Cross tribe cards are hard since they would have to be extra powerful to counteract not benefitting from the other tribal boosts in those decks. Knight-Captain of Eos and Hero of Bladehold, Knights that otherwise fit a Soldier deck, are the examples that come to my mind. If they themselves were Soldiers, I'd be more inclined to play them.
Otherwise, great science post.
Verix Bladewing seems obvious
Maybe Skizzik, but another regular at the LGS pointed out Charging Monstrosaur is the same CMC as a kicked Skizzik with 2 more toughness.
A full playset of Fight with Fire in the 75 rather than 2 or 3?
Sarkhan Fireblood?
Expertise hasn't been impressive for me either - usually it just gets me one swing with their creature. We have better ways to push a few damage through, and big burn spells/abilities like FWF deal with the fatty more permanently. Often I don't have a CMC 2 or less spell in hand.
Soul Scar Mage is great for creatures too big to killed with one burn effect - reduce them and/or kill them later. It's also mono-red's only way of dealing with indestructibles. -2/-2 to opposing Rekindling Phoenix almost seems better than killing it. Sometimes Prowess essentially lets burn spells deal 1 more damage when opponent has no blockers. The increased P/T hasn't been relevant otherwise.
Lava Axe does allow direct damage to planeswalkers, but Wizard's Lightning and Chandra's Defeat seem better there.
If silver border is allowed, would Old Fogey be worth it for the lulz?
What about the power 5 or greater theme from Alara block for Naya behemoths? There is some antisynergy since those are beats rather than dinos.
https://magiccards.info/query?q=o:"power 5 or greater" (e:arb/en or e:cfx/en or e:ala/en)&v=card&s=cname
If you want to double up on an effect, Bloodthorn Taunter is similar to Otepec Huntmaster and Mayael the Anima also fetches a big creature from the library.
Mayael's Aria, Mighty Emergence, Sacellum Godspeaker, Spellbreaker Behemoth, Where Ancients Tread seem like they could also be fun
Went 3-0 at a 10-person LGS event with this list:
19 Mountain
4 Sunscorched Desert
Creature (23)
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
2 Bomat Courier
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Glorybringer
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Abrade
Planeswalker (2)
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Chandra's Defeat
4 Harsh Mentor
3 Kari Zev's Expertise
4 Magma Spray
Match report
Round 1 was U/B/R. Game 1 he got both Karn, Scion of Urza and Saheeli Rai; I could've handled either but not both and it kept damage away from his face. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, Cabal Paladin copied with Saheeli's 2nd ability, and cheap artifacts were too much. Game 2, Chandra's Defeat helped get rid of Saheeli ASAP and I kept Tezzeret the Schemer contained. Game 3 I'd say I outraced him.
Round 2 was R/G fatties. Game 1, he got manaflooded. Game 2, I Chandra's Defeated his Glorybringer and he Chandra's Defeated my Glorybringer, but I had more other gas.
Round 3 was W/U/B control.
Game 1 he got The Scarab God, Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Knights of Grace or Malice kept coming. He countered some things, but it wasn't enough. I played Lightning Strike on Shalai with Soul-Scar Mage out but didn't get other damage to finish her off. I made a slight misplay, exerting Ahn-Crop Crasher with the 0/1 Shalai the only target, so Scarab God and Knight of Malice got my Kari Zev. That attack still got him down to 1. I played Hazoret and didn't attack, successfully waiting to fishing him off with Hazoret's ability
game 2 he got stuck on 2 lands I played extra aggressively to push damage through before he could get going. Harsh Mentor was a glorified bear as Scarab God didn't show up again. He said he sided it out as too slow.
Chandra's Defeat was an MVP against both decks with red, Kari Zev's Expertise against anything with big creatures. Bomat Courier, Earthshaker Khenra and Kari Zev came out as they seemed better against weenies. I also sided out Dire Fleet Daredevil if I didn't see much for him to grab game 1. I didn't end up drawing him anyway.
Yes, I wanted Khenra for Standard mono red aggro, and the cards I traded (including Chandra) were more than I needed for that deck.
I also wanted Daredevil for that deck and hadn't thought of the further upside, cool.
Masters packs have a foil in every one, so that might depress foil prices generally.
On a card expensive even in nonfoil is there less room for growth?
Also,
My
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Soul-Scar Mage
3 Bomat Courier
Veteran Explorer
His:
Dire Fleet Daredevil foil
Earthshaker Khenra
Value looks fairly even, swapped extras for cards I wanted for decks, but am I missing something here?
MTG gameplay sometimes hasn't made storyline sense ever since the beginning, I'm not worried about it and I don't try to explain around it. From the original rulebook:
Q: Can my opponent do something that doesn't make sense, such as casting both Holy Strength and Unholy Strength on his Air Elemental?
A: Yes, these effects are magical, after all.
You mean Scrapheap Scrounger? I see how Endless Sands is an alternative for recursion. it doesn't impress me, but I might try it if I don't go down the Chainwhirler path.
I like the simplicity and consistency of not having a splash. Legacy Burn, feels like a similar deck to me and I don't splash in that either. So it's not a cost issue, though Scrounger and fixing like Dragonskull Summit are cheap.
I do have trouble with sideboarding, both what 15 to include and what to actually use in a match. I'll see if I need any more graveyard hate as I play the deck more.
I figured Fight with Fire was there mainly for its unkicked effect, but the kicker would be a nice bonus in a long and/or manaflooded game.
Thanks for the ideas.
I am open to more Rekindling Phoenix and Earthshaker Khenra once I decide to spring for them and find where to put them.
Is triple red for Chainwhirler why you cut Sunscorched Desert? I like the idea of feeding it to Scavenging Grounds if I need to use that repeatedly.
Why put all the Chandras to sideboard?
Fight With Fire is interesting, whether it or Chandra's Defeat comes in depends on the matchup
$2 for the cheap rare foils did seem a bit generous when trading down, but valuing foils did seem difficult especially when nonfoils were also involved. Maybe I did overestimate how much Chandra's rotation drop would be.
Even now that seems like a steal. TCG mid on the cards you traded in is about $100, $220 even if you value the store credit as much as cash. Trop listings on TCG start at nearly $300. Maybe the store owner wanted to unload some slow moving inventory?
Grounds provides graveyard hate main without taking up a nonland card slot. Similarly, Magma Spray does double duty as ordinary removal.
24 lands led to manaflooding, as I'd expected. I often got manascrewed at 22. 23 it is.
I avoid running 4-of's of legendaries, so I'm not stuck with dead cards in hand. Hazoret is worth it for consistency but even 3 Kari Zev or Chandra almost feels like too much, so I might take those down to 2. Likewise, Glorybringer is powerful but brings up the curve.
Harsh Mentor does not do much mainboard. Abrade is useful, but I'm leaning towards less than 4 main and more sideboard.
Harsh Mentor, Magma Spray and Abrade seem more like sideboard cards, or do they affect things common enough to worry about maindeck?
Pia Nalaar doesn't make sense since I didn't go in an artifact heavy direction.
The other cards from Hazoret Aggro seem too low powered.
This is the list I'm about to try:
18 Mountain
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Sunscorched Desert
Creature (24)
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
4 Bomat Courier
1 Earthshaker Khenra
3 Glorybringer
4 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1 Rekindling Phoenix
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
2 Abrade
Planeswalker (3)
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Chandra's Defeat
4 Harsh Mentor
3 Kari Zev's Expertise
4 Magma Spray
20 Mountain
4 Sunscorched Desert
Creature (23)
1 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Bomat Courier
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3 Harsh Mentor
1 Glorybringer
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Ahn-Crop Crasher
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
2 Abrade
2 Magma Spray
Planeswalker (1)
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Magma Spray
2 Key to the City
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
3 Sentinel Totem
4 Chandra's Defeat