Blake Smith: Burn It All Down

When people find out I play Burn in Legacy, I usually get one of three responses:

A. “What? Why would you do that?”
B. “Why don’t you play a real deck?”
C. “It doesn’t take any skill to play that deck.” (Whenever people tell me that it doesn’t take any skill to play that deck, it is usually right after they lose to me in a tournament. Although when friends say this, I respond to them by saying, “I understand your thought process, but I disagree.”)

I, however, would say that Burn is a great deck to start learning a new format with, and is more skill-intensive than you may think.

The basic idea and plan of Burn is: No matter what deck you play against, burn their face! While this plan will work by getting you a few wins and allow you to learn how different decks in the format work, you mostly will not do well in tournaments unless you learn some of the finer points and how some of the cards interact with other decks.

With this weekend’s Championship Trial at Nerd Rage being Legacy, I plan to play — you guessed it — Burn. We’ll start with the 75 cards I intend to play at that tournament, as well as some brief explanations of why I made some of those decisions. I’ll also discuss some other cards that can be possibilities and some budget options.

 

The creatures in the deck all have multiple benefits and low mana costs, and most have haste. Goblin Guide is the optimal turn 1 play, because it’s a 2/2 with haste that also reveals the top card of your opponent’s library. Monastery Swiftspear is also a one-drop with haste, but is only a 1/2; however, she does have prowess. With the prowess ability, she can become extremely large, but you have no way to trigger prowess on turn 1. Grim Lavamancer’s ability adds reach that Goblin Guide and Swiftspear can’t match if your opponent has blockers, so it can be a threat at any point. Eidolon of the Great Revel is our only two-mana creature, but its triggered ability is excellent in a format full of cheap spells. Also, it’s a 2/2 for two, which allows it to chip in some extra damage here and there.

The instants and sorceries are mostly chosen for their efficiency in killing players. Lightning Bolt, Lava Spike and Chain Lightning are all spells that do three damage to a player and cost one mana, so you will need four copies of each in your deck. Price of Progress is arguably the strongest card in your deck. Most decks in Legacy use dual and other non-basic lands, which allows Price of Progress to do six to eight damage, or sometimes even more, if played at the correct time.

The two-of Searing Blaze in the main is a personal choice, because while several decks in the format do use smaller creatures, Searing Blaze can still be a completely dead card in your hand. For that reason, I go with the two in the main and two in the side plan. Rift Bolt is arguably the worst card in the deck, but is still played because it can be a spell that does three damage for the cost of one mana and some patience. Rift Bolt is usually my first target for siding out when there is not an obvious card to remove for incoming cards.

Exquisite Firecraft and Fireblast are two burn spells that do four damage. Fireblast has a converted mana cost of six, but has an alternate casting cost of sacrificing two mountains. This ability makes it an almost free, high-damage burn spell, but because you lose the lands, this is normally not a spell you will want to see more than one of in your hand. Exquisite Firecraft is a three-mana burn spell that is uncounterable if there are two or more instants and/or sorceries spell in your graveyard, making it a great way to punch through the last few points of damage against any controlling strategy.

In the main deck, there is only one spell that is not an instant, sorcery or creature. Sulfuric Vortex stops everyone from gaining life. Seeing as how your opponent gaining life is one of the most common reasons you lose a game, that aspect of this card alone makes it a must-have in your deck. On top of stopping life gain, Sulfuric Vortex also does two damage to players on their upkeep. Combine this damage with all the direct damage that you are already doing and you should be closing out the game quickly.

The mana base in this deck is very basic. There are eight basic mountains and one Taiga, your only source of non-red mana. Also, there is a package of 10 fetch lands that can get you mountains. Running that many fetch lands has multiple benefits. First, it thins out your deck, which lowers the odds that you will draw a land later on when you need that final burn spell. Second, it provides extra fuel for Grim Lavamancer by filling your graveyard, and can help avoid turning off Exquisite Firecraft’s Spell mastery. Third, it allows you to crack a fetch on your opponent’s turn to trigger landfall for Searing Blaze for maximum benefit. Finally, if you sided in Destructive Revelry, it allows you to get the one Taiga in your deck so you can cast it.

Sideboarding with Burn is one of the most challenging aspects of playing the deck, so I will walk you through my thought process. The first card I always aim for when there is no other obvious option is Rift Bolt, because of its high mana cost if you can’t suspend it early. Searing Blaze is a great target for removing if the deck you are facing doesn’t have any creatures or only larger ones. Price of Progress comes out if you’re playing against mono colored decks or players that are using predominantly basic lands. If your opponent is playing a deck where most of the spells cost more than three, then Eidolon of the Great Revel will most likely do more damage to you than your opponent.

Now that we have an idea of what to take out and when, let’s talk about what to bring in and when. The other two Searing Blazes are brought in when facing decks with a lot of smaller creatures — such as Elves and Death & Taxes — so that you can optimize your damage and removal. Another good card to bring in to get rid of a lot of smaller creatures is Volcanic Fallout. Volcanic Fallout is the closest thing that burn has to a board wipe, because it damages all the creatures and players at instant speed.

Whenever you see a deck playing blue, bring in your Pyroblasts. Pyroblast can either counter target blue spell — usually your opponent’s counter spell — or destroy a blue permanent such as Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Ensnaring Bridge is brought in to stop decks that win by attacking you with creatures. It is effective in stopping both the larger creatures from attacking or a large horde of smaller creatures. The key strategy for you here is to keep your hand empty and burn your opponent to death while they are stuck doing nothing.

Ashen Rider has one and only one purpose in your sideboard, and that is to come in against Show and Tell. With the enters the battlefield ability of exiling target permanent, you can just exile anything that they try and cheat in against you.

Whenever you play against anyone doing lots of graveyard shenanigans, such as Dredge and Reanimator, or decks that bring in creatures from their library, Grafdigger’s Cage is your new best friend.

Against decks that use a lot of artifacts you will need to bring in your complement of Destructive Revelry and Shattering Spree. Destructive Revelry destroys their artifacts and enchantments, while also causing damage. Shattering Spree can destroy multiple artifacts by copying itself; it also gets around Chalice of the Void, because the copies are not cast. The only defense your deck has against enchantment heavy decks like Leylines or decks that run Leyline of Sanctity is Destructive Revelry. The final thing I will say about sideboarding is that it is best to have a set plan, but sometimes you will just need to go with your gut.

There are some other possibilities for the deck. Bedlam Reveler is a powerhouse creature with a converted mana cost of eight, but can be cast for as little as two if there are enough instances and sorceries in your graveyard. Because the plan is to cast it in the late game, you will normally have an empty hand, so when the enters the battlefield trigger happens, there will be no downside. You just get to draw three new cards. The ETB trigger can also be a great way to mitigate flooding, because you can pitch a couple lands and draw three new cards. There is some debate on whether you play him in the main or sideboard. I say play him in the main and only side him out when you need to speed up the deck.

Smash to Smithereens is an option instead of Destructive Revelry. On the plus side, it only requires red mana, so there will be no need for the Taiga. The down side is that it can only target artifacts, so your deck will have no defense from enchantments.

Become Immense, because of its Delve ability, allows you to sneak in extra damage for one green mana. If you are considering this option, I would recommend going with a full four Monastery Swiftspears.

One of the most expensive parts of this deck is the fetch lands, so if you want to replace them all with basic mountains, it will save you a pretty penny. Keep in mind that you will lose fuel for Grim Lavamancer, so I would consider replacing one or more of him from the deck if you go this route. Also, without fetch lands, it will become more difficult to get your one-of Taiga when needed, so I would recommend the Smash to Smithereens package.

If you’re interested in Legacy Burn, start here, but try different combinations to find what works best for you, because that is the only way to learn new tactics and strategies for playing Magic. No matter what deck you decide to sleeve up and play, whether it be this deck, one of the variations I suggested, or a completely different deck altogether, just remember to go out there and have fun, because that’s why we play this game in the first place.

Blake Smith is a Magic player and Level 1 judge from Kenosha, Wis. Contact him at Bas4army@yahoo.com.

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Blake Smith