[Deck] Burnwillows

[JuzamDjinn]

Last weekend I had to build a deck for a friend of mine to use in a Legacy tournament. I had an idea that I thought was cool, but it didn't quite work in the tournament. Need some help to improve this build. It preys on artifacts and enchantments but I need to: 1) add more speed, 2) make it more consistent.

Kavu Fire / Kavu of the Burnwillows / Punishing Kavu / Burnwillows

Lands = 22
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Taiga
6 Fetches
4 Mountains
4 Forest

Core = 16
4 Kavu Predator
4 Punishing Fire
4 Nature's Claim
4 Invigorate

Other stuff = 22
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Price of Progress
4 Tin-Street Hooligan
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Sarkhan Vol
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Rancor
2 Berserk

Sideboard = 4
4 Reverent Silence

Cards that I have considered but don't use.
Grim Lavamancer
Magus of the Moon
Garruk Wildspeaker
Bloodbrain Elf
Vexing Shusher
Eternal Witness

Any thoughts?

[sco0ter]

4 Nature's Claim AND 4 Tin-Street Hooligan is way too much.

Furthermore I'd splash white and consider the following cards, which match the "opponent-gains-life"- theme:

Swords to Plowshares
Oust
Fiery Justice

Grove of the Burnwillows + Fire is mana intensive, so I'd add some Noble Hierarchs and/or Birds for the speed.

In general you should add more creatures, too. 12 is very few, imo, for your equipment and pump spells.

[JuzamDjinn]

4 Nature's Claim AND 4 Tin-Street Hooligan is way too much.

Furthermore I'd splash white and consider the following cards, which match the "opponent-gains-life"- theme:

Swords to Plowshares
Oust
Fiery Justice

Grove of the Burnwillows + Fire is mana intensive, so I'd add some Noble Hierarchs and/or Birds for the speed.

In general you should add more creatures, too. 12 is very few, imo, for your equipment and pump spells.

Thank you :)

Burnwillows

Lands = 22
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Taiga
3 Savannah
2 Plateau
6 Fetches
1 Mountains
1 Forest
1 Plain

Core = 22
4 Kavu Predator
4 Punishing Fire
4 Nature's Claim
4 Invigorate
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fiery Justice

Other stuff = 16
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Tin-Street Hooligan
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Knight of the Reliquary

Sideboard = 4
4 Reverent Silence

Gets me to 18 creatures total. Not sure about if 4 KotR is the right number. I could add Stoneforge Mystic and Jitte/Batterskull but that would change this deck alot. What kind of creatures are out there for my disposal? Is Terravore an option? Or any bears (Gaddock Teeg, Leonin Arbiter, Aven Mindsensor (flies), Quasali Pridemage) ? Or perhaps BBE could be played instead of KotR. Late game haste + one free card for the final damage?

[Mr. Safety]

I think Green Sun's Zenith is just about perfect for a low-creature count deck like this. With only 18 dudes, GSZ should be rockin' the house. I also think it's just wrong avoid playing Wild Nacatl. In some cases, you'll be able to ride a single Nacatl the whole game with your control factors of Fiery Justice, recurring Punishing Fire, and slinging Swords and Bolts to remove blockers. I'm not saying play a ton of 1-drops, but playing 4 Nacatls seems good to me.

I would do this:

-2 Tin-Street Hooligan
-4 Nature's Claim (sideboard it)
-3 Tarmogoyf

+4 Wild Nacatl
+3 Green' Sun's Zenith
+2 Lightning Bolt

Your early game gets better this way, and you can play tempo-style with those Groves/Fires/Bolts/Swords keeping early mana-dorks/weenies off the table and swinging in with Nacatl.

I think a stronger mid-range approach works as well with the Swords/Predator/Grove/Fires suite. Elspeth is pretty damn nice, as well as the aforementioned Terravore. In that case, I would do this:

-2 Tin-Street Hooligan
-4 Nature's Claim (sideboard it)
+4 Terravore
+2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

[JuzamDjinn]

I think Green Sun's Zenith is just about perfect for a low-creature count deck like this. With only 18 dudes, GSZ should be rockin' the house. I also think it's just wrong avoid playing Wild Nacatl. In some cases, you'll be able to ride a single Nacatl the whole game with your control factors of Fiery Justice, recurring Punishing Fire, and slinging Swords and Bolts to remove blockers. I'm not saying play a ton of 1-drops, but playing 4 Nacatls seems good to me.

I would do this:

-2 Tin-Street Hooligan
-4 Nature's Claim (sideboard it)
-3 Tarmogoyf

+4 Wild Nacatl
+3 Green' Sun's Zenith
+2 Lightning Bolt

Your early game gets better this way, and you can play tempo-style with those Groves/Fires/Bolts/Swords keeping early mana-dorks/weenies off the table and swinging in with Nacatl.

Thank you, that makes my build currently:

Burnwillows

Lands = 22
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Taiga
3 Savannah
2 Plateau
6 Fetches
1 Mountains
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Plain

Core = 18
4 Kavu Predator
4 Punishing Fire
4 Invigorate
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fiery Justice

Other stuff = 20
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Tarmogoyf
3 Green' Sun's Zenith
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Terravore
1 Quasali Pridemage
1 Aven Mindcensor

With GSZ I changed 1 Forest to 1 Dryad Arbor to improve my chances of t1 ramp. I also changed 4 KotR to 1 + 1 Terravore, 1 Pridemage and 1 Mindcensor (nice with a toolbox).

[jedi_gof]

Dude - you cant find the mindcensor with the zenith! Out with that:)
Also go -4 birds , +4 noble hierarchs.

[JuzamDjinn]

Dude - you cant find the mindcensor with the zenith! Out with that:)
Also go -4 birds , +4 noble hierarchs.

I'm such a noob. Or have totally lack of sleep with a busy O&G jobb and a 2 year old in my house.

Mindcensor out, any neat creature you would recommend?

Hierarchs don't give me access to red mana. (Bolts, Fiery Justice and double for Punishing Fire). Not sure if that is a good change considering I have only 7 red mana sources and I would like to have double red in the mid/late game. Or do I miss something?

[Mr. Safety]

Nobles give you the combat edge you would need by giving exalted. Nobles also provdie 2 of your key colors with :w: and :g:. The blue isn't really neccessary, but it doesn't hurt you at all. Sure Birds gives you red mana...but think about it this way: Nobles can take care of anything :g: and :w: and your lands can be providing the red mana when you need it. Just fetch your duals in the right order and you're good to go (most likely fetching Taiga first, then Plateau/Savannah).


Mindcensor out, any neat creature you would recommend?

This is the beauty of GSZ and why it's such a damn good card: you can metagame your maindeck/sideboard with this thing so easily. Here is a short list of good cards that have been played using GSZ as a toolbox enabler:

Thrun, the Last Troll
Gaddock Teeg
Burning-Tree Shaman
Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness


Not to mention it is also your primary way to get Knight, Terravore, and Goyf onto the battlefield for your mid-range beats.

Good luck! I like your setup, I used to play a low-curve zoo deck using Predator instead of Tarmogoyf, and it was very similar to this. I opted for more early cheap beef (Kird Apes, Steppe Lynx) which was good, but not as good as the mid-range plan that you have here.

[Malchar]

//Lands = 22
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Taiga
3 Savannah
2 Plateau
6 Fetches
1 Mountain
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Plains

//Core = 18
4 Kavu Predator
4 Punishing Fire
4 Invigorate
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fiery Justice

//Other stuff = 20
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Tarmogoyf
3 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Terravore
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Aven Mindcensor

Please put [/i]] [/cards] around your decklist. It makes it so that if you hover over the card name, it shows what it is. In the new and developmental decks forum, often decklists use obscure cards and if people have to look up what they all do then they're less likely to want to help you make your deck.
Numbers in the decklists will be formatted correctly. Lines of text that aren't cards should have // placed in front of them so that they don't appear as links.

Anyway, the list looks pretty good I guess. It seems a lot like zoo except with punishing fire instead of a good burn spell, and kavu predator as another random fat beater. It seems like you should want 4x tarmogoyf. I don't think you have enough land/graveyard stuff to support the terravore. You probably want [cards]gaddock teeg and/or ethersworn canonist somewhere to help against combo decks.

[Esper3k]

Why don't you just take a Punishing Fires Big Zoo list, add in Kavu Predators and start from there?

[Mr. Safety]

Why don't you just take a Punishing Fires Big Zoo list, add in Kavu Predators and start from there?

That is good advice.

[JuzamDjinn]

Playtested some yesterday, here is the current build:


// Lands = 22
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Taiga
3 Savannah
3 Plateau
6 Fetches
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest

//Core = 18
4 Kavu Predator
4 Punishing Fire
4 Invigorate
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fiery Justice

//Other stuff = 20
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Burning-Tree Shaman
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Trygon Predator
1 Tin-Street Hooligan
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Terravore
1 Eternal Witness


I sold my Tarmogoyfs, only reason I've cut them. I took out Wild Nacatl because when they where In my opening hand I prefered Noble Hierarch or GSZ for Dryad Arbor. On turn 2 and 3 I always felt I had better options. I replaced them with bigger toolbox. Trygon Predator seems safe with 4 Noble and 3 GSZ. Perhaps I could also run Rhox War Monk? Currently my side consists of 4 Revembement, 4 Nature's Claim, 1 Loaming Shaman. Do you have any suggestions about what I can play to battle Dredge and Reanimator? Should I go the 4 Leyline of the Void route? Or just play Tormod's Crypt and/or Relic of Progenitus?

[Kaibaman]

Have you considered using Crop Rotation in order to ensure burnwillows?

[Koby]

I'm not understanding the point of Eternal Witness in this deck. It doesn't seem like a very useful card to be getting often, and for being an aggressive deck you wouldn't want it as a form of control.

[boneclub24]

You don't need to toolbox that much lol. You will end up dead drawing a lot of cards. You should just stick to a few main-decked (like 3-4) bullets, and fill in the rest with more Knights. Card has amazing synergy with your deck (much better than Terravore).

Once that happens, maybe add like:
1x Maze of Ith
1x Karakas
1x Horizon Canopy

Maze is an amazing card, no question. Don't cut a mana source for it, though, because it isn't one itself. Karakas is great against Natural Order => Progenitus strategies, Show and Tell, and Reanimator. Canopy doesn't mess with your mana too much while netting yourself a little CA when you need it.

Invigorate is a cool card, but I feel like it would just come up dead a ton.

[JuzamDjinn]

Karakas is great against Natural Order => Progenitus strategies.

No it's not...

[Mr. Safety]

Last time I looked, protection from everything included lands...

[Qweerios]

I played against this yesterday on cockatrice when I was testing Angry Astronauts, it was pretty cool. Look into the Maverick thread for this deck, there is a Punishing Fire version. Here is what I think would be best:


Creatures (22)
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Eternal Witness
4 Kavu Predator
4 Knight of the Reliquary

Spells (14)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Punishing Fire
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Fiery Justice

Enchantments (2)
2 Sylvan Library

Lands (22)
3 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Plateau
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains


Punishing Fire and Burnwillows are a midgame engine that will net you card advantage in a wide array of matchups. For that reason I think Mother of Runes is more important than Wild Nacatle because it protects your growing creatures (KotR and Kavu), putting enourmous amounts of pressure onto your opponent. I am kinda running out of time to explain but the GSZ toolbox is one of the best things a non-blue, non-black deck can wish for in a competitive meta, build your deck around that and Punishing Fire and i guarantee you can be competitive.

[boneclub24]

No it's not...

Yeah, that's true, scratch that then.

[gkraigher]

what is burning tree shaman good against?

[P-E]

A french guy finished 5th at the french legacy cup with

// Deck

2 [OD] Forest
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
2 [LG] Sylvan Library
4 [AL] Elvish Spirit Guide
4 [IA] Swords to Plowshares
2 [NE] Skyshroud Cutter
3 [ZEN] Vines of Vastwood
4 [MM] Invigorate
4 [A] Berserk
4 [PLC] Kavu Predator
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
2 [R] Taiga
3 [R] Savannah
1 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
4 [ON] Wooded Foothills
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
4 [ALA] Wild Nacatl

// Sideboard

SB: 3 [IA] Pyroblast
SB: 2 [MI] Seeds of Innocence
SB: 1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
SB: 3 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 4 [WWK] Nature痴 Claim
SB: 2 [R] Red Elemental Blast