[Primer] RDW

[Khaospawn]

Take what you can. Give nothing back!

[Solemn10]

Beat kibler gruul to make day 2!!!!

[Khaospawn]

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

[Yarpus]

Well played!

[deck]Creatures (27):
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
3 Lightning Mauler
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Hellrider

Planeswalkers (2):
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Burn (8):
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

Lands (23):
2 Mutavault
21 Mountain

Sideboard (15):
15 Vexing Devil[/deck]

Possible changes:
- requires sideboard
- +1 Lightning Mauler, -1 Mutavault/Mountain

[Lightning_Dolt]

I ended the day 5-4 after squeaking out a win vs aristcrats in the last round. Disappointing result for the day. Happy for Solemn10.

[Jack]

Solemn: Congrats and good luck!
Johnny: Was it worth it to prepare for the tourney and go anyway? Did you learn anything? Less than 1 in 100 guys there would actually place in the event, so for the other 99 percent of you, that's all you can really ask for, and you should make it a goal to be able to say "yes" to both of those questions. Also, write a tourney report anyway if you can remember enough; yours are usually pretty good and worth a read. I regret that I didn't write one for my first (and only) SCG Open, even though I left with a 4-4 record.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Solemn: Congrats and good luck!
Johnny: Was it worth it to prepare for the tourney and go anyway? Did you learn anything? Less than 1 in 100 guys there would actually place in the event, so for the other 99 percent of you, that's all you can really ask for, and you should make it a goal to be able to say "yes" to both of those questions. Also, write a tourney report anyway if you can remember enough; yours are usually pretty good and worth a read. I regret that I didn't write one for my first (and only) SCG Open, even though I left with a 4-4 record.

Unfortunately I can't say yes to those questions. We put in a lot of testing and grinding for the sake of that tournament, played in every gpt trying to get byes etc. My result
was no better than my result at GP Nagoya if you remove my round 1 bye. I went into gp nagoya with no testing after not playing competitive magic or even attending fnm for over a year. I feel like my preparations were a waste as I haven't really improved at all when matched against a highly competitive group of players. I would be satisfied if my record improved a little, but it really didn't. I am proud of a couple of my reads and my plays, and had a few memorable moments. Other than that, it was a lot of prep and a lot of money down the drain. I find myself at a crossroads magic-wise now. I either need to take a break and then take things a lot less seriously, or go in the other direction and start grinding on modo. I haven't decided yet.

Unfortunately that day and super sunday (2-4, drop) are a blur. All I have are my score sheets, which doesn't give much detail.

[Khaospawn]

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.

[Khaospawn]

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.

[zemanjaski]

Often, progress consists of long periods of grinding, accentuated by small bursts of rapid advancement.

[Lightning_Dolt]

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.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Often, progress consists of long periods of grinding, accentuated by small bursts of rapid advancement.

Seem to have plateaued. Suggestions for getting over it?

[Valdarith]

Often, progress consists of long periods of grinding, accentuated by small bursts of rapid advancement.

Seem to have plateaued. Suggestions for getting over it?

Perhaps you are "overtrained" as they say in the bodybuilding world. Take a break for a week or two and come back with a fresh perspective, perhaps?

[Khaospawn]

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.

[Lightning_Dolt]

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.

I was
happy with what I played. Not happy with the results.

After a lot of thinking about the things that went right and the things that went wrong, I think it's time to move away from burning earth. It has been consistently bad. It only really shines vs jund and UWR, both of which have lots of answers to it. UWR is becoming UW to boot.

I'm thinking of running the following list for the time being:

[deck]
Creatures (24)
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Hellrider

Spells (14)
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Shock
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley

Lands (22)
3 Mutavault
19 Mountains

Sideboard (15)
1 Mutavault
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Volcanic Strength
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Hound of Griselbrand
2 Zealous Conscripts
[/deck]

[zemanjaski]

Ill write some stuff for you later on how I prep; if I don't PM me.

[Valdarith]

Ill write some stuff for you later on how I prep; if I don't PM me.

I'm looking forward to your techniques.

/thatswhatshesaid

[LP, of the Fires]

Apparently the newest tech against the burning-earth proof decks is curse of the pierced heart. I don't like that card, but I get it.

I also still hate the megaphone BTE Firefist pyromancer decks, but they've been performing well on modo. I'd rather cast Ash zealout all day, but it would be dishonest to ignore facts.

[Valdarith]

So I did some streaming last night testing a Pyromancer RDW shell. Here's where I started (Crucibles since I don't have Mutavaults online yet).

[deck]
Creatures (24)
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Spells (16)
3 Faithless Looting
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Shock
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley

Lands (20)
1 Hellion Crucible
19 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
1 Pillar of Flame
3 Frostburn Weird
4 Skullcrack
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Burning Earth
1 Hellion Crucible
[/deck]

Findings:
1) In a previous post in another thread I asserted that Denizen would be better than Noble. Well, this is certainly true once we get a Pyromancer online, but I found that my opponent usually ignored the Denizen and just used removal for the Pyromancer, making the Denizen much less powerful than Noble.

2)
Burning-Tree Emissary was obviously great in my opening hand, especially with a Lightning Mauler. The problem I had with her was consistency. Since we're running a lot more spells than normal she isn't as effective as she normally is. This deck looks to balance creatures and spells and maximize threat density. BTE just wasn't getting there consistently enough. I found myself wanting Ash Zealot most of the time instead.

3) Faithless Looting was a little too durdly. It was nice to be able to keep some hands I'd normally mulligan, but with a hand without Phoenix I was effectively mulling by playing Looting anyway, not to mention the tempo lost by having to cast it early in the game instead of developing my board or leaving mana open for a burn spell. It was also a terrible topdeck. I felt like I should just play a card that matters instead of worrying about filtering my hand.

4) 7 Shocks maindeck is bad. Voice of Resurgence and Geralf's Messenger are seeing less and
less play. I decided 2/4 split of Pillar to Shock was best. This allows me to see a one-mana kill spell for dorks most of the time in my opening seven, which is extremely useful vs Bant Hexproof and makes winning the race a lot more manageable.

5) Hellion Crucible actually wasn't that bad here. In fact it was more effective than it's been in any other mono-red deck I've played it in. It allowed me to keep mana open for burn spells during my opponent's turn and provided a 4/4 body that rivaled almost every other creature I faced across the table. I actually think running Crucible instead of Mutavault is quite fine.

With these facts in mind, I switched to this build:

[deck]
Creatures (24)
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Ash Zealot
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Spells (16)
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Shock
4 Searing Spear
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Brimstone Volley

Lands (20)
2 Hellion Crucible
18 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Frostburn
Weird
4 Skullcrack
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Burning Earth
1 Mountain
[/deck]

I LOVED the full playset of Mizzium Mortars in the main. It was fantastic. Having those extra spells to kill creatures was great, and it was relevant in a couple of matchups, including a R/G aggro match where my opponent kept a top-heavy hand with Ghor-Clan Rampager just to get blown up, as well as being able to kill a 2/2 that was equipped with an Unflinching Courage.

Ash Zealot felt a lot better than BTE. The haste was much more relevant and the first strike was welcomed. Noble was also a good choice.

Overall, the deck has a lot more threat density with these improvements. I think we have a solid deck here, but some small improvements could be made. Maybe Brimstone Volley is incorrect here? I'm not sure what I'd put in its place. On stream I mentioned Wild Guess, and that's honestly the only substitution I can think of. I'd rather not play Hellrider since I feel like 15+ spells is the magic number for this
deck. I also am beginning to think Burning Earth shouldn't be in our sideboard anymore. The meta has adjusted quickly to this card, and whereas a couple of weeks ago I was advocating for it very heavily, it no longer seems to be the gamebreaker it once was. That could very easily be made a couple of Chandra, Pyromaster or perhaps Hellrider for the midrange and control matchups.

[hamfactorial]

Val:

I've been brewing with Young Pyromancer in Modern but I'm not sure about the proper mix of creatures and spells. Did you find 16 spells enough to get value from YP? Do you use the tokens for chump blocking, attacking or just some bonus value?

[Valdarith]

I've actually been doing some testing with him in a Modern 20/20/20 build. In Modern I feel like it's better to just run a better creature in that slot. He's not a good topdeck when you want your cards to he doing three damage immediately.

For Standard, I've found 16 spells to be enough. Id go no less than 14. I use the tokens for extra attacking value and sometimes chump blocks. What's really fun ia brining Hellrider from the side, doming our opponent with a couple of spells eot with a Pyromancer, then getting in with Hellrider. A lot of people are afraid to get in with their Pyromancer but you have to be aggressive in this deck. Your have a lot more reach in this deck than in any other red deck this standard season so you cab typically rely on topdecking burn spells or haste creatures to get you there once you whittle your opponent down.

[Link]

I don't like Burning Earth at all anymore TBH. I'm sure its very much the same online. UWr have to be pretty suicidal to not be playing U/W in this meta?

How do you deal with Hellkites? Just go under it?

I almost want to say hellriders /Chandra, Pyromaster in the side would be more impactful. I imagine vs. Control you side out 6 cards minimum (mortars and pillar) so bringing in 4 cracks +2 Chandra/hellrider seems good? With all your burn Chandra's ultimate is much bigger game, but hellrider IS still hellrider...



Looks like a sweet brew. I've been looking at a lot of YP+Phoenix builds and they've never quite felt right to me. They all run like 10 spells or so that are awkard, so I've always wondered "well what heppns when you dont DRAW YP+Phoenix? You just have a bunch of shocks and crap"

This looks like a lot more dedicated and much faster than Big Red (which I was never a fan of because MB
Burning Earths are meh and Chandra, Pyromaster is underwhelming in that shell.)

[Valdarith]

I switched to Hellrider over Burning Earth and it's been much better. I prefer it to Chandra since this deck prefers to go under and is just faster. At rotation Chandra will probably go there.

Just go under Hellkite. I haven't played Jund yet but I have played Naya midrange and GR Domri and both games I was too fast foe Hellkite to matter.

[Jack]

Feel like helping a guy out and posting a quick sideboard guide, val?

[Valdarith]

Vs red aggro decks: +2 pillar, +2 weird, +3 flames, -4 cackler, -2 volley

Vs UWx: +3 Hellrider, +1 mountain, +2 weird, +4 skullcrack, -2 pillar, -4 shock, -4 noble

Vs Naya midrange: +3 Hellrider, +4 skullcrack, +1 mountain, -4 shock, -4 noble

Vs BG midrange: +2 Hellrider, +4 skullcrack, -2 pillar, -4 mortars if on play and -4 noble if on draw

[Valdarith]

Edit on the Naya midrange : you need the full four Pillar for voice and Huntmaster. What you take out depends on play it draw.

[Jack]

What about Jund?

[Self Medicated]

I must admit that I'm loving this brew Val. I am using Curse of the Pierced Heart in the SB instead of Burning Earth and it made a huge difference in a match vs UW last night.

[Pyreheart Bezerra]

Good Stuff, Val. I will sleeve this up to test as my aggro deck as R/G BTE Sligh is getting a little stale atm.

Heres my take and Sideboard strategy (all theory) for those who are interested.
[deck]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Lightning Mauler
2 Firefist Striker
4 Chandra's Phoenix

4 Shock
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Brimstone Volley

1 Mutavault
19 Mountains

Sideboard
1 Mutavault
1 Mountain
3 Hellrider
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Skullcrack
2 Frostburn Weird
1 Pillar of Flame[/deck]

Since BTE is out I don't like Mauler as much. He is very useful and enables quicker kills, but Id like to hedge my bets with another evasive creature in Striker. Gives the deck a little more grind. I like your stance on Mortars I just have never been happy to draw 2+, but I DO want to see it at least once a game. Deck is
very red hungry so 1 mutavault with a second available after board.

Loose Sideboarding Guide:
Vs. Aggro: on draw +1 Chandra +3 Flames +1 Pillar +2 Weird +1 Mountain -4 Cackler -4 Noble (go into 'control' mode) The mutavault and Hellrider may be correct too, on the draw, in that case I would bring out 2 Mortars and 2 Lightning Maulers.
On play: Go under. +3 Hellrider +1 Mutavault -3 Mortars -1 Pillar Take out what ever is least impactful and assert yourself as the aggressor.

Vs. Control +3 Hellrider +1 Mountain +1 Mutavault +2 Weird +3 Skullcrack +1 Chandra(for her 0) -2 Pillar -3 Mortars -2 Firefist Striker -4 Shock (on Play) -4 Cackler (on Draw)

Vs. Hexproof +3 Skullcrack +1 Mutavault +3 Hellrider -3 Mizzium Mortars -2 Pillar - 2 Shock. We need to race them and Negate their lifegain to have a chance at winning that race.

Vs. Midrange This is where the mortars should shine, so we are 'pre-boarded' to go under them. Bring in skullcracks for volleys if you think unflinching courage or
thragtusk are in your opponents deck.
On draw: +1 Pillar +3 Hellrider +1 Mutavault -4 Cackler -1 Noble
On play: +1 Pillar +3 Hellrider + 1 Mutavault -4 Shock -1 Cackler

[windstrider]

I played this to a 3-2 finish last night.

I smashed a B/G Rock deck the first round. Favorite moment came when he cast Lifebane Zombie to reveal a fistful of burn spells. The look he gave me was priceless. Nothing remained on his side of the field the first game, and I took 0 damage that game. The second game he brought out Desecration Demon, but it never got to swing because I kept feeding it Pyromancer tokens while Zealots and Phoenixes whittled him down to Hellrider range.

Next two rounds were losses were to a Maze's End Control deck and a UWr Control deck. I got them both down to within Spear ranges, and then I land flooded in both the second games of each round. Curse of the Pierced Heart made the Maze guy sweat when I hit him with two of them, but they just didn't get there. He had no way to interact with Mutavault, so they did a lot of work. I'm not proud of those matches. Watch out for Riot Control crap. A well-
timed Skullcrack would have helped immensely, but I left them out for Ratchet Bomb.

Next came a ramp deck with a million mana dorks, Smiters, Kalonian Hydra, Wolfir Silverheart, and Craterhoof Behemoth. I killed his dorks to prevent his monsters from showing up to the party in game one. Two Zealots and a Phoenix killed him. Second game he rolled over me with a Hydra that I couldn't kill. Ouch. The third game ended with me killing him with double Hellriders, a Zealot, and a Reckoner facing off against a Tree of Redemption soulbound to a Silverheart. He rage quit when the second Hellrider showed up. I get the feeling that not a lot of people play straight red at that store.

The last game was against my friend playing the M14 event deck. He's been out of the game for a while, so I'm trying to get him back in and more competitive. He misplayed his removal both games by using Shock on me on both of his first turns. I followed up with Ash Zealots both games. I asked him what he was doing using the shock
on me rather than my Zealot, and he said that he was trying to be aggressive. I have some work to do with him.

I like the feel of this deck. It can certainly hit hard. Not much survives the removal package, allowing the dudes to get in and do their dirty work. I think bringing black in will help me out a lot. I'm enjoying the more "subtle" feel of red with this deck since it's more controlling.

Come rotation, Magma Jet is going to do a lot of work at smoothing things out for us. Bringing black in for Duress and Thoughtseize could get brutal pretty quickly. Ripping their hands apart while creating dudes with Pyromancer is going to be sweet.

[deck]
Creatures:20
4 Ash Zealot
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Hellrider

Spells:17
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Shock
4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands:23
20 Mountain
3 Mutavault

Sideboard:15
1 Mountain
4 Curse of the Pierced Heart
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Flames of
the Firebrand
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Zealous Conscripts
[/deck]

[Link]

what happened at that GP? How'd solemn end up doing? What list did Saito end up running?


these decks look really rewarding with high quality red cards. Aka a "thinking mans" red deck rather than these sligh decks that have been nice and punishing but I don't feel very much improvement as a player with them.

There's the occasional "play to my outs" consideration and sometimes when you DONT alpha strike in each turn and sit on a hellrider to surprise burst, but for the most part I've gotten too used to it.


I think its time to just play a deck that sets the world on fire, and if that fails I'll take it as a sign and keep trying to perfect my smashing

[LP, of the Fires]

Well, if you want a good RDW with lots of play, pyromancer, shock, and Chandra's phoenix give you that. Chandra, Pyromaster in particular is an amazing card to play with. My list plays 2 of her, and 3 hellriders on 22 lands with 3 mutavaults and it's been very satisfying to play.

Chandra does so much work in a lot of matchups. I surprisingly haven't played against much jund with it, but all of my other matchups have been fine and per the usual, I feel like I'm the only red mage that likes playing against the blue decks. Golgari control has some draws that you just can't beat(and having played with that deck finally, it's a very good deck) but ironically, as long as people are playing lifebane instead of messenger, the matchup is unfavorable as opposed to unwinnable.

[LP, of the Fires]

Johnny scrubbed out, solemn day 2'd, but didn't place an Saito's deck was apparently more midrangy. He did not day 2.

[Lightning_Dolt]

what happened at that GP? How'd solemn end up doing? What list did Saito end up running?


these decks look really rewarding with high quality red cards. Aka a "thinking mans" red deck rather than these sligh decks that have been nice and punishing but I don't feel very much improvement as a player with them.

There's the occasional "play to my outs" consideration and sometimes when you DONT alpha strike in each turn and sit on a hellrider to surprise burst, but for the most part I've gotten too used to it.


I think its time to just play a deck that sets the world on fire, and if that fails I'll take it as a sign and keep trying to perfect my smashing

Solemn10 finished just outside the money. I scrubbed out hard.
Saito ran a sledgehammer like list. I can write most of it out if you want it.

[Link]

I do 1 pile of 5, shuffle the 5 stacks together, then repeat. After each game, I shuffle my GY with my lands, then shuffle that pile with my deck and go back to step one. As for my list that I've been using:

[deck]Creatures(23):
4 Stromkirk
4 Cackler
4 Ash Zealout
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Hellrider

Planeswalkers(2):
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Instants/Sorceries(14)
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Shock
1 Mizzium Mortars

Lands(21):
3 Mutavault
18 Mountain

Sideboard(15):
4 Burning Earth
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mutavault
3 Skullcrack
2 Elecktrickery
3 Volcanic Strength[/deck]

All right you sold me. I was conflicted between a list with 1-drops and then ones without, but I do think
the 1 drops are important.

Especially since it seems like YP is not the first thing you want to be dropping against their removal light hand.

I WILL be going the Curse of the pierced heart SB plan though over Burning earth. Too many people picking UW control, its a MU I really want to not have struggles with. Why elecktrickery over flames in the SB? For elves?

[Link]

as for the MB mortars slot, TBLood sounds fun but I've also been seeing online lists with a devil's playx1 which really seems in line with the late game incremental advantage theme of the deck.

I feel like the VS look out of place here as well. Don't you just want to control the board and get em low with phoenix for hellrider?

I think some # of Tbloods deserve a place int he board especially if youre facign Charlie Murphy and his Demon gang. Plus Im sure you KNOW HOW SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE IT CAN BE IN RACING SITUATIONS AGAINST THE MIRROR

[LP, of the Fires]

The board actually is different from what's listed now and I cut the flex slot for the 22nd land.

Current board is:

3 Skullcrack
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Volcanic Strength
1 Elecktrickery
2 Traitorous blood
2 Boros Reckoner
1 Burning Earth

Board looks weird I know. I have to much pride to play curse of the pierced heart, but also think burning earth isn't the best thing anymore. The new play is just minimal boarding of just skullcrack/earth/blood against applicable matchups and to crush all the agro/midrange decks with removal dot deck.

@Johnny, post saito's list if it's interesting. If it's just typical big red with the 4 maindeck burning earth plan, it's probably not adding anything significant.

[Link]

if Saito was main decking Burning Earth then he's gone down a terrible path and I hope he comes back to us someday

[LP, of the Fires]

Burning earth red is actually the best deck by far...in certain metas. Sucks vs. kibler agro, bant hexproof and and the two color control decks, but the latter two usually don't make up much of the meta, bant hexproof is a bad matchup anyways and it's perfectly fine to have 1 bad matchup among top tier decks and hope to dodge it for the most part. That and sideboards exist.

[warwizard87]

posed this to mtgsalvation but figured this is a batter place for the red mages to gather

disagree he isn't BAD after a board wipe, he is still a prescience on the table after a wipe, also he gives every guy you play after the wipe a psudo haste. reminds me of hellrider in some ways and is actually better then oger battledriver since it is more resilient to removal. I thik he is a 3 of, you want to draw him on turn 4 but don't want to see another one after that most likely.



Hammer is a bit of a different animal, it reminds me of fires to a degree. its a lot better then ferver, and it is a good mana sink when we flood. if and how many we play depends on how the format shapes up.



my initial mono red list is as follows

[DECK]

4 Rackdos Cackler

4 Foundry Street Denizen

4 Legion Loyalist

4
Burning-Tree Emissary

4 Young Pyromancer

4 Chandras Phoenix

3 Purphoros, God of the Forge



4 Shock

4 Magma jet

2 Dynacharge

1 SkullCrack



18 Mountains

4 Mutavault



Sideboard

3 Skullcrack

3 Burning Earth

3 Flames of the Firebrand

3 Mizzim Mortars

2 Hammer of Purphoros

1 Smelt

[/DECK]





notes

lack of ash zealot, I LOVE LOVE LOVE me some ash zealot, he is just kind of hard to cast for this deck, the trade off between him and BTE is close it could easly become zealot over BTE.



No firefist.....-_- I love this guy I just couldn't find a slot for him yet and it makes me a sad panda. more tstign will say if this is right or not.



I am torn on Young Pyromancer she seems strong, but I don't know yet more testing is needed. she seems insane with Purphoros out and may lead to some form of combo burn deck, like pyromancer turn 2 or 3 turn 4 purphoros turn 5 shock jet mugging ect burn to the dome, make guys.



the side
is obv tenitive, smelt seems out of place at first but we do need a answer to Bow of Nylea and trading post decks.