Theros Mono Red Burn
Standard
SCORE: 11 | 5 COMMENTS | 43944 VIEWS | IN 4 FOLDERS
First tournament —Jan. 3, 2014
Went 2-2 in a small tournament. I couldn't acquire a 4th Young Pyromancer or 4th Molten Birth, so ran an Ash Zealots and Act of Treason mainboard instead.
First match vs. green/red huge monsters, went 1-2. The plan was to play somewhat defensively, doing my best to burn away his acceleration and generate enough tokens to block his creatures that were too difficult to remove. Sylvan Caryatid was a huge thorn in my side, being unburnable and big enough to block any one creature effectively. In the end, I couldn't deal with my opponent using Ghor-Clan Rampager for bloodrush, bypassing my blocks. In future will try to spend more time burning face, less time managing board.
Second match vs. mono-red aggro, went 2-1. This match up was very favourable for me. First game got surprised by speed, was at 4 life by my 3rd turn. Managed to stop the bleeding, but eventually fell to a top-decked Lightning Strike. Side-boarded in Boros Reckoner, more Ash Zealots, and Mindsparkers, taking out Act of Treason and Guttersnipe. Next two games were easy wins, with early Ash Zealot and lots of 1/1 elementals preventing my opponent from doing anything until I could overwhelm them.
Third match vs. mono-white aggro, went 2-0. First game just burnt any threat (Precinct Captain), dropped tokens, and let my deck do its thing. Second game opponent sided in Fiendslayer Paladins, slowing things down a lot. I eventually just generated enough tokens to overwhelm them.
Fourth match vs. a pretty odd blue-white Daxos of Meletis deck, went 1-2. On paper, I think this should have been a very easy win. Game one my opponent drops Daxos with an Aqueous Form, and my burn fails repeatedly to land due to Mizzium Skin and Brave the Elements. Daxos then takes all the burn off my deck and plays it on me. Game two, I successfully burn away Daxos, and overwhelm my opponent with 3/3 golems from Hammer of Purphoros. Game 3 I get stuck on two land while my opponent builds up a decent board state, protecting Daxos from my burn. I eventually stabilize at 7 life, but at this point my opponent drops Elspeth, Sun's Champion on the board, and I'm all out of burn.