1. Introduction
Greetings fellow multiplayer Magic enthusiasts! For those of you who don't know me my name is Prid3 and I'm a 15+ year Magic: The Gathering veteran. I've been playing and following the game at a competitive-level since the year 2000 and so I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've literally poured tens of thousands of hours into mastering this game. While some Mages love Legacy and others can't live without EDH for as long as I've slung spells I've been a multiplayer Magic fanatic. Be it Constructed, Cube or EDH I've played every major multiplayer format to the ground while approaching every aspect (from deck-building to strategy) from a competitive mindset. As you've undoubtedly surmised by now the purpose of this guide is to expedite your transition from Magic duels (i.e. 1v1 games) to the substantially different world of multiplayer. It's an unquestionably difficult passage for players of all skill-levels to make and I'm hoping that my expertise and guidance will ultimately arm you with the knowledge that you'll need in order to thrive. Moreover, I recognize that Magic isn't played in a vacuum and that real-world players have real-world budgets. Unlike similar guides I won't blindly assume that you'll be able to drop thousands of dollars on a casual hobby without batting an eye. That isn't to say that I'll compromise my competitive nature by pushing sub-optimal and/or weak cards upon you but rather that the focus of this guide will be on affordable (yet competitive) staples that will still allow you to prosper in any multiplayer sphere.
2. Strongest Creatures and Spells
Think of this section as your "cheat sheet" as it should more-or-less obsolete your need to scour across search engines for hours and/or prod random Internet strangers for card ideas. It exists solely to highlight and explain the most blatantly powerful creatures and spells that you should be looking to field whenever possible. If you ever find yourself stumped about what to play and/or how to flesh out your curves then this should give you a solid snapshot of your strongest options. By no means am I implying that these are your only possible choices as there's tens of thousands of unique Magic cards and many of them are quite formidable. These are merely the ones that I find myself fielding more often than not as they tend to over-perform even in situations where I have absolutely no clue what anyone else will be playing. Note that I use the term "strongest cards" loosely in that sense so please take it with a grain of salt. There are thousands of cards that can be contextually powerful but these are the ones that are heavy favorites to win games for you in general.
1 CMC Goblin Welder: Immensely powerful form of recursion for Artifact-based strategies. Best paired with lootingeffects and powerfulArtifacts. Dragonmaster Outcast: Left unchecked she can conceivably win games on her own which is a feat that few other 1 drops can boast.
X Spells Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake: Oppressive mass removal spells that scale linearly against any number of players, any number of threats and with any amount of mana. Subterranean Tremors: Earthquake variant which doesn't cause blowback and that functions as Vandalblast past a certain point. Excels in Artifactless ramp decks, specifically one fielding either 12-Post or UrzaTron. Sudden Demise: One of the strongest "spot removal" spells in the game. Plague Winding 1-2 opponents is an enormous swing that typically puts you in a prime position to win. Fault Line, Starstorm, Magmaquake, Molten Disaster: Playable-but-unexciting Earthquake variants. The extra mana matters significantly more than you think. Comet Storm: Potent finisher for your Cloudpost/Braid of Fire/Mana Geyser/Caged Sun decks. Commune with Lava: Reasonable draw spell for big mana strategies. It's not "draw X cards" or anything but it usually nets around 4 total.
3 CMC Repercussion: Likely the single best 1 card Red finisher in the game. Converting all of your mass removal into additional burn is ridiculously oppressive in softer metas. Chaos Warp: The only all-purpose removal spell in Red. Yes, it sucks. Yes, you'll have to play it anyways. Anger of the Gods, Slagstorm, Flamebreak: 3 mana for 3 global damage is an incredible rate that's playable even at the highest levels of competition. Blood Moon: Tremendously powerful nonbasic land hoser. Wheel of Fortune: Eternal staple that has limitless applications in degenerate combo decks. The key is to try and win the game before your opponents get to use their 7 cards as well.
Chandra, Flamecaller: One of the keys to building successful Control and/or Wildfire decks is to acquire durable threats that both A) Survive your mass removal and B) Go on to win the game after they resolve. Chandra, Flamecaller is unique in the sense that she's both durable win condition and a card that immediately effects the board. She may not kill as quickly as a card like Rite of the Raging Storm but, again, unlike other resilient finishers she has a significant and immediate impact on the game. With any luck you should be able to curve her into a Earthquake/Anger of the Gods/Chain Reaction/Devastation/Destruction Force/Obliterate/Blasphemous Act/etc. at which point you can lean on any of her modes to slowly-but-surely seize control of the game. 6 damage a turn isn't an insane clock by any stretch of the imagination but it gets the job done eventually and even as a "Phyrexian Arena" she still puts people on a virtual clock. After all, your multiplayer decks are typically going to be comprised of ramp, bombs and mass removal and so extra card draw is almost always relevant. Nightmare scenario she's a Slice and Dice and/or loot spell which clearly isn't ideal but it could be worse all things considered. Digging into that Destructive Force (or whatever) can be a life-or-death ordeal and whereas a card like Rite of the Raging Storm does actual nothing when you're behind she can at least try and dig you into a mass removal spell for the following turn. All-in-all this makes her a fantastic form of mass removal, a study finisher and a passable draw engine for Midrange/Control/Mana Denial strategies.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Her +1 draw/Sizzle is a reasonable form of card advantage/burn that puts a relevant clock on players in formats such as 60-card Constructed and 2HG. I've been happily playing Outpost Siege for quite some time now and greatly appreciate having the opportunity to jam extra cards on a routine basis when playing base-Red archetypes. Obviously she would have been significantly better if they'd allowed you to "play" the card as opposed to "cast"ing it (so that you could play lands) but beggars can't afford to be choosers now can we? Otherwise her +1 "Dark Ritual" is extremely powerful and arguably her most degenerate mode. It allows you to treat her as a 2 drop in the later stages of the game which is perfect for setting up oppressive sequences such as Chandra + Wildfire on the same turn. Merely untapping with 6-7 mana is also a great place to be on turns 4-5 since there's any number of powerful spells that you can jam for that amount of mana. While her -3 is lackluster it's still a reasonable form of removal that can pick-off key threats in a pinch. Otherwise her ultimate is a relatively reliable and non-interactive win condition that enables you to burn people out and/or fight for the board with relative ease. It's neither the quickest nor the cleanest way to close games out (especially in formats such as EDH) but it does get there eventually which is all that matters.
Koth of the Hammer: Koth is a powerful ramp engine that quickly builds towards a game-winning ultimate. While his +1 is trivial in most MP formats his ult only costs 5 loyalty which isn't especially difficult to reach. His -2 is his most competitive mode by far given that it enables you to untap and slam 10 drops if desired. Alternatively you can active his -2 immediately in order to jam another 4 drop which can provide you with a huge tempo boost. On that note try to pair him with cheap forms of mass removal whenever possible since something like Koth, -2, Earthquake can be an extremely potent sequence. Otherwise his ult is awesome in the context of fair, grindy, value-based metagames since it literally converts 100% of your excess mana into removal/reach. Red is also well-equipped to protect Koth with its plethora of mass removal and it's entirely possible to go "turn 5 Koth + Blasphemous Act, turn 6 mass removal, turn 7 ult."
Consult this thread for all your multicolored needs. It lists the most powerful gold cards that the various color combos have to offer.
3. Strengths and Weaknesses
Now that we've plowed through the most important information I'd like to take a bit of time to discuss some "fun to know" but not "need to know" information. I'll start by covering the primary strengths and weaknesses of the color in order to give you a better understanding of how it fits into the global multiplayer sphere as a whole. If you've read through the bulk of the guide up to this point and/or are already a veteran to the game then nothing that I'll cover in this section should come as a big surprise to you. While the magnitude of these strengths and weaknesses will fluctuate as new cards are printed (many of the latter may even be obsoleted over time) it should still provide you with a relatively accurate description of how the color fares in the global multiplayer environment.
Mass Creature Removal
Red's a removal color to its very core and that's abundantly clear when you start looking at cards such as Earthquake, Mizzium Mortars, Anger of the Gods, Pyrohemia and Blasphemous Act. As Magic continues to shift its focus towards creatures and away from spells these degenerate forms of mass removal become that much more important to the multiplayer metagame as a whole. This is because mass removal keeps players honest by forcing them to build decks and strategies that can cope with serious amounts of interaction and meddling. Rather than allowing people to goldfish as they please mass removal slows games down to a reasonable pace by ensuring that key threats never remain unanswered for any serious length of time.
Hosers
As if mass land destruction wasn't fun enough Red has access to some of the most busted hosers in the game. Cards like Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon and Ruination can maim/cripple/kill players outright and good old Stranglehold does a number on Fetchlands and tutors. While these kinds of cards won't demolish tables in every multiplayer metagame I think we can all envision the kinds of decks that couldn't possibly beat these kinds of cards, especially at extremely high levels of competitive play. The most obnoxious aspect of these cards is their cost and durability since Enchantments tend to be relatively difficult to remove and at 3-4 mana they hit way too hard, way too fast.
Fast Mana
Black may be the original lord of the ritual but in recent years the paradigm has shifted towards Red being sole possessor. Spells such as Rite of Flame, Seething Song, Simian Spirit Guide, Treasonous Ogre (EDH staple) and Mana Geyser have long since been employed by unfair/degenerate combo decks to secure match wins long before they'd otherwise be able to. This speed carries a significant opportunity cost in that rituals are inherently do-nothing spells that cause card disadvantage but at the same time your goal is ultimately to win the game of Magic as opposed to amassing as much value as possible. Rituals have limited applications in fair decks as a result but make no mistake that there's still plenty of incentive to jump the curve by 2 or even 5+ turns. After all, some cards/effects are so instrumental to one's success that you'll gladly exchange multiple cards in order to gain access to them even if it means introducing an element of inconsistency to your lists.
Artifact Removal
From Vandalblast to Shattering Spree to Shatterstorm to Fiery Confluence to Ingot Chewer Red is the king of Artifact removal. This is especially relevant for big mana formats such as EDH and Cube but realistically speaking it's significant for almost every multiplayer scene. There's plenty of horrifically imbalanced Artifacts circulating out there and the ability to field efficient answers to them (without having to resort to global measures) is a legitimate reason to consider playing the color. After all, most multiplayer formats are dominated by colorless acceleration and powerful equipment and having access to a critical mass of redundant answers to them can be extremely important.
Forks
Red is the only color with access to a critical mass of cheap + powerful Fork effects in Reverberate, Reiterate, Dualcaster Mage and Wild Ricochet. In the same way that Clones will always be amazing in multiplayer due to their ability to copy the best creature that anyone plays Fork effects such as Dualcaster Mage also benefit immensely from the increased number of players. People are going to want cards like Exsanguinate, See the Unwritten, Insurrection, Clone Legion and Storm Herd to close games out and the ability to copy them 1-2 times for 2-4 mana is a ridiculous return on your investment. These cards are criminally underplayed and undervalued given their cost since as it's improbably that you'll ever find yourself unable to generate significant value from them in most multiplayer spheres.
Damage Doublers
This beauty of this strength is that it's actually a combination of extra combat phase enablers and damage doublers rolled into one. Extra combat phase enablers are cards like Aggravated Assault, World at War, Hellkite Charger, Scourge of the Throne and even Fury of the Horde that allow you to convert profitable attacks into ridiculous sums of damage. Damage doublers on the other hand are cards such as Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Gratuitous Violence, Fire Servant, Pyromancer's Googles, Berserkers' Onslaught and Rage Reflection that directly multiply the damage of creatures and/or spells. These effects convert even the most innocuous threats into game-ending bombs and when combined they all-but ensure a swift demise for all who oppose you. This is especially true when cards like Mob Rule and Insurrection are involved at which point there's literally no hope for survival. Either way these effects are sequestered almost entirely to Red's share of the color pie and they're extremely powerful in multiplayer formats where "good" isn't "good enough" to get the job done. There's basically no such thing as a "win more" finisher when you're facing 3+ adversaries making these ideal cards to close multiplayer games out.
Haste Enablers
Lastly Red has some of the best haste enablers in the entire game. From Flamekin Village to Generator Servant to Fervor/Hammer of Purphoros to Anger to Ogre Battledriver to Urabrask the Hidden Red is extremely capable of hitting the Red Zone with creatures such as Flamerush Rider, Inferno Titan, Scourge of the Throne, Hellkite Tyrant and Balefire Dragon faster than other players may be anticipating. It also massively boosts the effectiveness of tappers such as Goblin Welder, Metalworker and Krenko, Mob Boss which are otherwise frequently gunned-down before you're able to untap with them. This unique ability to crank the speed dial from 0 to 11 is more-or-less isolated in Red which just goes to show you how unique and powerful this misunderstood color can actually be. When all's said and done if that's still not good enough to ignite your inner flame and convince you to start playing with more Red decks at least I can say that I gave it my best efforts.
Weak Creature Base
The list of truly competitive multiplayer Red creatures is something like Goblin Welder, Imperial Recruiter, Dualcaster Mage, Magus of the Moon, Purphoros, God of the Forge and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. I'm surely overlooking a few but most everything else we could easily live without. While it certainly has a throng of playable creatures that I've highlighted throughout this guide that's not the same thing as having access to game winning bombs that you should feel actively excited to slot into your decks. At the end of the day most of them are marginal compared to their Green/Blue/Black brothers which is by far and away the biggest strike against the color as a whole. After all, creatures tend to be everything in multiplayer and that makes the prospect of fielding base-Red decks incredibly underwhelming. This is why it's generally relegated to a support color that people will splash for in order to gain access to key forms of removal.
Sparse Lifegain and Card Draw
Beyond that Red is almost completely devoid of lifegain and card draw. You can obviously Equip a Basilisk Collar/Loxodom Warhammer on a big beater/global nuker and gain life that way but multi-card combos that merely gain life are hardly exciting. Now, that isn't to say that lifegain is absolutely required in order to compete in a multiplayer environment but at the same time if your opponents are jamming things like Exsanguinate and Gray Merchant of Asphodel then the prospect of racing/burning them out starts to look rather bleak. Otherwise Red has very limited card draw options with the only generically powerful option being Outpost Siege. Even then at 4 CMC it's a touch too slow for the most competitive lists especially given that it'll whiff a nontrivial % of the time when it's initially cast. It's extremely difficult to compete against cards such as Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Greater Good, Syphon Mind, Consecrated Sphinx, Recurring Insight, etc. when you don't have any yourself which, again, makes the prospect of building base-Red decks somewhat less than exciting.
Limited Interaction
While Red's burn suite is adept at removing small threats it struggles immensely to neutralize larger ones (especially early on). This can be problematic in the face of turn 2 Griselbrands or fast Sire of Insanitys which it's typically incapable of interacting with. That is, if one or more players combo-off and/or pressure you with large critters there's very little that it can do about it and that's a rough place to be in a multiplayer setting. Moreover, other than Chaos Warp Red's completely unable remove pesky Enchantments beyond resorting to global forms of mass removal (such as Oblivion Stone) and/or extremely slow, colorless options (such as Unstable Obelisk and Spine of Ish Sah). These are rarely reasonable solutions to the problem and as such Red decks often to struggle to compete against the likes of Mystic Remora, Luminarch Ascension, Survival of the Fittest and Humility early on. This weakness is exacerbated given that Red's Chaos Warps are already being taxed by large, creature-based threats that can't be Lightning Bolted away.
4. Sample Decklists
The purpose of this section will be to provide you with an idea of what completed multiplayer decklists could look like. They're all going to be built with a reasonable budgets in mind (no cards that cost more than $5.00 whenever possible) while adhering to the Legacy banned and restricted list. Don't expect me to go all-out on degenerate combos or extremely unfun mechanics either. I want to showcase reasonably interactive decks that play relatively fun, fair Magic. I'll do my best to highlight the most important interactions and synergies among the various cards which probably means that I won't spend too much time explaining why Mizzium Mortars is in the deck. They'll be good starting points for anyone looking to build similar lists by highlighting some of the most obvious card choices. Finally, please bear in mind that these deck lists will become somewhat outdated and sub-optimal over time. I'll make every effort to update them as frequently as needed but at the end of the day I'm only one man. They'll still be useful learning tools even if they're not always especially relevant.
Simple deck comprised of ramp, removal and powerful creatures + spells that scale well in the context of a multiplayer setting. Pay close attention to the Haste enablers such as Flamekin Village and Ogre Battledriver as they dramatically increase the power-level of creatures such as Inferno Titan and Balefire Dragon. Ogre Battledriver and Warchief Giant also pair insanely well with Warstorm Surge which can quickly close games out once it comes online.
This deck has significantly more mass removal than the one that I just showcased and is far more synergy-orientated. The goal is to clear the board and stick big/durable threats until you can jam a Pyrohemia and ride it to victory. Cards like Kher Keep and Darksteel Myr are fantastic at keeping it around but the deck has plenty of cheap creatures to fuel it if needed. Next there's Boros Reckoner + Stuffy Doll which both combo insanely well with Blasphemous Act. Moreover it employs Kher Keep/Darksteel Myr + Bonehoard as a alternate route to victory since Pyrohemia + Bonehoard is tough for a lot of decks to beat. Otherwise the deck has Sun Droplet for lifegain and Humble Defector for card draw. In case it isn't clear the idea here is that pairing Humble Defector with mass removal essentially removes the drawback and so you'll see me make this pairing a fair amount
This is a combination value + combo deck that's perfectly capable of winning games "the fair way" but that also has a combo kill in Twinflame + Dualcaster Mage. Your spells all have inherent value that translates well into a multiplayer setting so unlike similar combo decks you'll never find yourself stuck with useless cards that don't affect the board. Instead of floundering around until you lose you'll always get to interact with your opponents and protect yourself from their advances. This enables you to play Magic as long as needed and you can always turn to your combo kill to clinch games that couldn't otherwise be won. You could obviously make the deck more or less combo focused as desired but this one showcases how it sometimes makes sense to avoid true combo decks that are easy to hate out in favor of something reliable that still has unfair elements to it.
Twinflame combo:
1. Cast Twinflame targeting any creature you control.
2. Flash in Dualcaster Mage with the spell still on the stack.
3. ETB trigger targeting Twinflame.
4. Allow trigger to resolve, copy is put on stack. New targets are allowed for copy thus Dualcaster Mage may be targeted.
5. Repeat Ad Infinitum.
Twinflame/Heat Shimmer combo:
1. Cast Twinflame targeting any creature you control.
2. Flash in Dualcaster Mage with the spell still on the stack.
3. ETB trigger targeting Twinflame.
4. Allow trigger to resolve, copy is put on stack. New targets are allowed for copy thus Dualcaster Mage may be targeted.
5. Repeat Ad Infinitum.
This is a generic example of a Red Cloudpost deck. It uses cards like Faithless Looting, Expedition Map, Commune with Lava and Outpost Siege to amass Cloudposts before firing off of a barrage of X spell finishers and gargantuan fatties. It's worth highlighting that Commune With Lava is at its best in these types of shells because even small ones are still useful since the only cards that you care about hitting are Posts. Even if you only get 1-2 cards out of it as long as one is a Post then that's absolutely fine. Otherwise the deck fields strong blockers and a touch of mass removal to ensure that it doesn't get gibed-out early on. Yes, Veteran Brawlers is literally just there to act as a blocker since you'll probably want to avoid taking too much damage early on. That being said feel free to cut/shave those kinds of cards if your meta isn't very creature-based.
This is a combination Pyromancer's Goggles + Goblin Dark-Dwellers deck that highlight the interaction between the aforementioned Goggles and loot spells such as Tormenting Voice. Since you don't have to pay additional costs for copied spells Goggles + Voice/Guess is basically "2 mana draw 3 discard 1" which gives the deck an insane lategame card-advantage engine. Noe that this doesn't work with the Dark-Dwellers and you'll still have to discard a card if you elect to cast one of those as your free spell. It does work with other "copy" effects such as Reverberate however. Otherwise the deck has a lot of removal and utility spells to copy/recur as needed as well as some decent blockers that will hopefully buy you some time. It's even a fantastic Dualcaster Mage if you're looking for a home for some.
This deck is designed to showcase the power of Repercussion as well as the synergy between Humble Defector with mass removal. Your ultimate goal is to a stick a Repercussion and ideally to combo it with a card like Blasphemous Act to end the game on the spot. Forbidden Orchard, Humble Defector, Varchild's War-Riders and Hunted Dragon are examples of cards that will allow you to defeat creatureless players and otherwise you can always try to burn them for 20. With 4x Humble Defector and 2x Outpost Siege the list has a ton of card draw and I'll remind you to save your Humble Defectors activations until you're ready to nuke the board to ensure that you're the only person drawing cards off of them. Otherwise for those of you who've never seen Cumulative Upkeep before I'll note that Varchild's War-Riders is actually way cooler than he looks. You can elect to pay for as many of the age counters as you want which means that you can always choose to pay for N-1 (where N is the total number of age counters) and decline to pay for the last one in order to forcefully sacrifice him when you're ready to combo-off. That you you can avoid inadvertently doming yourself for tons of damage. Pretty cool huh? Finally, if you feel as though the deck needs more defense you can always test cards like Sun Droplet or even creatures with protection from Red such as Vulshok Refugee.
This is a mass theft deck centered around the card Bazaar Trader. He combos with any Act of Treason-like effect to permanently steal creatures as you're able able to target yourself with the activated ability in order to retain it indefinitely. Conjurer's Closet functions similarly in that in enables you to blink creatures that you thieve at EOT in order to permanently retain their services. This is especially brutal when paired with cards like Helm of Possession and should allow to keep the field relatively clear. Otherwise the deck seeks to pair mass theft with damage doublers (such as Gratuitous Violence and Berserkers' Onslaught), extra combat phase enablers (such as Scourge of the Throne) and free sac outlets (such as Goblin Bombardment, Altar of Dementia and Greater Gargadon) in order to demolish its adversaries in one fell swoop.
Example of an Elemental tribal deck. This one showcases the power of scaling threats such as Taurean Mauler and Scourge of Geier Reach by combining them with Soulbright Flamekin and Chandra's Ignition to devastating effect. Flamekin Harbinger allows you to build and play the list toolbox style if desired and Smokebraider gives you access to 4x Sol Ring which is obviously busted. Otherwise the deck has a bit of removal and card draw but it's mostly a fatty deck at heart.
This deck is designed to showcase the raw power of cards like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge when they're paired with token producers such as Tempt with Vengeance. The only thing that this particular list cares about is slamming as many tokens into play as it possibly can and converting that into a game win in various ways. General synergies include Ogre Battledriver + Warstorm Surge and Goblin Bombardment + Outpost Siege (Dragons mode). It's worth noting that cards like Firebat Blitz and Mogg Infestation can be added to give the deck more "kick" but since they're inherently weak cards the list will also become less consistent. The deck that I posted is devoid of niche combo cards but if you're looking for some more explosive then you should certainly consider them.
Extremely basic Wildfire deck that combos solid ramp with large/durable finishers and Wildfires to seize control of the game from start to finish. An ideal version of this deck would include 4x Coalition Relic over 4x Hedron Archive but the latter is still acceptable so don't worry if you can't afford the former. The deck should still work fine.
The primary goal of this deck is to stick a Basilik Collar on Goblin Sharpshooter to control the board while granting lifelink to creatures such as Heartless Hidetsugu in order to drain obscene amounts of health from your adversaries. It's worth noting that Deathtouch + Double Strike (+ Trample) is a big game and so this is both your primary card draw engine and an extremely threatening form of defense. Otherwise you can always pair Bloodfire Kavu with Basilisk Collar to clear the board and gain a ton of life until you're ready to slam your 6-7 CMC bombs. Finally, this is the perfect home for cards like Arcbond and Chandra's Ignition since it's the creatures that deals the damage as opposed to the spell.
The goal of this deck is to curve a turn 1 Norin the Wary into a turn 3 Confusion in the Ranks via Seething Song or Vessel of Volatility. From there Norin + Mark of Fury will allow you steal whatever permanents you please. The rest of the deck is dig + removal to buy you time if needed. You'll have to mulligan aggressive for Confusion in order to make this deck work and you can field cards like Serum Powder to bring additional consistency to the list if desired. Simply slot them over rituals as they double as ramp. With respect to Mark of Fury it's important to note that you should always cast it on opposing creatures and never on your own. In particular do not cast it on Norin as he'll be exiled before the mark finishes resolving. The reason why you want to cast it on opposing threats is because the swap will happen regardless and so you may as well play around spot removal as much as possible. Force people to 2-for-1 themselves if they wish to hinder your theft engine.
Rather than fielding persistent forms of ramp such as Basalt Monolith this deck is entirely focused on abusing Red's big mana rituals to power stupidly strong threats into play. Unlike other Cloudpost lists this one doesn't allocate any slots towards marginal tutors/loot spells and is much more focused on ramping draw spells into play instead.
5. Functional Lists
Bluntly put it's far too impractical to have me discuss every possible playable in detail. At some point it all starts to read the same given that Magic is filled with redundant effects that accomplish the same goal. This section is more-or-less a raw information dump that will house (what I believe to be) the most important types of cards and the strongest options available to you within those groups. Now, be forewarned that it's not going to showcase "every possible playable" and/or "every possible type of card." I'm going to focus on the ones that will win you multiplayer games on a consistent basis since my end-goal here is to arm you with the tools that you'll need to compete. Anything too niche and/or too marginal isn't going to make the cut so don't be surprised when you see how bare some of the sections are. For what it's worth I find that these kinds of lists are invaluable for singleton formats such as Cube and EDH and highly recommend that you start your search here if you're looking for key role-players.
6. General Strategies
In this section I'll discuss broader subjects that aren't necessarily limited to specific colors. After all, my goal is ultimately to teach you the ins-and-outs of multiplayer deckbuilding from start to finish and that clearly entails a lot more than simply covering your relevant card choices. From deck composition to constructing a manabase to developing an overarching strategy there's countless variables for you to take into consideration and I'll make every effort to cover some of the more important subjects. While I clearly won't be able to hit on everything consider these to "must reads" if you're looking to take your game to the next level.
Early Game (Turns 1-3)
Red isn't known as a color with especially relevant early game plays outside of its looting spells and mass removal. Cards like Earthquake, Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods and more are stellar answers to creature-based tactics will heavily disrupt your opposition by preventing mana dorks and utility threats from seizing control of the game early on. Given that they retain most of their value throughout the game you can typically afford to field them large quantities without having to worry about them becoming marginal draws at some point down the road. Moreover, Red has access to powerful forms of spot removal such as Lightning Bolt, Sudden Demise, Mizzium Mortars and even Chaos Warp which can all be used to interact with key threats early on if needed. Beyond that Red is the second best "looting" color and will frequently open its games with sequences such as Faithless Looting and Tormenting Voice in order to prepare its graveyard for future abuse. These spells can also be used to smooth your draws and reduce the impact of manascrew/flood in order to bring some additional consistency to your strategies. They're clearly not the on the same power-level as Blue cantrips such as Preordain and Brainstorm but they still get the job done in a pinch. While Red lacks inherent forms of ramp there's still plenty of competitive of Artifact-based options and so another option is to simply start your games with powerful accelerators such as Signets, Fellwar Stone and Worn Powerstone. While the 0-1 CMC options tend to be banned in most formats the 2 CMC ones are always good-to-go and since a Fellwar Stone is many orders of magnitude more relevant than a generic 2/2 for 2 in a multiplayser setting this is a compelling option to consider. Lastly I've already covered most of the relevant creature + spell options in an earlier section of my guide but I will caution you that Red's early game is abysmal when it comes to creature-based threats. I recommend that you avoid fielding them as much as possible and stick to loot spells, mass removal and/or Artifact-based ramp as much as humanely possible.
Mid Game (Turns 4-6)
Red starts to pick up the pace in the midgame where it can finally start to deploy its meaningful threats. Things like Repercussion, Ruination, Stranglehold, Outpost Siege, Sneak Attack, Flameshadow Conjuring, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and more all have a dramatic impact on the game relative to what you were accomplishing early on. It's also worth noting that your mass removal is still incredibly relevant at this stage of the game and your most powerful options (such as Blasphemous Act) are probably just starting to come online. The beauty of cards like Earthquake is that they're always going to scale and the disruption aspect of others (such as Anger of the Gods) is relevant at every stage of the game. Otherwise this is about the time when Mizzium Mortars starts to come online as an Overload spell and Sudden Demise is basically going to be a Plague Wind of sorts. Moving on the color is finally starting to gain access to relevant creature-based threats such as Ogre Battledriver, Warchief giant, Inferno Titan and Scourge of the Throne. It even has a host of options that "beat spot removal" (such as Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Siege-Gang Commander and Molten Primordial) ensuring that there's plenty of relevant options for players of all skill-levels and metagames. Otherwise Red's support players are finally starting to kick in and this is when your Reverberates and Mana Geysers are going to start earning their keep. Unfortunately your Fork effects aren't at their best just yet but copying random draw/removal spells is still relevant and since Mana Geyser can allow you to jump you from 5 to ~15 mana in an instant it enables an endless amount of oppressive sequences.
Late Game (Turns 7+)
The later stages of the game is, unfortunately, where things to start to look a little more bleak for Red. The color is devoid of reliable + unconditioned tutors (outside of Burning Wish), doesn't have any degenerate forms of card draw and its complete lack of lifegain means that if you ever fall too far behind early on then you're usually screwed. Also, while it has powerful creatures such as Inferno Titan, Molten Primordial and Magmatic Force most of them are vulnerable against removal and/or struggle to win games on their own. They also typically detract from others as opposed to bolster yourself (see Flametongue Kavu vs Oracle of Mul Daya) which is almost universally the weaker of the two options given the increased number of players. Moreover, the color has limited forms of generic interaction given that outside of Chaos Warp it struggles to neutralize key threats. A couple of Chaos Warps will only take you so far in a multiplayer setting since eventually you'll run out at which point all you can do is hope and pray that your burn-based interaction be enough to keep you afloat. Knowing this Red mages should be looking to end games before they drag on for too long. This can either be accomplished with ritual'dbombs, degeneratecombos, mass land destruction and/or even uninteractivefinishers among others thing. Alternatively you can always try back-door wins with cards like Dualcaster Mage since copying the best spells from the best decks for 2-3 mana is an easy way to mount a comeback. Many players will be seeking to end games on the spot via cards such as Exsanguinate, Rite of Replication and Tooth and Nail and beating them at their own game is always extremely satisfying. Finally, since your entire arsenal should be more-or-less online you can always turn to your "big gun" finishers to squeak out some wins. Be it Dictate of the Twin Gods, Gratuitous Violence, Warstorm Surge, Mob Rule or even Vicious Shadows there's any number of formidable options at your disposal.
Finale
Red is likely the single worst color at playing the "infinite value" game and realistically speaking it can't compete with what the other colors bring to the table. It's often characterized as an emotional and aggressive color that "burns the candle at both ends" and so if you try to take colors like Blue/Black/Green to the ultra lategame then expect to get snuffed-out rather than smolder. While it's true that Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (or even Shivan Gorge) can be combined with burn (such as Comet Storm) to bring a theoretical form of inevitability to your lists realistically speaking they're not going to win you very many games that you would have otherwise lost. Moving on you can always consider pairing token producers such as Kher Keep with Equipment such as Bonehoard and possibly even supporting the combo with Rogue's Passage. Red is one of the premier mass removal colors after all so it's not as though you need any incentive to be fielding Mortivores in the first place. Otherwise we've covered Outpost Siege numerous times throughout this guide and while the effect is powerful it's still only 1 card per circuit. That is, it's not exactly going to bury the table in card advantage in the same way that cards such as Mystic Remora and/or Consecrated Sphinx can. Sadly these gameplans are all far from oppressive and rarely play as powerful as they may sound on paper. Red is very much a "live hard and die young" color and I don't recommend wasting much effort planning for games that reach 15+ turns. Go for the big Mana Geyser sequences and/or Insurrection OTKs instead because you'll never be able to grind through the absurd amounts of card draw/recursion/value synergies that other colors have at their disposal.
Consult this thread if you want to learn the basics on how to build proper multiplayer manabases that will consistently be able to cast their spells.
7. Conclusion
Since our time together is coming to a close I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on taking an active role in your extended Magic education. It's my hope that my guides have steered you in the right in the direction by clearly demonstrating to you what multiplayer decks should look like. From bright-eyed newcomers to grizzled veterans I'd like to think that there's something for everyone hidden within these walls of text and it's my hope that everyone who's taken the time to read this has emerged a stronger player as a result. If not, please feel free to let me know where I fell short as I'm always open to new ideas when it comes to the wide world of multiplayer Magic. Teaching is a give-and-take process and I'm largely reliant on the feedback of others to grow and evolve my methods. As much as I love to read cheerful emails from delighted students I also take any and all constructive criticism to heart. If you can dish it I can take it so please don't feel free to voice your discontent if you feel that I've lead you down or led you astray. Otherwise I'll thank you one last time for showing an active interest and involvement in improving as a player and it's my sincerest hope that you'll grow into a respectable Magician as a result. Finally, I'll stress that I'm always on the prowl in the multiplayer forums and I do my best to respond to every PM that gets sent my way. I'm not perfect but I make every effort to help those in need so feel free to contact me with any of your multiplayer concerns. From decklists to strategies to advice there's nothing that I can't help with and I encourage you to think of me as your ongoing mentor. Best of luck my friends!
You should have titled it Appetite for Destruction.
Looks good, and is far more succinct and even complete, compared to my version on the WotC boards.
Do you plan to do this for all colors?
Cheers!
I'm doing my best to shave this list and my Black list to only include "good" cards. I know that it's completely subjective, but it basically boils down "I'll only list it if I could see myself playing it." It's far from done, this is still a big WIP, but it's not going to be as packed as my Black guide.
As far as doing it for every color? Probably. It won't be a quick undertaking though.
Again, great Guide Cz. Blasphemous Act works much better in Multiplayer than in duels. I think it could be added to the scaling section.
I had it in the Destructive Cards section but it probably belongs in both. I don't mind listing cards in multiple categories if it feels appropriate to do so, so I've updated it. Thanks.
Very informative and interesting guide.
Great construction, for "just one man" it's quite a good job.
Gonna check your other guide later.
But (always a but) i feel like an utility card lack in your guide, i'm talking about the Reiterate, Reverberate or Increasing Vengeance (i just see Reiterate mentionned once but no use in deck or must have or else).
For me a playset is nearly a must have for burn deck in multiplayer. With all your Earthquake-like, using a Reverberate for RR will get you much more dommage and make the kill easier cause you obviousbly need less mana. Can also be usefull with a Slagstorm, Sizzle, Mana Geyser or even a Flamebreak if you don't have a true sweeper in your hand.
Instead of taking 2-3 playset of Earthquake-like or Pyroclasm-like, you have a more versatile card, cheap on mana and money, and accelerating your kill.
My 2cent, maybe i miss the part where you talk about it, if not i'd like to have your input about it or advise you to give it a try =)
Thank again for your work.
Sorry about the clumsy english btw, not my mother's tongue
But (always a but) i feel like an utility card lack in your guide, i'm talking about the Reiterate, Reverberate or Increasing Vengeance (i just see Reiterate mentionned once but no use in deck or must have or else).
For me a playset is nearly a must have for burn deck in multiplayer. With all your Earthquake-like, using a Reverberate for RR will get you much more dommage and make the kill easier cause you obviousbly need less mana. Can also be usefull with a Slagstorm, Sizzle, Mana Geyser or even a Flamebreak if you don't have a true sweeper in your hand.
I'm currently in the process of updating all of my guides and I had my eye on the Red one next. I want to try and incorporate Wild Ricochet into a few things, and I suppose that I could look in to some of these cards as well. Still, my issue with "copy" effects is that their mileage varies wildly from meta to meta. I don't actually like the idea of using them as burn spells all that much. I mean, if the goal is to double Slagstorm, I'd rather just have 2 Slagstorms, even if it costs me more mana. That way I could avoid all of those situations where I draw a lot of copy effects and no sweepers and die with a hand full of do-nothings. Still, they certainly have potential. I'd love to copy a Syphon Mind or Concentrate or what have you in a normal game. I guess I've always dislike their randomness more than anything else. I usually like to build my decks in such a way that each card fills a role. Copy effects, to some extent, fill every role and no role at the same time. Thinking critically about it, I don't see how you could ever not find a good target to copy in a big 6+ player game or whatever, but I can see situations where it would be bad in small, inbred metas. I think I will try and touch on them in some way though in my next update. They probably deserve more credit than what I've given them in the past.
I get your point, but when you see randomness i see versatility.
I'm mainly using them in burn cause, to make it short and simple, all my cards have the "same kind of effect", i know i'll never be targetless. With only one playset you won't have your hand full of copy or you really have no luck, and, as a big fan of Faithless Looting, even in the worst case i can discard it.
Wild ricochet is a nice one, but i wouldn't use it in burn cause of its cost. I also find it less efficient in "saving my game" with the change target effect that in solo. Ofc, it also depend of your meta and i would easily give it a try in other deck.
Any thoughts on using a few Slumbering Dragons as defensive cards? Ring of Valkas can add counters to him or make the Spitfires more potent threats with haste.
Any thoughts on using a few Slumbering Dragons as defensive cards? Ring of Valkas can add counters to him or make the Spitfires more potent threats with haste.
Not sure about that one. He doesn't inherently stop people from smacking you and he will likely die to random sweeper before he comes online. He's also a miserable late game draw. Not really sure if it's worth playing unless your deck has say Forgotten Ancient and other similar cards in it.
I finally built a deck including Mana Geyser. I regret not having done so years ago. I'm posting this because I learned of it from your guide.
Let me add that it is most amusing after many lands have been baited out using New Frontiers.
cheers!
Ha ha, I hear that! Mana Geyser is quite insane indeed, but only if your meta is sufficiently large enough. I've fired off plenty of Earthquakes for a bajillion while sitting behind a Glacial Chasm and it never ceases to amuse me heh. Still, even if it's used to empty your hand, that's often good enough. The card lead to some pretty nutty sequences of plays after all. Wurmcoil Engine, Magmatic Force and Destructive Force all cast on the same turn anyone? Did I mention that it's only turn 6 lol?
Good guide on red multiplayer cards. The only sad part is that I couldn't find the "new" tech I was looking for. But this can totally be because red seems shallow to me. I have always the feeling that I play one of the same three decks if i build a mono red deck.
The only thing I would look into is the power level between your sample decks. For my taste it varies way to hard. The decks with Goblin Welder and 4! Sol Rings are way more powerful than anything else in your sample list.
Yeah I dunno. That's the real issue with multiplayer; there are no staple "formats." Some people need good decks and others don't. I try to strike a balance between fun and power but some people need something that can crush a table.
Maybe it is in another post but where is the tribal section. Especially the Goblin.dec is a red staple, even in multiplayer.
Goblins and elementals are the only tribes that I think are even worth playing. Everything else is fairly meh. I'd rather just provide a sample decklist and call it a day.
Dragons is usually better in Jund colors rather than mono-red though, no? I mean, insofar as tribal Dragons are any good in multiplayer, something like Dragon Broodmother or Karrthus seems useful. Plus, playing green gives you better ramp into your big fliers.
Dragons! How can you forget da dragons! Big flying haste dudes can be very good. Nothing is better than a little dragon diplomacy.
And with Zirilan of the Claw you can even build control style dragon decks. Or go nuts (not necessarily combo) with Dragonstorm.
I'm not much of a Dragon fanboi and I don't think that the deck is worth running for "power" reasons. Dragons are slow and relatively weak all things considered. They're cool and iconic cards but they're not even that powerful. The only Dragon decks that I like running are ones with Destructive Force and Wildfire. Still, it's hard to justify not running Wurmcoil Engine or something similar at that point. Anyways, the point is that Dragon tribal is typically very "meh" unless we're talking about decks with Kokusho, the Evening Star and Dragon Broodmother.
My issue with all Planeswalkers is that they just draw massive hate and die without doing anything relevant. Koth is obviously a good card in a vacuum but I mean I fully expect him to just die shortly after being cast. I wouldn't add him myself but I mean you know your player base better than I do.
Rakka Mar is a decent substitute. Flametongue Kavu wouldn't be bad either. I was mostly looking for a solid early blocker and the Mauler fit the bill. Rakka Mar isn't very good until turn 5 and that's not ideal in my mind. Still, she does seem pretty cool.
For what it's worth that deck should probably have a Mycosynth Lattice in it. Playing 1-2 certainly seems reasonable now that I think about it.
I bought 2 Trading Post to test in this deck (somewhere) i tink its a great card and have a lot of potential (Great Furnace)...
My meta is slow and have 3 T2 decks (slow as hell), others like Norin the Wary life gain deck and other with Confusion in the Ranks, Budget elves and budget combo/agro goblins.
See my problem ? I'm the only one that has competitive Legacy decks here. I need at least 2 multiplayer decks ! =D
The aggro thief deck seems very fun and affordable - especially compared to a blue variant.
I had a few questions regarding it however:
(1) Would Goblin Bombardment or Thermopod be a solid alternative to Magmaw? or does his ability to sac non-land permanents justify his inclusion over them?
Also, does Culling Dais provide sufficient draw to the deck? would jamming Skullclamp into the deck instead + another sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar be viable or too inconsistent a draw option?
Finally, was Helm of Possession considered? seems like it provides both a sac and thief ability into one card or is it not as good as it appears?
(1) Would Goblin Bombardment or Thermopod be a solid alternative to Magmaw? or does his ability to sac non-land permanents justify his inclusion over them?
Both seem fine although I'd probably never play either myself. I appreciate the fact that the Maw is a solid 4/4 for 5 who, if nothing else, can help dissuade attackers.
Also, does Culling Dais provide sufficient draw to the deck? would jamming Skullclamp into the deck instead + another sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar be viable or too inconsistent a draw option?
I try not to suggest Skullclamp because it's a horrible degenerate and overpowered card. If your meta is fine with having you play them then by all means. They will certainly win you games. The card is redonkulous.
Fealty, in my experience, just dies. I'd rather have my immediate gratification. The Primordial would certainly be a consideration. At this point the deck probably needs ramp to support its curve. I'll likely update it in the near future.
Fealty, in my experience, just dies. I'd rather have my immediate gratification. The Primordial would certainly be a consideration. At this point the deck probably needs ramp to support its curve. I'll likely update it in the near future.
Looking forward to the update - seems like an entertaining deck.
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Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Strongest Creatures and Spells
3. Strengths and Weaknesses
4. Sample Decklists
5. Functional Lists
6. General Strategies
7. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Greetings fellow multiplayer Magic enthusiasts! For those of you who don't know me my name is Prid3 and I'm a 15+ year Magic: The Gathering veteran. I've been playing and following the game at a competitive-level since the year 2000 and so I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've literally poured tens of thousands of hours into mastering this game. While some Mages love Legacy and others can't live without EDH for as long as I've slung spells I've been a multiplayer Magic fanatic. Be it Constructed, Cube or EDH I've played every major multiplayer format to the ground while approaching every aspect (from deck-building to strategy) from a competitive mindset. As you've undoubtedly surmised by now the purpose of this guide is to expedite your transition from Magic duels (i.e. 1v1 games) to the substantially different world of multiplayer. It's an unquestionably difficult passage for players of all skill-levels to make and I'm hoping that my expertise and guidance will ultimately arm you with the knowledge that you'll need in order to thrive. Moreover, I recognize that Magic isn't played in a vacuum and that real-world players have real-world budgets. Unlike similar guides I won't blindly assume that you'll be able to drop thousands of dollars on a casual hobby without batting an eye. That isn't to say that I'll compromise my competitive nature by pushing sub-optimal and/or weak cards upon you but rather that the focus of this guide will be on affordable (yet competitive) staples that will still allow you to prosper in any multiplayer sphere.
2. Strongest Creatures and Spells
Think of this section as your "cheat sheet" as it should more-or-less obsolete your need to scour across search engines for hours and/or prod random Internet strangers for card ideas. It exists solely to highlight and explain the most blatantly powerful creatures and spells that you should be looking to field whenever possible. If you ever find yourself stumped about what to play and/or how to flesh out your curves then this should give you a solid snapshot of your strongest options. By no means am I implying that these are your only possible choices as there's tens of thousands of unique Magic cards and many of them are quite formidable. These are merely the ones that I find myself fielding more often than not as they tend to over-perform even in situations where I have absolutely no clue what anyone else will be playing. Note that I use the term "strongest cards" loosely in that sense so please take it with a grain of salt. There are thousands of cards that can be contextually powerful but these are the ones that are heavy favorites to win games for you in general.
Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake
Faithless Looting, Tormenting Voice
Vandalblast
Mizzium Mortars
Pyroclasm, Whipflare
Taurean Mauler
Dualcaster Mage
Anger of the Gods, Slagstorm
Repercussion
Chaos Warp
Breath of Darigaaz (think of it as Red's Languish, you don't normally cast it for 2 CMC)
Ruination
Fiery Confluence
Mizzix's Mastery
Flameshadow Conjuring
Outpost Siege
Keldon Firebombers
Pyromancer's Goggles
Mana Geyser
Wildfire, Jokulhaups, Destructive Force, Obliterate
Mob Rule, Molten Primordial, Insurrection
Warstorm Surge
Inferno Titan
Vicious Shadows
Blasphemous Act
Gamble
Burning Wish
Blood Moon
Wheel of Fortune
Imperial Recruiter
Sneak Attack
Stranglehold
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Past in Flames
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 CMC
Goblin Welder: Immensely powerful form of recursion for Artifact-based strategies. Best paired with looting effects and powerful Artifacts.
Dragonmaster Outcast: Left unchecked she can conceivably win games on her own which is a feat that few other 1 drops can boast.
2 CMC
Generator Servant: Adequate stats + powerful form of ramp + Haste enabler for key finishers such as Scourge of the Throne, Inferno Titan and Balefire Dragon.
Humble Defector: Given enough cheap mass removal (Anger of the Gods, Slagstorm) he's a draw 2 for 2 and even if you're forced to pass him around it's significantly less devastating in a MP setting.
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser: Marginal value engine for creature/token-based shells.
Eidolon of the Great Revel: Formidable burn engine.
Satyr Firedancer: Converts burn into removal which can dramatically increase the power-level of cards such as Price of Progress, Flame Rift and Fiery Confluence.
Mogg War Marshal: 3 bodies for 2 mana is absurd value when your deck has cards such as Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge.
Dragon Whisperer, Kargan Dragonlord: Marginal threats that scale well into the lategame. Relevant for aggressive metas where curving-out with deterrents is required.
Veteran Brawlers: The biggest, dumbest blocker of them all. Survives most early-game mass removal such as Anger of the Gods. Only relevant for extremely aggressive metas.
3 CMC
Dualcaster Mage: Forks are amazing in multiplayer given their ability to copy the best spells played by anyone. Combos with Twinflame/Heat Shimmer to win the game outright and synergizes with any number of effects that abuse ETB triggers.
Magus of the Moon: Oppressive nonbasic land hoser.
Taurean Mauler: Dominant, scaling threat.
Prophetic Flamespeaker: If a single player is open and/or you can remove their blockers this somewhat allows you to draw 3 cards per turn (although 2 cards is a much more realistic way to think about it).
Feldon of the Third Path: Given enough ETB triggers (Flametongue Kavu, Zealous Conscripts, Inferno Titan, Molten Primordial, etc.) Feldon is a solid mid-to-lategame value engine.
Viashino Heretic: Repeatable Artifact removal + burn on a stick.
Goblin Matron, Imperial Recruiter: Important but niche tutors.
Goblin Sharpshooter: The best pinger in the game by far. Pair with Deathtouch for best effect.
Chandra's Spitfire: Combos with cards like Earthquake to instantly kill players off (usually).
Squee, Goblin Nabob: Has immense synergy with any discard outlet and/or Equipment such as Bonehoard in decks full of mass removal.
War Elemental: Grows very large, very quickly in the presence of cards such as Flamebreak and Pyrohemia.
Magus of the Wheel: A third Wheel of Fortune for combo and/or fast mana decks that can abuse the body (for example if the deck has recursion or a card like Sun Titan).
Adamaro, First to Desire, Tuktuk the Explorer: Good blockers, decent beaters, they get the job done in aggressive metas that call for a strong + early board presence.
4 CMC
Purphoros, God of the Forge: One of the strongest and most resilient multiplayer finishers in the entire game. Decimates life totals when paired with token producers and/or large amount of regular creatures.
Madcap Experiment: Ostensibly a 4 mana Platinum Emperion for decks that don't field any other artifacts. The damage prevention is relevant for things like Earthquake, Flame Rift, Manabarbs, etc.
Ogre Battledriver: Red has a plethora of token generating effects and granting everything Haste and +2/+0 is nutty strong in basically any creature-based deck. Think Warchief Giant, Warstorm Surge and Balefire Dragon.
Bonehoard: Red pairs naturally well with Mortivores given its unlimited access to oppressive forms of mass removal.
Anger: One of the best Haste enablers in the entire game, especially for graveyard-based decks that include cards such as Faithless Looting.
Krenko, Mob Boss: As much as I'm trying to keep this list as generic as possible Krenko is bonkers overpowered and any deck with even a handful of Goblins should strongly consider running him.
Pia and Kiran Nalaar: Good value + decent form of removal. A mini-Siege-Gang Commander is always solid.
Flametongue Kavu: A tale (or is it tongue?) as old a time, FTK is is a decent body + solid form of removal that pairs well with Red's temporary recursion/doubling effects such as Flameshadow Conjuring and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
Ashcloud Phoenix, Hound of Griselbrand, Rukh Egg: Sticky threats that dissuade aggression and that survive your own mass removal.
Ember Swallower, Obsidian Fireheart, Rakka Mar, Cyclops Gladiator, Fumiko the Lowblood: Marginal brutes for players looking to flesh out their curves.
5 CMC
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: Pairs with any ETB effect to generate crazy value and even goes infinite with cards like Zealous Conscripts.
Keldon Firebombers: Back-breaking mass land destruction threat.
Warchief Giant: Stupidly powerful threat when combo'd with sacrifice outlets, creature doublers, recursion, Sneak Attack, Mimic Vat and a host of other cards as well.
Urabrask the Hidden: Much like Anger this is an extremely powerful form of mass Haste that doubles as relevant disruption.
Siege-Gang Commander: Tons of bodies + decent form of removal + good synergy with effects that abuse ETB triggers.
Caldera Hellion: 5 mana for a "4/4" that Slagstorms is perfectly playable.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers: 5 mana for a 4/4 that rebuys Anger of the Gods is... I'm having deja vu.
Zealous Conscripts: In addition to the obvious Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo this thing also steals Planeswalkers (which you can then ultimate!), nabs blockers so that you can clobber someone, or feeds scary threats to your sac outlets.
Heartless Hidetsugu: More of an EDH card than anything else HH combos amazingly well with lifelink while neutering the effectiveness of lifegain.
Stuffy Doll: Durable, defense blocker who combos well with Red's global burn (such as Blasphemous Act) by converting it into reach.
Stormbreath Dragon, Thundermaw Hellkite: Big, dumb fliers with decent global nukes.
Malignus, Scourge of Geier Reach: Knucklehead beaters if you're desperate for playables.
6+ CMC
Oblivion Sower: Stellar value threat that plays especially well in mass denial strategies.
Inferno Titan: Huge body + fantastic triggered abilities + relevant activated ability = amazing card overall.
Combustible Gearhulk: Value threat who pairs well with artifact recursion, Mimic Vat, Sneak Attack, Flameshadow Conjuring, etc.
Scourge of the Throne: Game-ending threat that pairs well with haste enablers.
Godo, Bandit Warlord: Fetches Batterskull, puts it into play and even grants it multiple attack phases since the Equipment itself (and/or the creature that dawns it) has Vigilance.
Hostility: Trippling the effectiveness of burn spells such as Earthquake, Price of Progress, Fiery Confluence, etc. typically ends games on the spot.
Hellkite Tyrant: Mass, permanent Artifact theft is insanely powerful in formats such as EDH.
Sandstone Oracle: Generic value threat that combos well with recursion such as Goblin Welder, Mimic Vat, Daretti, Scrap Savant and Scrap Mastery.
Molten Primordial: "Target player loses the game" is probably the easiest way to think about this card. Combos well with sac outlets and things that abuse ETB triggers.
Balefire Dragon: The trigger may as well read "target player loses the game" and so granting this thing Haste and/or combing it with cards like Sneak Attack can totally destroy people.
Magmatic Force: This is the best Force by a fair margin. Kills players off extremely quickly when left unchecked.
Greater Gargadon: Solid finisher for Wildfire/Destructive Force/Devastation style decks that combos well with mass theft such as Mob Rule, Molten Primordial and Insurrection
X Spells
Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake: Oppressive mass removal spells that scale linearly against any number of players, any number of threats and with any amount of mana.
Subterranean Tremors: Earthquake variant which doesn't cause blowback and that functions as Vandalblast past a certain point. Excels in Artifactless ramp decks, specifically one fielding either 12-Post or UrzaTron.
Sudden Demise: One of the strongest "spot removal" spells in the game. Plague Winding 1-2 opponents is an enormous swing that typically puts you in a prime position to win.
Fault Line, Starstorm, Magmaquake, Molten Disaster: Playable-but-unexciting Earthquake variants. The extra mana matters significantly more than you think.
Comet Storm: Potent finisher for your Cloudpost/Braid of Fire/Mana Geyser/Caged Sun decks.
Commune with Lava: Reasonable draw spell for big mana strategies. It's not "draw X cards" or anything but it usually nets around 4 total.
1 CMC
Faithless Looting: Cheap rummage spell that digs for key combo pieces, fuels your graveyard-based synergies and reduces the risk of manascrew/flood.
Vandalblast: The best Artifact removal spell. Shattering Spree works well too but the combination of Shatter and Shatterstorm can't be beat.
Lightning Bolt: Red's strongest spot removal spell. While it's at its worst in multiplayer if you're desperate for cheap, instant-speed interaction then it gets the job done.
Gamble: The only unconditional Red tutor. Best used to fetch recursive cards such as Life from the Loam, Squee, Goblin Nabob and Past in Flames that still work from your graveyard.
Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast: Red's most competitive answers to Blue permission spells.
2 CMC
Burning Wish: Souped-up Demonic Tutor of sorts. It's incredibly overpowered and playable in any multiplayer Red deck given that it literally fetches any Sorcery from your collection.
Mizzium Mortars: The multiplayer version of Lightning Bolt. Still decent early, completely insane later on. Where others play 4 Bolts I play 4 Mortars and believe me when I say that I've never looked back.
Pyroclasm, Whipflare: Stellar forms of mass removal that neuter the effectiveness of cheap mana dorks and utility threats.
Fork, Reverberate: People are generally going to be packing powerful spells and so it's typically trivial to get insane value out of these Fork effects.
Tormenting Voice, Wild Guess, Cathartic Reunion: Playable-but-unexciting forms of card selection. I don't advocate fielding them unless your deck actively wants to fill its graveyard (Goblin Welder, Mizzix's Mastery, Daretti, Scrap Savant, etc).
Goblin Bombardment: Durable + free sac outlet for cards like Mob Rule and Insurrection.
3 CMC
Repercussion: Likely the single best 1 card Red finisher in the game. Converting all of your mass removal into additional burn is ridiculously oppressive in softer metas.
Chaos Warp: The only all-purpose removal spell in Red. Yes, it sucks. Yes, you'll have to play it anyways.
Anger of the Gods, Slagstorm, Flamebreak: 3 mana for 3 global damage is an incredible rate that's playable even at the highest levels of competition.
Blood Moon: Tremendously powerful nonbasic land hoser.
Wheel of Fortune: Eternal staple that has limitless applications in degenerate combo decks. The key is to try and win the game before your opponents get to use their 7 cards as well.
4 CMC
Sneak Attack: 1 mana Hasted Inferno Titans, Molten Primordials, Balefire Dragons, Dragon Mages, Worldspine Wurms, etc. is exactly as stupid as it sounds.
Outpost Siege: Red's one and only legitimately powerful card advantage engine. 2 cards a turn is still 2 cards a turn even if it's somewhat conditional.
Past in Flames, Mizzix's Mastery: Extremely degenerate forms of recursion for spell-based decks.
Flameshadow Conjuring: Most playable multiplayer threats provide immediate value which makes these types of value engines absolutely bonkers.
Fiery Confluence: All 3 modes are relevant making it a safer hedge than a card like Shatterstorm which can sometimes be useless. A 4 mana Slagstorm is still perfectly playable after all.
Ruination: My favorite reason to sleeve 20+ Mountains up.
Pyrohemia: Oppressive form of persistent mass removal that can completely trvialize creature-based strategies. Pairs well with durable threats such as Darksteel Myr and Stuffy Doll.
Stranglehold: Hoses Fetchlands moreso than anything else but hitting Time Walks and tutors is usually relevant to some extent.
Wild Ricochet: Double the mana, double the fun.
Breath of Darigaaz: The only 4-on-4 Red global nuke. It's typically going to be weaker than a card like Earthquake and the base card is horrifically bad so avoid fielding it unless the 4 toughness threshold is critical.
Daretti, Scrap Savant: Powerful rummage engine that fuels recursion, recurs fatties and combos well with mass removal.
Koth of the Hammer: Formidable ramp engine that quick builds towards a game-winning ult. Pairs well with cheap board clears that can protect him while he pluses.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Outpost Siege + Koth of the Hammer hybrid that draws cards, burns, ramps, removes threats and quickly builds towards a game-winning ult.
5 CMC
Pyromancer's Goggles: Double the damage of burn spells, neutralizes Counterspells, ramps, abuses additional costs since you're not required to pay them on copied spells, etc.
Mana Geyser: Even if you're not going infinite with Reiterate go nuts jamming Comet Storms or Insurrections my friends.
Dictate of the Twin Gods: A sneaky end of turn Dictate call allow you to end games on the spot as you untap into a Repercussion + Blasphemous Act or some equally absurd nonsense.
Gratuitous Violence: When "good" isn't "good enough" to get the job done you can always go over-the-top.
Chandra's Ignition: In case you needed additional incentive to field cards like Taurean Mauler, Chandra's Spitfire, War Elemental and Malignus here you go!
6+ CMC
Jokulhaups, Wildfire, Destructive Force, Devastation, Obliterate: Any combination of Planeswalkers, sticky threats and/or Enchantment-based finishers chained into one of these is going to cause people fits.
Mob Rule: Hulk smash! For best results pair with sac outlets such as Goblin Bombardment and/or Greater Gargadon.
Chandra, Flamecaller: Non-interactive finisher that clears the board and/or draws cards as desired.
Warstorm Surge: Amazing form of removal/reach for creature-based shells.
Vicious Shadows: As with Repercussion this converts mass removal into an actual win condition.
Insurrection: The ultimate breaker of board-stalls. This effect is utterly oppressive in creature-heavy metagames light on mass removal.
Blasphemous Act: The Red Wrath of God. Loves Repercussion and threats such as Boros Reckoner and/or Stuffy Doll.
Decree of Annihilation: Uncounterable, cantripping Armageddon and/or oppressive mass removal spell for decks with threats such as Greater Gargadon.
Insolent Neonate: Key Dredge/Reanimator enabler.
Varchild's War-Riders: Combos with Forbidden Orchard and/or Humble Defector in Repercussion + Chain Reaction and/or Blasphemous Act decks.
Goblin Sharpshooter: Combos with Deathtouch to clear the field.
Grinning Ignus: Combos with cost reduction effects (Urza's Incubator) in order to to generate infinite Storm and/or mana.
Battered Golem: Combos with Splinter Twin
Dualcaster Mage: Combos with Twinflame/Heat Shimmer.
Lightning Crafter: Combos with any free sac outlet Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. All 3 are easy to fetch using creatures such as Goblin Recruiter, Goblin Matron, Goblin Ringleader, etc.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: Combos with any creature untapper.
Worldgorger Dragon: Combos with Animate Dead to generate infinite mana at which point you can Animate Dead a mana sink in order to win the game.
Bearer of the Heavens: Obliterate that you can Reanimate early on.
Molten Vortex, Seismic Assault: Combos with Life from the Loam.
Burning Inquiry: Combos with Waste Not style cards.
Punishing Fire: Combos with Grove of the Burnwillows for repeatable removal/burn.
Twinflame, Heat Shimmer: Combo with Dualcaster Mage.
Molten Psyche: Combos with Draw 7s.
Reiterate: Combos with Mana Geyser and any burn spell.
Madcap Experiment: Combos with Platinum Emperion.
Past in Flames: Absurd finisher for Storm-based Combo decks filled with rituals and cantips.
Mizzix's Mastery: Combos with game-ending spells such as Enter the Infinite and/or acts as nother insane finisher for Storm decks.
Splinter Twin: As seen with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker it combos with creature untappers such as Zealous Conscripts.
Sneak Attack, Through the Breach: Combos with bombs such as Inferno Titan, Balefire Dragon, Worldspine Wurm and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
Confusion in the Ranks: Combos with Crown of Flames, Glitterfang and Norin the Wary style threats.
Warp World: Combos with cards such as Tunnel Ignus and Anarchist.
Dragonstorm: Combos with rituals and Dragons.
Daretti, Scrap Savant: Degenerate value engine who combos with Goblin Welder, looting effects, big, powerful Artifacts and recursion spells in order to seize control of the game. He also pairs extremely well with mass land destruction as he's capable of digging into and recurring game-winning bombs once the dust has settled. Moreover, he naturally supports degenerate Stax strategies seeking to trivialize the actions of your adversaries. Otherwise he empowers Anger, supports reanimation, fuels Dredgers, bins recursive threats, sacs Ugin's Nexus and/or combos with Squee, Goblin Nabob to create one Hell of a draw engine. He has endless competitive applications across every major multiplayer format and I highly recommend acquiring some.
Chandra, Flamecaller: One of the keys to building successful Control and/or Wildfire decks is to acquire durable threats that both A) Survive your mass removal and B) Go on to win the game after they resolve. Chandra, Flamecaller is unique in the sense that she's both durable win condition and a card that immediately effects the board. She may not kill as quickly as a card like Rite of the Raging Storm but, again, unlike other resilient finishers she has a significant and immediate impact on the game. With any luck you should be able to curve her into a Earthquake/Anger of the Gods/Chain Reaction/Devastation/Destruction Force/Obliterate/Blasphemous Act/etc. at which point you can lean on any of her modes to slowly-but-surely seize control of the game. 6 damage a turn isn't an insane clock by any stretch of the imagination but it gets the job done eventually and even as a "Phyrexian Arena" she still puts people on a virtual clock. After all, your multiplayer decks are typically going to be comprised of ramp, bombs and mass removal and so extra card draw is almost always relevant. Nightmare scenario she's a Slice and Dice and/or loot spell which clearly isn't ideal but it could be worse all things considered. Digging into that Destructive Force (or whatever) can be a life-or-death ordeal and whereas a card like Rite of the Raging Storm does actual nothing when you're behind she can at least try and dig you into a mass removal spell for the following turn. All-in-all this makes her a fantastic form of mass removal, a study finisher and a passable draw engine for Midrange/Control/Mana Denial strategies.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Her +1 draw/Sizzle is a reasonable form of card advantage/burn that puts a relevant clock on players in formats such as 60-card Constructed and 2HG. I've been happily playing Outpost Siege for quite some time now and greatly appreciate having the opportunity to jam extra cards on a routine basis when playing base-Red archetypes. Obviously she would have been significantly better if they'd allowed you to "play" the card as opposed to "cast"ing it (so that you could play lands) but beggars can't afford to be choosers now can we? Otherwise her +1 "Dark Ritual" is extremely powerful and arguably her most degenerate mode. It allows you to treat her as a 2 drop in the later stages of the game which is perfect for setting up oppressive sequences such as Chandra + Wildfire on the same turn. Merely untapping with 6-7 mana is also a great place to be on turns 4-5 since there's any number of powerful spells that you can jam for that amount of mana. While her -3 is lackluster it's still a reasonable form of removal that can pick-off key threats in a pinch. Otherwise her ultimate is a relatively reliable and non-interactive win condition that enables you to burn people out and/or fight for the board with relative ease. It's neither the quickest nor the cleanest way to close games out (especially in formats such as EDH) but it does get there eventually which is all that matters.
Koth of the Hammer: Koth is a powerful ramp engine that quickly builds towards a game-winning ultimate. While his +1 is trivial in most MP formats his ult only costs 5 loyalty which isn't especially difficult to reach. His -2 is his most competitive mode by far given that it enables you to untap and slam 10 drops if desired. Alternatively you can active his -2 immediately in order to jam another 4 drop which can provide you with a huge tempo boost. On that note try to pair him with cheap forms of mass removal whenever possible since something like Koth, -2, Earthquake can be an extremely potent sequence. Otherwise his ult is awesome in the context of fair, grindy, value-based metagames since it literally converts 100% of your excess mana into removal/reach. Red is also well-equipped to protect Koth with its plethora of mass removal and it's entirely possible to go "turn 5 Koth + Blasphemous Act, turn 6 mass removal, turn 7 ult."
Myriad Landscape: Free 2-for-1 that still supports engines such as Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Koth of the Hammer.
Dormant Volcano, Bouncelands: Free 2-for-1s that bolster your midgame mana production.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle: Lategame source of removal and a passable alternate win condition. The land itself isn't Legendary so feel free to run the full 4.
12-Post: Cloudpost, Glimmerpost, Vesuva and/or Thespian's Stage dramatically improve your mid and lategame mana production capabilities.
Tron (Urza's Mine, Urza's Tower, Urza's Power Plant): Same idea as 12-Post except the overall package is slightly weaker.
Flamekin Village, Hanweir Battlements: Stellar Haste enablers for creatures such as Goblin Welder, Metalworker, Inferno Titan, Scourge of the Throne, etc.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Oppressive form of ramp for permanent-based archetypes.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Imperative in permission-heavy metas in order to resolve key spells such as Mizzix's Mastery, Past in Flames and Insurrection.
Shivan Gorge: A free, colorless, untargeted source of reach.
Kher Keep: Steady source of chump blockers/bodies which are always relevant for cards like Kessig Wolf Run, Pyrohemia and Bonehoard.
Consult this thread for all your multicolored needs. It lists the most powerful gold cards that the various color combos have to offer.
3. Strengths and Weaknesses
Now that we've plowed through the most important information I'd like to take a bit of time to discuss some "fun to know" but not "need to know" information. I'll start by covering the primary strengths and weaknesses of the color in order to give you a better understanding of how it fits into the global multiplayer sphere as a whole. If you've read through the bulk of the guide up to this point and/or are already a veteran to the game then nothing that I'll cover in this section should come as a big surprise to you. While the magnitude of these strengths and weaknesses will fluctuate as new cards are printed (many of the latter may even be obsoleted over time) it should still provide you with a relatively accurate description of how the color fares in the global multiplayer environment.
Mass Creature Removal
Red's a removal color to its very core and that's abundantly clear when you start looking at cards such as Earthquake, Mizzium Mortars, Anger of the Gods, Pyrohemia and Blasphemous Act. As Magic continues to shift its focus towards creatures and away from spells these degenerate forms of mass removal become that much more important to the multiplayer metagame as a whole. This is because mass removal keeps players honest by forcing them to build decks and strategies that can cope with serious amounts of interaction and meddling. Rather than allowing people to goldfish as they please mass removal slows games down to a reasonable pace by ensuring that key threats never remain unanswered for any serious length of time.
Mass Land Destruction
Red's greatest strength likely lies in its ability to deploy mass land destruction in the form of cards such as Crack the Earth, Tremble, Impending Disaster, Tectonic Break, Thoughts of Ruin, Epicenter, Jokulhaups, Wildfire, Destructive Force, Devastation and Obliterate in quantities that surpass the other colors combined. When paired with large and/or resilient threats, Planeswalkers, durable finishers and/or niche beaters this can lead to completely uninteractive games in which your opponents are literally unable to resolve spells for the vast majority of the match.
Uninteractive Win Conditions
Red is undoubtedly one of the best color at pulling wins out of nowhere. For starters it has access to mass theft such as Mob Rule and Insurrection that demolish board-stalls in ways that you can't possibly imagine. If you ever find yourself stuck in games in which everyone is turtling behind impassable walls of blockers then these are the cards for you. There's also burn engines such as Sulfuric Vortex, Purphoros, God of the Forge and Warstorm Surge which can easily win games even if you never send a single creature into the Red Zone. Moreover, Red is capable of quickly deploying pseudo-combo kills such as Repercussion/Vicious Shadows + Blasphemous Act (possibly preceded by an EOT Dictate of the Twin Gods). These sequences and more can easily end multiplayer games in a single turn from an empty board and that's not a feat that many other colors can boast. Otherwise Red has plenty of actual combo kills such as Splinter Twin/Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts, a Heat Shimmered Dualcaster Mage, Mizzix's Mastery on Enter the Infinite into Laboratory Maniac, rituals + draw spells + value engines + Past in Flames/Mizzix's Mastery into Tendrils of Agony, Mana Geyser into Comet Storm/Tooth and Nail/Primal Surge and a host of other sequences that will literally win the game against any number of adversaries. It's equally important to stress that Red is relatively capable of assembling said combos/sequences by utilizing powerful loot spells and draw 7s to dig for whatever it needs to close games out.
Hosers
As if mass land destruction wasn't fun enough Red has access to some of the most busted hosers in the game. Cards like Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon and Ruination can maim/cripple/kill players outright and good old Stranglehold does a number on Fetchlands and tutors. While these kinds of cards won't demolish tables in every multiplayer metagame I think we can all envision the kinds of decks that couldn't possibly beat these kinds of cards, especially at extremely high levels of competitive play. The most obnoxious aspect of these cards is their cost and durability since Enchantments tend to be relatively difficult to remove and at 3-4 mana they hit way too hard, way too fast.
Graveyard Enablers
Cards such as Faithless Looting, Insolent Neonate, Tormenting Voice, Goblin Lore and Daretti, Scrap Savant are extremely fast and reliable graveyard enablers which can support any number of degenerate gameplans. From Animate Dead to Anger to Past in Flames to Mizzix's Mastery to Demigod of Revenge to Golgari Grave-Troll to Treasure Cruise there's countless reasons to fill it up early on. It's also worth noting that Red is moderately capable of abusing its own graveyard (via cards such as Goblin Welder, Trash for Treasure, Daretti, Scrap Savant and Scrap Mastery) insofar as it's manipulating Artifacts.
Fast Mana
Black may be the original lord of the ritual but in recent years the paradigm has shifted towards Red being sole possessor. Spells such as Rite of Flame, Seething Song, Simian Spirit Guide, Treasonous Ogre (EDH staple) and Mana Geyser have long since been employed by unfair/degenerate combo decks to secure match wins long before they'd otherwise be able to. This speed carries a significant opportunity cost in that rituals are inherently do-nothing spells that cause card disadvantage but at the same time your goal is ultimately to win the game of Magic as opposed to amassing as much value as possible. Rituals have limited applications in fair decks as a result but make no mistake that there's still plenty of incentive to jump the curve by 2 or even 5+ turns. After all, some cards/effects are so instrumental to one's success that you'll gladly exchange multiple cards in order to gain access to them even if it means introducing an element of inconsistency to your lists.
Artifact Removal
From Vandalblast to Shattering Spree to Shatterstorm to Fiery Confluence to Ingot Chewer Red is the king of Artifact removal. This is especially relevant for big mana formats such as EDH and Cube but realistically speaking it's significant for almost every multiplayer scene. There's plenty of horrifically imbalanced Artifacts circulating out there and the ability to field efficient answers to them (without having to resort to global measures) is a legitimate reason to consider playing the color. After all, most multiplayer formats are dominated by colorless acceleration and powerful equipment and having access to a critical mass of redundant answers to them can be extremely important.
Forks
Red is the only color with access to a critical mass of cheap + powerful Fork effects in Reverberate, Reiterate, Dualcaster Mage and Wild Ricochet. In the same way that Clones will always be amazing in multiplayer due to their ability to copy the best creature that anyone plays Fork effects such as Dualcaster Mage also benefit immensely from the increased number of players. People are going to want cards like Exsanguinate, See the Unwritten, Insurrection, Clone Legion and Storm Herd to close games out and the ability to copy them 1-2 times for 2-4 mana is a ridiculous return on your investment. These cards are criminally underplayed and undervalued given their cost since as it's improbably that you'll ever find yourself unable to generate significant value from them in most multiplayer spheres.
Damage Doublers
This beauty of this strength is that it's actually a combination of extra combat phase enablers and damage doublers rolled into one. Extra combat phase enablers are cards like Aggravated Assault, World at War, Hellkite Charger, Scourge of the Throne and even Fury of the Horde that allow you to convert profitable attacks into ridiculous sums of damage. Damage doublers on the other hand are cards such as Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Gratuitous Violence, Fire Servant, Pyromancer's Googles, Berserkers' Onslaught and Rage Reflection that directly multiply the damage of creatures and/or spells. These effects convert even the most innocuous threats into game-ending bombs and when combined they all-but ensure a swift demise for all who oppose you. This is especially true when cards like Mob Rule and Insurrection are involved at which point there's literally no hope for survival. Either way these effects are sequestered almost entirely to Red's share of the color pie and they're extremely powerful in multiplayer formats where "good" isn't "good enough" to get the job done. There's basically no such thing as a "win more" finisher when you're facing 3+ adversaries making these ideal cards to close multiplayer games out.
Haste Enablers
Lastly Red has some of the best haste enablers in the entire game. From Flamekin Village to Generator Servant to Fervor/Hammer of Purphoros to Anger to Ogre Battledriver to Urabrask the Hidden Red is extremely capable of hitting the Red Zone with creatures such as Flamerush Rider, Inferno Titan, Scourge of the Throne, Hellkite Tyrant and Balefire Dragon faster than other players may be anticipating. It also massively boosts the effectiveness of tappers such as Goblin Welder, Metalworker and Krenko, Mob Boss which are otherwise frequently gunned-down before you're able to untap with them. This unique ability to crank the speed dial from 0 to 11 is more-or-less isolated in Red which just goes to show you how unique and powerful this misunderstood color can actually be. When all's said and done if that's still not good enough to ignite your inner flame and convince you to start playing with more Red decks at least I can say that I gave it my best efforts.
Weak Creature Base
The list of truly competitive multiplayer Red creatures is something like Goblin Welder, Imperial Recruiter, Dualcaster Mage, Magus of the Moon, Purphoros, God of the Forge and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. I'm surely overlooking a few but most everything else we could easily live without. While it certainly has a throng of playable creatures that I've highlighted throughout this guide that's not the same thing as having access to game winning bombs that you should feel actively excited to slot into your decks. At the end of the day most of them are marginal compared to their Green/Blue/Black brothers which is by far and away the biggest strike against the color as a whole. After all, creatures tend to be everything in multiplayer and that makes the prospect of fielding base-Red decks incredibly underwhelming. This is why it's generally relegated to a support color that people will splash for in order to gain access to key forms of removal.
Sparse Lifegain and Card Draw
Beyond that Red is almost completely devoid of lifegain and card draw. You can obviously Equip a Basilisk Collar/Loxodom Warhammer on a big beater/global nuker and gain life that way but multi-card combos that merely gain life are hardly exciting. Now, that isn't to say that lifegain is absolutely required in order to compete in a multiplayer environment but at the same time if your opponents are jamming things like Exsanguinate and Gray Merchant of Asphodel then the prospect of racing/burning them out starts to look rather bleak. Otherwise Red has very limited card draw options with the only generically powerful option being Outpost Siege. Even then at 4 CMC it's a touch too slow for the most competitive lists especially given that it'll whiff a nontrivial % of the time when it's initially cast. It's extremely difficult to compete against cards such as Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Greater Good, Syphon Mind, Consecrated Sphinx, Recurring Insight, etc. when you don't have any yourself which, again, makes the prospect of building base-Red decks somewhat less than exciting.
Limited Interaction
While Red's burn suite is adept at removing small threats it struggles immensely to neutralize larger ones (especially early on). This can be problematic in the face of turn 2 Griselbrands or fast Sire of Insanitys which it's typically incapable of interacting with. That is, if one or more players combo-off and/or pressure you with large critters there's very little that it can do about it and that's a rough place to be in a multiplayer setting. Moreover, other than Chaos Warp Red's completely unable remove pesky Enchantments beyond resorting to global forms of mass removal (such as Oblivion Stone) and/or extremely slow, colorless options (such as Unstable Obelisk and Spine of Ish Sah). These are rarely reasonable solutions to the problem and as such Red decks often to struggle to compete against the likes of Mystic Remora, Luminarch Ascension, Survival of the Fittest and Humility early on. This weakness is exacerbated given that Red's Chaos Warps are already being taxed by large, creature-based threats that can't be Lightning Bolted away.
4. Sample Decklists
The purpose of this section will be to provide you with an idea of what completed multiplayer decklists could look like. They're all going to be built with a reasonable budgets in mind (no cards that cost more than $5.00 whenever possible) while adhering to the Legacy banned and restricted list. Don't expect me to go all-out on degenerate combos or extremely unfun mechanics either. I want to showcase reasonably interactive decks that play relatively fun, fair Magic. I'll do my best to highlight the most important interactions and synergies among the various cards which probably means that I won't spend too much time explaining why Mizzium Mortars is in the deck. They'll be good starting points for anyone looking to build similar lists by highlighting some of the most obvious card choices. Finally, please bear in mind that these deck lists will become somewhat outdated and sub-optimal over time. I'll make every effort to update them as frequently as needed but at the end of the day I'm only one man. They'll still be useful learning tools even if they're not always especially relevant.
18x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x Flamekin Village
Creatures (22)
4x Generator Servant
3x Taurean Mauler
2x Dualcaster Mage
1x Feldon of the Third Path
2x Flametongue Kavu
1x Ogre Battledriver
2x Siege-Gang Commander
2x Warchief Giant
4x Inferno Titan
1x Molten Primordial
2x Sudden Demise
4x Fellwar Stone
2x Mizzium Mortars
4x Outpost Siege
1x Warstorm Surge
1x Insurrection
Simple deck comprised of ramp, removal and powerful creatures + spells that scale well in the context of a multiplayer setting. Pay close attention to the Haste enablers such as Flamekin Village and Ogre Battledriver as they dramatically increase the power-level of creatures such as Inferno Titan and Balefire Dragon. Ogre Battledriver and Warchief Giant also pair insanely well with Warstorm Surge which can quickly close games out once it comes online.
21x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
Creatures (20)
4x Generator Servant
2x Taurean Mauler
2x Dualcaster Mage
4x Flametongue Kavu
4x Inferno Titan
1x Sandstone Oracle
1x Magmatic Force
1x Artisan of Kozilek
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1x Comet Storm
2x Worn Powerstone
4x Mana Geyser
4x Volcanic Vision
1x Staff of Nin
1x Disaster Radius
1x Vicious Shadows
1x Insurrection
Big mana deck that abuses Mana Geyser + Volcanic Vision to Plague Wind your opponents while simultaneously jamming enormous threats into play.
24x Mountain
1x Kher Keep
Creatures (19)
4x Humble Defector
4x Boros Reckoner
3x Darksteel Myr
4x Bonehoard
4x Stuffy Doll
4x Sun Droplet
4x Flamebreak
4x Pyrohemia
4x Blasphemous Act
This deck has significantly more mass removal than the one that I just showcased and is far more synergy-orientated. The goal is to clear the board and stick big/durable threats until you can jam a Pyrohemia and ride it to victory. Cards like Kher Keep and Darksteel Myr are fantastic at keeping it around but the deck has plenty of cheap creatures to fuel it if needed. Next there's Boros Reckoner + Stuffy Doll which both combo insanely well with Blasphemous Act. Moreover it employs Kher Keep/Darksteel Myr + Bonehoard as a alternate route to victory since Pyrohemia + Bonehoard is tough for a lot of decks to beat. Otherwise the deck has Sun Droplet for lifegain and Humble Defector for card draw. In case it isn't clear the idea here is that pairing Humble Defector with mass removal essentially removes the drawback and so you'll see me make this pairing a fair amount
24x Mountain
1x Flamekin Village
Creatures (21)
4x Dragon Whisperer
4x Dualcaster Mage
1x Feldon of the Third Path
3x Flametongue Kavu
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Siege-Gang Commander
1x Warchief Giant
1x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
2x Inferno Titan
1x Sandstone Oracle
1x Molten Primordial
4x Mizzium Mortars
4x Twinflame
1x Mimic Vat
2x Ruination
1x Flameshadow Conjuring
1x Gratuitous Violence
1x Warstorm Surge
This is a combination value + combo deck that's perfectly capable of winning games "the fair way" but that also has a combo kill in Twinflame + Dualcaster Mage. Your spells all have inherent value that translates well into a multiplayer setting so unlike similar combo decks you'll never find yourself stuck with useless cards that don't affect the board. Instead of floundering around until you lose you'll always get to interact with your opponents and protect yourself from their advances. This enables you to play Magic as long as needed and you can always turn to your combo kill to clinch games that couldn't otherwise be won. You could obviously make the deck more or less combo focused as desired but this one showcases how it sometimes makes sense to avoid true combo decks that are easy to hate out in favor of something reliable that still has unfair elements to it.
Twinflame combo:
1. Cast Twinflame targeting any creature you control.
2. Flash in Dualcaster Mage with the spell still on the stack.
3. ETB trigger targeting Twinflame.
4. Allow trigger to resolve, copy is put on stack. New targets are allowed for copy thus Dualcaster Mage may be targeted.
5. Repeat Ad Infinitum.
24x Mountain
Creatures (20)
4x Generator Servant
4x Dualcaster Mage
4x Battered Golem
1x Anger
4x Zealous Conscripts
3x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4x Faithless Looting
4x Tormenting Voice
4x Twinflame
4x Splinter Twin
This a pure combo deck that employs a ton of looting spells in order to assemble TwinflameHeat Shimmer + Dualcaster Mage, Splinter Twin + Battered Golem/Zealous Conscripts and/or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts all of which win the game on the spot. Otherwise the deck has a handful of rituals and an Angers to pitch to your loot spells. Haste is very relevant for this deck which is why Generator Servant is the ramp spell of choice. The fact that it's a blocker certainly helps but it's moreso than it enables you to curve Battered Golem into Splinter Twin in order to win immediately. It's also worth noting Mana Geyser tends to shine in these kinds of decks because it can easily power you to ~10 mana on turn 5 which is obviously ideal for 2 card combos such as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts so feel free to test that over Generator Servant.
Twinflame/Heat Shimmer combo:
1. Cast Twinflame targeting any creature you control.
2. Flash in Dualcaster Mage with the spell still on the stack.
3. ETB trigger targeting Twinflame.
4. Allow trigger to resolve, copy is put on stack. New targets are allowed for copy thus Dualcaster Mage may be targeted.
5. Repeat Ad Infinitum.
14x Mountain
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
2x Thespian's Stage
Creatures (18)
4x Veteran Brawlers
4x Taurean Mauler
4x Inferno Titan
2x Myr Battlesphere
2x Sandstone Oracle
1x Artisan of Kozilek
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
4x Earthquake
4x Faithless Looting
4x Expedition Map
2x Commune with Lava
2x Comet Storm
2x Outpost Siege
This is a generic example of a Red Cloudpost deck. It uses cards like Faithless Looting, Expedition Map, Commune with Lava and Outpost Siege to amass Cloudposts before firing off of a barrage of X spell finishers and gargantuan fatties. It's worth highlighting that Commune With Lava is at its best in these types of shells because even small ones are still useful since the only cards that you care about hitting are Posts. Even if you only get 1-2 cards out of it as long as one is a Post then that's absolutely fine. Otherwise the deck fields strong blockers and a touch of mass removal to ensure that it doesn't get gibed-out early on. Yes, Veteran Brawlers is literally just there to act as a blocker since you'll probably want to avoid taking too much damage early on. That being said feel free to cut/shave those kinds of cards if your meta isn't very creature-based.
21x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
Creatures (12)
4x Taurean Mauler
1x Squee, Goblin Nabob
4x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
3x Inferno Titan
4x Wild Guess
4x Tormenting Voice
1x Reverberate
1x Increasing Vengeance
1x Recoup
4x Slagstorm
1x Browbeat
1x Heat Shimmer
1x Chaos Warp
3x Pyromancer's Goggles
2x Mob Rule
This is a combination Pyromancer's Goggles + Goblin Dark-Dwellers deck that highlight the interaction between the aforementioned Goggles and loot spells such as Tormenting Voice. Since you don't have to pay additional costs for copied spells Goggles + Voice/Guess is basically "2 mana draw 3 discard 1" which gives the deck an insane lategame card-advantage engine. Noe that this doesn't work with the Dark-Dwellers and you'll still have to discard a card if you elect to cast one of those as your free spell. It does work with other "copy" effects such as Reverberate however. Otherwise the deck has a lot of removal and utility spells to copy/recur as needed as well as some decent blockers that will hopefully buy you some time. It's even a fantastic Dualcaster Mage if you're looking for a home for some.
20x Mountain
4x Forbidden Orchard
Creatures (8)
4x Humble Defector
4x Varchild's War-Riders
4x Faithless Looting
4x Earthquake
4x Flamebreak
4x Repercussion
2x Slagstorm
2x Outpost Siege
2x Fiery Confluence
2x Pyromancer's Goggles
4x Blasphemous Act
This deck is designed to showcase the power of Repercussion as well as the synergy between Humble Defector with mass removal. Your ultimate goal is to a stick a Repercussion and ideally to combo it with a card like Blasphemous Act to end the game on the spot. Forbidden Orchard, Humble Defector, Varchild's War-Riders and Hunted Dragon are examples of cards that will allow you to defeat creatureless players and otherwise you can always try to burn them for 20. With 4x Humble Defector and 2x Outpost Siege the list has a ton of card draw and I'll remind you to save your Humble Defectors activations until you're ready to nuke the board to ensure that you're the only person drawing cards off of them. Otherwise for those of you who've never seen Cumulative Upkeep before I'll note that Varchild's War-Riders is actually way cooler than he looks. You can elect to pay for as many of the age counters as you want which means that you can always choose to pay for N-1 (where N is the total number of age counters) and decline to pay for the last one in order to forcefully sacrifice him when you're ready to combo-off. That you you can avoid inadvertently doming yourself for tons of damage. Pretty cool huh? Finally, if you feel as though the deck needs more defense you can always test cards like Sun Droplet or even creatures with protection from Red such as Vulshok Refugee.
18x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x High Market
1x Flamekin Village
Creatures (20)
4x Bazaar Trader
2x Jeering Instigator
4x Enthralling Victor
4x Zealous Conscripts
2x Scourge of the Throne
1x Molten Primordial
4x Greater Gargadon
2x Goblin Bombardment
1x Altar of Dementia
4x Worn Powerstone
1x Helm of Possession
2x Conjurer's Closet
4x Mob Rule
This is a mass theft deck centered around the card Bazaar Trader. He combos with any Act of Treason-like effect to permanently steal creatures as you're able able to target yourself with the activated ability in order to retain it indefinitely. Conjurer's Closet functions similarly in that in enables you to blink creatures that you thieve at EOT in order to permanently retain their services. This is especially brutal when paired with cards like Helm of Possession and should allow to keep the field relatively clear. Otherwise the deck seeks to pair mass theft with damage doublers (such as Gratuitous Violence and Berserkers' Onslaught), extra combat phase enablers (such as Scourge of the Throne) and free sac outlets (such as Goblin Bombardment, Altar of Dementia and Greater Gargadon) in order to demolish its adversaries in one fell swoop.
19x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x Flamekin Village
Creatures (30)
1x Skirk Prospector
4x Mogg War Marshal
4x Goblin Matron
4x Goblin Warchief
2x Gempalm Incinerator
1x Tuktuk the Explorer
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
4x Goblin Ringleader
3x Krenko, Mob Boss
1x Tuktuk Scrapper
1x Lightning Crafter
3x Siege-Gang Commander
1x Ignition Team
1x Shared Animosity
2x Purphoros, God of the Forge
2x Eldrazi Monument
Generic Goblin tribal deck.
20x Mountain
4x Flamekin Village
Creatures (24)
4x Flamekin Harbinger
4x Smokebraider
1x Soulbright Flamekin
4x Taurean Mauler
1x War Elemental
2x Obsidian Fireheart
2x Ember Swallower
2x Malignus
2x Scourge of Geier Reach
1x Ingot Chewer
1x Magmatic Force
2x Sudden Demise
2x Mizzium Mortars
4x Outpost Siege
4x Chandra's Ignition
Example of an Elemental tribal deck. This one showcases the power of scaling threats such as Taurean Mauler and Scourge of Geier Reach by combining them with Soulbright Flamekin and Chandra's Ignition to devastating effect. Flamekin Harbinger allows you to build and play the list toolbox style if desired and Smokebraider gives you access to 4x Sol Ring which is obviously busted. Otherwise the deck has a bit of removal and card draw but it's mostly a fatty deck at heart.
6x Mountain
4x Great Furnace
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
4x Darksteel Citadel
Creatures (19)
4x Goblin Welder
4x Lodestone Golem
4x Kuldotha Forgemaster
2x Scuttling Doom Engine
1x Duplicant
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Sandstone Oracle
1x Myr Battlesphere
1x Blightsteel Colossus
1x Lightning Greaves
4x Basalt Monolith
3x Tangle Wire
1x Sculpted Steel
4x Daretti, Scrap Savant
1x Smokestack
2x Contagion Engine
1x Staff of Nin
1x Spine of Ish Sah
1x Possessed Portal
While there's any number of ways to build Goblin Welder + Daretti, Scrap Savant decks I'm partial to combo-centric ones. This particular iteration pairs Tangle Wire with Contagion Engine (and ideally Daretti) to permanently lock the entire table out of the game. It also features Kuldotha Forgemaster + Blighsteel Colossus and even Darksteel Forge could be added if desired. Early on you're mostly going to be relying on threats such as Lodestone Golem to disrupt people until you can assemble your lock. Alternatively you could employ other combos (Nevinyrral's Disk + Darksteel Forge for example), various Wildfire effects or even simply build a generic value deck that abuses Welders, Darettis and possibly even Trading Posts alongside cards such as Myr Retriever, Solemn Simulacrum, Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere and Sandstone Oracle. There's also synergies such as Drownyard Temple + Smokestack/Possessed Portal which are sweet and if you add Faithless Looting then Squee, Goblin Nabob suddenly becomes an awesome card advantage engine (he combos with Daretti as well obviously).
17x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x Spawning Bed
1x Kher Keep
Creatures (24)
4x Tempt with Vengeance
4x Mogg War Marshal
4x Hordeling Outburst
1x Goblin Matron
2x Ogre Battledriver
3x Purphoros, God of the Forge
2x Bettleback Chief
2x Warchief Giant
2x Siege-Gang Commander
4x Fellwar Stone
1x Goblin Bombardment
4x Outpost Siege
1x Eldrazi Monument
2x Warstorm Surge
This deck is designed to showcase the raw power of cards like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge when they're paired with token producers such as Tempt with Vengeance. The only thing that this particular list cares about is slamming as many tokens into play as it possibly can and converting that into a game win in various ways. General synergies include Ogre Battledriver + Warstorm Surge and Goblin Bombardment + Outpost Siege (Dragons mode). It's worth noting that cards like Firebat Blitz and Mogg Infestation can be added to give the deck more "kick" but since they're inherently weak cards the list will also become less consistent. The deck that I posted is devoid of niche combo cards but if you're looking for some more explosive then you should certainly consider them.
20x Mountain
4x Drownyard Temple
Threats (13)
2x Taurean Mauler
1x Tuktuk the Explorer
1x Adamaro, First to Desire
3x Hound of Griselbrand
2x Rite of the Raging Storm
4x Inferno Titan
4x Fire Diamond
2x Coldsteel Heart
4x Slagstorm
4x Hedron Archive
2x Gilded Lotus
4x Wildfire
3x Destructive Force
Extremely basic Wildfire deck that combos solid ramp with large/durable finishers and Wildfires to seize control of the game from start to finish. An ideal version of this deck would include 4x Coalition Relic over 4x Hedron Archive but the latter is still acceptable so don't worry if you can't afford the former. The deck should still work fine.
19x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x Flamekin Village
Creatures (23)
4x Dragonlord's Servant
4x Taurean Mauler
4x Thunderbreak Regent
4x Scourge of Valkas
2x Scourge of the Throne
1x Hellkite Tyrant
2x Balefire Dragon
2x Utvara Hellkite
4x Earthquake
2x Fire Diamond
4x Dragon Tempest
2x Worn Powerstone
Earthquakes, ramp and Dragons. The deck basically builds itself.
16x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x Flamekin Village
2x Spawning Bed
1x Kher Keep
Creatures (23)
2x Veteran Brawlers
2x Ashling the Pilgrim
3x Prophetic Flamespeaker
3x Goblin Sharpshooter
4x Bloodfire Kavu
1x Ogre Battledriver
1x Anger
2x Heartless Hidetsugu
2x Inferno Titan
2x Balefire Dragon
1x Magmatic Force
4x Basilisk Collar
2x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Arcbond
1x Hammer of Purphoros
2x Chandra's Ignition
2x Gratuitous Violence
The primary goal of this deck is to stick a Basilik Collar on Goblin Sharpshooter to control the board while granting lifelink to creatures such as Heartless Hidetsugu in order to drain obscene amounts of health from your adversaries. It's worth noting that Deathtouch + Double Strike (+ Trample) is a big game and so this is both your primary card draw engine and an extremely threatening form of defense. Otherwise you can always pair Bloodfire Kavu with Basilisk Collar to clear the board and gain a ton of life until you're ready to slam your 6-7 CMC bombs. Finally, this is the perfect home for cards like Arcbond and Chandra's Ignition since it's the creatures that deals the damage as opposed to the spell.
18x Mountain
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Flamekin Village
Creatures (21)
3x Figure of Destiny
1x Gorilla Shaman
4x Dragon Whisperer
2x Kargan Dragonlord
3x Boros Reckoner
1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
2x Ashcloud Phoenix
2x Stormbreath Dragon
2x Inferno Titan
1x Magmatic Force
4x Braid of Fire
2x Comet Storm
2x Mizzium Mortars
4x Outpost Siege
1x Dragon Roost
1x Insurrection
Every card in the deck can abuse Braid of Fire's and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx's insane mana production capablities to great effect.
20x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
Creatures (14)
4x Satyr Firedancer
4x Chandra's Spitfire
4x Guttersnipe
2x Hostility
4x Earthquake
4x Price of Progress
4x Sizzle
2x Flamebreak
4x Fiery Confluence
2x Pyromancer's Goggles
1x Dictate of the Twin Gods
Generic burn deck designed to showcase the raw power of creatures such as Satyr Firedancer, Guttersnipe, Chandra's Spitfire and Hostility which can all convert generic burn spells into game-winning effects.
24x Mountain
Creatures (16)
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
4x Skab-Clan Berserker
3x Boros Reckoner
1x Zo-Zu the Punisher
4x Fanatic of Mogis
4x Ankh of Mishra
4x Price of Progress
2x Pyrostatic Pillar
4x Flamebreak
2x Sulfuric Vortex
4x Manabarbs
Another example of a potential burn deck.
18x Mountain
4x Great Furnace
1x Kher Keep
Creatures (11)
4x Norin the Wary
4x Glitterfang
3x Viashino Sandscout
4x Faithless Looting
4x Mark of Fury
2x Tormenting Voice
2x Vessel of Volatility
4x Slagstorm
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Seething Song
4x Confusion in the Ranks
The goal of this deck is to curve a turn 1 Norin the Wary into a turn 3 Confusion in the Ranks via Seething Song or Vessel of Volatility. From there Norin + Mark of Fury will allow you steal whatever permanents you please. The rest of the deck is dig + removal to buy you time if needed. You'll have to mulligan aggressive for Confusion in order to make this deck work and you can field cards like Serum Powder to bring additional consistency to the list if desired. Simply slot them over rituals as they double as ramp. With respect to Mark of Fury it's important to note that you should always cast it on opposing creatures and never on your own. In particular do not cast it on Norin as he'll be exiled before the mark finishes resolving. The reason why you want to cast it on opposing threats is because the swap will happen regardless and so you may as well play around spot removal as much as possible. Force people to 2-for-1 themselves if they wish to hinder your theft engine.
16x Mountain
4x Myriad Landscape
2x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2x Flamekin Village
Creature (20)
4x Generator Servant
2x Prophetic Flamespeaker
1x Feldon of the Third Path
2x Ogre Battledriver
2x Cyclops Gladiator
1x Anger
2x Flamerush Rider
2x Inferno Titan
2x Scourge of the Throne
2x Balefire Dragon
2x Sudden Demise
2x Mizzium Mortars
4x Worn Powerstone
1x Aggravated Assault
1x Dolmen Gate
1x Mimic Vat
2x Fiery Confluence
1x Flameshadow Conjuring
1x Berserkers' Onslaught
1x Gratuitous Violence
Generic value deck that places a high emphasis on Haste enablers and creatures with powerful "when ~ attacks" abilities.
16x Mountain
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
Creatures (22)
4x Generator Servant
4x Taurean Mauler
4x Inferno Titan
4x Sandstone Oracle
1x Myr Battlesphere
1x Molten Primordial
2x Artisan of Kozilek
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4x Geosurge
4x Mana Geyser
3x Staff of Nin
3x Blasphemous Act
Rather than fielding persistent forms of ramp such as Basalt Monolith this deck is entirely focused on abusing Red's big mana rituals to power stupidly strong threats into play. Unlike other Cloudpost lists this one doesn't allocate any slots towards marginal tutors/loot spells and is much more focused on ramping draw spells into play instead.
5. Functional Lists
Bluntly put it's far too impractical to have me discuss every possible playable in detail. At some point it all starts to read the same given that Magic is filled with redundant effects that accomplish the same goal. This section is more-or-less a raw information dump that will house (what I believe to be) the most important types of cards and the strongest options available to you within those groups. Now, be forewarned that it's not going to showcase "every possible playable" and/or "every possible type of card." I'm going to focus on the ones that will win you multiplayer games on a consistent basis since my end-goal here is to arm you with the tools that you'll need to compete. Anything too niche and/or too marginal isn't going to make the cut so don't be surprised when you see how bare some of the sections are. For what it's worth I find that these kinds of lists are invaluable for singleton formats such as Cube and EDH and highly recommend that you start your search here if you're looking for key role-players.
Chaos Warp
Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake
Fault Line, Molten Disaster, Starstorm, Magmaquake
Pyroclasm, Whipflare
Breath of Darigaaz
Anger of the Gods, Slagstorm, Flamebreak
Volcanic Fallout, Kozilek's Return
Arcbond
Chain Reaction
Pyrohemia
Chandra's Ignition
Incite Rebellion
Disaster Radius
Blasphemous Act
Lightning Bolt
Sudden Demise
Mizzium Mortars
Impact Resonance
Crack the Earth
Tremble
Impending Disaster
Devastating Dreams
Tectonic Break
Thoughts of Ruin
Ruination
Epicenter
Keldon Firebombers
Apocalypse
Wildfire
Jokulhaups
Boom // Bust
Destructive Force
Devastation
Obliterate
Worldfire
Decree of Annihilation
Vandalblast
Shattering Spree
Fiery Confluence
Shatterstorm
Into the Core
Ingot Chewer
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
Humble Defector: Playable in lists full of mass removal that effectively transform it into "2 mana draw 2 cards."
Commune with Lava: Excels in rampy decks, specifically ones that field either 12-Post or UrzaTron.
Prophetic Flamespeaker
Outpost Siege, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Chandra, Pyromaster
Skyline Despot: Combos extremely well with Wildfire effects.
Faithless Looting
Insolent Neonate
Tormenting Voice, Wild Guess
Cathartic Reunion
Control of the Court, Goblin Lore
Daretti, Scrap Savant
Gamble
Burning Wish
Imperial Recruiter
Goblin Matron, Moggcatcher
Wheel of Fate
Wheel of Fortune
Magus of the Wheel
Reforge the Soul
Feldon of the Third Path
Sneak Attack
Flameshadow Conjuring
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Warstorm Surge
Twinflame
Heat Shimmer
Howl of the Horde
Generator Servant
Dragon Tempest
Hammer of Purphoros, Fervor
Anger
Ogre Battledriver
Urabrask the Hidden
Aggravated Assault
World at War
Scourge of the Throne
Hellkite Charger
Fury of the Horde
Furnace of Rath
Dictate of the Twin Gods
Gratuitous Violence
Berserkers' Onslaught
Rage Reflection
Fork
Increasing Vengeance
Reverberate
Pyromancer Ascension
Reiterate
Dualcaster Mage
Wild Ricochet
Pyromancer's Goggles
Recoup
Past in Flames
Mizzix's Mastery
Charmbreaker Devils
Volcanic Vision
Pyromancer Ascension
Repercussion
Furnace of Rath
Dictate of the Twin Gods
Pyromancer's Goggles
Fire Servant
Hostility
Comet Storm: Combos well with Mana Geyser.
Repercussion
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Warstorm Surge
Mob Rule
Vicious Shadows
Insurrection
Mass Mutiny
Mob Rule
Molten Primordial
Insurrection
Bazaar Trader
Goblin Bombardment
Helm of Possession
Conjurer's Closet
Greater Gargadon
Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast
Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon
Gravity Sphere, Chaosphere
From the Ashes: Only relevant in metas devoid of Basic lands.
Ruination
Planar Chaos
Stranglehold
Possibility Storm
Grip of Chaos
Tempt with Vengeance, Firecat Blitz
Mogg War Marshal, Dragon Fodder, Krenko's Command
Hordeling Outburst, Hanweir Garrison
Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Beetleback Chief
Krenko, Mob Boss
Elemental Mastery
Tooth and Claw
Siege-Gang Commander
Mogg Infestation
Warchief Giant
Impact Tremors
Goblin Bombardment
Shared Animosity
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Outpost Siege
Eldrazi Monument
Goblin Welder
Trash for Treasure
Daretti, Scrap Savant
Trading Post
Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient
Scrap Mastery
Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake
Flame Rift
Ankh of Mishra, Zo-Zu the Punisher
Price of Progress
Pyrostatic Pillar, Eidolon of the Great Revel
Thermo-Alchemist, Guttersnipe
Scab-Clan Berserker
Spellshock
Sulfuric Vortex
Sizzle
Flamebreak
Slagstorm
Acidic Soil
Repercussion
Fanatic of Mogis
Fiery Confluence
Manabarbs
Grenzo's Ruffians
Rite of Flame
Desperate Ritual
Pyretic Ritual
Vessel of Volatility
Braid of Fire
Generator Servant
Simian Spirit Guide
Seething Song
Koth of the Hammer
Treasonous Ogre: EDH staple with limited Constructed applications.
Geosurge
Mana Geyser
6. General Strategies
In this section I'll discuss broader subjects that aren't necessarily limited to specific colors. After all, my goal is ultimately to teach you the ins-and-outs of multiplayer deckbuilding from start to finish and that clearly entails a lot more than simply covering your relevant card choices. From deck composition to constructing a manabase to developing an overarching strategy there's countless variables for you to take into consideration and I'll make every effort to cover some of the more important subjects. While I clearly won't be able to hit on everything consider these to "must reads" if you're looking to take your game to the next level.
Early Game (Turns 1-3)
Red isn't known as a color with especially relevant early game plays outside of its looting spells and mass removal. Cards like Earthquake, Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods and more are stellar answers to creature-based tactics will heavily disrupt your opposition by preventing mana dorks and utility threats from seizing control of the game early on. Given that they retain most of their value throughout the game you can typically afford to field them large quantities without having to worry about them becoming marginal draws at some point down the road. Moreover, Red has access to powerful forms of spot removal such as Lightning Bolt, Sudden Demise, Mizzium Mortars and even Chaos Warp which can all be used to interact with key threats early on if needed. Beyond that Red is the second best "looting" color and will frequently open its games with sequences such as Faithless Looting and Tormenting Voice in order to prepare its graveyard for future abuse. These spells can also be used to smooth your draws and reduce the impact of manascrew/flood in order to bring some additional consistency to your strategies. They're clearly not the on the same power-level as Blue cantrips such as Preordain and Brainstorm but they still get the job done in a pinch. While Red lacks inherent forms of ramp there's still plenty of competitive of Artifact-based options and so another option is to simply start your games with powerful accelerators such as Signets, Fellwar Stone and Worn Powerstone. While the 0-1 CMC options tend to be banned in most formats the 2 CMC ones are always good-to-go and since a Fellwar Stone is many orders of magnitude more relevant than a generic 2/2 for 2 in a multiplayser setting this is a compelling option to consider. Lastly I've already covered most of the relevant creature + spell options in an earlier section of my guide but I will caution you that Red's early game is abysmal when it comes to creature-based threats. I recommend that you avoid fielding them as much as possible and stick to loot spells, mass removal and/or Artifact-based ramp as much as humanely possible.
Mid Game (Turns 4-6)
Red starts to pick up the pace in the midgame where it can finally start to deploy its meaningful threats. Things like Repercussion, Ruination, Stranglehold, Outpost Siege, Sneak Attack, Flameshadow Conjuring, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and more all have a dramatic impact on the game relative to what you were accomplishing early on. It's also worth noting that your mass removal is still incredibly relevant at this stage of the game and your most powerful options (such as Blasphemous Act) are probably just starting to come online. The beauty of cards like Earthquake is that they're always going to scale and the disruption aspect of others (such as Anger of the Gods) is relevant at every stage of the game. Otherwise this is about the time when Mizzium Mortars starts to come online as an Overload spell and Sudden Demise is basically going to be a Plague Wind of sorts. Moving on the color is finally starting to gain access to relevant creature-based threats such as Ogre Battledriver, Warchief giant, Inferno Titan and Scourge of the Throne. It even has a host of options that "beat spot removal" (such as Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Siege-Gang Commander and Molten Primordial) ensuring that there's plenty of relevant options for players of all skill-levels and metagames. Otherwise Red's support players are finally starting to kick in and this is when your Reverberates and Mana Geysers are going to start earning their keep. Unfortunately your Fork effects aren't at their best just yet but copying random draw/removal spells is still relevant and since Mana Geyser can allow you to jump you from 5 to ~15 mana in an instant it enables an endless amount of oppressive sequences.
Late Game (Turns 7+)
The later stages of the game is, unfortunately, where things to start to look a little more bleak for Red. The color is devoid of reliable + unconditioned tutors (outside of Burning Wish), doesn't have any degenerate forms of card draw and its complete lack of lifegain means that if you ever fall too far behind early on then you're usually screwed. Also, while it has powerful creatures such as Inferno Titan, Molten Primordial and Magmatic Force most of them are vulnerable against removal and/or struggle to win games on their own. They also typically detract from others as opposed to bolster yourself (see Flametongue Kavu vs Oracle of Mul Daya) which is almost universally the weaker of the two options given the increased number of players. Moreover, the color has limited forms of generic interaction given that outside of Chaos Warp it struggles to neutralize key threats. A couple of Chaos Warps will only take you so far in a multiplayer setting since eventually you'll run out at which point all you can do is hope and pray that your burn-based interaction be enough to keep you afloat. Knowing this Red mages should be looking to end games before they drag on for too long. This can either be accomplished with ritual'd bombs, degenerate combos, mass land destruction and/or even uninteractive finishers among others thing. Alternatively you can always try back-door wins with cards like Dualcaster Mage since copying the best spells from the best decks for 2-3 mana is an easy way to mount a comeback. Many players will be seeking to end games on the spot via cards such as Exsanguinate, Rite of Replication and Tooth and Nail and beating them at their own game is always extremely satisfying. Finally, since your entire arsenal should be more-or-less online you can always turn to your "big gun" finishers to squeak out some wins. Be it Dictate of the Twin Gods, Gratuitous Violence, Warstorm Surge, Mob Rule or even Vicious Shadows there's any number of formidable options at your disposal.
Finale
Red is likely the single worst color at playing the "infinite value" game and realistically speaking it can't compete with what the other colors bring to the table. It's often characterized as an emotional and aggressive color that "burns the candle at both ends" and so if you try to take colors like Blue/Black/Green to the ultra lategame then expect to get snuffed-out rather than smolder. While it's true that Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (or even Shivan Gorge) can be combined with burn (such as Comet Storm) to bring a theoretical form of inevitability to your lists realistically speaking they're not going to win you very many games that you would have otherwise lost. Moving on you can always consider pairing token producers such as Kher Keep with Equipment such as Bonehoard and possibly even supporting the combo with Rogue's Passage. Red is one of the premier mass removal colors after all so it's not as though you need any incentive to be fielding Mortivores in the first place. Otherwise we've covered Outpost Siege numerous times throughout this guide and while the effect is powerful it's still only 1 card per circuit. That is, it's not exactly going to bury the table in card advantage in the same way that cards such as Mystic Remora and/or Consecrated Sphinx can. Sadly these gameplans are all far from oppressive and rarely play as powerful as they may sound on paper. Red is very much a "live hard and die young" color and I don't recommend wasting much effort planning for games that reach 15+ turns. Go for the big Mana Geyser sequences and/or Insurrection OTKs instead because you'll never be able to grind through the absurd amounts of card draw/recursion/value synergies that other colors have at their disposal.
Consult this thread if you want to learn the basics on how to build proper multiplayer manabases that will consistently be able to cast their spells.
7. Conclusion
Since our time together is coming to a close I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on taking an active role in your extended Magic education. It's my hope that my guides have steered you in the right in the direction by clearly demonstrating to you what multiplayer decks should look like. From bright-eyed newcomers to grizzled veterans I'd like to think that there's something for everyone hidden within these walls of text and it's my hope that everyone who's taken the time to read this has emerged a stronger player as a result. If not, please feel free to let me know where I fell short as I'm always open to new ideas when it comes to the wide world of multiplayer Magic. Teaching is a give-and-take process and I'm largely reliant on the feedback of others to grow and evolve my methods. As much as I love to read cheerful emails from delighted students I also take any and all constructive criticism to heart. If you can dish it I can take it so please don't feel free to voice your discontent if you feel that I've lead you down or led you astray. Otherwise I'll thank you one last time for showing an active interest and involvement in improving as a player and it's my sincerest hope that you'll grow into a respectable Magician as a result. Finally, I'll stress that I'm always on the prowl in the multiplayer forums and I do my best to respond to every PM that gets sent my way. I'm not perfect but I make every effort to help those in need so feel free to contact me with any of your multiplayer concerns. From decklists to strategies to advice there's nothing that I can't help with and I encourage you to think of me as your ongoing mentor. Best of luck my friends!
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Looks good, and is far more succinct and even complete, compared to my version on the WotC boards.
Do you plan to do this for all colors?
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
I'm doing my best to shave this list and my Black list to only include "good" cards. I know that it's completely subjective, but it basically boils down "I'll only list it if I could see myself playing it." It's far from done, this is still a big WIP, but it's not going to be as packed as my Black guide.
As far as doing it for every color? Probably. It won't be a quick undertaking though.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
One small correction; I don't think this works:
"Braid of Fire: Crazy potential with X spells (such as Earthquake)"
Kokusho, The Evening Star, Exsanguinate and Glen Elendra Archmage have a restriction of 1 per deck.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I had it in the Destructive Cards section but it probably belongs in both. I don't mind listing cards in multiple categories if it feels appropriate to do so, so I've updated it. Thanks.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Great construction, for "just one man" it's quite a good job.
Gonna check your other guide later.
But (always a but) i feel like an utility card lack in your guide, i'm talking about the Reiterate, Reverberate or Increasing Vengeance (i just see Reiterate mentionned once but no use in deck or must have or else).
For me a playset is nearly a must have for burn deck in multiplayer. With all your Earthquake-like, using a Reverberate for RR will get you much more dommage and make the kill easier cause you obviousbly need less mana. Can also be usefull with a Slagstorm, Sizzle, Mana Geyser or even a Flamebreak if you don't have a true sweeper in your hand.
Instead of taking 2-3 playset of Earthquake-like or Pyroclasm-like, you have a more versatile card, cheap on mana and money, and accelerating your kill.
My 2cent, maybe i miss the part where you talk about it, if not i'd like to have your input about it or advise you to give it a try =)
Thank again for your work.
Sorry about the clumsy english btw, not my mother's tongue
I'm currently in the process of updating all of my guides and I had my eye on the Red one next. I want to try and incorporate Wild Ricochet into a few things, and I suppose that I could look in to some of these cards as well. Still, my issue with "copy" effects is that their mileage varies wildly from meta to meta. I don't actually like the idea of using them as burn spells all that much. I mean, if the goal is to double Slagstorm, I'd rather just have 2 Slagstorms, even if it costs me more mana. That way I could avoid all of those situations where I draw a lot of copy effects and no sweepers and die with a hand full of do-nothings. Still, they certainly have potential. I'd love to copy a Syphon Mind or Concentrate or what have you in a normal game. I guess I've always dislike their randomness more than anything else. I usually like to build my decks in such a way that each card fills a role. Copy effects, to some extent, fill every role and no role at the same time. Thinking critically about it, I don't see how you could ever not find a good target to copy in a big 6+ player game or whatever, but I can see situations where it would be bad in small, inbred metas. I think I will try and touch on them in some way though in my next update. They probably deserve more credit than what I've given them in the past.
Je suis désolé, mais je ne parles pas l'Anglais :(. Tell you what. I forgive your English if you forgive my French. Deal?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I get your point, but when you see randomness i see versatility.
I'm mainly using them in burn cause, to make it short and simple, all my cards have the "same kind of effect", i know i'll never be targetless. With only one playset you won't have your hand full of copy or you really have no luck, and, as a big fan of Faithless Looting, even in the worst case i can discard it.
Wild ricochet is a nice one, but i wouldn't use it in burn cause of its cost. I also find it less efficient in "saving my game" with the change target effect that in solo. Ofc, it also depend of your meta and i would easily give it a try in other deck.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Not sure about that one. He doesn't inherently stop people from smacking you and he will likely die to random sweeper before he comes online. He's also a miserable late game draw. Not really sure if it's worth playing unless your deck has say Forgotten Ancient and other similar cards in it.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Let me add that it is most amusing after many lands have been baited out using New Frontiers.
cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
Ha ha, I hear that! Mana Geyser is quite insane indeed, but only if your meta is sufficiently large enough. I've fired off plenty of Earthquakes for a bajillion while sitting behind a Glacial Chasm and it never ceases to amuse me heh. Still, even if it's used to empty your hand, that's often good enough. The card lead to some pretty nutty sequences of plays after all. Wurmcoil Engine, Magmatic Force and Destructive Force all cast on the same turn anyone? Did I mention that it's only turn 6 lol?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
The feeling is mutual :<.
Yeah I dunno. That's the real issue with multiplayer; there are no staple "formats." Some people need good decks and others don't. I try to strike a balance between fun and power but some people need something that can crush a table.
Good point. I could probably add one.
Goblins and elementals are the only tribes that I think are even worth playing. Everything else is fairly meh. I'd rather just provide a sample decklist and call it a day.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I'm not much of a Dragon fanboi and I don't think that the deck is worth running for "power" reasons. Dragons are slow and relatively weak all things considered. They're cool and iconic cards but they're not even that powerful. The only Dragon decks that I like running are ones with Destructive Force and Wildfire. Still, it's hard to justify not running Wurmcoil Engine or something similar at that point. Anyways, the point is that Dragon tribal is typically very "meh" unless we're talking about decks with Kokusho, the Evening Star and Dragon Broodmother.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
16x Mountain
4x Phyrexia's Core
4x Ghitu Encampment
1x Shivan Gorge
Creatures (17)
4x Viashino Heretic
3x Taurean Mauler
3x Obsidian Fireheart
3x Chandler
4x Hoard-Smelter Dragon
4x Liquimetal Coating
3x Shattering Pulse
2x Mycosynth Wellspring
1x Helvault
4x Thran Forge
2x Staff of Nin
2x Spine of Ish Sah
Not found Tauren Mauler to buy and Koth of the Hammer would be a finisher.
Tanks !
Rakka Mar is a decent substitute. Flametongue Kavu wouldn't be bad either. I was mostly looking for a solid early blocker and the Mauler fit the bill. Rakka Mar isn't very good until turn 5 and that's not ideal in my mind. Still, she does seem pretty cool.
For what it's worth that deck should probably have a Mycosynth Lattice in it. Playing 1-2 certainly seems reasonable now that I think about it.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
My meta is slow and have 3 T2 decks (slow as hell), others like Norin the Wary life gain deck and other with Confusion in the Ranks, Budget elves and budget combo/agro goblins.
See my problem ? I'm the only one that has competitive Legacy decks here. I need at least 2 multiplayer decks ! =D
Tanks man
Tiago Silva
I had a few questions regarding it however:
(1) Would Goblin Bombardment or Thermopod be a solid alternative to Magmaw? or does his ability to sac non-land permanents justify his inclusion over them?
Also, does Culling Dais provide sufficient draw to the deck? would jamming Skullclamp into the deck instead + another sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar be viable or too inconsistent a draw option?
Finally, was Helm of Possession considered? seems like it provides both a sac and thief ability into one card or is it not as good as it appears?
(2) Gatecrash brought Molten Primordial. Would you replace Conquering Manticore with it or maybe just include one or two due the higher CMC? Dominus of Fealty seems interesting but it competes with Zealous Conscripts and takes a turn to trigger - worth considering?
Appreciate all the guides.
Both seem fine although I'd probably never play either myself. I appreciate the fact that the Maw is a solid 4/4 for 5 who, if nothing else, can help dissuade attackers.
I try not to suggest Skullclamp because it's a horrible degenerate and overpowered card. If your meta is fine with having you play them then by all means. They will certainly win you games. The card is redonkulous.
No it wasn't. Good catch :).
Fealty, in my experience, just dies. I'd rather have my immediate gratification. The Primordial would certainly be a consideration. At this point the deck probably needs ramp to support its curve. I'll likely update it in the near future.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Looking forward to the update - seems like an entertaining deck.