Red Deck Wins post-Origins

[Valdarith]

Has anyone been testing mono red decks post-Origins? I'm particularly interested in how the new red toys have been testing. Avaricious Dragon, Abbot of Keral Keep, Scab-Clan Berserker, Chandra, and Exquisite Firecraft are all very promising cards, and all but the latter are difficult to evaluate.

Here's a Level 0 idea I have. I won't be able to test until Origins is on MTGO, so I await ideas from others that have tested in paper.

[deck]
4 monastery swiftspear
4 firedrinker satyr
3 zurgo bellstriker
2 lightning berserker
4 abbot of keral keep

4 wild slash
4 lightning strike
2 roast
4 exquisite firecraft
4 hordeling outburst
4 stoke the flames

21 mountain
[/deck]

[Jack]

I don't know jack shit about this standard meta, but knowing how midrangey most 8 set standards tend to be, I think that a rdw list would have to go a little bigger than this. It looks like you need to have 3 lands by turn 4, but also that you'll probably have a 2 card hand on turn 3.

[Valdarith]

It's possible that a devotion build could be a thing. I've liked playing with Ashcloud Phoenix in any deck with 24 lands, but its effectiveness is dependent on the meta. If everything slows down he shines, but if more decks start trying to go under (very possible with so many good white creatures now) we may need to match that speed, and we would necessarily be running less than 24 land.

[Purp]

Red devo will never be a thing.


[deck]
Creatures (16)
2 Lightning Berserker
2 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Satyr Firedancer
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Abbot of keral keep

Spells (22)
4 Wild Slash
4 Exquisite Firecraft
2 Magma Jet
2 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands (22)
22 Mountain

SB (15)
4 Roast
3 Outpost Siege
3 Scab Clan
1 Searing Blood
2 Firedancer
2 Twin Bolt
[/deck]

Taking this to FNM tonight

[Valdarith]

How has Abbot been in testing?

[LP, of the Fires]

Abbot is the nut.

Purps deck looks half-assed. I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't understand the numbers and with as much magic as I play, that makes me inclined to think it's bad.

4 Wild Slash
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blood
4 Exquisite Firecraft

4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
4 Satyr Firedancer

20 Mountain

I've actually done testing with this deck and it seems like gas. I haven't built any sideboards because I'm jumping from brew to brew getting a feel for cards, but against everything but Esper dragons, this deck has been good to great, including vs. siege rhino and courser decks.

[Purp]

Mine is actually pretty heavily tested and performed excellently last night (3-1, beating mono red/abzan control/and gw coco losing to rw heroic where I kept 1 landers) Also, Dpaine went 5-0 with the list. Feel free to ask about the numbers before you claim its half assed.

[Valdarith]

I'm inclined to agree that the numbers look a bit wonky in your deck, Purp. I still think it's fine, just suboptimal, but that's actually okay in this stage of the game since I'm sure there are a lot of bits that need testing.

Satyr Firedancer is a real surprise in these lists, but seems really good in a meta of smaller creature decks, and between the hype from Elves, Goblins, White Weenie, and Thopters, it could be a legit maindeck card. If Esper control is still going to be a thing and a sizeable portion of the meta I'd be much less inclined to maindeck it.

LP, do we not want 10+ one drops in our 20-land decks? I tend to prescribe to the PSully school of thought regarding one drops in my red deck. Is Firedrinker Satyr just too much of a liability in aggro mirrors now?

[Purp]

Firedrinker is a liability right now.

Firedancer is basically for green decks and of course red (not abzan). Changes id make from last night are cutting the scab clans, and adding scouring sands, outburst can be a pain to deal with.

Vs abzan I sided: -4 wild slash -2 searing blood -1 firedancer +4 roasst +3 outpost siege (this card did sooo much work)

What numbers look wonky?

You are going to want more than 20 lands, especially postboard to make your bad matchups better, hitting land drops will be crucial.

[Valdarith]

A suboptimal 20th-place RDW list:

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=87886

[deck]
Creatures (10)
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Monastery Swiftspear

Spells (28)
4 Outpost Siege
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Wild Slash
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Hordeling Outburst

Lands (22)
22 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Arc Lightning
4 Roast
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
[/deck]

[Valdarith]

Looks like someone copypasta'd Purp's list to a 49th-place finish:

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=87908

[dpaine88]

This deck is pretty interesting too, seems a bit clunky tho.

16th place SCGCHI

[deck]
Creatures (15)

4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Planeswalkers (2)

2 Chandra, Pyromaster
Lands (26)

20 Mountain
2 Foundry of the Consuls
4 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
Spells (17)

4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Dragon Fodder
2 Hordeling Outburst
3 Roast
Sideboard

3 Ashcloud Phoenix
4 Rending Volley
4 Wild Slash
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Harness by Force
1 Roast
[/deck]

[magicdownunder]

I really like this list - though Esper Dragon looks like a really rough MU.

[Valdarith]

Yeah, I intentionally did not post that list because it looks bad.

[dpaine88]

What looks bad about it exactly? It looks pretty good to me and clearly was good enough to top16 the 700 person open. Chandra's parents really solidify the mid range red threat lineup.

Also the 20th place list that you said was suboptimal, care to elaborate? Most new decks are suboptimal week 1 of a format.

[dpaine88]

Would be nice if you includes some reasoning behind such direct and brief opinions.

[Valdarith]

Sure thing.

Regarding 16th-place list: I don't understand why someone would make a conscious decision to pilot that deck in a format filled with GR Dragons/Devotion. It's basically attempting a similar strategy while refusing to play Dragonlord Atarka and mana dorks. It has no relevant turn two play beyond burn spells and Dragon Fodder, and any hand without Goblin Rabblemaster is laughably slow. The cards themselves are very strong, and the deck is threat-dense, but I see no reason to be playing mono red with the strategy of making no meaningful plays until turn three when you could be doing the same thing with a three-color deck while having access to more robust cards (and don't say streamlined mana base because the mana is absurdly good right now).

Regarding the 20th-place list: 4 one-drops can't be correct, nor can only 2 Abbot. I'm also skeptical of 4x Dragon Fodder and 4x Hordeling Outburst in a list with no Atarka's Command, but it might be okay with Goblin Rabblemaster or Outpost Siege on Dragons if you get a lot of early damage in. I'm actually shocked that there aren't 4 Abbots in this list given that fact. If I'm dedicating myself to playing so many spells, it seems like I'd want to run as many of the good prowess creatures as possible. His sideboard also looks like a hot mess.

The 20th-place list seems much better to me, though I think there are some good lessons to learn from both.

[magicdownunder]

Pat Chapin's suggestion with Abbot of Keral Keep in Boss Sligh I can understand since he is fantastic in that list with all the 1-drops they play, but with all these list forcing in 4x Abbot of Keral Keep combine with tons of 3cc+ spells seems "odd" since you run risk of losing really powerful spells which could of won you the game.

Now I did read Tom Ross's just saying we should just forget about the exile ability and just look at it as a 2cc bear with prowess but if all we want is a beater without evasion why didn't people just run Borderland Marauder? If we're saying that he is great in the late game? well for red the board state is usually horrible at that point so just hitting another burn, swarm (tokens) or flying threat would usually be better.

I think I'm missing something, I'll need to play it myself to find out (I do like LP's list though).

[LP, of the Fires]

I'm gonna spam decklists in

3...

2...

1...

[deck]4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

4 Stormbreath Dragon

1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Outpost Siege

3 Heliod's Pilgrim
4 Chained to the Rocks

2 Stoke the Flames
3 Wild Slash
2 Valorous Stance
2 Roast

4 Evolving Wilds
7 Plains
5 Mountain
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge


2 End Hostilities
2 Mastery of the Unseen
1 Valorous Stance
2 Twin Bolt
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Foundry of the Consuls
1 Ashcloud Phoenix
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Fate Forgotten
3 Flamewake Phoenix
[/deck]

If you look CLOSELY at the open standings, you'll notice abzan agro has been pushed out of the meta and along with it all the dromoka's commands which led to the fall-off of this deck. Whether or not you want to play heliod's pilgrim is a question of whether you value the inherent CA/tutoring ability more or want the explosion of a rabblemaster. Either seems fine.

[deck]3 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Lightning Berserker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Flamewake Phoenix

4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Lightning Strike
3 Searing Blood
3 Titan's Strength
3 Wild Slash
4 Stoke the Flames

21 Mountain

3 Scouring Sands
3 Roast
3 Outpost Siege
3 Bathe in Dragonfire
3 Twin Bolt[/deck]

This is where I'm currently at with Mono-Red. Ditched rabblemaster for flamewake because you can just kill people ridiculously fast and flamewake goes along with the pseudo burn strategy excellently. The flex slots in the main at the moment are the 3 titan's strength but I quickly found that when you have 8 prowess guys, cheap spells that are somewhat obscure lead to serious blowouts. The old version of the deck(the list that top 8'd GP paris and was excellent) played 4 thunderbreak regent for power and eidolon of the great revel as it's 2 of choice, but with firecraft, you don't need the dragon anymore and abbot is leagues better then eidolon. Still, I can see playing a couple copies of the bear just to have another good 2-drop.

As far as the decks from the open goes, it's week 1, what do you expect? I will say the big red deck is SUPER sweet. If people want to make that work, I'd suggest hangarback walker(the artifact guy) for synergy with pia and kiran and more generally just to have a good 2 drop that scales well early and lategame.

[LP, of the Fires]

RE Purps Deck:

Now that I've looked at it again, I can see it is most definitely full-assed, but I still disagree with large chunks of it.

All the wonky cards in the list are basically there to justify each other and I see that as a weakness. For instance magma jet. That card is BAD. Any card that deals 2 damage better cost 1 mana or deal with multiple threats for me to consider it. Scry 2 is not worth 1 mana. The reason I'm Ok with it in burn is because that's a deck that is trying to assemble a critical mass and since I can expect to rely on firedancer(assuming the deck is playable which I'm still dubious about), I can spend mana on lower quality spells because I know I can safely sift through my deck while killing everything.

In you're deck you have 2 magma jet, 2 Chandra, pyromaster, a 22nd land, 1 satyr firedancer, 2 searing blood, and only 8 1-drops and I disagree with all that. The 22nd land is only in there to support the Chandra's and the jet's try to ease that burden with scry and since you have a firedancer, you can randomly draw it to make all that ok. That's the story the deck tells.

But if you cut the Chandra's and that extra land, you can play a third searing blood and either 2 more 1-drops or 1 more 1 and 1 more 2 which almost certainly makes the deck better then you can drop the weak ass jets and firedancer to make room for more actual good cards.

Mini-Rant:

So like, the accepted minimum amount of 1-drops to play is 8, but I've always thought it was silly to play with the minimum when you're a mono-color deck. Following the minimum on ones is a much different and much worse greed then cheating on lands because in the games where you don't have your one, you lose damage that you can never get back. Playing multiple extra ones gets you so far to ENSURING that you get that immediate pressure on people and we live in a day and age where our 1's are actually GOOD. They all have haste and most of them can deal more then 2 damage in the midgame.

My red agro decks start with a BARE MINIMUM 3 zurgo, 4 swiftspear, 2 berserker's and the more the merrier.

End Rant.

Tl;dr, you're deck has a lot of unnecessary synergy when it can just be leaner and meaner.

[dpaine88]

Gotta respond when I get to a computer but wow this is the most discussion for a deck I've seen in a long time on this site.

Let's keep it going!!

[dpaine88]

Sure thing.

Regarding 16th-place list: I don't understand why someone would make a conscious decision to pilot that deck in a format filled with GR Dragons/Devotion. It's basically attempting a similar strategy while refusing to play Dragonlord Atarka and mana dorks. It has no relevant turn two play beyond burn spells and Dragon Fodder, and any hand without Goblin Rabblemaster is laughably slow. The cards themselves are very strong, and the deck is threat-dense, but I see no reason to be playing mono red with the strategy of making no meaningful plays until turn three when you could be doing the same thing with a three-color deck while having access to more robust cards (and don't say streamlined mana base because the mana is absurdly good right now).

Regarding the 20th-place list: 4 one-drops can't be correct, nor can only 2 Abbot. I'm also skeptical of 4x Dragon Fodder and 4x Hordeling Outburst in a list with no Atarka's Command, but it might be okay with Goblin Rabblemaster or Outpost Siege on Dragons if you get a lot of early damage in. I'm actually shocked that there aren't 4 Abbots in this list given that fact. If I'm dedicating myself to playing so many spells, it seems like I'd want to run as many of the good prowess creatures as possible. His sideboard also looks like a hot mess.

The 20th-place list seems much better to me, though I think there are some good lessons to learn from both.

First, good shit in actually replying with a lot of substance. Reminded me why I used to love this forum and glad I decided to pop in recently. So many good memories brewing red decks with everyone then it just fell off the map once Boros Burn rotated out and Zem left etc. Only takes 5-6 of us active on here brewing red to really get it going again.

As for what you said, the 16th place list looks like it could certainly use a splash color. I was thinking maybe just adding Chained to the deck or possibly Seeker. I tested it a little bit last night and it was actually pretty decent. The threats are good, and you definitely get to cast them since you do have early removal, also the deck can maindeck Roast pretty well. Lightning Strike still counts as a decent turn 2 play. I see the deck having slow hands and doing poorly vs Counterspells but the 4 Havens help a lot in acting like another set of Dragons. Chandras Parents are resiliant as well. What are you looking to gain from the splash? You have pretty good early removal and interaction and a pretty diverse set of threats on the top.


As for the 20th Place list, It feels like it could certainly use command as you aren't running anyone over in the first few turns . However with Dromokas Command only in sideboards now, Outpost Seige is very strong.
There is also the argument on Rabblemaster. You can say he will just die because you dont have many good targets for your opponents removal but on the flip side, you have so much burn to remove any of their creatures and get damage through if your opponent only has creatures for it.

[dpaine88]

RE Purps Deck:

Now that I've looked at it again, I can see it is most definitely full-assed, but I still disagree with large chunks of it.

All the wonky cards in the list are basically there to justify each other and I see that as a weakness. For instance magma jet. That card is BAD. Any card that deals 2 damage better cost 1 mana or deal with multiple threats for me to consider it. Scry 2 is not worth 1 mana. The reason I'm Ok with it in burn is because that's a deck that is trying to assemble a critical mass and since I can expect to rely on firedancer(assuming the deck is playable which I'm still dubious about), I can spend mana on lower quality spells because I know I can safely sift through my deck while killing everything.

In you're deck you have 2 magma jet, 2 Chandra, pyromaster, a 22nd land, 1 satyr firedancer, 2 searing blood, and only 8 1-drops and I disagree with all that. The 22nd land is only in there to support the Chandra's and the jet's try to ease that burden with scry and since you have a firedancer, you can randomly draw it to make all that ok. That's the story the deck tells.

But if you cut the Chandra's and that extra land, you can play a third searing blood and either 2 more 1-drops or 1 more 1 and 1 more 2 which almost certainly makes the deck better then you can drop the weak ass jets and firedancer to make room for more actual good cards.

Mini-Rant:

So like, the accepted minimum amount of 1-drops to play is 8, but I've always thought it was silly to play with the minimum when you're a mono-color deck. Following the minimum on ones is a much different and much worse greed then cheating on lands because in the games where you don't have your one, you lose damage that you can never get back. Playing multiple extra ones gets you so far to ENSURING that you get that immediate pressure on people and we live in a day and age where our 1's are actually GOOD. They all have haste and most of them can deal more then 2 damage in the midgame.

My red agro decks start with a BARE MINIMUM 3 zurgo, 4 swiftspear, 2 berserker's and the more the merrier.

End Rant.

Tl;dr, you're deck has a lot of unnecessary synergy when it can just be leaner and meaner.

As far as the 1 drops go, its pretty hard to get past your bare minimum without including Foundry Street. I really dont like Firedrinker right now, though maybe but him getting hit by a burn is a big swing in any aggro matchup. Once you go Foundry Street you need to include some tokens which leads you to looking into Atarkas Command.

[dpaine88]

As a note on decks looking bad(not a shot at Val), its week 1 , a lot of new decks will look bad on the surface or need some tweaking.

Lets keep in mind any of these top32 decks we are looking it, no matter how bad they look, won A LOT of magic games over the weekend. Could have been 1 win from the top8 so they probably beat a lot of very good decks .

[Narcasus]

Looks like someone copypasta'd Purp's list to a 49th-place finish:

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=87908

That was me, I found Purp's list on reddit and ran it the fnm before and played like a champ. If interested I can type up how it went more in detail

I played it as an aggro deck game 1 with the one drops then boarded most of them out and just one for one'd post board against most decks while resolving chandras and outpost sieges to bury them in card advantage.

Thanks to Purp for the fun deck list this weekend. It was a blast to play.

[Pedrobear]

If interested I can type up how it went more in detail

Yep totally.

Might be playing on French Nationals (or replacement to the old Nationals system from WotC) this week-end, each year it is always during this crazy 2 core sets season, in a week 1 metagame. I'm eager to any tournament report.

[Valdarith]

What about this?

[deck]
4 monastery swiftspear
4 foundry street denizen
3 zurgo bellstriker
2 lightning berserker
4 abbot of keral keep

3 wild slash
2 titan's strength
3 lightning strike
4 dragon fodder
3 exquisite firecraft
4 hordeling outburst
4 stoke the flames

20 mountain
[/deck]

There's a lot of synergy here with Dragon Fodder and Hordeling Outburst to pump prowess creatures and Foundry Street Denizen. FSD also plays well with Zurgo and Lightning Berserker. The goblin tokens also make Stoke easier to cast, which is welcome when you flip Stoke to Abbot. Two Titan's Strength provide burst in the early game and is relevant late with unblocked creatures (especially Goblin tokens). 13 one drops, of which none are Firedrinker Satyr, seems fantastic. I would probably play the full set of Firedrinker in the board (or Eidolon; it's not obvious which is better).

[Purp]

Congrats on the finish Narcasus, glad you liked the deck. I think we'd all appreciate a write up on your experience. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts about what work well and what didn't.

Val, you might as well just play atarkas command.

I think 8 1 drops is fine, you basically have one almost every game.

22 lands is there to support 5 4-drops postboard and to ensure you hit your 3rd land drop on turn 3 vs abzsn. If you miss your 3rd land drop, you lose the game. Magma Jet is a weak card, in theory. It helps you find your sb cards, again crucial if you want to beat abzan.

[dauntless268]

Nice list, Purp!

One question to you both: Would you SB in Outpost Siege vs Abzan? When I last played the deck, even the Abzan Control lists had a number of Dromoka's Command in their MD and/or SB. Seems like pretty high risk...

EDIT: bad card or not, but MJ is quite cool with Abbott...

[Purp]

Vs abzan I sided: -4 wild slash -2 searing blood -1 firedancer +4 roasst +3 outpost siege (this card did sooo much work)

If anything, they will have 2 maybe 3 command, the risk is worth the reward. They have to have a really good draw to beat a turn 4 outpost siege.

[Narcasus]

SCG Chicago Report 9-5-1

Day 1

Round 1: U/B Control

Started the day off with an easy matchup. Its a good matchup to begin with and for some reason he kept a one lander on the play and missed his second land drop.

-2 Searing Blood -1 Wild Slash +3 Outpost siege

Game went a little grindier than before but i played a zurgo into an eidolon after having my swiftspear thoughtsiezed on his turn 1. He was forced to languish on his turn 4 which let me freely play outpost siege on my own turn. The card advantage buried him and i burned him out by turn 7.

Round 2: Abzan Control

Game 1 was like a lot of game ones today, i played one drops, and I won by just being the aggressor. Exuisite fire on a turn 3 courser and swinging for 4 with two swiftspears is the biggest highlight i can recall.

-2 Zurgo -2 lightning berzerker -3 eidolon +4 Roast +3 Outpost

I decided this weekend to play the control against abzan control post board. i knew they would be bringing in drowns and clerics and just wanted to resolve card advantage and burn every threat before turning to his face.

Game 2: I just remember missing my 4 th land drop and resolving outpost far too late to come back into the game.

Game 3: This was a fun match where i had resolved an outpost siege on turn 4, allowing me to keep his board clear and eventually resolve a second outpost, which he would eventually dromokas command before resolving the third, drawing 3 cards a turn and fighting through 2 elspeths and 3 rhinos later, he finally falls. I could have won the game with just the one, but even my opponent was ammused by the end with a burn deck with so much card advantage.

Round 3: Green Aggro

Not alot to say, i killed his creatures game one, game two i didn't draw enough burn and he hit me for 14 with triple pump spells the turn before i could stabilize. Game 3 he keeps a greedy 1 lander, i resolve a turn 4 outpost while nuking each creature he plays and coast to an easy win.

-2 Zurgo -2 lightning berzerker -3 eidolon +4 Roast +3 Outpost

Round 4: Mono U

I saw no one play this list anywhere all day besides the won i faced. I didn't really play magic. He played turn 4 master turn 5 master while i flooded out game 1 and mana screwed game 2. I think i lose no matter what i draw though.

Round 5: Mono R

Game 1: I win game 1 with one for ones and a chandra ultimate.

-2 Zurgo -2 lightning berzerker -3 eidolon -3 Swiftspear +2 Dancer +3 Outpost +1 Searing Blood +3 Anger

Game 2: He is able to play a fast curve to punch in 6 early damage and draw into 14 points of burn before im able to burn him out after killing his creatures.

Game 3: On the play was much easier playing the one for one game. I baited the all in board flood on turn 3 by just playing my Abbot and chump blocking, having him play his last two creatures and letting me safely anger away any chance he had of winning the game.

I did play fire dancers in both games 1 and two but both times they ate wild slashes

Round 6: Jeskai Aggro

Game 1: I play the aggro game with a hand of double swiftspear and answers to his 2 soulfires and his mantis rider.

-2 Zurgo -2 lightning berzerker -3 eidolon -1 swiftspear +3 Outpost +1 Searing Blood +3 Anger

I brought in anger specificly to have more answers to mantis rider and to exile the Soulfires for Oujatia's Command

Game 2: I control this game thoroughly, killing everything in sight, resolving 2 outposts and a Chandra, drawing four cards a turn. I go on to hit 18 of my 22 lands over the last 4 to 5 turns and lose the game as he slowly whittles me down and i fall with a library of 4 mountains and 28 spells. In hindsight, I should have just been plusing chandra to ultimate, but I think the insane flooding had me on tilt in game.

Game 3: goes much like game 2 except my chandra and outpost siege hit relevant spells after burning his early threats and i win cleanly. He cast dig through time twice and 3 commands and had no chance against my card advantage.

Round 7: U/G Mill

This was the deck that had the deck tech done. He was a cool guy and all three games were fun.

Game 1: Im able to pressure him with 1 drops and eidolon, he resolves his turn 3 mill enchantment with a flashed in dictate on turn 4, but i fight through 3 fogs as he struggles to find his 5th land and finish him off.

-1 Firedance -2 Searing BLood +3 Outpost

Game 2: I had early drops to pressure but a turn 3 outpost making my burn cost two more and 2 icefalls make the clock on my too fast and i never hit enough mana the target the +4 mana icefalls.

Game 3: I bring him down to 6 before he casts the artifact to make him hexproof, turning off the rest of my hand. I didnt know about it so i had no outs besides killing him with creatures. However he proceeded to play 3 straight icefalls where I could only answer the first. I would learn after the game he Drew extremely hot topping the 3rd 4th and 5th lands and then topping the 2nd and 3rd icefalls after I burned out the first. Was a fun game of magic either way.

Round 8: Jeskai Aggro

Game 1: I felt confident after my convincing series against the last jeskai opponent. The aggro plan worked wonders and I was able to top a searing blood off the top to find lethal when we were both in top deck mode.

Game 2:He flooded out badly and i had a double swift spear hand with double searing blood for his turn 2 and 3 Soulfire. The game ended not too long after that.

Round 9 : Abzan Control

Game 1: We play the aggro plan, laying 3 one drops over turns one and 2 while burning his courser on three and i beleive finishing him off by turn 5.

-2 Zurgo -2 lightning berzerker -3 eidolon +4 Roast +3 Outpost

Game 2: Game plan goes smoothly, he does draw poorly in his defense. He never has a siege rhino or dromokas command and I fight through 2 Elspeths with my turn 4 Outpost to close out the game relatively quickly.

This secured me my day 2 invite and a fun day of magic. Standout card I didnt talk about much was probably Abbot. He found me turn 3 and 4 lands and gave me explosive draws later into games. Most common move being playing him turn 3 to look for my fourth land while having my third in hand, wanting to cast Chandra or outpost the following turn.

Whether turning into the control deck so often was right, I'm still not sure. It was a fun play style at least.

Day 2 wasn't nearly as fun, but I'll type it up probably later tonight or tomorrow.

[dpaine88]

Good job and thanks for the report.

Really interesting how you almost always sided out 2 Zurgo, 2 bezerker and 3 Eidolon. My instinct has me go creature heavy and take out the bad burn like Wild Slash and Searing Blood against Junk Control. Taking out the 1 drops is something I almost never do.

Great job on the side boarding. I probably would never have thought of that.

[Purp]

Thanks for the report! Some of your SB choices seem suboptimal when I compare them to what I might do... Which I think showcases the potential power this deck has.

What changes would you make if you had to make some? How did magma jet and Chandra perform for you? What about the lands? Did you feel you had the right number (or too many)

[Purp]

Lp what are your thoughts on Eidolon?

[dpaine88]

So I've been testing on Cockatrice a lot of the decks we mentioned in here and the one that really stuck out to me was this RW Aggro deck that got 11th at SCG CHI.

Might not qualify as RDW but this is the only active thread on here and its a deck I think many of us would be interested in.

One last go with Chained to the Rocks before its gone forever....

Deck is very very strong vs any Red Aggro .
Been good for the most part vs Abzan Control, lots of good threats that require diverse answers.
Straight up UB control isnt the best depending on your draws. If you can get them tapping out for your active threat on your turn, youre in good shape but not all hands line up that way.

[deck]
Creatures (19)
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Seeker of the Way
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

Planeswalkers (2)
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands (24)
4 Mountain
7 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Wind-Scarred Crag

Spells (15)
4 Chained to the Rocks
3 Dictate of Heliod
2 Outpost Siege
2 Secure the Wastes
1 Valorous Stance
2 Wild Slash
1 Roast

Sideboard
1 Ashcloud Phoenix
3 Flamewake Phoenix
1 Mastery of the Unseen
1 Fate Forgotten
2 Surge of Righteousness
2 Valorous Stance
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Crater's Claws
2 End Hostilities
1 Roast
[/deck]

I think I'd swap 1 Dictate for a 3rd Stormbreath. Also maybe drop the Wind-Scarrred Crag for another Mountain for Chains.

[Purp]

On a phone since DtR is blocked at work...

But I'd like to propose a question: Searing Blood vs Magma Jet... Which is better and why?

[Valdarith]

Magma Jet is better to flip to Abbot and isn't dead against UB control or board states clogged by fatties. Searing Blood is certainly more powerful though.

[LP, of the Fires]

Thought's on Eidolon: It's not bad. I'm not the biggest fan of it because It's fairly mediocre to bad on the draw against Devotion and Abzan decks, but it's pretty punishing on the play. My issue with it is that when you get later in the game, it's significantly worse then the 1-drops and abbot.

RE: the red white agro deck. That's where I took insipiration for the RW deck I posted earlier in this threat. If I where just tweaking hipps deck, I'd play 4 stormbreath dragons because it's probably the best card in the deck, and on the draw, if you get a trigger from KotWO, you can play dragon on turn 4 which is a pretty big game.

Blood v. Jet: Blood is a million and a half times better. I think magma jet is suboptimal in most decks where I think searing blood is backbreaking. Being able to kill a guy and deal damage is virtual CA and adds a full turn to your clock most of the time.

Anytime searing blood is positioned well, it's easily the best spell in the red deck and the red deck is close to being the peak of the format.

[Purp]

Do you think searing blood is well positioned now? It's not great vs abzan, or control, and I would say it's fairly weak against devotion (8-10 targets, possibly less postboard) unless they have an all dork draw. Is the 3 dmg in the mirror better than setting up draws?

Speaking of devotion, this seems like s tough matchup on paper, what can we do to improve it? Outpost Siege, fire dancer, searing blood, new Chandra?

[LP, of the Fires]

I shit on devotion. Searing blood kills all the dorks and manifest from whisperwood and with all the prowess, it eats coursers that try to block your swiftspears.

Searing blood is good vs. everything that is not Ux control. Against abzan it kills nissa and den protector while being live vs. lategame Elspeth, against devotion, it kills everything that lets them set up, in the mirror I'd argue it's much better then magma jet since it's lets you progress the board state while dealing damage and against Jeskai, it kills all non-mantis rider threats.

It get's boarded out vs. abzan sure, but it won't be a dead card and against abzan game 1, you're purely racing since you have no outpost siege type shenanigans and I don't believe in Chandra anymore so I'm no taking her into consideration.

My deck I posted with 4 lightning berserkers and the 3 titan's strength's has been performing excellently and a big part of that would be the searing bloods.