I think the problem isn't your primer (which I think is excellent) its that people don't read or think. There isn't enough 'there must be a reason why that card is in the deck, I'll figure it out' and too much 'this is my red deck; I call it sledgehammer because the name is awesome and/or it's Travis woo's deck, amirite??'
If you think you get it bad, I might start forwarding you pms I get about vexing devil. My faith in humanity, it dwindles...
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redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
I like getting the PMs because it's good to help the community and it make me think, which improves me as a player; I just hate Vexing Devil. I think it's a hurdle that players go through when developing ~ card evaluation skills take time and an ability to place things into a context; I know James 5 years ago would have thought the card was pretty sweet. Thankfully, I've come along way since then, but I don't know how much others can help you in your journey ~ if anything I read less and less from the 'experts' because as you get better you realise that you're better off forming your own opinions and developing your own skills.
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Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
there aren't any double black costs in the deck and there is no play scenario that requires casting two black spells in a single turn. 9 black sources is sufficient for the case of needing 1 black mana by turn 4.
I like getting the PMs because it's good to help the community and it make me think, which improves me as a player; I just hate Vexing Devil. I think it's a hurdle that players go through when developing ~ card evaluation skills take time and an ability to place things into a context; I know James 5 years ago would have thought the card was pretty sweet. Thankfully, I've come along way since then, but I don't know how much others can help you in your journey ~ if anything I read less and less from the 'experts' because as you get better you realise that you're better off forming your own opinions and developing your own skills.
Zeman and Redthirst, y'all would be proud... I helped a newer player at FNM last night understand the trapping realities of VD without having to resort to violene. He was telling my son that he should be playing "this red devil guy that makes you take 4 damage for 1 or he stays on the field" because his earlier opponent had nut-drawn into 3 of them by turn 3 or 4 and the kid got run over. We went through the scenario of him dropping devils and me taking the damage as I showed him how far he was getting behind due to not having board presence and he got it.
I keep trying to tell fellow red mages at my shop how bad VD is and I think I've only gotten through to one of them. Another one said the devil was the only reason he thought rdw was worth playing :rolleyes:. I was thankfully able to convince a newer red mage how worthless cryptborn horror is.
Has anyone tried replacing their Crucibles with Cathedrals? You're basically trading the possibly late game mana sink with early game threats or late game big attackers. Maybe I'll do some testing on the card later but it would help if somebody could share their experience with it.
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I am passionate, yet I am logical. The fire within me burns, but I am also patient to a point. I am with the Fires of Salvation
Has anyone tried replacing their Crucibles with Cathedrals? You're basically trading the possibly late game mana sink with early game threats or late game big attackers. Maybe I'll do some testing on the card later but it would help if somebody could share their experience with it.
Yarpus has done a lot of testing with Cathedrals in place of Crucibles
And I just sent a PM to you earlier haha. I'll do some testing on my next LGS tourney. I like the idea of Ash Zealot suddenly becoming someone who isn't afraid of Thragtusks without Stonewright to back her up. Hound of Griselbrand also becomes more deadly and might actually deserve a spot mainboard if you're running Cathedral.
Hi folks, looking for some advice on this deck I've been working on since RTR hit the shelves. Its main issue seems to be consistency right now as it is either performing well or failing spectacularly, and its worst matchups are easily lifegain and Junk matchups.
Hi folks, looking for some advice on this deck I've been working on since RTR hit the shelves. Its main issue seems to be consistency right now as it is either performing well or failing spectacularly, and its worst matchups are easily lifegain and Junk matchups.
Well, I would max out the Astriocrats, taking out 2 flailers. Then I would take out the shred-freaks for Knight of Infamy, which has pro white, which is huge right now, and gives your 1-drop some extra damage turn 2 and is better lategame. Take out the other 2 Failers for 2 more land, 1 more spear, and 1 more Hellrider. Then take out 1 Gore-House for 1 more land and it looks pretty good.
I've been a long time reader and on looker, but finally decided to get in here and start posting. What Zem, Dpaine, Ham, etc. are doing is just great and it's something I want to be apart of as much as possible! Anyways, recently I've finally put together a deck list of my own and have play tested it a bunch of times against friends, but haven't had the opportunity to hit up FNM's or any other tournaments yet. That's next.
I've read a lot about the SB options a lot of you guys take as well as the MB and everyone seems to love the interactions and punishment Thundermaw Hellkite can produce, as well as Zealous Conscript. It's actually a reason why I have 1x of them in my SB, swapping them in and out for 2x in the MB for certain match ups. I'm not sure if this will end up killing me in the end, but I'll see when I can finally hit up a tournament. Duress is an absolutely amazing addition that I first saw with Zem's list (sorry if someone else suggested it), but I'm having a really hard time dealing with GoST. It seems to always turn into a race, which sometimes I can't really do.
I've played around a lot with SBing and even MBing Mizzium Mortars and even Bonfire of the Damned, but can't seem to really justify them in any instance (the MB and SB). The amount I'm punished though by GoST keeps bringing me back to 2x Bonfire of the Damned's and with more Sigarda play in my meta, it X's out Mizzium Mortars for me.
I understand Zems, Hams, etc. decision to drop PoF from 4 to 2, but now there are talks of increasing it again lol. That was the target for my Bonfire of the Damned's, but now I'm quite uncertain. It has been noted that Bonfire can be devastating or being a rotting card in your hand, but other then trying to race a GoST I don't have much that I can do.
Any suggestions? Not only for GoST, Sigarda, and other immunities, but the deck in general.
Well, I would max out the Astriocrats, taking out 2 flailers. Then I would take out the shred-freaks for Knight of Infamy, which has pro white, which is huge right now, and gives your 1-drop some extra damage turn 2 and is better lategame. Take out the other 2 Failers for 2 more land, 1 more spear, and 1 more Hellrider. Then take out 1 Gore-House for 1 more land and it looks pretty good.
I think 6 is probably the max you want to go on 4-drops. Any more than that and you're better off just adding another land or two and Thundermaw Hellkites.
link, I posted suggestions in your other thread.
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"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire."
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redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
First thing, you don't have to use [CARD] tags and [DECK] tags, just use deck tags.
A couple of things:
-Pillar should be a 4-of. That's arguable sometimes, but with the Aggro meta we're in/heading into it's necessary.
-I love Olivia, but that MD slot should be a 4th Aristocrat.
-With only 2 5-drops, you could drop to 23 land if you wanted and, IME, be okay.
-I'm not going to say you should play either 2 Conscripts or 2 Hellkites MD, but I've found it to be very important that the deck be as consistent as possible and it's difficult to do that with 1-ofs.
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"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire."
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
First thing, you don't have to use [CARD] tags and [DECK] tags, just use deck tags.
A couple of things:
-Pillar should be a 4-of. That's arguable sometimes, but with the Aggro meta we're in/heading into it's necessary.
-I love Olivia, but that MD slot should be a 4th Aristocrat.
-With only 2 5-drops, you could drop to 23 land if you wanted and, IME, be okay.
-I'm not going to say you should play either 2 Conscripts or 2 Hellkites MD, but I've found it to be very important that the deck be as consistent as possible and it's difficult to do that with 1-ofs.
Ha, thanks about the tags Redthirst. New poster, I'm a nub.
Do you think Olivia just doesn't have a place at all? The reason why I even place her in the MD (let alone the SB) are for those occurrences where I'm just sitting on a ton of mana or drawing into a lot of mana. I'm able to just ping off mana dorks or weenies to beef her up and swing or block. It has seemed to work well so far, but I've only ever got her mind control off once, which is very lacking. However, I didn't really put her in the deck for that interaction to begin with.
Is she better placed for Games 2 and 3 if I needed her?
Is Flames poorly positioned here if the consensus is to increase the number of Pillar of Flames? That might actually be where I could fit in Bonfire's...
Ha, thanks about the tags Redthirst. New poster, I'm a nub.
Do you think Olivia just doesn't have a place at all? The reason why I even place her in the MD (let alone the SB) are for those occurrences where I'm just sitting on a ton of mana or drawing into a lot of mana. I'm able to just ping off mana dorks or weenies to beef her up and swing or block. It has seemed to work well so far, but I've only ever got her mind control off once, which is very lacking. However, I didn't really put her in the deck for that interaction to begin with.
Is she better placed for Games 2 and 3 if I needed her?
I run 2 SB.
Against Aggro or Midrange she's one of those cards that simply wins you the game if you untap with her, but against Tempo or Control she's really not great.
Aristocrat is stellar in every single MU.
I never run cards that are conditionally awesome over cards that are always (but slightly less) awesome in the MD unless that condition will be met a significant % of the time.
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"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire."
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
If you think you get it bad, I might start forwarding you pms I get about vexing devil. My faith in humanity, it dwindles...
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Lulz. Try being meaner... I've gotten PMs about more than a few things red, but not one about Vexing Devil.
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
"See, this is what happens to you when you play vexing devil..."
his opponent was on the play iirc and completely lost tempo...and the match:D
PS cweaver your sledge thread is just fine man.
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
1 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Dreadbore
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Rakdos Guildgate
13 Mountain
2 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Dreadbore
3 Rakdos Charm
4 Duress
4 Hanweir Watchkeep
and yes, I do feel that 25 lands is the right amount. nothing wins games as much as casting Thundermaw Hellkite on time.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
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Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
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Zeman and Redthirst, y'all would be proud... I helped a newer player at FNM last night understand the trapping realities of VD without having to resort to violene. He was telling my son that he should be playing "this red devil guy that makes you take 4 damage for 1 or he stays on the field" because his earlier opponent had nut-drawn into 3 of them by turn 3 or 4 and the kid got run over. We went through the scenario of him dropping devils and me taking the damage as I showed him how far he was getting behind due to not having board presence and he got it.
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
Yarpus has done a lot of testing with Cathedrals in place of Crucibles
Watch my Twitch.tv stream.
Take the Ham Challenge.
Also, I can finally trade for those Augurs.
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
2 Swamps
11 Mountains
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blood Crypt
Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Nobles
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
3 Gore House Chainwalker
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellhole Flailer
3 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Pillar of Flame
3 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Slaughter Games
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Well, I would max out the Astriocrats, taking out 2 flailers. Then I would take out the shred-freaks for Knight of Infamy, which has pro white, which is huge right now, and gives your 1-drop some extra damage turn 2 and is better lategame. Take out the other 2 Failers for 2 more land, 1 more spear, and 1 more Hellrider. Then take out 1 Gore-House for 1 more land and it looks pretty good.
I've been a long time reader and on looker, but finally decided to get in here and start posting. What Zem, Dpaine, Ham, etc. are doing is just great and it's something I want to be apart of as much as possible! Anyways, recently I've finally put together a deck list of my own and have play tested it a bunch of times against friends, but haven't had the opportunity to hit up FNM's or any other tournaments yet. That's next.
Here is the current list I'm running:
4x Blood Crypt
3x Cavern of Souls
4x Dragonskull Summit
10x Mountain
3x Swamp
Creatures
4x Ash Zealot
3x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Knight of Infamy
1x Olivia Voldaren
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Stromkirk Noble
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
3x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Zealous Conscripts
3x Brimstone Volley
4x Searing Spear
Sorcery
2x Flames of the Firebrand
2x Pillar of Flame
2x Dreadbore
3x Duress
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Slaughter Games
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
2x Ultimate Price
1x Zealous Conscripts
I've read a lot about the SB options a lot of you guys take as well as the MB and everyone seems to love the interactions and punishment Thundermaw Hellkite can produce, as well as Zealous Conscript. It's actually a reason why I have 1x of them in my SB, swapping them in and out for 2x in the MB for certain match ups. I'm not sure if this will end up killing me in the end, but I'll see when I can finally hit up a tournament. Duress is an absolutely amazing addition that I first saw with Zem's list (sorry if someone else suggested it), but I'm having a really hard time dealing with GoST. It seems to always turn into a race, which sometimes I can't really do.
I've played around a lot with SBing and even MBing Mizzium Mortars and even Bonfire of the Damned, but can't seem to really justify them in any instance (the MB and SB). The amount I'm punished though by GoST keeps bringing me back to 2x Bonfire of the Damned's and with more Sigarda play in my meta, it X's out Mizzium Mortars for me.
I understand Zems, Hams, etc. decision to drop PoF from 4 to 2, but now there are talks of increasing it again lol. That was the target for my Bonfire of the Damned's, but now I'm quite uncertain. It has been noted that Bonfire can be devastating or being a rotting card in your hand, but other then trying to race a GoST I don't have much that I can do.
Any suggestions? Not only for GoST, Sigarda, and other immunities, but the deck in general.
I think 6 is probably the max you want to go on 4-drops. Any more than that and you're better off just adding another land or two and Thundermaw Hellkites.
link, I posted suggestions in your other thread.
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
First thing, you don't have to use [CARD] tags and [DECK] tags, just use deck tags.
A couple of things:
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
Ha, thanks about the tags Redthirst. New poster, I'm a nub.
Do you think Olivia just doesn't have a place at all? The reason why I even place her in the MD (let alone the SB) are for those occurrences where I'm just sitting on a ton of mana or drawing into a lot of mana. I'm able to just ping off mana dorks or weenies to beef her up and swing or block. It has seemed to work well so far, but I've only ever got her mind control off once, which is very lacking. However, I didn't really put her in the deck for that interaction to begin with.
Is she better placed for Games 2 and 3 if I needed her?
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I run 2 SB.
Against Aggro or Midrange she's one of those cards that simply wins you the game if you untap with her, but against Tempo or Control she's really not great.
Aristocrat is stellar in every single MU.
I never run cards that are conditionally awesome over cards that are always (but slightly less) awesome in the MD unless that condition will be met a significant % of the time.
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
10 Mountains
2 Swamps
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Slaughter Games
Anybody have anymore advice?
I'm starting to wonder if the Rolling Temblor is a little bit redundant now that I've got KoI for Geist hate.
Also I'm thinking this deck may actually fall under the Sledghammer Archetype, in which case sorry to the mods, and feel free to move it.
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