Gimme A Break

I get it.

Mythics are flashy and rares are exciting. The best new cards in the set often feature an orange or gold expansion symbol, and that’s how we’ve been
trained to think. “Go and get these chase rares today, kids, because they’re gonna skyrocket once people realize how good they are!” Furiously
people will rip open new booster packs and review the cards backwards, snagging the basic land and the last couple cards to see what shiny new gem they
opened. Many times I’ve seen the rest of the pack discarded on the table or worse: the trash. I’m here to challenge that notion that the most exciting
cards come from the back of the pack. For the next few weeks, we’re going to be looking at those not-so-special cards from Fate Reforged that have opened
up a trove of possibilities.

The first card we find is an uncommon; while not rare, it’s still not easy to trade or open four of them, so they’re a nice medium point. This one, despite
its powerful ability and low mana cost, has not graced even a single decklist or strategy article I’ve seen since Fate Reforged dropped three weeks ago.
Gimme a break.

So here’s a cute enchantment. With a small investment, you can sneak creatures through and give them a hasty boost the moment they come in. Seems pretty
neat, right? I thought so, anyway. So why has this gotten no press?

Well, to be honest, this is not a flashy card. I bet more than a few of you didn’t even know this card existed, despite potentially opening one in a
Prerelease event. I didn’t remember it in the spoiler either, but I slotted in a single copy during my first Prerelease, and I’ll tell you what: it did not fail to impress.

This is a really powerful ability, and even as I crashed through with small critters turn after turn with minimal effort, my mind raced for Standard
applications for this strong, yet utilitarian diamond in the rough. Thankfully, I didn’t have to look far.

Mono-Red Sligh-style decks featured large quantities of creatures that fit the criteria demanded to be included with this enchantment: low power and a
reason to give it haste. Goblin Rabblemaster, who seemed tailor-made for this enchantment, was my first thought. Mono-Red had lots more choices, but the
thing that attracted me most to incorporating this enchantment into this strategy was that Mono-Red really needs this.

If you’re a Mono-Red player, you’ve seen this movie: it’s turn 8, your opponent is at five life, and you’re just hoping to rip burn spells because they’ve
got armies of Courser of Kruphix, Siege Rhinos, or Hornet Queen tokens blocking even the most ambitious red creature. Oh, you’ve ripped a random vanilla
2/2. Goodie. Cast it, pass, hope they stupidly attack with everything and you peel a Lightning Strike for the post-combat kill.

Being Mono-Red is pretty miserable in the midrange matchup; if you can’t seal the deal by turn 4, you might as well scoop it up, because your burn is too
far and few between to reliably finish the job. Break Through the Line makes all your turn 1 drops very good turn 9 drops, thanks for their ability to
sneak past an infinite wall and deal damage the turn they come in. In essence, every creature is now a burn spell.

With the proliferation of lists that play big blockers to confound today’s red decks, this card is perfectly poised as a maindeck option against a large
portion of the field. Let’s find some complementary creatures that fit the enchantment’s requirements and start building.

Mono-Red Aggro

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 02-10-2015

Standard

Creatures (20)

Lands (22)

18 Mountain
4 Temple of Triumph

Spells (18)

Sideboard

~Gimme a break / Gimme a break

~ Break me off a piece of that life to-tal

That’s my rallying cry. I’m a bit of a chocoholic, so reaching for a candy bar out of a flimsy, nebulous prompt is par for the course for me.

While typical Mono-Red lists feature the same stable of creatures and litany of spells, there are some deviations here that bear mentioning.

Creatures

Foundry Street Denizen has fallen out of favor due to the midrange-centered decks of today’s Standard. It requires overcommitment to be anything more than
a 1/1, and it’s generally the worst creature in your deck. Here though, that power can be put to good use. You can grant it evasion with a Break Through
the Line, then you can cast or create any number of red creatures and your damage will go through in all its glory. A 5/1 unblockable is much better than a
5/1 that can get chumped.

I know, next level stuff.

Monastery Swiftspear fit well with the more spell-intensive version of Mono-Red, though it admittedly already had half of Break Through the Line’s ability.
Firedrinker Satyr, like the Denizen, can be snuck through by activating Break first and then pumping as needed. Firedrinker Satyr has typically been a bad
card against decks that block, so this gives the Satyr new life, allowing it to deal the finishing blow late in the game too. Eidolon of the Great Revel is
a good standby for me, and I almost always prefer to maindeck it in Mono-Red strategies. Here, it in combination with Break Through the Line means you
don’t have to cast more spells to win; the unblockable Eidolon applies pressure all on its own.

Goblin Rabblemaster, the crown jewel of this deck, is just bonkers with Break Through the Line. Improving on its current status of “topdeck of the
year,” Goblin Rabblemaster can come down, gain haste and unblockability, and attack for obscene amounts of damage out of nowhere. Naturally, Foundry Street
Denizen benefits the Rabblemaster as the Rabblemaster benefits the Denizen through mutual power increases.

Spells

Titan’s Strength was another way to leverage the fact that you’re getting in seemingly small, unblockable damage. Any creature that wasn’t blocked could
quickly present lethal with a couple Titan’s Strength. Stoke the Flames…well, that card is just always good. I mean, when are you ever sad to draw that
card? …Oh, when you need a blocker, you say? What are you doing blocking with a red deck? Die with honor!

So I included a whole set of Break Through the Line. I know, they’re useless in multiples, but did you notice how every creature I mentioned was
better with it? And how about the maindeck enchantment hate these days? Between the deck’s dependence on the enchantment and the potential for its removal,
I felt fine with including a whole set.

Hordeling Outburst provides a prowess trigger, Goblins for the Rabblemaster, and even they can Break Through the Line. Six mana means you can cast
and swing with the Goblins right away. Gettin’ real close to Spectral Procession.

Wild Slash was admittedly a probationary inclusion, but with the deck’s potential for mana constriction, I eschewed Lightning Strike for the diet version.
With all the power-pumping, I might occasionally be able to smash through a Gods Willing too.

The sideboard offered options to slow the deck down with a full set of Fated Conflagration and two extra lands. Extra copies of my three-card sets in the
maindeck plus a couple lategame value generators like Outpost Siege and Chandra, Pyromaster rounded us out.

Time to put it through its paces.

…

Eh, not bad.

After about five test matches with this version, I realized that there were some glaring oversights in card choices and some poor synergies that left me
hurting. And no, I didn’t draw too many Break Through the Line.

Monastery Swiftspear was pretty unexciting in this deck, and the potential for a huge Monk was low. Similarly, Titan’s Strength was unreliable and often
had to play “one-for-two” duty with me trading a one-drop and a Strength to deal with a Siege Rhino or Courser of Kruphix. Without heroic creatures,
Titan’s Strength also gets much worse. It’s really not an auto-include for Mono-Red, but I assumed it was. Wild Slash was really weak, providing
no kills of either creature or player, and was often relegated to helping a Swiftspear trade into a four-toughness creature. I also logged no ferocious
Wild Slashes, so we’ll just shelve that spell. While I’d kept my Hordeling Outburst down to three due to mana concerns, I always had enough to cast it, and
I found I wanted to draw it against non-Bile Blight decks as much as possible. The sideboard was pretty strong, and having more lands to sub in was a
pleasant addition, allowing a somewhat transformation change for game 2.

More than any other deck in recent memory, the bad cards jumped out at me right away, and the cuts were easy. Now, what to replace them with?

This seemed like a fine replacement for the Swiftspear. It could always get unblockability, unlike its usually superior counterpart War-Name Aspirant, and
in that case, it would always hit as hard as if it had raided. Lightning Strike seemed like the right place to be; it hit as hard as Titan’s Strength, but
it could be removal and didn’t require a creature! Considering Wild Slash was actually terrible, I slotted them out for the fourth Outburst and two Outpost
Siege.

Have you played with this card? I put it pretty far down the list in my original Siege analysis, but it’s really proven its mettle. In hindsight, I
should have ranked the Sieges as green, red, blue, white, then black from best to worst. But back to Outpost Siege; this card is outstanding. Chandra,
Pyromaster can do the Khans mode, but Chandra can die to combat damage, burn, and Phyrexian Revoker, while this enchantment can’t. Even so, the Dragons
mode gives you inevitability after overextending into your multiple Foundry Street Denizen hand. There’s never a wrong choice with this enchantment.

The 22-land count with four Temples felt perfect pre- and post-board. No change needed.

Here we go!

Mono-Red Aggro

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 02-10-2015

Standard