{"ops":[{"insert":"Deck Philosophy"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This deck is quickly becoming one of my theoretical favorites because I love the story it tells. A city under siege behind their walls, attempting to fend off attackers by throwing obstacles in their way and barrages of missiles to kill the attackers and break the siege aided by the stalwart Sharpshooters and Marksmen under the stalwart leadership of Taii Wakeen.\n\nIt plays surprisingly slowly given how few cards there are above 5 CMC, but the playstyle of using "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot"}},{"insert":" to increase damage dealt eats up a lot of the mana but with even a small number of the right pingers can do a surprising amount of damage pretty quickly. \n\nWhile this is a Burn based deck, I want to keep the number of direct burn damage instants and sorceries down largely to keep the deck playing a little differently than a traditional storm or spellslinging burn deck. I do include them in the deck when they are particularly good or efficient choices but I'd rather the damage sources be permanents on the board.\n\nThe creatures chosen for pingers in this deck were done so in order have as low an individual cost to activate as possible (in mana) in order to be able to spend that mana on Taii herself. Cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lobber Crew"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thermo-Alchemist"}},{"insert":" are ideal as they only have to be tapped, deal damage to "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"each "},{"insert":"opponent, and has the potential to untap for an additional trigger in the same turn. Some pingers like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Stun Sniper"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cunning Sparkmage"}},{"insert":" that can target creatures should be used defensively to kill incoming attackers and hopefully draw cards using Taii's first ability however, there may not be enough creature-targeting pingers to do that job well or often enough. Other pingers like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Electrostatic Field"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Guttersnipe"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Coruscation Mage"}},{"insert":" only trigger damage on cast of various non-creature spells. These have not been removed from the deck because they are more likely to be able to impact multiple opponents and the deck does have several sources to cause them to trigger still. The selection of pingers may change as new options are made available.\n\nGameplay"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Early game should be looking to mostly just establish a board state of pingers or Stax effects to protect you while trying to hit as many land drops as possible as the deck lacks reliable ramp. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot"}},{"insert":" should probably be cast relatively early in order to bring her ability online as soon as possible. From the very beginning you want to play as reactively as possible at instant speed on other people's turn in order to help protect yourself or keep your options open.\n\nMid game turns will mostly play out by casting a single spell to continue establishing board state, but keep mana open to be able to activate Taii and activate pingers or cast instants. During this part of the game attention should be put towards creature removal to hopefully draw additional cards with Taii's first ability and slow down opponents.\n\nOnce the end game comes around, you're hoping to have Taii's ability increasing damage by 7+ and triggering several player-targeting damage effects . It should take surprisingly few activations to bring the game to a close.\n\nBracket"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"I see no reason this deck is anything other than a Bracket 2\n\nA few notable cards:"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Valakut Exploration"}},{"insert":": This card can be a surprising source of card draw "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"and"},{"insert":" damage. It doesn't help with a lack of mana because it only triggers the exile on Landfall so an Exiled land cannot be played as there is no source of playing a second land in the deck. It "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"does help"},{"insert":" with mana flooding by pulling extra mana out of your draws, and turns that into a triggered damage effect that can be boosted."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nahiri's Resolve"}},{"insert":": This is potentially a very powerful piece of protection by removing your creatures from the board. Not all creatures need protected this way, and it relies on having a suitable method of preventing other players freely attacking into you such as the deck's Stax pieces. In particular, I want to combo this card with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lavaleaper"}},{"insert":" to prevent opponents being able to make use of the bonus mana. It is a nonbo with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Drumbellower"}},{"insert":", but because Taii's ability can't be used due to mana constraints Drumbellower will only ever offer repeated minor pings from the Pingers."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Aurelia's Fury"}},{"insert":": This card may be surprisingly sub optimal in this deck because it requires far more mana in order to do a lesser damage effect of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fiery Confluence"}},{"insert":" at 4 CMC, however it's real strength may be in targeting creatures and doing it in such a way as to draw 2 or more cards from Taii's first ability by splitting the damage between multiple targets and distributing the initial damage unevenly: 1+4 -> A, 2+4 -> B, 3+4 -> C to kill Creatures A, B, and C to draw 3 cards. An extreme scenario that requires 4 mana for Taii, and 8 mana for Fury, but a less impressive cast could simply kill one creature and replace the card."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lavaleaper"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Price of Progress"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Burning Earth"}},{"insert":": These cards combo to reward basic land usage and punish non-basic land usage respectively which this deck is designed to not run afoul of. I look forward to seeing how Lavaleaper in particular holds up in a real game as it has built in downsides of ramping and hasting other players who may be able to make better use of the effects than I. Burning Earth on the other hand can be used against an opponent with few basics by triggering Taii and pingers in their untap step in order to make tapping those lands "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"very"},{"insert":" painful indeed."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"I have successfully used "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Deflecting Palm"}},{"insert":" to eliminate players from the game on a few occasions, so keeping two mana up for it, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Boros Charm"}},{"insert":", or similar defensive spells is going to be important. Don't get greedy and spend it all on the offensive!"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"}]}