Why aren’t ramunap ruins and sun scorched desert played?
Modern forum
Posted on March 5, 2019, 11:40 a.m. by Grixis776
Like...wouldnt every mono-red deck want these? It’s DD on land, is the deck thinning with fetchlands really that much better then more burn?
Ruins requires you to have 5 lands in play. If you have 5 lands in play as a mono-red deck, you have probably lost the game already. The only monored decks, burn or goblins, have such strict colored requirements that playing Sunscorched Desert is not a posibility and the 1 damage is such marginal upside that it is not worth the downside.
For example, in goblins deck, Contested War Zone would be a much better Sunscorched Desert , but it is not played because of colorless production.
March 5, 2019 12:12 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #4
Burn cares more about its life total than one would expect. The go-to burn deck in modern is Boros with a green splash for Destructive Revelry out of the sideboard. But Atarka's Command is strictly better than Skullcrack . You'd think that they would play it since they're already in green. But they don't. Apparently you get a higher win without it by saving a few life and only fetching for green when you board in Revelry.
March 5, 2019 4:59 p.m.
1) Burn decks in Modern rely heavily on colored mana. You aren't going to cast Atarka's Command and then Boros Charm the next turn without relying on shocks and fetches. Sunscorched Desert may as well read: ", discard this card: do 1 damage to target player."
You're never going to be able tap it for mana except to hardcast Rift Bolt .
2) Ramunap Ruins is slower than just upping your land count and playing a manland. The damage also isn't insignificant, because like Sunscorched Desert , you're never going to tap it for colorless. Burn can find itself struggling to race against Affinity, Dredge, and Death's Shadow . Those situations get worse if your opening hand is relying on a shitty version of City of Brass .
Ramunap Ruins is probably neat sideboard tech against control, but there's not enough room.
Pervavita says... #2
Sunscorched Desert I think isn't ran as it produces colorless mana and in a mono-red deck where you want as few lands as possible and keep drawing spells I can see this being a problem if it's one of your 2-3 lands.
Ramunap Ruins I agree, I can't see why it doesn't see play. If you flood it's a expensive burn spell, if you don't flood it pings you for 1-3 damage during the game. As flood protection in mono-red I think that's well worth the small risk.
March 5, 2019 12:04 p.m.