Hello friends, I am a long time lurker of this sub and your friendly neighborhood burn enthusiast. I played a pair of PPTQs this weekend and put up surprising results, getting 5th place in both events. I've never written a tournament report before and don't really have any notes about the two tournaments, but I have a decent recollection of how the matches went and thought some people might be interested in hearing about this deck.

My list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rb-sword-point-burn/

Saturday PPTQ (30 players)

Round 1: Izzet Drakes (2-0)

I played against this deck multiple times throughout the weekend, and it honestly almost feels like a bye. They spend a majority of the games cantriping and doing relatively nothing while I just burn them out.

Round 2: G/R/b Sarkhan's Unsealing (0-2)

This match was weird. Both of the games I thought I had it won but suddenly died to multiple Unsealing triggers wiping my board and Demanding Dragons. Interestingly enough this guy also made top 8 in both tournaments.

Round 3: W/R/u Angels (2-1)

Neat deck. Seemed to be the Brad Nelson list but splashed blue for Teferi. Price of Fame over performed here. Both post board games ended with me killing an angel with it and setting up drawing the lethal burn spell.

Round 4: Jeskai Control (2-0)

These games showed the strength of having all of the punisher cards. Across both games he gained a good amount of life through Revitalize and a Lyra hit in game 2, but I was able to chain multiple Sword Points and Risk Factors to keep my hand full, make land drops and burn him out.

Round 5: ID

Locked for top 8, took the draw. Went in at 5th place.

Quarterfinals: Selesnya Tokens (0-2)

Easily the deck's worst match up. Too much constant lifegain to keep up, even through a good board wipe in game 2. Oh well.

Sunday PPTQ (20 Players)

Round 1: Izzet Drakes (2-0)

More practically free wins. He did flood out a bit in game 2 but I don't think it would have mattered. This guy went on to win the tournament.

Round 2: Golgari Explore (0-2)

I screwed this matchup up a bit. In my head Wildgrowth Walker only gained 1 life per trigger. Say it with me: "Reading the card, explains the card." I shrug it off and go to the next match.

Round 3: I Don't Remember (2-0)

Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember what I played against this round, which is annoying as it happened mere hours before the writing of this post. I just know it was a fairly quick 2-0.

Round 4: Izzet Phoenix (2-0)

More quick wins. The whole match took like 16 minutes.

Round 5: ID

Got paired with the only X-0. Took the draw and played Gauntlet Dark Legacy with my opponent. Good times were had. Sat comfortably in second place going into the elimination rounds.

Quarterfinals: Golgari Explore (0-2)

This match was the most soul crushing of the entire weekend. He cast the same Walker 3 times over the course of the first game. I could have sequenced my cards better, prioritizing casting my Bites, lived through his attacks and maybe burn him out, but you live and learn. Game 2 they mulled to four and his turns went like this: Wildgrowth walker (which i killed,) Wildgrowth walker (which I didn't,) Jadelight Ranger, Jadelight Ranger, Jadelight Ranger. What can you do?

Overall I'm really pleased with how this weekend went. R/B Punisher Burn is one of the more fun Standard decks I've played in a while. It also should be a great deck going into the next set. Had my Evolving Wilds been Blood Crypts I would have mulliganed a lot less this weekend, and who knows what other goodies the Rakdos guild will bring (such as my hunch at a Skullcrack reprint.) Please let me know what you think of this deck/report and ask questions. This has become a project of love for me so I look forward to your feedback. :)