Blue Flame (R/U Creatureless)

by Ozirus33 on 02 April 2010

Main Deck (75 cards)

Sideboard (12 cards)

Sorceries (8)

Instants (4)

Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

Pretty simple. Blue controls and red burns. Quest for Ancient Secrets lets me put all my spells back into my library which would have less mana and enchants in it so I'll have more copiable spells for Pyromancer Ascension.

The general gist is to counter/lock down their creatures while killing them over time with the burns. I really made the deck to see if it was possible to make a standard spell-only deck because I think it would be fun if it actually worked.

Comments would be great seeing as I'm not the most ingenious player and most of the things I think will work generally end up with random snags in them.

Deck Tags

  • Creatureless

Deck at a Glance

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Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

0350280

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Blue Flame (R/U Creatureless)

Hmm, this seems like a good idea, using more heavy Blue to lock em down. Building power with Red never was popular, since Red usually has quick power at low costs, but I enjoy the idea of it myself :D

A few things you want to focus on for Standard. 1. You want to not ONLY be deadly, but be able to COUNTER other deck styles, Bant, Jund, UW Control, all of them. "Play no favorites, everyone dies."
2. Your style will be the U half of UW Control, while the R side will be more powerful RDW. Remember to prioritize to what will be best.

Alright, the play style. You want to COMPLETELY lock down creatures while doing damage with burns. If that's the case, then I would stock up on cheaper, counter creature spells. What is negate doing in your deck? Drop 4x Negates and replace with 4x Essence Scatters, they counter only creatures, but only 1U mana. Next up, drop the 3 Ice Cages. Ice Cage is pretty at a glance, but bad in testing. Once target for an ability, it's freed. White Weenie, Bant, and UW Control are gonna have a field deck with this, while RDW just laughs at the card.

Next up, you seem to be a bit heavy on counters. 14 Counters vs 17 Burns. Bad bad bad. If you're going for standard, you will at most only need around 6-8 Counters. Not even UW Control decks run that many counter spells. I would say 3x Essence Scatter, 2x Double Negative, 2x Negate, and 2x Deprive. This should be all you need, since Standard is usually 5-7 turns long.

Next up, your burns. You REALLY got to lose some burn cards out of there. I would immediately say, drop Lava Axe and Fireball. There are better cards. Now then, for most burn decks, your burn spell count will not excede 16, for standard RDW (Red Deck Wins). But since this one is only slight RDW, I would say 9-11 burn spells are in order.

First off, Lightning Bolt is always 4x. if you dont have 4 Lightning Bolts in your deck, you're doing something wrong. They're popular in RDW, Jund, and heck, even UW Control decks "splash" Red for Lightning Bolt and Double Negative. Next up, you gotta have 3-4 extra cheap burn cards. This will leave you choosing between Forked Bolt, Burst Lightning, and Staggershock. Instantly, I would say drop Staggershock, since your deck is focusing on using Quest for Acient Secrets to keep them active, exiling your burn spells will only hurt you.

Forked Bolt vs Burst Lightning
---Forked Bolt - R----
2 Damage divided as you wish between any one or 2 player(s) or creature(s)
Pros: Can kill off "Mana dorks" while damaging opponent
Pros: Very diverse, helps keep the field empty while doing damage
Cons: Weaker than Burst Lightning with Kicker
(Mana Dorks are creatures you drop for 1 mana, then tap them next turn for 1 mana of their color. Help getting 3 mana creatures out on turn 2 and 4-6 mana creatures on turn 2.)

---Burst Lightning - R---
Pro: With Kicker, does 4 instant damage
Con: A good amount of mana for just 4 damage. Easily outclassed by Lightning Bolt and Staggershock.

In all honestly, I would greatly prefer Forked Bolt. It isnt a powerfully quick as Burst Lightning, which helps kill off opponents fast in RDW, but it's AWESOME for field control, keeping their mana dorks in check. It depends on your meta.

Lands. I would drop 2x Island and 2x Mountains for 4x Scalding Tarn. Why? Well, because in Standard play, you thin out your deck of lands quicker, only for 1 mana cost. It seems hurtful, but TRUST ME, the game LOSING DRAW can be you drawing a land on turn 5 when you've already got plenty of mana. The less chance of a land draw, the better.

Now, for the sideboard. I would say stock up on single cards that can MESS OVER other styles of decks. Maybe add some extra spot removal to mess with Naya or Bant, or maybe add work around with some TRAP cards. Archive Trap, if they search their deck for a card, pay 0 and their remove top 13 cards to their graveyard. Runeflare trap, if they drew 3 cards, cast for R. They take damage equal to cards in hand. Add Burning Inquiry to your sideboard with this card to do a turn 2 hit for about 9-10 damage :D

Really, best of luck to you. Just remember Swerve's flavor text - "We can't beat the necromancers in numbers or raw power. We must beat them with ingenuity and timing." —Rannon, Vithian holdout

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Posted 19 April 2010 at 01:50

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Thanks for the advice Toasty, its very much appreciated. :D Good luck with your R/U deck!

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Posted 19 April 2010 at 13:51

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