Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[xRECKONERx]

The problem with this deck, I think, is that it's trying to do burn and it's trying to do the creature beatdown, but it's half-assing it at both. Need Shred-Freaks for sure... I think if we're going to be running Vexing Devil then we need to build a deck that can afford to get the opponent down to 0 with burn spells alone.

[bv310]

WOoooooooooooooooooooo, box day!

EDIT: They were sold out when I got there at opening. Bought a fatpack and all the single boosters they had left. Equivalent to about half a box, and cost about $65 instead of $110, but I still got 4 shocks and a Rakdos.

Buying unopened product is just so inefficient. For that money you could have had at least 6 shocks.

For me, I prefer the enjoyment of opening packs, and I also like supporting the store here. If they sold singles with any degree of consistency, I'd just pick and choose my stuff, but they don't. I prefer fun over efficiency. I do efficiency in my trading.

[Korts]

[Thestatusquo]

I took Reck's RDW to a standard thing yesterday:

4 Vexing Devil
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Ash Zealot
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
3 Splatter Thug
2 Hellrider
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
4 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Thunderous Wrath
1 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run
17 Mountain

SB:
2x Zealous Conscripts
2x Eletrickery
3x Mizzium Mortars
2x Smelt
2x Faithless Looting
1x Reforge the Soul

Don't like Splatter Thug... we were thinking of adding Guttersnipes (I like Kruin Outlaw myself). Chainwalkers are good but might drop them for Shred-Freaks. Vexing Devil is a bad topdeck but Vexing-sac -> Brimstone on t4 is hilarious.

Sideboard also needs work but it was thrown together last-minute so we didn't get proper numbers of cards together.

Also, Shea, may I suggest Traitorous Instinct over Mark of Mutiny?

Vexing devil is pretty terrible in a creature deck. In a burn spell its great as a one mana 4 damage spell. You pretty much always want to draw it. In a creature deck, even turn 1 its not great. They can take damage in the early game and they can usually deal with a 4/3 in the late game. It just never does what you want it to do, really.

I don't know why you would want any less than 4 hellrider at the top of the curve. That card just ends the game when you have an aggressive curve and burn, plus, it works just fine in multiples.

You absolutely need 4 Cacklers. Your deck has 4 one drop creatures and 8 1 drop burn spells. You need to spend your turn 1 putting repeatable damage on the board, not shooting at their face, so you can do the math on your own. I do not know why a red deck would not play a 1 drop 2/2.

I'm not a huge fan of thunderous wrath. Its a completely dead card in your opening hand, and as an aggressive red deck you want to be curving out with repeatable damage on the first few turns so miracle-ing it then is not very efficient either. Couple this with the fact that you really dont WANT the game to go long, I think the window of times when you can draw this card and be happy with it is just too narrow to justify its inclusion.

Don't really like the green splash. I'd just rather run more burn and cut down to 21 lands.

Have you liked bonfire in the deck? I've been testing it in mine and I just don't really like it that much. I feel similar about it that I feel about reforge. It's just like... Dead in my hand a large majority of the time.

Don't really like guttersnipe unless you're going straight burn, pretty much.

I would highly suggest Reckless Waif in the board. That card is an all star in control match ups. It flips reliably and gives you 3 repeatable damage on the first turn. Now, granted, it is utter poop against the other 60% of the field, but, that's what the sideboard is for!

You can suggest traitorous blood, but I'll ignore you. :-p The key to playing a successful red deck is mana efficiency. You are doing way more things than they are in the early game, spending way more mana, and putting yourself in a position that gives your burn spells inevitability. Mana cost matters in an aggro deck quite a bit. That means that given the choice between two spells that do roughly the same thing, I will be for sure taking the cheaper one, and not even thinking about it too much.

To cap that all off, the only reason one might play traitorous blood is because of marks supposed draw back but uhhh....thats not a drawback for my deck? Forcing through one more damage is not irrelevant, and it is one less point of burn I have to do. On the flipside, if they're playing a creature that I have to mark in the first place, its not like that +1 +1 will matter for them. I will 9 times out of 10 just straight up not care.

[InflatablePie]

Bonfire is meh in this deck. Usually I didn't get too much use out of it (or even draw it). Might drop the Devils for Cacklers. I like the green splash only because it gives us something to do with mana flood. Reck offered the idea of Hellion Crucible but I think it's a bit slow. Only two Hellriders because he currently does not have the other two. Would mainboarding a Conscripts (or both) be a good idea in the meantime? Wraths will probably go out (for a Brimstone and either a fourth Zealot or a fourth three-drop).

As for the SB, Smelts should come out for Vandalblast, just because it's better in case we hit mana flooding (although Sorc-speed is a bit iffy). I feel like Wild Guess should go over Faithless Looting. Mortars is a good SB against Resto Angels and whatnot, sadly they don't flat-out-kill Armada Wurms or Angels of Serenity (which I saw a lot of that night) but I want to keep that, and while Elecktrickery is great against ramp I didn't see too many mana dorks so those might come out...

This look okay?:

4

Vexing Devil

Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Ash Zealot
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
3 Splatter Thug

2

4 Hellrider
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
4 Flames of the Firebrand

3

4 Brimstone Volley

2 Thunderous Wrath

1 Bonfire of the Damned

3

4 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run

17

16 Mountain

SB:
2 Zealous Conscripts

2 Eletrickery

3

4 Mizzium Mortars

2 Smelt

1 Vandalblast
2

Faithless Looting

Wild Guess

1 Reforge The Soul

4 Reckless Waif
2 Devil's Play

Was also considering dropping Vandalblast and Devil's Play for 3 Kruin Outlaw to sub the Splatter Thugs for against control, or Vandalblast+Conscripts for Traitorous Blood (doing this requires dropping the Kessig/Green but Devil's Play can still help for mana-flooding).

Also, I meant Traitorous Blood, not Instinct. Blood is a 3-drop that gives haste and trample, Instinct the four-drop that gives +2/+0. If you're using that to take a big dude

Also, also, this is Reck's deck not mine so obviously he has the final say on what he wants to run.

[xRECKONERx]

I will probably be putting Hellion Crucible in. We need something to do in case of mana flood.

[xRECKONERx]

I'll be keeping the devils, but likely dropping flames. Vexing.Devil on turn 4 is incredible damage.

The wolf runs are a wincon and they also give counters to the nobles.

I'm going to go more creature heavy. I think running pillars, brimstone volley, searing spear, then either annihilating fire or flames puts the burn where it needs to be.

[xRECKONERx]

Drop chainwalkers, just not fast enough for what I want this deck to do

[xRECKONERx]

Oh yeah, bonfire and thunderous wrath both need to come out. In no way should this deck have a chance at being paralyzed opening hand

[xRECKONERx]

3 Ash Zealot (+1 Ash Zealot)
2 Hellrider

4 Gore-House Chainwalker

4 Rakdos Cackler

3 Splatter Thug

2 Rakdos Shred-Freak
+3 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Vexing Devil



4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

4 Flames of the Firebrand

4 Annihilating Fire
3 Brimstone Volley (+1 Brimstone Volley)

2 Thunderous Wrath
1 Bonfire of the Damned

3 Rootbound Crag

2 Kessig Wolf Run

17 Mountain

drops:

4x Gore-House Chainwalker (just way too fucking slow for what I want at my 2-drop slot in this deck)
3x Splatter Thug (once again, too slow, and I'd rather play a 2-drop plus 1-drop instead of a 3-drop since it's weaker)
1x Vexing Devil (I like it a lot but I'd much rather run three of them instead of four since they're ideal turn 3/4 plays)
4x Flames of the Firebrand (we already have the pillars in there at sorcery speed, I think that's enough, and this is overcosted at 3 burn for sorc speed vs instant speed)
2x Thunderous Wrath (miracles aren't welcome in this deck)
1x Bonfire of the Damned (see above)
2x Kessig Wolf Run (I like it here, but I'll wait till Gatecrash hits to see if there's anything more appealing to run RG)

adds:

4x Rakdos Cackler (shit yeah, 1 mana for a 2/2 is right up this deck's alley)
2x Rakdos Shred-Freak (haste is mandatory in this deck)
4x Annihilating Fire (3 mana for 3 damage isn't great, but it's par for the course with red burn being how it is right now in the format, plus it shuts down zombies)
3x Stonewright (having something to do with extra mana is fantastic, esp when it's basically haste-speed for 1 mana; also effectively fills the void left by the Wolf Runs)
2x Hellion Crucible (gives us something to do with extra mana at the end of the opponent's turn, plus giving us a haste creature to swing in for 4/4 is p good)

[xRECKONERx]

Sideboard:
2x Zealous Conscripts
2x Eletrickery
3x Mizzium Mortars

2x Smelt

4x Flames of the Firebrand

2x Faithless Looting

4x Traitorous Blood

1x Reforge the Soul

drops:

2x Smelt (I just don't think artifact removal is THAT important when we're trying to win on turn 5)
2x Faithless Looting (if we make the suggested changes, we don't need to go digging because we'll have shit to do with extra mana with Stonewright + Hellion Crucible)
1x Reforge the Soul (again, miracles have no place in this deck)

adds:

4x Flames of the Firebrand (it's not great maindeck, but if you're playing against a deck where you can 2-for-1 fairly consistently, they're awesome to have around)
4x Traitorous Blood (conversely, when we're not able to burn them down with Mizzium Mortars or Flames of the Firebrand, Traitorous Blood is essentially a wincon all by itself if they get an Armada Wurm or Angels of Serenity like Pie said)

[InflatablePie]

I will probably be putting Hellion Crucible in. We need something to do in case of mana flood.

If you must run Crucibles, maybe drop the Wolf Runs. Or only run them as a max 2-of. Double-red for the Zealots/ShredFreaks (and Ann-Fires if we run them) kinda messes with too many colorless-lands.

pedit: nvm. I'd rather run 3 Shreds 2 Stones but that's just me. Also, thoughts on the SB?
pedits2: ... <_< Drop the Conscripts too then if we're running 4 Bloods in the SB.

4 Flames
4 Blood
3/4 Waif
4/3 Mortars

?

[xRECKONERx]

Reck Deck Wins

Creatures

3x Vexing Devil
3x Stonewright
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Ash Zealot
2x Rakdos Shred-Freak
2x Hellrider

Instants & Sorceries

4x Pillar of Flame
4x Searing Spear
4x Annihilating Fire
4x Brimstone Volley

Lands

20x Mountain
2x Hellion Crucible

Sideboard

2x Zealous Conscripts
3x Electrickery
3x Mizzium Mortars
4x Flames of the Firebrand
4x Traitorous Blood

This is looking a lot better.

P.EDIT: Pie, if we drop the conscripts, I know of another sexy little 5-drop we can use to take its place that fits perfectly with this deck...

[xRECKONERx]

Buuuuuuuuuut... we could run Waif in the sideboard, but I think it suffers from Vexing Devil syndrome tenfold...its power is completely in the hands of your opponent choosing to not play anything that turn, or being unable to do so, because no way in hell does this deck want to skip a turn just to flip Waif

[Thestatusquo]

I will continue to make the case against vexing devil. If it's good only on turn 4, it isnt good enough. On the fourth turn you should be hitting the top of your curve with hellrider (which NEEDS to be a 4 of), not casting a 4 damage spell. If its just a burn spell its redundant, and all the other burn in your deck is much more versatile.

Waif is a card that comes in against control decks. Against control decks it is a 3/2 for R. That is insane. You're right that you never want to take a turn off, which is why you don't play it in matchups where your opponent doesnt flip it for you. After turn one its just a 1/1 for one, but the value of ALL one drops goes down in the late game.

[Thestatusquo]

I dont particularly like conscripts. I think you either run conscripts or you run traitorous blood. You don't need two of those effects in the board. Remember, when you're creating a sideboard strategy, space is at a premium, both in the board itself, but also in your deck. If you're bringing in 8 cards against a matchup, what are you bringing out? The only slot in the deck that it makes sense to bring conscripts in for is hellrider, and I just literally can't think of a matchup where I would prefer the former.

[xRECKONERx]

What about hellkite over conscripts

[xRECKONERx]

I would put hellkite in for two fires probably

[Thestatusquo]

Hellkite is fine. Honestly, if I were tweaking your list it would look a little like this:

Creatures
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Ash Zealot
4x Rakdos Shred-Freak
2x Gore-house Chainwalker
3x Fervant cathar
4x Hellrider
2x Thundermaw Hellkite

Instants & Sorceries
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Searing Spear
4x Brimstone Volley

Lands
21 x Mountain


Sideboard
4x reckless waif
4x Flames of the Firebrand
4x mark of mutiny
3x torch fiend.

I don't think you need to run sweepers in the board. Your deck is fast enough that you shouldn't get into board stalls too much, and you should be able to spot remove the key creature. Shrug.

[Sudo_Nym]

So here's the list I just put together for the first standard tourney at the shop next week:

4x Gravecrawler
4x Diregraf Ghoul
3x Rakdos Cackler
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Geralf's Messenger
3x Dreg Mangler
22 Creatures

4x Tragic Slip
4x Dead Weight
4x Rancor
4x Ultimate Price
16 Non-Creatures

4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Woodland Cemetery
14x Swamp

4x Golgari Charm
4x Duress
4x Tormod's Crypt
3x Victim of Night

[xRECKONERx]

Very fucking nice.

[Sudo_Nym]

Thanks, Reck. I like the main board, though I wish I could find a spot for Blood Artist. And I'm not sure about the SB; it's very basic, and I'm thinking some combination of Deathrite Shaman, Desecration Demon, or Underworld Connections may deserve a spot.

[KaleiÐoscøpe]

I've made a clan for mafiascum on mtgo. Anyone on there playing feel free to shoot me a pm: sir_kaleidoscope

[bv310]

Sudo, I'd cut the Rakdos Cacklers for Blood Artists. You don't really NEED 11 1-drops, and I think you'll get more value out of the Artist

[InflatablePie]

What BV said.

That also looks incredibly cheap to put together (of course, I have crawlers/messengers/cemeteries already) minus the shocks... I may have to steal that decklist.