[Primer] Big Red

[LP, of the Fires]

"Untap. Burning tree, float R/G, tap nykthos, float 5, stormbreath dragon, swing 9, Firefist trigger." Btw, it's turn 3. Before we get to the how's, a quick aside.

It's been interesting watching this standard format develop. In the first week, mono-red agro of all variations was level 0 of the format as it was a new format and the fastest most consistent deck. Esper control also had a big showing, but Red took the inaugural open of the season. A week later, we see red still sticking around, but other decks started cropping up such as Junk and the eventual winner GW along with various states tourneys around the country introducing new decks into the format like UW Master of waves, RG monsters, etc.

And then the Pro Tour happened. Over half of the top 8 was (mostly)mono-colored decks maximizing the use of the devotion mechanic and Nykthos with the finals being a
mirror match between French teammates playing Devotion Blue, a deck built around Thassa, God of the Sea and master of waves. But blue wasn't the only Devoted deck. There was Mono-black or as I'd refer to it, doomblade.dec sporting tons of disruption between removal and thoughtseize paired with underworld connections, powerful black creatures and Grey Merchant. There was a mono-red devotion deck which aimed to provide just enough board presence to kill you with the power of Dragons, Gods, and Member swallowers, and there was a G/r deck that was basically a midrange/combo deck that was capable of putting upwards of 20 permanents into play by the 4th turn by virtue of being the best pure nykthos deck with voyaging satyrs ability to untap your nykthos allowing you to do truly broken things.

This weekend, we've been able to see how the meta has reacted to the pro tour. Per the usual, the SCG open was mostly littered with carbon copies of the winning lists though there was an interesting BG rock deck and the
eventual winner was piloting straight UW control. At the GP in Louisville however, we see a much different picture. A host of SCG writers top 8'd with identical Mono-Black devotion decks that's a derivation of the PT list, there was more esper present, and an aggressive RG midrange deck along with 2 pilots running MonoBlue waves included same Black, aka Back to Back Black with repeat top 8's.

So with these results, what's the incentive for a big Red Devotion deck?

Basically, the format's come full circle. We've seen mono red lead to midrange, into the pro tour, into control. It's time to get our beatdown on. If I where to play in a large paper tourney THIS week, I would have gladly sleeved up a thoughtseize deck, likely BW similar to what finished second at the SCG open. Now with the advent of the Mono-Black deck on the seen and the realization that Esper and control strategies in general are well positioned, I want to be the aggressor in the format. While generally I prefer a low curve agro
deck, I want to be doing broken things in the format and Big Red lets me have aggressive draws while also doing degenerate things.

Big red is the deck Channelfireball unanimously played at the Pro Tour because they expected a heavy control field, but found they misread it slightly and as a whole didn't do to well. Still, the deck is powerful and has many things I like about it, so I decided to take on the task of refining it to beat black decks and control decks while maintain a good nykthos mirror matchup and having game against Devotion blue which I believe is the actual best deck in the format. Lets get down the nuts and bolts. First the Decklist:

[deck]Manasinks that kill you:
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Purphoros, God of the Forge

I heard you like board stall:
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis

Cohesive Beatdown:
4 Firefist Striker
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Ash Zealot

Lolcontrol:
2 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Domri Rade

Cast's Shit:
4
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
12 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
1 Gruul Guildgate
4 Temple of Abandon

Sideboard:
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Frostburn Weird
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Plummet
1 Skylasher[/deck]

When Devoting yourself to a color, you need a good reason to, and that reason is usually a card or subset of cards.

4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Purphoros, God of the Forge

In the case of red, it's a combination of Stormbreath dragon and Purphoros. Stormbreath dragon is good for obvious reasons. Hasty flier, built in protection, can get huge given time(or degenerate turns). Purphoros is different. I originally thought the card was great, then terrible, and I'm back on very good. In a nykthos deck, once you have sufficient devotion where you can generate lots of mana, you need something to do with that mana. If you find yourself net 9 red and have nothing else to do with it,
purphoros turns that into a virtual overrun. Additionally, his other passive ability just domes them for 2 everytime you successfully resolve a creature which is very good value for a deck that's actively trying to kill the opponent.

4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker

Next we have the enablers and aggressive portion of the deck. Ash zealot is arguably the best aggressive two drop in the format. The combination of first strike and haste allows Ashley to play both offense and defense well which is important in an aggressive midrange deck and costing double red is a boon in a nykthos based list. Emily would be the other card in contention for best aggressive two drop. Being a grisly bear is meh at best, being able to go BTE>FFS is a big tempo play that gives you instant board presence and she allows you to "go off" with nykthos as she's basically a free +2 on mana the turn
you play her if you already have a board presence. Firefist striker on the other hand is the interesting choice. Most lists play Frostburn weird in that slot, but I'm not a fan of the weird. While he's twice as good for adding devotion and is a pseudo mana-sink, I value strikers ability more and it's not like you can play weird off of BTE. I want more aggressive draws and to be able to get dudes on the board faster so FFS gets the nod.

4 Boros Reckoner

Best devotion enabler, best three drop vs. creature decks, reach when combined with domri, and a proven all star in standard.

4 Fanatic of Mogis

The reach of the deck. With a deck designed to accrue massive devotion, it makes sense to include a card that uses the devotion mechanic and this card allows you to turn a game around on a stalled board.

2 Mistcutter Hydra

This card is mainboard tech vs. the Devotion blue decks and triples as both a mana-
sink and a post wrath threat vs. control. I've been very happy with it.

2 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Domri Rade
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

This package of cards forms your card advantage engines which all have different applications and are all good vs. control. While they each all "draw cards" Domri is your removal and reach when combined with reckoner, Chandra lets you push through damage, and Hammer is obviously amazing by giving all your guys haste while also giving you something to do when you flood out.

The sideboard is a WIP but mostly further tailored for beating control and midrange while still enabling you to sure up your agro matchup and have more tools when facing MonoU.

This deck is fairly difficult to play as there are lots of choices to make once you hit the mid game and it can be tough figuring out how to get the maximum devotion and/or when to play your purphoros but once you figure
out the sequencing, you start doing incredibly powerful things. It's not uncommon to take an opponent from 16 to dead in the same turn which is a testament to the decks power. I hope others play this deck and enjoy it as much as I do and I look forward to battling with it when the open hits my city in the coming weeks.

[F.I.A]

When I read Big Red, I expected a mono-red without a green splash.

Looks like a solid list, but I think you might need some Magma Jet for some disruption (And ensuring your topdeck and stuff).

I'd be glad if you could explain more on the match-ups as well. Like playing out Purp first before landing a torrent of creatures to capitalize on the 2 damage, for instance.

Edit: Thinking back, it might not be the best idea.

[LP, of the Fires]

Magma jet is something I'm interested in testing. It's reach, lets you interact with your opponent when you have no boardstate, helps set up draws, and can be cast off of BTE. The problem is room.

It's certainly worth testing though I'm not sure how good it is vs. heavy disruption decks.

[Link]

when I was playing against the mono red version, magma jet was pretty important.

thats in a meta of elvish mysticfs and mono red aggro though, against black decks I think you rather just have more threats

[Aodh]

I agree with FIA; when I saw a Big Red thread below Big Boros, I anticipated 21-22 mountains and 3-4 colorless lands. That being said, the foundation seems great. I ran Nykthos Red at FNM and things get disgusting, that's for sure. The green splash likely isn't worth it: just replace the Domri Rades with Chandra, Pyromasters and you still draw cards without stretching the mana. For Big Red, I'll probably run the following instead:

[deck]Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Ember Swallower
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet

Lands
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nix
21 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Rakdos Shred Freak
4 Skullcrack
2 Burning Earth
3 Act of Treason[/deck]

[Link]

you cant knock domri till you pit fight with reckoner or a stormbreath with a blood baron

[Aodh]

Why not stay and colors with actual Pit Fight, the ? I know Domri is house, but is he 5+ tap land splash powerful?

[LP, of the Fires]

In devotion based decks of all stripes, it's crucial to have some card way to see extra cards to make your deck efficient.

In our build, it's via scry and domri. The scrylands are more equivalent to spells, and domri is our draw engine that doubles as removal.

Second point is important because g1, our deck is mono-permanents to fuel Fanatic and Nykthos, leaving us otherwise with no form of interaction outside of combat. Domri fixes that.

[Khaospawn]

"Untap. Burning tree, float R/G, tap nykthos, float 5, stormbreath dragon, swing 9, Firefist trigger."

Face down, ass up, that's the way we like to fuck!

Great write-up, LP. Your awesomeness know no bounds.

[LP, of the Fires]

Apparently cockatrice has this awesome tool that shows all the stats for your deck.

Updated list here with graphs and shit: http://deckstats.net/deck-3019286-c09db ... dcbba.html

Weird was necessary main which freed up room in the board. You can see I'm devoted to beating blue with 8 protection spells between main and side. Funnily enough, I've used nykthos to make green mana when I had a BTE, Skylasher, and Domri on board once.

3 Xenagos in the board as it's actually amazing vs. monoblack and the second Chandra wasn't particularly amazing vs. anything. Yeah, it's nice going gruul superfriends vs. control, but you never really want Chandra that badly as opposed to some matchups where you actively want to see xenagos.

Plummet gets the nod as I like unique cards that my opponents won't
expect and sometimes you need to kill a desecration demon.

Mizzium mortars is mizzium mortars. Cause sometimes, you need removal.

Lastly for the board, we have destructive revelery which I actually wouldn't mind a third copy of. It's not something you actually need vs. control, but against the black decks, it gets their underworld connections and more importantly, whip and pithing needle and it's nice to have access to them for the control decks that are jamming upwards of 4 detention spheres.

[rcwraspy]

How has this list been testing out, LP?

[JadePhoenix]

I've been playing this list:

[deck]Big Red[/deck]

It got me to the finals of game day, which I split, and overall has been pretty sweet. I'm considering adding a green splash, Domri seems sweet in this deck, and Mistcutter out of the board would help a lot given my terrible mono-blue matchup. I built the deck online last night, so I will likely test out Domri there first, since they're half the price they are in paper.

[LP, of the Fires]

Looks good. I'd run 3 purphoros because it's your best card in lots of matchups(mono-black, control in general) and when you add another color, you get to cut your magma jets for actual permanents which has been the way to go in my experience.

How have you enjoyed the ember swallower/fanatic split? I like how swallower is a threat by itself and doesn't trade, though I've valued the game winning power of fanatic against green decks since you often get board stalls and he doubles as an answer to planeswalkers(uanswered Garruk/Domri=GG).

Glad you've enjoyed it

@rcwraspy: I haven't updated the primer yet as I keep making small tweaks to the deck, mostly involving the number of walkers I'm running. I have FIRMLY subscribed to playing 2 hammers main however as they are awesome lategame, you almost always
want one, and you can win a game just off of the back of Purphoros+hammer. That's actually how I won both of my games vs. Esper control last night when we where both having mana/color troubles in the midgame(left my non-Chandra walkers at home because I audibled from Fanatic Red last night before TNM started).

[Wrathberry2]

how is purphoros your best card vs monoblack who play at least 8 removals in main und even more after sideboarding? he can never get a creature in those matchups. i found him only awesome vs g/w lists who dont play any real removal^^

[Wrathberry2]

@jadephoenix:
i really like your deck, but are you sure that bte is better than chandras phoenix, especialy since you cant cast anything out of it besides magma jet?

[rcwraspy]

LP, I've got an odd question coming up.

Have you thought about including Ruric Thar, the Unbowed? Here are the reasons I'm thinking about him:
1. Reach/Vigilance on a 6/6 body seems like tech with all the Nightveil Specters and Desecration Demons running around.
2. If they want to get rid of him, they're taking 6. If they've been whipping lifegain, that might not be material, but it does negate a full Demon swing's worth of lifegain
3. Your list in the primer is 100% permanents. While you do have 6 noncreature permanents MB, that should be fine.

His biggest downside in these matchups could be the attack each turn clause. He can just get blanked by a Master of Waves and trade with a Desecration Demon, though you should have plenty of fodder to tap down that Demon if you want.

It may be bad, but I think it's worth mulling over in a list like this.

[JadePhoenix]

LP, cutting magma jet is definately a plus, and so far I like the split, fanatic can win games out of nowhere, but swallower is a much better play turns 3-5, and enables better nut draws. Purphoros has been better than I expected, I might try to find room for a third.

Wrath, I was skeptical of BTE when I saw the CFB lists, but you actually do have somewhere to put the mana, you use it to activate nykthos on turn 3, allowing you to chain into a 4-drop.

[Wrathberry2]

do you really want to dont drop your 2-drop on turn 2 so you can use shrine out of bte on turn 3? im not sure if this is the best play you could do there especialy because you most likely overextend hard then in controlmatchups.

no idea.. but i just dont like bte as a card because it kinda forces me to do things i normaly dont want to do. i think ill just never play this card xD

[JadePhoenix]

If it's my only 2-drop i'll play it on 2, but I have 8 other 2s that let me get to 4 on turn 3 with BTE-Nykthos. as for overextending, it depends what you're dropping, if they just wrath away a pair of 2/2s I'm not that upset, and several of my 4s don't die to wraths, and those are the ones that are best in that matchup anyway. Besides, they can't cast wrath if you blow up all of their lands before they hit 4 .

[LP, of the Fires]

how is purphoros your best card vs monoblack who play at least 8 removals in main und even more after sideboarding? he can never get a creature in those matchups. i found him only awesome vs g/w lists who dont play any real removal^^

You literally just sandbag your non-hasty 2-drops till you play purphoros, that way, you devalue all there removal so that you're always up a shock on there doom-blades. They can also never remove him, and they don't put much pressure on you till the mid/lategame where your deck is more powerful most of the time, which by then, you can usually make him active and take over the game. Also, Big P plus hammer wins games.

@Raspy: considering RT in the board. He's only really good vs. control and mono-black with
the former being a good matchup already, but against the black deck...I like this suggestion.

RE: BTE. She enables all of your nutdraws and is an integral part of the deck. There are lots of times where you top deck a BTE and can suddenly deal 16 in turn.

[LP, of the Fires]

Somebody sell me on Ember swallower. I think the walkers in my deck are better, but I want to play that card.

[rcwraspy]

Somebody sell me on Ember swallower. I think the walkers in my deck are better, but I want to play that card.

Ember Swallower + Peak Eruption in the board vs. R/X? You get so much value out of Nykthos that you don't really care about your lands unless you're up against sweapers, which you typically won't be against R/X. Having both players sac 3 lands at that point just puts you so incredibly far ahead.

I bought a playset of Ember Swallower for like $1.50, and I keep looking at lists and brewing around trying to find a home for them. I think they're good, but they just need a spot. I know Z was looking at some sort of a ramp/LD package at one point. Nykthos in this list already gives you the ramp.

[LP, of the Fires]

BIG UPDATE

I know I've been gone for a while, but you know me baby. Never on schedule, but always on time.

First, the list:

[deck]4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Domri Rade
4 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Frostburn Weird
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Xenagos, the Reveler

Lands:
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
12 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
1 Gruul Guildgate
4 Temple of Abandon

Sideboard:
4 Mizzium Mortars
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Ember Swallower
2 Shock
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Gruul Charm[/deck]

The main deck is perfect for the field I'm expecting an the board is probably locked at this point. My partner in crime who'll be playing the same deck at the open is likely going to be playing 70/75 as he wants more master of waves tech and wants
the Burning earth as the free win which I'm forgoing. I'm not afraid to grind out 5 esper matches as that matchup is my bitch.

After doing a bunch of grinding, we've come to the conclusion that our deck is broken and we're winning every fair fight. The only things we've been losing to is triple thoughtseize, mono-red nut draws, and game 1 on the draw vs. mono blue. Everything else has been firmly in our favor and postboard, the mono-red matchup has become favorable once we've figured out how to sequence our plays.

The biggest change is gutting the board of all the anti-blue cards. With esper and mono-black being such big players in the meta, we predict the mono-blue decline and the rise of mono-red which is great for us, and even then, all postboard games play or draw are very winnable vs. the blue deck and we know the matchup much better then they will since while our deck is technically a net-deck, it hasn't seen any play on the major stage after the pro tour while everyone and there mothers
played against mono-blue.

The best thing about this deck is how unbeatable some of the draws are. What does your opponent do against turn 3 Chandra? How about a board of hammer of purphoros, big P himself and a million cards in hand? They can only play 1 detention sphere a turn after all. I've won games where my opponent lifelinked azorios charm, gon up to 27 life then passed the turn with an untapped aetherling vs. my board of hammer and purphoros with me dead on board if I couldn't deal lethal.

The decks worst enemy is it's volatility and even then, I've missed 3 land drops with no plays, and come back and won the match facing down Elspeth, jace, and assemble the legion. Assuming you don't have mana problems, your fair draws still resemble RDW with you being able to draw into nykthos and/or fatty and just go way over the top of whatever your opponent is doing.

I've been having dream of playing my teammate in the finals of the open and feel confidant in recommending this deck to anyone
playing in a major paper event.

If anyone has questions, daddy's at church making burnt offerings to father Purphoros.

[Link]

you tempt me so.....

[LP, of the Fires]

I'm imagine this picture of you drawn cartoony in gruul attire with a big ass hammer and me setting up a trap which includes a card tower made up of islands and arrow pointing towards saying "SMASH". Once you smash aforementioned islands, this triggers a mechanism which drops a pile of Purphoros's, stormbreath dragons, domri's and nykthos's from a tree along with a pile of raw meat which you eat contentedly while I'm in the background plotting and uttering, "good, goooood...."

[Khaospawn]

All too easy...

[Aodh]

Anyone have 3 Purphuros FT?

[Link]

HOW CAN I RESIST MAINDECK HAMMERS?

HAMMERS ARE FOR SMASHING

RED HAMMERS THAT CAN SMASH ISLANDS ARE DOUBLE GOOD

ALSO BURNING TREE

ITS BASICALLY GRUUL RIGHT

DOMRI

TOO

HOW CAN SOMETHING THAT FEELS SO GOOD BE WRONG

[LP, of the Fires]

I'm pretty sure if I streamed, I would have everyone playing this deck. It's basically what happened when I was playtesting and now 3 of us are playing it at the open.

[Link]

had to lend out Polukranos to a friend, sleeved this up cause I had most of the cards:

[deck]
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Ash Zealot
4x Frostburn Weird
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x Boros Reckoner
4x Fanatic of Mogis
3x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Purphoros, God of the Forge

25 Lands
(only had 2 nykthos =/)

4x Domri Rade
1x Xenagos, Reveler
1x Hammer of Purphoros
1x Mizzium Mortars

SB:
3x Rakdos Shred-Freak
2x Destructive Revelry
1x Hammer of Purphoros
1x Shock
1x Flames of the Firebrand
2x Mizzium Mortars
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Polis Crusher
[/deck]

Possible should have had more mortars main than cute shit, but I figured U/W control would be out in force.

Shred-freaks were house against Mono black. house I think that is my best constructive suggestion to offer from last night. Cacklers were sexy too obviously.

I lost to Nuwen because doom blades and
phoenixes are op, and got run over by a Boros Aggro with madcap skills and Anax and Cymede list (SB needs more shocks, possibly over anger because its better against Brave the elements but w/e).

Beat Mono Black, Esper, and Prophet Bant (the key is to keep a broken hand and luck sack with your 1 of xenagos and Purphoros)