Fires on a budget anyone?

[Anonymous]

Deck

4x Llanowar Elves
4x River Boa
4x Blastoderm
4x Saproling Burst

4x Flametongue Kavu
4x Phyrexian War Beast

4x Fires of Yaviymaya

22x Lands Projected

Ah i'm too poor to buy Birds of Paradise so what can I substitute?  I'm thinking of Tinder Wall or a elvish Pioneer....So what else should I add?

[Anonymous]

Hi James,

First off, before posting a decklist it would be a good idea to use to search function.

Is this T1? Without wanting to be demeaning to your deck, I respect people who make there own decklists alot, but if this is T1 I do not see it doing very well. What do you mean by 22 Lands projected? Its a good idea to show the lands you play so that we can help you on your mana base if you need it. I have never played fires, but from what I have heard, it is a slower version of R/G zoo. Aloso with the same "idea" there is Red stompy which is very very fast and is not to expensive. Stompy with is green and is probably the chepest deck possible you could make that has a decent chance in tournaments, and third...well I have not thought about that yet.You can use the search function to find any of the above decklists. Sorry that i could not be of much help,
                             Jamino

[Anonymous]

I forgot to mention, this deck is casual heh.

[Anonymous]

Utopia Tree from Invasion are a modest replacment for the Birds. If this is a casual/multiplayer deck, they might even be a little bit better with the extra toughness.

I would add some utility cards, like Naturalize/Hull Breach, and maybe some Lightning Bolts or Incinerates to clear the way. Some Giant Growth or other pump spells could help out as well.

If you go to www.magicthegathering.com and search for "fires" there will probably be some Invasion Block decks to start with.

[GnomesofZurich]

The best replacement for Birds in this deck would be Fyndhorn Elves, from Ice Age.  They are identical to Llanowar Elves.  The Fires decks from Type II were very dependent upon tempo, it was important to have a mana elf/bird turn one to allow for the casting of Fires turn two, Blastoderm turn three and Saproling Burst turn four.  This deck really wants mana too, so 22 lands may not be enough.  24 lands is generally seen as the minimum to allow you to consistently get four lands out by turn four.

Chimeric Idol would also be a good choice over the War Beast.

Really, I would suggest you go read the article series of Zvi Mowshowitz (I probably spelt that wrong) archived on the Sideboard entitled "My Fires".  I think there were seven parts  to it.  He covered pretty much every aspect of deck-building and playing the deck, which is more than I can do.

Your deck list as it stands is only 50 cards.  Some utility cards and burn would help, and would bring the deck up to 60 cards.

[Anonymous]

New decklist

4x Llanowar Elves
4x Fyndhorn Elves
4x Chimeric Idols
4x Phyrexian War Beast
4x Blastoderm
4x Flametongue Kavu
4x Saproling Burst
4x Incinerate
(Gold)
4x Fires Of Yaviymaya
2x Hull Breach

11x Forest
7x Mountain
4x Karplusan Forest

This is my new decklist.  I'm a casual player, so i'm not too worried about any type 1 decks or anything.  My friends play all different types of deck mostly, usually beatdown so the flametongues will work very well.

[GnomesofZurich]

Well, looks like you've really improved it.  I'm not sure whether you would be better off with Phyrexian War Beast or River Boa, and you may find Naturalize better than Hull Breech, but it's come a long way from the initial post.

Good luck with it!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the positive feedback, I read on the ZVI fires article that he didn't recommend The boas because they're not the kind of card you want to top deck when you could be playing blastoderms or Bursts.

[Anonymous]

i would not play both the Chimeric Idols and the Phyrexian Warbeasts.  I think that just another wennie like kird apes or river boa would work better.  You really just want to be smashing your opponent's face as hard and as fast as you can.  A 2 or 1 mana creature is going to be better at this than a 3 mana creature.  On the other hand, if you see a bunch of COPs or something in your casual group, your probably better off with this.  Also, lightning bolt and chain lightning are just plain better than incinerate because of the 1 less casting cost, except at killing regenerators.  I would recomend taking out the incinerates for chain lightning, only because, unlike bolt, they can make for some fun burn fights if both you and your opponent have enough red mana.

[GnomesofZurich]

James: I say again, good job.  One of the things you need to learn to get better at this game is to be able to take advice and constructive criticism, and learn from those are knowledgable about a deck, whether face-to-face or by reading reports etc.  This is something more of the people posting in this forum need to learn.

I think Prairie-hog is probably right about not playing both Phyrexian War Beast and Chimeric Idol, though what should go in these slots is something you're probably better able to judge right now than I am, since you've gone through Zvi's articles recently!

Do not take out Incinerates for Chain Lightning though; if you're only going to run 4 burn slots, you can go with the Incinerates if regenerators are a concern, but otherwise just use good ol' Lightning Bolt.  Chain Lightning is a second choice burn spell after Bolt, but it is not what you want to be running as your only burn.

Edit: I thought I'd just add this comment rather than make another post.  With regards to Rebel428's post, Ravenous Baloth could be a good choice, since it's efficient (4/4 for 4) and you can dump soon-to-depart Blastoderms to it to gain life.

[Rebel428]

I HIGHLY recommend cutting either the War Beasts or the Idols for 4 Jade Leech or Erhnam Djinn.  Blastoderm doesn't last forever; you need another fattie to complement them.  Jade Leech's drawback is irrelevant since you won't need to cast much if he's on the table, and Ernie's is irrelevant because you probably won't do much blocking anyway.