You play him, you take some damage, your opponent dies as almost every card in modern triggers it. You can just sit back and not play spells if he's out.

I wish I had a nickel for everyone that thought eidolon would kill themselves.

zyphermage How does 1000 extra dollars sound?

Or they could sit back and not cast anything. Any card that gives your opponent a choice is a starting handicap. If they dont need to cast anything else, they can sit back and swing with their 3/4 goyf until you devote two more mana, two cards, and six life to get rid of it.

zyphermage I never claimed you would kill yourself with the card, merely that you would be doing a significant amount of damage to yourself if you got it out at its earliest and most effective.

They took two from goyf, throw two bolts at their face after blocking with eidolon, assuming it's turn two they already shocked at least once, and taken four from guide, they are now at 6, you have 3 mana open, you win.

@RoarMaster

Here's the thing. Burn doesn't care about its life total. You can be at 1 life, and so long as they died faster you've won the game. Eidolon of the Great Revel makes it incredibly hard for the rest of the format to win without dying, and the argument that they can just sit back and not cast spells doesn't hold water. If they don't do anything, you will eventually draw burn spells to kill them. Eidolon is a must-kill creature that will deal them 6-8 damage unchecked.

Eidolon, if nothing else, is 2 damage even if it comes in and eats a killspell. You play it after your burns are exhausted to put your opponent in a position where they can't do much.

I'm building this now. Best burn deck I've seen in a LONG time.

Interestingly, I updated my build around the time that cruise got banned, and our burn decks are almost carbon copies of each other now. I have 1 less fetch, 1 more foundry, and 3 fast lands in place of mountains, and instead of mutagenic growth and lavamancer I just use 4 shard volley. Other than that, same deck, purely by coincidence.

YamishiTheWickedOne Hey, great minds think alike.

bamfbanki Thanks!

What are your thoughts on Geist of Saint Traft I have tried him out in my version of burn which is very similar to yours, and I have had good success with him vs control and decks like jund and junk that run a lot of 1 for 1 removal. He is in my board for clarification purposes.

firefox46 not a fan.

@firefox46 I think the real reason to play Geist was how good it was in the Delver matchup. Additionally, it provides another plan against Leyline of Sanctity. I don't like it in this particular deck because five colors is a bit much when you'll often only have 2-3 lands in play.

It was played at least in part because every burn deck was running blue for cruise anyway. I don't like it now that cruise is gone.

Hmm I think I liked Burnt Rainbows as the title better.

Sweet deck though- props for running four color burn.

ThisIsBullshit but it isn't rainbow anymore. And thanks!

I would suggest Boros over Mardu. The reason being damage to ourselves. Anyone who played Cruise Burn knows how much damage you take from fetching for three colors. In that build it was ok because one Treasure Cruise wins you the game 90% of the time. In Mardu, Bump in the Night is usually not going to be resolved for the win.

Grim Lavamancer as a three of is what you replace cruise with. Card advantage is what we lost with the bannings, so getting it back is where the deck needs to go. Cruise and Mancer share the property of using the graveyard, which means they benefit from the same things. Instead of bump, you run Shard Volley as a resource enhancer and flood insurance.

ConBurnMadMan, I actually don't really like Grim Lavamancer. I find it just tends to eat a bolt. IF anything, I'd recommend to keep it mardu and bump Searing blaze up 2.

The reason we splash black is that Bump in the Night is a bolt that's just flat out better than Shard Volley. Plus, you have to think of our match ups we're likely to face.

1) Abzan/Jund2) Twin3) Affinity 4) Zoo

We can keep aggressively playing burn spells to kill Twin as the current builds are going to be too slow to keep up, and we can very easily punish Abzan and Jund's use of cards like Dark Confidant.

We have to try to race Affinity and force a t4 kill, which in itself can be hard,

Zoo is the match you want Searing Blaze the most in, so you can play a land, kill a Wild Nacatl, a Kird Ape, or a Tarmogoyf

It comes down to "Do you want to splash an extra color, and take damage from shocks" or "Do you want to rely on a creature that catches a bolt quick"

@bamfbanki Jund/Junk is almost an auto win with what ever build you play. Zoo I agree Searing Blaze is an all-star in, but Bump in the Night is not a good card in that matchup. It's sorcery speed and can't hit a creature, Shard Volley is instant and can kill their win cons. The flashback is also almost always irrelevant. Affinity is where you are way off. We are the control deck in that matchup. We dont race, we outclass their cards with cards like Destructive Revelry, Searing Blood, Searing Blaze, and Smash to Smithereens. You control their drops and win with timed burn. Also, Grim Lavamancer is an all-star in that matchup, he kills most everything they drop.

Grim Lavamancer was the card we dropped to put Treasure Cruise in the deck. It was just better card advantage. I think more people would understand him if he read a bit differently.

Lets imagine he text was, "During your upkeep draw Shock. Grim Lavamancer can't attack if you cast shock."

Everyone would argue how he is the best Burn creature ever. I'm not saying he is the best, that honor still lies with Goblin Guide, but people would still say it. It's the reason you run Eidolon of the Great Revel in burn. Virtual card advantage in the form of 2 damage burn spells.

The meta is going to be much like it was pre-Khans, except we are a better deck because of Monastery Swiftspear. Take a look at the top 8 of the last GP before Khans. You'll find two Burn decks there, one of which placed first. You'll notice both are Boros, and the winning deck list is running 3 Grim Lavamancers.

Having a bunch of bolts is awesome, but top decking a fetch a being able to win off of it because it gave your Grim Lavamancer enough fuel to go to the face is much better. Card advantage is what Magic is all about, card advantage that does damage is what Burn is all about.

Tarmogoyf is a $200 card that eats removal most of the time he is cast. So why do so many people play him?? Because when he sticks he wins games. Samething Grim Lavamancer does for our deck.

Grim Lavamancer is fantastic. I used to run three and would draw at the wrong times. Bump is fantastic. Plus two color is boring, four color is where it's at.

Winning is never boring ;)

The thing is, I do win, a lot more than my friend who plays a identical list minus black, with shard volleys.

I run a full set of both. I can usually overkill on turn 4, occasionally turn 3. I just bought a lavamancer last week, wondering if I should drop a card for him as a one-of.

ConBurnMadMan You'd be surprised how much work Bump in the Night can do. It's another Lava Spike, which is very powerful, and isn't red so it isn't affected by Dragon's Claw or the like.

The flashback can be relevant if you're having a flooded game, which can happen, and it gives you some assurance that if you get to 6 lands then the Bump in your graveyard can kill them. Once I was even at 7 lands and Bump into flashbacked Bump for the win. It's very uncommon, but it happens.

I spent a long time running Shard Volley, and my biggest problem was it can't be cast in multiples and can't be cast before it's lethal. Bump can do both of those things. There is nothing worse than having one land and two Shard Volleys in hand. In my experience Shard Volley has cost me games where it wouldn't have if it was Bump in the Night.

I agree with your evaluation of Grim Lavamancer. I've been trying to tell people this all year! Having multiple is pretty bad, but getting out one on turn 2 or 3 against Aggro or Control is great. He's in my deck, Lightning Bolt and Some Lookalikes, as a 2-of.

My friends are getting into modern as well. One's playing Zoo, the other is playing Affinity. As such, I modified my sideboard, dropping the Soulfire Grand Masters for 2 Stony Silence, although I am considering Kataki, War's Wage instead. What do you think about it?