Death the deck.

[Iare]

This whole deck started by me grabbing a pile of cards and thinking it was good enough to call a deck. Its simply the best red and black deck that I could slap together. There are quite a few new toys to be had since red death went out of flavor and I wanted to build a modern red death deck, some fun to be had ;D . The list I came up with:

Creatures- 16
4x Keldon Mauraders
4x Kiln Fiend
4x Dark Confidant
4x Gatekeeper of Malikar

Spells-24
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lightning bolt
4x Terminate
4x Hymn to Tourach
3x Reanimate
3x Reckless Charge
2x Duress

Lands-20
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Badlands
4x Marsh Flats
5x Swamp
2x Mountain
1x Scrubland

Sideboard-15
4x Surgical Extraction <-- at $5 a pop I think I will try these, look decent enough against re-animator and dredge to me, also board three of these in against storm combo in place of Reanimate since it is pretty well junk in the matchup.
4x Chain Lightning <--- bring these in against combo in place of terminate
4x Shattering spree <--- lets bone affinity and I don't like chalices much in this deck
3x Engineered explosives <--- Bring these in for reanimate against goblins, merfolk and elves. Only answer I have to a resolved counterbalance too.


The deck can be blistering fast if a second turn kiln fiend goes unanswered and can power through a midgame on the back of its card advantage (Hymn to tourach, bob, reckless charge flashback, gatekeeper of malikar). I am running 6 one cost discard because I really .. really want to see my opponents hand so I can out menuaver them. Reanimate is there mainly to get back kiln fiend, bob or to rip a nice juicy wincon from my opponents graveyard (Goofy is a good target).

I did do some limited testing and part of me thinks I should try and exploit the synergy between bob and magma jet, but I am unsure where to squeeze them in atm.

[Greenpoe]

You may want to drop the maindeck Terminates for Searing Blaze. Thoughtseize>Duress, since you want to hit creatures and keep everything unblocked. Goblin Guide is also insane, and probably better than Keldon Marauders. Sulfuric Vortex is a good SB card to gain some damage over time.

[sclabman]

Agreed. Keldon Marauders should probably be replaced by Goblin Guide. That was the one glaring thing that stood out to me.

[1337erhosen]

Actually, Gobline Guide makes your Hymn to Tourachs really bad, so probably not a good idea

[Iare]

Actually, Gobline Guide makes your Hymn to Tourachs really bad, so probably not a good idea


This. Also, goblin guide isn't good against brainstorm, which is EVERYWHERE atm. I just don't think we can negate his drawback enough. Keldon Marauders could be replaced, but honestly they haven't been too bad. They trade favorably with a handfull of Zoo creatures, stop kird apes and loam lions in their tracks and well Merfolk can't usually attack into one without losing a dude (Same for Goblins). Marauders are also good with reckless charge :) Anyway, I would consider replacing Marauders with any creature that costs 1/2 and will serve me better in that slot. I am just unsure what to run that is better than him atm. My thoughtseizes were in another deck so they didn't make their way to the pile but yes they really are better than duress so, Changes:

-3 Swamp
+3 Wasteland

-2 Duress
+2 Thoughtseize

I am not sold on seering blaze, it is pretty dead without a land drop and it doesn't answer Tarmagoyf, Rhox War Monk, Tombstalker, Abysal prosecuter, Phyrexian Obliterator or Knight of the Reliquary all of which can come down in the first 1-3 turns. Hoping that gatekeeper mops them up or they have to block a kiln fiend is risky. This deck is meant to be fast but resiliant, it will get out tempoed by blue but will beat most blue decks on the back of card advantage.

Funny Blue is the tempo color these days and a red/black deck can draw more cards ;D

If I wanted to go more sligh like I would drop Hymns, Terminate and probably 1-2 Keldon mauraders for goblin guides, seering blaze and a couple fireblasts. I just don't think it would be a better deck =/ Plus, I already have a sligh deck built and was looking for something new to play. Any other thoughts :)