It occurred to me that my Zo-Zu AiR deck has some demand from other members of this community, but I've never posted it here (only on PureMTGO), so for ease of reference, here is that deck with JOU/M15 updates (I'm going to wait to add KTK updates at this time).
I want to talk about a little project of mine I’ve been working on for around the two years mark. As some of you may know, or many of you could guess, I’m fairly anti-blue and pro-red. But I play one-on-one almost exclusively compared to multiplayer. What does this mean for in a Commander sense? Well we all know how overbearing Blue as a colour can be in the format, what with Mana Drains, Time Spirals, Curse of the Swines, and commanders like Azami, lady of Scrolls or Teferi, Mage of Zhalfirs. But! In my continuing venture to force people to take notice of Red as a colour, I’ve been working with a friend of mine to show people that just because Red is all about burn and small quick dudes, doesn’t mean it isn’t very good for the format on it’s own.
“But 3drinks”, you’re probably thinking, “We’ve seen Krenko, Mob Boss and the new Red God as commanders. You’re not talking about anything that hasn’t ever been done!” And that’s fair, except that I’m not building a swarm deck like these two – I’m building “AiR” or All-in-Red for a forty life format. Sounds daunting? Sure. But I’m up to the task.
Now, the first thing you have to realize, when making a deck such as this work, is to throw out any such notion about mana denial being “uncool”. Second thing is you need to understand the philosophies of the colour, where it shines the most and where it will begin to lose steam – for Red, this is the early game up through the mid game. So you need to keep the game here – don’t let an opponent try to ramp to nine mana to Tooth and Nail their way to victory. This goes back to my first point about mana denial – don’t be shy to slam down a Stone Rain on that Tropical Island – because you know that Primordial or Deadeye Navigator is going to wreck the crap out of you, your deck, and your gameplan. Aside from the denial suite of cards, how do we setup such a strategy in this format though? Simple. Make every mana you spend count – maximize your damage output per mana spent ratio, just like you would in a sixty-card constructed format such as Standard or Modern. My deck for example, curves out at four and this is a hard-and-fast rule. I can't afford for anything over five mana to get stuck in my hand until the midgame when I might get a chance to play it. So what commander can possibly lead the way for such a daring archetype? Well let me tell you, I’ve tried the gauntlet of them. Let’s take a look at some of the potential candidates, shall we?
This guy seems the obvious choice, right? Five mana for a 4/3 body that can deal twenty damage in one activation! While these are good reasons, the fact remains that playing a five mana commander in a colour that doesn’t get ramp outside of mana rocks will lead to trouble in the grand scheme of things. While five mana for twenty damage is an incredible rate, the path to get there is rather lackluster. While playing your Mind Stones and Thran Dynamos to build up to the chance to cast this guy, that’s mana spent that doesn’t directly kill our opponent - in this example that’s six mana spent that just gave us some extra mana until someone plays a Shatterstorm. Add to this that the Ogre himself isn’t going to get activated until turn six at the minimum, or turn five with a haste outlet, and suddenly it becomes all too apparent that this isn’t what the AiR archetype wants to see after all. Perhaps however, that this Ogre would be more at home if this deck was designed for multiplayer, but I can’t really comment on that as I A) don’t do multiplayer much, and B) multiplayer is not what this article is about. So moving along, let’s take a look into the next legendary red creature that claimed to be commander we wanted.
Are we seeing another problem here? Five mana, much the same as the Ogre. But this one has a pretty cool benefit – he gives all of our guys haste, and slows the opponent’s guys down at the same time! And we can even curve our commander into an Inferno Titan, that’s surely too strong of an interaction to pass up, right? While that’s true, we’re still not accounting for what our colour is the strongest at. We’re still trying to play this deck as a big mana deck, throwing five drops and six drops and seven drops (oh my!) at our opponent. The only problem is, that any other colour can just do this better than us. So as much as it pained me to admit, I retired this deck in this form.
That is, until the printing of Chandra, Pyromaster in M14! She, alongside Koth of the Hammer, gave me everything I wanted for a Red deck – burn plus evasion, an extra “draw”, even if I did have to use it that turn and an ultimate that I really don’t care about, but could be cool if I hit it. So I went back to scour the list of commanders available to me, and then I saw him.
This little Goblin. Three mana for a 2/2 with an Ankh of Mishra attached. Think about it, we don’t need to hit a ton of land drops to be good – we can get by with Stromkirk Nobles and Chandra’s Phoenixes, with “big” curve toppers such as Hellrider and Hero of Oxid Ridge. While these little guys may seem fairly innocuous, combine their raw damage output with the incidental damage our three mana commander can provide us, and then know that we’re in the colour that provides the damage the fastest be it from a Black Vise or Lightning Bolt, and all of a sudden, hey, we can prey on these decks that try to “go deep” and knock them out before they could even utter the phrase “I cast Time Stretch, targeting myself”. Thanks to Zo-Zu and us getting “Chandra the Playable”, this whole deck has begun to fit together like a glove – I feel like my two years of theorycrafting, building, testing, and rebuilding has finally come to an Apex – and I want to share such a list with everyone here that has ever been interested in making this style of Red deck work!
Just when you thought this deck couldn't get any better, they go and make this guy;
This guy brings Zo-Zu to a whole new level of efficiency, capable of getting four damage in before Zo-Zu would even come down! He also doesn't require as many one drops, because 90% of the time he IS the one-drop (only better choice for a t1 play are, debatably, Goblin Guide, and that isn't even true all the time. However Guide is still a two power hasty one drop, don't kid yourself it's ridiculously good - and it doesn't always give them a "free" land...sometimes it just shows us an upcoming Supreme Verdict or Anticipate).
Sometimes good things come to an end, and that is the case in Zurgo Bellstriker, RIP, gone too soon but never forgotten. But red decks never die, they just adapt to time. With Zurgo's banning, here comes a new challenger, Kari Zev brings her legendary monkey friend with her on this ride back to traditional RDW building philosophies - i.e. one drops that aren't the commander! Just a note though;
Two drops are gonna be super awkward if they compete with Kari Zev, so I adapted to fit more ones and the lightning serpent is the flex spot that can fill anywhere on your curve. You can still play two drops, but note the floor is gonna be incredibly high to justify going off curve for them.
"Six Drops" (but really they're a two drop and a zero drop) (2) 1 Boom/Bust 1 Fireblast
So as said before, every mana spent needs to be in the most economical way possible to maximize potential damage output.
And, in case you want a second opinion about this mini-Primer of sorts, seek out Khaospawn, who is usually seen in the Primer thread for Modern Burn. Between him and I, I feel confident we can handle any question or concern that comes my way!
9/10/2014
-1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Tectonic Edge; +1 Inkmoth Nexus, Mountain: Valakut isn't good here as it takes way longer to get online than we want a game to go, or it's online because we're not seeing our key lands (such as Cavern). GQ interacts better with the commander than TecEdge does.
-1 Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Sigiled Skink; +1 Goblin Guide, Faithless Looting, Goblin Rabblemaster: Without a way to tutour REB/Pyro, we can't rely on seeing them. So rather than "get lucky", we should instead just focus on doing what this deck does -- dish out high levels of damage at an incredibly fast rate. Skink is the "weakest" of my creatures, and thus he makes it most sense to be cut for the Goblin.
9/11/2014
-1 Act on Impulse, Curse of Stalked Prey, +1 Phyrexian Revoker, Pyrewild Shaman: Act needs (roughly) five mana to make it work, which is unacceptable here, while Curse is like a Rift Bolt - mana spent now for delayed damage next turn. Pyrewild makes up for the CA loss from cutting Act, and Revoker gives an answer to a myriad of troubling activated abilities.
9/12/2014
-1 Burning Earth, Goblin Guide; +1 Grim Lavamancer, Tormenting Voice: We don't use our graveyard aside from Crucible of Worlds and as such, is a wasted resource. Lavamancer promises to rectify that by adding a way to turn those resources into damage for a minimal mana investment. Manabarbs itself should be plenty of this effect as Burning Earth can be played around much easier (at four mana we need a higher damage threshold to make the cut). Meanwhile we love Wild Guess and Tormenting Voice gives us another (better!) version of it. Score!
9/19/2014
-1 Mox Diamond, Ancient Tomb; +1 Goblin Vandal, Winter Orb: Mox is only good on turns 1-3 (where we can play a four on t3) and after that suffers greatly diminished returns. Likewise we don't need to run on 37 lands with this deck if we're not playing Mox. Meanwhile Vandal is another fantastic one-drop with huge disruptive upside (sure, I'll trade 1 damage for an as-needed Smelt) and Orb is...well, I'd hope you can see it's fairly obvious (and we can function just fine on 1-2 lands).
9/25/2014
-1 Young Pyromancer; +1 Goblin Wardriver: Young Pyro. has seventeen cards in the deck that trigger it's ability. Wardriver meanwhile produces extra damage every turn, as long as he doesn't attack alone, and that damage scales exponentially the more bodies we add to the board. Also has one more toughness, which may be relevant.
10/9/2014
-1 Aftershock, Barbarian Ring, Goblin Wardriver, Inkmoth Nexus; +2 Mountain, +1 Purphoros, God of the Forge, +1 Warren Instigator: Two lands are not obligatory and as such, they're better suited to being basics (which means more R for us, as well as less devastated by our own non-basic hate. Instigator is an interesting choice, but we don't particularly care for all that hokey about goblins. He's a two cmc double striker with a relevant typeline that occasionally puts Goblin Rabblemaster on the board for us or deploys a previously bounced Zo-Zu for free. At his core, he is a cheap, yet powerful and exponentially dangerous threat (six point swing with a Bonesplitter is terrifying). And the last change (saved for last because there is room to debate IMHO); Aftershock is a good card. It is reliable, it deals with a multitude of permanents, consistently and absolutely. But it is slow (four mana, sorcery speed) and the one thing it can't ever do is kill our opponent. Purphoros is a fantastic mana sink for us, he adds more incidental damage (insane with a Goblin Assault effect) and four mana for six power is a good deal. Add to this he is resistant to removal and that he is not hard to get online in the least bit (just him plus our Commander is 60% of the devo requirement) and this overall adds up to a better choice at the four drop slot as it functions more efficiently at reaching our goal.
-1 Archetype of Aggression: As I was apparently one card over, this is the cut. It doesn't offer meaningful disruption, nor real evasion, nor does it haste on it's own to create immediate damage, which means this is the equivalent of a Gore-House Chainwalker -- just a dude that attacks and blocks, albeit in a very efficient manner.
“But 3drinks”, you’re asking, “What happens when you don’t get the nuts draw and Stone Rain your opponent’s turn 3 Forest and let them Cultivate their way to victory?” Ah yes, a fine question. Ramp decks exist. And to this end, we can take advantage of their huge spells, and make them really hurt with cards like Manabarbs and not to mention Zo-Zu’s ability to – Zo-Zu sees lands placed onto the board by these effects as well as lands they play per turn. So if they’re fine with eating fourteen damage to the face from a Boundless Realms, then I’m fine with them playing this – it will likely kill them outright, or put them into a position where I can dispose of them quickly… *cough* Acidic Soil *cough*.
If they’re a greedy three colour deck, that’s why we have our nonbasic disruption suite. Whether it be a Blood Moon or a Dwarven Miner (who makes a fantastic choice to pick up an Axe later, by the way), we can take solace in knowing they will have a very rough time working through that disruption – perhaps it will slow them down long enough for us to win. And hey, if push comes to shove, we’re always just a single Price of Progress away from victory against these decks…
Ah yes, Zo-Zu. Yet more proof that counting to 40 the "hard" way isn't always as hard as it looks. Loving the new list!
When I initially ran the little guy, I didn't have any of the fetchlands to make Crucible of Worlds worth running (IMO, even if its interaction with Strip Mine is nuts), so I ran the actual Ankh of Mishra for a while, instead. I found things became just as dangerous to me as it did to my opponent whenever I ran it, but it was an amusing time nonetheless.
I approve of Rakka Mar's inclusion into the deck. I run Grenzo and Purphoros and she's just as sweet in their decks, as well. Pinging in cumulative 3's can't be underestimated.
I admit I'll miss Possibility Storm. I understand completely that it was removed due to being overcosted for the list, but man, could it do horrible (wonderful?) things against some combo decks. Watching Master Transmuter become just a Shield of the Avatar is great.
Interesting that you've corresponded with Khaospawn. Now that I think about it... Doesn't he run a Jaya list? Reminds me of the time I watched her burn out a Momir Vig even though Prophet of Kruphix was out.
Ah yes, Zo-Zu. Yet more proof that counting to 40 the "hard" way isn't always as hard as it looks. Loving the new list!
When I initially ran the little guy, I didn't have any of the fetchlands to make Crucible of Worlds worth running (IMO, even if its interaction with Strip Mine is nuts), so I ran the actual Ankh of Mishra for a while, instead. I found things became just as dangerous to me as it did to my opponent whenever I ran it, but it was an amusing time nonetheless.
I approve of Rakka Mar's inclusion into the deck. I run Grenzo and Purphoros and she's just as sweet in their decks, as well. Pinging in cumulative 3's can't be underestimated.
I admit I'll miss Possibility Storm. I understand completely that it was removed due to being overcosted for the list, but man, could it do horrible (wonderful?) things against some combo decks. Watching Master Transmuter become just a Shield of the Avatar is great.
Interesting that you've corresponded with Khaospawn. Now that I think about it... Doesn't he run a Jaya list? Reminds me of the time I watched her burn out a Momir Vig even though Prophet of Kruphix was out.
Yeah, I've thought about running the Ankh as well, but it has a number of negatives against it that Zo-Zu doesn't have. 1) It relies on opponents playing lands. Playing lands seems like an obvious line of play for them, however, 2) Ankh doesn't pick up an Axe and head into the red-zone with it. Which brings me to 3) It isn't as consistent at maximizing our damage-dealt-per-mana-spent ratio. Of course as you mentioned, it hurts us as well to have both out (eight damage per fetchland? Ouch indeed).
You should definitely get the fetchlands...especially now that they're in KTK, they shouldn't be too hard to acquire at all.
P-Storm just comes too late, unfortunately. Although we can make exceptional use of it (that happens when you play a deck where everything is close substitutes to everything else), at five mana, it's damage-dealt-per-mana-spent ratio is too far below par. Like you, I am sad to see it go too.
I met Khaospawn from my Kaalia Primer, actually. He's one of the few people I have seen to match my passion for R, but no, he actually has not seen this deck...yet (I sent him a PM to "invite" him over, so time will tell now).
Lastly, I'm just tickled pink that this particular list of mine has garnered such interest. Makes me feel good.
edit: Just remembered what one of my favourite memories was with this deck. Zo-Zu carrying Bonesplitter into the red zone. No protection or anything, just this 4/2 Goblin running across the battlefield with a crazed look in his eye. (Lol, the mental image it provided was always the best).
Although, I can't help but think that Goblin Rabblemaster would be a fine addition.
I was thinking about that as I was posting "Khaospawn is gonna say something about Rabblemaster" haha. I don't see this Grey Ogre as being better than other three drops though. Yeah Goblin Assault is the same cmc, but at least it's an enchantment and harder to deal with. I'm clearly open to suggestions though (Rabblemaster is a great card!)
As traditionnal commander allows Crucible of Worlds, I'd pack an Expedition Map to fetch that Strip Mine. Ok, it's a turn-4 move but a nice one.
So glad I play French to avoid that kind of Vintage-like insanity.
And very very much interested, 3drinks, if you deliver a French rules Zo-Zu list as you did for your Kaalia primer !
+ Shattering Spree is a major option vs rock ramp (B-mono for instance). And nearly uncounterable at that.
+ Boil? 'cause if we do U-hate, instant speed rules.
Is turn 4 acceptable to fetch Strip with? I mean that's a lot of turns of not applying pressure. I don't like that. Indeed, I cut the Map from the previous iteration because it wasn't helping my gameplan, and aside from Cavern of Souls, I don't have any lands I feel I need to see. Better to just take advantage of it if you draw into it, than run a single card to increase the odds of finding it from 1/99 to 2/99. That's my take, anyway.
Spree is good, no doubt. But as a sorcery, it doesn't kill, it doesn't deal damage. It's efficient, but if we spend R we're better off with Smelt. If we spend RR...then Smash to Smithereens is better. Can we afford to spend a turn and RRR to make this card really do work? I don't like that. You know what I'd like though? Destructive Revelry. But.........
Would you play Boil over REB/Pyro? How many slots can we devote to this without diluting the main deck? Not to mention, do we want to wait until we hit four cmc to play our hate? This kind of hate is best used early, right, to take the most advantage of it.
And very very much interested, 3drinks, if you deliver a French rules Zo-Zu list as you did for your Kaalia primer
A deck such as this one doesn't stand a chance so long as Marath is the deck to beat in Duel-Commander :(. Believe me, I wish this wasn't the case, but it is.
@3Drinks- The last Duel-Commander deck I played was monored, and I loved it. Here are some of my thoughts on your list:
I'll start off by recommending some aggressive one drop creatures, such as Firedrinker Satyr and Jackal Pup.
I've never been a fan of Pyroblast/REB in monored. A low curve and smart play will be your better friends than a lucky topdeck such as those.
There are currently zero worthwhile ETBT lands for monored in 1v1. Valakut is only good with Scapeshift. Ghitu Encampment isn't worth slowing your play turn over. Monored wants to win ASAP, and these lands just slow you down.
And very very much interested, 3drinks, if you deliver a French rules Zo-Zu list as you did for your Kaalia primer
A deck such as this one doesn't stand a chance so long as Marath is the deck to beat in Duel-Commander :(. Believe me, I wish this wasn't the case, but it is.
@3Drinks- The last Duel-Commander deck I played was monored, and I loved it. Here are some of my thoughts on your list:
I'll start off by recommending some aggressive one drop creatures, such as Firedrinker Satyr and Jackal Pup.
I've never been a fan of Pyroblast/REB in monored. A low curve and smart play will be your better friends than a lucky topdeck such as those.
There are currently zero worthwhile ETBT lands for monored in 1v1. Valakut is only good with Scapeshift. Ghitu Encampment isn't worth slowing your play turn over. Monored wants to win ASAP, and these lands just slow you down.
You may be right on those one drops instead of Pyro/REB. The number of times having a G-Guide and Satyr for two power on t1 will likely outweigh the times we had that REB for JtMS.
I go back and forth on Faithless but it may be worth the include. I've never been a fan though. I can swap Ghitu for Inkmoth Nexus, I do like me some more manlands.
Valakut may be acceptable for now. it is inevitability.
And I love the Ghost Quarter interaction, I admittedly never thought of that. It's good.
Edit: No Valakut isn't good here. I am bad. In order for it to be good means I dont get to see Cavern, my manlands, or anything else. If anything; teetering peaks/smoldering spires can replace it. Or just a mountain.
I'd argue that Valakut would actually be okay-ish if you could squeeze in more Snow-Covered Mountains and use things like Scrying Sheets... But given Extraplanar Lens's prevalence, the fact that your nonbasics are already in heavy competition for space as-is, and converting all those regular basics into snow basics would likely still be too low a count to trigger Scrying properly (I run 25 snows in Hidetsugu and it still feels too low), that's probably still not a good idea. Meh.
You think it's too much to hope for yet another good PW that can accelerate Burn strategy? I'm honestly happy already that we're getting New-Sarkhan but more's always nice!
I'd argue that Valakut would actually be okay-ish if you could squeeze in more Snow-Covered Mountains and use things like Scrying Sheets... But given Extraplanar Lens's prevalence, the fact that your nonbasics are already in heavy competition for space as-is, and converting all those regular basics into snow basics would likely still be too low a count to trigger Scrying properly (I run 25 snows in Hidetsugu and it still feels too low), that's probably still not a good idea. Meh.
You think it's too much to hope for yet another good PW that can accelerate Burn strategy? I'm honestly happy already that we're getting New-Sarkhan but more's always nice!
It's because it comes down tapped and we don't generally want to see more than five lands. That's awkward for us. I couldn't justify Scrying Sheets in this deck at all -- an effective three mana to maybe draw a card? We're not durdling, we're on the attack.
I don't think that new Sarkhan is good enough in this deck because five mana means he comes too late. But you know, if Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded didn't say random on his +1.................
Yeah, you're right about Valakut/Sheets, especially in a deck this fast (and needs to stay this fast).
Maybe the next Red PW should do something crazy with that whole "exile library and play it" thing going on, recently. Might make Lens of Clarity (or maybe even Top? eh, still durdly) worth playing if only Act on Impulse and Pyromaster Chandra weren't the only things worth using it for.
How about some love for Hell's Thunder and Ball Lightning? I think at least the Thunder could take over the spot for Act on Impulse since Act requires a lot of mana to be made useful.
How about some love for Hell's Thunder and Ball Lightning? I think at least the Thunder could take over the spot for Act on Impulse since Act requires a lot of mana to be made useful.
You're not wrong. Act does take a lot of mana (it's probably ideal on five, which isn't where this deck wants to be). I don't think I would play Hell's Thunder or any of the Ball Lightning creatures in that slot though. It'd have to be something that A) generates card advantage, or B) will straight-up win. Those creatures won't do that.
That might be the excuse that Pyrewild Shaman needed to get back into the deck, although I don't recall paying the 3 more than twice to bring it back.
But Shrine is spectacular too. So many choices. We've been really spoiled lately with awesome Red cards in the last couple years. These are good times.
I guess it really depends on which we will get more damage out of.
Pyrewild Shaman has the relevant type line to pump Rabblemaster, can be uncounterable via Cavern, or on an unblocked creature we can get a Lightning Strikes worth of damage. On the other hand we can't do that continually because 4R for for three damage isn't a great ratio (although I suppose this is comparable to Hammer of Bogardan/Thunderblade Charge)? It's interaction with Skullclamp is also favourable, although the same can be said for Goblin Assault so I'm not sure this is a fair qualifier to justify Pyrewild.
On the other hand, Shrine of Burning Rage does one thing. You play it on t2 and then "forget about it". Meanwhile it invalidates your opponent's creatures & planeswalkers (or they bait the Shrine). It is a must-answer card else they will just lose to it.
Finally a third option exists -- Phyrexian Revoker. A concession to Marath, Will of the Wild though we can't tutour it (nor protect it) so I'm unsure how useful it will be in the grand scheme of things.
Finally a third option exists -- Phyrexian Revoker. A concession to Marath, Will of the Wild though we can't tutour it (nor protect it) so I'm unsure how useful it will be in the grand scheme of things.
It's definitely worth looking at just for being Pithing Needle on a relevant P/T. Won't stop something like a Prossh that gets going with Purphoros but if you're looking at stuff like Marath, Nin, or Sisay in play, you could do worse for a 2/1 utility creature that can still pick up a Bonesplitter.
I like Shrine of Burning Rage but what if you drew it later than T2 or T3? Are we still getting good mileage, then?
That's a great point about Shrine (similar to why AEther Vial doesn't make the cut). So looks like we're at Pyrewild = Revoker > Shrine. If I must, I'll give a slight nod to Pyrewild as it interacts better with Ring of Valkas.
What if Curse of Stalked Prey is a cut? It's a hard card to evaluate. On the surface we like it making our Goblin tokens bigger, but in practice it functions like a Rift Bolt -- pay mana now, get extra damage next turn (indeed, Zo-Zu attacks for two and becomes a 3/3, but you won't get that three damage until the turn after that). On the other hand, it makes our guys not so wimpy later on and thus easier to make at least favourable trades.
Dude, I just realized that you're playing Skullclamp and NO SQUEE, GOBLIN NABOB!!
It's not aggressive enough. A three mana 1/1? Or four mana for a draw2 assuming your opponent is braindead enough to let you keep Skullclamp on the field with it? At least Pyrewild Shaman can do more while also feeding the Clamp engine Squee would otherwise do. I think Revoker and Pyrewild just wrote their ticket into the deck now.
Pyxis of Pandemonium - a funny turn-1 play that can force lands into play on the opponents side, although this may give them some groovy cards as well. If you treat it like a strange version of Shrine of Burning Rage and bust it at the opportune moment it can really swing a game, and if not then it just messes with the opponents top-deck-manipulation (topp'ing a miracle and nerfing vampiric tutor variants).
Keldon Firebombers - if your deck can run on 3 lands and one rock, the 5cmc may be worth it
And a new version of Ruination that compliments Zo-Zu; From the Ashes, giving the opponents a chance to burn more from Zo-Zu. But with Strangehold out it is simply a better Ruination.
I can't afford to play "funny" or "cute" cards -- every one of my cards needs to be as efficient as possible. The Pyxis is not one of those things. Likewise with Firebombers, I can't afford to wait until I hit five mana to take away a few of your lands -- either I'm gonna Ruination on four, or Bust on six (I much prefer Boom though).
However you raise an interesting point in From the Ashes. I wonder if that can inflict more net damage than Burning Earth? It's certainly an interaction worth testing.
Squee's 3CMC, but his "actual" cost oscillates between 3-5 depending on when you're playing Skullclamp. If he were one CMC less on his own, had a P of 2, and/or if this was the kind of deck that used more mana rocks, then I'd be more inclined towards using him. I'd personally rather run Coercive Portal if I were hurting for draw, as it's not too expensive and won't lock up our mana continuously, even if it takes until next turn to get anything out of it.
What kills me about Pyxis is the 7 cost of that second ability. AiR has a pretty good chance of ending games before we'd need to pay that, and while I do see Mystical Tutor and Vampiric Tutor a lot, that still feels like too specific a use to me unless you're also facing stuff like Flamekin Harbinger as well.
I guess I'd say Burning Earth is more innocuous and is less likely to get countered? But nah, honestly, From the Ashes actually looks really good even without Stranglehold.
I want to talk about a little project of mine I’ve been working on for around the two years mark. As some of you may know, or many of you could guess, I’m fairly anti-blue and pro-red. But I play one-on-one almost exclusively compared to multiplayer. What does this mean for in a Commander sense? Well we all know how overbearing Blue as a colour can be in the format, what with Mana Drains, Time Spirals, Curse of the Swines, and commanders like Azami, lady of Scrolls or Teferi, Mage of Zhalfirs. But! In my continuing venture to force people to take notice of Red as a colour, I’ve been working with a friend of mine to show people that just because Red is all about burn and small quick dudes, doesn’t mean it isn’t very good for the format on it’s own.
“But 3drinks”, you’re probably thinking, “We’ve seen Krenko, Mob Boss and the new Red God as commanders. You’re not talking about anything that hasn’t ever been done!” And that’s fair, except that I’m not building a swarm deck like these two – I’m building “AiR” or All-in-Red for a forty life format. Sounds daunting? Sure. But I’m up to the task.
Now, the first thing you have to realize, when making a deck such as this work, is to throw out any such notion about mana denial being “uncool”. Second thing is you need to understand the philosophies of the colour, where it shines the most and where it will begin to lose steam – for Red, this is the early game up through the mid game. So you need to keep the game here – don’t let an opponent try to ramp to nine mana to Tooth and Nail their way to victory. This goes back to my first point about mana denial – don’t be shy to slam down a Stone Rain on that Tropical Island – because you know that Primordial or Deadeye Navigator is going to wreck the crap out of you, your deck, and your gameplan. Aside from the denial suite of cards, how do we setup such a strategy in this format though? Simple. Make every mana you spend count – maximize your damage output per mana spent ratio, just like you would in a sixty-card constructed format such as Standard or Modern. My deck for example, curves out at four and this is a hard-and-fast rule. I can't afford for anything over five mana to get stuck in my hand until the midgame when I might get a chance to play it. So what commander can possibly lead the way for such a daring archetype? Well let me tell you, I’ve tried the gauntlet of them. Let’s take a look at some of the potential candidates, shall we?
This guy seems the obvious choice, right? Five mana for a 4/3 body that can deal twenty damage in one activation! While these are good reasons, the fact remains that playing a five mana commander in a colour that doesn’t get ramp outside of mana rocks will lead to trouble in the grand scheme of things. While five mana for twenty damage is an incredible rate, the path to get there is rather lackluster. While playing your Mind Stones and Thran Dynamos to build up to the chance to cast this guy, that’s mana spent that doesn’t directly kill our opponent - in this example that’s six mana spent that just gave us some extra mana until someone plays a Shatterstorm. Add to this that the Ogre himself isn’t going to get activated until turn six at the minimum, or turn five with a haste outlet, and suddenly it becomes all too apparent that this isn’t what the AiR archetype wants to see after all. Perhaps however, that this Ogre would be more at home if this deck was designed for multiplayer, but I can’t really comment on that as I A) don’t do multiplayer much, and B) multiplayer is not what this article is about. So moving along, let’s take a look into the next legendary red creature that claimed to be commander we wanted.
Are we seeing another problem here? Five mana, much the same as the Ogre. But this one has a pretty cool benefit – he gives all of our guys haste, and slows the opponent’s guys down at the same time! And we can even curve our commander into an Inferno Titan, that’s surely too strong of an interaction to pass up, right? While that’s true, we’re still not accounting for what our colour is the strongest at. We’re still trying to play this deck as a big mana deck, throwing five drops and six drops and seven drops (oh my!) at our opponent. The only problem is, that any other colour can just do this better than us. So as much as it pained me to admit, I retired this deck in this form.
That is, until the printing of Chandra, Pyromaster in M14! She, alongside Koth of the Hammer, gave me everything I wanted for a Red deck – burn plus evasion, an extra “draw”, even if I did have to use it that turn and an ultimate that I really don’t care about, but could be cool if I hit it. So I went back to scour the list of commanders available to me, and then I saw him.
This little Goblin. Three mana for a 2/2 with an Ankh of Mishra attached. Think about it, we don’t need to hit a ton of land drops to be good – we can get by with Stromkirk Nobles and Chandra’s Phoenixes, with “big” curve toppers such as Hellrider and Hero of Oxid Ridge. While these little guys may seem fairly innocuous, combine their raw damage output with the incidental damage our three mana commander can provide us, and then know that we’re in the colour that provides the damage the fastest be it from a Black Vise or Lightning Bolt, and all of a sudden, hey, we can prey on these decks that try to “go deep” and knock them out before they could even utter the phrase “I cast Time Stretch, targeting myself”. Thanks to Zo-Zu and us getting “Chandra the Playable”, this whole deck has begun to fit together like a glove – I feel like my two years of theorycrafting, building, testing, and rebuilding has finally come to an Apex – and I want to share such a list with everyone here that has ever been interested in making this style of Red deck work!
Just when you thought this deck couldn't get any better, they go and make this guy;
This guy brings Zo-Zu to a whole new level of efficiency, capable of getting four damage in before Zo-Zu would even come down! He also doesn't require as many one drops, because 90% of the time he IS the one-drop (only better choice for a t1 play are, debatably, Goblin Guide, and that isn't even true all the time. However Guide is still a two power hasty one drop, don't kid yourself it's ridiculously good - and it doesn't always give them a "free" land...sometimes it just shows us an upcoming Supreme Verdict or Anticipate).
Kairi Sane, Pirate Princess inspired alter
Sometimes good things come to an end, and that is the case in Zurgo Bellstriker, RIP, gone too soon but never forgotten. But red decks never die, they just adapt to time. With Zurgo's banning, here comes a new challenger, Kari Zev brings her legendary monkey friend with her on this ride back to traditional RDW building philosophies - i.e. one drops that aren't the commander! Just a note though;
Two drops are gonna be super awkward if they compete with Kari Zev, so I adapted to fit more ones and the lightning serpent is the flex spot that can fill anywhere on your curve. You can still play two drops, but note the floor is gonna be incredibly high to justify going off curve for them.
1x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
lands (37)
1x Arid Mesa
1x Barbarian Ring
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Contested War Zone
1x Mishra's Factory
23x Mountain
1x Mutavault
1x Ramunap Ruins
1x Rishadan Port
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Teetering Peaks
1x Wasteland
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Mox Amber
one drop (24)
1x Bloodlust Inciter
1x Bonesplitter
1x Burst Lightning
1x Cartouche of Zeal
1x Chain Lightning
1x Collateral Damage
1x Dynacharge
1x Falkenrath Gorger
1x Firedrinker Satyr
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Guide
1x Goblin Motivator
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Jackal Pup
1x Lava Spike
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Reckless Abandon
1x Rift Bolt
1x Shard Volley
1x Spark Elemental
1x Thunderous Wrath
1x Vexing Devil
1x Zurgo Bellstriker
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Abrade
1x Earthshaker Khenra
1x Final Fortune
1x Firebrand Archer
1x Flame Rift
1x Goblin Cratermaker
1x Hellspark Elemental
1x Keldon Marauders
1x Loyal Apprentice
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Reckless Bushwhacker
1x Searing Blaze
1x Smash to Smithereens
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Sonic Burst
1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1x Viashino Pyromancer
three drop (16)
1x Ahn-Crop Crasher
1x Ball Lightning
1x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
1x Char
1x Dinosaur Stampede
1x Exquisite Firecraft
1x Flame Javelin
1x Goblin Chainwhirler
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Hell's Thunder
1x Insult // Injury
1x Legion Warboss
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Risk Factor
1x Tangle Wire
1x Trumpet Blast
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Hellrider
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Territorial Hellkite
Actual ave CMC: 1.24 (+0.02)
Deck Stats: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/kari-zev-sligh/
11/27/2018
-1 Reckless Charge, Incendiary Flow, Rampaging Ferocidon, Goblin Heelcutter
+1 Firebrand Archer, Searing Blaze, Goblin Chainwhirler, Territorial Hellkite
Cards to watch: Landslide, Lathnu Hellion
Actual ave CMC: 1.22
Deck Stats: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/kari-zev-sligh/
10/10/2018
-1 Browbeat, Incinerate, Reckless Rage
+1 Goblin Cratermaker, Legion Warboss, Risk Factor
Cards to watch: Incinerate, Landslide, Lathnu Hellion, Reckless Rage
1x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
lands (36)
1x Arid Mesa
1x Barbarian Ring
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Contested War Zone
1x Mishra's Factory
23x Mountain
1x Mutavault
1x Ramunap Ruins
1x Rishadan Port
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Teetering Peaks
1x Wasteland
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Mox Amber
one drop (26)
1x Bloodlust Inciter
1x Bonesplitter
1x Burst Lightning
1x Cartouche of Zeal
1x Chain Lightning
1x Collateral Damage
1x Falkenrath Gorger
1x Firedrinker Satyr
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Guide
1x Goblin Motivator
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Jackal Pup
1x Lava Spike
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Reckless Abandon
1x Reckless Charge
1x Reckless Rage
1x Rift Bolt
1x Shard Volley
1x Spark Elemental
1x Thunderous Wrath
1x Vexing Devil
1x Zurgo Bellstriker
two drop (16)
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Abrade
1x Earthshaker Khenra
1x Flame Rift
1x Hellspark Elemental
1x Incendiary Flow
1x Incinerate
1x Keldon Marauders
1x Last Chance
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Reckless Bushwhacker
1x Searing Spear
1x Smash to Smithereens
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1x Viashino Pyromancer
three drop (17)
1x Ahn-Crop Crasher
1x Ball Lightning
1x Browbeat
1x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
1x Char
1x Dinosaur Stampede
1x Dynacharge
1x Exquisite Firecraft
1x Flame Javelin
1x Goblin Heelcutter
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Hell's Thunder
1x Insult // Injury
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Rampaging Ferocidon
1x Tangle Wire
1x Trumpet Blast
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Hellrider
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Zurgo Bellstriker
Lands
1x Arid Mesa
1x Barbarian Ring
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Contested War Zone
1x Mishra's Factory
24x Mountain
1x Mutavault
1x Rishadan Port
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Teetering Peaks
1x Wasteland
1x Wooded Foothills
0 drop
1x Mox Amber
1 drop
1x Bonesplitter
1x Burst Lightning
1x Chain Lightning
1x Collateral Damage
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Guide
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Lava Spike
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Reckless Abandon
1x Shard Volley
1x Thunderous Wrath
1x Vexing Devil
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Ankh of Mishra
1x Ash Zealot
1x Bloodrage Brawler
1x Earthshaker Khenra
1x Ember Hauler
1x Flame Rift
1x Goblin Wardriver
1x Harsh Mentor
1x Hellspark Elemental
1x Incendiary Flow
1x Incinerate
1x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1x Lightning Mauler
1x Lightning Strike
1x Mudbrawler Cohort
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Pyrostatic Pillar
1x Reckless Reveler
1x Searing Spear
1x Smash to Smithereens
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Sonic Burst
1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1x Torch Fiend
1x Valley Dasher
1x Young Pyromancer
1x Ball Lightning
1x Browbeat
1x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
1x Char
1x Flame Javelin
1x Exquisite Firecraft
1x Goblin Heelcutter
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Hell's Thunder
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Insult // Injury
1x Rampaging Ferocidon
1x Reckless Bushwhacker
1x Rift Bolt
1x Vaultbreaker
4 drop
1x Blistering Firecat
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Fleetwheel Cruiser
1x Hellrider
1x Hero of Oxid Ridge
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Ash Zealot
1x Ball Lightning
1x Blistering Firecat
1x Eidolon of the Great Revel
1x Flametongue Kavu
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Guide
1x Goblin Heelcutter
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Goblin Wardriver
1x Hanweir Garrison
1x Hellrider
1x Hell's Thunder
1x Hellspark Elemental
1x Hero of Oxid Ridge
1x Keldon Champion
1x Lathnu Hellion
1x Lightning Mauler
1x Mudbrawler Cohort
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Reckless Bushwhacker
1x Reckless Reveler
1x Scab-Clan Berserker
1x Sin Prodder
1x Torch Fiend
1x Valley Dasher
1x Vaultbreaker
1x Vexing Devil
1x Zo-Zu the Punisher
1x Arid Mesa
1x Barbarian Ring
1x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Contested War Zone
1x Hanweir Battlements
1x Mishra's Factory
20x Mountain
1x Mutavault
1x Rishadan Port
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Teetering Peaks
1x Throne of the High City
1x Wasteland
1x Wooded Foothills
Sorcery (8)
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Browbeat
1x Chain Lightning
1x Devastating Summons
1x Exquisite Firecraft
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Lava Spike
1x Rift Bolt
Enchantment (3)
1x Pyrostatic Pillar
1x Spellshock
1x Sulfuric Vortex
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Koth of the Hammer
Instant (14)
1x Burst Lightning
1x Char
1x Collateral Damage
1x Fireblast
1x Flame Javelin
1x Incinerate
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Lightning Strike
1x Price of Progress
1x Searing Spear
1x Shard Volley
1x Smash to Smithereens
1x Stoke the Flames
1x Thunderous Wrath
Artifact (6)
1x Ankh of Mishra
1x Fleetwheel Cruiser
1x Renegade Freighter
1x Skullclamp
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Tangle Wire
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
Lands (38)
1 Arid Mesa
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Myriad Landscape (or Tectonic Edge)
26 Mountain
1 Rishadan Port
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
One Drops (11)
1 Burst Lightning
1 Chain Lightning
1 Collateral Damage
1 Faithless Looting
1 Goblin Guide
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Dwarven Blastminer
1 Dwarven Miner
1 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Madcap Skills
1 Mask of Memory
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Price of Progress
1 Reckless Reveler
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Torch Fiend
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Winter Orb
Three Drops (20)
1 Acidic Soil
1 Blood Moon
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Char
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Flamewake Phoenix
1 Goblin Assault
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Molten Rain
1 Pillage
1 Sarkhan's Triumph
1 Stone Rain
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Tangle Wire
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Furnace of Rath
1 Hellrider
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Manabarbs
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Rakka Mar
1 Stoke the Flames
1 Violent Eruption
Five Drops (4)
1 Arc-Slogger
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
"Six Drops" (but really they're a two drop and a zero drop) (2)
1 Boom/Bust
1 Fireblast
So as said before, every mana spent needs to be in the most economical way possible to maximize potential damage output.
And, in case you want a second opinion about this mini-Primer of sorts, seek out Khaospawn, who is usually seen in the Primer thread for Modern Burn. Between him and I, I feel confident we can handle any question or concern that comes my way!
1 Zo-Zu, the Punisher
0-Drop
1 Mana Crypt
1-Drop
1 Black Vise
1 Bonesplitter
1 Burst Lightning
1 Faithless Looting
1 Goblin Vandal
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Legion Loyalist
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Stromkirk Noble
2-Drop
1 Ash Zealot
1 Dwarven Blastminer
1 Dwarven Miner
1 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Magma Jet
1 Mask of Memory
1 Orcish Settlers
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Price of Progress
1 Ring of Valkas
1 Reckless Reveler
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Stigma Lasher
1 Torch Fiend
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Warren Instigator
1 Wild Guess
1 Winter Orb
1 Acidic Soil
1 Blood Moon
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Chaos Warp
1 Char
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Goblin Assault
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Molten Rain
1 Pillage
1 Prophetic Flamespeaker
1 Pyrewild Shaman
1 Stone Rain
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Tangle Wire
1 Viashino Heretic
4-Drop
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Hellrider
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Manabarbs
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Rakka Mar
1 Ruination
1 Violent Eruption
Lands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Ghost Quarter (Wasteland if you have it)
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Mutavault
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
1 Wooded Foothills
17 Mountain
9 Snow-Covered Mountain
9/10/2014
-1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Tectonic Edge; +1 Inkmoth Nexus, Mountain: Valakut isn't good here as it takes way longer to get online than we want a game to go, or it's online because we're not seeing our key lands (such as Cavern). GQ interacts better with the commander than TecEdge does.
-1 Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Sigiled Skink; +1 Goblin Guide, Faithless Looting, Goblin Rabblemaster: Without a way to tutour REB/Pyro, we can't rely on seeing them. So rather than "get lucky", we should instead just focus on doing what this deck does -- dish out high levels of damage at an incredibly fast rate. Skink is the "weakest" of my creatures, and thus he makes it most sense to be cut for the Goblin.
9/11/2014
-1 Act on Impulse, Curse of Stalked Prey, +1 Phyrexian Revoker, Pyrewild Shaman: Act needs (roughly) five mana to make it work, which is unacceptable here, while Curse is like a Rift Bolt - mana spent now for delayed damage next turn. Pyrewild makes up for the CA loss from cutting Act, and Revoker gives an answer to a myriad of troubling activated abilities.
9/12/2014
-1 Burning Earth, Goblin Guide; +1 Grim Lavamancer, Tormenting Voice: We don't use our graveyard aside from Crucible of Worlds and as such, is a wasted resource. Lavamancer promises to rectify that by adding a way to turn those resources into damage for a minimal mana investment. Manabarbs itself should be plenty of this effect as Burning Earth can be played around much easier (at four mana we need a higher damage threshold to make the cut). Meanwhile we love Wild Guess and Tormenting Voice gives us another (better!) version of it. Score!
9/19/2014
-1 Mox Diamond, Ancient Tomb; +1 Goblin Vandal, Winter Orb: Mox is only good on turns 1-3 (where we can play a four on t3) and after that suffers greatly diminished returns. Likewise we don't need to run on 37 lands with this deck if we're not playing Mox. Meanwhile Vandal is another fantastic one-drop with huge disruptive upside (sure, I'll trade 1 damage for an as-needed Smelt) and Orb is...well, I'd hope you can see it's fairly obvious (and we can function just fine on 1-2 lands).
9/25/2014
-1 Young Pyromancer; +1 Goblin Wardriver: Young Pyro. has seventeen cards in the deck that trigger it's ability. Wardriver meanwhile produces extra damage every turn, as long as he doesn't attack alone, and that damage scales exponentially the more bodies we add to the board. Also has one more toughness, which may be relevant.
10/9/2014
-1 Aftershock, Barbarian Ring, Goblin Wardriver, Inkmoth Nexus; +2 Mountain, +1 Purphoros, God of the Forge, +1 Warren Instigator: Two lands are not obligatory and as such, they're better suited to being basics (which means more R for us, as well as less devastated by our own non-basic hate. Instigator is an interesting choice, but we don't particularly care for all that hokey about goblins. He's a two cmc double striker with a relevant typeline that occasionally puts Goblin Rabblemaster on the board for us or deploys a previously bounced Zo-Zu for free. At his core, he is a cheap, yet powerful and exponentially dangerous threat (six point swing with a Bonesplitter is terrifying). And the last change (saved for last because there is room to debate IMHO); Aftershock is a good card. It is reliable, it deals with a multitude of permanents, consistently and absolutely. But it is slow (four mana, sorcery speed) and the one thing it can't ever do is kill our opponent. Purphoros is a fantastic mana sink for us, he adds more incidental damage (insane with a Goblin Assault effect) and four mana for six power is a good deal. Add to this he is resistant to removal and that he is not hard to get online in the least bit (just him plus our Commander is 60% of the devo requirement) and this overall adds up to a better choice at the four drop slot as it functions more efficiently at reaching our goal.
-1 Archetype of Aggression: As I was apparently one card over, this is the cut. It doesn't offer meaningful disruption, nor real evasion, nor does it haste on it's own to create immediate damage, which means this is the equivalent of a Gore-House Chainwalker -- just a dude that attacks and blocks, albeit in a very efficient manner.
“But 3drinks”, you’re asking, “What happens when you don’t get the nuts draw and Stone Rain your opponent’s turn 3 Forest and let them Cultivate their way to victory?” Ah yes, a fine question. Ramp decks exist. And to this end, we can take advantage of their huge spells, and make them really hurt with cards like Manabarbs and not to mention Zo-Zu’s ability to – Zo-Zu sees lands placed onto the board by these effects as well as lands they play per turn. So if they’re fine with eating fourteen damage to the face from a Boundless Realms, then I’m fine with them playing this – it will likely kill them outright, or put them into a position where I can dispose of them quickly… *cough* Acidic Soil *cough*.
If they’re a greedy three colour deck, that’s why we have our nonbasic disruption suite. Whether it be a Blood Moon or a Dwarven Miner (who makes a fantastic choice to pick up an Axe later, by the way), we can take solace in knowing they will have a very rough time working through that disruption – perhaps it will slow them down long enough for us to win. And hey, if push comes to shove, we’re always just a single Price of Progress away from victory against these decks…
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
When I initially ran the little guy, I didn't have any of the fetchlands to make Crucible of Worlds worth running (IMO, even if its interaction with Strip Mine is nuts), so I ran the actual Ankh of Mishra for a while, instead. I found things became just as dangerous to me as it did to my opponent whenever I ran it, but it was an amusing time nonetheless.
I approve of Rakka Mar's inclusion into the deck. I run Grenzo and Purphoros and she's just as sweet in their decks, as well. Pinging in cumulative 3's can't be underestimated.
I admit I'll miss Possibility Storm. I understand completely that it was removed due to being overcosted for the list, but man, could it do horrible (wonderful?) things against some combo decks. Watching Master Transmuter become just a Shield of the Avatar is great.
Interesting that you've corresponded with Khaospawn. Now that I think about it... Doesn't he run a Jaya list? Reminds me of the time I watched her burn out a Momir Vig even though Prophet of Kruphix was out.
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
Yeah, I've thought about running the Ankh as well, but it has a number of negatives against it that Zo-Zu doesn't have. 1) It relies on opponents playing lands. Playing lands seems like an obvious line of play for them, however, 2) Ankh doesn't pick up an Axe and head into the red-zone with it. Which brings me to 3) It isn't as consistent at maximizing our damage-dealt-per-mana-spent ratio. Of course as you mentioned, it hurts us as well to have both out (eight damage per fetchland? Ouch indeed).
You should definitely get the fetchlands...especially now that they're in KTK, they shouldn't be too hard to acquire at all.
Rakka Mar is likely the third-best four drop, behind Koth of the Hammer and Hellrider. She is very, very good, and very, very under-rated.
P-Storm just comes too late, unfortunately. Although we can make exceptional use of it (that happens when you play a deck where everything is close substitutes to everything else), at five mana, it's damage-dealt-per-mana-spent ratio is too far below par. Like you, I am sad to see it go too.
I met Khaospawn from my Kaalia Primer, actually. He's one of the few people I have seen to match my passion for R, but no, he actually has not seen this deck...yet (I sent him a PM to "invite" him over, so time will tell now).
Lastly, I'm just tickled pink that this particular list of mine has garnered such interest. Makes me feel good.
edit: Just remembered what one of my favourite memories was with this deck. Zo-Zu carrying Bonesplitter into the red zone. No protection or anything, just this 4/2 Goblin running across the battlefield with a crazed look in his eye. (Lol, the mental image it provided was always the best).
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I was thinking about that as I was posting "Khaospawn is gonna say something about Rabblemaster" haha. I don't see this Grey Ogre as being better than other three drops though. Yeah Goblin Assault is the same cmc, but at least it's an enchantment and harder to deal with. I'm clearly open to suggestions though (Rabblemaster is a great card!)
I had a feeling you'd like this deck.
Is turn 4 acceptable to fetch Strip with? I mean that's a lot of turns of not applying pressure. I don't like that. Indeed, I cut the Map from the previous iteration because it wasn't helping my gameplan, and aside from Cavern of Souls, I don't have any lands I feel I need to see. Better to just take advantage of it if you draw into it, than run a single card to increase the odds of finding it from 1/99 to 2/99. That's my take, anyway.
Spree is good, no doubt. But as a sorcery, it doesn't kill, it doesn't deal damage. It's efficient, but if we spend R we're better off with Smelt. If we spend RR...then Smash to Smithereens is better. Can we afford to spend a turn and RRR to make this card really do work? I don't like that. You know what I'd like though? Destructive Revelry. But.........
Would you play Boil over REB/Pyro? How many slots can we devote to this without diluting the main deck? Not to mention, do we want to wait until we hit four cmc to play our hate? This kind of hate is best used early, right, to take the most advantage of it.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
A deck such as this one doesn't stand a chance so long as Marath is the deck to beat in Duel-Commander :(. Believe me, I wish this wasn't the case, but it is.
@3Drinks- The last Duel-Commander deck I played was monored, and I loved it. Here are some of my thoughts on your list:
I'll start off by recommending some aggressive one drop creatures, such as Firedrinker Satyr and Jackal Pup.
I've never been a fan of Pyroblast/REB in monored. A low curve and smart play will be your better friends than a lucky topdeck such as those.
Faithless Looting is too good to exclude.
There are currently zero worthwhile ETBT lands for monored in 1v1. Valakut is only good with Scapeshift. Ghitu Encampment isn't worth slowing your play turn over. Monored wants to win ASAP, and these lands just slow you down.
Since you're playing Zozu, I'd recommend Ghost Quarter over Tectonic Edge.
You may be right on those one drops instead of Pyro/REB. The number of times having a G-Guide and Satyr for two power on t1 will likely outweigh the times we had that REB for JtMS.
I go back and forth on Faithless but it may be worth the include. I've never been a fan though. I can swap Ghitu for Inkmoth Nexus, I do like me some more manlands.
Valakut may be acceptable for now. it is inevitability.
And I love the Ghost Quarter interaction, I admittedly never thought of that. It's good.
Edit: No Valakut isn't good here. I am bad. In order for it to be good means I dont get to see Cavern, my manlands, or anything else. If anything; teetering peaks/smoldering spires can replace it. Or just a mountain.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
You think it's too much to hope for yet another good PW that can accelerate Burn strategy? I'm honestly happy already that we're getting New-Sarkhan but more's always nice!
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
It's because it comes down tapped and we don't generally want to see more than five lands. That's awkward for us. I couldn't justify Scrying Sheets in this deck at all -- an effective three mana to maybe draw a card? We're not durdling, we're on the attack.
I don't think that new Sarkhan is good enough in this deck because five mana means he comes too late. But you know, if Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded didn't say random on his +1.................
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Maybe the next Red PW should do something crazy with that whole "exile library and play it" thing going on, recently. Might make Lens of Clarity (or maybe even Top? eh, still durdly) worth playing if only Act on Impulse and Pyromaster Chandra weren't the only things worth using it for.
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
You're not wrong. Act does take a lot of mana (it's probably ideal on five, which isn't where this deck wants to be). I don't think I would play Hell's Thunder or any of the Ball Lightning creatures in that slot though. It'd have to be something that A) generates card advantage, or B) will straight-up win. Those creatures won't do that.
That might be the excuse that Pyrewild Shaman needed to get back into the deck, although I don't recall paying the 3 more than twice to bring it back.
Shrine of Burning Rage? I do like the sounds of that...
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Especially Pyrewild.
Pyrewild Shaman has the relevant type line to pump Rabblemaster, can be uncounterable via Cavern, or on an unblocked creature we can get a Lightning Strikes worth of damage. On the other hand we can't do that continually because 4R for for three damage isn't a great ratio (although I suppose this is comparable to Hammer of Bogardan/Thunderblade Charge)? It's interaction with Skullclamp is also favourable, although the same can be said for Goblin Assault so I'm not sure this is a fair qualifier to justify Pyrewild.
On the other hand, Shrine of Burning Rage does one thing. You play it on t2 and then "forget about it". Meanwhile it invalidates your opponent's creatures & planeswalkers (or they bait the Shrine). It is a must-answer card else they will just lose to it.
Finally a third option exists -- Phyrexian Revoker. A concession to Marath, Will of the Wild though we can't tutour it (nor protect it) so I'm unsure how useful it will be in the grand scheme of things.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
It's definitely worth looking at just for being Pithing Needle on a relevant P/T. Won't stop something like a Prossh that gets going with Purphoros but if you're looking at stuff like Marath, Nin, or Sisay in play, you could do worse for a 2/1 utility creature that can still pick up a Bonesplitter.
I like Shrine of Burning Rage but what if you drew it later than T2 or T3? Are we still getting good mileage, then?
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
What if Curse of Stalked Prey is a cut? It's a hard card to evaluate. On the surface we like it making our Goblin tokens bigger, but in practice it functions like a Rift Bolt -- pay mana now, get extra damage next turn (indeed, Zo-Zu attacks for two and becomes a 3/3, but you won't get that three damage until the turn after that). On the other hand, it makes our guys not so wimpy later on and thus easier to make at least favourable trades.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
It's not aggressive enough. A three mana 1/1? Or four mana for a draw2 assuming your opponent is braindead enough to let you keep Skullclamp on the field with it? At least Pyrewild Shaman can do more while also feeding the Clamp engine Squee would otherwise do. I think Revoker and Pyrewild just wrote their ticket into the deck now.
I can't afford to play "funny" or "cute" cards -- every one of my cards needs to be as efficient as possible. The Pyxis is not one of those things. Likewise with Firebombers, I can't afford to wait until I hit five mana to take away a few of your lands -- either I'm gonna Ruination on four, or Bust on six (I much prefer Boom though).
However you raise an interesting point in From the Ashes. I wonder if that can inflict more net damage than Burning Earth? It's certainly an interaction worth testing.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
What kills me about Pyxis is the 7 cost of that second ability. AiR has a pretty good chance of ending games before we'd need to pay that, and while I do see Mystical Tutor and Vampiric Tutor a lot, that still feels like too specific a use to me unless you're also facing stuff like Flamekin Harbinger as well.
I guess I'd say Burning Earth is more innocuous and is less likely to get countered? But nah, honestly, From the Ashes actually looks really good even without Stranglehold.
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
No links right now because im on my phone but later yes.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.