Against an unknown opponent it's always Stromkirk Noble. Against control / midrange? Still Stromkirk Noble...
Against other aggro decks on the draw, Nobles and Waifs should be coming out, so Cackler by default. The exception is humans, where you take out Cackler and leave in Stromkirk.
The real question is why am I playing maindeck Reckless Waif?
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I'm not very experienced, but I would prioritize the waif, then the cackler then the noble.
This is all based on your turn 2. If your opp plays a land and passes on his turn 1, then you get to swing for 3 with the waif, or 2 with the cackler vs. only one with the noble.
granted, you want noble to get bigger, and he does that best by striking early.
but if you flip the waif and swing for 3 on turn 2, opp will likely focus his removal on the waif, perhaps giving your noble a chance to get bigger anyway.
I'm not very experienced, but I would prioritize the waif, then the cackler then the noble.
This is all based on your turn 2. If your opp plays a land and passes on his turn 1, then you get to swing for 3 with the waif, or 2 with the cackler vs. only one with the noble.
granted, you want noble to get bigger, and he does that best by striking early.
but if you flip the waif and swing for 3 on turn 2, opp will likely focus his removal on the waif, perhaps giving your noble a chance to get bigger anyway.
I disagree and play the noble first since it getting bigger is the key for me atleast.
It depends on what you expect to face, so it's meta decision.
If you're on the play and you expect to face control/midranges, play Waif.
If you're on the play and expect to face any aggro deck variant, play Stromkirk's.
If you're on the draw play Stromkirk since your opponent will keep Waif on check by using removal on your other drops or justplaying cantrips.
In one way or another you shouldn't be using Waif. The card floops like hell... Cackler, Stromkirk's and Stonewright are the Red Deck main options; Vexing Devil is a secondary option.
Vexing Devil is the best 1 drop. Cackler is second best. Stromkirk works in certain metas, but in the current meta I'm in, he dies immediately or gets blocked and dies.
Vexing Devil is the best 1 drop. Cackler is second best. Stromkirk works in certain metas, but in the current meta I'm in, he dies immediately or gets blocked and dies.
Vexing devil is a great 1 drop, but not on turn 1. you have the whole game to do 4 to the face so you should be dropping an offensive creature that does damage over time instead.
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Vexing Devil is the best 1 drop. Cackler is second best. Stromkirk works in certain metas, but in the current meta I'm in, he dies immediately or gets blocked and dies.
Wow...you couldnt be more wrong sir.
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for me, stromkirk first, unless your opponent has already a dude that trades with noble but not with cackler, and you have no burn. in this situation, i'd go cackler. waif i would not play because it is only good if you start and opp. has nothing t1 or, if you are second, if he has nothing turn 2, which is even harder. i know that this is oversimplifying the situation, but time has proved that waif is not that great, i think.
also, @Quacker: the best card is not necessarely the one you should play first.
Waif is only good for control, and even against control id still run stromkirk. Not getting to play burn or more than 1 threat a turn slows you down. You dropped your waif, and your stromkirk noble and cackler become less attractive, especially if you keep drawing land.
The biggest problem I have with RDW isn't what card I should play first, it's what cards I should play at all. The deck really doesn't have the same kind of good stuff that it had previously. Losing Chandra's Phoenix and Shrine of Burning Rage made the deck really mediocre at best. I really can't figure out why I play it at all. I really don't think Thundermaw Hellkite is good enough to make up for losing Shrine. :\
Stromkirk Noble nearly every time, depending what you're facing. VS. control generally Waif and you will want to sideboard out Stromkirk Noble vs control after 1st game.
Stromkirk Noble is basically useless to play any turn after 1-3, and even turns 2-3 are iffy.
Also list some match ups that you would play these cards differently etc.
It's game 1 and you're against a blind deck, you open with Noble in the hopes that they are unable to answer you that early or that their T1 drop is unable to block him.
However if you were holding a relevant instant for T2 I might consider playing Waif on T1 because you have something to do if you need to let her flip on your T2.
Playing Cackler and Waif on the same turn doesn't hurt Waif and puts a critical mass on the board. Alternative lines of play either leave you with a weaker Noble and slightly more damage on your opponent or cause you to delay your spells in order to keep Waif flipped.
This choice is always going to be stromkirk. He is the one that has increasing returns over time, so having him out asap increases potential returns the most
How about "You may discard your hand, pay 5 life, rip this card, remove 3 digits from any number of target fingers you control, and concede at the end of the next end step rather than pay It Will Go Through!!'s mana cost.
anybody else considering main decking Fling for cards like Waif and unleashed Rakdos creatures? when the board stalls out its a great way to punch thru damage, and with the 1 drop you can pump it can become a lethal threat..
How about "You may discard your hand, pay 5 life, rip this card, remove 3 digits from any number of target fingers you control, and concede at the end of the next end step rather than pay It Will Go Through!!'s mana cost.
anybody else considering main decking Fling for cards like Waif and unleashed Rakdos creatures? when the board stalls out its a great way to punch thru damage, and with the 1 drop you can pump it can become a lethal threat..
as SPTF already said, it can lead to some nasty card disadvantage. That and you're playing a card and saccing a creature to do a max of like 3 damage. Maybe more if you've got a big noble. Why not just play a burn spell?
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Noble turn 1, turn 2 cackler+waif or removal+cakcler or removal.
Waif is the next turn 1 play after noble. but noble growing out of pillar/spear range is usually the main priority since waif will be able to flip back and forth a lot more then one would expect(and a lot of the times it flips will be because of yourself)
This choice is always going to be stromkirk. He is the one that has increasing returns over time, so having him out asap increases potential returns the most
Let's say you're vs a control deck, you can assume your Noble will be removed your opponent's next turn after its first attack if it is played turn 1, so you can expect a Noble to get 1 total damage in, whereas you can expect a Waif to do 1 or 3 damage depending whether he gets transformed, which is likely, so I'd put his expected total damage at ~2-2.5 vs 1 for Noble.
Of course there are exceptions and there are times it won't be removed right away, but even if it gets two attacks in it's Noble's 3 damage vs. Waif's 2-6 (4-6 if it transforms).
You have a opening ofReckless Waif , Stromkirk Noble , Rakdos Cackler and assume the other cards are mountains.
Which drop would you play first?
Also list some match ups that you would play these cards differently etc.
Against an unknown opponent it's always Stromkirk Noble. Against control / midrange? Still Stromkirk Noble...
Against other aggro decks on the draw, Nobles and Waifs should be coming out, so Cackler by default. The exception is humans, where you take out Cackler and leave in Stromkirk.
The real question is why am I playing maindeck Reckless Waif?
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This is all based on your turn 2. If your opp plays a land and passes on his turn 1, then you get to swing for 3 with the waif, or 2 with the cackler vs. only one with the noble.
granted, you want noble to get bigger, and he does that best by striking early.
but if you flip the waif and swing for 3 on turn 2, opp will likely focus his removal on the waif, perhaps giving your noble a chance to get bigger anyway.
I disagree and play the noble first since it getting bigger is the key for me atleast.
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If you're on the play and you expect to face control/midranges, play Waif.
If you're on the play and expect to face any aggro deck variant, play Stromkirk's.
If you're on the draw play Stromkirk since your opponent will keep Waif on check by using removal on your other drops or justplaying cantrips.
In one way or another you shouldn't be using Waif. The card floops like hell... Cackler, Stromkirk's and Stonewright are the Red Deck main options; Vexing Devil is a secondary option.
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Vexing devil is a great 1 drop, but not on turn 1. you have the whole game to do 4 to the face so you should be dropping an offensive creature that does damage over time instead.
Wow...you couldnt be more wrong sir.
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also, @Quacker: the best card is not necessarely the one you should play first.
I've been underwhelmed with Stromkirk Noble, but I still mainboard it over Reckless Waif. Vexing Devil hasn't been good at all, I replaced them with Searing Spears and haven't looked back.
The biggest problem I have with RDW isn't what card I should play first, it's what cards I should play at all. The deck really doesn't have the same kind of good stuff that it had previously. Losing Chandra's Phoenix and Shrine of Burning Rage made the deck really mediocre at best. I really can't figure out why I play it at all. I really don't think Thundermaw Hellkite is good enough to make up for losing Shrine. :\
Because we care about facts.
Stromkirk Noble is basically useless to play any turn after 1-3, and even turns 2-3 are iffy.
Fires Rf Salvation
It's game 1 and you're against a blind deck, you open with Noble in the hopes that they are unable to answer you that early or that their T1 drop is unable to block him.
However if you were holding a relevant instant for T2 I might consider playing Waif on T1 because you have something to do if you need to let her flip on your T2.
Playing Cackler and Waif on the same turn doesn't hurt Waif and puts a critical mass on the board. Alternative lines of play either leave you with a weaker Noble and slightly more damage on your opponent or cause you to delay your spells in order to keep Waif flipped.
as SPTF already said, it can lead to some nasty card disadvantage. That and you're playing a card and saccing a creature to do a max of like 3 damage. Maybe more if you've got a big noble. Why not just play a burn spell?
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Waif is the next turn 1 play after noble. but noble growing out of pillar/spear range is usually the main priority since waif will be able to flip back and forth a lot more then one would expect(and a lot of the times it flips will be because of yourself)
Let's say you're vs a control deck, you can assume your Noble will be removed your opponent's next turn after its first attack if it is played turn 1, so you can expect a Noble to get 1 total damage in, whereas you can expect a Waif to do 1 or 3 damage depending whether he gets transformed, which is likely, so I'd put his expected total damage at ~2-2.5 vs 1 for Noble.
Of course there are exceptions and there are times it won't be removed right away, but even if it gets two attacks in it's Noble's 3 damage vs. Waif's 2-6 (4-6 if it transforms).
Fires Rf Salvation
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
Anyways, for personal choice, I would play Stromkirk first, mostly because I don't run Cackler and Waif isn't in my mainboard.
Reckless Waif; It's the red Delver of Secrets.