Burning Bridges

I

Istanbul

Guest
A twist on an old theme.

14x Mountain
4x Shivan Reef
4x Island

4x Volcanic Hammer
4x Shock
3x Lightning Blast
3x Earthquake
4x Ghitu Fire
3x Strafe

3x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Grafted Skullcap

3x Mages' Contest
3x Deflection
3x Prohibit

2x Prophetic Bolt

Basically, a red control deck with a splash of blue to keep the Bridge in play. All of your spells are relatively low in casting cost, and there are enough X spells in there to blast your opponent for those last few points.

Now for the Why Did You Use THAT? section.

Lightning Blast - Rounds out the burn curve.
Earthquake - Weenie control, lest the Ensnaring Bridge prove problematic to find.
Strafe - It'll usually have a target.
Grafted Skullcap - Can you think of a better way to ensure that your hand is empty at the end of each of your turns?
Mages' Contest - You'll almost certainly be able to bid more life than your opponent.
Deflection - Single-blue counter. Turns their Disenchants against them.
Prohibit - Single-blue counter. There are very few spells over 4 mana that this deck fears.
Prophetic Bolt - Burn that helps you find the Bridge.

Again, I used no Masques cards because I want this deck to benefit, not suffer, when Odyssey comes in...mind you, I think it'd do all right in the environment right now.

Thoughts?
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
Consider Skizzik. They should have few to no creatures in play, he could seriously capitalize on that.

Grafted Skullcap is good if you are playing mono red, but it renders 9-11 of the cards in your deck (the counters and the P.bolts) virtually useless. Consider Fire/Ice instead, the ability to split damage is a useful one, or its a cheap cantrip. I remember you didn't like that card too much but don't underestimate it.

Final card I'd look at, Wildfire. A late game Wildfire can lock it for you vs. many decks in the field right now. And Don't forget Lightning Darts in the sideboard.

I like this deck, looks pretty cool.
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
D'oh you, d'oh me.

D'oh you because if Bridge is in play (and I want Bridge to be in play), Skizzik will never attack.
D'oh me for not seeing the anti-synergy between Skullcap and countermagic.
Maybe Fact or Fiction in its place?

Not a big fan of Wildfire. Never have been, never will be. Wildfire won't kill a lot of the big, fat beasties out there right now. Also makes me throw away land that could be used on an X-spell.

Sideboard? I have several ideas for the sideboard...but I try to make the deck first. Gotta get the base form down before I worry about altering it.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
[recovery] Don't consider Skizzik, you won't be able to attack b/c of the Bridge [/recovery]

In regards to Fact or Fiction, this is one deck where it could come back to hurt you. When you FoF, your opponent could theoretically fill your hand to allow them to bypass the Bridge. Being that you are playing burn, you SHOULD be able to empty your hand quickly but there is no guarantee. Just keep it in mind when you are splitting your 5 cards. At the same time, you might be able to tempt the opponent to take that as bait. Thats going to be interesting to see how it works out.

Here's an interesting interaction in here: how about the R/U pinger? He's a solid bear with an ability that not only gets around the E.Bridge but makes your burn spells 1 damage more dangerous. And I still like the split card in here, its a nice fit.

Last card, Urza's rage. One of the best burn spells ever, it probably should be in here. Any reason its not?
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
Maybe Jayemdae Tome. I want some way to draw an extra card or two, reuseably, without going heavy blue. (If I wanted to do that, I'd just go with Treasure Trove.)

R/U pinger...eh. Tempting, but it'd die to Earthquake...

Urza's Rage? 3 mana for 3 damage. Yawn. Oh, but I could kicker it, with TWELVE MANA.
Man, if I ever see TWELVE MANA on my side of the table, there are big, *big* problems.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
But lightning blast is 4 damage for 4 mana. Urza's Rage isn't good b/c of the kicker, its good b/c it can't be countered. It saved my skinny white butt a few times. Is it worth $12, IMHO no, but whatever.

Jayemdae Tome is a pretty good idea, but don't rule out FoF yet. Try both out. Also, what about Pillage? Right now it probably isn't necessary, but if Dragon Arch and/or Static Orb decks become popular it will come in handy
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
Is this deck now so good that nobody else has any suggestions? No bad matchup warnings, card ideas, etc.?
 
E

Ephrils

Guest
I think adding a Mountain Goat will certainly catch them off guard :cool:
 
C

Captain Caveman

Guest
You might consider replacing the Strafe with Scorching Lava, since its an instant and can remove Nether Spirit from
the game. One other possibility would be Fire/Ice. Its also instant removal or you can tap something and draw a card.
(I think that's right, don't have the spoiler in front of me)

I guess you could also main deck or sideboard Kris Mage. Of course, it doesn't go very well with Earthquakes so its
probably an bad idea.

Have you had any trouble using the Skullcap and counter magic in the same deck? Just wondering!

Well, that's my two cents.
Caveman
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
Yeah...but Strafe is one less for 3 damage. And Scorching Lava is THREE mana if you wanna use it with kicker.

Why should I fear Nether Spirit? If my deck operates even close to correctly, it might attack me once or twice.

I'm not using Grafted Skullcap; I've decided to go with Fact or Fiction instead.

I thought about Kris Mage, but...she'd die *real* fast. If I were gonna use a creature for direct damage, I'd use the U/R pinger.
 
T

Thallid Ice Cream Man

Guest
If you want to use a pinger, you could at least consider Mawcor. It doesn't die to Earthquake or Pyroclasm, and just on the off chance (I know that would be bad, you don't want that to happen, but just in case) that you lose your Ensnaring Bridge, you can attack with it.
At least you might want to sideboard it. (It is in 7th.)
 
M

Mundungu

Guest
I have started playing a R/B version of "burning fire".

I dont play with the earthquake, but I play with the spellshapers (Kris, Arc and their mom Latulla) and KYREN TOY (dont laugh) as a mana accelerator.

With the toys, it is gets eassy to bomb your opp with Ghitus fires in the 2 digit range and kicked rages pretty early.

Splashing black gives you also the SB option of cremate for those annoying nether spirits.

Although once the bridge and skullcap is in play, the spirit isnt a problem.

Dark suspicions is in my deck for a twiest too, and I think I will put some of that new apocalypse drain life as well.

Overall I am agaisnt earthquake, 'cause you need life to survive the early game.

The abscence of artefact destruction in the current metagame makes that deck a nice surprise, but if bridge decks become strong expect that to change.

Last not : I played this deck against G/W junk variant, B/U nether/go varaint and Control rebel to great success.
In case you laughed at my Kyren Toys, they helped me cast 3 or 4 spells in a turn, making the key one go through the counter barrier.

I'll put up a decklist when I'll have played it some more...
 
M

Mars

Guest
Gizmo has already weighed in at his FlamingPile.dec post as to why he doesn't like the card....basically it forces you into playing empty-hand strategy, and FlamingPile has two stategy options whereas Skullcap decks basically give you one.
 
M

Mars

Guest
Here is David Bachmann's 4th place deck at US Nationals 2001. Hope this helps.

2 Dust Bowl
19 Mountain
4 Rishadan Port

4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Fire Diamond
3 Grafted Skullcap
3 Millstone
4 Pillage
4 Pyroclasm
3 Seal of Fire
4 Stone Rain
2 Tectonic Break
4 Wildfire

Sideboard
4 Boil
3 Brutal Suppression
4 Flowstone Wall
4 Urza's Rage
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
Howling Mine? With the Grafted Skullcap and Ensnaring Bridge in play, it'll help you dig for more stuff? I'm unfamiliar with this deck.
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
Just FYI, this is the final version of the deck:

14x Mountain
4x Island
4x Shivan Reef

4x Volcanic Hammer
4x Shock
3x Lightning Blast
3x Earthquake
4x Ghitu Fire
3x Strafe
3x Mages' Contest

3x Deflection
3x Prohibit
3x Fact or Fiction

3x Ensnaring Bridge

2x Prophetic Bolt

However, I still need:
3x Deflection
2x Mages' Contest
4x Ghitu Fire
2x Shivan Reef
 
F

FoundationOfRancor

Guest
It seems odd that were playing with Volcanic Hammer.


That was in the first portal box I ever bought (When I was newbie), and I remember thinking it was bad.
 
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