Hey guys, I just got into RDW and currently am running P.Sully's list. I have a couple questions though:
What is the current sideboard for RDW? Right now P.Sully's doesn't seem to cover much.
Should I add Koths to the deck? I really like Koth but I'm not sure what to cut.
Cheers
His list cannot run Koths not enough lands you need Combust and mabye Act of Aggrestion if there is a lot of Twin decks in your meta.Other then that it really depends on your meta if there is a lot of red then you need the Vulshok Refugee if there is a lot of Tezz decks then you need more artifact removal Shatter and Crush are really all you can run in this land lite version.
^I might have missed that g1. Even if that were the case though, I don't really see running arc trail over blaze MD. Maybe swapping them out after sideboarding, but searing blaze is so much faster and 99% of the time we need to be fast g1. How good is goblin guide into searing blaze? 7 damage on turn 2 is amazing. It would be hard for me to give that up in g1, but I could see it in g2 against aggro.
I think chapin does have a point about siding out lands though. Maybe not the 5-6 that he said, but I think 2-3 would be fine in mirror matches. The games typically go so long and getting flooded is the biggest cause of a loss. Also, in the mirror you can easily afford to miss a few land drops like 3 and 4 and just run your 1cc removal out until your opponent runs out of gas.
The sideing out lands is the same reason the Patrick Sullivan went with the no Koth route and went down to 20 lands the deck has to be really fast to win now and Koth is not fast enough. Also against the hard match ups you cannot afford to draw that many lands and you need a 1 drop no matter the match up.
One of the players top 8ed the SCG Invitational with a MonoRed Deck but they have not posted the list yet if was Patrick Sullivan and he was running Furnace Scamp, Guide, and Elder not sure on the numbers but those are were played in his feature match.
Round 1 vs. B/G Infect
Both of my starts are just better than his, even though he turn one Duressed me game 1 turn 1. In that game good removal plus an Inkmoth wielding a Lashwrithe got there. Game two I live the dream get a Specter with a Lashwrithe, crash for five and destroy his hand. Drop Crusader and Necropede next turn and cruise to the win.
2-0
Round 2 vs. G/U Eldrazi
This deck was all about card advantage. He sticks an Oracle of Mul Daya after I kill two Lotus Cobras and then follows that with a JTMS. Eventually he ramps up and plays Ulamog, games over shortly after. Game 2, I SadSac some of his better threats away, but lose on CA as he drops 4 Consecrated Sphinx over the course of the game.
0-2
Round 3 vs. RDW
Game 1 he mulligans, then I IoK on the play, stripping him of a Shrine of Burning Rage, seeing 2 Mesas, 1 Burst Lightning, 1 Ember Hauler, and 1 Staggershock. Game plays out as expected, me running out a couple of Specters to get burned out. He drops two Koths over the game that get him there with 4/4 beating mountains. Game 2 starts out a lot similar to game 1, I IoK and take out a Shrine leaving him with lands and burn spells. I resolve a turn 3 Phyrexian Crusader, but he topdecks two more shrines on turns 2 and 4 and wins the damage race by a mile.
0-2
Round 4 Grixis Twin
Game one she keeps a terrible two-land hand on the draw and doesn't see a third land until turn 5 despite playing two Probes and two Preordain. Game Two, she hits lands but never gets her combo together thanks to me ripping out her opening hand Exarch with a IoK and then demolishing her hand with the Specter x Lashwrithe play.
2-0
Round 5 vs. RDW
This game is really close, with tons of burn and me helping her out by playing a Tezzeret's Gambit I'm sitting at one with her having an Ember Hauler while tapped out. I had got in an early hit with Inkmoth and proliferated it to two with the Gambit. I have to find a way to win the game and hit a lashwrithe with 7 swamps in play. Inkmoth swings over for 8 and wins the game. Game two she draws a decent hand with multiple Kiln Fiend and Goblin Guide, Really quick. Luckily I had some early kill spells and then a Turn 3 Crusader which forced her to waste a burn spell on her own Perilous Myr to kill the Crusader. Followed that up with another Crusader on 5 then a Lashwrithe on 6. Game was over not soon after with me still sitting relatively pretty at 13.
Both Lashwrithe and Whispering Specter were pretty house tonight, though I think I might cut back to 3 specters to make room for a fourth magnet or a third blade. The deck was tons of fun to play, and I'm hoping to tweak it to make it better.
My list that took me to top 4 at FNM yesterday is very similar but no dragon and Plauge Stinger instead of the specter. I was actually going to try Apostle's Blessing as a counter for removal and as a way to get by a bunch of blockers.
No the earliest I have won is t4 with the deck as it stands a t3 win needs a god hand and for your opponent to have played nothing it just doesn't happen, and you really should not play for that anyway as you can get blown out by one card.
With that many five drops 22 land is not enough and I don't think Livewire Lash is good for a fast version of infect. Also I went 2-0-1 yesterday for 2nd at my local with my list I posted before. I am thinking of trying Mimic Vat and going back to Primal Bellow instead of Giant Growth.
Contagion Clasp is a must for any infect deck right now it can get rid of a blocker and it can win the game if all the have is creature removal I cannot tell you how many games I won by just landing with one creature with one pump spell and then grinding out the win with Contagion Clasp. Tumble Magnet is the only card I might change it has gotten me past many blockers and saved my from big game changing creatures but its the only card that can be dead sometimes.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, how about a wallpaper? And to tie it all together, how about a wallpaper for Magic: The Gathering 2012? That means it applies to both Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 and the Magic 2012 core set! Enjoy.
I also wanted to get Vampire's bite in here... so stupidly good for infect and GREAT against boros/kred However, I felt the 6 discard spells are better...
I think the list from MTGO is a bit better the pump spells are really game breaking in infect Vampire's Bite and Teetering Peaks(free pump spell) are just amazing with creatures like Phyrexian Crusader. I think 4 discard in the main is fine and you just have more in the sideborad for the match ups where they are better also 4 Virulent Wound might be to much because even in the matches were they are really good they might not be better then other cards. The way the meta is changing I thinkk black decks need both Go for the Throat and Doom Blade against Quest decks its kills the creature the put the Armor on no matter what I have seen them always put in on an artifact against me.
This deck has placed well on a few Dailys on MTGO I think its actually a good deck. I am planning on testing it just looking at it I would think it would play similar to a mid-range deck since it has control cards and since you don't need to play many creatures to win since we have pump spells. Also Crusader, Vatmother, and Skithiryx lets you are each game endding threats that need to be delt with on there own.
His list cannot run Koths not enough lands you need Combust and mabye Act of Aggrestion if there is a lot of Twin decks in your meta.Other then that it really depends on your meta if there is a lot of red then you need the Vulshok Refugee if there is a lot of Tezz decks then you need more artifact removal Shatter and Crush are really all you can run in this land lite version.
The sideing out lands is the same reason the Patrick Sullivan went with the no Koth route and went down to 20 lands the deck has to be really fast to win now and Koth is not fast enough. Also against the hard match ups you cannot afford to draw that many lands and you need a 1 drop no matter the match up.
My list that took me to top 4 at FNM yesterday is very similar but no dragon and Plauge Stinger instead of the specter. I was actually going to try Apostle's Blessing as a counter for removal and as a way to get by a bunch of blockers.
No the earliest I have won is t4 with the deck as it stands a t3 win needs a god hand and for your opponent to have played nothing it just doesn't happen, and you really should not play for that anyway as you can get blown out by one card.
With that many five drops 22 land is not enough and I don't think Livewire Lash is good for a fast version of infect. Also I went 2-0-1 yesterday for 2nd at my local with my list I posted before. I am thinking of trying Mimic Vat and going back to Primal Bellow instead of Giant Growth.
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Necropede
4 Plague Myr
4 Blight Mamba
4 Putrefax
4 Tumble Magnet
4 Giant Growth
4 Groundswell
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Corpse Cur
4 Viridian Corrupter
4 Pistus Strike
3 Creeping Corrosion
Contagion Clasp is a must for any infect deck right now it can get rid of a blocker and it can win the game if all the have is creature removal I cannot tell you how many games I won by just landing with one creature with one pump spell and then grinding out the win with Contagion Clasp. Tumble Magnet is the only card I might change it has gotten me past many blockers and saved my from big game changing creatures but its the only card that can be dead sometimes.
And the Magic 2012 core set.
I think the list from MTGO is a bit better the pump spells are really game breaking in infect Vampire's Bite and Teetering Peaks(free pump spell) are just amazing with creatures like Phyrexian Crusader. I think 4 discard in the main is fine and you just have more in the sideborad for the match ups where they are better also 4 Virulent Wound might be to much because even in the matches were they are really good they might not be better then other cards. The way the meta is changing I thinkk black decks need both Go for the Throat and Doom Blade against Quest decks its kills the creature the put the Armor on no matter what I have seen them always put in on an artifact against me.
15 Swamp
4 Teetering Peaks
3 Necropede
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Plague Myr
4 Ichor Rats
4 Phyrexian Crusader
3 Phyrexian Vatmother
1 Hand of the Praetors
3 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Vampire's Bite
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Duress
2 Go for the Throat
3 Marsh Casualties
2 Tumble Magnet
2 Virulent Wound