It's a pun.
I think I'm on to something here...
I know Burn is a formula that doesn't need a whole lot of tinkering to work, but I like doing things differently and I had an idea I just couldn't let go of. Eidolon of the Great Revel punishes both players for doing things, but with burn you are typically dealing damage directly to your opponent every turn which means you and them are working towards the same ending together. It's risky, but completely proven to be effective.
When working on a deck for the Tiny Leaders format, I came up with the concept of removing as much of that punishment from your own side of the table as possible by replacing ALL burn spells with the activated abilities from Seismic Assault, Molten Vortex, and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Since the damage is from activated abilities, counterspells are almost useless. All you need is one Vortex or Assault to be set up and even if they do have Enchantment removal eventually the Valakut will start hurting with any Mountain drop. Then the deck pretty much just needs to be full of land. Done. The Tiny Leaders version is a lot more interactive since it doesn't have access to one of the key components found here and is singleton so it's harder to get set up for this strategy, but it really got me thinking and this is what I've come up with.
So land for burn is great, but you need a way to keep your hand full too. What has an activated ability that helps you keep your hand full and possibly help out our cause in other ways at the same time? Ghirapur Orrery, that's what! Not only do I get to play extra lands to trigger Valakut more than once with Mountain drops, but since I get to ditch my hand for damage with Assault or Vortex I also get to draw 3, 6, 9, or 12 extra cards on my upkeep thanks to the Orrery. Amazing! So I'll have lands to ditch for days to keep their board clear of creatures, and with the Eidolon on the table whatever else they try to play is going to hurt them in the process. I love it. The global effect of playing extra land is hardly a bother since you should be able to use it far more effectively than your opponent.
I had one final epiphany when putting this together: "Holy crap Crucible of Worlds would let me ditch my hand for damage from Assault or Vortex and then allow me to play them from the graveyard for Valakut damage too!" That's 5 damage per land, and there's 36 Mountains boys and girls. That's whats up.
When looking at my options for the Sideboard I went through hundreds of Red cards and landed on the idea that I should stick to my land strategy and go for broke with land destruction paired with face damage. Dick move, I know. Shocks for days paired with land destruction is a horrible way to lose a game, but feels all powerful to win :)
Structural Distortion and Molten Rain avoid damage from the Eidolon while also hitting your opponent for damage and Melt Terrain comes at a slight discount but only hits when you target non-basic. Destroying a land on turn 3 could be pivotal, but having ways to destroy up to 12 land should be crippling.
I did also decide to put in one of the funnier win conditions with the Countryside Crusher. Hitting a Fatal Frenzy or Fling after a dozen or so Mountains typically results in death. Why not, I love a good laugh.
I came across another card I wasn't even looking for, but it fits so well I just had to use it in the main board. Quest for Pure Flame escalates things rather quickly. If played on turn one or two next to Vortex, you can get to those four quest triggers rather quickly. It cuts the amount of land required by at least half when you are ready for lethal damage. Just 3 lands would normally do 6 damage but now doubles to 12 and since you needed 4 instances of damage to use it first that would mean they've taken at least 8 damage already so they just die. Having all of the pieces in place and one of these ready to go can result in an obscene amount of damage, much more than necessary unless your opponent is playing some kind of life gain.
So there's my take on Modern Burn (one of them anyway) using Land to bolt down creatures and opponents for days. The budget for this deck can be reduced dramatically by removing Crucible of Worlds which is literally 60% of the current cost with those two slots alone and it wouldn't completely ruin the strategy. I myself won't be trying this at FNM any time soon so I'll just be using Proxies for casual Magic Mondays.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think in the comments and don't forget to vote!
