Dies to Removal

Hi all, I don't know if anyone wants to think about Block Constructed till all the cards are out, but I like to get a feel for the format. Especially this year, as GP Manchester is coming to England! Anyway, let's get to the mountains...

[deck]Theros Block RDW[/deck]

This is very much budget at the moment, as I don't have the cards on MTGO. I don't really know how this deck becomes not budget actually, as it probably doesn't want any Stormbreath Dragon. I'll be testing a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and a [card=Purphoros]Purphoros, god of the forge[/card:
26r1e4vw] in the near future, they both seem like pretty natural inclusions.

We all know where Firedrinker satyr is good and bad by now, and I'm a big fan of attacking through sylvan Caryatid.

I'm not sold on Akroan Crusader, but it does a nice [card=YP$]Young pyromancer[/card] impression sometimes.

I tried Nyxborn Rollicker, but it didn't seem better than Dragon Mantle in like, any scenario?

Lightning Strike Searing Blood yada yada, sometimes I want Magma Jet, but haven't tested enough yet to differentiate.

I'm not sold on Arena Athlete, and I don't think I've got enough Heroic enablers for him to be decent.

Everflame Eidolon is the real
freaking deal. So good. It's like a Stonewright/Pyreheart Wolf hybrid, you kill the enchanted creature and it comes back to take more chunks out of you. I'm sure this is just a general Firebreathing thing, but I've been putting everything into my 'breathers against removal light decks/tapped out opponents and it's been great.

Archetype of Aggression might look a bit strange, but it's obviously great with Firebreathing. In theory it should also let Crusader tokens chump all day, but this hasn't come up yet. The 3rd point of power goes a long way, and I like the two red symbols in the cost for Fanatic of Mogis.

Fanatic is pretty sweet with Hammer of Purphoros out, but I'm not sure either card is what this deck wants. I could see losing these and going more AIR.

Anyway, no one wants my unproven nonsense, so here's some MTGO
decks;

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=6796&d=239061
[deck]_megafone_[/deck]

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=6916&d=239706
[deck]207rafakev[/deck]

[deck]
Land (22)
18x Mountain
4x Temple of Malice

Creature (24)
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Archetype of Aggression
4x Arena Athlete
4x Deathbellow Raider
4x Everflame Eidolon
4x Firedrinker Satyr

Instant (9)
4x Lightning Strike
3x Searing Blood
2x Titan's Strength

Enchantment (5)
4x Dragon Mantle
1x Hammer of Purphoros[/deck]

A more bestow-centric strategy may be worth looking into after seeing the new spoilers.

[deck]
Creatures (27)
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Nyxborn Rollicker
4 Mogis's Warhound
4 Everflame Eidolon
3 Prophetic Flamespeaker

Spells (13)
2 Dragon Mantle
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Searing Blood
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Lands (20)
20 Mountain
[/deck]

I know very little about the Block meta other than black agro and Naya Midrange being very good decks. Is Searing Blood really good in the format? If so, auto four-of.

My current thought
[Deck]
Critters
4 firedrinker satyr
4 satyr hoplite
4 mogis's warhound
4 eidolon of the great revel
4 everflame eidolon
4 flamespeaker prophet
2 fanatic of mogis

Spells
4 lightning strike
4 searing blood
4 titan's strength

Land
22 mountain
[/deck]

My other thought is -4 everflame eidolon -4 mountain +4 deathbellow raider +4 temple of malice, though I might end up hashing this out in the sideboard.

Hey all,
Good to see at least a bit of discussion about mono-red in the block format.

I first piloted the current red deck that's been doing relatively well in the past week, and it does quite well against 2/3 of the format, but has a miserable Junk reanimator match-up. I could go into details and match-ups with that deck, but I feel it's days are numbered with JOU coming to MTGO in a few days.

That said, going forward, this is my list:

[deck]
20 Mountain

4 Akroan Crusader
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Arena Athlete
4 Minotaur Skullcleaver
4 Mogis's Warhound
2 Everflame Eidolon

4 Lightning Strike
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Titan's Strength
2 Hall of Triumph

SB:
4 Harness by Force
4 Searing Blood
4 Flamespeaker's Will
3 Blinding Flare
[/deck]

This deck should be pretty blindingly fast, with 12 one drops.

Expected Match ups (Based on current decks + spoilers)
Esper Control -
Should still be really easy. Pre-JOU, I was at like 80% win rate against esper. Since the non-red removal in this format is relatively expensive, sweepers are nearly non-existant, and card advantage comes at a premium, the virtual CA this deck generates with Akroan Crusader and jumping out of the gates puts esper on the backfoot the entire game. Losing evasion hurts if they manage to land an Elspeth, but most games the esper deck is dead before they can land Elspeth.

Junk Reanimator - I'm hoping that by speeding up the deck, and getting an anthem in the Hall of Triumph (as well as hate from the black decks) that this match-up can come at least closer to even. Whip is such a massive beating against this deck, which is why it's almost feasible to sideboard in everything but the Searing Blood. With the new toys JOU is offering to Junk, it'll be interesting to see what the red deck needs to compete with it. Carytid and Courser of Kruphix are the two big roadblocks for the red deck, which Hall and
Warhound helps fight through them, as well as Satyr Hoplite. I'm hoping this deck falls off the map, but time will tell.

B Aggro - Previously, this was something like a 75% match-up. They damaged themselves, and all their creatures were burnable and easily dealt with. Now Master of the Feast can change that, but we should be able to race it. If they have to leave it on defense, that's very good for the red deck. Searing Blood comes in after game 1. The good thing for us is their one drops either cant block or CIPT, which gives us the upper hand. If you can force them to start trading off their guys, it puts the red deck in an easy path to victory.

B/W Aggro - This match up is similar to straight B aggro, but the protection spells can really set the red deck behind. We should be a turn or two faster then them, but if they get to voltron'ing, especially with a hopeful eidolon, it's trouble for the good guys. Searing blood again comes in, and potentially harness to take their threat.

G/R
or Naya Monsters - This deck used to be prolific when only Theros was legal, but BNG nearly made it a non-threat. This may resurge a bit with Ajani providing another great planeswalker to go with Elspeth and Xenagos. Blinding Flare and Harness can come in, steal their threats or race through them. This was close to a coin-flip before, and with JOU we will have to see what this ends up looking like.

So that's what I've got, any thoughts?

Cut a Hall of Triumph for another Everflame Eidolon. You NEVER want more than one Hall. I would also rather play Reckless Reveler than Flamespeaker's Will.

Thanks for the thoughts, Valdarith.

You're probably right on the hall - drawing the second one in a game would be soul crushing. I'm not the biggest fan of everflame, just because paying three mana for +1/+1 feels pretty miserable a lot of the time, but it's better then a second, dead hall.

I play with the reveler currently, and I can definitely agree that having the point removal when it's needed is probably correct. Here are my pros and cons for both:

Reckless Reveler
Pros
-is a creature
-unconditional artifact kill

Cons
-Costs 3 mana to hit an artifact
-frail body makes it hard to profitably attack since he always has a huge target on his head

Flamespeaker's Will
Pros
-Triggers Heroic
-Provides a decent sized buff for the cost

Cons
-Easy 2 for 1 potential
-Has to connect to do it's job

With that all said, Will probably gets better
with Rouse the Mob giving trample to our suited up guy. I am playing in a big block paper tourney next weekend, so I may run with a 2/2 split for that, as I won't have much time before hand to test on MTGO (as the set will have gone to prerelease just two days prior).

If I were going to play a Weenie red deck in a block tournament, here's what I'd play. The sideboard is up in arms, the only card I'm 100% on is Eidolon of the Great Revel. You want 4 copies of that bad boy in the relevant match-ups.

[deck]Block Heroic A.I.R.[/deck]

fair