I mean that's really the only card they could reprint into modern to make burn playable, but I think that's an awful idea. Not only is the card generally toxic, it makes burn itself become a less interesting deck because you have to play mono red.
@@jadegrace1312its entirety possible to play 2 colour burn with PoP, you just need to understand the costs and build with that in mind. Burn is universally willing to take damage to deal it. if youre mana base is built understanding that you have PoP, you'll make it an acceptable blowback. boros or rakdos have ways to regain some of that life as well, making them stay more viable
@@Aedi Nah you absolutely cannot play two color burn with price of progress in modern. I've lost so many games to my mana base as is. Let alone essentially putting a bunch of copies of flame rift in your deck.
While I hate playing against the deck, I have always seen burn as the 'pulse' of the format. If burn can be played and it performs adequately, the format is good. If it can't, the format is fucked.
Going with the pulse analogy, it's like someone with an erratic heartbeat. Sometimes, if it's playable, the format is smooth, but sometimes it's playable because something is very, very wrong
Ironically i will be picking up a playset of goblin guides today because hey they are finally affordable for my burn deck… Oh no… They’re affordable… RIP Burn
@@Cynidecia Famously, no one plays commander because "fair" magic (aggro, midrange, and burn basically anything but combo) doesn't have the power to kill three opponents
@@Cynidecia Why does burn have to be the cheap deck? It's not exactly the most interesting deck and also idk where this idea that it's good for new players came from. Burn is a bad deck to give to a new player because it's very punishing of any mistakes. Also, when burn was actually good it was not that cheap of deck. Goblin Guide was 20 and Eidolon was 15-20, plus your mana base was more expensive than it is now. Let alone when Burn was Naya.
Give it time, and don’t be afraid to port the deck to other formats. I’ve had a fully foiled burn deck for a decade, and update it with new tech. It ebbs and flows, but burn will always have a role
Honestly, I still remember this one FNM years ago where my U Tron deck went up against the other mid-tier jobber and her reliable Boros Burn list for 1st. Fun match, just because neither of us had any idea _how_ we'd both gone 3-0 up to that point and just had a blast playing for more than just pride for once.
I have been playing burn consistently for 12 years through all the ups and downs. I agree with everything here but I think you left out one of the most important reason burn is failing. It's even losing it's identity. Burn has been the consistency deck. If it has lands and spells it will always do the same thing every game. Where as other decks didn't get that privilege. While the opponent may be trying to dig for that last piece for their game plan burn will just bolt them. Unwinnable matchups were always winnable for burn because the opponent could just have a couple bad draws. With the printing of triomes and especially surveil lands it seems that every deck is consistent. Instead of getting lucky and the opponent not having the perfect card, it seems like they have it every game. Overall adding the consistency to the game with these lands and a handful of other cards is good for the game, it's just not good for modern burn.
That is a very good point! I think my own experiences with Burn put bias on that, as I have always seen Burn as a deck that struggles to close the games out because of consistency (which is definitely a bias due to seeing pilots just hitting runs of bad luck).
Burn being the "litmus test" is one of the truest sentences I've ever heard. Any time I'm drafting/brewing a deck I think to myself, "if my opponent has all the answers to everything I play, or just tries to hit me for 3 for 7 turns in a row - can I still win?" Pour one out for burn. 😔✊🏽
In 2017 I foiled out my modern burn list, thinking "This deck is never going to fall out of the meta, and I love playing it. This can't possibly go wrong!" Then I got my playsets of goyf and LotV altered under similar reasoning. Hahaha
Burn is probably one of my favorite archetypes on card games, literally started with it on Hearthstone as Mage that only spammed spells direct to face and i gotta say for Magic i feel the archetype is in a bit of a bad spot on Standard too. There's plenty of pings and bolt-likes or big expensive red damage spells yes, but in the end the format is so choked with high value creatures that you almost never get the time to cut their life total because at least 50% of my spell roster goes to remove some important aggro/midrange piece. To the point my best burn strategy is to literally play MonoBlack Control and use Corrupt as a game ender.
I think it comes down to the game being faster. Burn used to be lightning quick compared to other styles, looking at 4-5 turn kills against 7-8 turn wins with other types. These days, burn still feels like a 4-5 turn kill, but everything else aside from control is looking at 4-5 turns. Edit: watching the video, i was incorrect. Lol. Thats what being a casual player gets me.
Introducing the new burn spells that are a 1 mana mana dork with vigilance and haste that can tap for a 1 mana card fetch and cast and also does the same on attack. Untap on instant or sorcery
Great video. However, you forgot about the most important card in this meta for burn: Roiling Vortex. It shuts down opponent’s life gain, punishes players playing suspend (like Rhinos) and continually does damage.
@ It was a great video! Burn is in the worst position it’s been in for years. However, I still enjoy playing it and there are ways to make it work in the current meta. Really you just have to practice piloting it a lot, and get a feel for what needs to be done in specific matchups. It’s not like other decks in the meta rn which you can pick up and immediately pilot to success, and why I get irritated when people look down their noses at burn players for playing a “simple deck”.
@@Darrentalksball It's good that people are still making Burn work for them with proper piloting and list tweaking! The best thing that can happen to one of the Unplayable videos is that it ages poorly
Burn has the same problem as Dredge. If they print anything good enough to make the deck relevant in Modern, it will dominate the format, so they wont even try. Honestly boltwave was a huge upgrade.
I still enjoy Burn when I do bother playing Modern. I refuse to play Skewer the Critics due to the Flanderization of Rakdos into "Hey there's a circus hey look a circus do you get it look a circus hey you look they're a circus DO YOU GET IT A CIRCUS". It was neat when it was _a_ concept but now that it's _THE_ concept it just adds to the pile of contempt I have for WotC. The Return to Return to Return to Return to Return to Ravnica just made Ravnica worse each time. I haven't changed my Modern decks in years. Burn, Infect, Merfolk, Affinity, and Soul Sisters. Sticking to them. Don't care. Why spend money on Modern when I can buy 30 year old cardboard instead?
In a format where pretty much every deck runs high value life payment cards like The One Ring and incidental life gain to balance it out, shouldn't Skullcrack and other lifegain hate cards be really good? Isn't Atarka's Command just a better skullcrack for decks running green? Is R/G burn a thing? Are there any black decks sideboarding Tainted Remedy?
The issue isn't that the decks running the lifegain don't rely on it to win. It's nice, but isn't needed. Plus, slotting in too much anti-lifegain can leave you dead to decks like Dimir Murktide and 5C Domain Zoo
I think a modern reprint of Chain Lightning is very unlikely just on account of it being a weird card, but that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be something similar in a future horizons set. Even just a straight one mana sorcery for 3 targeted damage doesn’t sound crazy.
@@christopherlundgren1700 maybe a variation that lets them bounce it back for 2 colorless, so it's similar flavor and downside but can work without them needing red, id be all over that
Chain Lightning, Fireblast, Price of Progress, printing any of those in modern would make burn viable. People could argue saying that's legacy burn, well burn is not a deck in legacy for ~10 years. Modern's powerlevel skyrocketed, but in a weird and ugly way, modern is just a disgusting format sadly :(
I don't really play Modern, but in Vintage Aggro, Burn, and straight up control are completely unplayable in the current meta. In a format that tries to win by turn 1 or 0, turn 4 is wayyy too slow. By the time you got what you needed I'd have FOW'd you and proceeded to storm off. Storm, Prison, Initiative, Infect, and combo are about all you can do in Vintage if you want to win.
So what happened to Burn in Modern? People quit playing it for the new shiny things. Not due to lack of support. Not due to anything else. Players quit it as they flock like sheep to MH3 Constructed decks.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
What decks should I cover next?
The death of the budget deck.
Jund/soulsisters
@@miller1172in a popular format a budget deck just can’t be that good. at least not for long
@@BarginsGalore i would just be nice for there to be entry decks that would at least be playable.
5C humans. Once the best deck of the format, now a relic of a bygone era
Print Price of Progress into Modern. Teach the moneybags about power.
Had some Modern players expecting Fury's effect to be Price of Progress. They were very disappointed lol
I mean that's really the only card they could reprint into modern to make burn playable, but I think that's an awful idea. Not only is the card generally toxic, it makes burn itself become a less interesting deck because you have to play mono red.
@@jadegrace1312its entirety possible to play 2 colour burn with PoP, you just need to understand the costs and build with that in mind.
Burn is universally willing to take damage to deal it. if youre mana base is built understanding that you have PoP, you'll make it an acceptable blowback.
boros or rakdos have ways to regain some of that life as well, making them stay more viable
@@Aedi Nah you absolutely cannot play two color burn with price of progress in modern. I've lost so many games to my mana base as is. Let alone essentially putting a bunch of copies of flame rift in your deck.
This is the way.
While I hate playing against the deck, I have always seen burn as the 'pulse' of the format. If burn can be played and it performs adequately, the format is good. If it can't, the format is fucked.
Going with the pulse analogy, it's like someone with an erratic heartbeat. Sometimes, if it's playable, the format is smooth, but sometimes it's playable because something is very, very wrong
@@HPuzzleYT that's true!
Ah, Burn. My favorite combo deck
7 card combo?
Haha fr. Such consistency. Even if it’s occasionally bad.
Ironically i will be picking up a playset of goblin guides today because hey they are finally affordable for my burn deck…
Oh no…
They’re affordable…
RIP Burn
That BURN Cant work is a death knell for modern.
No not really it's just because of an evaluation of card design. I love burn but its actually probably a very good thing its not playable anynore.
@@jadegrace1312 Burn should always be a viable archetype, its an entry point. what are new players supposed to do? spend thousands on a new deck?
@@Cynidecia mill seems to be the new cheap entry point
@@Cynidecia
Famously, no one plays commander because "fair" magic (aggro, midrange, and burn basically anything but combo) doesn't have the power to kill three opponents
@@Cynidecia Why does burn have to be the cheap deck? It's not exactly the most interesting deck and also idk where this idea that it's good for new players came from. Burn is a bad deck to give to a new player because it's very punishing of any mistakes. Also, when burn was actually good it was not that cheap of deck. Goblin Guide was 20 and Eidolon was 15-20, plus your mana base was more expensive than it is now. Let alone when Burn was Naya.
Look how they massacred my boy
I built burn in 2018. Played for years. Worked for 5 years to fully foil it out (a big deal way back when) Sad to see what happened.
Give it time, and don’t be afraid to port the deck to other formats.
I’ve had a fully foiled burn deck for a decade, and update it with new tech. It ebbs and flows, but burn will always have a role
2016 for me
Honestly, I still remember this one FNM years ago where my U Tron deck went up against the other mid-tier jobber and her reliable Boros Burn list for 1st. Fun match, just because neither of us had any idea _how_ we'd both gone 3-0 up to that point and just had a blast playing for more than just pride for once.
I have been playing burn consistently for 12 years through all the ups and downs. I agree with everything here but I think you left out one of the most important reason burn is failing. It's even losing it's identity.
Burn has been the consistency deck. If it has lands and spells it will always do the same thing every game. Where as other decks didn't get that privilege. While the opponent may be trying to dig for that last piece for their game plan burn will just bolt them. Unwinnable matchups were always winnable for burn because the opponent could just have a couple bad draws. With the printing of triomes and especially surveil lands it seems that every deck is consistent. Instead of getting lucky and the opponent not having the perfect card, it seems like they have it every game.
Overall adding the consistency to the game with these lands and a handful of other cards is good for the game, it's just not good for modern burn.
That is a very good point! I think my own experiences with Burn put bias on that, as I have always seen Burn as a deck that struggles to close the games out because of consistency (which is definitely a bias due to seeing pilots just hitting runs of bad luck).
@@HPuzzleYTthat’s the nature of burn, you’re usually going to inch across the finish line
Burn being the "litmus test" is one of the truest sentences I've ever heard. Any time I'm drafting/brewing a deck I think to myself, "if my opponent has all the answers to everything I play, or just tries to hit me for 3 for 7 turns in a row - can I still win?"
Pour one out for burn. 😔✊🏽
It's a shame they didn't do a lightning strike/red land for 3 life flip card in MH3. That would help burn in a meaningful way.
In 2017 I foiled out my modern burn list, thinking "This deck is never going to fall out of the meta, and I love playing it. This can't possibly go wrong!"
Then I got my playsets of goyf and LotV altered under similar reasoning. Hahaha
Time to print a 1 mana 3/1 with haste, and a drawback other then sacrifice it.
Would that even be good?
Depends on the drawback honestly. And even then, 1 toughness is rough in Modern now
Burn is probably one of my favorite archetypes on card games, literally started with it on Hearthstone as Mage that only spammed spells direct to face and i gotta say for Magic i feel the archetype is in a bit of a bad spot on Standard too. There's plenty of pings and bolt-likes or big expensive red damage spells yes, but in the end the format is so choked with high value creatures that you almost never get the time to cut their life total because at least 50% of my spell roster goes to remove some important aggro/midrange piece. To the point my best burn strategy is to literally play MonoBlack Control and use Corrupt as a game ender.
I think it comes down to the game being faster. Burn used to be lightning quick compared to other styles, looking at 4-5 turn kills against 7-8 turn wins with other types.
These days, burn still feels like a 4-5 turn kill, but everything else aside from control is looking at 4-5 turns.
Edit: watching the video, i was incorrect. Lol. Thats what being a casual player gets me.
Introducing the new burn spells that are a 1 mana mana dork with vigilance and haste that can tap for a 1 mana card fetch and cast and also does the same on attack. Untap on instant or sorcery
Great video. However, you forgot about the most important card in this meta for burn: Roiling Vortex. It shuts down opponent’s life gain, punishes players playing suspend (like Rhinos) and continually does damage.
You're right, thats my bad. Roiling Vortex is an oversight on my part. Glad you enjoyed the video despite that!
@ It was a great video! Burn is in the worst position it’s been in for years. However, I still enjoy playing it and there are ways to make it work in the current meta. Really you just have to practice piloting it a lot, and get a feel for what needs to be done in specific matchups. It’s not like other decks in the meta rn which you can pick up and immediately pilot to success, and why I get irritated when people look down their noses at burn players for playing a “simple deck”.
@@Darrentalksball It's good that people are still making Burn work for them with proper piloting and list tweaking! The best thing that can happen to one of the Unplayable videos is that it ages poorly
Can you do a video on Boomer Jund or Death Shadow decks?
New Lava Spike dropped immediately after this video
The worst part? I don't even know if it'll be enough without other changes to the Modern meta
Great for Standard Burn though, Standard Burn is so back
Burn has the same problem as Dredge. If they print anything good enough to make the deck relevant in Modern, it will dominate the format, so they wont even try. Honestly boltwave was a huge upgrade.
Just give us an upgraded lava spike you cowards! Either make an instant or tack on scry 1. It won't even break pioneer.
Gimme chain lightning id be happy
Great vids keep it up
I still enjoy Burn when I do bother playing Modern. I refuse to play Skewer the Critics due to the Flanderization of Rakdos into "Hey there's a circus hey look a circus do you get it look a circus hey you look they're a circus DO YOU GET IT A CIRCUS". It was neat when it was _a_ concept but now that it's _THE_ concept it just adds to the pile of contempt I have for WotC. The Return to Return to Return to Return to Return to Ravnica just made Ravnica worse each time.
I haven't changed my Modern decks in years. Burn, Infect, Merfolk, Affinity, and Soul Sisters. Sticking to them. Don't care. Why spend money on Modern when I can buy 30 year old cardboard instead?
The circus is in town!
For real though, I agree. It doesn't really matter unless you're going to RCQs, might as well play what you like
yaaay!
In a format where pretty much every deck runs high value life payment cards like The One Ring and incidental life gain to balance it out, shouldn't Skullcrack and other lifegain hate cards be really good? Isn't Atarka's Command just a better skullcrack for decks running green? Is R/G burn a thing? Are there any black decks sideboarding Tainted Remedy?
The issue isn't that the decks running the lifegain don't rely on it to win. It's nice, but isn't needed. Plus, slotting in too much anti-lifegain can leave you dead to decks like Dimir Murktide and 5C Domain Zoo
telling that the second new card is from 5 years ago
Roiling Vortex is newer
Wasn't burn mono-red?
In some forms, but it tended to be either Boros or Naya to splash for sideboard cards
Im still hoping for chain lightning for modern 😢
I think a modern reprint of Chain Lightning is very unlikely just on account of it being a weird card, but that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be something similar in a future horizons set. Even just a straight one mana sorcery for 3 targeted damage doesn’t sound crazy.
@@christopherlundgren1700 maybe a variation that lets them bounce it back for 2 colorless, so it's similar flavor and downside but can work without them needing red, id be all over that
You're awesome!
Soul Sisters?
*laughs in Screaming Nemesis*
Might be interesting to try. I would just be concerned about it being 3 mana and dying to most removal (even the non damaging stuffs)
Is fire ball banned?
Chain Lightning, Fireblast, Price of Progress, printing any of those in modern would make burn viable. People could argue saying that's legacy burn, well burn is not a deck in legacy for ~10 years. Modern's powerlevel skyrocketed, but in a weird and ugly way, modern is just a disgusting format sadly :(
The power creep has shelved decks that defined this game.
Magic is a shell of what it was.
I don't really play Modern, but in Vintage Aggro, Burn, and straight up control are completely unplayable in the current meta.
In a format that tries to win by turn 1 or 0, turn 4 is wayyy too slow.
By the time you got what you needed I'd have FOW'd you and proceeded to storm off.
Storm, Prison, Initiative, Infect, and combo are about all you can do in Vintage if you want to win.
Oh, and Affinity. I forgot that one!
So what happened to Burn in Modern?
People quit playing it for the new shiny things. Not due to lack of support. Not due to anything else. Players quit it as they flock like sheep to MH3 Constructed decks.
Partially. But, Burn was using the same shiny new toy at first (Phlage). People just realized it was better im Boros shell than a Burn shell
@@HPuzzleYT yeah but, besides people on the internet telling others what to play, what's to stop someone from taking this to FNM?
@@scottcampbell9515 Nothing at all! This is more about viability at a competitive tournament level