PDA

View Full Version : [Deck] Something Aggro Wins



SpikeyMikey
12-24-2011, 11:08 AM
Part of me feels like I should call this Red Deck Wins. Because it's red, and it's a retarded little aggro deck that's too fast for its own good. But I feel dirty playing it because I know it would piss me off to lose to it. So instead of RDW, we're calling it SAW, because christ on a cracker, if it doesn't feel like mowing people down with a machine gun, nothing does.

4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Goblin Guide
4 Vault Skirge
3 Goblin Bushwhacker
3 Goblin Wardriver

4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Kuldotha Rebirth

4 Mox Opal
2 Springleaf Drum

4 Glimmervoid
4 Mountain
3 Contested War Zone
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Sacred Foundry

Sideboard
4 Blood Moon
3 Rain of Gore
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Revoke Existence

I know that the sideboard has 3 empty slots. Currently, it's filled with Disciple of the Vault as a hedge against mass removal, but as I've cut some of the artifacts out, it's becoming less and less appealing and it was never great to begin with. I don't really know where to go with the sideboard since it's the type of deck with very little room for change in the main; even boarding in the 4 blood moons is a real challenge.

The deck beats anything that doesn't run burn and loses to anything that does run burn. That's basically the beginning and the end of the matchup analysis. People that have a shit ton of removal can keep this deck from reaching critical mass (since none of the creatures are individually scary). People that are relying on 4 PtE or 2 mana removal spells like Doom Blade and GftT are going to get steamrolled. Unmolested, this deck will kill on turn 3 most games. Each removal spell pushes that goldfish back by about a turn; i.e. a PtE will let your opponent live until turn 4 (assuming you're on the draw). So if Zoo was still the most popular deck, this would be a terrible idea. But since people are moving to slower decks under the assumption that Zoo is dead and the format is slower, this is pretty well positioned.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. This really isn't my cup of tea, so I may have missed something that a speed aggro deck ought to have.

Dsch
12-24-2011, 10:03 PM
I would try to fit 2 or 3 Goblin Grenades, cutting some mana sources, as the deck needs only a few os them.

4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Goblin Guide
4 Vault Skirge
3 Goblin Bushwhacker
3 Goblin Wardriver

4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Kuldotha Rebirth
2 Goblin Grenade

4 Mox Opal
1 Springleaf Drum

4 Mountain
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Glimmervoid
3 Darksteel Citadel
2 Contested War Zone


Sideboard
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Rain of Gore
2 Smash to Smithereens
1 Contested War Zone

SpikeyMikey
12-25-2011, 12:07 AM
Originally it was a 4/4/3 split of Blast/Blast/Grenade. Of course, that was before I had Rebirth in the deck, but basically Grenade's sorcery speed was a problem. There were few times where I wanted to use Grenade and multiples were really bad. I think 1-2 is the correct number. With Rebirth, it's a little better, but I still don't think I'd ever want multiples. Might not hurt to go 4/3/3 Galvanic/Grenade/Shrapnel though. Shrapnel is also kind of bad in multiples just because it costs 2.

I cut Springleaf Drum entirely. It really doesn't help since there's no Affinity mechanic and no MoE/Cranial Plating/Ravager to use with it. It's just Rebirth Fodder and a way to trigger metalcraft and I can do that better in other ways. Changed it out for a Blinkmoth Nexus. Was a toss-up between that and the second Goblin Grenade or a Flayer Husk. I kind of like Husk in here but there just isn't any room. I don't want to go to less than 22 mana sources, especially since 4 of them are Opals that aren't always turned on right away and tend to get eaten by Rebirth or Shrapnel.

Litorers
01-28-2012, 07:29 PM
Mikey, have you had any breakthroughs on this kind of list? Or did it fall through?

Or are you just keeping it on the down low ;)

xazzax
01-28-2012, 11:29 PM
I don't like Vault Skirge. Its just 1/1 fly for 1 mana. Since you dont have equips you dont need lifelink. Even Lavamancer looks better in this deck.

cuthbertthecat
01-29-2012, 07:17 PM
Somebody online is playing this. I played against it twice with storm yesterday (I don't remember if it was in 2-mans or in the tournament practice room). I got handily crushed one match, and pulled out a win by the skin of my teeth in the other. This is a pretty scary deck.

Litorers
01-29-2012, 07:50 PM
I don't like Vault Skirge. Its just 1/1 fly for 1 mana. Since you dont have equips you dont need lifelink. Even Lavamancer looks better in this deck.

It increases the number of artifacts, which is very, very important for kuldotha rebirth, mox opal, shrapnel blast and galvanic blast. Obviously, it's not too often you end up needing "another artifact" while goldfishing, but your stuff gets killed pretty quick in real games, and sometimes any artifact is what you need to topdeck ftw. Now, is he the best artifact option? I don't know. Personally, I've been thinking about changing it to hex parasite, but sometimes the flying just gets you there.

Mr. Safety
01-30-2012, 08:08 AM
Looking at the OP's list, there is 20 artifacts even without Vault Skirge. I have to honestly say that I'm surprised Immolating Souleater hasn't shown up in this list yet. I like it better than Vault Skirge, but the 2 mana cost is almost a liability considering the low cost of everything else.

SpikeyMikey
01-30-2012, 04:30 PM
I've been fairly down low with it. I did poorly at the PTQ in Minneapolis with it, going 2-2 before dropping to drive back to Madison (it was my birthday). Current listing is:

4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Vault Skirge
2 Flayer Husk

4 Galvanic Blast
3 Shrapnel Blast
2 Goblin Grenade

3 Kuldotha Rebirth
1 Curse of Stalked Prey

4 Mox Opal
4 Mountain
4 Glimmervoid
4 City of Brass
3 Contested War Zone
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Blinkmoth Nexus

Previously, 1 Husk and the Curse were a pair of Accorder Paladins. I'm not really sure which is better. Against Jund, I'd rather have Curse, as it's more useful if they tie up the ground with Finks and Goyfs. Against everything else, Paladin is usually better, as it's more damage in the first couple of turns you're swinging.

I've been thinking about trying out Mana Tithe in the board. It sounds kind of silly, but you're applying so much pressure that often, if they don't have the Firespout on turn 3 or something similar, you just win. Of course, it makes a horrible topdeck and I'm not sure there's anything I'd want to bring it in against that it doesn't already beat with Blood Moon.

There's a mono-white tokens deck that's gaining in popularity that gives this thing fits. I did beat it in Minneapolis (losses were to Affinity and Jund, ironically enough, with wins vs tokens and Boros, both worse matchups :P) but I wouldn't want to try to do that on a consistent basis. 12+ Soul Warden creatures and Martyr of Sands? No thank you. I've started packing Rain of Gore back into board just for those decks. How do you like your double Soul Warden plus Auriok Champion board NOW? Before that, they were Relic of Progenitus vs. storm. But storm seems to be fading a bit.

The flying on Vault Skirge is nice. The lifelink only really comes into play vs. Affinity where they are almost as fast as you are and can often race you if they're on the play with a decent hand. Mostly it's the fact that it flies over. Everything you have dies to any blocker, basically, so being evasive is nice for getting that last bit through. You could probably change them over to Glint Hawks but the color requirement and the loss of artifact density would hurt. You want to be able to reliably use Mox Opal on turn 1/2 because your most busted hands involve Opal and the acceleration it provides.

That's my only gripe about the deck, really. Between goblins for grenade and metalcraft for Opal and Blast, you're walking the tightrope on what you can do with the slots. You also have to keep enough battlecry to have at least 1-2 sources consistently between Pest/War Zone and Bushwhacker. Without the battlecry effects, you're only beating for 2-4 a turn and that won't get you anywhere. I'd actually like a little more battle cry, but Wardriver and Accorder Paladin are tough to cast and not evasive. I thought about Haze of Rage, but it's too expensive to buyback and it makes a terrible topdeck. You want your battle cry effects to beat or tap for mana. Curse of Stalked Prey is passable, but less ideal. Bushwhacker is the best, honestly, because it pumps itself as well.

Litorers
01-30-2012, 07:16 PM
The list you'v posted is ridiculously similar to what I've been working with/thought about. For reference here's mine

4 Kuldotha Rebirth
2 Chimeric Mass

2 Curse of Stalked Prey
4 Signal Pest
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Guide
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge/ Random 1 mana dork

4 Galvanic Blast
4 Shrapnel Blast

4 Mox Opal
4 Contested War Zone
2 Darksteel Citadel
10 other lands

I play mostly Dredge in legacy, and this deck feel similar construction wise. I realize that the goblin grenades are strong but I've ditched them in favor of more Kuldotha Rebirths and Shrapnel Blast, with a heavier focus in the rest of the deck on artifacts.

The sideboard, however, is what is tripping me up. It's hard to fit everything in the 15 slots without just not boarding in a lot of matchups. Are panic spellbombs worth slots? Searing blazes? Smash to Smithereens seems good when the majority of a PTQ field is infested with affinity. Does Rain of Gore come down early enough for you guys, or is Leyline of Punishment are more direct answer?

This deck, like you said, looks like it's doing something very powerful in the format right now and I don't know if people just think it's bad or what but it's very hard to find any serious discussion about it... the only real discussion I've found was on the MTG salvation forums, and it didn't seem like their lists were quite as tuned as even your first one.

SpikeyMikey
01-30-2012, 10:11 PM
The list you'v posted is ridiculously similar to what I've been working with/thought about. For reference here's mine

4 Kuldotha Rebirth
2 Chimeric Mass

2 Curse of Stalked Prey
4 Signal Pest
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Guide
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge/ Random 1 mana dork

4 Galvanic Blast
4 Shrapnel Blast

4 Mox Opal
4 Contested War Zone
2 Darksteel Citadel
10 other lands

I play mostly Dredge in legacy, and this deck feel similar construction wise. I realize that the goblin grenades are strong but I've ditched them in favor of more Kuldotha Rebirths and Shrapnel Blast, with a heavier focus in the rest of the deck on artifacts.

The sideboard, however, is what is tripping me up. It's hard to fit everything in the 15 slots without just not boarding in a lot of matchups. Are panic spellbombs worth slots? Searing blazes? Smash to Smithereens seems good when the majority of a PTQ field is infested with affinity. Does Rain of Gore come down early enough for you guys, or is Leyline of Punishment are more direct answer?

This deck, like you said, looks like it's doing something very powerful in the format right now and I don't know if people just think it's bad or what but it's very hard to find any serious discussion about it... the only real discussion I've found was on the MTG salvation forums, and it didn't seem like their lists were quite as tuned as even your first one.

I've tried turning a couple of people in my playtest group onto it, but no one is interested in an all-in style deck; they're looking for something more midrange, a la Jund or Big Zoo. I've found that the best way to handle boarding is to remember that you're winning by being really, really fast. So it's not worth boarding anything in unless it hoses your opponent so hard that you're ok with being a turn slower because you're missing a relevant creature. My board is currently:

3 Ancient Grudge
3 Act of Treason
3 Blood Moon
2 Curse of Stalked Prey
2 Rain of Gore
2 Angel's Grace

Grudge comes in against Affinity and if I'm on the draw, so does Angel's Grace. Buying yourself a turn to return an alpha strike can be worth missing a creature early if they've got a fast draw. Act and Moon come in vs. Jund, as an Act early can be the difference between 11 points on turn 3 and 4 points after they gain life from a Finks blocker. Moon, obviously, hoses the shit out of them as they don't run very many basics and cannot function without green and black. Rain of Gore comes in vs. Martyr decks. Angel's Grace comes in vs. Hive Mind and storm. Curse is a hedge against decks with lots of Firespout/Pyroclasm or miscellaneous burn like Boros. Honestly, it's the weakest spot. I'm tempted to turn the maindeck Curse back into Accorder Paladin to improve the goldfish again.

I was finding 4 Rebirth to be a little too heavy as double rebirth is almost never viable for me and triple Rebirth is pretty much an auto pitch. I want Rebirth every game, if I can get it, but I hate seeing multiples as sometimes I just can't spare the artifacts because I need to keep Galvanic Blast viable or Mox Opal active and I'm certainly not eating a Signal Pest, ever.

Litorers
01-31-2012, 03:20 PM
Seems solid, I might move some numbers around but it looks to be about right. Hopefully the artifact hate in the meta brings affinity numbers down, which will then bring artifact hate down for the March PTQs.... at least that's the hope. If it gets real bad I might just audible to UW tron, but this looks way more fun :tongue:

Ace/Homebrew
01-31-2012, 07:36 PM
Back when Modern was first announced this deck and Soul Sisters were what seemed like fun and interesting decks. I spent a good 2 months toying around with it. I'm pretty sure builds like this go by the name Kuldotha Red. I shelved the deck when I played a friend's casual Doran, the Siege Tower deck and it negated all my battlecry...

Anyways, with all the bannings this seems like something that could try to be a competitive deck with an "all in" strategy. My deck was scrapped so I do not have a list to provide but I still have the lessons I learned from testing.

I played All-In-Red during 7-year extended. I felt like a turn 1 or 2 Blood Moon effect would be just as devasting in Modern as it was in old extended.
I used similar lists to the ones being discussed here but with Magus of the Moon main-deck as well as Simian Spirit Guide. I had those in instead of Shrapnel Blast and Chimeric Mass or Flayer Husk. Blood Moon was in the board in case the effect auto-won the match up.

The other way I could see this deck going is more goblin centered with Goblin Chieftain topping the curve. He turns a mid game Kuldotha Rebirth from a mediocre top deck into at least 8 damage swinging in that turn.

SpikeyMikey
02-01-2012, 05:57 PM
Yes, Kuldotha Red is the proper name for this deck. But originally, when I started playing with it, I wasn't running Rebirth. And I can't change the thread title at this, point, so I've just left it. But when I talk about the deck to other people, I use K Red.

There's too much removal in the format for Magus. The deck that's most hurt by Moon is Jund and they'll just Bolt your Magus. I like All In Red, but without Rite of Flame, it's just not good enough. There aren't enough ways to get turn 1 Deus (which isn't always a win anyway, with all the fetches running around) or turn 1 Koth. You've got fatties that don't win until midgame anyway and the only disruption is Blood Moon, which isn't going to stop U/R storm or Twin.

Bushwhacker does the same thing with Rebirth. It's actually pretty nutty. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to balance the Goblins and the artifacts, you have to go heavier in one direction or another and artifact seems better because of the 0 drops. I tried making Goblins competitive before Philly, it just wasn't possible.

Ace/Homebrew
02-01-2012, 11:55 PM
Unfortunately my area has absolutely no interest in Modern... I can't comment on the metagame and I'll take your word for it that Magus does not have a place in the deck.

The card I hated using but struggled to find a replacement for was Ornithopter. Flying is nice but an 0/2 that doesn't pump your other dudes... sucks.
How do you like Flayer Husk? I could argue that Chimeric Mass is better but I really dislike both cards...

21 lands seems like a lot for this deck. I feel like it wants more like 18. The average cost of a spell is 1 mana (if Bushwacker is 2 and Skirge is 1) and you top out at 2 mana.

I'll have to sleeve up your list so I can goldfish but it may take me a few days to get around to it.

SpikeyMikey
02-06-2012, 03:23 PM
There's really such a tight balance in this deck. You don't ever want 4+ mana sources (unless you have double War Zone) and often, you don't want the 3rd one (especially if none of them are artifacts or War Zones). However, even if you don't have any 2 drops, 1 land hands are often just too slow. You need to get massive damage out early to win. Unless you've got something like double-Memnite and a Signal Pest, a 1 land hand is likely not going to get there. Also, the Opals (and Citadel, for that matter) double as fodder for Kuldotha Rebirth and Shrapnel Blast, so you can get rid of some of the extraneous mana when necessary. You could run Shard Volley, I suppose, but then you have to cut down on actual attackers which makes your battle cry worse and reduces the number of turn 3 kills. It's not that I think there aren't any possible improvements that could be made to the deck, it's just that the balance between artifacts, goblins, mana and burn is so delicate that it's very difficult to make any substantial changes without retooling the entire deck. You've only got a few turns, so you can't wait to draw into synergies, they're either present in your opening grip or you've got dead cards.

Chimeric Mass is probably worth taking a look at. The idea behind Husk was that if someone swept your board, the next creature you dropped would be a little bit stronger. Mass, obviously, just ignores sweepers altogether, but it's also more mana-intensive and less effective on turn 1 or 2, unless you're just using it as Rebirth fodder. Without having tested it, I think it might be a slight upgrade over Husk.

Mr. Safety
02-06-2012, 03:27 PM
Most lists are playing 4x Goblin Bushwhacker...is Devastating Summons an option?

SpikeyMikey
02-07-2012, 11:42 PM
Most lists are playing 4x Goblin Bushwhacker...is Devastating Summons an option?

Summons could be interesting because it generates multiple creatures for R. However, what slot are you going to run them in? Rebirth is obviously better, most of the time, because it's an extra creature. Summons and Bushwhacker means you need at least 3 lands, something you'd normally want to avoid (two is the sweet spot, with maybe an Opal you can later munch to a Rebirth or Shrapnel Blast). It is nice for avoiding Pyroclasm in the mid-late game, but again, not particularly strong on turn 1. I think the biggest thing for this deck is to try and win on turn 3 as consistently as possible, because each turn beyond that sees your opponent closer and closer to stabilizing.

I did test a cycling version of this deck with 4xGitaxian Probe and 4xStreet Wraith. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier. It did speed the goldfish up slightly but it made determining which hands to keep a lot harder.

Litorers
02-08-2012, 03:35 PM
I'm trying it with just probes as well...so far it's been pretty slick, actually.

Is Dolmen Gate sideboard tech !!?? xD
probably just a funny suggestion..but I can't help but wonder.

Mr. Safety
02-08-2012, 07:46 PM
Summons could be interesting because it generates multiple creatures for R. However, what slot are you going to run them in? Rebirth is obviously better, most of the time, because it's an extra creature. Summons and Bushwhacker means you need at least 3 lands, something you'd normally want to avoid (two is the sweet spot, with maybe an Opal you can later munch to a Rebirth or Shrapnel Blast). It is nice for avoiding Pyroclasm in the mid-late game, but again, not particularly strong on turn 1. I think the biggest thing for this deck is to try and win on turn 3 as consistently as possible, because each turn beyond that sees your opponent closer and closer to stabilizing.

I did test a cycling version of this deck with 4xGitaxian Probe and 4xStreet Wraith. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier. It did speed the goldfish up slightly but it made determining which hands to keep a lot harder.

Devastating Summons seems like a late game option to finish against a tapped out board (by this I mean turn 5-6 for a fast aggro deck like this.) Three lands in Play with Goblin Bushwhacker is 8 points of hasty damage...nothing to sneeze at. BUT, you're already sacking mana sources to Rebirth/Blast...not sure if this is even worth considering when you get 3 tokens for R or 5 damage for 1R...they seem better. The up-side is that you aren't sacking LANDS for those (unless it's a Darksteel Citadel) so if you somehow get to 3-4 lands, Summons can be a game winner (theoretically.) I saw a list in that played one...I think that might be the right amount, but I'm not sure. I'm busy testing a straight-red sligh deck for modern right now.

Ace/Homebrew
02-09-2012, 01:32 PM
The problem with Devastating Summons and Goblin Bushwhacker is the RRR cost in a deck that likes it's colorless lands. Summons is also very bad in multiples.

Daige
02-16-2012, 06:23 AM
Hi guys!

This very thread made me want to register so I could participate in the discussion. The deck seems very budget friendly without being too bad, so I wanted to build my own version, just even more budget. Here's what I came up with:

8 Mountain
4 Contested War Zone (is 4 too many?)
4 Darksteel Citadel

4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Flayer Husk
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhacker

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Kuldotha Rebirth

16 lands might seem a little small but consider that I play Simian Spirit which gives a potential for very explosive starts. Other than that, I've tried to keep true to the main theme, lots of cheap artifacts, lots of creatures and efficient burn. 24 artifacts in this deck, actually, which is a lot.

I don't have a functional sideboard yet.

Litorers
02-16-2012, 04:54 PM
Well, that deck looks fine. The moxen are really what make the deck though, so if you can nab even 2-3 they make it run very well. I've actually taken to splitting the moxen 3/1 with spirit guide, as a top decked 3 mana 2/2 is way better than a redundant mox late game. Contested War Zone needs to be a 4-of, but I've found that Darksteel Citadel as a 4- of was hurting my access to red too much - I've taken to running two. Flayer Husk is really better as Goblin Guide - but your list will really benefit in the form of stronger burn spells from running so many artifacts.

As an answer to a previous question, the probes have been testing out quite well, but I've found no incentive to add the street wraiths - you're actually just cutting too many things at that point, and when you don't know what's going to be in your hand it's very hard to mulligan properly, which is an extremely important function in this deck. I've come up with this list (in no particular order)

3 Mox Opal
1 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Chimeric Mass (was one, but i figured the second was better than the 4th ornithopter)
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Signal Pest
4 Memnite
3 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
1 Curse of Stalked Prey (Cut one for the 4 Probes, but the second one really fills the same role as Darkblast does in dredge, as it randomly improves some match-ups but usually just serves as the 13th "combo piece" in your deck to improve consistency)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Kuldotha Rebirth (I know that 3 makes it so you don't get two too often - but when I do, it's usually not a huge deal, even a good thing sometimes. You REALLY want to draw one though, so I feel that 4 is correct)
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Shrapnel Blast

4 Contested War Zone
2 Darksteel Citadel
6 Mountain
2 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn


60 cards

The sideboard is always in flux, but the main deck has been surprisingly consistent - the only kink is that this deck needs to mulligan very aggressively, as a good hand with one card less is much better than a mediocre large hand. 4 card hands are fine, though obviously not optimal. If you have red mana source + 0 mana artifact + rebirth + group attack bonus. Clearly, a good hand with any more cards is usually going to be better, but do-nothing hands are almost always going to be worse than this. The probes also make mulls much better, and being on the draw will also improve consistency, although the advantages of being on the play will almost always outweigh this.

So far I've been impressed - are any of you still testing it, or have most ppl moved on?

Daige
02-17-2012, 07:25 AM
Well, that deck looks fine. The moxen are really what make the deck though, so if you can nab even 2-3 they make it run very well. I've actually taken to splitting the moxen 3/1 with spirit guide, as a top decked 3 mana 2/2 is way better than a redundant mox late game. Contested War Zone needs to be a 4-of, but I've found that Darksteel Citadel as a 4- of was hurting my access to red too much - I've taken to running two. Flayer Husk is really better as Goblin Guide - but your list will really benefit in the form of stronger burn spells from running so many artifacts.

As an answer to a previous question, the probes have been testing out quite well, but I've found no incentive to add the street wraiths - you're actually just cutting too many things at that point, and when you don't know what's going to be in your hand it's very hard to mulligan properly, which is an extremely important function in this deck. I've come up with this list (in no particular order)

3 Mox Opal
1 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Chimeric Mass (was one, but i figured the second was better than the 4th ornithopter)
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Signal Pest
4 Memnite
3 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
1 Curse of Stalked Prey (Cut one for the 4 Probes, but the second one really fills the same role as Darkblast does in dredge, as it randomly improves some match-ups but usually just serves as the 13th "combo piece" in your deck to improve consistency)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Kuldotha Rebirth (I know that 3 makes it so you don't get two too often - but when I do, it's usually not a huge deal, even a good thing sometimes. You REALLY want to draw one though, so I feel that 4 is correct)
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Shrapnel Blast

4 Contested War Zone
2 Darksteel Citadel
6 Mountain
2 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn


60 cards

The sideboard is always in flux, but the main deck has been surprisingly consistent - the only kink is that this deck needs to mulligan very aggressively, as a good hand with one card less is much better than a mediocre large hand. 4 card hands are fine, though obviously not optimal. If you have red mana source + 0 mana artifact + rebirth + group attack bonus. Clearly, a good hand with any more cards is usually going to be better, but do-nothing hands are almost always going to be worse than this. The probes also make mulls much better, and being on the draw will also improve consistency, although the advantages of being on the play will almost always outweigh this.

So far I've been impressed - are any of you still testing it, or have most ppl moved on?

I'm actually in the process of building my budget version of the deck, so I haven't even been playing it yet. I'm considering Ichor Wellspring (great artifact to sacrifice!) and Faithless Looting (instead of Gitaxian Probe), just to increase card drawing and make better draws.

SpikeyMikey
02-19-2012, 12:42 AM
I've moved on to B/W Tokens which earned me day 2 at the GP. But in round 8, the guy next to me was playing KRed andit looked like he was winning, so I think at least 1 made day 2.

Litorers
02-19-2012, 12:16 PM
Word. Was there anything special about his list?

SpikeyMikey
02-21-2012, 12:35 AM
I wanted to get together with him and compare notes, but I didn't see him again. So I'm not sure.