Modern Masters has been officially released, and the all-reprint set has made it easier to get your hands on some of the staples of the format. Today, I'll be looking at a budget build of Red Deck Wins that takes advantage of some of these cards. Here's the list I've put together.

"Red Deck Wins"

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Figure of Destiny
• 2 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Goblin Guide
• 4 Hellspark Elemental
• 4 Spark Elemental

• Spells (24)
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Searing Blaze
• 4 Shard Volley
• 4 Skullcrack
• 4 Lava Spike
• 4 Rift Bolt

• Lands (20)
• 16 Mountain
• 4 Teetering Peaks

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Smash to Smithereens
• 4 Torpor Orb
• 4 Faerie Macabre
• 3 Flamebreak

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The Creatures

Spark Elemental will usually deal 3 damage to your opponent for 1 mana, which is this deck's bread and butter. Since most of your spells deal 3 damage, casting six of them should win you the game—or seven if your opponent hasn't used any fetch or shock lands. And since quite a few of those spells cost only 1 mana, you can make that happen as early as turn three.

Hellspark Elemental costs twice as much mana as Spark Elemental, but it also gives you the option of unearthing it later for another 3 damage. That gives you a bit of extra reach later in the game if you start running out of spells.

Figure of Destiny isn't particularly impressive at first, but it is a powerful last resort if everything else fails. If your opponent still isn't dead later in the game, it's likely that you drew a lot of lands, in which case Figure of Destiny can come to the rescue as an 8/8 with flying and first strike.

Teetering Peaks gives you an extra 2 damage without taking up a spell slot. It's particularly effective with Spark and Hellspark Elemental. No one wants to block a 5/1 that's just going to die at the end of the turn anyway, and even if your opponent decides that avoiding a Lava Axe to the face is worth it, he'll probably still take some damage from trample.

The Burn

You should never be bolting creatures anyway, so Lava Spike's only real drawback is that it's a sorcery. If only the other Bolts were so easy.

Rift Bolt is also a sorcery, but it adds in the additional drawback of making you wait a turn to cast it. Usually, that's not too difficult to handle, but if you draw that instead of another Bolt on your kill turn, it can feel a bit disappointing to have to wait a whole turn for your opponent to die.

Shard Volley requires you to sacrifice a land to cast it, but when you're killing your opponent that turn, sacrificing a land isn't a big deal.

Searing Blaze is a bit tricky. It requires you to have played a land on the turn you cast it, and it requires your opponent to have a creature on the battlefield. Fortunately, the second condition isn't difficult in the current state of the format. If you can cast it after playing a land, you are able to kill a creature in addition to the crucial 3 damage, slowing down your opponent and making it easier for you to attack with your creatures.

Skullcrack is a great upgrade to Incinerate, a longtime staple of the deck. It stops your opponent from gaining life for a turn, which essentially functions as even more damage. If you cast this in response to your opponent's Kitchen Finks, you're effectively hitting him for 5 with this one 2-mana card.

The Sideboard

Torpor Orb shuts down combos with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and also stops combo decks using Melira, Sylvok Outcast from gaining infinite life or dealing infinite damage with persist creatures. It does cost you 2 mana, but it's so enormously effective at what it does that it's more than worth it.

Smash to Smithereens is among my favorite sideboard cards of all time. In a deck like this one, it allows you to remove a card such as Skullcrack and substitute one that's better in every way for the deck you're playing against. It doesn't slow down your own game plan the slightest bit, yet it can still cause major problems for your opponent.

Flamebreak can be an absolute blowout when fighting an aggressive creature deck. Although it costs 3 mana, you still get your 3 damage out of it, and it will often kill three or four creatures on your opponent's side of the battlefield. Although Flamebreak is much better against your basic aggro decks such as Zoo, feel free to substitute Volcanic Fallout if you're facing a lot of fast decks using Delver of Secrets or other flying creatures.

Playtesting

Spirit Jund – Game 1

I drew a Mountain, played it, and cast Hellspark Elemental. I attacked with both creatures, giving my opponent a land, and ended my turn. My opponent played Blackcleave Cliffs, cast Deathrite Shaman, and passed the turn.

I drew Rift Bolt, played my land, and unearthed Hellspark Elemental. I attacked for 5, giving my opponent a Forest. He cast Lightning Bolt to kill Goblin Guide and dropped to 9.

I cast Shard Volley, sacrificing a land to kill Deathrite Shaman and prevent my opponent from gaining life and from turning off my Grim Lavamancer. My opponent played a Forest and cast Kitchen Finks, gaining 2 life.

I drew Shard Volley, suspended a Rift Bolt, and cast Grim Lavamancer. I passed the turn. My opponent cast Liliana of the Veil, made me sacrifice the Lavamancer, and played a Treetop Village. He hit me for 3 with Kitchen Finks and passed the turn.

I dropped him to 8 with Rift Bolt and then drew a Mountain, played it, and passed the turn. My opponent used Liliana's +1, and I cast Skullcrack and Shard Volley in response, dropping him to 2. He discarded Thoughtseize and then cast Deathrite Shaman and attacked with Kitchen Finks. He ended his turn.

I drew Lava Spike and killed him.

Game 2

My opponent played a tapped Stomping Ground and cast Thoughtseize, grabbing Hellspark Elemental. I drew Spark Elemental, cast it, and pumped it with Teetering Peaks. I dropped my opponent to 10 and passed the turn.

My opponent played Treetop Village and cast Tarmogoyf, currently a 2/3. I drew a Mountain, unearthed Hellspark Elemental, and pumped it with Teetering Peaks. I attacked, and my opponent blocked with Tarmogoyf, taking 2. I passed the turn.

My opponent cast Lingering Souls and passed back. I drew Searing Blaze, played my land, and cast it, killing a Spirit and dropping my opponent to 5. I ended my turn.

My opponent played another Treetop Village, flashed back Lingering Souls, and passed the turn. I cast Skullcrack during his end step and then killed him with Shard Volley on my turn.

Wrap-Up

Although this deck becomes less effective the more copies of cards like Deathrite Shaman and Kitchen Finks your opponent has, it can deal a lot of damage very quickly, and you can expect to win by turn five in most cases. In addition, this sort of strategy will often make many of your opponent's cards nearly useless. Thoughtseize essentially just allows your opponent to gain 1 life by taking something that deals 3 damage, and Dark Confidant hurts a lot more than it helps. Even simple shock lands will always enter the battlefield tapped if your opponent is smart. Although decks like this are very easily hated out, you can do very well as long as your opponents aren't prepared with sideboard cards such as Dragon's Claw or Heroes' Reunion. If you like making your opponent stress about his life total, knowing he could die at any second, give this deck a try.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @MTGCannon, or simply leave a comment below.