.

WHAT!? Vexing Devil over Monastery Swiftspear!? WHAT!?

I'm just not convinced with Monastery Swiftspear. I know that Vexing Devil is one of those "omg guys it's just Browbeat they're always bad because you let your opponent choose" kind of cards, but I have some very logical reasons for running him.

Vexing devil has 2 possible outcomes, either he deals 4 damage or they have a removal spell and he dies. Thats it. If it's late game and they don't have removal, he's just a 4/3 for R. Either way I'm pretty happy; 4 damage for R is a total win and drawing out a removal spell is acceptable, because it clears the way for Eidolon of the Great Revel.

Monastery Swiftspear will either land and swing, our they have removal and he dies. Although he has the capacity for more than 4 damage, that means I have to commit to pre-combat burn spells, which I don't like. I'm a burn player who appreciates finesse, responses, endsteps, and tapped out opponents. If I start playing Lightning Bolt pre-combat, that both limits my options and leaves me more open to counters, neither of which I like.

Since everyone and their mother has suggested Monastery Swiftspear, I'll try it out, but I'm sticking with Vexing Devil for now.

bolt itself can be played during combat pre damage step.

Still, I prefer to use it when they tap out for Celestial Colonnade, sac everything for Scapeshift, cast Kiki/Splinter Twin, Grapeshot me, or in response to some sort of instant-speed lifegain.

No better way to ensure victory than to kill them when they tap out to win :)

At least test it, vexing devil is just not good.

what do you have the Bloodstained Mire in for?

Bnon, Bloodstained Mire and Wooded Foothills can both fetch for mountains, including Sacred Foundry and Stomping Ground which counts as both a mountain and a plains. That means that I effectively am running 11 copies of Sacred Foundry, 11 copies of Mountain, and 9 copies of Stomping Ground, along with 4 Mana Confluence, in a 19 land deck.

As an added bonus they can trigger Landfall on my opponent's turn for Searing Blaze.

Also, fetches allow for a very small "thinning" effect, because when you use one you're removing an extra land from your library, ever so slightly increasing the chances that you'll draw a nonland.

Wait, maybe I don't understand Eidolon of the Great Revel as well I should, but it seems that this is the worst possible deck for it. This being because every single card in your deck has a cmc of three or less. That means that after turn two you have seven spells before you have taken 21 damage. The only two ways you could survive is if at least one of them was a Lightning Helix, or if you relied on swinging with the Eidolon at least once. The other possible strategy is to attack continuously in hope that it will be dead before you loose too much life from self-burn. I do see the whole idea that the opponent's spells will burn them too, but is that really worth it? Good deck, solid burn. +1 for me.