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Main » Articles » Burn: Sideboarding and the London Mulligan

Burn: Sideboarding and the London Mulligan

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on September 27, 2019
 Reddit

Hey everyone!

Modern continues to be a fun format. I've been melting faces with Burn and I have been learning new tricks that aren't getting a lot of press. The London Mulligan has made every matchup more scripted so I'm going to introduce that lens to the matchups, too.

The London Mulligan is one of the most influential changes to Modern in quite some time. As the power level of starting hands increase each deck is more likely to accomplish their game plan. You have to know your role in each matchup to have a chance.

Let's get started!

After playing some more matches I've revised some opinions on the deck. Here's my current list:

Burn | Modern | Kyle Boggemes

Smash to Smithereens
The maindeck is still stock, but my sideboard is designed to attack different pillars of the format cleanly.

Smash to Smithereens is a no nonsense answer to artifacts. I don't have to Path to Exile Wurmcoil Engine because I can shatter at instant-speed. I've moved away from Shattering Spree because sorcery-speed answers to artifacts are weak against both Tron and Whirza. There aren't many Chalice of the Void in the format to worry about the replicate to get around one or two counters.

Smash to Smithereens is similar to Searing Blaze for artifacts instead of creatures. Many matchups make me want to swap out the play sets. Skullcrack only deals damage to players so there are times where that means I don't want both Searing Blaze and Skullcrack in my deck.

Skullcrack is an all-star in the sideboard. Nearly every deck in Modern gains life, but many don't in the first game so it loses value. For this reason I prefer Lightning Helix in the maindeck.

Two Path to Exile and two Searing Blood are my anti-creature cards. Since Path to Exile doesn't deal damage I don't want to draw too many in a game. Searing Blood kills small creatures while still keeping with my main plan of dealing damage to my opponent. There are times I will swap Searing Blaze for Searing Blood to avoid worrying about landfall.

The maindeck features ten playsets of spells that deal damage to the opponent. In many matchups I can pinpoint one that is weaker than the other nine. This is why my sideboard has four cards to neatly swap.

Kor Firewalker
Since I can't play a fourth playset in the sideboard I go with the very narrow Kor Firewalker for the mirror match and Red Prowess. I am coming around on Kor Firewalker because the London Mulligan creates more scripted games and this is an all-star when it's in your deck. Burn currently represents a large percentage of the metagame.

I can see cases for sideboarding out any spells in the deck except Goblin Guide, Monastery Switftspear, and Lightning Bolt. The other seven spells are up for debate:

Boros Charm - when your 2-drops get too glutted after board or it's more important to deal with creatures.

Lightning Helix - A clean swap for Skullcrack when your opponent doesn't have any creatures you want to kill.

Lava Spike - When you have to kill creatures, but your opponent also plays Chalice of the Void. This is mainly against Eldrazi Tron. One-mana burn spells are great so bring out Lava Spike sparingly.

Rift Bolt - I don't want to get burned by Teferi, Time Raveler.

Searing Blaze[/card ]- This card is boarded out frequently if your opponent doesn't have many creatures. I also don't like it against Jund because situational burn spells get discarded more often. It also never kills [card]Death's Shadow because the toughness increases at the same time damage is dealt and they also play hand disruption.

Skewer the Critics - This burn spell primarily costs 1 mana, but also has a mana cost of three to get around Chalice of the Void. I can't think of a matchup where it's the weakest spell in the deck, but it's not uncuttable.

Eidolon of the Great Revel - The London Mulligan allows me to more consistently begin the game with a haste creature on the first turn and Eidolon on the second. This is a powerful start against many decks so I don't board it out frequently, but I'm not a fan of it against Eldrazi Tron.

The London Mulligan has changed how I approached keeping hands. One land hands on seven cards are too risky so I try again on six cards. Even on the draw I don't think it's worth the risk. It's likely the next hand will contain two lands so I'm able to pair them with four spells.

Since I can assemble a six card hand with four spells by drawing either two or three lands I will also mulligan seven card hands with at least four lands. In this case, taking a mulligan is almost like drawing a card. Depending on what three spells are in the opening seven I might keep if there's at least one Sunbaked Canyon to recoup spell density.

Searing Blaze is well-positioned against many popular decks or can at least find a target. For this reason I rarely put it on the bottom after a mulligan. Lightning Helix and Rift Bolt are the most likely candidates. I can also bottom a second 1-drop if I have an Eidolon in hand since it wouldn't be cast until the third turn.

Since I'm able to find repeatable sources of damage I won't keep six card hands that need a lot of help to actually deal twenty damage. It's often the case your opening hand just deals twelve damage and that's it. Much too slow for Modern; try another hand to find haste creatures and Eidolon.

Burn has surprisingly gained a lot from the London Mulligan despite needing a critical mass of cards to win the game. Every other deck has also gained from the London Mulligan so I need to aggressively throw back weak hands because my opponent is likely to do something degenerate on six or seven cards.

Burn is also a good benchmark of how reasonable it is to mulligan with other decks. If I'm able to consistently win with six cards with a spell-dense strategy then other decks are even better at doing so. The London Mulligan is still new and I don't see people using it enough. It's not just for Tron.

Sideboarding

Burn MIrror:

Burn is the one exception to my sideboarding rules outlined above. I bring in every card in my sideboard except Smash to Smithereens.

Eidolon is fine in the mirror, but I want to reduce the amount of 2-drops in the deck. It also gets hit by opposing Searing Blood and Searing Blaze. The real prize in the mirror is Kor Firewalker which makes Eidolon come down later in the game making the triggered ability worse.

Path to Exile is pretty weak outside of exiling Kor Firewalker. It's important to have an out to or Firewalker thanks to the London Mulligan. You can win on five cards with Kor Firewalker which makes it more reasonable to mulligan aggressively in the post-board mirror.

Since it's currently standard practice to board in Path and Firewalker in the mirror I like the searing effects less. I think many opponents will cut down to eight searable targets- Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear. Searing Blood is likely to kill Monastery Swiftspear if you pick the right spot so I would prefer to not worry about the landfall.

Boros Charm is good in the mirror, but I need to trim more on 2-drops. The mana hungry spells make me tap Sunbaked Canyon more often and that's not what I'm looking to do. It's also important to leave up Skullcrack to counter Lightning Helix. One-mana plays are a priority.

Tron:

Wurmcoil Engine doesn't have anything on me after sideboard. I can destroy it at instant-speed or Skullcrack the life gain. I also need to be wary of a potential Thragtusk or Nature's Claim which makes instant-speed spells key. Make sure your Smash to Smithereens doesn't get countered by Nature's Claim; that would be embarrassing.

Elixir of Immortality isn't a popular card for Tron to search for with Karn, the Great Creator, but it's very good against Burn. It gains life, costs three to cast and activate, and doesn't get hit easily by Smash to Smithereens. Costing three is important because it can be activated on turn three after you assemble Tron. It's Andrew Elenbogen approved.

Red/Green Valakut:

When I prepare for an event with Tron I go through a Magic Online League and examine the stock sideboard and what type of life gain they're packing. Valakut decks are currently playing Obstinate Baloth because it can be found with Summoner's Pact. Be ready with Skullcrack once they can cast a 4-drop.

Don't board in Path to Exile for Primeval Titan. Playing defense against a deck with unbeatable top-end is a losing strategy. Just burn their face.

Humans:

Here's a good example of a deck where I don't mind Boros Charm, but I need to be nimble in dishing out the burn spells. There are plenty of annoying creatures I need to kill so I have to hit more than just the player.

Eidolon of the Great Revel is fine in the matchup because it generates traction when I'm burning out opposing creatures. The twelve creatures deal damage while I kill everything in the way.

Path to Exile is decent in the matchup; I need a way to stop Auriok Champion. Things can get out of hand if they start copying it with Phantasmal Image.

Jund:

Boros Charm, Lava Spike, and Skullcrack deal damage to planeswalkers even though it doesn't say so on the card. Intuitive right? If you're ever unsure it's a good idea to do a gatherer search on the card in question.

Wren and Six allowed Jund to diversify their traction-generating 2-drops while also moving away from playing many creatures. Path to Exile removes pesky Tarmogoyfs and Scavenging Ooze. Eidolon of the Great Revel is an enchantment which beefs up the Goyf.

It's reasonable to not play your Monastery Swiftspear or Goblin Guide on the draw if the opponent leaves up Lightning Bolt or Fatal Push mana. This is allows you to blank their first turn while also keeping creatures out of the graveyard. The second turn Tarmogoyf might be small enough to kill this way. The guide can come down when they tap out on turn three for Liliana of the Veil and actually deal damage.

Blue/White and Jeskai (with Stoneforge Mystic):

Stoneblade decks have been playing Teferi, Time Raveler and Spell Queller because they are a cute combo; for this reason I cut Rift Bolts. They're able to still be hard-casted, but always worrying about suspending is not worth it.

Stoneforge Mystic hasn't been very good against me so far. I'm more afraid of uw decks without the Kor Artificer. They go and fetch a Batterskull and I kill the mystic with Searing Blaze or Searing Blood. If I'm on the play I can hold up two mana on the second turn to kill at the end of their turn to get around Force of Negation. They may wait to cast Stoneforge on the third turn to hold up Spell Snare. Many burn spells hit Stoneforge so the second one will likely resolve.

Since Stoneblade decks play so many Snapcaster Mages, Stoneforge Mystics, Spell Quellers, and Vendilion Cliques I'm rarely short on targets for Searing Blaze and Searing Blood. In fact, they're actively good in the matchup.

Skullcrack can stop Lightning Helix from gaining life. It doesn't prevent the germ token from Batterskull from gaining life because it rarely enters the battlefield in the first place. If they tap out for Batterskull it might mean immediately dying. For this reason I don't even bother fighting the equipment with Smash to Smithereens.

Whurza:

I won't London Mulligan to Smash to Smithereens, but I do value it highly in my opener. This matchup is all about the Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo. Post board games I expect them to quickly assemble the combo. They cannot keep hands that durdle. Smash to Smithereens puts them very far behind in assembling the only thing that matters. It's not like Searing Blaze so wait for the opponent to tap out before destroying it. There's only one target and it will fizzle if the artifact isn't in play on resolution.

Skullcrack is decent in the matchup, but stronger than Lightning Helix as Urza has 4 toughness. The ways Whurza gains life is Thopter Foundry and a couple Collective Brutality in the sideboard. I don't expect to prevent more than a single life to be gained, but that's basically a Boros Charm.

Eldrazi Tron:

The Eldrazi are too big to shoot down with a single spell so anything with Searing in the name will help double-team. Smash to Smithereens is basically Searing Artifact so we have a theme going. I need to kill Chalice of the Void and they will likely make x=1 first for mana efficiency. Sixteen of your spells cost one mana in Game 1.

Eidolon of the Great Revel is bad in a race where they cast big and expensive Eldrazi. This is unfortunate as I lose a primary traction element of the deck. This is why I need so many searing cards to recoup card disadvantage.

That's all I have this week. Burn is a fun deck to play and the London Mulligan gave it a face lift. To all the readers out there make sure you take more mulligans in Modern. Even if you think are already mulling too much take another one just for me.

Thanks for reading.

-Kyle

TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, burn, modern, decklist, kyle boggemes, london mulligan, 09272019, sideboarding guide

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