Ah Red, there’s nothing like punishing your opponent for casting cards, putting creatures on the field and trying to set up a game plan. It’s even better because in most cases, Red loves to do this all on a mana budget too. When the discussion of the standard competitive format comes into play, what cards should you be including in your deck? We got you covered, whether you are looking at a Prowess, Aggro or Burn deck, here’s the top 10 Red cards in Standard.
I’ve gone through the top decks that use Red and these are the 10 cards that were seeing the most play.
Urabrask's Forge
For
you can create all sorts of combat-based chaos.
Urabrask's Forge reads:
“At the beginning of combat on your turn, put an oil counter on Urabrask’s Forge, then create an X/1 red Phyrexian Horror creature token with trample and haste, where X is the number of oil counters on Urabrask’s Forge. Sacrifice that token at the beginning of the next end step.”
This means that each subsequent combat phase is going to give you a completely disposable attacker and ETB trigger (Enter the Battlefield). Get a few of these on the board, and you will force your opponent to start putting bodies in front of those attackers. While the card is beginning to trend out in popularity, keeping a constant board presence is an excellent way to keep your opponent on the defensive. Great cards offer utility, and Urabrask's Forge offers that in plentiful amounts. This means that it might not find a home in many Red Mage's mainboards, but it's a great card to sideboard in game 2 to react to what your opponent has up their sleeve, such as we see in Delmo's MTG Arena Rosso Turbo decklist.
Scorching Shot
Witchstalker Frenzy in my prowess deck, and Scorching Shot is more or less a better version. Scorching Shot reads:
is all it takes to deal 5 damage to a target creature. I used to love using“Scorching Shot deals 5 damage to target creature.”
In Standard, it’s fairly rare to see a creature with 5 toughness or higher, so Scorching Shot is effectively a 2-drop removal spell. It’s not an instant, so it does have drawbacks, but is still a fantastic utility. It works awesome when you are removing blockers from an attacker while triggering Prowess as well, which is why we tend to see it as a good sideboard option in many Gruul Aggro decks in Standard right now.
Sunspine Lynx
Bloomburrow has been an absolute gift for standard and Sunspire Lynx is a fantastic way to shut a few deck archetypes down. For , you get a beefy creature that isn’t legendary and has an entire slew of tricks up its sleeve. Sunspine Lynx reads:
“Players can’t gain life.
Damage can’t be prevented.
When Sunspine Lynx enters, it deals damage to each player equal to the number of nonbasic lands that player controls.”
When Sunspine Lynx is on the battlefield, it shuts down lifegain decks, damage prevention (which isn’t so much of an issue in Standard) and punishes ramp. It’s still subject to removal, but having one of these on your sideboard is a perfect nuke or situational piece to combat lifegain decks or ones with plenty of nonbasic lands.
Monstrous Rage
My first standard deck was a red prowess, I’ll always be a fan of Monstrous Rage. For you can pump up an attacker for +3/+1 with a permanent +1/+1 effect after.
Monstrous Rage reads:
“Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Create a Monster Role token attached to it. (If you control another Role on it, put that one into the graveyard. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.)”
It’s a massive boost in combat and even more devastating if you are adding Prowess bonuses as well. This is easily one of the best 1 Red mana spells in the game, and it offers a quick way to get out early or get through blockers.
Monstrous Rage is a core piece of Nicholas Odenheimer’s Gruul Aggro deck.
Gruul Aggro by Nicholas OdenheimerMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |||
---|---|---|---|
Creatures (22) 4 Cacophony Scamp 4 Heartfire Hero 4 Emberheart Challenger 4 Questing Druid 4 Slickshot Show-off 2 Callous Sell-Sword Enchantment 4 Leyline of Resonance Instants (14) 4 Monstrous Rage 4 Snakeskin Veil 4 Turn Inside Out 2 Overprotect | Lands (20) 6 Mountain 4 Copperline Gorge 4 Karplusan Forest 4 Thornspire Verge 2 Restless Ridgeline | Sideboard (15) 4 Pawpatch Recruit 3 Burst Lightning 2 Inkeeper's Talent 2 Lithomantic Barrage 2 Screaming Nemesis 2 Twisted Fealty |
Torch the Tower
I love cards with utility and Torch the Tower is the poster child for that currently. It’s a fantastic one cost piece to trigger combos, works well to punish removal in the right situations, with the added benefit of allowing you to scry.
Torch the Tower reads:
“Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.)
Torch the Tower deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker. If this spell was bargained, instead it deals 3 damage to that permanent and you scry 1.
If a permanent dealt damage by Torch the Tower would die this turn, exile it instead.”
Thanks to its utility, combining this Urabrask's Forge and its Offspring effect gives you plenty of fodder to bargain with, and combined with another card later on this list, things can get really nasty. The added benefit of scrying helps to move through your deck, ensuring that you're always closer to that finisher card the next time you draw.
Hired Claw
The nature of burn is to continually chip at your opponent. With four Hired Claws, you deal an easy 4 damage without even having to cast a spell. This creature is just a single mana as well, making it incredibly cheap to play. Hired Claw reads:
“Whenever you attack with one or more Lizards, Hired Claw deals 1 damage to target opponent.
{1}{R}: Put a +1/+1 counter on Hired Claw. Activate only if an opponent lost life this turn and only once each turn.”
Easy to summon, easy to abuse and easy to pump up, [card]Hired Claw[/claw] brings a ton to the table and can be an instant nuisance for your opponent. By the time you have 4 of these on the field, you could already have halved your opponent’s health.
MJ_23 showcases Hired Claw in their Gruul Aggro deck, which went 12-3-1 at the recent SCG Con Atlanta.
Manifold Mouse
My prerelease Bloomburrow card was Manifold Mouse, and I’ve been a fan of it since. With Offspring {2} and the ability to juice up other very effective creatures, Manifold Mouse is a fantastic 2-drop ( ) card to gain control of the game. It reads:
“Offspring {2} (You may pay an additional {2} as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it.)
At the beginning of combat on your turn, target Mouse you control gains your choice of double strike or trample until end of turn.”
Double strike is a brutal ability in standard and trample can easily run over one or more small bodies when played right. Offspring could allow you to put both on one creature if it is a mouse.
Manifold Mouse has a home in almost every top deck using Red, but Havocovah showcases it wonderfully in their Boros Mice deck.
Boros Mice by HavocovaHMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |||
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Creatures (22) 2 Flowerfoot Swordmaster 4 Heartfire Hero 4 Hired Claw 4 Emberheart Challenger 4 Manifold Mouse 2 Mabel, Heir to Cragflame 2 Screaming Nemesis Spells (10) 3 Burst Lightning 4 Monstrous Rage 3 Get Lost | Enchantments (6) 3 Shardmage's Rescue 3 Sheltered by Ghosts Lands (22) 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Inspiring Village 6 Mountain 2 Plains 1 Raucous Carnival 2 Restless Bivouac 2 Rockface Village 1 Soulstone Sanctuary | Sideboard (15) 3 Knight of Grace 3 Lightning Helix 2 Pyroclasm 2 Rest In Peace 1 Sheltered by Ghosts 1 Screaming Nemesis 3 Sunspine Lynx |
Heartfire Hero
There are two cards that Manifold Mouse can absolutely abuse, and this is its favorite target. Heartfire Hero is a 1/1 creature with a super low casting cost that can get beefy quickly. By targeting Heartfire Hero with Manifold Mouse’s ability, it gets a +1/+1 counter each turn. It reads:
“Valiant — Whenever Heartfire Hero becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
When Heartfire Hero dies, it deals damage equal to its power to each opponent.”
See that last bit? Not only does Heatfire Hero get bigger whenever you use spells or abilities on it, but it also gives a burst of damage off as a coup de grace. I’ve won games using this ability, sometimes by blowing up Heartfire Hero myself. Easy to pump up and an overall threat if removed, it’s a rad little mouse.
Heartfire Hero fits in well in every single Standard deck that uses Red and is featured in almost every deck I’ve shared.
Emberheart Challenger
This little mouse is a deadly piece of any prowess deck. A fantastic two-drop (Emberheart Challenger gives you prowess and extra card access. Emberheart Challenger reads:
) creature,“Haste
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Valiant — Whenever Emberheart Challenger becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.”
I’ve pumped up Emberheart Challenger to an easy 20 total damage with some handy spells and Manifold Mouse’s ability. It can be a win condition or a force to be reckoned with. Its Valiant ability allows some extra card access for land or that quick cantrip.
Emberheart Challenger is a current meta must-include and synergizes well with almost every other card on this list.
Screaming Nemesis
Saving the best for last is Duskmourn’s own Screaming Nemesis. There is a lot this card, which costs a cool creature can do, even if it doesn’t look like a ton on paper.
It reads:
“Haste
Whenever Screaming Nemesis is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to any other target. If a player is dealt damage this way, they can’t gain life for the rest of the game.”
You can turn off life gain by simply being blocked. This eliminates a few white and Orzhov decks. You can use it as a defensive piece or even hit it with your own Torch the Tower to make your opponent unable to gain life for the rest of the game. Plus, Screaming Nemesis hits the ground ready to fight. As of right now, it doesn’t get much better than this one.
There isn’t a top deck in the current standings that doesn’t have Screaming Nemesis in it.
It’s important to note that legality changes annually, and new sets drop every few months. This means that this list will change over time and have a major overhaul in Q4 when the next standard cycle takes effect.
Do you use any of these cards? Are we missing a card that should be on here? Let us know which red cards you think are auto-includes in your Red Standard decks.
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