Last week I wrote all about the Mono-Red deck I battled with at States, originally developed by Cedric Phillips. You can read
my article here
to get an overview of how the deck plays out, as well as the card choices.
After battling with the deck at States, I felt that my only bad matchup would be U/W Control. Luckily, a lot people (specifically Gerry Thompson and Patrick Chapin) were advocating U/R last week as a better alternative. This was great news for me, as I’d likely have to face off against much fewer Kor Firewalkers.
My friend Zach came over last Thursday night to draft again, but stayed with us the entire weekend to playtest, and also to figure out what deck we were going to play at the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Nashville.
Zach, Kali, and I all three decided to play similar lists of Mono-Red, but card availability was going to be a problem. Zach was already set on buying the entire deck at the event site, since the two of us were already going to need entire decks. My friend Mike (who I played against in round 4 of States last week) told me I could borrow his Mono-Red deck, so I was pretty much set. After figuring out most of our decklist, we pondered the last few slots. Zach had been battling a bit on Magic Online with the deck and had tried out a few strange options (namely Shatter), but I was just not convinced they were necessary.
One of the biggest changes we made was adding the 26th land. The deck is insanely mana hungry, often using Koth of the Hammer as a glorified Seething Song, so I felt like getting mana-screwed was one of the few ways I could lose. On top of this, you always wanted to hit lands with Plated Geopede, as well as hit your fourth land for Koth of the Hammer and Molten-Tail Masticore. It didn’t take much to convince me, as I love adding a land to just about every deck I play.
For what it’s worth, Cedric was right. Spikeshot Elder is very good, and not just against aggro decks. Compare him to Magus of the Scroll, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. While he “just” beats for one, he allows you to use your mana to great effect later in the game. I used him and Koth along with Teetering Peaks for a staggering amount of damage on multiple occasions during testing, as well as during the actual event. On top of that, he keeps you from having to overcommit to the board, providing a huge threat when you have a decent amount of mana. The deck really needed another one-drop as well, and he fits in just fine.
After battling with the deck a lot, as well as watching Zach play countless matches, here is the list Kali and I decided upon, while Zach differed on a few sideboard choices:
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (10)
Sideboard
After the results from States last week, I knew the big decks would include all forms of Ramp, U/x Control, Mono-Red, and a plethora of random strategies. I built my sideboard accordingly, but still couldn’t figure out a good way to handle U/W Control. Luckily, it ended up not being that popular, and I only had to play against it once in the StarCityGames.com Open.
After waking up at 4 a.m., we showered, dressed, and headed out the door for the three-hour trek to Nashville. Guess who had to drive!? After arriving at the event site with an hour to spare, we finalized our decklists, got the remainder of the needed cards, and sat down for battle.
Round 1 against Dave Spears playing Mono-Red
Dave is an old friend who used to live with WillCruseBot a while back, but now resides in Nashville. He’s a great guy who used to crush the VS System circuit, and only plays Magic semi-regularly now. Unfortunately game 1 wasn’t much of a game since he mulliganed to four, and I played a Koth while he only had one land in play.
The second game I kept a hand full of removal, but it seemed as if he had sided out most of his creatures. I killed his Dragonlord with a Flame Slash, but then had to use two Arc Trails to kill his Koth, my hand containing only a Flame Slash and more lands. Awkwardly, I had to target myself for one damage both times, but it was necessary to keep Koth from smashing my brains in. Dave had thirteen points of burn for the rest of my life total after that.
The rubber game found me landing a Masticore after he burned a few of my early threats. He used Mark of Mutiny to send me to nine, used a Lightning Bolt to send me to six, but didn’t topdeck the last Mark of Mutiny or burn spell to keep the Masticore from murdering him.
1-0
Round 2 against David playing White Weenie
This matchup was actually abysmal, and I don’t know if there was anything I could do. In the first game, he played a few dorks early on, but I killed them while laying a Dragonlord for pressure. He played a Quest for the Holy Relic on the third turn and began triggering it. I kept most of his guys off the table, and he only had one card in hand with three counters on the Quest. I couldn’t draw a fourth land to save my life, but I kept drawing burn for his small guys to keep quest targets at a minimum.
Unfortunately, he untapped and cast two creatures, triggering his Quest, and putting Argentum Armor into play. This is awkward for a red deck, because the Quest doesn’t choose a target. You literally have to kill every single creature in play in order for it not to attach to something, which I couldn’t do. I did kill the only creature that could attack in order to keep from getting Vindicated. I drew the fourth land the next turn and cast Koth and Masticore. He chose to attack and kill Koth, but the Armor destroyed the Masticore and any hopes I had of winning.
Game 2 he played Quest for the Holy Relic on the first turn, followed by a few free artifact creatures and a few Glint Hawks on the second turn. This threatened to trigger the Quest immediately, but he chose to wait. The cat was out of the bag when he showed me a Kor Firewalker and attached the Argentum Armor to it on the third turn. Wom wom.
1-1
Round 3 against Danielle playing G/W Fauna Shaman
Danielle was very quiet but seemed reasonably competent. Unfortunately, Spikeshot Elder showed up in multiples both games to murder her Birds and Lotus Cobras. I even got to use Teetering Peaks on the Spikeshot Elder to kill a Fauna Shaman. While she played a lot of creatures, they were no match for my miniature Machine Gun backed by Koth and Masticore.
Game 2 was much of the same with me having Spikeshot Elder on the first turn against, but she never drew her Kor Firewalkers, and I kept killing her Fauna Shamans.
2-1
Round 4 against Andrew Shrout playing Pyromancer Ascension (Feature Match)
Andrew is a very strong player and battled my wife twice last year in the last Nashville SCG Standard Open. She beat him both times they played, which he lamented multiple times.
Game 1 was a pretty one-sided blowout, since he didn’t have a Mana Leak for Masticore, and he was mopped up quite easily after Goblin Guide and friends got in a lot of damage.
Game 2 he killed a lot of my creatures, and then killed me with a stupid turtle (Calcite Snapper). It’s difficult for me to beat three Pyroclasms along with multiple Burst Lightnings and Lightning Bolts.
Game 3 was quite possibly the most embarrassing misplay of my career. When I landed a Masticore with two mana untapped, I didn’t think I could lose. He tanked at the end of that turn, and I figured he was contemplating using two burn spells to tap me out to regenerate. This allowed me to firmly believe that his hand contained two burn spells, but not three.
He opted out of this and just untapped. I saw the agony in his face when he missed his sixth land drop, and I was positive he also had Frost Titan. I attacked with Masticore into a Calcite Snapper, and he opted to block so I just passed turn representing lethal on board. He used a Bolt during my end step on the Masticore. I pondered, and vastly overthought the situation, assuming he was about to Bolt my guy again to tap down more of my mana. I said “that resolves,” immediately realizing that my Masticore had a damage on it from the Calcite Snapper. This misplay almost tilted me, but he didn’t have a Mana Leak for the second Masticore in my hand, which eventually killed him. Needless to say, I felt really stupid.
After the match Andrew exclaimed, “I’m 0-3 lifetime against The Andersons!”
3-1
Round 5 against Frank playing Poison
Game 1 he kept a sketchy opener containing only one land, but lamented that if he’d drawn another land early enough, I was surely dead. I killed his few 1/1s when he drew a second land and proceeded to overrun him.
Game 2 he killed me on turn 5 with a pair of Giant Growths on an infect guy after casting Carrion Call.
Game 3 he was able to get me to nine poison counters with double Groundswell, but had miscalculated his mana and thought he’d be able to kill me. His alpha strike was short by one, and it cost him the game and match.
4-1
Round 6 against Josh Duke playing U/B Control
Game 1 was pretty one-sided, with me playing out multiple threats while he tried to deal with them. Goblin Guide got in for some damage, while some burn spells finished him off.
Game 2 was pretty much the same, but I had a very difficult option of using Brittle Effigy on either Vampire Nighthawk or Wurmcoil Engine while he had no cards in hand, and I had an 8/8 Dragonlord. I opted to give him only one turn to topdeck an answer. I killed the Nighthawk and smashed in for nine with the Dragonlord. He attacked me for six with his Engine, sending him to twelve, but his Gatekeeper of Malakir was only able to kill my Spikeshot Elder, and he was dead on board with no hand.
5-1
Round 7 against Felix Adam playing Mono-Green Aliens
Game 1 I lost the roll and kept a hand without removal, but it was solid with double Geopede, Dragonlord, Masticore, and three lands (two fetchlands). However, he had his nut-draw start with Joraga Treespeaker, leveling into a turn 2 Everflowing Chalice for one, and followed with a Summoning Trap on the third turn for Primeval Titan. This gave him plenty of blockers via Khalni Gardens to stifle my attack, and I couldn’t do much after that.
Game 2 I just rolled him with dorks and used Flame Slash to take out his early blockers and mana producers.
Game 3 was so sick, and I didn’t think I could lose it at any point. I opened with Goblin Guide and Plated Geopede while he played Overgrown Battlement and a turn 3 Obstinate Baloth. I opted to Flame Slash the Baloth and crash with my team, sending him down to fifteen. This allowed him to play a Chalice for two on his turn, setting up six mana for something even if I killed his Battlement. I played Koth, sent in with a 4/4 land, 5/5 Geopede, a Tunnel Ignus, and a Goblin Guide. He took eight damage, chumping the Geopede, sending him down to seven.
The next turn he passed without play, and I wasn’t sure exactly what he could Trap into to stay alive. I cast another Tunnel Ignus before attacking, and he Trapped into Platinum Emperion. Luckily I had Mark of Mutiny in hand to steal it next turn for lethal. He passed again, and I assumed he had another trap, or was possibly just going to use his Mystifying Maze. I stole his Emperion with Mark of Mutiny, attacked for lethal, but he had another Trap into another Platinum Emperion, which spelled “D-O-O-M.” I had no outs at this point, but continued to play it out in case he made some brutal mistake. He didn’t and I died in a few swings from large monsters.
5-2
Round 8 against Pyromancer Ascension
Game 1 he didn’t play much while I crushed him with Goblin Guide and Koth, as well as a flurry of burn spells.
Game 2 he landed an Ascension and got it active before I could kill him. He used a Bolt on my 3/3 Geopede, so I just sacrificed a fetchland to pump it to a 5/5. This allowed him to cast Trapmaker’s Snare (twice) for two free Archive Traps, which copied, milling me for 52 cards. Wom wom.
Game 3 was a dance between me playing around counterspells and trying to bait him into tapping out. I got him down to two and landed a Plated Geopede. He decided to go all in on Pyromancer Ascension and Pyroclasm. I used Burst Lightning on my upkeep with four mana untapped, him having only Scalding Tarn up.
6-2
Round 9 against Brian Davidette playing U/W Control
My Bane! Or so I thought. In the first game he countered a few of my early threats, but I landed a Masticore as well as a few other creatures. He played Linvala and Baneslayer Angel, giving me one turn to topdeck Flame Slash. I did, killed his Linvala, and using Molten-Tail Masticore to end his life. He wasn’t happy.
Game 2 he used Oust, Condemn, Celestial Purge, and Day of Judgment to wipe my entire team. He also had Gideon to make things even worse, and I was dead shortly after.
Game 3 I played a Goblin Guide which dealt eight damage, as well as a few copies of Brittle Effigy. After he dealt with all of my cards, we stared at each other for about six turns of draw-go while I drew all lands. He was sitting at twelve while I was at a very healthy life total. I ended up using most of my resources to kill Gideon earlier, but he had no threats. He used a Preordain to draw into a Day of Judgment to deal with my 8/8 Kargan Dragonlord that threatened lethal, and we played the waiting game for a few more turns. I eventually drew a Molten-Tail Masticore with twelve mana in play, threatening to end the game on the spot. He didn’t have an answer and promptly died.
I was pretty sure I would jump into the Top 16 after that win, since I was sitting around 20th place before the round had begun, but I ended up 17th and only $50 richer for my efforts. After paying my entry fee and having to buy a Molten-Tail Masticore, I was just breaking even. Kali ended up 7-2 as well, snagging $50 in the process, losing only to our friend Zach in a feature match, as well as a White Weenie deck in round 2. It was heartbreaking.
Zach started off 5-0, losing in the sixth round due to a game loss for showing up late because he’s got some major ADD. After starting 6-1, he ended up losing the last two rounds to miss Top 32 at 6-3. A great start but a mediocre finish.
Overall the deck performed wonderfully. There would only be a few minor changes I would make to the deck for the upcoming StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Charlotte. For one, I wanted just a few more creatures in the deck. I just recently fell in love with Ember Hauler, so I tried adding him to the deck. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Here is the updated list I’ll be battling with on Magic Online over the next few weeks:
Creatures (22)
- 4 Goblin Guide
- 4 Plated Geopede
- 4 Kargan Dragonlord
- 2 Ember Hauler
- 4 Molten-Tail Masticore
- 4 Spikeshot Elder
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (8)
Sideboard
Manic Vandal is great against a variety of decks, but you really need to stop Argentum Armor. Often they’ll have to put it onto a creature with summoning sickness, so you’ll be able to untap and kill it. Most of their creatures are 2/2s, so you get a body to trade as well.
The Ember Haulers are great at acting like a removal spell, but can also just turn sideways against control decks. He’s a great addition to the deck, and more might eventually make the cut. Expect to see the stock of this guy rise in the coming months, since the format’s aggressive creatures are almost all vulnerable to it, and you always want versatile creatures that are good against both aggro and control. Goblin Legionnaire was no slouch, and this guy mimics him quite well.
Thanks for reading.
Todd
strong sad on MOL