Dry Eyes

Modern* Blink Budget Burn Exile RW (Boros)

Balaam__

Instant (16)

• 4x Cloudshift
• 4x Ephemerate
• 4x Lightning Bolt
• 4x Path to Exile

Creature (8)

• 4x Fury
• 2x Monastery Swiftspear
• 2x Thermo-Alchemist

Land (20)

• 4x Arid Mesa
• 4x Sacred Foundry
• 8x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 4x Snow-Covered Plains

Enchantment (4)

• 4x On Thin Ice

Sorcery (12)

• 4x Lava Spike
• 4x Rift Bolt
• 4x Skewer the Critics

---

Sideboard

Enchantment (7)

• 3x Blood Moon
• 4x Chained to the Rocks

Instant (4)

• 4x Mana Tithe

Creature (4)

• 4x Boros Reckoner

---

Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Abbot of Keral Keep
• 1x Electrostatic Field
• 1x Ingot Chewer
• 1x Inner-Flame Acolyte
• 1x Wispmare

---

“For dry, red eyes, Ephemerate + Fury is awesome.” —Ben Stein

Browsing the Modern Horizons 2 card list has been a lot of fun, and it’s elicited a number of ‘aha’ moments wherein a deck idea is born. Here’s one of them, a Blink/Burn build I threw together after salivating over Fury and it’s amazing potential.

The Mana Base

This one’s easy. Lots of and a smidgeon of and we’re ready to go.

• Arid Mesa is a little bit of self burn, so to speak, but it’s worth it. Conjure up a land producing whatever you need most, and thin your deck in the process.

• Sacred Foundry nets us or , all we’ll ever need. Take the hit and plop it down and start slinging spells.

•From the majestic peak of the Snow-Covered Mountain to the eerie calm blanketing the Snow-Covered Plains , these beautiful basic lands round out our mana base.

Blessed Banishment

We run a bit of non-hostile removal thanks to , and it’s a great way to redirect the flow of the game.

• Path to Exile comes in handy for any creature combo pieces, and handily dodges Indestructibility. Envelop their creature in the radiant effulgence of this sacred banishing light.

•Ah yes, On Thin Ice . Sounding ever so much like the beginning of a vague, open-ended parental threat, this card actually follows through. Thanks to our frosty basic lands we can once again vacate a threatening creature controlled by our opponent.

(Burn, Baby, Burn)

An assortment of the cheapest and most effective burn spells will allow us a few different strategic options. There’s the direct approach of searing your opponent’s face; the circuitous route of removing creatures or Planeswalkers; and lastly all these red spells also act as fuel for Fury ’s Evoke cost.

• Lightning Bolt has been around since the game’s inception and is the gold standard for a burn spell. Fast, dirt cheap and somewhat powerful.

• Lava Spike is played at a slower speed, but has the added advantage of being able to nuke a Planeswalker. Not a bad trade off; a bit of speed for added versatility.

• Rift Bolt is the procrastinator’s Lightning Bolt . Pay and then sit there weighing your decision until next turn, when you finally get around to casting it.

•With all the available ways to inflict damage to our opponent, Skewer the Critics will more often than not cast for .

Discard Inferno!

Well, not quite. We’re exiling a card to pay an Evoke cost, not discarding one, but I wanted to pay homage to the Trammps (a little known fact is that Jimmy Ellis won the 1976 Grand Prix with a deftly cast Lightning Bolt . He burnt that mother down).

Our primary combo engine is to play Fury for its Evoke cost, which brings it afield along with a complimentary 4 damage to any combination of creatures/planeswalkers of our choice. After that, follow up with a couple Blink spells to save it from exile and simultaneously clear the board, leaving only charred and smoldering remains in the opponent’s graveyard.

• Fury is a prophetic spell; that’s exactly the emotion we’ll likely elicit from our opponent.

• Ephemerate is our ideal Blink spell; reap the benefits on the turn you cast it and then the following turn owing to its Rebound characteristic.

• Cloudshift works perfectly well too, so don’t be afraid to cast either (or both).

• Monastery Swiftspear helps give us something of a board presence ourself, and can be a potent attacker or blocker due to Prowess.

• Thermo-Alchemist will produce more pings than submarine sonar. You’ll be surprised just how many life points this fellow chips away.

The Sideboard

• Mana Tithe works particularly well in the early game, and can temporarily buff Monastery Swiftspear or untap Thermo-Alchemist

• Journey to Nowhere almost made the maindeck, but costing more than our other Exile spells nudged it into the sideboard.

Update: Thanks to GrimlockVIII for pointing out the card Chained to the Rocks . I honestly had no idea this card existed until now. It’s the perfect replacement for Journey to Nowhere as we have plenty of Mountain s to attach it to. If a particular matchup requires additional removal, slot in whatever’s necessary.

• Boros Reckoner was an initial thought when ruminating over the Ephemerate + Fury interaction, but I don’t think it’s viable. At best if it’s in play and then you evoke/blink Fury , you can reflect 8 damage back at the opponent—but it costs us the Reckoner. I’m loathe to give up on the idea so I’ve relegated him to the sideboard for now.

•Last but not least we run 3 copies of Blood Moon . The potential for an early game Fury followed by a blink spell is high, so laying down a Blood Moon at some point after that is perfectly fine. Their side of the board will likely be reduced to cinders, and that mana altering effect will make repopulating it rather difficult for most decks.

TL;DR

•Control the boardstate with Path to Exile and On Thin Ice

•Get Monastery Swiftspear and Thermo-Alchemist into play early so they can benefit from all our non-creature spells

•Cast Fury for its Evoke cost, blinking it repeatedly to clear the board with an immolating inferno

•Finish the opponent with a buffed Monastery Swiftspear and a multitude of burn spells

”And they advanced over the breadth of the earth...But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them.”

Top Ranked	Achieved #7 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #4 position in Modern 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Burn 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Exile 2 years ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Ephemerate + Fury
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 20 - 11 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 4 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.85
Folders	Modern