[Deck] Red Rock

[Skeggi]

Red Rock is a heavy control version of The Rock. Because The Rock has problems dealing with fast aggro and Pernicious Deed often isn't fast enough, we splashed red for Firespout.

My teammate Mattias Kres piloted this deck at GP Madrid where he went 8-1 day 1 and eventually ending up 40th because he had some bad mulligans against Saito. I played the deck too, but was unlucky and dropped day 1 at 4-2-1.

The list:

Team ADHD's Red Rock

4 Marsh Flats
4 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Scrubland
3 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Taiga
1 Badlands
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp

4 Tarmogoyf
2 Wall of Roots
2 Tombstalker
1 Eternal Dragon
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Ajani Vengeant

4 Thoughtseize
3 Firespout
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Path to Exile
2 Vindicate
1 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Pernicous Deed
1 Moat
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Sensei's Divining Top

Sideboard:

3 Orim's Chant
2 Extirpate
1 Virtue's Ruin
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Choke
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Runed Halo
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Pithing Needle


We originally ran 4 Firespout, 4 Vindicate and no Pernicious Deed, Enlightened Tutor or Moat. It became apparent that Firespout is good, but often we just wanted a Moat. So we went back to a list Team ADHD developped earlier, named Enlightened Rock which was more enchantment based and made a combination between the two decks. The Enlightened plan is still implemented in the sideboard.

Mattias' match-ups:
Bye
Bye
Bye
Zoo 2-1
ANT 0-2
Supreme Blue 2-0
ANT 2-1
RW Burn/Sligh 2-1
Zoo 2-1

Day 2:
Bant Loam 1-1
Bant Countertop 2-0
Bant stoneforge mystic deck, 0-2
ANT 2-1
Bant Countertop 2-0
ANT 1-2 Against Saito. He wins game 1 oddly enough, but after that he has to mul 2 times to 4, because he grabbed bad hands, even though we run 13 anti-combo sideboard cards.
Zoo 2-1
Dreadstill 1-1

[Maveric78f]

What a shame to play only 1 Ajani.

Did you overlook Hide / Seek? It's so good in so many situations...

Apart from that, we should brainstorm on what MUs are improved / damaged when we switch from your version to mine and vice versa.

[Skeggi]

1 Ajani is more than enough. We have been thinking about playing a second, but you don't need an arsenal of Planeswalkers if you can protect them with Firespout and Moat. I'm not sure why I would want to run Hide/Seek? We have permanent removal, and we have 13 anti combo cards in the sideboard.

[Maveric78f]

I just meant that a 2/2 split with Elspeth should be stronger. You could raise their number too.

About Hide/Seek, it's also anti-combo but it's also a good contender in a lot of situations. It could even be played MD. I don't have a particular plan to make it fit anywhere because a lot of choices are still strange for me when I read your list.

You play 23 lands + 3 mana sources + 4 tops. It's a lot of non active cards in particular in this deck with a curve quite low. Where you that afraid to be mana deathed?

Tarmogoyf does not look very impressive in this deck neither. Do you use it in another way than a deathtouch wall ?

[Skeggi]

I just meant that a 2/2 split with Elspeth should be stronger. You could raise their number too.

Nah, Elspeth is the best wincondition after Tendrils. Play 3 at least, 4 may be better.

You play 23 lands + 3 mana sources + 4 tops. It's a lot of non active cards in particular in this deck with a curve quite low. Where you that afraid to be mana deathed?

It's a very manahungry deck, that's why we beat CounterTop: we outcurve them.

Tarmogoyf does not look very impressive in this deck neither. Do you use it in another way than a deathtouch wall ?

Next to a good wall, it's also a good clock if you have no Moat, or if you do have a Moat, Elspeth will kick him over it raping your opponent.

[Domi]

What about Bloodbraid Elf?

[Skeggi]

It's a very good T2 card. What about it?

[Mayk0l]

Elspeth is good as a three off. It's one of the strongest finishers in the game for a control deck. With Bant decks, Landstill, etc. running Elspeth, you're best off playing a lot of them. Those MU's come down to who sticks an Elspeth first. Also, by playing an Elspeth, you can destroy an Elspeth.

[LegacyDan]

What about Bloodbraid Elf?

Lolz

How does this deck look against waste/lock?

[Skeggi]

It's relatively easy to fetch to basics. A real wastelock isn't possible as you can always drop that fourth mana when you need it. It can be a pain though.

[Philipp2293]

I've been looking for a new rather rogue-ish deck and now I stumbled upon this deck, which I really like because of the tons of removal and lots of options (I'm a big fan of toolboxes).

Just one question about the 2 Wall of Roots? Are they replaceable or really needed?

[Mr. Safety]

I half expected to see Blightning in this list...at 3 mana, it's just a worse Hymn to Tourach with the minor pro of speeding up your clock a little bit by providing an alternative source of damage besides Elspeth/T-stalker/Goyf.

Cool deck...kudos on the mana acceleration (Wall of Roots, Eternal Dragon) to help make you resilient to Wasteland and tempo decks. Did you consider Noble Heirarchs, or was Wall of Roots your choice due simply to maindecked Firespouts?

Eternal Witness seems like it could round out the deck...but I'm not sure. You really need your creatures to either block well (Goyf, Wall of Roots) or attack well (Goyf, Tombstalker) to make them viable. Witness gives you a little graveyard abuse, considering you're playing so many 1-shots in the deck. The E-Tutor toolbox makes it a little underwhelming...this is most likely where you stray from more historical Rock builds.

Lastly, Eternal Dragon? Classy touch there. Mana acceleration with built in recursion for late game beats. Nice.