[Deck Help?] Burn School

[PsyintZ]

// Deck: Burn School (Could use a better name. If you have any suggestions, feel free to include them!)

// Lands (22)
12x Mountain
04x Plateau
04x Volcanic Island
02x Tundra

// Artifacts & Enchantments (16)
04x Mox Diamond
03x Ensnaring Bridge
01x Ghirapur Orrery
04x Oath of Scholars
02x Pyromancer's Swath
02x Seismic Assault

// Spells (22)
04x Enlightened Tutor
04x Boros Charm
03x Lightning Bolt
03x Galvanic Blast
02x Chain of Plasma
02x Sonic Burst
02x Fiery Temper
02x Fireblast


The idea of the deck is quite simple. Get an Oath into play, and start launching things at your opponent. Empty your hand, draw 4 cards per turn, rinse & repeat. The Ensnaring Bridge keeps you from being attacked because your hand will be empty (allowing you to throw all burn at opponent rather than creatures). The Pyromancer's Swath simply adds a ton of extra damage to your burn spells without a drawback since your hand will be empty anyway. The Seismic Assault allows you to throw any lands you draw at your opponent for more damage, and obviously helps keep your hand empty. The singleton Ghirapur Orrery is in there as an experiment. If you can get both the Orrery & the Oath running at the same time, you can potentially be drawing 7 cards per turn. And because it allows you to play an extra land per turn, you should be able to have enough mana in play to continue emptying your hand of all 7 cards per turn. Obviously an opponent won't last very long with you launching several burn/land cards at them per turn. The Enlightened Tutors are clearly there to fetch any part of the machine you may need, and the rest is mere burn. I am still toying around with which burn spells are most effective and in which quantities.

I don't think this deck is fast enough to see top-tier tournament play, but it is incredibly fun to play. I was just hoping I could get the opinions of several solid Legacy players that may be able to toss some pointers and/or suggestions my way. I am not an expert deckbuilder by any stretch, so getting some advice from you guys who really know your stuff would mean a lot to me. With all of that said, please let me know what you think. I love constructive criticism, so please don't be shy. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask! Thanks in advance to those of you who take some time to look it over and let me know how you feel. I really appreciate it!


Your fellow Magician,
Psy

[rufus]

You can definitely upgrade your burn package with stuff like Rift Bolt and Chain Lightning.

Oath of Scholars costs 4 mana, which is huge. If you can stick that and survive the turn... you're probably already winning.

Devastating Dreams might fit your concept.

[PsyintZ]

You can definitely upgrade your burn package with stuff like Rift Bolt and Chain Lightning.

Both of those were actually in my original build, however I removed them when I decided to toy around with the Ghirapur Orrery concept. If I want to be able to trigger both Oath & Orrery, I can't have any sorceries, as they would either prevent the Orrery from resolving, or end up getting discarded. With instants, I can cast them in between the Oath & Orrery resolution allowing me to still draw 3 from the Orrery, for a total of 7. The question is, is the Orrery even needed? It is certainly a blast to be cycling through 7 cards per turn, but it almost seems like it might be overkill. And without it, I would be able to play some of the nifty sorcery burn like Chain Lightning, Rift Bolt, Lava Spike, Flame Rift, your suggested Devastating Dreams, and perhaps Browbeat? These are the exact things I'm trying to iron out through this post so I appreciate your suggestions, rufus!

Keep the creativity comin' guys! :smile:


- Psy

[PsyintZ]

Would any other Magicians like to chime in and/or share any input, by chance? If so, I would certainly be grateful! I was really hoping to get some advice/criticism/suggestions from at least a couple of solid players before my thread loses what very little appeal it may have had (if any at all) and gets swept into those dusty archives to never be seen again. Please, don't leave me hangin guys'! It appears that over 150 people have viewed it, but only one lone person has bothered to say something. (Thanks again, Rufus!) No reason to be shy here! I'm quite friendly, and always open for any type of discussion. Even if it's just to drop a constructive one-liner such as, "I don't really like it because.." or "Perhaps you should consider swapping X for X because.." - Any and all input will be appreciated and will help me determine if this project is even worth continuing to try and improve upon. Thanks guys!


Much appreciated,
Psy

[Von]

It looks like a fun deck no doubt. As others have said I also think it's too slow. Burn's biggest advantage is that redundancy + a fast clock. This has the redundancy but no where near the clock. I would also put in Jace instead of Oath since it does more things than just draw you cards. I think you need to take the deck one of 2 ways, either make it more lock/controlly in which case you focus on your bridge strategy and add in other lock pieces or focus on speed, in which case just play burn instead. Right now the deck is going for a midrange burn kind of deck that is just too slow for the format, esp with minimal disruption to the opponent.