If you are a Red Mage, these are exciting times we live in. We are surrounded by unknown and diverse formats. With Dark Ascension fast approaching, the one thing we know we can count on is that burning your opponent from twenty life to zero always ends the game in your favor. I am of the opinion that control decks in Modern and Standard are currently in their weakest form. Now is the time to take advantage of the deficiency! Even in Legacy, Austin Yost just showed the world Red Deck’s quality!
Creatures (13)
Lands (19)
Spells (28)
Sideboard
In Legacy we live in a world of Snapcaster control decks that punish players who try to win by turning creatures sideways. When a deck is able to sideboard into four Swords to Plowshares and four Path to Exiles, along with having four Snapcaster Mages, good luck attacking into the red zone. Let’s not forget the upswing of cards like Pernicious Deed and Liliana of the Veil to deal with even the most untargetable of creatures! In this current environment, I feel like having an alternate game plan, other than fighting on the battlefield with creatures, is becoming a necessity in Legacy. Whether it’s the Jace, the Mind Sculptor plan, burn spells, or some other random combo in your deck like Painter Servant / Grindstone, that’s how I would approach Legacy now more than ever. Unfortunately, this means decks like Goblins are not in a good place right now and probably won’t be anytime soon. Goblins are all-in on the creature strategy and can’t deal with the incredible amount of creature removal that is being played.
With Dark Ascension right around the corner, I am very excited to see the printing of Faithless Looting (aka Hectic Scribe from this other card game called Ascension)! I know that some players see this card as a bad Careful Study because it isn’t blue. I am excited to see Wizards print Faithless Looting, and I believe it will be a monster in both Standard and Modern environments. Think about all those times you’re playing Red Deck Wins and you keep bricking, drawing land after land. Faithless Looting gives you a very easy way to deal with the chaff by pitching them to your graveyard and refilling your hand. This card will allow red players to improve their card quality and gain virtual card advantage. When you are in the business of dealing exact damage, it is quality over quantity any day when it comes to cards you draw. Too many games are lost when you need to get that little bit of damage through before your opponent takes over the game. I think Faithless Looting will give players that little bit of edge needed to win.
Picture it: your opponent has three life left, and all you need is a three-damage spell. Off the top, you draw a creature! You’re pissed and disappointed because you know you’ve lost. Then you realize you have Faithless Looting in your graveyard. You flash it back, draw two, discard the chaff, and boom! Good game!
Currently in Standard we have one of the best red creatures printed of all time in Grim Lavamancer, but he can’t reach his full potential because we don’t have fetchlands and enough other cards to efficiently feed him. Faithless Looting makes Grim Lavamancer live very easily. You also have very pitch-able targets in the form of Chandra’s Phoenix and Ancient Grudge. I know when I am sitting in the driver’s seat of a red deck, there are too many times when I am frustrated that I am flooded with uncastable spells during the match. Faithless Looting helps me fix those hands where I draw late game Shrine of the Burning Rage and creatures when all you want to do is deal three more damage! Here is a list I have been contemplating playing. Keep in mind as I write this I don’t have all spoiler information in front of me, so maybe some other bomb card will come out, but I figured it would be fun to start brainstorming. (No pun intended.)
Creatures (17)
Lands (20)
Spells (23)
I know this doesn’t deviate outside the box too much, but from my perspective this deck is a hundred times better with Faithless Looting than without. It increases your lines of play and gives you more options, along with giving the ability to increase your immediate card quality. Something decks like this have been lacking. I really wanted to jam Markov Blademaster in the deck, dreaming of the scenario when I Mutagenic Growth her before damage. Unfortunately I think there are going to be too many Gut Shots that will be floating around in the early part of the season to make that a realistic option. However, it might be something to investigate down the line.
I have been slinging red spells in Modern to some success on Magic Online playing Bump in the Night burn. The deck has been very good to me, and because of how quickly your matches end, you can acquire tix very fast!
Here’s the list
Creatures (12)
Lands (20)
Spells (28)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Lava Spike
- 3 Magma Jet
- 4 Rift Bolt
- 4 Shard Volley
- 2 Blightning
- 3 Searing Blaze
- 4 Bump in the Night
Sideboard
The deck is obviously built to kill very fast, and the name of the game is throwing spells to the dome. A Dark Confidant that sticks will just give you games. All the fetches allow you to do what you can to fix your draws and keep a constant stream of pressure. It is also important to note when you kill your opponent, you do everything in your power to do it with Bump in the Night. You get a lot of face palms, and it’s actually very entertaining. Also, just the other day my buddy Ben was playing the deck, and his opponent had an Iona lock on him naming red, but he was at three life, so the very next turn Ben simply cast Bump in the Night to win.
I believe this deck will be even better with Faithless Looting. We do everything we can in this deck to fix our draws, from all the fetchlands to playing Dark Confidant; but Faithless Looting is another avenue to help mold your hand to the situation. In order to maximize our value when casting Faithless Looting, I think some small changes should be made to the deck. If I were to play Faithless Looting, I would add Hellspark Elemental to increase your chances of having solid pitch option. I have been playing around with the idea of cutting 2 Blightning, 3 Magma Jet, and 1 Searing Blaze for 3 Faithless Looting and 3 Hellspark Elemental.
So the list with Faithless Looting looks something like this:
Creatures (15)
Lands (20)
Spells (25)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Lava Spike
- 4 Rift Bolt
- 4 Shard Volley
- 2 Searing Blaze
- 4 Bump in the Night
- 3 Faithless Looting
Sideboard
This also helps one of the problems decks like this have after they sideboard. In comes all these hate cards that water down the potency of the deck, so dealing lethal damage becomes a flight of fancy. Faithless Looting makes those hate cards easy pitch targets. Other cards I see myself pitching away depending on the situation would be lands, Hellspark Elemental, Dark Confidant, Grim Lavamancer, Rift Bolt, Goblin Guide, and Searing Blaze (depending on the deck). These cards are easily upgradable for the one-mana burn spells that kill your opponent that turn.
Whatever you decide to do this Modern season, make sure it’s proactive. People aren’t playing draw-go, they are playing spells that either win the game outright or cause a game state that puts them very far ahead. I have been enjoying the Modern format overall, and I look forward to participating in as many local tournaments and PTQs as I can.
I have been noticing a lot of stores in my local area have been trying to get monthly big prize Modern and Legacy tournaments going. I think it’s important for us as players to support these events. It’s nice having these events for the local scenes, but they won’t happen if we don’t support them. Be sure you make time to attend local events so the storeowners sponsoring the event are encouraged to continue to host them. It’s nice having tournaments with a large prize pool on a local level and not just PTQ or GP Trials. We don’t need to sit on rating, so there is no excuse not to attend! Also, advertising with word of mouth helps a great deal.
As always thanks for reading! I am looking forward to attending the local Dark Ascension Prereleases hope you do the same!