DECK TECH: Secret! (U/R Talrand/Burning Vengeance)

I've been playing Burning Vengeance (BV) for a few months now and I LOVE IT!  It's totally "my style" in that it's a grindy, weirdo-control deck with lots of little decisions and funky interactions.  M13 just came out and I wanted to try Talrand in BV... It works INCREDIBLY well!  I can't wait to continue testing and tweaking this deck; Talrand/BV seems like my it'll be one of my Standard go-to decks as Scars rotates out in a few months.

(Talrand, Sky Summoner by Svetlin Velinov)

SECRET!
by
Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata
(You can find the TCG Player link to this deck along with card descriptions and sample hand generator here.)

4x Burning Vengeance
2x Secrets of the Dead

4x Faithless Looting
4x Think Twice
2x Desperate Ravings

4x Geistflame
3x Slagstorm
4x Vapor Snag
2x Mana Leak
1x Ancient Grudge

4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Talrand, Sky Summoner

4x Sulfur Falls
1x Rootbound Crag
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Evolving Wilds
1x Forest
7x Island
7x Mountain
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OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE
Secret!, named after my probably-shouldn't-be-in-the-deck secret tech -Secrets of the Dead-, is my ultra-grindy-graveyard-dump-creature-control Burning Vengeance deck.  The object is to get a Burning Vengeance online and cast a butt-load of cards from your graveyard to kill your opponent's creatures and, eventually, your opponent.  M13 brings a card that has great synergy with BV, Talrand, Sky Summoner, who, in a deck filled with instants and sorceries, creates massive armies of 2/2 flying drakes to supplement your attack.

ENGINE
You need access to massive amounts of cards in your hand and in your graveyard both to 1) draw your BV and 2) to power your BV.  Faithless Looting, Think Twice, and Desperate Ravings along with the flashback power of Snapcaster Mage do the job nicely.  Secrets of the Dead is a pretty amazing card drawing engine on its own.  Talrand also provides an alternate-win source of seemingly never-ending drakes... So long as you can keep drawing and burying instants and sorceries. 

CARDS
-Burning Vengeance:  Secrets! doesn't win without it.  Your primary objective is to get one online as early as possible and start controlling the board.

-Faithless Looting, Think Twice:  your two best BV enablers.  4 copies of each is a must.

-Desperate Ravings:  in terms of cantripping, DR does the same job as Think Twice and, if your hand is filled with cards you can afford to lose to your graveyard, is actually better than TT.  So, why am I not playing with a full playset of Ravings?  The answer isn't the Ravings' fault; it's my inability to play it correctly!  It seems every time I have a DR in hand or the graveyard, I also have a card I really want in my hand (like a BV or Slagstorm), so I chicken-out and don't feel comfortable pulling the trigger and "just doing it."  Honestly, I SHOULD have 4x copies of DR, but my playstyle doesn't support it, so I've swapped out 2 copies for the namesake of the deck...
  
-Secrets of the Dead:  this card is probably not as good as DR in terms of immediate value, but if you can get this thing online early, over the course of the game, the card advantage it accrues is unbeatable.  I like it because whenever I draw it, I play it and don't have to think about it anymore.  Secret!

-Geistflame:  BV players are either on one side of the fence or the other when it comes to Geistflame.  I LOVE IT and think it's indispensable.  Kills mana dorks and one drops early, becomes an Incinerate with a BV online... Cheap and good and an auto-4-of in my deck.

-Slagstorm:  I can't decide whether Slagstorm or Bonfire of the Damned is better for this deck, but right now, Slagstorm works better with my playstyle and in my meta, so I'll rock the rockslide so long as it's legal.  However, theoretically, Bonfire works MUCH better with Talrand... We'll see how this goes with more testing :)

-Mana Leak, Vapor Snag, Snapcaster Mage:  it's been the core of the best deck in Standard for over a year and it's just as strong in BV.  Long live Ken Jeong!

-Talrand, Sky Summoner:  a weakness of BV decks is that BV is usually the ONLY way to win.  While this is still pretty much true, the Legendary Merfolk is a step in the right direction as he works incredibly well with your existing (and re-useable) spell-set.  Theoretically, he is now a win condition on his own, but more realistically, he just makes your BV that much stronger.

-Ancient Grudge, Rootbound Crag, Hinterland Harbor, Forest, Evolving Wilds:  a single copy of Grudge can help you deal with pesky Swords, Batterskulls, Metamorphs, and the BV deck killer, Grafdigger's Cage.  M13 brings back Relic of Progenitus, but what 'cha gonna do?  Just sideboard in more Grudges and let it fly :)

OTHER NOTES
Burning Vengeance decks require a specific kind of "sickness" to play; if you like (virtual) creatureless decks that draw and play lots of cards, BV might be for you.  It's a weird deck, but once you get that Vengeance online, you feel pretty damn awesomesauce ;)

As Scars Block rotates out, this deck only loses 3 cards, two of which (Slagstorm & Vapor Snag) have pretty much exact analogs for substitutes (Bonfire of the Damned & Unsummon).  Mana Leak is sorta on the way out anyway (because of Cavern of Souls), and maybe that's the 2-of slot I'll finally fill with the last two Desperate Ravings.

(Secrets of the Dead by Eytan Zana)

**(7/28/12) Played 2 long sets against Red Deck Wins and U/B Zombies today and did well (broke even against RDW and swept Zombies).  I finally overcame my fears and subbed out the 2x Secrets of the Dead for +1x Talrand, Sky Summoner and +1x Desperate Ravings.  The deck is much more streamlined and it's really nice to have the extra copy of the Sky Summoner.  Talrand has turned out to be every bit as good as I thought... He's AMAZING!  Now all I need to do is make Drake (the rapper) and Sir Francis Drake tokens :p