Dies to Removal

What's the matter, LP? Can't count to 20???

The Fire is strong with you.

Good job, LP.

I'm not fixing that autocorrect.

Yarpus, no Reckoner? I'd much rather have a Recliner over a Shred-Freak. Have you seem what it's like out there??

Bad.

[deck]AIR[/deck]

[deck=Devotion Red[/deck]
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak

4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
2 Shock

21 Mountain
1 Mutavault
[/deck]

I agree with this wholeheartedly. And for once in my life, I mean this.

I went to FNM tonight and went 4-0-1, drawing out for first. Heres the deck i ran.

[DECK]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandras Pheonx
4 Fanatic of Mogis

4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Shock

2 Chandra,
Pyromasncer
1 Hammer of Purp

21 Mountain
2 Mutavault
[/DECK]

Maybe ill switch back to 4 shredfreaks again. Having 10 burn spells felt really relevent every game as well. helped me finish them off.

What would come out for the freaks? The Reckoners?

-2 Chandra, -1 Hammer, -2 Mutavault, +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak, +1 Mountain

So you want him to just fold to U/W or midrange decks? Speed is nice and all But playing 0 chandra/muta/hammer can't be right.

How is he going to "fold" to U/W or midrange? He'll be playing more hasty guys, which is very, very good against U/W. Second, is midrange even a deck right now? Regardless, speed is what will help beat the midrange decks.

A Mogis deck is not PyroRed. It wins differently. It has different objectives. It can play without Mutavaults, without maindeck Hammer, and without maindeck Chandras. I'm not advocating removing
Chandra and Hammer from the 75, just relocating them to the board.

In my games, I found Shred-Freak to be very good against a lot of decks. Obviously it comes out in the Aggro match-ups.

For some more insight, read the Devotion Red Primer.

I went to FNM tonight and went 4-0-1, drawing out for first. Heres the deck i ran.

[DECK]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandras Pheonx
4 Fanatic of Mogis

4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Shock

2 Chandra, Pyromasncer
1 Hammer of Purp

21 Mountain
2 Mutavault
[/DECK]

Maybe ill switch back to 4 shredfreaks again. Having 10 burn spells felt really relevent every game as well. helped me finish them off.

What would come out for the freaks? The Reckoners?

-2 Chandra, -1 Hammer, -2 Mutavault, +4 Rakdos
Shred-Freak, +1 Mountain

The deck focuses more on Controlling a game than going "ALL-IN. " FFS is suited more for BTE builds, which allows you to flood the board. Z's deck wants to maximize pure card advantage to win games, something that Red rarely gets a chanc to do. In fact, Red has never had it this good.

We have a Red Mind Sculptor.

I'll let that sink in.

Granted, she's good. It's just hard to make allowances for FFS to be her best.

My deck really needs those.
Also god, my deck is so techy as it's filled with shitty cards like Barrage of Expendables, Goblin Diplomats and Shocks. I love it. I just love it so much. I feel that my inner MTG hipster is just happy.
And what's the worst - those cards just work.

Don't be too proud of this techy terror you have created. The ability to destroy specific matchups is insignificant next to the power of consistency.

Everything you say is awesome.

I took this embarrassing list to FNM:

[deck[

Creatures 28
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis

Burn 10
2 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Land 22
22 Mountain

Sideboard 15
2 Burning Earth
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Frostburn Weird
3 Act of Treason

[/deck]

I went 4-0.

The power of the Mogis is just...insane.

Also, I won every game in whch I resolved a Chandra. Bitch is powerful.

The highlight of the night was Mogi'ing for 10 off of my topdeck for the win against Desecration Demon.dec.

TR to follow..maybe. I'm drunk and I just want to pass out.

Dpaine, I can slam Weird down a turn sooner. Plus he's two more devotion symbols.

Edit: just realized there was a whole other page to read. Dumb phone...

JS - man, sucks to hear that the deck didn't perform well.

Dpaine, I Ike the changes.

Maybe I'm giving decks like Mono Red too much credit by maindecking Weird, but also he is a somewhat maindeck answer to Blood Baron since I can block,,pump +3, and kill him.

FNM should give me more insight on some tweaks.

Murder King dude?

I've actually taken to calling him "The Burger King," cuz, well, look at him. He looks like that creepy fucker waiting outside your window with a BK croissant or something.

It's the original post now that Alex moved it.

Dammit, Sasky. You're lucky you're cool.

I don't get Precinct Captain. They're fucking giving you a way to get full value from Shock. That's so dumb. Gerry Thompson is an idiot.

Lolz. I know!

Now that post looks like I want to hump Brad Nelson.

Bad form, man. Bad form.

The bloody hell, Sasky? You edited that decklist??

Blah blah blah Brad Nelson.

I'd tap dat.

For realz.

Oh my fuckin god...

Just got back from absolutely tearing my playtest group a new asshole. Chandra is a bitch.

Took the Devotion list Khaos posted(great job!) with my small tweaks and just went to town.... Naya Midrange, UW Control, RG Monster and some Mono-Red. Went like 18-3 on the night.

Deck is just insaaaaaaaaaane. Attacks from so many angles, topdecks well, defends well, attacks well.

[DECK]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandras Pheonix
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Fanatic of Mogis

3 Chandra

4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Shock

1 Hammer of Purph

21 Mountain
2 Mutavault
[/DECK]

Guys, I think we have something here!

Do you even need Shock? You could have 4 Reckoner, 4 Weird/Phoenix and a 23rd land?

I see what you're saying. And you're probably right. For FNM, I'd run 3 Shock in my deck because I know right now that my field is mainly in the 1-drop aggro camp. If I was going into an unknown meta, I'd probably pack just 2.

Reason why I like Shock so much is stupid. It's because of Blood Baron. Worst case scenario, I have to block it with an Ash Zealot or a First Striked-Reckoner. The cool thing is that I can Shock the Baron before First Strike damage so I can defeat that fucker. Shock can also kill those Precinct Captains that W/x players are forcing.

One cool thing is that Weird can kill a Baron, so he's my
ultimate back-up plan.

After some tinkering, I have this list:

[deck]

Creatures 24
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
3 Frostburn Weird
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Fantic of Mogis

Good Stuff 3
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Burn 11
3 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Land 22
1 Mutavault
21 Mountain
[/deck]

Dat Weird...so fucking good.

Sure are a lot of guests in this Primer.

So after hearing everyone's thoughts, including Zem's and Alex's livestream (at leas the first 30 minutes of which the recorded video would play for me), I've come up with the following list to try a Red Devotion Wins style build:

[deck]Red Devotion Wins[/deck]

Thoughts?

I really like
your deck.

This is what I've been kicking around myself:

[deck=Khaos' Devotion Wins]

Creatures 21
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Fanatic of Mogis

Good Stuff 4
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Burn 12
4 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Land 23
3 Mutavault
20 Mountain

Sideboard 15
3 Burning Earth
1 Mutavault
3 Act of Treason
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Frostburn Weird[/deck]

I think your deck could probably be good without Purphoros and just ride out with a Chandra. Maybe even 2.

Which is something I considered myself - going to 2x Chandra. What I like about the deck is that it can apply early pressure to Control decks and decks that are stumbling. It can be fast, delivering a turn 4 kill. It can also play the long game by brickwalling Aggro decks and dealing lethal with a Mogis. It can outdraw with Chandra and it can sling Mountains with the Hammer, which also turns Mogis
into a quasi-Hellrider. I've upped my mana to support Chandras, but I think 2 may just be the best number.

The deck is also capable of turning into a "control deck" with the sideboard. There is a lot of room for Mortars and Act of Treason. I love it. I cram Frostburn weird into mine because I sub it in for some fo the 1-Drops when boarding so I can "play control." In a control match, I'd probably use them to replace Reckoner, since they come out faster and can attack into a Yoked Ox or kill a Blood Baron. As it is now, I replace the Shocks with the 3x Burning Earth and the 1X mutavault for the control match. But I like Frostburn in a lot matches anyway...

I'm rambling, but I find the sideboard capable of helping your deck morph into something better but overall, the main strategy is intact:

1)Build a presence.

2)Play Mogis.

3)Was damage lethal? Can you win with an attack? If not, repeat step 2. If yes, move on to step 4.

4) Win.

I like your tech with Seismic
Stomp. Who the fuck plays flying creatures anyway, besides Desecration Demon? Yea, that's what I thought.

Yarpus, um...Chandra's Phoenix?

Edit : nevermind, its in there

Also, Chandra makes leaving it up as a blocker pointless.

Mortars it? Block with Ash Zealot as you Shock it? Play Skullcrack?

First off, good job, JS!

Second, this is pretty much the list I'm running tonight:

[deck]
Creatures 24
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firefist Striker
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Chandras 3
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Hammer 1
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Burn 10
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Flames of the Firebrand

Sideboard
2 Mutavault
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Act of Treason
2 Burning Earth
3 Skullcrack
[/deck]

Just a solid deck that I'm somewhat familiar with. Has that transformational vibe that I'm so fond of.

It actually seems like a decent foundation for Fanatic of Mogis with all the double-red cards, but after reading JS's report, I'm hesitant to go that route. Still, putting Mogis in main and moving Chandra to the board over the Skullcracks seems good enough.

Anyway, going to be progressively updating the primer over the next two weeks. *yay*

Looking forward to see what you do to the Primer of all Mono Red Primers, aka "The Book of Zem."

Jund will just take a new form to continue inspiring fear...much like the T-1000. Or the Blob.

Johnny, I can sympathize with your frustration. In my experience, I've learned lately that it's probably best to just go with an inexpensive archetype (for me, R/x Aggro) for every format and just try to play the best Magic I can play. Trying to break the metagame is unrealistic. Everyone has a playstyle and it's usually best to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a player and make improvements there.

In other words, I'd rather be the guy that's incredibly proficient with a bow and arrow than to be the guy with the brand new bazooka.

You will not win every game. You may
have a handful of awful match ups, but in the long run, knowing how to be the best player with a certain deck and hedging your weaknesses with a strong sideboard can put the odds in your favor.

Plus, it can put some of the fun back into the game.

I may not be the best Magic player, but put a Red Deck in my hands and i will beat a lot more people than I will with the new "Tier 1 hotness." And I'll have more fun than most people will. I can also analyze my play mistakes better since I'm playing a deck I already know quite well.

In hindsight I probably should have played Kibler gruul, or big red.

Now you're just second guessing yourself.

Bottom line: were you happy with what you played? If not, next find something you'll be happy or excited about playing.

Also, for what it's worth, success doesn't happen overnight. Next season, you look back on some of your matches from this year and realize that you made a lot more mistakes that you didn't catch. And then you won't make them anymore. I'm still doing this now.

Johnny, I can sympathize with your frustration. In my experience, I've learned lately that it's probably best to just go with an inexpensive archetype (for me, R/x Aggro) for every format and just try to play the best Magic I can play. Trying to break the metagame is unrealistic. Everyone has a playstyle and it's usually best to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a player and make improvements there.

In other words, I'd rather be the guy that's incredibly proficient with a bow and arrow than to be the guy with the brand new bazooka.

You will not win every game. You may have a handful of awful match ups, but in the long run, knowing how to be the best player with a certain deck and hedging your weaknesses with a strong sideboard can put the odds in your favor.

Plus, it can put some of the fun back into the game.

I may not be the best Magic player, but put a Red Deck in my hands and i will beat a lot more
people than I will with the new "Tier 1 hotness." And I'll have more fun than most people will. I can also analyze my play mistakes better since I'm playing a deck I already know quite well.

Fuck yeah, Solemn10! Stomp 'em in dat nuts!

Take what you can. Give nothing back!

Oh no! They say he's got to go! Go, go Solemn10!

Oh no! There goes Tokyo! Go, go Solemn10!

So what did we learn from this, Johnny? That's right. Always be an asshole.

Johnny, kick some ass out there and tell everyone you beat that "THE MILK'S GONE BAD! "

And then scrape your boots on their cards while saying, "FUCK YO DECK, NIGGA! "

That's cold blooded....

I wish I had more hands, so I could give those titties four thumbs down!