The Future of Red Deck

[justinhering]

My nephew asked me the other day if there is such a thing as Mono Red Control. I said, absolutely, without really knowing if it could be done or not. After some thought, and some inspiration for Jacob Van Lunen. I came up with the following list.

Van Lunen uses powerful proliferate spells like Volt Charge and Tezzeret's Gambit to get value from artifact ramp (Everflowing Chalice & Sphere of the Suns) and removal (Tumble Magnet).

Building on that theme, the best permanent to proliferate on is a Planeswalker. Since I don't care about budget, only winning (I am a Spike, after all) I wanted to include as much Planeswalker goodness as possible.

Koth seems natural and, on paper, is better than Chandra, the Firebrand. Let's include both, since the idea of doing 6 or drawing 4 cards and proliferating twice seems pretty decent to me.

If I stay mono red, the only other Planeswalker is Karn. He doesn't benefit much from proliferate effects due to his high cost ultimate, but you MUST deal with or you will lose. I will include 1 copy and hopefully draw into him with Tezzeret's Gambit.

I really liked Van Lunen's use of Kudoltha Pheonix. Its nice to have a legitimate beater with recursion like this guy. I will play 4 of them, and no other creatures mainboard. With all the ramp, I can potentially play him turn 3.

How? I added in Mox Opal as another artifact ramp spell. It also helps me establish metalcraft.

For some burn, I opted for Galvanic Blast over Lightning Bolt for the time being. This may be a mistake that only playtesting will reveal.

Here's the list:

[Creatures] 4
4 Kudoltha Pheonix

[Spells] 27
2 Mox Opal
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Galvanic Blast
1 Red Sun's Zenith
2 Sphere of the Suns
2 Contagion Clasp
4 Tumble Magnet
4 Volt Charge
4 Tezzeret's Gambit

[Planeswalkers] 7
3 Koth of the Hammer
3 Chandra, the Firebrand
1 Karn Liberated

[Lands] 22
4 Tectonic Edge
18 Mountain

[justinhering]

After some playtesting, I realized that the deck needed more consistent draws. I also wanted some better early ramp options, so I decided to up my Mox Opal count and play Chimeric Mass.

I like Chimeric Mass a lot. It gives me some early game, does not die to DoJ and I can abuse it with proliferate. Late game, its a bomb.

I want to play new Chandra so badly, but I always find Koth more appealing. Karn is fun, but his 1-of slot adds no value. I cut them both in favor of more consistent draws for other cards.

Here's the list:

[Creatures] 4
4 Kuldotha Phoenix

3 Chimeric Mass
3 Mox Opal
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Tumble Magnet
4 Volt Charge
4 Tezzeret's Gambit
4 Koth of the Hammer

18 Moutains
4 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard (still in progress)
4 Combust
4 Slagstorm
4 Ratchet Bomb
3 Inferno Titan

I think Red Deck operates best with clean numbers of cards. Due to the overall lack of card draw, one-ofs and two-ofs don't work very well.

This deck is capable of Koth turn 2 and Phoenix turn 3. That's tough to deal with. In solitaire playtesting I've done the following:

Turn 1: Mountain, Chimeric Mass, Chimeric Mass, Mox Opal, Everflowing Chalice for 1
Turn 2: Mountain, Koth of the Hammer
Turn 3: Mountain, Volt Charge, Koth Ultimate...on turn 3!

I know that's the nut draw, but it can be done. More consistently is Koth turn 3, Phoenix turn 4. Still tough to deal with. The Phoenix has incredible recursion with Metalcraft.

Let me know what you think.

[aaren]

hey justin, with all the proliferate u have 4 shrine of the burning rage would be key. and 3 opals is too much in my opinion. I would cut 1 opal, and the chimeric mass to throw in those shrines. I mean they fit the bill perfectly, proliferateable, mono red themed, artifact and able to do some serious damage quickly.

Also what the heck... what fun is proliferating if u cannot double it with chandra I would cut the artifact theme and add more mono red stuff. not to mention a 1 of of karn is fun. I would still keep the sphere and chalice to get koth/chandra out turn 3 and u can proliferate both. to have some fun with karn. I like ur theme but the tumble magnets could do the same thing as burn seeing as most of the time ur dealing with hawks or tarpits with that. And the burn can be straight to the face sometimes even for the game. If i were you i would change it something like this....


-3 chimeric mass, -3 moxopal, -2 conteigain clasp (its too slow 8 prolif is good enough) and -4 kudoltha pheonix. -4 galvanic blasts

And add...

+1 koth, +1 chandra, +4 shrine of burning rage, + 4 bolts, 3 burst lightning, + 2 slagstorm +1 inferno titan

I see what ur trying to do, but the artifacts just are not good enough in my opinion, if they were, tezzeret would be played.

[justinhering]

Thanks for the input. I've found the deck fun, but underwhelming.

I'm building CawBlade at the moment...my own take.