2001)

Burn Class 101

Burn has been around since…well since the dawn of Magic. Let’s face it people, it’s been around before it was called Sligh…back when it was called Red Burn, or the degenerate deck. The old school burn. It ruled the scene. Most novice players try it for the mere fact it’s affordable and works REALLY well. Quick damage and fast creatures are the whole deck. The thing is, most Burn decks rely on consistancy like Necro and Black Suicide decks. So I’ll tell you about old school and latest burn. I’ll made some of my own personal “additions” to give you some ideas.

-Old school-

Old school was THE burn, no doubt. It was ground ZERO it was the ABSOLUTE burn. Burn has evolved since then, but this is the core concept. Black Vise was SOOOO versatile too. One mana, they take damage every turn. Vice damage is my favorite of all burn. When playing another Sligh deck, just sub in The Rack for Black Vise and you’re guaranteed damage. Back in the olden days of Magic there were little more than the mighty Counterspell to help to protect form the vicious assault. This was THE time for burn.

Red Spells (23)

4:Lightning Bolt (1 mana 3 damage, king of burn)
2:Fireball (spreading damage to pick off blockers or just damage when nothing else is there)
4:Incenerate (3 damage that picks off regenerators)
3:Fireblast (BOOM! Late in the game 2 mountains will seem petty or just delivering a deathblow)
4:Chain Lightning (Especially great when playing a non-red deck)
4:Blood Lust (guaranteeing 5 or more damage for 2 mana is a VERY good investment)
1:Wheel of Fortune (Empties both hands and gives you an your foe 7 more cards)

Red Creatures (13)
2:Eron the Relentless (Good beef for late game)
4:Ball Lightning (6/1 trampler, 3 mana)
4:Mjae Djinn (occasional ball lightning with 3 toughness)
4:Moog Fanatic (Great 1 drop, always worth 1 point of damage)

Artifacts (4)
4:Black Vise (They will get hurt early, 95% of the time)

Land (20)
20:Mountain

The deck plays fast and has a slow ´´hit-em up´´ card: Eron, the Relentless. Mjae Djinn is sweet but with a minor drawback. They have to flip a coin to see if they can hit your opponent. It’s less than noticeable to get an occasional ´´Ball Lightning Lite´´ every so often once its cast. Plus he’s a good blocker, although early Burn decks didn’t worry about defense too much. They just wanted to burn things. Wheel of Fortune is helpful with a bunch of Black Vises on play and your opponent has 4 or less in their hand. Plus you get a hand of seven. The Goblins are a little weak but BLAM when you get some Blood Lusts onto your flying Balloon Brigade, watch out! The Blood Lusts even help your Ball Lightnings more than enough. Five mana for 10 damage. The Fireballs are there to spread damage and kill blockers, but Earthquake could be a little more helpful. Giant Strengths and Firebreathings were great too if your bending towards commons.

-The Brand Spanking New Burn-

This Sligh uses more burn, less creatures. Which is great. There are 2 forms of the new, 1) Lots of creatures and 2) Lots of burn. They don’t usually coexist; it’s one way or the other. The lots of burn isn’t necessarily better in all cases, but in my opinion, more successful. This type of deck packs a wallop and speed surpasses even its predecessor, old school burn. This one goes a little slower but with 12 or so creatures.

Red Creatures (8)
4:Skizzik (The new Ball Lightning)
4:Kris Mage (Turns useless stuff into one damage)

Red Spells (28)
4:Shock (2 damage one mana…the Bolt ´´Lite´´)
4:Cave-In (Kills blockers and damages both players)
4:Flameshot (3 damage out of nowhere)
4:Flame rift (4 damage to all, 2 mana)
4:Urza’s Rage (Uncounterable damage)
4:Citadel of Pain (Combine w/ Chimeric Idol to lay the smack down)
4:Mogg Alarm (Quick Goblin tokens)
4:Blaze (Same reason for Fireball in the Old School except can’t spread it)

Artifacts (4)
4:Chimeric Idol (Combine with Citadel of Pain)

Land (20)
16:Mountain
4:Sandstone Needle

This deck focuses on playing fast then slowing down to take care of the later game. Remember these decks aren’t exact replicas because, I thought I’d add some new elements to the Burn. Plus, it annoyed me every time I went to thedojo.com and saw like 48 decks with altered maybe one or two cards. It made me feel like no one was even trying to be original and that’s the steak and potatoes of Magic.

So how is Burn in anyway scientific? Well, it takes a LOT more strategy to play then you’d think. Most of it becomes second nature, so when you play it you don’t notice it. Here’s a scenario, in your hand you have a Flameshot. Your opponent has 13 life and a 3/3 Rock Badger (Don’t ask me why he’s playing with it, let’s pretend he’s Eugene T. Dudley for now) and in play you have a Skizzik, kicker paid and everything. Now you can Flameshot his Badger OR Flameshot him and wait to attack, then attack him for 5 from the Skizzik. Well, to you there could be a lot of threats in his hand. Would you risk it? Well, you could torch the Badger, then hit him for 5, until he dies. If you didn’t hit the Badger, and hit him for 3, then waited for him to attack then blast him with the Skizzik, well, that could work…However, it wouldn’t give you as much of a win condition. You’ll cross things like this often. Don’t worry, you’ll handle them with ease once you’re used to it.

That has been another article form Nickropotence and I hope to see some feedback at evapilot123@hotmail.com.

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