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Legacy Incinerate substitute?

Rebuilding an old T.1.5 deck into a Legacy legal equivalent and I was looking for some feedback on what would be a good replacement for Incinerate?

http://www.mtgvault.com/magicviking/decks/taxed-assault/
Posted 18 June 2013 at 00:32

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What's wrong with incinerate? (aside from the cost)

These days everyone plays Chain Lightning in addition to the much better Lightning Bolt but since you want instant speed stuff Chain Lightning probably won't do. Maybe look into playing Shard Volley it might have a positive synergy with Tax and Assault. On the other hand your landbase seems very fragile. If they keep you off non red mana half your deck is dead. In competitive play your deck is far to greedy wanting to play more then it can. Legacy has changed a lot man, it's lighting fast.


That said I do think it's an awesome build, something I feel inclined to tinker with myself. The creatures and fling concept I'm not sold on, it seems ok if you play a Kiln Fiend and if it still lives the next turn and you happen to have bolt and fling and 3 mana then yeah ok, nice but that's a big if. Last time I saw someone play Kiln Fiend I just force of will 'd it.
I feel the same about your wish board, in order to have 3 mana for the wish including one blue mana and then additional mana for whatever you wish for seems really far fetched in this type of deck.

Burn decks kill in 4 to 5 turns but the problem is that when they don't (often due to a combination of counterspells and lifegain like Umezawa's Jitte or Batterskull) they miss a mid game strategy. A loam/Assault engine might be the thing and you can play this on a 2 color mana base. You can even squeeze in Land Tax but I would not go beyond that.
Also realize that after sideboard graveyard strategies become a lot weaker as most players are sensible enough to pack a lot of graveyard hate. But maybe land Tax is strong enough to fuel Assault without the need to Loam.

good luck with the deck man
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Posted 18 June 2013 at 07:40

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Thanks for the reply!
Incinerate is fine, just a tad under the curve, and that made me wonder what else might be out there. Chain Lightning being a Sorcery is not gonna work real well with the Fiend interaction as he gets flung mostly during opponents turn as response to removal. Shard Volley does seem to interact nicely, might have to give it a spin.

The landbase is fragile. Mind you, most times out it runs like a straight burn where all lands, (minus Wasteland), ends up being Mountains with the possible exception of maybe a turn 1 Tax or a single Loam thrown in.

Funny thing about Paradise, it is a lot tougher to dispose of then you might think, (drop it when you need non-Red, let it bounce until you need it again). I've played against this deck during playtesting with several other deck types and I find that I hate the way Paradise forces the timing of its removal. It somehow feels like I, (as the opponent), can never really get the optimum effect out of removing it...

If you as my opponent feel you have to FoW ANY of my critters I am ecstatic! Then the summoning has served its purpose to the fullest and I can really go to work on killing you the way this deck is supposed to function.

The Wishboard is likely more a "cute" idea then fully functional. It is just too mana intensive for this deck as it generally ignores threats early and focuses everything on a midgame Assault ending when required.

Lifegain is, as always, a nuisance for a burn deck. Was tinkering with the idea of possibly SB Skullcrack but have not pulled the trigger on that yet...
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Posted 18 June 2013 at 22:47

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FoW isn't that bad against burn when you're playing a deck like Bladecontrol. FoW on it's own is pretty bad but in combo with Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm and snapcaster to recast these it helps keep you alive long enough to stick batterskull. FoW against Kiln Fiend is important I think most of the time (unless you have something like maze of Ith). You also want it against Price of Progress and Fireblast and T1 Delver (if it's UR Burn) and other possible finishers.

Something that usually gives me a really hard time after side board if I can't stop it is Sulfuric Vortex. That's just a great spell for burn. That and the fact that most legacy decks used to run mostly artifact removal and there just aren't that many options for enchantments. Engineered Explosives is a good one and these days Abrubt Decay is really taking over the show removing almost anything.

I've always been a big wishboard fan myself. I'm the guy making wishboards for casual decks :) ...which actually makes sense as whishing in modern legacy has become to slow. Burning Wish and Living Wish are still quite good though. Burning Wish mostly for TES (which is what I'm currently playing) and I dunno, I just like Living Wish, it might not see much play anymore but it sure has potential.
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Posted 19 June 2013 at 07:08

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