Still happy to see lists 5-0ing in leagues. Anyone have any updates they'd like to share. My 60 MB hasn't changed but I am thinking of replacing my Cannonade tech with a 2nd Spray SB. Just very good against a lot of match-ups and the rise of Gift decks make it a good target for Wits/Angel hard cast.
So, I've been having several games (including a few at GP Portland) where I was severely mana screwed or flooded, often with no Hazoret or Khenra to sink mana in to. Has anyone tried running a couple of Treasure Map, to scry and draw extras, much in the same way that the Desert Red decks are doing? What about Tormenting Voice?
So, I've been having several games (including a few at GP Portland) where I was severely mana screwed or flooded, often with no Hazoret or Khenra to sink mana in to. Has anyone tried running a couple of Treasure Map, to scry and draw extras, much in the same way that the Desert Red decks are doing? What about Tormenting Voice?
Just way to slow of a card in my opinion to run period. The point of this deck is board presence and if we are sacrificing a turn to draw or play a map then we often find ourselves behind. The reason Map did work in the Desert build was because the build turned into more of a Midrange approach than Aggro.
So, I've been having several games (including a few at GP Portland) where I was severely mana screwed or flooded, often with no Hazoret or Khenra to sink mana in to. Has anyone tried running a couple of Treasure Map, to scry and draw extras, much in the same way that the Desert Red decks are doing? What about Tormenting Voice?
I'd say it is just bad luck, especially if you have had both screw and flood, and that Treasure Map is too slow and Tormenting Voice is just bad, you'd always want a creature or burn spell instead.
Still happy to see lists 5-0ing in leagues. Anyone have any updates they'd like to share. My 60 MB hasn't changed but I am thinking of replacing my Cannonade tech with a 2nd Spray SB. Just very good against a lot of match-ups and the rise of Gift decks make it a good target for Wits/Angel hard cast.
I have updated my list to have a 4-1 split of Ferocidon and Crasher and 2x Harsh Mentor MD. It has worked out very well. The cards are better situated for my local meta. I have been impressed how much extra reach the Ferocidon provides against Temur/4c Energy. The damage adds up and even if they start to stabilize the dinosaur puts them into tight position (i.e getting into burn-range). I have gone 3-1 twice in local tournaments with the updated version.
One difference is that I run 23 lands, as I do not have any Chandra's and this gives ma slot to run 1 MD Consuming Fervor. I still think the card is underappreciated. On the play it can often win the game as the pressure is too much. I have also won games by drawing it late game (by making a Pia thopter a formidable evasive beater). Still looking forward to make a Ferocidon into a 6/6 menace.
I have found UW Approach to be a difficult match-up. Game one the Ramunap deck is definitely in favor. Especially with MD Ferocidons. But post board it gets very difficult with all the hate they are able to bring in.
I sideboard in most of my creatures. [Btw, I think Pia Nalaar is a must. I have been surprised that different side-boarding guides don't recommend it. Two bodies with the chance to pump can be difficult if they don't have a way to deal with Pia. You don't need to over extend your board with threats as you can deploy damage with pumping the token.] This is the match up where I miss Chandra. But perhaps you guys have some other recommendations on how to approach it? I have one Vance in the SB, but that card is often too slow. Some cards I have been considering:
Hope of Ghirapur? I have not tried it yet. I don't really know when would I want to sac it. T4ONthePlay to be able to cast another threat (like Hazoret) post combat? But they usually have outs in Cast Out, or they will just Settle the Wreckage in the next combat. T5ONthePlay to avoid a Fumigate the turn after? It just seems so conditional and sacing a creature that you are pressuring their life total with does not sound that good either.
I playtested a bit before FNM last night against a buddy of mine who runs U/W Approach. I ended up going 2-1 against it, and noticed that my only game loss was due to severe land color screw. If I had landed 1 Red Source within the first 5-6 turns the game would've been over quickly. Outside of that, it ran very well in my opinion. The Ferocidon at 4 in the MB is excellent, forces him to utilize his removal/counters which in my opinion if you play very smart, Hazoret becomes lethal to them if they don't have an answer immediately.
Shota Yasooka, a control player, used Ramunap Red at World Magic Cup. this is the final round vs U/W Cycling.
how masterful is that?
I learned a lot about how to play that match-up from watching that game 3. The ability for Shota to maneuver in such a way with an Aggro deck to force his opponent to play to what he wanted was incredible. This also showed how incredibly powerful Bomat is if it becomes unchecked for 3-4 turns. Resetting our hand after applying immense amount of pressure is phenomenal.
Harvester is a very difficult card for U/W Cycling to deal with. It does not die to Fumigate, It does not become tapped to Authority, It does not get pinged by your own Ferocidon, and it forces your opponent to chump with Drakes in the air. I believe the only way it can is by Cast Out or Settle, but with experience you should know when your opponent is holding a Settle and should be able to play around it.
Another interesting aspect that I would like to point out here. It appears many have decided int he Magic Cup to go back to the 3+ Crasher lists, yet I find Ferocidon to be very very very key in many situations. What are all your thoughts? I run a 4-1 split of Ferocidon/Crasher MB and really haven't regretted the switch. Ferocidon is much less of a dead draw, it applies pressure to your opponent when dropped by its effect, and forces your opponent to deal with it right away and cannot die to simple shocks/magma sprays.
Notable changes from the previous standard list:
- Only 2 Harsh Mentors in the 75
- 4 Aethersphere Harvesters in the SB
- 3 Glorybringer and 1 Mountain in SB
- No Chandra ToD in the 75
Would love to see his notes on sideboarding for each match-up. I assume the extra mountain is to go more mid-range with 3 Glorybringers when OTD.
Edit - I'm dumb, didn't realize this was with team limitations. So that probably accounts for unorthodox changes.
After a four-year hiatus from Magic, I only very recently started playing Magic again. I've played about 10 leagues on MTGO with UW Approach in preparation for a PTQ this weekend, but I'm now deciding that I don't like that deck.
I'm thinking about picking up mono-red and just playing it without any practice. Can anyone tell me what Pia Nalaar is for? I see almost every list has it in the sideboard but I can't seem to figure out what matchup she's good in...
Tried something a little different last night - my local store is predominantly Approach and Energy lists on Mondays, so decided to try Harnessed Lightning over Abrade (as I didn't think I needed the artifact destruction).It seemed to work out pretty well, and a couple of games against Temur I was able to drop one Lightning to take out an un-pumped Cub, net an Energy, then had a 4 damage spell to pull out against a Glorybringer. I also tried to speed up the deck a bit more by playing a couple more spells (14 total I think), including a couple of Built to Smash to work as either a Bolt or a removal spell. The one game I got land screwed, I managed to get the Temur opponent to 5 life, even though I had been stuck on 2 land since turn 2. It also makes the deck a little quicker against Approach decks, but does open you up to 2-for-1s if they are running black for Fatal Pushes.
It has been almost 2 weeks since any post, has anyone reported any tournaments with the deck? I've not had much of a chance to play these past two weeks and won't be able to until the 13th of January.
I've been playing a dinosaurs version of mono red on MTGO, and it's been doing pretty well. It runs Charging Monstrosaur and Burning Sun's Avatar. It uses Wily Goblin and Captain Lannery Storm to ramp into big threats. Both of these cards have been good. If the opponent is holding up a removal spell on turn 2, you can play Wily Goblin as your 2-drop and then they are forced to either do nothing or waste their removal on a 1/1 that already made a treasure for you. Captain Lannery Storm reminds me a lot of Goblin Rabblemaster sometimes, since she is a 3-drop 2/2 with haste that creates a token for you the turn she is played. This deck is good early and good late, being able to run both 1-drops and 6-drops. This deck is also nice because it is budget-friendly. It does not run Hazoret, Chandra, or Glorybringer. So far in friendly leagues on MTGO I have gone 4-1, 4-1, 2-3, 3-2, 3-2, and 5-0.
As one of the original creators of Ramunap Red back in June of this year I feel it is my duty to innovate yet again into the new year and give you the face of Red aggro for 2018.
Originally I was thinking on how to break Dowsing Dagger because the upside of getting a Lotus Vale as early as turn 3 and thus having 7 mana on turn 4 is a game breaking event. Also the land is not legendary so you can technically have two of them out, or you can keep one land and one dagger since it is a may ability.
So, since the plant tokens the opponent gets have defender and are 0/2 it means that if you want to transform the dagger you need to be able to go through and hit the opponent so either use unblockable creatures or flying ones.
So, based on that I decided to use flying creatures that get out fast and hit the opp on turn 3 or turn 4 for sure, unless they run burn and they kill them. The cheapest flyers are in white and blue, but white shares a great flyer with red which is sky terror which can come out on turn 2 and get equipped soon after and help transform the dagger. Building on the idea of a W/R/B aggro deck with flyers I fell into what is the deck you will see below and which I will play starting next week. I hope that Rivals of Ixalan will give me more usable dinosaurs.
Without further ado I give you the beta version of the deck I like to call:
Dowsing Dagger - The point of this deck is to get the dagger to flip, get lots of mana by turn 4 or turn 5 and go crazy, also you need to cast everything so you can have Hazoret rule the battlefield. I think it is an underrated card and it was designed correctly by Wizards at 2 mana cost and 2 mana to activate because if they changed either to 1 mana it would be quite broken.
Aethersphere Harvester - they fly, they don't die to sweepers and hard to kill with burn, they don't die to Wakening Sun's Avatar and in a deck with 22 creatures it should be easy to crew them, even Hazoret can do that if it can't attack for some reason.
Magma Spray + Cut // Ribbons - because mono red is still a deck as is energy and being able to kill a cub or bomat courier on turn 1 is hella good, also cut can kill bigger creatures and of course spray can deal with The scarab god if it gets blocked first. Ribbons can be cast once Dagger is flipped into lost vale and it is a good finisher spell.
Invigorated Rampage - 22 creatures, 12 flyers and 10 non-flyers so they may need the trample to get through, or a good pump spell to finish the opponent.
Unlicensed Disintegration- it's there to kill opposing big creatures and maybe deal an extra 3 damage sometimes.
Hazoret - playing 3 main deck, needs no explanation, can hit hard, can equip the vehicles, can hold the dagger and we can invigorated rampage her to do more damage, also she survives Wakening Sun's Avatar.
Burning Sun's Avatar - this deck wants a lot of mana by turn 4, so we should be able to cast this guy on turn 5 quite often, he takes care of blockers, he can crew vehicles or hit really hard.
Wakening Sun's Avatar - can come online on turn 6 or 7 maybe if we flip the dagger early, can clear the board of opposing creatures and can help crew a vehicle if needed. I am a big fan of him due to his wrath of god ability and the fact that we run 10 dinos in this deck and the fact that we can cast him much earlier than turn 8 in this deck as well.
Duskborne Skymarcher - you are scratching your head, but this is the only 1 mana flying creatures in standard for either White or Red, I know cause I checked all the sets in standard. Maybe Rivals will give me a better option but so far I need this guy to come out on turn 1, so turn 2 I can cast dagger, and turn 3 I can equip this guy and attack and hopefully flip dagger. That is the best plan scenario and it can only be stopped if the opp has burn or removal on turn 3 to kill this guy, since it is flying so the opp probably doesn't have a flying creature out by then. If the dagger flips on turn 3 into lost vale then the game should end pretty soon since I will have a possible 7 mana on turn 4.
Aether Chaser - it gives energy for aether hub, it can attack and block and kill opposing creatures due to first strike, it can also make another 1/1 creature with the use of energy and of course it can crew the harvester.
Sky Terror - the other key 2 drop in this deck, it can fly, it can't really be blocked even if you have a flying creature and it comes out on turn 2.
Kinjalli's Sunwing - highly underrated 3 drop rare, it flies, and it stops opp's creatures from blocking since they come into play tapped. So, this on turn 3 means that whatever opp casts next turn will not be able to block. It makes it much easier to drop dagger on turn 4 and equip it on the same turn, then attack and flip the dagger and get more mana. That is why I will play 4 of this in the deck, it also helps that he is a dino so it is easier to cast with Unclaimed Territory and also it doesn't die to Wakening Sun's Avatar, last but not least it shuts down Glorybringer or opposing Hazorets.
Huatli, Warrior Poet- first time I am considering playing a planeswalker, so I am just testing her to see how she works, I don't mind the life gain, and being able to make creatures not block would win games since this deck wins by attacking with creatures.
The best start would be TURN 1 Skymarcher, TURN 2 attack for 1, cast Dagger, TURN 3 equip dagger and attack for 3 and flip dagger into lost vale.
Or, TURN 1 magma spray, or skymarcher, TURN 2 cast sky terror or aether chaser,TURN 3 cast Kinjalli's sunwing, TURN 4 cast dagger and equip and attack on a flier and flip the dagger into lost vale, use the 3 mana to cast something else. TURN 5 cast a hazoret or big dino.
I am still testing the deck now and working on a sideboard for this deck as well so I will update this list next week. I can't wait for Rivals and hoping to get more great dinos so that I can make this deck dinosaur only.
Would you even consider calling this Ramunap Red now? You're excluding the essential land (Ramunap Ruins) and are pushing towards a more vehicle based deck with the likes of Boros cards such as Motorist. This is heavily suggesting Mardu Vehicles with a Dinosaur twist. I wouldn't consider this innovation, more of a switch of decks if this is the case.
Would you even consider calling this Ramunap Red now? You're excluding the essential land (Ramunap Ruins) and are pushing towards a more vehicle based deck with the likes of Boros cards such as Motorist. This is heavily suggesting Mardu Vehicles with a Dinosaur twist. I wouldn't consider this innovation, more of a switch of decks if this is the case.
It's not Ramunap red, I never even named the deck that before when it was mono-red. This is a dino vehicles deck which is trying to break Dowsing Dagger with small flying creatures and getting enough mana by turn 4 or 5 to cast a big dino to seal the deal. Aside from that it plays like a normal aggro deck with small creatures and burn to clear the way.
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So, with the full spoiler out, are there any cards that stand out to people as additions to the RR lists? Mutiny seems an interesting sideboard card, and Blood Sun is, well, Blood Sun. Fanatical Firebrand could be an option for going back to a more 1-drop heavy list, but I don't think that Daring Buccaneer will make it in a "stock" RR list. Rekindling Phoenix could be good in control matches from the side, but competes with Chandra and Hazoret, so may not be worth running... yet.
Only card I see myself playing is Fanatical Firebrand. Going to start post set rotation with a pretty aggressive slant (10 1 drops, maindeck a Key to the City).
So, with the full spoiler out, are there any cards that stand out to people as additions to the RR lists? Mutiny seems an interesting sideboard card, and Blood Sun is, well, Blood Sun. Fanatical Firebrand could be an option for going back to a more 1-drop heavy list, but I don't think that Daring Buccaneer will make it in a "stock" RR list. Rekindling Phoenix could be good in control matches from the side, but competes with Chandra and Hazoret, so may not be worth running... yet.
Anything else?
Dire Fleet Daredevil seems to be the best Red card in RIX for me, but i am unsure if it fits in the RR deck.
Rekindling Phoenix i can see in a U/R Fliers shell, a way to attack a meta that's heavy on ground combat.
Only card I see myself playing is Fanatical Firebrand. Going to start post set rotation with a pretty aggressive slant (10 1 drops, maindeck a Key to the City).
Fanatical Firebrand seems interesting for a fast, low to the ground Red list. i can see myself playing that plus a host of other cheap creatures then use Invigorated Rampage and Built to Smash to deal damage quickly. my only worry is that maybe removal is too good for that deck this standard with the presence of Magma Spray, Shock and Fatal Push.
I like Daring Buccaneer as well, but only if we can get the pirate count up high enough to make it a 1-drop most of the time. Perhaps with Daredevil, Kari Zev, and another one like Rigging Runner, it could be enough.
Blood Sun looks interesting potentially as a sideboard tech, troublesome that it would shut down our own Ramunap Ruins.
Edit: Arch of Orazca also looks like it could have potential. Looks a bit like a Sea Gate Wreckage. Blessing doesn’t seem too difficult, but the activation is pricy.
I like Daring Buccaneer as well, but only if we can get the pirate count up high enough to make it a 1-drop most of the time. Perhaps with Daredevil, Kari Zev, and another one like Rigging Runner, it could be enough.
Rigging Runner suddenly looks more playable lol.
Nevelo, i haven't gone through the numbers and theoreticals, but do you think it's possible to make an extremely low to the ground mono red deck that can kill on T4 with the new RIX cards?
there's a bunch of one drops (many with haste) fast 2 drops (Earthshaker Khenra and Speedway Fanatic) and hasty 3 drops (Ahn Crop Crasher and Lathnu Hellion) to finish the opponent. combat tricks like Invigorated Rampage and Built to Smash for reach aside from burn.
i am thinking 16 spells, 20 lands (16 mountains and 4 Sunscorched Desert) and the rest are creatures.
No Ferocidon? Also, do you think that Daring Buccaneer and Rigging Runner will be better choices than Firebrand and Soul-Scar? Or is this just an exercise in getting as low to the ground and pirate heavy as possible?
I was thinking of pulling Soul-Scar out of the current list for Firebrand, and running Daredevils where I have Harsh Mentors right now. I also think that a couple of Built to Smash could be good here, either as a creature removal or a surprise 3 damage. I've been running Harnessed Lightning over Abrade recently, mainly due to the lack of need for artifact removal at my local store. I've put two Abrade back in this list just in case, but could easily go back to 4 Harnessed Lightning, and use the spare card slot for a 4th Daredevil or 3rd Kari Zev, or even go to a 3/2 split of Firebrand/Rigging Runner or Soul-scar...
Ferocidon would be in the sideboard for that list. You could cut the Abrades and a Shock to include 3 main board if you think necessary.
Main thing to enable Buccaneer is to keep the Pirate Count high. The inclusion of Rigging Runner then further requires a bunch of other 1-drops to turn it on early.
I’m not as high on Firebrand. It’s not quite as good as it’s Goblin cousin, and I’m not so sure that the Goblin would see play these days either.
So, I know everyone is still on the mono-red version of this deck, which I started to play way back in June of last year and I innovated and then got bored of winning so fast so I went back to another deck. Since I reached the optimal mono red build I decided to go for a two-color build now which is based on breaking dowsing dagger.
As I posted above due to the dagger making tokens with defender the best way to get over them is to fly over or have creatures with menace. I took the 3 color list to my local FNM last week and I got my ass handed to me 1-2 out of three rounds. Here's what happened and also the new version of this deck which is 2 colors right now.
Round 1 I got paired up against Ramunap Red, go figure, and he beat me in 2 games but the main reason was that he had Abrade both games to kill my dowsing dagger before I could equip it and attack with a creature, and also he got Hazoret out both games while I didn't get my Hazoret out at all. What I did learn is that I can beat Ramunap Red with my deck but I just need lower to the ground creatures and maybe more burn, and of course my opp not drawing better than me would be good too.
Round 2 I faced a G/W cats deck which I beat 2-0 without much difficulty, he had nothing to deal with flyers, he managed to Cast Out my Hazoret but the fliers beat him down. And kinjalli's sunwing was an MVP in this match and all the games he came out really, he's a sleeper hit if you can get him out since he shuts down haste creatures and also makes newly cast creature not able to block on my turn.
Round 3 I had to playing against a 4 Color energy build, G/R/U/B which rain Harnessed Lightning, Rogue Refiner and of course the Scarab God which beat me 2-0 mostly because of the amount of removal he had, and he got scarab god out turn 5-6 each game. I also didn't draw even 1 dowsing dagger both games which would've made the match up much more easier for me, he did manage to zombify 2 of my kinjalli's sunwing with the scarab god in the second game and fly over to kill me with them, but I brought him close to death with my sky terrors.
So, lessons I've learned are that sky terror is awesome if you can get it turn 2, it's basically unblockable due to flying and menace so they have to kill it with burn or other ways. If you get 2 of these out then you can put the opp on a short clock. The other card that I've mentioned is kinjalli's sunwing which is also awesome, and it's a must kill for the opp within a couple of turns of it coming out, otherwise, they will be short a blocker every turn. I have also noticed that I don't need black in the deck so the deck will run more smoothly with just W/R and that dowsing dagger never got to flip in all the games that I played, if it did then I'd probably dump my whole hand the next turn and shortly win the game, but the 2 opp's that did see it cast managed to get rid of it very fast.
Here's the new version of the deck, without Rivals cards, I'll take a look at the spoiler and figure out what fits in the deck this week.
I am still working on the sideboard, I am a huge fan of Hour of Devastation since it deals with the scarab god for one turn and any tokens that he made, it can also kill Chandras and opposing hazorets or other gods if you need to. Also, against fast decks sweltering suns can work, since I can just have 1 creature out and if the opp has 2 or 3 out then I can kill everything. Of course Cast out and Forsake the worldly is to deal with enchantments or artifacts that I need to deal with, Abrade is the same and also more burn as is the one repeating barrage.
I will check out the Rivals spoiler and see if there's any new Dinosaurs or other cards I can add to this deck. If you want to take a chance on a non monored aggro deck without Ramunap ruins then you can give this a try and it may surprise you. I would love to have blood sun in the sideboard of this deck but it's kind of expensive on Ebay right now so I'll have to wait on that.
Main thing to enable Buccaneer is to keep the Pirate Count high. The inclusion of Rigging Runner then further requires a bunch of other 1-drops to turn it on early.
This sounds like there will probably be a Frank Karsten CFB Magic Math article on the optimum number of pirates for Buccaneer... Next week maybe?
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BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
Just way to slow of a card in my opinion to run period. The point of this deck is board presence and if we are sacrificing a turn to draw or play a map then we often find ourselves behind. The reason Map did work in the Desert build was because the build turned into more of a Midrange approach than Aggro.
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Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
I playtested a bit before FNM last night against a buddy of mine who runs U/W Approach. I ended up going 2-1 against it, and noticed that my only game loss was due to severe land color screw. If I had landed 1 Red Source within the first 5-6 turns the game would've been over quickly. Outside of that, it ran very well in my opinion. The Ferocidon at 4 in the MB is excellent, forces him to utilize his removal/counters which in my opinion if you play very smart, Hazoret becomes lethal to them if they don't have an answer immediately.
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Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
how masterful is that?
I learned a lot about how to play that match-up from watching that game 3. The ability for Shota to maneuver in such a way with an Aggro deck to force his opponent to play to what he wanted was incredible. This also showed how incredibly powerful Bomat is if it becomes unchecked for 3-4 turns. Resetting our hand after applying immense amount of pressure is phenomenal.
Harvester is a very difficult card for U/W Cycling to deal with. It does not die to Fumigate, It does not become tapped to Authority, It does not get pinged by your own Ferocidon, and it forces your opponent to chump with Drakes in the air. I believe the only way it can is by Cast Out or Settle, but with experience you should know when your opponent is holding a Settle and should be able to play around it.
Another interesting aspect that I would like to point out here. It appears many have decided int he Magic Cup to go back to the 3+ Crasher lists, yet I find Ferocidon to be very very very key in many situations. What are all your thoughts? I run a 4-1 split of Ferocidon/Crasher MB and really haven't regretted the switch. Ferocidon is much less of a dead draw, it applies pressure to your opponent when dropped by its effect, and forces your opponent to deal with it right away and cannot die to simple shocks/magma sprays.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
Notable changes from the previous standard list:
- Only 2 Harsh Mentors in the 75
- 4 Aethersphere Harvesters in the SB
- 3 Glorybringer and 1 Mountain in SB
- No Chandra ToD in the 75
Would love to see his notes on sideboarding for each match-up. I assume the extra mountain is to go more mid-range with 3 Glorybringers when OTD.
Edit - I'm dumb, didn't realize this was with team limitations. So that probably accounts for unorthodox changes.
I'm thinking about picking up mono-red and just playing it without any practice. Can anyone tell me what Pia Nalaar is for? I see almost every list has it in the sideboard but I can't seem to figure out what matchup she's good in...
Ferocidon and possible sideboard tech of Invigorated Rampage
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
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Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
4x Bomat Courier
3x Burning Sun's Avatar
3x Captain Lannery Storm
4x Charging Monstrosaur
4x Earthshaker Khenra
2x Pia Nalaar
4x Rampaging Ferocidon
4x Wily Goblin
17x Mountain
4x Ramunap Ruins
4x Sunscorched Desert
Instant (7)
4x Lightning Strike
3x Shock
3x Abrade
2x Chandra's Defeat
1x Destructive Tampering
1x Key to the City
3x Nest Robber
2x Puncturing Blow
2x Sand Strangler
1x Shock
Originally I was thinking on how to break Dowsing Dagger because the upside of getting a Lotus Vale as early as turn 3 and thus having 7 mana on turn 4 is a game breaking event. Also the land is not legendary so you can technically have two of them out, or you can keep one land and one dagger since it is a may ability.
So, since the plant tokens the opponent gets have defender and are 0/2 it means that if you want to transform the dagger you need to be able to go through and hit the opponent so either use unblockable creatures or flying ones.
So, based on that I decided to use flying creatures that get out fast and hit the opp on turn 3 or turn 4 for sure, unless they run burn and they kill them. The cheapest flyers are in white and blue, but white shares a great flyer with red which is sky terror which can come out on turn 2 and get equipped soon after and help transform the dagger. Building on the idea of a W/R/B aggro deck with flyers I fell into what is the deck you will see below and which I will play starting next week. I hope that Rivals of Ixalan will give me more usable dinosaurs.
Without further ado I give you the beta version of the deck I like to call:
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Aether Hub
3 Canyon slough
6 Plains
6 Mountains
Artifacts (5)
3 Dowsing Dagger
2 Aethersphere Harvester
Spells (10)
4 Magma Spray
2 Cut // Ribbons
2 Invigorated Rampage
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Huatli, Warrior Poet
Creatures (22)
3 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Burning Sun's Avatar
2 Wakening Sun's Avatar
4 Duskborne Skymarcher
3 Aether Chaser
4 Kinjalli's Sunwing
4 Sky Terror
Card explanations:
Dowsing Dagger - The point of this deck is to get the dagger to flip, get lots of mana by turn 4 or turn 5 and go crazy, also you need to cast everything so you can have Hazoret rule the battlefield. I think it is an underrated card and it was designed correctly by Wizards at 2 mana cost and 2 mana to activate because if they changed either to 1 mana it would be quite broken.
Aethersphere Harvester - they fly, they don't die to sweepers and hard to kill with burn, they don't die to Wakening Sun's Avatar and in a deck with 22 creatures it should be easy to crew them, even Hazoret can do that if it can't attack for some reason.
Magma Spray + Cut // Ribbons - because mono red is still a deck as is energy and being able to kill a cub or bomat courier on turn 1 is hella good, also cut can kill bigger creatures and of course spray can deal with The scarab god if it gets blocked first. Ribbons can be cast once Dagger is flipped into lost vale and it is a good finisher spell.
Invigorated Rampage - 22 creatures, 12 flyers and 10 non-flyers so they may need the trample to get through, or a good pump spell to finish the opponent.
Unlicensed Disintegration- it's there to kill opposing big creatures and maybe deal an extra 3 damage sometimes.
Hazoret - playing 3 main deck, needs no explanation, can hit hard, can equip the vehicles, can hold the dagger and we can invigorated rampage her to do more damage, also she survives Wakening Sun's Avatar.
Burning Sun's Avatar - this deck wants a lot of mana by turn 4, so we should be able to cast this guy on turn 5 quite often, he takes care of blockers, he can crew vehicles or hit really hard.
Wakening Sun's Avatar - can come online on turn 6 or 7 maybe if we flip the dagger early, can clear the board of opposing creatures and can help crew a vehicle if needed. I am a big fan of him due to his wrath of god ability and the fact that we run 10 dinos in this deck and the fact that we can cast him much earlier than turn 8 in this deck as well.
Duskborne Skymarcher - you are scratching your head, but this is the only 1 mana flying creatures in standard for either White or Red, I know cause I checked all the sets in standard. Maybe Rivals will give me a better option but so far I need this guy to come out on turn 1, so turn 2 I can cast dagger, and turn 3 I can equip this guy and attack and hopefully flip dagger. That is the best plan scenario and it can only be stopped if the opp has burn or removal on turn 3 to kill this guy, since it is flying so the opp probably doesn't have a flying creature out by then. If the dagger flips on turn 3 into lost vale then the game should end pretty soon since I will have a possible 7 mana on turn 4.
Aether Chaser - it gives energy for aether hub, it can attack and block and kill opposing creatures due to first strike, it can also make another 1/1 creature with the use of energy and of course it can crew the harvester.
Sky Terror - the other key 2 drop in this deck, it can fly, it can't really be blocked even if you have a flying creature and it comes out on turn 2.
Kinjalli's Sunwing - highly underrated 3 drop rare, it flies, and it stops opp's creatures from blocking since they come into play tapped. So, this on turn 3 means that whatever opp casts next turn will not be able to block. It makes it much easier to drop dagger on turn 4 and equip it on the same turn, then attack and flip the dagger and get more mana. That is why I will play 4 of this in the deck, it also helps that he is a dino so it is easier to cast with Unclaimed Territory and also it doesn't die to Wakening Sun's Avatar, last but not least it shuts down Glorybringer or opposing Hazorets.
Huatli, Warrior Poet- first time I am considering playing a planeswalker, so I am just testing her to see how she works, I don't mind the life gain, and being able to make creatures not block would win games since this deck wins by attacking with creatures.
The best start would be TURN 1 Skymarcher, TURN 2 attack for 1, cast Dagger, TURN 3 equip dagger and attack for 3 and flip dagger into lost vale.
Or, TURN 1 magma spray, or skymarcher, TURN 2 cast sky terror or aether chaser,TURN 3 cast Kinjalli's sunwing, TURN 4 cast dagger and equip and attack on a flier and flip the dagger into lost vale, use the 3 mana to cast something else. TURN 5 cast a hazoret or big dino.
I am still testing the deck now and working on a sideboard for this deck as well so I will update this list next week. I can't wait for Rivals and hoping to get more great dinos so that I can make this deck dinosaur only.
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BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
It's not Ramunap red, I never even named the deck that before when it was mono-red. This is a dino vehicles deck which is trying to break Dowsing Dagger with small flying creatures and getting enough mana by turn 4 or 5 to cast a big dino to seal the deal. Aside from that it plays like a normal aggro deck with small creatures and burn to clear the way.
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Anything else?
Dire Fleet Daredevil seems to be the best Red card in RIX for me, but i am unsure if it fits in the RR deck.
Rekindling Phoenix i can see in a U/R Fliers shell, a way to attack a meta that's heavy on ground combat.
Fanatical Firebrand seems interesting for a fast, low to the ground Red list. i can see myself playing that plus a host of other cheap creatures then use Invigorated Rampage and Built to Smash to deal damage quickly. my only worry is that maybe removal is too good for that deck this standard with the presence of Magma Spray, Shock and Fatal Push.
I like Daring Buccaneer as well, but only if we can get the pirate count up high enough to make it a 1-drop most of the time. Perhaps with Daredevil, Kari Zev, and another one like Rigging Runner, it could be enough.
Blood Sun looks interesting potentially as a sideboard tech, troublesome that it would shut down our own Ramunap Ruins.
Edit: Arch of Orazca also looks like it could have potential. Looks a bit like a Sea Gate Wreckage. Blessing doesn’t seem too difficult, but the activation is pricy.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Rigging Runner suddenly looks more playable lol.
Nevelo, i haven't gone through the numbers and theoreticals, but do you think it's possible to make an extremely low to the ground mono red deck that can kill on T4 with the new RIX cards?
there's a bunch of one drops (many with haste) fast 2 drops (Earthshaker Khenra and Speedway Fanatic) and hasty 3 drops (Ahn Crop Crasher and Lathnu Hellion) to finish the opponent. combat tricks like Invigorated Rampage and Built to Smash for reach aside from burn.
i am thinking 16 spells, 20 lands (16 mountains and 4 Sunscorched Desert) and the rest are creatures.
Something like this:
4 Bomat Courier
4 Rigging Runner
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Earthshaker Khenra
4 Dire Fleet Daredevil
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Shock
2 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
Lands:24
14 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
2 Arch of Orazca
4 Sunscorched Desert
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I was thinking of pulling Soul-Scar out of the current list for Firebrand, and running Daredevils where I have Harsh Mentors right now. I also think that a couple of Built to Smash could be good here, either as a creature removal or a surprise 3 damage. I've been running Harnessed Lightning over Abrade recently, mainly due to the lack of need for artifact removal at my local store. I've put two Abrade back in this list just in case, but could easily go back to 4 Harnessed Lightning, and use the spare card slot for a 4th Daredevil or 3rd Kari Zev, or even go to a 3/2 split of Firebrand/Rigging Runner or Soul-scar...
4 Ramunap Ruins
4 Sunscorched Desert
2 Arch of Orazca
13 Mountain
Creatures (23)
4 Bomat Courier
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Dire Fleet Daredevil
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3 Rampaging Ferocidon
3 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Built to Smash
3 Shock
2 Abrade
3 Harnessed Lightning
4 Lightning Strike
Main thing to enable Buccaneer is to keep the Pirate Count high. The inclusion of Rigging Runner then further requires a bunch of other 1-drops to turn it on early.
I’m not as high on Firebrand. It’s not quite as good as it’s Goblin cousin, and I’m not so sure that the Goblin would see play these days either.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
As I posted above due to the dagger making tokens with defender the best way to get over them is to fly over or have creatures with menace. I took the 3 color list to my local FNM last week and I got my ass handed to me 1-2 out of three rounds. Here's what happened and also the new version of this deck which is 2 colors right now.
Round 1 I got paired up against Ramunap Red, go figure, and he beat me in 2 games but the main reason was that he had Abrade both games to kill my dowsing dagger before I could equip it and attack with a creature, and also he got Hazoret out both games while I didn't get my Hazoret out at all. What I did learn is that I can beat Ramunap Red with my deck but I just need lower to the ground creatures and maybe more burn, and of course my opp not drawing better than me would be good too.
Round 2 I faced a G/W cats deck which I beat 2-0 without much difficulty, he had nothing to deal with flyers, he managed to Cast Out my Hazoret but the fliers beat him down. And kinjalli's sunwing was an MVP in this match and all the games he came out really, he's a sleeper hit if you can get him out since he shuts down haste creatures and also makes newly cast creature not able to block on my turn.
Round 3 I had to playing against a 4 Color energy build, G/R/U/B which rain Harnessed Lightning, Rogue Refiner and of course the Scarab God which beat me 2-0 mostly because of the amount of removal he had, and he got scarab god out turn 5-6 each game. I also didn't draw even 1 dowsing dagger both games which would've made the match up much more easier for me, he did manage to zombify 2 of my kinjalli's sunwing with the scarab god in the second game and fly over to kill me with them, but I brought him close to death with my sky terrors.
So, lessons I've learned are that sky terror is awesome if you can get it turn 2, it's basically unblockable due to flying and menace so they have to kill it with burn or other ways. If you get 2 of these out then you can put the opp on a short clock. The other card that I've mentioned is kinjalli's sunwing which is also awesome, and it's a must kill for the opp within a couple of turns of it coming out, otherwise, they will be short a blocker every turn. I have also noticed that I don't need black in the deck so the deck will run more smoothly with just W/R and that dowsing dagger never got to flip in all the games that I played, if it did then I'd probably dump my whole hand the next turn and shortly win the game, but the 2 opp's that did see it cast managed to get rid of it very fast.
Here's the new version of the deck, without Rivals cards, I'll take a look at the spoiler and figure out what fits in the deck this week.
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Aether Hub
2 Stone Quarry
6 Plains
7 Mountains
Artifacts (6)
4 Dowsing Dagger
2 Aethersphere Harvester
Spells (7)
4 Magma Spray
3 Cut // Ribbons
Planeswalker (1)
1 Huatli, Warrior Poet
Creatures (24)
3 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Burning Sun's Avatar
2 Wakening Sun's Avatar
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Duskborne Skymarcher
3 Aether Chaser
4 Kinjalli's Sunwing
4 Sky Terror
2 God-pharaoh's Gift
1 Captivating Crew
1 Repeating Barrage
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Hour of Devastation
2 Abrade
2 Cast Out
2 Forsake the worldly
I am still working on the sideboard, I am a huge fan of Hour of Devastation since it deals with the scarab god for one turn and any tokens that he made, it can also kill Chandras and opposing hazorets or other gods if you need to. Also, against fast decks sweltering suns can work, since I can just have 1 creature out and if the opp has 2 or 3 out then I can kill everything. Of course Cast out and Forsake the worldly is to deal with enchantments or artifacts that I need to deal with, Abrade is the same and also more burn as is the one repeating barrage.
I will check out the Rivals spoiler and see if there's any new Dinosaurs or other cards I can add to this deck. If you want to take a chance on a non monored aggro deck without Ramunap ruins then you can give this a try and it may surprise you. I would love to have blood sun in the sideboard of this deck but it's kind of expensive on Ebay right now so I'll have to wait on that.
Let me know what you think about this deck!
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