I completely disagree with GlistenerAgent's statement that Boros Charm is in the bottom two cards in the deck.

Charm gives 4 damage topdecks, as well as some versatility. The ability to get 4 damage instead of 3 out of a card is much more relevant that you'd believe. As a multi-format burn player, I definitely say do not take out Charm.

While I don't love Lightning Helix, the life matters in the mirror, against aggro, and against UWR Control and Delver builds.

I personally don't love Monastery Swiftspear. In my opinion it isn't not as good as goblin guide, for reasons I will explain in a second comment (copy pasted from another thread). Also, I'd rather topdeck a 3 damage burn spell in Lightning Helix or Shard Volley late game than get Monastery Swiftspear , which will be a mere 1 damage, if it gets through.

quesobueno123 I've put a lot of thought into Monastery Swiftspear , and have decided to not include it. My reasoning is this

My optimal turns 1 & 2 in almost every matchup would be Goblin Guide then Eidolon of the Great Revel . Being that Eidolon isn't a noncreature spell, Swiftspear would swing for only 1 damage each turn, being a net loss of 2 damage versus swinging with Guide turns 1 and 2. Even if I was to drop 2 burn spells, precombat I might add, turn 2, Guide and Swiftspear break even on damage, however Guide is more consistent and doesn't require me to play burn spells pre-combat, which may not be best. On turn 3, where Swiftspear would be swinging for 3-4 rather than Guide's 2, it would have dealt a total of 5-6 damage (assuming Eidolon) against Goblin Guide's 6. Modern Burn's greatest strength is it's brutal consistency, if you'd care to playtest you'll find that this deck will turn 4 goldfish about 70% of the time, with turn 3 being about 10% and turns 5+ being roughly 20%. Putting in a conditional creature would make my wins bigger and my losses harder, which is something I don't want to do.

My last reason for using Guide over Swiftspear would be that Guide is a much stronger topdeck, as it doesn't require other cards in hand to make it work.

As for simply taking something else out instead of Guide, I prefer to keep my creature count low and burn spells high. I don't see a card that I would take out in favor of a second, slightly weaker Guide.

(copy and pasted from a different thread, so it's formatted as a response to a suggestion)

Nobody is saying swiftspear instead of guide they're saying do both.

i agree with quesobueno123, 1 drop creatures loose all the value by turn three. it would be nice to Goblin Grenade the guide. but its to inconsistent

"As for simply taking something else out instead of Guide, I prefer to keep my creature count low and burn spells high. I don't see a card that I would take out in favor of a second, slightly weaker Guide."

Like I said, copy pasted from something else, but still my stance on Swiftspear. It's good, but too inconsistent. Burn relies on it's brutal consistency through repetitive cards, adding a 1/2 haste that can buff makes for poorer topdecks, and lets be honest, Burn runs on topdecks.

@Bigbadbear88 Thank you!! Someone agrees with me! The Enlightened will reign once more!! In all seriousness though, I honestly think that Swiftspear is being overhyped in Modern. Great in Standard fo sho, but Modern? Eh... consistency in topdecks and redundancy (which, let's be clear here, is the one reason that burn is viable in any given format) is better than a lucky extra 1 or 2 damage on turn 2 or 3.

Bigbadbear88 I am just testing it it may come out.

Think about it a little. Swiftspear is worse on turns 1 and 6+, but almost always better in between. When you don't have Eidolon, it's a great deal better than Guide and can attack into many more creatures.

Regarding Boros Charm : The last mode is completely useless and the second mode is marginal at best. Two mana for four damage is a little worse than 1 mana for 3 damage, even if it is a better topdeck. Remember that you are playing to kill them before you are in topdeck mode, so you want to be casting cheap spells as much as possible. Even in the early game, you want to cast multiple spells per turn if at all possible.

One more note: Guide always swings as a 2/2, while Swiftspear (aside from turn 1 and the very late game states) swings as at least a 2/3, and usually more. Opponents will be scared to block it for fear of losing their larger creature, and they don't get lands.

GlistenerAgent in a perfect game, yes, it's better, however I'll take consistency over a better perfect game. As for killing before topdeck mode, you'll find that for any burn deck that is hard to do every time. While Guide will give them lands, the idea is you can outrace any card draw. Besides, you can gain important information! More than once I've revealed a Twin or counterspell.

Against control you don't want to be limited by playing pre combat burn, you need the ability to instant while they're tapped out to avoid counters

I guess we shouldn't be arguing about whether Swiftspear or Guide is better, because I think you should be playing both. It is my opinion that Monastery Swiftspear is almost certainly better than Lightning Helix in this deck, so that can go should you want to keep Boros Charm .

why are we running Grim Lavamancer again? he is basically a shock each turn . why not Vexing Devil

Grim Lavamancer is practically guaranteed shocks. Vexing Devil isn't guaranteed anything.

magicbullet What do you mean "again" it never left? Plus it is VERY good

I mean Grim Lavamancer isn't guaranteed either.

you could be dead the next turn (before you use him) or they could just zap him.

Vexing Devil isn't guaranteed either, but if you win the game turn 4-5 he is?

my question is on what turn do your opponents let him sit on the board?

Just a thought, I dont know the answer just starting conversation.

They let him stay if he will do four or less damage as a creature. This means they can remove him, meaning that you spent one card to not deal damage (even if you took one of their cards, that doesn't matter). Lavamancer gives reach, meaning that as the game wears on he will provide consistent damage each turn instead of being in complete topdeck mode.

magicbullet He stays whenever they want it's their choice which is why he is bad. Whenever they are at 3 and you draw him over a burn spell you are screwed.

gotcha makes sense. play testing a deck now and realized his late game strategy.

@magicbullet think of it like this... You're playing a mirror match or a removal-heavy deck. If you play Vexing Devil , they laugh at you, let it resolve, then Lightning Bolt it at the end of your turn. Monastery Swiftspear is actually replacing him in a lot of RDW decklists.

one more question .what card was it that Monastery Swiftspear replaced.

im also struggling to get this deck to beat affinity is affinity a weakness?

Not really, just bring in all of your artifact hate and resolve an Eidolon, the game wraps up fast from there. Just make sure to kill all the creatures, affinity runs out of steam before you do so you're favored in a topdeck war

ahh, so its how you play against it

Right. Affinity relies on its cheap drops to either overwhelm the board or cast its big dudes that are extremely difficult to burn away. If you get rid of their little guys, they can plop a big dude down late-game but by that time you have them down to 5 or less life, so you win the top-deck war.

Your sideboard is different and well thought out, I like it. +1