It costs 6 manas and the first ability doesn't protect him from being attacked in the next turn...
This way, for 6 mana, you are only going to get a drain life at two and a fog :/
The ultimate is cool but not enough to be: I win if I do it...
Regards
Soran can protect himself near as as well as Ajani, and gain 2 loyalty points in the process. That`s more resilience than you are giving the card credit. Does the opponent send their remaining creatures at you or Sorin with 6 loyalty counters? Sorin`s first ability combined with his fat body will be a headache for opponents.
And let`s not forget we don`t know the entire card.
As far as his ultimate not being strong in the current standard environment...that maybe true, but we don`t know what standard will be like when Lorwyn rotates out. No more token decks, no more fae.
Gawd forbid someone put Sorin in a green/black deck and drop him on turn 5. Could he be friends with Garruk? Anything is possible.
First of all I`ve come to hate Calciderm or big 4/4 creatures...my deck doesnt like them either (How ironic!:o )
Round 1: Green/White Beats
The only thing I really saw round 1 was a BOP (burned) followed by a Llanowar Elf followed by a Loxodon H., which was followed up by a Spectral Force. My hand wasn`t so hot so that was game over. Round 2 he kept a bad hand and paid for it. By the time he dropped a Loxodon I had Threaten in hand AND a Frenzied Goblin/Solifuge in play so that was game. Round 3 He dropped a Loxodon and a Spectral but I out raced him with Frenzied Goblin and 2 (yes TWO) Solifuge:hifive:.
Round 2: Boros
(Sigh) Got paired against my friend who plays only causally and borrowed another buds deck..which happens to be a toned Boros build. I knew I had the advantage because 1- he isnt the greatest player, and 2 - I beat two Boros decks last week. But I was still worried because both games went to the 3rd match (last week)...its not easy.
First game he won. My hand just wasn`t hot (No Sulfur Elemental, too many lands). Game 2 he kept a bad hand quickly lost. Game 3, we did the usual trade creature for creature, him drop Calciderms, I chump with a Rakdos GM tokens or Blood Knight until he fries them (he tried to fry my Blood Knight with Helix twice:rolleyes: ). I`ve come to dispise this match-up because RDW must play the control route and wait for Caliderms to die off while sitting back and waiting for the right time to turn the tables. I lost the final match because, with a Lion on his side and a Rakdos GM on mine (I was tapped out with a Sulfur Elemental in hand!), I didnt wait a turn and just swung with the GM thinking he wouldnt block....of course he did, and then proceeded to top deck a Calciderm and pound me as I drew land:no:, land:xd:, and land:Psyduck:. A stupid mistake that cost me the game, but I`ve learned.
Round 3: Boros
I won the first round, lost the 2nd and won the 3rd.
His build is weak but just as annoying (dirty Calciderms:mad:)
I had 3 slots that I didnt know what to do with in the side but I`ve added 3 Wildfire Emissary to help with Boros (aka Calciderm) and to swing through Akroma/Vindicate Angel.
My meta is so different from everyone elses...makes me kinda lonely. I have yet to see any Dranlu around here.
You know barbed shocker actually sounds a lot better than clogging the Side Board with Stone Rains.
I think 4 Cryoclasm are enough dissruption in the side. It dissrupts/burns early and acts as simple burn late game. The Stone Rains I added because I didnt know what else to add against Dragonstorm.
Nobody really plays Dragonstorm in my meta but sometimes I see them...they never do well but I`ll give the Shockers a try ;).
Bet thats the LAST thing a DStorm player would expect:laugh:.
I doubt the rest of us can run 10 shockland, 4 Bob, 4 Char, 4, Shadowmage GM, 4 Giant Solifuge (thanks for Charring me Bob!)and still win against grull when we take 15 dmg from Bob. "I once beat" a lot of decks and made some impossible plays but I`m talking about consitancy here. That list will consistantly loose. I tried a similar list with those same 16 creatures and won/lost games but never did well until I swtiched to Boros. Despite the rest of the deck at a low curve the deck would often run out of options by turn 5-6 agaisnt aggro because Char/Bob/ShadowGM would kill me.
I did, thanks for checking up on me. My friend Joe is very much hyped on the Shadow Guildmage. I tried it in the slot where Brute Force. The problem with the Shadow GM was too much loss of life. I was already losing it to the Dark Confidant and the Arena. Activating the Shadow GM's ability was just too much. Of course, if you're one of those folks who likes to say “He didn't beat me. My deck beat me,” then, by all means, use the Shadow GM. I promise that no one will ever beat you.
Whether you can splash with 4 shock lands, 2 pain lands, and 2 Tomb of Yawgmoth, or run 10 shock lands like somebody:rolleyes: , the concept is still horrible. At best you can add a play set of Bobs and take out Char for something else.
Let me know how Bob, Char, and painlands treat you.
To everyone else wanting to splash black:
This is why Rakos is not doing...anything right now. Running those creatures plus shock and painlands basically translates into free turns for your opponent since they need to do less damage to kill you:no:.
RDW does not need the black splash. Adding Bob means pain. Pain from his ability and pain from the lands to support him. You ever been at low life and looked at Bob during your upkeep and think "I hope you don`t kill me."? You ever drop a turn two Bob and then flip over another Bob with his ability and think "I don`t wanna drop TWO Bobs, that might kill me."? Shadow GM only makes the situation worse:banghead:. Got Char too? hmmm then you better start the game with 30 life.
Burn can go to the head as well as to a creature`s rear end. Yes this is obvious, but then you see people putting Sudden Death and Last Grasp in their Side Boards....not nearly as efficient. Not to mention RDW can run Mouth of Ronom as alternate uncounterable creature removal :hifive:.
Test against Boros, Grull, and other aggro. You`ll see what I`m talking about. Heck I`d add green and go Grull before adding black.
People always want to splash but this deck does excellent in 1 color. Its streamlined, synergetic, and efficient. I can`t say the same for Bob, Char, and pain lands.
Though I have yet to run into either of those cards in a tourney, main decking:
Scorched Rusalka to sac in response
Sulfur Elemental to cast at EOT
Giant Solifuge to cast the following turn, and with
Burn to follow up (2 demonfire main 1 in board)..
I am not worried about mass removal :rolleyes:. Actually I like it when control drops those expensive Wraths because they think they think they are in control (how ironic). Until I win.
Never underestimate the power of a cheap red deck!
I dont own Blood Moons. I also dont see a need since most control players run a slew of signets.
I`ve seen a few bad 3-color decks with all non-basic lands. But those usually eat it to color screw quite often and RDW takes full advantage of it. Stone Rain has proven useful.
Edit: Some further notes on card choices.
Frenzied Goblin`s role in the deck:
The goblin has served me well for months now. I even used him over Ication Javeliners in Boros. He lets you ignore you opponents creatures and swing through...we all know this, but we dont realize how useful it is. This past weekend I had a goblin, a rusalka, and a another random creature on the table three times facing creature removal and my opponent always took out the goblin first.
This is why I feel he deserves slots more than Mogg Fanatic. Mogg disrupts some mana producing one drop or Bob or pimp slaps to the head in a pinch. Both Scorched Rusalka and Seal of Fire handle this roll well, and deal more damage.
Frenzied G, leads a few critters through for blood, over and over. Most players look at Frenzied G on turn 1 and dont bat an eye untill I start burning away all but one of their blockers (the last burn spell is for their head). Then they complain how annoying he is:cool: . But they really should be complaining about how good he is . Next...
Threaten`s usefulness in the sideboard vs. Skred:
This might get a bit wierd but bear with me. I have a theory I call "Cheating the Clock"..others call it exsplosiveness. You know how in casual when you dark ritual into a turn 1 Phyrexian Negator you put your opponent on a 4 turn "clock".
Frenzied G.`s ability lets you ignore a dangerous blocker. If your opponent drops a second blocker you can fry it and still get through for damage with your creatures. In a way this is "Cheating the Clock". Your opponent is trying to buy themselves time, but you are actually eating at their life more quickly than expected.
The same goes for Scorched Rusalka/ Seal of Fire/ and Giant Solifuge. Everyone knows that a Seal of Fire stareing at your from across the table means your life is actually two less than you have on paper. If my opp. is at 7 life and I have a Scorched R. out with two creatures and a Seal of Fire, their life is actually? ...yes 2. And after an attack and some sacing while damage is on the stack, usually less than 0.
Threaten also cheats the clock in a big way. In the final round this past Fri.
the Boros player had me at 11 and he was at 14. I sided out Chars for Threatens because he had Hexlix to gain life back from Char, I didn`t. He was the beatdown and I was the control, so I had to use dirty tricks over "Attack and Burn!!!" to win.
I had a Frenzied G., Scorched Rusalka, and Rakdos Guildmage. He dropped a Keldon Marauder, knocked me down to 10 and passed with several cards in hand. I untapped, Threatened his Marauder, and swung for 7 damage instead of 4. I dropped a Blood Knight and passed. Now at 7 life he was in trouble. I could chump the Maruader and and still be at 10 life (the Marauder woulnt leave play till his next upkeep). It was obvious I would swing on my next turn and sac my creatures to the Rusalka..not to mention the Volcanic Hammer in my hand. It was so over, but he didnt realize it till it was too late.
And this is a weak example. Threaten can potenially REALLY cheat the clock given a bigger target, like Terefi (Word of Seizing might be needed for that), forcing bad blocks with Moldervine Cloacked Elephant Tokens, or better yet Spectral Force (he will go back under their control tapped and have to wait an extra turn to untap...I hope you would burn the Scryb Ranger first:) ).
Bacially I think controling a creature and turning it into bad blocks or damage is much better than killing a creature for one mana. Especially when the deck can usually ignore a creature with Frenzied G. and randomly kills extra creatures with Mouth of Ronom. Threaten is sinergetic with Frenzied G (1 less blocker for them, one more attacker for you) and Rusalka (you can sac it:D for a pimp slap to the face). I think it deserves slots in the side.
I`d advise you to proxie up my build and goldfish it (if possible test it against other decks) first. After doing so you`d probably agree that Stalking Yeti is not as efficient as the 4 drop he`D have to replace, Solifuge. After Wrath/Damnation Sulfur Elemental can be played at EOT, or Solifuge during your turn.
The deck is stream lined and feels powerful when u play it. Give it a spin:cool: .
Thank EasterEggert (interesting name ;)). Ok so we have game against COP:Red.
Arch Woooh:
The thing is I kept my deck under wraps the whole night. We had over 30 people play but still a lot more just stood around and scouted the new decks at the top tables. So even when I sideboarded I was doing so openly.
We only have 3 rounds so you cant loose one match. 1st round against Boros, 2nd against Mono Blue (Demonfire/Sulfur Elemental made that easy), and 3rd against a new Boros build which was more explosive but had no late game. I muliganed to 5 against mono blue and the 2nd Boros player and still came out on top. I played two casual games against a G/B beat down deck with 2nd turn Elephant tokens, Marsh Viper, Ledgewalkers, Spectral Forces, pump, and Stupor/Persecute. but I quickly won 2-0. Believe it or not he was just too slow. By the time he dropped major dissruption or got a creature pumped, It was already irrelevant and pretty much over.
Those one drops are great. Frenzied Goblin gets your weenies through and Scorched Rusalka gets the last points through. They were even good against mono blue when he had 2 Desert out game one.
Rakdos GM is card advantage, doesn`t sac my lands like Grull GM (which is anti-sinergetic with Demonfire) and his tokens chump Caliciderm when not being sent at your opponent. Blood Knight was like Britney Spears in 1999. HOT. He stops Fetters/Isolation/Helix/ and Solifuge dead in their tracks.
I once got a Solifuge out along side a Frenzied Golbin in play against the 2nd Boros player...he looked like this (:mad: ).
Also, Mouth of Ronom helped a lot. And maindecked 2 Demonfires have won me several game 1s against control (learned that from playing Boros).
My side...I don`t know yet. But it will have Word of Seizing and Cryoclasm. Most likely Stone Rain too since I don`t know what we have against Dragon Storm.
Maybe:
4 Cryoclam (Combo/Control)
4 Stone Rain (Combo/Control)
3 Threaten (aggro)
3 Word of Seizing (aggro-control, COP: Red)
1 Demonfire (Control)
Word of Seizing is so nice because even if you dont know if they are running COP:Red or not, it can still steal a creature or...anything riding on Split second. Thats nice.
Dominator you have a point! It does say Permanent. Plus Demonfire can`t be prevented with hellbent...as long as they don`t bounce permanents to your hand in response. Looks like I`m sticking with RDW for now.
Edit: Ah but they can still activate the COP:Red and prevent all damage from one red source as many times as they like until in response. At least we have Demonfire.
Well this one player ran Calciderm. It did seem a bit clunky compared to my Boros build, but then again I ran 4 Serra Avenger to great effect.
The Boros player I faced in the last round didn`t run Calciderm, but a heavier burn build with only Keldon Marauders, Sinew Sliver, Soltari Priest, and Kohn from what I saw.
"Catacombs leak poisonous vapors into the sky" seems like UB, but I agree on the others and enemy fetch.
Soran can protect himself near as as well as Ajani, and gain 2 loyalty points in the process. That`s more resilience than you are giving the card credit. Does the opponent send their remaining creatures at you or Sorin with 6 loyalty counters? Sorin`s first ability combined with his fat body will be a headache for opponents.
And let`s not forget we don`t know the entire card.
As far as his ultimate not being strong in the current standard environment...that maybe true, but we don`t know what standard will be like when Lorwyn rotates out. No more token decks, no more fae.
Gawd forbid someone put Sorin in a green/black deck and drop him on turn 5. Could he be friends with Garruk? Anything is possible.
Round 1: Green/White Beats
The only thing I really saw round 1 was a BOP (burned) followed by a Llanowar Elf followed by a Loxodon H., which was followed up by a Spectral Force. My hand wasn`t so hot so that was game over. Round 2 he kept a bad hand and paid for it. By the time he dropped a Loxodon I had Threaten in hand AND a Frenzied Goblin/Solifuge in play so that was game. Round 3 He dropped a Loxodon and a Spectral but I out raced him with Frenzied Goblin and 2 (yes TWO) Solifuge:hifive:.
Round 2: Boros
(Sigh) Got paired against my friend who plays only causally and borrowed another buds deck..which happens to be a toned Boros build. I knew I had the advantage because 1- he isnt the greatest player, and 2 - I beat two Boros decks last week. But I was still worried because both games went to the 3rd match (last week)...its not easy.
First game he won. My hand just wasn`t hot (No Sulfur Elemental, too many lands). Game 2 he kept a bad hand quickly lost. Game 3, we did the usual trade creature for creature, him drop Calciderms, I chump with a Rakdos GM tokens or Blood Knight until he fries them (he tried to fry my Blood Knight with Helix twice:rolleyes: ). I`ve come to dispise this match-up because RDW must play the control route and wait for Caliderms to die off while sitting back and waiting for the right time to turn the tables. I lost the final match because, with a Lion on his side and a Rakdos GM on mine (I was tapped out with a Sulfur Elemental in hand!), I didnt wait a turn and just swung with the GM thinking he wouldnt block....of course he did, and then proceeded to top deck a Calciderm and pound me as I drew land:no:, land:xd:, and land:Psyduck:. A stupid mistake that cost me the game, but I`ve learned.
Round 3: Boros
I won the first round, lost the 2nd and won the 3rd.
His build is weak but just as annoying (dirty Calciderms:mad:)
I had 3 slots that I didnt know what to do with in the side but I`ve added 3 Wildfire Emissary to help with Boros (aka Calciderm) and to swing through Akroma/Vindicate Angel.
My meta is so different from everyone elses...makes me kinda lonely. I have yet to see any Dranlu around here.
I think 4 Cryoclasm are enough dissruption in the side. It dissrupts/burns early and acts as simple burn late game. The Stone Rains I added because I didnt know what else to add against Dragonstorm.
Nobody really plays Dragonstorm in my meta but sometimes I see them...they never do well but I`ll give the Shockers a try ;).
Bet thats the LAST thing a DStorm player would expect:laugh:.
Please play Rakdos aggro and win win win:D
To everyone else:
I doubt the rest of us can run 10 shockland, 4 Bob, 4 Char, 4, Shadowmage GM, 4 Giant Solifuge (thanks for Charring me Bob!)and still win against grull when we take 15 dmg from Bob. "I once beat" a lot of decks and made some impossible plays but I`m talking about consitancy here. That list will consistantly loose. I tried a similar list with those same 16 creatures and won/lost games but never did well until I swtiched to Boros. Despite the rest of the deck at a low curve the deck would often run out of options by turn 5-6 agaisnt aggro because Char/Bob/ShadowGM would kill me.
Even Chris Romeo from Starcitygames.com knows better. Read what he says about ShadowGM and Bob after his Rakdos Redux deck list half way through the article. http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/13764.html
Let me know how Bob, Char, and painlands treat you.
To everyone else wanting to splash black:
This is why Rakos is not doing...anything right now. Running those creatures plus shock and painlands basically translates into free turns for your opponent since they need to do less damage to kill you:no:.
RDW does not need the black splash. Adding Bob means pain. Pain from his ability and pain from the lands to support him. You ever been at low life and looked at Bob during your upkeep and think "I hope you don`t kill me."? You ever drop a turn two Bob and then flip over another Bob with his ability and think "I don`t wanna drop TWO Bobs, that might kill me."? Shadow GM only makes the situation worse:banghead:. Got Char too? hmmm then you better start the game with 30 life.
Burn can go to the head as well as to a creature`s rear end. Yes this is obvious, but then you see people putting Sudden Death and Last Grasp in their Side Boards....not nearly as efficient. Not to mention RDW can run Mouth of Ronom as alternate uncounterable creature removal :hifive:.
Test against Boros, Grull, and other aggro. You`ll see what I`m talking about. Heck I`d add green and go Grull before adding black.
People always want to splash but this deck does excellent in 1 color. Its streamlined, synergetic, and efficient. I can`t say the same for Bob, Char, and pain lands.
ahhh rant over:)
Scorched Rusalka to sac in response
Sulfur Elemental to cast at EOT
Giant Solifuge to cast the following turn, and with
Burn to follow up (2 demonfire main 1 in board)..
I am not worried about mass removal :rolleyes:. Actually I like it when control drops those expensive Wraths because they think they think they are in control (how ironic). Until I win.
Never underestimate the power of a cheap red deck!
I`ve seen a few bad 3-color decks with all non-basic lands. But those usually eat it to color screw quite often and RDW takes full advantage of it. Stone Rain has proven useful.
Edit: Some further notes on card choices.
Frenzied Goblin`s role in the deck:
The goblin has served me well for months now. I even used him over Ication Javeliners in Boros. He lets you ignore you opponents creatures and swing through...we all know this, but we dont realize how useful it is. This past weekend I had a goblin, a rusalka, and a another random creature on the table three times facing creature removal and my opponent always took out the goblin first.
This is why I feel he deserves slots more than Mogg Fanatic. Mogg disrupts some mana producing one drop or Bob or pimp slaps to the head in a pinch. Both Scorched Rusalka and Seal of Fire handle this roll well, and deal more damage.
Frenzied G, leads a few critters through for blood, over and over. Most players look at Frenzied G on turn 1 and dont bat an eye untill I start burning away all but one of their blockers (the last burn spell is for their head). Then they complain how annoying he is:cool: . But they really should be complaining about how good he is
Threaten`s usefulness in the sideboard vs. Skred:
This might get a bit wierd but bear with me. I have a theory I call "Cheating the Clock"..others call it exsplosiveness. You know how in casual when you dark ritual into a turn 1 Phyrexian Negator you put your opponent on a 4 turn "clock".
Frenzied G.`s ability lets you ignore a dangerous blocker. If your opponent drops a second blocker you can fry it and still get through for damage with your creatures. In a way this is "Cheating the Clock". Your opponent is trying to buy themselves time, but you are actually eating at their life more quickly than expected.
The same goes for Scorched Rusalka/ Seal of Fire/ and Giant Solifuge. Everyone knows that a Seal of Fire stareing at your from across the table means your life is actually two less than you have on paper. If my opp. is at 7 life and I have a Scorched R. out with two creatures and a Seal of Fire, their life is actually? ...yes 2. And after an attack and some sacing while damage is on the stack, usually less than 0.
Threaten also cheats the clock in a big way. In the final round this past Fri.
the Boros player had me at 11 and he was at 14. I sided out Chars for Threatens because he had Hexlix to gain life back from Char, I didn`t. He was the beatdown and I was the control, so I had to use dirty tricks over "Attack and Burn!!!" to win.
I had a Frenzied G., Scorched Rusalka, and Rakdos Guildmage. He dropped a Keldon Marauder, knocked me down to 10 and passed with several cards in hand. I untapped, Threatened his Marauder, and swung for 7 damage instead of 4. I dropped a Blood Knight and passed. Now at 7 life he was in trouble. I could chump the Maruader and and still be at 10 life (the Marauder woulnt leave play till his next upkeep). It was obvious I would swing on my next turn and sac my creatures to the Rusalka..not to mention the Volcanic Hammer in my hand. It was so over, but he didnt realize it till it was too late.
And this is a weak example. Threaten can potenially REALLY cheat the clock given a bigger target, like Terefi (Word of Seizing might be needed for that), forcing bad blocks with Moldervine Cloacked Elephant Tokens, or better yet Spectral Force (he will go back under their control tapped and have to wait an extra turn to untap...I hope you would burn the Scryb Ranger first:) ).
Bacially I think controling a creature and turning it into bad blocks or damage is much better than killing a creature for one mana. Especially when the deck can usually ignore a creature with Frenzied G. and randomly kills extra creatures with Mouth of Ronom. Threaten is sinergetic with Frenzied G (1 less blocker for them, one more attacker for you) and Rusalka (you can sac it:D for a pimp slap to the face). I think it deserves slots in the side.
I`d advise you to proxie up my build and goldfish it (if possible test it against other decks) first. After doing so you`d probably agree that Stalking Yeti is not as efficient as the 4 drop he`D have to replace, Solifuge. After Wrath/Damnation Sulfur Elemental can be played at EOT, or Solifuge during your turn.
The deck is stream lined and feels powerful when u play it. Give it a spin:cool: .
Arch Woooh:
The thing is I kept my deck under wraps the whole night. We had over 30 people play but still a lot more just stood around and scouted the new decks at the top tables. So even when I sideboarded I was doing so openly.
We only have 3 rounds so you cant loose one match. 1st round against Boros, 2nd against Mono Blue (Demonfire/Sulfur Elemental made that easy), and 3rd against a new Boros build which was more explosive but had no late game. I muliganed to 5 against mono blue and the 2nd Boros player and still came out on top. I played two casual games against a G/B beat down deck with 2nd turn Elephant tokens, Marsh Viper, Ledgewalkers, Spectral Forces, pump, and Stupor/Persecute. but I quickly won 2-0. Believe it or not he was just too slow. By the time he dropped major dissruption or got a creature pumped, It was already irrelevant and pretty much over.
Those one drops are great. Frenzied Goblin gets your weenies through and Scorched Rusalka gets the last points through. They were even good against mono blue when he had 2 Desert out game one.
Rakdos GM is card advantage, doesn`t sac my lands like Grull GM (which is anti-sinergetic with Demonfire) and his tokens chump Caliciderm when not being sent at your opponent. Blood Knight was like Britney Spears in 1999. HOT. He stops Fetters/Isolation/Helix/ and Solifuge dead in their tracks.
I once got a Solifuge out along side a Frenzied Golbin in play against the 2nd Boros player...he looked like this (:mad: ).
Also, Mouth of Ronom helped a lot. And maindecked 2 Demonfires have won me several game 1s against control (learned that from playing Boros).
My side...I don`t know yet. But it will have Word of Seizing and Cryoclasm. Most likely Stone Rain too since I don`t know what we have against Dragon Storm.
Maybe:
4 Cryoclam (Combo/Control)
4 Stone Rain (Combo/Control)
3 Threaten (aggro)
3 Word of Seizing (aggro-control, COP: Red)
1 Demonfire (Control)
Word of Seizing is so nice because even if you dont know if they are running COP:Red or not, it can still steal a creature or...anything riding on Split second. Thats nice.
Edit: Ah but they can still activate the COP:Red and prevent all damage from one red source as many times as they like until in response. At least we have Demonfire.
The Boros player I faced in the last round didn`t run Calciderm, but a heavier burn build with only Keldon Marauders, Sinew Sliver, Soltari Priest, and Kohn from what I saw.
Please explain to me how I can steal a enchantment with Seize the Soul