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Burning Bridges Reloaded
Written by MC_Kejml on December 26, 2006 Burning Bridges Reloadedby MC_Kejml[author note: I am very sorry for my improper spelling of some words and phrases – I am not English, so please, do not be rude and accept that fact. I hope there are no grammatical errors that would spoil your reading. ] This deck is one of the simplest and most entertaining decks which I have played, and in modern metagame, after testing it many times, I think it may win a few tourneys. I once saw a Burning bridges article here on Magic-League around the time when me and my friend made one! Nevertheless, I stayed with our original build, tested it for about three weeks, and viola: we have a new great deck. As you probably figured out, this deck relies mainly on the strength of Ensnaring bridges and power of red burn spells. I will explain the deck more closely.
![]() Creatures This deck has one creature who does his job quite well. Grim Lavamancer Grim is a good choice for this deck; he does not have a big power (so the bridges won’t interfere) and hurls cards with no further use in your graveyard straight into your opponent’s face or to some problematic creatures he controls. And he can do this when holed up behind the bridges, the number one creature for this deck indeed. Qty: 4 And why: Much music for little money, as we Czechs say. I’m kidding; this is a perfect use of cards in graveyard. Spells Burn spells, of course. Rift Bolt A great burn spell that has two costs. You can have a Lava spike on turn two or use a fine three damage for 2R. It is a sorcery, but if it wasn’t, it would be just perfect. A spell that does three damage for a good mana cost is very valuable into Burning Bridges. Qty: 4 And why: Three damage for one mana with a tiny drawback? Great! Firebolt Brother to Shock by mana cost and damage dealt, this spell changes speed for an extra later use. To someone it may seem that Grim wastes it; however, BB destroys its opponent so quickly that sometimes it’s better to punch opponent by Grim than to wait for your fifth land. Sure, there are few matchups in which BB may lose speed, and that is the perfect use for the Flas hback.Qty: 4 And why: Good burn spell with Flashback. Sudden Shock Having Atogs and Mongrels still in many decks, this is good tech for wiping them out. Also, many controls won’t appreciate this spell targeting them when they’re at two life. Qty: 3 And why: 1R for two damage is not that much – on the other hand, virtual- uncounterability and no stack is clearly worth three copies main. Lava spike This is the best damage spell to play for one red mana. I don’t know what more I should say; this card is one of the best ones in this deck. Three damage at this price is great. Qty:4 And why: The purpose of this deck is to quickly win by casting many good direct damage spells on the opponent. Get it? Shrapnel Blast Five damage for two mana at instant speed, which is incredible. However, you must sacrifice an artifact. In game one against slow deck with no creatures, Burning Bridge can be flung. What about an empty chrome mox or a full one with sufficient mana base? I think that an artifact to sacrifice will always be found. Qty: 4 And why: Large-scale damage with an acceptable drawback. Four may seem to someone like much, but as with all cards, it’s about luck and misfortune. Normally, you would use two or three. Magma Jet As long as there is no good card-drawing in red, other means must be used. For that function, there is Magma Jet, which is very useful at end of turn. This card will also ensure that you won’t draw two lands in a row (very hard to come back from). Qty: 4 And why: Great tempo feature plus some instant damage. Browbeat Five damage for three red mana or three cards into hand sounds reasonable enough to add it to this deck? The only problem is that Browbeat is a sorcery, so it can be countered easily, leaving you with all of your lands tapped. Still, Browbeat is a card that would bring a painful decision to your opponent. Qty: 2 And why: Good drawing/damage, still, if countered, you lost a turn. Artifacts A mana accelerator, draw accelerator, and the namesake of the deck. Chrome Mox An artifact for reasonable zero price tag, it can be a mana accelerator or ammunition for Shrapnel blast. It varies on the situation, but the best cards to imprint are Sudden Shock or an extra Shrapnel blast when you have multiple on hand. But as I say, it varies. Plus, if you have your bridge in play and your hand seems too full, this is a perfect way to quickly empty it. Qty: 1 And why: A card useful almost in any situation that can come in this deck, I prefer just one because if you have your hand full of moxen, you can’t even imprint them upon themselves. ![]() Ensnaring Bridge This artifact is the namesake of the deck. Some see it for the first time, some are quite familiar with it, and some would just say, ‘‘Putrefy!” True. As you can see, this artifact is as it was made for this deck . With cheap spells like lava spike, quick hand-emptying cards like Chrome mox, and with a good timing, the bridge will block off your opponent’s creatures. I do not play any creatures that would need to deal combat damage to opponent at any massive numbers, so it isn’t a problem for me. Qty: 4 And why: Ensnaring bridge is to this deck like Isochron Scepter to No-stick. Well, maybe not THAT important. No, the true purpose of bridges is to stop your opponent’s creatures at least for a while you burn him with your spells. Sensei’s Divining Top This artifact is an incredibly great tempo card; it can arrange the burn spells as you wish, being a great card-drawer with Magma Jet or Fetchlands. Qty: 2 And why: Brilliant tempo and card drawing artifact, also a Shrapnel blast fodder for just one mana. Enchantments Seal of Fire A cheap enchantment that you can preserve for later use. You may use them whenever you like. Disenchant? In response, two to you. Pernicious Deed? In response, I sacrifice the Seals. Qty: 4 And why: A card even better than Shock, you empty your hand and you have your two damage ensured. Sulfuric Vortex I know Flames of Blood hand is a superb instant, but with this enchantment, you don’t have to always wait for Hierarch or other life-gain spells to be played. Still, if someone likes Flames more, I do not take his view as wrong. Qty: 2 And why: Expensive card, used in half of the situations I met; good card against controls or slow decks, and also nice against decks that add life. Though, if countered, you may get the same effect as with Browbeat. You must play this one carefully. Sideboard ![]() Blood Moon Good, inexpensive card against decks like Tings, Tron, Friggorid, and five-color rogue decks with many duals. Also, many decks use nonbasic lands instead of basic, so Blood Moon is a very universal card. Qty: 3 And why: It just ruins land-based decks. Genju of the Spires Some like Slith Firewalker, some Giant Solifuge; but I like this enchantment the most because if I play it against heavy control quickly, I have a great 6/1 thresher which will reduce opponent to ashes in few turns. It leeches the lands for its own use, but it is clearly worth the effort. Qty: 4 And why: It is a great way to cripple control decks in the early game. Shattering Spree This spell looks like the best red artifact destruction so far, even if it’s sorcery. Even if one copy gets countered, the other copies will still be destroying artifacts. It’s great against No-Stick and mainly Affinity. Qty: 4 And why: Artifact destruction, hardly 100% counterable, cheap, and sudden. Flamebreak No Pyroclasm, no Breath or Darigaaz, no Tremor (but I don’t think you would expect Tremor to be played here); instead, Flamebreak. Why? It’s quite cheap, good against affinity, Elephants, goblins, and many other played types. No regeneration is nice too, even if it isn’t that important. And I nearly forgot: it deals damage to opponent! Qty: 4 And why: Massive damage to massive amounts of creatures. Matchups Note: Not all tier-one Extended decks may be here. I have not met them all on appr(mws) nor in real life. Strange, but true. I will write about decks I played against. ![]() BDW (Boros Deck Wins) This is a nasty matchup in the beginning. Lightning helix and Soltari priest are annoying, but that is nearly everything you have to worry about. Goblin Leggionaire is hit by Sudden shock, though bridge may not function well against Pillage. The only thing to side in is Flamebreak, mainly because there are large amounts of creatures on your opponent’s side of the table. Or, if equipments are used, I would consider sideboarding Sprees, though I have never met such a version of BDW. Sideboarding: -2 Sulfuric Vortex +2 Flamebreak Goblins This matchup is quite easy. If you quickly get barricaded behind the bridges, you are almost there. The only thing that may be dangerous are Siege-Gang Commanders, but if you have a one or two Sudden shocks it may prove to be an entertaining, but never a lost matchup. You must hit Piledrivers and Warchiefs in the early game. Flamebreaks prove to be useful in sideboarding again. Sideboarding: -2 Sulfuric vortex -2 Firebolt +4 Flamebreak Tooth and Nail Tooth is quite slow in the early game; you must expect almost anything. Bridges are good tech against Darksteel Collosus, and normal / Sudden shock is fine against Kiki-Jiki. Side in Blood moons, which will make the Urza lands into useless mountains. However, they may play Viridian shaman. Victory is pretty unsure. Sideboarding: -4 Firebolt +3 Blood moon +1 Genju of the Spires Rock This deck is a bad matchup. Bridges are destroyed quickly. Though, not all is lost; if the opponent plays Confidants, he is making your job easier, and you can still thwart any Hierarchs (BGW rock) with Sulfuric Vortex. The worse thing is that there is nothing to sideboard in. If Jitte shows up, you can try Shattering Spree, but that is it. ![]() Affinity Nice matchup. You block your enemy off with bridges, even if he has his Platings attached. The danger is in Ornithopters, to which Cranal plating may be attached instantly. As for sideboarding, put in Sprees and it’s good game. But still, pay attention to Ornithopters and Sudden Shock all Ravagers. Sideboarding: -2 Sulfuric vortex -2 Browbeat +4 Shattering spree No-Stick This matchup is a tricky one in which you’ve got to think well, using Browbeats and Vortexes in game one. The opponent can build his Isochron lock quickly, but he may not always have enough mana to counter all of your threats. Just put some Lava spikes or Browbeats as bait then finish him off with Shrapnel blasts (or vice-versa). After side, it’s all about when Shattering spree comes in. You can duplicate it four times; does your opponent have five pieces of countermagic? Sideboarding: -4 Ensnaring bridge(Carefully watch if he plays any creatures like Exalted angel. If not, this is useless) +4 Genju of the spires -2 Browbeat -2 Sulfuric vortex +4 Shattering spree Trinket Angel (UW) A matchup similar to No-Stick, the only big creature in this deck is Exalted angel (I have seen more aggro versions, but I will take the UW version now because I played the most against it), which, when played, rips Burning Bridges to shreds via life-gain. The combo with Counterbalance and Sensei is quite deadly; when it’s in play, you should carefully stock cards and wait for your chance. You’ll need to get lucky to win the game at that point. Early deployment of grims and other viable cards will do the trick, and Sulfuric Vortex is pure gold. It’s a dangerous deck. If aggro-orientated, side nothing. If more control-orientated, -4 Ensnaring bridge +4 Genju of the spires ![]() UW Azoritron Another UW deck, this one’s dangerous cards are Mindslaver, and traditional Decree of Justice and Exalted Angel. In the first game, bridge will guarantee you some protection against the creatures, but Mindslaver might get you anyway. Of course, there is not much to change when you have no cards in hand and a bridge in play. It may get Repealed, and you must fix it in the post-sideboard games. Either you screw up the Tron lands with a Blood Moon, or you can punch your opponent with Genju of the spires. Best of luck, for this may be a quite bad matchup. Sideboarding: -4 Ensnaring bridge +4 Genju of the spires -1 Firebolt -2 Browbeat +3 Blood moon Ritual Desire The deck is the worst matchup. You have little chance of winning this one; bridges are useless, and you probably won’t get enough burn to finish them off quickly enough. After sideboarding, the best thing you have against Ritual Desire is Genju of the Fields, which must come as soon as possible. Most spells in this deck are useless or not fast enough. The only advice I can give is to get god-like speed, or shuffle your opponent’s deck so much that the cards won’t come to him (not ethical). Sideboarding: -4 Ensnaring bridge +4 Genju of the spires Friggorid ![]() The key to victory here is obviously Ensnaring Bridge. The monoblack version has no means of disposing of the bridges once in play, so if you empty your hand quickly, it is almost Bye. Though, problematic cards may appear on your side. I am talking of Browbeat, so, if you have bridges, try to get it out with Top or Jets. There is nothing much to side, but swapping Browbeats for Flamebreaks (to deal with zombies from Zombie Infestation) may be a good move. Sideboarding: -2 Browbeat +2 Flamebreak MBC Easy matchup if it comes properly. Bridges are useless here, but that does not apply for Sulfuric vortex. You can stop his leeching even if some damage is dealt to you, but you have to quickly finish him before he gets a lot of mana from Cabal Coffers. After sideboarding it may prove to be an easy game. Sideboarding: -4 Ensnaring bridge +4 Genju of the spires -3 Sudden shock +3 Blood moon Tings This matchup is quite bad. You might try to deal as much damage as possible, getting many cards out of hand because playing Balancing Act when your opponent has zero cards in hand is not very clever. If he succeeds in playing Act and some creature, you have probably lost. As for sideboarding, add Blood Moons and play them quickly, you have nearly won. The only means that opponent can use to win is Obliterate, which, for eight mana, is kind of expensive. That is probably all for the metagame and Burning bridges. I think you should definitively give this deck a try. It is a very entertaining deck, and when playing it, you are almost never bored. At the end, I would like to say no flaming please. I have made this article for intelligent MTG players. See you soon, -MC_Kejml Comments:
by
Malice on 2006-12-26 14:33 MDT Grafted skullcap????? by tato- on 2006-12-26 14:56 MDT nice article...What about ivory mask and stuff like that?? Defense grid vs counters? by Streakz on 2006-12-26 14:57 MDT all of your evaluations just say what the cards do, seems kinda pointless to even put them if they really serve no purpose to someone who isn't brain dead
by Haro on 2006-12-26 15:15 MDT Why not play pyrostatic pillar vs combo? by SarcasticRat on 2006-12-26 15:23 MDT "by Malice on 2006-12-26 15:33 CST
by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-26 15:29 MDT Grafted skullcap is too expensive.. 4 is qute much.
by traxex on 2006-12-26 15:46 MDT GJ on the aricle, good matchup analyse, its not tier 1 deck but still can defeat a lot of decks. Seems the bridges strategy ownz the one with firecats? by goodrat on 2006-12-26 16:02 MDT Browbeat is probably the worst card in your deck. Against aggro, they'll just let you draw to get an attack in. If your gameplan is to empty your hand and sling burn from behind an ensnaring bridge, wouldn't you be better off to play spells that will actually, you know, help you with that gameplan?
by yavin1 on 2006-12-26 16:05 MDT i would just go siesmic assualt and ensnaring bridge. Just keep pitching lands and have some cheap burn to finish off your opponent. by Spyx on 2006-12-26 16:08 MDT Good thing you play Great Furnace. It pairs nice with Shrapnel Blast. I didn't see it at first because it wasn't stading next to the other lands. by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-26 16:10 MDT Spyx: ? It's there... by ZvZ on 2006-12-26 16:23 MDT not bad by Linkman on 2006-12-26 16:26 MDT Siege gang commander in boros? You must be kidding me. Spelling was ok.. but your matchup analysis, it made me puke. by Alucart on 2006-12-26 16:50 MDT TeknoLink read better.. BRD is on top of gobbo.. they are Seperated....
by Erebus- on 2006-12-26 16:51 MDT Bottled Cloister is better than Skullcap! And why only one chrome mox? by WiCkEdWiZaRd on 2006-12-26 17:22 MDT I would recommend splashing for 2 Foundrys for lightning helixs and also Disenchants in the board. by _griffin_ on 2006-12-26 18:42 MDT i agree with wicked
by yavin1 on 2006-12-26 21:24 MDT id put dwarven blastminer over bloodmoon, and genju of the spires seems replacable with a better card. also, id run wildfire perhaps?
by NahHolmes on 2006-12-26 21:49 MDT There's a couple problems here.
by Ggerg on 2006-12-26 23:47 MDT 2 things
by evol on 2006-12-27 00:03 MDT pros say browbeat is bad, so reguardless of what deck, browbeat is a non-playable card. It has no use, ever, allowing your opponent to choose between 5 damage for 3 mana, or drawing 3 cards is a horrible set of choices, and neither one has a place in any deck, ever. by ChuckNorris on 2006-12-27 02:52 MDT Splashing green for Krosan Grip seems fetch in this deck. I'm also uncertain as to how this beats any combo. Pyroclastic Pillar seems to be in order. Techy though :D. by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-27 03:39 MDT Thanks everyone.
by truly on 2006-12-27 11:27 MDT nice article and deck :) by whateverdude on 2006-12-27 12:29 MDT bad article, bad deck
by ForzaAzzurri on 2006-12-27 14:17 MDT *by TeknoLink on 2006-12-27 00:26 CET
by tivoL on 2006-12-27 14:27 MDT whateverdude: TY SI KUS CURAKA TO SE JEN TAK NEVIDI KOKUTKU :D :D :D fakt vetsiho zmrda co tu nenapsal ani carku sem nevidel kokote a jestli ses aspon inteligentnejsi nez kus hovna tak si to prelozis kokote boze to je curak ... mozna i nadcurak by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-27 14:37 MDT WD :-.- by M1K3 on 2006-12-27 14:45 MDT Not bad at all...but there´s still problem with browbeat and ensnaring bridge
by fu_whateverd on 2006-12-27 14:46 MDT whateverdude... i do not see your point. As a friend of MC in real life, he won several boosters with this deck back in these two weeks.From your whining, I also believe that you would make a better article about the RDW.
by fu_whateverd on 2006-12-27 14:46 MDT whateverdude... i do not see your point. As a friend of MC in real life, he won several boosters with this deck back in these two weeks.From your whining, I also believe that you would make a better article about the RDW.
by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-27 14:48 MDT Thanks, guys. I haven't knew of any czechs here 'cept Jardab :O
by traxex on 2006-12-27 15:09 MDT You could splash green for destroying enchantments (naturalise or krosan grip in SB) to help with some mathcups
by Russell_Nash on 2006-12-27 15:29 MDT im sorry, but why are we still even talking about this deck? This deck has not had a notable inovation EVERY, theres nothing worth "testing" or "tweaking" its a silly artifact with a fist full of burn. This has been the exact same deck for over 8 years and has not goten ANY BETTER, while the power curve of other competitive magic decks has grown by leaps and bounds.
by PV on 2006-12-27 15:29 MDT "only 2xSDT ? Flores Red in T2 used to have 4 Tops, and it didnt have any shuffling but scrying from magma jet, and eventually slogger activations, but usually when u untap with slogger u win anyway"
by Russell_Nash on 2006-12-27 15:35 MDT "Flores Red in T2 used to have 4 Tops, and it didnt have any shuffling but scrying from magma jet" -whateverdude
by Bombtrap on 2006-12-27 16:11 MDT Since there's a lot of artifact hate MD in many decks (Tin Street, Kataki, Pernicious Deed, etc), sitting behind a Ensnare Bridge to alive isn't a safe choice... maybe you should try ponza (like PV said), it have some purposes close to your idea and it could be a good deck in m-l metagame.
by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-27 16:19 MDT Who is ponza ? :) Arc slogger ? :) by WiCkEdWiZaRd on 2006-12-27 18:15 MDT play welding jar:/ by Ninja87 on 2006-12-27 22:36 MDT lol and here i am.. checking this article out coz i just played with him and owned him... looks like i'm not the only one who thinks this deck doesn't work... XD by NahHolmes on 2006-12-27 23:15 MDT The #1 problem with this deck is that Boros does what this deck tries to do, and does it better, and any attempt to make this deck better will eventually turn it into Boros. by MC_Kejml on 2006-12-28 04:05 MDT True, but the cash efforts on this deck would multiply like x3.
by Apocalypser on 2006-12-28 04:37 MDT I used to play a deck like this one for fun and it's not that bad.
by RedWolf on 2006-12-29 10:50 MDT Lol, seems the Czechs own these comments.
by Mr-e-kid on 2006-12-29 17:02 MDT lol vagina by snoopster on 2006-12-30 15:48 MDT browbeat is a terrible card, otherwise the deck is fine by SaM_Fra^ on 2006-12-31 04:04 MDT blood moon against ritual desire ;) |
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