Locations
Last week I got a chance to play Runaway Red in Modern and I was quite impressed how it played out during the 15 rounds. If you tuned in early to the tournament, you would have seen my lose to double Kor Firewalker, but I think outside of that instance (which happened TWICE in the same tournament) the deck felt like it went toe to toe with the best decks in the format and oftentimes came out ahead. An amalgam of Burn and combo, this Runaway Red deck feels extremely powerful. As I shared in last week's article, the deck has some serious potential to kill on turn two or three but also has a lot of power to play in the mid to late game. A lot of games end up playing into this sort of burn camp where you fire off some three damage spells at your opponent's face to carry you over the finish line while utilizing some of your creature base to provide massive pressure.
Since this is one of the first incarnations of the deck, it will certainly grow in the future. For now, I'd like to give a guide on the deck I played.
Let's start with the list I played and then I'll share the updated list before breaking down the choices.
Runaway Red | Modern | Rudy Briksza, 27th Place SCG Classic Charlotte
- Creatures (14)
- 2 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Arclight Phoenix
- 4 Bedlam Reveler
- 4 Runaway Steam-Kin
- Instants (20)
- 2 Burst Lightning
- 2 Risk Factor
- 4 Desperate Ritual
- 4 Fiery Temper
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Manamorphose
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Tormenting Voice
- 4 Faithless Looting
- Lands (19)
- 18 Mountain
- 1 Ramunap Ruins
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Tormod's Crypt
- 3 Blood Moon
- 2 Abrade
- 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
- 2 Anger of the Gods
- 2 Molten Rain
Runaway Red | Modern | Rudy Briksza
- Creatures (14)
- 2 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Arclight Phoenix
- 4 Bedlam Reveler
- 4 Runaway Steam-Kin
- Instants] (21)
- 2 Burst Lightning
- 3 Risk Factor
- 4 Desperate Ritual
- 4 Fiery Temper
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Manamorphose
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Tormenting Voice
- 4 Faithless Looting
- Lands (18)
- 17 Mountain
- 1 Ramunap Ruins
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Tormod's Crypt
- 3 Blood Moon
- 1 Kozilek's Return
- 2 Abrade
- 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
- 2 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Molten Rain
Let's start with the creature base.
 |  |  |
The obvious inclusions of the deck include playing the full set of Arclight Phoenix and Bedlam Reveler. Both play extremely well together and the synergy is fairly plain. The two cards that players seem to disagree on numbers for are Runaway Steam-Kin and Monastery Swiftspear. I think both cards play a vital role in the structure of this deck and inform how I'm choosing to play and build the deck. Runaway Steam-Kin has a lot of the same value in this deck that it does in the Standard Experimental Frenzy decks in that it allows you to really snowball value with spells. In Modern, where it is easier to play a large number of spells and trigger Steam-Kin reliably, the crazy things you can do are almost limitless. While Steam-Kin does have a cap on its power, being locked at four is rarely an issue. At worst, being able to attack for so much helps turn races easily in your favor. There are some variants of this deck that are very burn heavy, but I prefer the ability to combo. With Runaway Steam-Kin in play it's entirely possible to churn through 20 or 30 cards at a time. You may remember some pictures I posted from last week of my turn three play that was possible because of Steam-Kin. In a format like Modern, I prefer the ability to combo through and have the potential to kill on turn three/four. Whether the format slows down or speeds up this deck has a gameplan.
Certainly Steam-Kin is a little fragile, but removal is hitting an all time low in Modern. Zan Syed showed us that playing Reflector Mage over Path to Exile in the Bant Spirits decks brings it even closer to Humans (so maybe by the end of trying to fix Spirits people just end up on the better version in Humans) and it's a possible direction to take the deck. Control is on a downswing and interacting is something decks are starting to avoid as most decks are going way over the top. Decks like Amulet Titan, Scapeshift, Tron, and Dredge are difficult to interact with, and I feel that validates pushing more toward the combo angle with Runaway Steam-Kin. The only spot where I cut Steam-Kins is against heavy removal decks. Fortunately, against those decks, Blood Moon and Chandra, Torch of Defiance do some heavy lifting.
Why are we playing an aggressively-costed haster in our not full on burn variant?
And even worse, why are we only playing two?!?!
What am I doing?
Well there are a few things going on. First, Monastery Swiftspear is a fantastic card but it's not one we can afford to play a lot of. We need a high density of spells for the rest of the deck to really function, but playing some number of Swiftspears means we have a cheap way to trigger Steam-Kin and when we're starting to combo off it gets out of control quickly. I was testing with my roommate, Will Pulliam (of recent Amulet Titan SCG winning fame) and Monastery Swiftspear let me attack for 16 on turn three. Against other combo decks, having access to Swiftspear provides a way to win on the spot. In the Open I killed my Scapeshift opponent on turn three on the draw because I was able to leverage Monastery Swiftspear. The deck, despite having quite a few very cheap spells, often passes on turn one with no plays. Against non combo matchups, Swiftspear is very medium to bad and I would cut them there.
The Spells
Risk Factor is the card I've been like a Katy Perry song toward. I'm hot then I'm cold, I'm yes then I'm no; but, the more I play with the deck the more I'm warming up to some Risky Business. With the creature suite and burn spells, your opponent's life total is under duress often and you'll be able to draw cards and bury your opponent with a Risk Factor. Jump Start gives you a free discard outlet for Arclight and Fiery Temper which provides even more immense value to your cards. While Control is on a major downswing, there are some slower midrange decks Risk Factor will really shine in. When you're trying to race, Risk Factor won't look great.
Lava Spike has some sweet uses. Since it's Arcane, you can splice a Desperate Ritual for, essentially, a zero mana Lava Spike, but if you're trying to be a harder Burn deck without the combo then I'd recommend going harder on Lava Spikes. Just playing a couple doesn't give you any room for flexibility and makes your lines more rigid. So, the card is neat and lets you do some cool things with Desperate Ritual, but I'm just not on board with it.
The Lands
This one is pretty easy, although I've included a Ramunap Ruins as a way to just sometimes deal extra damage. If you have a Steam-Kin in play with three counters, any extra mana source will let you activate Ruins while not having to keep up all the mana.
The Sideboard
For the most part, I think everything here should be self explanatory. The one thing I've seen a lot of arguments about is whether to include Chandra, Torch of Defiance or Shrine of Burning Rage. While both are powerful, they are designed to be a way to circumvent grave hate and have another path to victory. The issue with Shrine is the decks it's good against already have built in answers. You get to a point where you have to sit on three mana every turn to be able to activate it or lose everything you invested. Chandra, on the other hand, works overtime in this deck. It provides extra mana when you're trying to chain through your deck and a way to double spells. All the modes are relevant and if you ever ultimate Chandra then you're going to be hard pressed to lose the game.
I've also included Kozilek's Return in my sideboard because I really hate Kor Firewalker.
That being said, I'm in love with this deck. It's powerful, consistent, and has a lot of lines ofplay to it. I know a lot of folks are spouting off that the deck can't beat graveyard removal, but that simply isn't true. Against graveyard hate decks you can trim a Reveler or two, but you can easily just cast your spells. You are a worse dedicated Burn deck, but you can still go toe to toe with any deck on that axis. You end up drawing and seeing so many cards you'll likely just find your burn, but it's easy to end up in scenarios where you can just cast your creatures too. Arclight Phoenix is easy to cast and Steam-Kin can get huge quick. While Reveler is obviously not going to happen very often, your other creatures and Burn spells are generally more than enough to handle any opponent. Out of the graveyard hate Relic of Progenitus is by far the best one against this deck and Surgical Extraction is the next best. So, let the average player tell you that your deck can't be graveyard hate while you're attacking them for seven after bolting them three times.
Nice Leyline of the Void.
This deck is also the best Blood Moon deck in Modern and right now Blood Moon is the best thing to be doing.
Tips and Tricks
- It is almost always correct to add three mana off Steam-Kin as you put the third counter on. When you're trying to chain this is especially important.
- If you cast a Faithless Looting, Tormenting Voice, or use Bedlam Reveler's ability to discard a Fiery Temper, you can add mana off Steam-Kin with the Madness Trigger on the stack to ensure you'll start with a counter on Steam-Kin.
- If you play a creature or a land for the turn during one of your 'combo' turns, turn that card upside down. This way it's easy to remember during that turn it can't do anything.
- Keep a tracker for Red mana. Having something you can look at to always remember will make comboing off easier.
- Don't feel like you have to cast Faithless Looting on turn one. Oftentimes with Fiery Temper, Arclight Phoenix, and Steam-Kin it's right to hold off on casting it.
- While the deck is mana intensive, if you have a Faithless Looting in your yard or you could draw that or Tormenting Voice, it is important to try and keep a land in your hand at all times as fodder for both.
- Leading off a turn with Manamorphose is generally where you want to start. Doing so lets you play Looting into Temper and then trigger any Arclight Phoenix.
- Play your lands in the early turns before casting spells. I can't stress this enough, but with Fiery Temper and Rituals in your deck having access to all your mana in the early turns is very important. As you get to the mid-to-late game you should keep one to two lands for Faithless Looting and Tormenting Voice fodder, but in the early turns making your land drops is important.
- Goldfish A LOT. Knowing all the lines you can do is extremely helpful and since you basically goldfish a lot anyways this helps get the reps in and helps you understand everything MUCH better .
