R/u "Traditional" Big Red

[iamajellydonut]

Let me preface this by stating the deck is "budget". However, it is only budget in the sense that I don't want to dump money into cards that I don't plan on playing again rather than "I'll try to make Disrupting Shoal work as well as Force of Will". This is a deck I have created to sate me while I work on my playset of Bobs and Lilis. It's nothing truly stellar and I've received more than a few laughs of "what the hell", but I do feel it fares far better than Burn or any of the comparable "budget" decks available and it has managed to place fairly well whenever I run it.

The deck started out as an awfully simple Big Red for Modern. It featured every piece of mono-red ramp known to man and its finishers included Akroma. After the deck folded completely to Tron without fail and the local support turned out to be literally nothing, I swapped it over on the fly to "Legacy Legal", removed the Solemn Simulacrums, and did much better than I actually should have. Since then I've been tweaking it ever so slightly to the point where only the utter core is still recognizable.

Without further adieu...

Landx21
3 Island
3 Mountain
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Great Furnace
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents

Creaturesx5
1 Spitebellows
4 Demigod of Revenge

Other Spellsx34
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Blood Moon
1 Goblin Assault
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Shattering Spree
3 Volcanic Fallout
4 Izzet Charm
2 Batterskull
3 Chrome Mox
2 Izzet Signet

Sideboard:
2 Spitebellows
1 Hydroblast
1 Stifle
1 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Shattering Spree
1 Slagstorm
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus


The win conditions, relatively speaking, are Demigod of Revenge, Blood Moon, Goblin Assault, and Batterskull. Each one is a combination of longevity and board dominance, and I tried to make a wide enough selection that no single common removal could effectively deal with them all. So far this selection technique has served me well. The end goal of the deck is "X get there". Whether X is a turn 2 Blood Moon or a host of Demigods, the deck has a surprising amount of dig that it can usually find any given critical lock card before the opponent can manage to finish a victory.

The deck's main weaknesses are easily Show and Tell and big creatures such as Tarmogoyf in general. Tarmogoyf is more easily dealt with by inefficient stacking of burn spells and Spitebellows, but Show and Tell remains at large. The most realistic plan is to post-board cross fingers and hope Red Elemental Blast gets there. It's unfortunate, but there's a seeming decline locally in Show and Tell, so I'm not as worried as I realistically should be.

The deck can't easily handle double blue which is why there's a singleton Threads of Disloyalty, and I don't plan on it ever being a thing thanks to the raw power of Blood Moon. I'm working on getting Engineered Explosives (likely only one in sideboard) and I have Sun Droplet on order. Goblin Assault is a surprisingly neat card, but it does have problems and is gross when paired against Batterskull. Though I can usually simply decide not to drop Goblin Assault in those cases, I'd prefer not to have a dead card. With that in mind, Goblin Assault is functional, but I'd like to replace it.

[ShiftyKapree]

I would cut the blue and just keep it straight red, cards I would add would be 4 of all the red rituals, 4 trinsphere's, 4 simian spirit guides, 1-2 lodestone golems. 2 Akroma's. if you can get your hands on Ancient Tomb's if not buy Crystal Vein's. Also maybe Empty the Warrens. I would just try to make it into a dragon stompy honestly. I like Demigod bc of its triggered ability.

[iamajellydonut]

As much as I appreciate the attention, "overhaul your entire deck" isn't the most constructive criticism especially considering the deck is indeed fully functional.

On another note, is Great Furnace worth it for just Thirst for Knowledge? It hasn't caused any problems with Wasteland so far mostly on the basis of there usually being better targets for Wasteland, but it has caused trouble with the artifact type a few times.

[Zupponn]

I'm not sure if I like Thirst for Knowledge here. Seems a little slow and mana intensive. Preordain or Ponder might be better solely because they cost 2 less mana. Otherwise Compulsive Research is a sorcery that might let you keep more cards off of it.

[JanoschEausH]

I think he plans on discarding the Demigods with Thirst for knowledge.

[iamajellydonut]

I think he plans on discarding the Demigods with Thirst for knowledge.

While this is nice and can often be done (and often is done), it's also slightly risky against the wrong decks. It basically puts up a giant sign that says "get your StPs ready!"

That aside, the purpose of Thirst for Knowledge is dig plus card advantage. Without any Jaces or want for Jaces and Ancestral Visions having the cast time of a brick or any relevant tutor+stick effects such as Stoneforge Mystic, the deck is fairly masochistic in terms of efficiency. Chrome Mox is brilliant and I couldn't live without it, but it eats away the hand. Likewise it's common to have other awful things happen such as 14xBlood Moon, land flood, etc. Regardless of if I get to pitch a now-irrelevant Izzet Signet or not, I rarely, if ever, have to pitch cards I like. Thus, effectively making it one of the only aggressive "draw" cards left available to me in the format. Ponder, as suggested, it a filter card. It wouldn't actually do anything for me. Thirst for Knowledge does. If it can be replaced, I certainly will, but a cantrip is not the answer.

As for the age-old query of Compulsive Research vs Thirst for Knowledge, the overwhelming and always relevant fact that Thirst for Knowledge is an instant guarantees it first pick.

[Zupponn]

What about little Jace? He both draws you cards and absorbs some damage, so it might be worth testing out if you haven't already.

[iamajellydonut]

What about little Jace? He both draws you cards and absorbs some damage, so it might be worth testing out if you haven't already.

I hadn't thought of mini-Jace, but his double blue is prohibitive anyway.