Thursday, October 13, 2011

Standard Deck Examination: Mono Red

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, today it's a decent article with the return to a mono red deck, the first list will be the one from Star City's Nashville Standard open and the next will obviously be a 1st place list then a primer list for this deck with a overall final list of what cards should be played in this list so let's go. When you think mono red you think quick, aggressive and rather unsubtle strikers, this is correct in this fashion and you expect this to be as fast as humanly possible while maintaining a standard feel to the deck, this first list will be the 3rd place list at the standard event at Star City Nashville.

Nick Veccie's Mono Red - 3rd Place [Standard] Star City Open, Nashville


Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Spikeshot Elder
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stromkirk Noble

Spells
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Brimstone Volley
2 Gut Shot
3 Incinerate
3 Arc Trail
3 Koth of the Hammer

Lands
4 Rootbound Crag
19 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Perilous Myr
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
4 Vulshok Refugee
4 Ancient Grudge
2 Dismember
1 Arc Trail
1 Traitorous Blood

Now this list contains some of the basics of Mono Red, Koth, Shrine, Phoenix, hell even Hero of Oxid Ridge is in here to prevent the massive 1/1 tokens from chumping, not bad, what is the premise of Mono Red you ask it's simple, get your opponent to 0 life before you die, throw all your burn at him as fast as humanly possible while getting 1 and 2 drop creatures on the board in the form of Grim Lavamancer, Stromkirk Noble, Stormblood Berserker and of course Spikeshot Elder to do the maximum amount of damage in a short period of time, which of course is not surprising with this deck, now for your viewing pleasure let's take a look at the 1st place list of one David Doberne whom managed to run Mono Red to a victory at Star City Indianapolis's Standard Event just 3 days after the rotation.

David Doberne's Mono Red - 1st Place [Standard] Star City Open, Indianapolis


Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Goblin Arsonist
3 Grim Lavamancer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Spikeshot Elder
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stormkirk Noble

Spells
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Arc Trail
3 Incinerate
3 Koth of the Hammer

Lands
23 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Sword of War and Peace
2 Perilous Myr
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Manic Vandal
4 Vulshok Refugee
1 Arc Trail
1 Traitorous Blood
1 Mountain

Yes your eyes do not deceive you, a land is in the sideboard of this deck, let's go over the notable differences from the 3rd place to the 1st place list, first thing is first 1st place list has 4x Hero of Oxid Ridge 2 in the main deck and 2 in the sideboard, with a Sword of War and Peace where as the 3rd place list didn't have a sword in it's list, the one constant about the deck is the 3x Koth of the Hammer/4x Shrine of Burning Rage, this plus Arc Trail and the creature base are consistent with very few changes, Goblin Arsonist is in the list where as the 3rd place list had 2 Gut Shot instead of another creature in the main deck itself , both decks are running artifact removal which is another constant in the sideboard, but a constant nonetheless with Manic Vandal being present in the first place list, with Ancient Grudge splashing green for it's flashback cost which is something the first place list doesn't have, a green splash. Pretty much all the deck is a constant, the creature base is the same almost with 1x Spikeshot Elder being removed for another copy of Grim Lavamancer but other then that the basics of the deck stay the same, onto the primer list.

MTGSalvation's Mono Red Primer List


Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Furnace Scamp
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stromkirk Noble

Spells
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Gut Shot
3 Incinerate
3 Shock
2 Arc Trail

Lands
4 Rootbound Crag
17 Mountain

Sideboard
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
4 Vulshok Refugee
4 Ancient Grudge
2 Dismember
1 Arc Trail

Now if you look straight away you'll see the constant changes this deck can produce for instance, no Koth of the Hammer is present in our primer list and we splash green for the flashback cost of Ancient Grudge but this also means we cut our land count to 21 for this list so we can splash in a few extra pieces of burn namely Shock, #3 and #4 Gut Shot and of course removing Goblin Arsonist and a 3rd arc trail from the main deck to throw in 3x Furnace Scamp as another 1 drop of choice for this deck, based off the 3 list presented let's take a look at the key cards for this deck as a whole


Stormkirk Noble/Stormblood Berserker - These two are key for this deck as the 1 and 2 drops of choice, these guys are a auto 4 of in any mono red deck, making them super powerful and way better then expected.

Chandra's Phoenix - This particular 2/2 recursion flyer is perfect for this deck since we have nothing but red at our disposal except for Shrine of Burning Rage plus it has haste and should be a 3 of in mono red since it's cost is 1RR in this build and we have no ramp to speak of.

Hero of Oxid Ridge - I grant you this guy is iffy, some builds have 4, some builds have 3, i'd stick with 3 in this particular deck of choice, 2 in the main deck, 1 in the sideboard plus it's 4/2 haste and makes all 1 power or less unable to block is kinda key, did i mention battle cry for that extra few points of damage.

Grim Lavamancer - Now not only is this guy your Shock on a body but he costs a mere 1 red mana and is a 1/1, working off the spells you play and make this a late game threat means you win faster.

Shrine of Burning Rage - This is a auto 4 of in any build, it's colorless, works off the red spells/upkeep and deals damage equal to it's charge counters to target player or creature when it's sacrificed.

Arc Trail/Brimstone Volley/Incinerate - The three go to spells for burn in this, arc trails does a nifty 2 for 1, brimstone volley deals max damage when something dies, Incinerate is well, Incinerate and is stupidly fun for this deck making these at least 3 arc trail, 4 Brimstone, 3 Incinerate as a auto include in most mono red builds.

Sideboard wise is a little tough to call on this one and can vary from deck to deck, but if you know your meta well, go for it and build a SB that's pretty unstoppable if you play mono red at your local game store/tournament event, anyways that's it for me today, tommorow begins the examination of Green/White Humans and remember the lists that have tournament competition are below, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Tournament Lists ---> Mono Red Tournament Lists

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