In response to the Card of the Day reviews posted about Braid of Fire a few weeks back, one enterprising reader sent me this E-mail:
I was wondering why everybody neglected to mention this card combos nicely with X spells, such as Demonfire (play this at turn 2, turn five, you get 3 mana from this guy, plus all mana you can tap from lands, aver
aging 8, Demonfire would deal 7 damage, next turn, 9 damage, next 11 damage, which is game). Things could be devastating letting this Enchantment get big and then play those X spells. I do not know about tournament play, since I've never been to one, I do not know how much an enchantment of this kind lasts in play. There is always the possibility of mana burn with this guy. But Red decks can make use of the extra mana
this guy can give.
Cheers,
MangaFan007
I answered back with traditional deck garage aplomb---
Dear Manga Fan,
The reason X spells were not mentioned is twofold. One, an X spell only requires mana once, whereas Braid of Fire gives it to you over and over. Yes, that Demonfire will get huge, but what are you doing with all that mana in the meantime? And two, most X spells are not instants. You hit on the obvious exception, but the fact is, large quantities of mana forced into your pool just isn't as useful outside the main phase, where it can be spent on any spell. A -powered X spell probably would be impressive, and would catch an opponent off guard, but mana sinks, instants, and other cumulative upkeep costs are simply the more reliable option.
If you'd like to build a deck around Braid of Fire and Demonfire and submit it to the Deck Garage, I'll gladly use it in an article to demonstrate this further, though.
Thanks for the E-mail,
~BMoor
And like the adventurous deck builder I could tell she was, she answered the call.
Ok, taking up on your challenge, here is something i came up with. It uses cards from 9th edition, Ravnica block and Coldsnap. I know this library might literally "suck" as I am fairly new to MTG and do not well of the tournament scene/casual play scene, also the fact that this was a 20 minute build I made before going to bed. All I have played the most against is a modular deck in action, which I've had fun playing against, an elf (old school) deck with, and an amazing Saprolin deck (which I saw deal damage to a player worth on the 700000+ range), a goblin/burn deck, and a Scry deck, which is total control and can really be annoying to play against. Cheers go to those creators (which happen to be friends of mine).
Without further ado, introducing: Twenty Minutes of Fire
Lands:
Mountains x20
----------------------------
Total Lands: 20
Creatures:
Goblin Balloon Brigade x4
Raging Goblin x4
Lighting Serpent x2
Karplusan Wolverine x3
Earthen Goo x3
Shivan Dragon x2
Rakdos Pit Dragon x2
----------------------
Total Creatures: 20
Other:
Enrage x3
Demonfire x3
Shattering Spree x2
Leyline of Lightining x3
Stone Rain x2
Braid of Fire x4
Pyromatics x3
----------------
Total Other: 20
======================
Total Library: 60
I am still considering whether I should go all the way with Shivan Dragon or with Rakdos Pit Dragon, as they have very similar effects. The deck has a couple of one mana drop creatures, to have early creatures and to control any excess mana from our little enchantment. Replication techniques are used on the same level. Pyromatics is not the best damage card out there, but it was added because of this fact. Leyline of Lightning serves the same purpose. One thing i would like to notice is how big Karplusan Wolverine can get with the same mana from Braid of Fire, or the size Shivan Dragon can get using leftover mana. Same goes for Rakdos Pit Dragon. Any comments/critics/suggestions are welcomed, your expertise matters. Also, please forgive any damage I have done to the English language, it's been a long day for me.
Thanks and cheers,
MangaFan007
mangafan007 <at> gmail <dot> com
A very nice decklist, MangaFan, and a very astute sense of building around a card. It's obvious that this deck wants to win by using Braid mana to power the victory engine. The question is, will it work? Braid of Fire's main drawback is that it gives you mana during your upkeep. Remember, the upkeep is between the untap step and the draw step. Untap, upkeep, and draw all form a phase, so if you don't use Braid mana by the time your draw step is over, you take mana burn. If you draw an instant, you can spend Braid mana to cast it, but that's unreliable. You can't play creatures or sorceries during the upkeep-- only instants and activated abilities. That makes Braid of Fire a tricky card to use. But you seem to have covered all the bases, with Demonfire as the ultimate instant to pour mana into and the Dragons able to use any spare mana you can scrounge up. Leyline of Lightning will also help you with any instants you play, using up any odd mana. However, the old problems are still there.
For one, instants are not even the best use for Braid mana. You get mana in increasing increments every upkeep. An instant is played once. Instants can be great for one big turn, especially Demonfire, but what are you doing with that mana next turn? And how many turns did you wait for that big turn? How much mana burn are you willing to take before you're within range of a timely Shock? I'd like to focus your deck more towards reusable means of spending mana. Instants with Buyback would be excellent, but the only new Red Buyback instant is Reiterate, which needs a spell to target. No matter, as there are plenty of abilities you can use.
You're definitely on the right track with Earthen Goo. Any card with a cumulative upkeep of R or 1 can be played the same turn as a Braid, and the two upkeep costs will perfectly offest each other. Another good card for this purpose is Magmatic Core, which will slowly kill all your opponent's creatures. Watch out though, as once your opponents run out of creatures, the Core will be forced to target yours unless you stop paying the upkeep cost and accept all that Braid mana.
Finally, are abilites of permanents. You seem to be under the impression that Karplusan Wolverine can make use of extra red mana, or that Raging Goblin can be played during the upkeep. If only this were true, but it isn't. As such, these creatures have no place in this deck. In their place, we can add 4 copies of Rakdos Guildmage, whose Red ability is quite useful when you've got mana each upkeep. Also to go in are three copies of Firebreathing, which allows any creature the power of Shivan Dragon.
Finally, since you've already caught on to the idea of using Replicate as a mana sink, let me suggest that you consider a Djinn Illuminatus or two so that any instants you have can become massive explosions of Braided fury. This would then allow you to replace Enrage (of limited usefulness) with a more potent instant (for example, Shock).
These methods should ensure that your Braids successfully tie your opponents up in knots. I hope this has helped you all learn the ropes and that you'll drop me a line with any further questions.
~BMoor
