What is Skred Red?
Skred Red is, at its core, a mono-red control deck. It aims to prey on the popular decks of Modern through the use of plentiful, efficient removal, maindeck hate cards like Blood Moon, and hasty, hard-to-answer finishers like Koth of the Hammer, Stormbreath Dragon, and Thundermaw Hellkite. Skred Red also takes advantage of interactions between its cards to grind out an edge in drawn-out games.
At one point, it was a highly low-budget deck, but the recent spike of Blood Moon has driven the cost up considerably. Additionally, with a few top-8 places, the cost of Snow-Covered Mountains has increased considerably, making it the most expensive snow basic out there. It's only $1.50-2.00, but when you need 20 of those, it can add up quickly.
Why play Skred Red?
Skred Red might be the deck for you if:
1) You want a deck that is off the beaten path, but still powerful enough to compete.
2) You love Blood Moon enough to want to run it maindeck.
3) You like decks with lots of opportunity for card interactions to give you an advantage when you have a high level of familiarity with the deck.
4) You like it when your opponent has to read multiple cards you play across the course of the game.
5) You like Red decks, but dislike the linearity of Burn.
Skred Red is likely not the deck for you if:
1) You like colors other than Red
2) You want to pick up a deck at the last minute and steamroll with it.
3) You want to run something that has truly unfair hands that can outright end the game on turn 3 or 4.
*Blood Moon - Very much a central card to the deck. There is almost no matchup in which it is dead, and in some matchups, it can almost singlehandedly give you the game. Against decks like Scapeshift, Tron, and Bloom Titan, it annihilates their primary engines. Against decks like UWR Midrange, Jund, Infect, Affinity, Merfolk, and Grixis, it removes the use of Manlands and hinders mana. Against decks like Abzan and GW Hatebears, it can completely cripple their manabase. Even against the other big Red deck, Burn, it can eliminate their use of splashed cards like Lightning Helix, Atarka's Command, Destructive Revelry, and Kor Firewalker. The matchup it is worst for is U/R Twin, but even there, it can keep them from being able to utilize Cryptic Command.
*Boros Reckoner - Boros Reckoner is "the glue" of Skred Red. It seems pretty unassuming, but it is very much an integral part of the deck. Reckoner provides a solid body that dominates combat in the early game, keeps Planeswalkers safe, increases the power of the deck's Sweepers, converts late-game Skreds into game-enders, allows removal spells to trade up into larger creatures utilizing First Strike, trades with creatures much larger than itself, and forces burn-based removal to be 2-for-1 in your favor.
*Koth of the Hammer - Koth is the other main powerhouse of the deck. His +1 sets up a devastating clock that is extremely hard for control decks to answer, often requiring two or more burn spells just to take him off the board. His -2 can provide a burst of mana to help ramp into the deck's larger threats (or just push them through Mana Leak), as well as opening up opportunities to do things like bounce and replay Batterskull or Monstrify Stormbreath Dragon. His ult can be surprisingly easy to achieve in slower matchups, and makes the game almost un-losable.
*Lightning Bolt - Far and away the most popular card in Modern, this shouldn't really require an explanation. The deck is Red, it runs Bolt.
*Scrying Sheets - The deck's long-term card advantage engine. Helps dig through land clusters to hit gas, and gives you a mana sink for later in the game. Definitely helps in grindy matchups to pull ahead.
*[1] Dragons - The first major choice any Skred Red deck has to make is which finisher to use. Koth does a good job getting things started, but he often needs some help from "the big boys". There are five major options to fill this slot, and they can frequently be mixed and matched to suit your meta's needs.
-Stormbreath Dragon - Stormbreath is your go-to option if your meta is populated by white decks like Abzan and Jeskai Midrange. He's immune to Path to Exile (in addition to being too large to be Abrupt Decayed or Lightning Bolted), can't be blocked by Lingering Souls tokens, Celestial Colonnade, Restoration Angel, or other commonly-seen fliers. Additionally, his monstrous ability is surprisingly relevant, given Koth and a lot of mana sources in the deck, and it can turn him into a frighteningly fast clock.
-Thundermaw Hellkite - The Thundermaw/Stormbreath debate is certainly a tough one. Thundermaw does not pack Stormbreath's immunity to Path, nor can he swing past an infinite number of Souls tokens, but he has a handy fifth power, allowing him to profitably tangle with Tasigur, Siege Rhino, and reasonably-sized Goyfs and to present a faster clock. Additionally, while he can't get through Souls tokens that come down while he's already out, his enters the battlefield trigger clears all existing Souls tokens, as well as Pestermites and Aven Mindcensors which opens a path for Koth's elementals and any other creatures you might have floating around.
-Demigod of Revenge - If you are not expecting much White, and instead a field of Kolaghan's Command, Liliana of the Veil, Mana Leak, and burn/destroy-based removal, Demigod is the "Dragon" of choice. He does put some constraints on the deck, as you really need to run the full four copies, your mana rocks likely have to be Coldsteel Hearts, you cannot splash any color except black, and a few of your flex slots likely need to go to Faithless Looting. However, the payoff is huge. It's very possible to get two Demigods in and attacking on turn four, which sets up a devastating clock. With at least one in the graveyard, you can circumvent countermagic, and cards like Terminate and Go for the Throat only delay the inevitable.
-Batterskull - Batterskull is something that used to be a solid option for this deck, but is sadly on its way out. It's still a strong card against decks like Burn, but it used to be that Batterskull was one of the few sure-fire ways to beat grindy midrange decks like Jund and Grixis. The printing and popularity of Kolaghan's Command has changed that, however. Now, Batterskull is more of a liability against those decks. It's still strong against Jeskai Midrange and Control, but if those decks are your primary concern, Stormbreath is better. Batterskull is now mostly only a maindeck consideration if your meta is overwhelmed by Burn decks.
-Sarkhan, the Dragon Speaker - Another fringe Dragon option, Sarkhan shines the most against black-based control decks, where the ability to dodge Go for the Throat, Slaughter Pact, Doom Blade, and similar, plus Liliana of the Veil sets him a bit above Stormbreath and Thundermaw. His -3 ability can also be useful to nuke Wilt-Leaf, Smiter, Exarch, and some other 4-toughness creatures.
*[2] Mana Rocks - There are three main choices for accelerants in Skred Red.
-Mind Stone - Mind Stone is a great option for ensuring a turn 3 Koth or a turn 4 Dragon, and later on in the game, it can cycle. This also makes it a stronger option against Kolaghan's Command
-Coldsteel Heart - Heart has a few advantages over Mind Stone. As a Snow permanent, it powers up Skred and can be flipped off of Scrying Sheets. The Skred boost can be useful for getting Skreds up to the pivotal 4 points to take down Deceiver Exarchs flashed in at the end of your third turn. The colored mana can help cast Demigod of Revenge, aid in splashing (especially as this will help offset the loss of snow lands for Sheets), and allow you to save life points on Phyrexian costs like Dismember and Spellskite.
-Simian Spirit Guide - Not strictly a mana rock, but fills a similar role. SSG can allow you to land Blood Moon on turn two, which can help shut off Tron from landing a turn three Karn Liberated on the play or shut down Bloom Titan before it can get rolling. It can allow for a turn three Koth or a turn four Dragon, but not both off of one card. It also aids in the use of some sideboard cards like Eidolon of the Great Revel or Chalice of the Void. And in a pinch, it puts a body in front of Koth, Chandra, or Sarkhan. Overall, it is suited to a more aggressive build, but definitely has its place in some lists.
*[3] Card Advantage Engines - Any good Control deck needs a way to pull ahead into the mid and late game, especially against other grindy midrange and control decks. This slot aims to help do that with one of two options.
-Chandra, Pyromaster - The best Chandra yet printed, she's flexible and powerful. Her +1 can be used to pick off low-toughness creatures like Souls tokens, Pestermite, Snapcaster Mage, Aven Mindcensor, mana dorks, and similar, put 4-toughness guys into Bolt range, or just run Koth tokens or Reckoner through large blockers. Her +0 is her primary ability, however, allowing you to pseudo-draw once your gas starts running low.
-Outpost Siege - The deck doesn't have the volume of creatures necessary to make use of Dragons mode, but the Khans mode here does a good impression of Chandra without the inherent vulnerability of the Planeswalker card type. There are a few disadvantages, such not being able to control when to exile a card, not being able to ping, no immediate ability to impact the board. In metas with lots of burn and creatures with more than one toughness, Outpost Siege is generally the stronger option.
*[4] Sweepers - What control deck is complete without a way to clear the board? Sweepers allow Skred Red to deal with large groups of creatures. Combining them with Boros Reckoner also gives the opportunity to take out larger creatures or convert damage into your opponent's face. There are several good options.
-Pyroclasm - It's the cheapest sweeper out there, and it doesn't damage players, which makes it ideal to take out Burn's creatures quickly and safely. It can also curtail swarm decks like Merfolk or Elves before they reach a critical mass.
-Volcanic Fallout - Fallout offers three advantages over 'Clasm. Instant speed allows it to interact with combo decks like Abzan Company, Elves, and Twin in response to them trying to go off, and gives it a shot at manlands like Inkmoth Nexus, Blinkmoth Nexus, and Creeping Tar Pit. Uncounterability increases the chances of being able to successfully clear blue decks like Twin, Delver, and Merfolk. And player damage helps this to finish off planeswalkers like Liliana and can increase the clock against creature-light and combo decks like Bloom Titan, Scapeshift, and Tron. The biggest disadvantage is that the player damage can be suicidal against Burn decks.
-Anger of the Gods - Three damage is only relevant against a few decks in the format, mainly Zoo, but Anger offers several other advantages. The Exile clause is useful for securing a clean kill on cards like Kitchen Finks, Voice of Resurgence, and Wurmcoil Engine (when combined with a Bolt, Skred, Reckoner, or artifact destruction), and can help keep the power of Kolaghan's Command and Tasigur, the Golden Fang down. Three damage might kill your own Boros Reckoner, but it also allows that Reckoner's reflected damage to take out Goyf, Tasigur, Rhino, Primeval Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, and other large creatures.
-Blasphemous Act - It can be difficult to get Blasphemous Act into a castable range against many decks, but against Lingering Souls decks and some other swarm decks, it's feasible. The payoff when it does work is huge, being large enough to wipe out even the bigger of creatures, and turning Boros Reckoner into a 13-point burn spell.
-Other Options - Anger, Pyroclasm, and Fallout are by far the most popular and useful options, but there are a few others to consider out there. Earthquake is fully scalable, and can take advantage of Koth mana for early kills. Bonfire of the Damned is one-sided, making it an interesting prospect for lists that run some more small creatures and potentially no Reckoners. Chain Reaction is like Blasphemous Act in that it cares about multiple creatures in play, but hitting 3-4 creatures to make it lethal to the board with a decent Reckoner bounce is potentially easier than getting the 5-6 creatures needed to really cast Act. Flamebreak is an option if you find yourself up against regenerating threats, like Elves with Ezuri, Renegade Leader.
*[5] Flex Slots - One of the biggest advantages of Skred Red is the fact that the core of the deck is compact enough to allow for a great degree of flexibility in deck construction to combat the meta. In addition to being able to change out Dragons, Mana Rocks, Sweepers, and Card Advantage Engines, there are a number of available slots to tinker with the other numbers. This can be as simple as upping the Blood Moon count to four in preparation for facing an influx of Tron decks, increasing the number of sweepers to handle Abzan Company and other aggro decks, adding a few more Dragons or Chandras, or experimenting with some 1-ofs or maindeck hate cards. Some of the best options include:
-Additional Removal - Roast can help you face decks full of Tasigur, Goyf, and Rhino. Magma Jet helps deal with smaller creatures while improving card quality. Harvest Pyre is another scalable instant removal spell that can take out big guys or turn Reckoner into a kill. Dismember is another way to take out Tasigur, Goyf, and Rhino, while also killing Deceiver Exarch well in a pinch with instant speed, and can deal with pro-red creatures like Kor Firewalker. Pyrite Spellbomb is another piece of removal that can kill pro-red creatures like Firewalker or Affinity's Etched Champion, while also cycling in matches where removal is less relevant.
-Faithless Looting - Looting does a lot to help improve the card quality of the deck. Scrying Sheets generates pure card advantage, but always in the form of additional mana sources. Turning those instead into real cards can help improve the card quality enough to grind out an edge. Especially potent in Demigod of Revenge lists, where it can enable multiple Demigods on the first cast. Also helps to dig for 1- or 2-of silver bullets, making something like 2 maindeck Relic or Spellskite more potent. Can also help when you draw multiple copies of Blood Moon against decks that can't remove it.
-Relic of Progenitus - A lot of decks rely on maindeck graveyard interactions, whether it be Kitchen Finks, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster Mage, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Grim Lavamancer, Kolaghan's Command, or Eternal Witness. Relic puts a stop to these shenanigans, and in the worst case, can cycle.
-Spellskite - Skite is one of the strongest silver bullets in Modern. Against Twin, he can soak up Splinter Twin to keep them from going off. Against Affinity, he can block Etched Champion and steal Arcbound Ravager's Modular counters. Against burn, he can absorb attacks and soften burn spells. He steals auras against Bogles. He can blunt Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle triggers against Scapeshift. He can help keep Blood Moon safe from Karn or Nature's Claim against tron. He survives our sweepers and walls for Koth and other walkers. The little robo-horror that could is a lock for the sideboard, and can even take a few slots maindeck in a pinch.
-Reach - Shrine of Burning Rage provides a slow, but steady way to build up to a lethal burnout, especially for those games where you draw a lot of removal spells but few win conditions. Red Sun's Zenith and Banefire provide powerful X spells to pour Koth mana into, with the former offering re-usability and exile to fight Finks and similar, and the latter providing uncounterability to help the Twin matchup.
-Commune with Lava - Another way to generate card advantage in the mid to late game, an end-of-turn Commune for 2-4 can help give you the cards you need to stabilize or win a match.
-Other Finishers - With Koth at the core of the deck, accelerating above 5 mana is very possible. Inferno Titan and Wurmcoil Engine are very strong options at six mana. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a powerful planeswalker at 8. Wildfire or Destructive Force theoretically combine very well with Koth, enabling you to clear the board for Koth to drive to victory.
-Solemn Simulacrum - Especially for lists packing things like Titan, Wurmcoil, or Ugin, Solemn tends to show up as an additional way to ramp. Some of these lists even go so far as to eschew Boros Reckoner for Solemn, making for a more "Big SkRed" type list.
Sideboard Options
If you are running fewer than four copies of Blood Moon maindeck, the first inclusion in the sideboard should be the fourth copy.
Additionally, cards like Relic of Progenitus, Roast, Dismember, Spellskite, Batterskull, and additional sweepers that can take up flex slots in Skred are great inclusions in the sideboard as well. Beyond those cards, there are many options to fill the sideboard slots to help with your weaker matchups or against your meta.
-Rending Volley - One of the best possible answers to Twin, it kills Deceiver Exarch uncounterably and for a single mana. It's also a potent weapon against Jeskai decks, where it nukes Celestial Colonnade, Restoration Angel, and most other threats they can field uncounterably, and it does good work against Wilted Abzan, where it can kill Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege effortlessly. It's also a consideration against Abzan Company decks, as it makes for another good answer to Kitchen Finks or Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit when they try to combo out. It's also worth noting that, in a pinch, Volley can be turned on your own Boros Reckoner to secure the final four points to the face. Combust is another option for this same slot, but is largely outclassed by Volley's lower mana cost, considering the only real target with 5 toughness is Siege Rhino.
-Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, Shatterstorm - Affinity is an omnipresent threat, and it's always a good idea to be prepared for it. Shattering Spree and Vandalblast are more universally-applicable, as they can be used to do things like blow up Tron's turn one Expedition Map or Bloom Titan's turn one Amulet of Vigor to keep them off of an unanswerable turn two or three. Shattering Spree offers the ability to destroy 2-4 of Affinity's artifacts in one go, while Vandalblast has a Shatterstorm mode that is better for answering Etched Champion and keeping your opponent from simply funneling all of the targeted artifacts into a Ravager Modular trigger aimed at Blinkmoth Nexus or Inkmoth Nexus
-Dragon's Claw - If burn is big in your meta, this is one of the better answers. It's a rather specific one though, as it doesn't come in against any other decks, so it has to be a meta call.
-Chalice of the Void - Strongest in Simian Spirit Guide lists that can land it for one on turn one, this is a niche answer card that can help in several specific matchups. Against Tron, you can keep them off of Map, their Chromatics, and Ancient Stirrings, which can really make them falter. Against Storm, you can shut down their cantrips at 1 or their rituals and Pyromancer's Ascension at 2. Against Burn, you generally want to drop it at 2 to shut down Lightning Helix, Skullcrack, Boros Charm, Destructive Revelry, Smash to Smithereens, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and Atarka's Command. Landing one at 1 mana against burn can shut down their one drops and Bolts, but comes at the expense of being able to use your own Bolts and Skreds, which is often not worthwhile, especially when they can just hit it with Revelry or Smash.
-Boil - A strong option against Twin, Blue Tron, Scapeshift, Jeskai, and other blue decks. Cast it endphase, and they either have to expend their mana and countermagic stopping it, or you remove their ability to cast countermagic almost entirely. Untap into a Dragon or other big threat and you've got it made. Against Twin, it's a strong response to an EOT Exarch, especially if you can destroy enough Islands to leave them unable to cast Splinter Twin. Against Scapeshift, if they cast Scapeshift without floating the rest of their mana, allow it to resolve and then respond to the Valakut triggers by Boiling their Steam Vents to fizzle the intervening if clause.
-Sowing Salt, Molten Rain, Fulminator Mage - Additional Land Disruption is a must against decks that are weak to Blood Moon, as you must prepare for them to board in answers to the Moon. Sowing Salt is by far the strongest effect here, but it also has the highest cost. Hitting a Valakut or a red Shockland against Scapeshift can leave them 100% incapable of comboing (though resolving it can be difficult). Hit any Tron piece and break up Tron forever. Hit manlands to remove them entirely as a threat. Fulminator Mage and Molten Rain are a little faster to come out though, so they can often disrupt decks fast enough to make a difference. Fulminator Mage is strong in the Bloom Titan match, where it can hit a Bounceland in response to its Amulet and Bounce triggers to keep them from getting any mana out of it and force them to bounce another land. It can also screw up a careless Scapeshift player by knocking their Mountain count under six when they try to go off. Molten Rain is actually strongest for its ability to hit basics, which can keep people from being able to play around Blood Moon.
-Engineered Explosives, Ratchet Bomb - These can be used to clear the board of tokens or to take out some problematic permanents like Bogles' hexproof dudes.
-Guttural Response, Defense Grid, Vexing Shusher - Against heavy permission decks, these help to resolve your key spells. Beware the double-edge of Defense Grid, however, as the increased cost can stop you from interfering with someone's combo. Torpor Orb - Shuts down Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, Restoration Angel, Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch (including their ability to combo), Siege Rhino, Kitchen Finks, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, and others. Pithing Needle - Shuts down Planeswalkers like Liliana and Karn, can slow down Twin (name Deceiver Exarch to stop them from being able to Twin off of Exarch), manlands like Celestial Colonnade, and similar. Can help fight Goryo's Vengeance decks by naming Griselbrand, and can stop Ad Nauseam from going off by naming Lightning Storm. Expedition Map or Oblivion Stone in addition to Karn against Tron. Tasigir, the Golden Fang to shut off his mill-draw ability. Viscera Seer against Abzan Company.
Variants
Color Splash
One of the easiest variations to make on the Skred Red list is splashing a second color. This can be easily accomplished through the following swaps
This maintains the snow count between the two lists (assuming the first started with Mind Stone), while adding 9 sources of the splash color.
What can a splash accomplish?
Black Splash: Slaughter Games in the sideboard is the absolute best silver bullets against Scapeshift decks, while also doing work against Tron (especially Blue Tron), Twin, and other Control or Combo lists. It makes casting Dismember easier, and provides access to Terminate, Dreadbore, Rakdos Charm, and Kolaghan's Command as sideboard or maindeck options. It also makes casting Demigod of Revenge easier.
White Splash: Soulfire Grand Master can turn Sweepers into a huge lifegain, and can gain a lot of life off of Bolts and Skreds while allowing you to buy them back. Lightning Helix and Ajani Vengeant are also powerful cards to splash into flex slots or Chandra's slot. White also provides access to a number of powerful sideboard cards like Path to Exile, Stony Silence, Wear // Tear, and Rest in Peace. White splash also maintains the ease of playing Boros Reckoner.
Blue Splash: Snapcaster Mage is always a strong consideration for decks that run efficient removal spells. Ral Zarek is a solid contender for Chandra's slot, and cards like Mana Leak, Remand, and Electrolyze are always strong. Stubborn Denial is effective with Koth Elementals and Dragons.
Green Splash: Tarmogoyf would be the first place I'd look to in a green splash. He's an efficient beater who survives your sweepers and can end games quickly if you clear his way. This seems ideal in an All-In/Aggressive style list with Simian Spirit Guide and Eidolon of the Great Revel. Sideboard gives access to Destructive Revelry and Feed the Clan as potential options.
Heavy White Splash - Swans
A heavier Splash can be taken with White in particular, which provides access to Swans of Bryn Argoll as an amazing Skred and Sweeper synergy. Swans likely takes the place of Koth, as additional Snow Plains will be needed in this list, which hurts Koth's -2. A list with Reckoner, Soulfire Grand Master, and Swans makes heavy use of sweepers, including Blasphemous Act, to generate extreme value. This also provides access to the strong Burn answer of Kor Firewalker in the sideboard. The build listed below is theoretical and untested.
Ponza Skred
Skred can also be retooled slightly to be a LD-heavy disruptive force. Maindeck Fulminator Mage replaces Reckoner, Deus of Calamity fills the Dragon slot, and Destructive Force lands a coup-de-grace leaving behind a Deus or a Koth to finish the job. The build below is theoretical and untested.
All-in Skred Simian Spirit Guide can rush out an early Blood Moon to lock down decks even faster, but sacrifices some of the late game in exchange. To compensate, the deck runs a lower and more aggressive curve, splashing Green for Goyf.
Double Dragons Thunderbreak Regent has brought up the possibility of running a Dragon-heavy list, with Regents in the Koth slot. With 8+ dragons with 4 or more toughness and CMC, it makes for more threats than your opponent can reasonably deal with, and Thunderbreaks will apply pressure even when dealt with. Once Origins releases, Avaricious Dragon can join the ranks, taking the Chandra/Outpost slot as a card advantage engine (just be wary of leaving yourself open to Twin combo this way).
Tips and Tricks
Boros Reckoner Tricks:
When facing down a creature too large to Lightning Bolt, Sweep, or Skred to death, a well-timed Reckoner combat can make the difference. Remember Reckoner's First Strike ability - you can use to trade a Lightning Bolt one-for-one with a 5/6 Tarmogoyf, a Wurmcoil Engine's front side (and a First Strike Reckoner makes quick work of the tokens), a Primeval Titan, or anything smaller. Similarly, a Volcanic Fallout after First Strike damage can clear up to a 7-toughness creature, or a 5-toughness blocker plus a 4/4. Skred, Combust, Roast, Harvest Pyre, and Rending Volley can be aimed at Reckoner to get their damage to go towards someone's face instead of a creature. You can also use this to turn Combust/Volley damage into something that can hit a non-Blue/White creature, but at the cost of 2-for-1ing yourself.
Sweepers with Reckoners out can mean extra damage to the face. I've ended multiple games by casting Anger of the Gods or Volcanic Fallout with two Reckoners out for a surprise 6. Anger of the Gods with a Reckoner out will cleanly kill a Wurmcoil Engine.
If you run Batterskull, equipping it on a Reckoner allows you to gain life off of the "reflected" damage when Reckoner takes damage.
When all else fails, Reckoner will trade one-for-one with most creatures via reflected damage.
Koth of the Hammer Tricks:
Koth's +1 can target anyone's Mountain. This includes nonbasics that have been Mountainized under Blood Moon. This can be combined with Skred, Sarkhan, the Dragon Speaker's -3, Chandra, Pyromaster's +1 plus a Bolt, or various configurations of Sweepers (Pyromaster +1 plus Anger of the Gods, Volcanic Fallout + Boros Reckoner) to destroy opposing nonbasics, which can make it so decks like Tron and Scapeshift can't recover even if they do eventually remove your Moon. Even just doing this to Scapeshift's random Mountains can keep them from going off and potentially even use up too many Mountains from their deck to prevent them from ever going off.
Koth's -2 can make for an unexpected burst of mana. Utilize this to make Stormbreath Dragon Monstrous, resolve spells through suspected Mana Leaks or recast them after being Remanded, bounce and recast Batterskull, or to equip Batterskull.
Koth's +1 untaps a land, which can be used to ramp you by one mana instead of just bashing.
Miscellaneous Tips: Scrying Sheets can be used to check whether you want to Chandra, Pyromaster +0. If you see a situational card that you don't want to exile (like Skred), you can just +1 her instead.
If you have both Scrying Sheets active in the late game, and the first activation reveals a non-snow permanent, Relic of Progenitus, Pyrite Spellbomb, or Mind Stone can be used to draw the top card to give the second activation a chance to hit snow.
If you run Simian Spirit Guide, you can use it to bluff being defenseless. Tap out against Twin, and when they try to go off, exile Guide and Rending Volley their Exarch. This can also be used to give Reckoner first strike unexpectedly or throw a Bolt, Skred, or Fallout out when it's not expected.
Matchups
UR Twin - The biggest fear in game one of this matchup is that they combo off early. For lists without Coldsteel Heart, there's very little way to respond to an EOT Deceiver Exarch on turn three into a Splinter Twin on turn four for the win. Coldsteel Heart helps ever so slightly, allowing a turn three Skred to be able to do the deed, and maindeck Dismember helps as well, but overall game one is disadvantaged, especially if they are playing a tuned combo list, and especially if you are on the draw. To make matters worse, this is the least useful matchup for Blood Moon. Once you get outside the first few turns, Skred becomes capable of taking out Exarch easily, but you still have to fear Twin with countermagic mana up (especial against lists that pack Dispel). Overall, you end up having to walk on eggshells a lot, which throws you behind on curve, and they can toss out Mana Leak or Remand if you do try to drop an aggressive threat. Maindeck Spellskite is tremendously helpful here if you've got it.
Game two, Spellskite and Rending Volley can turn things much more in your favor. Simply having to leave a single red up to represent Volley will leave you much more capable of dropping Koth and Dragons. They may even expect Volley and board out the combo and go for the attrition route, which you can handle fairly well with multiple hard-to-answer threats and plentiful removal. Take the game very slow, holding a Dragon until you have 3 or even 4 spare mana up to play around Leaks.
Grixis Twin - Much like the UR Twin, this matchup is tough on game one because of their combo. They give up a bit of consistency in comboing to have a stronger attrition game. Relic of Progenitus really shines here, hampering Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command, and Tasigur, The Golden Fang. Watch for Thoughtseize to check for Skred/Rending Volley, and try to hold back at least one land so they can't strip your only removal spell with a Kola's Command. Blood Moon is a little stronger here, but they play Moons of their own in the board, so you can't count on it, and it probably comes out in the follow-on games, especially if you're on the draw. Otherwise, treat it about the same as you would UR Twin, only value Relic higher and try to reserve a Skred, Roast, or Dismember for the eventual Tasigur.
Jund - Jund is like Grixis Twin without countermagic or the omnipresent threat of combo. Graveyard hate is very powerful, as it can blank Tarmogoyf, hurt Kola's Command, and strand Tasigur in hand. Moon is decent, but not amazing, as they can play around it to play their own from the sideboard. Liliana of the Veil is one of the most problematic cards in here, as this is an attrition matchup and she will often represent a 2-for-1 or better in their favor, especially as her -2 can trade with any Dragon you can run besides Batterskull (which is Kola's fuel) or Sarkhan. Bring in any graveyard hate that's on the bench, and any removal spells that can hit big dudes. It's a tough matchup, but it's winnable, especially if you make sure to play your Dragons with backup from other creatures to avoid being Liliana-gibbed.
Junk - Junk is a very similar matchup to Jund. They play even more large creatures, and Path to Exile is problematic if your Dragons aren't of the Stormbreath variety. Stormbreath is huge against them though, and Blood Moon is way better than it is against Jund or Grixis lists. Bring in anything that can kill fatties and graveyard hate again, and hope you picked correctly with your Dragons.
Burn - Boros Reckoner is the king of this matchup, as he holds their creatures at bay, and removing him means you get to eat one of their creatures in the process. Cheap removal at instant speed keeps their dudes from chipping away too much at your life total, and you've basically just got to hope they don't draw 7 Bolts before you can get a Dragon swing or two in. Post-board, bring in Batterskull, Wurmcoil Engine, Dragon's Claw, Spellskite, Chalice of the Void, and any other lifegain or disruption you can pack.
Affinity - Plentiful removal is strong here as well, as most of their creatures are small. Prioritize Steel Overseer, Arcbound Ravager, and Master of Etherium, as they can make even their other small creatures powerful. Be wary of Cranial Plating on a Metalcrafted Etched Champion, as that will be a big way you can lose game one. Bringing in artifact destruction, Spellskite, and/or Pyrite Spellbomb helps games two and three. Vandalblast is a complete beating against them. Skite can block Champion early and can steal Ravager's Modular counters. Spellbomb is useful for picking off Champions.
Infect - As a deck with a lot of instant removal, we have an edge over Infect with proper play. It's very important not to take the bait of trying to remove a creature during your opponent's attack step. The ideal time to remove creatures is post-combat, where any pump spells serve to save a creature but can't also add infect damage. Volcanic Fallout is very strong here, because an un-kicked Vines of Vastwood won't save any creatures. Any additional removal from the sideboard can help, including Rending Volley for Blighted Agent, artifact destruction for Spellskite or Ichorclaw Myr, and land destruction for Inkmoth Nexus.
RG Tron - The Tron matchup is largely defined by Blood Moon. Landing a game one Blood Moon before Tron can manage a Karn Liberated is the key to success. In practice, this means one of three things - You have to be on the play, you have to have Simian Spirit Guide, or they have to not have the "godhand" of three tron pieces + Karn or two tron pieces + Map + Karn. On the draw, against a godhand, without the Spirit Guide, there's very little you can do. Games two and three, things get easier, but also a little harder. Vandalblast or Shattering Spree can take out a turn one map to delay the turn three Tron long enough to land Blood Moon. However, Nature's Claim can remove Blood Moon, making it far from a complete lock. Sowing Salt is a real ace in the hole here, allowing you to permanently break up Tron, and with a mana rock, you can do it as fast as you'd be able to Moon. Other land destruction like Molten Rain or Fulminator Mage can also help here. Spellskite is another decent inclusion, as it can protect Blood Moon from Nature's Claim or a Karn -3. I've even managed to nab an Oblivion Stone fate counter before with it.
U Tron - The good news is that Blue Tron is much less consistent with its "godhands", as it tends not to run Karn. The bad news is that Mana Leak, Remand, Condescend, Spell Blast, and Repeal do a lot to keep Blood Moon from landing, and can just bounce it when it does, plus run a fair number of basics and Solemn Simulacrum, allowing them to function fairly well even with a Moon out. Countermagic also makes Sowing Salt much harder to resolve in game two. Boil is helpful if you run it, but even that is no guarantee of success. The really good news is that this archetype is rarely seen, as Tron decks tend to favor the RG list.
Jeskai Midrange/Control - These are really two different lists, but they play pretty similarly. Volcanic Fallout is better against Midrange, where it can take out Geist of Saint Traft with ease. Against both lists, Koth is very hard to answer, as is Stormbreath Dragon with either generally requiring multiple burn spells and/or Snapcaster Mage. With Relics foiling the Mages, these lists struggle against our threats. Blood Moon hampers their mana greatly while shutting off Celestial Colonnade. Rending Volley from the sideboard makes the matchup even stronger, as it can kill Restoration Angel, Colonnade, Snapcaster, or Clique uncounterably.
Storm - Storm is one of the weaker matchups for Skred, but like Blue Tron, it is not commonly seen. As a board-control deck, we struggle when the opposing deck wants to play entirely from the hand and the stack, with Relic of Progenitus being one of the few (possibly) maindeck cards that can interact with them. Blood Moon can also help, but they can mostly function off of red mana, especially on their combo turn. Games two and three, additional Relics, Chalice of the Void, and Eidolon of the Great Revel are all good things to bring in, but barring any of these, you just accept that it's a bad matchup and hope to dodge it.
Ad Nauseam - Another deck like Storm that aims to play mostly from the hand and stack, and Ad Nauseam doesn't even have the good grace to rely on their graveyard for Past in Flames and Pyromancer Ascension. Game one is almost guaranteed in their favor. Game two, Eidolon and Chalice can help again, but neither is a guarantee, as Phyrexian Unlife and Angel's Grace can keep them alive through Eidolon triggers, and having the two key pieces be at two different mana costs means Chalice can't stop both. Spellskite can help by redirecting Lightning Storm, but if your opponent has enough lands to keep pointing it back at you, this can still end the game. Pithing Needle can be used to shut off the ability to charge Lightning Storm. Both of these answers can be dispatched by boarded-in artifact destruction, however. Shattering Spree or Vandalblast can take out a Pentad Prism or Lotus Bloom before they're ready to go off, but this is another matchup you mostly hope to dodge.
Goryo's Vengeance - Another combo deck, another poor matchup. Relic of Progenitus helps keep Goryo's Vengeance itself somewhat contained, and Chalice of the Void on two can stop both Vengeance and Rituals. Otherwise, you mostly hope that they Griselbrand themselves low enough that a well-timed Bolt in response to Nourishing Shoal can do the trick.
Bloom Titan - This matchup plays out much like Tron, with the big differences being that Blood Moon hurts them even more, but their "godhands" are both faster and more game-ending, despite being less consistent. Sometimes, they'll have the turn one Amulet into turn two Bloom, Titan/Hive Mind. And sometimes, we cast Blood Moon and they cry. Chalice of the Void on one stops Ancient Stirrings and Amulet of Vigor, while Shattering Spree and Vandalblast can pick off a turn one Amulet to stop the godhand games two and three. Fulminator Mage is a definite ace in the hole as well, as destroying their only Bounceland in response to its untap and bounce triggers can set them majorly back.
Scapeshift - Like Mono-U Tron, this is a matchup where Blood Moon is very strong, assuming you can resolve it. Plentiful countermagic makes your job very hard, and stops Sowing Salt from being a major crippling blow as well. Bring in Molten Rain, Fulminator Mage, Sowing Salt, and Boil if you have them, and hope for the best in resolving them. As mentioned when discussing Boil, if they do not float mana while casting Scapeshift, you can pass priority and have it resolve without giving them the opportunity, which can sometimes allow you to Boil your way out with Valakut triggers on the stack. If this matchup is extremely popular in your area, consider the black splash for Slaughter Games, as that is a complete beating against them. Spellskite can also help here, as, worst-case scenario, you can redirect all of the Valakut triggers to Spellskite to reduce them to 2 per instead of 3 per.
Merfolk - Volcanic Fallout is your best friend here, as it can make quick work of the army of fish without the chance to respond. Do beware if they have an active Vial to add an extra lord, especially if it would add enough lords to keep any from dying. Either way, we have boatloads of removal, especially when bringing in Rending Volley from the sideboard, and we don't particularly care about Spreading Seas, which makes their life difficult.
Abzan Company - Volcanic Fallout is also a key player here, as it can take out their board after they try to Company into a combo. The large amount of removal in this matchup is also key. Bring in Rending Volley to hit Finks or Anafenza in response to the Bolster trigger as another way to break off the combo, and mostly just ride a high number of sweepers and spot removal to victory. Relic of Progenitus is also solid here, as it can exile Finks before persist, and Blood Moon can play hell with their mana.
Elves - Much like Abzan Company, Elves hates nothing more than staring down a hand full of instant-speed removal. Prioritize Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Elvish Archdruid with Bolts and Skreds to keep the rest of the force vulnerable to Fallout. Relic, Blood Moon, and Rending Volley are all worse in this matchup than against Abzan, but do bring in any other sweepers or spot removal you might have on the bench, like Dismember, Roast, Engineered Explosives/Ratchet Bomb, Pyrite Spellbomb, and similar.
Grixis Delver - Volcanic Fallout is again very good here, taking out even flipped Delvers plus Young Pyromancer and all of his tokens uncounterably. Relic of Progenitus hampers Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang, but it's still worth holding a Skred, Dismember, or Roast in reserve for Tasigur in case one sneaks through anyways. Rending Volley is not a bad inclusion in games 2 and 3, as it provides another uncounterable way to pick off Delver, Clique, and Snapcaster. Chandra does good work here as well, killing everything except flipped Delver and Tasigur or other delve fatties.
Wilted Abzan - The bad news is that they run a huge number of 4+ toughness creatures, more even than traditional Abzan lists. The good news is that Boros Reckoner tricks or combining sweepers with bolts can allow you to chew through these without giving up card parity. Rending Volley is a great inclusion from the board to hit Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-leaf Liege. Anger of the Gods is the strongest sweeper in this matchup, as it cleanly kills Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence. Stormbreath Dragon is the strongest Dragon choice against this deck, as it has protection from practically every card in the deck besides Noble Hierarch.
Bogles - Bogles is not a popular choice, because it is extremely swingy, and this matchup is no exception. Mainboard Spellskite makes game one a joke, and if you don't have it, they'll be the ones laughing. Games two and three, boarded in Spellskites do tons of work, and cards like Engineered Explosives or Ratchet Bomb help a lot too.
Skred Red has been one of my favorite decks since its jaunt in Standard some years ago, and with the new tools available in Modern (namely, Koth and Thundermaw) I think the archetype could prove quite powerful. The deck would owe its success, of course, to MD Blood Moon, which shuts down most strategies in highly developed metas.
Grim Lavamancer - Definitely one of the greats. Absolutely dominates creature-infested metas.
Tarmogoyf - If you have the financial resources to splash green for the priciest creature in the format, I strongly suggest you do so. I've only begun testing with Tarmogoyf in the last month, but I haven't looked back since. More info on the Lhurgoyf in this post.
Phyrexian Ironfoot - Scarily underrated creature. Pseudo-vigilance, survives bolts and combat, and counts as Snow. Usually solicits a scoff or two before he starts pounding naysayers.
Boros Reckoner - An aggressively costed body with some great abilities. Especially useful with your board wipe, since he survives and deals extra damage, and can end games fast if you Skred him. The RRR can be harder to support in piles running many colorless lands. Takes out problem creatures like Restoration Angel in combination with Pyroclasm.
Magus of the Moon - Not so synergistic with Fallout effects, but nice in metas where you really want moons. He still only dies to exactly Lightning Bolt.
Solemn Simulacrum - Jens ramps us up, swings in a pinch, blocks like a champ, and draws us a card when he bites the dust. Utility city. Works best in shells with 4-8 mana rocks.
Thundermaw Hellkite - The main inspiration for re-vamping the deck. For those of you (like me) who shy away from Standard, you really have to play with this guy to believe how good he is. Turns out calling him the red Baneslayer isn't so far fetched after all.
Demigod of Revenge - A great finisher against control decks since he brings back his Mana Leaked buddies. Also significantly less expensive than the dragon alternatives for tight budget players. Run 4 if any.
Stormbreath Dragon - He doesn't come in for 5 as reliably as big bro, but his resilience could earn Stormbreath Dragon a slot. Protection from white renders him invulnerable to Path to Exile, the best removal spell in the format and one of the few that can deal with an enormous dragon. I can't imagine Monstrosity being completely irrelevant, either.
Inferno Titan - Too good not to mention. He has a great ETB, which the other bombs lack, but he's also more expensive than our other options. That said, attack with him once and the game is yours.
Godo, Bandit Warlord - One of the rarer finishers, Godo can Stoneforge out a Batterskull. Not a favorite of mine since he requires two cards, but some decks straight up fold to an unkillable Lifelinking artifact.
Coldsteel Heart - Not a terrible accelerant, and it's Snow. A playset allows the deck to curve out admirably, enabling backbreaking early-game sequences like Bolt-Heart-Solemn-Titan. You generally want less of these the more 3-drops you run and more if you have a lot of 4-drops. If you need more rocks or don't like too big a dependance on Snow, Mind Stone is nice in monored builds.
Blood Moon - This card is pretty unfair in Modern. Shuts down greedy manabases in most popular decks, including UWR, Tron, Jund, Midrange, Zoo, and even Boros. One of the main reasons to play Skred Red.
Koth of the Hammer - Koth is extremely strong and our win-con of choice. His ultimate wins you the game, and it only takes 2 activations of Psionic Blast-ing Mountains to get there. Coldsteel Heart accels into him as early as turn 3. If you want other Planeswalkers, I advise you avoid a split and run 4 Koth first.
Chandra, Pyromancer - Probably our Chandra of choice. When there aren't many dudes to ping, she's basically Bob. If you can get it off, her ultimate will usually find you a Lightning Bolt and burn for lethal. All that said, there are much better things we can do with four mana.
Magma Jet - Sets up your draws and make sure you get business. Alternatively, makes your Scrying Sheets feel like Confidants. Opponents can get pretty discouraged when you're getting free cards off a land every turn.
Volcanic Fallout - The "Can't be countered" clause really brings this spell over the top. Kills Geist, Kiki-Jiki, tokens, and just about anything else you need gone, but on a large scale. Also hits Planeswalkers.
Anger of the Gods - Deals with the creatures the rest of our suite doesn't - namely, Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. Incidentally, God-tier tech against fringe archetypes like Zombies.
Land
Scrying Sheets draws you ridiculous amounts of cards. Close to half of our MD is Snow, which means even with no Magma Jet setup there's a 50% chance you'll get a card for nothing at the opponent's EOT.
Mouth of Ronom - You don't want too many of these, but in my testing 1-2 seems gravy for land-heavy, control-oriented builds. Burns out tough creatures without even making you cast a spell.
Sideboard
Shattering Spree - Ensures wins vs. Affinity. Volcanic Fallout and all the other MD removal is already great against them; even Thundermaw can knock them out. Spree also helps with cards that actually pose a problem for Mono-Red Snow, like Batterskull and a blue Vedalken Shackles. Torch Fiend might be worth testing here, too. Ancient Grudge is much better in versions with a green splash.
Eidolon of the Great Revel - Storm just can't beat this card, and it puts a lot of pressure on UWR-style decks: Snap-Bolt to remove it cost them 1UR and 6 life.
Ratchet Bomb - A catch-all that helps shore up our nastiest matchup, Bogles. That matchup swings in our favor once we resolve a Blood Moon, but if they have pressure on board, Ratchet Bomb makes sure they don't run away with the game.
Chalice of the Void - In decks that run Simian Spirit Guide, Chalice can be great in the side against decks like Delver and Bogles.
Stuffy Doll - The Doll used to be a staple of this archetype since you could hit it with Skred for massive damage, but in an environment filled with Darkblast and Path to Exile, it's best relegated to the Sideboard. Bring it in against decks that have no real answer to it and the card will put in some serious work.
Combust - Stops Twin and gives you some more options against Baneslayer and Restoration Angel. Also nice against Merfolk, since you want as much removal as possible in that matchup.
Batterskull - A beating against aggro decks if you can resolve it, which shouldn't be too hard since the burn spells hold them off for the early game.
If anyone wants to help out with matchup analysis, I'll post what you've got. Just put it in the thread! Happy brewing.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
FYI, back in the day this deck was know as Skred Red, which is a pretty cool name. I have been working on a deck like this based on DOLZero's Moon's Essence deck, though I have not finalized a list or done any testing yet. Another wincon that I came across is Boros Reckoner and/or Spitemare with a big ol' Skred aimed at it. My other off the cuff suggestion is that Magus of the Moon can up your moon count nicely (and I really would play more than four moons if I were you), though it is more vulnerable.
FYI, back in the day this deck was know as Skred Red, which is a pretty cool name. I have been working on a deck like this based on DOLZero's Moon's Essence deck, though I have not finalized a list or done any testing yet. Another wincon that I came across is Boros Reckoner and/or Spitemare with a big ol' Skred aimed at it. My other off the cuff suggestion is that Magus of the Moon can up your moon count nicely (and I really would play more than four moons if I were you), though it is more vulnerable.
Yep, aware of the old name. If I hear about it again I'll change the title of my first post to include it. I've played around a lot with the Moon's Essence deck myself, but been a bit underwhelmed by its performance. My main beefs with it are I don't like the threats they run or the coin flip of an invested land destruction strategy. A green splash for Goyf and mana dorks might work a little better given the importance of 3-drops.
I'd also tested with a few Reckoners and a couple Stuffy Dolls in the main, but they're both more vulnerable than Phyrexian Ironfoot. Too much, IMO, to warrant their inclusion based on a might-kill combo you'll draw sometimes. Usually, I'd rather have a Phyrexian Ironfoot in play than either of those creatures (it's harder to kill and it can swing + block), and the artifact is Snow.
Chandra seems great for weathering creature assaults, which aren't really a problem here given our removal suite. The top-card exile is nice, but wouldn't you rather beat face with a Mountain than draw an extra card? We have Sheets for that anyway!
As of yet I haven't ever wanted more Moon effects in the main, but that might also change with more testing. I can definitely see Magus being included as a 2-of if my meta develops a little more.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
I have a weird love for snow cards so I definetely need to test this. Haven't been around when coldsnap was released but man, I loved Ice Age so much
Also, your nickname is fantastic
Thanks! Happy to hear it, report back when you've tested a bit
Got to play a few matches vs. 8Rack today, another great matchup. Topdeck mode is a joke for us since we're drawing into Hellkite and Koth. Scrying Sheets puts in lots of work here, too.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
I'll be honest and say that I have not tried Ironfoot in years, but I remember not liking it back when it was in Standard due to the need to feed it. If I can find some I will give it a test though.
Chandra seems great for weathering creature assaults, which aren't really a problem here given our removal suite. The top-card exile is nice, but wouldn't you rather beat face with a Mountain than draw an extra card? We have Sheets for that anyway!
I have played around with Scrying Sheets in Modern, and it has it uses, but it also runs in to the same problem as Ironfoot in that it's mana cost to activate gets in the way at times. Besides, I was not talking about running Chandra, Pyromaster in place of Koth, but in addition to him.
I would be inclined to ditch Volcanic Fallout MD and move it to the SB, and would also look and getting rid of Inferno Titan. I feel like that slot can be used better.
What about Kargan Dragonlord in place of Phyrexian Ironfoot? I've seen Kargan Dragonlord used in a few Dragon Stompy lists; this deck looks similar to the Dragon Stompy build, minus the Chalice, Moxen, and Trinisphere.
I'll be honest and say that I have not tried Ironfoot in years, but I remember not liking it back when it was in Standard due to the need to feed it. If I can find some I will give it a test though.
I have played around with Scrying Sheets in Modern, and it has it uses, but it also runs in to the same problem as Ironfoot in that it's mana cost to activate gets in the way at times. Besides, I was not talking about running Chandra, Pyromaster in place of Koth, but in addition to him.
I would be inclined to ditch Volcanic Fallout MD and move it to the SB, and would also look and getting rid of Inferno Titan. I feel like that slot can be used better.
Between the high land count, Scry effects, and ramping artifacts, mana hasn't been a problem for me. Usually it's nice to leave some lands open for Bolt/Jet/Skred/Fallout, but I do wish we had some nice Flash creatures in red (all we have available is Sulfur Elemental, whose uses are pretty limited). Either way, EOT Scrying Sheets draws you a ton of gas and keeps you hitting your land drops. If we were to ditch those, we might as well ditch Phyrexian Ironfoot and Coldsteel Heart for more utility creatures like Grim Lavamancer.
That aside, I can definitely see cutting Inferno Titan and Volcanic Fallout to make room for other things. Maybe a couple more moon effects, but I'd like something that can swing the board.
That's a lot of hate in modern, and has the bonus of trolling all your opponents.
From there you could go many directions.
The problem with a Dragon Stompy shell in Modern is that it's too slow. Chalice for 1 on turn 2 is nice when you get it, but we don't have reliable 2-mana lands so Trinisphere is almost always too late. Then we're playing a deck full of duds while our opponents hammer us with a first-turn Delver. I can see some artifact disruption coming out of the sideboard, but relying on a MD suite doesn't work in this format.
I have similar beef with Kargan Dragonlord, although admittedly I've only played with him a couple times (in Legacy Dragon Stompy). We could use some two-drops, but I'm much more drawn to the Ash Zealots from AngelPagan's list (which seems really nice to me, if possessing a shell more aggro than control).
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
In my mono red snow list I run the Boros Reckoner + Pyroclasm/Skred package and it's been pretty awesome. I'll have to give Ironfoot a try sometime. The Chandra is also on my list of cards to try. A nice maindeck/sideboard card for MRS is Ensnaring Bridge, I recommend you give it a try.
No, seriously, Reckoner is the MVP in here. Allows Pyroclasm to hit stuff it couldn't normally, he discourages attacking as long as you have R open, and allows Skred to be a finisher. Dunno about Chandra, have to really draw into her yet.
I like that list, though it is still different from mine.
I am still working on getting the last few cards, but this is my beta list. I am a little unsure about Coldsteel Heart, but I will give it a shot. I will also try Ironfoot too, to be fair, but only after I give this a whirl. Again, I based this originally off Moon's Essence, then added Skred, Reckoner, and the snow package, then saw this thread. As such it is not really a child of either.
I am still working on getting the last few cards, but this is my beta list. I am a little unsure about Coldsteel Heart, but I will give it a shot. I will also try Ironfoot too, to be fair, but only after I give this a whirl. Again, I based this originally off Moon's Essence, then added Skred, Reckoner, and the snow package, then saw this thread. As such it is not really a child of either.
If you guys are having a lot of success with it, Boros Reckoner might actually be the best direction for the deck. I've changed up my build a little and it's performing better, here's the current list:
The Titans became Chandras, Fallouts became a Hellkite and a Moon, and I cut an Ironfoot for another Mountain. Also went up to a full 4 Magma Jet, never unhappy to see them. I think other than the 2/2 split between Ironfoots and Chandras, this is about as streamlined a direction as we can take Skred Red for now. But again, that doesn't mean it's necessarily the best!
Also, don't know how useful it'll be, but between the Hearts and the Solemns, we can pretty easily splash a second color for SB/MD cards. Just adding a Snow-Covered Forest would let us run Ancient Grudge, for instance.
EDIT -- Not too sure about Chandras anymore. Has anyone had success with her? I never get to use the ultimate and the pinging seems underwhelming. But I have been testing Boros Reckoner and he's nuts. I like him better as a 3-of than as a 4-of; I don't want too many since he can be tough to cast. Keep in mind you can hit him with Mouth of Ronom activation for a quick 4 damage.
I also tried Pyroclasm vs. Volcanic Fallout and the Fallouts are definitely better. Just one more mana for spellshroud and Instant speed is worth it every time, especially since we like leaving mana open to Scry. When you go to 3-4 after board it becomes almost impossible for aggro to win.
As a quick note, against decks that rely on Aether Vial, you're better off bringing in a couple Pithing Needle than you are your Shattering Sprees unless they're running other artifacts too (i.e. Spellskite).
It's still hard to believe how much a house Blood Moon is in this format.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Updated my list, which I've tuned to include Anger of the Gods. The new sweeper manages lots of the deck's enemies, like Finks and Voice, and so far it's been insane in testing. Liking the control variant.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Updated my list, which I've tuned to include Anger of the Gods. The new sweeper manages lots of the deck's enemies, like Finks and Voice, and so far it's been insane in testing. Liking the control variant.
Good stuff! I've been working on a list with Ensnaring Bridge, Young Pyromancer (which is stellar on defense!!) and Goblin Assault which works well when you have 0 cards in hand under bridge. Flame Slash is also good to handle pesky 4 toughness goyfs and loxodon smiters.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy Decks:
Elves
Loam Depths
Goblin Stompy
Kobold Aggro
GB Nic Fit
Pod Nic Fit
12 Post
Pattern Combo
Squirrel Stompy
Modern Decks:
Amulet of Vigor Combo
Restore Balance
Cascade Swans
Mono U Tron
Through the Breach
Elves
Mono Red Control
Tooth and Nail Tron
Leviathans
Good stuff! I've been working on a list with Ensnaring Bridge, Young Pyromancer (which is stellar on defense!!) and Goblin Assault which works well when you have 0 cards in hand under bridge. Flame Slash is also good to handle pesky 4 toughness goyfs and loxodon smiters.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Great job on the primer. I like this list a lot, but I'm trying to do this on a budget, what are some other hard hitting beaters that can go in that Thundermaw Hellkite/Stormbreath Dragon slot. I know there's Inferno Titan, but there have to be some other things.
I'm also curious about what could go in the Blood Moon slot in metas with less complicated mana bases.
Great job on the primer. I like this list a lot, but I'm trying to do this on a budget, what are some other hard hitting beaters that can go in that Thundermaw Hellkite/Stormbreath Dragon slot. I know there's Inferno Titan, but there have to be some other things.
I'm also curious about what could go in the Blood Moon slot in metas with less complicated mana bases.
If your meta doesn't have a lot of nonbasic lands you probably shouldn't be playing this deck. Inferno Titan is the cheapest you can get, nothing else really gives you enough value to be worth the slot. I'm guessing Thundermaw will plummet in price with rotation, so just wait a little longer.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Demigod and Stormbreath are so much better than ThunderMang its not even funny. Stormbreath is soooo sweet.
Enough of the meta is Red that Peak Eruption is rarely a dead card. It used to be Molten Rain but since Theros was spoiled, well I just had to try it out, and 9 times out of 10 it performs the same function. Unfortunately it doesn't hit manlands or Tron, so I may just have to switch it back
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I'm really liking the demigods, but how do we beat UWR control? I'm getting rolled over by cryptic commands and enough spot removal to stop my threats.
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What is Skred Red?
Skred Red is, at its core, a mono-red control deck. It aims to prey on the popular decks of Modern through the use of plentiful, efficient removal, maindeck hate cards like Blood Moon, and hasty, hard-to-answer finishers like Koth of the Hammer, Stormbreath Dragon, and Thundermaw Hellkite. Skred Red also takes advantage of interactions between its cards to grind out an edge in drawn-out games.
At one point, it was a highly low-budget deck, but the recent spike of Blood Moon has driven the cost up considerably. Additionally, with a few top-8 places, the cost of Snow-Covered Mountains has increased considerably, making it the most expensive snow basic out there. It's only $1.50-2.00, but when you need 20 of those, it can add up quickly.
Why play Skred Red?
Skred Red might be the deck for you if:
1) You want a deck that is off the beaten path, but still powerful enough to compete.
2) You love Blood Moon enough to want to run it maindeck.
3) You like decks with lots of opportunity for card interactions to give you an advantage when you have a high level of familiarity with the deck.
4) You like it when your opponent has to read multiple cards you play across the course of the game.
5) You like Red decks, but dislike the linearity of Burn.
Skred Red is likely not the deck for you if:
1) You like colors other than Red
2) You want to pick up a deck at the last minute and steamroll with it.
3) You want to run something that has truly unfair hands that can outright end the game on turn 3 or 4.
The Core of the Deck
4 Dragons[1]
3 Mana Rocks[2]
3 Blood Moon
2 Card Advantage Engines[3]
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
3 Sweepers[4]
20 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Scrying Sheet
Card Choices
*Blood Moon - Very much a central card to the deck. There is almost no matchup in which it is dead, and in some matchups, it can almost singlehandedly give you the game. Against decks like Scapeshift, Tron, and Bloom Titan, it annihilates their primary engines. Against decks like UWR Midrange, Jund, Infect, Affinity, Merfolk, and Grixis, it removes the use of Manlands and hinders mana. Against decks like Abzan and GW Hatebears, it can completely cripple their manabase. Even against the other big Red deck, Burn, it can eliminate their use of splashed cards like Lightning Helix, Atarka's Command, Destructive Revelry, and Kor Firewalker. The matchup it is worst for is U/R Twin, but even there, it can keep them from being able to utilize Cryptic Command.
*Boros Reckoner - Boros Reckoner is "the glue" of Skred Red. It seems pretty unassuming, but it is very much an integral part of the deck. Reckoner provides a solid body that dominates combat in the early game, keeps Planeswalkers safe, increases the power of the deck's Sweepers, converts late-game Skreds into game-enders, allows removal spells to trade up into larger creatures utilizing First Strike, trades with creatures much larger than itself, and forces burn-based removal to be 2-for-1 in your favor.
*Koth of the Hammer - Koth is the other main powerhouse of the deck. His +1 sets up a devastating clock that is extremely hard for control decks to answer, often requiring two or more burn spells just to take him off the board. His -2 can provide a burst of mana to help ramp into the deck's larger threats (or just push them through Mana Leak), as well as opening up opportunities to do things like bounce and replay Batterskull or Monstrify Stormbreath Dragon. His ult can be surprisingly easy to achieve in slower matchups, and makes the game almost un-losable.
*Lightning Bolt - Far and away the most popular card in Modern, this shouldn't really require an explanation. The deck is Red, it runs Bolt.
*Skred - Just four one-mana burn spells isn't sufficient in today's Modern. Skred is a powerful and efficient scalable removal spell, capable of allowing this mono-red deck to take out creatures like Tarmogoyf, Siege Rhino, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Deceiver Exarch, Wurmcoil Engine, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Loxodon Smiter, Primeval Titan, and anything else that escapes the reach of Lightning Bolt. It also combos viciously with Boros Reckoner, allowing for huge reach into the end game.
*Snow-Covered Mountains - Every deck needs mana. These form the base of it. The snow property allows them to fuel Skred as well as Scrying Sheets
*Scrying Sheets - The deck's long-term card advantage engine. Helps dig through land clusters to hit gas, and gives you a mana sink for later in the game. Definitely helps in grindy matchups to pull ahead.
*[1] Dragons - The first major choice any Skred Red deck has to make is which finisher to use. Koth does a good job getting things started, but he often needs some help from "the big boys". There are five major options to fill this slot, and they can frequently be mixed and matched to suit your meta's needs.
-Stormbreath Dragon - Stormbreath is your go-to option if your meta is populated by white decks like Abzan and Jeskai Midrange. He's immune to Path to Exile (in addition to being too large to be Abrupt Decayed or Lightning Bolted), can't be blocked by Lingering Souls tokens, Celestial Colonnade, Restoration Angel, or other commonly-seen fliers. Additionally, his monstrous ability is surprisingly relevant, given Koth and a lot of mana sources in the deck, and it can turn him into a frighteningly fast clock.
-Thundermaw Hellkite - The Thundermaw/Stormbreath debate is certainly a tough one. Thundermaw does not pack Stormbreath's immunity to Path, nor can he swing past an infinite number of Souls tokens, but he has a handy fifth power, allowing him to profitably tangle with Tasigur, Siege Rhino, and reasonably-sized Goyfs and to present a faster clock. Additionally, while he can't get through Souls tokens that come down while he's already out, his enters the battlefield trigger clears all existing Souls tokens, as well as Pestermites and Aven Mindcensors which opens a path for Koth's elementals and any other creatures you might have floating around.
-Demigod of Revenge - If you are not expecting much White, and instead a field of Kolaghan's Command, Liliana of the Veil, Mana Leak, and burn/destroy-based removal, Demigod is the "Dragon" of choice. He does put some constraints on the deck, as you really need to run the full four copies, your mana rocks likely have to be Coldsteel Hearts, you cannot splash any color except black, and a few of your flex slots likely need to go to Faithless Looting. However, the payoff is huge. It's very possible to get two Demigods in and attacking on turn four, which sets up a devastating clock. With at least one in the graveyard, you can circumvent countermagic, and cards like Terminate and Go for the Throat only delay the inevitable.
-Batterskull - Batterskull is something that used to be a solid option for this deck, but is sadly on its way out. It's still a strong card against decks like Burn, but it used to be that Batterskull was one of the few sure-fire ways to beat grindy midrange decks like Jund and Grixis. The printing and popularity of Kolaghan's Command has changed that, however. Now, Batterskull is more of a liability against those decks. It's still strong against Jeskai Midrange and Control, but if those decks are your primary concern, Stormbreath is better. Batterskull is now mostly only a maindeck consideration if your meta is overwhelmed by Burn decks.
-Sarkhan, the Dragon Speaker - Another fringe Dragon option, Sarkhan shines the most against black-based control decks, where the ability to dodge Go for the Throat, Slaughter Pact, Doom Blade, and similar, plus Liliana of the Veil sets him a bit above Stormbreath and Thundermaw. His -3 ability can also be useful to nuke Wilt-Leaf, Smiter, Exarch, and some other 4-toughness creatures.
*[2] Mana Rocks - There are three main choices for accelerants in Skred Red.
-Mind Stone - Mind Stone is a great option for ensuring a turn 3 Koth or a turn 4 Dragon, and later on in the game, it can cycle. This also makes it a stronger option against Kolaghan's Command
-Coldsteel Heart - Heart has a few advantages over Mind Stone. As a Snow permanent, it powers up Skred and can be flipped off of Scrying Sheets. The Skred boost can be useful for getting Skreds up to the pivotal 4 points to take down Deceiver Exarchs flashed in at the end of your third turn. The colored mana can help cast Demigod of Revenge, aid in splashing (especially as this will help offset the loss of snow lands for Sheets), and allow you to save life points on Phyrexian costs like Dismember and Spellskite.
-Simian Spirit Guide - Not strictly a mana rock, but fills a similar role. SSG can allow you to land Blood Moon on turn two, which can help shut off Tron from landing a turn three Karn Liberated on the play or shut down Bloom Titan before it can get rolling. It can allow for a turn three Koth or a turn four Dragon, but not both off of one card. It also aids in the use of some sideboard cards like Eidolon of the Great Revel or Chalice of the Void. And in a pinch, it puts a body in front of Koth, Chandra, or Sarkhan. Overall, it is suited to a more aggressive build, but definitely has its place in some lists.
*[3] Card Advantage Engines - Any good Control deck needs a way to pull ahead into the mid and late game, especially against other grindy midrange and control decks. This slot aims to help do that with one of two options.
-Chandra, Pyromaster - The best Chandra yet printed, she's flexible and powerful. Her +1 can be used to pick off low-toughness creatures like Souls tokens, Pestermite, Snapcaster Mage, Aven Mindcensor, mana dorks, and similar, put 4-toughness guys into Bolt range, or just run Koth tokens or Reckoner through large blockers. Her +0 is her primary ability, however, allowing you to pseudo-draw once your gas starts running low.
-Outpost Siege - The deck doesn't have the volume of creatures necessary to make use of Dragons mode, but the Khans mode here does a good impression of Chandra without the inherent vulnerability of the Planeswalker card type. There are a few disadvantages, such not being able to control when to exile a card, not being able to ping, no immediate ability to impact the board. In metas with lots of burn and creatures with more than one toughness, Outpost Siege is generally the stronger option.
*[4] Sweepers - What control deck is complete without a way to clear the board? Sweepers allow Skred Red to deal with large groups of creatures. Combining them with Boros Reckoner also gives the opportunity to take out larger creatures or convert damage into your opponent's face. There are several good options.
-Pyroclasm - It's the cheapest sweeper out there, and it doesn't damage players, which makes it ideal to take out Burn's creatures quickly and safely. It can also curtail swarm decks like Merfolk or Elves before they reach a critical mass.
-Volcanic Fallout - Fallout offers three advantages over 'Clasm. Instant speed allows it to interact with combo decks like Abzan Company, Elves, and Twin in response to them trying to go off, and gives it a shot at manlands like Inkmoth Nexus, Blinkmoth Nexus, and Creeping Tar Pit. Uncounterability increases the chances of being able to successfully clear blue decks like Twin, Delver, and Merfolk. And player damage helps this to finish off planeswalkers like Liliana and can increase the clock against creature-light and combo decks like Bloom Titan, Scapeshift, and Tron. The biggest disadvantage is that the player damage can be suicidal against Burn decks.
-Anger of the Gods - Three damage is only relevant against a few decks in the format, mainly Zoo, but Anger offers several other advantages. The Exile clause is useful for securing a clean kill on cards like Kitchen Finks, Voice of Resurgence, and Wurmcoil Engine (when combined with a Bolt, Skred, Reckoner, or artifact destruction), and can help keep the power of Kolaghan's Command and Tasigur, the Golden Fang down. Three damage might kill your own Boros Reckoner, but it also allows that Reckoner's reflected damage to take out Goyf, Tasigur, Rhino, Primeval Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, and other large creatures.
-Blasphemous Act - It can be difficult to get Blasphemous Act into a castable range against many decks, but against Lingering Souls decks and some other swarm decks, it's feasible. The payoff when it does work is huge, being large enough to wipe out even the bigger of creatures, and turning Boros Reckoner into a 13-point burn spell.
-Other Options - Anger, Pyroclasm, and Fallout are by far the most popular and useful options, but there are a few others to consider out there. Earthquake is fully scalable, and can take advantage of Koth mana for early kills. Bonfire of the Damned is one-sided, making it an interesting prospect for lists that run some more small creatures and potentially no Reckoners. Chain Reaction is like Blasphemous Act in that it cares about multiple creatures in play, but hitting 3-4 creatures to make it lethal to the board with a decent Reckoner bounce is potentially easier than getting the 5-6 creatures needed to really cast Act. Flamebreak is an option if you find yourself up against regenerating threats, like Elves with Ezuri, Renegade Leader.
*[5] Flex Slots - One of the biggest advantages of Skred Red is the fact that the core of the deck is compact enough to allow for a great degree of flexibility in deck construction to combat the meta. In addition to being able to change out Dragons, Mana Rocks, Sweepers, and Card Advantage Engines, there are a number of available slots to tinker with the other numbers. This can be as simple as upping the Blood Moon count to four in preparation for facing an influx of Tron decks, increasing the number of sweepers to handle Abzan Company and other aggro decks, adding a few more Dragons or Chandras, or experimenting with some 1-ofs or maindeck hate cards. Some of the best options include:
-Additional Removal - Roast can help you face decks full of Tasigur, Goyf, and Rhino. Magma Jet helps deal with smaller creatures while improving card quality. Harvest Pyre is another scalable instant removal spell that can take out big guys or turn Reckoner into a kill. Dismember is another way to take out Tasigur, Goyf, and Rhino, while also killing Deceiver Exarch well in a pinch with instant speed, and can deal with pro-red creatures like Kor Firewalker. Pyrite Spellbomb is another piece of removal that can kill pro-red creatures like Firewalker or Affinity's Etched Champion, while also cycling in matches where removal is less relevant.
-Faithless Looting - Looting does a lot to help improve the card quality of the deck. Scrying Sheets generates pure card advantage, but always in the form of additional mana sources. Turning those instead into real cards can help improve the card quality enough to grind out an edge. Especially potent in Demigod of Revenge lists, where it can enable multiple Demigods on the first cast. Also helps to dig for 1- or 2-of silver bullets, making something like 2 maindeck Relic or Spellskite more potent. Can also help when you draw multiple copies of Blood Moon against decks that can't remove it.
-Relic of Progenitus - A lot of decks rely on maindeck graveyard interactions, whether it be Kitchen Finks, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster Mage, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Grim Lavamancer, Kolaghan's Command, or Eternal Witness. Relic puts a stop to these shenanigans, and in the worst case, can cycle.
-Spellskite - Skite is one of the strongest silver bullets in Modern. Against Twin, he can soak up Splinter Twin to keep them from going off. Against Affinity, he can block Etched Champion and steal Arcbound Ravager's Modular counters. Against burn, he can absorb attacks and soften burn spells. He steals auras against Bogles. He can blunt Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle triggers against Scapeshift. He can help keep Blood Moon safe from Karn or Nature's Claim against tron. He survives our sweepers and walls for Koth and other walkers. The little robo-horror that could is a lock for the sideboard, and can even take a few slots maindeck in a pinch.
-Reach - Shrine of Burning Rage provides a slow, but steady way to build up to a lethal burnout, especially for those games where you draw a lot of removal spells but few win conditions. Red Sun's Zenith and Banefire provide powerful X spells to pour Koth mana into, with the former offering re-usability and exile to fight Finks and similar, and the latter providing uncounterability to help the Twin matchup.
-Commune with Lava - Another way to generate card advantage in the mid to late game, an end-of-turn Commune for 2-4 can help give you the cards you need to stabilize or win a match.
-Other Finishers - With Koth at the core of the deck, accelerating above 5 mana is very possible. Inferno Titan and Wurmcoil Engine are very strong options at six mana. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a powerful planeswalker at 8. Wildfire or Destructive Force theoretically combine very well with Koth, enabling you to clear the board for Koth to drive to victory.
-Solemn Simulacrum - Especially for lists packing things like Titan, Wurmcoil, or Ugin, Solemn tends to show up as an additional way to ramp. Some of these lists even go so far as to eschew Boros Reckoner for Solemn, making for a more "Big SkRed" type list.
Sideboard Options
Additionally, cards like Relic of Progenitus, Roast, Dismember, Spellskite, Batterskull, and additional sweepers that can take up flex slots in Skred are great inclusions in the sideboard as well. Beyond those cards, there are many options to fill the sideboard slots to help with your weaker matchups or against your meta.
-Rending Volley - One of the best possible answers to Twin, it kills Deceiver Exarch uncounterably and for a single mana. It's also a potent weapon against Jeskai decks, where it nukes Celestial Colonnade, Restoration Angel, and most other threats they can field uncounterably, and it does good work against Wilted Abzan, where it can kill Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege effortlessly. It's also a consideration against Abzan Company decks, as it makes for another good answer to Kitchen Finks or Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit when they try to combo out. It's also worth noting that, in a pinch, Volley can be turned on your own Boros Reckoner to secure the final four points to the face. Combust is another option for this same slot, but is largely outclassed by Volley's lower mana cost, considering the only real target with 5 toughness is Siege Rhino.
-Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, Shatterstorm - Affinity is an omnipresent threat, and it's always a good idea to be prepared for it. Shattering Spree and Vandalblast are more universally-applicable, as they can be used to do things like blow up Tron's turn one Expedition Map or Bloom Titan's turn one Amulet of Vigor to keep them off of an unanswerable turn two or three. Shattering Spree offers the ability to destroy 2-4 of Affinity's artifacts in one go, while Vandalblast has a Shatterstorm mode that is better for answering Etched Champion and keeping your opponent from simply funneling all of the targeted artifacts into a Ravager Modular trigger aimed at Blinkmoth Nexus or Inkmoth Nexus
-Dragon's Claw - If burn is big in your meta, this is one of the better answers. It's a rather specific one though, as it doesn't come in against any other decks, so it has to be a meta call.
-Chalice of the Void - Strongest in Simian Spirit Guide lists that can land it for one on turn one, this is a niche answer card that can help in several specific matchups. Against Tron, you can keep them off of Map, their Chromatics, and Ancient Stirrings, which can really make them falter. Against Storm, you can shut down their cantrips at 1 or their rituals and Pyromancer's Ascension at 2. Against Burn, you generally want to drop it at 2 to shut down Lightning Helix, Skullcrack, Boros Charm, Destructive Revelry, Smash to Smithereens, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and Atarka's Command. Landing one at 1 mana against burn can shut down their one drops and Bolts, but comes at the expense of being able to use your own Bolts and Skreds, which is often not worthwhile, especially when they can just hit it with Revelry or Smash.
-Boil - A strong option against Twin, Blue Tron, Scapeshift, Jeskai, and other blue decks. Cast it endphase, and they either have to expend their mana and countermagic stopping it, or you remove their ability to cast countermagic almost entirely. Untap into a Dragon or other big threat and you've got it made. Against Twin, it's a strong response to an EOT Exarch, especially if you can destroy enough Islands to leave them unable to cast Splinter Twin. Against Scapeshift, if they cast Scapeshift without floating the rest of their mana, allow it to resolve and then respond to the Valakut triggers by Boiling their Steam Vents to fizzle the intervening if clause.
-Sowing Salt, Molten Rain, Fulminator Mage - Additional Land Disruption is a must against decks that are weak to Blood Moon, as you must prepare for them to board in answers to the Moon. Sowing Salt is by far the strongest effect here, but it also has the highest cost. Hitting a Valakut or a red Shockland against Scapeshift can leave them 100% incapable of comboing (though resolving it can be difficult). Hit any Tron piece and break up Tron forever. Hit manlands to remove them entirely as a threat. Fulminator Mage and Molten Rain are a little faster to come out though, so they can often disrupt decks fast enough to make a difference. Fulminator Mage is strong in the Bloom Titan match, where it can hit a Bounceland in response to its Amulet and Bounce triggers to keep them from getting any mana out of it and force them to bounce another land. It can also screw up a careless Scapeshift player by knocking their Mountain count under six when they try to go off. Molten Rain is actually strongest for its ability to hit basics, which can keep people from being able to play around Blood Moon.
-Engineered Explosives, Ratchet Bomb - These can be used to clear the board of tokens or to take out some problematic permanents like Bogles' hexproof dudes.
-Guttural Response, Defense Grid, Vexing Shusher - Against heavy permission decks, these help to resolve your key spells. Beware the double-edge of Defense Grid, however, as the increased cost can stop you from interfering with someone's combo.
Torpor Orb - Shuts down Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, Restoration Angel, Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch (including their ability to combo), Siege Rhino, Kitchen Finks, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, and others.
Pithing Needle - Shuts down Planeswalkers like Liliana and Karn, can slow down Twin (name Deceiver Exarch to stop them from being able to Twin off of Exarch), manlands like Celestial Colonnade, and similar. Can help fight Goryo's Vengeance decks by naming Griselbrand, and can stop Ad Nauseam from going off by naming Lightning Storm. Expedition Map or Oblivion Stone in addition to Karn against Tron. Tasigir, the Golden Fang to shut off his mill-draw ability. Viscera Seer against Abzan Company.
Variants
Color Splash
One of the easiest variations to make on the Skred Red list is splashing a second color. This can be easily accomplished through the following swaps
5 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Mind Stone
1 Flex Slot
1 Shockland
1 Snow Basic
4 Coldsteel Heart
This maintains the snow count between the two lists (assuming the first started with Mind Stone), while adding 9 sources of the splash color.
What can a splash accomplish?
Black Splash: Slaughter Games in the sideboard is the absolute best silver bullets against Scapeshift decks, while also doing work against Tron (especially Blue Tron), Twin, and other Control or Combo lists. It makes casting Dismember easier, and provides access to Terminate, Dreadbore, Rakdos Charm, and Kolaghan's Command as sideboard or maindeck options. It also makes casting Demigod of Revenge easier.
White Splash: Soulfire Grand Master can turn Sweepers into a huge lifegain, and can gain a lot of life off of Bolts and Skreds while allowing you to buy them back. Lightning Helix and Ajani Vengeant are also powerful cards to splash into flex slots or Chandra's slot. White also provides access to a number of powerful sideboard cards like Path to Exile, Stony Silence, Wear // Tear, and Rest in Peace. White splash also maintains the ease of playing Boros Reckoner.
Blue Splash: Snapcaster Mage is always a strong consideration for decks that run efficient removal spells. Ral Zarek is a solid contender for Chandra's slot, and cards like Mana Leak, Remand, and Electrolyze are always strong. Stubborn Denial is effective with Koth Elementals and Dragons.
Green Splash: Tarmogoyf would be the first place I'd look to in a green splash. He's an efficient beater who survives your sweepers and can end games quickly if you clear his way. This seems ideal in an All-In/Aggressive style list with Simian Spirit Guide and Eidolon of the Great Revel. Sideboard gives access to Destructive Revelry and Feed the Clan as potential options.
Example Black-Splash List
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Coldsteel Heart
1 Spellskite
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Blood Moon
4 Koth of the Hammer
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
2 Faithless Looting
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Blood Crypt
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Scrying Sheets
15 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Slaughter Games
3 Rending Volley
1 Blood Moon
1 Spellskite
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rakdos Charm
2 Vandalblast
1 Dismember
2 Sowing Salt
Heavy White Splash - Swans
A heavier Splash can be taken with White in particular, which provides access to Swans of Bryn Argoll as an amazing Skred and Sweeper synergy. Swans likely takes the place of Koth, as additional Snow Plains will be needed in this list, which hurts Koth's -2. A list with Reckoner, Soulfire Grand Master, and Swans makes heavy use of sweepers, including Blasphemous Act, to generate extreme value. This also provides access to the strong Burn answer of Kor Firewalker in the sideboard. The build listed below is theoretical and untested.
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Swans of Bryn Argol
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Coldsteel Heart
3 Blood Moon
2 Ajani Vengeant
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
2 Lightning Helix
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Scrying Sheets
11 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Wear // Tear
2 Stony Silence
3 Rest in Peace
3 Rending Volley
1 Blood Moon
1 Spellskite
Big Skred
Touched on earlier, this is the list that foregoes Boros Reckoner in favor of Solemn Simulacrum and 6+ mana threats like Wurmcoil Engine, Inferno Titan, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Scrying Sheets
21 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Batterskull
3 Blood Moon
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mind Stone
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Pyroclasm
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Skred
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Volcanic Fallout
1 Boil
3 Combust
4 Dragon's Claw
2 Molten Rain
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Shattering Spree
2 Shatterstorm
Ponza Skred
Skred can also be retooled slightly to be a LD-heavy disruptive force. Maindeck Fulminator Mage replaces Reckoner, Deus of Calamity fills the Dragon slot, and Destructive Force lands a coup-de-grace leaving behind a Deus or a Koth to finish the job. The build below is theoretical and untested.
4 Deus of Calamity
3 Blood Moon
4 Coldsteel Heart
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Molten Rain
2 Destructive Force
2 Scrying Sheets
All-in Skred
Simian Spirit Guide can rush out an early Blood Moon to lock down decks even faster, but sacrifices some of the late game in exchange. To compensate, the deck runs a lower and more aggressive curve, splashing Green for Goyf.
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Rending Volley
3 Shattering Spree
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
Double Dragons
Thunderbreak Regent has brought up the possibility of running a Dragon-heavy list, with Regents in the Koth slot. With 8+ dragons with 4 or more toughness and CMC, it makes for more threats than your opponent can reasonably deal with, and Thunderbreaks will apply pressure even when dealt with. Once Origins releases, Avaricious Dragon can join the ranks, taking the Chandra/Outpost slot as a card advantage engine (just be wary of leaving yourself open to Twin combo this way).
Tips and Tricks
Boros Reckoner Tricks:
When facing down a creature too large to Lightning Bolt, Sweep, or Skred to death, a well-timed Reckoner combat can make the difference. Remember Reckoner's First Strike ability - you can use to trade a Lightning Bolt one-for-one with a 5/6 Tarmogoyf, a Wurmcoil Engine's front side (and a First Strike Reckoner makes quick work of the tokens), a Primeval Titan, or anything smaller. Similarly, a Volcanic Fallout after First Strike damage can clear up to a 7-toughness creature, or a 5-toughness blocker plus a 4/4.
Skred, Combust, Roast, Harvest Pyre, and Rending Volley can be aimed at Reckoner to get their damage to go towards someone's face instead of a creature. You can also use this to turn Combust/Volley damage into something that can hit a non-Blue/White creature, but at the cost of 2-for-1ing yourself.
Sweepers with Reckoners out can mean extra damage to the face. I've ended multiple games by casting Anger of the Gods or Volcanic Fallout with two Reckoners out for a surprise 6.
Anger of the Gods with a Reckoner out will cleanly kill a Wurmcoil Engine.
If you run Batterskull, equipping it on a Reckoner allows you to gain life off of the "reflected" damage when Reckoner takes damage.
When all else fails, Reckoner will trade one-for-one with most creatures via reflected damage.
Koth of the Hammer Tricks:
Koth's +1 can target anyone's Mountain. This includes nonbasics that have been Mountainized under Blood Moon. This can be combined with Skred, Sarkhan, the Dragon Speaker's -3, Chandra, Pyromaster's +1 plus a Bolt, or various configurations of Sweepers (Pyromaster +1 plus Anger of the Gods, Volcanic Fallout + Boros Reckoner) to destroy opposing nonbasics, which can make it so decks like Tron and Scapeshift can't recover even if they do eventually remove your Moon. Even just doing this to Scapeshift's random Mountains can keep them from going off and potentially even use up too many Mountains from their deck to prevent them from ever going off.
Koth's -2 can make for an unexpected burst of mana. Utilize this to make Stormbreath Dragon Monstrous, resolve spells through suspected Mana Leaks or recast them after being Remanded, bounce and recast Batterskull, or to equip Batterskull.
Koth's +1 untaps a land, which can be used to ramp you by one mana instead of just bashing.
Miscellaneous Tips:
Scrying Sheets can be used to check whether you want to Chandra, Pyromaster +0. If you see a situational card that you don't want to exile (like Skred), you can just +1 her instead.
If you have both Scrying Sheets active in the late game, and the first activation reveals a non-snow permanent, Relic of Progenitus, Pyrite Spellbomb, or Mind Stone can be used to draw the top card to give the second activation a chance to hit snow.
If you run Simian Spirit Guide, you can use it to bluff being defenseless. Tap out against Twin, and when they try to go off, exile Guide and Rending Volley their Exarch. This can also be used to give Reckoner first strike unexpectedly or throw a Bolt, Skred, or Fallout out when it's not expected.
Matchups
UR Twin - The biggest fear in game one of this matchup is that they combo off early. For lists without Coldsteel Heart, there's very little way to respond to an EOT Deceiver Exarch on turn three into a Splinter Twin on turn four for the win. Coldsteel Heart helps ever so slightly, allowing a turn three Skred to be able to do the deed, and maindeck Dismember helps as well, but overall game one is disadvantaged, especially if they are playing a tuned combo list, and especially if you are on the draw. To make matters worse, this is the least useful matchup for Blood Moon. Once you get outside the first few turns, Skred becomes capable of taking out Exarch easily, but you still have to fear Twin with countermagic mana up (especial against lists that pack Dispel). Overall, you end up having to walk on eggshells a lot, which throws you behind on curve, and they can toss out Mana Leak or Remand if you do try to drop an aggressive threat. Maindeck Spellskite is tremendously helpful here if you've got it.
Game two, Spellskite and Rending Volley can turn things much more in your favor. Simply having to leave a single red up to represent Volley will leave you much more capable of dropping Koth and Dragons. They may even expect Volley and board out the combo and go for the attrition route, which you can handle fairly well with multiple hard-to-answer threats and plentiful removal. Take the game very slow, holding a Dragon until you have 3 or even 4 spare mana up to play around Leaks.
Grixis Twin - Much like the UR Twin, this matchup is tough on game one because of their combo. They give up a bit of consistency in comboing to have a stronger attrition game. Relic of Progenitus really shines here, hampering Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command, and Tasigur, The Golden Fang. Watch for Thoughtseize to check for Skred/Rending Volley, and try to hold back at least one land so they can't strip your only removal spell with a Kola's Command. Blood Moon is a little stronger here, but they play Moons of their own in the board, so you can't count on it, and it probably comes out in the follow-on games, especially if you're on the draw. Otherwise, treat it about the same as you would UR Twin, only value Relic higher and try to reserve a Skred, Roast, or Dismember for the eventual Tasigur.
Jund - Jund is like Grixis Twin without countermagic or the omnipresent threat of combo. Graveyard hate is very powerful, as it can blank Tarmogoyf, hurt Kola's Command, and strand Tasigur in hand. Moon is decent, but not amazing, as they can play around it to play their own from the sideboard. Liliana of the Veil is one of the most problematic cards in here, as this is an attrition matchup and she will often represent a 2-for-1 or better in their favor, especially as her -2 can trade with any Dragon you can run besides Batterskull (which is Kola's fuel) or Sarkhan. Bring in any graveyard hate that's on the bench, and any removal spells that can hit big dudes. It's a tough matchup, but it's winnable, especially if you make sure to play your Dragons with backup from other creatures to avoid being Liliana-gibbed.
Junk - Junk is a very similar matchup to Jund. They play even more large creatures, and Path to Exile is problematic if your Dragons aren't of the Stormbreath variety. Stormbreath is huge against them though, and Blood Moon is way better than it is against Jund or Grixis lists. Bring in anything that can kill fatties and graveyard hate again, and hope you picked correctly with your Dragons.
Burn - Boros Reckoner is the king of this matchup, as he holds their creatures at bay, and removing him means you get to eat one of their creatures in the process. Cheap removal at instant speed keeps their dudes from chipping away too much at your life total, and you've basically just got to hope they don't draw 7 Bolts before you can get a Dragon swing or two in. Post-board, bring in Batterskull, Wurmcoil Engine, Dragon's Claw, Spellskite, Chalice of the Void, and any other lifegain or disruption you can pack.
Affinity - Plentiful removal is strong here as well, as most of their creatures are small. Prioritize Steel Overseer, Arcbound Ravager, and Master of Etherium, as they can make even their other small creatures powerful. Be wary of Cranial Plating on a Metalcrafted Etched Champion, as that will be a big way you can lose game one. Bringing in artifact destruction, Spellskite, and/or Pyrite Spellbomb helps games two and three. Vandalblast is a complete beating against them. Skite can block Champion early and can steal Ravager's Modular counters. Spellbomb is useful for picking off Champions.
Infect - As a deck with a lot of instant removal, we have an edge over Infect with proper play. It's very important not to take the bait of trying to remove a creature during your opponent's attack step. The ideal time to remove creatures is post-combat, where any pump spells serve to save a creature but can't also add infect damage. Volcanic Fallout is very strong here, because an un-kicked Vines of Vastwood won't save any creatures. Any additional removal from the sideboard can help, including Rending Volley for Blighted Agent, artifact destruction for Spellskite or Ichorclaw Myr, and land destruction for Inkmoth Nexus.
RG Tron - The Tron matchup is largely defined by Blood Moon. Landing a game one Blood Moon before Tron can manage a Karn Liberated is the key to success. In practice, this means one of three things - You have to be on the play, you have to have Simian Spirit Guide, or they have to not have the "godhand" of three tron pieces + Karn or two tron pieces + Map + Karn. On the draw, against a godhand, without the Spirit Guide, there's very little you can do. Games two and three, things get easier, but also a little harder. Vandalblast or Shattering Spree can take out a turn one map to delay the turn three Tron long enough to land Blood Moon. However, Nature's Claim can remove Blood Moon, making it far from a complete lock. Sowing Salt is a real ace in the hole here, allowing you to permanently break up Tron, and with a mana rock, you can do it as fast as you'd be able to Moon. Other land destruction like Molten Rain or Fulminator Mage can also help here. Spellskite is another decent inclusion, as it can protect Blood Moon from Nature's Claim or a Karn -3. I've even managed to nab an Oblivion Stone fate counter before with it.
U Tron - The good news is that Blue Tron is much less consistent with its "godhands", as it tends not to run Karn. The bad news is that Mana Leak, Remand, Condescend, Spell Blast, and Repeal do a lot to keep Blood Moon from landing, and can just bounce it when it does, plus run a fair number of basics and Solemn Simulacrum, allowing them to function fairly well even with a Moon out. Countermagic also makes Sowing Salt much harder to resolve in game two. Boil is helpful if you run it, but even that is no guarantee of success. The really good news is that this archetype is rarely seen, as Tron decks tend to favor the RG list.
Jeskai Midrange/Control - These are really two different lists, but they play pretty similarly. Volcanic Fallout is better against Midrange, where it can take out Geist of Saint Traft with ease. Against both lists, Koth is very hard to answer, as is Stormbreath Dragon with either generally requiring multiple burn spells and/or Snapcaster Mage. With Relics foiling the Mages, these lists struggle against our threats. Blood Moon hampers their mana greatly while shutting off Celestial Colonnade. Rending Volley from the sideboard makes the matchup even stronger, as it can kill Restoration Angel, Colonnade, Snapcaster, or Clique uncounterably.
Storm - Storm is one of the weaker matchups for Skred, but like Blue Tron, it is not commonly seen. As a board-control deck, we struggle when the opposing deck wants to play entirely from the hand and the stack, with Relic of Progenitus being one of the few (possibly) maindeck cards that can interact with them. Blood Moon can also help, but they can mostly function off of red mana, especially on their combo turn. Games two and three, additional Relics, Chalice of the Void, and Eidolon of the Great Revel are all good things to bring in, but barring any of these, you just accept that it's a bad matchup and hope to dodge it.
Ad Nauseam - Another deck like Storm that aims to play mostly from the hand and stack, and Ad Nauseam doesn't even have the good grace to rely on their graveyard for Past in Flames and Pyromancer Ascension. Game one is almost guaranteed in their favor. Game two, Eidolon and Chalice can help again, but neither is a guarantee, as Phyrexian Unlife and Angel's Grace can keep them alive through Eidolon triggers, and having the two key pieces be at two different mana costs means Chalice can't stop both. Spellskite can help by redirecting Lightning Storm, but if your opponent has enough lands to keep pointing it back at you, this can still end the game. Pithing Needle can be used to shut off the ability to charge Lightning Storm. Both of these answers can be dispatched by boarded-in artifact destruction, however. Shattering Spree or Vandalblast can take out a Pentad Prism or Lotus Bloom before they're ready to go off, but this is another matchup you mostly hope to dodge.
Goryo's Vengeance - Another combo deck, another poor matchup. Relic of Progenitus helps keep Goryo's Vengeance itself somewhat contained, and Chalice of the Void on two can stop both Vengeance and Rituals. Otherwise, you mostly hope that they Griselbrand themselves low enough that a well-timed Bolt in response to Nourishing Shoal can do the trick.
Bloom Titan - This matchup plays out much like Tron, with the big differences being that Blood Moon hurts them even more, but their "godhands" are both faster and more game-ending, despite being less consistent. Sometimes, they'll have the turn one Amulet into turn two Bloom, Titan/Hive Mind. And sometimes, we cast Blood Moon and they cry. Chalice of the Void on one stops Ancient Stirrings and Amulet of Vigor, while Shattering Spree and Vandalblast can pick off a turn one Amulet to stop the godhand games two and three. Fulminator Mage is a definite ace in the hole as well, as destroying their only Bounceland in response to its untap and bounce triggers can set them majorly back.
Scapeshift - Like Mono-U Tron, this is a matchup where Blood Moon is very strong, assuming you can resolve it. Plentiful countermagic makes your job very hard, and stops Sowing Salt from being a major crippling blow as well. Bring in Molten Rain, Fulminator Mage, Sowing Salt, and Boil if you have them, and hope for the best in resolving them. As mentioned when discussing Boil, if they do not float mana while casting Scapeshift, you can pass priority and have it resolve without giving them the opportunity, which can sometimes allow you to Boil your way out with Valakut triggers on the stack. If this matchup is extremely popular in your area, consider the black splash for Slaughter Games, as that is a complete beating against them. Spellskite can also help here, as, worst-case scenario, you can redirect all of the Valakut triggers to Spellskite to reduce them to 2 per instead of 3 per.
Merfolk - Volcanic Fallout is your best friend here, as it can make quick work of the army of fish without the chance to respond. Do beware if they have an active Vial to add an extra lord, especially if it would add enough lords to keep any from dying. Either way, we have boatloads of removal, especially when bringing in Rending Volley from the sideboard, and we don't particularly care about Spreading Seas, which makes their life difficult.
Abzan Company - Volcanic Fallout is also a key player here, as it can take out their board after they try to Company into a combo. The large amount of removal in this matchup is also key. Bring in Rending Volley to hit Finks or Anafenza in response to the Bolster trigger as another way to break off the combo, and mostly just ride a high number of sweepers and spot removal to victory. Relic of Progenitus is also solid here, as it can exile Finks before persist, and Blood Moon can play hell with their mana.
Elves - Much like Abzan Company, Elves hates nothing more than staring down a hand full of instant-speed removal. Prioritize Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Elvish Archdruid with Bolts and Skreds to keep the rest of the force vulnerable to Fallout. Relic, Blood Moon, and Rending Volley are all worse in this matchup than against Abzan, but do bring in any other sweepers or spot removal you might have on the bench, like Dismember, Roast, Engineered Explosives/Ratchet Bomb, Pyrite Spellbomb, and similar.
Grixis Delver - Volcanic Fallout is again very good here, taking out even flipped Delvers plus Young Pyromancer and all of his tokens uncounterably. Relic of Progenitus hampers Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang, but it's still worth holding a Skred, Dismember, or Roast in reserve for Tasigur in case one sneaks through anyways. Rending Volley is not a bad inclusion in games 2 and 3, as it provides another uncounterable way to pick off Delver, Clique, and Snapcaster. Chandra does good work here as well, killing everything except flipped Delver and Tasigur or other delve fatties.
Wilted Abzan - The bad news is that they run a huge number of 4+ toughness creatures, more even than traditional Abzan lists. The good news is that Boros Reckoner tricks or combining sweepers with bolts can allow you to chew through these without giving up card parity. Rending Volley is a great inclusion from the board to hit Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-leaf Liege. Anger of the Gods is the strongest sweeper in this matchup, as it cleanly kills Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence. Stormbreath Dragon is the strongest Dragon choice against this deck, as it has protection from practically every card in the deck besides Noble Hierarch.
Bogles - Bogles is not a popular choice, because it is extremely swingy, and this matchup is no exception. Mainboard Spellskite makes game one a joke, and if you don't have it, they'll be the ones laughing. Games two and three, boarded in Spellskites do tons of work, and cards like Engineered Explosives or Ratchet Bomb help a lot too.
Currently Playing:
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Skred Red has been one of my favorite decks since its jaunt in Standard some years ago, and with the new tools available in Modern (namely, Koth and Thundermaw) I think the archetype could prove quite powerful. The deck would owe its success, of course, to MD Blood Moon, which shuts down most strategies in highly developed metas.
A sample monored list:
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
Other Permanents (12)
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Blood Moon
4 Koth of the Hammer
Instants/Sorceries (19)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
4 Magma Jet
3 Pyroclasm
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Anger of the Gods
19 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Scrying Sheets
2 Shattering Spree
2 Combust
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Defense Grid
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Let's look at our options...
Creatures
Grim Lavamancer - Definitely one of the greats. Absolutely dominates creature-infested metas.
Tarmogoyf - If you have the financial resources to splash green for the priciest creature in the format, I strongly suggest you do so. I've only begun testing with Tarmogoyf in the last month, but I haven't looked back since. More info on the Lhurgoyf in this post.
Simian Spirit Guide - Helps rush out Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, Thundermaw Hellkite, or anything else you might need a turn earlier. Doubles as a lackluster body in the late game.
Phyrexian Ironfoot - Scarily underrated creature. Pseudo-vigilance, survives bolts and combat, and counts as Snow. Usually solicits a scoff or two before he starts pounding naysayers.
Boros Reckoner - An aggressively costed body with some great abilities. Especially useful with your board wipe, since he survives and deals extra damage, and can end games fast if you Skred him. The RRR can be harder to support in piles running many colorless lands. Takes out problem creatures like Restoration Angel in combination with Pyroclasm.
Magus of the Moon - Not so synergistic with Fallout effects, but nice in metas where you really want moons. He still only dies to exactly Lightning Bolt.
Solemn Simulacrum - Jens ramps us up, swings in a pinch, blocks like a champ, and draws us a card when he bites the dust. Utility city. Works best in shells with 4-8 mana rocks.
Thundermaw Hellkite - The main inspiration for re-vamping the deck. For those of you (like me) who shy away from Standard, you really have to play with this guy to believe how good he is. Turns out calling him the red Baneslayer isn't so far fetched after all.
Demigod of Revenge - A great finisher against control decks since he brings back his Mana Leaked buddies. Also significantly less expensive than the dragon alternatives for tight budget players. Run 4 if any.
Stormbreath Dragon - He doesn't come in for 5 as reliably as big bro, but his resilience could earn Stormbreath Dragon a slot. Protection from white renders him invulnerable to Path to Exile, the best removal spell in the format and one of the few that can deal with an enormous dragon. I can't imagine Monstrosity being completely irrelevant, either.
Inferno Titan - Too good not to mention. He has a great ETB, which the other bombs lack, but he's also more expensive than our other options. That said, attack with him once and the game is yours.
Godo, Bandit Warlord - One of the rarer finishers, Godo can Stoneforge out a Batterskull. Not a favorite of mine since he requires two cards, but some decks straight up fold to an unkillable Lifelinking artifact.
Other permanents
Pyrite Spellbomb - 2 damage might seem underwhelming, but the Spellbomb handles protection-from-Red creatures like Master of Waves and Etched Champion. Highly meta-dependent.
Coldsteel Heart - Not a terrible accelerant, and it's Snow. A playset allows the deck to curve out admirably, enabling backbreaking early-game sequences like Bolt-Heart-Solemn-Titan. You generally want less of these the more 3-drops you run and more if you have a lot of 4-drops. If you need more rocks or don't like too big a dependance on Snow, Mind Stone is nice in monored builds.
Blood Moon - This card is pretty unfair in Modern. Shuts down greedy manabases in most popular decks, including UWR, Tron, Jund, Midrange, Zoo, and even Boros. One of the main reasons to play Skred Red.
Koth of the Hammer - Koth is extremely strong and our win-con of choice. His ultimate wins you the game, and it only takes 2 activations of Psionic Blast-ing Mountains to get there. Coldsteel Heart accels into him as early as turn 3. If you want other Planeswalkers, I advise you avoid a split and run 4 Koth first.
Chandra, Pyromancer - Probably our Chandra of choice. When there aren't many dudes to ping, she's basically Bob. If you can get it off, her ultimate will usually find you a Lightning Bolt and burn for lethal. All that said, there are much better things we can do with four mana.
Burn/Board maintenance
Lightning Bolt - Best burn spell ever printed.
Skred - Best burn spell ever printed if you're running Snow lands. Takes out Goyf, Celestial Colonnade, Deceiver Exarch, and Restoration Angel, which is huge - and all for one measly mana.
Magma Jet - Sets up your draws and make sure you get business. Alternatively, makes your Scrying Sheets feel like Confidants. Opponents can get pretty discouraged when you're getting free cards off a land every turn.
Pyroclasm - Cheap, classic board wipe. Great with Reckoner.
Volcanic Fallout - The "Can't be countered" clause really brings this spell over the top. Kills Geist, Kiki-Jiki, tokens, and just about anything else you need gone, but on a large scale. Also hits Planeswalkers.
Anger of the Gods - Deals with the creatures the rest of our suite doesn't - namely, Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. Incidentally, God-tier tech against fringe archetypes like Zombies.
Land
Scrying Sheets draws you ridiculous amounts of cards. Close to half of our MD is Snow, which means even with no Magma Jet setup there's a 50% chance you'll get a card for nothing at the opponent's EOT.
Mouth of Ronom - You don't want too many of these, but in my testing 1-2 seems gravy for land-heavy, control-oriented builds. Burns out tough creatures without even making you cast a spell.
Sideboard
Shattering Spree - Ensures wins vs. Affinity. Volcanic Fallout and all the other MD removal is already great against them; even Thundermaw can knock them out. Spree also helps with cards that actually pose a problem for Mono-Red Snow, like Batterskull and a blue Vedalken Shackles. Torch Fiend might be worth testing here, too. Ancient Grudge is much better in versions with a green splash.
Eidolon of the Great Revel - Storm just can't beat this card, and it puts a lot of pressure on UWR-style decks: Snap-Bolt to remove it cost them 1UR and 6 life.
Vexing Shusher, Defense Grid - These help against blue control, since nothing's less fun than having your Inferno Titan eat a Remand.
Relic of Progenitus - Great against Tarmogoyf, grave strategies, and even Snapcaster decks. At worst, it cycles for cheap.
Ratchet Bomb - A catch-all that helps shore up our nastiest matchup, Bogles. That matchup swings in our favor once we resolve a Blood Moon, but if they have pressure on board, Ratchet Bomb makes sure they don't run away with the game.
Chalice of the Void - In decks that run Simian Spirit Guide, Chalice can be great in the side against decks like Delver and Bogles.
Stuffy Doll - The Doll used to be a staple of this archetype since you could hit it with Skred for massive damage, but in an environment filled with Darkblast and Path to Exile, it's best relegated to the Sideboard. Bring it in against decks that have no real answer to it and the card will put in some serious work.
Combust - Stops Twin and gives you some more options against Baneslayer and Restoration Angel. Also nice against Merfolk, since you want as much removal as possible in that matchup.
Batterskull - A beating against aggro decks if you can resolve it, which shouldn't be too hard since the burn spells hold them off for the early game.
If anyone wants to help out with matchup analysis, I'll post what you've got. Just put it in the thread! Happy brewing.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
...oh, and Chandra Pyromancer would fit well in a deck like this.
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Yep, aware of the old name. If I hear about it again I'll change the title of my first post to include it. I've played around a lot with the Moon's Essence deck myself, but been a bit underwhelmed by its performance. My main beefs with it are I don't like the threats they run or the coin flip of an invested land destruction strategy. A green splash for Goyf and mana dorks might work a little better given the importance of 3-drops.
I'd also tested with a few Reckoners and a couple Stuffy Dolls in the main, but they're both more vulnerable than Phyrexian Ironfoot. Too much, IMO, to warrant their inclusion based on a might-kill combo you'll draw sometimes. Usually, I'd rather have a Phyrexian Ironfoot in play than either of those creatures (it's harder to kill and it can swing + block), and the artifact is Snow.
Chandra seems great for weathering creature assaults, which aren't really a problem here given our removal suite. The top-card exile is nice, but wouldn't you rather beat face with a Mountain than draw an extra card? We have Sheets for that anyway!
As of yet I haven't ever wanted more Moon effects in the main, but that might also change with more testing. I can definitely see Magus being included as a 2-of if my meta develops a little more.
Keep the ideas and suggestions coming!
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Thanks! Happy to hear it, report back when you've tested a bit
Got to play a few matches vs. 8Rack today, another great matchup. Topdeck mode is a joke for us since we're drawing into Hellkite and Koth. Scrying Sheets puts in lots of work here, too.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I have played around with Scrying Sheets in Modern, and it has it uses, but it also runs in to the same problem as Ironfoot in that it's mana cost to activate gets in the way at times. Besides, I was not talking about running Chandra, Pyromaster in place of Koth, but in addition to him.
I would be inclined to ditch Volcanic Fallout MD and move it to the SB, and would also look and getting rid of Inferno Titan. I feel like that slot can be used better.
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4x blood moon
4x magus of the moon
4x chalice of the void
4x trinisphere
That's a lot of hate in modern, and has the bonus of trolling all your opponents.
From there you could go many directions.
My Trade Thread
Between the high land count, Scry effects, and ramping artifacts, mana hasn't been a problem for me. Usually it's nice to leave some lands open for Bolt/Jet/Skred/Fallout, but I do wish we had some nice Flash creatures in red (all we have available is Sulfur Elemental, whose uses are pretty limited). Either way, EOT Scrying Sheets draws you a ton of gas and keeps you hitting your land drops. If we were to ditch those, we might as well ditch Phyrexian Ironfoot and Coldsteel Heart for more utility creatures like Grim Lavamancer.
That aside, I can definitely see cutting Inferno Titan and Volcanic Fallout to make room for other things. Maybe a couple more moon effects, but I'd like something that can swing the board.
The problem with a Dragon Stompy shell in Modern is that it's too slow. Chalice for 1 on turn 2 is nice when you get it, but we don't have reliable 2-mana lands so Trinisphere is almost always too late. Then we're playing a deck full of duds while our opponents hammer us with a first-turn Delver. I can see some artifact disruption coming out of the sideboard, but relying on a MD suite doesn't work in this format.
I have similar beef with Kargan Dragonlord, although admittedly I've only played with him a couple times (in Legacy Dragon Stompy). We could use some two-drops, but I'm much more drawn to the Ash Zealots from AngelPagan's list (which seems really nice to me, if possessing a shell more aggro than control).
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
3 Pyroclasm
4 Skred
20 Snow-Covered Mountain
I am still working on getting the last few cards, but this is my beta list. I am a little unsure about Coldsteel Heart, but I will give it a shot. I will also try Ironfoot too, to be fair, but only after I give this a whirl. Again, I based this originally off Moon's Essence, then added Skred, Reckoner, and the snow package, then saw this thread. As such it is not really a child of either.
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If you guys are having a lot of success with it, Boros Reckoner might actually be the best direction for the deck. I've changed up my build a little and it's performing better, here's the current list:
2 Phyrexian Ironfoot
4 Blood Moon
4 Koth of the Hammer
2 Chandra, Pyromancer
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
Burn/Board maintenance (12)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
4 Magma Jet
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Land (24)
18 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Scrying Sheets
2 Mouth of Ronom
The Titans became Chandras, Fallouts became a Hellkite and a Moon, and I cut an Ironfoot for another Mountain. Also went up to a full 4 Magma Jet, never unhappy to see them. I think other than the 2/2 split between Ironfoots and Chandras, this is about as streamlined a direction as we can take Skred Red for now. But again, that doesn't mean it's necessarily the best!
Also, don't know how useful it'll be, but between the Hearts and the Solemns, we can pretty easily splash a second color for SB/MD cards. Just adding a Snow-Covered Forest would let us run Ancient Grudge, for instance.
EDIT -- Not too sure about Chandras anymore. Has anyone had success with her? I never get to use the ultimate and the pinging seems underwhelming. But I have been testing Boros Reckoner and he's nuts. I like him better as a 3-of than as a 4-of; I don't want too many since he can be tough to cast. Keep in mind you can hit him with Mouth of Ronom activation for a quick 4 damage.
I also tried Pyroclasm vs. Volcanic Fallout and the Fallouts are definitely better. Just one more mana for spellshroud and Instant speed is worth it every time, especially since we like leaving mana open to Scry. When you go to 3-4 after board it becomes almost impossible for aggro to win.
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Phyrexian Ironfoot
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
Other Permanents (11)
3 Coldsteel Heart
4 Blood Moon
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
3 Magma Jet
2 Volcanic Fallout
Land (24)
18 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Scrying Sheets
2 Mouth of Ronom
As a quick note, against decks that rely on Aether Vial, you're better off bringing in a couple Pithing Needle than you are your Shattering Sprees unless they're running other artifacts too (i.e. Spellskite).
It's still hard to believe how much a house Blood Moon is in this format.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Good stuff! I've been working on a list with Ensnaring Bridge, Young Pyromancer (which is stellar on defense!!) and Goblin Assault which works well when you have 0 cards in hand under bridge. Flame Slash is also good to handle pesky 4 toughness goyfs and loxodon smiters.
Elves
Loam Depths
Goblin Stompy
Kobold Aggro
GB Nic Fit
Pod Nic Fit
12 Post
Pattern Combo
Squirrel Stompy
Amulet of Vigor Combo
Restore Balance
Cascade Swans
Mono U Tron
Through the Breach
Elves
Mono Red Control
Tooth and Nail Tron
Leviathans
Krenko Combo
Jaya LD
Zirilan Dragons
Omnath
We have Skred for those.
Also testing Stormbreath Dragon as a 2-of in the side for decks that have Path to Exile. A split between Volcanic Fallout and Anger of the Gods is probably the way to go for the main; uncounterable is about as relevant as the exile clause.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Great job on the primer. I like this list a lot, but I'm trying to do this on a budget, what are some other hard hitting beaters that can go in that Thundermaw Hellkite/Stormbreath Dragon slot. I know there's Inferno Titan, but there have to be some other things.
I'm also curious about what could go in the Blood Moon slot in metas with less complicated mana bases.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
If your meta doesn't have a lot of nonbasic lands you probably shouldn't be playing this deck. Inferno Titan is the cheapest you can get, nothing else really gives you enough value to be worth the slot. I'm guessing Thundermaw will plummet in price with rotation, so just wait a little longer.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
17 Snow-Covered Mountain
Creatures(16):
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Koth of the Hammer
Other Spells(15):
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Red Sun's Zenith
4 Peak Eruption
2 Sowing Salt
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Combust
2 Vandalblast
2 Blood Moon
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Relic of Progenitus
Demigod and Stormbreath are so much better than ThunderMang its not even funny. Stormbreath is soooo sweet.
Enough of the meta is Red that Peak Eruption is rarely a dead card. It used to be Molten Rain but since Theros was spoiled, well I just had to try it out, and 9 times out of 10 it performs the same function. Unfortunately it doesn't hit manlands or Tron, so I may just have to switch it back
Thanks to Rivenor for the signature and XenoNinja for the Avi!
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