All-In Red is a deck that tries to use "rituals" to get out a Deus of Calamity, Blood Moon, or similar card on the first turn to completely lock the opponent out of the game. The deck is known as "All-In" because it depends on a high-risk, high-reward strategy (that is somewhat reminiscent of going "all-in" in poker): if the opponent has an answer for the locking card, then the deck will be left with significant card disadvantage; making up for that, though, is that this deck can often get a concession from an opponent in just one or two turns, if they have no answers.
It is the only deck archetype placing in the Top 32 at Pro Tour Berlin 2008 still missing a thread in this Extended Competitive forum, so I created this one.
Some statistics about how it performed:
* it placed 14th at the PT (one win away from Top 8)
* Day 1: 17 players (9th most represented archetype) (source)
* Day 2: 6 players (6th most represented archetype, meaning it outperformed the average Day 1 deck) (source)
Below is the highest-placing (14th, by Rashad Miller) All-In Red deck at Pro Tour Berlin 2008:
- Jon Finkel Facts: (follow the link at left to see more Facts, or add more Facts!)
- Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice—because he was trying to count how much damage Jon Finkel deals in an average game.
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.
How come no all-in red decks run arcslogger? It would seem really god around now with all the elf decks, too.
When it was a fringe deck in Invasion thru Morningtide Extended, it did. They ran playsets of Sloggers, Rakdos Pit Dragons, and maybe even Rorix.
Now, Demigod of Revenge/Deus of Calamity on turn one are better than Slogger. ElfBomb has trouble dealing with the Deus. Against Demigod, they can still just go off, but its better against most of the field.
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Don't read anything LaPille. Your brain will thank you later. ----> VICTORY!
I agree that the Genju of the Spires seems rather random and not to fit the theme of the rest of the deck. I'm not convinced by the argument that it gives the deck some lategame, since with this deck, you're pretty much conceding the lategame anyway, and Genju of the Spires alone is rarely going to be able to do the job.
One nice thing about this deck in the current Elfball-dominated is not only the plethora of Chalices and Trinispheres in the side, but also the fact that with all the rituals, it's fairly easy to get out a Chalice set to 1 or a Trinisphere on 1st turn---though on the other hand, you might want to wait until 2nd turn, after you've already gotten a threat out first, because otherwise, you're going to have a hard time casting your threat. I'd consider replacing the Genju of the Spires with maindeck Chalice or Trinisphere if Elfball does turn out to be very widespread in the meta.
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- Jon Finkel Facts: (follow the link at left to see more Facts, or add more Facts!)
- Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice—because he was trying to count how much damage Jon Finkel deals in an average game.
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.
I played a version of this deck at PT Berlin. I went 4-4 losing in rounds 7 and 8 to Goblins (10th) and Tezzeret. Bad Beats.
The deck is very good, but it needs some changes it elves happens to be extremely strong. I for one will keep my testing light until after worlds to see what happens.
Personally, if I had to play this deck before worlds, I would play 4 trinisphere md, 4 chalice sb, along with 2 martyr of ashes.
[quote=The American Nightmare;/comments/3954087]When it was a fringe deck in Invasion thru Morningtide Extended, it did. They ran playsets of Sloggers, Rakdos Pit Dragons, and maybe even Rorix.
? i dont get that. slogger kill just as fast as deus and demigod if it isn't blocked (v combo, maybe control), just shoot them. It doesn't get chumped all day long by BB, and it is better than demigod v aggro because of the extra toughness.
? i dont get that. slogger kill just as fast as deus and demigod if it isn't blocked (v combo, maybe control), just shoot them. It doesn't get chumped all day long by BB, and it is better than demigod v aggro because of the extra toughness.
It's worthy to note that a 6/6 Trample on the first turn doesn't get chumped. Neither does a 5/4 Flier....
? i dont get that. slogger kill just as fast as deus and demigod if it isn't blocked (v combo, maybe control), just shoot them. It doesn't get chumped all day long by BB, and it is better than demigod v aggro because of the extra toughness.
It's worthy to note that a 6/6 Trample on the first turn doesn't get chumped. Neither does a 5/4 Flier....
Read 763673's post more carefully. He was saying that Demigod of Revenge gets chumped by Bitterblossom tokens, which is true.
That said, I don't agree that Arc-Slogger is necessarily better, though it does have some advantages. It has the disadvantage of lacking haste, though it does have the advantages of making up for that by being able to clear small blockers, or to "fling" the cards from you library directly at your opponent's head to make up for damage lost from not having haste. Sometimes All-In Red sits around with nothing to do with the Mountains in play after the initial burst of ritualing, but if you have an Arc-Slogger out, you can spend it on the ability; you'll be able to get 4-5 activations, which is 8-10 damage, before you run out of cards in your library, and Arc-Slogger fits with the overall strategy of not caring about the lategame and trying to end the game as soon as possible. On the other hand, there are times when you are going to be needing that mana and don't want to be spending it on activations, in which case Arc-Slogger gets worse. Also, drawing a second copy of Demigod of Revenge is better than drawing a second copy of Arc-Slogger.
Clearly, Deus of Calamity is perfect for this deck. Demigod of Revenge, on the other hand, is not so perfect, as it's not particularly good against either Elfball or Faeries, which were the two most popular decks at the top tables of the PT.
I'd say the top fatty choices, in alphabetical order, are:
- Jon Finkel Facts: (follow the link at left to see more Facts, or add more Facts!)
- Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice—because he was trying to count how much damage Jon Finkel deals in an average game.
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.
I like the idea of using Dominus of Fealty. I may end up testing it because on paper it can steal land for a turn or get a nasty creature out of the way to attack and obviously attack with. I just don't know how it would stack up to Elfball obviously not doing much against that one archtype.
the main problem i have with this deck is your starting hand is either boom or bust. so i was thinking about serum powder maindeck to help you get the explosive hand you want. i havent tested this yet but what do you guys think?
the main problem i have with this deck is your starting hand is either boom or bust. so i was thinking about serum powder maindeck to help you get the explosive hand you want. i havent tested this yet but what do you guys think?
Hmmmmmmmmm I actually like that idea a lot. It's like how Vintage Dredge makes sure they get a hand with Bazaar of Baghdad.
the main difference between dredge and this deck is that dredge doesn't really mind dredging a serum powder while this deck does mind drawing a serum powder.
the main difference between dredge and this deck is that dredge doesn't really mind dredging a serum powder while this deck does mind drawing a serum powder.
I'm not really sure this deck does mind drawing Serum Powder. I mean, you are pretty much playing all your stuff on a single turn, then hope that play wins you the game. You don't rely on mid or late game so the cards you draw after that are pretty much irrelevant...
I'm trying this version out to see how the splash for Trinket Mage helps... I'm not sure if it's good enough at the right time to help against elves, but testing has shown that the pain from fetches doesn't really hurt that much. It thins the deck out a little bit, give more versatility with Explosives, and allows for maindeck answers for things like Tezzeret/Shackles/Plating/O-Ring/Garruk/Jitte/etc.
The fact that we run Magus has no effect on this at all, as we can just use him as Mox fodder or just not play him out if we forsee that Trinket Mage will make a difference...
the main difference between dredge and this deck is that dredge doesn't really mind dredging a serum powder while this deck does mind drawing a serum powder.
This is a good point, but I'm willing to sacrifice mid-game power for 1st-turn consistency.
It's a good idea (powder), might test it soon.... Psychotic fury (EDIT: No, not Psychotic fry ;)) could be insane here, your fatties are multi and it cantrips, taking an extra turn off the game (and with deus it's just funny) but only if the rest of your base is consistent.
EDIT: This deck doesn't mind drawing powder after it goes off, it should win when it does.)
This is the build I've testing like 40 games and is pretty constant on pulling an early threat (like 80% first turn, 15% turn 2 and 5% later). Of course, sometimes you get pretty bad luck or got disrupted.
Elfball and other combo decks are a major problem if you don't get a first turn Deus. If Tezzerator gets an Aether Spellbomb just will own this deck, but normally control isn't that much of a problem. Aggro just dies easily.
Ew, i don't like not running any disruptive cards main. I would run at least 4 magi and some amount of blood moons/trinnis. Although i have uery little experience with this deck it seems to be a semi port of the legacey deck dragon stompy. A few questions. How good is ETW? It seems like pit dragon would kill jurt as quickly and not be a dead late game top deck, but warrens is better vs counter magic. Also how effective is chalice at 1 in this format? Good enough to main? I guess i'll just test and see. Oh and serum powder seems really bad.
Ew, i don't like not running any disruptive cards main. I would run at least 4 magi and some amount of blood moons/trinnis. Although i have uery little experience with this deck it seems to be a semi port of the legacey deck dragon stompy. A few questions. How good is ETW? It seems like pit dragon would kill jurt as quickly and not be a dead late game top deck, but warrens is better vs counter magic. Also how effective is chalice at 1 in this format? Good enough to main? I guess i'll just test and see. Oh and serum powder seems really bad.
Running no disruption allows this deck to go for the maximum consistency. You also have Powder for that: I've found it to be in this deck amazing. Really, this deck should bet all to get a first turn threat at any cost. But I think you could try a -4 Powder +4 Magus version. But for me, I would cut Street Wraith.
ETW is not a dead late game top deck. Normally if you draw it late game, you will have plenty of mana ramp to get 8+ tokens.
Edit: Powder also makes easy to get that sideboard cards on second and third games.
This is the build I've testing like 40 games and is pretty constant on pulling an early threat (like 80% first turn, 15% turn 2 and 5% later). Of course, sometimes you get pretty bad luck or got disrupted.
Elfball and other combo decks are a major problem if you don't get a first turn Deus. If Tezzerator gets an Aether Spellbomb just will own this deck, but normally control isn't that much of a problem. Aggro just dies easily.
Just to note that with practice and understanding its mulligans I can now pull off a first turn threat like 90-95%. It's sad that many single disruption can destroy the deck: Thoughtseize, Condemn, Chain of Vapor, Enginered Explosives...
It is the only deck archetype placing in the Top 32 at Pro Tour Berlin 2008 still missing a thread in this Extended Competitive forum, so I created this one.
Some statistics about how it performed:
* it placed 14th at the PT (one win away from Top 8)
* Day 1: 17 players (9th most represented archetype) (source)
* Day 2: 6 players (6th most represented archetype, meaning it outperformed the average Day 1 deck) (source)
Below is the highest-placing (14th, by Rashad Miller) All-In Red deck at Pro Tour Berlin 2008:
//Pro Tour-Berlin, 14th Place
//Main deck: 60 cards
18 Mountain
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Deus of Calamity
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Blood Moon
4 Chrome Mox
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Empty the Warrens
2 Genju of the Spires
4 Rite of Flame
4 Seething Song
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Dead // Gone
4 Shattering Spree
2 Shatterstorm
2 Trinisphere
Update (2008-12-19): Below is Petras Ratkevicius's All-In Red deck from World Championships Memphis 2008, one of only four decks to finish the Extended portion of Worlds undefeated:
//World Championships Memphis 2008, 6-0 Extended
//Main deck: 60 cards
19 Mountain
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Deus of Calamity
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Blood Moon
4 Chrome Mox
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Empty the Warrens
4 Rite of Flame
4 Seething Song
1 Shattering Spree
2 Trinisphere
1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Dead // Gone
1 Magus of the Moon
4 Martyr of Ashes
2 Shattering Spree
2 Smash to Smithereens
1 Umezawa's Jitte
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.
Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc
Or something nasty like Double Cleave.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=5401186#post5401186
When it was a fringe deck in Invasion thru Morningtide Extended, it did. They ran playsets of Sloggers, Rakdos Pit Dragons, and maybe even Rorix.
Now, Demigod of Revenge/Deus of Calamity on turn one are better than Slogger. ElfBomb has trouble dealing with the Deus. Against Demigod, they can still just go off, but its better against most of the field.
Some people just love Jace a little too much
Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc
To the top list, what's up with Dead//Gone? Am I missing something?
Sig thanks to Spiderboy4 at High-Light Studios.
mtgovideos.com: MTGO community, draft/ constructed walkthroughs.
One nice thing about this deck in the current Elfball-dominated is not only the plethora of Chalices and Trinispheres in the side, but also the fact that with all the rituals, it's fairly easy to get out a Chalice set to 1 or a Trinisphere on 1st turn---though on the other hand, you might want to wait until 2nd turn, after you've already gotten a threat out first, because otherwise, you're going to have a hard time casting your threat. I'd consider replacing the Genju of the Spires with maindeck Chalice or Trinisphere if Elfball does turn out to be very widespread in the meta.
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.
The deck is very good, but it needs some changes it elves happens to be extremely strong. I for one will keep my testing light until after worlds to see what happens.
Personally, if I had to play this deck before worlds, I would play 4 trinisphere md, 4 chalice sb, along with 2 martyr of ashes.
GL
Now, Demigod of Revenge/Deus of Calamity on turn one are better than Slogger. /quote]
? i dont get that. slogger kill just as fast as deus and demigod if it isn't blocked (v combo, maybe control), just shoot them. It doesn't get chumped all day long by BB, and it is better than demigod v aggro because of the extra toughness.
It's worthy to note that a 6/6 Trample on the first turn doesn't get chumped. Neither does a 5/4 Flier....
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=5401186#post5401186
Read 763673's post more carefully. He was saying that Demigod of Revenge gets chumped by Bitterblossom tokens, which is true.
That said, I don't agree that Arc-Slogger is necessarily better, though it does have some advantages. It has the disadvantage of lacking haste, though it does have the advantages of making up for that by being able to clear small blockers, or to "fling" the cards from you library directly at your opponent's head to make up for damage lost from not having haste. Sometimes All-In Red sits around with nothing to do with the Mountains in play after the initial burst of ritualing, but if you have an Arc-Slogger out, you can spend it on the ability; you'll be able to get 4-5 activations, which is 8-10 damage, before you run out of cards in your library, and Arc-Slogger fits with the overall strategy of not caring about the lategame and trying to end the game as soon as possible. On the other hand, there are times when you are going to be needing that mana and don't want to be spending it on activations, in which case Arc-Slogger gets worse. Also, drawing a second copy of Demigod of Revenge is better than drawing a second copy of Arc-Slogger.
Clearly, Deus of Calamity is perfect for this deck. Demigod of Revenge, on the other hand, is not so perfect, as it's not particularly good against either Elfball or Faeries, which were the two most popular decks at the top tables of the PT.
I'd say the top fatty choices, in alphabetical order, are:
* Arc-Slogger
* Demigod of Revenge
* Dominus of Fealty
* Eron the Relentless
* Tarox Bladewing
* Thunderblust
Also, some clearly inferior fatties:
* Avatar of Discord (AoD is probably a bad idea, but you could discard Demigod of Revenge, Hell's Thunder, or Reckless Wurm)
* Avarax
* Gathan Raiders
* Kumano, Master Yamabushi
* Menacing Ogre
* Nobilis of War
* Orgg
* Rakdos Pit Dragon
* Rorix Bladewing
* Siege-Gang Commander
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=5401186#post5401186
Hmmmmmmmmm I actually like that idea a lot. It's like how Vintage Dredge makes sure they get a hand with Bazaar of Baghdad.
I WANT YOUR DEATH BARONS! Message me if you want to get rid of them!
I'm not really sure this deck does mind drawing Serum Powder. I mean, you are pretty much playing all your stuff on a single turn, then hope that play wins you the game. You don't rely on mid or late game so the cards you draw after that are pretty much irrelevant...
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9 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
Creatures(19):
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Deus of Calamity
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Trinket Mage
4 Chrome Mox
4 Rite of Flame
3 Seething Song
3 Trinisphere
3 Empty the Warrens
3 Desperate Ritual
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
3 Shattering Spree
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Trinisphere
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tormod's Crypt
I'm trying this version out to see how the splash for Trinket Mage helps... I'm not sure if it's good enough at the right time to help against elves, but testing has shown that the pain from fetches doesn't really hurt that much. It thins the deck out a little bit, give more versatility with Explosives, and allows for maindeck answers for things like Tezzeret/Shackles/Plating/O-Ring/Garruk/Jitte/etc.
The fact that we run Magus has no effect on this at all, as we can just use him as Mox fodder or just not play him out if we forsee that Trinket Mage will make a difference...
Have/Want List
This is a good point, but I'm willing to sacrifice mid-game power for 1st-turn consistency.
I WANT YOUR DEATH BARONS! Message me if you want to get rid of them!
EDIT: This deck doesn't mind drawing powder after it goes off, it should win when it does.)
Draft it on Cubetutor!
16 Mountain
WIN CONDITIONS (12)
4 Deus of Calamity
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Chrome Mox
4 Rite of Flame
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Seething Song
4 Serum Powder
4 Manamorphose
4 Street Wraith
This is the build I've testing like 40 games and is pretty constant on pulling an early threat (like 80% first turn, 15% turn 2 and 5% later). Of course, sometimes you get pretty bad luck or got disrupted.
Elfball and other combo decks are a major problem if you don't get a first turn Deus. If Tezzerator gets an Aether Spellbomb just will own this deck, but normally control isn't that much of a problem. Aggro just dies easily.
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Running no disruption allows this deck to go for the maximum consistency. You also have Powder for that: I've found it to be in this deck amazing. Really, this deck should bet all to get a first turn threat at any cost. But I think you could try a -4 Powder +4 Magus version. But for me, I would cut Street Wraith.
ETW is not a dead late game top deck. Normally if you draw it late game, you will have plenty of mana ramp to get 8+ tokens.
Edit: Powder also makes easy to get that sideboard cards on second and third games.
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Just to note that with practice and understanding its mulligans I can now pull off a first turn threat like 90-95%. It's sad that many single disruption can destroy the deck: Thoughtseize, Condemn, Chain of Vapor, Enginered Explosives...
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