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One of the most important new innovations in Standard Red Deck is this little number from Core Set 2020:
It's no secret that Aaron Barich came out to win the first big Standard tournament of the new format. But what does this card mean for the aspiring fire god?
Deck Design
Mono-Red Aggro | Core Set 2020 Standard | Aaron Barich, 1st Place SCG Open Worcester
- Creatures (24)
- 4 Chandra's Spitfire
- 4 Ember Hauler
- 4 Fanatical Firebrand
- 4 Ghitu Lavarunner
- 4 Goblin Chainwhirler
- 4 Runaway Steam-Kin
- Instants (8)
- 4 Lightning Strike
- 4 Shock
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Skewer the Critics
- 4 Light Up the Stage
- Enchantments (1)
- 1 Experimental Frenzy
- Lands (20)
- 20 Mountain
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Fry
- 2 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
- 3 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
- 3 Experimental Frenzy
- 4 Lava Coil
Superficially, the deck trades in Viashino Pyromancer for Ember Hauler. Ember Hauler has a second point of toughness, which actually gives Aaron's Red Deck a slight edge in the mirror. But besides some flexibility in hitting small creatures, Ember Hauler is functionally a bit worse than the Viashino Wizard.
The 2/1 version "always gets his money" coming down, while Ember Hauler will sometimes be killed before it can ever swing or sacrifice for two. It's just worse in the dark.
But contextually, Ember Hauler is better because you can hold its activated ability back to line up a Chandra's Spitfire trigger when it is more strategic for you. (More on this in a sec.)
Cutting a Wizard changes the incentives to the deck's burn suite. Goodbye Wizard's Lightning. With the increased ability to hit the opponent on demand with Ember Hauler in addition to Fanatical Firebrand, Skewer the Critics gets much better. This is especially attractive during explosive Spitfire turns.
Spitfire Strategy
The macro incentive to the Barich build is the ability to just "go off" with Chandra's Spitfire. Pro Tour Champion Patrick Chapin recently equated this to adding Pyromancer's Ascension to your aggro deck.
Here is a totally plausible sequence:
Turn one: Mountain, Fanatical Firebrand
Turn two: Mountain, Ember Hauler
Turn three: Mountain, Chandra's Spitfire
If you attack with Fanatical Firebrand on turns one and two, your opponent is already a little bruised and bloodied come turn three. Let's assume the opponent has done something to brick wall your guys turn three, so you're working from 18.
If you use one mana and your Ember Hauler, your opponent will be down to 16.
Add the Firebrand and they are down to 15.
At this point, your Spitfire is already at 7 power!
How hard is it to do the other 8 damage?
If we stretch a little we can say one mana is a Skewer the Critics (opponent at 12; Spitfire to 10). Even a lowly Fanatical Firebrand will end the game at this point!
Now the Fanatical Firebrand / Ember Hauler / Chandra's Spitfire sequence is pretty good, obviously. But my point in bringing it up is just to say that now that this card is in your deck, it's up to you to look for spots where you can put together the combo-like sequences.
But there are other great things about this card!
It has pretty decent toughness. Not out of Lightning Strike range, maybe; but you're not going to get it swept by a Cry of the Carnarium. Even better, you are going to get some games where two Spitfires are going to link wings and fly, violently, into the opponent's burning face. Even more two-toughness resistant; even better!
Pick Your Spot
The different capabilities of the Chandra's Spitfire build encourage different play patterns.
Case in point:
At FNM last week I was in an interesting spot. Flooding out, with a basic Mountain in grip, I had a one turn window to throw my Fanatical Firebrand at the opponent and put my Chandra's Spitfire to 4 power.
With the opponent at six, this would have put him to one, and dead on board [to the remaining one-power Chandra's Spitfire].
I thought for a moment and chose just to attack for two. This also put him to dead on board, and probably conforms to more traditionally intuitive Red Deck play patterns.
I think my play was ultimately wrong.
The opponent played a pretty lame Mass Manipulation (for the Spitfire, of course), and I got in with the Firebrand for one. I ended up drawing several Mountains in a row, but one more Fanatical Firebrand before the bitter end.
Putting the opponent to one in a deck with, among other things, Fanatical Firebrand is just better than leaving him at, say, four.
You get a lot of leverage with your Chandra's Spitfire, but you have to take the action. This deck has a very definite bias for action. Burn spells can be essentially twice as damaging, and finding the right spot will pay you a ton for one - or in some cases-- even zero mana investments.
It's hard to give you a general rule here. But if I could, it would be something like:
You know, something like that.
Spitfire Tactics
Here's an interesting spot from an MTG Arena game:
Opponent:
One card in hand.
Four untapped Islands.
Heroes:
One card in hand (it's a Mountain)
Four untapped Mountains.
Four creatures:
I was at a healthy 18 but of course not happy with my rip.
The opponent kind of had to leave back his Tempest Djinn, despite a decent life total (11).
I sent with both of my 3-drops and left back my Fanatical Firebrands.
From my perspective the worst-case scenario is that his card is Dive Down.
If he blocks the Goblin Chainwhirler, he can Dive Down before damage. However making this play, he might take nine damage (which would put him dead to a staggering number of potential cards in my hand).
If he blocks the Chainwhirler and doesn't Dive Down properly, I can let first strike damage happen and basically whack his best card.
However he blocked the Spitfire. I of course hit him for one, which put Spitfire on 4 power. OF COURSE he ripped Dive Down and I had to use the other Firebrand! With both of us in topdeck mode, the Chainwhirler got there two turns later.
Chandra's Spitfire is a creature that is awesome at dealing a ton of damage, but doesn't necessarily fight that well. Goblin Chainwhirler is an amazing combat creature that has always combined well with tricky sidekicks like Fanatical Firebrand or Ember Hauler. When appearing together, they create not only interesting puzzles for the Red Deck player to fit together, but challenging forks for the opponent to try to navigate.
Also, take three.
Spitfire Sideboard
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Shifting Ceratops and Veil of Summer are both awesome Blue-hating sideboard cards. Shifting Ceratops isn't just a great way to push through permission, it one-shots Teferi (or Teferi) like it's nothing. Veil of Summer is a Counterspell without any Counterspell liability; and has the best extra text hate card can.
Red Decks can theoretically play these cards, but not without a little splash-work.
Like Green, our favorite color has picked up some Blue-hating cardboard in Core Set 2020...
This card lights up not only Lyra Dawnbringer but a variety of 4 toughness problem cards that have historically troubled the Red Deck, even when Experimental Frenzy is in play. Like Shifting Ceratops, Fry also fries the bejeezus out of Teferis various.
You heard it here first: Fry ain't enough.
Cerulean Drake is almost unbeatable for most Mono-Red players. It's a mana efficient foil to the Chandra's Spitfire we've been talking about all article. It's one of the most reliable carriers for Curious Obsession, like ever. And that's not all! Cerulean Drake is a great Planeswalker defender and can buy a ton of time for decks like Scapeshift or Omniscience to set up their inevitable end games.
No matter how many copies of Fry you have... Not one is going to get through a Cerulean Drake.
I'm not sure about certain polychromatic decks that might sidebaord Cerulean Drake...
... But creature-poor or straight Blue decks?
How about this guy?
Just a thought.
If you're willing to go to another color, I recommend Green. Not only do you have access to some of the aforementioned sideboard cards, but you might want to access options like...
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But how about Cerulean Drake defense?
The beauty of Kraul Harpooner is that it has some added flexibility in some other spots. Like, you can conceivably trade with an Angel. But straight up against the hated Cerulean Drake? There isn't much better than actually taking it out 187-style... while keeping your 3/2. Not bad, huh?
Whether you go Lightning Mare or Kraul Harpooner (or figure something even more niche out) just make sure you have an answer. That card is a killer. Or, at least, prevents you from killing them.
LOVE
MIKE
