Fifteen Pieces of Flare

[justinhering]

My Solar Flare variant...

[Instant] 15
4 Mana Leak
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Think Twice
2 Doom Blade
1 Disperse
1 Tribute to Hunger

[Sorcery] 5
3 Day of Judgment
2 Unburial Rites

[Enchantment] 2
2 Oblivion Ring

[Planeswalker] 3
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Gideon Jura

[Creature] 9
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Grave Titan
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Sun Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Wurmcoil Engine

[Land] 26
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Seachome Coast
4 Island
3 Swamp
3 Plains

Sideboard:
4 Flashfreeze
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Frost Titan
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Day of Judgment
1 Go for the Throat

In my playtesting I found there is a LOT of Oblivioni Ring going around. "I O-Ring your O-Ring" is a commonly used phrase. I wanted an answer to O-Ring and I think Disperse does the trick (I need to test this theory). It Combos well with my own O-Rings and gives me some interaction with my opponent. I could, for instance, bounce my own O-Ring back to my hand if my opponent plays a larger threat.

Not to mention, its another target for Snapcaster Mage.

Do I need to talk about how amazing Snapcaster Mage is? Obviously, his ability is incredible, but he is also a dude...with flash. So he can block out a creature and prevent damange while flashing back doom blade to deal with the bigger threat.

A few words about random cards.

Mayor of Avabruck...seriously, if you are playing green and NOT sideboarding this guy I think you are making a mistake. Transformed, he is very tough to deal with unless you have a DoJ or Doom Blade. He also forces you to play stuff on YOUR turn which is counterintuitive to a deck that plays 15 instants and 3 Snapcasters. He's a beast and can steal games by himself.

Frost Titan...he wins the titan battle, which is why I play a copy in my sideboard. Against other Solar Flare decks he keeps their threat locked down. His built in Spell Pierce isn't bad either.

Dismember...its no longer good in the metagame. At least that's what people are saying and I agree. Do you really want to pay 4 life to kill a Birds of Paradise? Hero of Bladehold seems like the only target that would be good value and that's too narrow. Maybe if Heartless Summoning decks become more common, we may see a resurgence of Dismember, but for right now its a dead card.

Doom Blade vs. Go For the Throat. Doom Blade because of Wurmcoil Engine. Not enough people are playing Grave Titan (for some strange reason). Still, Doom Blading a Wurmcoil Engine feels like kissing your cousin; you will enjoy it at the moment, but you will realize its a mistake later. In other words, its terrible value. The resurgence of Wurmcoil Engine makes Oblivion Ring the best removal spell in the game.

Anyway, I have ranted on long enough. Post comments about my deck. I can take it, I promise.

[deo]

I really like the deck. After testing it a bit I found that you need some answers to wolf run so maybe I would suggest trying to fit in a ghost quarter it works pretty well with sun titan. I would also suggest mirrian crusader in the SB as it destroys wolf run and UB.

[justinhering]

I actually do play 2 Ghost Quarter. I posted my mana base incorrectly. I have to say, I'm very pleased with my draws and ability to play the deck with the current mana-base. Liliana seems to be the biggest problem and turn 4 DoJ, but I find playing Liliana late game can be very powerful as well.

For Wolf Run decks, I would probably bring in my Frost Titan to shut down their fattie. I would also agree with some sort of pro-green, however, I was leaning towards two copies of Sword of Feast and Famine in the side, simply because of the mana. Essentially, I would make the deck into Esper-Blade against UB Control and Wolf Run Ramp. I need to try both.

I have no artifact removal (aside from Oblivion Ring) and that concerns me. I should probably address that. Perhaps a copy or two of Divine Offering.

After testing a few matches, the deck plays a bit more like UB Control than Solar Flare. The other flare decks I see really want to abuse the Sun Titan/Phantasmal Image combo playing 2-3 copies of each, and usually 3 Unburial Rites. I play that combo, but a smaller package.

I think Grave Titan is really well positioned right now in the meta-game. He is equally good against aggro and control. I typically judge creatures by how loudly someone groans when you play them. Grave Titan gets the second loudest groan after Snapcaster Mage.

Speaking of, he it totally amazing. I knows its obvious, but I get a sense of how people felt playing JTMS when I play him. Its like playing with a 20-card hand late game. I've never played with Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant, but Snapcaster Mage is certainly the 'best' creature I've ever played with (second place goes to Stoneforge Mystic). I'm not going to stop until I have at least 2 playsets of him.

I guess I should enjoy him now until he gets banned...