[Primer] Devotion Red

[DarthStabber]

I tested Shred-Freak extensively. He wasn't awful. I've just started testing BTE, and so far she's only "okay". I don't play the mirror very often so I'm inclining to agree with you and already anticipate switching back to RSF, or humoring Firefist Striker. But my natural inclination is towards red/black so... Shred-Freaks it will probably end up being. That, and having green makes me feel like a dirty Gruul...

I've been fairly impressed with it's performance, that being said I am in a control heavy environment (there were 3 esper controls in the top 8 of gameday, and out of the whole field there were only 2 "true" aggro decks), and the doomblade to which he is immune is everywhere. The whole "1 toughness"
thing is noisome, but hasn't been particularly relevant.

[Khaospawn]

Yeah, I was fairly nonplussed by the idea that I couldn't name my primer Devotion Red.

Fuck you Khaos.

Hey man, I didn't write the Primer.

[LP, of the Fires]

[deck]Creatures:
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Firefist Striker
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Gore-House Chainwalker

Burn
2 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager(searing blaze)

Lands
12 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Abandon

Sideboard:
2 Traitorous Instinct
4 Mizzium Mortars
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Skullcrack
2 Chandra, Pyromancer
3 Gruul Charm[/deck]

Discuss.

[Khaospawn]

Temple of abandon?

*rage*


I'm channeling my inner Fate.

[Khaospawn]

Actually, LP, your list looks good. Discuss the Chainwalker though. I'd prefer Ash Zealot in that slot, but I understand that the Chainwalker is easier to cast.

[RedNihilist]

Ashley and Emily don't get along well

[rcwraspy]

Ashley and Emily don't get along well

They don't, and you're now introducing Temple Garden into the equation, which can obviously cast Emily but not Ashley.

But in mono-red aggro devotion lists that curve out with Fanatic, I'm finding both Ashley and Emily are just fine together. Sure you can't bring them both out on T2, but you just have to think through your play sequencing.

I really like these lists that are splashing green for rampager and/or Domri. Rampager is such a blowout, and dropping a Fanatic the turn after you bloodrush could very well be gg.

[Prime]

Hey all,

I'm still fairly new to this site, haven't posted at all, but I have been following several threads (particularly this one) for sometime now. I was just wondering if anyone could give me some recommendations or feedback on my deck. I worked it to be fairly balanced game 1, then specializing depending on the matchup for game 2.(hence some of the 2-ofs). Anyways, here's the deck...

[deck]Creatures - 24
4 Firedrinker satyr
4 Rakdos cackles
4 Ash zealot
2 Frostburn weird
2 Boros reckoner
4 Chandra's Pheonix
4 fanatic of mogis

Other - 3
2 chandra, the best card in standard
1 hammer of purphuros

Burn - 11
2 shock
1 flames of the firebrand
4 lightning strike
4 magma jet

Land - 22
21 mountain
1 mutavault

Sideboard
3 skull crack
3 act of treason
2 frostburn weird
2 boros reckoner
2 flames of the firebrand
2 mutavault
1 hammer
[/deck]

Matchups

Vs aggro: -4 Satyr +2
reckoner +2 weird, (all in decks: -2 shock +2 FoF)

Vs control: -2 reckoner, + 1 hammer , - 1 mountain, +2 mutavault, (u/w/x: -2 shock -1 FoF, +3 skullcrack)

Vs midrange: -1 FoF -2shock, +3 act of treason, -4 satyr, +2 reckoner , +2 weird


I also would like to add 2-3 burning earth into the 75. Any suggestion or recommendations for the deck?
Also, 3 mission mortars would be nice too...

Thanks in advanced guys!

[Khaospawn]

Re: Emma and Ashley

20 red sources is good for both.

[RedNihilist]

With that, FFS is the only T2 chainable drop.
It feels really narrow to me, to be honest.

[Genesis]

Hi guys. I'm new here. Really glad to join your community.
Yesterday I won four 8 ppl queue in MTGO with the following list:

[deck]Creatures: 28
4 Firedrinker satyr
4 Rakdos cackler
4 Ash zealot
4 Boros reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 fanatic of mogis
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak

Spells: 8
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet

Planeswalkers: 2
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Sideboard:
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack
3 Traitorous Instinct
1 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Burning Earth [/deck]

Most of the games were against mono black, which worked pretty well for me. I totally liked 4 copies of shred-freaks.
My sideboard seems kind of messy, I want to replace burning earth with something oriented against mono blue.
Also I am considering putting mortars in the main deck instead of magma jets, but in this case there might be not enough fuel to keep phoenix going...

Any suggestions are kindly welcome.

[rcwraspy]

With that, FFS is the only T2 chainable drop.
It feels really narrow to me, to be honest.

Here's the list that did really well for me at states and at a $5k. I missed top 8 both times due to bad mulligan decisions in game 3 of the last round. You'd think I'd learn...

[deck]
Creatures - 30
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Fanatic of Mogis

Spells - 7
4 Lightning Strike
3 Shock

Land - 23
21 Mountain
2 Mutavault

Sideboard - 15
4 Skullcrack
2 Act of Treason
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Burning Earth
3 Flames of the Firebrand
[/deck]

In that list, BTE only chains into FFS as another 2-drop, but you
can also:
Chain it into a 1-drop
Chain it into Lightning Strike/Shock
Hold it for T3 Phoenix
Hold it for T4 Mogis
Use the mana to pump your T1 Satyr

[Aodh]

There's literally no reason to hold the BTE for a T3 Phoenix or T4 Mogis. If you're doing that, then you're missing out one 1-2 attacks from him just to be able to say you used his mana. You still didn't use your mana on T2 and you haven't accelerated your mana on the future turns. In specific situations, it could be fair; but, in general, just play the bear and move on. I do like that we can use the mana to pump FDS and I consider that a good use of the mana. I'd still recommend more BTE permanents, though. The competitive Rg decks ran 4 Flinthoof Boar and 3 Madcap Skills to great success, so I think 7+ permanents is where we want to be with BTE.

[Zooligan]

And yet you see lists like this all over the Top 16 decklists from events a week or so ago:

[deck]Creatures (28)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firefist Striker
4 Rakdos Cackler
Lands (23)
21 Mountain
2 Mutavault
Spells (9)
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock
1 Hammer of Purphoros
Sideboard
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Frostburn Weird
3 Burning Earth
2 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mutavault[/deck]

But none that look like the lists here. is it just a numbers thing? You know, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and if you've got a bunch of blind squirrels, a bunch of nuts get found.

[LaZerBurn]

@ Zooligan - totally agree, I like that so much I'm stealing it

[Tyrael]

Do you guys have any ideas to improve the deck's match up against G/R ramp? My local meta is filled to the brim with those decks and I not even Frostborn Weird or Boros Reckoner have been able to save me from getting trampled (ha) by them...

[rcwraspy]

There's literally no reason to hold the BTE for a T3 Phoenix or T4 Mogis. If you're doing that, then you're missing out one 1-2 attacks from him just to be able to say you used his mana. You still didn't use your mana on T2 and you haven't accelerated your mana on the future turns. In specific situations, it could be fair; but, in general, just play the bear and move on. I do like that we can use the mana to pump FDS and I consider that a good use of the mana. I'd still recommend more BTE permanents, though. The competitive Rg decks ran 4 Flinthoof Boar and 3 Madcap Skills to great success, so I think 7+ permanents is where we want to be with BTE.

I only hold them when I know a verdict is coming. I suppose I used the wrong language. But the
general point was that in later turns, they can still chain into other cards.

[rcwraspy]

Do you guys have any ideas to improve the deck's match up against G/R ramp? My local meta is filled to the brim with those decks and I not even Frostborn Weird or Boros Reckoner have been able to save me from getting trampled (ha) by them...

That's actually been one of the best matchups for me with this list. In the 9-round $5k that DPaine and I went to, here were my matchups:

Round 1: Naya Midrange (2-1)
Round 2: Master of Waves (2-1)
Round 3: G/R Ramp/Monsters (2-1)
Round 4: G/R Ramp/Monsters (2-0)
Round 5: Esper Control (2-0)
Round 6: Dega Control/Mid (0-2)
Round 7: Esper Control (2-1)
Round 8: Master of Waves (1-2)
Round 9: Golgari Control/Mid (1-2)

And via other testing that win/loss matchup seems to be pretty much where this deck
is positioned, with the exception being that it should be slightly favorable to doom blade decks.

I know you mentioned it, but Boros Reckoner is the best card we have against G/R Monsters. If you can put enough pressure on them early, you'll force blocks with the caryatid and start getting through. And he just stonewalls that deck.

I don't run Frostburn Weird in my list. I'm more of an aggro with a devotion finish, and I think that even though you can pump Weird, he doesen't fit the gameplan - I'm using the mana elsewhere most often. Keep your aggressive 2,3,4 drops, keep some burn for mana dorks if they're there, combat tricks if they're relevant, and reach when you need it, rely heavily on Boros Reckoner, and head to the races. If you're on the play, it's going to be hard for them to get past Cackler into BTE into Firefist into Reckoner into Fanatic.

[Tyrael]

Do you guys have any ideas to improve the deck's match up against G/R ramp? My local meta is filled to the brim with those decks and I not even Frostborn Weird or Boros Reckoner have been able to save me from getting trampled (ha) by them...

That's actually been one of the best matchups for me with this list. In the 9-round $5k that DPaine and I went to, here were my matchups:

Round 1: Naya Midrange (2-1)
Round 2: Master of Waves (2-1)
Round 3: G/R Ramp/Monsters (2-1)
Round 4: G/R Ramp/Monsters (2-0)
Round 5: Esper Control (2-0)
Round 6: Dega Control/Mid (0-2)
Round 7: Esper Control
(2-1)
Round 8: Master of Waves (1-2)
Round 9: Golgari Control/Mid (1-2)

And via other testing that win/loss matchup seems to be pretty much where this deck is positioned, with the exception being that it should be slightly favorable to doom blade decks.

I know you mentioned it, but Boros Reckoner is the best card we have against G/R Monsters. If you can put enough pressure on them early, you'll force blocks with the caryatid and start getting through. And he just stonewalls that deck.

I don't run Frostburn Weird in my list. I'm more of an aggro with a devotion finish, and I think that even though you can pump Weird, he doesen't fit the gameplan - I'm using the mana elsewhere most often. Keep your aggressive 2,3,4 drops, keep some burn for mana dorks if they're there, combat tricks if they're relevant, and reach when you need it, rely heavily on Boros Reckoner, and head to the races. If you're on the play, it's going to be hard for them to get past Cackler into BTE into Firefist
into Reckoner into Fanatic.

I have lost all 5 times playing vs G/R ramp with them consistently dropping a Polukranos or an Arbor Colossus on turn 2 or 3 and dropping a bunch of cannon fodder/walls too, I never even had the chance to stonewall anything

[zemanjaski]

Reckoner + Peak Eruption + Flames of the Firebrand

[Tyrael]

Why Flames of the Firebrand? (sorry for my noob questions, zem)

[DarthStabber]

divisible damage frequently means card advantage. For example blasting 2 sin collectors and doming the owner for one.

[LP, of the Fires]

Actually, LP, your list looks good. Discuss the Chainwalker though. I'd prefer Ash Zealot in that slot, but I understand that the Chainwalker is easier to cast.

Chainwalker was a thought experiment, though I think Ashley is just the better card to run.

RE: Gruul in general, the reason you'd run this over mono-red is if you want the fastest goldfish possible. The main difference between gruul and mono-red is Ghor-clan vs. Chandra's Phoenix. Phoenix lets you grind out a game, adds devotion, and is card advantage. Rampager Lets you alpha a turn sooner and tramples over master of waves.

I like trample. I grinded Gruul a lot in the middle of last season before M14 came out so this type of list is familiar to me and while losing flinthoof
boar is annoying, fanatic of mogis is a pretty powerful magic card, and a great follow-up the turn after you've successfully rampgaged.

[Khaospawn]

Trample is awesome. I like where your head is at.

[zemanjaski]

Why Flames of the Firebrand? (sorry for my noob questions, zem)

Blows out their mana dorks. Their deck needs to draw the right amount of acceleration, land and threats. Flames attacks the acceleration; Eruption the land so you can strand them with threats in their hand.

[LP, of the Fires]

4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Moguis
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager

4 Lightning Strike
2 Shock

1 Hammer of Purphoros

21 mana

3 Gruul Charm
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Traitorous Instinct
3 Skullcrack

cards subject to change:

1 Fanatic of Mogis, 1 hammer in main can become any combination of land/shock/something spicy 2 traitorous instinct in the board can become 2 act of treason as mana tightness is relevant in this deck.

3 Gruul charms in the board can probably be anything else, but they're really good vs. Devotion Blue. You can even get your domesticated reckoner back!

Board plans:

Vs. Aggro/pseudo mirror: - 4 firedrinker satyr, -4 cackler, + 4 mortars, +2 Chandra, +2 traitorous instinct

Vs. Blue Devotion: -8 1 drops, -1 hammer, + 4 mortars, +2 Chandra, + 3 gruul
charm.

Vs. UW/x Control: -4 boros reckoner, -2 shock, + 2 Chandra, +3 skullcrack, +1 hammer. You can also experiment with cutting ghor-clan.

Vs. B/x Thoughtseize/Hero's Downfall/Desecration demon deck: -2 shock, -1 fanatic of mogis, +2 traitorous instinct, +1 hammer.

Vs. Colossol Gruul: Idk, play it by ear. Firedrinker satyr is bad, cackler is usually bad, mortars are always good, instinct should be good, but non of there guys trample, Chandra, can be good to great or not do anything, gruul charm seems fine, though I'd bring in 2 max. This applies for basically all green decks actually. Against the Gruul agro deck jon stern used, instinct is a lot better because he plays dragons.

[DarthStabber]

I like rampager, when you have rg open your opponent is never blocking correctly.

[atatjacob1]

Sorry to ruin the chain of R/g loving posts here but I took first in a standard tournament today running my (just red) fanatic deck.

MB:
4x Firedrinker Satyr
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Ash Zealot
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x Firefist Striker
4x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Boros Reckoner
3x Fanatic of Mogis

4x Lightning Strike
4x Shock

21x Mountain

SB:
4x Act of Treason
3x Burning Earth
2x Electrickery
2x Hammer of Purphoros
2x Mizzium Mortars
2x Pithing Needle (I know your thoughts on this, I was testing for myself)


Here was my record, it was a 3 round swiss with a top 4 cut.

Game 1 Esper 2-0
Game 2 Esper 0-2
Game 3 Monoblue 2-1

Top 4

Game 1 Against the Esper player that beat me, I returned the favor 2-0
Finals against monoblack, stealing a desecration demon to sac it to his other demon seems good. 2-0

Get 12 packs for first place. I think I'll drop electrickery from the SB for Flames of the
Firebrand. Electrickery was put in to deal with Master of Waves tokens, but it turns out it was easier to just fly over with phoenixs. I am still sitting on the fence about pithing needles, I didn't draw it enough to see if it was good or not but it did stop the whip from bringing back demons.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Went 4-1 at gameday for 2nd place.

Round 1 was vs a R/W heroic build. Guy was a bit upset cause I also played him round 1 of gameday last week. Then he caught me game one, but I burned him out game 2/3.
This time, I knew what I was facing and creamed him 2-0. Basically just had to keep him off his creatures, so he had no heroic triggers, and from there it was simple.
1-0

Round 2 was vs a G/W i think. To be honest, I barely remember this match. I won 2-0, and if I remember correctly, it wasnt much of a huge match. I just burned him out.
2-0

Round 3 was vs a mono-black devotion.
Game one I managed to get him down to 4 before he had a chance to stabilize, and he didn't have the kill spell he needed. So he had to read the bones, and I just shocked him for the win.
Game 2 I got stuck on 3 land, and wasn't able to keep enough creatures going to stop the demon.
Game 3 my land behaved, and I got him fairly low,
before traitorus-ing his last ditch effort DD.
3-0

Round 4 was vs a very silly naya deck. It was basically the most annoying parts of G/W and G/R with reckoners and chained added. He did eventually win though.
Game 1 and game 2 basically went the same way. He just got his board huge before I even had a hope of burning it all away. Game 2 I had a small chance when I dropped a reckoner, but he top-decked a chained and that was it.
3-1

Round 5 was vs a U/W control. He started in on calling red stupid at one point, but I shut his arguments DOWN.
Game 1 and Game 2 ran the same way. I got an okay field going, then dropped a chandra. Between the VCA I was generating and playing around verdicts by holding onto stuff, I just kept up too much pressure. Not to mention 0-ing fanatics both games for a finisher.
4-1

I got the game day promo, and would have gotten 6 packs, but went for store credit instead, and combined it with credit for 2 game-day 2nd places to get myself an anime pvc figure cause I'm a
geek. :3

[DocLawless]

Round 5 was vs a U/W control. He started in on calling red stupid at one point

There's that attitude again. What the hell? Sportsmanship counts for nothing, apparently.

Nice job, Raida.

[Tyrael]

Round 5 was vs a U/W control. He started in on calling red stupid at one point

There's that attitude again. What the hell? Sportsmanship counts for nothing, apparently.

Nice job, Raida.

Same thing here, I got a lot of condescending remarks from control players. Something along the vein of me being a new player and as such it would be natural for me to play a braindead deck like mono red

@Raida, did you change anything about the original list you posted on the previous page? Your game reports have gotten me intrigued.

[DocLawless]

Same thing here, I got a lot of condescending remarks from control players. Something along the vein of me being a new player and as such it would be natural for me to play a braindead deck like mono red

Hearing about things like that actually bothers me a whole lot...

---

That's exactly why I want all of my Mountains to be altered, full art pictures of my dick. Wait until I figure out how to foil them...

I guess I'm lucky my LGS is full of netdeckers and people who watch the SCG events and buy re-constructed versions of the placing decks on eBay, and we only have one or two Esper slow control players who rarely condescend to come grace us
with humiliating defeats at the hands of the inevitable clocks their decks bring to the table. Who needs friends? Friends are for chumps. They've got booster packs and planeswalker points. That's where validation in life really comes from.

God damn, it's like nobody is there to play a game.

/rant

To be fair, I am personal friends with an Esper player who is a really cool guy. Helps new players understand things, tells me what I did wrong when he beats me, etc... Apparently he's an exception to the rule, though. To be double fair, there are a fair amount of people at my LGS who do actual work on their decks. They've just been forced into forming tight little cliques by everyone else.

I really like seeing these lists that placed. It means somewhere there's someone who had to eat crow.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Nope, decklist was the same as last page:

[deck]
Creatures:
2 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
3 Frostburn Weird
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis

Burn:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Shock

Thighs and Friends:
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Land:
21 Mountain
1 Mutavault


Sideboard:
3 Peak Eruption
3 Act of Treason
2 Skullcrack
2 Electrickery
1 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Mizzium Mortars
[/deck]

It ran really well for me. Didn't get flooded once, and only got starved twice, with mutavault messing with my mana only once. But compared to how helpful it was during the gamedays, he's still cool in my book.

[Link]

I hear you Doc, I still remember the quintessential example of someone like that who lost to Nuwen's dos rakis last season (a clan brewed deck) playing a stock Naya list card for card with something that had placed.

"I fucking hate falkenrath aristocrat! all my losses were to that card tonight, I just have no way to interact with it available to me!"

"um... have you tried oblivion ring?"

">......well no... the list I'm playing wasn't running any....."


DOT DOT DOT

[FullofGravy]

Yeah, luckily although we have a lot of control aficionados here they're pretty chill. They'll troll me all the time about my constant aggro choices but i win a lot (especially compared to the other aggro players) so it's all good

[DocLawless]

I hear you Doc, I still remember the quintessential example of someone like that who lost to Nuwen's dos rakis last season (a clan brewed deck) playing a stock Naya list card for card with something that had placed.

"I fucking hate falkenrath aristocrat! all my losses were to that card tonight, I just have no way to interact with it available to me!"

"um... have you tried oblivion ring?"

">......well no... the list I'm playing wasn't running any....."


DOT DOT DOT

God I miss that build. I came into MTGS right after RTR and got involved in the brewing thread. That's how I met FoS.

I Dos Rakis'd long and hard last season.

Yeah, luckily although we have a lot of control aficionados here they're pretty chill. They'll troll me all the time about my constant aggro choices but i win a lot (especially compared to the other aggro players) so it's all good

Well, trash talk is one thing... when it's genuinely arrogance it just gets under my skin. Clearly.

[FullofGravy]

I just tell them to go ahead and pick up the deck and win an event with it..because if they don't then clearly that's just embarrassing themselves under their own incorrect logic.

Other than that, you just gotta play the game though. Kinda sucks though. I guess when it comes to people that i don't test/play with closely, I'm civil and generally friendly, but fairly contained and uninteractive beyond what you need for the game itself (and maybe a brief discussion after, but more of that tends to be with opponents I'm on terms with or friends watching the match/draft.
People try and small talk to destroy concentration and get upset when it doesn't work. I'm really bad at being a casual gamer.

[DocLawless]

People try and small talk to destroy concentration and get upset when it doesn't work.

People do that?? I wonder how many times I've blanked someone from doing that to me by just being terrible at small talk IRL...

[DarthStabber]

I give just enough conversation to prevent awkwardness, but only so much as I can spare while staying focused on the game. Sometimes I can turn the trick on them, but it's usually accidental. The exception is those "mono-red is a stupid autopilot deck" jag offs, them I refuse to say a word to unless it's to fuck with their heads.

[Tyrael]

Sadly, I usually lose to those control players mainly because of my lack of experience and poor sideboarding knowledge...

Oh well.