One of the emerging stories of this PTQ season has been mono-red burn. The canonical burn deck, called “$40 Burn” in some places, is a package of creatures that all double as burn, burn spells, and a topping of Shrapnel Blast powered out with artifact lands. The goal here is simply to race every other deck, knocking them down before they get to do their thing.
As part of attempting to talk SSO into going to Sacramento with me this weekend, I’ve put together a slightly variant take on that deck design. Full list is in the extended.
14 Creatures: |
4× Mogg Fanatic |
2× Scorched Rusalka |
4× Spark Elemental |
4× Keldon Marauders |
25 Spells: |
4× Lava Spike |
4× Rift Bolt |
3× Shard Volley |
4× Incinerate |
4× Volcanic Hammer |
3× Char |
3× Flames of the Blood Hand |
21 Land: |
Blinkmoth Nexus |
4× Ghost Quarter |
2× God’s Eye, Gate to the Reikai |
Pendelhaven |
13× Mountain |
15 Sideboard: |
3× Tormod’s Crypt |
4× Fury Charm |
4× Stone Rain |
4× Threaten |
Explanations
Well, the obvious change here is the loss of Shrapnel Blast and the artifact lands, simply because I don’t have them and wasn’t going to try to rush out and get them on short notice. So, what do we have instead?
Burn spells
I kicked the mana curve up a bit compared to some designs, adding about two more three-mana burn spells than they pack. In addition, I stuck a full set of Hammers in the main. They may be the poor man’s Incinerate, but they’re still 3 damage, and that’s still 15% of your opponent’s starting life total for two mana.
Lands
With the artifact lands out, I’ve gone with a few other options. There are four Ghost Quarters in the main, there to try and cripple and set back decks that are dependent on picky mana bases. In addition, there’s a one-of Pendelhaven that can pump the Rusalkas and Fanatics. Finally, the two God’s Eyes are there to give this deck some life against Death Cloud and to give you the option of Ghost Quartering one away for a Mountain when you have nothing better to Ghost Quarter.
Sideboard
The sideboard has Crypts against Dredge (and maybe Tron). The Fury Charms are there to knock down key artifacts in Affinity builds, and they can double up as a bit more push on the offense. The Stone Rains come in as bonus harm against decks with finicky manabases. Finally, the Threatens are there for decks with big critters that can become obnoxious roadblocks (e.g. Doran).