1st at SCG Edison Modern Premier IQ on Sep 28th 2014
1st at Grand Prix Kobe on Aug 24th 2014
Now here’s a deck that calls straight to my heart. As I’m an Aggro player in the blood Red has always been a color I most associated with. I’ve followed burn through Standard from year to year, Extended back in the day, Legacy while Mental Misstep was legal, and of course now in Modern. The two main draws of this deck is that there are few lifegain issues in the meta as Soul Sisters is not the most popular deck choice while you’re deck has a wealth of removal to deal with many of the life gaining creatures in Pod decks, and with a largely fetch/shock manabase common to the format most decks do between two and six damage themselves in the first two turns.
Grand Prix Moscow Champion – Standard on June 15th 2014
Once again the power of fire to the face was able to propel this Tomahawk missile of a deck right to the top of the victory podium. Showing how powerful a linear strategy of simply throwing everything into reducing your opponents life total to zero really can be, this design is a well oiled machine dedicated to death and destruction. This really appeals to the little fire imp which resides in my heart and is a variation on the classic burn theme which has existed in magic since the days of Fireball and Lightning Bolt.
The deck is a little light on the creature side but has found two spicy dudes that synergize with the deck extremely well given the 26 spells that are played at instant speed. The first is Young Pyromancer which on its own isn’t a very intimidating creature but once you start slinging some spells the party gets started and guests will arrive, and don’t think that lowly 1/1’s aren’t any good because every single point matters with this deck. The other creature comes with Chandra’s Phoenix that can do some real damage as a hasty flier but also will find its way back to your hand rising from the grave whenever one of your spells blasts into the opponent. The manabase also affords you space to squeeze in three copies of Mutavault that are able to maneuver their way around any sorcery speed removal. Then we get into the burn suite of the deck which is massive. There is at one cost Shock capable of delivering a two point blast either to the player or if necessary any of his smaller creatures. The mass of the burn is found at two cost starting simply with Lightning Strike which is simply three points going to the opponents dome or one of his creatures. Next we have Magma Jet which is another flexible two points but the most important part is the Scry 2 which helps the weakness of this deck a bit as there is no real draw available to you. Against decks that play with lifegain, the true nemesis of burn, you have Skullcrack which as a surprise against Sphinx’s Revelation decks could very easily snatch victory from what would be an almost certain defeat. The flexibility of Boros Charm is almost universally wasted with the four point blast to the face as the Double Strike will rarely do more damage but if you have a sizable force you might need the Indestructible against a sweeper. The last two cost burn is a removal spell with Searing Blood which will do two points of damage to a creature but has the added bonus where if that creature dies will do an additional three to its controller. And the last burn spell is the Warleader’s Helix with a four point shot while also providing a four point lifegain as an added benefit. The last spot in the deck is taken by the removal of Chained to the Rocks which is capable of exiling almost any creature threat that is able to skirt the other options from direct damage.
Here’s a spicy little Aggro number that while by no means any sort of new concept is quite a sight for sore eyes. It’s nice to see that the Mono-Black Devotion (or more accurately now Golgari Devotion since rotation) was not able to reach the summit, although it did put three decks into the top 8. This is a powerful and fast deck which is highly capable of coming from out of nowhere and beating down the opponent in the blink of an eye.
The main focus of Boros burn is to throw burn spells at the opponents face in a fast and furious fashion. To that end we find 22 of the decks spells able to spew lightning to the dome, and additional burn from the decks removal. The varieties of burn come based off of how much damage they will do and land in three varieties doing either two, three or four damage. The starting point of the deck comes with our basic burn at one cost in Shock which is just a straight-up two point blast, but also with two points of burn we have Magma Jet which for its cost of two will also Scry 2 for the deck as some of its only ‘draw’ ability. Then we have three point burn both costing two with Lightning Strike and Skullcrack, but Skullcrack while not being able to target creature has the added value of shutting down lifegain AND damage prevention for the turn which can foil plans of many decks to try and recover from an initial onslaught. And finally we get to the four point burn spells with Boros Charm which will primarily be wasted of its other abilities to blast opponents to an early grave and Warleader’s Helix that will rebuild your life total if you have been under pressure already in the game. As a compliment to all of these burn spells the deck runs Chandra’s Phoenix that will no doubt be returned to hand anytime it has found its way into the graveyard. The other maindeck creature is Eidolon of the Great Revel which may seem like an odd choice seeing that this deck is packed with so many cheap spells but when you drop him you should be far enough ahead and using your burn is either an equal loss on life or you deal those crucial points extra. As the manabase allows for it there’s also a full set of Mutavault which often are those last points needed to seal the deal. For removal the deck is able to use any of the many burn spells of course but also includes Chained to the Rocks and Searing Blood which itself does double as a burn spell when you are able to rid the board of the intended target. For draw the deck has some Scry from both Magma Jet and Temple of Triumph, but also actual drawing from Wild Guess which can easily cycle unwanted lands later in the game. You’ll also notice that the deck eshews Boros Guildgate in favor of Mana Confluence in order to avoid any additional into play tapped lands which go directly against the speed of this deck.
So there we have another great contender to battle for control in this post Journey into Nyx metagame. It is well positioned to be the Standard format staple Aggro deck going forward. I would be very surprised if some style of this deck is unable to reach into the top 16 of the major tourneys going forward. I would be very confident to sleeve this up any weekend and expect to compete for the win.
I present you Three Kings Loot top cards from Gatecrash. These are the cards we think might get played in standard, modern and Legacy. There is another list of the Top cards for EDH/Commander from Gatecrash; we’ve also made a list for Dragon’s Maze.
Make sure to check out my addendum to this article with top cards and deck lists from the latest standard tournaments post-Gatecrash. [Editor’s note] Deck lists and top cards from Dragon’s Maze Standard.
Obzedat, Ghost Council – Ghost Council drains your opponent 2 life straight out of the gate and again every turn you ‘phase’ him. That’s 4 points of life gained and up to 9 points of damage by his second turn out if he connects. And there is a limited amount of instant speed removal that can answer him. This guy could go in a Esper control build, Orzhov mid-range or Junk anyone (I like Avacyn’s Pilgrim). Is it just all hype? Ghost council certainly is interesting.
Aurelia’s Fury – It’s an instant speed Rolling Thunder that will also taps the creatures it hits. Also, players that take its damage can’t cast non-creature spells that turn so you can cast it before their main phase to either protect your creatures against wrath effects or to stop a deck from comboing off.
Blind Obedience – This card could be used effectively against Hellrider/Thundermaw Hellkite decks and maybe even Boros or Rakdos to slow down their haste. It only cost 2 mana and it adds an Extort trigger every spell you cast. Too bad it doesn’t hit lands as well but then it wouldn’t be so cheap to cast.
Legion Loyalist – A one casting cost with haste and a useful ability for all out aggro. I think this little guy has the potential to end up in a Boros or Rakdos deck for standard. Some say he’s the Goblin Guide of this block. He could also find a home in Goblins for Legacy.
Boros Charm – It’s a Flame Rift but better, can make all your creatures indestructible to protect them from wrath effects like Supreme Verdict or other sweeps like Bonfire of the Damned and the third option can come in handy as a surprise endgame to double-strike an unblocked creature for the win or to turn the tides on an otherwise unfavorable combat.
Simic Charm – This is probably the best charm in Limited, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it finds a spot in some standard deck. It’s a Giant growth, or it protects a permanent from a destroy effect even one that can’t be countered such as Abrupt Decay, or it’s can also be an unsummon. It’s obvious why it’s great in limited but will it make a difference in standard or other formats.
Clan Defiance – It’s an answer to a Non-Flier and/or a Flier and/or you can hit your opponent straight to the dome. It’s a nice card worth mentioning and has many options for you to abuse
Skullcrack – The new Flames of the Blood Hand that gives 3 damage instead of 4 but costs 1 less. It could be useful against all the Thragtusk/Sphinx’s Revelation life gain in Standard. It could also be a sideboard versus Soul Sisters in Modern.
Vizkopa Guildmage – There’s been a lot of talk about the instant win combo he makes with Exquisite Blood. Is this a future Standard or even Modern deck?
Frontline Medic – This card seems to be an answer against cards like Sphinx’s Revelation or Bonfire of the Damned, and also the new Aurelia’s Fury.
Illness in the Ranks – An interesting new sideboard tech against token based deck in Standard and Modern. Are the days of Lingering Souls coming to a close?
Glaring spotlight – Can this be the answer to Geist of Saint Traft, Invisible Stalker or Sigarda, Host of Herons in Standard and the Enchantment deck in Modern? May turn out to be a key sideboard answer and is fetchable with Trinket Mage.
Domri Blade – Will there be a new Gruul Beats or Naya deck to spring up in Standard? Seems like a fine addition to a deck running Huntmaster of the Fells and Kessig Wolf Run. Only results will show.
Lord of the Void – There has been some talk of him as a sideboard answer against Show and Tell decks to be able to trump their creature drop, but is it really more effective then a Gilded Drake? Might also have a similar effect in Show and Tell decks against the mirror or even Reanimator decks. Just doesn’t seem very reliable.
Enter the infinite – Does this card pair with the Omniscience to win for OmniTell? Seems like it may just be a win more type of card. But it guarantees that you will have each and every combo piece necessary in your hand to just go off. And don’t even look at the casting cost since whatever the plan to cast it will certainly involve doing it for free.
Boros Elite – Similar in style to Wild Nacatl as the one drop 3/3, although the qualifier is much more limiting. This is probably aggressive enough to find a home in a Boros build for Standard, and there may even be room in Modern for Boros that could produce enough cheap hasters to reliably trigger his ability.
I hope you find my list informative and I would love to get some feedback. I have a followup article with more top cards and some deck lists from standard post-Gatecrash right here. Leave me comments and feedback please.
Greg Thibault (@gregsterism)
greg@threekingsloot.com
