[Primer] PyroRed

[Calamity]

Took Walter White to FNM, went 2-2. Lost to blue devotion and red devotion. I misplayed pretty bad in the red matchup though (got greedy and did my math wrong 'cause I forgot about Purphoros, never making that mistake again), and in the mono blue he just drew better than I did.

Live and Learn

[Pedros]

Ok what is correct SB in walter white vs mono b and mono u?

When I follow previous posts I/have only 8 spells for young pyro vs mono b.

And some times ago vs mono u it was said you should side out all 1 drops for more burn. But doesnt mono u have better long game than we have?

What do you guys think about single divine verdict in sb ? Killa thasa, master of wavs, polukranos, collossus and gigantic scavenging ooze + reckoner and phoenix!

[DocLawless]

Thassa is Indestructible. Divine Verdict won't destroy her.

PyroWhite went 2-1 against UW control. Nasty deck too, for a control shell. Counterspells, bounces, Revs and Verdicts all day while digging for Aetherling (his only creature). Potentially a worse MU than MUD. Lost miserably game 1, raced him in game 2 and ground out a win off Chandra's ultimate in game 3. Went 0-2 against one hell of a hostile Devotion Red deck piloted by my buddy Jason. Just out-aggro'd me at every turn. Then I dropped because I had a fierce desire for some noms and was getting frustrated.

I'm burnt out for tonight. TIL, I am clearly still learning how to play this deck. I keep having to remind myself it's not a linear aggro deck.

[Helios]

Debating whether or not to keep 1 drops in v. Mono Black in Walter White. Tonight I brought in Chains, Skullcrack, Mortars, and Assemble. Took out Firedrinker, 2 Shocks, 2 LS on the play, all 1 drops on the draw.The fact that they have a damn hard time killing cackler til turn 3 makes me want him in, because he'll get there for 4.

Thoughts?

Current SB:
3 Skullcrack
3 Peak Eruption
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Assemble the Legion
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Boros Reckoner

I may drop Peak for something else that's good against Mono B...if there was a card strong against both Mono B and U, that'd be the bee's knees. Suggestions?

[Helios]

Ok what is correct SB in walter white vs mono b and mono u?

This is the kind of question that is frowned upon. Read the matchup guide and Z's material in the Sligh thread relating to sideboarding, and then suggest a sideboard and explain your choices. That demonstrates that you are at least thinking about it & putting some time in, rather than just taking advantage of the people who have spent weeks refining and testing the deck. The suggestions & observations you did make are appreciated, and it's good that you recognized some of the drawbacks of following the guide blindly.

[LP, of the Fires]

Debating whether or not to keep 1 drops in v. Mono Black in Walter White. Tonight I brought in Chains, Skullcrack, Mortars, and Assemble. Took out Firedrinker, 2 Shocks, 2 LS on the play, all 1 drops on the draw.The fact that they have a damn hard time killing cackler til turn 3 makes me want him in, because he'll get there for 4.

Thoughts?

Current SB:
3 Skullcrack
3 Peak Eruption
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Assemble the Legion
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Boros Reckoner

I may drop Peak for something else that's good against Mono B...if there was a card strong against both Mono B and U, that'd be the bee's knees. Suggestions?

If you have time to test, I'd go with -2 chained, -2 shock, +3 skullcrack, +1 assemble. I'd keep all the one-drops
in all the time, since your hands with a 1-drop on turn 1 are so threatening against them.

[magicdownunder]

I went 4-0 during Standard Daily Event 6162746, running:

[deck=Zemanjaski's Winter Aussie BBQ]Lands 23
12 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Mutavault
1 Plains

Creatures 20
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers 03
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Enchantments 02
2 Chained to the Rocks

Instants 12
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Sideboard 15
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Fanatic of Mogis
1 Hammer of Purphoros[/deck]
Here are the replays:
G1: Esper Control (I recommend watching this replay as an good example into why RW is good)
G2: Esper Control
G3: [url=http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=slBEDyqt6qU]MonoBlack Devotion[/url]
G4: I split round 4 with Don Juan Quixote (my R2 opp. from last event)

Post Event Thoughts:
1) Boros Charm are very good
2) I feel like I want a third Skullcrack but the SB room is much too backed up

I swapped out the singleton Plainsfor an extra Mutavault which allowed me to take another 4-0 (only 2 more QPs till I'm in the finals) which I'll post tomorrow.

Post Event Side Board Plan:

Esper Control

In:
2 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Out:
1 Shock
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Young Pyromancer

Explanation:
Esper runs Jace and Sweepers, Young Pyromancer acts more like an expensive 2cc bear in many cases.
Mizzium Mortars the hell??? Well Esper control now runs 03x Barons as an answer against
MonoBlack Devotion - Mortars when overloaded can also deal with tokens.

MonoBlack Devotion

In:
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Skullcrack
2 Chained to the Rocks

Out:
1 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Explanation:
MonoBlack Devotion is not a deck which cares about minor damage, 1900+ Grinders are still willing to Thought Seize and Underworld Connection your face. Two damage spells do not really serve any purpose beside triggering Pyro or Phoenix, I'll much rather overload the players and stick an active Chandra, Pyromaster for the win - this is much easier to complete with the full set of creatures.

Debating whether or not to keep 1 drops in v. Mono Black in Walter White. Tonight I brought in Chains, Skullcrack, Mortars, and
Assemble. Took out Firedrinker, 2 Shocks, 2 LS on the play, all 1 drops on the draw.The fact that they have a damn hard time killing cackler til turn 3 makes me want him in, because he'll get there for 4.

Thoughts?

Current SB:
3 Skullcrack
3 Peak Eruption
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Assemble the Legion
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Boros Reckoner

I may drop Peak for something else that's good against Mono B...if there was a card strong against both Mono B and U, that'd be the bee's knees. Suggestions?

I don't think Peak cuts it in the current meta, GR Colossus don't really care if you hit a mountain or not - I'll suggest testing Fanatic of Mogis he is great vs Blue Devotion and GR Colossus (which I'll show in the next set of videos) he doesn't help against Black Devotion, but the deck is already kinda made to beat them (which is why your not running Boros Reckoner MD but have Young Pyromancer instead).

- - - - - - - - - - -

If anyone
approves or disapproves of my sideboard plans I would love to hear why

[LaZerBurn]

@ helios - I always keep the 1 drops for early pressure and I like Skullcrack a LOT as it stops them stabilizing/buys a turn against Whip.

I'd go + 3 Skullcrack, + 2 Chains, +2 Mortars, + 1 Assemble - 4 Shock, - 4 Jet

I think Chains and Mortars are your best answers to both Mono B and Mono U. I personally find the B match up really favourable, the U incredibly unfavourable; a combination of my play skill shortcomings being exposed in a tight match up and variance as they almost always get a nuts draw

As ever my IABNMAEY (I am by no means an expert, yet) caveat applies here

@MDU - love the reports and insights into why you make the choices you do, incredibly insightful and helpful; I really like the Fanatic idea for stalled out board states I am also starting to kinda like the music on your vids. I am as yet undecided as to whether this is a good thing or not

[magicdownunder]

@MDU - love the reports and insights into why you make the choices you do, incredibly insightful and helpful; I really like the Fanatic idea for stalled out board states I am also starting to kinda like the music on your vids. I am as yet undecided as to whether this is a good thing or not

That mean your a man of refined taste, so of course that is a good thing .

(jokes aside I'm glad other people enjoy BGMs from around the world)

[Draksil]

So I went to FNM last night and here is my report. I played BTE PyroRed, but with 4x Reckoners in the sb instead of Flames and Weird. Therefor only 3 mutavaults in main, to be able to actually cast Reckoner on curve.

1st match: Playing vs UR burn
Game 1: He kept trying to trade 1-1, but BTE was too much for him to handle, also Chandra's Phoenix rebuy really did work here.
Game 2: Same as game 1, his deck was not very tuned overall, but a very cool guy and we ended up playing some more.
2-0 overall 1-0

2nd match: Playing vs GR
Game 1: Had a cackler into BTE-Firedrinker, kept swarming his board and shooting down his ramp, he got a Polukranos out, and next turn I attacked him with 6 2 power creatures, where he blocked my Firedrinker with his Polukranos and another firedrinker with Caryatid - I then lightning striked his Polukranos and next turn he died.
Game 2: He got stuck on 2 land, and I killed him before he
could cast Anger.
2-0 overall 2-0

3rd match: Playing vs UB mill - a lot of counterspells and kill, but no board wipe
Game 1: Knowing that she has no board wipe, I go all-in, and as she is only able to 1-1 BTE and Chandra's Phoenix take over the game.
Game 2: She sided in some hate, and the game did drag on a little, but rebuying Chandra's Phoenixes with Chandra ended up being too much for her
2-0 overall 3-0

4th match: Playing vs Black devotion
Game 1: Cackler into BTE-2 drop, he kept 1-1ing me, but I had BTE and was able to keep his devotion low with burn.
Game 2: This game was very close, I sat on a mutavault and mountain for a long time and had BTE and 2x Chandra's Phoenix in hand. I did manage to eventually draw a mountainn though, and 2x Chandra's Phoenix kept flying over his Gary and did a lot of work. I made a misplay at the very end, which almost cost me the game, but having Skullcrack was very helpful that game. Chandra Pyromaster was cast, pinged him for 1 and bought back 2
phoenixes, but was downfalled next turn. The 2 phoenixes kept hitting him for 4, as he did not draw a Demon till the very end, which I had a Act of Treason ready for which caused the final blow. Young Pyromancer's kept getting removed, so was not able to amass many tokens.
2-0 overall 4-0

5th match - finals: Playing vs Black devotion
Game 1: 1-drop into Pyromancer which got removed, then Phoenix and he could not keep up.
Game 2: Had a Cackler into BTE + BTE + firedrinker, he had a decent hand but it was not enough to keep up with my godlike start.
2-0
I ended up going 5-0 and making 1st thanks to the hard work of all the mages in here.

Overall Chandra's Phoenix was by far the most important card this evening. Mono-black being so popular atm really does make her shine especially in conjunction with Chandra Pyromaster. BTE was really good aswell, I played the regular Pyrored earlier, and Ash Zealot can't really compare to BTE with so much 1-1 removal atm. Young Pyromancer did not do much, but
that was due to him always getting shot down. Firefist Striker was just okay, but he suffered from the same fate that Young Pyromancer did, always being burned or destroyed right away, so I can't really blame him for that. I very much like BTE Red in the current meta, and felt that I had good matchups vs all that I played against.

[windstrider]

Random thoughts now that I'm more awake:

* Frostburn Weird was the key card stopping me in both Mono U Devotion losses last night. It presented a major obstacle, especially when paired with Judge's familiar. I'm thinking Reckoners since they can blank a lot of that deck.
* Phoenix was the MVP of the night. So many decks just could not handle it effectively.
* Many people cannot use Thoughtseize well. They take the wrong cards. Example, on turn two someone took Magma Jet over Zealot since he didn't want me to be able to recur a Phoenix. The kicker is that I never needed to cast Phoenix to beat him down.
* Thank you to whoever suggested killing a Cackler in response to Azorius Charm. That helped me win a match by drawing into Phoenix. The opponent, Mark, was surprised that I did that.
* The best part about this deck is knowing that it can have answers to almost everything.

[dpaine88]

Man, I really think black could be pretty good right now. Thoughtseize is nasty as is the removal, Erebos, etc.

Like the good ol days of Dos Rakis!

I saw someone(maybe Zem), say that it is weak to Mono Red but right now in my meta, there is not much mono red.

[Calamity]

I'd probably splash black instead of white if the meta ever shifted to the point where I never wanted Boros Reckoner in my board

[Link]

@magicdownunder:

You know that Fiendslayer isn't immune to Chandra, right? I'm curious as to why you didn't +1 chandra on fiendslayer in G2 of the second esper match-up.

Edit: yeah there were a few turns of you +1 chandra but not swinging past the fiendslayer <___<b

[Helios]

@windstrider- how does Reckoner blank mono blue? Their everything flies. The only advantage I see to him is that they pretty much can't block him sans thassa

@MDU: great report man, i'll digest and comment in a little while. Re: Peak, as of last week my LGS had lots of America & Big Boros. That appears to have changed, so i'll look into replacing them.

@Lazer: i'm not sure that I want to side out that much burn, considering the importance of phoenix rebuys. Maybe a happy medium between your suggestion and MDUs.

@LP: I like that plan.

Will do some testing with all 8 one drops still in and see how it goes. I did notice that in my game 2 against mono black, the early burn was underwhelming.

[windstrider]

My thinking is that Reckoner does a number on the damn tokens from Master of Waves. It can also attack into MoW itself, redirecting the damage elsewhere. And it can attack into Frostburn Weird itself. If nothing else, it will help to stall their ground game. I did not have as much problem with their fliers as I did with their ground stuff.

[Aodh]

Lots of posts to reflect on, but here's my report.

Took Walter White to a 4-2 finish at FNM for 9-12th.

0-2 against UW Control
2-1 against USA Control
2-0 against Junk Reanimator
2-0 against Bant something
0-2 against BW midrange
2-0 against Devotion Red

[Helios]

Good work, Aodh!

windstrider, good points. I'll play with it some and see how it goes.

[Calamity]

When I played against Mono U devotion with Z's Walter White List I boarded out the firedrinkers and shocks for 4 reckoners, 2 chained to the rocks, and 2 mortars.

I also lost 0-2 but but he drew absurdly well both times, and I've only played 2 games vs. Mono U. My reasoning was that satyr is bad vs. everything they have on the ground while reckoner is hard for them to block, and I'm taking out shock for better removal. To me it seems like the matchup comes down to who draws better.

[Kyarie]

@Calamity - I finally put Walter White into play and boarded the same in vs MonoBlue but removed the Satyrs and Cacklers and left in the shocks. I only had time for one preboard game (lost) and 1 post board game (won) between rounds of two-headed giant. I think siding in the additional chained to rocks is good and I always had one for Thassa and Master of Waves. I'm not sure if the Reckoner does enough, though it was a bigger body to race with that my opponent didn't want to block.

Last night was my first time getting any games in with Walter White. I lost 2-1 vs a GW hexproof aggro - was very hard to interact with and a tough race to win. I also got a single game in against a bigger MonoRed Devotion that played an early Purphoros and though I kept knocking it off devotion, that became harder and harder as the game went long and no Chained came up. Final swings with dragons to put me away. Only other game I had
time for was a Rakdos aggro that was a fairly close race but Exava was tough. Both of these last 2 games were preboard.

So in to sum up, I had my butt kicked up around my ears. None of the games felt unwinnable and postboard would have been better - only boarded the on game against MonoBlue in order to get a better feel for the main. I'll keep plugging on it.

BTW Gary the Gray is truly insane in two-headed giant.

[Keftenk]

Was there a reason why Imposing Sovereign wasn't in any of the PyroBoros lists? I know Yarpus brought it up 10 pages ago, but it was refuting that black kills IP before it even does anything. Is that the reason? I understand this isn't BigBoros and so maybe interactions are a bit different, but I've been jumping between both and in that list, IP seems to do wonders against a lot of the other aggro decks. Having their blockers come in tapped makes it a lot easier for Satyr and Cackler to get even more in before they don't do anything at all. Just curious if it's actually worth it since you have to spend 1W for it to get that extra damage pushed through.

[Elricity]

I took this to FNM last night. After play testing the one drop version, I have got the trades for them online to convert it over later. Major change I made going in was replacing [card]Warleader's Helix[/card] with shock. Only 16 players but decent play quality all the way through:

[deck]//Artifact (2)
2 Pyromancer's Gauntlet

//Creature (12)
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Young Pyromancer

//Enchantment (2)
2 Chained to the Rocks

//Burn (17)
3 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock
2 Flames of the Firebrand

//Planeswalker (3)
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

//Land (24)
10 Mountain
3 Mutavault
3 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Last Breath
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack
1 Wear // Tear[/deck]

Match 1 vs Jonny (friend of mine) - GR Monsters

It's the usual ramp
package and BTE's but it uses different top end cards than I'm used to. It goes into Kalonian Hydra, savageborn Hydra, and...2 ruric-thar mainboard with another sideboard. I didn't find this out until later because I never see BTE, Xenagos, or Nykthos in 3 games.

Game 1, I mull three times (first one free at this store for some reason) to keep a passable 5 card hand. It does nothing and I lose to bow of nylea and Nylea herself.
Game 2, sideboard is: -3 something (?), -3 boros charm, +3 mortars, +1 wear//tear, +2 chained, I take a couple hits until I can resolve a gauntlet which ends up making mortars pretty nice vs 6/6's. I let him get devotion for Nylea so I can chain it.Chandra closes out the game.
Game 3, I throw the game by not trading a reckoner with a mutavault when I could. He eventually draws a ghor-clan that with Bow makes me unable to kill the vault back.
I proceeded to play a couple more games and lose much more decisively.
My sideboard just wasn't set up to deal with Ruric Thar or g/r in general.

0-1

Match 2 vs Steve - Simic ramp into Master of Waves, Prophet of Kruphix, and Progenitor Mimic

Game 1 - He leads out with a series of mana dorks that I spend turns burning out. He plays a Master of Waves which I chain while I bring him down to 10. He plays another MoW with 1 token which was pretty trivial. Prophet comes down to annoy me for a turn or two until he hits his 6th mana I've been preventing him from getting and lays down Mimic. By his upkeep, he has an army of 4/3 elementals and I scoop.
Game 2, sideboard is -2 Gauntlet, -3 boros charm, -1 Chandra, +2 Mortar, +2 last breath, +2 Chained. Now up to 6 ways to deal with MoW, nothing on his board is allowed to live. I proceed to law down a couple reckoners and club him down without taking a point of damage.
Game 3, similar story except this time the win condition is
Chandra pinging potential blockers plus 5 elemental tokens. Cute deck but green does not look like the way to splash Mono U.
1-1
Match 3 vs Joel - Devotion red

Game 1 - We are trading for a while and our life totals are similarly slowly ticking down. He plays BTE and Fanatic of Mogis which I respond to the trigger with a shock and lightning strike to take 0. I end at 5 life.
Game 2 - Sideboard is -3 boros charm, -2 Gauntlet, -2 Chandra, +3 mortar, +2 last breath, +2 chained. Same scenario. I wait and play a YP into obvious removal until I can flip two burn spells out to get two elementals on the board which pick him down. This time, I end up at 3 with a built up board and his empty. I'm pocketing a last breath and a lightning strike and he has 0 cards. He top decks a phoenix....which I last breath. Bad auto pilot move on my part. He goes from 8 to 12, then I bring him to 5. Next turn, he topdecks nothing but I still almost threw that game away.
2-1

Match 4 vs Ken -
Naya weenie agro. Experiment one, Boros Reckoner, Voice of Resurgence, Soldier of the pantheon, Loxodon Smiter, Domri, Ghor-Clan Rampager. Basically.

Game 1, he clearly keeps a bad hand as he plays 2 experiment ones that he's not able to evolve. He plays a Voice that I jet + chandra ping. Chandra + Gauntlet ends the game.
Game 2, sideboard is -3 boros charm (aggro night I'm noticing), -2 Gauntlet, -2 flames, +3 mortar, +2 chained, +2 last breath. We tick down in life until I have YP + 1 token and Phoenix vs boros reckoner and I'm at 4. I'm holding last breath. He swings with Reckoner, I block, pass priority. He bloodrushes Ghor-Clan for exact but I last breath the token, replace the token, and go to 4. I bring him to 5 and he's out of cards to change the game.

I find out that they aren't doing cuts to top 4 or 8
for final matches and just giving prizes based on current rankings. I end up 4th and make net $3 in store credit for the evening which went into snacks.

Last Breath has ended up being a card I'm enjoying in the paper meta and will continue to test with. When I tool down to the usual 8 one drops, we'll see if it's still a good plan.

[Elricity]

Was there a reason why Imposing Sovereign wasn't in any of the PyroBoros lists? I know Yarpus brought it up 10 pages ago, but it was refuting that black kills IP before it even does anything. Is that the reason? I understand this isn't BigBoros and so maybe interactions are a bit different, but I've been jumping between both and in that list, IP seems to do wonders against a lot of the other aggro decks. Having their blockers come in tapped makes it a lot easier for Satyr and Cackler to get even more in before they don't do anything at all. Just curious if it's actually worth it since you have to spend 1W for it to get that extra damage pushed through.

We just don't need it. We can burn away blockers or hasty attackers since we're always
semi reactive.

[magicdownunder]

@magicdownunder:

You know that Fiendslayer isn't immune to Chandra, right? I'm curious as to why you didn't +1 chandra on fiendslayer in G2 of the second esper match-up.

Edit: yeah there were a few turns of you +1 chandra but not swinging past the fiendslayer <___<b

I know, I wrote up why on the YouTube Page - but I can see you didn't read it.

[FullofGravy]

Hi, first post here. Really enjoying the quality of conversation here compared to...other places.

I played R/x aggro and variants for the vast majority of last Standard season, top8ed PTQ with R/G, top 8ed WMCQ with Naya Blitz etc. After a bit of a break it's time for me to focus on R aggro again.

Here in the UK we have a very strong contingent of control players. Wherever you go there will be many tables of U/W, Esper, U/W/R last Standard season. So it's a very different world to MODO, haha. At my FNMs there will maybe be 2-3 aggro players, the rest of control or midrange of some description. The other week when i was playing Dega midrange, over 7 rounds I faced: Esper, Esper, G/W mid/aggro, Dega mirror, RDW (SCG Worcester style), Dega mirror, G/W midrange (going 5-2, losing to RDW and one of the G/W players). I dodged multiple esper and U/W players.

The top 8 at Game Day which I didn't attend was
W/b
W/b
U/w
nBUG
Esper
Esper
Esper
B/R aggro (I think this was some kind of minotaur tribal brew? Not really sure.)

I could grind out positive winrates with BWx through playskill but the matchups seem really hostile. RDw seems to be much more suited, i was watching the guy running the Worcester list piling over loads of players whose gameplans were simply too slow.

My main dilemma is straight red or red/black. I really like the reach that Tymaret can provide in addition to Phoenix against the G/X midrange devotion decks that make a bunch of brick walls. I also like having access to Spike jester as haste 2 drop 5-8 that I'm more keen to run over a card like RSF, and that Dreadbore is available to deal with Jace. The Erebos tech is awesome (I wish he was around last season!), I'll have to test that out! I don't like the fact though that DB and DB don't go to the face. Mono blue isn't making many waves (/pun) over here tbh so I'm not sure how much I actually have to worry about Master of Waves, given a high
burn count can keep devotion in reasonable check (especially as you can have Mortars post board to kill Weird, Specter and even mise an overload v master...)

I'll have to do a bunch of testing and report back. I intend on taking something along these lines to a tournament with 8 booster boxes for top 8 on the 10th November as well as a £2k the week after. Hopefully I can win a decent prize to help save up for my trip to the SCG Invitational which I'm q'd for.

Slightly rambling post but hope to be a good part of this community going forward. Looking forward to picking up this archetype again, it's in my blood (my Legacy deck for GP Paris/the invi = Blood Moon, lol).

[Helios]

Welcome, Gravy!

I think you'll find that Walter White addresses your desire for tyramet (G/x decks are a breeze with Chained mb). Pardon me sounding like an idiot, but what is RSF?

[DocLawless]

RSF = Rakdos Shred Freak.

Good to meet a fellow R/B fanatic!

Mmm... gravy...

[FullofGravy]

Pardon me sounding like an idiot, but what is RSF?

Shred Freak. (Embarrassing outside Fanatic of Mogis)

And I'll have to test the Boros too. My only concern is that it's the Caryatid-heavy draws which are quite tough without either Jester/Chainwalker to press through. I miss having a home for Ghor-Clan Rampager*.

But like I said, I've mainly been playing G/W and B/W/R since rotation, so things are slightly theoretical.

*Random aside - I miss my old R/G Humans with BTE, Mayor, Chainwalker, Ash Zealot, making your Zealots 3/3 was so good in those fields of Thragtusks. /irrelevance

[Helios]

Got it, derped for a second.

Caryatid really isn't a big deal.

[FullofGravy]

Got it, derped for a second.

Caryatid really isn't a big deal.

sure thing.

For me it's better to identify what could possibly be problematic and then check off whether it actually matters rather than walk in blind. So thanks for the note.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Looking into an idea for a sightly grindier pyrored, with a semi-transformational sideboard, though still not sure on exactly how to pull it off...

Basic idea was to run a pyrored build with reckoner mainboard, and only 1 muta (i only own 1 e.e), while having fanatic and a few weirds sideboard, so I could turn into a devotion deck when needed... When I tried constructing it, it turned out a bit weird though... So I'd like some feedback on it...

[deck]
Creatures:
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Burn:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock

Thighs:
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Land:
21 Mountain
1 Mutavault


Sideboard:
3 Act of Treason
2 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Frostburn Weird
[/deck]

Side-boarding ideas done in about 5 minutes: (aka probably really bad)
Vs Mono-B: -2
Satyr, -1 Shock , +3 AoT

Vs Aggro: -4 Satyr, -(either 2 burn spells, or all the cacklers), +2 Weird, +4 Mortars, (+2 AoT, if I decide to remove cacklers. This is actually more likely if I'm on the draw. Not sure when on the play)

Vs Mono-U: -4 Satyr, -4 Cackler, +4 Mortars, +3 Fanatic, +1 Hammer
(My idea is to burn them out, but heard an argument or two for going even faster against them... Not 100% sure yet, but leaning towards burning)
(Also, 'dat "transformational sideboard" )

Vs G/R: -4 Satyr, -2 Shock, +3 AoT, +2 Fanatic

Vs G/W: -4 Satyr, -2 Shock, + 4 Mortars, +2 Skullcrack

Vs U/W/x Control: -3 Shock , +2 Skullcrack, +1 Hammer


Honestly, looking at the sideboarding ideas, satyr gets pulled out almost every single time... Not sure if that's an error on my part, or what I should actually be doing... Thoughts? (In general on the whole decklist)

[vundo]

Looking into an idea for a sightly grindier pyrored, with a semi-transformational sideboard, though still not sure on exactly how to pull it off...

I really like mortars against both gruul and monoblack. Against, gruul theyre probably better than satyrs and can help clear the ground + turn on YP. Also I've overloaded mortars plenty of times vs gruul getting rid of all the caryatids, etc. Against monoblack, getting rid of nightveil specter is key and killing merchant to get your guys through is still good. Rat dies easily and demon can be held down pretty well by YP if need be

[zemanjaski]

Hey everyone just want to drop in and say that you're all doing great work! I'm a bit busy at the moment (moving), so ill be light on for contributions during the next week, but ill be back in force after that!

[LaZerBurn]

Welcome Gravy Nice to see another UK mage on here

Hope the move goes well Zem

[zemanjaski]

Debating whether or not to keep 1 drops in v. Mono Black in Walter White. Tonight I brought in Chains, Skullcrack, Mortars, and Assemble. Took out Firedrinker, 2 Shocks, 2 LS on the play, all 1 drops on the draw.The fact that they have a damn hard time killing cackler til turn 3 makes me want him in, because he'll get there for 4.

Thoughts?

Current SB:
3 Skullcrack
3 Peak Eruption
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Assemble the Legion
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Boros Reckoner

I may drop Peak for something else that's good against Mono B...if there was a card strong against both Mono B and U, that'd be the bee's knees. Suggestions?

More Mortars / 4th Chandra / 2nd Assemble?

[zemanjaski]

[card]Legion's Initiative[/card]? Probably only great vs. esper and that's already a decent matchup.

[magicdownunder]

Last Event

---

I went 4-0 during Standard Daily Event 6162746, running:

[deck=Zemanjaski's Winter Aussie BBQ]Lands 23
12 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Mutavault
1 Plains

Creatures 20
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers 03
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Enchantments 02
2 Chained to the Rocks

Instants 12
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Sideboard 15
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Fanatic of Mogis
1 Hammer of Purphoros[/deck]
Here are the replays:
G1: Esper Control (I recommend watching this replay as an good example into why RW is good)
G2: Esper Control
nG3: MonoBlack Devotion
G4: I split round 4 with Don Juan Quixote (my R2 opp. from last event)

Post Event Thoughts:
1) Boros Charm are very good
2) I feel like I want a third Skullcrack but the SB room is much too backed up

I swapped out the singleton Plains for an extra Mutavault which allowed me to take another 4-0 (only 2 more QPs till I'm in the finals) which I'll post tomorrow.

Post Event Side Board Plan:

Esper Control

In:
2 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Out:
1 Shock
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Young Pyromancer

Explanation:
Esper runs Jace and Sweepers, Young Pyromancer acts more like an expensive 2cc bear in many cases.
Mizzium Mortars
the hell??? Well Esper control now runs 03x Barons as an answer against MonoBlack Devotion - Mortars when overloaded can also deal with tokens.

MonoBlack Devotion

In:
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Skullcrack
2 Chained to the Rocks

Out:
1 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Explanation:
MonoBlack Devotion is not a deck which cares about minor damage, 1900+ Grinders are still willing to Thought Seize and Underworld Connection your face. Two damage spells do not really serve any purpose beside triggering Pyro or Phoenix, I'll much rather overload the players and stick an active Chandra, Pyromaster for the win - this is much easier to complete with the full set of creatures.

Debating whether or not to keep 1 drops in v. Mono
Black in Walter White. Tonight I brought in Chains, Skullcrack, Mortars, and Assemble. Took out Firedrinker, 2 Shocks, 2 LS on the play, all 1 drops on the draw.The fact that they have a damn hard time killing cackler til turn 3 makes me want him in, because he'll get there for 4.

Thoughts?

Current SB:
3 Skullcrack
3 Peak Eruption
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Assemble the Legion
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Boros Reckoner

I may drop Peak for something else that's good against Mono B...if there was a card strong against both Mono B and U, that'd be the bee's knees. Suggestions?

I don't think Peak cuts it in the current meta, GR Colossus don't really care if you hit a mountain or not - I'll suggest testing Fanatic of Mogis he is great vs Blue Devotion and GR Colossus (which I'll show in the next set of videos) he doesn't help against Black Devotion, but the deck is already kinda made to beat them (which is why
your not running Boros Reckoner MD but have Young Pyromancer instead).

- - - - - - - - - - -

If anyone approves or disapproves of my sideboard plans I would love to hear why

As promised here is my 4-0 report on Standard Daily Event 6162771 running:

[deck=Zemanjaski's Winter Aussie BBQ]Lands 23
12 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Mutavault

Creatures 20
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers 03
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Enchantments 02
2 Chained to the Rocks

Instants 12
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Sideboard 15
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Fanatic of Mogis
1 Hammer of Purphoros[/deck]

Here are the replays:
G1: MonoBlue Devotion (Fanatic of Mogis does some work here)
G2: MonoBlack Devotion (I missplay R2, lucky for me - when I mull down to 5 on the play my opp. misplay R3 )
G3: MonoBlack Devotion (The BGM here is quite fun)
G4: I split the prize with a monored devotion list

Post Event Thoughts
1) I never missed the Plains, thus I'm pleased with the extra Mutavault
2) The Fanatic of Mogis Plan works, I'll be looking forward to trying it against Gr Colossus. (Somehow I manage to dodge the MU since swapping builds, though I did face Gr Aggro - but that is a fairly
different MU)

Post Event Side Board Plan:

Vs Non-life gain Aggro (this include MonoBlue Devotion)

In:
04x Boros Reckoner
02x Chained to the Rocks
02x Mizzium Mortars
02x Fanatic of Mogis

Out:
04x Firedrinker Satyr
04x Rakdos Cackler
01x Mutavault
01x Chandra, Pyromaster

Explanation:
Most Aggro list run creatures which quickly outclass Rakdos Cackler and Firedrinker Satyr making them poor choices G2 and G3, you’re the control list here so removal is your friend however even with all the removal you pack sometimes it is not enough thus stall states occur very often which is why the Plan B Fanatic of Mogis is in place – combined with Boros Reckoner you can often hit for 4+ with ease.

WHAT THE HELL??? Cutting Chandra, Pyromaster and land what manner of insanity is this? I’m not sure about you guys but keeping Chandra, Pyromaster alive during a aggro MU is
freaking hard and when it does happen you’re already in control. Cutting the land is fine since unlike in control Mus your not force to recast Chandra's Phoenix every turn – here we need to draw into more meat then the other guy.

Special vs RDW on the play

In:
04x Boros Reckoner
02x Chained to the Rocks
02x Mizzium Mortars
02x Fanatic of Mogis

Out:
04x Firedrinker Satyr
04x Young Pyromancer
01x Mutavault
01x Chandra, Pyromaster

Explanation:
MORE MADDNESS??? Since I use the curve and pray approach with Fanatic of Mogis that extra two damage goes along way.

I went 4-0 again (which mean I'm in the MOCS Finals) with the same list so I'll post that set tomorrow, I'll also include a fairly long Sideboard Plan with explanations on the same day or the day after.

- - - - - - -

Like last time I would like some discussion on your thoughts on the build and Sideboard Plans - it would
make what I'm doing worth it so much more .

p.s. My plan to abuse my ungodly Australian timezone to stay invisible seems to have failed me, so one of my 4-0's got reported on the mothership and other site thus now people can see my list before they play me .

[Draksil]

Downunder these videos are great, and the music is quite funny at times - good report overall. Just a small note, why did you drop mutavault 1st turn g1 vs blue devotion, you had ash zealot and a mountain in hand, and did end up drawing into a foundry?

[soebek]

I suppose the odds of not drawing into a red source were higher than the odds of drawing into a red source, so the Mutavault was two damage guaranteed on turn two.

On a side note, I've finally managed to acquire all the pieces for the Walter White variant of this deck, and my God it's a house. I love it. Kudos to all the brewers (zemanjeski particularly) for such an amazing deck. The synergies... wow. People don't know how to deal with it.

[LaZerBurn]

Thanks for the vids (and the BGM) MDU I find your insight's incredibly helpful (I read a lot of your stuff on RDW Vs Birthing Pod on MTGS too) and I'm sure I'm not alone in being appreciative that you take the time and energy to share your findings

My game play is improving but still generally at the level of recognising and implementing a sound tweak to a build when I see it eg Fanatic for stalled out boards rather than thinking of these things myself so my feedback is reflective of this; more thankful than innovative That said all of your ideas seem sound - I know the Fanatic works, I tried him and I like the extra Mutavault (I'm currently running PyroAIR so I get the full 4 Cutting Chandra and the Vault also makes sense.

What I particularly value is that you share your reasoning; I still have a tendency to air on the side of fixing on a S/B plan and going by the numbers but I'm starting to shift and think for myself (today I won a match by bringing in AoT against a Red Devotion based purely on his play in the first game). This being the case I find examples of creative thinking far more helpful than just listing a plan