Okay, I've toyed around with RDW, and here is my $.02:
3 Drops: Combat Celebrant: Very good, especially with Hanweir Garrison. I think a play set of this and Garrison is too much. Henweir Garrison: Good at going wide. I like this card.
Suggestions:
-maybe 1 less garrison, 8 3-drops is a bit much.
2 Drops: Harnessed Lightning: You aren't trying to durdle and kill creatures, you want to be as fast as possible. Incendiary Flow has the downside of being sorcery and not synergizing with Aether Chaser, but has the large upside of going to the face.
Thriving Grubs: This card can synergize with aether chaser, but it is pretty bad if you want to be fast. Aether Chaser: This card is just fine, you can think of it as 2 mana for 3 power.
Suggestions:
-I think grubs shouldn't be in this deck. Bloodrage Brawler is a huge beater and fairly cheap, like 1.5 tix for a playset, I would pick a playset up asap.
-If you delve into a madness subtheme, Furyblade Vampire is a 4/2 discard outlet, another big beater. If you play it, remove aether chaser.
1 Drops: Falkenrath Gorger: 2/1 for 1. Pretty good. Soul-Scar Mage: Pretty good, the amount of noncreature spells is fairly small though.
Suggestions: Flameblade Adept is almost the same but can get value off of furyblade or bloodrage.
Overall Suggestions:
I think that you could easily, and fairly cheaply, get into a madness subtheme, with the large payoff card being Fiery Temper.
Since saheeli is dead, I think you don't need shock mainboard.
If you want to go for monetary upgrade, I think 2 of Hazoret the Fervent or the 4/9 flying haste vampire that I can't think of could be a strong curve topper, but maybe not with only 20 lands.
I don't know about my 2 drops, I'm toying with Speedway Fanatic for the haste. I know Magmatic Chasm is a dead card sometimes, but it has been winning games for me.
This is what I'm testing for FNM in real life, it is kind of a budget deck especially if you choose not to run the Glorybringers, then the deck is about $30 IRL. The deck has some cool synergies going around and can win out of nowhere, it can get started on turn 2 and keep hitting hard until the opponent is dead.
If you're gonna be invested heavily in 3 drops, you're going to have to add more lands. If I recall correctly, it takes 22 lands to be able to have a 90% chance of hitting 3 lands by turn 3. It might be 23 lands. Either way, 20 lands is going to leave you in a lot of games holding a 3 drop until turn 4 or 5.
I personally think you should go much much lower to the ground. Cut some of those 3s and stock up on way more 1s. 1 drops are beyond important for this kind of deck. A 2 power 1 drop played on turn 1 is 6 damage towards a turn 4 kill. You have 8 total 1 drops in your list. That's about a 65% chance of having a turn 1 creature. I just think you're gonna want higher odds than that.
I threw this list together and goldfished a few hands with it It's fast, it's effective, and it's budget. Probably can use some tweaking, but it's a solid start.
I went with a vamp/madness theme. The main story though is the 1 drops. Running 14 of them that either give/enable madness or boost off of discard in some other way. At the 2 drop slot, I have 2 good discard outlets for turn 3 madness, and finally the deck sits very lightly in the 3 drop. That Stensia Masquerade could probably be something else, but it's a fun card, so I'm running with it. It's actually pretty great with Occultist.
This deck is designed to win turn 5, sometimes turn 4. If it doesn't, Haste can be given with Battlements to get that final bit of damage in, or you can madness creatures out on the opponents turn as a way to have de facto haste. Either way the deck is lightning fast and can definitely overwhelm opponents. This is where i'd start if I was making a RDW type of deck.
Saffron Olive posted a great budget RDW list a few weeks ago. google '2 tix red' Ive been crushing with it for a few weeks now. Replace the Borderland Marauders with Kari Zev tho. and if Earthshaker Kenera from HOU is cheap when the set comes out pick them up too.
As far as testing is concerned, I tried replacing Borderland Marauder with Burning-Fist Minotaur to little success. His one toughness allows leaves the energy bolt with 2 and his ability has been subpar. I typically don't have the mana to invest and fear of pumping him before removal is an awful thought.
Hostile Desert seems like a welcome addition for an extra body. The discarded lands that sometimes come from Brawler or Courier become fuel for a 3/4 body. Unfortunately, the impact feels negligible so far though we will see.
Those are my first impressions and are open to change. Hopefully someone has had better success with them.
4 Combat Celebrant
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Aether Chaser
4 Thriving Grubs
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Cartouche of Zeal
4 Magma Spray (or shock)
4 Expedite (not sure what to put here)
20 Mountain
So far I have been having a lot of fun, but where do I go from here?
3 Drops:
Combat Celebrant: Very good, especially with Hanweir Garrison. I think a play set of this and Garrison is too much.
Henweir Garrison: Good at going wide. I like this card.
Suggestions:
-maybe 1 less garrison, 8 3-drops is a bit much.
2 Drops:
Harnessed Lightning: You aren't trying to durdle and kill creatures, you want to be as fast as possible. Incendiary Flow has the downside of being sorcery and not synergizing with Aether Chaser, but has the large upside of going to the face.
Thriving Grubs: This card can synergize with aether chaser, but it is pretty bad if you want to be fast.
Aether Chaser: This card is just fine, you can think of it as 2 mana for 3 power.
Suggestions:
-I think grubs shouldn't be in this deck. Bloodrage Brawler is a huge beater and fairly cheap, like 1.5 tix for a playset, I would pick a playset up asap.
-If you delve into a madness subtheme, Furyblade Vampire is a 4/2 discard outlet, another big beater. If you play it, remove aether chaser.
1 Drops:
Falkenrath Gorger: 2/1 for 1. Pretty good.
Soul-Scar Mage: Pretty good, the amount of noncreature spells is fairly small though.
Suggestions:
Flameblade Adept is almost the same but can get value off of furyblade or bloodrage.
Overall Suggestions:
I think that you could easily, and fairly cheaply, get into a madness subtheme, with the large payoff card being Fiery Temper.
Since saheeli is dead, I think you don't need shock mainboard.
If you want to go for monetary upgrade, I think 2 of Hazoret the Fervent or the 4/9 flying haste vampire that I can't think of could be a strong curve topper, but maybe not with only 20 lands.
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Bomat Courier
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1 Thriving Grubs (just for another 2 drop)
4 Aether Chaser
2 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
2 Combat Celebrant
3 Hanweir Garrison
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Cartouche of Zeal
4 Shock
2 Magmatic Chasm
20 Mountain
I don't know about my 2 drops, I'm toying with Speedway Fanatic for the haste. I know Magmatic Chasm is a dead card sometimes, but it has been winning games for me.
I know I need to cut back on 3 drops too.
3 Sunscorched Desert
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
3 Heart-piercer Manticore
3 Glorybringer
2 Stromkirk Occultist
3 Lathnu Hellion
3 Furyblade Vampire
2 Bloodrage Brawler
3 Ahn-crop Crasher
3 Bloodmad Vampire
3 Battlefield Scavenger
3 Magma Spray
2 Insult // Injury
3 Lightning Axe
4 Fiery Temper
2 Wrangle
3 Destructive Tampering
2 Fling
3 Harsh Mentor
2 By Force
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Mtg Lifestyle
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Bomat Courier
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1 Borderland Marauder
4 Bloodrage Brawler (I finally gave in)
2 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
2 Combat Celebrant
2 Hanweir Garrison
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Cartouche of Zeal
4 Shock
2 Magmatic Chasm
Lands 20
20 Mountain
1 Hanweir Battlements
I personally think you should go much much lower to the ground. Cut some of those 3s and stock up on way more 1s. 1 drops are beyond important for this kind of deck. A 2 power 1 drop played on turn 1 is 6 damage towards a turn 4 kill. You have 8 total 1 drops in your list. That's about a 65% chance of having a turn 1 creature. I just think you're gonna want higher odds than that.
I threw this list together and goldfished a few hands with it It's fast, it's effective, and it's budget. Probably can use some tweaking, but it's a solid start.
4 Battlefield Scavenger
4 Bomat Courier
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Flameblade Adept
4 Furyblade Vampire
1 Incorrigible Youth
2 Insolent Neonate
3 Stromkirk Occultist
2 Stensia Masquerade
Instants 8
4 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Axe
Sorceries 4
4 Distemper of the Blood
2 Hanweir Battlements
18 Mountain
I went with a vamp/madness theme. The main story though is the 1 drops. Running 14 of them that either give/enable madness or boost off of discard in some other way. At the 2 drop slot, I have 2 good discard outlets for turn 3 madness, and finally the deck sits very lightly in the 3 drop. That Stensia Masquerade could probably be something else, but it's a fun card, so I'm running with it. It's actually pretty great with Occultist.
This deck is designed to win turn 5, sometimes turn 4. If it doesn't, Haste can be given with Battlements to get that final bit of damage in, or you can madness creatures out on the opponents turn as a way to have de facto haste. Either way the deck is lightning fast and can definitely overwhelm opponents. This is where i'd start if I was making a RDW type of deck.
Hostile Desert seems like a welcome addition for an extra body. The discarded lands that sometimes come from Brawler or Courier become fuel for a 3/4 body. Unfortunately, the impact feels negligible so far though we will see.
Those are my first impressions and are open to change. Hopefully someone has had better success with them.
Nice to have another artifact removal that's cheaper than Destructive Tampering
Blur of Blades
Qi Wentao mentioned this card and after playing a few test matches with it, the card has some pull in this deck.