What are y'all running in this spot? Seems like there's plenty of good choices:
Avalanche Riders: 2/2 4-drop with echo isn't great, and the land destruction is very hit-and-miss. Sometimes it'll totally hose an opponent... sometimes it'll only make a negligible impact.
Beetleback Chief: 4 power spread over three bodies. Great synergy with anything that cares about creature count and ETB (Goldnight Commander, Goblin Bombardment). Not so great without synergy, if your opponent has played a vanilla 3/3 the turn previously.
Bloodfray Giant: 5/4 trample and can't block... wow. Plus the rare utility of being a 4/3 blocker if the game isn't going as planned. Can't ever see playing without him as one of red's curve-toppers.
Flametongue Kavu: Mister 1-8-7. One of the best cards ever printed.
Keldon Champion: Through a handful of drafts with both him and Avalanche Riders, the direct damage + extra point of hasty power has almost always been more useful than LD. Hard to NOT make an impact on T4.
Lava Hounds: 4 power (and toughness), haste, no echo. Absolutely great at bashing, not as great if you care about your own life total in a race situation.
Murderous Redcap: Hybrid, sure, but obviously a mono-red deck will love to have this. If it can pick off an X/2 and an X/1, it's absolutely insane. In other cases, it's only very good.
Rubblebelt Maaka: If you're hard-casting this, something has probably gone wrong, but an uncounterable (though restrictive) Brute Force with an optional Hill Giant attached seems sweet.
I currently have everything but the Hounds in my deck at 450 (with Redcap in red, not Rakdos). Avalanche Riders is the most cuttable (perhaps for the Hounds); and, as mentioned, Maaka isn't really a 4-drop in the majority of cases.
Other options:
Fanatic of Mogis: "Win-more", perhaps, since it depends a ton on your existing board. Perhaps the highest upside of any card here, though.
Gorehorn Minotaurs: If you're already getting in for damage, it's worse than an unleashed Bloodfray Giant. If you're not, it's a literal Hill Giant. Good, sure, but has a lot of competition.
Ill-Tempered Cyclops: Trample is subtly awesome. Having to pay six mana isn't as awesome. A lot better for R/G with a little bit of ramp than in any other deck.
Red's fours just aren't that deep. It's the truth. I don't play makka or avalanche riders, but play the rest on the upper portion of that list. I have often wished that Ill-tempered cyclops was playable, but...
I've been running Mad Prophet, thinking he'd be at least decent in aggro and control. But he hasn't done much in either. I'll probably sub him out for Bloodfray Giant before the next draft.
Currently in red I have: Flametongue Kavu - Obv obv obv Keldon Champion - This guy hits really hard, and even if he can't attack he still at least does something. Bloodfray Giant - Highly efficient, can't be chumped. I'm always happy to have this guy. Fanatic of Mogis - Testing this guy out because I wasn't particularly impressed with how Avalanche Riders had been performing. Initial results are that he's fine. The low toughness drawback is mitigated somewhat by the fact that he's in red, a color with access to a lot of removal. If I decide to push tokens a little more, this guy and something else will get swapped out for Beetleback Chief and Hordeling Outburst. Oxidda Scrapmelter - Not exactly an "aggro" specific card, but I like having access to a card like this in most red decks in case my opponent happens to have Isochron Scepter or some good equipment.
Red's fours just aren't that deep. It's the truth. I don't play makka or avalanche riders, but play the rest on the upper portion of that list. I have often wished that Ill-tempered cyclops was playable, but...
I've never really worried about depth. My cube's red decks are usually pretty straightforward, with burn and good on-curve creatures at 1/2/3, then a finisher or two at 4. Could see it as more of a problem if you want to encourage red as a midrange color, though (since the echo cards get pretty horrible there).
I've been running Mad Prophet, thinking he'd be at least decent in aggro and control. But he hasn't done much in either. I'll probably sub him out for Bloodfray Giant before the next draft.
Huh, prophet seems fairly horrible. I guess it gets you to start rummaging just as soon as a Rummaging Goblin would, though I don't really think the Goblin is remotely playable.
Giant, OTOH, is one of my favorites for a red deck (since anyone with a little bit of fixing isn't going to pass you a FTK). Plus, the foil looks pretty awesome.
Spitemare (hybrid) - solid all round, although usually slightly more abuseable in control builds than aggro due to interactions with damage based sweepers and suchlike.
Stalking Yeti - Flametongue's hairier younger brother. Don't worry too much about the self-bounce ability, it's fine without it as a Hill Giant that fights.
Yeti seems really sweet. Obviously fine as-is... but makes me curious about "splashing" snow mana, with stuff like Coldsteel Heart.
Just FTK, Avalanche Riders and Keldon Champion for me. I honestly haven't felt the need for more as Red can either close out the game with burn or use the better 4 drops other colors offer.
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My Black & Silver Cube [360/Peasant/Draft It! EDH Decks: - Reya Dawnbringer // - Mistform Ultimus // - Balthor the Defiled // - Urabrask the Hidden // - Mirri, Cat Warrior
This thread tempted me to run Beetleback Chief in my cube. Right now I'm running FTK, Keldon Champion and Bloodfray Giant. I do have a bit of a tokens subtheme, though.
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Current Decks: GWB Angel Pod WBR Mardu Midrange GWB Wilted Abzan
I don't really consider Beetleback Chief to be an aggro 4 drop. I'm running the standard Ftk, Bloodfray, and Champion configuration in addition to Beetleback. I'd be looking at Lava Hounds next if I wanted another aggro duder.
Avalanche Riders: 2/2 4-drop with echo isn't great, and the land destruction is very hit-and-miss. Sometimes it'll totally hose an opponent... sometimes it'll only make a negligible impact.
Beetleback Chief: 4 power spread over three bodies. Great synergy with anything that cares about creature count and ETB (Goldnight Commander, Goblin Bombardment). Not so great without synergy, if your opponent has played a vanilla 3/3 the turn previously.
Bloodfray Giant: 5/4 trample and can't block... wow. Plus the rare utility of being a 4/3 blocker if the game isn't going as planned. Can't ever see playing without him as one of red's curve-toppers.
Flametongue Kavu: Mister 1-8-7. One of the best cards ever printed.
Keldon Champion: Through a handful of drafts with both him and Avalanche Riders, the direct damage + extra point of hasty power has almost always been more useful than LD. Hard to NOT make an impact on T4.
Lava Hounds: 4 power (and toughness), haste, no echo. Absolutely great at bashing, not as great if you care about your own life total in a race situation.
Murderous Redcap: Hybrid, sure, but obviously a mono-red deck will love to have this. If it can pick off an X/2 and an X/1, it's absolutely insane. In other cases, it's only very good.
Rubblebelt Maaka: If you're hard-casting this, something has probably gone wrong, but an uncounterable (though restrictive) Brute Force with an optional Hill Giant attached seems sweet.
I currently have everything but the Hounds in my deck at 450 (with Redcap in red, not Rakdos). Avalanche Riders is the most cuttable (perhaps for the Hounds); and, as mentioned, Maaka isn't really a 4-drop in the majority of cases.
Other options:
Fanatic of Mogis: "Win-more", perhaps, since it depends a ton on your existing board. Perhaps the highest upside of any card here, though.
Gorehorn Minotaurs: If you're already getting in for damage, it's worse than an unleashed Bloodfray Giant. If you're not, it's a literal Hill Giant. Good, sure, but has a lot of competition.
Ill-Tempered Cyclops: Trample is subtly awesome. Having to pay six mana isn't as awesome. A lot better for R/G with a little bit of ramp than in any other deck.
Everything else: Bladetusk Boar, Heirs of Stromkirk, Scorchwalker
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Flametongue Kavu - Obv obv obv
Keldon Champion - This guy hits really hard, and even if he can't attack he still at least does something.
Bloodfray Giant - Highly efficient, can't be chumped. I'm always happy to have this guy.
Fanatic of Mogis - Testing this guy out because I wasn't particularly impressed with how Avalanche Riders had been performing. Initial results are that he's fine. The low toughness drawback is mitigated somewhat by the fact that he's in red, a color with access to a lot of removal. If I decide to push tokens a little more, this guy and something else will get swapped out for Beetleback Chief and Hordeling Outburst.
Oxidda Scrapmelter - Not exactly an "aggro" specific card, but I like having access to a card like this in most red decks in case my opponent happens to have Isochron Scepter or some good equipment.
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
I've never really worried about depth. My cube's red decks are usually pretty straightforward, with burn and good on-curve creatures at 1/2/3, then a finisher or two at 4. Could see it as more of a problem if you want to encourage red as a midrange color, though (since the echo cards get pretty horrible there).
Huh, prophet seems fairly horrible. I guess it gets you to start rummaging just as soon as a Rummaging Goblin would, though I don't really think the Goblin is remotely playable.
Giant, OTOH, is one of my favorites for a red deck (since anyone with a little bit of fixing isn't going to pass you a FTK). Plus, the foil looks pretty awesome.
Yeti seems really sweet. Obviously fine as-is... but makes me curious about "splashing" snow mana, with stuff like Coldsteel Heart.
EDH Decks:
- Reya Dawnbringer // - Mistform Ultimus // - Balthor the Defiled // - Urabrask the Hidden // - Mirri, Cat Warrior
My 540 CU/be thread
Also, yes, I don't think any rummaging red creature is remotely playable (as much as I wished mad prophet to be)
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
GWB Angel PodWBR Mardu MidrangeGWB Wilted Abzan
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
My 720 Peasant Cube