Agree 100%. Only reason i wrote it up in developing is per forum rules any primers must start in developing then be moved. It is a tier 1 legacy deck further emphasized by the fact that it just took down yhe MTGO legacy challange on Sunday. Writing stuff lile this really isnt my thing anf I didn't feel like I did a fantastic job but someone needed to do it to get the ball rolling....
Welcome to Mono Red Prison. Mono Red Prison is not a new deck or concept, but it is now positioned quite well in the legacy format. The basic premise of the deck is to punish you're opponent for playing a greedy mana base, playing cost efficient or free spells, and gaining board state advantage through soul land acceleration. Your game plan with Red Prison is usually very linear and strait forward. Using soul lands, moxen, and spirit guides,you want jamb 1 or 2 back breaking lock pieces on your first turn or 2 then follow it up with a threat that generates fast closing speed. Depending on the match up, the deck can quite easily change gears and get down an ensnaring bridge and win out behind that.
Mono Red prison is a unique deck in the fact that depending on your opening hand and your opponent you can take 2 very different lines of play. Your primary game plan, especially in the blind, is to look for an opening hand that will generate a T1 Moon effect, followed up with further lock pieces the following turns. Thus creating a narrow path for your opponent operate with in and hopefully locking them out of the game all together. What makes Red Prison Unique is that it is a control deck that can operate on a totally different axis and play a hard core aggro game plan. If you know your opponent is on a control or combo game plan, it's totally reasonable to keep and play an opening 7 that results in Turn 1 2 and 3 threats that will generate mountains of pressure and close the game out quickly.
What Red Prison requires to pilot more than anything is a knowledge of the format. In all likelihood the deck will pilot itself. What it needs from you is an understanding of what lock pieces are pertinent and the sequence with which to play them. If you have the requisite knowledge of the meta, and an understanding of what lock pieces are required to cripple a deck, Red Prison will give you the tools with which to do it.
As you may have noticed from the various deck lists about, the card selection has very little variance. The deck runs a very tight list of required cards to make it function. There is room for meta choices, but even in the board, there isn't much room. Here we will go over the cards and their value.
Prison Pieces Blood Moon / Magus of the moon: Moon effects are your go to T1 lock piece in the blind. The vast majority of the format operates on a greedy and or fragile mana base. Pushing a turn 1 moon effect against many decks is GG. Even if it isn't the end of the game, it is often enough to buy you several turns with which to push a win further out of reach of your opponent or give you the time to drop a threat and push damage.
chalice of the void: Chalice of the void is often on par with blood moon as far as back breaking. Spells with a CMC of 1 and 2 make up a staggering portion of the meta game. Red Prison is very capable of putting down turns one and two chalices that shut your opponent off from playing those spells. Thus our deck is designed to function off of three and four CMC spells to be able to go over the top of our own chalice.
Ensnaring Bridge / Trinisphere: These are our back up and situational lock pieces. unlike chalice and moon effects, these lock pieces aren't game breakers, but in the right circumstance, they can be. These lock pieces are often more designed around buying you turns and or creating some breathing room for you to execute your game plans.
Threats Goblin Rabblemaster / Legion Warboss These cards are very similar in effect. Often, on their own, these creatures aren't enough to blow a game out. But when behind multiple prison pieces protecting them, these creatures can generate significant pressure and close the game out quickly.
Chandra, Tourch of defiance: this is one of your most powerful cards in the deck. it can give you the versatility to dig through your top deck and find more lock pieces and threats. It can give you removal for pesky creatures your opponent managed to resolve under or around your lock pieces. It can also end games behind your bridge and other pieces by send damage upstairs in 2 or 5 at a time.
Hazoret the fervent / Pia and kiran nalaar: these are your situational and versatility creatures. hazoret can hit the board and smash face for 5 at a time, or he can sit behind a bridge and go upstairs. Pia is a nice mix of removal, damage, and bodies. when you are in a long game match, Pia is a fantastic piece to have hit the board. When you are trying to close a game with maximum velocity, hazoret brings the pain.
Fiery confluence: This is probably the best card in the deck. Once you have a game plan in action, this card can be used to clear the board of creatures, remove problematic artifacts, or just sending 6 upstairs. more often than not, you'll find yourself praying for a confluence off the top to end the game.
Lands and Mana Sources city of traitors / Ancient Tomb: The soul lands are critical to our game plan. They will help generate you critical mana turn 1, but at a very real cost.
chrome moxlotus petalsimian spirit guide: as above, these cards are critical to generating 3 mana on turn 1, but at a very real cost in the form of card disadvantage. provided you enact your prison pieces, this disadvantage becomes less of an issue. if your lock pieces get stuffed, then it can become a very real problem.
Sideboard
Faerie Macabre: this is a very critical board card. When dealing with decks that use a graveyard game plan, like dredge, reanimator, or loam, to name a few, you need to have an answer to rebut those strategies. The primary problem is the vast majority of available graveyard hate is affected by your own chalice or trinisphere. That's where Faerie Macabre comes into play, it gives you tools against graveyard decks that lets you go around you prison pieces.
ensnaring bridge / Trinisphere: For the decks that these cards do provide value against, like Reanimator, Storm, OmniTell etc, you will want to have access to more copies of them to go in the main. Also you will have matches where moon effects have little value due to your opponents use of basics. So having prison pieces with low value is better than having pieces with no value.
Sulfur ElementalKozilek's Return: UW Miracles and DnT are very bad matches for you. These cards provide you a very real answer to those problems. Sulfur Elemental wipes out half the creatures that DnT plays, dropping a second wipes out all their creatures. Also against UW, this card provides you an uncounterable threat and one that hampers Monestary Mentor, which is their primary win condition. Kozileks return provides another sweeper that isn't as valuable in those particular matches, but has more wide ranged application to other decks in the format like maverick or goblins.
Other Viable Cards
Hanweir garrisonWalking ballistachandra pyromaster: These are cards that have seen play in the main deck to some effect and 5-0 finishes in MTGO Comp Leagues. They provide some different lines for closing games out and applying pressure.
Karn, scion of Uza: this card is starting to see more play in the main deck as a split with chandra. it can be used to generate great card advantage to help you dig once you have your prison game enacted.
IV: Position in the format
What Red Prison is Strong Against
RUG
Storm
Goblins
Lands Merfolk
Punishing Jund
Eldrazi
Infect
Death's Shadow
Turbo Derpths
What Red Prison is Fair Against
Reanimator
Burn
Maverick
Dredge
Esper Stoneblade
Painters servant
What are Bad Matches for Red Prison
Sneak Show
Death and Taxes
UW Control
So I had played blue tron when I 1st got into modern, which was when the decks best days seemed to be behind it. That being said i loved the deck and saw an awful lot of value in it. The format has such a weakness for chalice its hard not to love this deck. I've bounced around a bit playing storm, Phoenix, amulet, ponza etc, and was thinking about going back to blue tron and see how it fares. IIRC here was a list I was running before or at least close to it.
I know I have a couple head scratchers in here but it seemed decent last time i ran it. The biggest thing was the spell pierce. My original take on the deck was not enough happening on T1. It allowed too many fast decks to get under you. 3 SP in the main gave you some action for T1 besides ExMap. In a T3 or T4 format. Doing nothing for a turn just wasnt acceptable. I'm glad I saw someone else talk about the filagree familiar. My meta has a lot of burn and that card is just a winner in that match. I also didn't like the talismans, the solemn, or snap caster. Those cards feel very slow and mana intensive on turns we need to be very proactive.
I would love some input on my build as pertains to the current meta.
So I'm currently on storm and I'm having real contemplation about audibling to this for SCG Worcester this weekend. If I do, how would RW work. It allows us to get stony silence, RIP, And white leylin in the board and could change Abrade to O-ring as a catch all and wrath instead of anger.
Mana base of something like
4 aerid mesa
4 sacred foundry
2 rugged prairie
3 gemstone caverns
5 plains
2 mountains
This could get you the mana you need and play around your own bloodmoons.
I might rock this at my LGS tomorrow to give it a test. If you look at the T16 of SCG Columbus and GP Oakland, how does this deck not steam roll all of that field
That's what ive been running lately. Over the last few months ive been tinkering with numbers and experimenting with different cards. This has proven to be my most optimal build. Im still toying with the idea of trimming a Empty for an ignite memories and possibly cutting a dismember for en engineered explosives or anger of the gods. But this list represents the best results ive yielded can did make T4 at a 1k.
I think both storm and titan are really good choices in the meta right now. I would like try titan myself but don't have the time to devout to it. You may have some level of initial discouragement with the deck as the decks you have been playing are probably the hardest matches for storm so things might seem sub par but really it is a very good deck and super cheap to build.
The thing i would caution new players to storm about is the reps. If you run it at your LGS, be mentally ready to get hosed for a while. It takes a lot of reps with the deck to be really proficient. Part of the issue is the mistakes you might make aren't always glaring. When you brick a game on a really obvious play with most decks, you learn from it easily and make the correct play in the future. With storm the mistakes you make might be as innocuious as I took a ritual and not a Manamorphos off my T1 slieght of hand or something else innocuous like that. It's a mistake that doesn't jump out at you as costing the game. Then after you've had a 100 reps with the deck you see it and can say oh well that cost me the 2 spells and 1 extra blue mana I needed to get to lethal. Ive been on storm for 3 or 4 months now and trying to jamb at least 10+ tournament games a week and I'm now to the point i feel like any match can be won with it. And the matches I do lose, I'm usually so very close to the win its painful.
I definetly had a point of critical discouragement and moved off the deck for a week, then went back to it and felt much much better about it. Ive got 1 more run with it this week to prep for SCG Open Worcester.
The reason why we play reef over tarn is we are playing a fetchless game as part of the strategy. Most gifts decks usually have 12 cards MD that let you scry cards to the bottom. The cards you scry to the bottom are going to be all cards not furthering the line your current hand is working, so we don't want them this turn, and most likely dont want them in the following turns. So if our deck runs no fetches, once we scry them to the bottom, they are essentially gone for good. That is until you cast a gifts and reshuffle, but at that point, you should have a deterministic win on board. The slight mana thinning of the fetches doesnt out weigh the value of keeping all the sub par draws on bottom.
As for Pyromancer, it's a non starter right now. Last pro tour season, most of the people on storm were running this to help further the game plan against highly interactive decks. That isn't the meta right now. Right now there is so much dredge, amulet titan, KCI, Phoenix etc. All decks that G1 don't interact with you. When G1 they have little to no interaction you should be trying to jamb a T2 bear and T3 swing for the fences. Pyro is more of a long game storm play. Jund, Abzan, Azorious Control, Jeski type decks that pyro is good against are all trending down in the meta right now.
For anyone not following it, with out a doubt Caleb is the best storm player going with the most competitive build for the meta. https://adventuringgear.wordpress.com
The only difference in my build from his is MD -1 opt +1 Noxious Revival, SB -2 Bolts +2 Thing in the ice
The format right now is really heavy on G1 lets race. Storm has the potential to be the fastest in that vein but if your on storm you better jamb hundreds of games with it before taking it anywhere major and you better be ready for a long day because although you are competetive in every game, you will work hard for it.
Well I played the posted version of my deck. Only difference was I took out one kessig wolf run and added a 3rd glorybringer. Went 3-0 at FNM
G1 vs Runaway Red 2-1: G1 he just gassed and beat me as I top deckrd 5 strait land. Boarded really heavy into this match. G2 and G3 went exactly the same T2 trinisphere T3 LD T4 Baloth scoop
G2 VS Mardu 2-1: G1 he had enough discard to throw me off and blood Moon rotted in my hand. Just as above G2 and G3 were T2 trini T3 LD and the games were over at that point.
G3 VS Elves 2-1: G1 he went bananas with elves and killed me pretty promptly. G2 he played out into a anger of the gods and he died to double tireless tracker. G3 was T2 Trinispere then 3 strait LD sp3lls. After that a a glorybringer went to work and finisbed him off
Honestly I can't imagine changing anything right now. The trininsphere was big big money every match and the blood Moon was worthless all night. Makes me wonder if they should be flip flopped. Ill play this at a 1k tomorrow and see how it rolls.
So I was on this deck a while ago and thought I'd take it for a spin at FNM tonight. I've made a few variations to the deck to play it a little more like a hatebears deck tuned to the current meta. Here is what I sleeved up.
I know theres a pretty big divergence from the standard build. Lightning bolts came out in favor of flame slash because of the rise in thing in the ice and the increaded prevalence of spirits. In too many matches the bolt just iant doing enough dmg. Which is also why I upped the shandra found and switched from inferno titan to glorybringer. It hurts to move the Scooze to the MD, but with dredge on the rise post creeping chill, and arclight Phoenix being everywhere, you need to have something MD to deal with it. Not to mention the value it has against a host of other decks. As im sure has been stated the BBE had to go, it has too many feels bad cascades in the current build. My biggest concern is the same concern I jad playimg this deck before and that's lack of closing speed and the ability to finish the game. Id really lile to be able to free another spot or maybe 2 for threats but I'm not sure what I'd cut to get there. I could maybe trim 1 molten rain but that's about it.
The SB mostly speaks for it self. I opt for 4 baloth. I just like the card a lot and think it's value is understated. Trinisphere count is a ticl higher, again because of arclight Phoenix decks. The only thing i am contemplation changing is not going with relic and opting for grafdiggers cage instead.
I also had a notion of going to a suite of more plainswalkes and running ensnaring bridge im the SB but that might be too jank.
Well the deck actually played surprisingly well. Went 3-1 with it and it did pretty much what i expected. In the end i trimmed to 3 bedlam revelers and bumped back up to 18 lands.
G1 vs Tron 2-0: Game 1 went bananas and dropped an empty for 14 goblins T2, G2 boarded out revelers and boarded in swiftspear. T1 dropped a SS, T2 a 2nd SS and a cantrip. T3 cantrip chained and swing lethal.
G2 vs GDS 2-1: G1 he had the answers. Had a fatal push for my T2 crackling drake, stubborn denial for my T3 thing in the ice, then i spun my wheels digging and dying.
G2 i boarded out the revelers and in the bloodmoon. Caught him with a T2 Moon and after a surgical on trash in my yard for some info he scooped. G3 he saw i wasnt on arclight so i knew he would board out his GY hate so the moons came back out and the revelers came back in, you arent gonna catch GDS with blood Moon twice so I didn't want the dead cards. Super grindy game, he had a lot of answers but in the end he died to a reveler.
G3 vs spirits 0-2: not too much to say, in typical spirits fashion he had lords quellers and Thalia a plenty and i got wrecked.
G4 vs mill 2-0: this was a surprising deck to see that late but it was basically an auto win. Crackling drake vs mill is a 1 shot and i had the gas to drop one T2 G1 and T3 G2
Not sure ill play this variation again, probably after SCG Worcester ill put some actual time into UR Phoenix. This brew was fun but was a lot of stuff where ill catch some one with their pants down for a week but after that, prob not
So all the ideas I mentioned yesterday felt like trash when gold fishing them last night so im not even going to put more effort into those notions. But in my testing and brewing I did come up with some ideas im going to test. Currently I'm not wild about the feeling of the deck. I mean the results speak for themselves, the current itterations of izzet or mono red Phoenix are good decks. The mono R version feels nice because it just brings heat, flat out. The izzet version is clearly more versatile but with all that cantrip, sometimes it just feels like a lot of durdling. It did give me some ideas for a brew I'm going to run thats more of a mashup of storm and izzet spells. Here's what im going to jamb tonight at my local LGS
4 thing in the ice
3 crackling drake
4 bedlam reveler
So I am getting ready to put this together. Ive been on UR storm for the last few months but the meta has shifted in a way that storm is now T2 with the volume of GY hate and resurgence of mid range post assassins trophy. I am heading to an SCG open in 2 weeks and changing decks that close doesnt excite me, but the change from UR gifts to UR Phoenix seems like a nice sidestep of playing a similar shell to what im used to but getting back into T1.
With that in mind I figured I would solicite some advice about things ive seen or wondered about. Here are some cards i was hoping for some insight on how they work in this archetype
Remand- ive seen a couple lists running this and it intrigues me. I love the versatility of it but does it take the deck too far from aggro to mid? Where the deck run 3-5 counter in the SB, maybe its a viable 3 of MD freeing up some SB space.
Stony silence- I've seen a few lists running UWR for stony in the board. I hate to dive into 3 colors as it tends to be a lot of pain and if I was to go 3C grixis seems to have better synergy but stony just beats some T1 decks when it hits.
Snapcaster mage- seems self explanatory. Blue Moon always seems turn this card into a beast and this shell does have some similarities. Could this be interchangeable with swiftspear depending on your meta? It certainly seems to help the deck against its bad matches and 70% of the deck can be accessible off the trigger
Pieces of the puzzle- strictly a SB move. But just like UR gifts, Decks packing thoughtseize and iok are brutal. This card for mid game to net us some advantage and possibly bin some birds seems like a play that could be reasonable
Lastly, not to get too crazy but as i mentioned, a grixis splash for cards like gurmag angler has some appeal. Is that just a bonkers notion or is there some value to it.
Thanks in advance, I cant wait to take this deck for a spin
So ive been toying around with a lot of different builds. I do modern at my LGS 2 or 3 times a week. My local meta has a loy of jund, humans, spirits, burn. All very bad matches. Last week i toyed around with having 3 MD empty the Warren. It paid big dividends. I beat humans twice with a T2 for 14 goblins. I'm gonna test it more to see if its an outlier but empty has been very very solid
Welcome to Mono Red Prison. Mono Red Prison is not a new deck or concept, but it is now positioned quite well in the legacy format. The basic premise of the deck is to punish you're opponent for playing a greedy mana base, playing cost efficient or free spells, and gaining board state advantage through soul land acceleration. Your game plan with Red Prison is usually very linear and strait forward. Using soul lands, moxen, and spirit guides,you want jamb 1 or 2 back breaking lock pieces on your first turn or 2 then follow it up with a threat that generates fast closing speed. Depending on the match up, the deck can quite easily change gears and get down an ensnaring bridge and win out behind that.
Mono Red prison is a unique deck in the fact that depending on your opening hand and your opponent you can take 2 very different lines of play. Your primary game plan, especially in the blind, is to look for an opening hand that will generate a T1 Moon effect, followed up with further lock pieces the following turns. Thus creating a narrow path for your opponent operate with in and hopefully locking them out of the game all together. What makes Red Prison Unique is that it is a control deck that can operate on a totally different axis and play a hard core aggro game plan. If you know your opponent is on a control or combo game plan, it's totally reasonable to keep and play an opening 7 that results in Turn 1 2 and 3 threats that will generate mountains of pressure and close the game out quickly.
What Red Prison requires to pilot more than anything is a knowledge of the format. In all likelihood the deck will pilot itself. What it needs from you is an understanding of what lock pieces are pertinent and the sequence with which to play them. If you have the requisite knowledge of the meta, and an understanding of what lock pieces are required to cripple a deck, Red Prison will give you the tools with which to do it.
II: Deck Lists
Top 16 SCG Worcester Classic By JORDAN GOODWIN
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Legion Warboss
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Lotus Petal
2 Trinisphere
4 Fiery Confluence
Enchantment
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
9 Mountain
3 Boil
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Faerie Macabre
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Trinisphere
Top 4 SCG Columbus Classic By ALEX HON
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Legion Warboss
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Trinisphere
4 Fiery Confluence
Enchantment
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
11 Mountain
2 Abrade
4 Faerie Macabre
2 Kozilek's Return
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Sulfur Elemental
2nd GP Shizouka By HIROYUKI KAGA
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Legion Warboss
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Trinisphere
4 Fiery Confluence
Enchantment
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
5 Mountain
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Abrade
4 Faerie Macabre
2 Kozilek's Return
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Sulfur Elemental
III: Card Choices
As you may have noticed from the various deck lists about, the card selection has very little variance. The deck runs a very tight list of required cards to make it function. There is room for meta choices, but even in the board, there isn't much room. Here we will go over the cards and their value.
Prison Pieces
Blood Moon / Magus of the moon: Moon effects are your go to T1 lock piece in the blind. The vast majority of the format operates on a greedy and or fragile mana base. Pushing a turn 1 moon effect against many decks is GG. Even if it isn't the end of the game, it is often enough to buy you several turns with which to push a win further out of reach of your opponent or give you the time to drop a threat and push damage.
chalice of the void: Chalice of the void is often on par with blood moon as far as back breaking. Spells with a CMC of 1 and 2 make up a staggering portion of the meta game. Red Prison is very capable of putting down turns one and two chalices that shut your opponent off from playing those spells. Thus our deck is designed to function off of three and four CMC spells to be able to go over the top of our own chalice.
Ensnaring Bridge / Trinisphere: These are our back up and situational lock pieces. unlike chalice and moon effects, these lock pieces aren't game breakers, but in the right circumstance, they can be. These lock pieces are often more designed around buying you turns and or creating some breathing room for you to execute your game plans.
Threats
Goblin Rabblemaster / Legion Warboss These cards are very similar in effect. Often, on their own, these creatures aren't enough to blow a game out. But when behind multiple prison pieces protecting them, these creatures can generate significant pressure and close the game out quickly.
Chandra, Tourch of defiance: this is one of your most powerful cards in the deck. it can give you the versatility to dig through your top deck and find more lock pieces and threats. It can give you removal for pesky creatures your opponent managed to resolve under or around your lock pieces. It can also end games behind your bridge and other pieces by send damage upstairs in 2 or 5 at a time.
Hazoret the fervent / Pia and kiran nalaar: these are your situational and versatility creatures. hazoret can hit the board and smash face for 5 at a time, or he can sit behind a bridge and go upstairs. Pia is a nice mix of removal, damage, and bodies. when you are in a long game match, Pia is a fantastic piece to have hit the board. When you are trying to close a game with maximum velocity, hazoret brings the pain.
Fiery confluence: This is probably the best card in the deck. Once you have a game plan in action, this card can be used to clear the board of creatures, remove problematic artifacts, or just sending 6 upstairs. more often than not, you'll find yourself praying for a confluence off the top to end the game.
Lands and Mana Sources
city of traitors / Ancient Tomb: The soul lands are critical to our game plan. They will help generate you critical mana turn 1, but at a very real cost.
chrome mox lotus petal simian spirit guide: as above, these cards are critical to generating 3 mana on turn 1, but at a very real cost in the form of card disadvantage. provided you enact your prison pieces, this disadvantage becomes less of an issue. if your lock pieces get stuffed, then it can become a very real problem.
Sideboard
Faerie Macabre: this is a very critical board card. When dealing with decks that use a graveyard game plan, like dredge, reanimator, or loam, to name a few, you need to have an answer to rebut those strategies. The primary problem is the vast majority of available graveyard hate is affected by your own chalice or trinisphere. That's where Faerie Macabre comes into play, it gives you tools against graveyard decks that lets you go around you prison pieces.
ensnaring bridge / Trinisphere: For the decks that these cards do provide value against, like Reanimator, Storm, OmniTell etc, you will want to have access to more copies of them to go in the main. Also you will have matches where moon effects have little value due to your opponents use of basics. So having prison pieces with low value is better than having pieces with no value.
Sulfur Elemental Kozilek's Return: UW Miracles and DnT are very bad matches for you. These cards provide you a very real answer to those problems. Sulfur Elemental wipes out half the creatures that DnT plays, dropping a second wipes out all their creatures. Also against UW, this card provides you an uncounterable threat and one that hampers Monestary Mentor, which is their primary win condition. Kozileks return provides another sweeper that isn't as valuable in those particular matches, but has more wide ranged application to other decks in the format like maverick or goblins.
Other Viable Cards
Hanweir garrison Walking ballista chandra pyromaster: These are cards that have seen play in the main deck to some effect and 5-0 finishes in MTGO Comp Leagues. They provide some different lines for closing games out and applying pressure.
Sorcerous Spyglass Scab-Clan Berserker abrade Thought-knot seer Torpor orb: these are meta choices for your board that have seen play and shown success.
Karn, scion of Uza: this card is starting to see more play in the main deck as a split with chandra. it can be used to generate great card advantage to help you dig once you have your prison game enacted.
IV: Position in the format
What Red Prison is Strong Against
RUG
Storm
Goblins
Lands Merfolk
Punishing Jund
Eldrazi
Infect
Death's Shadow
Turbo Derpths
What Red Prison is Fair Against
Reanimator
Burn
Maverick
Dredge
Esper Stoneblade
Painters servant
What are Bad Matches for Red Prison
Sneak Show
Death and Taxes
UW Control
V: Resources
Mono Red Prison Discord: https://discord.gg/VSP3JHw
Channel Fireball Video : https://youtu.be/-lQzpyAD_KY
Pleasant Kenobi Video: https://youtu.be/PJyQFCYwk_E
Gabriel Nassif League Match: https://youtu.be/w6lRVlJlDVc
3 remand
3 repeal
3 spell pierce
4 condeacend
2 gifts ungiven
1 cyclonic rift
4 thirst for knowledge
Artifacts
4 expedition map
2 wurmcoil engine
2 walking ballista
1 mindslaver
1 crucible of worlds
1 oblivion stone
3 chalice of the void
2 Ugin, the spirit dragon
Lands
12 Urza land
7 island
3 ghost quarter
1 burried ruin
1 academy ruins
1 crucible of worlds
1 walking ballista
1 wurmcoil engine
4 filigree familiar
1 chalice of the void
3 surgical extraction
3 displacement wave
1 sphinx of the final word
I know I have a couple head scratchers in here but it seemed decent last time i ran it. The biggest thing was the spell pierce. My original take on the deck was not enough happening on T1. It allowed too many fast decks to get under you. 3 SP in the main gave you some action for T1 besides ExMap. In a T3 or T4 format. Doing nothing for a turn just wasnt acceptable. I'm glad I saw someone else talk about the filagree familiar. My meta has a lot of burn and that card is just a winner in that match. I also didn't like the talismans, the solemn, or snap caster. Those cards feel very slow and mana intensive on turns we need to be very proactive.
I would love some input on my build as pertains to the current meta.
Mana base of something like
4 aerid mesa
4 sacred foundry
2 rugged prairie
3 gemstone caverns
5 plains
2 mountains
This could get you the mana you need and play around your own bloodmoons.
I might rock this at my LGS tomorrow to give it a test. If you look at the T16 of SCG Columbus and GP Oakland, how does this deck not steam roll all of that field
4 Baral, chief of compliance
2 Goblin electromancer
Spells
4 desperate ritual
4 pyretic ritual
4 Manamorphos
4 serum visions
4 sleight of hand
3 opt
1 Noxious revival
2 past in flames
4 gifts ungiven
2 grape shot
1 empty the Warrensburg
1 repeal
1 unsubstantiate
2 remand
4 steam vents
4 shivan reef
4 spirebluff canal
4 island
1 mountain
2 thing in the ice
2 negate
2 empty the warrens
2 Abrade
1 wipe away
1 echoing truth
3 pieces of the puzzle
1 dismember
1 flameslash
That's what ive been running lately. Over the last few months ive been tinkering with numbers and experimenting with different cards. This has proven to be my most optimal build. Im still toying with the idea of trimming a Empty for an ignite memories and possibly cutting a dismember for en engineered explosives or anger of the gods. But this list represents the best results ive yielded can did make T4 at a 1k.
NP
I think both storm and titan are really good choices in the meta right now. I would like try titan myself but don't have the time to devout to it. You may have some level of initial discouragement with the deck as the decks you have been playing are probably the hardest matches for storm so things might seem sub par but really it is a very good deck and super cheap to build.
The thing i would caution new players to storm about is the reps. If you run it at your LGS, be mentally ready to get hosed for a while. It takes a lot of reps with the deck to be really proficient. Part of the issue is the mistakes you might make aren't always glaring. When you brick a game on a really obvious play with most decks, you learn from it easily and make the correct play in the future. With storm the mistakes you make might be as innocuious as I took a ritual and not a Manamorphos off my T1 slieght of hand or something else innocuous like that. It's a mistake that doesn't jump out at you as costing the game. Then after you've had a 100 reps with the deck you see it and can say oh well that cost me the 2 spells and 1 extra blue mana I needed to get to lethal. Ive been on storm for 3 or 4 months now and trying to jamb at least 10+ tournament games a week and I'm now to the point i feel like any match can be won with it. And the matches I do lose, I'm usually so very close to the win its painful.
I definetly had a point of critical discouragement and moved off the deck for a week, then went back to it and felt much much better about it. Ive got 1 more run with it this week to prep for SCG Open Worcester.
As for Pyromancer, it's a non starter right now. Last pro tour season, most of the people on storm were running this to help further the game plan against highly interactive decks. That isn't the meta right now. Right now there is so much dredge, amulet titan, KCI, Phoenix etc. All decks that G1 don't interact with you. When G1 they have little to no interaction you should be trying to jamb a T2 bear and T3 swing for the fences. Pyro is more of a long game storm play. Jund, Abzan, Azorious Control, Jeski type decks that pyro is good against are all trending down in the meta right now.
For anyone not following it, with out a doubt Caleb is the best storm player going with the most competitive build for the meta.
https://adventuringgear.wordpress.com
The only difference in my build from his is MD -1 opt +1 Noxious Revival, SB -2 Bolts +2 Thing in the ice
The format right now is really heavy on G1 lets race. Storm has the potential to be the fastest in that vein but if your on storm you better jamb hundreds of games with it before taking it anywhere major and you better be ready for a long day because although you are competetive in every game, you will work hard for it.
Anyone who hasn't read it, Ross Miriam article on cantrip game is relevant
http://www.starcitygames.com/articles/38048_Your-Cantrip-Play-Is-Losing-Games-Heres-How-To-Do-It-Right.html
G1 vs Runaway Red 2-1: G1 he just gassed and beat me as I top deckrd 5 strait land. Boarded really heavy into this match. G2 and G3 went exactly the same T2 trinisphere T3 LD T4 Baloth scoop
G2 VS Mardu 2-1: G1 he had enough discard to throw me off and blood Moon rotted in my hand. Just as above G2 and G3 were T2 trini T3 LD and the games were over at that point.
G3 VS Elves 2-1: G1 he went bananas with elves and killed me pretty promptly. G2 he played out into a anger of the gods and he died to double tireless tracker. G3 was T2 Trinispere then 3 strait LD sp3lls. After that a a glorybringer went to work and finisbed him off
Honestly I can't imagine changing anything right now. The trininsphere was big big money every match and the blood Moon was worthless all night. Makes me wonder if they should be flip flopped. Ill play this at a 1k tomorrow and see how it rolls.
4 arbor elf
2 birds of paradise
4 tireless tracker
3 scavenging ooze
2 glorybringer
Sorcery
4 stone rain
4 molten rain
4 flameslash
4 blood Moon
4 utopia sprawl
Plainswalkes
3 Chandra, torch of defiance
Lands
8 forest
1 mountain
4 windswept heath
4 wooded foothills
2 kessig wolf run
3 stomping grounds
3 Abrade
4 obstinant baloth
2 relic of progenitus
3 trinisphere
2 anger of the gods
1 Flex Spot
I know theres a pretty big divergence from the standard build. Lightning bolts came out in favor of flame slash because of the rise in thing in the ice and the increaded prevalence of spirits. In too many matches the bolt just iant doing enough dmg. Which is also why I upped the shandra found and switched from inferno titan to glorybringer. It hurts to move the Scooze to the MD, but with dredge on the rise post creeping chill, and arclight Phoenix being everywhere, you need to have something MD to deal with it. Not to mention the value it has against a host of other decks. As im sure has been stated the BBE had to go, it has too many feels bad cascades in the current build. My biggest concern is the same concern I jad playimg this deck before and that's lack of closing speed and the ability to finish the game. Id really lile to be able to free another spot or maybe 2 for threats but I'm not sure what I'd cut to get there. I could maybe trim 1 molten rain but that's about it.
The SB mostly speaks for it self. I opt for 4 baloth. I just like the card a lot and think it's value is understated. Trinisphere count is a ticl higher, again because of arclight Phoenix decks. The only thing i am contemplation changing is not going with relic and opting for grafdiggers cage instead.
I also had a notion of going to a suite of more plainswalkes and running ensnaring bridge im the SB but that might be too jank.
G1 vs Tron 2-0: Game 1 went bananas and dropped an empty for 14 goblins T2, G2 boarded out revelers and boarded in swiftspear. T1 dropped a SS, T2 a 2nd SS and a cantrip. T3 cantrip chained and swing lethal.
G2 vs GDS 2-1: G1 he had the answers. Had a fatal push for my T2 crackling drake, stubborn denial for my T3 thing in the ice, then i spun my wheels digging and dying.
G2 i boarded out the revelers and in the bloodmoon. Caught him with a T2 Moon and after a surgical on trash in my yard for some info he scooped. G3 he saw i wasnt on arclight so i knew he would board out his GY hate so the moons came back out and the revelers came back in, you arent gonna catch GDS with blood Moon twice so I didn't want the dead cards. Super grindy game, he had a lot of answers but in the end he died to a reveler.
G3 vs spirits 0-2: not too much to say, in typical spirits fashion he had lords quellers and Thalia a plenty and i got wrecked.
G4 vs mill 2-0: this was a surprising deck to see that late but it was basically an auto win. Crackling drake vs mill is a 1 shot and i had the gas to drop one T2 G1 and T3 G2
Not sure ill play this variation again, probably after SCG Worcester ill put some actual time into UR Phoenix. This brew was fun but was a lot of stuff where ill catch some one with their pants down for a week but after that, prob not
4 thing in the ice
3 crackling drake
4 bedlam reveler
4 pyretic ritual
4 desperate ritual
4 Manamorphos
4 Empty the wardens
4 thoughtscour
4 serum vision
4 opt
4 sleight of hand
4 steam vents
4 shivan reaf
4 spirebluff canal
4 island
1 mountain
SB
3 bloodmoon
3 monastery swiftspear
3 spell pierce
2 dispell
2 Abrade
2 anger of the gods
Maybe it'll be Jank AF maybe it'll be decent but it feels like it combines the most versatile parts of UR storm with the solid beats of Izzet spells.
With that in mind I figured I would solicite some advice about things ive seen or wondered about. Here are some cards i was hoping for some insight on how they work in this archetype
Remand- ive seen a couple lists running this and it intrigues me. I love the versatility of it but does it take the deck too far from aggro to mid? Where the deck run 3-5 counter in the SB, maybe its a viable 3 of MD freeing up some SB space.
Stony silence- I've seen a few lists running UWR for stony in the board. I hate to dive into 3 colors as it tends to be a lot of pain and if I was to go 3C grixis seems to have better synergy but stony just beats some T1 decks when it hits.
Snapcaster mage- seems self explanatory. Blue Moon always seems turn this card into a beast and this shell does have some similarities. Could this be interchangeable with swiftspear depending on your meta? It certainly seems to help the deck against its bad matches and 70% of the deck can be accessible off the trigger
Pieces of the puzzle- strictly a SB move. But just like UR gifts, Decks packing thoughtseize and iok are brutal. This card for mid game to net us some advantage and possibly bin some birds seems like a play that could be reasonable
Lastly, not to get too crazy but as i mentioned, a grixis splash for cards like gurmag angler has some appeal. Is that just a bonkers notion or is there some value to it.
Thanks in advance, I cant wait to take this deck for a spin