MONO RED IS NEVER A DEAD DECK. Seriously, you can go back to TSP-Lorwyn Standard and find a RDW deck doing well against Faeries, Shards block bringing Hell's Thunder, Ball Lightning, and Hellspark Elemental, or Zendikar-Scars standard goblins.
Some key cards for RDW are uncommons and commons, which are spoiled later because Rares and Mythics sell sets, so have hopes for this set.
Searing Blood came out and its a great card. Compare it to Searing Blaze or Lash Out.
I love the idea of utilizing Burning Earth right now and this is the best way. This deck is well within your budget and a little more space for sideboard. Before you ask, the reason why I have Wild Ricochet in the main deck because its so funny to use Rakdos's Return or, even better, Sphinx's Revelation against by our opponent by either getting rid of their life total or getting a ton of life and cards.
Hello. I have a Prismatic Omen on the battle field with 5 mountains on the battlefield. If I play Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, will the Valakut count as a mountain to trigger Valakut's effect?
between the rush that jor kadeen can create, the possibility of hard control from elesh norn, and the non stop action of korador... that sounds like an annoying pod to be in (@5 man). the most i will ever play with in a pod, is total 4 people, so i cannot give EXACT advice for that match up (especially not knowing how ob nixilis plays out). the best advice i CAN give for playing with that group (being that they have wised up to how azusa works), is know how to "slow roll". don't over-commit on your fat, do not leave azusa open to removal and keep a life gain engine up. match ups like these are where the flex slots shine. pick and choose your flex/meta cards wisely. gain the most advantage out of them. you shouldn't be the main threat with that exact pod (that honor should go to jor kadeen or karador if the pilots are worth their salt), so "slow rolling" should get you there. also, glacial chasm.
The problem with that game was that Karador wasn't a big threat because my Elesh deck had first turn Relic of Progenitus. I have just built Elesh so it didn't have the biggest control but it was enough to get 2nd out of that pod. When you say slow roll, you mean don't play Azusa immediately? Also, what are those flexible spots? If I had to take out any card from the deck, it would be Spine of Ish Sah. I will try to get another EDH pod on Thursday or Friday and see what happens.
I found your flexible cards:
Homeward Path
Yavimaya Hollow
Gaea's Cradle
Howling Mine
Masticore
Gargantuan Gorilla
Planar Portal
Boundless Realms
Reap and Sow
NAtural Order
Worldly Tutor
Primal Command
Krosan Grip
Beast Within
The only cards I don't have access to is Planar Portal, Natural Order, and Gaea's Cradle. I like Homeward Path, Yavimaya Hollow, Howling Mine, Reap and Sow, World Tutor(I search for Oracle of Mul Daya most of the time), Krosan Grip, Beast Within, and Primal Command.
Played a big game recently. Played a 5 man game with Jor Kadeen, Elesh Norn (my other deck), Ob Nixilis, and Karador. People know about my deck, so I get targeted quite a bit. My general got Sword's the first time I played here. The next opportunity I get too, Jor played Manabarbs to butt hurt me. I didn't know what to do, but I took to much life to deal with the Luminarch Ascension Jor also had. We need more utility cards for us. I have a target on my head when I play my Azusa deck.
Hey. I have been playing Azusa for 3 years now. Even with the bannings and rule changes, I will play this deck for as long as I can because of one of my friends at my LGS. Everytime we play, He kicks my but everytime 1v1, but multiplayer he usually switches everytime. However, everytime we play, he says Thank You to me everytime he plays his Revised Taiga. Why that card? Without me, he wouldn't have a great EDH deck and won a EDH tournament to get that card.
A little backstory, I was playing Azusa two years ago and it wasn't the best, he had a good Zur EDH deck and wanted to compete in a 1v1 tournament to win a Revised Taiga as first place prize. To help him practice, I play him with my Azusa deck. For the who week, I demolished him every game (And this is the Zur, one of the best 1v1 decks) No matter how many cute plays he made, I kept ramping and pounding him. There was a moment he remembers vividly, He casts Desolation Angel Kicked and destroys 20 of my land. I have Azusa in play along with Recycle and a Forest in Hand. It goes to my turn, I play the Forest and end up drawing into an Oracle of Mul Daya and 4 lands along with a Top allowing me to control what I draw and play off the top of my Library. He ends up cutting the cute cards out of his deck, like Crucible of Worlds and Magister Sphinx, for more answers that weren't enchantments as well. He went into the EDH tourney and won the whole thing. Ironically, he played against another Zur Deck and kicked his butt as well. My friends deck was more streamline to answering while putting less money into his deck. The training he had with me was the best he got and he continues to play EDH games with me because of our friendship.
After that long story, I'm gonna continue looking at this thread because I wanna make my deck better. I just got my Snow Covered Forests so I'm gonna be working on the last few pieces. However, it looks like I will be getting foils before buying a Gaea's Cradle :(. Is there anything we want to put into this deck from M14? What about Scaveging Ooze? what about Into the Wilds? Primeval Bounty? Savage Summoning?
Hey. I like your deck, but I have a few things to add.
Memory Jar: Unless you plan to win on that turn, this card is generally bad.
I'm not really sure about everything else, but I want to point out that now that Elspeth, Knight Errant is gonna be reprinted soon, you might wanna add her to your deck. SoFaI is gonna get reprinted so this will be good as well.
Esper Teachings 1-2
These were tough games because they were grindy and I made stupid mistakes in games 2 and 3 that cost me the game. Game 1, you have the advantage because of all the discard you have.
Deathrite Shaman becomes another win condition for this deck by becoming a hoser for their Teachings and Snapcaster Mages. I think this matchup is more of a 50-50 depending on how much you don't overextend.
Aggro Loam 0-2
I didn't do any research on the Loam side because I haven't played against him before. Now, I need to make sideboard space for it and maybe even a Main deck tech. This deck massive main deck advantage for us because once they have the engine going, the Dryad Arbors block and eat up removal all day long, the Ghost Quarter takes care of our Inkmoths, and Raven's Crime is more effective for their deck than our deck.
It was difficult trying to figure out which cards to take out, but it didn't matter because I wasn't able interact with Loam and got played by card advantage.
Sory about the post above, I didn't notice the SCD in the main menu. I thought it would be more focused towards this section because this is more of a control deck that has to deal with specific issues than a regular BUG infect deck.
I'm gonna be playing with a BG deck tonight at my LGS.
Today is more of a testing session more than anything else
Deathrite Shaman, Nature's Claim, Verdants, Tombs:
The reason why to splash G is to deal with problematic cards such as Leyline of Sanctity and Cranial Plating (If you are going 2nd). I wanna see how this works. If it doesn't work, no shame going back to mono black
Singleton Infest in Main: Affinity and aggro matchups. This would have been where the 4th Raven's Crime would be, but I feel in that purpose, the infest would be better than a Raven's crime. I have had success with it once game 1 against Affinity, but I don't have a large pool of games to test this theory.
Single Vampire Nighthawk in board, i just need life against these aggro decks. IDK what I would take out for this card, but since my meta is about 30% Storm, I won't be taking out the duress any time before the new ban takes effect.
The landscape of Magic is changing, with Bloodbraid Elf and Seething Song hitting the ban list, I'm not sure how this deck will stack when it comes to the decks we beat. I know I had a pretty good matchup with Jund and Storm, but I think certain cards can go out of the way to solve some gaping holes in this deck.
Devour Flesh: IDK why anyone hasn't talked about this card before. This card is absolutely amazing for this deck for the following reasons.
1) Main Deck solution to Geist of Saint Traft and Bogle.dek
2) Who cares about them gaining 7 life off a Tarmogoyf when I'm beating you down with Infect creatures?
3) Good against decks that try to go mid range against us. Your opponent plays Restoration Angel during your end phase, and response to its trigger, Devouring Flesh.
While it does have a downside where if your opponent has multiple small creatures, like Melira Pod, this card suffers alot, Disfigure solves that problem perfectly and Devour Flesh is more likely going to be a 2 -3 of, so you won't draw multiples often.
Hey. I just got started with this deck and going tommorrow to a local tourney. There should be about 10-15 people with the biggest chunk going to Jund and Storm. Here is the deck I'm going with.
The sideboard was one that was posted on TCGPlayer.com and was wondering how some of it would work. I think the best odds for cards soming out is Stupor, Surgical Extraction, Bojuka Bog, and Disfigure.
Hexmage will come in for Storm to stop Ascension
Rain of Tears comes in for Tron
Infest comes in for Affinity
Nighthawk comes in for Jund and Affinity
Victim comes in for Jund, Affinity and Infect
Unmake comes in for the same ones as above
Hey Guys. I have been really excited to play EE since it first came out. Originally I thought of playing it like a card engine for a combo deck, but then I realized that the problems when people start bringing in Graveyard hate, so I decided to use it more a burn deck than anything.
*** WARNING: LOTS OF TEXT IN THE POST. IF YOU DON"T FEEL LIKE READING AND JUST WANT TO NET DECK, HEAD DOWN TO THE BOTTOM. HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT TO LEARN STEP BY STEP HOW I APPLIED MY MAGIC EXPERIENCE AND THEORY INTO THIS DECK, KEEP READING. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING SINCE LORWYN IF YOU WANT TO REFERENCE HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN PLAYING.
The first thing I needed to figure out was the top of the curve. Ideally, the top of curve is three, but extra mana will make EE very powerful mid game. I decided that 21 Land sources would be sufficient based on a model given from the RDW curve, where the top of the curve is 21.
This is what I have right now.
21 Lands
The next part is figuring out what to do with 1CMC. The most powerful plays for 1 CMC in Red is this
There is nothing we want in the graveyard so FL is out of the question.
Cackler, Reckless Waif, Stromkirk Noble, and Vexing devil is more RDW than
Burn so those are gone.
Street Spasm doesn't hit players and Slumbering Dragon doesn't seem appropriate either.
Smelt could be used in sideboard along with Nivmagus Elemental.
Geistflame can be considered in the future with increased use of Burning Vengeance or Guttersnipe.
Devil's Play could make this list because unlike Epic Experiment, DP can be dumped to the graveyard off of an EE and can be flashed back. I will talk about this card later based on niche slots in the deck.
However, Pillar of Flame is necessary for Zombies.
In order to allow a first turn Pillar of Flame, you need at least 8 sources of red available in your deck, but since we are using blue, we can use Steam Vents for this as well.
Not as many choices in red, but still have choices.
Overload Costs can't be payed off of EE, so Blustersquall loses appeal.
Thoughtscour isn't great for us because of the lack of Snapcaster Mage.
Unsummon is just worse than our burn spells, but still worth noting.
Increasing Confusion is a very interesting sideboard option for us because it's another mana sink mid to late game against control, but you can dump it to the grave off of EE and flash it back for great value.
However, Delver of Secrets is the real reason why we love blue in this deck, other than EE. It's a very aggressive option for the deck and even with the loss of ponder, I wouldn't be surprised if it blinds flips often. As long as we concentrate the deck heavily with Instants and Sorceries, this should be amazing.
In order to get a first turn Delver down, we will need at least 8 blue land in our deck, and since we already have 4 Steam Vents, then we only need 4 more Islands at this point. Since we are already relying on R and U so much, we will just add the Sulfur Falls before I forget.
Desperate Ravings would be very good for this deck, but the problem is that our card advantage comes from EE, not Desperate Ravings. We want to keep every card we draw, so that is not a go.
Goblin Electromancer is a trap for this deck because the job of this card is to make "Bad" spells better. Spells such as Battle Hymn and Burn at the Stake, which needs to be more efficient. Increasing Vengeance falls along this line of work.
Dangerous Wager was already featured as a one of in this deck, and after a couple games with this card, I like it just as a 1 of.
EE is a 4 of in this deck because this is the centerpeice of the strategy.
Searing Speak and Thunderbolt can be pointed at the opponent as well at a creature, so they both get included as a 4 of.
Izzet Charm wants to be in deck, however I'm not sure if it will fit the bill just yet. I will talk about it later.
Now we have what for spells, we need to see if we need to update the land
On Play) 2/8 = .250
On Draw) 2/9 = .222
mid point = .236
.236 * 60= 14.16 ~ 14
So, Snapcaster Mage will be interesting. We obviously want to keep the creature count low because of Delver and EE, but the idea of Flashing back Pillar against Zombies is awesome and flashing back EE against Control is game ending. I will test this as a 1 of.
Augur of Bolas right now would be perfect in this deck, but as said before, the creature count can't go too high. If anyone would use this instead of Snapcaster or Delver, I wouldn't blame or rage you.
Think Twice, However should be in this deck because its very useful in the Miracle's Matchup and will always draw us a card in the EE. 4 of.
With the number of options decreasing, it would be a good opportunity to find the CMC density in this deck. Basically, every Mana symbol will be counted for each color and the % will be based on total.
Blue Red
Delver -4 Pillar - 4
Snap - 1 Thunder - 4
EE - 4 Searing - 4
TT - 4 Wager - 1
EE - 4
UTotal - 13 RTotal - 17
Total - 30
Red% - 43.333% ~ 43%
Blue% - 56.667% ~ 57%
The deck isn't complete yet, so figuring out the remaining lands wouldn't be appropriate now. However, updating the info will be useful from now on.
Burning Vengeance may not fit in this particular build, but that doesn't mean its a bad card in general with this deck. Since you can dump flashback spells to the grave, you effectively get a great tutor for this power.
Guttersnipe seems really good in sideboard against decks that don;t have alot of removal, like W/G. Mark of Mutiny and Traitorous Blood is very good for just taking Thragtusk and shooting it right at them. I think Traitorous blood is a little better because of the Trample.
Annihilating Fire, Brimstone Volley, and Flames of the Firebrand seem great in this deck. While Annihilating Fire and Brimstone Volley are great 4 of, but the Flames of the Firebrand have to be 3 of because unless it takes out 2 spirit tokens or mana dorks, it will be lack luster.
The last two spots can be filled with spells I talked about earlier. I would like to test 2 of Devil's Play for next FNM.
Now that we have the deck almost complete, we can figure out the mana base.
RED Mana Count: 17 + 2 + 3 + 6 + 3 = 31
BLUE Mana Count: 13
Total = 44
Red % = 70.455% ~ 70%
Blue % = 29. 545% ~30%
We have 21 Lands, but since 8 Lands can be used for both colors, we only need to split the mana based on 13 lands.
RED Mana Base = 70% * 13 = 9.1 ~ 9
BLUE Mana Base = 30% * 13 = 3.9 ~ 4
Here is the Final Deck that I will play as soon as I get all the pieces.
Current burn-based build. I don't think you should update the OP with this list though as it is untested. I tweaked the list to address two problems: Experimenting into snapcasters and lack of land drops to fuel experiment.
To that end, I have removed all snaps and replaced them with flames of the firebrand. Playing with 24 lands might not be right, and I might go back to 23 with 4 copies of flames.
Added a sideboard too.
I will post again once I have gotten solid testing results with this deck. Might even run it for local tournaments.
- Decks running thragtusk can be a problem. However, they also don't run much removal outside of o-rings and detention spheres, AND they tend to board them out against you. Board in guttersnipe to pubish them.
- Discard is a pain for this deck, as I learnt last night. Board in more card draw in the form of Dangerous Wager.
- Replace delvers and 2 pillars with hellkites and thunderous wraths against grixis control lists, and replace pillars with wraths against u/w based lists. Delvers die too quicklyagainst grixis, while pillars are generally bad against control decks. Go big. You might also want to board in dangerous wager.
- Rolling Temblor is there to deal with the very, very painful geist of saint traft. Fog Bank might also be a good idea.
- "Counterburn" is a stupid archetype. Don't run any counters in the side. You either kill them fast or you lose.
I was thinking about running this deck for this standard, but I was wondering if you could run white along with this deck to give it that extra edge in which burn isn't that great, IE against Thragtusk, Armada Wurm. I was thinking about adding Feeling of Dread or Azorius Charm to stall long enough to give you to get a powerful EE.
Edit* Also, If you added White, then Sphinx's Revelation would be a great one of in this to replace Dangerous Wager. It would suck that it gets hit off of the EE, but if you get it lategame, the lifegain and draw is tremendous.
Some key cards for RDW are uncommons and commons, which are spoiled later because Rares and Mythics sell sets, so have hopes for this set.
Searing Blood came out and its a great card. Compare it to Searing Blaze or Lash Out.
4 Young Pyromancer 4 x $2.00 = $8
4 Chandra's Phoenix 4 x $1.00 = $4
2 Pyromancer's Gauntlet 2 x $0.37 = $0.74
3 Shock 3 x $0.15 = $0.45
4 Flames of the Firebrand 4 x $0.18 = $0.72
1 Wild Ricochet 2 x $0.35 = $0.70
4 Burning Earth 4 x $4.50 = $18
These cards are gonna rotate out soon, but are still very good for this deck and right now aren't a huge investment.
4 Pillar of Flame 4 x $0.30 =$1.20
4 Brimstone Volley 4 x $0.21 =$0.84
4 Searing Spear 4 x $0.68 =$2.72
24 Mountains
DECK COST: $37.37
Cards that you can put into your deck to upgrade it:
4 Chandra, Pyromaster Replacing Gauntlet and Brimstone Volley
3 Mutavault Replacing Mountains
Boros Reckoner
I love the idea of utilizing Burning Earth right now and this is the best way. This deck is well within your budget and a little more space for sideboard. Before you ask, the reason why I have Wild Ricochet in the main deck because its so funny to use Rakdos's Return or, even better, Sphinx's Revelation against by our opponent by either getting rid of their life total or getting a ton of life and cards.
The problem with that game was that Karador wasn't a big threat because my Elesh deck had first turn Relic of Progenitus. I have just built Elesh so it didn't have the biggest control but it was enough to get 2nd out of that pod. When you say slow roll, you mean don't play Azusa immediately? Also, what are those flexible spots? If I had to take out any card from the deck, it would be Spine of Ish Sah. I will try to get another EDH pod on Thursday or Friday and see what happens.
I found your flexible cards:
Homeward Path
Yavimaya Hollow
Gaea's Cradle
Howling Mine
Masticore
Gargantuan Gorilla
Planar Portal
Boundless Realms
Reap and Sow
NAtural Order
Worldly Tutor
Primal Command
Krosan Grip
Beast Within
The only cards I don't have access to is Planar Portal, Natural Order, and Gaea's Cradle. I like Homeward Path, Yavimaya Hollow, Howling Mine, Reap and Sow, World Tutor(I search for Oracle of Mul Daya most of the time), Krosan Grip, Beast Within, and Primal Command.
A little backstory, I was playing Azusa two years ago and it wasn't the best, he had a good Zur EDH deck and wanted to compete in a 1v1 tournament to win a Revised Taiga as first place prize. To help him practice, I play him with my Azusa deck. For the who week, I demolished him every game (And this is the Zur, one of the best 1v1 decks) No matter how many cute plays he made, I kept ramping and pounding him. There was a moment he remembers vividly, He casts Desolation Angel Kicked and destroys 20 of my land. I have Azusa in play along with Recycle and a Forest in Hand. It goes to my turn, I play the Forest and end up drawing into an Oracle of Mul Daya and 4 lands along with a Top allowing me to control what I draw and play off the top of my Library. He ends up cutting the cute cards out of his deck, like Crucible of Worlds and Magister Sphinx, for more answers that weren't enchantments as well. He went into the EDH tourney and won the whole thing. Ironically, he played against another Zur Deck and kicked his butt as well. My friends deck was more streamline to answering while putting less money into his deck. The training he had with me was the best he got and he continues to play EDH games with me because of our friendship.
After that long story, I'm gonna continue looking at this thread because I wanna make my deck better. I just got my Snow Covered Forests so I'm gonna be working on the last few pieces. However, it looks like I will be getting foils before buying a Gaea's Cradle :(. Is there anything we want to put into this deck from M14? What about Scaveging Ooze? what about Into the Wilds? Primeval Bounty? Savage Summoning?
Memory Jar: Unless you plan to win on that turn, this card is generally bad.
I'm not really sure about everything else, but I want to point out that now that Elspeth, Knight Errant is gonna be reprinted soon, you might wanna add her to your deck. SoFaI is gonna get reprinted so this will be good as well.
went 2-2
Wins
Affinity
American Control
Loses
Esper Teachings
Aggro Loam
Affinity 2-1
played out just as expected game 2 and 3, but game 1 I had to mulligan down to five and had a hand of 4 lands and a Lily,
Sideboard
+4 Nature's Claim
+3 Infest
+1 Rachet Bomb
-4 Liliana
-1 GFTT
-3 Vatmother
Games 2 and 3 were much easier and the reason why we brought in Green came to shine.
American Control 2-0
Phyrexian Crusader is an allstar in this matchup. When he hits, they literally need a Supreme Verdict to deal with this card.
Sideboard
+4 Duress
+1 Deathrite Shaman
-1 Infest
-4 Disfigure
Esper Teachings 1-2
These were tough games because they were grindy and I made stupid mistakes in games 2 and 3 that cost me the game. Game 1, you have the advantage because of all the discard you have.
Sideboard
+2 Deathrite Shamans
+4 Duress
-1 Infest
-4 Disfigure
-2 Vatmother
Deathrite Shaman becomes another win condition for this deck by becoming a hoser for their Teachings and Snapcaster Mages. I think this matchup is more of a 50-50 depending on how much you don't overextend.
Aggro Loam 0-2
I didn't do any research on the Loam side because I haven't played against him before. Now, I need to make sideboard space for it and maybe even a Main deck tech. This deck massive main deck advantage for us because once they have the engine going, the Dryad Arbors block and eat up removal all day long, the Ghost Quarter takes care of our Inkmoths, and Raven's Crime is more effective for their deck than our deck.
Sideboard
+2 Deathrite Shaman
+4 Duress
-2 Disfigure
-1 Infest
-3 Raven's Crime
It was difficult trying to figure out which cards to take out, but it didn't matter because I wasn't able interact with Loam and got played by card advantage.
Changes
-1 Infest (Main)
+1 Infest (Side)
+1 Raven's Crime (Main)
The Main deck infest didn't pan out because there was more Control than Aggro at my meta.
-1 Rachet Bomb
-1 Vampire Nighthawk
+2 Surgical Extraction
Loam might make a return, but I need something to just interact with that deck other than Deathrite Shaman
I'm gonna be playing with a BG deck tonight at my LGS.
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Overgrown Tomb
7 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Phyrexian Vatmother
2 Deathrite Shaman
4 Phyrexian Crusader
1 Doom Blade
4 Funeral Charm
1 Go for the Throat
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Raven's Crime
1 Infest
2 Runechanter's Pike
4 Sign in Blood
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Infest
4 Nature's Claim
4 Duress
1 Rachet Bomb
1 Vampire Nighthawk
Today is more of a testing session more than anything else
Deathrite Shaman, Nature's Claim, Verdants, Tombs:
The reason why to splash G is to deal with problematic cards such as Leyline of Sanctity and Cranial Plating (If you are going 2nd). I wanna see how this works. If it doesn't work, no shame going back to mono black
Singleton Infest in Main: Affinity and aggro matchups. This would have been where the 4th Raven's Crime would be, but I feel in that purpose, the infest would be better than a Raven's crime. I have had success with it once game 1 against Affinity, but I don't have a large pool of games to test this theory.
Single Vampire Nighthawk in board, i just need life against these aggro decks. IDK what I would take out for this card, but since my meta is about 30% Storm, I won't be taking out the duress any time before the new ban takes effect.
Devour Flesh: IDK why anyone hasn't talked about this card before. This card is absolutely amazing for this deck for the following reasons.
1) Main Deck solution to Geist of Saint Traft and Bogle.dek
2) Who cares about them gaining 7 life off a Tarmogoyf when I'm beating you down with Infect creatures?
3) Good against decks that try to go mid range against us. Your opponent plays Restoration Angel during your end phase, and response to its trigger, Devouring Flesh.
While it does have a downside where if your opponent has multiple small creatures, like Melira Pod, this card suffers alot, Disfigure solves that problem perfectly and Devour Flesh is more likely going to be a 2 -3 of, so you won't draw multiples often.
Giant Adephage: Looks amazings and fits into the token theme
Gyre Sage: Maybe I'm wrong, but this seem good when you want to accelerate after playing Azusa and start playing big fatties.
Any of the Green Bloodlust creatures?
Sylvan Primordial: The questions ISN'T whether this card gets included, the question is which creature do we take out?
Thespian's Stage: I'm pretty sure I would take out a forest for this card.
Fortunately, I got mine before the price spike, so this should be a fun time.
Any advice on sideboard cards?
2 Disfigure
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
4 Shrieking Affliction
4 Sign in Blood
4 Smallpox
2 Stupor
2 Surgical Extraction
4 The Rack
4 Wrench Mind
2 Bojuka Bog
22 Swamp
2 Infest
4 Rain of Tears
2 Unmake
3 Vampire Hexmage
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Victim of Night
The sideboard was one that was posted on TCGPlayer.com and was wondering how some of it would work. I think the best odds for cards soming out is Stupor, Surgical Extraction, Bojuka Bog, and Disfigure.
Hexmage will come in for Storm to stop Ascension
Rain of Tears comes in for Tron
Infest comes in for Affinity
Nighthawk comes in for Jund and Affinity
Victim comes in for Jund, Affinity and Infect
Unmake comes in for the same ones as above
*** WARNING: LOTS OF TEXT IN THE POST. IF YOU DON"T FEEL LIKE READING AND JUST WANT TO NET DECK, HEAD DOWN TO THE BOTTOM. HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT TO LEARN STEP BY STEP HOW I APPLIED MY MAGIC EXPERIENCE AND THEORY INTO THIS DECK, KEEP READING. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING SINCE LORWYN IF YOU WANT TO REFERENCE HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN PLAYING.
The first thing I needed to figure out was the top of the curve. Ideally, the top of curve is three, but extra mana will make EE very powerful mid game. I decided that 21 Land sources would be sufficient based on a model given from the RDW curve, where the top of the curve is 21.
This is what I have right now.
The next part is figuring out what to do with 1CMC. The most powerful plays for 1 CMC in Red is this
There is nothing we want in the graveyard so FL is out of the question.
Cackler, Reckless Waif, Stromkirk Noble, and Vexing devil is more RDW than
Burn so those are gone.
Street Spasm doesn't hit players and Slumbering Dragon doesn't seem appropriate either.
Smelt could be used in sideboard along with Nivmagus Elemental.
Geistflame can be considered in the future with increased use of Burning Vengeance or Guttersnipe.
Devil's Play could make this list because unlike Epic Experiment, DP can be dumped to the graveyard off of an EE and can be flashed back. I will talk about this card later based on niche slots in the deck.
However, Pillar of Flame is necessary for Zombies.
In order to allow a first turn Pillar of Flame, you need at least 8 sources of red available in your deck, but since we are using blue, we can use Steam Vents for this as well.
This is what we have now for the deck
4 Steam Vent
13 other lands
Now we go on to the Blue 1CMC cards
Not as many choices in red, but still have choices.
Overload Costs can't be payed off of EE, so Blustersquall loses appeal.
Thoughtscour isn't great for us because of the lack of Snapcaster Mage.
Unsummon is just worse than our burn spells, but still worth noting.
Increasing Confusion is a very interesting sideboard option for us because it's another mana sink mid to late game against control, but you can dump it to the grave off of EE and flash it back for great value.
However, Delver of Secrets is the real reason why we love blue in this deck, other than EE. It's a very aggressive option for the deck and even with the loss of ponder, I wouldn't be surprised if it blinds flips often. As long as we concentrate the deck heavily with Instants and Sorceries, this should be amazing.
In order to get a first turn Delver down, we will need at least 8 blue land in our deck, and since we already have 4 Steam Vents, then we only need 4 more Islands at this point. Since we are already relying on R and U so much, we will just add the Sulfur Falls before I forget.
This is the deck after part 2
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Steam Vent
4 Sulfur Falls
5 other lands
Part 3: Red 2CMC
Desperate Ravings would be very good for this deck, but the problem is that our card advantage comes from EE, not Desperate Ravings. We want to keep every card we draw, so that is not a go.
Goblin Electromancer is a trap for this deck because the job of this card is to make "Bad" spells better. Spells such as Battle Hymn and Burn at the Stake, which needs to be more efficient. Increasing Vengeance falls along this line of work.
Dangerous Wager was already featured as a one of in this deck, and after a couple games with this card, I like it just as a 1 of.
EE is a 4 of in this deck because this is the centerpeice of the strategy.
Searing Speak and Thunderbolt can be pointed at the opponent as well at a creature, so they both get included as a 4 of.
Izzet Charm wants to be in deck, however I'm not sure if it will fit the bill just yet. I will talk about it later.
Now we have what for spells, we need to see if we need to update the land
On Play) 2/8 = .250
On Draw) 2/9 = .222
mid point = .236
.236 * 60= 14.16 ~ 14
So yes, that is true for now.
This is what we have after Part 3
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Epic Experiment
4 Thunderbolt
4 Searing Spear
18 other Spells
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Steam Vent
4 Sulfur Falls
5 other lands
Part 4: 2 CMC Blue
So, Snapcaster Mage will be interesting. We obviously want to keep the creature count low because of Delver and EE, but the idea of Flashing back Pillar against Zombies is awesome and flashing back EE against Control is game ending. I will test this as a 1 of.
Augur of Bolas right now would be perfect in this deck, but as said before, the creature count can't go too high. If anyone would use this instead of Snapcaster or Delver, I wouldn't blame or rage you.
Think Twice, However should be in this deck because its very useful in the Miracle's Matchup and will always draw us a card in the EE. 4 of.
With the number of options decreasing, it would be a good opportunity to find the CMC density in this deck. Basically, every Mana symbol will be counted for each color and the % will be based on total.
Blue Red
Delver -4 Pillar - 4
Snap - 1 Thunder - 4
EE - 4 Searing - 4
TT - 4 Wager - 1
EE - 4
UTotal - 13 RTotal - 17
Total - 30
Red% - 43.333% ~ 43%
Blue% - 56.667% ~ 57%
The deck isn't complete yet, so figuring out the remaining lands wouldn't be appropriate now. However, updating the info will be useful from now on.
Here is the deck after Part 4:
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Epic Experiment
4 Thunderbolt
4 Searing Spear
4 Think Twice
1 Dangerous Wager
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Steam Vent
4 Sulfur Falls
5 other lands
Part 5: Red 3CMC
Burning Vengeance may not fit in this particular build, but that doesn't mean its a bad card in general with this deck. Since you can dump flashback spells to the grave, you effectively get a great tutor for this power.
Guttersnipe seems really good in sideboard against decks that don;t have alot of removal, like W/G. Mark of Mutiny and Traitorous Blood is very good for just taking Thragtusk and shooting it right at them. I think Traitorous blood is a little better because of the Trample.
Annihilating Fire, Brimstone Volley, and Flames of the Firebrand seem great in this deck. While Annihilating Fire and Brimstone Volley are great 4 of, but the Flames of the Firebrand have to be 3 of because unless it takes out 2 spirit tokens or mana dorks, it will be lack luster.
The last two spots can be filled with spells I talked about earlier. I would like to test 2 of Devil's Play for next FNM.
Now that we have the deck almost complete, we can figure out the mana base.
RED Mana Count: 17 + 2 + 3 + 6 + 3 = 31
BLUE Mana Count: 13
Total = 44
Red % = 70.455% ~ 70%
Blue % = 29. 545% ~30%
We have 21 Lands, but since 8 Lands can be used for both colors, we only need to split the mana based on 13 lands.
RED Mana Base = 70% * 13 = 9.1 ~ 9
BLUE Mana Base = 30% * 13 = 3.9 ~ 4
Here is the Final Deck that I will play as soon as I get all the pieces.
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Epic Experiment
4 Thunderbolt
4 Searing Spear
4 Think Twice
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Annihilating Fire
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Devil's Play
1 Dangerous Wager
9 Mountain
4 Steam Vent
4 Sulfur Falls
Constructive Criticism is welcome.
I was thinking about running this deck for this standard, but I was wondering if you could run white along with this deck to give it that extra edge in which burn isn't that great, IE against Thragtusk, Armada Wurm. I was thinking about adding Feeling of Dread or Azorius Charm to stall long enough to give you to get a powerful EE.
Edit* Also, If you added White, then Sphinx's Revelation would be a great one of in this to replace Dangerous Wager. It would suck that it gets hit off of the EE, but if you get it lategame, the lifegain and draw is tremendous.