Cube Primer: Mono-R Aggro

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The first in a series on cube archetypes I'll be doing to help those that are new to cube (and more specifically, my cube) to get in on some of the archetypal strategies within my cube. (format borrowed from another cube article I found)

Mono-Red Aggro

Out of the aggressive archetypes, this is one of the most popular (and one of the most powerful). Some drafts, Red is criminally underdrafted, and there is usually at least one drafter reaping the rewards by reading the signals and placing themselves firmly within this archetype. When you have a choice between all the red cards you could ever want, why not just play all red cards?

Bombs (These are cards that can win the game single-handedly and could possibly pull you into the archetype on their own)

[cards]Koth of the Hammer
Sulfuric Vortex
nGoblin Guide
Umezawa's Jitte[/cards]

Koth of the Hammer and Sulfuric Vortex are difficult to get rid of (being a Planeswalker and an Enchantment, respectively), and are very good sources of repeatable damage. Koth can attack (with a Mountain) for 4 the turn he comes in, and Sulfuric Vortex is the best source of inevitability the Mono-Red deck has. Being the aggressor, the "symmetrical" two damage per turn favors you, since your life total should be higher then theirs early anyways.

Goblin Guide is a bomb for a very different reason; he is simply the most aggressive and cost-efficient of the 1-drops. A turn 1 Goblin Guide is very frightening for some decks, and oftentimes forces sub-optimal plays or combat trades to deal with. Goblin Guide is the most flexible of the bombs, as he fits into any R/X aggro deck quite easily, and thus he is very first-pickable.

[card]Umezawa'
s Jitte[/card] is a similar case to Goblin Guide; it doesn't throw you into the Mono-Red deck all by itself, but its an easy first pick that is always one of the most powerful cards in any deck its in, and Mono Red Aggro is no exception.

Priorities (These cards are needed to make the deck go; they may not be the most powerful cards in your deck, but without them your deck will suffer greatly)

One mana creatures (Jackal Pup, Grim Lavamancer, Figure of Destiny, Rakdos Cackler)

Cheap burn spells (Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Incinerate, Searing Spear)

You almost can't have enough one-drops in your deck; applying pressure on your opponent as early as turn 1 is very important in this deck, and 1-drops are the only way
to do that. Cheap burn spells are great for clearing the path for your attackers, and also dealing those last few points of damage mid-game.

It's also very important to be spending all of your mana as often as possible, so having a mix of cheap burn spells and cheap threats means that even if you don't have a 3 or 4 drop on that turn, you should be able to drop a small creature and a burn spell so that you're not "wasting" mana.

Draft ‘em if you see ‘em (Take advantage of these cards when they appear in your packs, but make sure you don’t ignore the above categories)

Aggressive equipment (Bonesplitter, Grafted Wargear)

2-for-1's (Flametongue Kavu, Murderous Redcap, Arc Trail, Arc Lightning)

Aggressive artifacts (Black Vise, [card]
Tangle Wire[/card], Ankh of Mishra/Zo-Zu the Punisher)

Land Denial (Winter Orb, Strip Mine, Wasteland).

The aggressive equipment are repeatable threats all by themselves; no matter which dude they are strapped onto, they are turning a potentially weak creature into a real threat that must be dealt with.

2-for-1's are exactly what they sound like; most often, they involve ridding your opponent of two cards for just one of yours. Flametongue Kavu is a burn spell attached to a creature - both are things Mono-Red wants. The splitting burn spells like Arc Trail and Arc Lightning are great because oftentimes you will be able to spend the one spell to rid your opponent of two creatures (blockers). Even if they are only killing one blocker, you still
get to point the rest of the damage straight at their face, which is also furthering your gameplan.

The aggressive artifacts slot fairly well into most aggro decks. Black Vise, especially on turn 1, will usually mean at least 5-8 damage throughout the game. Tangle Wire creates openings for your creatures to smash on through and allows you to take control of the "symmetrical" effect to your advantage. Ankh of Mishra (and Zo-Zu the Punisher) act similarly to Sulfuric Vortex; decks need land to cast spells, so by damaging them for playing land, you create inevitability and oftentimes force sub-optimal plays by your opponents who are looking to save every life point they can.

Land denial often favors the aggressive deck; when you play a one drop followed by a Strip Mine on their land, you mess up their gameplan
by a full turn while giving your creature another opportunity to swing through unhindered. Sometimes this results in them just taking a few extra damage and pushing their plan back a turn, and sometimes this results in shattering their entire gameplan and forcing them to rethink their entire strategy if they were reliant on whatever land you blew up. Winter Orb is a bit more difficult to play; you generally want to wait until they are tapped out (gaining the element of surprise), and forcing them to play from under it. Playing it as soon as you can (turn 2) oftentimes hurts you more than it hurts them; if you don't have pressure/threats already on the board, then Winter Orb only slows you down. Be sure to play Winter Orb only into the correct board states to avoid playing out from under your own lockdown card.

Make sure you have: Enough creatures. In your 23-25 non-land cards, at least half should be creatures, probably more. Your curve should be stacked towards the early drops,
with only a few 4-drops and maybe 1 5-drop. You also need to ensure you have endgame reach (Fireblast, Sulfuric Vortex); if you get them down to 2 life and can't finish them off because you couldn't rid them of one blocker or find a burn spell to aim at their dome, your super-aggressive start means nothing.

Only a light dusting of: 5+ mana cards (look for ones with immediate impact, like Zealous Conscripts, Chandra Nalaar, or Thundermaw Hellkite or ones that can win the game if you untap like Siege-Gang Commander or Inferno Titan). Don't fall into the trap of drafting super-powerful looking 5/6 drops, because too many of them hinders your game plan, which is get in there fast and hard. Jackal Pup > Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, despite how sweet-looking the Goblin
is.

Stay away from: Artifact mana fixing (Signets), sweepers (Wildfire, things that damage your opponent like Earthquakeare fine), and splashing too many mana symbols of other colors. Each of your cards need to be damaging your opponent somehow, or clearing the way for your on-board threats to do so.

Best splashes: Green for Rancor/Bloodbraid Elf/Tarmogoyf, white for Armageddon/Ajani Vengeant/Balance. Rancor gives you a repeatable equipment-like creature pump, Bloodbraid Elf gives you a 3-power haste creature plus another spell that is likely to be a creature or a burn spell, while Tarmogoyf is a huge beater. [card:
1j024g9e]Armageddon[/card] is exactly what an aggressive deck wants to do after setting up a super-aggressive board state; without lands, your opponent can't handle the 3 creatures you just played. Ajani Vengeant is a super-powerful planeswalker (one of the best in cube), and either of his abilities helps your gameplan, whether its tapping down blockers or throwing damage at their creatures/face. If you must splash, make sure you can play your splash cards reliably; many cards in this deck (Ash Zealot, Boros Reckoner, Kargan Dragonlord) require multiple red mana to cast/use effectively, so every splash without proper fixing makes those cards much harder to cast or use.

Cards you can likely wheel: Fireblast, [card]Hell's Thunder[/card], Zo-Zu the Punisher, [card:
1j024g9e]Smash to Smithereens[/card], Shrine of Burning Rage. Mainly the more narrow aggressive cards that, while they are quite good in the aggressive decks, just aren't as high picks as other cards in those strategies.

Cards to hate, if you’re into that sort of thing: Anything with protection from red, life gain cards ([card]Faith’s Fetters[/card], Thragtusk, Batterskull, Wurmcoil Engine, Loxodon Warhammer). If any of these cards gets online against you, its pretty much game over. The tempo your opponent gains with these cards is just almost insurmountable for you, as it sets them up for a longer game, which is the opposite of what you want.

Sample Decklist:
[deck]Mono-R Aggro[/deck]

[GoblinWarchief]

I think black is reasonable as a splash thanks to cards like Sarcomancy, Gravecrawler, Diregraf ghoul. The more 2 power one drops you have, the better is.

[Checkbox]

In this deck, you dont want to see early splashes like that; what you are describing is more of BR aggro, which is a different strategy entirely. The black splash here gives you cards like Falkenrath Aristocrat, Bituminous Blast and Dark Confidant.