Straightforward strategy geared to kill in 3 turns, but in practice will probably kill on turn 4 through opponent's disruption.
I've seen other lists going all in on kiln fiend. Protecting the kiln fiend requires too much commitment imho and slows the deck down. Instead of going all in on a single creature like infect this deck can easily kill the opponent with burn spells + swiftspear like in traditional burn so it does not have to combo to win the game. That makes it way more consistent imo.
Tradional burn in pauper is at least a turn slower than this deck. In a mirror the fact they have no choice except to burn away your creatures slows down their win con as much if not more.
Control decks are usually able to stop the combo, but get whittled away with burn spells.
The hardest matchup for this deck from my testing is R/G madness aggro, which tends to lay down a higher volume of threats with cheap burn spells to back it up. Affinity can also present some problems with large creatures coming out fast and early.
For R/G madness and a couple other matchups with a lot of 1/1 spam End the Festivities is the go to card.
For affinity Smash to Smithereens is good as it provides pseudo card advantage doing two things at once without losing tempo.
For Dimir control we got Red Elemental Blast and Apostle's Blessing.
Against RDW siding in Apostle's Blessing can force them to expend a lot of resources keeping your creatures off the board. I think this card works better in sideboard than maindeck because opponents may not play a lot of removal or a single color.
My philosophy on running this deck is that my fiends are just another tool for killing the opponent and not a do or die keeping one on the board. The spells pumping my creatures are hitting the opponent in the face for damage. Sometimes they remove a potential blocker to clear the way.
Let's run the math:
This deck without any creatures on the board can cast three bolts and a fireblast on turn 3 for 13 damage. That with some early monastery swiftspear and burn damage is enough for lethal by turn 4.
If all the opponent is defending with is creatures it gets even better. You can bolt or lightning dart their creature on turn 1, turn 2 drop Kiln Fiend, turn 3 bolt two of their creatures and STILL cast two bolts + fireblast for 10 and come in with a 10/10 Kiln Fiend for lethal.
A turn 3 kill with this deck is practical and not just some fantasy based on a nuts draw and zero opponent interaction although as I said against decks that are heavy removal a turn 4 non combo finish is more of what you are looking at.
