Hey, I went to FNM for the first time and got totally stomped, especially by Abzan Midrange (Siege Rhino)
I tried running a Mono-Red deck because it was the least expensive competitive archetype I could find. Here is my current deck:
By rushing early, I easily got my opponents down to approximately 5 life. After that, my opponents got more heavy creatures while I couldn't really do anything about them.
Unfortunately, Goblin Rabblemaster is out of my budget. I think the first change I should make is getting rid of Satyr Hoplite in favor of Firedrinker Satyr. I should also maybe use Monastery Swiftspear instead of Borderland Marauder. Beyond that, I have no idea where to go. Although somewhat expensive, I could get a playset of Stoke the Flames if absolutely necessary, but I would like to avoid it if possible.
Thanks! Any help appreciated
Edit: Forgot to mention, the rest of the Searing Bloods are in Sideboard.
Hammerhand is not great coz most of your creatures that u would want to target (read akroan crusader) are just 1/1 the searing blood is really good since it deals 2 + 3.
This is a super ideal situation
T1 mountain+ monastery - swing for 1
T2 mountain+ crusader+ mantle on monastery - swing for 2
T3 mountain+ searing blood to remove blocker+coordinated assault swing for 7 (already, uve dealt 13 damage)
Obviously this is unlikely to ever happen by turn 3 but the ability is there. But by focussing on protecting your swiftspear and pumping it as much as possible you stand a better chance. Unfortunately, red offers absolutely no protection. so your plan is to simply play as many swiftspear and crusadrs as possible and support them with as many enchantments and instants as you can. the other creatures are just fluff to fill space.
I actually like satyr hoplite and dislike firedancer. Hoplite can grow very large indeed and a card like rouse the mob could make it a very dangerous threat instead of the crusader tokens. ofcourse this would also pump swiftspear which is good.
From here you have numerous ways to play and push through. Stokes can be played for near free. Hammerhand can let you past. Etc, etc.
The spell base ideally should be looking a bit more like this in order of all stars to not as all stars.
4 stoke the flame. I cannot stress how good and important this card is for the deck.
4 titan's strength. Push through. Scry. Threats to knock out courser or trade with a polukranos right after it drops. Triggers heroic... What more could you ask for other than lightning bolt?
4 hammerhand. A boost. Evasion. Haste. Heroic. Play 4 or don't play standard red aggro.
4 dragon mantle. Triggers heroic. Pushes through. Cantrips. There's a reason its generally agreed upon as a 4 of.
Funny enough, this is actually the end of the cards in the noncreature base that are agreed upon as 4 ofs.
Lightning strike. This is often a 2-3 of. I tell a lot of budget players to just play 4 to keep it simple but though plenty of testing, it has pretty consistently been played as a less than 4 of. Reason? Well, it doesn't clear the way vs midrangey stuff whereas all 4 of the noted 4 of spells do or potentially do much better.
Coordinated assault. Often a 1 to 2 of. I really like this card. Much less vs midrange than a lot of other places and its happy in a home with more heroics. Not a 4 of but certainly there.
Hordeling outburst. This is played in some builds. I don't like it much here but it is an option.
Prettymuch anything I didn't just list is clearly worse or sideboard material like searing blood.
The quasi spell, mogis' warhound. This is one card that pops up a bit in some builds. I don't know if you want it but it can trigger heroic, push through, give some extra survivability vs control, and so forth.
Alright, I have replaced Borderland Marauder with Monastery Swiftspear, added Stoke the Flames, and made a few other changes. Here is what it looks like now:
The Searing Blood went to Sideboard. Got rid of Arena Athlete, dropped Lightning Strike down to 2 to make room for Stoke.
Edit: I don't see myself using Hordeling Outburst (No haste, already enough 1/1s, 3 mana, and I would only use it to pump Foundry Street Denizen). Mogis's Warhound may be interesting, but I'm not so sure.
As I'm sure you've found over testing, evasion is often the name of the game. This looks so much better just on the back of stoke. That being said, let me try to make a few tiny adjustments.
-4 magma jet. I'd play strikes before putting any jets in. I love jet as much as the next guy but there's other relevant things to burn like mantis rider and the extra damage is often meaningful when going to the face. I don't feel the scry is worth it.
-1 frenzied goblin. This guy is great to draw 1 of, not so great to draw 2+ because he's not the main part of the strike. He's a support piece to keep it going.
+1 arena athlete. I like this because it keeps the ball rolling with heroics on demand without the mana waste.
For the remaining slots, I think you should consider war-name aspirants. Against midrange, getting raid should be common enough. The important part of it is that it evades caryatid while being a reasonably sized body. Also possibly drop the count of satyr hoplites just a bit for 2 reasons. First they are very pump reliant. I think I'd prefer targeting the crusader most of the time. If you want to play 4, you need more coordinated assault for a less mainstream type of boss sligh deck. You only have so many spots and only so many targeting spells. It isn't such a great later game topdeck play and often isn't even going to be the first choice target. Hence I would consider dropping the counts a bit.
I will try your suggestions, Nev. I was kind of wondering about the Magma Jet myself. The scry is nice, but only 2 damage doesn't really justify. I will consider War-Name Aspirants. I kind of overlooked that card, and bypassing Caryatid is nice (Annoying Hexproof).
As for the Hoplites, do you think I should use Firedrinker Satyr intead? I figured the Hoplites were better at first, because of heroic, no life loss and higher toughness, but I almost never target them in the first place.
Firedrinker satyr is generally understood as good. One of the big reasons for that being its ability to swing against a caryatid without help. So stuff like firedrinker ---> war-name aspirant and stuff. I will admit that the satyr isn't the best thing in the world against abzan, though.
Hall of triumph is slow in sligh. I would keep one in sideboard for a few matchups, especially those that board in circle of flame. I don't think I'd mainboard it.
Hammerhand is key for being able to swing just a little bit longer against key blockers. Things like polukranos or rhino can get annoying in a hurry but running past them for a whole extra turn to no detriment while triggering heroic and getting a small boost plus tech? Sign me up. In practice it is very useful.
Anyway, this is one of those decks that you need to understand the flow and prediction very well to make work. It is fine in the hands of a newbie or the unfamiliar but it will grow with you might more than, say, Abzan midrange. There's always a difference between a fine tuned professional playing vs a casual fnm player but with sligh the difference is greater than usual due to the case by case decision tree. Practice makes perfect. Adjust as your go. Learn the deck even better. And as you go you'll find all your matchups slowly improve because you'll make more precise moves as well as how to annoy your opponent with smart sideboard play. Learning to play quickly and confidently also matters in sligh more than usual. The more quick and confident you are, the more pressured they will be to play quickly in turn and try to rush solutions. A lot of fnm players will start to feel uneasy if their opponent plays quickly like they knew exactly what they were going to do as soon as they drew while they take minutes at a time and create a mental inferiority which takes them off their game whether it sits there and helps phantom threats fester or if they rush to your pace. That's exactly where you want them. It happens plenty enough to warrant learning your deck like a well oiled machine.
Harness by force is great out of side, especially against polukranos or siege rhino.
This is my Mono Red deck I put together to test against with my other decks. It's pretty fun. Not really my style, but my brother and friends enjoy beating me with it
I tried running a Mono-Red deck because it was the least expensive competitive archetype I could find. Here is my current deck:
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Borderland Marauder
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Satyr Hoplite
1 Arena Athlete
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Titan's Strength
1 Searing Blood
1 Coordinated Assault
By rushing early, I easily got my opponents down to approximately 5 life. After that, my opponents got more heavy creatures while I couldn't really do anything about them.
Unfortunately, Goblin Rabblemaster is out of my budget. I think the first change I should make is getting rid of Satyr Hoplite in favor of Firedrinker Satyr. I should also maybe use Monastery Swiftspear instead of Borderland Marauder. Beyond that, I have no idea where to go. Although somewhat expensive, I could get a playset of Stoke the Flames if absolutely necessary, but I would like to avoid it if possible.
Thanks! Any help appreciated
Edit: Forgot to mention, the rest of the Searing Bloods are in Sideboard.
Im no expert, but here are some suggestions:
Definitely 4 swiftspear instead of marauder.
also, you don't need the single arena athlete.
you spell base should be more like this:
2 Hammerhand
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
2 Stoke the flames
3 Dragon Mantle
2 Hordeling outbusrt
4 Titan's Strength
3 Searing Blood
3 coordinated assault
Hammerhand is not great coz most of your creatures that u would want to target (read akroan crusader) are just 1/1 the searing blood is really good since it deals 2 + 3.
This is a super ideal situation
T1 mountain+ monastery - swing for 1
T2 mountain+ crusader+ mantle on monastery - swing for 2
T3 mountain+ searing blood to remove blocker+coordinated assault swing for 7 (already, uve dealt 13 damage)
Obviously this is unlikely to ever happen by turn 3 but the ability is there. But by focussing on protecting your swiftspear and pumping it as much as possible you stand a better chance. Unfortunately, red offers absolutely no protection. so your plan is to simply play as many swiftspear and crusadrs as possible and support them with as many enchantments and instants as you can. the other creatures are just fluff to fill space.
I actually like satyr hoplite and dislike firedancer. Hoplite can grow very large indeed and a card like rouse the mob could make it a very dangerous threat instead of the crusader tokens. ofcourse this would also pump swiftspear which is good.
Anyway, stokes are huge right now. Expensive yes but I think you prettymuch have to accept that you're in for a rough time if you don't have them.
Anyway, swiftspear is good. Here's another common one. A bit duh but a very strong play right off the bat.
Turn 1: mountain, akroan crusader.
Turn 2: mountain, double titan's strength, swing for 9.
From here you have numerous ways to play and push through. Stokes can be played for near free. Hammerhand can let you past. Etc, etc.
The spell base ideally should be looking a bit more like this in order of all stars to not as all stars.
4 stoke the flame. I cannot stress how good and important this card is for the deck.
4 titan's strength. Push through. Scry. Threats to knock out courser or trade with a polukranos right after it drops. Triggers heroic... What more could you ask for other than lightning bolt?
4 hammerhand. A boost. Evasion. Haste. Heroic. Play 4 or don't play standard red aggro.
4 dragon mantle. Triggers heroic. Pushes through. Cantrips. There's a reason its generally agreed upon as a 4 of.
Funny enough, this is actually the end of the cards in the noncreature base that are agreed upon as 4 ofs.
Lightning strike. This is often a 2-3 of. I tell a lot of budget players to just play 4 to keep it simple but though plenty of testing, it has pretty consistently been played as a less than 4 of. Reason? Well, it doesn't clear the way vs midrangey stuff whereas all 4 of the noted 4 of spells do or potentially do much better.
Coordinated assault. Often a 1 to 2 of. I really like this card. Much less vs midrange than a lot of other places and its happy in a home with more heroics. Not a 4 of but certainly there.
Hordeling outburst. This is played in some builds. I don't like it much here but it is an option.
Prettymuch anything I didn't just list is clearly worse or sideboard material like searing blood.
The quasi spell, mogis' warhound. This is one card that pops up a bit in some builds. I don't know if you want it but it can trigger heroic, push through, give some extra survivability vs control, and so forth.
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Titan's Strength
1 Coordinated Assault
The Searing Blood went to Sideboard. Got rid of Arena Athlete, dropped Lightning Strike down to 2 to make room for Stoke.
Edit: I don't see myself using Hordeling Outburst (No haste, already enough 1/1s, 3 mana, and I would only use it to pump Foundry Street Denizen). Mogis's Warhound may be interesting, but I'm not so sure.
-4 magma jet. I'd play strikes before putting any jets in. I love jet as much as the next guy but there's other relevant things to burn like mantis rider and the extra damage is often meaningful when going to the face. I don't feel the scry is worth it.
-1 frenzied goblin. This guy is great to draw 1 of, not so great to draw 2+ because he's not the main part of the strike. He's a support piece to keep it going.
+1 arena athlete. I like this because it keeps the ball rolling with heroics on demand without the mana waste.
For the remaining slots, I think you should consider war-name aspirants. Against midrange, getting raid should be common enough. The important part of it is that it evades caryatid while being a reasonably sized body. Also possibly drop the count of satyr hoplites just a bit for 2 reasons. First they are very pump reliant. I think I'd prefer targeting the crusader most of the time. If you want to play 4, you need more coordinated assault for a less mainstream type of boss sligh deck. You only have so many spots and only so many targeting spells. It isn't such a great later game topdeck play and often isn't even going to be the first choice target. Hence I would consider dropping the counts a bit.
As for the Hoplites, do you think I should use Firedrinker Satyr intead? I figured the Hoplites were better at first, because of heroic, no life loss and higher toughness, but I almost never target them in the first place.
Also, what are your thoughts on Hall of Triumph?
Hall of triumph is slow in sligh. I would keep one in sideboard for a few matchups, especially those that board in circle of flame. I don't think I'd mainboard it.
Hammerhand is key for being able to swing just a little bit longer against key blockers. Things like polukranos or rhino can get annoying in a hurry but running past them for a whole extra turn to no detriment while triggering heroic and getting a small boost plus tech? Sign me up. In practice it is very useful.
Anyway, this is one of those decks that you need to understand the flow and prediction very well to make work. It is fine in the hands of a newbie or the unfamiliar but it will grow with you might more than, say, Abzan midrange. There's always a difference between a fine tuned professional playing vs a casual fnm player but with sligh the difference is greater than usual due to the case by case decision tree. Practice makes perfect. Adjust as your go. Learn the deck even better. And as you go you'll find all your matchups slowly improve because you'll make more precise moves as well as how to annoy your opponent with smart sideboard play. Learning to play quickly and confidently also matters in sligh more than usual. The more quick and confident you are, the more pressured they will be to play quickly in turn and try to rush solutions. A lot of fnm players will start to feel uneasy if their opponent plays quickly like they knew exactly what they were going to do as soon as they drew while they take minutes at a time and create a mental inferiority which takes them off their game whether it sits there and helps phantom threats fester or if they rush to your pace. That's exactly where you want them. It happens plenty enough to warrant learning your deck like a well oiled machine.
Harness by force is great out of side, especially against polukranos or siege rhino.
4x Akroan Crusader
1x Arena Athlete
3x Firedrinker Satyr
3x Foundry Street Denizen
4x Monastery Swiftspear
3x Satyr Hoplite
3x War-Name Aspirant
2x Coordinated Assault
2x Lightning Strike
4x Stoke the Flames
4x Titan's Strength
Enchantment (9)
4x Dragon Mantle
4x Hammerhand
1x Inferno Fist
18x Mountain
2x Act of Treason
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
1x Hall of Triumph
2x Lightning Strike
2x Magma Spray
4x Searing Blood
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.