RRRSligh // All In Red is a deck that abuses a critical amount of value ONE drops to win the game, usually by turn 5. Most players have seen this deck since it's dirt cheap and scary efficient. You want to play this hyper aggressive sligh variant over other red decks because you want your opponent dead or near death before he hits his 4th land.RRR
Tom Ross and Brad Nelson are credited with bringing the deck to prominence. Below are variations of decks they have either made or piloted successfully.
The creature choices are all one drops with 2 power or have the potential for more power. Ash Zealot is also in here because it is one of the most efficient red two drop ever printed. Madcap Skills triggers heroic, dodges blockers, and gets in raw damage. Titan's Strength is a pseudo lightning bolt with scry if timed right. Lightning Strike gives you reach and raw power to end games.
Candidates for the other 11 cards and sideboard include
Creatures
- You'll usually curve out but it is a notable mention since drawing pumps with no creatures on board sucks.
How to play this deck
Believe it or not, this deck isn't just about turning things sideways. It's also about choosing which cards to turn sideways.
For instance, here are several ways of dealing 4+ damage on turn 2 with creatures:
T1 Akroan Crusader, T2 Madcap Skills, or Dragon Mantle+Dragon Mantle/Titan's Strength
T1 Foundry Street Denizen, T2 Ash Zealot, or Legion Loyalist+one drop, or Titan's Strength
T1 Rakdos Cackler, or Fire-Drinker Satyr, T2 Ash Zealot, or Titan's Strength, or Madcap Skills
If your opponent doesn't have an answer for you within the first 3 turns, congrats you won. If he does have one, your goal is to put up as much damage as possible and get his life total within burn range(2-5 life).
After sideboarding, your strategy is still the same: beat your opponent down asap. Even if you know your opponent has hate(shrivel , golgari charm , electrickery), still want to put up a fast clock. If sligh hate is prevalent, consider running burning-tree emissary and friends.
Sideboard
vs Mirror
OUT as many lands as you're willing to risk since drawing them can be deadly. 16 is a safe number.
IN all your one mana spells.
vs Rakdos
IN Peak Eruption
Notes: Rakdos Cackler and Shred-Freak can stop Mogis Marauder Alpha Strikes.
vs WW
IN Shock
IN Combat Tricks
vs RG Monsters
IN Peak Eruption
IN Pithing Needle naming Polukranos, Scavenging Ooze, or Nylea
vs Black Devotion
IN Skullcrack for Gary
IN Act of Treason
Notes: You can play cards exiled with a Nightveil Specter if you gain control of it.
vs Blue Devotion
IN Shock
IN Combat Tricks
IN Skullcrack for Master of Waves
Notes: Kill frostburn weird with burn.
vs Esper
OUT Madcap Skills
IN Skullcrack
IN Pithing Needle
Notes: Keep an Ash Zealot in hand for post board wipe.
With many haste, evasion and direct damaging spells, this one is pretty good at going through walls and punishing opponents that does not leave blockers when the board is empty
redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
I like it, but I'm still wanting to put in some coordinated assault against those aggro decks and smelt for whip of erebos in the MBD decks. Should I add these, and if so what should I take out?
delfam I would take out electrickery. It overlaps with shock and stomp, both of which are better than what it does for the mana cost. Unless your meta is full of monoblack, you'll probably see less whip. The last few monoblack lists that topped ran 0-1 I believe. I would also consider a single pithing needle since it has a much broader use.
I like it, but I'm still wanting to put in some coordinated assault against those aggro decks and smelt for whip of erebos in the MBD decks. Should I add these, and if so what should I take out?
I think 3 Stomp is one too many. I would -1 electrickery, -1 stomp +2 Assault. I actually run 3 Assault MD and love it.
delfam I would take out electrickery. It overlaps with shock and stomp, both of which are better than what it does for the mana cost. Unless your meta is full of monoblack, you'll probably see less whip. The last few monoblack lists that topped ran 0-1 I believe. I would also consider a single pithing needle since it has a much broader use.
Electrickery wipes out Master of Waves tokens. 2-of SB is needed in my area minimum.
I think 17 is probably the sweet spot. I went 3-0 at FNM last week and only lost one game to a WW deck; in the game I mulliganed to 5.
Even in the games I won most of the time I went to 6 cards just to get two lands in my starting hand. I feel any less than 17 lowers your chances by a lot, yes the deck can run on 2 lands, but having 4 land out with 2 open for a lightning strike is also pretty good.
I think 17 is probably the sweet spot. I went 3-0 at FNM last week and only lost one game to a WW deck; in the game I mulliganed to 5.
Even in the games I won most of the time I went to 6 cards just to get two lands in my starting hand. I feel any less than 17 lowers your chances by a lot, yes the deck can run on 2 lands, but having 4 land out with 2 open for a lightning strike is also pretty good.
Even with 16, I find myself losing to flood more often than I'm losing to screw.
I'm going to mess around with this online tonight:
shortcutter and gore-house are unnecessary IMO, I think the deck really needs Legion Loyalist to be effective against other aggro decks. The first strike allows your guys to live and the trample can be pretty effect, especially with titan's strength.
shortcutter and gore-house are unnecessary IMO, I think the deck really needs Legion Loyalist to be effective against other aggro decks. The first strike allows your guys to live and the trample can be pretty effect, especially with titan's strength.
I am seeing more and more Golgari Charm and even...Shrivel, in my meta. So I am trying to get some more x/2's in there MD. I have Loyalist SB for other aggro. Shortcutter is a nice way to squeeze a few points in when I have nothing to target Athlete.
**** on everyone two weeks ago; this week faced losses against MUD (mull to 6 game one lose with him at one life, won game 2, landslide game 3) and UR control (also went to three games, both losses he was at 1-2).
**** on everyone two weeks ago; this week faced losses against MUD (mull to 6 game one lose with him at one life, won game 2, landslide game 3) and UR control (also went to three games, both losses he was at 1-2).
Let me know what you think.
reckoner and the hammer are just way to slow for this deck, I don't see a point in playing them, seismic stomp would be better in their place.
Why no madcap skills? It is really good turn 2 and helps push through damage early.
Also I think you should try the heroic version, it is a lot faster, but more fragile. Akroan Crusader and Arena Athlete are very good.
This deck preys on slow decks and hammer accentuates this in post board games when surely decks are just trying to put you into topdeck mode. It turns every draw thenafter into an immediate threat. Unless they have BBOV or Elspetg tokens up, drawing a 2-3 power threat every turn will kill them.
Boros Reckoner is a concession to the fact that we can't always be the beatdown, esp. in the Boss or WW mirror. Red Divination is really powerful.
I run a set of Madcap Skills in the sideboard; it really helps against midrange and MUD, but I really don't want to offer Esper nor MBD a 2-for-1.
By that same token, I don't think the heroic package is where I want to be. With 8-12 targeting spells, you'll likely only get 1-2 procs per game and the acceleration provided by BTE is more powerful than a token, and Goblin Shortcutter's immediate effect is better than probably even two procs off the athlete.
That being said, I'm not completely opposed, but 12 falters is an aweful lot against control and I want to keep that win rate as high as possible.
This deck preys on slow decks and hammer accentuates this in post board games when surely decks are just trying to put you into topdeck mode. It turns every draw thenafter into an immediate threat. Unless they have BBOV or Elspetg tokens up, drawing a 2-3 power threat every turn will kill them.
Boros Reckoner is a concession to the fact that we can't always be the beatdown, esp. in the Boss or WW mirror. Red Divination is really powerful.
I run a set of Madcap Skills in the sideboard; it really helps against midrange and MUD, but I really don't want to offer Esper nor MBD a 2-for-1.
By that same token, I don't think the heroic package is where I want to be. With 8-12 targeting spells, you'll likely only get 1-2 procs per game and the acceleration provided by BTE is more powerful than a token, and Goblin Shortcutter's immediate effect is better than probably even two procs off the athlete.
That being said, I'm not completely opposed, but 12 falters is an aweful lot against control and I want to keep that win rate as high as possible.
Well you usually sideboard out the madcap skills against those matchups anyway, so I guess if your meta is heavy esper than sideboarding them would be fine.
I just feel like if your going to be aggro go full-aggro, if you want to be mid-range go full mid-range with 4x reckoner mainboard, stormbreath, etc. By going half-way between aggro and mid-range I feel you make your matchups against those types of deck worse than if you swayed to one side.
Well you usually sideboard out the madcap skills against those matchups anyway, so I guess if your meta is heavy esper than sideboarding them would be fine.
I just feel like if your going to be aggro go full-aggro, if you want to be mid-range go full mid-range with 4x reckoner mainboard, stormbreath, etc. By going half-way between aggro and mid-range I feel you make your matchups against those types of deck worse than if you swayed to one side.
And if you take our Madcap Skills postboard, you're making your core creatures worse (the heroic pair). Yes, with the crusader you get to run 20 1-drops which seems more aggro than my deck, but I contest that it's not.
Generally, Control > Midrange > Aggro > Control. With that, why are you developing the deck in such a way that it becomes weaker against control. By "going full-aggro", you really should be just trying to beat control, but with the heroic package and MCS mainboard, it seems like you're trying to beat midrange. This seems like a decent idea, but what are the two best decks? MBD and Esper (control), followed by MUD (midrange). So we really need to emphasize our win-% against control; with 8 falters and so many small dudes and combat tricks, we still maintain a good MU against midrange.
Like I said, I haven't tested the heroic build so far, but it just seems worse than my version (which is itself suboptimal--I mean, c'mon, I'm running Rubblebelt Maaka).
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Deck Lists
4 Ash Zealot
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Firefist Striker
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock
4 Titan's Strength
17 Mountain
1 Pithing Needle
2 Arena Athlete
1 Dragon Mantle
2 Coordinated Assault
4 Skullcrack
4 Peak Eruption
1 Mountain
3 Arena Athlete
4 Ash Zealot
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Madcap Skills
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength
17 Mountain
1 Pithing Needle
1 Nivmagus Elemental
1 Coordinated Assault
4 Shock
4 Skullcrack
4 Peak Eruption
2 Arena Athlete
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Lightning Strike
4 Madcap Skills
4 Titan's Strength
17 Mountain
1 Mutavault
1 Act of Treason
1 Coordinated Assault
4 Firefist Striker
3 Peak Eruption
3 Shock
3 Skullcrack
Based on those decks, the current "core" for the sligh build consists of the following 49 cards
4 Ash Zealot
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength
Candidates for the other 11 cards and sideboard include
Creatures
Falter/Evasive creatures
Value
Others
Spells
Burn
Pump
Other
Land
- Mountain - doesn't hurt since we have a few mana sinks
- Mutavault
- You'll usually curve out but it is a notable mention since drawing pumps with no creatures on board sucks.How to play this deck
Believe it or not, this deck isn't just about turning things sideways. It's also about choosing which cards to turn sideways.
For instance, here are several ways of dealing 4+ damage on turn 2 with creatures:
T1 Akroan Crusader, T2 Madcap Skills, or Dragon Mantle+Dragon Mantle/Titan's Strength
T1 Foundry Street Denizen, T2 Ash Zealot, or Legion Loyalist+one drop, or Titan's Strength
T1 Rakdos Cackler, or Fire-Drinker Satyr, T2 Ash Zealot, or Titan's Strength, or Madcap Skills
If your opponent doesn't have an answer for you within the first 3 turns, congrats you won. If he does have one, your goal is to put up as much damage as possible and get his life total within burn range(2-5 life).
After sideboarding, your strategy is still the same: beat your opponent down asap. Even if you know your opponent has hate(shrivel , golgari charm , electrickery), still want to put up a fast clock. If sligh hate is prevalent, consider running burning-tree emissary and friends.
Sideboard
OUT as many lands as you're willing to risk since drawing them can be deadly. 16 is a safe number.
IN all your one mana spells.
vs Rakdos
IN Peak Eruption
Notes: Rakdos Cackler and Shred-Freak can stop Mogis Marauder Alpha Strikes.
vs WW
IN Shock
IN Combat Tricks
vs RG Monsters
IN Peak Eruption
IN Pithing Needle naming Polukranos, Scavenging Ooze, or Nylea
vs Black Devotion
IN Skullcrack for Gary
IN Act of Treason
Notes: You can play cards exiled with a Nightveil Specter if you gain control of it.
vs Blue Devotion
IN Shock
IN Combat Tricks
IN Skullcrack for Master of Waves
Notes: Kill frostburn weird with burn.
vs Esper
OUT Madcap Skills
IN Skullcrack
IN Pithing Needle
Notes: Keep an Ash Zealot in hand for post board wipe.
vs Midrange
IN Peak Eruption
IN Act of Treason
Match ups
*coming soon*
check out these videos:
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-calebd-standard-mono-red-blitz-1/
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
I also want to point out Hinojosa's version of Sligh that did well in SCG Open Dallas a couple of weeks back.
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
Lands (20)
19 Mountain
1 Mutavault
1 Dynacharge
4 Lightning Strike
3 Madcap Skills
4 Magma Jet
2 Shock
2 Skullcrack
2 Act of Treason
2 Burning Earth
2 Firefist Striker
2 Frostburn Weird
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Peak Eruption
2 Skullcrack
With many haste, evasion and direct damaging spells, this one is pretty good at going through walls and punishing opponents that does not leave blockers when the board is empty
You both are absolutely right-- I derped there. Thanks! (no sarcasm intended)
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
3 arena athlete
4 burning-tree emissary
4 foundry street denizen
2 goblin shortcutter
4 gore-house chainwalker
4 rakdos cackler
4 dragon mantle
4 madcap skills
Instants (11):
3 coordinated assault
4 lightning strike
4 titan's strength
Lands (16):
16 mountain
3 electrickery
4 rakdos shred-freak
2 seismic stomp
4 skullcrack
2 smelt
Going to build this for next week once I get all of the cards:
4 akroan crusader
3 arena athlete
4 ash zealot
4 firedrinker satyr
4 foundry street denizen
2 goblin shortcutter
4 rakdos cackler
4 dragon mantle
4 madcap skills
Instants (11):
3 coordinated assault
4 lightning strike
4 titan's strength
Lands (16):
16 mountain
3 electrickery
3 legion loyalist
2 rakdos shred-freak
2 seismic stomp
3 skullcrack
2 smelt
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
3 electrickery
3 seismic stomp
2 act of treason
3 skullcrack
I like it, but I'm still wanting to put in some coordinated assault against those aggro decks and smelt for whip of erebos in the MBD decks. Should I add these, and if so what should I take out?
Nice finish. lol 16 lands did you mull often?
I have not tried putting BTE in here yet, but I am seriously considering it after seeing shrivels in last weekend's GP results.
I think 3 Stomp is one too many. I would -1 electrickery, -1 stomp +2 Assault. I actually run 3 Assault MD and love it.
Electrickery wipes out Master of Waves tokens. 2-of SB is needed in my area minimum.
Not that often actually. With no 3 drops, this deck can run on 2 land.
Even in the games I won most of the time I went to 6 cards just to get two lands in my starting hand. I feel any less than 17 lowers your chances by a lot, yes the deck can run on 2 lands, but having 4 land out with 2 open for a lightning strike is also pretty good.
Even with 16, I find myself losing to flood more often than I'm losing to screw.
I'm going to mess around with this online tonight:
4 akroan crusader
3 arena athlete
4 ash zealot
3 firedrinker satyr
4 foundry street denizen
2 goblin shortcutter
2 gore-house chainwalker
4 rakdos cackler
2 coordinated assault
4 dragon mantle
3 lightning strike
4 madcap skills
4 titan's strength
17 mountain
SB:
2 barrage of expendables
2 electrickery
2 legion loyalist
4 rakdos shred-freak
2 seismic stomp
3 skullcrack
In theory, against control:
-3 Athlete
-2 Shortcutter
-2 Assault
-4 Madcap
+4 Shred-Freak
+3 Skullcrack
+2 Barrage (turn dying dudes into burn)
+2 Loyalist (Speth tokens)
shortcutter and gore-house are unnecessary IMO, I think the deck really needs Legion Loyalist to be effective against other aggro decks. The first strike allows your guys to live and the trample can be pretty effect, especially with titan's strength.
I am seeing more and more Golgari Charm and even...Shrivel, in my meta. So I am trying to get some more x/2's in there MD. I have Loyalist SB for other aggro. Shortcutter is a nice way to squeeze a few points in when I have nothing to target Athlete.
4-2 this FNM for 9th.
This deck is very powerful. I still haven't seen shrivel effects locally, and I haven't bothered with the heroic version, so my list has been:
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Firefist Striker
4 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Titan's Strength
3 Rubblebelt Maaka
1 Dynacharge
The Manaz
16 Mountain
4 Shock
1 Boros Reckoner
4 Madcap Skills
1 Act of Treason
4 Rakdos Shredfreak
1 Hammer of Purphuros
**** on everyone two weeks ago; this week faced losses against MUD (mull to 6 game one lose with him at one life, won game 2, landslide game 3) and UR control (also went to three games, both losses he was at 1-2).
Let me know what you think.
reckoner and the hammer are just way to slow for this deck, I don't see a point in playing them, seismic stomp would be better in their place.
Why no madcap skills? It is really good turn 2 and helps push through damage early.
Also I think you should try the heroic version, it is a lot faster, but more fragile. Akroan Crusader and Arena Athlete are very good.
This deck preys on slow decks and hammer accentuates this in post board games when surely decks are just trying to put you into topdeck mode. It turns every draw thenafter into an immediate threat. Unless they have BBOV or Elspetg tokens up, drawing a 2-3 power threat every turn will kill them.
Boros Reckoner is a concession to the fact that we can't always be the beatdown, esp. in the Boss or WW mirror. Red Divination is really powerful.
I run a set of Madcap Skills in the sideboard; it really helps against midrange and MUD, but I really don't want to offer Esper nor MBD a 2-for-1.
By that same token, I don't think the heroic package is where I want to be. With 8-12 targeting spells, you'll likely only get 1-2 procs per game and the acceleration provided by BTE is more powerful than a token, and Goblin Shortcutter's immediate effect is better than probably even two procs off the athlete.
That being said, I'm not completely opposed, but 12 falters is an aweful lot against control and I want to keep that win rate as high as possible.
Well you usually sideboard out the madcap skills against those matchups anyway, so I guess if your meta is heavy esper than sideboarding them would be fine.
I just feel like if your going to be aggro go full-aggro, if you want to be mid-range go full mid-range with 4x reckoner mainboard, stormbreath, etc. By going half-way between aggro and mid-range I feel you make your matchups against those types of deck worse than if you swayed to one side.
And if you take our Madcap Skills postboard, you're making your core creatures worse (the heroic pair). Yes, with the crusader you get to run 20 1-drops which seems more aggro than my deck, but I contest that it's not.
Generally, Control > Midrange > Aggro > Control. With that, why are you developing the deck in such a way that it becomes weaker against control. By "going full-aggro", you really should be just trying to beat control, but with the heroic package and MCS mainboard, it seems like you're trying to beat midrange. This seems like a decent idea, but what are the two best decks? MBD and Esper (control), followed by MUD (midrange). So we really need to emphasize our win-% against control; with 8 falters and so many small dudes and combat tricks, we still maintain a good MU against midrange.
Like I said, I haven't tested the heroic build so far, but it just seems worse than my version (which is itself suboptimal--I mean, c'mon, I'm running Rubblebelt Maaka).