One of the cool things about MTG is the variety of different ways players can look to close games. While dealing lethal combat damage is the go-to strategy for most decks, there are tons of combos and alternate paths to victory worth building around. In fact, just yesterday, a unique Standard archetype focused entirely on burning the opponent out 5-0d a League out of nowhere. If you’re not a fan of attacking, this deck could be right up your alley.
Consistent Sources of Burn
Unlike traditional burn strategies that have emerged in Modern and Pioneer over the years, this deck piloted by Magic Online user shalec is not actually aggressive. Instead, your primary game plan is to grind your opponent into dust, using burn as the finishing blow.
This is made possible by the presence of Death to Our Enemies
Death to Our EnemiesWhenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a tapped Treasure token and put a plan counter on this enchantment.
When the fourth plan counter is put on this enchantment, sacrifice it. When you do, it deals 7 damage divided as you choose among one or two targets., which does everything this deck wants. In conjunction with your array of cheap burn spells like Burst Lightning
Burst LightningKicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to any target. If this spell was kicked, it deals 4 damage instead. and Lightning Helix, it’s easy to build up plan counters while staving off opposing pressure. All the while, you’ll create a mana advantage thanks to the Treasure production until this enchantment pops, sending waves of damage at the opponent.
All the excess mana provided by this enchantment and Tablet of Discovery
Tablet of DiscoveryWhen this artifact enters, mill a card. You may play that card this turn. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
{T}: Add {R}.
{T}: Add {R}{R}. Spend this mana only to cast instant and sorcery spells. can then be funneled into Improvisation Capstone
Improvisation CapstoneExile cards from the top of your library until you exile cards with total mana value 4 or greater. You may cast any number of spells from among them without paying their mana costs.
Paradigm (Then exile this spell. After you first resolve a spell with this name, you may cast a copy of it from exile without paying its mana cost at the beginning of each of your first main phases.), giving this deck inevitability. Over time, this bomb will dig for more copies of Death to Our Enemies as well as other win conditions like Quintorius Kand
Quintorius KandWhenever you cast a spell from exile, Quintorius Kand deals 2 damage to each opponent and you gain 2 life.
+1: Create a 3/2 red and white Spirit creature token.
−3: Discover 4.
−6: Exile any number of target cards from your graveyard. Add {R} for each card exiled this way. You may play those cards this turn.. With Kand in play, every copy of Improvisation Capstone, as well as the other spells it casts, will trigger your Planeswalker, dealing tons of damage.
Given how important Improvisation Capstone is to your gameplan, it’s imperative that you have ways to find it. To help, Highway Robbery
Highway RobberyYou may discard a card or sacrifice a land. If you do, draw two cards.
Plot {1}{R} (You may pay {1}{R} and exile this card from your hand. Cast it as a sorcery on a later turn without paying its mana cost. Plot only as a sorcery.), Hex Magic, and Gandalf, Goblins’ Bane
Gandalf, Goblins’ BaneWhenever you cast a noncreature spell, Gandalf gets +1/+1 until end of turn and deals 1 damage to each opponent. all quickly churn through your deck. These tools also do a great job ensuring you don’t flood or run out of gas, providing never-ending trigger fuel for your pinging Wizard tokens generated by Lindblum, Industrial Regency
Lindblum, Industrial RegencyThis land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {R}..
No Pressure, Some Problems
Despite this deck’s unorthodox approach, it offers a cohesive game plan with several strengths. Right away, the fact that you can win entirely without creatures enables you to strand opposing removal spells in hand. This gives you an edge versus removal-dense decks like Dimir Midrange.
At the same time, the versatility of this deck’s burn spells goes a long way towards helping you beat both aggro and control decks despite their vastly different approaches. With the help of Voice of Victory
Voice of VictoryMobilize 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, create two tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature tokens. Sacrifice them at the beginning of the next end step.)
Your opponents can't cast spells during your turn. in the sideboard letting you navigate past countermagic, you’ve got a lot of your bases covered.
Still, there are some notable issues against top-tier decks that ultimately prevent this deck from being a top contender. For example, the threats out of Mono-Green Landfall can quickly outsize your burn spells, which is a big problem. With few answers to Sapling Nursery, either, it’s easy to fall behind in short order.
In addition to your Landfall struggles, this deck’s lack of pressure is also a major concern in the Dimir Excruciator matchup. After all, a resolved Doomsday Excruciator
Doomsday ExcruciatorFlying
When this creature enters, if it was cast, each player exiles all but the bottom six cards of their library face down.
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card. trigger completely undoes all of your incremental advantages and makes Improvisation Capstone look silly.
Given the popularity of these archetypes, especially Landfall, it’s hard to imagine this deck experiencing a major breakout anytime soon. Regardless, the deck is still capable of putting up decent results with the right matchup spread, and it’s undeniably unique. So, if you’re tired of playing with the same strategies FNM after FNM, this deck can give a nice change of pace.
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