i actually kept my one drops last FNM post board. i told him i want to push damage early then hopefully close the game with Chandra, Glorybringer and/or Ramunap Ruins. he then reminded me of what happened: that my one drops got stopped by larger opposing creatures while he slowly but surely finished me off with Thopter tokens that i can't kill.
They reprinted a card that was announced today in ixalan. I don't want to violate rules here so that's all I'll say. It puts our deck over the edge. grasp is gone against hazoret. Things are looking real good now. At worst the deck stays the same which is saying alot
against Temur, maybe going Rakdos Aggro is better? black grants access to hand disruption (Transgress the Mind their Bristling Hydra) and Unlicensed Disintegration (can be activated with Bomat Courier and Scrapheap Scrounger). it loses the desert lands but it's difficult to bring Temur Energy players to low enough life total for Ramunap Ruins to do their work because of Whirler Virtuoso and their Thopters.
it appears to be. yesterday at FNM i defeated the Temur energy player when i drew Sweltering Suns, and lost to another when i didn't draw the card.
i am just looking for other options to make the deck possibly better against the meta. splashing black for cheap kill spells like Fatal Push and hand disruption like Transgress the Mind looks appealing to me.
I"m interested in playing something similar to this or Ramunap red post rotation. It really looks like we're losing a bit, would it be better to go B/R?
I was looking at the latest lists from GP Turin and DC, and I noticed that there's a lot of lists that have taken to running Chandra in the side only. Is this a worthwhile thing to investigate? I went 3-1 and 2-2 at my past two FNMs - loss on week 1 was to BG Aggro, losses in week 2 to Temur Energy and something that I can't remember. What I do remember was considerable variance hate - in 3 of my games last week I flooded or was mana screwed...
Anyway, with Temur and control lists heavy at my local, I'm eyeing up the lists that take out the Chandras and run extra 1 drops such as Village Messenger. Any other thoughts as to what would be good cards to include (both in the main and in the side)?
EDIT: I ran a composite deck analysis of every deck that placed Top32 at GP DC and Turin, and 9-0 lists from GP Turin. Interestingly, of the 15 decks I looked at, approximately half (8) ran Chandras, and those that didn't, ran 4 Hazoret instead. However, even though the slim majority ran the Chandras main, the final aggregate list is below. The 36th card is flexible, with the third Village Messenger also showing in 8 of the decks. I included it in the list for consistency, rather than a one-of Chandra.
There was one interesting deck that ran a single Glorybringer main over the fourtrh Hazoret (21st at GP DC), and also one list that ran 23 land (18th at GP DC).
I ran the list above at a casual event last night (should have been SCG night, but only 5 of us showed, so it didn't get sanctioned), with a couple of minor changes - one Glorybringer main over Hazoret 4 (I only own 3), Blighted Gorge over the Scavenger Grounds, and a couple of Hungry Flames (down to 3 Shock, 2 Messenger). Faced Temur energy twice, losing 1-2 the first time in very close games (he managed to have Confiscation Coup in both post-board games stealing first my Hazoret, then my Crasher), and steamrollering the second one. Running Chandras from the side seemed to work better, especially giving a couple more hasty one-drops, and most of the games Messenger was able to flip due to them playing a tap land.
Hungry Flames was a revelation, and certainly better than Collective Defiance IMO against Temur. It's an instant speed answer to Hydra, most importantly. With restraint, I was able to hold up mana on T3 on at least 3 occasions to have them drop a T4 Hydra only to be hit with the energy trigger on the stack. The added 2 damage to the face partially mitigates the fact that you usually can't attack T3.
Sideboard was fairly heavily stacked to face control and Temur, as that's my local store meta. Flame Lashes are instant speed responses to Hydra (if you want, although I didn't bring them in), Gideon, Kalitas, Green hulk, etc. Harsh Mentor was also great against Temur - as one of my opponents said "well, I'm not going to Shock myself to make a 1/1." Chandras, Glorybringers, Suns, Hour, and Defeat also came in from the board. I took out 4 Gorger, 3 Kari Zev, 3 Messenger, and a Courier.
As one of the original creators of Ramunap red I have also decided to add a second color to prepare for the post Ixalan standard. The second color I am going for is Black because it gives me more ways to kill opposite creatures so I can go in and hit hard with my creatures. The other reason to have black before Ixalan is due to the addition of Ammit Eternal and the Scorpion God.
Now you are saying to yourself, hold on a minute Ammit Eternal doesn't have haste and Scorpion God also doesn't do much the turn it comes into play. Well, I am testing just 1 Scorpion God right now so keep your panties on, as for Ammit Eternal I used it to win the HOU pre-release and realized how awesome it really is.
The reason it's awesome is because it's only 3 mana to cast and you get a 5/5 which puts it out of most burn spells, even if the opponent makes it a 4/4 or smaller the next turn it is still a creature that can attack and hit for 4 or hit for 3 and if it's blocked he will also hit for 3 through Afflict so it will slowly kill the opp's life total without the need for haste.
So, without further ado and without IXALAN cards this it the deck I'll be running soon:
The main cards are in the deck are the original ones that I used until now so here's the explanation for the new cards added to the deck:
2 Ammit Eternal - I've already explained that dropping a 5/5 for only 3 mana of which you only need 1 black mana means it's splashable and it makes a good and solid blocker for the turn it comes into play while I hit with the other creatures.
1 Scorpion God - I'm just testing him because it may work to deal with some small creatures and of course in the mirror match it can kill a lot of 1 toughness critters, aside from that it's a solid 6/5 body for 5 mana with a very good ability.
2 Cut//Ribbons - This is the main reason I wanted to go the black way, I really like cut to deal with opposing blockers before I hit with my creatures and of course ribbons is an amazing finisher late game.
2 Abrade - These are maindeck for now but after Ixalan comes out they'll be going to the sideboard since I'll have other burn cards maindeck instead.
3 Unlicensed Disintegration - I feel these are amazing in this type of aggro deck where all you have is creatures and creature killing cards. It would be great to take out big creatures to pave the way for my guys to attack and it's also another reason why I decided to splash black.
As for lands, once Ixalan is out I will take out 4 mountains and put in the B/R dual land instead and that's about the only change I'm planning to do.
Sideboard:
Most of the cards are the same but these are the new cards I'll be testing.
2 Sand Stragler - I will be testing this in the mirror match or creature heavy decks which will probably be around after Ixalan is legal.
3 Torment of Scarabs - for combo decks or control or grindy decks where creatures are not enough to win with, also it would be awesome to see my opp's face when they see this come in during the 2nd game. They will probably be prepared to deal with creatures and they will probably not have anything to deal with enchantments and this one will slowly kill my opp or even kill them even faster than usual.
Let me know what you think, once Ixalan comes out some of the cards will change but probably not much as the deck is outstanding as it is right now.
i too have been considering a splash of Black for some cards Unlicensed Disintegration and Fatal Push, so i am glad someone else is putting his mind into it.
i have a few comments about your deck:
1. only 22 lands but seems like it's too top heavy. could run into some mana issues.
2. i like the interaction between Heart-piercer Manticore and several of the creatures like Ammit Eternal and Lathnu Hellion.
3. probably could use a few artifact creatures like Scrapheap Scrounger for Unlicensed Disintegration.
4. Cut//Ribbons seems like a good finisher if the game goes long.
i'll post my post rotation Rakdos deck when Ixalan becomes fully spoiled in a few days.
i too have been considering a splash of Black for some cards Unlicensed Disintegration and Fatal Push, so i am glad someone else is putting his mind into it.
i have a few comments about your deck:
1. only 22 lands but seems like it's too top heavy. could run into some mana issues.
2. i like the interaction between Heart-piercer Manticore and several of the creatures like Ammit Eternal and Lathnu Hellion.
3. probably could use a few artifact creatures like Scrapheap Scrounger for Unlicensed Disintegration.
4. Cut//Ribbons seems like a good finisher if the game goes long.
i'll post my post rotation Rakdos deck when Ixalan becomes fully spoiled in a few days.
I have been playing the deck with 22 lands when it was just mono red as usual, and it worked fine, of course I am trying a 23 land build now that does go up to 61 cards so we'll see how that works in tomorrow's tournament.
Heart piercer manticore has won me quite a few games by flinging other creatures at the face, usually a Lathnu Hellion and even an Ahn Crop crasher sometimes.
This is the deck I'm playing tomorrow, pre-IXALAN build:
The Scorpion God is in the sideboard to be brought in along with the torments of scarabs to surprise some opponents, as will the aethersphere harvester since people will not have artifact or enchantment hate in the 2nd game for sure.
The deck is relatively low to the ground although it may not seem like it by reading the list.
1st turn - no plays, so it would be great to get a tapland in the opening hand so we can play it tapped on the 1st turn since there's nothing else to play.
2nd turn - here we have the choice of playing a 2 drop like the scavenger or the khenra, if we don't have a creature then we'll probably have one of our 2 casting cost burn spells (abrade, cut or lightning)
3rd turn it gets interesting as we can play one of the 3 casting cost critters (ahn-crop, lathnu or ammit or one of the 2 casting cost guys or we have the previous burn available plus the Unlicensed as well online)
4th turn - we can cast most of our deck except for the four Glorybringers, but usually we'd want to drop a Hazoret as soon as possible which means turn 4 is the earliest.
Card choices and explanations:
12 Spells:
4 Harnessed Lightning - Kills small guys and bigger guys, the energy sometimes helps to keep Lathnu Hellion online for one more turn
4 Unlicensed Disintegration - kills big creatures, artifact creatures, any creatures...one of the reasons to play Black and it also deals damage second game once Aethersphere Harvested is sided in.
2 Cut//Ribbons - of course Cut is a good 2 mana kill spells, and Ribbons can win the late game probably will come online after turn 5 or 6 and by that time the opp should be at 5 or less life and this can end the game, another big reason to be playing Black.
2 Abrade - need a couple of more 2 casting cost burn spells and it may also kill some random artifacts in the opps deck in the first game...people still play with heart of kiran and can kill a bomat courier in a kind of mirror match.
26 Creatures:
3 Battlefield Scavenger - he is an MVP in this deck, it is really good at replacing cards in our hands with better cards, also helps discarding khenra or manticore which can both come back later in the game and surprise our opponent.
4 EArthshaker Khenra - hit on the 2nd turn for 2, or get discarded to come back later in the game and hit harder.
4 Ahn-crop crasher - needs no explanations
4 Lathnu hellion - hits for 4 on turn 3, lives for 2 turns or can live an extra due with help from lineedghtning energy
2 Ammit Eternal - good 3 drop to block, and can hit the next turn for some damage
3 Hazoret - great finisher, needs no explanations
2 Heart=piercer manticore - very underrated card, has won me a few games due to the opp not expecting it and when it came into play it threw a 4 power or 3 power creature at their head, it can also be discarded so it can come back later in the game.
4 Glorybringer - great finisher, a lot of the times I will sideboard 2 of them out in exchange for cheaper casting cost cards to put more pressure on the opponent.
22 Lands
1 Ramunap Ruins - one is enough in this deck, I don't want to draw it too often and get pinged for life
4 Sunscorched Desert - I started playing these in the original mono red deck way back in June and still need 4 maindeck especially with the ramunap ruins in the deck and it helps with the desert strangler that's coming in from the sideboard.
1 Hostile DEsert - sometimes I discard lands to scavenger or hazoret or even have a desert in the graveyard due to ramunap ruins, not to mention this can also be sacced to ruins for 2 damage.
Sideboard cards:
2 kari zev's expertise - good against creature decks including people that play with gods
2 fling - self explanatory, amazing with kari zev's expertise
2 chandra's defeat - good against other red creature decks or desk with chandra planeswalkers
2 sand sgrangler - again against other creature decks
1 by force - will come in against decks that run more than a couple artifacts, will help the 2 abrades maindeck
1 scorpion god - testing him against slow decks, control decks and even other creature decks
3 torment of scarabs - great against slow combo decks, and testing them against control decks as well
2 aethersphere harvester - good against other creature decks, and also against slower combo/control decks.
After IXALAN is legal the there will be some changes to the maindeck, probably just 4-6 cards and maybe some changes to the sideboard as well!
i've had mana problems with basic Ramunap Red myself so i am more particular with the mana base but i'f you're not having problems then that's good for you.
we can now discuss Ixalan cards and how they incorporate into R/x Aggro decks.
i took a quick look (i just got home from FNM) and aside from Lightning Strike no other Red card seems to strike me as something can can replace cards in Ramunap Red. maybe a new deck could emerge from the new cards, pirate themed probably.
I took a quick look (i just got home from FNM) and aside from Lightning Strike no other Red card seems to strike me as something can can replace cards in Ramunap Red. maybe a new deck could emerge from the new cards, pirate themed probably.
A couple of lists have been posted during spoiler season that would seem to agree with you. Joel Larsson posted one on CFB a week ago that had 2-3 Captain Lannery Storm in it, which could be an option, allowing us to run things like Built to Smash (cast Lannery on T3, crack the treasure for Smash to deal an extra 4 damage - Lannery gets pumped too). BBD posted a similar list on TCG this week, dismissing Lannery and favouring Rampaging Ferocidon, although I think that this is more likely a sideboard card. Both lists only wanted to run 7-8 one-drops.
Other cards that caught my eye:
Red
Angrath's Marauders - oh, I wish this was cheaper. One sided Furnace of Rath on legs. At cmc7, this isn't going in anything.
Captivating Crew - repeatable Hijack, but competes with Hazoret and Chandra at both 4cmc and 4 to activate. Probably not worth it.
Fiery Cannonade - could actually be possible. If we have Kari Zev, Lannery Storm and other pirates, this becomes instant speed deal 2 to the opponent's creatures. Sideboard in some very specific Pirate builds, I'm guessing. In Ramunap, Sweltering Suns is still probably better for the one extra damage.
Firecannon Blast - 1RR to deal 3 to a creature, or 6 with raid at sorcery speed. Again, possibly niche sideboard if you're facing a lot of stompy Dinos.
Repeating Barrage - The raid Hammer of Bogardan. This could possibly see some play, especially with the falter effects of the current Ramunap Red lists - attack without fear of losing a creature, then bring it back. Plus it's an extra mana sink in the late game.
Rigging Runner - The 1-drop that isn't, kind of like Abbot of Keral Keep wasn't really a 2-drop. You rarely, if ever want to play this T1, but T1 Inventor's Apprentice, T2 Bomat Courier, attack for 3, cast Rigging Runner doesn't seem too bad...
Vance's Blasting Cannons - I'm torn on this one. The Khans mode of Outpost Siege is nice, but competes with Chandra and Hazoret at cmc4. It's possible that this should be a sideboard card to provide extra card advantage in control matchups, but I don't see this as main. Also, 3 spells in a turn to flip means that we need to cut down the curve...
Wily Goblin - A divisive one. This could actually be good for us. This gives us a T3 Chandra/Hazoret, or along with Lannery Storm gives us a T4 Glorybringer. Added bonus, running both these treasure producers gives artifacts to potentially make Inventor's Apprentice work again.
Artifacts
Sentinel Totem - A possible sideboard card. Scry 1 for 1 is nice to fix draws, but the exile effect is similar to Scavenger Grounds, which at the moment fills a better role being a desert that can be pitched to Ruins.
Sorcerous Spyglass - Sideboard card. Bear in mind the effect is two-sided, so if you name Hazoret, you shut off your own as well, but might be a way to shut down Scarab God control, etc.
Treasure Map - Fills a valuable 2-drop slot, so may not be a good card. However, giving a scry, and then card draw when flipped could be useful, especially with Lannery Storm providing treasure with every attack (and a pump when you sac the treasure to draw a card).
Vance's Blasting Cannons seems quite good. Outpost Siege was being played as a 4-of main in RW aggro up until Dromoka's Command was printed. Got substantial play in sideboards even after. Chandra might overshadow it, but part of the reason Siege was powerful was because enchantments are difficult to answer. Some decks at the time had no way to remove it from the board.
I also like Repeating Barrage. Hammer of Borgardan was a great card during its time. Repeating has better timing for recursion, albeit more conditional. I could definitely see running 2-3 of these in the slot opened up by Collective Defiance. They provide a sort of inevitability in the late game. Every creature draw becomes a means of rebuying Barrage.
it reflects my usual strategy of putting as much power on the board as i can by turn 2-3 then start attacking through the defenses with removal and natural blocker disablers.
it's a bit slower than Ramunap Red (with the loss of Falkenrath Gorger this seems unavoidable) and doesn't have as much reach through deserts.
but what it does have in its favor are instant speed efficient removal, recurring creatures and widened sideboard options.
splashing back means we can also use hand disruption and removal that doesn't rely on damage. the second one is relevant because if Ripjaw Raptor becomes popular, then Red's in trouble. hand disruption like Duress and Lay Bare the Heart means we may be able to get rid of problematic cards before they hit the board, like Bristling Hydra and various boardwipes. Unlicensed Disintegration can cleanly get rid of most creatures and sometimes can also deal 3 damage to the opponent in the process.
anyway, i am still open to ideas, but that's what i currently have in mind. what do you guys think?
Nice article today out of ChannelFireball. A lot of people think that not only is red going to be teid one still. It’s going to get better. Especially with grasp and zombies rotating. Zombies has never been too hard for me but grasp can be a pain.
I'm partial to tilonalli's skinshifter myself, I see a lot of potential for abuse of it in my deck.
Aside from hazoret I don't run any other legendary creatures and the chance of having the skinshifter copy any of the other creatures is just too good.
The issue with him and the other 3 casting cost creatures is that the slot is already full with ahn crop crasher, lathnu hellion, and now ammit eternal in my deck. Of course the 2 ammits can come out for 2 skinshifters but I'll have to test that.
I can't take out any of the other two 3 casting cost guys.
The two abrades and two unlicensed disintegrations will go to the sideboard to make room for 4 lightning strikes, but I don't see many other changes to this deck aside from these.
Having said that black gives me sword point diplomacy which is a good fit for this deck either drawing you 3 cards or dealing some damage, most of the time you will draw 2-3 cards so it's a win-win situation, and it's only one black so it's playable in this deck.
Lightning Strike replaces Incendiary Flow. That's the easy one.
Soul-Scar carries the weight for the missing 1-drops. This also pushes the deck in the direction of a 12-14 spell count. Luckily, Mage plays pretty well with the additional instant speed Burn that we have with Strike.
Repeating Barrage replaces Collective Defiance. Keeps the Burn count high and adds additional inevitability.
Vance's Blasting Cannons take over for Chandra 3 and 4 in the side as extra sources of card advantage post board. Drawing them is more useful when we already have Chandra, and they are harder to remove.
Lightning Strike replaces Incendiary Flow. That's the easy one.
Soul-Scar carries the weight for the missing 1-drops. This also pushes the deck in the direction of a 12-14 spell count. Luckily, Mage plays pretty well with the additional instant speed Burn that we have with Strike.
Repeating Barrage replaces Collective Defiance. Keeps the Burn count high and adds additional inevitability.
Vance's Blasting Cannons take over for Chandra 3 and 4 in the side as extra sources of card advantage post board. Drawing them is more useful when we already have Chandra, and they are harder to remove.
I play the same list now except flow for strike and 4 abrades because no barrage. I was never on village messenger or gorger. I thought it was too many one drops. The Denver gp semi finalist also plays the same list. I’ve been 21-3 with the deck. FNM and store cash tourneys. This version has better late game bc you can top deck a burn spell instead of a one mana 2/1. I do like the new one drop with first strike. I get chump blocked by plant tokens and tokens and I feel the first strike is huge. Bomat is the turn one play anyway so getting a 2/2 for 1 on turn two is pretty good. Finally a block where we don’t have to trade. Looking forward to the new format. Red will be tier 1. A strong tier one.
Similar to my plans, Nevelo... Except you still have Sea Gate Wreckage in the side, which is rotating. I'll write out my list when I'm not on a cell phone!
So, I went to the local tourney today which had 32 players and 6 rounds and tested my R/B deck with the list from the previous page and due to making some deckbuilding mistakes, not reading opp's cards and him not telling me what it does (I live in Japan and I can't read Japanese so I don't know what older cards do, since I'm only aware of Amonkhet/HofD full cards and I know most of the Kaladesh/Aether as well but I don't know many older cards that are rotating next week) so technically he kind of cheated due to not telling me what is a "must" effect but anyways...I got my ass handed to me and went 2-4.
I lost to two Ramunap Red decks which were mono red and pretty much net decklists and I lost to two White/Red/Black Eldrazi/Archangel decks with ballista and scavengers main deck.
So first, the deckbuilding mistake that I made was not running any 1 to cast burn spells (shock/magma spray) so I couldn't kill the 1/1's, 2/1 or 2/2 that the ramunap decks run so that sucked since all my burn spells cost at least 2 mana to cast so I was behind the red deck every turn.
As for the other decks that ran scavengers, ballistas, archangel avacyn and thought knot seer they will be out of the format next week so I don't need to worry about them.
Having said that I will be playing a mono-red version of this deck again after next week and I have given up on a B/R version as of right now. Without further ado here is the list that I will be testing after Ixalan is legal next week:
I will need something to deal with gods, so far I only got 2 kari zev's expertise and 2 flings to kind of deal with opposing gods, but I have 6 slots open in the sideboard for something better.
Can't wait to see what everyone's sideboard looks like, of course, it depends on what decks will be strong after the rotation.
superb performance at the nationals and excellent write up.
i have not thought about Hope of Ghirapur as an additional artifact as well as a cheap 1 drop before. thanks for that. that could be the card that can make R/b articats aggro work.
it is my hope that Ramunap Red will continue to perform well. but with Temur Energy almost assured to be Tier 1 post rotation, i feel compelled to splash black for more options. i am reallyhaving a hard time dealing with Whirler Virtuoso and Bristling Hydra, so i am thinking making them discard those cards from their hand is much preferable to dealing with them when they are already on the board.
I think this deck will unquestionably be the top deck at least at the start of the new season, perhaps dominating a second pro tour. Some other thoughts:
1. I think the artifact variant with Inventor's Apprentice is pretty interesting. But I don't like splashing black here, it makes the mana base too unreliable for a deck that needs to play untapped land every turn and needs to avoid colorless mana for the other spells in the deck.
2. I think Rigging Runner is the best 3rd 1-drop. It's ideally played turn 2, but if it's your only 1-drop you can still play it turn-1. A 1/1 first strike on turn 1 is not a disaster.
3. Here's the list I want to test as soon as I have the cards:
Yes, the sideboard is currently only 13 cards, and it's really a very rough draft at the moment. It will be finalized last-minute depending on what the metagame starts to look like. The extra mountain is for circumstances where you want 4x Hazoret, 4x Chandra, and 4x Glorybringer. 24 land isn't enough for that.
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i am just looking for other options to make the deck possibly better against the meta. splashing black for cheap kill spells like Fatal Push and hand disruption like Transgress the Mind looks appealing to me.
Anyway, with Temur and control lists heavy at my local, I'm eyeing up the lists that take out the Chandras and run extra 1 drops such as Village Messenger. Any other thoughts as to what would be good cards to include (both in the main and in the side)?
EDIT: I ran a composite deck analysis of every deck that placed Top32 at GP DC and Turin, and 9-0 lists from GP Turin. Interestingly, of the 15 decks I looked at, approximately half (8) ran Chandras, and those that didn't, ran 4 Hazoret instead. However, even though the slim majority ran the Chandras main, the final aggregate list is below. The 36th card is flexible, with the third Village Messenger also showing in 8 of the decks. I included it in the list for consistency, rather than a one-of Chandra.
15 Mountain
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Sunscorched Desert
4 Ramunap Ruins
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
4 Bomat Courier
4 Earthshaker Khenra
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3 Village Messenger
4 Abrade
2 Incendiary Flow
4 Shock
There was one interesting deck that ran a single Glorybringer main over the fourtrh Hazoret (21st at GP DC), and also one list that ran 23 land (18th at GP DC).
Hungry Flames was a revelation, and certainly better than Collective Defiance IMO against Temur. It's an instant speed answer to Hydra, most importantly. With restraint, I was able to hold up mana on T3 on at least 3 occasions to have them drop a T4 Hydra only to be hit with the energy trigger on the stack. The added 2 damage to the face partially mitigates the fact that you usually can't attack T3.
Sideboard was fairly heavily stacked to face control and Temur, as that's my local store meta. Flame Lashes are instant speed responses to Hydra (if you want, although I didn't bring them in), Gideon, Kalitas, Green hulk, etc. Harsh Mentor was also great against Temur - as one of my opponents said "well, I'm not going to Shock myself to make a 1/1." Chandras, Glorybringers, Suns, Hour, and Defeat also came in from the board. I took out 4 Gorger, 3 Kari Zev, 3 Messenger, and a Courier.
Sideboard
Now you are saying to yourself, hold on a minute Ammit Eternal doesn't have haste and Scorpion God also doesn't do much the turn it comes into play. Well, I am testing just 1 Scorpion God right now so keep your panties on, as for Ammit Eternal I used it to win the HOU pre-release and realized how awesome it really is.
The reason it's awesome is because it's only 3 mana to cast and you get a 5/5 which puts it out of most burn spells, even if the opponent makes it a 4/4 or smaller the next turn it is still a creature that can attack and hit for 4 or hit for 3 and if it's blocked he will also hit for 3 through Afflict so it will slowly kill the opp's life total without the need for haste.
So, without further ado and without IXALAN cards this it the deck I'll be running soon:
11 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Sunscorched Desert
4 Canyon Slough
1 Ramunap Ruins
Creatures(27)
2 Heart-piercer Manticore
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Glorybringer
4 Lathnu Hellion
4 Ahn-crop Crasher
3 Battlefield Scavenger
2 Ammit Eternal
1 The Scorpion God
2 Cut // Ribbons
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Abrade
3 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
2 Sand Stragler
2 Fling
2 Chandra's Defeat
1 Insult // Injury
3 Torment of Scarabs
3 Magma Spray
Card choices explanations:
The main cards are in the deck are the original ones that I used until now so here's the explanation for the new cards added to the deck:
2 Ammit Eternal - I've already explained that dropping a 5/5 for only 3 mana of which you only need 1 black mana means it's splashable and it makes a good and solid blocker for the turn it comes into play while I hit with the other creatures.
1 Scorpion God - I'm just testing him because it may work to deal with some small creatures and of course in the mirror match it can kill a lot of 1 toughness critters, aside from that it's a solid 6/5 body for 5 mana with a very good ability.
2 Cut//Ribbons - This is the main reason I wanted to go the black way, I really like cut to deal with opposing blockers before I hit with my creatures and of course ribbons is an amazing finisher late game.
2 Abrade - These are maindeck for now but after Ixalan comes out they'll be going to the sideboard since I'll have other burn cards maindeck instead.
3 Unlicensed Disintegration - I feel these are amazing in this type of aggro deck where all you have is creatures and creature killing cards. It would be great to take out big creatures to pave the way for my guys to attack and it's also another reason why I decided to splash black.
As for lands, once Ixalan is out I will take out 4 mountains and put in the B/R dual land instead and that's about the only change I'm planning to do.
Sideboard:
Most of the cards are the same but these are the new cards I'll be testing.
2 Sand Stragler - I will be testing this in the mirror match or creature heavy decks which will probably be around after Ixalan is legal.
3 Torment of Scarabs - for combo decks or control or grindy decks where creatures are not enough to win with, also it would be awesome to see my opp's face when they see this come in during the 2nd game. They will probably be prepared to deal with creatures and they will probably not have anything to deal with enchantments and this one will slowly kill my opp or even kill them even faster than usual.
Let me know what you think, once Ixalan comes out some of the cards will change but probably not much as the deck is outstanding as it is right now.
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i have a few comments about your deck:
1. only 22 lands but seems like it's too top heavy. could run into some mana issues.
2. i like the interaction between Heart-piercer Manticore and several of the creatures like Ammit Eternal and Lathnu Hellion.
3. probably could use a few artifact creatures like Scrapheap Scrounger for Unlicensed Disintegration.
4. Cut//Ribbons seems like a good finisher if the game goes long.
i'll post my post rotation Rakdos deck when Ixalan becomes fully spoiled in a few days.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I have been playing the deck with 22 lands when it was just mono red as usual, and it worked fine, of course I am trying a 23 land build now that does go up to 61 cards so we'll see how that works in tomorrow's tournament.
Heart piercer manticore has won me quite a few games by flinging other creatures at the face, usually a Lathnu Hellion and even an Ahn Crop crasher sometimes.
This is the deck I'm playing tomorrow, pre-IXALAN build:
11 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Sunscorched Desert
4 Canyon Slough
1 Ramunap Ruins
1 Hostile Desert
Creatures(26)
2 Heart-piercer Manticore
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Glorybringer
4 Lathnu Hellion
4 Ahn-crop Crasher
3 Battlefield Scavenger
2 Ammit Eternal
2 Cut // Ribbons
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Abrade
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 By Force
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
2 Sand Strangler
2 Fling
2 Chandra's Defeat
1 The Scorpion God
3 Torment of Scarabs
2 Aethersphere Harvester
The Scorpion God is in the sideboard to be brought in along with the torments of scarabs to surprise some opponents, as will the aethersphere harvester since people will not have artifact or enchantment hate in the 2nd game for sure.
The deck is relatively low to the ground although it may not seem like it by reading the list.
1st turn - no plays, so it would be great to get a tapland in the opening hand so we can play it tapped on the 1st turn since there's nothing else to play.
2nd turn - here we have the choice of playing a 2 drop like the scavenger or the khenra, if we don't have a creature then we'll probably have one of our 2 casting cost burn spells (abrade, cut or lightning)
3rd turn it gets interesting as we can play one of the 3 casting cost critters (ahn-crop, lathnu or ammit or one of the 2 casting cost guys or we have the previous burn available plus the Unlicensed as well online)
4th turn - we can cast most of our deck except for the four Glorybringers, but usually we'd want to drop a Hazoret as soon as possible which means turn 4 is the earliest.
Card choices and explanations:
12 Spells:
4 Harnessed Lightning - Kills small guys and bigger guys, the energy sometimes helps to keep Lathnu Hellion online for one more turn
4 Unlicensed Disintegration - kills big creatures, artifact creatures, any creatures...one of the reasons to play Black and it also deals damage second game once Aethersphere Harvested is sided in.
2 Cut//Ribbons - of course Cut is a good 2 mana kill spells, and Ribbons can win the late game probably will come online after turn 5 or 6 and by that time the opp should be at 5 or less life and this can end the game, another big reason to be playing Black.
2 Abrade - need a couple of more 2 casting cost burn spells and it may also kill some random artifacts in the opps deck in the first game...people still play with heart of kiran and can kill a bomat courier in a kind of mirror match.
26 Creatures:
3 Battlefield Scavenger - he is an MVP in this deck, it is really good at replacing cards in our hands with better cards, also helps discarding khenra or manticore which can both come back later in the game and surprise our opponent.
4 EArthshaker Khenra - hit on the 2nd turn for 2, or get discarded to come back later in the game and hit harder.
4 Ahn-crop crasher - needs no explanations
4 Lathnu hellion - hits for 4 on turn 3, lives for 2 turns or can live an extra due with help from lineedghtning energy
2 Ammit Eternal - good 3 drop to block, and can hit the next turn for some damage
3 Hazoret - great finisher, needs no explanations
2 Heart=piercer manticore - very underrated card, has won me a few games due to the opp not expecting it and when it came into play it threw a 4 power or 3 power creature at their head, it can also be discarded so it can come back later in the game.
4 Glorybringer - great finisher, a lot of the times I will sideboard 2 of them out in exchange for cheaper casting cost cards to put more pressure on the opponent.
22 Lands
1 Ramunap Ruins - one is enough in this deck, I don't want to draw it too often and get pinged for life
4 Sunscorched Desert - I started playing these in the original mono red deck way back in June and still need 4 maindeck especially with the ramunap ruins in the deck and it helps with the desert strangler that's coming in from the sideboard.
1 Hostile DEsert - sometimes I discard lands to scavenger or hazoret or even have a desert in the graveyard due to ramunap ruins, not to mention this can also be sacced to ruins for 2 damage.
Sideboard cards:
2 kari zev's expertise - good against creature decks including people that play with gods
2 fling - self explanatory, amazing with kari zev's expertise
2 chandra's defeat - good against other red creature decks or desk with chandra planeswalkers
2 sand sgrangler - again against other creature decks
1 by force - will come in against decks that run more than a couple artifacts, will help the 2 abrades maindeck
1 scorpion god - testing him against slow decks, control decks and even other creature decks
3 torment of scarabs - great against slow combo decks, and testing them against control decks as well
2 aethersphere harvester - good against other creature decks, and also against slower combo/control decks.
After IXALAN is legal the there will be some changes to the maindeck, probably just 4-6 cards and maybe some changes to the sideboard as well!
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full Ixalan spoilers here.
we can now discuss Ixalan cards and how they incorporate into R/x Aggro decks.
i took a quick look (i just got home from FNM) and aside from Lightning Strike no other Red card seems to strike me as something can can replace cards in Ramunap Red. maybe a new deck could emerge from the new cards, pirate themed probably.
Other cards that caught my eye:
Red
- Angrath's Marauders - oh, I wish this was cheaper. One sided Furnace of Rath on legs. At cmc7, this isn't going in anything.
- Captivating Crew - repeatable Hijack, but competes with Hazoret and Chandra at both 4cmc and 4 to activate. Probably not worth it.
- Fiery Cannonade - could actually be possible. If we have Kari Zev, Lannery Storm and other pirates, this becomes instant speed deal 2 to the opponent's creatures. Sideboard in some very specific Pirate builds, I'm guessing. In Ramunap, Sweltering Suns is still probably better for the one extra damage.
- Firecannon Blast - 1RR to deal 3 to a creature, or 6 with raid at sorcery speed. Again, possibly niche sideboard if you're facing a lot of stompy Dinos.
- Repeating Barrage - The raid Hammer of Bogardan. This could possibly see some play, especially with the falter effects of the current Ramunap Red lists - attack without fear of losing a creature, then bring it back. Plus it's an extra mana sink in the late game.
- Rigging Runner - The 1-drop that isn't, kind of like Abbot of Keral Keep wasn't really a 2-drop. You rarely, if ever want to play this T1, but T1 Inventor's Apprentice, T2 Bomat Courier, attack for 3, cast Rigging Runner doesn't seem too bad...
- Star of Extinction - Too expensive to push out Hour of Devastation as a red board wipe, but oh, I'd love to see someone's face if you drop this on their dinos (especially a Carnage Tyrant)!
- Sun-Crowned Hunters - Again, too expensive for Ramunap Red (maybe hints to fitting in Big Red?), but a fun effect.
- Unfriendly Fire - One more mana than Flame Lash. No thanks.
- Vance's Blasting Cannons - I'm torn on this one. The Khans mode of Outpost Siege is nice, but competes with Chandra and Hazoret at cmc4. It's possible that this should be a sideboard card to provide extra card advantage in control matchups, but I don't see this as main. Also, 3 spells in a turn to flip means that we need to cut down the curve...
- Wily Goblin - A divisive one. This could actually be good for us. This gives us a T3 Chandra/Hazoret, or along with Lannery Storm gives us a T4 Glorybringer. Added bonus, running both these treasure producers gives artifacts to potentially make Inventor's Apprentice work again.
- Sentinel Totem - A possible sideboard card. Scry 1 for 1 is nice to fix draws, but the exile effect is similar to Scavenger Grounds, which at the moment fills a better role being a desert that can be pitched to Ruins.
- Sorcerous Spyglass - Sideboard card. Bear in mind the effect is two-sided, so if you name Hazoret, you shut off your own as well, but might be a way to shut down Scarab God control, etc.
- Treasure Map - Fills a valuable 2-drop slot, so may not be a good card. However, giving a scry, and then card draw when flipped could be useful, especially with Lannery Storm providing treasure with every attack (and a pump when you sac the treasure to draw a card).
Artifacts
I also like Repeating Barrage. Hammer of Borgardan was a great card during its time. Repeating has better timing for recursion, albeit more conditional. I could definitely see running 2-3 of these in the slot opened up by Collective Defiance. They provide a sort of inevitability in the late game. Every creature draw becomes a means of rebuying Barrage.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
here's my post rotation deck that i've been planning for a while now:
4 Bomat Courier
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Inventor's Apprentice
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock
Lands 24
4 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
6 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
6 Swamp
it reflects my usual strategy of putting as much power on the board as i can by turn 2-3 then start attacking through the defenses with removal and natural blocker disablers.
it's a bit slower than Ramunap Red (with the loss of Falkenrath Gorger this seems unavoidable) and doesn't have as much reach through deserts.
but what it does have in its favor are instant speed efficient removal, recurring creatures and widened sideboard options.
splashing back means we can also use hand disruption and removal that doesn't rely on damage. the second one is relevant because if Ripjaw Raptor becomes popular, then Red's in trouble. hand disruption like Duress and Lay Bare the Heart means we may be able to get rid of problematic cards before they hit the board, like Bristling Hydra and various boardwipes. Unlicensed Disintegration can cleanly get rid of most creatures and sometimes can also deal 3 damage to the opponent in the process.
anyway, i am still open to ideas, but that's what i currently have in mind. what do you guys think?
Nice article today out of ChannelFireball. A lot of people think that not only is red going to be teid one still. It’s going to get better. Especially with grasp and zombies rotating. Zombies has never been too hard for me but grasp can be a pain.
Aside from hazoret I don't run any other legendary creatures and the chance of having the skinshifter copy any of the other creatures is just too good.
The issue with him and the other 3 casting cost creatures is that the slot is already full with ahn crop crasher, lathnu hellion, and now ammit eternal in my deck. Of course the 2 ammits can come out for 2 skinshifters but I'll have to test that.
I can't take out any of the other two 3 casting cost guys.
The two abrades and two unlicensed disintegrations will go to the sideboard to make room for 4 lightning strikes, but I don't see many other changes to this deck aside from these.
Having said that black gives me sword point diplomacy which is a good fit for this deck either drawing you 3 cards or dealing some damage, most of the time you will draw 2-3 cards so it's a win-win situation, and it's only one black so it's playable in this deck.
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Mtg Lifestyle
4 Bomat Courier
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
3 Hazoret the Fervent
Spells:14
4 Shock
2 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
2 Repeating Barrage
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
14 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
2 Scavenger Grounds
4 Sunscorched Desert
4 Glorybringer
2 Abrade
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Sweltering Suns
3 Vance's Blasting Cannons
Edit: A card.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I play the same list now except flow for strike and 4 abrades because no barrage. I was never on village messenger or gorger. I thought it was too many one drops. The Denver gp semi finalist also plays the same list. I’ve been 21-3 with the deck. FNM and store cash tourneys. This version has better late game bc you can top deck a burn spell instead of a one mana 2/1. I do like the new one drop with first strike. I get chump blocked by plant tokens and tokens and I feel the first strike is huge. Bomat is the turn one play anyway so getting a 2/2 for 1 on turn two is pretty good. Finally a block where we don’t have to trade. Looking forward to the new format. Red will be tier 1. A strong tier one.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
So, I went to the local tourney today which had 32 players and 6 rounds and tested my R/B deck with the list from the previous page and due to making some deckbuilding mistakes, not reading opp's cards and him not telling me what it does (I live in Japan and I can't read Japanese so I don't know what older cards do, since I'm only aware of Amonkhet/HofD full cards and I know most of the Kaladesh/Aether as well but I don't know many older cards that are rotating next week) so technically he kind of cheated due to not telling me what is a "must" effect but anyways...I got my ass handed to me and went 2-4.
I lost to two Ramunap Red decks which were mono red and pretty much net decklists and I lost to two White/Red/Black Eldrazi/Archangel decks with ballista and scavengers main deck.
So first, the deckbuilding mistake that I made was not running any 1 to cast burn spells (shock/magma spray) so I couldn't kill the 1/1's, 2/1 or 2/2 that the ramunap decks run so that sucked since all my burn spells cost at least 2 mana to cast so I was behind the red deck every turn.
As for the other decks that ran scavengers, ballistas, archangel avacyn and thought knot seer they will be out of the format next week so I don't need to worry about them.
Having said that I will be playing a mono-red version of this deck again after next week and I have given up on a B/R version as of right now. Without further ado here is the list that I will be testing after Ixalan is legal next week:
14 Mountain
4 Sunscorched Desert
2 Desert of the Fervent
1 Ramunap Ruins
1 Hostile Desert
Creatures(24)
2 Heart-piercer Manticore
4 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Glorybringer
4 Lathnu Hellion
4 Ahn-crop Crasher
3 Battlefield Scavenger
4 Magma Spray
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Abrade
4 Lightning Strike
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
2 Sand Strangler
2 Fling
2 Chandra's Defeat
1 Insult // Injury
6 Open slots
I will need something to deal with gods, so far I only got 2 kari zev's expertise and 2 flings to kind of deal with opposing gods, but I have 6 slots open in the sideboard for something better.
Can't wait to see what everyone's sideboard looks like, of course, it depends on what decks will be strong after the rotation.
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i have not thought about Hope of Ghirapur as an additional artifact as well as a cheap 1 drop before. thanks for that. that could be the card that can make R/b articats aggro work.
it is my hope that Ramunap Red will continue to perform well. but with Temur Energy almost assured to be Tier 1 post rotation, i feel compelled to splash black for more options. i am reallyhaving a hard time dealing with Whirler Virtuoso and Bristling Hydra, so i am thinking making them discard those cards from their hand is much preferable to dealing with them when they are already on the board.
1. I think the artifact variant with Inventor's Apprentice is pretty interesting. But I don't like splashing black here, it makes the mana base too unreliable for a deck that needs to play untapped land every turn and needs to avoid colorless mana for the other spells in the deck.
2. I think Rigging Runner is the best 3rd 1-drop. It's ideally played turn 2, but if it's your only 1-drop you can still play it turn-1. A 1/1 first strike on turn 1 is not a disaster.
3. Here's the list I want to test as soon as I have the cards:
4x Ramunap Ruins
4x Sunscorched Desert
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4x Ahn-Crop Crasher
4x Bomat Courier
4x Earthshaker Khenra
4x Hazoret the Fervent
2x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
2x Rigging Runner
4x Soul-Scar Mage
4x Lightning Strike
4x Shock
2x Abrade
4x Aethersphere Harvester
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4x Glorybringer
1x Mountain
Yes, the sideboard is currently only 13 cards, and it's really a very rough draft at the moment. It will be finalized last-minute depending on what the metagame starts to look like. The extra mountain is for circumstances where you want 4x Hazoret, 4x Chandra, and 4x Glorybringer. 24 land isn't enough for that.