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It's Better To Burn Out Than Fade Away

Mono red decks are always fun to play, and usually don't take a whole lot of thought. Red is a much more viable option compared to any of the other colors as it has several power cards.

Every mono red deck can most likely start something like this:

3x Flametongue Kavu
4x Skizzik
4x Urza's Rage
4x Assault/Battery
4x Ghitu Fire
3x Tahngarth, Talruum Hero

Easy so far, and its hard to argue with those cards. Obviously with red you think immeadiately of the Sligh curve. The one drops are so poor that I have ignored them in this configuration. If Bloodfire Dwarf didn't kill all the 2 drops in the deck I'd consider him.

1cc
4x Assault/Battery

2cc
3x Firebrand Ranger
4x Rage Weaver
4x Rogue Kavu
4x Maniacal Rage

3cc
4x Urza's Rage
4x Ghitu Fire

4cc
2x Flametongue Kavu
4x Skizzik

5cc
3x Tahngarth, Talruum Hero

19x Mountain
1x Keldon Necropolis
4x Geothermal Crevice

Obviously the point of this deck is to drop something on turn 2 and remove everything that comes into its path. This is definitely a SRB deck but has such powerful cards that it can not be denied. I added the Crevices because I believe that a turn 4 Skizzik with kicker or turn 4 Tahngarth is really nice usually. Flametongue Kavu are very nice, but I think this deck offers enough other removal to not worry about having 4 of them. They are definitely something available for sideboarding up to four. Order/Chaos is something I'd probably relegate to the sideboard for creature battles, but it is obviously a very powerful card in those cases.

Big Red is a very viable solution because of the power cards available. Bloodfire Colossus comes to mind as well as Obliterate. I think without the enchantments that come along with dual colors, Obliterate is just a very powerful 'haups effect and red has no way to take advantage of it to a significant effect. You know that it is coming, which is always a bonus, but if your opponent is smart he can work around it. Big Red is all about the power spells.

1cc
4x Assault/Battery

2cc
4x Star Compass
3x Breath of Darigaaz

3cc
3x Bloodstone Cameo
4x Urza's Rage
4x Ghitu Fire

4cc
3x Flametongue Kavu
4x Skizzik

5cc
3x Tahngarth, Talruum Hero

8cc
3x Bloodfire Colossus

20x Mountain
1x Keldon Necropolis
4x Geothermal Crevice

This deck is much more of a control deck than anything else, reliant on burn to keep the board clear. Voice of All naming Red or Crimson Acolyte are, to put it mildly, very bad for this deck. At that point, the term 'to the head' is all you care about.

I think that these decks are actually quite competitive on first look and should definitely be considered alternative to the mainstream decks available.

Next time we'll be looking at mono blue strategies.

Until then,
Fletcher Peatross
The Biggest Ass In Texas
Bludragon@hotmail.com

 


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