Monkey May I

[kinda]

I haven't seen one of these decks with red in a while...I know there's a ton of bant and uw tempo...but this list is a little different. Though, I still feel like my list is under utilizing red...any suggestions? (ok so it's more like cat may i...)

Creatures:
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Rhox War Monk
2 Vendilion Clique

Instants:
4 Braintorm
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Path to Exile
4 Fire//Ice

Equipment:
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire/Ice

Land:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Windswept Heath
1 Plateau
2 Savannah
2 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga

Sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Krosan Grip
3 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Aether Vial or Relic

Edit: -2 Woolly Thoctar +2 Vendillion Clique

[brianw712]

Qasali Pridemage seems like it would fit in nicely here.

[sclabman]

I can't see Force of Will working in this deck with such a low amount of blue cards.

[cwt1220]

21 blue cards are more than sufficient to support FoW.

-Chris-

[BreathWeapon]

Path to Exile really sucks with Daze and Fire/Ice is mediocre, I'd run Ponder because you're going to need the manabase stability running 4c, and your deck is too top heavy IMO.

[kinda]

Thx for some good points...what do you mean by top heavy?

[Zilla]

Seems like a pretty decent list to me. Pridemages would be nice, but Clique is probably better because it's an evasive beater to equip with Jitte/SoFI, and it performs a similar function. You have more than enough blue cards to support FoW. I think I disagree that Fire/Ice is a mediocre card here. In many cases it's card advantage, it can help you win Goyf stalemates, and it pitches to FoW. In a deck like this I don't think that slot would be better off with Bolt/Helix etc. I agree on Path though... in a deck that basically supplants burn for control, Swords is going to be the better choice.

[Vacrix]

I've played numerous builds with Steppe Lynx. Its only good with 12+ fetchlands. Either way I think that slot could be used more effectively. Lynx is horrid with Jitte. I think you'd much rather run a mana fixer like Noble Hierach, or play Pridemages like people are suggesting.

How has the mana base been in testing? I'd imagine you are really weak against non-basic hate.

[BreathWeapon]

Fire/Ice isn't as good as Lavamancer in my experience, granted it's more versatile but if you want burn you may as well play a creature who turns your graveyard into Shocks if you aren't playing Goose.

[kinda]

Here's an update to the deck. The idea again is to play the two best creatures (wild nacatl/tarmo) with the two best blue cards (brainstorm, force of will)...with the downside of course being the 4 color mana base. The options I was considering for reach were natural order/Prog, stoneforge package, and elspeth/jace...and I'm still not sure what would be best, but the natural order package seems pretty decent across the board.

Creatures: 14
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Rhox War Monk
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Progenitus

Instants: 20
4 Braintorm
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Fire//Ice

Sorceries: 4
3 Natural Order
1 Ponder

Land: 22
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 dryad arbor
1 island
1 forest

Sideboard: 15
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Spell pierce
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Nimble Mongoose
1 Rhox War Monk

[samurai_socks]

You really need to ask yourself why the last list you posted is better than NO Bant.

You are slower than them (due to no noble heirarch) and your manabase is more vulnerable to wasteland. Your deck is different from a NO countertop list by 8 cards (excluding manabase). Having 4 wild nacatals and 4 Fire/Ice are nowhere near as strong as 4 top and 4 counterbalance.

Fire/Ice as mentioned above is just not strong enough at the moment. I personally like trygon predator over pridemage of course predator is much stronger when you play Noble Heirarch.

Also why is nimble mongoose in the sideboard?

-Cheers-