Hello everyone. I've hit the homestretch of my series of articles looking at decks featuring variations of a single color. This week I have some great looking Red decks to show you, so let's get started.
Mono-Red Aggro
I always begin with a Mono-colored deck, and this time it's a Mono-Red aggressive deck. Let's take a look at the deck list and then I'll talk about a few of my favorite cards.
Mono-Red Aggro | FDN Standard | MTG_Joe, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (24)
- 4 Emberheart Challenger
- 4 Heartfire Hero
- 4 Hired Claw
- 4 Manifold Mouse
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Screaming Nemesis
- Instants (15)
- 3 Witchstalker Frenzy
- 4 Burst Lightning
- 4 Lightning Strike
- 4 Monstrous Rage
- Lands (21)
- 17 Mountain
- 4 Rockface Village
I find Screaming Nemesis to be one of the most annoying cards currently in Standard. If your opponent doesn't have a spell that simply destroys or exiles this Spirit, and they must rely on killing it with direct damage or during combat, they're in for a world of hurt. Whenever Screaming Nemesis is dealt damage, it will deal the same amount of damage to any other target, and if you target the other player, they will be unable to gain life for the rest of the game. Against some decks, this can be crippling, but even if a deck isn't depending on gaining life, it's still a source of direct damage straight to your opponent's life total.
This is the epitome of a Red aggressive deck. Use your creatures to attack often, boosting their stats with Monstrous Rage and the Monstrous Role token that it creates. Cast other direct damage spells like Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike toward your opponent or their creatures and gain the benefit of having prowess on Monastery Swiftspear. Give one of your Mouse creatures double strike or trample with the ability granted by Manifold Mouse. By combining all of these things together, you'll have dealt 20 points of damage to your opponent in no time.
Boros Arabella Drain
Next, we'll take a look at a deck featuring one of the most successful and creepiest horror tropes created, the haunted doll. Let's check out the deck.
Boros Arabella Drain | FDN Standard | SwayzeMTG, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (19)
- 3 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
- 4 Arabella, Abandoned Doll
- 4 Novice Inspector
- 4 Searslicer Goblin
- 4 Warden of the Inner Sky
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Hop to It
- 4 Gleeful Demolition
- Enchantments (12)
- 4 Dollmaker's Shop // Porcelain Gallery
- 4 Sheltered by Ghosts
- 4 Warleader's Call
- Lands (22)
- 5 Mountain
- 5 Plains
- 2 Fabled Passage
- 2 Restless Bivouac
- 4 Battlefield Forge
- 4 Inspiring Vantage
Arabella, Abandoned Doll is the star of this deck. Even though she is small in stature, she can do some amazing things. While only having 1 power, when she attacks, she can deal much more damage than that to your opponent. For each creature you control that has 2 power or less, she will deal 1 point of damage to your opponent and gain you 1 point of life when she attacks. Since there's a full playset of Arabella in this deck, you should usually always attack with her for this benefit, even if she's likely to get destroyed.
There are a lot of ways to get massive value from Arabella's ability, since every creature in this deck begins with 2 power or less (although some can grow considerably larger as the game progresses). Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon will create 1/1 Gnome creature tokens for you. Searslicer Goblin creates 1/1 Goblin creature tokens. You'll even have some 1/1 Rabbit creature tokens working for you when you cast Hop to It. As you increase the number of small creatures you have in play, you'll reach a point where you can unlock Porcelain Gallery, making those small creatures into massive threats.
Izzet Thousand-Year Storm
Moving from a deck that's filled with small creatures to a deck that has only one, let's take a look at an Izzet deck that focuses more on instant and sorcery spells.
Izzet Thousand-Year Storm | FDN Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (1)
- 1 Grabby Giant
- Instants (18)
- 2 Into the Flood Maw
- 4 Burst Lightning
- 4 Flick a Coin
- 4 Opt
- 4 Shock
- Sorceries (13)
- 2 Sleight of Hand
- 3 Brass's Bounty
- 4 Ill-Timed Explosion
- 4 Seize the Spoils
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Thousand-Year Storm
- Lands (24)
- 4 Island
- 4 Mountain
- 4 Shivan Reef
- 4 Spirebluff Canal
- 4 Temple of Epiphany
- 4 Thundering Falls
Thousand-Year Storm creates copies of an instant or sorcery spell you've just cast a number of times equal to the number of other instant and sorcery spells you've cast previously this turn. It's the engine that this deck was built upon. While you have this enchantment in play, your end goal will be to deal as much damage directly to your opponent as possible in a single turn.
It's important to play a land card every turn. You'll also want to cast spells like Brass's Bounty and Flick a Coin, as these spells will provide you with Treasure tokens. You want to be able to build up enough mana sources that you can eventually cast multiple spells that have a mana value of 1 in a single turn. By casting spells like Opt and Sleight of Hand at the beginning of your turn, and following them up with Shock and Burst Lightning, you'll be able to create extra copies of these direct damage spells that you can use to bring your opponent's life total to zero.
Rakdos Vampires
The next deck I have for you features the Vampire creature type. Let's take a look at the deck.
Rakdos Vampires | FDN Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (28)
- 2 Kalastria Highborn
- 2 Vraan, Executioner Thane
- 4 Ichor Drinker
- 4 Immersturm Predator
- 4 Markov Baron
- 4 Preacher of the Schism
- 4 Stromkirk Noble
- 4 Vengeful Bloodwitch
- Instants (5)
- 2 Bitter Triumph
- 3 Cut Down
- Sorceries (2)
- 2 Brotherhood's End
- Enchantments (2)
- 2 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
- Lands (24)
- 3 Mountain
- 7 Swamp
- 2 Cavern of Souls
- 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
- 4 Blazemire Verge
- 4 Sulfurous Springs
This deck relies on a few different things to win games. The first is having creatures with lifelink. Ichor Drinker and Markov Baron both have lifelink, providing you with additional boosts to your health throughout the game. There are also creatures like Immersturm Predator and Stromkirk Noble that are able to gain +1/+1 counters as the game progresses, making it more and more difficult for your opponent to block these creatures effectively.
This deck also benefits when creatures are put into the graveyard. Once per turn, when a creature you control goes to the graveyard, Vraan, Executioner Thane causes your opponent to lose 2 life and you to gain 2 life. The same effect can happen while you have Kalastria Highborn in play, provided you have the mana to pay. In a similar manner, Vengeful Bloodwitch causes your opponent to lose 1 life and you to gain 1 life each time a creature you control dies, which can be quite beneficial since it is not limited to only happening once per turn.
Gruul Combo
The final deck I have for you is a combo deck that relies on a one-mana combat trick to finish off its opponent. Let's check it out.
Gruul Combo | FDN Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (22)
- 2 Halana and Alena, Partners
- 4 Cenote Scout
- 4 Kami of Whispered Hopes
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Quirion Beastcaller
- 4 Voldaren Thrillseeker
- Planeswalkers (4)
- 4 Wrenn and Realmbreaker
- Instants (6)
- 3 Seed of Hope
- 3 Tail Swipe
- Sorceries (3)
- 3 Bushwhack
- Enchantments (2)
- 2 Innkeeper's Talent
- Artifacts (3)
- 3 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
- Lands (20)
- 1 Mountain
- 11 Forest
- 4 Blast Zone
- 4 Commercial District
This deck is focused upon Voldaren Thrillseeker, who has an ability that you can trigger by paying 1 mana. This ability allows you to sacrifice Voldaren Thrillseeker to deal damage to any target equal to its power. As I'm sure you can imagine, this can catch your opponent completely off guard, and is sure to end games quickly.
In order to get Voldaren Thrillseeker's power as high as possible, you'll be getting +1/+1 counters from a variety of sources. Innkeeper's Talent lets you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature each turn. Quirion Beastcaller gains +1/+1 counters whenever you cast a creature spell. Those counters can be distributed to your other creatures when Quirion Beastcaller dies. There's also Halana and Alena, Partners, who can create a lot of +1/+1 counters each turn. While it's not the only way to win, it is possible to defeat your opponent with this deck without ever even attacking.
Wrapping Up
Red decks have been my favorite decks ever since I started playing Magic. There's just something I enjoy about turning all of my creatures sideways and attacking my opponent. Even though all of the decks I've shown you this week aren't filled with creatures, they all have the aggressive side that makes playing Red deck so much fun to me.
What do you think of these decks? Feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!
- Mike Likes