Rigging Runner is better than Gorger in some spots. In the previous list, I would cast Bomat Courier T1 even with Gorger in hand, so timing is no different. Basically Runner is bad exactly on Turn 1 when you have no other early plays. Most other times getting it to a 2/2 is not hard.
You missed what is arguably the best 3 drop for red in the format and it has been winning me games since June and he is Lathnu Hellion. Respek!
Lol. I've added it to the other/sideboard section. I try to keep the list limited to cards that have seen play in successful decks, but I do remember random Hellions showing up in the previous format.
I think you want to reverse the numbers on Soul-Scar Mage and Rigging Runner. The runner is just so bad if it's your only one drop.
I've been testing with both for a bit on MTGO and I actually sort of think Rigging Runner is stronger overall than Mage. The latter comes in handy in the mirror, but otherwise is pretty anemic as a threat.
I enjoy building Red decks in each Standard with a deck restriction of No Rares or Mythics. It's a nice change up to the good stuff decks, and has the added bonus of being quite budget friendly.
In Ixalan Standard there are a lot of decent 1-drops that fit this criteria. In fact, 2 of them have Menace which makes Consuming Fervor an attractive card to play with. With the extra low creature lineup that is hard to block, Fervor can give the deck an explosive start in the first couple of turns. Cartouche and Ahn-Crop keep the pressure on while the opponent scrambles for blockers. Bloodrage Brawler rounds out the lineup. It makes the cut because is a cheap hard hitter and the discard plays well with Flameblade. The rest of the deck is Burn spells.
The sideboard includes some extra haste creatures for control decks. Filigree Familiar for the aggro mirrors. Abrade for some utility. A couple extra Hungry Flames for against other creature decks. Destructive Tampering and Blazing Volley for against decks that flood the board with blockers. Other options are Hijack and Chandra's Defeat.
Overview
The deck plays as a low to the ground aggressive Red aggro deck. It focuses on taking advantage of the tempo of Earthshaker Khenra and Ahn-Crop Crasher to make it difficult for the opponent to block while it punches through with damage early in the game. It finishes the game with the reach from Burn, Ramunap Ruins, and Hazoret.
Courier is an interesting option. While it does not hit very hard, it comes out early and if your opponent does not respect a T1 Bomat, then you can setup a pretty good hand to draw into later in the game when you are starting to gas out. Generally at worst it can be cycled for a card.
A solid option in the 1-drop slot if you are running enough spells to trigger it's prowess. The extra ability is excellent paired with instant speed burn spells. For example, if an opponent blocks your Mage with a 4/4, you could Shock the blocker before damage to reduce it to a 2/2. Then due to prowess, your now 2/3 Mage will kill the blocker without dying himself. Mage is strong in the Mirror as it can help deal with opposing Hazorets.
The new 1-drop with 2-power. Unfortunately, its 2-power is conditional and means that it likely won't be attacking until turn 3. You will want to be playing this in a deck that is playing at least 10 total 1-drops to make sure that this is a 2/2 early and often.
A strong aggressive creature in a deck that can consistently enable it. This card requires about 10-14 early game artifacts to turn on reliably. It likely plays the best in a deck splashing black, as that opens up some of the best artifact and spell options.
2-Drops
Hasty threat with a moderate size body. It's main draw is its enter the battlefield trigger, which paired with other Panic effects in the deck, make this deck hard to stablize against early in the game. It's Eternalize ability also gives the deck a little bit more staying power in a longer drawn out game.
Solid 2-drop which attacks for an evasive 3 damage owing to the token and her own Menace. She also survives Shocks and Magma Sprays. Her main draw back is being legendary status and otherwise not dealing much damage herself if they have a blocker that can handle the token.
This card is the reason to run the black splash. At a base level, its an aggressive 2-drop. Later in the game it is a difficult to deal with recursive threat. Excellent in a meta where you are expecting control decks or otherwise longer removal heavy matchups.
Conversely, this card would seem to be the main reason to run a White Splash. The front side doesn't do a whole lot, but flipping is easy. It is the back side which we want. It replaces the now banned Ramunap Ruins as a difficult to interact with damage source in the late game. It has further utility as conditional removal against creatures. Soul-Scar Mage is an interesting way to get a bit more value from the initial front side trigger. It is worth considering as part of the line-up if you run Path.
3-Drops
Goblin Heelcutter 2.0, this card can be very annoying for midrange decks that prefer to cast one large body brick wall to stablize. This is another essential piece of the deck, as the strategy requires a critical mass of the Panic effect.
Strong Red creature that saw a lot of play in Kaladesh standard alongside vehicles. It is still very good on it's own, especially in a deck looking to keep a decent artifact count. It's also a strong sideboard option for the mirror, providing multiple blockers that will often trade for something.
4-Drops
A hard hitting, hard to kill, hasty threat for the top end of the curve. It's discard ability gives the deck a certain amount of inevitability. With Hazoret in the deck, it is important to keep the curve of the deck low so that you can clear out your hand quickly and allow Hazoret to attack quickly as possible. It is also reasonable to consider going to 23-24 lands in order to cast her on curve.
Very versatile threat that can serve as removal, ramp, card draw, and direct damage. I think this card excels in the removal heavy matchups, where the planeswalker type might be harder for them to deal with once it is resolved.
5-Drops
A very strong top end. This is often going to be in the sideboard for when the deck decides to go a bit bigger. This dragon is strong enough for the mainboard. Just make sure to be running enough lands main or side to bring your count up to around 24-25 so that you can cast it on time.
Spells
At instant speed and 1 mana, the only thing to complain about is that it isn't Lightning Bolt. Shock is a solid burn spell that is efficient and can hit the player if needed.
It deals 3, costs 2, and is instant speed. Most importantly it hits the opponent. Efficient Burn is great in this deck, as the game plan often revolves around dealing early damage and then using the reach of Burn and Ramunap ruins to get the last points of damage in. This is a core staple of the deck.
Versatile removal that can kill Vehicles along with some of the larger artifact creatures like the Gearhulks. In a vacuum, the deck would prefer to play regular burn spells, to give it reach, but Abrade in certain metas will outperform those cards in its versatility.
If you can get your black source count to around 12-13 and your artifact count up around the same, this card becomes one of the best possible spells you could run, providing unconditional removal and reach at instant speed.
Lands
BANNED Ruins gives the deck a little added reach in the late game at very little cost. It makes flooding almost impossible, as each late game land draw potentially becomes extra points of damage. As a result it makes running 23-24 land main viable, allowing the deck to play out its curve more consistently.
On its own it does somewhat little, though every damage matters. When paired with Ramunap Ruins it becomes excellent. Ruins allows you to sacrifice any Desert, so you can choose Sunscorched Desert first before deciding to bin the Ruins itself.
Usually this is just another desert to bring the count up in the deck and get sacrificed to Ramunap Ruins. Utility land against decks that rely on graveyards.
Other/Sideboard
Chandra's Defeat - Hate card for the mirror. The main target for this spell is Glorybringer, that likely comes in after board.
Rampaging Ferocidon - BANNED Anti-lifegain sideboard tech which could be relevant against certain decks that plan on fighting you post-board with lifegain. Main boardable if you are expecting a lot of Approach of the Second Sun decks.
Aethersphere Harvester - An excellent sideboard option for the mirror match, allowing you to both block just about anything from the opposing Red deck, and gain a significant amount of life in the process.
Vance's Blasting Cannons - Outpost Siege 2.0. This will operate a bit like Chandra in terms of card advantage, except it is much more durable. Its Legendary Status is a drawback, though you can potentially flip the first before you cast the second. The flip is optional, allowing you to keep the second one on board indefinitely. Best against control matchups.
Sweltering Suns - Normally you would not expect for a Red aggro deck to pack sweepers in its sideboard. However, with access to cards like Chandra, Vance, and Glorybringer post-board, it is sometimes correct to go big against decks that are hoping to clog up the board and overwhelm you.
Harsh Mentor - A card that can be very good against decks like Temur Energy that are apt to activate abilities often. It also hits decks heavy on vehicles, artifacts, or lands with activated abilities as well.
Sand Strangler - A good option against other aggressive decks. Very tempo positive, as you get a body while removing one of theirs. Just be mindful of the curve when siding this in. Furthermore, you will want at least 10 Deserts in the deck to reliably enable its trigger.
Kari Zev's Expertise - Fits in well with the Panic plan, allowing you to both remove a blocker and get an extra attacker for the turn. Best against decks running large beefy creatures.
Magma Spray - While this does not hit players, it does have the relevant exiling text and is instant speed. If you expect a lot mirrors or Scrounger matchups, this could be a better option than Shock.
Release the Gremlins - A great alternative artifact hate card to Abrade, which gives you a body or two to attack with afterwards. Don't be hesitant to cast this for 3 mana, as that alone is good value.
Lathnu Hellion - An aggressive 3-drop that has seen some sparse play as a means to put on extra pressure. While it is better in a deck that can keep it around longer, it is solid on its own. However, it fights with a lot of other quality options in its slot, and is unlikely to supplant Crasher.
Repeating Barrage - Somewhat slow and inefficient at first, but excellent in the late game where it provides a constant source of Burn as long as you have something to attack with. It performs best in long grindy matchups and against counter spell decks, allowing you to do something without necessarily risking a spell.
Yeah, essentially above is why it could be good. I initially was a bit dismissive of Khenra's greaveyard activation because it was 6 mana, but in these high land count aggro decks, it's actually quite common to use.
@PapaThor: RB seems very interesting. That list in specific just seems to be lacking 2-3 more artifacts to keep that critical mass enabling Apprentice and Disintegration. Hence why it might be important to run something like Heart. Otherwise solid. My hesitancy with going with the splash is losing Ramunap Ruins.
@JonInWherever: Your main looks pretty good to me. I'd just want an extra land or two in the sideboard for when you are loading up on the 4 and 5 drops.
That was my initial assessment too. I figured I'd give it a try, because at the moment Soul-Scar doesn't attack for more than 1 in most spots anyway. Apprentice would be ideal if we could build the deck to enable it consistently without making the manabase terrible.
Run into a ton of UBx Scarab God decks. 1 Bant control with a ton of lifegain. An Abzan midrange. Not as much mirror for whatever reason. I haven kept close track of all the matches, but I believe I'm about 60% winrate in random matches in Tournament Practice.
It's a bit weaker without Gorger to provide better early pressure. The deck doesn't feel like it's dominating games like I've felt with some decks in the past, but it somehow comes up with wins in games where I feel like I'm losing.
Soul-Scar has been pretty meh, but I haven had mirror matches where it would shine. I am tempted to try to get Inventor's Apprentice to work with a extra light splash for Scrounger only, but it seems ambitious to try to make it all work consistently.
I plan on shifting to a list trying Rigging Runner and Repeating Barrage main, with Vance's Blasting Cannons in the side once the cards are available online and not too bad on cost.
I didn't notice it before, but I also question only running only 1 Ramunap Ruins.
Regarding land count and curve, I tend to trust the successful builds and the statistics on that myself. But if it's working for you, then eh.
Though that being said, there is no reason to fear flood with the deck. I've been playing a more stock curve with 24 lands main and it's funny how often I want to draw the 5th and 6th land. With Khenra, Glorybringer, and Ruins, there is a lot to do in the late game with the extra mana.
I think a build that runs Inventors Apprentice would likely want to be running Scrapheap Scrounger in addition to Bomat Courier. Quite possibly Heart of Kiran as well. Something along the lines of below:
Lightning Strike replaces Incendiary Flow. That's the easy one.
Soul-Scar carries the weight for the missing 1-drops. This also pushes the deck in the direction of a 12-14 spell count. Luckily, Mage plays pretty well with the additional instant speed Burn that we have with Strike.
Repeating Barrage replaces Collective Defiance. Keeps the Burn count high and adds additional inevitability.
Vance's Blasting Cannons take over for Chandra 3 and 4 in the side as extra sources of card advantage post board. Drawing them is more useful when we already have Chandra, and they are harder to remove.
Lol. I've added it to the other/sideboard section. I try to keep the list limited to cards that have seen play in successful decks, but I do remember random Hellions showing up in the previous format.
I've been testing with both for a bit on MTGO and I actually sort of think Rigging Runner is stronger overall than Mage. The latter comes in handy in the mirror, but otherwise is pretty anemic as a threat.
4 Fire Shrine Keeper
4 Flameblade Adept
4 Rigging Runner
4 Bloodrage Brawler
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
Spells:18
4 Cartouche of Zeal
4 Consuming Fervor
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
2 Hungry Flames
4 Desert of the Fervent
10 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
4 Sunscorched Desert
4 Brazen Scourge
4 Filigree Familiar
1 Blazing Volley
3 Abrade
1 Destructive Tampering
2 Hungry Flames
In Ixalan Standard there are a lot of decent 1-drops that fit this criteria. In fact, 2 of them have Menace which makes Consuming Fervor an attractive card to play with. With the extra low creature lineup that is hard to block, Fervor can give the deck an explosive start in the first couple of turns. Cartouche and Ahn-Crop keep the pressure on while the opponent scrambles for blockers. Bloodrage Brawler rounds out the lineup. It makes the cut because is a cheap hard hitter and the discard plays well with Flameblade. The rest of the deck is Burn spells.
The sideboard includes some extra haste creatures for control decks. Filigree Familiar for the aggro mirrors. Abrade for some utility. A couple extra Hungry Flames for against other creature decks. Destructive Tampering and Blazing Volley for against decks that flood the board with blockers. Other options are Hijack and Chandra's Defeat.
@JonInWherever: Your main looks pretty good to me. I'd just want an extra land or two in the sideboard for when you are loading up on the 4 and 5 drops.
4 Bomat Courier
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3 Hazoret, the Fervent
Planeswalker
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Abrade
Lands (24)
15 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
4 Sunscorched Desert
1 Scavenger Grounds
2 Chandra's Defeat
3 Sweltering Suns
3 Glorybringer
2 Sand Strangler
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Release the Gremlins
1 Scavenger Grounds
Run into a ton of UBx Scarab God decks. 1 Bant control with a ton of lifegain. An Abzan midrange. Not as much mirror for whatever reason. I haven kept close track of all the matches, but I believe I'm about 60% winrate in random matches in Tournament Practice.
It's a bit weaker without Gorger to provide better early pressure. The deck doesn't feel like it's dominating games like I've felt with some decks in the past, but it somehow comes up with wins in games where I feel like I'm losing.
Soul-Scar has been pretty meh, but I haven had mirror matches where it would shine. I am tempted to try to get Inventor's Apprentice to work with a extra light splash for Scrounger only, but it seems ambitious to try to make it all work consistently.
I plan on shifting to a list trying Rigging Runner and Repeating Barrage main, with Vance's Blasting Cannons in the side once the cards are available online and not too bad on cost.
Regarding land count and curve, I tend to trust the successful builds and the statistics on that myself. But if it's working for you, then eh.
Though that being said, there is no reason to fear flood with the deck. I've been playing a more stock curve with 24 lands main and it's funny how often I want to draw the 5th and 6th land. With Khenra, Glorybringer, and Ruins, there is a lot to do in the late game with the extra mana.
4 Inventor's Apprentice
4 Bomat Courier
2 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Pia Nalaar
4 Weldfast Engineer
4 Heart of Kiran
Planeswalkers
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Spells
2 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Repeating Barrage
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Spire of Industry
3 Aether Hub
2 Swamp
9 Mountain
Key to the City is also an interesting option that can stand on its own as a 1 or 2-of in a list.
We lose Thraben Inspector and Gideon. Losing Gideon hurts the deck a ton on the late game, but the rest of the aggressive side of deck remains.
4 Inventor's Apprentice
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Veteran Motorist
1 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
3 Pia Nalaar
Spells:17
3 Fatal Push
2 Abrade
4 Heart of Kiran
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Aether Hub
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Plains
4 Spire of Industry
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Chandra's Defeat
2 Magma Spray
2 Release the Gremlins
2 Cultivator's Caravan
4 Metallic Rebuke
2 Fumigate
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
Inventor's Apprentice could fill the 1-drop slot. Chandra does alright as a planeswalker replacement as well.
Not sure what we could use from the new set.
4 Bomat Courier
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
3 Hazoret the Fervent
Spells:14
4 Shock
2 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
2 Repeating Barrage
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
14 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
2 Scavenger Grounds
4 Sunscorched Desert
4 Glorybringer
2 Abrade
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Sweltering Suns
3 Vance's Blasting Cannons
Edit: A card.