[Primer] PyroRed

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

The list I tested:
[deck]
Creatures (20)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Ash Zealot
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Spells (17)
3 Shock
3Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Dreadbore
2 Ultimate Price
1 Flames of the Firebrand
Waifu
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands (23)
4 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Blood Crypt
3 Mutavault
2 Swamp
10 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
2 Doom Blade
1 Ultimate Price
1 Dreadbore
3 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Toil / Trouble
4 Firedrinker Satyr
[/deck]
So here are my opening thoughts on PyroBlack after a day of testing. I'll compare it to PyroWhite as my version was very similar and I'm mainly examining the Black splash vs. the White Splash.

Mono Blue- It is are about even with PyroWhite. The 8 terrors were amazing, but Exava isn't as good as Dragon here. The game plan is still the same. Squeeze in early damage if you can,
switch to control mode, then win with fliers or Chandra when you stabilize.
Edge: Push

G/x- The matchup here is pretty even too. You have 6-8 hard removal spells and Exava pulls her weight+burn, but Reckoner really shines here which my Black list didn't have. Stormbreath is a better finisher here too.
Edge: Push

U/W/x Control- Toil//Trouble is great out of the board and Dreadbore can really get them. I think Exava is better against Esper, but a little worse against U/W than Dragon.
Edge: PyroBlack

R/x- Black is much softer here than White. Ultimate Price hits surprisingly little against Devotion and the lack of a way to permanently deal with Phoenix really hurts against aggro. I was wishing for Reckoner here too.
Edge: PyroWhite

B/x- Having access to a big hitter like Exava that you don't side out is a big plus. You have slightly better removal too. The one downside is that Exava+Cackler
turns on Dark Betrayal out of their board. I hadn't even thought of that possibility and it cost me a match.
Edge: Slight edge to PyroBlack

Overall, I'd definitely -1 a Mutavault, +1 a Mountain in the main and switch Toil//Trouble for Reckoner in the board. Having an additional edge against Control isn't worth being a lot softer to Red and Green decks. I'd still give White the edge in red matchups because of Chained, but it might push the G/x matchup into Black's favor. Losing Toil//Trouble would push the control matchup back to even. Because the matchups are so even overall, I'd give the edge to White because it has access to a scry land over the guildgate. I'll revisit Black when BotG hits, but for now, I'm going back to PyroWhite.

Edit: Tymaret won me two games and was a dead card in a couple of others. I'm meh on him.

[windstrider]

What about -1 Exava, +1 Dragon? The mana count would support a dragon.

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

What about -1 Exava, +1 Dragon? The mana count would support a dragon.

If I was going to keep playing the deck, I would probably do that and cut the Ultimate Price and a Doom Blade in the board for a couple of Mortars.

[Valdarith]

Went 4-2 for a spot in top 4 and split for store credit and promo last night.

Match one vs Wr aggro: homebrew running white dudes and red enchantments. Easy wins due to my opponent continually getting two for oned. Chandra ate her 2/1s up.

1-0

Match two vs Bg midrange: green splash for Caryatid, Putrefy, and Deadbridge Chant. Another two easy wins. Multiple Phoenix and burn made quick work of him game one, powering through Demon. Game two I had hard removal for Demon and that's that.

2-0

Match three vs Ub devotion: black splash for Thoughtseize and Pack Rat. The pilot was a friend and the architect of the Experiment Jund deck we grew to know and love last Standard season. Game one was a grindfest with me coming out on top. Tymaret made an appearance to seal the game. Game two my opponent kept a shaky hand and I drew into a lot of answers.

3-0

Match four vs Gr devotion: we split the first
two games and I felt comfortable going into game three until he went turn one Mystic on the play into turn two Domri, +1 find dude, turn three Polukranos, +1 find dude, turn four +1 find dude. Can't beat that.

3-1

Match five vs Rw devotion: I got crushed both games by explosive draws. Game two was frustrating because he had two Reckoners and I had two Ultimate Price in my hand.

I snuck my way into top 8 due to awesome tiebreakers and got a rematch against Rw devotion.

Match six vs Rw devotion: he kept a Mountain Nykthos hand game one and didnt draw his second Mountain until turn four and I had an explosive opening. Game two I have Pyromancer and removal plus burn and get there relatively easily, taking care of Stormbreath Dragon along the way.

4-2

Overall I had a blast. I really like this deck more than PyroWhite. I get to play more removal spells for the midrange matchups which makes them feel very similar to aggro matchups postboard. Dreadbore is just awesome. Exava is a house. Tymaret
is a great one-of. Just a really fun deck.

[Volition]

I went 4-0-1 at FNM playing this:

[deck]
Creatures (8)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Planeswalkers (2)
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Enchantments (3)
3 Chained to the Rocks

Spells (16)
2 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock
3 Boros Charm

Lands (23)
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
10 Mountain
1 Boros Guildgate

Sideboard (15)
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Assemble the Legion
4 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Mizzium Mortars
[/deck]

23 players at the FNM, so 5 rounds. Report:-

Match 1 - against the local judge. He is a good guy, so doesn't want to be the judge and play tier 1 decks and win all the prizes, so he generally builds something weird to wreck good players. This time it was the Elite arcanist, zhur tan druid & triton tactics combo deck. 2-0, too much burn for him to get close.


1-0

Match 2 - new player, in her first FNM - easy 2-0. I actually had to read blood-toll harpy - i really thought it only did damage to opponents. After the quick games, i pulled out my RWU heroic deck for her to have some easy practice games - i dont mind playing against new players - we all start at the same place

2-0

Match 3 - RG Devotion - a RL friend from my team. I knew i did not want to play vs stompy with this deck. First game, I burned all his mana dorks, and was able to overrun him. Second game, he got a big reverent hunter (chained to the rocks) and a polukranos followed by an arbor colossus - just too much. Third game, i got to Anger his caryatids away and he was stuck on 3 lands. Overall, fairly lucky to sneak through this one. 2-1 win

3-0

Match 4 - UG ramp - In game 1, three chandra's pheonix went to work before he was able to stabilise into Sylvan Primordial & progenitor mimic combo, but i was lucky enough for him to leave a white source for boros charm to the head.
Second game, he just didnt get enough of a board presence and did his math wrong. 2-0, once again though, stompy gives this deck all sorts of bother. Reckoner good card though.

4-0

Game 5 - Mono Black, another guy from my team. Intentional draw for first and second, play for extra packs. First game after mulliganing to 5, got stuck on 1 land. second game, got stuck on 2 land (I had 4x 1 drops and a triple skullcrack, but didnt get my third land until turn 7). destroyed 0-2, but that is why we drew i suppose, to stop variance like this from screwing you in the final round of the night

Overall, very lucky to get through two stompy decks and then happen to draw before i get mana screwed. But then, there is always some luck involved in these things.

Opinion & changes to the deck:-
Boros reckoner is so great from the sideboard. Just gumming up the board and allowing me to play the control deck is absolutely fantastic.
Chained to the rocks is absolutely fantastic, and it continues to
surprise me just how fantastic this card is in this deck. As in, I know it is great, but is just keeps on giving game after game. I would love to find a way to sneak a 4th in the deck- but i would probably need to go up to 10 white sources.
Anger of the gods & mizzium mortars - undecided whether i got this split right. I got scared of sylvan caryatid at the last moment, and wanted some angers in my 75. I dont really feel i get to overload mizzium that much on a 23 land list, of which 4 are manlands and can be killed.
Flames of the firebrand - while this card seems to cost a million and is slow, it is extremely efficient for distributing the damage. I was happy to see it all night. I think 2 is the right number though.
Hammer of purphoros - once again, i am not convinced this should be in my list given that it is 23 lands with 4x mutavault. I love hammer in the devotion deck, but just not in this one. Not sure what replaces it though.

On Stormbreath Dragon:
I left the big dragon out
intentionally after a heap of testing with the deck on Cockatrice. I get too scared of playing a 5 mana spell with only 23 lands - especially when that 5 mana spell isnt necessarily going to win me the game. Yes stormbreath dragon is fantastic don't get me wrong, but it doesnt win you the game like Assemble the Legion does vs mono black. If i am going to play a 5 mana spell, i really want it to be assured to win me the game.

Thanks for reading, any reply or comment would be greatly appreciated

[Helios]

Welcome Voliton! Great report, will comment later.

Good work Val, what was your list again? The latest one?

Same to RedEyes, thanks for the notes. Will digest and comment.

Have you ever actually played Hammer against aggro? If I'm going to turn 6+ against an aggro deck (which is always) and I resolve a Hammer it's game over 95% of the time.

I know I'm a little late, but I agree with this. Mogis decks get wrecked by x/3s.

[Tyrael]

Since the burn thread is kinda quiet atm; can you guys give me some advice on how to play vs G/x ramp? Do you kill their mana dorks on sight, if not how do you handle nut draws?

[magicdownunder]

Since the burn thread is kinda quiet atm; can you guys give me some advice on how to play vs G/x ramp? Do you kill their mana dorks on sight, if not how do you handle nut draws?

I only kill dorks turn 1-2 and that would depend on the removal you have (you won't chain or mortar a dork would ya?) if they have the nuts and you don't have 1-2 chains then you'll lose.

That said Rb HAS A FREAKEN GOOD Gx MU...

[Tyrael]

I just bought my second chandra and 2 dragons so please don't make me spend all my pocket money on another deck MDU

Also, I absolutely love just how good the matchup vs small aggro and midrange decks is, nothing can replace that

Now I am keeping my fingers crossed for more people to pick up mono U in my meta :3

also MDU I'm very proud of you man! http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=6248&d=235900

[magicdownunder]

If you head over to Sally (I know... WTF MDU... WTF.....) rujasu is brewing a solid fusion of Boros Legions and Pyrodragon which he used to take down TWO DEs.

EDIT: the idiots at MTGOGOLDFISH decided to call my deck Boros Burn... how the heck is it anything like a burn deck - if anything call it Boros Control.

[Tyrael]

2 extra mutavaults (20 euros a piece) and 2 dragons (16 a piece) is gonna cost me my pocket money too

Maybe next year

[Valdarith]

Good work Val, what was your list again? The latest one?

Yes.

I will second that the Gx devotion matchup is VERY good, especially postboard. Unfortunately my opponent had the case of the runs in the games he won as stated in the report. Others commented that he has a reputation for doing that kind of thing. I'm shuffling his deck a lot more next time!

[Valdarith]

The only matchup I've had problems with so far are vs White Weenie. Once they resolve a Spear of Heliod the game is very hard to win. Not sure what to do for this matchup. Might require artifact hate specifically for that card.

[Tyrael]

Anger

hue hue hue

No but seriously, can't you burn them out early on and win by dominating the board with pyro tokens/phoenixes?

[Valdarith]

You would think so, but it doesn't work out that way. I could be unlucky but it's like they always have a Spear and win the game from there. Pyro tokens do nothing against 2/2s and they just resolve a Medic and protect with Brave for my hard removal. 4/4 medic is almost impossible to deal with and attacking just means one of my dudes dies to Spear.

[Valdarith]

On second thought, I did flood out pretty hard in my second game against WW. Might just be unlucky in this matchup but damn if they don't always have the Spear.

[Tyrael]

MDU always said WW was a very easy matchup for Walter White so maybe you just got unlucky? I would expect the R/b version to *censored* even more since you have cheap and fast answers to nuisances like imposing sovereign and the medic. They are normally only running 2 spears so they should only see one every other game (as an average).

I can only speak as a boros burn player but it's one of my easiest matchups since the deck is just so slow. All I need is a turn 3 anger and they never recover.

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

The only matchup I've had problems with so far are vs White Weenie. Once they resolve a Spear of Heliod the game is very hard to win. Not sure what to do for this matchup. Might require artifact hate specifically for that card.

That is our best matchup. You have a ton of 1-2 mana removal, a sweeper (Mortars), and Reckoner (it makes their Fiendslayers pretty laughable.) Sometimes they are on the play and vomit a bunch of 1-drops and Mutavaults onto the board and kill you right before you stabilize, but it is a cakewalk otherwise. Spear turns off Chandra +1 kills and 2/3-for-1s with Flames, but it doesn't do much else. I mainly kill with Chandra, so Spear doesn't do much there either.

[Valdarith]

Well it's good to know I got unlucky. I played the match well but the flooding out alongside the Spear really hurt. I thought for sure tge matchup should be favorable but we all know intuition can sometimes be wrong.

[zemanjaski]

I think I'm like 9-1 vs white weenie; might just be a familiarity thing as well; knowing what to prioritise, when to double block, how much damage you can take etc. it's theoretically simple but there are so many small decisions to make, it's easy to go wrong. I wouldn't read too much into one match; if it keeps happening write some some play-by-plays and we'll analyse your games. Be sure to let them deal 20 so mtgo saves the replay!

[Jack]

Volition: The thing that stuck out to me about your list was that it only has 3 Lightning Strikes. This seems...bad. You also have 4 Shocks, and based upon what decks you faced, this also seems like a wrong choice. I'd like to hear your reasoning for this. Were you just expecting to face a lot of smaller decks? It seems contradictory to have 4 Shocks and 2 Flames alongside 3 Boros Charms MB before you max out on Lightning Strike.

[MattT]

In other news I just wanted to share that in Ultima Thule (a.k.a. Scandinavia) we´re getting a SCG Circuit called Scandinavian Open starting the 5th of January and I plan to attend. Normally I get the chance to hit 1 such venue a year although I play loads of FNM, WNM etc., so it´s very exciting.

Onwards towards deck tinkering I´m rather enthustiastic about Pedros Pack Rat Tech and is trying out a mesh of PyroBlack and DoS Rakis. Here´s the lastest version where I am trying to capitalize on the DoS Rakis curve topping off with Exava and the more stable late game potential that Pack Rat offers over YP$. YP$ never really felt like it offered a stable value for the late game nor even for getting that extra mile. The pre-requisite of a spell that still only resulted in a 1/1 compared to the situation of having a creature that has synergy with Mutavault, Chandra and Phoenix feels better. A single tossed card alongside a
Mutavault equals better value compared to YP$ despite the cost and slower coming online imho.

[deck]Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pack Rat
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Spells
2 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock
1 Dreadbore
1 Doom Blade
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands
3 Mutavault
2 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
4 Rakdos Guildgate
10 Mountain
1 Boros Guildgate

Sideboard
1 Doom Blade
1 Dreadbore
2 Ultimate price
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Slaughter Games
2 *flex slots*[/deck]
I´m still att 3 Chandra as I like the possiblity of a long game and the "deal with it now or lose" thing she offers. I understand the majority doesn´t think like that.

[Volition]

Volition: The thing that stuck out to me about your list was that it only has 3 Lightning Strikes. This seems...bad. You also have 4 Shocks, and based upon what decks you faced, this also seems like a wrong choice. I'd like to hear your reasoning for this. Were you just expecting to face a lot of smaller decks? It seems contradictory to have 4 Shocks and 2 Flames alongside 3 Boros Charms MB before you max out on Lightning Strike.

Hey Freedom - I am not sure i made an entirely reasoned decision with the lightning strikes. The two thoughts that lead me to the numbers I played:-
a) I wanted four magma jets for the scry - so if it was a decision between 4 lightning strikes and 4 magma jets, i chose the jets; and
b) shock (and even the MD charm)
makes it easier to get value out of YP. I know this is flawed thinking, but out of my team of 5, there are two mono black players - who will correctly kill YP on site.

I am not saying this is correct thinking - it was't something i pondered for ages. That being said, after some testing with my list vs mono blue (i got annihilated) and re-reading my comments, the list posted by Pedros (dated 5/12/13 in the OP) seems to address all of that. I like the satyrs in the board, i like the reckoners in the main, given that there is a lot of agro in my metagame.

The only change i think i might make is to go down to 3 reckoner - as my rule is if you play 4, expect to see 2 in your opening hand. And 2 reckoners vs mono black game 1 is a mulligan. We have Monday night magic tonight, so i will let you know how it goes

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Volition: The thing that stuck out to me about your list was that it only has 3 Lightning Strikes. This seems...bad. You also have 4 Shocks, and based upon what decks you faced, this also seems like a wrong choice. I'd like to hear your reasoning for this. Were you just expecting to face a lot of smaller decks? It seems contradictory to have 4 Shocks and 2 Flames alongside 3 Boros Charms MB before you max out on Lightning Strike.

Hey Freedom - I am not sure i made an entirely reasoned decision with the lightning strikes. The two thoughts that lead me to the numbers I played:-
a) I
wanted four magma jets for the scry - so if it was a decision between 4 lightning strikes and 4 magma jets, i chose the jets; and
b) shock (and even the MD charm) makes it easier to get value out of YP. I know this is flawed thinking, but out of my team of 5, there are two mono black players - who will correctly kill YP on site.

I am not saying this is correct thinking - it was't something i pondered for ages. That being said, after some testing with my list vs mono blue (i got annihilated) and re-reading my comments, the list posted by Pedros (dated 5/12/13 in the OP) seems to address all of that. I like the satyrs in the board, i like the reckoners in the main, given that there is a lot of agro in my metagame.

The only change i think i might make is to go down to 3 reckoner - as my rule is if you play 4, expect to see 2 in your opening hand. And 2 reckoners vs mono black game 1 is a mulligan. We have Monday night magic tonight, so i will let you know how it goes

Strike is your
best burn spell. Being able to kill Specter on sight while holding Chained for things like Master and Demon is very important. You should be siding out some number of Shocks and Jets against Mono Black anyway. Magma Jet is great in expanding the amount of openers you can keep, but it is not as good as Strike. You will side out Jets in some MUs, you never side out Strike. If you like Jet, just cut the 4th Shock. YP is good, but you shouldn't let him warp your card choices that much.

[Helios]

WW is a pretty good matchup, how many times have you played it? Don't let a small sample size get you down.

I would expect the R/b version to rape even more since you have cheap and fast answers to nuisances like imposing sovereign and the medic.

Hey. Hey. None of that language.

[NerdBoyWonder]

Would Rakdos Charm have a place in the side in PyroRakis? After Val brought it up could remove artifacts, potentially punish Mono Blue devotion for token spamming. Could be something to look at.

[Jack]

I think that card isn't good here for the same sorts of reasons that Skullcrack wasn't good as anti-Revelation tech in INN-GTC standard. Sure, it hurts them when they make their big play, but it's probably a better strategy to just keep them from making that play in the first place. I could be wrong, though, and it's probably worth it to at least test it out.

[zemanjaski]

It looks very fringe. Not enough relevant artifacts, no GY worth exiling, so it's a lava spike variant.

Do not mention bringing it in for Whip or Bident or ill be very sad.

[NerdBoyWonder]

It looks very fringe. Not enough relevant artifacts, no GY worth exiling, so it's a lava spike variant.

Do not mention bringing it in for Whip or Bident or ill be very sad.

Never found the whip it Bident to be relevant just as our beloved hammer is has been pushed to the side.

[MattT]

Would Rakdos Charm have a place in the side in PyroRakis? After Val brought it up could remove artifacts, potentially punish Mono Blue devotion for token spamming. Could be something to look at.

We´re in a situation where the tool is sweet, but there's no work for it. It´s a pity

[Tyrael]

Hey. Hey. None of that language.

Didn't realise it was a bad word. Sorry.

@ vald do you think the lack of reckoners sb could pose a problem in aggro matchups or not?

[Volition]

Hey all, I played PyroRed in standard for Monday night magic, exact same list as Pedros, except that I swapped out a mutavault for a boros guildgate. After thinking about it, and the comments here, i went to 4 lightning strike. It really was the best


[deck]Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells
4 Chained to the Rocks
2 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
3 Shock

Auto-Inclusions
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands
3 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
11 Mountain
1 Boros Guildgate

Sideboard
3 Skullcrack
4 Firedrinker Satyr
2 Last Breath
2 Boros Charm
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Fanatic of Mogis[/deck]


14 players tonight, 4 rounds:-

Round 1, a really new player playing dimir, really nothing to report - 2-0. I got to play my UWR heroic deck and get a heap of counters going
with phalanx leader and nivmagus elemental.

Sideboard - -4 cackler,+2 mizzium +2 fanatic.

1-0

Round 2 - another new player after being paired down, a UW detain deck. 2-0, but not a whitewash 2-0. Game 1 was a little strange with Ascendant lawmage, Lyev skymage bouncing stuff and Isperia - i just got there the turn while he had lethal on the board. Game 2, 3 lightning strikes in my opening hand i felt made me a lock this game, but i did not see Martial Law coming. A stormbreath dragon sorted it all out in the end. I am not saying detain decks are the way of the future, but this was a much closer game than i thought it would be sitting down (especially when you consider the guy playing it made mistakes). I was surprised to see he was maindecking negate and the 1 mana counter target instant, which really slowed me down.

SB - -4 Cackler, +2 mizzium +2 fantatic. This really became my go to sideboard when i wasnt exactly sure what my opponent was playing (other than
creatures).

2-0

Round 3 - UWR American Control - a good player who has been playing this deck for a while and has posted good results. This was the match that made me write this up, as i really wanted to thank you all for this matchup and how it felt.

Game 1 - Chandra's phoenix went to work, and i was able to hold young pyromancer back to get value (and return chandra's phoenix). There is a lot of generic wisdom doled out by players as to how you play vs control, eg "dont overcommit to the board", "play your threats in waves" "try to make them answer all of your threats while holding some back" - but that has always felt so forced in the past - because whether you are playing all in red or red devotion I have never felt that you have had the sheer number of varied threats to really make the control deck answer you 1 for 1. I dont think i have felt this much in control of a match vs control in a long time, maybe
ever.

Sideboard - 11 cards, 2 of which were a mistake -4 reckoner, -4 chained, -1 flames, -2 YP, +4 firedrinker satyr, +2 boros charm +3 skullcrack, +2 mizzium mortars. the Mizzium was a mistake - i got a touch worried because of his ability to bring in something that could lock down my board, whether that was a stall and assemble the legion, or some reckoners, or stormbreath dragon. stormbreath dragon and reckoners were the main ones that came to mind.

Game 2 - he had to shock in about 4 lands to stay ahead - that is the risk in playing a tri colour deck i suppose. a boros charm to the head and skullcrack in response to sphinx's Revelation made short work of game 2 and this match.

3-0

Final Round - White weenie splashing black - vs the white weenie player from my team.
Game 1- an opening hand of double shock and a magma jet was pretty much ideal to control this type of deck. my hand got better from the draw, controlling his creatures the first 3 turns into a
chandra which then started killing the rest. He never got going, and scooped on turn 5. Being able to kill a precinct captain in response to brave the elements is just fantastic.

sideboard
-4 cackler, +2 mizzium mortars +2 last breath. Last breath is great tech here as additional cards to deal with fiendslayer paladin (not even sure whether that is in the list) and xathrid necromancer

Game 2- on the draw, i was able to control for a few turns before just drawing into all my creatures. While that would generally sound great, his aggressive board state and imposing sovereign (right after i used my last burn) meant i was behind the 8 ball the whole game. A doom blade from him on my last untapped blocker sealed my fate. A few burn spells and this would have been a completely different game - this one was just a bad draw.

Between games 2 and 3 my friend offered me the draw. I declined after making a mistake as to the prize structure (and thinking second and third got the same amount of boosters) -
turns out the loser would go on to get third, and the packs for second contained an elspeth. Whoops. Turns out third did actually get less boosters

Game 3 - I had a fantastic opening hand on the play, 3 lands, 3 cheap burn spells and a Chandra's Phoenix. My opponent was clearly undecided about whether to mulligan, and kept a 1 land hand with 3 x 1 drops. His second land didn't come early enough, and it was over from there, especially with my hand.

4-0 - First place. absolutely nothing good in my packs though - 5 packs, 3 absolute junk rares (Daxos, Collossus and anthousa) with a reaper of the wilds and a heliod.

Analysis:-

On the land base and only 3 mutavault:-
With the reckoners in the main, I am too scared to run only 19 red sources and 4 vaults. Although many of you will (correctly) point out that in many circumstances, reckoner does not need to be cast on third turn - I completely agree. However, i feel the removal of the extra vault also allows you a greater
chance to cast your 5 mana spell, as well as potentially overload the mortars for the win. There have been a few times when i draw into stormbreath dragon and think "if those mutavaults hadnt been killed off i would be in a such better spot right now". that being said, mutavault completely pwns, and it is only because i am maindecking 4 reckoners I think this change is right

On Boros guildgate
Given that i have specifically changed to get the 4th chained to the rocks in there, i want at least 1 white source in my opening hand. It just makes things easier. With 8 white sources in the deck, your chances to have 1 in your opening hand is about 65% on the play and 70% on the draw. With the 9th, that increases to 70% and 75% respectively - quite a significant difference for such a small downside. And in the event that you have the chained but no white, it is so much better to be drawing to 9 white outs than 8 obviously.

Potential Changes
I am
happy with this deck. The only change i am thinking about is the reduction to 3 reckoners main deck. One of my rules with deckbuilding is "never play 4 of a card that you do not want to see 2 of in your opening hand", and with game 1 vs mono black feeling really important to me, two reckoners opening hand feels like a mulligan. The numbers support this, with 4 in the deck, the chance of getting 2 in your opening hand is 6.3% on the play and 8.2% on the draw. By decreasing to 3, this halves to 3.4% and 4.4% respectively - a serious reduction. I actually think this is a pretty fair change to the deck, with some of the potential slot fillers:0

a) mutavault - How ironic given that I just wrote a paragraph as to why i should remove the 4th. Going to 24 land may not be a terrible thing, especially when you get to include the man land. It really is just an extra half creature half land. When playing this deck, are you ever unhappy to draw a mutavault?
b) shock - a dull choice but going 4 of each
shock, lightning strike and magma jet may not be terrible; and
c) Chandra, pyromaster - I dont think going up to 3 is terrible given that it is game-changing in every match-up, if a touch weak vs stompy. My only concern with this is the increase in the mana curve.

Thoughts? Leave reckoner in?

EDIT: why the hell didnt my deck work?

Mod Edit: fixed the deck list for you. The tags you want are "deck" and not "list". ~ Zem

[Tyrael]

[deck] Valdrith v.2[/deck]

Thinking of this for FNM to combat my G/x devotion heavy meta. Thoughts?

[Helios]

I think that if you want Slaughter Games, you want more than a singleton. Yes it is an "oops I win" card, but why not make it a "yes I will always win" card.

[Tyrael]

Well I guess FotF is rather unnecessary in a lot of matchups so what about this as a sb? Maybe I just need to throw out all the Toil // Troubles and run four Slaugher Games instead since they pretty much win the control matchup on their own.

[deck]
2 Doom Blade
1 Ultimate Price
1 Dreadbore
3 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Toil / Trouble
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Slaughter Games[/deck]

Man I would love to fit some Reckoners in there but they seem uncastable with just 19 red sources .

[Helios]

When do you bring in Toil // Trouble other than control?

[Tyrael]

I have a G/U player in my meta who plays Prime Speaker Zegana as a finisher so I side it in vs him (killed him with it more than once) but other than that it's mainly vs. control.

So, 3/4 Slaughter Games and no Toil // Trouble it is.

[deck]Valdrith v 2.1[/deck]

[poppa_f]

what do you guys think about Angelic Edict as sideboard tech for PyroWhite?

4W Sorcery: Exile target creature or enchantment

Thinking it would be a nice SB option against MUD (Thassa, MoW), MBD (Desecration Demon) and G/x (remove any fatty). May also be a nice switcheroo against G/B decks that side in all of their enchantment hate against you (as abrupt decay and golgari charm can be such blow-outs if your chained gets zapped)

Also I've found with Chained that it's annoying that you can't exile the god until it is corporeal, as things like Thassa and Purphoros can be pretty dangerous even as ghosts and you often have to suck up a big hit before you can get your chained off to exile them

[rcwraspy]

For the matchups you'd bring it in against, does it hit the reasons you lost those games and, if so, is it in enough time to still not lose to those reasons?

[Valdarith]

I would not take out Toil / Trouble. That card will flat out win you the game on the spot. An argument can be made for multiple Slaughter Games but not at the expense of your best postboard burn spell.