standard machinations

after sitting down for some monday night extended magic last week, i might have rekindled the old deckbuilding spark. this got me thinking about how to attack the standard format (i don't really care about extended this season. the decks all seem to be as predicable as i thought (https://rmtg.forumotion.com/t360-new-extended-brews, if you want a summary of what i thought might occur. i actually still think that the scapeshift deck is a supersexy idea but don't care enough to try to buy and build for it.).
in the interest of brevity, i'll skip metagame analyses and the like and just show you what i'm brewing lately. i revisited the early speculations about the format before scars dropped and thought i'd retry some of it. here's a take on pat chapin's metal red:

big red
planeswalkers
4 koth of the hammer
3 chandra nalaar

creatures
3 kuldotha phoenix

artifacts
1 crystal ball
1 ratchet bomb
3 tumble magnet
4 throne of geth
3 contagion clasp
4 everflowing chalice
3 mox opal
3 voltaic key

instants
4 galvanic blast
2 comet storm

2 scalding tarn
20 mountain

the list is far from perfect. it is probably a complete dog to u/b control and possibly valakut. i don't really care, at the moment. i'm really just happy to find a deck that might be fun to play and the sideboard actually has more promise than most decks i have played. now, i like the list at face value because it can act like a silly combo deck. play artifacts, play koth, proliferate, -5 from koth. otherwise, it plays a bit like a big control deck. koth remains a consistent threat and liability but chandra and proliferate/metalcraft become strategies on their own.

comments or snide remarks are welcome.

edit:
here is a possible sideboard-

3 dragon's claw
4 kuldotha rebirth
4 goblin bushwacker
3 act of treason
1 lux canon


the lux canon slot is not really anything at the moment, so i thought i'd fill it with something that does stuff. the kuldotha rebirth/bushwacker package is an experiment, at the moment. i'm curious if it gives you a better sideboard plan against control matchups, electing to try to race them as hard and fast as possible. if it doesn't work out it gets swapped for things that make the matchup a guarantee. other options include more lux canons and wall of tanglecord for aggro matchups. pyroclasm is probably a must for elves and such.

so, my theoretical defense of Mono Red Control is thus: there are few easy ways of fighting jace decks but one is maximizing two-for-ones. red has some great ones right now in searing blaze, goblin ruinblaster, inferno titan, arc trail, etc...
now, i know this is probably in dire need of kargan dragon lords but i have none, so there's that. chapin's list also used destructive force but that doesn't seem a prudent decision right now. it does nothing against titan decks and control doesn't really suffer from this resolving. still working out the rest of the nuts and bolts.


edit, edit: forgot about tunnel ignus. he most definitely goes in the sideboard somewhere. i'll have to think more about this whole thing. i'm also going to need to get a few inferno titans for this monster, potentially. cough 'em up, people.

3 tumble magnet nuff said
^^^^^^^^^
Best card in standard.

I think the phoenix is going to see tremendous amounts of play soon and is going to be THE red card for std. Koth a close 2nd

Ran wrote:

3 tumble magnet nuff said
^^^^^^^^^
Best card in standard.

I think the phoenix is going to see tremendous amounts of play soon and is going to be THE red card for std. Koth a close 2nd

yeah, i agree on that. that's actually where this speculative deck is coming from.
tumble magnet gets really silly with proliferate, actually. it buys this deck so much time. the phoenix is a great finisher for the deck. his only issue or drawback is that you can't include him easily in dual-color decks like i would like. this deck could probably benefit from a blue splash but it's just not possible or nearly as beneficial as i would like if you're trying to play with koth.

i'm also trying to brace for impact for tezz 2.0. whatever he is, it will inevitably supplement the already extant u/b control decks, pushing them over the top. buy grave titans now. they're $20. oh, and stock up on jace beleren. unless wizards prints some manner of permanent destruction, it'll be the only thing to deal with jtms. just sayin'.

also, i realized something while working on this list.
patrick chapin is a bright guy but he's just a throwback artist. seriously. the list he suggested that i have been working on modifying is really just a regurgitation of kai budde's 1999 worlds-winning wildfire red deck. observe:

chapin's machine red	budde's wildfire red
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Contagion Clasp 4 Everflowing Chalice 3 Lux Cannon 4 Throne of Geth 3 Voltaic Key Artifact Creatures 3 Necropede 2 Pilgrim's Eye Instants 3 Galvanic Blast Legendary Artifacts 4 Mox Opal Planeswalkers 2 Chandra Nalaar 4 Koth of the Hammer Sorceries 3 Destructive Force 2 Pyroclasm Basic Lands 19 Mountain Lands 1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle	Main Deck: 4 Covetous Dragon 1 Karn, Silver Golem 3 Masticore 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Fire Diamond 4 Grim Monolith 2 Mishra's Helix 4 Temporal Aperture 4 Thran Dynamo 4 Voltaic Key 4 Wildfire 2 Worn Powerstone 3 Ancient Tomb 4 City of Traitors 13 Mountain Sideboard: 2 Boil 3 Earthquake 1 Mishra's Helix 1 Phyrexian Processor 2 Rack and Ruin 2 Shattering Pulse 4 Spellshock

i was a little surprised i hadn't noticed this shit sooner (even the land count is the same!). so, given that little realization, i'll have to work on further thinking and amending of this list. discard is a tough thing for a deck like this to overcome as it has no ways to draw cards. so, i gotta think some more on this.

alright, i gotta find some room in the deck for either a trigon of thought or two or a dreamstone hedron or two. not sure yet. what do you guys think.

I'm going to disagree with the destructive force comment. Destructive force/Koth is the ultimate F-you to control. If you manage to land a koth after a jace hits, you kill a jace with your mountain then next turn you can - and this is the key - DESTROY ALL THEIR LANDS!!! I think Koth's second ability is severely underutilized. The build you are giving us shows that you will be playing heavy mountain count, why not play up his hyper mana abilities. You'll never be completely screwed after it goes off if you have a tumble magnet and a chalice out. Koth survives the whole ordeal in tact and you drop a new mountain. Out of left field and completely devastating to a control player who may have been countering or tapping out at inconvenient times. This makes instants more valuable. Just some food for thought.

JakeFaas wrote:

I'm going to disagree with the destructive force comment. Destructive force/Koth is the ultimate F-you to control. If you manage to land a koth after a jace hits, you kill a jace with your mountain then next turn you can - and this is the key - DESTROY ALL THEIR LANDS!!! I think Koth's second ability is severely underutilized. The build you are giving us shows that you will be playing heavy mountain count, why not play up his hyper mana abilities. You'll never be completely screwed after it goes off if you have a tumble magnet and a chalice out. Koth survives the whole ordeal in tact and you drop a new mountain. Out of left field and completely devastating to a control player who may have been countering or tapping out at inconvenient times. This makes instants more valuable. Just some food for thought.

yeah, i keep swinging back and forth on it. i've been crunching numbers all night and can't seem to decide. i'm just going to have to work on getting more data before i decide. after looking over the wildfire list and chapin's list, i'm inclined to agree with your suggestions. my first instinct is that chapin's list just needs adjustment for the new meta. he was probably right to redo budde's list. it's not a functional reprint entirely, as there are no cognates for temporal aperture. however, planeswalkers in themselves fill this role, to some degree. free spells is essentially the role aperture filled and planeswalkers do that. so, i'll tinker some more and get back to you. by the way, when is the first standard constructed event in january?

it will be the 10th of January. Also, i totally agree with the part about planeswalkers=free spells to this list. Come on, give us a colorless planeswalker!

the thing that is seriously missing from this deck is a cognate for mishra's helix.
to find something that actually tapped stuff down and affect tempo like that would be the coup de grace for the thing and we just don't have anything like it available.

in retrospect, i don't think ratchet bomb was the right decision.
chapin's instinct on lux cannon appears correct. bomb it too great a liability.

that is all.

Force + Titan = the last thing a valakut player wants to see. Plus if you dforce with lux cannon out if they don't have a Titan out you prolly win.

magic jesus wrote:

Force + Titan = the last thing a valakut player wants to see. Plus if you dforce with lux cannon out if they don't have a Titan out you prolly win.

welcome back, jon.
i heard rumors you came around to draft on friday.

WOW. Force + Cannon is out of control if you can get it online. Add in the plentiful mana of Proliferate+Chalice and this gets out of hand fast.

workshoptelescope wrote:

magic jesus wrote:

Force + Titan = the last thing a valakut player wants to see. Plus if you dforce with lux cannon out if they don't have a Titan out you prolly win.

welcome back, jon.
i heard rumors you came around to draft on friday.

I did indeed. I am gonna be playing friday too, I think I might have found something that makes magic fun for me again.

Ruh Roh. What is that?

we'll just call it "discussing magic".

ascension is back i hear...

Ran wrote:

ascension is back i hear...

I'm just here to "Bring the Jace".