Sulfuric Vortex is a great sideboard card for decks like Lands and Countertop.

I considered Sulfuric Vortex and play tested in this deck vs others. Against an Aggro mirror the 2 life lost could lose me the game. So, I opted for Everlasting Torment instead. I noted also the Wither mechanic was a benefit if mine rather than my opponent's. Plus it was more of a budget card lol.

Why would Sulfuric Vortex be better than Everlasting Torment against those decks?

Vortex is awful against agro. But against slow decks, such as Pox, Lands, or Countertop, the 2 damage per turn is tough for them to deal with, as all you really need is to get one or 2 burn spells to be ahead of them. It's strictly a sideboard card, as you said, against faster decks it's terrible.

maybe Hellspark Elemental would fit here too. I know its 1 more mana than the Spark Elemental but it does have unearth.

@ Kaitoghost Agreed. Everlasting Torment has more versatility, IMO, and the Wither is a good bonus as I'm not concerned much with losing my creatures, it's to my advantage.

@ Arich121 I had Hellspark Elemental in the deck in it's early conception, but removed it for Goblin Guide and better burn spells. I've considered replacing Ball Lightning for Hellspark Elemental , but a 6/1 Trample for RRR puts the opponent in a tight spot. Game 1 they don't see it coming as it's a rogue card, and I sometimes side it out Game 2 & 3 for Blood Moon and Everlasting Torment , pending the matchup.

I think I'd prefer Browbeat to Reforge the Soul . I just don't like the inconsistency of miracle. Do you mulligan if it's in your opening hand?

Cool deck!

also, Skullcrack instead of Everlasting Torment . Less mana and instant speed makes a huge difference.

Sorry for triple comment, but you said you need sideboard help with Legacy metagame... Well, allow me to recommend Mindbreak Trap which stops those annoying Turn 0 combo decks that are pretty rampant in legacy. It can usually hose Storm as well, as can Pyrostatic Pillar .

I'd also suggest Faerie Macabre over Relic of Progenitus for dealing with graveyard shenanigans. The 0 mana makes a big difference since this deck needs to maximize its red, and the instant speed is good too and also means you can use it on Turn 0 if you need to.

Hope that was the kind of help you needed!

I'm experimenting with Reforge the Soul at the moment, and I do tend to mulligan if it's in my opening hand. The Miracle turn 3-4 is great and 9/10 nets me a win. Browbeat I've found is typically 5 damage for 3 mana, so not worth the cost in Legacy. I may take out Reforge in favor of more burn. I plan to live test with a friend first, though.

I've been back and forth about Skullcrack . While its a great card and has its advantages, Everlasting Torment being a permanent can be much more useful. I'll continue to test with Skullcrack though.

I like the idea of Faerie Macabre . I haven't yet had to play many turn 0 plays, however that is a great hose over Relic and Crypt. My friend's Dredge deck goes off on turn two, earliest.

Oh yeah, I'm well aware of Mindbreak Trap and the Storm it beats :-) Mayhap I should be more specific in my description regarding the sideboard. I suppose the question I need to ask is if which card fits best: Shatterstorm (great for Affinity, however the CMC has me at pause), Smash to Smithereens , or Shattering Spree .

Ah I see. well, between all of those I think Shattering Spree is the best. With 4 mana it destroys 4 artifacts making it nearly as good as Shatterstorm , but the cmc flexibility makes it better in my opinion.

Smash to Smithereens fits the burn deck nicely, though. Destroys a problem artifact, as well as Bolt's them to the face. Burn rarely ever has enough lands to cast Shatterstorm or a big Shattering Spree .

@yuval and @Kaitoghost, I was leaning towards Smash to Smithereens due to the burn factor. I do like Shatterstorm for the nostalgic factor haha!

Affinity and Tempered Steel decks are such powerhouses that utilize lots of artifacts to their advantage. Having spot removal for Cranial Plating is good, but Master of Etherium and Etched Champion are other threats. Etched Champion is unremovable in most cases. That was my main reasoning for Shatterstorm , as it takes out their entire board. A bit of a Ponder ing quandary...

Save the artifact removal for Cranial Plating . Etched Champion isn't enough of a threat on it's own for you to worry about, just keep throwing burn spells at the player, and try to outrace it.

For your side-board ... I would put in multiples of various cards, there is no real harm in them as they can't be Detention Sphere 'd etc easily. I'll try and give suggestions, but legacy is not my main area, so I don't know the deck styles. I personally would put in enchantments as once they're on the field they are difficult to get rid of, unless they are playing green, however I don't know what kind of life-gain legacy may play, if it is something like continuous life-gain with Ivory Tower or instant like Marshaling the Troops ... never actually seen a life-gain legacy deck so I wouldn't know for sure what to look for.

So ... remove 2 Everlasting Torment for 1 Sulfuric Vortex and a Skullcrack for now, facing against other legacy players will help you decide what is more important.

I agree on removing Relic of Progenitus for Faerie Macabre , turn one legacy wins are around, and Solomon's deck is an excellent example of what to expect. You may or may not want to remove Tormod's Crypt for another one of them as well, you have to consider when they'll end up going first. Most turn 1 wins are because of graveyard effects that I've found, so removing your opponent's chance to activate his/her graveyard is kinda important. If you have the money, Mindbreak Trap s are really useful, but you could also run Leyline of the Void .

Remove 2 Red Elemental Blast s for 2 Pyroblast s, no reason but things like Detention Sphere , but there really is no reason not to.

I would remove a Smash to Smithereens for a Shattering Spree at the moment, you'll have to figure out what you'll be facing. If cheerio decks are your biggest concern like my K'nex or your Artifactory Wins deck, Shattering Spree will be useful. If it is combo decks using an artifact or two then Smash to Smithereens will be your best bet. If it is affinity, then use Shatterstorm as it will also destroy their artifact lands.

Try and get the onslaught fetchlands if you can, that would allow you to have three different lands. I may be paranoid about the Detention Sphere thing, but I've faced decks based around those types of cards.

Also, beware of using Goblin Guide , Young Pyromancer and Figure of Destiny . Considering a major component of your deck is Grim Lavamancer , cards that don't enter your graveyard will destroy some important synergy. Also, Goblin Guide won't do you much good against land heavy decks, especially against decks that win as fast or faster then you do. It gives them a better topdecking situation.

Figure of Destiny is interesting and tempting, but you are using Fireblast , fetchlands, and Barbarian Ring . Meaning you should never be getting up to that 6th land. And if you do, Swords to Plowshares , Path to Exile , Cyclonic Rift ... just to name a few. You said you were winning by turn 4-5, then what good is a card which its full potential is never seen?

Young Pyromancer ... is iffy, I've never liked him. 1/1 elementals can never really do much damage to the opponent, you have to consider that the opponent will be guaranteed to have something that can block them. I mean sure you can destroy whatever he has out, but the net damage to him will be lower, you are exchanging 2-4 damage for a 1 damage creature. The best thing that he is good for is getting out chump blockers against aggro, and nothing else.

For the replacement, Hellspark Elemental is good, but its flashback goes against your Grim Lavamancer . Ball Lightning and Elemental Appeal are powerful and can be good creature control to boot when they are forced to block with their combo creatures, however with all the land sac'ing, they may not be good choices. I really enjoy Browbeat as it is mainly used for when you have they opponent down to that little bit of health left and they are forced to let you draw 3. Draw 3, get those burn spells and boom! Dead. In terms of other creatures, Vexing Devil is a turn 1, 4 damage spell, nothing wrong there. Consider also Slagstorm and Pyroclasm against cheerio, affinity and aggro decks.

Any sort of life gain is definitely unwanted via the opponent. Sulfuric Vortex would be good as a 1x of. Need to acquire some. I do like Skullcrack , but have often wondered if a permanent would be better suited. I'll try one in the side and see.

Faerie Macabre and Mindbreak Trap have been on my radar for some time. The Faeries seem more versatile, although Mindbreak Trap would be meta dependent.

Why the Pyroblast suggestion? It's functionally the same as Red Elemental Blast ... But it does have better art!

Good point about Figure of Destiny . At best, he's a 4/4. In regards to Goblin Guide the benefits definitely outweigh the risks. He gives me information, especially if I'm on the play. Plus, most decks play one land per turn, thus I'm not overly concerned about the land in hand. Price of Progress settles the score nicely, though.

Yeah, in testing I was underwhelmed by Young Pyromancer . I would rather have Ball Lightning or Hellspark Elemental in it's stead. I took out Ball Lightning for Pyromancer and will probably reverse that.

I've had Browbeat here before as a 1x or 2x of and actually found it to be too slow. I've also tested with Reforge the Soul and favor that over Browbeat . I suppose it depends on the matchup; opponent drawing into FoW countering Fireblast would suck donkey balls lol. I may give one or the other a go.

Vexing Devil is completely badass and I concur! Ideally it would replace Spark Elemental , however budget is holding me back ATM.

I tend to favor Slagstorm over Pyroclasm for the extra reach and utility. I can divert damage to a Planeswalker or the dome, if need be. Primarily used as a sweeper, of course. Then again, it's meta dependent.

@Femme_Fatale what are your thoughts on the land count?

I kept on saying Detention Sphere , but I couldn't remember the names for the other cards. They are Pithing Needle , Meddling Mage , Nevermore , Conjurer's Ban and Voidstone Gargoyle . So whenever possible I put in singletons of cards with very similar abilities, never really hinders the actual deck in many cases so, why not?

I agree for legacy on Browbeat being too slow, I'll have to playtest Reforge the Soul myself. See how lucky I get with the miracle.

On the land count you should definitely be playing 20 lands. Normally 18 lands for a low CMC RDW deck would be perfectly fine, but you are running a legacy version, meaning you have Fireblast and Barbarian Ring in there, which if you are not careful can end you up with only one mana remaining. Or what if you only have two land through the course of the game? That makes your Fireblast quite worthless. You also run Reforge the Soul , which to make it's miracle effect truly worth it you need a lot more land to finish off the opponent the turn you cast it, otherwise your giving your opponent a possible win-con right then and there. You should also consider how mana Ball Lightning s your going to put in, because your going to need to hit 3 lands frequently enough to make it worth your while.

I run 22 lands because I have a lot of spells that cost me 2 mana to 4 mana, and I need to be getting those out on the designated turn, otherwise I'm not going to guarantee myself a win right away. The bad-side, topdecking, but Reforge the Soul should help with that.

Aha, makes sense! So that's your 'quirk' that works, as mine is typically 61 cards in a deck. Need to find that article I read on it... I'll post it on your wall when I do.

I would play no more than 2x Reforge the Soul as I really don't want it in my hand. I've been back and forth on it. On one hand refilling an empty or near empty hand with burn is awesome. On the other, what if Reforge was another burn spell...

Good point about the lands. I've found though that at 20 I can get flooded easily and top deck a Mountain when I pray it was a Lightning Bolt instead. I don't know if 18 is too few, but 19 is pushing it. I also have the Onslaught fetches on my radar and wish list, however they are far out of my price range. Maybe I'll come across a garage sale with a MtG collection asking $20 for a collection worth $2000 lol.

You may be right about adding in Reforge to fix top decking lands, though. Old school RDW/Sligh decks (back in this Old Fogey 's heyday) ran Wheel of Fortune as at least a 2x of to refill the hand with Chain Lightning and the like. Reforge the Soul is the next best option, IMO. Which is where the idea originated.

@Femme_Fatale Quite the debate over that 61st card!!! Do a Google search and grab some popcorn lol. I suppose it makes sense more in a deck with a ton of draw and/or tutoring. In Mah Mean Green, Stomping Machine I don't see the effects much due to the tons of tutoring, Primeval Titan , and the like. In a deck like this it's a bad idea. I should remember this when constructing a deck, as sometimes I get a bit happy about adding in that 'extra' card.

I would definitely run Wheel of Fortune actually, that way you can put more of it in and also save it for later, and you won't have to mulligan if it is in your opening hand. From playtesting it in mine I found Reforge the Soul either came up when I still had spells in my hand, or never came up at all, so I'll be going back to browbeat. But good luck finding some Wheel of Fortune s though!

The land depends on the deck really, this one I don't have too much of a problem at 20, or maybe 19, because you don't have as many high mana cost cards like my deck does. I'm stuck between choosing 21 and 22. Your average cmc is actually 1.58, since your Fireblast s practically have a 0 cmc, so if you're not going to add Reforge the Soul 18 should be fine for you, but just play-test it a lot of times if you do add it, you'll find the answer eventually.

Lol... Sister, you're so exuberant; I like that. Wheel of Fortune is restricted in Vintage and Commander, banned in Legacy. Quite unfortunate, pun intended.

On the lands, I'm really only concerned about having 3-4 mainly for Blood Moon and Shatterstorm in the sideboard. Of course Ball Lightning main, but you know. Solomon has a RDW where he main decks Reforge the Soul . I may have suggested it, but I digress... It's great in theory however I'm still very unsure about it in competitive play.

Yeah, I never pay the casting cost for Fireblast , rather I sac the Mountain s. Barbarian Ring can hinder that game one, but if Blood Moon is on the table games two and three, it's no matter. What's funny is that in play testing Reforge the Soul has often drew me into Fireblast and won me the game!

giggles Thanks for the compliment~

Nooo ... it's banned v.v I can see why though, it would break RDW in legacy.

Solomon does mainboard it, but I don't think his RDW deck is all that great actually. I removed the Quest for Pure Flame s in mine because it was lacking and slowing my turn 1 and turn 2 down. The only real reason why his decks get soo much hype is because of he takes a lot of time formatting it. It is nice and easy to read because the paragraphs are separated by images that give a depiction of what the paragraph just described. That gives people a positive mental attitude about it and then they +1 it.

I have another side-board suggestion: Leyline of Punishment .

Lol sure thing!

Yeah, Sligh/Old School RDW played the ish out of Wheel of Fortune . It's an insanely powered card, especially for Red.

His formatting is quite nice. I need to learn HTML and crap...

Great suggestion! It's an interesting decision on what to side out of Sulfuric Vortex , Everlasting Torment , and Leyline of Punishment . The biggest con with Leyline is that if I have to hard cast it, I won't be able to until turn four. It does have great turn zero potential, though! The other two are almost the same, however Vortex sucks in an Aggro mirror but makes for a great clock. Torment makes use out of my beaters.

Wow I like this!. It brings me down memory lane with Ball Lightning and Chain Lightning such good memories.

Thanks :-) Chain Lightning is a staple. Ball Lightning definitely has a nostalgia factor. It may come out in favor of other cards, but it's in for now.