my worry about cutting m/d pierce for essence capture is vs. any sort of midrange control deck or even monored I can't protect my obsessive one-drop with only 4 dive down. Retorting a shock feela pretty meh. Without getting extra cards every turn the deck is a bit underpowered (but can still just Djinn them out)
definitely seems like you want warkite somewhere in the 75 if you have pteramander > herald. I also hate 4x essence capture in the main. You only have 4 protection spells plus stormtamer. In my experience that's not enough against any deck running >8 removal spells.
Wow do we really need 3 Totems? Just for ol' crackles? Or is there some other greveyard deck that matters.
Oh I just realized that going to 21 Islands with Sphinx actually works really well, because you can scry away 5th island.
The main deck surge mares / exclusion mages are a little odd but maybe good in an R or G meta. I probably want 4 spell pierce though.
Running 4 searing blaze with 6 fetches seems terrible (Oh I see the other list has 12) I run 9 (instead of the usual 10 because I am too cheap to buy another arid mesa or scalding tarn) and I get blaze stuck in hand.
Once you run fetches you are priced into splashing - even if just for s/b. If you insist on mono-R you could run 2 risk factor 2 shard volley. Or Fiery Temper/Faithless Looting. I think you would want another discard outlet though.
I think it's much closer to rift bolt than you think. Also, it forces you to play at sorcery speed more. Maybe that doesn't matter much but I suspect it does a bit.
Rain of Gore just seems terrible unless you are literally playing soul sisters or thopter sword. Which if you are I would suggest you reconsider your life choices. Assassin's Trophy seems hard to cast, if you don't draw 2 fetches early.
Skewer does seem to make Rakdos "better" in that you can cut 8 white cards for it and Bump in the Night. But then you are still maining skullcrack.
It probably comes down to Rest in Peace vs. Rakdos Charm, assuming we don't care about enchantments. I don't seem myself getting Blackcleave Cliffs anytime soon though.
Wait. Isn't RW heavily favored vs. BR burn (pseudo-mirror).
I will probably just test Skewer > Skullcrack and Cinder Vines > Drev in RWg. I will miss deflecting palm though (have to put skullcracks somewhere).
skewer seems like a rift bolt you can't cast on T1 that doesn't usually pump Swiftspear. I *guess* it's better in the main than skullcrack (most often cut card).
Light the stage seems no better than Faithless Looting. If you top deck it's divination (which I guess isn't *dead* especially if you flood a little). If you can activate it... our average card deals 2 damage (including lands) and costs 1.5 mana. So R draw 2 is something like 4 mana deal 4 that you can split over 2 turns if you like (I forgot that it "chandraws" so only till EOT). I mean, yeah sometimes they are at 12 and you have 3 mountains and you go bolt->stage->bolt->bolt but eh, sometimes you hit a dude and they have have a blocker. So I have to be convinced on it.
Cinder Vine - that might just straight swap in for DRev. I mean, you can use it instead of Eidolon on the draw - even with no disenchant targets if you aren't playing a creature deck. It *does* cost 3 to disenchant but split over 2 turns. Also resilient to Field of Ruin on your Stomping Grounds!
That what I was running, but I am not sold on RIP. Also not sure how good searing blaze is (feels kinda bad on a TitI), might be worse than charm or even skullcrack.
Like, what are you cutting for Light Up the Stage? I guess.... Grim Lavamancer? or in Mono-red you need something to replace Charm and Helix. But seems worse than faithless looting.
2) What do you take out for Treasure Map?
Wow do we really need 3 Totems? Just for ol' crackles? Or is there some other greveyard deck that matters.
The main deck surge mares / exclusion mages are a little odd but maybe good in an R or G meta. I probably want 4 spell pierce though.
Once you run fetches you are priced into splashing - even if just for s/b. If you insist on mono-R you could run 2 risk factor 2 shard volley. Or Fiery Temper/Faithless Looting. I think you would want another discard outlet though.
Rain of Gore just seems terrible unless you are literally playing soul sisters or thopter sword. Which if you are I would suggest you reconsider your life choices. Assassin's Trophy seems hard to cast, if you don't draw 2 fetches early.
Skewer does seem to make Rakdos "better" in that you can cut 8 white cards for it and Bump in the Night. But then you are still maining skullcrack.
It probably comes down to Rest in Peace vs. Rakdos Charm, assuming we don't care about enchantments. I don't seem myself getting Blackcleave Cliffs anytime soon though.
Wait. Isn't RW heavily favored vs. BR burn (pseudo-mirror).
I will probably just test Skewer > Skullcrack and Cinder Vines > Drev in RWg. I will miss deflecting palm though (have to put skullcracks somewhere).
Light the stage seems no better than Faithless Looting. If you top deck it's divination (which I guess isn't *dead* especially if you flood a little). If you can activate it... our average card deals 2 damage (including lands) and costs 1.5 mana. So R draw 2 is something like 4 mana deal 4
that you can split over 2 turns if you like(I forgot that it "chandraws" so only till EOT). I mean, yeah sometimes they are at 12 and you have 3 mountains and you go bolt->stage->bolt->bolt but eh, sometimes you hit a dude and they have have a blocker. So I have to be convinced on it.Cinder Vine - that might just straight swap in for DRev. I mean, you can use it instead of Eidolon on the draw - even with no disenchant targets if you aren't playing a creature deck. It *does* cost 3 to disenchant but split over 2 turns. Also resilient to Field of Ruin on your Stomping Grounds!