Overview

Hello and welcome back to another edition of "Cube Stuff Inc." Today we are discussing the only Archetype that comes with its own theme song. Red is fast, aggressive, efficient, and the Red Deck Wins "RDW" Archetype is the ideal embodiment of those principles. As the name implies, it's a Mono-Red deck that can synergize with other colors like White and Black depending on where you support Aggro. Overall, its synergy with other Archetypes is relatively low due to its linear design. That being said, Red based removal like Lightning Bolt is usually welcomed inclusion into any deck already running that color, and with some intentional design choices it has the opportunity to synergize with Token and Sacrifice based Archetypes.

Count to 20

RDW has one mission, to end the game as quickly as possible. By assembling a deck full of cheap, efficient creatures and damage based removal, it will ideally win the game before a Combo or Control player can set up their game plan. It will even play cards with an inherent downside, like the ones previewed above, if it achieves the overall strategy of reducing your opponent's life total to 0. The primary weakness of this deck is its linear nature. It will run out of resources quickly, and often lose the game if they ever find themselves on the backfoot. The strengths of this Archetype has to do with its consistency. Because your deck is so linear you rarely need to worry about what your opponent is doing, and simply need to focus on executing your strategy.

RDW's strength has three additional benefits worth noting. Firstly, it's highly approachable for new players, the cards are straight forward and don't require a high level of mechanical understanding. Secondly, it's affordable. If you are building your first Cube, you can include an efficient RDW Archetype almost entirely out of cards worth less than 50 cents. Lastly, and somewhat humorously, RDW is good for your player's mental health and the timing of your games. I am not ashamed to admit that I have shown up to a draft after a very long day and forced RDW because my brain was mashed potatoes and incapable of running my usual Midrange nonsense. In my playgroup, we refer to RDW and its other Aggro counterparts as the "Snack Bracket" because win or lose the game will be over quickly and both players can step away from the table to grab some food.

Popular Variations

If you love RDW but want it to have slightly more depth than simply dropping your hand into play and hoping for the best, consider skewing your card selection into one of these directions.

Big Red has the same idea as your typical RDW deck, but it leverages powerful late game cards to deal that damage in big chunks rather than several small ones. With a sweet spot of 5 or more mana, you will need to leverage colorless ramp like Everflowing Chalice to play cards like Inferno Titan before your opponents can set up.

A go-wide Token Strategy synergizes with several other colors, and has incredibly efficient support thanks to cards like Young Pyromancer and Imodane's Recruiter. This variation also synergizes with several sacrifice themes thanks to the power of cards like Goblin Bombardment that can allow you to sacrifice a board of tokens for massive damage to finish the game.

Lastly, if you like RDW as is but you simply want to spice it up, consider focusing on effects that exile cards off the top of your own library. From Light Up the Stage to Bonehoard Dracosaur these effects allow you to churn through your deck faster and increase the likelihood that you will reach the critical mass needed to end the game on time.

Closing Thoughts

RDW is one of the easiest Archetypes to support in any Cube, and realistically will exist in your Cube unless you intentionally build away from it. The more important thing to ask yourself as a Cube designer is how you want it to show up and if it is doing its job. As mentioned before several of the damage based removal cards will be valuable in any deck running Red. If you find that your RDW decks aren't showing up because other players are taking the pieces, consider running linear cards like Koth of the Hammer or Fireblast that are at their best in Mono-Red.

Another point to address is the diversity of board wipes and removal in your Cube. Most RDW decks will have a hard time recovering against a Wrath of God, so be intentional about which board wipes you include in your cube. Farewell hits more things than just creatures but it takes more mana to cast. Toxic Deluge costs less mana but also requires you to lose life to cast it. If White and Black run every piece of one-mana removal ever printed, it will be hard for your RDW to get on board in the first place.

Lastly, the choice in your mana fixing can make a big difference in how functional RDW is in your Cube. Take the three lands pictured above. The difference in how they impact a players life total cannot be overstated. The difference between counting to 17 vs counting to 20 is huge, not to mention lands that come into play tapped can force less aggressive decks to play a turn behind, giving the RDW Archetype the upperhand.

If you do want to support a RDW Archetype in your Cube, don't overthink it. Simply grab your favorite Red cards and go wild. If you do need a little help consider taking a peak at these sleeper hits that often get overlooked. As always, I can be reached on Instagram with comments and questions. Until next time, Happy Drafting!

Adam's Red Sleepers