Sylvan Games
 

Articles

 
You are: Home -> Articles -> Feature Article | Email the author Editor: Dan Turner. Tuesday 12 August 2003.

Feature Article

Burning Bridge

Ensnaring Bridge did not drop out of 8th Edition. With 8th Edition coming in with lots of burn, the Burning Bridge archetype is yet again a viable option for Standard. A recent version printed on Brainburst.com uses green for Naturalize against Astral Slide, but this version is more straight out and uses full red for better sideboard options. However, it may have trouble dealing with a recurring Teroh's Faithful.

Lets take a look at our options for burn:

Firebolt
Shock
Spark Spray
Volcanic Hammer
Chain of Plasma
Fiery Temper
Carbonize
Hammer of Bogardan
Sulfuric Vortex
Seismic Assault
Violent Eruption

There are more, but those are the candidates. Generally,Firebolt is probably better than Shock as it deals 4, it is possible to run both but we will have this as the 1cc burn for now:

4 x Firebolt

2cc Burn - Volcanic Hammer goes before Chain of Plasma as it can cause more trouble then you can handle.

4 x Volcanic Hammer

Fiery Temper is probably not a good choice as there is Carbonize. Recurring burn is great, especially giving you something to do in the late game, so Hammer of Bogardan is great. Sulfuric Vortex should be used in any burn deck, Seismic Assault actually isn't bad losing your excess land - it may be an option to fit in later but the deck might not run too much land and this might screw up the Hammer.

4 x Carbonize
3 x Hammer of Bogardan
4 x Sulfuric Vortex

Violent Eruption is an obvious choice as it handles creatures well, otherwise it's a Lightning Blast to the face.

4 x Violent Eruption

So far we have built this up as a burn base:-

4 x Firebolt
4 x Volcanic Hammer
4 x Carbonize
3 x Hammer of Bogardan
4 x Sulfuric Vortex

Utility is always needed for this deck as it you may always have the wrong cards in the wrong situation. Burning Wish helps out by giving utility. Here are wish options:

Flashfires - Slide goes down down down...same with White Weenie =P
Obliterate - A late game essential reset button
Slice and Dice - Goodbye goblins...
Threaten - Use your opponent's attackers as burn
Lightning Surge - 12 Damage over 2 turns with one card is pretty impressive
Hammer of Bogardan - Fast burn when you need it, then later recursive
Pyroclasm - Options are always options, and this one is a smaller Slice
Overmaster - Ensnaring Bridge ...must...not...be....logiced... Also it's a cantrip, therefore not even losing you any card advantage.

So 1 of each of those - we have 8 cards. Boil is yet another hoser against another colour - we grab 3 - leaving us with 4 cards left in sideboard. Against RG and Sligh, I was thinking 2 Pyroclasms, which when sided in (assuming Burning Wishes are still there, gives you effectively 6 Pyroclasms in the deck. The remaining 2 spots have the same theory - 2 Flashfires, giving you 6 Flashfires to draw giving you a better chance against Slide.

Our maindeck now looks like this:

4 x Firebolt
4 x Volcanic Hammer
4 x Carbonize
3 x Hammer of Bogardan
4 x Sulfuric Vortex
4 x Burning Wish
(23 cards)

To deal with creatures we have 4 Starstorms. 4 Ensnaring Bridges is obviously needed. 31 cards in, 24 lands counts for another 5 cards needed. This is where we put in 2 Seismic Assault,needed during the lategame where drawing lands is getting annoying. 3 card-spots left. I was thinking Furnace of Rath . When you use your burn and settle in for a 4th turn Furnace, the burn really starts to hurt as 1-mana can provide you with 4 damage and paying 5 to flashback that Firebolt makes it do a total of 8 damage - wow.

Then there are the 24 land. Petrified Field wrecks the red mana base but works well with Forgotten Cave, Seismic Assault AND Barbarian Ring. I think we need 3 Barbarian Ring, 3 Forgotten Cave and only 2 Petrified Field as not to wreck the colour base. The remaining 16 land can be 3 saclands to further thin the deck, even effectively if you have Petrified Field. Then the rest can be mountains.

Let's piece everything up I said

Burn Deck
 
13 x Mountain
2 x Petrified Field
3 x Barbarian Ring
3 x Forgotten Cave

4 x Firebolt
4 x Volcanic Hammer
4 x Burning Wish
4 x Carbonize
4 x Sulfuric Vortex
3 x Hammer of Bogardan
4 x Ensnaring Bridge
4 x Starstorm
2 x Seismic Assault
3 x Furnace of Rath

3 x Flashfires
3 x Pyroclasms
3 x Boil
1 x Obliterate
1 x Slice and Dice
1 x Threaten
1 x Lightning Surge
1 x Hammer of Bogardan
1 x Overmaster

Matchups after testing

UG Madness

Against UG Madness it probably has too much burn for it to deal with.Naturalize after sideboarding will not be too devastating as you still have burn for most of their creatures and Boil will slow them down, giving you time to set up a Furnace of Rath and burning the heck out of your opponent with no Wurms to stand in your way.

RG Beatdown

Hard because of Phantom Centaurs and Elephant Guides. Pyroclasm helps a bit after sideboarding - as long as you set up a bridge or two you will have the upper hand as you will always win the race of burn.

Astral Slide

This match is much easier after sideboarding when you have Flashfires. It's not an easy matchup by any means especially if they recur Teroh's Faithful. Flashfires wrecks their whole mana base and you can go from there, killing their Teroh's Faithful with less cycling resistance and then just burning the hell out of your opponent as usual.

Psychatog

After 8th edition is in, Psychatog is pretty much dead. Psychatog is pretty easy to deal with as they can't counter all your burn, and Hammer of Bogardan just knocks him out. Eventually a Boil will win you the game. Seismic Assault and Furnace of Rath must be countered - if not, you will win as they cannot remove it and it will just be too much for the 'tog player. I just don't see tog being run as it has lost Counterspell, Duress... but watch out for Haunting Echoes.

Wake

Same story for Wake - it has lost both Counterspell AND Memory Lapse. without adequate counter and not being able to counter every burn you play anyway, Wake has problem defeating you unless they somehow win the race with a very quick Miraried Renewed Faith. After sideboarding, Boil and Flashfires makes this matchup a bye.

Sligh

This matchup was fun in testing - Just greet the goblins, then hammer 'em, bolt 'em and Carbonize 'em. Watch your opponent's face when you Violent Eruption them. You use your burn on your opponent's little dudes... his hand is getting small from playing too many dudes and your hand is getting small from playing burn. He drops Vortex. You smile and proceed to outburn him as you have WAY more burn than the average sligh player. Easy matchup, after sideboarding you even have the Pyroclasms. Just burn all the little red men. This matchup is a bye.

The only problem with those matchups is that you may not face them. RG is still a powerful machine that can eat the Burning Bridge deck if it doesn't drop a sturdy bridge. Then there are the other decks that may emerge from 8th Edition and may effectively be built to beat Burning Bridge. I guess the Scissors-Paper-Rock metagame will determine how this deck will fair - but it looks good so far.

[ Email the Author | Discuss this Article ]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]