Agree 100%. Only reason i wrote it up in developing is per forum rules any primers must start in developing then be moved. It is a tier 1 legacy deck further emphasized by the fact that it just took down yhe MTGO legacy challange on Sunday. Writing stuff lile this really isnt my thing anf I didn't feel like I did a fantastic job but someone needed to do it to get the ball rolling....
Welcome to Mono Red Prison. Mono Red Prison is not a new deck or concept, but it is now positioned quite well in the legacy format. The basic premise of the deck is to punish you're opponent for playing a greedy mana base, playing cost efficient or free spells, and gaining board state advantage through soul land acceleration. Your game plan with Red Prison is usually very linear and strait forward. Using soul lands, moxen, and spirit guides,you want jamb 1 or 2 back breaking lock pieces on your first turn or 2 then follow it up with a threat that generates fast closing speed. Depending on the match up, the deck can quite easily change gears and get down an ensnaring bridge and win out behind that.
Mono Red prison is a unique deck in the fact that depending on your opening hand and your opponent you can take 2 very different lines of play. Your primary game plan, especially in the blind, is to look for an opening hand that will generate a T1 Moon effect, followed up with further lock pieces the following turns. Thus creating a narrow path for your opponent operate with in and hopefully locking them out of the game all together. What makes Red Prison Unique is that it is a control deck that can operate on a totally different axis and play a hard core aggro game plan. If you know your opponent is on a control or combo game plan, it's totally reasonable to keep and play an opening 7 that results in Turn 1 2 and 3 threats that will generate mountains of pressure and close the game out quickly.
What Red Prison requires to pilot more than anything is a knowledge of the format. In all likelihood the deck will pilot itself. What it needs from you is an understanding of what lock pieces are pertinent and the sequence with which to play them. If you have the requisite knowledge of the meta, and an understanding of what lock pieces are required to cripple a deck, Red Prison will give you the tools with which to do it.
As you may have noticed from the various deck lists about, the card selection has very little variance. The deck runs a very tight list of required cards to make it function. There is room for meta choices, but even in the board, there isn't much room. Here we will go over the cards and their value.
Prison Pieces Blood Moon / Magus of the moon: Moon effects are your go to T1 lock piece in the blind. The vast majority of the format operates on a greedy and or fragile mana base. Pushing a turn 1 moon effect against many decks is GG. Even if it isn't the end of the game, it is often enough to buy you several turns with which to push a win further out of reach of your opponent or give you the time to drop a threat and push damage.
chalice of the void: Chalice of the void is often on par with blood moon as far as back breaking. Spells with a CMC of 1 and 2 make up a staggering portion of the meta game. Red Prison is very capable of putting down turns one and two chalices that shut your opponent off from playing those spells. Thus our deck is designed to function off of three and four CMC spells to be able to go over the top of our own chalice.
Ensnaring Bridge / Trinisphere: These are our back up and situational lock pieces. unlike chalice and moon effects, these lock pieces aren't game breakers, but in the right circumstance, they can be. These lock pieces are often more designed around buying you turns and or creating some breathing room for you to execute your game plans.
Threats Goblin Rabblemaster / Legion Warboss These cards are very similar in effect. Often, on their own, these creatures aren't enough to blow a game out. But when behind multiple prison pieces protecting them, these creatures can generate significant pressure and close the game out quickly.
Chandra, Tourch of defiance: this is one of your most powerful cards in the deck. it can give you the versatility to dig through your top deck and find more lock pieces and threats. It can give you removal for pesky creatures your opponent managed to resolve under or around your lock pieces. It can also end games behind your bridge and other pieces by send damage upstairs in 2 or 5 at a time.
Hazoret the fervent / Pia and kiran nalaar: these are your situational and versatility creatures. hazoret can hit the board and smash face for 5 at a time, or he can sit behind a bridge and go upstairs. Pia is a nice mix of removal, damage, and bodies. when you are in a long game match, Pia is a fantastic piece to have hit the board. When you are trying to close a game with maximum velocity, hazoret brings the pain.
Fiery confluence: This is probably the best card in the deck. Once you have a game plan in action, this card can be used to clear the board of creatures, remove problematic artifacts, or just sending 6 upstairs. more often than not, you'll find yourself praying for a confluence off the top to end the game.
Lands and Mana Sources city of traitors / Ancient Tomb: The soul lands are critical to our game plan. They will help generate you critical mana turn 1, but at a very real cost.
chrome moxlotus petalsimian spirit guide: as above, these cards are critical to generating 3 mana on turn 1, but at a very real cost in the form of card disadvantage. provided you enact your prison pieces, this disadvantage becomes less of an issue. if your lock pieces get stuffed, then it can become a very real problem.
Sideboard
Faerie Macabre: this is a very critical board card. When dealing with decks that use a graveyard game plan, like dredge, reanimator, or loam, to name a few, you need to have an answer to rebut those strategies. The primary problem is the vast majority of available graveyard hate is affected by your own chalice or trinisphere. That's where Faerie Macabre comes into play, it gives you tools against graveyard decks that lets you go around you prison pieces.
ensnaring bridge / Trinisphere: For the decks that these cards do provide value against, like Reanimator, Storm, OmniTell etc, you will want to have access to more copies of them to go in the main. Also you will have matches where moon effects have little value due to your opponents use of basics. So having prison pieces with low value is better than having pieces with no value.
Sulfur ElementalKozilek's Return: UW Miracles and DnT are very bad matches for you. These cards provide you a very real answer to those problems. Sulfur Elemental wipes out half the creatures that DnT plays, dropping a second wipes out all their creatures. Also against UW, this card provides you an uncounterable threat and one that hampers Monestary Mentor, which is their primary win condition. Kozileks return provides another sweeper that isn't as valuable in those particular matches, but has more wide ranged application to other decks in the format like maverick or goblins.
Other Viable Cards
Hanweir garrisonWalking ballistachandra pyromaster: These are cards that have seen play in the main deck to some effect and 5-0 finishes in MTGO Comp Leagues. They provide some different lines for closing games out and applying pressure.
Karn, scion of Uza: this card is starting to see more play in the main deck as a split with chandra. it can be used to generate great card advantage to help you dig once you have your prison game enacted.
IV: Position in the format
What Red Prison is Strong Against
RUG
Storm
Goblins
Lands Merfolk
Punishing Jund
Eldrazi
Infect
Death's Shadow
Turbo Derpths
What Red Prison is Fair Against
Reanimator
Burn
Maverick
Dredge
Esper Stoneblade
Painters servant
What are Bad Matches for Red Prison
Sneak Show
Death and Taxes
UW Control
Welcome to Mono Red Prison. Mono Red Prison is not a new deck or concept, but it is now positioned quite well in the legacy format. The basic premise of the deck is to punish you're opponent for playing a greedy mana base, playing cost efficient or free spells, and gaining board state advantage through soul land acceleration. Your game plan with Red Prison is usually very linear and strait forward. Using soul lands, moxen, and spirit guides,you want jamb 1 or 2 back breaking lock pieces on your first turn or 2 then follow it up with a threat that generates fast closing speed. Depending on the match up, the deck can quite easily change gears and get down an ensnaring bridge and win out behind that.
Mono Red prison is a unique deck in the fact that depending on your opening hand and your opponent you can take 2 very different lines of play. Your primary game plan, especially in the blind, is to look for an opening hand that will generate a T1 Moon effect, followed up with further lock pieces the following turns. Thus creating a narrow path for your opponent operate with in and hopefully locking them out of the game all together. What makes Red Prison Unique is that it is a control deck that can operate on a totally different axis and play a hard core aggro game plan. If you know your opponent is on a control or combo game plan, it's totally reasonable to keep and play an opening 7 that results in Turn 1 2 and 3 threats that will generate mountains of pressure and close the game out quickly.
What Red Prison requires to pilot more than anything is a knowledge of the format. In all likelihood the deck will pilot itself. What it needs from you is an understanding of what lock pieces are pertinent and the sequence with which to play them. If you have the requisite knowledge of the meta, and an understanding of what lock pieces are required to cripple a deck, Red Prison will give you the tools with which to do it.
II: Deck Lists
Top 16 SCG Worcester Classic By JORDAN GOODWIN
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Legion Warboss
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Lotus Petal
2 Trinisphere
4 Fiery Confluence
Enchantment
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
9 Mountain
3 Boil
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Faerie Macabre
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Trinisphere
Top 4 SCG Columbus Classic By ALEX HON
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Legion Warboss
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Trinisphere
4 Fiery Confluence
Enchantment
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
11 Mountain
2 Abrade
4 Faerie Macabre
2 Kozilek's Return
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Sulfur Elemental
2nd GP Shizouka By HIROYUKI KAGA
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Legion Warboss
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Trinisphere
4 Fiery Confluence
Enchantment
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
5 Mountain
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Abrade
4 Faerie Macabre
2 Kozilek's Return
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Sulfur Elemental
III: Card Choices
As you may have noticed from the various deck lists about, the card selection has very little variance. The deck runs a very tight list of required cards to make it function. There is room for meta choices, but even in the board, there isn't much room. Here we will go over the cards and their value.
Prison Pieces
Blood Moon / Magus of the moon: Moon effects are your go to T1 lock piece in the blind. The vast majority of the format operates on a greedy and or fragile mana base. Pushing a turn 1 moon effect against many decks is GG. Even if it isn't the end of the game, it is often enough to buy you several turns with which to push a win further out of reach of your opponent or give you the time to drop a threat and push damage.
chalice of the void: Chalice of the void is often on par with blood moon as far as back breaking. Spells with a CMC of 1 and 2 make up a staggering portion of the meta game. Red Prison is very capable of putting down turns one and two chalices that shut your opponent off from playing those spells. Thus our deck is designed to function off of three and four CMC spells to be able to go over the top of our own chalice.
Ensnaring Bridge / Trinisphere: These are our back up and situational lock pieces. unlike chalice and moon effects, these lock pieces aren't game breakers, but in the right circumstance, they can be. These lock pieces are often more designed around buying you turns and or creating some breathing room for you to execute your game plans.
Threats
Goblin Rabblemaster / Legion Warboss These cards are very similar in effect. Often, on their own, these creatures aren't enough to blow a game out. But when behind multiple prison pieces protecting them, these creatures can generate significant pressure and close the game out quickly.
Chandra, Tourch of defiance: this is one of your most powerful cards in the deck. it can give you the versatility to dig through your top deck and find more lock pieces and threats. It can give you removal for pesky creatures your opponent managed to resolve under or around your lock pieces. It can also end games behind your bridge and other pieces by send damage upstairs in 2 or 5 at a time.
Hazoret the fervent / Pia and kiran nalaar: these are your situational and versatility creatures. hazoret can hit the board and smash face for 5 at a time, or he can sit behind a bridge and go upstairs. Pia is a nice mix of removal, damage, and bodies. when you are in a long game match, Pia is a fantastic piece to have hit the board. When you are trying to close a game with maximum velocity, hazoret brings the pain.
Fiery confluence: This is probably the best card in the deck. Once you have a game plan in action, this card can be used to clear the board of creatures, remove problematic artifacts, or just sending 6 upstairs. more often than not, you'll find yourself praying for a confluence off the top to end the game.
Lands and Mana Sources
city of traitors / Ancient Tomb: The soul lands are critical to our game plan. They will help generate you critical mana turn 1, but at a very real cost.
chrome mox lotus petal simian spirit guide: as above, these cards are critical to generating 3 mana on turn 1, but at a very real cost in the form of card disadvantage. provided you enact your prison pieces, this disadvantage becomes less of an issue. if your lock pieces get stuffed, then it can become a very real problem.
Sideboard
Faerie Macabre: this is a very critical board card. When dealing with decks that use a graveyard game plan, like dredge, reanimator, or loam, to name a few, you need to have an answer to rebut those strategies. The primary problem is the vast majority of available graveyard hate is affected by your own chalice or trinisphere. That's where Faerie Macabre comes into play, it gives you tools against graveyard decks that lets you go around you prison pieces.
ensnaring bridge / Trinisphere: For the decks that these cards do provide value against, like Reanimator, Storm, OmniTell etc, you will want to have access to more copies of them to go in the main. Also you will have matches where moon effects have little value due to your opponents use of basics. So having prison pieces with low value is better than having pieces with no value.
Sulfur Elemental Kozilek's Return: UW Miracles and DnT are very bad matches for you. These cards provide you a very real answer to those problems. Sulfur Elemental wipes out half the creatures that DnT plays, dropping a second wipes out all their creatures. Also against UW, this card provides you an uncounterable threat and one that hampers Monestary Mentor, which is their primary win condition. Kozileks return provides another sweeper that isn't as valuable in those particular matches, but has more wide ranged application to other decks in the format like maverick or goblins.
Other Viable Cards
Hanweir garrison Walking ballista chandra pyromaster: These are cards that have seen play in the main deck to some effect and 5-0 finishes in MTGO Comp Leagues. They provide some different lines for closing games out and applying pressure.
Sorcerous Spyglass Scab-Clan Berserker abrade Thought-knot seer Torpor orb: these are meta choices for your board that have seen play and shown success.
Karn, scion of Uza: this card is starting to see more play in the main deck as a split with chandra. it can be used to generate great card advantage to help you dig once you have your prison game enacted.
IV: Position in the format
What Red Prison is Strong Against
RUG
Storm
Goblins
Lands Merfolk
Punishing Jund
Eldrazi
Infect
Death's Shadow
Turbo Derpths
What Red Prison is Fair Against
Reanimator
Burn
Maverick
Dredge
Esper Stoneblade
Painters servant
What are Bad Matches for Red Prison
Sneak Show
Death and Taxes
UW Control
V: Resources
Mono Red Prison Discord: https://discord.gg/VSP3JHw
Channel Fireball Video : https://youtu.be/-lQzpyAD_KY
Pleasant Kenobi Video: https://youtu.be/PJyQFCYwk_E
Gabriel Nassif League Match: https://youtu.be/w6lRVlJlDVc