I agree that focusing on three or four turn kills to the exclusion of other considerations is harmful to Burn. However, I take issue with this:

Quote Originally Posted by iamfrightenedtoo View Post
Dredge can play a long game, Reanimator can, HighTide can, Tes can....Burn cannot, because FoD is a "bad" card.
I recognize and disagree with the sarcasm. Burn can't play a long game nearly as well as these other decks. The longer the game goes, the more time a typical opponent has to set up defenses such as life gain, countertop, etc. and the more time a typical opponent's "slow" attackers such as Goyf have to overcome Burn's initial speed with sheer size multiplied by time.

The difference between a faster combo deck and Burn is that a faster combo deck eventually creates a chain of events that multiply for a greater effect, and that chain of events can all take place in one turn. They can stall or sit for several turns to sculpt the perfect hand before going off, and they oftentimes do to ensure that they don't fizzle.

Burn can't do that because it doesn't have the mana to kill (or lock the game) in one turn, so it can't wait around; it has to start early, much like "fair" decks.

Again, I agree that Burn can win past the fifth turn. This doesn't change the fact that it's optimized to take advantage of the early game.