Game 1 - On the draw - Opponent Salvaged some stuff in the yard, first real play was turn 5 Thragtusk bringing him to 8 life - I played a second Hellrider with 4 creatures on board, 8 damage from triggers alone, good times...
Game 2 - I'm not sure what happened this game - I know I played a Thundermaw Hellkite and promptly won the game O_o
Round 2 - U/W Humans 2-1
Game 1 - On the play - I get the nuts - Noble on 1, Zealot on 2 - Opponents first play was a Thalia - It ate a pillar, same thing next turn, Spear a creature swing for damage - Hellrider came down and sealed it...
Game 2 - Lost this one to a triple Champion of the Parish Draw - Didn't draw removal so.......
Game 3 - Had my 1 of forge devil for the epics - Played a noble, the devil killed the following champion - Some things happened - A gather the townsfolk was played but I had a pyreheart wolf to prevent blocks - Fiend hunter took my Noble - I thought about the volley in my hand but considered it pointless - An ash zealot from me, and i'm swinging for a lot of damage - Opponent pairs the hunter with a paladin - I swing with volley being lethal as he has to block...
Round 2 - 4 Colour Reanimator - 2-1
Game 1 - On the play - This game saw a centaur healer on 3, and a thragtusk on 5 from opponent but it wasn't enough - I did have a slow start, but it worked out - Turn 2 Chainwalker - Followed turn 3 Ash Zealot swing for 5 - My opponent was forced to play a shock untapped and flashblack souls, bolting himself - So by the time Tusk came down, my opponent had already negated the life gain anyway - hellrider sealed the deal...
Game 2 - I kept a good hand, but drew 6 land in a row so, I lost to a good draw of healer, thagtusk, angel of serenity...Opponent also had rolling temblor on 3 for my noble and ash zealot, twas not nice...
Game 3 - Opponent had a t4 Angel of serenity via the gravyard but died next turn due to hellkite, the deck is fast...I had a good draw of 1 drop, chainwalker, hellrider, hellkite ftw!
Round 4 - Paired down against a bad match up G/W Humans - 2-1
Game 1 - Lost to a couple of strangleroot geists and a t2 smiter
Game 2 - Both Mulled to 6 - Opponent kept a one lands with 2 mana dorks, smiter, and other good stuff apparently - I opened on Noble, he opened on sunpetal grove - I played zealot attacked - Opponent found a land, played smiter - I killed it with Motars and the rest is history...
Game 3 - Was Insane - Back and forth, really close affair, opponent had double rancor on some guys but I kept killing them - I even overloaded a Mizzium mortars, killing his paladan with double rancor - I overloaded it because he had one card in hand and 4 mana and resto could have ruined my day...
I just got there when my opponent ran out of things to stick rancor on and my Noble got big enough to seal the win..
Verdict - Forge devil is the greatest Misers SB card of all time
And Thunderbolt leads to blowouts against resto angel...
Deck is good, I'm happy casting T1 Noble when ppl think it's a good Idea to hard cast Omniscience
How are you finding the 3 MB Hellion Crucible? I hate it when I pull 2 of them early game, so I just have 1. Thoughts?
Hey guys, I tried to be as detailed as possible. From play testing with friends, I found that matches tend to be over very quickly with our decks built like this, which gives me a lot of time at actual matches to go back and write down a summary of the games I had. I'm probably missing a lot of details, but I tried to remember as much as I could right after the full match.
Round 1: Junk Rites (2-1)
Game 1 otD: Loss
My opponent took a quick mulligan. My opening hand wasn't too great, I remember something like 3 Mountains, a Swamp, a Civic Saber, a Flames of the Firebrand, and only a Knight of Infamy. I took the risk and kept it due to the 4 damage I'd be swinging. The fact my opponent mulliganed probably had something to do with it as well.
I drew into a Stromkirk Noble on turn 1, so it instantly got a lot easier for me getting in some quick damage with a Civic Saber and Knight of Infamy on the field vs a Lotleth Troll.
By the end of turn 5 I had cleared his field with my Flames of the Firebrand and Stromkirk Noble, drawing into another Civic Saber and Ash Zealot bringing him down to 6. He responded with Thragtusk, but I knew I had him on the ropes with his hand sitting at 1 card. I bounced both Civic Saber's to Ash Zealot and swung into him.
Frustratingly enough, this is where the game started to stall since he had Unburial Rites in his graveyard, constantly reanimating the Thragtusk, but I was still fine swinging a 5/3 First Strike Ash Zealot each turn. Until he Sever the Bloodlined my Ash Zealot and then my Knight of Infamy He was able to then establish back to back Angel of Serenities, exiling my Falkenrath Aristocrat and Hellhole Flailer I put down on my consecutive turns
Game 2 otP: Win
+1 Zealous Conscripts +2 Rakdos Charm +2 Sever the Bloodline +2 Slaughter Games +2 Dreadbore
-1 Thundermaw Hellkite -2 Mizzium Mortars -4 Searing Spear -2 Civic Saber
My opponent mulligans again, my hand is exceptionally better for the match up. Falkenrath Aristocrat and Knight of Infamy with a Dreadbore and Sever of Bloodline in hand. He was ramping as usual and even getting Lingering Souls out for chump blocks, thankfully Knight of Infamy has pro-white so I continued to swing through him for 3. Then turn 4 happened and I drew Slaughter Games. Good bye Angel of Serenity! It was close too, he had 1 in hand with an Unburial Rites.
A lot like last game, he started to draw into Thragtusks, but I wasn't going to swing into him or block them this time because I knew he had the Unburial Rites. A few turns later I top decked Sever the Bloodline and that was game with a Falkenrath Aristocrat already beating down on him from the air for 2 turns.
Game 3 otD: Win
I kept the same sideboard since I felt it was incredibly strong for the match up.
I opened with an incredible hand: 1-1 dropper, 2-2 droppers, and a Rakdos Charm. I was feeling good! However, a Thragtusk was established on turn 3, which made me panic. I dropped an Ash Zealot and swung with a 3/2 first strike killing his Thragtusk. Unburial Rites was played the next turn, bringing my opponent to 28 life. I didn't respond right away with Rakdos Charm since I had chump blockers plus I had just pulled a Falkenrath Aristocrat.
He mulched into another Unburial Rites and Sever the Bloodline to his graveyard, time to blow it up with Rakdos Charm! We trade swings, he has me to 11 but I Sever the Bloodline the field and end up taking the game shortly after.
1-0
Round 2: Izzet Control (0-2)
Game 1 otD: Loss
Good opener; Stromkirk Noble with Civic Saber out quickly. I wasn't exactly sure what my opponent was playing, I saw a burn spell on my Stromkirk Noble but didn't see anything else from my opponent even though I kept seeing blue mana sources dropped. Either my opponent doesn't have Think Twices or is waiting for me to drop something to either Negate, Essence Scatter, or Syncopate it. I feared if I let the control set up I may miss my chance, but come turn 4 I was decided to play it cautiously.
My rule of thumb has always been not to tap out unless they tap out (assusming you're playing against control). By turn 6 still nothing came from him and I was sitting with now a Zealous Conscripts in my hand. I decided to test the waters and I dropped Falkenrath Aristocrat on the field. Sure enough, Syncopated which I couldn't pay ;\
Eventually after many turns Jace, the Architect of Thought showed up. I wasn't going to get stuck in a control funnel. He had already -2'd, so on my turn I dropped the Zealous Conscript and stole Jace, the Architect of Thought--blowing him up, giving me an Ash Zealot and trying to swing in for damage, but Magmaquake ended up ruining my plans.
I was frustrated by this point since we were well over turn 10 so I just started to throw burns at his face directly. I was able to bring him down to 9 through pure burn while he was hitting me with an Augur of Bolas each turn. Then I got Devil's Played for 11, killing me ;\
Game 2 otP: Loss
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +1 Falkenrath Aristocrat +2 Slaughter Games +2 Dreadbore +2 Rakdos's Return +2 Underworld Connections
-1 Zealous Conscripts -1 Olivia Voldaren -4 Flames of the Firebrand -4 Searing Spear
I decided to bring out Searing Spears instead of Mizzium Mortars because I saw a white source last game, so I was unsure if I'd be seeing Entreat the Angels or not.
Anyways, I had to mulligan to 6.
I learned my lesson from last game and actually listened to my adviced and just played patiently. By turn 4, I found myself getting in quick damage only for it to be Searing Speared off the field. I had another Falkenrath Aristocrat in my hand like in the previos game, but my opponent was doing nothing again except sitting on mana. I had a Stomrkirk Noble out, so I was content on making it as large as possible if he was going to let me.
Jace, the Architect of Thought came out but so did Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius from the -2 ability. I had the opportunity to now play Falkenrath Aristocrat! Holding onto my Dreadbore for Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius! He magmaquaked my field, wiping Stomrkirk Noble and Rakdos Cackler from the field.
I didn't see Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius on turn 6 though. Instead I saw Snapcaster Mage to Searing Spear on my Falkenrath Aristocrat D: Crap! I drew into land and Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius then came out. Luckily, I had the mana to pay for any Izzet Charm or Syncopate.
The game ended up stalling out again with him Think Twicing, Snapcaster Mage play, Pillar of Flame any weenies, Searing Spears, and more Magmaquakes from his hand. It was ridiculously frustrating. He ultimately was able to establish Lone Revenant which I couldn't deal with unless I pulled an Mizzium Mortars. Sadly, I didn't...
Had him to 3 life...
I feel like my SB options here is what really killed me.
1-1
Round 3: Esper Tokens (2-0)
Game 1 otP: Win
A nice opening hand with 2 Stromkirk Nobles and an Ash Zealot, quick damage was coming in one way or another. Through out the rest of the game I just kept pulling Rakdos Cacklers, Ash Zealots, and Knight of Infamy's, I did see double Favorable Winds on 4 1/1 Lingering Soul tokens which was quite scary. Yet again, Knight of Infamy lol. I used my Searing Spears on the actual tokens as I just kept sending in pro white damage, only being blocked by a Snapcaster Mage in one instant and constantly bounced with Unsummons.
Eventually I took the game with more then 10 life left.
Game 2 otD: Win
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +2 Rakdos Charm +2 Sever the Bloodline
-1 Zealous Conscript -2 Civic Saber -2 Searing Spear
This was a very scary opener for me, my hand was quite good. 2 Ash Zealots and a Knight of Infamy by turn 3 in my hand or on the field, but I saw 2x Intangible Virtues also on the field for my opponent with a Lingering Souls soon to be played. I saw Ultimate Priced SB'd in for my Knight of Infamy's which started to really make me worried because I was seeing 3/3 Lingering Soul tokens flying through at me.
Turn 6 came around and I was being faced with 3x Intangible Virtues ontop of 4 4/4 Lingering Soul tokens, I was able to deal with 2. My turn 6 I top decked Sever of the Bloodline and cleared the field. My opponent scooped right then and there. My life wasn't actually threatened, getting for 6 damage total.
2-1
Round 4: Naya Midrange (2-1)
Game 1 otP: Loss
Both my opponent and myself mulligan to 6.
Pretty crazy game, it went by so fast. I'm sorry I couldn't soak in the details but it went something like getting in quick damage with Rakdos Cackler and Ash Zealot. Only to see my crap Pillar of Flamed with Huntmaster of the Fells and Centaur Healers being played. I'm unable to convert with a spell on my next turn, allowing Huntmaster of the Fells to flip. My opponent then proceeded to beat on me hard, dropping additional Centaur Healers and clearing my board of creatures until I pull a Mizzium Mortars on 6 lands. Clearing his field and swinging in with a Hellhole Flailer.
He then top decked his own board sweeper, a miracled Bonfire of the Damned for 7, bringing me to 2 but with no hand. My next few draws are 2 Stromkirk Nobles, swinging when I can. He eventually gets a Armada Wurm, but I knew it was all but over with him at 15 life still. I pulled a Zealous Conscript and swung with everything. There was no way around this loss because of the trample from Armada Wurm and its token ;\ I was able to bring him to 3 life.
Game 2 otD: Win
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +2 Sever the Bloodline +2 Underworld Connections
-1 Zealous Conscripts -4 Flames of the Firebrand
I mulligan to 6 and take a hand with 4 mana, Stromkirk Noble, and Thundermaw Hellkite. I'm hoping for a fifth mana source for a beat down from Thundermaw Hellkite.
My opponent searched for a Mountain on turn 2 with Farseek, which to me was odd. I knew what was coming, a Pillar of Flame. Ash Zealot and a 2/2 Stromkirk Noble is out on my field at this point. The Stromkirk Noble is just going to avoid the Pillar of Flame, which I was fine with.
Centaur Healer is played and I decide to trade with my Stromkirk Noble, fields are cleared for Thundermaw Hellkite next turn. He has no answer except for a Borderland Ranger and Farseek. I draw my next turn into yet another Thundermaw Hellkite, this games mine He flashes in Restoration Angel, but I know he is as good as dead.
Bonfire of the Damned for 6, wtf...
Fine, whatever. Played Falkenrath Aristocrat to win.
Crazy top decks this game and yet again from my opponent with the Bonfire of the Damneds.
Game 3 otD: Win
+2 Slaugher Games
-2 Underworld Connections
My field is nuts this game by turn 4: 2 Ash Zealots, a 2/2 Stromkirk Noble, and a Knight of Infamy vs a Thragtusk. I swung a lonely Ash Zealot, hoping my opponent would block with the Thragtusk, but he didn't. I figured a Restoration Angel was in his hand. Sure enough, the angel showed itself and I had a real problem on my hands with my opponent now near 30 life.
I played Falkenrath Aristocrat and traded with Restoration Angel, sacing my Rakdos Cackler to make her indestructible. I double block his remaining Thragtusk and then Sever the Bloodline the field of his 3/3 tokens he had created from them. Fly in my pretty!
From here on, I pulled even more Rakdos Cackler's and Knight of Infamy's, absolutely flooding the field. He tried to stabalize with more Thragtusks, while I Slaughter Games his Restoration Angels (over Armada Wurm).
I end up killing him just by ignoring a Thragtusk and Centaur Healer that was left on the field, being pumped by Gavony Township. Falkenrath Aristocrat and a fling from my Hellhole Flailer ended the match.
3-1
Round 5: Jund Midrange (2-0)
Game 1 otD: Win
Not a very interesting match. I was able to establish a Hellhole Flailer with a Civic Saber while my opponent was blocking with an army of 2/2 tokens and Huntmaster of the Fells. He eventually got out an Olivia Voldaren, pinging off my Ash Zealots and Stromkirk Nobles. She was a 7/7 by the point I had to stop swinging unless my opponent wanted to trade. It was a very damn good thing my opponent didn't have a double black source else I might have been in a lot of trouble.
Regardless, a 7/7 Olivia Voldaren was a real issue. That's of course until I drew my very own Olivia Voldaren, playing it and killing both, lol. After that, it was a easy win dropping Falkenrath Aristocrat and just powering on through the left over chump blockers.
Incredibly surprised I had such an easy time with Jund Midrange to be completely honest. This is one of my harder match ups I've had in the past. Luck of the draw I suppose.
Game 2 otD: Win
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +2 Sever the Bloodline +2 Underworld Connections
-1 Zealous Conscripts -4 Flames of the Firebrand
We both mulligan to 6.
He gets 2 Strangleroot Geist's off very quickly with my lone Knight of Infamy on the field. This is hurting, but I have 2 Searing Spears in hand. This isn't looking good for me at all, I was thinking that maybe I should just race him and if I could draw to a fifth mana source I could try and end it with the Thundermaw Hellkite in my hand.
I was already up a game, but to Jund Midrange...I was harassed at this point by my opponent for taking so long to make a move, haha. I decided to go for the race this early into the game (turn 3)!
Ash Zealot, but no fifth source...crap!
I'm forced to stop attacking since my opponent has now switched to defense. Dead Weights my Ash Zealot and damage continues to funnel through from only 1 Strangleroot Geist (no undying). I decided to block it with my Knight of Infamy, hoping I draw a 5th land.
...I didn't, but I drew an Ash Zealot and I had a Mizzium Mortars already in hand. I use them both. Underworld Connections comes out and I wait until my opponents end phase. Got it!
4-1
I believe I was incredibly lucky, my opponent showed me his hand when he lost and there were 3 Pillar of Flames, a Huntmaster of the Fells, and a Mizzium Mortars but he had 0 red sources on the field. Whew!
Round 6 (Top 8): DosRakis (1-2)
Game 1 otP: Win
Uhh...nearly a mirror match up. It felt like a really easy win, but it's only because I got Falkenrath Aristocrat out on turn 4 with my opponent having no options against it. He scooped on turn 6.
Game 2 otD: Loss
+1 Falkenrath Aristocrat +1 Thundermaw Hellkite
-1 Olivia Voldaren -1 Zealous Conscripts
I honestly had no idea how I would sideboard for this, so I just put in faster-stronger choices to end the game as fast as possible.
My opponent mulliganed to 6, but we both open with Stromkirk Nobles, lol.
On my opponents turn 5, I was facing off against a Falkenrath Aristocrat, Ash Zealot, and a 3/3 Stromkirk Noble against 3 of my own Stromkirk Nobles. I drew for my turn and scooped. I needed a mana source to continue as I had my very own Falkenrath Aristocrat myself, sitting at 12 life.
Game 3 otP: Loss
He had the better hand, lost because he was able to protect his Stromkirk Nobles, which he had 2 of. I couldn't get rid of them before it was too late, he was even able to deal with a singleton Falkenrath Aristocrat I was able to drop.
Disappointing loss to be honest, losing to a mirror match up ;\
My opponent actually went on to take 2nd in the tournament, being beat by GW Aggro running Sublime Archangels and Wolfir Silverhearts. I watched their games, the entire match ended in less then 10 minutes lol. GW Aggro demolished the crap out of him both games.
Round 1: Esper Control/Spirits
Game 1: Beat his face in with KoI + Stonewright.
Game 2: He stabilized with Sorin and won the attrition war.
Game 3: My stupid, insane topdecks won the game. Massive board presence while I have none? Draw Bonfire. Hand full of sweepers? Draw Rakdos's Return and force discard it all. Board Clear with no cards in hand? Draw Thundermaw. Needless to say, I did not deserve to win that- that was definitely the luckiest match I've ever played. But all's fair in Love and Magic!
Round 2: Jund Midrange
Game 1: Massive aggro into Thundermaw seals the deal with some maneuvering around 3 Huntmasters and a Thragtusk.
Game 2: Olivia rocked my world- not a single removal spell in sight. Drew 3 Thundermaws and I couldn't do anything.
Game 3: Aristocrat + Stonewright is ridiculous. I honestly don't care how many Thragtusks and Huntmasters you play.
Round 3: 5 Color Good-Stuff Game 1: KoI bonded with Stonewright shuts him down hard before he can get a single relevant thing out.
Game 2: Same deal with KoI and Stonewright, only this time he plays Centaur Healers and gets mana-flooded.
Round 4: Naya Midrange Game 1: Slam him down with Aristocrat and KoI.
Game 2: Multiple Thundermaws takes him down despite the Huntmasters and Thrags.
How do I feel about the deck? Honestly, I love it. A few cards I want to discuss:
Thundermaw: This cards is nonsense. Running 4 was a gamble, but I always had it when I needed it against Midrange decks. This guy + Aristocrat and Stonewright let me chug through lifegain like no one's business.
Aristocrat vs. Hellrider: I had them each half the time. Hellrider closed out a bunch of games with massive damage while Aristocrat allowed me to swing past ground clutter and stick around against Dreadbores. I'll be honest and say I was damn lucky- drawing Aristocrat when the board was cluttered and drawing Hellrider when I had a sizable force on the board. I'm not sold on either one. I think I'll continue to run a 2/2 split.
Thunderbolt: I actually never wanted this card. By the point they hit Thragtusk they were nearly dead- they never had a chance to resto-it and when they did, they didn't have it in their hand. I'm considering running Ultimate Price instead- the damage upstairs never decided a game since it was the fliers that could punch through the lifegain.
Stonewright:Sooooo amazing. I mean I knew that, but he was just ridiculous as hell tonight. Dumbest card ever. Oh hey- board full of Huntmasters and a Thraggy? Don't mind if I slam you for 10 with a Stonewright bonded Aristocrat!
Underworld Connections: I only ran one and saw it once in a game I was already winning- that being said, it definitely allowed me to seal the deal. It's a good card, but I'm not 100% on it.
Knight of Infamy: This guy was a house vs. Esper but was mediocre against Jund and fairly strong vs. the rest of the field- just the way he should be. I think the Jund match-up is decent enough to merit maindecking him against the rest of the meta. Doesn't care about Centaur Healer which is a plus.
Cavern of Souls: This is a necessary card (I wish I had 4!) in the current meta. Counterspells are starting to creep back up and this prevents a massive blowout.
Bonfire of the Damned: The absolute bee's knees in that one crazy game. I feel like it's a good card to run- 2 seemed enough, 3 may be better. It's either a complete blowout or it helps quite a bit in clearing the board. After all, we're playing topdeck.dec so it wouldn't hurt to give this a shot.
Devil's Play: Ridiculous card. Reusable burn is too good.
Dreadbore: I liked it. It killed most things.
Slaughter Games: Underperformed (not only because I chose a terrible target). I simply didn't side it in against anything after the Esper game. I'd rather have an Aristocrat any day.
Hellion Crucible: Really underperformed. I feel like it relies on a board state where neither you or your opponent have significant presence and are relying on topdecking. This is difficult because in 3 turns, you can have a lot of live draws. I often have the Crucible on 1 and sometimes 2 but then I get something better to do. I'm going to cut it for a Mountain since Mountains mean more Stonewright pump.
*Lots of these cards have been discussed, but I felt like adding a bit of my personal opinion.
With this deck, I have the power to dish out considerable aggro damage before switching to a midrange plan. I don't feel like this deck is an inferior Jund deck. It simply has a different plan and a strong mid-late game that can simply shut midrange decks down out of nowhere. Thragtusk is a pretty much nonexistent problem for me now. Hell, I played against someone who had Thragtusk in hand but didn't play it because he knew it'd be useless against my army of fliers! I definitely like this over the old Sledgehammer. Black provides a lot of options that mono-red simply doesn't have. I'll be running this again with a better sideboard as mine was improvised- Severs and Rakdos Charms would be a start.
After getting bored with Dos Rakis, I thought I'd try something different and closer to my roots: Mono Red. Pyreheart Wolf was calling to me, what can I say?
I went undefeated tonight, thanks to Mr. Wolf.
How the deck works: typical aggro Sligh build. You win with Hellrider. Pretty simple. The sideboard took "Going Big" to an extreme. It's more of a transitional kind of sideboard. Rather than toolboxing, you're just going into "Sledgehammer" to take down aggro and any other kind of decks that just want to stall. You're going to go over the top of them while they toolbox to fight aggro. It's such a mind**** for some people.
Anyway, Round 1 was a bye for me. Oh well.
Round 2 was against Dos Rakis. I swear this was my States list card-for-card. I dunno if my opponent lurks our forum or just peeked at my list over the last few weeks, but here it was. Game 1 was close as we just threw haymakers at each other, but I got in there since Pyreheart Wolf+ Hellrider is just beats. It was close though.
He went first and dropped dudes left and right. I countered by burning them. He played more guys and I held them off with Pyreheart. Hey guys, undying is very relevant here. Anyway, I miracle'd a Bonfire, wiped his board out, and swung with two 2/2 Wolves. I drew a Thundermaw and he couldn't fight back.
Win.
Round 3 was against Bant Midrange. He's on the play and starts ramping with Farseek. I throw out Chainwalkers and Zealots to put him on a clock. He lays down a Bruna. I topdeck a Wolf, play it, and then attack. He swings for 5 on his turn, plays a Thragtusk and attacks for 5. I drop a Hellrider on my turn and swing for massive damage. He brings me to 5 on his turn with an attack, but I flash him a Spear from my hand and he scoops.
Sideboard: see last game
He has a slow start and I start to eat away at his life with Stonewright and Ash Zealot. When he finally plays a Thragtusk, I Spear it. I drop a Wolf and attack. He blocks with token, I pump, and the 3/3 beast dies. On his turn, he plays another Thragtusk. I miracle a Bonfire and swing for beats. On his turn he attacks me and passes. A topdecked Hellrider wins me the game on my turn.
Round 4 is against Naya Midrange with Cloudshift antics. I lose this one when I run out of steam and his Huntsmasters and Thragtusks overtake me.
I mull to 5 and cringe. I keep a hand with a Wolf, 2 Zealots, a Mountain, and a Spear. I play Mountain and pass. He plays a land, go. I topdeck a Mountain and I'm in business. Zealot gets in there for 2. On his turn he plays a land and passes. I draw another land and drop another Zealot, swing for 4. On his turn he plays a Centaur Healer and passes. I play a Wolf on my turn and hang back. He plays a land and passes. On my turn, I play another land and attack. He goes to play a Resto, targeting the Healer, but I Spear the Centaur and get in there for 5. He does nothing on his turn and passes. I topdeck a Mortars and take out his Angel and get in there for more damage. He plays another Angel at EOT. On his turn he sighs and passes. On my turn I draw a Hellrider, drop it and go for the dome. Game over.
Game 3 was kind of a blur. I remember getting a Zealot and a Wolf out and riding those two for awhile until he has 2 Restoration Angels out. I land a Thundermaw and that was game. Sometimes there just isn't much to tell when you play Mono Red. *shrug*
4-0 on the back of Pyreheart Wolf. Man, that card is so good and very underrated. Give it a shot, guys.
4-0 at Wednesday Standard
I'm playing Ru with the splash for maindeck Syncopate and Essence Backlash in the board. !@#$ you Thragtusk. My other tech is that every single 2+ CC creature in the deck has haste, meaning that I'm insanely favored against control G1. It also allows me to put on a huge clock before the crucial turn when my opponent has to play Thragtusk or die; if I can counter him then I just win. Decklist
Round 1 - Bant Control
G1: I win the roll, curve out and kill him on turn 5 before he can play Thragtusk. His only relevant spell was a Detention Sphere on my Ash Zealot.
G2: He plays T3 Geist of Saint Traft and we race. He passes turn with 4 mana untapped, I Essence Backlash his Resto Angel and kill him. My blue source was the random Izzet Guildgate from the sideboard. Too pro.
Round 2 - GW Aggro
G1: He mulls to 4 and his only play is two Young Wolfs.
G2: He plays multiple Strangleroots and we race for a bit. He would have won the race if his Centaur Healer resolved, but I had the Syncopate and killed him with burn when I untapped.
Round 3 - Jund Midrange
This player has multiple PTQ top 8s and always plays top decks so I was pretty worried going into this match.
G1: He wins the roll and I get stuck on two land. I scoop when he Farseeks into Garruk, Primal Hunter and Olivia Voldaren.
G2: This time we're BOTH stuck on two land. Unfortunately he doesn't have Farseek and I'm on the triple Shred-Freak plan. He finally gets the mana to Sever all three of them, but a topdecked Ash Zealot finishes the job.
G3: He is on the play and Farseeks into Sever the Bloodline. I have a single Cackler on board and pass turn with 3 mana up. His Thragtusk gets Syncopated and it's his only threat. Thundermaw gets in for 5 then eats a Sever flashback. I finish him with burn.
I got really lucky in this match I think. He didn't draw too much gas. At the same time, Syncopate was super crucial in landing me that final win. If the Thragtusk had stuck, I very well could have lost that game as I was pretty low on gas myself.
Round 4 - Grixis Control
G1: Bunch of haste dudes, burn his planeswalkers, gg.
G2: Bunch of haste dudes, burn his face, gg. I think I Syncopated a Tamiyo.
I played like 10 games against this guy while we were waiting for prizes and I won all but one. I could have won that one too if I'd been a little more aggressive with my Thundermaw in hand. I waited a turn giving him time to topdeck Snapcaster for Tribute to Hunger. Since Grixis has almost no way to gain life, haste guys just wear him down slowly even if he kills them on his turn every time.
Changes for FNM will probably be Essence Scatter instead of Essence Backlash. Even though I love how it is a Lava Axe + counter vs Thragtusk, I won't always have 4 mana to cast it if my opponent ramps or I miss a land drop (which happens fairly often even with 24 land). Also, passing turn with 4 mana up is really suspicious in RDW, whereas I can play a 2-drop haste and have 2 mana up to Essence Scatter while just looking like I'm holding burn. Probably going to put another Izzet Guildgate in the board for when I board in the full suite of counters.
Other than that I'm super happy with the deck. It still manages an impressive T4-5 goldfish percentage, fights control easily with massive haste, and beats lifegain on the stack.
Oh yeah and Reckless Brute has earned his 4-of. I've been playing him for several weeks now and I really like the guy. He's on curve and kills Thragtusk. What more can I ask for?
I'm going to try this out, looks VERY FAST. I'll report back (:
Btw, I'll repost this on the Izzet aggro thread.
OT: Congrats to everyone getting nice results, RED is being fear A LOT lately, muahaha!
It's a good morning today fellas! After 2 down weeks, I stormed back to split 1st place at FNM by going 4-0 then just drew with the other undefeated for packs. FNM was 34 people for reference
Round 1 Naya Midrange 2-0 I play against an familiar opponent where the matches can easily go either way. I got pretty lucky as he got mana-screwed both games and I won without much resistance.
Round 2 G/W Humans/Aggro 2-0 This one was a little more of a challenge. However, Nighthawk turned out to be huge in this one along with FotF. I had triple Aristocrat BOTH Games. He got a Wolfir out on me paired with Silverblade but got through! Wrecked havoc on him from the air game 1. Game 2 - I finished him off with a Zealous Consripts with an Aristocrat on the board and he was done from there. Nighthawk was very relavent as a blocker here vs Wolfir Silverheart.
Round 3 - G/W Humans/Midrange 2-1 This one was more mid-range but still had humans but also had Sigarda maindeck , Sub Angel and Wolfir. I beat him down with Aristocrats on game 1. Game 2 - I couldn't keep up and he got me good. FotF and Nighthawk proved to come up big in this matchup again, very happy to have them mainboard.
Game 3- this one was amazing. I had to mulligan down to 5 on the play, thought I was pretty much done for. I have 3 land, a Nighthawk and a Thundermaw. He has a slow start as well. I draw into 2 more Nighthawks and end the game with all 3 Nighthawks and a Thundermaw out, he had no answer to any of them.
Round 4 -G/W Martial Law deck 2-0 This was an annoying deck since he dropped 2 Martial Law on me game 1 but I pulled out a truely miraculous victory. I only had 2 guys on the board, both detained. I have 8 lands out, 2 of them with Underworld on them. He has an untapped 5/5 Wurm and a 4/4 Angel token on the board. He was at 6 life, I was at 8 and dead next turn if I couldn't kill him right here since he had a tapped wurm as well. I had a Zealous Conscripts in my hand but needed removal or burn to get him dead. I use the Connections to draw a Dreadbore. Then I have just enough land to Dreadbore the Wurm token, play the Conscripts to steal the Angel and swing for the victory.
Game 2 I dropped Aristocrat then Thundermaw and he was dead pretty quick.
Notable Thoughts
- Underworld Connections is ridiculously good.
- I still love Nighthawk, especially in my Aggro-heavy local metagame.
- Removal suite seemed near perfect. Possibly swap 1 Flames for another Dreadbore
- I am liking Conscripts more than Hellkite. There was a few games where the Conscripts won me the game, and a Hellkite would not have. Still had one in my SB though and he did win me a game. Aristocrat and Conscripts is just so crippling.
I'm from Dallas and had to come out to san diego this weekend which was really quite the bummer, because I really wanted to play in the Scg open today in DFW.
So I'm eating breakfast at a diner and there's a flgs around the corner soon as I turn the corner I do a double take:
M: Hey! Are you... Patick Chapin?
PS: Sullivan actually.
M: facepalm. DUDE I KNOW!
PS: I get that all the...
M: *BIG HUG* .... its true... in an act of rabid fanyboism I hugged the Red Mage himself. *chagrin* I then apologized profusely.
To be honest he took it really well. He didn't tap mana or anything. . .
We talked briefly, I told him how I was studying some of his videos because of this thread forum's primer.
He said his next stadard event wasn't until december, so he hadn't attacked the format recently, and had been commentating a lot though.
I did ask him a couple question about MTG and Red (vexing devil, I couldn't resist) and where a good place to play was out here in Diego area.
It was really a cool moment. I've never been a "fan" I was a bit suprised at myself, but to be sitting there bemoaning my fate and then turn a corner and come face to face with someone who's work you've been studying seemed like fate.
So now I guess I just gotta bump into "Z" and get my sledgehammer signed.
FNM Report: 0-2 drop using Sledgehammer base deck(same as I used last week). The report isn't gonna be too detailed, cause it doesn't matter really.
Round 1: BR Zombies. I died on turn 4-5, mostly it doesn't matter, he got a nutdraw and I couldn't stop it.
Game 2: He didn't play anything until Geralf's Messenger, which got Pillared. Coasted to a win
Game 3: He played a Gravecrawler into a Blood Artist into Geralf's Messenger. I saw hide nor hair of any removal spells, he answered every creature I played with removal. I lose.
Round 2: RDW. He's playing Vexing Devils. Boo. Turn 1 Vexing Devil, Turn 2 Vexing Devil x2, I let one stay so I could Searing Spear it. Turn 3 he lays down a Gore-House Chainwalker, I respond with an Ash Zealot. Ash Zealot eats his Pillar, Chainwalker brings me down to 9. I Flames of the Firebrand his Chainwalker, deal him 1. He plays a Hellrider and gets me down to 5. I play a Hellrider of my own, leave him behind. He suicides with his Hellrider, and Brimstone Volleys me.
Game 2: I land a turn 1 Stonewright, Turn 2 Ash Zealot. Those two take me to the finish line after removing his critters. I took a few Vexing Devils to the dome too.
Game 3: Pretty much plays out the same way as game 1, except this time I don't see a third land until Turn 5, only to get a second Hellrider to my face.
Moral of the story: Our aggro matchup sucks. We try to become a pseudo control deck with no lifegain.
As soon as I assemble the remaining cards I need for Darkhammer IRL, that's the deck I'm gonna play. I imagine Darkhammer will run into the same vs. aggro problems, so I think we need to discuss some vs. aggro cards. I think this is where Vampire Nighthawk and Blood Artist should be discussed...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Occasionally streaming Pauper. Stop by Here for chatting and viewing pleasure!
Played a 20 person tourney this afternoon with the following list, which is a major redesign, using Stromkirk Nobles and Stromkirk Captains, mainly for the first strike capabilities. Ended up 3-1, which was enough to put me in top 6, so I earned an extra pack for my troubles.
I apologize for the lack of detail in the report. I'm horrible at remembering games.
Round 1: vs. Mono-Red with Caverns to cast Snapcasters
I went 2-1 vs. the deck that won the FNM the previous night at 4-0. This was a particularly satisfying victory since the guy is one of the best players there. He's a blast to play against, but I've only managed to squeak out wins against him before. He used Nivmagus Elemental as a very effective beater, constantly exiling his Pillar of flame to give it more counters.
Our first game he slaughtered me with a 7/8 Elemental backed up with burn for my creatures. I keep casting creatures to chump the elemental, hoping to draw something big. A Conscripts comes down too late to do much to him, and he kills me with a Pillar of Flame to the face.
Game two I side out my 3 Nobles to Go Big with Thundermaws and the extra Conscripts. We trade back and forth for a while, mainly Ash Zealots and burn. He casts Reforge the Soul, and I draw nothing but lands and a Searing Spear. Two turns later, I draw a Thundermaw Hellkite and use it backed by Searing Spear to kill him.
Third game, we go into top deck mode after he gets stuck on 3 lands and lots of 1 and 2-drops. I steadily beat him with Ash Zealots, using Spears to clear away blockers and chip away at him. Eventually, a Hellrider and the Zealots backed up by a Spear finish him.
1-0
Round 2: vs. Rakdos event deck
Game one loss to a combination of Rix Maadi Guildmage + Knight of Infamy + Stonewright, backed up by burn to kill my creatures. Game two goes much the same way except add Lightning Mauler to the mix.
I do not see anything big either game: no Hellriders, no Hellkites, nothing. The Rix Maadi Guildmage was incredibly effective at both weakening my blockers and draining me of life.
Lesson learned: kill the Guildmages and Stonewrights first.
1-1
Round 3: White/Green something
I honestly did not see enough of this deck to tell you what it was running. His Oblivion Rings weren't much help against Ash Zealots and Hellriders. Both games I killed him by turn 6, either with Hellriders and burn or with a Civic Saber-equipped Falkenrath Aristocrat, which was almost obscene.
2-1
Round 4: G/W Lifegain/Populate
This was easily the most annoying game because of the amount of lifegain from Centaur Healer and Heroes' Reunion. I kid you not: he cast two Healers and 3 Reunions in game 1. He kept using his Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage to populate Centaurs to kill my first-strikers. I whittle down his life with a Hellkite; he charms it.
I keep two Stromkirk Captains on defense. I draw a Civic Saber, which gets equipped to a Captain, followed by Olivia Voldaren. I kill his Guildmage with Olivia and equip her with the Saber, making her 9/7, first strike flyer. He uses Gavony Township to put +1 counters on his 3 Centaur tokens. I topdeck a Mizzium Mortars to wipe his board and beat on him. He casts Precinct Captain. In response, I cast Zealous Conscripts, steal the Captain, and then beat him to death to death with the Conscripts, his own Captain, Olivia, the Captains, a Knight, and an Ash Zealot. I had to do 47 points of damage over the game to kill him.
Game two wasn't nearly as epic since he got stuck on two Guildgates and an Avacyn's Pilgrim for mana. He casts a Centaur Healer and one Reunion, but I quickly beat him down with creatures followed by Devil's Play.
3-1 for the evening. If I had drawn better round two, I probably would have gone 4-0.
Lessons learned: Kill the Guildmages; Civic Saber equipped to any of the vampires is obscene, especially Olivia; the Stromkirk Captains were really useful, either in pairs or with the Noble. They felt like Zealots 4-8; Searing Spear is just exceptionally versatile; stealing stuff with Zealous Conscripts is very fun; and lifegain ain't what it used to be against red.
I never used the Hellhole Flailers. I expected to side them in against the control decks I thought would be there. Not sure what to replace them with. More burn sounds good.
And best of all, through trading, I was able to complete my playsets of both Blood Crypts and Falkenrath Aristocrats. I also got two Tibalt, the fiend-blooded and other fun stuff. And I opened an Armada Wurm in my bonus pack.
I like the idea of Stromkirk Captain because it lets you run MD cavern of souls...very interesting report; lots to think about. Thanks.
You're most welcome.
The Captains were brutal with any of the other vamps on the board, especially Aristocrat or Olivia. If you're forced into a more defensive game, you can just stall with all the first strike power on the board. They make late-game Nobles much better as well.
I really want to put Nighthawks in this list. That leaves the three spot kinda crowded, but it would make those Caverns even more useful. It'd be he'll on the manabase without Caverns, though.
Decisions, decisions.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
Game 1 - My opponent uses Dramatic Rescue and Azorious Charm to great effect in controlling the board, combined with Guttersnipe to bring my life total down to 1 before I finally get things going. Two Hellhole Flailers pull out the win for me.
Game 2 - Every card I side in I don’t see the entire game, so I won’t bother to list them. Regardless, I have a very quick start and Flailer again pulls out the win for me.
Game 2 – After siding in Traitorous Blood and Slaughter Games, he didn’t have a chance. Removing Thragtusk and attacking him with his own Angel in addition to my Aristocrat proves too much for him to overcome.
Result – Win 2-0
Round 3 vs. UW control
Game 1 - I am quick out of the blocks and land an Aristocrat turn 4. That, along with KoI and several timely burn spells give me the reach I need to wrap up the game.
Game 2 – I side in more cards that I never see the entire game. He has me on the ropes this game. Angel of Serenity is a pain! But after getting rid of it with Dreadbore, I get some lucky topdecks in Aristocrat and Hellkite. He removes the Aristocrat, and I draw one the very next turn to seal the deal.
Result – Win 2-0
Round 4 vs. Reanimator
Game 1 – I have my first mulligan of the night, followed by getting mana screwed. He has way too many threats to deal with. Nice trick with Angel of Serenity when he exiled my Aristocrat, along with a Thragtusk and Restoration Angel from his graveyard. When I’m forced to destroy Angel of Serenity, he gets both cards back. I’m done after only drawing 4 land the entire game.
Notes – Really disappointed in my final match. Even with pile shuffling and 24 land, I got screwed both games. And because I didn’t win at least one game in that match, I ended up in second place just one point behind my final opponent.
On to the good news. This deck kicks ass against most midrange and control, provided you don’t get mana screwed. Hellhole Flailer is quite literally a monster. The sac effect is brutal. Knight of Infamy works well with every creature in the deck. Since my meta runs a lot of Tamiyo and Jace, Dreadbore was great in the MD. Underworld Connections can win games by giving you the ability to draw into answers. Falkenrath Aristocrat scares the pants off of people. The only way to deal with it is Terminus or exile effects, until I drop another one and my opponents start to curse under their breath.
Cards I was not impressed with include Flames of the Firebrand, Rakdos's Return, and Sever the Bloodline. I have removed these from my SB, as well as Vampire Nighthawk. I never faced any aggro decks, so Nighthawk was never a factor. I still think Nighthawk is a good card, just not in my meta.
So after making changes to deal with my local meta, here is what my deck looks like now:
Round 1:
Came out swinging, and killed him on t6. He was mana screwed.
SB: Nothing yet
Round 2:
Had him down to 7, he cast Supreme Verdict, I had no more creatures. He drops a Tamio, taps my mana, then cast Jace next turn. He gets his Tamio to 8, then I conscripts it. He had no response, so I ultimate and take him down to 5. He topdecks a terminus, and has counters that exile my burn spells. In the end, he gets me with a Geist.
Round 3:
I never see any of the sideboarded cards, but was able to power through a Jace. He was scared to drop his tamio
Game 2; Esper Tokens (2-0) Win
Round 1:
T4 win, not much to say.
SB: Nothing
Round 2:
T6 win after a couple of lingering souls
Game 3; G/B Corpsjack Pump (2-1) Loss
Round 1:
Droped him to 8 early, but then got mana flooded. He cast Corpsjasck, then a second, and scavenged a slither head. I cast Thundermaw, take him to 3 but could not do any more.
Hi to all people, and I wanted to share my experience with the RDW I've played with last FNM. I've been trying to get a good grasp of the meta in my local area, thus the card experimenting.
Some things to notice here is the lack of Thundermaws and a messy sideboard. I still went 3-1 with this deck with a bye (placing 5th out of 27) but learned pretty important things from experience:
- Reckless Brute is a hit or miss. All it takes to stop him is a random 1/x, but he does trade for x/3's which is good, but there are better cards.
- Rakdos Shred-Freak was underwhelming. I switched Gore-House Chainwalker just to experiment (2 damage immediate on turn 2 vs 3/2 on turn 3). The thing though is once x/3+'s get to the board on turn 3 (which happened almost everytime), he's a dead card.
- Zealous Conscripts maindeck was fun, but I know I could've won that single loss against a Jund if I ran Thundermaws instead.
- I was expecting people playing Planeswalkers but I didn't. Never sided in Pithing Needle. I will probably drop this card unless something drastic in my meta happens
- Removing Pillar of Flame didn't impact my game much, but early removal still helps. I'm thinking of putting back at least 2-3 in my main and the rest on the sideboard. I didn't go against a zombie deck at the least.
Now, why the lack of a Thundermaw? Because it's almost impossible right now to get that card since everyone wants it.
Matches:
Match 1 - Jund Midrange 1-2
1. First game was supposedly a roll for me, until I hit around turn 6 and kept drawing nothing but lands. He was down to 6 and all I needed was to topdeck at least two burn spells. Since I netted a bad series of draws, he caught up.
2. Went first and curved. Managed a turn 6 kill since he didn't seem to have answers (only managed two removals).
3. He ramped up quick and being on the draw proved to be disadvantageous. My beats wasn't able to get through when he dropped the turn 3 Smiter and I wasn't able to draw my Mizzium Mortar
Match 2 - Bye (bad for testing)
Match 3 - RDW Aggro (2-1)
1. I went first, we raced, and I won quickly.
2. He went first, I got stuck on two mana, he won.
3. I went first again, and got stuck on two mana again! But luck was on my side since he didn't seem to have answers to my rampant Cacklers.
Match 4 - Epic Experiments (2-0)
The two rounds was basically him trying to combo off while I was beating him down to hell. He did go off on the first match, but he wasn't able to finish. It did give me a small heart attack.
For next Friday, I'm replacing the Brutes with Pyreheart Wolf. I can think of many situations where I would have managed an attack if he was with me.
Also, Traitorous Blood on the side is awesome.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am passionate, yet I am logical. The fire within me burns, but I am also patient to a point. I am with the Fires of Salvation
Hi to all people, and I wanted to share my experience with the RDW I've played with last FNM. I've been trying to get a good grasp of the meta in my local area, thus the card experimenting.
Hi, i just come back from a tournament at my LSG where 24 people gathered to play some magic. I finished 4th (4-1) with exactly the same points as the first (opp points screwed me). The list i used was:
I dont remember much about each games cause i didnt take any notes, but i can tell about my opponents.
R1 vs BG Zombies (WIN)
R2 vs BR Vampires (LOST)
R3 vs DosRakis (WIN)
R4 vs UWr Miracles (WIN)
R5 vs GW Humans Agro (WIN)
The only match i lost this night was because in g2 i never find a bolt to kill a Stromkirk Captain that was preventing my attacks, and g3 he topdeck a Rakdos Return the turn before i can kill his nocturnus and win the game. I think i didnt make any misplay in that match, just Lady Fortune wasn't on my side this time.
At least i proved that RDW is a real contender to my mates in my LGS ^^ and took 2 boosters for finishing 4th
Went 3-0 at a fnm-type event last night. I'm not too excited about the result as I did not face any tier 1 deck (surprisingly, given the competitive environment here), and there was no opposing thragtusk. But here's a report anyway for those interested.
Apologies for the sketchiness of the report as I did not write anything down.
His deck utilizes wolfir silverheart and vorapede to win. Would have been scary, but I never saw either card in the 3 match rounds we played.
Game 1 I was not used to piloting my deck and made a bunch of mistakes, like attacking my zealot into a wolfir avenger and also using burn on the avenger when he had 2 arbor elves open.
Game 2 I played a tempo game and protected my 2 ash zealots with burn spells and he didn't reach any of his big drops.
Game 3 I pillar'd his arbor elf and he was stuck on one mana. I spear'd his turn 4 pilgrim and he finally drew a land too late.
Match 2: 2-0 win vs B/R Zombies
Game 1 we just played our own goldfish. He plays gravecrawlers and messengers but my hand was faster, even on the draw.
Sideboard: +3 flames, -3 brimstone volley.
Game 2 he kept a lotleth, rancor, tragic slip hand and I pummeled him with cacklers and lightning maulers. We were racing good until I dropped him to 5 and finished him off with searing spear + pillar.
Match 3: 2-0 win vs. Grixis Control
Game 1 he dies to a typical fast hand of one-drop, 2x one-drop, zealot, burn.
Sideboard: -3 pillar, +3 traitorous blood. I did not bring in the full playset of traitorous blood as he did not seem to be running that many creatures.
Game 2 I mulled a no-land hand into a 2 hellrider, 2 traitorous blood, 2 mountain hand. We literally did nothing for the first few turns until I dropped hellrider, swung for 4, he removed it, dropped my second hellrider, swung for another 4, eats removal again. Somewhere along the way he drops a snapcaster for beat down while I do nothing but draw lands. I draw a 3rd hellrider and swung him down to 8. Then i spear'd him down to 5. When I drew my ash zealot, I traitorous blooded his snapcaster and swung in for 2, hoping to go for lethal with my second traitorous blood. He dropped a vampire nighthawk, and attacked with snapcaster. I swung in for lethal with zealot and his nighthawk.
I went 3-1 last night at Wednesday night Standard. The event is usually the bigger of the week, since they do Draft and T2 at FNM. Anyway, here's the deck I ran:
I beat G/W, Junk Tokens, and Esper Control (with Sphinx's Revelation of course), and than lost to U/W/R Midrange.
G/W was a match I thought would be tougher, but being able to Spear their turn 2/3 play and then just drop Hellrider or whatever is usually game over. Pyreheart Wolf also showed his usefulness in this match.
Junk Tokens was a better player, and aside from maybe 1 or 2 mistakes on his end, it was a close game. Boarding in all of the Thundermaws is pretty insane against Lingering Souls though, and he never saw Intangible Virtue, just Sorin Emblems. Virtue would be a bigger problem, but I still felt like the match was in my favor.
Esper was a great match, we had a really close game 1 and 3, and he's a skilled player. I drew pretty well against him, but again, Thundermaw just stomps Tokens and Jaces and Sorins. Hellrider triggers did a lot of work against his Planeswalkers as well.
U/W/R was probably the hardest matchup I faced. Game 1 against U/W/R I cast an Ash Zealot and didn't attack, intending to block his Geist. I got distracted by a few friends birding our match, and didn't block, which was a terrible misplay and likely cost me the game. Had I won game 1, I would have been on the play game 3, and probably could have beat him, but it was my fault. Still, their plethora of removal, card advantage, and Azorious Charms, combined with Geist and their own Thundermaw, makes it seems like a decently tough match. I'm confident it's at least 50/50 with good practice, but letting him keep his Geist was just asking to lose. My new board will reflect the lessons learned here.
Either way, the deck felt great, and casting Thundermaw and Hellrider was awesome. It's been awhile since I was on RDW, and I'm glad to be back. I had my doubts, but after last night I'm pretty confident in the decks' Tier 1 status. I'm definitely going to be tuning this list for some of the upcoming standard tournaments. Check the deck thread for my updated list as of today.
~Z
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
How are you finding the 3 MB Hellion Crucible? I hate it when I pull 2 of them early game, so I just have 1. Thoughts?
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
10x Mountain
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
3x Rakdos Guildgate
3x Swamp
Creatures
4x Ash Zealot
4x Knight of Infamy
4x Stromkirk Noble
3x Hellhole Flailer
3x Falkenrath Aristocrat
3x Rakdos Cackler
1x Olivia Voldaren
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
1x Zealous Conscripts
2x Civic Saber
Instants
4x Searing Spear
Sorceries
4x Flames of the Firebrand
2x Mizzium Mortars
2x Dreadbore
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Rakdos's Return
2x Sever the Bloodline
2x Slaughter Games
2x Underworld Connections
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
1x Zealous Conscripts
Hey guys, I tried to be as detailed as possible. From play testing with friends, I found that matches tend to be over very quickly with our decks built like this, which gives me a lot of time at actual matches to go back and write down a summary of the games I had. I'm probably missing a lot of details, but I tried to remember as much as I could right after the full match.
Round 1: Junk Rites (2-1)
Game 1 otD: Loss
My opponent took a quick mulligan. My opening hand wasn't too great, I remember something like 3 Mountains, a Swamp, a Civic Saber, a Flames of the Firebrand, and only a Knight of Infamy. I took the risk and kept it due to the 4 damage I'd be swinging. The fact my opponent mulliganed probably had something to do with it as well.
I drew into a Stromkirk Noble on turn 1, so it instantly got a lot easier for me getting in some quick damage with a Civic Saber and Knight of Infamy on the field vs a Lotleth Troll.
By the end of turn 5 I had cleared his field with my Flames of the Firebrand and Stromkirk Noble, drawing into another Civic Saber and Ash Zealot bringing him down to 6. He responded with Thragtusk, but I knew I had him on the ropes with his hand sitting at 1 card. I bounced both Civic Saber's to Ash Zealot and swung into him.
Frustratingly enough, this is where the game started to stall since he had Unburial Rites in his graveyard, constantly reanimating the Thragtusk, but I was still fine swinging a 5/3 First Strike Ash Zealot each turn. Until he Sever the Bloodlined my Ash Zealot and then my Knight of Infamy He was able to then establish back to back Angel of Serenities, exiling my Falkenrath Aristocrat and Hellhole Flailer I put down on my consecutive turns
Game 2 otP: Win
+1 Zealous Conscripts +2 Rakdos Charm +2 Sever the Bloodline +2 Slaughter Games +2 Dreadbore
-1 Thundermaw Hellkite -2 Mizzium Mortars -4 Searing Spear -2 Civic Saber
My opponent mulligans again, my hand is exceptionally better for the match up. Falkenrath Aristocrat and Knight of Infamy with a Dreadbore and Sever of Bloodline in hand. He was ramping as usual and even getting Lingering Souls out for chump blocks, thankfully Knight of Infamy has pro-white so I continued to swing through him for 3. Then turn 4 happened and I drew Slaughter Games. Good bye Angel of Serenity! It was close too, he had 1 in hand with an Unburial Rites.
A lot like last game, he started to draw into Thragtusks, but I wasn't going to swing into him or block them this time because I knew he had the Unburial Rites. A few turns later I top decked Sever the Bloodline and that was game with a Falkenrath Aristocrat already beating down on him from the air for 2 turns.
Game 3 otD: Win
I kept the same sideboard since I felt it was incredibly strong for the match up.
I opened with an incredible hand: 1-1 dropper, 2-2 droppers, and a Rakdos Charm. I was feeling good! However, a Thragtusk was established on turn 3, which made me panic. I dropped an Ash Zealot and swung with a 3/2 first strike killing his Thragtusk. Unburial Rites was played the next turn, bringing my opponent to 28 life. I didn't respond right away with Rakdos Charm since I had chump blockers plus I had just pulled a Falkenrath Aristocrat.
He mulched into another Unburial Rites and Sever the Bloodline to his graveyard, time to blow it up with Rakdos Charm! We trade swings, he has me to 11 but I Sever the Bloodline the field and end up taking the game shortly after.
1-0
Round 2: Izzet Control (0-2)
Game 1 otD: Loss
Good opener; Stromkirk Noble with Civic Saber out quickly. I wasn't exactly sure what my opponent was playing, I saw a burn spell on my Stromkirk Noble but didn't see anything else from my opponent even though I kept seeing blue mana sources dropped. Either my opponent doesn't have Think Twices or is waiting for me to drop something to either Negate, Essence Scatter, or Syncopate it. I feared if I let the control set up I may miss my chance, but come turn 4 I was decided to play it cautiously.
My rule of thumb has always been not to tap out unless they tap out (assusming you're playing against control). By turn 6 still nothing came from him and I was sitting with now a Zealous Conscripts in my hand. I decided to test the waters and I dropped Falkenrath Aristocrat on the field. Sure enough, Syncopated which I couldn't pay ;\
Eventually after many turns Jace, the Architect of Thought showed up. I wasn't going to get stuck in a control funnel. He had already -2'd, so on my turn I dropped the Zealous Conscript and stole Jace, the Architect of Thought--blowing him up, giving me an Ash Zealot and trying to swing in for damage, but Magmaquake ended up ruining my plans.
I was frustrated by this point since we were well over turn 10 so I just started to throw burns at his face directly. I was able to bring him down to 9 through pure burn while he was hitting me with an Augur of Bolas each turn. Then I got Devil's Played for 11, killing me ;\
Game 2 otP: Loss
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +1 Falkenrath Aristocrat +2 Slaughter Games +2 Dreadbore +2 Rakdos's Return +2 Underworld Connections
-1 Zealous Conscripts -1 Olivia Voldaren -4 Flames of the Firebrand -4 Searing Spear
I decided to bring out Searing Spears instead of Mizzium Mortars because I saw a white source last game, so I was unsure if I'd be seeing Entreat the Angels or not.
Anyways, I had to mulligan to 6.
I learned my lesson from last game and actually listened to my adviced and just played patiently. By turn 4, I found myself getting in quick damage only for it to be Searing Speared off the field. I had another Falkenrath Aristocrat in my hand like in the previos game, but my opponent was doing nothing again except sitting on mana. I had a Stomrkirk Noble out, so I was content on making it as large as possible if he was going to let me.
Jace, the Architect of Thought came out but so did Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius from the -2 ability. I had the opportunity to now play Falkenrath Aristocrat! Holding onto my Dreadbore for Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius! He magmaquaked my field, wiping Stomrkirk Noble and Rakdos Cackler from the field.
I didn't see Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius on turn 6 though. Instead I saw Snapcaster Mage to Searing Spear on my Falkenrath Aristocrat D: Crap! I drew into land and Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius then came out. Luckily, I had the mana to pay for any Izzet Charm or Syncopate.
The game ended up stalling out again with him Think Twicing, Snapcaster Mage play, Pillar of Flame any weenies, Searing Spears, and more Magmaquakes from his hand. It was ridiculously frustrating. He ultimately was able to establish Lone Revenant which I couldn't deal with unless I pulled an Mizzium Mortars. Sadly, I didn't...
Had him to 3 life...
I feel like my SB options here is what really killed me.
1-1
Round 3: Esper Tokens (2-0)
Game 1 otP: Win
A nice opening hand with 2 Stromkirk Nobles and an Ash Zealot, quick damage was coming in one way or another. Through out the rest of the game I just kept pulling Rakdos Cacklers, Ash Zealots, and Knight of Infamy's, I did see double Favorable Winds on 4 1/1 Lingering Soul tokens which was quite scary. Yet again, Knight of Infamy lol. I used my Searing Spears on the actual tokens as I just kept sending in pro white damage, only being blocked by a Snapcaster Mage in one instant and constantly bounced with Unsummons.
Eventually I took the game with more then 10 life left.
Game 2 otD: Win
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +2 Rakdos Charm +2 Sever the Bloodline
-1 Zealous Conscript -2 Civic Saber -2 Searing Spear
This was a very scary opener for me, my hand was quite good. 2 Ash Zealots and a Knight of Infamy by turn 3 in my hand or on the field, but I saw 2x Intangible Virtues also on the field for my opponent with a Lingering Souls soon to be played. I saw Ultimate Priced SB'd in for my Knight of Infamy's which started to really make me worried because I was seeing 3/3 Lingering Soul tokens flying through at me.
Turn 6 came around and I was being faced with 3x Intangible Virtues ontop of 4 4/4 Lingering Soul tokens, I was able to deal with 2. My turn 6 I top decked Sever of the Bloodline and cleared the field. My opponent scooped right then and there. My life wasn't actually threatened, getting for 6 damage total.
2-1
Round 4: Naya Midrange (2-1)
Game 1 otP: Loss
Both my opponent and myself mulligan to 6.
Pretty crazy game, it went by so fast. I'm sorry I couldn't soak in the details but it went something like getting in quick damage with Rakdos Cackler and Ash Zealot. Only to see my crap Pillar of Flamed with Huntmaster of the Fells and Centaur Healers being played. I'm unable to convert with a spell on my next turn, allowing Huntmaster of the Fells to flip. My opponent then proceeded to beat on me hard, dropping additional Centaur Healers and clearing my board of creatures until I pull a Mizzium Mortars on 6 lands. Clearing his field and swinging in with a Hellhole Flailer.
He then top decked his own board sweeper, a miracled Bonfire of the Damned for 7, bringing me to 2 but with no hand. My next few draws are 2 Stromkirk Nobles, swinging when I can. He eventually gets a Armada Wurm, but I knew it was all but over with him at 15 life still. I pulled a Zealous Conscript and swung with everything. There was no way around this loss because of the trample from Armada Wurm and its token ;\ I was able to bring him to 3 life.
Game 2 otD: Win
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +2 Sever the Bloodline +2 Underworld Connections
-1 Zealous Conscripts -4 Flames of the Firebrand
I mulligan to 6 and take a hand with 4 mana, Stromkirk Noble, and Thundermaw Hellkite. I'm hoping for a fifth mana source for a beat down from Thundermaw Hellkite.
My opponent searched for a Mountain on turn 2 with Farseek, which to me was odd. I knew what was coming, a Pillar of Flame. Ash Zealot and a 2/2 Stromkirk Noble is out on my field at this point. The Stromkirk Noble is just going to avoid the Pillar of Flame, which I was fine with.
Centaur Healer is played and I decide to trade with my Stromkirk Noble, fields are cleared for Thundermaw Hellkite next turn. He has no answer except for a Borderland Ranger and Farseek. I draw my next turn into yet another Thundermaw Hellkite, this games mine He flashes in Restoration Angel, but I know he is as good as dead.
Bonfire of the Damned for 6, wtf...
Fine, whatever. Played Falkenrath Aristocrat to win.
Crazy top decks this game and yet again from my opponent with the Bonfire of the Damneds.
Game 3 otD: Win
+2 Slaugher Games
-2 Underworld Connections
My field is nuts this game by turn 4: 2 Ash Zealots, a 2/2 Stromkirk Noble, and a Knight of Infamy vs a Thragtusk. I swung a lonely Ash Zealot, hoping my opponent would block with the Thragtusk, but he didn't. I figured a Restoration Angel was in his hand. Sure enough, the angel showed itself and I had a real problem on my hands with my opponent now near 30 life.
I played Falkenrath Aristocrat and traded with Restoration Angel, sacing my Rakdos Cackler to make her indestructible. I double block his remaining Thragtusk and then Sever the Bloodline the field of his 3/3 tokens he had created from them. Fly in my pretty!
From here on, I pulled even more Rakdos Cackler's and Knight of Infamy's, absolutely flooding the field. He tried to stabalize with more Thragtusks, while I Slaughter Games his Restoration Angels (over Armada Wurm).
I end up killing him just by ignoring a Thragtusk and Centaur Healer that was left on the field, being pumped by Gavony Township. Falkenrath Aristocrat and a fling from my Hellhole Flailer ended the match.
3-1
Round 5: Jund Midrange (2-0)
Game 1 otD: Win
Not a very interesting match. I was able to establish a Hellhole Flailer with a Civic Saber while my opponent was blocking with an army of 2/2 tokens and Huntmaster of the Fells. He eventually got out an Olivia Voldaren, pinging off my Ash Zealots and Stromkirk Nobles. She was a 7/7 by the point I had to stop swinging unless my opponent wanted to trade. It was a very damn good thing my opponent didn't have a double black source else I might have been in a lot of trouble.
Regardless, a 7/7 Olivia Voldaren was a real issue. That's of course until I drew my very own Olivia Voldaren, playing it and killing both, lol. After that, it was a easy win dropping Falkenrath Aristocrat and just powering on through the left over chump blockers.
Incredibly surprised I had such an easy time with Jund Midrange to be completely honest. This is one of my harder match ups I've had in the past. Luck of the draw I suppose.
Game 2 otD: Win
+1 Thundermaw Hellkite +2 Sever the Bloodline +2 Underworld Connections
-1 Zealous Conscripts -4 Flames of the Firebrand
We both mulligan to 6.
He gets 2 Strangleroot Geist's off very quickly with my lone Knight of Infamy on the field. This is hurting, but I have 2 Searing Spears in hand. This isn't looking good for me at all, I was thinking that maybe I should just race him and if I could draw to a fifth mana source I could try and end it with the Thundermaw Hellkite in my hand.
I was already up a game, but to Jund Midrange...I was harassed at this point by my opponent for taking so long to make a move, haha. I decided to go for the race this early into the game (turn 3)!
Ash Zealot, but no fifth source...crap!
I'm forced to stop attacking since my opponent has now switched to defense. Dead Weights my Ash Zealot and damage continues to funnel through from only 1 Strangleroot Geist (no undying). I decided to block it with my Knight of Infamy, hoping I draw a 5th land.
...I didn't, but I drew an Ash Zealot and I had a Mizzium Mortars already in hand. I use them both. Underworld Connections comes out and I wait until my opponents end phase. Got it!
4-1
I believe I was incredibly lucky, my opponent showed me his hand when he lost and there were 3 Pillar of Flames, a Huntmaster of the Fells, and a Mizzium Mortars but he had 0 red sources on the field. Whew!
Round 6 (Top 8): DosRakis (1-2)
Game 1 otP: Win
Uhh...nearly a mirror match up. It felt like a really easy win, but it's only because I got Falkenrath Aristocrat out on turn 4 with my opponent having no options against it. He scooped on turn 6.
Game 2 otD: Loss
+1 Falkenrath Aristocrat +1 Thundermaw Hellkite
-1 Olivia Voldaren -1 Zealous Conscripts
I honestly had no idea how I would sideboard for this, so I just put in faster-stronger choices to end the game as fast as possible.
My opponent mulliganed to 6, but we both open with Stromkirk Nobles, lol.
On my opponents turn 5, I was facing off against a Falkenrath Aristocrat, Ash Zealot, and a 3/3 Stromkirk Noble against 3 of my own Stromkirk Nobles. I drew for my turn and scooped. I needed a mana source to continue as I had my very own Falkenrath Aristocrat myself, sitting at 12 life.
Game 3 otP: Loss
He had the better hand, lost because he was able to protect his Stromkirk Nobles, which he had 2 of. I couldn't get rid of them before it was too late, he was even able to deal with a singleton Falkenrath Aristocrat I was able to drop.
Disappointing loss to be honest, losing to a mirror match up ;\
My opponent actually went on to take 2nd in the tournament, being beat by GW Aggro running Sublime Archangels and Wolfir Silverhearts. I watched their games, the entire match ended in less then 10 minutes lol. GW Aggro demolished the crap out of him both games.
My list:
4 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Ash Zealot
2 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
Spells
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Devil's Play
1 Thunderbolt
4 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Dreadbore
1 Underworld Connections
Land
2 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Blood Crypt
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Hellion Crucible
12 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Slaughter Games
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Olivia Voldaren
4 Traitorous Blood
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Thunderbolt
1 Devil's Play
Round 1: Esper Control/Spirits
Game 1: Beat his face in with KoI + Stonewright.
Game 2: He stabilized with Sorin and won the attrition war.
Game 3: My stupid, insane topdecks won the game. Massive board presence while I have none? Draw Bonfire. Hand full of sweepers? Draw Rakdos's Return and force discard it all. Board Clear with no cards in hand? Draw Thundermaw. Needless to say, I did not deserve to win that- that was definitely the luckiest match I've ever played. But all's fair in Love and Magic!
Round 2: Jund Midrange
Game 1: Massive aggro into Thundermaw seals the deal with some maneuvering around 3 Huntmasters and a Thragtusk.
Game 2: Olivia rocked my world- not a single removal spell in sight. Drew 3 Thundermaws and I couldn't do anything.
Game 3: Aristocrat + Stonewright is ridiculous. I honestly don't care how many Thragtusks and Huntmasters you play.
Round 3: 5 Color Good-Stuff
Game 1: KoI bonded with Stonewright shuts him down hard before he can get a single relevant thing out.
Game 2: Same deal with KoI and Stonewright, only this time he plays Centaur Healers and gets mana-flooded.
Round 4: Naya Midrange
Game 1: Slam him down with Aristocrat and KoI.
Game 2: Multiple Thundermaws takes him down despite the Huntmasters and Thrags.
How do I feel about the deck? Honestly, I love it. A few cards I want to discuss:
Thundermaw: This cards is nonsense. Running 4 was a gamble, but I always had it when I needed it against Midrange decks. This guy + Aristocrat and Stonewright let me chug through lifegain like no one's business.
Aristocrat vs. Hellrider: I had them each half the time. Hellrider closed out a bunch of games with massive damage while Aristocrat allowed me to swing past ground clutter and stick around against Dreadbores. I'll be honest and say I was damn lucky- drawing Aristocrat when the board was cluttered and drawing Hellrider when I had a sizable force on the board. I'm not sold on either one. I think I'll continue to run a 2/2 split.
Thunderbolt: I actually never wanted this card. By the point they hit Thragtusk they were nearly dead- they never had a chance to resto-it and when they did, they didn't have it in their hand. I'm considering running Ultimate Price instead- the damage upstairs never decided a game since it was the fliers that could punch through the lifegain.
Stonewright: Sooooo amazing. I mean I knew that, but he was just ridiculous as hell tonight. Dumbest card ever. Oh hey- board full of Huntmasters and a Thraggy? Don't mind if I slam you for 10 with a Stonewright bonded Aristocrat!
Underworld Connections: I only ran one and saw it once in a game I was already winning- that being said, it definitely allowed me to seal the deal. It's a good card, but I'm not 100% on it.
Knight of Infamy: This guy was a house vs. Esper but was mediocre against Jund and fairly strong vs. the rest of the field- just the way he should be. I think the Jund match-up is decent enough to merit maindecking him against the rest of the meta. Doesn't care about Centaur Healer which is a plus.
Cavern of Souls: This is a necessary card (I wish I had 4!) in the current meta. Counterspells are starting to creep back up and this prevents a massive blowout.
Bonfire of the Damned: The absolute bee's knees in that one crazy game. I feel like it's a good card to run- 2 seemed enough, 3 may be better. It's either a complete blowout or it helps quite a bit in clearing the board. After all, we're playing topdeck.dec so it wouldn't hurt to give this a shot.
Devil's Play: Ridiculous card. Reusable burn is too good.
Dreadbore: I liked it. It killed most things.
Slaughter Games: Underperformed (not only because I chose a terrible target). I simply didn't side it in against anything after the Esper game. I'd rather have an Aristocrat any day.
Hellion Crucible: Really underperformed. I feel like it relies on a board state where neither you or your opponent have significant presence and are relying on topdecking. This is difficult because in 3 turns, you can have a lot of live draws. I often have the Crucible on 1 and sometimes 2 but then I get something better to do. I'm going to cut it for a Mountain since Mountains mean more Stonewright pump.
*Lots of these cards have been discussed, but I felt like adding a bit of my personal opinion.
With this deck, I have the power to dish out considerable aggro damage before switching to a midrange plan. I don't feel like this deck is an inferior Jund deck. It simply has a different plan and a strong mid-late game that can simply shut midrange decks down out of nowhere. Thragtusk is a pretty much nonexistent problem for me now. Hell, I played against someone who had Thragtusk in hand but didn't play it because he knew it'd be useless against my army of fliers! I definitely like this over the old Sledgehammer. Black provides a lot of options that mono-red simply doesn't have. I'll be running this again with a better sideboard as mine was improvised- Severs and Rakdos Charms would be a start.
Took down an FNM tonight with this list:
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
4 Brimstone Volley
Land (22)
1 Hellion Crucible
21 Mountain
2 Hellion Crucible
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Traitorous Blood
After getting bored with Dos Rakis, I thought I'd try something different and closer to my roots: Mono Red. Pyreheart Wolf was calling to me, what can I say?
I went undefeated tonight, thanks to Mr. Wolf.
How the deck works: typical aggro Sligh build. You win with Hellrider. Pretty simple. The sideboard took "Going Big" to an extreme. It's more of a transitional kind of sideboard. Rather than toolboxing, you're just going into "Sledgehammer" to take down aggro and any other kind of decks that just want to stall. You're going to go over the top of them while they toolbox to fight aggro. It's such a mind**** for some people.
Anyway, Round 1 was a bye for me. Oh well.
Round 2 was against Dos Rakis. I swear this was my States list card-for-card. I dunno if my opponent lurks our forum or just peeked at my list over the last few weeks, but here it was. Game 1 was close as we just threw haymakers at each other, but I got in there since Pyreheart Wolf+ Hellrider is just beats. It was close though.
Sideboard: -4 Cackler, -4 Noble, -4 Chainwalker, +3 Bonfire, +3 Mortars, +2 Crucible, +4 Thundermaw.
He went first and dropped dudes left and right. I countered by burning them. He played more guys and I held them off with Pyreheart. Hey guys, undying is very relevant here. Anyway, I miracle'd a Bonfire, wiped his board out, and swung with two 2/2 Wolves. I drew a Thundermaw and he couldn't fight back.
Win.
Round 3 was against Bant Midrange. He's on the play and starts ramping with Farseek. I throw out Chainwalkers and Zealots to put him on a clock. He lays down a Bruna. I topdeck a Wolf, play it, and then attack. He swings for 5 on his turn, plays a Thragtusk and attacks for 5. I drop a Hellrider on my turn and swing for massive damage. He brings me to 5 on his turn with an attack, but I flash him a Spear from my hand and he scoops.
Sideboard: see last game
He has a slow start and I start to eat away at his life with Stonewright and Ash Zealot. When he finally plays a Thragtusk, I Spear it. I drop a Wolf and attack. He blocks with token, I pump, and the 3/3 beast dies. On his turn, he plays another Thragtusk. I miracle a Bonfire and swing for beats. On his turn he attacks me and passes. A topdecked Hellrider wins me the game on my turn.
Round 4 is against Naya Midrange with Cloudshift antics. I lose this one when I run out of steam and his Huntsmasters and Thragtusks overtake me.
Sideboard: -4 Cackler, -4 Noble, -2 Chainwalker, -2 Pillar of Flame, +3 Bonfire, +3 Mizzium Mortars, +4 Thundermaw Hellkite, +2 Hellion Crucible
I mull to 5 and cringe. I keep a hand with a Wolf, 2 Zealots, a Mountain, and a Spear. I play Mountain and pass. He plays a land, go. I topdeck a Mountain and I'm in business. Zealot gets in there for 2. On his turn he plays a land and passes. I draw another land and drop another Zealot, swing for 4. On his turn he plays a Centaur Healer and passes. I play a Wolf on my turn and hang back. He plays a land and passes. On my turn, I play another land and attack. He goes to play a Resto, targeting the Healer, but I Spear the Centaur and get in there for 5. He does nothing on his turn and passes. I topdeck a Mortars and take out his Angel and get in there for more damage. He plays another Angel at EOT. On his turn he sighs and passes. On my turn I draw a Hellrider, drop it and go for the dome. Game over.
Game 3 was kind of a blur. I remember getting a Zealot and a Wolf out and riding those two for awhile until he has 2 Restoration Angels out. I land a Thundermaw and that was game. Sometimes there just isn't much to tell when you play Mono Red. *shrug*
4-0 on the back of Pyreheart Wolf. Man, that card is so good and very underrated. Give it a shot, guys.
I'm going to try this out, looks VERY FAST. I'll report back (:
Btw, I'll repost this on the Izzet aggro thread.
OT: Congrats to everyone getting nice results, RED is being fear A LOT lately, muahaha!
Here is the deck
3 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Zealous Conscripts
Spells
2 Dreadbore
4 Searing Spear
4 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Underworld Connections
Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
9 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Swamp
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Graffigger's Cage
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Traitorous Blood
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Underworld Connections
Round 1 Naya Midrange 2-0 I play against an familiar opponent where the matches can easily go either way. I got pretty lucky as he got mana-screwed both games and I won without much resistance.
Round 2 G/W Humans/Aggro 2-0 This one was a little more of a challenge. However, Nighthawk turned out to be huge in this one along with FotF. I had triple Aristocrat BOTH Games. He got a Wolfir out on me paired with Silverblade but got through! Wrecked havoc on him from the air game 1. Game 2 - I finished him off with a Zealous Consripts with an Aristocrat on the board and he was done from there. Nighthawk was very relavent as a blocker here vs Wolfir Silverheart.
Round 3 - G/W Humans/Midrange 2-1 This one was more mid-range but still had humans but also had Sigarda maindeck , Sub Angel and Wolfir. I beat him down with Aristocrats on game 1. Game 2 - I couldn't keep up and he got me good. FotF and Nighthawk proved to come up big in this matchup again, very happy to have them mainboard.
Game 3- this one was amazing. I had to mulligan down to 5 on the play, thought I was pretty much done for. I have 3 land, a Nighthawk and a Thundermaw. He has a slow start as well. I draw into 2 more Nighthawks and end the game with all 3 Nighthawks and a Thundermaw out, he had no answer to any of them.
Round 4 -G/W Martial Law deck 2-0 This was an annoying deck since he dropped 2 Martial Law on me game 1 but I pulled out a truely miraculous victory. I only had 2 guys on the board, both detained. I have 8 lands out, 2 of them with Underworld on them. He has an untapped 5/5 Wurm and a 4/4 Angel token on the board. He was at 6 life, I was at 8 and dead next turn if I couldn't kill him right here since he had a tapped wurm as well. I had a Zealous Conscripts in my hand but needed removal or burn to get him dead. I use the Connections to draw a Dreadbore. Then I have just enough land to Dreadbore the Wurm token, play the Conscripts to steal the Angel and swing for the victory.
Game 2 I dropped Aristocrat then Thundermaw and he was dead pretty quick.
Notable Thoughts
- Underworld Connections is ridiculously good.
- I still love Nighthawk, especially in my Aggro-heavy local metagame.
- Removal suite seemed near perfect. Possibly swap 1 Flames for another Dreadbore
- I am liking Conscripts more than Hellkite. There was a few games where the Conscripts won me the game, and a Hellkite would not have. Still had one in my SB though and he did win me a game. Aristocrat and Conscripts is just so crippling.
I'm from Dallas and had to come out to san diego this weekend which was really quite the bummer, because I really wanted to play in the Scg open today in DFW.
So I'm eating breakfast at a diner and there's a flgs around the corner soon as I turn the corner I do a double take:
M: Hey! Are you... Patick Chapin?
PS: Sullivan actually.
M: facepalm. DUDE I KNOW!
PS: I get that all the...
M: *BIG HUG* .... its true... in an act of rabid fanyboism I hugged the Red Mage himself. *chagrin* I then apologized profusely.
To be honest he took it really well. He didn't tap mana or anything. . .
We talked briefly, I told him how I was studying some of his videos because of this thread forum's primer.
He said his next stadard event wasn't until december, so he hadn't attacked the format recently, and had been commentating a lot though.
I did ask him a couple question about MTG and Red (vexing devil, I couldn't resist) and where a good place to play was out here in Diego area.
It was really a cool moment. I've never been a "fan" I was a bit suprised at myself, but to be sitting there bemoaning my fate and then turn a corner and come face to face with someone who's work you've been studying seemed like fate.
So now I guess I just gotta bump into "Z" and get my sledgehammer signed.
M_V Red Mage mid travel.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Your burn spells will now do +1 damage just from having leeched his power.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Round 1: BR Zombies. I died on turn 4-5, mostly it doesn't matter, he got a nutdraw and I couldn't stop it.
Game 2: He didn't play anything until Geralf's Messenger, which got Pillared. Coasted to a win
Game 3: He played a Gravecrawler into a Blood Artist into Geralf's Messenger. I saw hide nor hair of any removal spells, he answered every creature I played with removal. I lose.
Round 2: RDW. He's playing Vexing Devils. Boo. Turn 1 Vexing Devil, Turn 2 Vexing Devil x2, I let one stay so I could Searing Spear it. Turn 3 he lays down a Gore-House Chainwalker, I respond with an Ash Zealot. Ash Zealot eats his Pillar, Chainwalker brings me down to 9. I Flames of the Firebrand his Chainwalker, deal him 1. He plays a Hellrider and gets me down to 5. I play a Hellrider of my own, leave him behind. He suicides with his Hellrider, and Brimstone Volleys me.
Game 2: I land a turn 1 Stonewright, Turn 2 Ash Zealot. Those two take me to the finish line after removing his critters. I took a few Vexing Devils to the dome too.
Game 3: Pretty much plays out the same way as game 1, except this time I don't see a third land until Turn 5, only to get a second Hellrider to my face.
Moral of the story: Our aggro matchup sucks. We try to become a pseudo control deck with no lifegain.
As soon as I assemble the remaining cards I need for Darkhammer IRL, that's the deck I'm gonna play. I imagine Darkhammer will run into the same vs. aggro problems, so I think we need to discuss some vs. aggro cards. I think this is where Vampire Nighthawk and Blood Artist should be discussed...
Fires :symr:f Salvation
... However...
You had an unlucky night. Thats all. Seriously.
You lost a game to perfect zombie draw vs average hand
and a game to
the PERFECT VEXING DEVIL DRAW.
You're not always going to play first and coast into easy wins. You have to put the work in. Sometimes that includes enduring losing nights as well.
Had your luck been different you'd be talking about how perfect the deck ran, "he played zombies, I answered all his threats and beat face" etc.
Sometimes it's seriously just luck. Sorry about your loss. Don't make any snap decisions based on emotional data sets. Imho.
I apologize for the lack of detail in the report. I'm horrible at remembering games.
3 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Swamp
Creatures 22
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Stromkirk Captain
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Hellrider
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Zealous Conscripts
2 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley
2 Flames of the Firebrand
Artifacts 2
2 Civic Saber
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Slaughter Games
2 Ultimate Price
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Devil's Play
1 Zealous Conscripts
4 Hellhole Flailer
Round 1: vs. Mono-Red with Caverns to cast Snapcasters
I went 2-1 vs. the deck that won the FNM the previous night at 4-0. This was a particularly satisfying victory since the guy is one of the best players there. He's a blast to play against, but I've only managed to squeak out wins against him before. He used Nivmagus Elemental as a very effective beater, constantly exiling his Pillar of flame to give it more counters.
Our first game he slaughtered me with a 7/8 Elemental backed up with burn for my creatures. I keep casting creatures to chump the elemental, hoping to draw something big. A Conscripts comes down too late to do much to him, and he kills me with a Pillar of Flame to the face.
Game two I side out my 3 Nobles to Go Big with Thundermaws and the extra Conscripts. We trade back and forth for a while, mainly Ash Zealots and burn. He casts Reforge the Soul, and I draw nothing but lands and a Searing Spear. Two turns later, I draw a Thundermaw Hellkite and use it backed by Searing Spear to kill him.
Third game, we go into top deck mode after he gets stuck on 3 lands and lots of 1 and 2-drops. I steadily beat him with Ash Zealots, using Spears to clear away blockers and chip away at him. Eventually, a Hellrider and the Zealots backed up by a Spear finish him.
1-0
Round 2: vs. Rakdos event deck
Game one loss to a combination of Rix Maadi Guildmage + Knight of Infamy + Stonewright, backed up by burn to kill my creatures. Game two goes much the same way except add Lightning Mauler to the mix.
I do not see anything big either game: no Hellriders, no Hellkites, nothing. The Rix Maadi Guildmage was incredibly effective at both weakening my blockers and draining me of life.
Lesson learned: kill the Guildmages and Stonewrights first.
1-1
Round 3: White/Green something
I honestly did not see enough of this deck to tell you what it was running. His Oblivion Rings weren't much help against Ash Zealots and Hellriders. Both games I killed him by turn 6, either with Hellriders and burn or with a Civic Saber-equipped Falkenrath Aristocrat, which was almost obscene.
2-1
Round 4: G/W Lifegain/Populate
This was easily the most annoying game because of the amount of lifegain from Centaur Healer and Heroes' Reunion. I kid you not: he cast two Healers and 3 Reunions in game 1. He kept using his Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage to populate Centaurs to kill my first-strikers. I whittle down his life with a Hellkite; he charms it.
I keep two Stromkirk Captains on defense. I draw a Civic Saber, which gets equipped to a Captain, followed by Olivia Voldaren. I kill his Guildmage with Olivia and equip her with the Saber, making her 9/7, first strike flyer. He uses Gavony Township to put +1 counters on his 3 Centaur tokens. I topdeck a Mizzium Mortars to wipe his board and beat on him. He casts Precinct Captain. In response, I cast Zealous Conscripts, steal the Captain, and then beat him to death to death with the Conscripts, his own Captain, Olivia, the Captains, a Knight, and an Ash Zealot. I had to do 47 points of damage over the game to kill him.
Game two wasn't nearly as epic since he got stuck on two Guildgates and an Avacyn's Pilgrim for mana. He casts a Centaur Healer and one Reunion, but I quickly beat him down with creatures followed by Devil's Play.
3-1 for the evening. If I had drawn better round two, I probably would have gone 4-0.
Lessons learned: Kill the Guildmages; Civic Saber equipped to any of the vampires is obscene, especially Olivia; the Stromkirk Captains were really useful, either in pairs or with the Noble. They felt like Zealots 4-8; Searing Spear is just exceptionally versatile; stealing stuff with Zealous Conscripts is very fun; and lifegain ain't what it used to be against red.
I never used the Hellhole Flailers. I expected to side them in against the control decks I thought would be there. Not sure what to replace them with. More burn sounds good.
And best of all, through trading, I was able to complete my playsets of both Blood Crypts and Falkenrath Aristocrats. I also got two Tibalt, the fiend-blooded and other fun stuff. And I opened an Armada Wurm in my bonus pack.
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
You're most welcome.
The Captains were brutal with any of the other vamps on the board, especially Aristocrat or Olivia. If you're forced into a more defensive game, you can just stall with all the first strike power on the board. They make late-game Nobles much better as well.
I really want to put Nighthawks in this list. That leaves the three spot kinda crowded, but it would make those Caverns even more useful. It'd be he'll on the manabase without Caverns, though.
Decisions, decisions.
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
4x Blood Crypt
2x Cavern of Souls
4x Dragonskull Summit
8x Mountain
3x Rakdos Guildgate
3x Swamp
Creatures (25)
4x Ash Zealot
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Hellhole Flailer
3x Knight of Infamy
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Stromkirk Noble
2x Thundermaw Hellkite
2x Dreadbore
3x Flames of the Firebrand
4x Searing Spear
2x Underworld Connections
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Rakdos Charm
1x Rakdos's Return
2x Sever the Bloodline
1x Slaughter Games
2x Traitorous Blood
2x Ultimate Price
3x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Zealous Conscripts
Round 1 vs. RWU control
Game 1 - My opponent uses Dramatic Rescue and Azorious Charm to great effect in controlling the board, combined with Guttersnipe to bring my life total down to 1 before I finally get things going. Two Hellhole Flailers pull out the win for me.
Game 2 - Every card I side in I don’t see the entire game, so I won’t bother to list them. Regardless, I have a very quick start and Flailer again pulls out the win for me.
Result – Win 2-0
Round 2 vs. Bant Midrange
Game 1 – Geist of Saint Traft, Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, and Angel of Serenity all in the same deck?! Did I win this game? Yes. Why? Underworld Connections. My opponent couldn’t keep up with me as I kept drawing answers to his bombs. And being able to sac Hellhole Flailer for 5-6 damage after the Exalted bonus from KoI is fantastic.
Game 2 – After siding in Traitorous Blood and Slaughter Games, he didn’t have a chance. Removing Thragtusk and attacking him with his own Angel in addition to my Aristocrat proves too much for him to overcome.
Result – Win 2-0
Round 3 vs. UW control
Game 1 - I am quick out of the blocks and land an Aristocrat turn 4. That, along with KoI and several timely burn spells give me the reach I need to wrap up the game.
Game 2 – I side in more cards that I never see the entire game. He has me on the ropes this game. Angel of Serenity is a pain! But after getting rid of it with Dreadbore, I get some lucky topdecks in Aristocrat and Hellkite. He removes the Aristocrat, and I draw one the very next turn to seal the deal.
Result – Win 2-0
Round 4 vs. Reanimator
Game 1 – I have my first mulligan of the night, followed by getting mana screwed. He has way too many threats to deal with. Nice trick with Angel of Serenity when he exiled my Aristocrat, along with a Thragtusk and Restoration Angel from his graveyard. When I’m forced to destroy Angel of Serenity, he gets both cards back. I’m done after only drawing 4 land the entire game.
Game 2 – I side in Rakdos's Return, Grafdigger's Cage, Rakdos Charm, and Slaughter Games. Doesn’t matter as I only draw 3 land the entire game. My last draw is a land, and by that point it’s too late.
Result – Loss 0-2
Notes – Really disappointed in my final match. Even with pile shuffling and 24 land, I got screwed both games. And because I didn’t win at least one game in that match, I ended up in second place just one point behind my final opponent.
On to the good news. This deck kicks ass against most midrange and control, provided you don’t get mana screwed. Hellhole Flailer is quite literally a monster. The sac effect is brutal. Knight of Infamy works well with every creature in the deck. Since my meta runs a lot of Tamiyo and Jace, Dreadbore was great in the MD. Underworld Connections can win games by giving you the ability to draw into answers. Falkenrath Aristocrat scares the pants off of people. The only way to deal with it is Terminus or exile effects, until I drop another one and my opponents start to curse under their breath.
Cards I was not impressed with include Flames of the Firebrand, Rakdos's Return, and Sever the Bloodline. I have removed these from my SB, as well as Vampire Nighthawk. I never faced any aggro decks, so Nighthawk was never a factor. I still think Nighthawk is a good card, just not in my meta.
So after making changes to deal with my local meta, here is what my deck looks like now:
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
8x Mountain
3x Rakdos Guildgate
5x Swamp
Creatures (26)
4x Ash Zealot
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Hellhole Flailer
4x Knight of Infamy
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Stromkirk Noble
2x Zealous Conscripts
2x Dreadbore
4x Searing Spear
2x Ultimate Price
2x Underworld Connections
2x Annihilating Fire
2x Appetite for Brains
3x Flames of the Firebrand
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Rakdos Charm
3x Slaughter Games
2x Traitorous Blood
Feel free to give opinions or ask any questions.
I went 3-1 and took 3rd place with this:
4x Rakdos Crackler
4x Stromkirk Noble
2x Stonewright
4x Ash Zealot
4x Gore-House Chainwalker
4x Hellrider
3x Zealous Conscripts
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
21x Mountain
2x Hellion Crucible
Spells: 11
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Searing Spear
3x Brimstone Volley
4x Traitours Instinct
4x Rakdos Shread-Freak
4x Mizzium Motars
3x Flames of the Firebrand
Game 1 U/W Controll Mill (2-1) Win
Round 1:
Came out swinging, and killed him on t6. He was mana screwed.
SB: Nothing yet
Round 2:
Had him down to 7, he cast Supreme Verdict, I had no more creatures. He drops a Tamio, taps my mana, then cast Jace next turn. He gets his Tamio to 8, then I conscripts it. He had no response, so I ultimate and take him down to 5. He topdecks a terminus, and has counters that exile my burn spells. In the end, he gets me with a Geist.
SB:
+4 Mizzium Mortars
-4 Brimstone Volley
+4 Shread Freak
-4 Crackler
Round 3:
I never see any of the sideboarded cards, but was able to power through a Jace. He was scared to drop his tamio
Game 2; Esper Tokens (2-0) Win
Round 1:
T4 win, not much to say.
SB: Nothing
Round 2:
T6 win after a couple of lingering souls
Game 3; G/B Corpsjack Pump (2-1) Loss
Round 1:
Droped him to 8 early, but then got mana flooded. He cast Corpsjasck, then a second, and scavenged a slither head. I cast Thundermaw, take him to 3 but could not do any more.
SB:
+4 Traitours Instincts
-4 Pillar
+4 Mizzium
-3 Brimstone
-1 Crackler
Round 2:
Droped him to burn range before he could get a corpsjack out.
SB: nothing
Round 3:
He gets 2 corpsjacks out quickly, then dropes a Primordial Hydra for 8. I scoop.
Noteable:
I have not seen much of this kind of match up in the meta. I would like to see more testing.
Game 4; Mirror (2-0) Win
I should note that this person was both the wife of my Game 3 opponet, and sick. She did not make the best plays.
Round 1:
A pure race, took her out faster.
SB: Nothing
Round 2:
See above.
All in all, I feel that im about ready to go Dos Rakdos, and maybe start taking 1st.
My Trades
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=459514
3 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
3 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Reckless Brute
4 Hellrider
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
4 Flames of the Firebrand
Lands
21 Mountain
1 Hellion Crucible
2 Pithing Needle
3 Traitorous Blood
1 Rakdos Shred-Freak
1 Stromkirk Noble
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Hellion Crucible
3 Annihilating Fire
Some things to notice here is the lack of Thundermaws and a messy sideboard. I still went 3-1 with this deck with a bye (placing 5th out of 27) but learned pretty important things from experience:
- Reckless Brute is a hit or miss. All it takes to stop him is a random 1/x, but he does trade for x/3's which is good, but there are better cards.
- Rakdos Shred-Freak was underwhelming. I switched Gore-House Chainwalker just to experiment (2 damage immediate on turn 2 vs 3/2 on turn 3). The thing though is once x/3+'s get to the board on turn 3 (which happened almost everytime), he's a dead card.
- Zealous Conscripts maindeck was fun, but I know I could've won that single loss against a Jund if I ran Thundermaws instead.
- I was expecting people playing Planeswalkers but I didn't. Never sided in Pithing Needle. I will probably drop this card unless something drastic in my meta happens
- Removing Pillar of Flame didn't impact my game much, but early removal still helps. I'm thinking of putting back at least 2-3 in my main and the rest on the sideboard. I didn't go against a zombie deck at the least.
Now, why the lack of a Thundermaw? Because it's almost impossible right now to get that card since everyone wants it.
Matches:
Match 1 - Jund Midrange 1-2
1. First game was supposedly a roll for me, until I hit around turn 6 and kept drawing nothing but lands. He was down to 6 and all I needed was to topdeck at least two burn spells. Since I netted a bad series of draws, he caught up.
2. Went first and curved. Managed a turn 6 kill since he didn't seem to have answers (only managed two removals).
3. He ramped up quick and being on the draw proved to be disadvantageous. My beats wasn't able to get through when he dropped the turn 3 Smiter and I wasn't able to draw my Mizzium Mortar
Match 2 - Bye (bad for testing)
Match 3 - RDW Aggro (2-1)
1. I went first, we raced, and I won quickly.
2. He went first, I got stuck on two mana, he won.
3. I went first again, and got stuck on two mana again! But luck was on my side since he didn't seem to have answers to my rampant Cacklers.
Match 4 - Epic Experiments (2-0)
The two rounds was basically him trying to combo off while I was beating him down to hell. He did go off on the first match, but he wasn't able to finish. It did give me a small heart attack.
For next Friday, I'm replacing the Brutes with Pyreheart Wolf. I can think of many situations where I would have managed an attack if he was with me.
Also, Traitorous Blood on the side is awesome.
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
The only thing I see wrong here, is that you have too few lands. If you run a 5cc drop, you should run 23-24 lands
My Trades
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=459514
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
21 Mountain
2 Hellion Crucible
SPELLS
2 Geistflame
1 Nightbird Clutches
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley
CREATURES
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Lightning Mauler
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Thunderbolt
2 Traitorous Blood
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Staff of Nim
I dont remember much about each games cause i didnt take any notes, but i can tell about my opponents.
R1 vs BG Zombies (WIN)
R2 vs BR Vampires (LOST)
R3 vs DosRakis (WIN)
R4 vs UWr Miracles (WIN)
R5 vs GW Humans Agro (WIN)
The only match i lost this night was because in g2 i never find a bolt to kill a Stromkirk Captain that was preventing my attacks, and g3 he topdeck a Rakdos Return the turn before i can kill his nocturnus and win the game. I think i didnt make any misplay in that match, just Lady Fortune wasn't on my side this time.
At least i proved that RDW is a real contender to my mates in my LGS ^^ and took 2 boosters for finishing 4th
Apologies for the sketchiness of the report as I did not write anything down.
3 Hellion Crucible
21 Mountain
Creatures (26):
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
3 Gore-House Chainwalker
3 Lightning Mauler
4 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Thunderbolt
3 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Traitorous Blood
Match 1: 2-1 win vs. mono-green
His deck utilizes wolfir silverheart and vorapede to win. Would have been scary, but I never saw either card in the 3 match rounds we played.
Game 1 I was not used to piloting my deck and made a bunch of mistakes, like attacking my zealot into a wolfir avenger and also using burn on the avenger when he had 2 arbor elves open.
Sideboard: +4 mortars, +3 flames, +1 traitorous blood (he has rancors), -4 stromkirk nobles, -4 rakdos cackler.
Game 2 I played a tempo game and protected my 2 ash zealots with burn spells and he didn't reach any of his big drops.
Game 3 I pillar'd his arbor elf and he was stuck on one mana. I spear'd his turn 4 pilgrim and he finally drew a land too late.
Match 2: 2-0 win vs B/R Zombies
Game 1 we just played our own goldfish. He plays gravecrawlers and messengers but my hand was faster, even on the draw.
Sideboard: +3 flames, -3 brimstone volley.
Game 2 he kept a lotleth, rancor, tragic slip hand and I pummeled him with cacklers and lightning maulers. We were racing good until I dropped him to 5 and finished him off with searing spear + pillar.
Match 3: 2-0 win vs. Grixis Control
Game 1 he dies to a typical fast hand of one-drop, 2x one-drop, zealot, burn.
Sideboard: -3 pillar, +3 traitorous blood. I did not bring in the full playset of traitorous blood as he did not seem to be running that many creatures.
Game 2 I mulled a no-land hand into a 2 hellrider, 2 traitorous blood, 2 mountain hand. We literally did nothing for the first few turns until I dropped hellrider, swung for 4, he removed it, dropped my second hellrider, swung for another 4, eats removal again. Somewhere along the way he drops a snapcaster for beat down while I do nothing but draw lands. I draw a 3rd hellrider and swung him down to 8. Then i spear'd him down to 5. When I drew my ash zealot, I traitorous blooded his snapcaster and swung in for 2, hoping to go for lethal with my second traitorous blood. He dropped a vampire nighthawk, and attacked with snapcaster. I swung in for lethal with zealot and his nighthawk.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
2 Lightning Mauler
2 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Searing Spear
4 Brimstone Volley
21 Mountain
2 Hellion Crucible
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Traitorous Blood
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Archwing Dragon
2 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
I beat G/W, Junk Tokens, and Esper Control (with Sphinx's Revelation of course), and than lost to U/W/R Midrange.
G/W was a match I thought would be tougher, but being able to Spear their turn 2/3 play and then just drop Hellrider or whatever is usually game over. Pyreheart Wolf also showed his usefulness in this match.
Junk Tokens was a better player, and aside from maybe 1 or 2 mistakes on his end, it was a close game. Boarding in all of the Thundermaws is pretty insane against Lingering Souls though, and he never saw Intangible Virtue, just Sorin Emblems. Virtue would be a bigger problem, but I still felt like the match was in my favor.
Esper was a great match, we had a really close game 1 and 3, and he's a skilled player. I drew pretty well against him, but again, Thundermaw just stomps Tokens and Jaces and Sorins. Hellrider triggers did a lot of work against his Planeswalkers as well.
U/W/R was probably the hardest matchup I faced. Game 1 against U/W/R I cast an Ash Zealot and didn't attack, intending to block his Geist. I got distracted by a few friends birding our match, and didn't block, which was a terrible misplay and likely cost me the game. Had I won game 1, I would have been on the play game 3, and probably could have beat him, but it was my fault. Still, their plethora of removal, card advantage, and Azorious Charms, combined with Geist and their own Thundermaw, makes it seems like a decently tough match. I'm confident it's at least 50/50 with good practice, but letting him keep his Geist was just asking to lose. My new board will reflect the lessons learned here.
Either way, the deck felt great, and casting Thundermaw and Hellrider was awesome. It's been awhile since I was on RDW, and I'm glad to be back. I had my doubts, but after last night I'm pretty confident in the decks' Tier 1 status. I'm definitely going to be tuning this list for some of the upcoming standard tournaments. Check the deck thread for my updated list as of today.
~Z
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB