Mono-Red Phoenix may almost always lose to the best draws from the best decks, but it excels at beating stumbles and rarely gets worse in sideboard games, while almost every other deck gets worse when the opponent has access to a sideboard
Zuran Orb combined with Armageddon or opposed land destruction to flat out give you a giant life swing on cards already headed for the graveyard, and Balance and Land Tax are even better
If youre playing spells that care about how many Gates you have, you should use lots of Gates
Im not saying those combos are bad, I just dont believe its correct to run Persistent Petitioners if you arent using them as your main wincon
7 Conflagrate This is old-school technology for builds of Modern Dredge, although some more current versions of the decks choose to forego its inclusion
1 Cascade Always Something New Getting something for free in Magic is always a good feeling, and with cascade, you get to turn all your spells into two-for-ones