I love red. It's my favorite color in Magic. The first deck I ever played at my friend Alex's house was a Tempest block aggro deck with Mogg Maniacs, Earthquakes and Pyromantics. The first major tournament I played in was in Tempest-Urza's Standard, when I brought my Wildfire Artifact deck to battle. My first JSS win I played WGB mix-up with Spiritmonger, Vindicate, Pernicious Deed... but ended up winning the thing in the finals against my Mono-U control opponent by successfully resolving Urza's Rage with kicker (sideboard tech ftw). Recently I have been playing my Red Green Big Mana deck to great success at my local FNMs, having lost only one match in the last 3 such events. I may dabble in the occasional blue-black control deck or crazy combo variant but I invariably return to Fireball and Shock.

But I can't see that happening for the new Standard environment.

Don't get me wrong, I love the new aggro cards. In addition to good burn like Flame Javelin, Incinerate and Rift Bolt we have Tattermunge Maniac (a decent 2/1 for one mana) at our disposal, not to mention Keldon Marauders and Mogg Fanatic. To top it all off we have what we have never had before, a 3/3 hastey beatstick for only 3 mana... and it even has Wither! Oh Boggart Ram-Gang, how I love thee.

Alas, I will not be swinging in for 3 with my Ram-Gang outside of Block any time soon. Sadly, this archetype is not viable.

Who is the culprit?

Allow me to introduce:

Wishin' Finks (aka WGu Big Mana)*

4 Wall of Roots
4 Cloudthresher
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Oversoul of Dusk
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero

4 Into the North
4 Glittering Wish
4 Harmonize
2 Primal Command
2 Search for Tomorrow
2 Garruk Wildspeaker

6 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Treetop Village
3 Arctic Flats
2 Wooded Bastion
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Boreal Shelf
1 Mouth of Ronom

3 Last Breath
3 Patriarch’s Scorn
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Oversoul of Dusk
1 Dawnglow Infusion
1 Teferi’s Moat
1 Vexing SHusher
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Primal Command

Explain to me how any red deck can beat 4 Wall of Roots, 4 Kitchen Finks, 3 Oversoul of Dusk, an Akroma and a pair of Primal Commands, not to mention a smattering of giant green spells and Glittering Wish targets galore.

But before I get too far ahead of myself let's break this thing down.

First, mana.

4 Wall of Roots

4 Into the North

2 Search for Tomorrow

6 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Treetop Village
3 Arctic Flats
2 Wooded Bastion
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Boreal Shelf
1 Mouth of Ronom

Ten mana accel spells (able to net us 4 mana on turn 3) and 22 lands is a good foundation. Close to the R/G base, so why mess up a good thing, huh? Full playset of Treetop Village because I likes 'em and they're uncounterable damage. The pair of blue mana sources make sure we can drop Teferi's Moat when we wish for it, thanks to our searchers. The singlleton Mouth is just so we have something to search for with late game Into the Norths.

Creature time.

4 Wall of Roots
4 Cloudthresher
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Oversoul of Dusk
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero

Hey, lookee there. Wall of Roots again. That card is insane. Moving on, Cloudthreshers are good against Faeries right? Just checking. Automatically adding as many Big Green Windshield as they will let me play. It even blocks White Akroma! Speaking of, a singleton of her too. Just 'cos I can. Also, single Crovax ruins Fae. Tarmogoyf, Oversoul and Finks add swingy beats as well as green beef (eeeew...).

Yea, only 3 Goyfs. Deal with it.

Moving on...

4 Into the North
4 Glittering Wish
4 Harmonize
2 Primal Command
2 Search for Tomorrow
2 Garruk Wildspeaker

We already discussed Into the North and Search. No reason to discuss Harmonize either, seeing as it's the main reason for the deck (imo). Primal Command is the best spell ever, so let's put a couple in there too. While we can't abuse Garruk quite as well as we used to with S.G.C. in the R/G version of Big Mana, we can still go Garruk-untap-Goyf on the third turn, so it's worth keeping. Or we can Garruk-untap-Wish.

To truly appreciate Glittering Wish in this deck, let's look at the sideboard.

3 Last Breath
3 Patriarch’s Scorn
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Oversoul of Dusk
1 Dawnglow Infusion
1 Teferi’s Moat
1 Vexing SHusher
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Primal Command

The Wish board includes 4th copies of Finks and Oversoul, just in case you need 'em. Dawnglow Infusion is there in case you feel like gaining 16-20 life. Teferi's Moat slows down (and sometimes shuts down) many a deck, including (but not limited to): Elves, Rogues, Red decks, Goblins, Merfolk, Doran, Thallids... maybe not that last one but you get the point. Vexing SHusher is there because I hate getting my big expensive spells countered, so added insurance is nice. Mystic Enforcer helps when you absolutely positively have to kill everyone playing Smokestack, er, I mean Bitterblossom in the room. Juniper Order Ranger... well, that's because sometimes you never ever want your Kitchen Finks to die. Feel free to splash black for Nantuko Husk if you want Project X life totals.

Moving on to the non-Wish board, Last Breath takes care of Gaddock Teeg. The 4 life is irrelevant because we have inevitaility. Patriarch's Scorn is a spicy little piece of tech that takes care of opposing Teferi's Moats, Bitterblossoms, Grave Pacts, Pyromancer's Swaths, Prison Terms, or whatever. The extra Primal Command is there because I want the Red deck match up to be a total blow out. Plus it's the best spell ever so I wanted another one.

There you have it.

See you.

Reubs

*Did I ever mention that you shouldn't just play a deck that I post, 60/15 with no changes? Well... don't do it. Test for yourselves. That's the point of the game, to figure it out for yourself. Geez.

Tags: Tmp Shadowmoor Glittering Wish Kitchen Finks Big Mana

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

Bookmark: