I think you should rethink your viewing on Experiment One. Turn 1 drop experiment one. Turn 2 you drop Burning Tree Emissay and any other 2 drop, and you have a 3/3 on turn 2. I am not sure how much more aggro you can get for a 1 drop then that.
Well this FNM was interesting. I decided to make changes to my typical RDW, that I would say where certainly experiments at best. I wanted to actually playtest how certain changes would help or hurt the deck. I ended up going perfect in 4 rounds and came out 1st place. I'll keep the game summaries very short. Here is my deck that I used last night.
Round 1 2-0 vs Boros
This kid was playing a strict boros deck using only gatecrash cards. Which severely hampered him against RDW. It didn't take me long to dispatch of him. I'd keep madcap skills on a Noble, and since he couldn't block it using humans he went down very quick.
Round 2 2-0 vs ??? Deck
This was a really favorable matchup. As the guy who is a veteran player, had a deck of which he had no idea what is was doing. It contained 68 cards, and had much identity crisis to it. He had no answers for any of my creatures and burn. After the matches I looked at his deck, and I had no idea what he was going for.
Round 3 2-0 vs Mono Black Exalted
I really enjoy playing exalted matchups. Especially when I draw 3 Nobles in my opening hand!!! Add on 2 madcap skills to the first dropped one, and that equates to the first game ending on turn 4. The 2nd game was much much closer. He kept whittling my life away, and I just kept racing him with a noble and some zealots. It came down to the last turn, as he had me at 5 life, and could swing for lethal next turn with an unblockable guy. I simply attacked, which forced him to block, if he didn't it would be lethal to him. Luckily that killed his exalted guys, and his next attack he swung me for 4, and that was all he could do. As the saying goes, it's ok to have 1 life as long as your opponent is at 0 lol
Round 4 2-0 vs Turbofog
This guy comes up with the zaniest deck ideas. He is the guy who doesn't necessarily play to win, but his decks are known for being a pain in the behind to play against. Thankfully the first round he beat the bant enchantment deck I hate playing against lol
So both games went the exact same way. His deck was perfect throughout the night as well. We both have not lost a single game at this point. The decks main point is to get guttersnipe out and keep casting as many variables of fogs as he has, then using elixir of immortality to shuffle them back into his library. Well his worse matchup was vs me and direct damage. I made sure he burned threw his fogs, as I simply just kept attacking. However there was 1 card that won me both games. Hellrider easily won me both games. They did take a bit to play out. However the direct damage from Hellrider was amazing in these games. Add on my burn spells to the face, and taking his vraska helped out. The first game I almost won without hellrider as I had 2 madcap skills on my soulbonded firebreathing noble lol I was about to cast my 3rd one on it, but he got rid of it with Vraska.
All in all I did like the changes. I'm still uncertain about them. I did like the Madcap Skills more than anything, it just helps get more damage in earlier on a noble. But I am now faced with another dilemma, I ended up getting my hands on 4x Boros Reckoner. I have taken out my hounds and 1 stonewright for 3 of them, and I'm thinking of taking a vexing devil out for the other. I'm not sure if there is a better substitution for them though? Let me know what you guys think. I respect any criticism, opinions and honesty. Thank ya!
Hi I just have a simple question. I wanted clarification on Extort. When you cast a spell can you extort as many times as possible? Or is it only once per permanent that has extort per spell?
A mill deck won our pre-release last night. The Consuming Aberration is just insane!! Luckily out of all of my matchups I only saw it in one game, and it didn't mill me for too much. But just the fact that ability is dormant on that card is crazy. For that whole reason I have thought about switching to play it today. On my side I played Boros and I have to agree that Madcap Skills is amazing!! I only drafted this card 1 time, and wow did it come out of no where. I was attacking for 5 on turn three for about every game.
So it is important for players to realize that, extort will indeed still happen if your spell gets countered or fizzles. The ability just says when you cast a spell. So keep that in mind this weekend for anyone who is playing extort cards.
@Key-Fan No offense taken! That is why I was saying I think I got favorable matchups all night! lol Normally I can remember most games, and report it in a lot better fashion then I did. But since I never really got to see any of those decks go off, other than the mill deck. I can't really comment to well on them. I really did want to go against my buddy's infect deck to see how it would fare. But we never got paired together. Instead I got paired in game 3 against the guy who lost in the first round and had a 2nd round bye. I'm still not sure how that worked out.
As of yesterday I have taken out the Chain-Walkers and put in Vexing Devils. I know I am going against the grain, but I still plan on dropping Noble down first turn every game or cackler. I plan to use Devil in the 3 slot depending if I draw a Wolf or not. I played against two people yesterday in a 3 way game, and I won without taking a single point of damage.
This is a couple of days late, and I will keep it short, as I don't really remember the match ups. My lgs played modern for FNM this past Friday. I currently don't have a modern deck so I played my RDW standard deck. Just expecting to have some fun and not necessarily be too competitive. I went completely undefeated the entire night. I did not lose a single match. I was pretty shocked. I did feel like all of my matchups where incredibly favorable though. The last guy who was undefeated as well and I decided to draw to lock up top spots since no one could catch us. We played after to see who got more packs and I won 2-0. This is the same deck I have been running for months. I've made a few changes to it, and even at this time I have changed it again.
Match 1 2-0 vs Standard green thragtusk deck
All I know is I never saw a single Thrag hit the table in either games. Both games where done when I hit Hellrider turn 4 both games.
Match 2 2-0 Modern artifact mill deck
At first I thought it was an affinity deck. But it was straight mill. I don't know the cards, but he was playing with an artifact that made each player mill 1 card for each permanent that got untapped, and an artifact that was tap: target player puts the top 2? cards from his library to his graveyard. Either way I still think RDW is very favorable vs mill. 1st game he got my library down to 19 cards, but I still pushed through for the win. 2nd game wasn't even close.
Game 3 2-0 Black/Blue Modern deck
I'm not sure what this deck was going for. And the guy told me, he had just built it. This is where I found it odd too, because this guy lost his first matchup and had a bye in the 2nd round, but yet he got paired to play me and I was in first. I was confused with that. But I just kept burning his creatures in both matchups, and swung for lethal. It didn't take to long.
Game 4 Modern Weird Deck 2-0
This was the game we decided to draw, but play it out to see who gets 3 packs instead of 2. This guy is notorious for making decks, that don't have a purpose. He doesn't play to necessarily win, but his decks tend to be annoying and they prolong the game. But he either got messed over with not enough mana the first game, or to much mana and no creatures the second game.
I think most of the reason for my wins was favorable matchups. I didn't have to face infect, and another new guy had a good modern deck, but I don't know what it was. Also my opponents had terrible draws for the most part. Typically I just cut the deck, but friday I decided i'd re shuffle them like they do at GP's and such. I don't know if it had anything to do with bad draws or not. But it seemed to work haha
I have to agree with the decision. This is a game of math afterall. I have some matchups in my meta where I have to do this type of deeper analyzing. People just think it's so easy to play red. It's more of the peoples skill level who play it right, makes it look easy to play. Anyhow great choice of play!
I was just looking at the list. It's some what close to what I run. I don't own any Hellkites myself, so I can't play them. It seems like perhaps he has more 1 and 2 drops in the deck, so when you pop down Hellrider T4 it's for a much bigger swing, then burn the rest? Also with the inclusion of shred-freak and mauler md it seems like a lot more pre T4 haste damage, than playing Chain-walker and waiting. I certainly like it. I might change my deck up for FNM this week just to see how it does.
My sideboard is still a large work in progress. I typically only sideboard in the Traitorous bloods and mortars. I have to work on getting Thunderbolts and some other stuff.
Alright onto matches
Round 1 2-1 vs W/G Thrag life gain
Game 1 - I started off with a really great draw. He plays his land and casts his mana dork. Turn two I immediately burn his dork away, and he never draws anymore land.
Game 2 - He got his land this game, and was able to just out life gain me away.
Game 3 - Same problem for him as in game 1. No land and I burned away his only mana dork. I made very short work of him. Afterwards he looked to see when his next land was and it was about 10 cards down or so.
Round 2 2-0 vs R/B Guttersnipe/Electromancer
This is a deck one of my friends threw together, so I knew it's ins and outs
Game 1 - I get a great draw, I burn away his guttersnipes and electromancers, and I let Hellrider do work.
Game 2 - A lot of the same in this game. I got close to having 2 Hellriders out. He just happened to lose before I could cast it lol Pretty easy games really
Round 3 2-1 vs Exalted
Game 1 - I got a good draw. Since I knew he was playing with exalted already, I knew I atleast needed the 1 Noble from the start. Exalted has a very hard time keeping up with him. I keep burning his creatures and he trade blocks with them. Game 1 me!
Game 2 - I get a terrible draw and I mulligan down to 5 cards. I keep with 3 lands a zealot and a burn spell. Meanwhile he just keeps slamming down his exalted guys, one after another. He wins
Game 3 - I had a perfect draw vs Exalted with 2 Nobles in my hand. Turn 1 I lay 1 down, turn 2 I lay down a cackler and a noble instead of a 2 drop. He couldn't race the nobles and lost pretty quickly
Round 4 2-1 vs Omnidoor ThragFire
I played against this deck the week before and went 2-1. So I knew what he was playing.
Game 1 - I had an awesome draw, got out all of my drops as I curved. I kept a zealot in my hand in anticipation of a terminus or verdict. I also had a Crucible with 1 counter on it when he decided to cast terminus. So at end of his turn I put another counter on it, my turn I activated it, attacked and I won. Crucibles are invaluable against mass removal.
Game 2 - He sideboarded in his entire sideboard, like he did last week. Which just contains life giving creatures. 4x Thrags, 4x Centaur Healers, and 4x Rhox as far as I know. My draw was bad, I finally scooped when he had a Rhox out and cast a Sphinx's Revelation and gained 38 life lol
Game 3 - I had yet again another great draw. The card that won me the game this time was a turn 3 pyreheart wolf. He couldn't keep up on creatures as well, I kept burning atleast one of them. He casts a Thrag to go to 6 life. I Mortared his Centaur Healer so he couldn't block my wolf and other creatures and I swing in for lethal.
Round 5 - vs Geist of Saint Traft deck
We decided to draw so that we could lock up 1st and 2nd. I was perfectly fine with it. As honestly I have not a single clue how to beat these decks. I've gotten lucky and beat them before. Sometimes It comes down to be drawing 1 last burn spell, and I never do. We did play for fun and atleast with his deck he keeps geist on the ground. With my friends deck he likes to give geist flying and rancor and by turn 3 I am taking 10 damage. I just don't have an answer for the decks. I always play against it, and it's always what keeps me out of getting 1st or 2nd every week.
I'm open to suggestions on the deck. I was surprised I did so well. I was extremely tired all day. I also thought I was running 4x Hellrider. I'm thinking about running Archwing Dragon in the SB. I know I will never get a Thundermaw by the time it rotates out. I will probably run 2x Tormod's Crypt in the Sb as their is one nasty deck that relies on what is in the graveyard. My meta is a bit different than normal meta's lol
Midnight V -- the 4 wolves have been enough for me to get through, and they're ready when I have enough to do significant damage. Perhaps you don't need the clutches?
That is what I was thinking! Also I am not sure what your current meta looks like, but you'll be wanting to drop Chain Walker on turn 2 just about 100% of games. In my deck list I have dropped down to only 1 Conscript main deck. I would also say with your Sb since you do have 3 Thundermaws that I would get rid of the Archwing and the conscripts. I would run atleast 3 traitorous bloods if not 4. You could go with another Thunderbolt, and then whatever is good vs your current meta. I'm going to post my deck list in tournament reports before to long. I just won a 26 man FNM with it. But it's pretty close to Zemans deck list.
and i dont get why there is a top 8 with only 7 people^^
His card shop seems similiar to mine. At my card shop it's free to play. But only 1st and 2nd get packs. 1st gets 3 and 2nd gets 2. There is another card shop around where you have to pay to play, but they give out a lot more packs for positions. At our card shop we are thinking of doing something similar. Where if you want to buy in, ie pay $5 it will go to a prize pool. The prize pool would be more cards. Those would get distributed only between the top 8 of whoever pitched in. While say if someone won and didn't pitch in, they would only get the 3 packs still. Does that make anymore sense?
4x Ash Zealot
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Vexing Devil
3x Hellrider
3x Stonewright
2x Hound of Griselbrand
2x Zealous Conscripts
4x Searing Spear
3x Brimstone Volley
2x Mugging
Enchantment
4x Madcap Skills
19x Mountain
2x Hellion Crucible
Round 1 2-0 vs Boros
This kid was playing a strict boros deck using only gatecrash cards. Which severely hampered him against RDW. It didn't take me long to dispatch of him. I'd keep madcap skills on a Noble, and since he couldn't block it using humans he went down very quick.
Round 2 2-0 vs ??? Deck
This was a really favorable matchup. As the guy who is a veteran player, had a deck of which he had no idea what is was doing. It contained 68 cards, and had much identity crisis to it. He had no answers for any of my creatures and burn. After the matches I looked at his deck, and I had no idea what he was going for.
Round 3 2-0 vs Mono Black Exalted
I really enjoy playing exalted matchups. Especially when I draw 3 Nobles in my opening hand!!! Add on 2 madcap skills to the first dropped one, and that equates to the first game ending on turn 4. The 2nd game was much much closer. He kept whittling my life away, and I just kept racing him with a noble and some zealots. It came down to the last turn, as he had me at 5 life, and could swing for lethal next turn with an unblockable guy. I simply attacked, which forced him to block, if he didn't it would be lethal to him. Luckily that killed his exalted guys, and his next attack he swung me for 4, and that was all he could do. As the saying goes, it's ok to have 1 life as long as your opponent is at 0 lol
Round 4 2-0 vs Turbofog
This guy comes up with the zaniest deck ideas. He is the guy who doesn't necessarily play to win, but his decks are known for being a pain in the behind to play against. Thankfully the first round he beat the bant enchantment deck I hate playing against lol
So both games went the exact same way. His deck was perfect throughout the night as well. We both have not lost a single game at this point. The decks main point is to get guttersnipe out and keep casting as many variables of fogs as he has, then using elixir of immortality to shuffle them back into his library. Well his worse matchup was vs me and direct damage. I made sure he burned threw his fogs, as I simply just kept attacking. However there was 1 card that won me both games. Hellrider easily won me both games. They did take a bit to play out. However the direct damage from Hellrider was amazing in these games. Add on my burn spells to the face, and taking his vraska helped out. The first game I almost won without hellrider as I had 2 madcap skills on my soulbonded firebreathing noble lol I was about to cast my 3rd one on it, but he got rid of it with Vraska.
All in all I did like the changes. I'm still uncertain about them. I did like the Madcap Skills more than anything, it just helps get more damage in earlier on a noble. But I am now faced with another dilemma, I ended up getting my hands on 4x Boros Reckoner. I have taken out my hounds and 1 stonewright for 3 of them, and I'm thinking of taking a vexing devil out for the other. I'm not sure if there is a better substitution for them though? Let me know what you guys think. I respect any criticism, opinions and honesty. Thank ya!
As of yesterday I have taken out the Chain-Walkers and put in Vexing Devils. I know I am going against the grain, but I still plan on dropping Noble down first turn every game or cackler. I plan to use Devil in the 3 slot depending if I draw a Wolf or not. I played against two people yesterday in a 3 way game, and I won without taking a single point of damage.
4x Gore-House Chainwalker
4x Stromkirk Noble
3x Stonewright
4x Ash Zealot
3x Pyreheart Wolf
3x Hellrider
2x Hound of Griselbrand
1x Zealous Conscripts
4x Searing Spear
3x Brimstone Volley
2x Pillar of Flame
2x Hellion Crucible
21x Mountain
Match 1 2-0 vs Standard green thragtusk deck
All I know is I never saw a single Thrag hit the table in either games. Both games where done when I hit Hellrider turn 4 both games.
Match 2 2-0 Modern artifact mill deck
At first I thought it was an affinity deck. But it was straight mill. I don't know the cards, but he was playing with an artifact that made each player mill 1 card for each permanent that got untapped, and an artifact that was tap: target player puts the top 2? cards from his library to his graveyard. Either way I still think RDW is very favorable vs mill. 1st game he got my library down to 19 cards, but I still pushed through for the win. 2nd game wasn't even close.
Game 3 2-0 Black/Blue Modern deck
I'm not sure what this deck was going for. And the guy told me, he had just built it. This is where I found it odd too, because this guy lost his first matchup and had a bye in the 2nd round, but yet he got paired to play me and I was in first. I was confused with that. But I just kept burning his creatures in both matchups, and swung for lethal. It didn't take to long.
Game 4 Modern Weird Deck 2-0
This was the game we decided to draw, but play it out to see who gets 3 packs instead of 2. This guy is notorious for making decks, that don't have a purpose. He doesn't play to necessarily win, but his decks tend to be annoying and they prolong the game. But he either got messed over with not enough mana the first game, or to much mana and no creatures the second game.
I think most of the reason for my wins was favorable matchups. I didn't have to face infect, and another new guy had a good modern deck, but I don't know what it was. Also my opponents had terrible draws for the most part. Typically I just cut the deck, but friday I decided i'd re shuffle them like they do at GP's and such. I don't know if it had anything to do with bad draws or not. But it seemed to work haha
1. Geist of St. Traft
2. Farseek
3. Sublime Archangel
4. Sphinx's Revelation
5. Thragtusk
4x Gore-House Chainwalker
4x Stromkirk Noble
3x Stonewright
4x Ash Zealot
3x Pyreheart Wolf
3x Hellrider
2x Hound of Griselbrand
1x Zealous Conscripts
4x Searing Spear
3x Brimstone Volley
2x Pillar of Flame
2x Hellion Crucible
21x Mountain
Sideboard
3x Mizzium Mortars
1x Zealous Conscripts
2x Hound of Griselbrand
2x Splatter Thug
2x Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
1x Brimstone Volley
1x Pillar of Flame
My sideboard is still a large work in progress. I typically only sideboard in the Traitorous bloods and mortars. I have to work on getting Thunderbolts and some other stuff.
Alright onto matches
Round 1 2-1 vs W/G Thrag life gain
Game 1 - I started off with a really great draw. He plays his land and casts his mana dork. Turn two I immediately burn his dork away, and he never draws anymore land.
Game 2 - He got his land this game, and was able to just out life gain me away.
Game 3 - Same problem for him as in game 1. No land and I burned away his only mana dork. I made very short work of him. Afterwards he looked to see when his next land was and it was about 10 cards down or so.
Round 2 2-0 vs R/B Guttersnipe/Electromancer
This is a deck one of my friends threw together, so I knew it's ins and outs
Game 1 - I get a great draw, I burn away his guttersnipes and electromancers, and I let Hellrider do work.
Game 2 - A lot of the same in this game. I got close to having 2 Hellriders out. He just happened to lose before I could cast it lol Pretty easy games really
Round 3 2-1 vs Exalted
Game 1 - I got a good draw. Since I knew he was playing with exalted already, I knew I atleast needed the 1 Noble from the start. Exalted has a very hard time keeping up with him. I keep burning his creatures and he trade blocks with them. Game 1 me!
Game 2 - I get a terrible draw and I mulligan down to 5 cards. I keep with 3 lands a zealot and a burn spell. Meanwhile he just keeps slamming down his exalted guys, one after another. He wins
Game 3 - I had a perfect draw vs Exalted with 2 Nobles in my hand. Turn 1 I lay 1 down, turn 2 I lay down a cackler and a noble instead of a 2 drop. He couldn't race the nobles and lost pretty quickly
Round 4 2-1 vs Omnidoor ThragFire
I played against this deck the week before and went 2-1. So I knew what he was playing.
Game 1 - I had an awesome draw, got out all of my drops as I curved. I kept a zealot in my hand in anticipation of a terminus or verdict. I also had a Crucible with 1 counter on it when he decided to cast terminus. So at end of his turn I put another counter on it, my turn I activated it, attacked and I won. Crucibles are invaluable against mass removal.
Game 2 - He sideboarded in his entire sideboard, like he did last week. Which just contains life giving creatures. 4x Thrags, 4x Centaur Healers, and 4x Rhox as far as I know. My draw was bad, I finally scooped when he had a Rhox out and cast a Sphinx's Revelation and gained 38 life lol
Game 3 - I had yet again another great draw. The card that won me the game this time was a turn 3 pyreheart wolf. He couldn't keep up on creatures as well, I kept burning atleast one of them. He casts a Thrag to go to 6 life. I Mortared his Centaur Healer so he couldn't block my wolf and other creatures and I swing in for lethal.
Round 5 - vs Geist of Saint Traft deck
We decided to draw so that we could lock up 1st and 2nd. I was perfectly fine with it. As honestly I have not a single clue how to beat these decks. I've gotten lucky and beat them before. Sometimes It comes down to be drawing 1 last burn spell, and I never do. We did play for fun and atleast with his deck he keeps geist on the ground. With my friends deck he likes to give geist flying and rancor and by turn 3 I am taking 10 damage. I just don't have an answer for the decks. I always play against it, and it's always what keeps me out of getting 1st or 2nd every week.
I'm open to suggestions on the deck. I was surprised I did so well. I was extremely tired all day. I also thought I was running 4x Hellrider. I'm thinking about running Archwing Dragon in the SB. I know I will never get a Thundermaw by the time it rotates out. I will probably run 2x Tormod's Crypt in the Sb as their is one nasty deck that relies on what is in the graveyard. My meta is a bit different than normal meta's lol
That is what I was thinking! Also I am not sure what your current meta looks like, but you'll be wanting to drop Chain Walker on turn 2 just about 100% of games. In my deck list I have dropped down to only 1 Conscript main deck. I would also say with your Sb since you do have 3 Thundermaws that I would get rid of the Archwing and the conscripts. I would run atleast 3 traitorous bloods if not 4. You could go with another Thunderbolt, and then whatever is good vs your current meta. I'm going to post my deck list in tournament reports before to long. I just won a 26 man FNM with it. But it's pretty close to Zemans deck list.
His card shop seems similiar to mine. At my card shop it's free to play. But only 1st and 2nd get packs. 1st gets 3 and 2nd gets 2. There is another card shop around where you have to pay to play, but they give out a lot more packs for positions. At our card shop we are thinking of doing something similar. Where if you want to buy in, ie pay $5 it will go to a prize pool. The prize pool would be more cards. Those would get distributed only between the top 8 of whoever pitched in. While say if someone won and didn't pitch in, they would only get the 3 packs still. Does that make anymore sense?