Ever since the Lord of the Rings set came out, Modern has been dominated by both Modern Horizons Two and Lord of the Rings cards.
The One Ring
The One Ring
Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring.
and
Orcish Bowmasters
Orcish Bowmasters
Flash
When this creature enters and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1.
have transformed the landscape of Modern, forcing players to adapt. Some players have simply added some powerful LOTR cards to their respective archetypes. Rakdos Scam, for example, still utilizes
Grief
Grief
Menace
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke—Exile a black card from your hand.
and
Fury
Fury
Double strike
When this creature enters, it deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers.
Evoke—Exile a red card from your hand.
alongside
Feign Death
Feign Death
Until end of turn, target creature gains "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it."
to execute its gameplan but has since added Orcish Bowmasters into the mix. Four-Color control with
Wrenn and Six
Wrenn and Six
+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.)
is still alive and well but has added the One Ring and
Delighted Halfling
Delighted Halfling
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a legendary spell, and that spell can't be countered.
to become even stronger.
In order to keep up with these powerful decks continuing to get better, many players are taking a “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach. However, throughout MTG’s history, there are always players that are ready to adapt. One deck in particular has not only risen in popularity since the LOTR set came out, but it often doesn’t play any LOTR cards whatsoever! This deck is none other than Modern Burn. What would cause Burn to get better if it’s not adding new cards? If other decks around Burn are getting better, how has Burn adjusted and how does it continue to put up results? To answer these questions, it’s important to first take a look at how Burn decks are currently comprised.
Removing Eidolon of the Great Revel
For years, Burn has had a pretty solid core that hasn’t been touched much. It’s Creature base typically included
Goblin Guide
Goblin Guide
Haste
Whenever this creature attacks, defending player reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, that player puts it into their hand.
,
Monastery Swiftspear
Monastery Swiftspear
Haste
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
, and Eidolon of the Great Revel. Goblin Guide and Swiftspear provided the deck with efficient, Hasty Creatures that could immediately deal damage when they came down. From there, if they weren’t removed in short order, they threatened to deal big chunks of damage to the opponent. Importantly though, even if they got removed after dealing damage, they still helped lower the opponent’s life total. Burn decks are all about utilizing all available resources to cross the finish line, so it’s important that the deck’s Creatures could immediately deal damage.
This is where the Eidolon of the Great Revel dilemna comes into place. The card used to be a mainstay in Burn. After all, all it asks of your opponent is that they play cheap spells and they will end up taking damage no matter what. Even though Eidolon is symmetrical, your Burn spells could give you a big edge in the race.
Eidolon has a couple issues in the current metagame, however. First, the card can get removed without its ability triggering a single time thanks to Fury and
Solitude
Solitude
Flash
Lifelink
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target creature. That creature's controller gains life equal to its power.
Evoke—Exile a white card from your hand.
. Swiftspear and Goblin Guide have Haste, so they can at least deal damage before a Fury wipes them out. At two mana, you’d like your threat to be a bit more reliable.
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A Liability
The next issue is that there are a decent amount of decks that simply can avoid taking much damage off Eidolon. Beyond Fury in Rakdos, lots of decks are utilizing powerful cards with mana value four or greater that weaken the power of Eidolon. Four-Color Control has the One Ring, Solitude, and
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Omnath, Locus of Creation
When Omnath enters, draw a card.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you gain 4 life if this is the first time this ability has resolved this turn. If it's the second time, add {R}{G}{W}{U}. If it's the third time, Omnath deals 4 damage to each opponent and each planeswalker you don't control.
, Dimir Control has
Subtlety
Subtlety
Flash
Flying
When this creature enters, choose up to one target creature spell or planeswalker spell. Its owner puts it on their choice of the top or bottom of their library.
Evoke—Exile a blue card from your hand.
and
Sheoldred
Sheoldred
Menace
When Sheoldred enters, each opponent sacrifices a nontoken creature or planeswalker of their choice.
{4}{B}: Exile Sheoldred, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery and only if an opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard.
, Izzet decks have
Murktide Regent
Murktide Regent
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Flying
This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each instant and sorcery card exiled with it.
Whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
, and the list goes on. All of these cards not only weaken Eidolon, but they can even force Eidolon to become a liability.
After all, every card in Burn causes Eidolon to trigger and deal you damage. The assumption is that if you can win the race, this isn’t a big deal. However, threats like Murktide Regent close the door in short order, and can actually turn Eidolon against you. For these reasons, it makes sense why Eidolon has largely gone by the wayside, but what has replaced it? While some players have tried Orcish Bowmasters in Burn as a Creature replacement, most players have found success simply upping the Burn spell count.
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Extra Burn Spells
While the deck still plays Swiftspear and Goblin Guide, the entire rest of the deck is made up of cards that deal noncombat damage to the opponent. Most of these cards have been maindeck staples for years. From
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
to
Boros Charm
Boros Charm
Choose one —
• Boros Charm deals 4 damage to target player or planeswalker.
• Permanents you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
• Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
, burn spells are the core of the deck. Interestingly though, rather than replace Eidolon with another Creature, most Burn decks have simply added
Roiling Vortex
Roiling Vortex
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, this enchantment deals 1 damage to them.
Whenever a player casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast that spell, this enchantment deals 5 damage to that player.
{R}: Your opponents can't gain life this turn.
to the maindeck. This makes a lot of sense in the current metagame. Vortex punishes slower decks by threatening to deal damage every turn if they can’t close the game, but it also forces your opponents to take five damage to cast any free spell, including to Evoke cards like Fury.
Vortex also can shut off life gain from cards like Omnath, which is so important, many burn lists are playing
Skullcrack
Skullcrack
Players can't gain life this turn. Damage can't be prevented this turn. Skullcrack deals 3 damage to target player or planeswalker.
in the maindeck as well. Modern Burn going heavier on Burn spells also makes a lot of sense in a format dominated by the One Ring. The One Ring’s “Protection from everything” ability typically helps allow your opponents to utilize the card advantage it provides without falling behind. However, with access to tons of Instant speed Burn spells, you can simply pass the turn, let the Protection wear off, and threaten a bunch of damage. From there, the life loss from the One Ring can really add up if the opponent chooses to draw cards. In this sense, Burn does a great job keeping the One Ring in check.
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Sideboard Slots
Moving Roiling Vortex to the maindeck also helps open up extra sideboard slots for the deck. Burn typically runs Sanctifier en-Vec and Artifact removal like
Smash to Smithereens
Smash to Smithereens
Destroy target artifact. Smash to Smithereens deals 3 damage to that artifact's controller.
. From there, there are some options depending on what you expect to play against. Cards like
Path to Exile
Path to Exile
Exile target creature. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
can help against big Creatures like Murktide Regent, and
Exquisite Firecraft
Exquisite Firecraft
Exquisite Firecraft deals 4 damage to any target.
Spell mastery — If there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, this spell can't be countered.
can close the door on decks with lots of Counterspells.
Deflecting Palm
Deflecting Palm
The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage. If damage is prevented this way, Deflecting Palm deals that much damage to that source's controller.
is a unique option but given the fall of Hammer Time in the metagame, the card has become less necessary.
Overall, Burn is a solid choice in the current metagame. Even though it hasn’t gained anything new, many decks around it are so focused on beating each other with the One Ring that attacking from an entirely different angle is a useful way to adapt. Burn can still be weak to fast combo decks, life gain, and specific hate cards like
Leyline of Sanctity
Leyline of Sanctity
If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
You have hexproof. (You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
, especially with Eidolon largely out of the picture. As a response, some Burn players are playing a couple copies of
Wear/Tear
Wear/Tear
Destroy target artifact.
Fuse (You may cast one or both halves of this card from your hand.)
in the sideboard to help fight against Leyline of Sanctity as well as
Urza’s Saga
Urza’s Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
. There are also some more specific cards like Tunneling Ignus that can help in some bad matchups like Amulet Titan, but they are pretty narrow. Burn is still a great meta-call that continues to fly under the radar, and it may be time to give it more respect.
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