Welcome Guest Login or Signup
The Collectible Game Player Community
MY ACCOUNT -:- BLOGS -:- USERS -:- GALLERY -:- FORUM -:- GROUPS -:- POLLS -:- QUIZZES
BLOGS   WRITE NEW BLOG   EDIT BLOGS  
 
RSS
Regionals on $200 or Less: RDW (aka the Faeries Killer)
Posted On 05/15/2008 16:50:43 by DeeBarizo - Read 1238 time(s)

If there's anything the last Star City Games tournaments told us about the standard format, it's "be prepared for Faeries". Red decks have always had a good matchup against faeries, but I wanted to improve that matchup even more.

Here's one of the red decks I've been playing.

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mudbutton Clanger
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Mudbrawler Cohort
4 Boggart Ram-Gang

2 Shard Volley
4 Tarfire
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

4 Countryside Crusher
3 Smash to Smithereens
4 Magus of the Moon
1 Ghitu Encampment
3 Greater Gargadon

You may recognize the maindeck from Bill Stark's article on Star City Games. The sideboard is from a 1800+ rated player on Magic-League.

Anyways, this deck good is great against Faeries. However, it has a hard time against white decks packing Kitchen Finks (aka the new Loxodon Hierarch) or Aven Riftwatcher. So, I tried to improve its matchup against those white decks while also making the Faeries match up even better.

Changes

I took out Mudbutton Clanger and replaced it with Blood Knight. Mudbutton Clanger is not that great because half the time he's only a 1/1. Blood Knight has proved to be amazing in the metagame. He kills most of the creatures in a Faerie deck because of first strike. Since you have burn, he can also take down a 4/5 Tarmogoyf. He can't be blocked by Kitchen Finks, Aven Riftwatcher, Doran, and Wilt-Leaf Liege, just to name a few popular white creatures. He's "good game" against Kithkin. He can't be targeted by Condemn or Oblivion Ring.

I replaced Mudbrawler Cohort with Adder-Staff Boggart. Mudbrawler Cohort is not a bad card, but with Faeries packing more removal, I'm afraid he'll be a 1/1 more often than not. For two mana, I'll take a 2/1 without haste over a 1/1 with haste. Also, the 2/1 can also become a 3/2 if you're lucky.

I replaced Boggart Ram-Gang with Ashenmoor Gouger. Many of you will probably disagree with this choice, but let me explain myself. Boggart Ram-Gang dies to much of the removal in the format. For example, Nameless Inversion, Terror, Incinerate, Shard Volley, Rift Bolt, and Shriekmaw all kill it. However, Ashenmoor Gouger doesn't die to those cards. Plus, he can take down a Mistbind Clique.

I kept the burn spells the same except I removed Tarfire. Tarfire was there to increase the Goblin count for Mudbutton Clanger. However, I took out Mudbutton Clanger so I can replace it with a better spell. My choices came down to Rift Bolt or Lash Out. It was close but I chose Lash Out because it's an instant. This is relevant against Faeries. When they tap out for Scion of Oona at the end of your turn, you'll wish that your Rift Bolt was a Lash Out.

I didn't change the land base. You can argue for Ghitu Encampment or Mutavault but Keldon Megaliths has been working well. Faeries has increased their removal so Ghitu Encampment is less effective. And Mutavault is risky because of the mana requirements of Flame Javelin and Boggart Ram-Gang.

The sideboard needed some changes. I added 3 Tormod's Crypt in place of 3 Smash to Smithereens. Reveillark seems to be gaining popularity even though it loses to Faeries. The Smash to Smithereens was there for Dragon's Claw, but I haven't seen that card in a while. I changed the Ghitu Encampment for a Mountain because I didn't want 5 lands the come into play tapped.

Final Decklist

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin


Sideboard:

1 Mountain
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Tormod's Crypt

Total Cost* $148.25

In my next post, I'll put my Magic-League rating on the line with this deck and play a couple league matches.

Update: The next post is up. I played against Merfolk and GW Big Mana Control.

* Based on the average price of the cards on store.tcgplayer.com on May 13, 2008 except for the basic lands. I valued those at $0.00.

Tags: Mono Red Burn Standard T2

Related to: Magic: the Gathering



Bookmark:



Viewing 1 - 7 out of 7 Comments

From: DeeBarizo
05/17/2008 17:27:34
Haste is good but oftentimes the Faeries player is holding Nameless Inversion or Terror, so you won't even have a chance to hit once.  However, with Ashenmoor Gouger, they have to counter it or use two Nameless Inversions.  And many Faeries players have switched out Nameless Inversion for Terror.  Terror can't target Ashenmoor Gouger.


From: Bob_B
05/17/2008 14:02:08
You know I don't think an Ashenmoor Gouger will kill a Mistbind Clique very often.  It can't block and even if it could it doesn't fly.  It doesn't have trample so unless Faeries is really behind it's just going to chump block him anyways.  Not to mention a Scion can just save the Clique after it blocks forcing a burn spell out of you hand which I'd guess probably isn't all that great.  Haste is super good and I really don't think that Gouger is anywhere near as good as Ram Gang.

From: Charlesovery
05/16/2008 16:41:40
The faeries match up against G/W Wish isn't all that bad. If you haven't play tested it I think you should check it out. If you need a deck list to do visit my blog, "Other Top Eight Possibilities", there's a great deck list there. However, if the field is full of faeries I think that RDW is the best deck to take. Good blog man.


From: DeeBarizo
05/15/2008 21:23:16
Could be.  It will be interesting to see since G/W is good against burn.  However, I think they don't have a good matchup versus Faeries.  Thanks for your comments.

From: Charlesovery
05/15/2008 21:20:37
Oh I think there will be more G/W Wish type decks than you think. The deck is sick and a great metagame deck so I'm sure there will some there.


From: DeeBarizo
05/15/2008 17:32:38

B/G may not be the best matchup, but I don't think it's that bad. You have removal for Wren's Run Vanquisher, Imperious Perfect, and Chameleon Colossus. Sideboarding you become the control deck by bringing in Greater Gargadon, Magus of the Moon, and Countryside Crusher. Each of these cards is a must kill for them, and I don't think they have enough removal to kill your sideboard threats plus Ashenmoor Gouger.

G/W control can be tough. They have access to Kitchen Finks, Wrath of God, Oblivion Ring, Condemn, and Aven Riftwatcher. However, you do have Blood Knight and you can get lucky by drawing enough burn spells to kill them before they take control with their big creatures. Game 1 is probably less than 50%. However, game 2 is different because you have Magus of the Moon, which is a beating against them.

G/W aggro is a really bad matchup if they have Safehold Elite, Kitchen Finks, Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers, Wilt-Leaf Liege, and Shield of the Oversoul. However, I don't expect a lot of these decks.


From: Charlesovery
05/15/2008 17:06:32

...and then you lose to all the B/G Elves and G/W builds in the format.

HOT TAGS [-]


*** MyTCGplayer ***