Red Deck Wins vs Burn
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 31, 2014, 8:42 p.m. by aeonstoremyliver
This could apply to both Legacy and Modern, however I've chosen to place this in the Modern forum due to the higher player percentage.
Mayhap my inner anal retentiveness is coming out. Perhaps I'm a sucker for details. Either way, I'd like to discuss the difference betwixt Red Deck Wins and Burn.
I love me some 
and have piloted it since near the inception of MTG. Quite a few years ago, when I came back to the game after a long hiatus, I became much more competitive. Wanting to break into Legacy, I picked up Fire & Lightning. I built my current Legacy, then Modern build, off of that list.
While constructing the deck over time, I noted other competive deck lists, and differences in the archetype/s. Burn, typically, plays very few, if any creatures. Most notable are Goblin Guide, Eidolon of the Great Revel (previously Keldon Marauders), and some number of Grim Lavamancer. Red Deck Wins, on the other hand, typically plays the same creatures, but a little more via Vexing Devil, Hellspark Elemental, and sometimes Ball Lightning.
Both decks play similar spells, however Burn will splash usually 
, 
, and 
for Boros Charm, Bump in the Night, and Treasure Cruise. Sometimes others for the sideboard, 
for Destructive Revelry. Red Deck Wins may splash, but not as heavy due to the reliance on Blood Moon.
In synopsis, Burn plays more spells, less creatures, and splashes for more colors. Red Deck Wins plays more creatures, (having a better chance at winning vs Leyline of Sanctity), splashes less, and can be more consistent.
This may be semantics, but I thought it worth a discussion of the Big , none-the-less.
:-)
It's unfortunate that RDW has lost its meaning in recent years to mean "Fast Red Deck."
There used to be three definitive red archetypes: Red Deck Wins, Sligh, and Burn.
Burn still exists as it did since Alpha; fling direct damage spells at your opponent's face until they were dead or you ran out of cards.
Sligh referred to the small weenie decks that played lots of guys with haste and low mana costs with high power. Ironclaw Orcs, Jackal Pup, etc.
RDW has become interchangeable with Sligh. However, it originally was a mono-red control deck from Extended that got its name from how much it started to dominate the format. Wastelands in combination with Rishadan Port and Stone Rain effects meant your opponent was mana starved. Grim Lavamancer, Mogg Fanatic (remember this was back when damage went on the stack), and Cursed Scroll could handle any threats that somehow were cast. On an empty board, they could slowly chip away at your opponent's life total.
I think the closest thing we have today for an old style of RDW was Big Red from INN-M13-RAV-M14 Standard. Or the Werewolf Prison deck in Legacy. Nowadays, it's generally better to splash other colors to play a red-based control deck because of how problematic certain cards can be. Examples would be Blue Moon in Modern and Jund in any format.
January 1, 2015 3:29 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #4
That was very informative sylvannos thanks.
I was toying with the idea of a non-Skred mono red control deck. Figure it'll be obnoxious to play against to say the least.
The whole deck needs to be Abrupt Decay'd but decks can only pack 4 copies :)
January 1, 2015 5:59 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #5
Thanks sylvannos, I neglected Sligh :-)
I've seen Cursed Scroll every now and again in lists. It was once a killer card when top decking. I've also seen Shrine of Burning Rage used to similar effect in Modern lists.
-Axion- says... #2
I find that a mix between the two can work just as well as either of the two archetypes themselves. Like you said, the two builds are fairly similar anyway. Check my deck out to see what I mean: Exit Through The Incinerator
Either way, they're a lot if fun.
December 31, 2014 10:38 p.m.