11th at Hadley, a Burn story.

[sunshine]

I usually don't write tournament reports, but seeing as I didn't top 8 and this was a particularly fun event I figured my vanity might go overlooked. Also, I'm bored at work. Enjoy.

I decided to play burn at this event about three weeks ago. Major slops to hi-val for writing a star city article on the deck when I wanted to sneak in under the radar. Hadley traditionally has a good mix of landstill, counter-top, and rock/survival type decks and a smattering of aggro, if I could just dodge and sideboard for counter-top I figured life would be good. Here's the list I settled on:

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Fireblast
4 Magma Jet
4 Price of Progress
3 Volcanic Fallout
3 Flame Rift
3 Mogg Fanatic
1 Smash to Smithereens
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Barbarian Ring
2 Taiga
13 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Krosan Grip
4 Tarmogofy
3 Rakdos Pit Dragon
2 Flamebreak
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Smash to Smithereens

Some of the choices may be a little strange but I have a soft spot for cool things and the look on opponents faces when said cool things actually work, all in all I felt very good about the whole 75.

A total of 51 players come out for the event and here's how it went down:

Round One against Michael Misiaszek (rockout) with Landstill.
I start on the play and a turn one Lava Spike elicits an unhappy nod. Aside from two fetch activations his life total drops in increments of threes while a Mishra's Factory beats me to seven life. Three of my Mountains are vindicated and I'm stuck on an empty board for a couple turns but eventually find enough lands to Fireblast for the win in response to a Brainstorm.

Game two he gets and early couple of Meddling mages one of which is chanting Fireblast. Combined with a Factory they swing for the win with him at five and two blasts in my hand.

In the third game a timely Volcanic Fallout takes out a Factory and Mage. I just get there going all in on Fireblast for his last 4 life.

1-0 (2-1)

Round Two against Scott (sorry I can't quite read your last name on my notes) with Countersliver.
Game one he gets a slow start and his life drops by threes and fours down to zero.

In the second game he leads with USea and vial then passes. I play a Mountain and send him to 17. On his second turn he adds a counter to vial, plays another land and drops Crystalline Sliver. I drop another Mountain and decide to Smash to Smithereens his vial now and risk getting dazed rather than let him untap, add a counter to vial, and draw another card. StS miraculously resolves and sends him to 14. On his turn he plays a basic Island at which point I notice that his land base is currently 2 USeas and 1 Island, there's an awkward few seconds as we discuss what to do seeing as Crystalline needs white mana to be cast. He shows me the Hydroblast in hand that would have countered my StS and we decide to keep the current board and go on with the game rather than both get warnings and be left with the same result. He finds a Delta three turns later after and starts dropping slivers while I'm stuck on two lands with a hand full of Fallouts and Flamebreaks. I'm dead a couple turns later after getting two Magma gets countered.

Game three is a very close match. I mull to five after seeing no lands in my seven, and five lands in my six. The five I settle on consists of Barbarian Ring, Taiga, Goyf, Magma Jet, Lava Spike - burn doesn't really mulligan well but I would be hard pressed to pick a better five. He empties his hand with the help of vial and I am able to Volcanic Fallout away a board of slivers. He's left with no creatures and I PoP him down to 6 at the end of his next turn bringing me to 4. Magma Jet at the end of his next turn drops him to 4. At this point I'm out of Instant speed burn except of another Fallout while he has vial at 2, plenty of lands, and three cards in hand. I pass the turn and he passes back, I Fallout now bringing him to 3 and me to 1 (due to Barbarian Ring damage). I untap, again fail to find a fourth Mountain, get a Lava Spike Hydroblasted and Chain Lightning Dazed... with Ring being my only untapped land. He vials in his last card, a Sinew Sliver, for the win with me at threshold... bummer. A savage misplay and him having the nuts put me in the x-1 bracket.

1-1 (3-3)

Round Three against Jander78 with Counter-top.
He wins the die roll and opens with turn one Counterbalance off of Mox (of the Diamond variety if I remember Correctly). I Start to think about the EDH side event and what an idiot I am for playing burn. Over the next four turns he drops a grindstone and flips four lands in a row with CB as his life total drops to zero and I lucksack the win.

In the second game he assembles countertop quickly which I have a Grip for. I contemplate Gripping his Top but go for CB since I have enough burn in hand to win over the next two turns; he responds by flipping another CB which I don't find a Grip for in time.

Game three I drop a turn two Goyf and get to Grip a Counterbalance on the next turn as well as a Factory after that. I squeak in the last two points of damage by dropping Barbarian Ring while he is tapped out with exactly seven cards in my yard, he shows me the stifle in his hand.

2-1 (5-4)

Round Four against Paradigm Shift also of Team Maine with Merfolk.
I don't think Ian and I have every been to the same Hadley event and not played each other. Which is pretty unfortunate since we both make the same four hour trip to Mass. I tested with Ian the night before so there are no surprises here, the match is very draw dependent but I do have an edge. We talk about drawing but I don't like my chances of winning out so we play.

Game one I only manage to drop him to seven life as he counters my most potent burn and gets there with Mutavaults and lords.

Game two I resolve an early Goyf which goes the distance backed up by burn.

In the third game I keep a hand with three land and two Volcanic Fallouts, Fallout is so good. We play out a relatively slow game while I poke him and he keeps from overextending into my sweepers. I swing with Goyf into his lord and Adept, he activates Relic of Progenitus to clear our yards and kills my Goyf. I want him to think that I misplayed and drop more men but he doesn't take the bait and my Fallout only kills two merfolk. Next turn I drop a Pit Dragon which flies over his fish for the win a turn or two later. Luckily for me I never ran into one of the Shackles Ian boarded in for games two and three... I guess the transformational board is less of a surprise to your testing partners.

3-1 (7-5)

Round Five against Misplayer with Merfolk.
He wins the die roll and I decide to keep a slow hand with Fallout since I know he's playing the fishes. He plays vial turn one which lands a Dreadnought turn two... ouch. I draw for my second turn and rip the singleton Smash to Smithereens, go me. I decide to make my next land drop to play around Daze so I pass the turn with two mana open intending to Magma Jet him and dig for a Mountain. He draws and plays Standstill, I'm forced to play StS in response since I can't let him draw into FoW if he doesn't have it already, somehow my StS resolves. I would love to sit under his standstill and build up a grip of burn if not for his Standstill. I break it on my next turn and naturally he drops another Dreadnought - well done sir, well done.

Game two I open a hand consisting of Magma Jet, two Mountains, Volcanic Fallout, Flamebreak, and some other stuff. Magma Jet gets hit by FoW and I don't find a third land in time to stop the savage beating that ensues.

3-2 (7-7)

Oh well, so much for my Tundras. I guess I'll just let Kevin hold onto them for me until next month - keep 'em minty Kev!

Round Six against ? with five color zoo.
I may be out of the top eight but this one is for pride, ratings, and a better than 500 record so naturally I bring the same intensity to the table and do all the little things with care - like remember to write down my opponents name. Sorry bud, if you're out there just let me know and I'll edit you in.

Game one he drops two Tidehollow Sculler's in successive turns taking a Bolt and Chain Lightning (but not PoP?). I only have enough gas left to drop him to two life and then topdeck double Mountain for the loss.

The second game he mulls to five on the Draw then plays Trop and Noble Hierarch turn one. Hierarch is hit by a Magma Jet which stalls him at one mana source for the rest of the game.

My final game of the tournament begins with him mulling to six and again leading with Trop and Hierarch. This time Hierarch is met by Mogg Fanatic which stalls him at one land for a few turns. I've exhausted my hand when he finally hits land number three and drops Rhox War Monk on me, bad news bears. I draw for the turn and find Price of Progress with him at six life and three non-basics in play, life is good in the x-2 bracket.

4-2 (9-8)

Yes, that was a total of 17 games in the swiss with every match except one going to three. Good thing I wasn't playing another deck or I would have had a savage headache by the end. In all seriousness though I was surprised at the number subtle decisions that the deck presented me with despite supposedly running on autopilot. I had a great time at the event (all Kevin's event are awesome btw), finished at 11th, and got to play against some very chill guys (but that's just because I didn't play against that one guy... you know who I'm talking about...). I will definitely sleeve up burn again sometime in the future, most likely not the next time I'm in Hadley but it will happen. The deck is strong enough to go the distance and I'll have a few interesting changes to my list. Now for the props and slops.

Props:
Kevin for hosting another awesome event.
Caleb for making Top 8 and showing me up.
Brian for going 3-0...
My deck for giving me all the right cards at the right time.
Volcanic Fallout for being amazing.
Meeting new chill Sourcers namely Misplayer, Jander78, and Lego Army Man (who maybe now just goes by Lego?).
Ian for Vialing in Morphling FTW.

Slops:
Me for punting in the second round.
Brian for going 3-3.
DCIR for pairing me against Ian again.
Me for not drawing against Ian.
Dreadnought for ruining burn's day in the sun.

[rockout]

Congrats on the finish. I played you round 1. I don't even remember the volcanic fallout killing my dudes but o well. My two loses were to people that finished right around me at 9th and 11th. Worst part is someone I beat made top 8. Hope to see you at the next Hadley event. Take care.

[Paradigm Shift]

Fact:

DCI Reporter hates us.

And I told you not to play Barbarian Ring. It's not as good as Mountain, I swear.

[troopatroop]

Fact:

DCI Reporter hates us.

And I told you not to play Barbarian Ring. It's not as good as Mountain, I swear.

You win some you lose some. It was the last 2 points against Jander, so I'd imagine it's not always a bad idea to play a land that burns people.

Overall I really like the deck's focus. I think the Sideboard into creatures is pretty awesome. Rakdos Pit Dragon makes me want to play the deck. Burn's already really good at stealing game 1's. Blindsiding them with a creature that powerful, after showing them nothing of the sort, just seems brutal.

[sunshine]

@rockout:

I was pretty sure that was you. I only knew you as Pat's friend but had a suspicion you were rockout.

@Paradigm Shift:

The next list I play, which probably wont be for a while, will definitely not have any Rings in it, but will have more non-basics... and zero Great Furnaces.

@troopatroop:

Glad you like it, the board was a lot of fun. There's nothing like seeing that panicked look of "Oh shit, I boarded out all my removal!!!" when you drop a Goyf or RPD in game 2.

[Misplayer]

I was indeed the other Merfolk player. It was a pleasure to meet you and Ian even though you packed a single(!!!) Smash to Smithereens maindeck. Sorry that Dreadnought is such a beating.

[rockout]

@rockout:

I was pretty sure that was you. I only knew you as Pat's friend but had a suspicion you were rockout.

I'll have to start wearing my "Rockout with your cockout" t-shirt plus matching hat.

[sunshine]

I was indeed the other Merfolk player. It was a pleasure to meet you and Ian even though you packed a single(!!!) Smash to Smithereens maindeck. Sorry that Dreadnought is such a beating.

Yeah, that singleton was awesome for me all day. I think I only sided it out once.

[Jander78]

Great match man and it was good to meet you. I don't know how burn wins through a first turn Counterbalance, but you definately proved it!

[rockout]

Great match man and it was good to meet you. I don't know how burn wins through a first turn Counterbalance, but you definately proved it!

First turn cb? What were you playing?

[Jander78]

First turn cb? What were you playing?

This...

[TrialByFire]

This...

Link is off. I was sitting next to him in the third round and saw first turn island, mox diamond, CB, so I'm assuming thats how.

[sunshine]

Link is off. I was sitting next to him in the third round and saw first turn island, mox diamond, CB, so I'm assuming thats how.

That's how it went down in our match. It definitely took more than my fair share of luck to get through that Counterbalance.