[Primer] RDW

[Lightning_Dolt]

How do you do those mashes? I usually take about half of the deck from the bottom and then mash it together with the top so that a few cards (those that were in the middle) from the bottom pile don't mash but goes to the top. Then I do the same for about 20 times at least. I hardly ever do pile shuffling, I don't trust that they do any good at all. Pile shuffling can cause some interesting ordering of your deck, if it's very ordered before. Like if you have all lands on top, then do two six-pile shuffles, you end up with a deck with very even distribution of lands. I haven't checked what pile shuffling does to a somewhat randomized deck, but I wouldn't be surprised if the deck ends up being less randomized.

Try doing more mashes, 20+ at least, and see
if it makes any difference.

I do the pile to make sure it's 60 cards. I will try more mashes.

[Platypus]

I do the pile to make sure it's 60 cards. I will try more mashes.

Yeah, I know. I was in a bit of a hurry when I wrote about the shuffling. I should have added that due to the nature of pile shuffling, you should do a lot of shuffling with other techniques after the pile shuffle, even though you only do it once for counting purposes.

[LP, of the Fires]

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]

I haven't tested against Golgari Control yet but I imagine that's a hard matchup since I don't have much to bring in for it and I'm thinking 2 threaten affects would go a long way towards improving the matchup. Likely cuts would be burning earth and elecktrickery.

As for the number
of 4 drops and the land count, I basically thought about how my gruul deck was running and that deck was a 21 land 3 hellrider deck which I was very happy with so I figured I'm cool with 21 lands with the 4th mutavault coming in out of the board and it's not like I need to cast my 4 drops on curve since my deck already has tremendous reach. One way this deck differs from all other red decks I've played this season is that I throw burn at the face much more liberally since Pyromancer and phoenix give you lots of value from being extra aggressive and it makes your brimstone volleys that much better.

Highlights of testing include beating miracle terminus on turn 2 twice after getting 2 and 3 for 1'd, beating UWR after they've sphinx'ed twice for a total of 8 cards and gained 16 life over the course of the game, Having chandra dominate elf based decks once, and killing an aristocrat player with ash zealots flashback trigger.

RE Flames of the firebrand: I don't find the card necessary as it's only
amazing in the mirror and against elf decks and those are my favorite matchups anyways(not in the sense that they're good matchups, but in the sense that the games are close and I win them anyways).

[Lightning_Dolt]

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]

I haven't tested against Golgari Control yet but I imagine that's a hard matchup since I don't have much to
bring in for it and I'm thinking 2 threaten affects would go a long way towards improving the matchup. Likely cuts would be burning earth and elecktrickery.

As for the number of 4 drops and the land count, I basically thought about how my gruul deck was running and that deck was a 21 land 3 hellrider deck which I was very happy with so I figured I'm cool with 21 lands with the 4th mutavault coming in out of the board and it's not like I need to cast my 4 drops on curve since my deck already has tremendous reach. One way this deck differs from all other red decks I've played this season is that I throw burn at the face much more liberally since Pyromancer and phoenix give you lots of value from being extra aggressive and it makes your brimstone volleys that much better.

Highlights of testing include beating miracle terminus on turn 2 twice after getting 2 and 3 for 1'd, beating UWR after they've sphinx'ed twice for a total of 8 cards and gained 16 life over the course of the game, Having
chandra dominate elf based decks once, and killing an aristocrat player with ash zealots flashback trigger.

RE Flames of the firebrand: I don't find the card necessary as it's only amazing in the mirror and against elf decks and those are my favorite matchups anyways(not in the sense that they're good matchups, but in the sense that the games are close and I win them anyways).

That build looks sexy. How has Chandra been for you?

[LP, of the Fires]

She gets boarded out a lot, but against certain matchups, she's amazing and I like the idea of her a lot more then the fourth hellrider or other burn spells. The mizzium mortars is probably better off as anything else though. Not a lot of Loxodon Smiters running around. I've surprisingly been fairly unhappy with it. Not that it's bad, but often I find myself wishing it was either a burn spell that could go to the dome, or a mutavault. Needs more testing.

Having said all that, I'm very happy with 98% of the card choices and numbers. I've finally done some pre-board testing against Charlie Murphy and it's actually been a fine matchup. I think I was drawing fairly well and my test partner was drawing poorly, but even then, the matchup isn't horrible like I thought it would. Chandra's also surprisingly good against them because she embaresses lifebane zombie and lets you add to your boardstate without overextending into
boardwipes. Depending on how testing against that deck goes should determine if I need threatens in the board or not but I'm guessing no since having a bunch of burn spells is pretty important and you can't cut creatures against them or else you just don't ever deal damage.

[Platypus]

In what matchups has she been great?

[LP, of the Fires]

Anything playing mana dorks, and vs. Blue decks she's been rather outstanding. You can also get a lot of value out of her vs. the aristocrats decks.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Anything playing mana dorks, and vs. Blue decks she's been rather outstanding. You can also get a lot of value out of her vs. the aristocrats decks.

What does the boarding plan look like?

I've been messing around with a similar list. I'll try to get my ideas on boarding written out so we can compare notes.

[Lightning_Dolt]

OK, so assuming LP's list, I'm thinking:

VS Jund:
-4 Young Pyromancer, -4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Shock
+1 Mutavault, +4 Burning Earth, +2 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Skullcrack

Rationale: Young Pyromancer is weak against Bonfire for 1 and Golgari Charm. 2 damage spells are weak against their creature base.

VS UWR:
-4 Searing Spear, -4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Shock
+1 Mutavault, +4 Burning Earth, +2 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Skullcrack

Rationale: The other spells are upgrades for the burn we are removing.


VS GR:
-2 Shock, -2 Chandra, -1 Brimstone Volley
+3 Volcanic Strength, +2 Mizzium Mortars

Rationale: Volcanic Strength is good
here because they don't have many ways to interact with it. Mizzium Mortars help against GhorClan Rampagers.

VS BG:
-2 Young Pyromancer, -1 Mizzium Mortars
+3 Skullcrack

Rationale: Mortars doesn't have many targets, and their sweepers / charms make YP look a lot worse. Skullcrack is needed vs their lifegain.

VS Mirror:
-2 Chandra, -3 Young Pyromancer
+2 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Volcanic Strength

YP lines up badly vs FotF. Chandra seems bad here, but I might be wrong. MM is necessary for opposing VS's.

Is there anything here you guys think is incorrect?

[Self Medicated]

Just assembled this on MTGO:

[DECK]
Lands (22)
18 Mountain
4 Mutavault

Creatures (27)
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firefist Striker
4 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Young Pyromancer

Spells (11)
3 Brimstone Volley
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

Sideboard (15)
4 Burning Earth
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack
2 Volcanic Strength
[/DECK]

I used to play AiR, but was having a difficult time winning games lately. So I'm trying this out as a bit of a change. So far so good. Nobles have done a lot of work, often reaching 5/5 or 6/6 during a game. I attribute this to my opponents being more concerned with Striker and Pyromancer.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Just assembled this on MTGO:

[DECK]
Lands (22)
18 Mountain
4 Mutavault

Creatures (27)
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firefist Striker
4 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Young Pyromancer

Spells (11)
3 Brimstone Volley
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

Sideboard (15)
4 Burning Earth
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack
2 Volcanic Strength
[/DECK]

I used to play AiR, but was having a difficult time winning games lately. So I'm trying this out as a bit of a change. So far so good. Nobles have done a lot of work, often reaching 5/5 or 6/6 during a game. I attribute this to my opponents being more concerned with Striker and Pyromancer.

Have you been
playing in dailies? What's your screen name?

[Platypus]

@Johnny_spike: I would probably side very similar to your suggestions. About Chandra against the mirror, depends on the mirror. If it contains Lightnign Maulers and Firefist Strikers her +1 might be quite relevant. But then again, they might side out those cards in fear of something FotF.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Wow, AIR just won a premier. I wonder if that's a good meta call right now?

[Lightning_Dolt]

List here: http://mtgo-stats.com/decks/71216

[Self Medicated]

Have you been playing in dailies? What's your screen name?

Not yet. Just tournament practice until I'm comfortable with the MTGO UI. My screen name is Self_Medicated.

[RDW]

Anyone have any experience with a monored first strike deck? Say, something like:

[deck]Creatures
4 Stonewright
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Mindsparker
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Hound of Griselbrand

Spells
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Shock
4 Searing Spear

Land
21 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Mountain
3 Burning Earth
4 Skullcrack
4 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Traiterous Blood[/deck]

w/ SB plan:

Control: -4 PoF, -4 Shock; +4 Skullcrack, +1 Mountain, +3 Burning Earth
Aggro: -4 Rakdos Cackler; +4 FotF
Midrange: mixture of the above +Tblood depending on curve
Hexproof: -4 Shock; +4 Skullcrack

[Valdarith]

Seems really bad. Way too slow and you're not packing enough power to make up for it to beat UWR and Jund. In fact the deck is much worse against those two matchups than other popular red decks, which is inexcusable in the current meta.

[RDW]

That's a fair assessment. It's done very well on Cockatrice (8-1, 17-4), but only ran into one UWr (2-0) and one Jund (1-2).

[LP, of the Fires]

OK, so assuming LP's list, I'm thinking:

VS Jund:
-4 Young Pyromancer, -4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Shock
+1 Mutavault, +4 Burning Earth, +2 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Skullcrack

Rationale: Young Pyromancer is weak against Bonfire for 1 and Golgari Charm. 2 damage spells are weak against their creature base.

VS UWR:
-4 Searing Spear, -4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Shock
+1 Mutavault, +4 Burning Earth, +2 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Skullcrack

Rationale: The other spells are upgrades for the burn we are removing.


nVS GR:
-2 Shock, -2 Chandra, -1 Brimstone Volley
+3 Volcanic Strength, +2 Mizzium Mortars

Rationale: Volcanic Strength is good here because they don't have many ways to interact with it. Mizzium Mortars help against GhorClan Rampagers.

VS BG:
-2 Young Pyromancer, -1 Mizzium Mortars
+3 Skullcrack

Rationale: Mortars doesn't have many targets, and their sweepers / charms make YP look a lot worse. Skullcrack is needed vs their lifegain.

VS Mirror:
-2 Chandra, -3 Young Pyromancer
+2 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Volcanic Strength

YP lines up badly vs FotF. Chandra seems bad here, but I might be wrong. MM is necessary for opposing VS's.

Is there anything here you guys think is incorrect?

I usually don't like sideboard guides as it's better to board vs. players(example in a fictional world where I'm 2 people and get paired against myself, I'd board MUCH differently then what the norms for
matchups are because I know cards that I play around etc.) but here goes.

Jund:
-4 pillar, -2 Chandra, -1 mortars,
+4 Burning earth, +3 Skullcrack
(-1 volley, +1 mutavault on the play)

I'm not trying to play the long game so Chandra comes out. If I'm spending 4 mana, I want it to be burning earth. By the same token, all my creatures stay in along with all the good burn to maximize the utility of my burning earths. I need to be able to reliable pressure their life total so that when I cast burning earth, I can alpha swing into there board in 2/3 turns and burn them out. Also, recently won a test game with zero board presence an an opponent at 15 life by sitting on skullcracks, searing spears and brimstone volleys. Turns out when you're on 3 land and not playing spells, they have to respect hellrider and lose to your burn(similar to playing around syncopate and getting resto'd or helixed).

UWR:
(on the Play) -4 Pillar, -2 volley, -1 spear, -1 mortars
+4 Burning earth, +3 skullcrack, +1
Mutavault

(on the Draw) -4 pillar, -4 Stromkirk Noble
+4 Burning earth, +3 Skullcrack, 1 Mutavault

I overall shock in all matchups which I neglected to mention above. In this match, a mutavault and shock lets me play around everything. Instead of being forced to running a hellrider into syncopate, resto angel, and helix when they have 4 up, I can just swing with ash zealot and mutavault and shock my own guy if it's helix and trade with the angel if that's what's happening. Not giving up that option. Mortars isn't horrible and is a consideration. Volley isn't a spell I like in this matchup much, though I keep it in a fair amount of the time. One key I've found in this matchup is to be able to get more out of your mana then they do and volley isn't always the most efficient use of mana, though on the draw you get verdicted and statcasted enough to get value. Speaking of staticaster, if they've seen your young pyro, I don't think it's completely insane to board out your pyromancers. I've never
done that, but I can respect at least considering it.

Gruul:

-4 stromkirk, -2 Chandra's, -2 Brimstone Volley
+3 VStrength, +2 Mortars, +2 Elecktrickery, +1 Mutavault

Stromkirk gets embaressed by everything and they run few enough mountains and enough early burn that I think noble into mountwalk is a pipe dream. Volley's get replaced by more efficient removal seplls. On the play Chandra's fine because they have plenty of X-1's and they actually have to attack Chandra a lot of the time as you're opponent drawing free cards in the agro mirror is just horrible.

Charlie Murphy:

-3 Pillars
+3 Skullcarck

Finally tested, this matchup doesn't seem as horrible as I thought though I think enemy pilot drew a lot worse then I did. Regardless, I wish I had more cards for this matchup. Burning earth is a crapshoot against them and something I'm gonna try to never bring in, but I'm not sure if I can make room for traitorous blood in my board.

Mirror:
...meh. I play this by ear sorry. There
are dozens of ways I could see boarding but yes, mortars and VS come in and I think I like another mutavault here as well for threat density and consistencey.

[Khaospawn]

Dafuq is Charlie Murphy?

[Platypus]

Dafuq is Charlie Murphy?

BG Rock: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1092

I have no idea why though...

[Khaospawn]

Cuz it's...black?

Charlie Murphy! Darkness! Darkness is spreading!

[LP, of the Fires]

YES. YOU SIR GET A COOKIE!

My friend Andy kept saying he liked his Charlie Murphy deck and I was like wtf is that?

Darkness! Darkness Charlie Murphy!.

[Khaospawn]

Bitch, have sex with Charlie Murphy!

[Lightning_Dolt]

You two bitches, show Charlie Murphy your titties!

[Khaospawn]

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

[Lightning_Dolt]

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

I said that to a girl I went to highschool with (who was in a wet t-shirt contest at a bar) after drinking tequila all night. Needless to say, her boy friend wanted to fight me. She recently added me on facebook. Tits seem to have improved after pregnancy lol.

[LP, of the Fires]

So after Monday night magic and Tuesday night magic I've finished third in tourneys of 8 and 18 people respectively with a match record of 5-2 and a game record of 11-5. I don't have all the cards in paper so the maindeck was -1 Chandra, +1 flames and the board was -1 mutavault, -3 burning earth, +1 mountain, +1 Flames, +2 traitorous blood.

I'll also note that I played relatively badly at the end of a game 3 in a match I lost and I THINK I misplayed G2 of the match I lost tonight. I probably win 2-0 if instead of trading off most of the board(leaving myself ahead on material and way ahead on in the race(20 to 6ish) though with him having a giant champion in play) I enjoy the stall for a while as eventual, I brick on 4/5 draw steps and he draws slayers stronghold into action with me dying with a hellrider on top of my deck(drew a pyromancer and lands).

While the flames and the mountain in the board where horrible, the
traitorous bloods would have been good in certain matches(if I drew them) and I think I can cut a removal spell from the board as I found I had too many cards to bring in for all of my agro matchups. I may cut a mortars from the ideal board for a flames. It's possible though that the correct adjustment is minus the 1 mortars, minus 1 burning earth(going to 3) + two threatens.

Also, Young Pyro was insane 100% of the time. I enjoy the deck for the same reasons I enjoyed naya blitz: while it may look straightforward, there are a lot of interesting decisions to be made in order to get the most value out of your cards and it has that legacy feel of every play you make mattering a lot which is rare in this standard format.

And with that said, I'm going to test UB control because I saw LSV playing it and he almost beat a gruul player when he kept a 1 lander and indeed would likely have won(or at least not died) if he didn't punt 2 turns in succession.

[Lightning_Dolt]

[quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=90387#p90387]

I usually don't like sideboard guides as it's better to board vs. players(example in a fictional world where I'm 2 people and get paired against myself, I'd board MUCH differently then what the norms for matchups are because I know cards that I play around etc.) but here goes.

Jund:
-4 pillar, -2 Chandra, -1 mortars,
+4 Burning earth, +3 Skullcrack
(-1 volley, +1 mutavault on the play)

I'm not trying to play the long game so Chandra comes out. If I'm spending 4 mana, I want it to be burning earth. By the same token, all my creatures stay in along with all the good burn to maximize the utility of my burning earths. I need to be able to reliable pressure
their life total so that when I cast burning earth, I can alpha swing into there board in 2/3 turns and burn them out. Also, recently won a test game with zero board presence an an opponent at 15 life by sitting on skullcracks, searing spears and brimstone volleys. Turns out when you're on 3 land and not playing spells, they have to respect hellrider and lose to your burn(similar to playing around syncopate and getting resto'd or helixed).

UWR:
(on the Play) -4 Pillar, -2 volley, -1 spear, -1 mortars
+4 Burning earth, +3 skullcrack, +1 Mutavault

(on the Draw) -4 pillar, -4 Stromkirk Noble
+4 Burning earth, +3 Skullcrack, 1 Mutavault

I overall shock in all matchups which I neglected to mention above. In this match, a mutavault and shock lets me play around everything. Instead of being forced to running a hellrider into syncopate, resto angel, and helix when they have 4 up, I can just swing with ash zealot and mutavault and shock my own guy if it's helix and trade with the angel if that's whats happening. Not giving up that option. Mortars isn't horrible and is a consideration. Volley isn't a spell I like in this matchup much, though I keep it in a fair amount of the time. One key I've found in this matchup is to be able to get more out of your mana then they do and volley isn't always the most efficient use of mana, though on the draw you get verdicted and statcasted enough to get value. Speaking of staticaster, if they've seen your young pyro, I don't think it's completely insane to board out your pyromancers. I've never done that, but I can respect at least considering it.

Gruul:

-4 stromkirk, -2 Chandra's, -2 Brimstone Volley
+3 VStrength, +2 Mortars, +2 Elecktrickery, +1 Mutavault

Stromkirk gets embaressed by everything and they run few enough mountains and enough early burn that I think noble into mountwalk is a pipe dream. Volley's get replaced by more efficient removal seplls. On the play Chandra's fine because they have plenty of X-1's and they actually have to
attack Chandra a lot of the time as you're opponent drawing free cards in the agro mirror is just horrible.

Charlie Murphy:

-3 Pillars
+3 Skullcarck

Finally tested, this matchup doesn't seem as horrible as I thought though I think enemy pilot drew a lot worse then I did. Regardless, I wish I had more cards for this matchup. Burning earth is a crapshoot against them and something I'm gonna try to never bring in, but I'm not sure if I can make room for traitorous blood in my board.

Mirror:
...meh. I play this by ear sorry. There are dozens of ways I could see boarding but yes, mortars and VS come in and I think I like another mutavault here as well for threat density and consistencey.

Thanks for your help LP. I need to think these things through ahead of time, so I don't make poor snap decisions when I may, or may not be on tilt.

Here's what I'm going to play this weekend at GP: Kitakyushu, based on LP's list, my lists, and what I've heard Saito is running:

[b:
1jzklaw8]Mono-Red Aggro
Johnny_Spike
Deck for GP: Kitakyushu on 8/24/2013
[/b]
[deck]Creatures(23)
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Hellrider

Spells(15)
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Shock
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Land (22)
3 Mutavault
19 Mountains

Sideboard (15)
3 Burning Earth
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Skullcrack
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Mark of Mutiny[/deck]

Sideboard Plan

VS Jund (What I'm expecting to be the #1 deck)
+3 Burning Earth, +3 Mizzium Mortars, +4 Skullcrack, +2 Mark of Mutiny
-4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Shock, -4 Young Pyromancer, -2 Chandra, Pyromaster

VS G/R[/b:
1jzklaw8] (I expect this to be #3)
+3 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Flames of the Firebrand
-4 Stromkirk Noble, -2 Chandra, Pyromaster

VS BG (Charlie Murphy) (Don't expect much of this)
+4 Skullcrack, +2 Mark of Mutiny
-4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Shock

VS Mirror (Expect zero of this)
+3 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Mizzium Mortars
-4 Young Pyromancer, -2 Chandra, Pyromaster

VS Aristocrats (BRW) (Don't Expect much of this)
+3 Flames of the Firebrand, +2 Mark of Mutiny, +3 [card]Burning Earth[/card:
1jzklaw8]
-4 Young Pyromancer, -2 Chandra, Pyromaster, -2 Searing Spear
,
VS UWR (Expect this to be the #2 deck)
+4 Skullcrack, +3 Burning Earth
-4 Pillar of Flame, -3 Brimstone Volley

VS BW
+3 Flames of the Firebrand
-2 Chandra, Pyromaster, -1 Brimstone Volley

VS WR
+3 Flames of the Firebrand
-2 Chandra, Pyromaster, -1 Brimstone Volley

VS GWR Mid (hope to dodge this)
+3 Mizzium Mortars
-2 Chandra, Pyromaster, -1 [card]Young
Pyromancer[/card]

VS Junk Reanimator
+2 Mark of Mutiny, +3 Mizzium Mortars, +4 Skullcrack, +3 Burning Earth
-2 Searing Spear, -4 Young Pyromancer,-4 Stromkirk Noble, -2 Chandra, Pyromaster

VS Bant Hexproof
+4 Skullcrack
-4 Searing Spear

VS Junk Crats
+3 Flames of the Firebrand, +2 Mark of Mutiny, +3 Burning Earth
-4 Young Pyromancer, -2 Chandra, Pyromaster, -2 Searing Spear


VS Elves
+3 [
card]Flames of the Firebrand[/card], +2 Mark of Mutiny
-3 Brimstone Volley, -2 Searing Spear

[Lightning_Dolt]

So after Monday night magic and Tuesday night magic I've finished third in tourneys of 8 and 18 people respectively with a match record of 5-2 and a game record of 11-5. I don't have all the cards in paper so the maindeck was -1 Chandra, +1 flames and the board was -1 mutavault, -3 burning earth, +1 mountain, +1 Flames, +2 traitorous blood.

I'll also note that I played relatively badly at the end of a game 3 in a match I lost and I THINK I misplayed G2 of the match I lost tonight. I probably win 2-0 if instead of trading off most of the board(leaving myself ahead on material and way ahead on in the race(20 to 6ish) though with him having a giant champion in play) I enjoy the stall for a while as eventual, I brick on 4/5 draw steps and he draws
slayers stronghold into action with me dying with a hellrider on top of my deck(drew a pyromancer and lands).

While the flames and the mountain in the board where horrible, the traitorous bloods would have been good in certain matches(if I drew them) and I think I can cut a removal spell from the board as I found I had too many cards to bring in for all of my agro matchups. I may cut a mortars from the ideal board for a flames. It's possible though that the correct adjustment is minus the 1 mortars, minus 1 burning earth(going to 3) + two threatens.

Also, Young Pyro was insane 100% of the time. I enjoy the deck for the same reasons I enjoyed naya blitz: while it may look straightforward, there are a lot of interesting decisions to be made in order to get the most value out of your cards and it has that legacy feel of every play you make mattering a lot which is rare in this standard format.

And with that said, I'm going to test UB control because I saw LSV playing it and he almost beat a gruul
player when he kept a 1 lander and indeed would likely have won(or at least not died) if he didn't punt 2 turns in succession.

Great minds think alike. I was thinking of the same changes to the board.

[zemanjaski]

I really, really like your deck Johnny.

*personally* I would run 4 Hellrider plus 1 Chandra because:
- slightly stronger interaction with Pyromancer (though weaker with Phoenix)
- strengthens your nut draw

Still, Chandra is pretty boss in this deck.

I might also cut a Skullcrack for the 4th Mutavault, for when you bring in Burning Earth (because you'll be getting 4 drop heavy then).

[Lightning_Dolt]

[quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=90862#p90862:3123yid5]zemanjaski » Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:21 pm[/url:3123yid5]":3123yid5]I really, really like your deck Johnny.

*personally* I would run 4 Hellrider plus 1 Chandra because:
- slightly stronger interaction with Pyromancer (though weaker with Phoenix)
- strengthens your nut draw

Still, Chandra is pretty boss in this deck.

I might also cut a Skullcrack for the 4th Mutavault, for when you bring in Burning Earth (because you'll be getting 4 drop heavy then).[/quote:3123yid5]

Thanks Z. It's not really my deck, more of a community effort. I'll be writing FoS on the deck registration under creator

I cut a [card:3123yid5]Mutavault[/card:3123yid5] because I was drawing them too often. You only really want 1 over the coarse of the game,
anymore than that and you're in trouble.

I like 2x Chandra, it just feels right.

This deck is also contains all the intel I've got on what Saito (who has a good handle on the Japanese meta) will be running. He's not sharing his deck list until after the GP, but I have it on good authority that he's running [card:3123yid5]Ash Zealot[/card:3123yid5], [card:3123yid5]Chandra's Phoenix[/card:3123yid5], [card:3123yid5]Hellrider[/card:3123yid5], 2x [card:3123yid5]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card:3123yid5] in the main. It will be interesting to see how close we came when the dust settles and the decklists are published.

As always, thanks to everyone in this subforum. I hope I can make the community proud. We're expecting about a 1000 players (which I think makes for 8 rounds?) and I have a first round buy. Will be playing in the last chance qualifiers for third round buy on Friday. My goal is day 2, but that might be too lofty. I'll do what I can.

[zemanjaski]

I like the quality of the cards in the deck.

[Khaospawn]

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....

[Valdarith]

I like this deck as well. I echo the sideboard sentiments. You're really going to want an extra land in games where you bring in Burning Earth, and Mutavault is the best way to address that.

I'd also drop a Shock for a fourth Hellrider because he's just that good, especially in a Pyromancer deck.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I like this deck as well. I echo the sideboard sentiments. You're really going to want an extra land in games where you bring in Burning Earth, and Mutavault is the best way to address that.

I'd also drop a Shock for a fourth Hellrider because he's just that good, especially in a Pyromancer deck.

When burning earth comes in, chandra typically sits out. That means the deck has 6 4 drops, which I don't think is super greedy on 22 land. The 4th mutavault tested poorly. Three is more reasonable, since you don't want more than 1 before turn 3.

I made the cut to three hellriders, and I think it's correct. I do not want multiple riders in the opener. We'll see if I'm right.

[RDW]

Burning Earth should come in against Reanimator, UWr, and Jund. Chandra should stay in against UWr and Jund, so that's 8 4-drops which definitely merits 23 land, IMO. Keep testing and fine-tuning the deck because it looks great. No reason to commit to a list yet. Also, consider Traiterous Blood over Mark of Mutiny. Reanimator is still on the Lingering Souls/Craterhoof Behemoth plan, and Jund has extra dudes now with Scavenging Ooze and Lifebane Zombie, so you can't really bank on a clear path to victory...

[Lightning_Dolt]

Burning Earth should come in against Reanimator, UWr, and Jund. Chandra should stay in against UWr and Jund, so that's 8 4-drops which definitely merits 23 land, IMO. Keep testing and fine-tuning the deck because it looks great. No reason to commit to a list yet. Also, consider Traiterous Blood over Mark of Mutiny. Reanimator is still on the Lingering Souls/Craterhoof Behemoth plan, and Jund has extra dudes now with Scavenging Ooze and Lifebane Zombie, so you can't really bank on a clear path to victory...

The GP is in 53 hours. That's as good as reason as any to say I'm done testing and commiting lol.

Traitorous Blood might be a good call.

[RedNihilist]

Go Johnny go
I'm actually quite envious, I'm used to last minute changes in spite of the fact that I know that it's wrong practice.

[LP, of the Fires]

I've never gone above 22 lands in any of my testing and I've been perfectly happy. Personally, I like the 4th mutavault as I like seeing 2 in the longer games, but I don't think it's strictly better than the 19th mountain by any means.

Also, Chandra seems terribad vs. Jund in sideboarded games, particularly on the draw.

I also think you would rather have young pyro in the mirror on the draw over brimstone volley.