MTG Salvation

With Gatecrash finally about to make it to MODO, my thoughts are turning to the new format. My preference at the start of a new season is to typically just build a deck filled with cards I like and start testing from there ~ I never really feel a strong need to be at the front of development and competition immediately ~ part of me does like to just have fun and play magic still.

Saito posted a really interesting Gruul deck to facebook, that runs a lot of cards that I really like. It is pretty experimental and also very exciting, so I think my testing in the new format will start with this:



Not huge on the sideboard, so I will probably tinker with it before playing.

The main engine of the deck are the Burning-Tree Emissaries ("BTEs") which provide both additional mana fixing and acceleration. Figuring out the optimal BTE chains looks to be very exciting, and the deck certainly has the wow factor.

Stay tuned for future developments, and as always, you can check out what I am up to at:

www.twitch.tv/zemanjaski

~ Victory needs no explanation. Defeat allows none ~

Just a short update today. Been doing some brainstorming for fun decks to play post GTC, and this one might actually be more than just a little playable:



Basically, the deck needs to do 7 damage then combo-kill with Blasphemous Act. The rest of the deck is designed to either find pieces or help your survive; or serve as alternate win-conditions with Stuffy Doll/Boros Reckoner.

Post sideboard, you can transform into a midrange control deck, which seems very exciting.

Updates once the cards are available on MODO.

Hi fellow Red Mages!

Today we bring you a special present ~ the match results of Zemanjaski vs Hamfactorial playtesting. The idea is to give you insight into how we play, why we keep hands, how we sequence our plays, what our objectives are and how we sideboard.

There will probably be some jokes as well.

Firstly, my decklist:



Game 1

Step 1, win the die roll On the play, keep a hand of: 3 mountain, 2 ash zealot, 1 gore-house chainwalker, 1 flames of the firebrand

I play a mountain for my turn and pass, while Ham plays a mountain and a Stromkirk Noble (what a lucksack!). Drawing Pillar of Flame for my turn, we have our first decision tree ~ kill the Noble OR play a 2 drop (and then, which 2 drop)?

I am a huge fan of being mana efficient, so my initial thought is to play a 2 drop. Compounding this is that I have three mana available next turn, so I can play another 2 drop and Pillar the Noble OR flames of the firebrand his board if he plays an x/1 (and being Dos Rakis, I know he has quite a few). In the decision tree between a haste creature and a non-haste creature, I like to play non-haste first ~ he is likely to want to develop his board, and this will give me the fastest clock as quickly as possible. It is also relevant that I would rather him use removal on a GHC than a Zealot.

Mountain, GHC unleashed, pass. I am immediately justified for my smart decision making (and modesty) when he plays another Stromkirk Noble and a Guildgate. I casually blow him out and start the beatdown.

Ham has another guildgate and then nothing; I keep playing land, then play an Ash Zealot; he Ultimate Prices my GHC and I hit him some more and play a Stromkirk Noble. He untaps and plays Vampire Nighthawk and we end up here:



So, two decision trees again. I can play Ash Zealot, swing with the team, the 2-for-1 myself to kill the Nighthawk with Pillar of Flame. The other option is to play Hellrider and swing, then see who he blocks. At the time, I was trying to figure out his hand. Because his mana had been a little awkward, so he could have another Nighthawk, but he could also have a hand of cards like Stonewright, Aristocrat or Thundermaw Hellkite. I ended up going for the first option because it seemed better against the range of plays he would have over the subsequent two turns, but as it turns out, it was probably incorrect.

Sadly, he has the second Nighthawk, and I have basically the same position ~ I play Hellrider and swing with the team, he elects to eat the Noble, which means I am very dead (because he can kill Hellrider whenever he wants apparently). Searing Spear does exactly that, and he is quickly able to assemble the combo of Nighthawk + Stonewright while I draw out to 9 land (if only I had one more, I would have had him!)

0-1

Rats!

Sideboarding

Knowing what I do about how Dos Rakis sideboards for aggro matchups, I can expect him to cut a bunch of early creatures (probably Nobles and Knights) for more removal.

Knowing this, I want removal specific to the creatures I actually need to kill ~ Nighthawks, Aristocrats and other like creatures. I also want a more resilient creature base, because his deck is mostly based on 1-for-1 removal. In these matchups (aggro vs aggro) there are a few things to think about:

~ are you on the play or on the draw?
~ who is running more land? This will tell inform your Game 2 strategy
~ who can play the control role most effectively?

I know I am on the play, so I want to be as aggressive as possible. The aggro decks of the format are all great offensively, but fairly weak in defence ~ Ham's Dos Rakis is better than most, but if I can remove a Nighthawk he is in real trouble.

Ham is running more land (24 or 25 I wasn't sure). This means a few things. Firstly, I am going to draw more spells on average than him, so he will need a source of 2-for-1 to catch up, even with the extra card from being on the draw. So, my first objective is to minimize my exposure to his source of 2-for-1; Flames of the Firebrand. With this in mind, I immediately cut my 3 Stonewright and 3 Lightning Mauler. Not only do these cards die to even a slight breeze, but they're not really in the deck for this sort of matchup anyway. In their place, I brought in a Hellion Crucible, three Hound of Griselbrand and two Mizzium Mortars. Let me explain:
- Hound of Griselbrand is incredibly powerful against any deck trying to beat you through 1-for-1s and it is a very aggressive clock.
- Hellion Crucible is incredibly powerful in the red mirror, even if their Rakdos. At worst, it demands a terror. At best? Well, they can't kill it and you run them over. Having three Crucibles would increase the advantage I have in drawing more spells than Ham over the course of the game. Love this card.
- Mizzium Mortars kills Vampire Nighthawk and most surprises he might have for me.

Game 2

On the play, keep a hand of: two Pyreheart Wolf, 1 Hound of Griselbrand, 3 mountain, 1 Hellion Crucible.

Not a particularly aggressive hand, but very resilient to removal, and all the cards are key in the matchup. More than anything, it is unrealistic to expect to mulligan into a better six card hand ~ this hand does have threats, it has perfect mana and a crucible, so no complaints.

The first few turns involved both of us developing our boards, while I drew more land (six in my top nine ~ am I running too many land? This seems to happen a lot). Ham has a Pillar of Flame for my first Wolf, but then the Hound of Griselbrand sticks, and we end up here ~



I like this line more because it continues to be mana efficient; next turn I can spend all my mana again, then work on charging the Hellion Crucible. While Ham's deck is better equipped than most to deal with a Hellion, the card is still potentially a massive beating. Ham has another Nighthawk, but I am able to trade it off with my Hound's 1st life, then play a Pyreheart and a GHC ~ setting up playing Ash Zealot for big damages next turn, while still turning on my Crucible. Ham has a Flames of the Firebrand to finish of the Hound, followed by a Stonewright. I play the Ash Zealot and put him to 14.



At this point I feel pretty good about my board. Because Ham is a bit constrained on mana, he cannot yet start casting two spells a turn, while I can cast whatever I draw plus charge the Crucible. I have a decent clock in play as well. Ham has an Ash Zealot to block, while I draw a second Ash Zealot myself, play it, and before attacks, Ham elects to Ultimate Price my Pyreheart Wolf ~ I imagine so that he can get it off the table ASAP so he can start blocking? I only attack with the two Zealots, one of which trades. Ham follows up with a Thundermaw, I topdeck a Stromkirk Noble.



I am quite certain I made a mistake here. I could have cracked the Crucible, swung with the team and he would double-block my Pyreheart Wolf, going to 3 life, with just a Thundermaw in play and 1 card in hand. I would easily be representing fatal. Instead, just play my Noble and pass the turn, planning to crack the crucible EOT. Why I didnt think trading half a card for a card and 9 life was a good deal I have no idea, nor any excuse.

Ham does have an Aristocrat and a Stonewright to clog up the board, and now my line looks terrible. Thankfully, I finally draw some removal, allowing me to remove a Stonewright, so that he can only block 1 creature, allowing me to hit for 8 after he trades the other Stonewright for the Crucible (doubleblock with Dragon and Stonewright). Note that if I had just attacked last turn, he was dead this turn. Thankfully, he goes to 4, draws nothing of relevance and we're on to game 3!



1-1

Get there!

Sideboarding

None. Now that I have seen Hellkites, there is an argument for Traitorous Blood (as it is pseudo-removal against Falkenrath Aristocrat as well), but really, because Ham's endgame was so much larger, all I really wanted was to be as aggressive as possible.

Game 3

On the draw, keep: 1 Rakdos Cackler, 1 Gore-House Chainwalker, two Searing Spear, 1 Mizzium Mortars, 1 Flames of the Firebrand, 2 Mountain.

Kind of a good hand, you might say.

Ham has a Blood Crypt into Stormkirk Noble, which actually surprises me a bit ~ I would have assumed all of these sort of creatures had been taken out. Because he has milliganed, and because he seems to be on the aggro plan, I elect to play a 1/1 Cackler to draw removal, keep my life up or trade ~ all of which I am fine with. Ham plays a land and passes, while I play an unleashed GHC. Another land and a pass, so I elect to attack; Searing Spear kills my GHC, and I play a post-combat unleashed Cackler. A pretty slow start from a Sligh deck!



Oddly, I only need to hit him a couple of times and I can already burn him out! I choke on land for a few turns, drawing some more 1/1s which Ham removes. The 1/1 Cackler bring him 12 after we both flood out, and in my best Hadouken! I burn him out for 12 over his end step



Bit of a lame conclusion to the match, but you can only play the cards you draw (unless your Edgar Flores I suppose).

Thoughts on the Matchup

I really like this deck against any sort of Rakdos Aggro deck (whether Rb or Br), because it is just so aggressive and consistent. I also have a plenthora of mana sinks, while they do not, allowing me to get even further ahead. Hellion Crucible is just such a beating in the aggro mirror. I actually flood in each game (go figure) and all of the advantage generators (flames, crucible, Pyreheart, Hound) got me there anyway. The sideboarding strategy seemed to line up nicely with what his deck can do post board as well.

Thoughts on the Deck

It's ridiculous, I'm quickly amassing a small MODO fortune, despite playing tired/drunk/sick/all3.

You can read hamfactorial's side of the report here (scroll down to half way).

I. Keeping up with Trends ~ Don't be a Hipster

Hi everyone. The idea article came from some of the responses in my thread that asked for article ideas. While I do feel it is too soon to do another 'state of the metagame' type piece (also, way too time intensive for me at the moment), I do believe in giving the people what I want. What I want to focus on here are development in our sister deck, BR Aggro. There are a lot of similar themes in the decks, and recently they have started to take a lot of 'our' technology (stuff that was mostly seen in Rx Aggro) and are using it in interesting and unique ways. BR Aggro had a lot of success recently, so let's see what worked and why, as well what lessons we can learn. We will start by looking at four selected decklists, then looking at some of the key technology in each deck and why it is there.

II. GP Charleston Decklists



Although it finished the highest of all the decklists highlighted, I am not the biggest fan of this deck. Why? The manacurve is very bad. It is definitely a deck that presents threats for a much longer period of time than a traditional aggro deck (which is very important at the moment), but I do feel that a little more attention to mana curve would have made for a better deck. However, as I will be discussing in my next full article on deckbuilding for tournaments (as requested by the community) sometimes you need to disregard conventional wisdom and give yourself a chance to get lucky ~ this deck does do that, and the player was rewarded.

In the maindeck, the cards I want to focus on are Knight of Infamy ("KoI"), Hellrider, Victim of Night and Thundermaw Hellkite. KoI is going to be a recurring trend in this article, with three of the four decks having to the card - he is discussed below. Victim of Night is this decks way of dealing with three key problem cards in the format ~ Centaur Healer, Loxodon Smiter and Restoration Angel. It answers all three at instant-speed. No other spell in the format does that. As a sorcery, dreadbore comes close (and it does kill planeswalkers!); but the ability for this deck to frequently attack into Restoration Angel mana (whether through having Victim of Knight, or attacking with a KoI in play) is a big game currently.

Hellrider and Thundermaw Hellkite are both red technology, adopted by BR. Check out the manabase sacrifices he is making to get them into the deck! It was obviously worth it ~ with so few 2 and 3 drops, he can frequently drop a guildgate without disrupting his curve.

In the sideboard, we see similar themes to what we have discussed in the Dos Rakis thread; different removal, some anti-control cards and some graveyard hate. The specific choices are interesting. Appetite for Brains makes it in over the frequently much better Duress (this theme is discussed below) because this deck is not as well equipped to deal with Thragtusk as some of the others. I know it has Aristocrat and Thundermaw; but they're only good once you get the mana to cast them ~ this won't always happen on time, and both cards can be essence scattered (especially as your caverns are frequently going to name 'zombie' early). Having a cheap way to get rid of a PW or Thragtusk will buy you time to find the land for your bigger threats. On 24 land, Bonfire of the Damned might be better than Flames of the Firebrand ~ let me explain! In the maindeck, I think Flames is better ~ the 'bad searing spear' mode is very important if you're maindecking it. If it is coming in from the sideboard however, you want it to answer GW aggro or lingering souls and against these decks, a Bonfire in hand is frequently the same as a flames of the firebrand ~ dealing 1 damage to a couple of creatures, say 2, and 1 to them. Happens all the time with Flames right? How often have you used flames to remove two lingering souls tokens and dome them for 1? Well, Bonfire is going to do exactly the same thing; but the ability to miracle it and blow someone out when you naturally draw into it is very relevant. Hardcasting for x=2 or 3 is also a thing. As a sideboard card, in this metagame, it seems to be clearly superior (although definitely inferior as a maindeck card). Underworld Connections is a known commodity at this point ~ I think it is the best answer to blue control decks in the format, and because this deck does go a little bigger, I can appreciate why this is the only version running it.

I don't understand Cremate or Zealous Conscripts. If you're only going to sideboard two graveyard hate cards, is Cremate really where you want to be? I don't think so. My problem with Conscripts is that they're more 5 drops ~ are you ever going to take out Thundermaw Hellkite? Really? And if you are, in what matchup? It feels like wasted deck space.

This deck doesn't so much answer Thragtusk as it does fly over him and beat face. It has a great many creatures who are good against Ux Control and GW aggro, the two key decks in the format.

Keep in mind: Running a slightly higher curve with more high impact cards is going to greatly increase the power of your deck going long. Maindeck terrors are increasingly relevant as the format moves towards larger creatures and decks with more porous defence. Thundermaw Hellkite is a boss.



I really like this deck, even if I don't agree with the full 75 ~ it is probably closest to the deck that I would play if I was playing in a major event last weekend and I had not read this article...So, we have an 'updated' version of Joe Bernal's BR Zombies basically. Gone is the Blood Artist with minium synergy, in is the KoI who is very good at the moment (see discussion below). This is the second deck we have seen with no maindeck Pillar of Flame. Why? Because it is terrible maindeck against too many decks, and the decks where it is good you can just race anyway. This much is becoming abundantly clear to me ~ we might be sacrificing too much to get a tiny, tiny edge against other aggro decks, when we should just be focussing on having the best possible Game 1 against the other 80% of the metagame...

I like how aggressive the deck is with its creature curve, but I also like that he is running the 'correct' 23 land ~ with Sign in Blood as well! This is a man who wants to do the same thing every game! With Thragtusk control decks being less popular (Jund and Bant have fallen from 42% of the meta combined to only...get this...12% combined), Bump in the Night is a bit better again, although Reanimator is usually packing Thragtusk + Angel, but that should be a good matchup with how aggressive this deck is. I know this deck is incredibly well equipped for UW Flash, and you should just be able to race other aggro decks. Brimstone Volley might not be the best spell against some decks, but if you're mostly facing GW Aggro and UW Control, it looks pretty good, because neither deck gains a lot of life.

Turning to the sideboard, we again see Appetite for Brains ~ the deck is limited in maindeck ways to answer Thragtusk, so this hits it and a bunch of other relevant cards (notably, because it hits planswalkers, you don't need dreadbore). Murder is fine as catchall, albeit slow, removal. Rakdos Charm for the graveyard is the best possible choice. I don't really understand the full four pillar of flame, and I would be very interested to know if he liked having them. While they're good in the MonoR and BR Mirror, are they really popular enough to warrant the full 4? Perhaps more importantly, do they make enough of a difference? The hyper-aggro mirror is almost entirely about who gets their offence off first afterall.

I don't like Vampire Nighthawk in the maindeck usually, but as a sideboard card, he shines vs. GW Aggro (and to a lesser extent, other aggro mirrors), so he is a nice extra hate card to bring in. Is he better than terrors? I don't know ~ but he does answer Sigarda.

III. GP Brochum Decklists



Probably the most flashy deck here, with the full sacrifice package and an incredible 6 maindeck threatens (albeit, two are zealous conscripts); the deck couldn't care less about Thragtusk! With all the sacrifice outlets, Blood Artist makes sense, as your ability to drain someone out is greatly amplified in this shell. The inclusion of Crimson Muckwader is interesting, allowing for aggressive draws and keeping the curve low (Tomas is running a full twelve 2-drops). It is a powerful card in the BR shell (3/2 regenerator for 2 is pretty great) but it is probably overall less well positioned than Knight of Infamy (he lost to a GoST in his semi-final where his Muckwader got removed so a GoST could get through ~ this could not have happened to a KoI; thats hardly definitive, but worth noting). I like the miser's Ultimate Price as a cheeky answer to Restoration Angel (regular readers will know that I am maindecking a single thunderbolt for the same reason). Other than that, it is all the cards you would expect in the maindeck ~ but I want you to pay attention to the trend away from maindeck removal towards more creatures ~ that is, consistent sources of damage are been emphasised as a way to overcome all the lifegain in the format.

Turning to the sideboard, I don't understand Appetite for Brains. The deck already has a million answers to Thragtusk in the maindeck, as well as whatever other large creature gets in the way, and planeswalkers are simply just not good against this sort of deck (not even Jace). The full 4 Duress makes a lot more sense here as a way to combat cards like Azorius Charm, Runechanter's Pike, Sphinx's Revelation, sweepers and other removal. When you don't care about large creatures, the greater reliability of Duress (it does hit a lot more) should be preferred. Otherwise, continuing the trend we have been seeing, there is more removal, some graveyard hate and some anti-control cards ~ are we figuring out what are the key decks and how to board for them yet? Im not, but hopefully you all are.



I saved my favourite for last, even if it might not be the best of the decks. We have the full sacrifice package again, this time supported by Brimstone Volley (which we have learned is very good against the two most popular archeypes in the format). Add to that, we have the higher creature curve with Hellrider supporting Falkenrath Aristocrat, but we still have the heavy emphasis on an aggressive curve early ~ this deck just wants to keep you under pressure from now until the end of time. Unfortunately, having all those great cards means you don't have room for much else, and the sideboard is a real compromise of trying to get all the options into the 75. We correctly have Duress to answer key spells, KoI for decks where pro. white is good, Rakdos Charm for graveyards. Thunderbolt is my favourite card against Restoration Angel (because it does go upstairs afterall). I don't know what the Searing Spear is for though. If someone knows what matchup it comes in, let me know! Skirsdag High Priest is very similar to Vampire Nighthawk that we have seen in some of the other lists ~ it comes in against GW Aggro and lets you overpower them with huge fliers (that also answer Sigarda oddly enough).

IV. Key Cards and Interactions

So, lets look at some of the common themes in the above successful decks:

Mana Bases

The trend has been very clear, both in paper and online ~ play more land! Sledgehammer is taking over Magic Online (you're welcome) and these higher land-count aggro decks are doing a lot better. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, they're more reliable. They don't 'beat' themselves as often ~ see Hamfactorial's Hall-of-Fame-worthy article on number-crunching for a more complete picture. So you get to play your spells on time, which is incredibly important in such a timing sensitive game. Secondly, they get to play more powerful cards. While some of the decks were maybe a little too greedy, playing more powerful cards means that your deck retains more power going long, and your top decks are going to be stronger.

Every deck played Cavern of Souls, and while it is good in a heavy zombie tribal deck, none of these decks can really be described that way ~ while they all have a core of zombies, many of the decks have 4 or more creature types! The fixing is nice, but being able to walk past counter-spells and keep beating face is clearly at the forefront of the decision making here. Note that most of these decks run very few spells (with the one exception almost entirely running instant-speed burn or bump in the night; have fun countering that one), further reducing the impact of counter-magic. It might be worth being a little more greedy to make Cavern work in your deck.

Finally, Rakdos Guildgate is all over the place, even in the super aggressive decks. I have written at length before regarding how much I like this card (summary: it is a lot), and again, we're seeing an emphasis on being able to cast our spells over anything else ~ reliability is king, and there are always ways to play around the drawback. The 'correct' number is going to depend on a number of other deck consctruction factors, but what I want you to understand is not only are they playable, they're almost mandatory.

Run more lands. Fix your colours.

Killing Thragtusk without two spears

There is no doubt that Thragtusk is the key defining card of the format. Every successful deck is either a Thragtusk deck, or needs a way to go underneath or over the top. If you cannot do one of those three things, you're not a deck. What you don't ever want to be doing is just suciding guys into Thragtusk to try and do damage after they have already gained 5 life. Sure, it can work if you're way ahead, but typically it is a losing proposition. Pyreheart Wolf is one solution that mono-red players are using, in conjunction with 'threatens' like Mark of Mutiny and Traitorous Blood. Crippling Blight didn't work out, and for a while, with Jund and Bant everywhere, the excessive amount of lifegain in the format meant that burn was bad, so we hae to discuss some other options:

Discard
One popular option is Appetite for Brains. It is definitely a powerful effect, as the exile clause means that it has potential play against Reanimator as well. It doesn't just hit spells, it hits everything that costs 4 or more; so planeswalkers and creatures as well. How good it is will depend on how well your deck deals with those 'other' cards. If you can already deal with Thragtusk, you probably don't need this card, because it has less scope that Duress. You cannot feasibly bring it in against UW or UWr decks, because its only going to hit Restoration Angel, and they only have 4. Maybe a Rewind if you're lucky (do you even care?). Bant decks are a target rich environment however, and Reanimator can be as well (4 Angel of Serenity, 4 Restoration Angel, 4 Thragtusk, 4 Unburial Rites are all targets). On the other hand you have Duress. It won't hit Thragtusk, but it still hits any planeswalker and any spell ~ getting rid of a simple Essence Scatter or Azorius Charm can be crushing, especially if they are relying on it to stabalize early. Nabbing a Sphinx's Revelation can be back breaking. What I am saying is that you need to weigh which cards you're actually worried about; if you can already deal with Thragtusk I would learn towards Duress. I don't know how good an Appetite for Brains plan is against Reanimator (if anyone does, tell me). I do believe that discussion should be had on this topic in the near future.

Sacrifice Outlets and Threatens

Obviously the key component of two of the decks ~ it turns out that taking their Thragtusk, hitting them for 5 or 6 (plus whatever guys you have in play) then putting a free Hill Giant into play is very powerful! If you're willing to, you can add in a card like Blood Artist to really emphasise the effect, but it probably isnt necessary ~ the effect is still very powerful without going "all-in". At the same time, there is no reason that we shouldn't start looking at maindeck threatens combined with sacrifice outlets; the effect is incredibly powerful against most decks. It also isnt the sort of thing that many decks can defend against; if you tap-out for Thragtusk, you're tapped out. If I threaten your Restoration Angel, you can't blink it, so you need to have one of your two syncopate, etc. That it is often 10+ damage for three mana means it has to be in dicussion.

Morbid

A more minor theme, we nonetheless have seen the return of both Blood Artist and Brimstone Volley to winning decks, and I think the timing is perfect. Why? The top two decks by representation are GW Aggro and UW Flash, neither of which gains much life. Morbid effects do a lot of damage. If Jund and Bant aren't everywhere (which means we're back to dealing 20 damage, not 30+ to win) these spells start to look good again. Bump in the Night also (and if you have ever hit Bump off the top with 7 land in play and them at 6 or less life, it is just amazing) gets a lot better ~ especially if you can proactively deal with Thragtusk. This is a theme in Rx decks that is going to shift in value every week or so, depending on what people are playing. Thragtusk is on a decline (from 54% of the metagame a few weeks ago to 42% now) and might continue to be. There are now Reanimator decks without maindeck lifegain etc. Now might be the time for these cards to see real play.

Specialised Removal
- state of removal (mention terminus vs supreme verdict)
- 'terrors' and which to play
- burn and which to pay

We have had this talk quite a bit recently over in the BR Vampire thread ~ what removal to play? It is going to change with the metagame, so there are never any hard and fast rules. If you can already deal with Thragtusk, the key cards you need to beat are the heavy hitters from GW and Restoration Angel. We saw two approaches in the maindeck of these lists ~ either ignore them and go for the throat (sadly not Go For the Throat) or play cards specifically targeting those threats (Victim of Night, Ultimate Price, the cheeky Thunderbolts). There wasn't anything in between maindeck. You'll notice Travis Woo went with the same option ~ apparantly, nothing else matters. Either they have the big problem cards (Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Loxodon Smiter) or they don't; and if they don't they lose ~ so why worry about anything else?

I honestly haven't really played that style before (my viewers know I am about the grindiest aggro mage around) but there is a certain appeal to not wasting any cards in your maindeck ~ if they have the problem cards, your deck is designed to win through that anyway; and if they don't, your draws are so much more powerful and consistent for not having the 'weak' cards like Pillar of Flame in the maindeck.

We also saw that even if you go removal-lite maindeck, all of the decks did sideboard removal for specific matchups. It may look like you're weakening your Rx and BR Aggro matchups by not maindecking the extra removal, but how often can you just race them? We have all had games where our opponent is the one flooding the board and beating us up and we're just trying to keep our head above water ~ eventually we stabalize, but then we're frequently dying to the top of their deck ~ that is what these decks are trying to do. They're saying, hey, I don't mind if I am 50% game 1 against 15% of the metagame, I am massively favoured against everything else now! And that does sound like something we need to really think about.

Knight of Infamy

No card has increased as much in my estimation as Knight of Infamy in the last few weeks. KoI is incredibly well positioned currently, both in paper and online. Why? Protection from White is absurd. Here is a brief list of very relevant cards that KoI couldn't care less about:
- Azorius Charm
- Oblivion Ring
- Restoration Angel
- Geist of St Traft
- any white human
- Loxon Smiter and Centaur Healer
- Angel of Serenity
- Lingering Souls

Decks with these cards acount for more than 60% of the metagame, and against these decks KoI does some serious work. He will attack well, defend well. You can do some cool tricks with Ash Zealot and Falkenrath Aristocrat. This is a card whose stock has continually risen each and every week and it will continue to do so for the forseeable future (unless people stop playing Angel of Serenity, Lingering Souls, Restoration Angel, Centaur Healer and Loxodon Smiter...). KoI is definitely weaker in a lot of the other matchups, but those are decks against which a 2 power beater/blocker is either OK, or the matchup is good anyway ~ and you can always side him out. I think we're at the point where you want some number in your 75.

Sideboarding

It is probably time that we revisit the exact card choices, but we now have a pretty clear picture of the type of cards we need access to:
- discard to remove key threats early; appetite for brains, duress
- anti-GW cards; terrors, threatens, knight of infamy, whatever!
- anti-Ux cards; anything that can kill restoration angel
- graveyard hate
- extra removal for specific matchups

Which cards exactly are best can be debated, and exactly how to build the board will change with the meta, but we at least now have a clear picture of where we want to be. I guess when evaluating your 75, these are the questions you need to ask yourself:
- can you handle Thragtusk?
- can you handle Restoration Angel?
- GW Aggro?
- Reanimator?

If yes, you're well on your way to having a complete and competitive 75.

V. Potential Applications ~ New Tricks for an Old Dog

Now, I don't want to just make up decklists, but there are obviously some key themes and ideas that we could be trying out. Having a think about some of these ideas, maybe brainstorm a list and lets talk about were we can head:
- incorporating the sacrifice/threaten engine
- running hellrider in conjunction with aristocrat
- going extra heavy on the pwoer 2-drops
- going heavier on the burn component

VI. Resources

All of these decks tackled the same problem in different innovative ways ~ how to beat Thragtusk decks! One approach to building for an outcome you can take is detailed here. Michael Jacob discusses buildinga deck around a card or theme, and this ties very nicely into the BR sacrifice decks and how they are built around a few key interactions.

Speaking of Michael Jacob (which I do, all the time, because he is awesome), he has actually been playing his own version of BR Aggro on stream in the last few days, so not only can you see the deck played by a former US National Champion (with Mono Red!) but you can get some key insights into the format, some ideas for how to play aggro and some laughs. Check out these videos:

BR Aggro in a DE #1
BR Aggro in a DE #2

While I am handing out links, I get all my info from www.mtgo-stats.com

VII. Moving Forward

Expand your minds. When you look at a deck, try and examine it through this lens ~ can it answer the questions posed by the metagame? What are the plans in your 75 that will let you do so? These decklists all positioned themselves at a point in the metagame that most players had dismissed; aggro was meant to be dead with Thragtusk and Restoration Angel everywhere, but it turns out that isnt the case.

What other ideas are unexplored? What things do you want to try?

For my part, I think I am going to be trying out a whole lot of things canvassed today ~ it is all very exciting, and no doubt a lot of fun to play.

Adapt, evolve, overcome, consume.

Developments in the Standard Metagame and why Rx Aggro is here to Stay

Disclaimer: All the information contained within is either taken directly from reputable sources of information (see the sources listed at the end) or is the opinion of the author. Nothing here is a statement of fact. Take what you will from the article and feel free to discuss it, but don't expect me to engage with you on why your pet card is good.

I. A Written History of the Current Standard

Now that we’re a few months into the new standard, we can begin appreciate the journey in which we are all taking part. Right from the beginning, there was a tremendous expectation that BR Zombies would be the best deck in the early format, perhaps challenged only by Jund. Everyone and their dog knew that Huntmaster of the Fells and Thragtusk are absurdly good cards – but it seems we all forgot just how good Snapcaster Mage and Restoration Angel were – as if they could only be good in the context of supporting Delver of Secrets.

As usual, the early weeks of the format were weighted towards aggro decks of various types – different Zombie variants, Red Deck variants and a hangover from last season, GW Aggro. All were putting up good numbers. At the same time, the prophesies were true and Jund started to take out multiple top 8 spots both at SCG events and online, and has never slowed down. UWr Miracles was an early breakout deck, but has since disappeared completely – it turns out that a game plan of hoping to get lucky isn’t a winning strategy.

Out of this frustration Bant tap-out control was born, a sister deck to Jund – it also played all the best cards in three colours, focusing even more heavily on value creatures, at the expense of targeted removal. As the deck lists were fine turned, Reanimator reared its ugly head and has not stopped performing at a high level. With the three top decks in the format all seeking to play value creatures, the format was ripe to be exploited by counter-magic – the only way to maintain card parity with the value creature decks – and as such we have finally seen a rise in both control and tempo decks. It turns out you can’t keep Snapcaster Mage down for long.

Zombies have fallen out of favour, unable to overcome the tremendous amount of removal and value creatures played by Jund. Bant as well is on the steady decline – its poor matchup against the more traditional blue control and tempo decks compounding with its unsatisfactory Jund matchup. GW Aggro and Reanimator are the other pillars of the format, continuing to put up respectable numbers and keeping the others in check.

Curiously, Rx Aggro, the often lampooned archetype for weak players saw a lot of play early, but with only limited success. As is often truly the case, it was expected to once again be a flash in the pan, attempted by many but perfected by none. It saw a lot of play at the start of the season, but has seen continually smaller and smaller numbers. However, while it would be logical to expect that with fewer pilots in the field there would be a corresponding decline in results – in fact, there has been the opposite. In a metagame defined by cards birthed from a Red Mage’s nightmares – such horrors as Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Geist of St Traft and Centaur Healer – Rx Aggro has not only survived, but flourished.

This article will seek to examine exactly how that has happened, what the relevant developments have been, what potential technology is still out there, and where we should be trying to go from here.

II. Who's Playing What - What's Popular



The graph says it better than I can. These numbers are taken from the most recent week of published MTGO results and compared to the numbers from mtgo-stats.com. The number for each deck represents its corresponding share of the metagame (that is, out of any 100 decks, how many are expected to be of that archetype). You can compare these figures (from the period of 29 October to 5 November) to those of the preceding period by looking at the manadeprived.com article.

In just over a week, there have been some very interesting changes. While Zombies continue to be in a downward spiral towards non-existence, Jund, Reanimator and GW Aggro all retain roughly the same metagame share. Shockingly, Bant is fading away quickly, while Rx Aggro is continuing its slow decline (it started the season at 12% and has slowly faded to 8-9%).

The big newcomer are different blue-white decks. Between Aggro and Control variants, traditional blue decks are now a full 33% of the metagame – counterspells are back! These decks range from UWr Tempo, through to a UW-CawBlade type deck (Angels, Snapcasters, Augurs, pikes, Jace), all the way to UW, Esper and UWr Control. Players are realizing the best way to fight through the enormous value created by Thragtusk and Huntmaster of the Fells is to just counter them.

Based on these observations, we can expect the same trends to continue. The blue-white decks with counterpsells are very powerful, focussing on really strong cards that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. They will continue to be a strong choice so long as Jund remains popular. Jund, Reanimator and GW are putting up great numbers and will continue to see play. It turns out that Bant is just not that good against a lot of what others are doing and will likely fade away. Our objective is to not suffer the same fate.

III. Who Can Play - What's Doing Well

This is where things get interesting – which decks are actually winning? These numbers are all taken from the MODO daily events between 29 October and 5 November. I preference these events because while MODO does not accurately predict the paper meta, it is the gold-standard for cutting edge technology. The results on MODO are the best way to gauge which decks are the real deal. Without further ado:



As should come as a surprise to exactly nobody, Jund is the best performing deck. It is by far the most popular deck after all. GW Aggro, Reanimator and Blue deck variants all put up similar numbers of top finishes. Bant and Zombies did very little. What really stands out though, is Rx Aggro. While its numbers are only slightly better than the other decks (excluding Jund of course), this is in itself remarkable, given how hostile the format is currently (this will be discussed in Part Five below).

While we certainly cannot say that Rx Aggro is the second best deck in the format, we can at least rest easy that the deck is putting up solid numbers, despite a declining player base.

IV. Data Analysis and Interpretation

So now we know with what frequency decks are being played, as well as how many winning results they are putting up in the DEs. If all decks performed equally, their representation in the winning decks in the Des should match the proportion of the metagame that deck occupies – or should at least be very close.

Here is how it looks:



am not a statistician (I can barely count when wearing shoes) so I am not going to make any fancy claims or interpretations of the data. What I will say, is that the decks that are over-performing are the aggro decks; while the underperforming decks are the blue decks, Bant and Jund.

What you need to keep in mind is that these numbers have not been adjusted for sample size – while they do represent a week’s worth of results, they’re only a snapshot. Having a slightly positive or negative performance is probably meaningless. Having a very positive or negative performance is very relevant however – turns out Rx Aggro is doing very well (as is GW Aggro)!

What I want readers to take from this isn’t that Rx Aggro is one of the best decks in the format. It’s a fine deck. What you can take comfort in is that if you’re willing and able to put the work into your decklist (more on these later) and to develop your Red Mages skills, you can be very successful in the current standard.

V. Pillars of the Format

According to mtgo-stats.com, the most popular creatures in the format are:

~ Thragtusk 54%
~ Restoration Angel 45%
~ Centaur Healer* 31%
~ Huntmaster of the Fells 24%
~ Geist of St Traft 22%
~ Lingering Souls 19%

* = sees more play out of the sideboard than maindeck

Now, when you're doing changing your pants (because lets be honest, that list is terrifying), we need to realise that despite all those horrors, we're performing really well! Every one of those cards is excellent against R/x, and yet we still have a winning record against the field. We also now have a clearer picture of cards we need to be beating. You can't play a 75 that has no answer to each of these cards.

You now also have a filter through which to evaluate card choices and deck design. We're doing a good job at beating Thragtusk, with developments like Traitorous Blood, Nightbird's CLutches and Pyreheart Wolf (amongst others). What about Restoration Angel? It is going from largely unplayed a few weeks ago to being the 2nd most played creature - how do we answer that? Same with Geist of St Traft ~ the living saint of broken is only going to get more popular ~ Ux decks that run him are on the rise.

You can expect the numbers of Thragtusk and Huntmaster to remain pretty steady ~ the decks that run them seem to be a fairly consistent share of the metagame, and everyone is already running 4. Centaur Healer could increase in popularity in response to the success that Aggro is still having, but the impetous seems to be towards building to beat Jund ~ and Centaur Healer doesnt really help Reanimator or Bant do that ~ hence why it is now mostly a sideboard card. Still something to be aware of. Expect increases in the number of GoST, Restoration Angel and Lingering Souls as decks that run these cards are putting up good results which will see their numbers increase. We need technology for these cards. These are the cards you need to build your decks with them in mind ~ you're going to be facing them a lot.

At the same time, it needs to be kept in mind that we're in a metagame where the vast majority of decks are extremely hostile to Red Decks. We're now having to consistently deal 25-35 damage to win, instead of 20. And we're doing it. How much better can the decks that already exist get with GTC? Is Jund really going to get a better creature than Thragtusk or Huntmaster? I very much doubt it. New removal and slightly improved mana, sure, but neither of those fundamentally change the matchup. The control decks are likely to improve a bit with Dimir, but again, we're looking at new removal and better mana, probably a new and better finisher ~ but the nature of the matchup is unlikely to change. Its unlikely there will be a lot for Zombie decks, and GW Aggro will probably get something from Gruul (as will we) but not from Simic (whereas we have Boros :cool2:). The real threat is likely to come from new archetypes made possible by GTC ~ but we will have the opportunity to bolster our arsenal as well.

IV. Stacking the Odds in your Favour - Beating the Meta

So, now we know what people are playing, which decks are doing well and what the key cards are in those decks. Based on this information, we can probably have a good guess at what is going to be an increasingly big issue (coughGeistofStTraftcough).

Updated Testing Gauntlet:


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

Definitely the best Jund player online, Batutinha has been collecting a lot of pro-scalps recently (and mine sadly). What I love about this deck is how no-nonsense it is; heaps of 1-for-1 removal and 2-for-1 creatures, the clasical (and best) Jund forumla. A dozen 1-for-1 removal spells keeps him alive early, then he is hoping to grind you out late; that he has maindeck Sever the Bloodline and Dreadbore means that he is better equipped than most Jund decks to deal with the fliers plan. Bonfire of the Damned means you cannot swarm him.

It is a hard deck to beat. I believe it is the best deck in the format.

At the same time, it can be a bit threat-lite. The draws can be very awkward. It can draw the wrong removal at the wrong time. Thankfully, he doesnt really have anything in the sideboard for Rx ~ he is maindecking all of his real anti-aggro cards. This means that Game 1 can be a real battle; but it gets better post sideboard. Falkenrath Aristocrat is still a real beating, as he is live to only Sever; Thundermaw Hellkite is still a beating if he has had to use Dreadbore early, or if he has drawn a mix of Pillar/Abrupt Decay. Underworld Connections can be nightmarish for the deck if they cannot remove it early. You want a good mix of threatens and Dreadbore post board; it deals with every threat in the deck.

For the Mono R guys, Pyreheart Wolf is a big problem for this deck, as well as Thundermaw. You're going to have to take more aggressive lines, which means playing into Bonfire ~ which sucks. The more experienced Mono R guys can give better advice.

Going first twice is really a big deal in this matchup, because it helps you Game 1 (the hardest game by far); post-board the games are quite even as long as you have relevant sideboard cards.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

Probably the biggest problem we face in the current standard metagame ~ GW aggro is just hard to deal with. It is a fast deck with hard to kill threats and while it can have (and frequently does have) a lot of do-nothing draws, you should expect it to increase its representation in the metagame due to its successes (it is also reasonably affordable and very easy to play).

First thing is first ~ both of our respective decks have cards the other hates to see. We don't like Loxodon Smiter or Wolfir Silverheart; they hate Ash Zealot, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Hellrider and Thundermaw Hellkite. You will notice they have no real way to deal with these cards in the maindeck anymore ~ their answers to fliers are all post board and bringing them in means significantly diluting their threat density. For this reason, they become a lot slower in Game 2 and 3. For our part, we're mostly taking out less effective threats to bring in more efficient ones.

Dreadbore and threatens are particularly nasty. Sever the Bloodline is definitely worth a look. Pyreheart Wolf is a real issue against these decks when they try to stabalize. Flames of the Firebrand is an absolute beating. You will notice that all their lifegain is post board, so you can usually race them Game 1. Be aware that they will be sideboarding into Restoration Angel and Thragtusk after-board and plan and play accordingly. Solving this matchup will go a long way towards making Rx a Tier 1 deck.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520421

Now this is terrifying ~ we have this seasons version of broken UW Tempo (a la Cawblade or UW Delver). A strong core of creatures, supplmented by tempo cards, counterspells and removal. The first big upside however, is that the deck has virtually no lifegain. When you're used to dealing 25-30 damage every other game, dealing exactly 20 comes surprisingly easily. The most important part of this matchup is knowing roughly what the contents of their deck are (its there, above...) and then picking lines of play that either fully play around or at least minimize the impact of whatever cards they could be representing.

Knowing how to sequence plays to get past counterspells, when to bait ~ these are all ksills that you need to develop and hone to beat this sort of deck. Thankfully, once you can, the matchup is pretty routine ~ assuming you can handle the GoST. Note that this deck is very weak to Knight of Infamy; both in attack and on defence they have precious few answers, all of which are just stalling ~ if you can stick him you're typically going to be in a good position.

As discussed previously, having answers in your deck to GoST or Restoration Angel will be paramount to sucess here.

I like to bring in at least a single Grafdigger's Cage (because Snapcaster Mage is such a key card in their deck) and if they have the pikes, probably a single Rakdos Charm. Thunderbolt or Dreadbore/Ultimate Price for killing Angels is very important and be sure not to side out removal than can kill Augur of Bolas ~ he is quite the roadblock early. At the same time, you can free play out your hand Game 1 ~ they don't maindeck sweepers.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520421

A very similar deck, now splashing red. The same lessons largely apply. One thing about these decks is that they defend extremely poorly ~ if you can them to start backing up they're often in real trouble; GoST and Snapcaster are not strong in defence! Try to hold your Knights of Infamy in hand until they have spent some red removal early ~ if they don't have access to more, then the Knight can start to take over. Be sure to play around Izzet Charm with your spells when you can.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520390

Finally, a very positive matchup! This match comes down to 1 card ~ Geist of St Traft. If they can stick him and protect him, they're in with a chance. Otherwise you're very likely to just run them over. Pillar of Flame and Flames of the Firebrand and particularly dangerous, while Ash Zealot and Knight of Infamy do a lot of work early. Evasive fliers are a big source of advantage as well. You will typically want to take out some number of Rakdos Cackler and/or Stonewright; they're not that effective in defence and they have real issue with all the 2-power first strikers. Stormkirk Noble is obviously devastating on the play.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520390

A pretty standard Bant deck. Notice how light the counter-magic suite is maindeck ~ you're largely free to play threats as you need to (play around synocpate where you can). Remember that Supreme Verdict comes on Turn 4. As long as you can deal with Thragtusk (and by now you should be able to), this is a very winnable matchup. Note that they bring in Centaur Healer post-board; so have a way to answer that. Dreadbore hits pretty much every threat they have. Underworld Connections is a real problem for this deck (because it is usually a 2-for-1 against them and they don't generate much CA outside of creatures). Evasive fliers can also do some real work.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520390

A pretty standard Junk Reanimator deck that is 'all-in' in Unburial Rites Game 1. Lingering Souls can be a real problem, as can Restoration Angel, Thragtusk and Angel of Serenity. Craterhoof Behemoth can kill you out of nowhere. This deck certainly plays some strong cards! It isnt a deck you want to be in a topdeck war with either ~ it probably draws stronger than any other deck in the format.

I have found that I have the most success when I can just put a heavy clock on them ~ typically I want to go 1 drop into 2 drop then something heavy-hitting (Hellrider/Aristocrat/Thundermaw). The matchup is pretty good Game 1 if your draw can handle Lingering Souls and/or Thragtusk, unless they score an early reanimation ~ then it is just going to be a hugely uphill battle. That is the nature of reanimator.

Post-board, they're going to have a small amount of removal and some additional lifegain. This means they need to dillute the rest of their deck. I like to bring in my threatens and graveyard hate; Sever the Bloodline can be particualrly effective (destroying all spirit tokens or exiling a reanimation target). Flames of the Firebrand is great pre- and post-board, where it answers their mana-dorks, spirit tokens and Centaur Healer. Usually you will take out low impact spells like Pillar of Flame for the matchup specific cards in your board.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

The easier of the two Zombie decks, the only real issues are Lotleth Troll and Geralf's Messenger. The good news is, whatever version you're playing, you can race them. The better news is that they don't ahve much in the sideboard other than changing their removal package. The key to winning Aggro-mirrors is managing each others clock ~ this is where Rx has an advantage ~ you can more easily remove their key threats than they can yours. You can also burn them out. Pillar of Flame and Flames of the Firebrand are obviously insane, as is Hellrider. Pyreheart Wolf is very powerful if they try to stabalize. The matchup is slightly favourable Game 1 and should stay about the same Game 2.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

This is really our sister deck (we're often Rb and they're Br) and plays very similarly. You're basically playing the mirror match, which means the advantage goes to the player with better sources of 2-for-1s. If you're heavy on Flames of the Firebrand, you're probably in a good place. Same with Sever the Bloodline. Note that they cannot really deal with the raw offensive power of Hellrider and that Ash Zealot can be a real problem if they don't have removal. Sideboarding well is crucial in this matchup.

New Red Technology


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

What I love about these two decks (and why I am highlighting them) is that they have meshed together what was making proper-sligh work with what is great about Sledgehammer Red. You've got some great early pressure to get in good damage early against the other midrange and control decks, and you have the endgame to compete once they start to stabalize. The sideboard technology is pretty nice as well; Archwing Dragon to help sink mana against control (notably, most of their removal is sorcery speed); Mizzium Mortars with the big mana deals with a lot of decks and the maindeck Lightning Maulers make the plan of bringing in Pyreheart Wolf against GW and Jund much more powerful.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

Here is a Sligh version that incorporates some of the same themes. Lightning Mauler in the main to enable Pyreheart Wolf in the board; Mortars and Threatens. Two Archwing Dragons for control. In particular, I like how realistic this deck is ~ 4 Thunderbolt's is a very fair response to Restoration Angel's increasing popularity.


source: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4520474

Finally, we have a deck that is going deep. Almost certainly designed with Jund in mind (Jund is afterall, 22% of the metagame) the sideboard directly addresses each of the major decks with a sideboard playset ~ Mutiny for Jund, Reanimator and GW; Flames for Aggro and Tokens, Thunderbolt for anything with Restoration Angel and Reckless Waif for Midrange and Control. I like Waif in particular; it isnt good everywhere (and mostly only on the play anyway) but when you can bring it in it really reinforces your threat density.

These decks are all geared to beat Jund and Uxx-Whatever, which accounts for ~55% of the metagame. The sideboards reinforce these matchups and tackle GW Aggro and other Aggro decks (improving to ~85% of the metagame), mostly leaving Reanimator ~ the deck against which Rx Aggro has its best natural matchup. While this match will get closer post board, these pilots must have felt it was good enough overall because not one of them sideboarded any graveyard hate. They might be on to something.

If you go and look at the list of problem cards above, you can look through each of these decks and see answers to all of them (racing GoST or playing 2-power blockers is an answer damnit!). They're all built with the pillars of the format in mind and they are consistently overcoming the problems that these cards (and by extension, the decks that play them) create. This is why Rx Aggro is here to stay ~ this season we have the tools to compete against whatever they can throw at us. Seriously, if Jund and Bant can consistently gain 10+ life and still lose about half the time, we're probably on to something.

IIV. Updated Card Evaluations
Getting Better
- Archwing Dragon: with traditional Blue Control rising in popularity, this midgame mana-sink looks increasingly attractive. What are they going to do? Bounce him? Attacks through Restoration Angel which is a huge plus.
- Pyreheart Wolf: originally proposed by Yarpus, then heavy tested by Derek Muthart, this card is slowly gaining traction as a way to fight through Jund and GWx Aggro. While I am not convinced that it should be maindecked myself, some number could belong in at least the sideboard of any deck.
- Lightning Mauler: mostly just worth considering if you're running Pyreheart Wolf, pretty bad still otherwise.
- Flames of the Firebrand: a real breakout card at the moment. Against any aggro deck or lingering souls deck (approximately 45% of all decks) it is amazing; against the rest it is either Arc Trail or Searing Spear, and guess what, those are fine cards as well. You will want 2-4 in your 75.
- Hellrider: with Jund starting to focus on Jund and with Control becoming more popular, Hellrider looks well positioned to keep enabling turn 4 kills. Absolute mainstay of the Mono R versions, could see some play in Dos Rakis as well.
- Stromkirk Noble: with Pillar of Flame and Azorius Charm falling in popularity and UW Humans gaining popularity, the best 1 drop in the format has somehow become even better. Proper support and planning is essential for success, and don't be above siding him out in bad matchups.
- Reckless Waif: While only 1 deck that placed this week had the waif maindeck, many had her as a 3-of or full playset in the sideboard. Why? On the play against a lot of decks, she is basically additional copies of Stormkirk Noble ~ that is, as Michael Jacob has stated, "free win man".
- Grafdigger's Cage: Snapcaster Mage, Lingering Souls and Reanimator are on the rise ~ this is a Silver Bullet.
- Sever the Bloodline: Reanimator is a real deck and lingering souls are real cards. Jund plays Olivia, Zombies play heaps of little guys. Kills Restoration Angel or Entreat the Angels tokens. There isnt really a bad matchup for this card.
- Underworld Connections: not for the feint of heart (I have dealt myself 18 damage in one game with my own Connections), but if you feel like joining the Rakdos Mafia, this card is an absolute beating against any of the Control decks and Jund. If it sticks for more than a couple of turns they just cannot come back from the advantage it provides. Surprisingly good Game 1 against most aggro decks as well, although you might want to cut it post-board. Definite contender for at least a single spot in the 75 of a Dos Rakis deck.
- Ultimate Price: the key threats in the format are becoming clear and most of them a mono-colour (Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Angel of Serenity, to name a few). Instant speed terrors have always been good. Might not be as good as Dreadbore overall though.
- Thunderbolt: saved the best for last ~ one of my favourite cards from last season is finally worth maindecking again! Huge blowout potential against Restoration Angel, and at the worst, it is an extra bolt upstairs ~ isn't that what we love about Searing Spear anyway? Definitely deserves a few spots in the 75 of any MonoR deck, maybe even Dos Rakis if you're particularly worried about Angels.

Holding Value
- Pillar of Flame: still considered a Pillar of the Format, outside of other aggro decks, it probably isnt doing enough to warrant a full playset in your 75 anymore (I have mine split between main and board). You still need some to help navigate the early game against the other aggressive decks.
- Searing Spear: by holding value, I mean the only card I have never sided out in any number, ever. Sure, its a bad lightning bolt, but there is a lot of room for a card to not be broken and still be great. Searing Spear is in that space.
- Gore-House Chainwalker: an important cog in the machine against the midrange and control decks ~ he applies a very quick clock and can trade with most creatures they try to stabalize with. With lingering souls on the rise, gets a little better.
- Traitorous Blood / Mark of Mutiny: these cards are the answer to Jund and Reanimator ~ every time you draw one there is tremendous opportunity to win instantly. The only real question is whether or not to run the full 4 copies.
- Thundermaw Hellkite: as good as ever, looks even better with Jund changing their removal package and lingering souls increasing in popularity.
- Falkenrath Aristocrat: Holds because while it is good against most aggro and control and midrange decks (so, the format it is hurt by lingering souls becoming popular again. Be sure to have a way to deal with that handicap in your 75.

Getting Worse
- Brimstone Volley: still a good spell, but maybe not a great spell anymore. With the format becoming more midrange with lifegain (against which burning them out is unrealistic) and control (against which you just want repeated sources of advantage), a card this dedicated to racing becomes less exciting. Some of the placing Red Decks cut some number to make room for Thunderbolt or Flames of the Firebrand ~ either seem like a good option with the developments in the metagame.
- Rakdos Shred-Freak: probably outclassed by Lightning Mauler if you're on the Pyreheart Wolf plan. Definitely gets a lot worse with lingering souls in the format. Still playable, though maybe not as a playset (maybe in the sideboard?)
- Olivia Voldaren: while she is still nearly a free-win against some decks, she is definitely getting worse with the number of blue decks increasing. I am down to a singleton.
- Slaughter Games: UWr miracles is no longer a deck and while the card is nice against Reanimator, there are cheaper options (Grafdigger's Cage?). Since you're already in Black, you can Dreadbore Planeswalkers which means you don't lose card advantage. Right now there doesnt really feel like an incredibly pressing need for this effect (although I appreciate there is for some other decks, just not really Rx Aggro).
- Annihilating Fire: orginally only included to help shore up the Zombie matchup (remember when Zombies were ~30% of all decks?), quite redundant now because it is just bad in every other matchup.

Conclusion - Why Rx Aggro is here to stay

So, you've reached the end of my little soapbox moment, and hopefully, whether you're a Red Mage or not, you found it all to be at least relatively grounded in reality. I am not here to tell you that Rx is the best deck, or even a Tier 1 deck. What I want each and every one of you that reads this to know is that this season, if you're willing to put in the work, the rewards will come. This is one of the most 'hostile' metagames that red has ever existed in ~ you're now expected to deal 25-35 damage every game! And we can do that, with more left over if they're brave enough to try reanimating Thragtusk. How much better can the other decks get against us? They already have spot removal that kills everything in our deck. They have sweepers than 2-for-1 us. They have huge creatures that are way more powerful than anything in our deck. But we're still here and we're still winning.

I look forward to several more months of "End of turn, Searing Spear. Upstairs. Untap, tap, Searing Spear ~ upstairs. Extend hand".

And who knows, maybe in a few months I will be saying Lightning Helix? A boy has to dream.

Thank you to all the red mages who have kept me grounded, kept me entertained and contributed hundreds of hours of testing, notes and anecdotes. Everything we have accomplished from someone getting their first match win at an FNM to putting multiples players into the Top 8s at States has been the result of your collective hard work and passion. Thank you everyone.

Sources ~
www.manadeprived.com/standard-metagame
www.mtgo-stats.com
http://www.wizards.com/magic/Digital/MagicOnline.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/whatshappening

First things first,

I am now on twitch tv! Watch me stream at: www.twitchtv.com/zemanjaski

I will be uploading daily events as they get played, so feel free to drop by and join in the chat (its in the r/x aggro subforum).

The deck:



So what is this travesty to manabases everywhere?

This is my attempt at tackling the current metagame. Whaaaaaaaat? Let me explain.

Some things to consider:
- Jund Midrange and Bant Control are increasingly popular. This has had the effect of pushing Zombies out of the metagame.
- In turn, these two archetypes are now increasingly tuning themselves to beat their respective mirrors and each other ~ they have less early interction and removal.
- For some reason, GW is still a real deck online, even though it is awful.

So ~ I need to beat Jund and Bant. Post-board, I need game against GW and Reanimator.

- I need to curve out. The games you win againt Jund and Bant involve doing a lot of damage early, then using different angles of attack to finish them off once they start to stabalize. This meant playing quality cards every turn. Hellhole Flailer got in because I wanted a proper curve; I cut some 1 drops because ironically, I think having too many 1 drops is a big weakness of the BR Zombie deck ~ theyre great early, but increasingly bad as the game goes on. By having more 2 drops, I am assured of higher quality topdecks ~ both Ash Zealot and Knight of Infamy are excellent cards.

- I wanted to maximize by aggression. With Jund tuning to beat midrange and control, and Bant doing the same, I wanted to take advantage of the archeyptal space they were ignoring ~ if they're not going to worry as much about aggro, I want to be aggro! This did mean running 4 Pillar of Flame because it is just the best spell we have to remove early blockers ~ we know it isnt that good now, but sometimes you just need removal and I didnt want to be waiting to hit 3 mana for Flames of the Firebrand.

- To help make the deck a little faster, I am down to 23 land, which meant dropping to a single Zealous Conscripts ~ which hurts, because the card is ridiculous.

- The mana base is taken from Sato's RakDW deck from japan; I am a little unhappy with it, but after ~20 matches it hasnt lost me a match yet. Games? Yes I initially wanted to include some number of Guildgates, but this deck is very consistently going 1-2-3-4 and they were hurting that. They could still prove to be a necessary evil.

I have discussed the sideboard; how it was built and how I use it extensively elsewhere, so look it up

Match 1 vs Grixis Control

Game 1: On the play, mulligan: 5 land, Pillar of Flame, Falkenrath Aristocrat

I like to be aggressive in Game 1, and this hand is very slow. While Aristocrat is the best card in the deck, it is a card that is strong when you already have the opponent on the back foot ~ where you already have a board presence to buy her extra lives. I didn't have that.

Keep: Stromkirk Noble, Ash Zealot, Knight of Infamy, Mountain, Swamp, Dragonskull Summit.

My opponent keeps his 7. I lead with Mountain into Noble (an opening which still might be the best in the metagame), after which he plays a tapped Steam Vents. I play the Dragonskull Summit, then Ash Zealot and hit him to 17. Let me explain why I played the Zealot and not the Knight (breaking the 'play haste guys last' doctrine). Steam Vents very likely suggests UWr Control or Tempo. Their removal is split between white and red cards ~ the red removal is cheap, the white removal is often expensive. Knight of Infamy is pro-white ~ so if my opponent has to use his red removal early (because it is cheap) he is stuck with white removal late, which is bad against the Knight.

However, he plays a Dragonskull Summit, undoing all my clever work, and Dreadbore's my Zealot. So much for that. I play the Knight and hit him to 14. So far I have only drawn land, which is OK, but potentially problematic. He plays a tapped Blood Crypt and passes the turn. I draw another Knight of Infamy and decide to hold it ~ playing it will not change my clock. He falls to 9 after my attack, and with a 4/4 Noble and the Knight in play, I am presenting a 2-turn clock.

Snapcaster Mage for Dreadbore on the Noble comes down; but my second Knight allows the first to attack past (I feel he should have chumped), taking him to 5. Pillar of Flame into Snapcaster into Pillar wipes my board, but when Hellhole Flailer comes down the turn after, he cannot regain any initiative. Jace Memory adept appears and starts t dig for answers, but I topdeck an Ash Zealot to finish him off.



Sideboarding: -4 Pillar of Flame, -1 Brimstone Volley, +3 Dreadbore, +2 Rakdos's Return

Take out lowest impact cards for highest impact. Dreadbore answers his inevitable 'walkers or Niv-Mizzet; Rakdos's Return is just ridiculous. Traitorous Blood is a consideration, but he seems low on win-conditions ~ it is better against a Bant control deck with a lot more targets.

Game 2: On the draw, keep: Two Knight of Infamy, Falkenrath Aristocrat, two mountain, swamp, Brimstone Volley.

Not super fast, but decent early threats and a key card against this kind of deck (Aristocrat).

The first few turns are very uneventful. We each make our land drops, I get in a little bit of damage, he has some removal then taps out for a Rakdos Keyrune. Aristocrat hits him down low, and a Rolling Temblor leaves me with a 7/3 flyer...I hit him again and he shows me a hand of Pillar of Flame, some land and two Rakdos's Return ~ awkward!

1-0 (2-0, 1 win though Flailer).

Match 2 vs Bant Control splashing Red

Game 1: On the play mulligan: two brimstone volley, hellhole flailer, zealous conscripts, three land.

Borderline. The hand is OK, but very slow. With the metagame being ~45% Jund and Bant Control, I would be taking an auto-loss against these decks.

Keep: Blood Crypt, Two Rakdos Cackler, Knight of Infamy, Ash Zealot, hellhole flailer.

The classic aggro conundrum ~ can you keep the 1-lander? I say of course! Besides, how many 5 card hands are better than this? One land activates pretty much my entire holding, so I have to try.

Blood Crypt into Cackler meets a tapped Hinterland Harbour. Of course, being the lucksack that I am, I rip a Dragonskull Summit (effectively best possible) and play my Ash Zealot ~ I want as much damage as possible early before the inevitable sweeper, and the Knight is better post-sweep against his white creatures. I thought he was Bant Control, but he goes Kessig Wolf Run into Farseek, fetching Hallowed Fountain, then the next turn plays a Rootbound Crag...for my part I just play an unleashed Flailer and keep giving him the business ~ an Augur of Bolas hits Divination but then chumps; a Supreme Verdict the turn after is responded to with a Flailer sacrifice; Searing Spear when I untapped meant we were on to game 2. (That is another win due to Flailer's ability FYI).

Sideboarding: -4 Pillar of Flame, -1 Brimstone Volley; +3 Dreadbore, +2 Rakdos's Return

Game 2: On the draw, keep: two Rakdos Cackler, two mountain, one swamp, brimestone volley, searing spear.

Close to the nuts.

I play out two Cacklers, and his Augur of Bolas gets speared. Another Augur slows me down to 2 damage a turn, but I am accumulating spells to play post sweeper while he struggles with land drops. He plays double Farseek and I hit him some more; then he plays Pillar of Flame and Thragtusk. I topdeck Zealous Conscripts and kill him

2-0 (4-0, 2 wins from Flailer).

Match 3 vs Mono Red

Game 1: On the play, keep: Mountain, Pillar, Spear x 2, Cackler, Zealot, Flailer

Obviously fringe because I only have a single red source, but I don't think you can get ahead mulliganing here ~ drawing a single land means I am very close to just nutdrawing him out of the game.

Mountain into Cackler is met by Mountain into Noble...hmmmm. Pillar of Flame takes out the Noble, but I don't draw a second land (I do draw a second pillar). He doesn't have a second land either, so he plays another Noble, which also gets killed by a Pillar. I don't draw a land. He doesn't draw a land either (yeah, both of us were finalists...) and plays a Cackler. I finally hit and play my Zealot; hitting him to 8. At this point, I have lethal burn in hand, and I am at 16 life ~ he kills my Zealot, I hit him with the Cackler then am able to kill him with two Spears ~ one on his endstep, one in my upkeep.

Sideboarding: -4 Knight of Infamy, +2 Flames of the Firebrand, +2 Dreadbore

This will be controversial, but I think Knight is the worst card in this matchup. It is most often going to be a 2/1 in defence, which is comically bad against a R/x Aggro deck. It makes your more vulnerable to Flames of the Firebrand. Instead, I thought it best to just bring in effective removal and play aggro-control.

Game 2: On the draw, keep: Stromkirk Noble, Ash Zealot, Hellhole Flailer, two mountain, dragonskull summit, Dreadbore.

Plenty of early pressure if he has a slower draw. Not vulnerable to Flames of the Firebrand. Dreadbore in case he is one of those psychos with Volcanic Strength.

We each play a turn 1 Stromkirk Noble. He does have Volcanic Strength and I feel filthy.



He kills my Noble with a Pillar of Flame and plays a Shred-Freak (I fall to 15). I now have three lines of play:
1)kill his Shred-Freak with Flames of the Firebrand
2)play Hellhole Flailer
3)play Cackler and Ash Zealot

I go for 3). I don't like killing the Shred-Freak because his deck is mostly x/1s and x/2s ~ I am likely to get a 2-for-1 next turn OR need Flames to kill a Hellrider. Playing Flailer is a fine play, but weak to most of his removal ~ he could have Mortars, Spear and Volley and I am not putting any pressure on. Playing two creatures plays around his removal best ~ if he has Flames, he can only kill 1 creature.

He hits me to 13 and plays a Cackler. I attack, he spears my Zealot. I Flames away his board. He passes, I equalise at 13-each and play an unleashed Flailer with a Searing Spear in hand. At this point, not only was he down a card from being on the play, but I have had two 2-for-1s;



He passes again, I hit him to seven; sacrifice flailer, searing spear you

Finished: 3-0 (6-0, 3 wins from Flailer...)

Thoughts:
- the deck run a lot better than I thought it might. I was drawing less weak cards late than I usually did with the old Dos Rakis.
- Flailer was very impressive. Not being able to block never came up, and the fling ability was often better than drawing a card. Solid body, puts a beating on fast. I think the metagame is much more favourable for him now than it was a few weeks ago.
- As usual, the sideboard plans came together nicely ~ the deck has so many angles of attack!
- the mana was never an issue in this event. Having played some matches both before and after, it has come up, but only very rarely. Interestingly, that Cackler can be cast off a swamp has let me keep a wider range of hands than I thought that I could.

I wholeheartedly reccommend this deck to any would be Dos Rakis players.

Bonus Video Content

First thing, updated decklist:



No changes in the maindeck, but due to the popularity of Junk Reanimator online, I cut some of the extra copies of cards in the sidebord and added three Grafdigger's Cage to help shore up that matchup.

Match 1 vs BG Zombies

Unfortunately, MODO being the wonderful program that it is, none of my replays were saved, so I don't hav eanything to review

I know that in game 1 he kept a removal light hand and I was able to wall him with an Ash Zealot ~ he kept attacking into it and throwing away guys, while I used removal to keep his board under control. Eventually I was able to play a Hellrider and race him.

Game 2 he made a poor keep (Woodland Cemetery + Guildgate) and he was never really in it ~ I got two 2-for-1s via Flames of the Firebrand and he could never catch up.

1-0 (2-0)

Match 2 vs Esper Tokens

Game 1: On the play, mulligan: 4 searing spear, 2 gorehouse chainwalker, pillar of flame.

I mean, it does have plenty of action...

Keep: 3 mountain, Stonewright, Pillar of Flame, Searing Spear.

He mulligans to 4. I rip an Ash Zealot off the top and start beating down with the lovely couple ~ Stonewright makes any otherwise action light hand very dangerous. I am able to clear our a Midnight Haunting ambush and a Augur of Bolas has to step infront of the angry Zealot. Very soon he is at 5 life ~ he taps out for Lingering Souls so I just burn him out.

Sideboarding: -4 Pillar of Flame, -1 Devil's Play, +2 Grafdigger's Cage, +3 Flames of the Firebrand

Im not sure if Grafdigger's Cage is correct, but I know the Esper Tokens deck runs four Snapcasters, Forbidden Alchemy and Lingering Souls, so it seemed better than more 1-for-1 removal.

On the play, keep:



I curve out and we end up here ~



I believe they call this a close game?

2-0 (4-0)

Match 3 vs GW Humans

Game 1: On the play, keep: 3 mountain, 3 rakdos cackler, thundermaw hellkite.

I lead Cackler into double Cackler, he has a tapped shockland and no 1 drop. Selensya Charm is able to trade with one Cackler, but a Stonewright into removal means he can never stabalize and I quickly run him over.

Sideboarding: -4 Cackler, -2 Stonewright, +3 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Mizzium Mortars

Game 2: On the draw, keep: 2 hellrider, devil's play, mizzium mortars, three mountain.

He has a pretty fast opening with Champion of the Parish into Wolf Bitten Captive, but no second land. My draws are Searing Spear and Flames of the Firebrand He doesnt draw a second land until turn 5, by which time I am killing him with two Thundermaw Hellkites.

3-0 (6-0)

Sorry for the short report, but the entire Queue really was just that straight forward!

#2 8-Man Queue Report with Sledgehammer Red

Match 1 vs BR Zombies

Game 1: On the draw, keep: 2 mountain, ash zealot, 2 searing spear, 2 hellrider.

Seems pretty good against most decks, you're obviously not mulliganing a hand like this against an unknown opponent!

The first couple of turns see him attempt to nut draw me by spewing four 1 drops onto the battlefield. For the most part, I am just playing land and removal; on turn 4 I am able to play Ash Zealot (which gets searing speared) and a Chainwalker (unleashed). His board is only swamp + bloodcrypt + unleashed Cackler, so I want to start pressuring him.

He signs in blood to find removal and his 3rd, then 4th land. I just play Hellrider into Hellrider. He draws four straight removal spells then a Falkenrath Aristocrat, and we're on to game 2. Oh, then he complains about how he has trouble making 4 mana in his 21 land deck...

Sideboard: -4 Stonewright, -3 Devil's Play, +4 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Annihilating Fire

Stonewright comes out to reduce my vulnerability to his Flames of the Firebrand; otherwise I am sideboarding into a control deck.

Game 2: On the play, keep: 4 mountain, Chainwalker, Ash Zealot, Thundermaw Hellkite.

Not as agrgessive or well-rounded as I would like, but sometimes you have to keep looser hands. He does me a favour by going to 5 looking for land, complaining the whole time.

Going into turn 4, I have done a little bit of damage with my two creatures, but he has two 1 drops of his own, never missed a land drop and had two removal spells. Must be nice. I am able to wipe his 1 drops in response to an Aristocrat on the stack, before untapping and playing Hellkite to get a free-kill; he has to sign for blood in desperation on his turn and is able to find his 3rd pillar to kill the Ash Zealot, but two more hits from the Hellkite ends him.

Sideboarding: none.

Game 3: On the draw, mulligan: 6 mountain + searing spear. Yeah, right!

Keep: Mountain, two Cackler, 2 Searing Spear, Chainwalker.

Ugly, only 1 land, what can you do?

He has two 1 drops; I have Cackler into Chainwalker, who then trades for his Diregraf Ghoul. Geralf's Messenger makes his first appearance in the series, while I stall on two land and a board of Rakdos Cacklers



I was pretty sure I wasn't winning. He attacked me to 9, played a land and passed (3 cards in hand). I drew a land and played it for my turn, then attacked him to 10. He elected to only attack with his Cackler, which I searing speared. This is a difficult decision tree ~ killing the Cackler now though means I take the same damage from Brimstone Volley either way (3 + 2 from cackler; 5 morbid). If he doesn't have it, it means I can race the messenger if I draw another land. Thankfully, for once, he doesn't have it, so I untap and draw a land (better lucky than good right?!). I decide not to Hellrider him though, attacking him to 6 and putting a counter on his messenger ~ I know he doesnt have brimstone volley, I have a spear for the messenger, and at 9 life, he now needs exactly Aristocrat + Searing Spear to win. Messenger + Spear for my Hellrider are not enough as I get him for exactsies.

1-0 (2-1)

Match 2 vs Travis Woo RDW

Someone had copied Travis Woo's RDW list, although I didnt realise it until Game 2.

Game 1: On the play, keep: 2 mountain, crucible, 2 stonewright, hellrider, devil's play.

His draw is a little more aggressive, but I am able to get some beats in with the Stonewrights, while killing his turn 1 Noble with my Devil's Play. He has a pillar of flame for 1 Stonewright, then an Ash Zealot, and I am in trouble. I Hellrider him to 10, but he has 5 power in play and more cards in hand. Searing Spear for my Hellrider and another Chainwalker leave me at 10 life, facing down a vastly overhwhelming board position. Pillar of Flame accounts for the Zealot, and a turn later the Devil's Play flashes back to kill a Chainwalker. A Stonewright of his own forces mine to chump, so we end up here:



Fortuntely, he proceeds to draw some 1 drops that cannot get past the Zealot, while I draw a land and a Dragon, which then has to chump his all-in attack the next turn Hellion Crucible quickly becomes a threat however, giving him a single turn to draw a Brimstone Volley. It doens't happen.

Sideboarding: -4 Rakdos Cackler, -2 Stonewright, +4 Flames of the Firebrand, +2 Mizzium Mortars

Taking out the defensively porous cards, replacing them with good removal.

Game 2: On the draw, keep: Stonewright, Flames of the Firebrand, Searing Spear, two mountain, crucible, Mizzium Mortars

He has Cackler into Volcanic Strength. My Stonewright into Mizzium Mortars blows him out. He complains. His draw was otherwise pretty slow, and I had removal for his Ash Zealot then Stromkirk Noble, all the while building up my Hellion Crucible. We end up here going into Turn 7:



He opts to attack, so I just untap and kill him.

2-0 (4-1)

Match 3 vs 4 Colour Reanimator

Game 1: On the play, keep this


Fast forward to turn 3 ~ he is at 10. My board is Cackler, two Zealot and 3 land. He has three land and two lingering souls tokens. In his graveyard are two Angel of Serenity. I pair a Stoneweight with the Cackler to attack him to 6. He draws for his turn and scoops (reanimating an angel dies to Ash Zealot triggers).

Sideboarding: -4 Pillar of Flame, -2 Devil's Play, +3 Traitorous Blood, +3 Flames of the Firebrand

Game 2: On the draw, keep: 4 mountain, hellrion crucible, cackler, zealot.

Not exciting at all, but it has a lot of early pressure that can get me a long way towards victory.

I get in for a little damage because he kills my Cackler then has two Centaur Healer and a Thragtusk. It looks bad, but a few turns later, we get to swing the Sledgehammer...



3-0 (6-1)

Up about ~70 tickets this week.

#1 Daily Event Report

Decklist:


A pet deck I have been working on for a few days now. Notes on the selections are available in the primer.

Round 1 - Jund Zombies

Strategy: 1-for-1 them early, try to create a race with an advantage. Be willing to lose card advantage to buy time (and life) so that you can go over the top.

Game 1: On the draw, keep: Mountain, Hellion Crucible, Stonewright, Gore-House Chainwalker, Hellrider, Thundermaw Hellkite.

Against an unknown opponent, the hand is keepable. I love that it curves aggressively. I don't like that it is completely uninteractive ~ with no removal the hand is pretty soft to UW Aggro or Zombies, but amazing against Jund or UWx Control.

His first two turns only involve a Diregraf Ghoul. I draw a mountain and then another Cackler, giving me a real choice on Turn 2 ~ Cackler + Stonewright or Chainwalker? They represent the same amount of damage, but playing 2x 1drop is more resilient to removal, so I went with that option.

He clearly had kept a slow hand, playing a topdecked Cackler without unleash, then trading one of my cacklers for his ghoul. I believe that at this point I made a small mistake by not attacking with my Stonewright ~ doing so would have let me push some more damage through (by firebreathing whichever soulbond creature was not blocked). As it was, he played a dragonskull summit and killed my freshly played chainwalker and stonewright with a flames of the firebrand. Damn.

Thankfully, I untapped and played Hellrider (playing 25 land helps you get there), hitting him for a bunch and putting me way ahead in the race against whatever he could likely be holding. Another flames of the firebrand killed my Hellrider (must be nice to have perfect mana and draw all the flames in your Jund deck). However, Thundermaw Hellkite hit him once and he didn't draw for the turn before succeeding ~ this let me know he didnt have an answer maindeck, outside of a potentially morbid brimstone volley.

Sideboarding:

-4 Stonewright, -3 Devil's Play, +4 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Annihilating Fire

Game 2: On the draw, keep: 2 Mountain, Searing Spear, 2 Ash Zealot, Chainwalker, Thundermaw Hellkite

Two Ash Zealot is extremely solid defensively. I have Searing Spear for his 1 drop to slow him down and I have an endgame, just need to get there!

Turns out he had it all. Triple 1 drop backed up by three removal spells (Pillar of Flame, Dreadbore, Flames of the Firebrand), Rancor and Geralf's Messenger kill me before I can concoct a defence. Not much else to say, I just died. Must be nice.

Game 3: On the play, keep 2 Mountain, Hellrider, Cackler, Pillar of Flame, Searing Spear, Flames of the Firebrand.

Not the most aggressive hand, but it is highly suggestive of playing aggro-control.

I draw into another cackler. He has turn 2 abrupt decay, then perfect mana (for the 3rd game straight) on turn 3. I pillar his Gravecrawler, Spear his Mangler. He abrupt decays 1 Cackler. Messenger meets another Pillar of Flame and I am just miles ahead in the race, with Searing Spear, Hellrider and Flames of the Firebrand still in hand ~ he is at 10. I play Hellrider, he has Brimstone Volley (seriously, this guy...), go to 8.

He plays Falkenrath Aristocrat to hit me to 12. I hit him and burn him out. My opponent very courteously told me that 'Im certain your playing 20 land with 4 Hellrider and 4 Hellkite' and that 'if he had drawn his three thragtusk he would have won' ~ because if you're going to draw really well in all three games, why not go all the way?

1-0 (2-1)

Round 2 - BG Zombies

Strategy: Same as above. They have less reach and more trouble dealing with your heavy hitters because of their removal suite. You can play at a slower pace as a result.

Game 1: At this point, I have to admit I don't watch replays between rounds so I had no idea what my opponent was playing. On the draw, keep: 3 Mountain, 2 Rakdos Cackler, Hellrider, Thundermaw Hellkite.

His first two lands are Golgari Guildgate and Woodland Cemetery (why didnt you mulligan?!) and he is on the backfoot immediately. I get through a lot of early damage, then he stabalizes the board with Dreg Mangler, Knight of Infamy and Gravecrawler vs Rakdos Cackler, Stonewright and Gore-House Chainwalker (Hellrider and Hellkite in hand). Stonewright lets me push damage through and trade down, clearing the way for Hellrider.

Then this happens:


Turns out that Hellrider is kind of good against a deck that doesn't block much.

Sideboarding: -4 Rakdos Cackler, -3 Devil's Play, +4 Flames of the Firebrand, +3 Annihilating Fire

Game 2: On the draw, keep: Pillar of Flame, Flames of the Firebrand, Chainwalker, four land. Ugggh...probably should have mulliganed.

Basically, his draw is double gravecrawler, dreathrite shaman, double lotleth troll on three land. I draw up to 9 land, as well as another Chainwalker and an Annihilating Flame. Doesn't end well.

Game 2: On the play, keep: 2 Mountain, Hellion Crucible, Chainwalker, 2 Ash Zealot, Thundermaw Hellkite. Kind of a good hand...

My Chainwalker trades for a Diregraf Ghoul. The 1st Ash Zealot gets hit by Dead Weight. He rancor's up a Diregraf Ghoul, which I annihilating fire. We both play a lot of guys and the board starts to stall ~ exactly the position I had designed the deck for. We end up in this board state (image taken at my attack step):



He loses.

2-0 (4-2)

Round 3 - BR Zombies

Strategy: See the above two matchups. They have tremendous reach, so you want to always trade early and use removal early ~ keeping at 10+ life can be very important because they can just get you.

Game 1: On the play, keep: three mountain, Hellrider, Devil's Play, two searing spear.

Not an amazing hand, but you have to keep hands like this. It is interactive enough to give you game against most decks. Definitely not good, but a forced keep.

I trade removal against his creature heavy hand, stalling at three land ~ but this means I am drawing spells to keep me alive. Eventually, I have killed everything, and the board state is:



So, I find myself in a race. Can I do 20 damage before he can deal the remaining 5? Two Hellrider is a good start. I put him to 16. He draws a land, spears me to 2. I play a second hellrider, putting him to him to 6. He draws a diregraf ghoul. Get there!

Sideboarding: -4 Stonewright, -3 Devil's Play, -4 Rakdos Cackler, +4 Flames of the Firebrand, +4 Mizzium Mortars, +3 Annihilating Fire

Stonewright went to make me as resilient to Flames of the Firebrand as possible. Mortars was to try something new.

Game 2: On the draw, keep: 2 mountain, chainwalker, searing spear, two mizzium mortars :rolleyes:, hellrider.

I draw two more Mizzium Mortars. He has two grave crawlers, three blood artist and two messenger. I think I die and he is at ~20 life. Ugggghhh

Sideboard: -4 mizzium mortars, +4 rakdos cackler

For pressure.

On the play, keep: Cackler, two mountain, hellion crucible, two flames of the firebrand, pillar of flame.

He stalls on two land and my flames of the firebrand wipes his board twice, while all the while my Cackler is nudging him for 2 each turn. His third land is a guildgate, I am able to improve my board with another Cackler and start adding pressure counters to the Crucible.

We end up here (my 1st mainphase, have played a land already):



Pillar of Flames your Messenger. Play Ash Zealot. Crack Hellion Crucible for Hellion hulk-smash. You're at 3. There are upsides to playing a big mana deck.

3-0 (6-3)

Round 4 - Jund

Strategy: Get him to ~10 with little guys, then kill him with burn, hellrider triggers and dragons. Evaluate every attack with The Philosophy of Fire in mind ~ you can throw away a card if it is generating 3+ damage. You're aiming to have them dead to any topdeck while you're at a high life total, so that you have as many drawsteps as possible to hit your outs.

Game 1: On the draw, keep: two mountain, two rakdos cackler, stonewright, devil's play, thundermaw hellkite.

Again, against an unknown opponent, this is a pretty aggressive hand. Easy keep.

He plays some taplands, I build a board presence. He plays some removal, I do some damage. The Huntmaster of the Fells comes down and we have to make our first decision.



Searing Spear on the Huntmaster itself is obvious. What is more difficult is whether or not to attack into the wolf and 2-for-1 myself. I have not done as much damage as I need to; for the dragon to work I need him ~10 life. I felt at the time (and still feel now) that waiting is the incorrect line. He blocks the paired cackler (not the stronewright) which is an error (though not a big one because he dosn't know about the second stonewright).

Olivia Voldaren comes down, but a timely Hellion Crucible off the top lets me devil's play her (that spell is REALLY good). I hit him to 10. Stage 1 of the plan is complete ~ he plays Garruk, Primal Hunter and makes a token. I play my second Stonewright and elect to against give up a card for damage (to him). There are two factors in play:
1) I have drawn three Stonewright. 1 is very good, but every stonewright after the first is a 1/1 for R. Not good.
2) Garruk using his -3 to draw three can help him find cards like Huntmaster and Thragtusk. Keeping him from this line is greatly to my advantage ~ if I can just draw a land I probably have him.

He plays a land, makes a token and plays a Rakdos Keyrune, preventing any progress on the ground. I draw my 4th Stonewright. He gets to -3 garruk, finds some removal to kill some of my guys and plays Thragtusk.

Enter the 5th land.



Hellkite you. Pair with Stonewright. Attack. Go to 8. He draws for the turn, tells me I am really lucky with my top decks (turn 9 5th land, so lucky!) and concedes.

Sideboarding: -4 Rakdos Cackler, -2 Pillar of Flame, +4 Traitorous Blood, +2 Mizzium Mortars

Take out some ineffectual 1 drops (especially on the draw), bring in some higher impact cards.

Game 2: On the draw, mulligan: mountain, stonewright, chainwalker, hellrier x 2, thundermaw hellkite.

Obviously if I 4 lands I am probably winning, but if I don't draw three in a row I am just dead.

Keep: 4 mountain, searing spear, Hellrider.

Yeah, not winning this game.

His draw is turn 2 farseek, turn 3 huntmaster, turn 4 thragtusk, turn 5 olivia with mana up.

Sideboarding: -2 Searing Spear, -2 Pillar of Flame, +4 Rakdos Cackler

I want a more aggro heavy draw.

On the play keep:


You know, the reason to play RDW

Me: Mountain, Rakdos Cackler, Unleash.
Him: Woodland Cemetery, tapped.

Me: Hit you to 18. Mountain, Chainwalker, unleash.
Him: Dragonskull Summit, tapped.

Me: Mountain, Ash Zealot, hit you to 11.
Him: Farseek fetching Overgrown Tomb, Blood Crypt, tapped.

Me: Hellion Crucible, hit you to 4.
Him: Forest, Thragtusk, go to 9.

Me: Traitorous Blood
Him: Accusations of luck based play and poor deck design.

4-0 (8-4).



Finished 1st (out of 78).

Thoughts on the deck to come ~ I havent lost a match yet (improving now to 14-0 for matches and 28-6 for games), so I need to play some more and get a better handle on the deck.

It is tremendous fun to play though.

Thanks for reading!