PrimerMulligansSideboardMatchupsCommunity
We are the side racing, and the race favors us. Our burn and pinger triggers go straight to their life total, and nothing in their maindeck counters or prevents them, so we kill about a turn before Carrion Feeder attacks and Rite of Consumption can finish us. That forces them to play the control role. They spend removal on Kessig Flamebreather and Guttersnipe, and hold Rite of Consumption as a life swing until a grown Carrion Feeder can take over. Where they beat us is staying power. Their sacrifice outlets turn burn aimed at their board into counters and tokens, Supernatural Stamina, Village Rites, and Unearth keep them rebuilding, and a long game costs us Mountains to Fireblast and Lava Dart.
Send burn at the face by default. Once Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire is out, they sacrifice whatever else we target in response and the spell does nothing, though the pinger triggers from casting it still resolve. Burn on a creature sticks in two spots. The first is a lone Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before any fodder arrives, where one Lava Dart kills it unless they spend Supernatural Stamina to bring it back. The second is the creature Sadistic Glee targets while the Aura is on the stack, since the Aura never resolves if that creature dies or is sacrificed in response. On the draw, a one-mana burn spell for that early outlet is worth more in the opening hand. On the play, landing a pinger and racing is enough.
Protect the pingers from everything except the removal we cannot stop. Cast Guttersnipe on a turn when a spell can follow it, and keep a spare nontoken creature beside it for Accursed Marauder. Sneaky Snacker is the best one to give up, because it comes back on a later turn in which we draw our third card. It is also our evasive clock: their only flier is the Insect token Infestation Sage leaves behind, and Snuff Out cannot target a black creature. Keep Kessig Flamebreather out of blocks when they have fodder to sacrifice or black mana open for Supernatural Stamina. After blockers they can push the attacker to 3 or more power and kill it, so take the damage and keep racing.
Carrion Feeder is the card that decides where our burn goes. Aim a spell at any of their other creatures while it is out and they feed the target to it in response, so our spell does nothing and Carrion Feeder keeps a permanent counter. It then becomes their main attacker and the creature they sacrifice to Rite of Consumption. Kill it while it is alone, or ignore their board and go face.
Snuff Out shows up in roughly a third of maindecks and kills either pinger without costing them any mana. Cast Guttersnipe with no spell to follow it that turn and they can kill it before it triggers even once. The 4 life they pay is a real price against us: each copy is 4 damage we no longer have to deal.
Rite of Consumption is their finisher and their only maindeck lifegain. Let a creature grow unchecked and one copy turns it into damage to us plus the same amount of life for them, which pushes them back out of burn range. Plan the last burn turn around it. If they cast it while our instant burn and Fireblast add up to lethal, fire all of it in response, since the sacrifice is already paid and the life gain only happens on resolution.
Accursed Marauder, in many builds, ignores targeting and toughness. It takes a pinger whenever that pinger is our only nontoken creature, and Mortician Beetle can grow off both players' sacrifices. Do not run out Guttersnipe or Kessig Flamebreather alone when a Voldaren Epicure or Sneaky Snacker could be on the battlefield first.
In:
Out:
End the Festivities comes in because every creature card in their 75 has 1 toughness. For one mana it kills every 1/1 they control, pings them, and triggers both pingers. Cast it after Carrion Feeder is gone, since with it out they sacrifice the doomed creatures in response and keep the counters, and Mortician Beetle grows off each one too.
Searing Blaze is the one targeted creature burn spell their outlets cannot blank. Cast on our turn after a land drop, its 3 damage to them still lands if they sacrifice the creature in response.
Voldaren Epicure goes out. Shambling Ghast kills it for free when it dies, and its 1/1 body mostly trades with fodder that leaves a token behind, so it is our lowest-impact card here. Sneaky Snacker takes over as the spare body we give up to Accursed Marauder.
Sideboarding moves this matchup moderately toward them. We gain clean answers to a board of 1/1s, but their outlets blunt those answers, while their lifegain and extra pinger removal attack the race we were winning. We are still the faster deck, but the games run longer.
They stretch the race with lifegain and more pinger removal, and we gain a one-mana sweep of their 1/1s once Carrion Feeder is gone. Every card we bring in still triggers Kessig Flamebreather and Guttersnipe, so the plan stays the same: land a pinger, keep casting spells, and send to the face whatever burn their outlets would blank.
they can move the Equipment to the next body.