Dies to Removal

It's from an SCG Classic, not an SCG Open; not sure if that reflects a different strength of schedule or not; but a lot if what we have considered is reflected in that list. There were 4 Mono Red decks in the Top 32 of that event, which is a very solid showing from a niche archetype.

your list above doesnt have any phoenixes (Z's list)

What list were you testing phoenix in? She just seems more narrow than wolf, who is better with more of your cards (as khaos described, disgustingly better) whereas phoenix is just an ok beater with recursion depending on how many burn spells you're running (and it doesn;t matter how often you recur it if it just runs into lingering souls tokens/resto angels and shit again and again). Just seems only good against pure control lists in a grindier game, and wolf will grind better with your other cards (mutavault especially)

Running Z's AIR list tonight. I ran mono-red on Sunday at the Magic Market Open. List is in the mono-red thread.

I watched Drew get wrecked by flood against Jund.... got the t4 burning earth out. Then drew like 7 lands (0 mutavaults)

was painful to watch.

Then I watched him board horribly against B/W humans....he got wrecked by intangible virture with elecktrickeries and shit in his hand. No loyalists in his deck is a shame.

At Sunday Magic I played my normal KDW brew. I went 3-2 and missed top 3 by a very short margin. I got redthirst raped by Haunted Plate Mail. I had absolutely no answer for that piece of shit.

It's got me thinking that maybe adding it to the sideboard might be a decent play. I'm not sure though, I don't have the critical thinking skills of Z, Fate or the rest of you. I also realized I need cash so I can acquire 4 Mutavaults.

At Sunday Magic I played my normal KDW brew. I went 3-2 and missed top 3 by a very short margin. I got redthirst raped by Haunted Plate Mail. I had absolutely no answer for that piece of shit.

It's got me thinking that maybe adding it to the sideboard might be a decent play. I'm not sure though, I don't have the critical thinking skills of Z, Fate or the rest of you. I also realized I need cash so I can acquire 4 Mutavaults.

Fate doesn't have critical thinking skills He Gruul! He smash!

Gruul play line analysis -

Option 1: Big stick in hand, smash?
Option 2: 2 small sticks in hand, smash then smash?

Suga, we just spent 2 pages discussing the relevant red 4 drops, at least one of which will need to replace Hellrider, and then you contemplate playing Haunted Plate Mail over all of them!?

Shit, dog.

Suga, we just spent 2 pages discussing the relevant red 4 drops, at least one of which will need to replace Hellrider, and then you contemplate playing Haunted Plate Mail over all of them!?

I don't know how serious I am, but after getting my ass ripped open by it today, it's going to be at least a small thought in the back of my mind. I'm sure people will start sideboarding for it, but the guy who took first was playing control and rode that POS to victory.

I don't think I even know what deck to play. I have Gruul built (haven't played it in about a month, though), but I don't really find it that interesting anymore. It looks like AIR could be really successful, although it seems like it could just be a thoughtless autoplay deck, although I've never actually played it. I'd also like to play the new KDW (a similar list to the one Khaos and Christen posted) just because I've had so much fun with the deck in the past, and the reward for knowing KDW well seems much greater than the reward for knowing Gruul well. If AIR plays more like KDW and less like Gruul, then I'll probably play that just because it'll be something new.

Suga, we just spent 2 pages discussing the relevant red 4 drops, at least one of which will need to replace Hellrider, and then you contemplate playing Haunted Plate Mail over all of them!?

I don't know how serious I am, but after getting my ass ripped open by it today, it's going to be at least a small thought in the back of my mind. I'm sure people will start sideboarding for it, but the guy who took first was playing control and rode that POS to victory.

Haunted Plate Mail is good in Control decks with few to no creatures who want to
continuously wipe the board and activate the plates and some Mutavaults and beat that way. It really doesn't have a place in any aggro decks in my opinion since they have a high concentration of creatures.

AIR isn't an easy deck to play, unless your opponent makes a bad keep, then it's just a massacre.

How capable is it of dealing with/playing through pressure? Can it fight through Thrag/AoS/enchanted hexproof fucker? I think that's what I loved about KDW the most.

Yes? I'm not even sure what you're really asking.

I've really only looked into AIR very shallowly, and based on the name alone and the very low curve, plus the lack of removal, it seems like it may have no late game/way of getting back up when it's down. That would be a deal-breaker for me, but I guess it would also be one for the rest of you, in which case none of you would play the deck. Just a few stupid questions.

Thragtusk can only block one of your dudes at a time, and with that many falter effects, sometimes none.

My AIR deck has some nice combat tricks, like Firefist Striker and Pyreheart Wolf to get around big dudes. Also, I don't think I've ever been happy to see a 1-drop in the late game while playing other decks. But playing AIR, I topdeck a Legion Loyalist, cast, and swing to make all my guys awesome. Also, I really don't know why I haven't played Dynacharge before now. Card beats face.

Alright, guess I'll try it out at the next FNM. The only card I don't have for it is shortcutter, and I don't think that those are even necessary.o

Thrush tusk isn't really a card vs. AIR , it's very slow and you have heaps of ways to mitigate it; decks with a lot of cheap removal are the real problem; then those endgame cards can be problematic.

At Sunday Magic I played my normal KDW brew. I went 3-2 and missed top 3 by a very short margin. I got redthirst raped by Haunted Plate Mail. I had absolutely no answer for that piece of shit.

It's got me thinking that maybe adding it to the sideboard might be a decent play. I'm not sure though, I don't have the critical thinking skills of Z, Fate or the rest of you. I also realized I need cash so I can acquire 4 Mutavaults.

Fate doesn't have critical thinking skills He Gruul! --> He smash!

OH MY GOD THERES A GRUUL ICON!?

ZUG ZUG ZUG ZUG

:GRUUL:

:GRUUL:
:GRUUL:
:GRUUL:
:GRUUL:
:GRUUL:

WHAT?
NO GRUUL CAPS?

SMASH!

You can't tell by the angry appearance of his capital letters, but this is the happiest Fate's been in a while.

Hello folks. I'm still alive if anyone remembers me. I'm just dealing with life at the moment. I'm still the resident Red Mage in these parts and am planning on trying out that Red Deck Z posted a couple pages back ASAP. I'm in the midst of a move right now so I'm all over the place.

Speaking of which, Z, I have to thank you for suggesting that Jim Wendler work out. It has done wonders for my work out routine these last couple months.

Good seeing you again, Redbro. Hope you are doing well.

Happy to help mate. Any issues or questions about the program?

How about Kruin Stiker in AIR? Not joking.

Looks like a potential card, but what would you drop? Firefist Striker/Goblin Shortcutter? Surely not BTE or Lightning Mauler? The one-drops you can't cut, and the Dynacharges stays as well. So that leaves:

Firefist Striker, Goblin Shortcutter, and Krenko's Command.

The Commands work too well with Kruin Striker, I think. Shortcutter looks like the weakest of the three.

Yeah I agree with your analysis, but Shortcutter is probably just the better card in the archetype, so there likely just isn't enough space.

Maybe in a shell with Young Pyromancer, Krenko's Command, and Molten Birth?

Doubtful, at least to me.

Finding myself drafting more often. I also have a playgroup now and I'm the only dedicated aggro player in the team (4 control, 1 midrange, and me).

So much for taking a break haha.

You can't tell by the angry appearance of his capital letters, but this is the happiest Fate's been in a while.

feels good being understood

Suspicions about jund being the deck to prepare for confirmed. 11 Jund decks in top 32 of Richmond. 33% of the top tables is kind of insane. Makes sense that Sacher won since jund is a deck of removal and his deck likes watching his guys die for value.

Also a big fan of Huey Jensen's UWR control deck playing encroaching wastes for mutavault and the 4th augur as the 61st card because fuck it.

Was Jund really 40% of the whole field? That's what I'm hearing.

Also, Drew Levin is not a good red deck builder, now that I've seen his list.

So, I read a couple of civilwargoat's posts over on Sally, and I think Kamahl might have some real competition on his hands. If he's not careful, goat's going to usurp his position as a vaulted member of the Fucking Wad Trilogy.

After a woefully disappointing 0-2 start to the standard daily yesterday (I apparently sideboarded in +15 variance -15 consistency for game 2), I played some Modern burn and went 5-0 in the 2-mans. Ahhhhh, sweet sweet victory.

Good Morning all. I trust everyone had a good weekend?

Jund in positions 2,4,6,9,13,14,20,25,28,29 and 31 out of the top 32. The offshoot of Aristocrats that won (dropping FA and Reckoner to be able to run 2-color and thus duck Burning Earth blowouts) gave me momentary hope for the archetype (see my musings in the Aristocrats thread), but considering all the decks running 4 Bonfire and some number of CoDH out of the board, it still makes Sacher's win somewhat remarkable.

Sacher's deck is actually really good against Jund. Between blood artist, doomed traveler, cartel, and necromancer you've got a lot of bonfire resiliency. I had been testing the same starting 60 card for card actually for a friend who was thinking of running it and it's a very strong deck.

And of course jund was 40%. Scavenging ooze is a ridiculous magic card, especially in the deck that specializes in killing lots of creatures.

And minus the 3 ash zealots(cringe), I really like Levin's list and I even get the justification(though I don't agree with it) for only playing 3 ashs.

So Jund didn't actually perform that well them; or at least it's results were proportionate to its representation in the field.

Depends on how you weight performance. 40ish percent of the field with 33% top 32 is below expectation, but it's 37.5% of the top 8 with a finals appearance which to me is read good as advertised. I think if the majority of the field plays the deck and it takes up nearly half of the top 8 losing to the "rouge" deck, then you're pretty close if not the best deck in the format.

Went to M14 draft at my LGS last night. Got 2nd place with this pile:

[deck]
Creatures (15)
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Goblin Shortcutter
1 Regathan Firecat
1 Brindle Boar
2 Blur Sliver
1 Rootwalla
2 Canyon Minataur
1 Briarpack Alpha
1 Ogre Battledriver
1 Sporemound
1 Battle Sliver
2 Groundshaker Sliver

Spells (8)
1 Wild Guess
2 Verdant Haven
1 Hunt the Weak
3 Chandra's Outrage
1 Enlarge

Lands (17)
9 Mountain
8 Forest
[/deck]

Enlarge should not be a card. Also, it's nice to get passed so many Chandra's Outrage. I knew I was red deep into the first pack when I saw it wheel. Picking up Ogre Battledriver in P2P1 sealed the deal.

Beat the guy that was sitting to my left that ended up with a mono red deck featuring Young Pyromancer. His deck was surprisingly good considering he was sitting to my left, but it turns out Ogre Battledriver into Battle Sliver into Groundshaker Sliver is a good curve. Match
two was a solid UW fliers deck that I beat game one after topdecking an Enlarge. Game two I kept a hand with two Chandra's Outrage and drew into my third early, pretty much ensuring my victory. He was pretty pissed to lose to Enlarge, but that's Magic. Match three was vs BW and he was packing 12 removal spells and a ton of fliers that I just couldn't deal with in the end.

My store collects all the rares drafted at the end and they are chosen based on how you placed. I snap chose a Scavenging Ooze after 1st place grabbed Garruk, Caller of Beasts. I was able to get a Burning Earth for my second pick which puts me at three of those. Also got $8 in store credit which I'm saving for more Mutavault. Still need three of those.