Uncategorized

AVR Set Review: Red

What was the last really good Red deck? Red has been a role player in Jund ([card]Blightning[/card], [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card], Valakut (Valakut, Mountains, [card]Slagstorm[/card]), and Wolf Run ([card]Slagstorm[/card], [card]Kessig Wolf Run[/card]). Recently R/G aggro decks have cropped up, although sometimes the only maindeck Red component is [card]Galvanic Blast[/card] and [card]Huntmaster of the Fells[/card]. A long time ago Red had various styles:

Sligh
RDW
Ponza
Big Red

Among others:
[card]Wildfire[/card]- Budde won Worlds in 1999 with mono-Red.
[card]Dragonstorm[/card]- Patrick Chapin and Gabriel Nassif faced of in the semis of Worlds with mono-Red Dragonstorm.
Sped Red- Jamie Park got 2nd in Worlds in 1999 with Sped Red.

Side note: I acknowledge the connections between Ponza and Sped Red.

Think about that for a second. In 1999 the finals of Worlds were two completely different Red decks. Cards like [card]Stone Rain[/card] and [card]Pillage[/card] were vital in Sped Red, while Kai used [card]Wildfire[/card] as a sweeper. These are cards that we won’t see anymore. [card]Dragonstorm[/card] used a mechanic that was somewhat overpowered, but a different issue is the quality of the Red rituals. [card]Rite of Flame[/card] was excellent. [card]Geosurge[/card] is awful. [card]Dark Ritual[/card] was banned, so I acknowledge fast mana is dangerous, but…

I just realized. It is as if all Red fast mana and land destruction spells comply with all international standards for communications. If you don’t get the reference:

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-04-11/

Red has lost land destruction, if not as a theme, then as something that can be used competitively. Rituals are dangerous, so they too have been nerfed. Where does that leave red? Are you familiar with Type I and Type II error? Here is a wiki that explains them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors

In short, if you insist on avoiding all of one type of errors, you increase the incidence of the other. If no innocent man goes to jail, guilty men must go free would be an example. If Red’s overpowered cards are obvious and easy to fix, then there will be no type I errors. Instead we’ll get a mixture of balanced and weak Red cards. I’ll come back to this point in a bit, but it applies to all the colors. The color that is generally hardest to evaluate, especially in a short period of time, is most likely Blue, although Black can be tricky when there are various extra costs that are difficult to evaluate. To put this in perspective, there was a time when trading Jace TMS for an [card]Abyssal Persecutor[/card] or vice versa wasn’t particularly strange.

The loss of land destruction hasn’t only affected Red. Cards like [card]Icequake[/card] and [card]Choking Sands[/card] are no longer a part of Black, while Green has lost [card]Winter’s Grasp[/card] and similar style cards. Green was given a straight up improvement upon [card]Creeping Mold[/card] in the form of [card]Bramblecrush[/card], but it has seen little to no play. Versatility sometimes counts quite a bit less than narrow but efficient speed. Of course, a card like [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] works mostly because it hits creatures, which Green generally is not allowed to do.

In the modern era creatures have improved. This was a conscious decision by WotC specifically due to the fact that creatures had been underpowered for years. Some good examples of this are [card]Cloudgoat Ranger[/card] or [card]Ranger of Eos[/card]. It might not be a coincidence that both are White. Both of them are “Army in a can” style cards that generally do not trade with 1-1 removal (unless of course your removal was in the form of countermagic). This improvement in creature quality was not accompanied with an increased quality in direct damage, or “Burn”. True, for a while we were given [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] as well as [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card], but White effectively next leveled them with cards like [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card] and [card]Mirran Crusader[/card]. Historically, cards like [card]Kor Firewalker[/card] have given White a certain level of defense against Red. Cards with efficient ETB effects generally cannot be answered effectively by Burn, so it usually is optimal to plan around using your direct damage to provide reach in the late game, or to remove early creatures to avoid falling behind in the race for tempo. That is why we will often see aggressive Green decks use cards like [card]Galvanic Blast[/card] and [card]Brimstone Volley[/card]. Volley is also a standout in block constructed, along with [card]Hellrider[/card] and [card]Devil’s Play[/card].

Side note: I understand if WotC expected people to be able to block [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card], and perhaps hadn’t anticipated the Comer-style [card]Runechanter’s Pike[/card] lists, but what is Red supposed to do with a 5/5 flying hexproof creature, or a 4/4 regenerating troll? It’s somewhat awkward that Thrun was supposed to keep Jace in check, yet was himself nullified by a 1U Shapeshifter.

A thought experiment:

Would we define cards that prevent targeting players as hate cards against Red? This would apply to a card like [card]Leyline of Sanctity[/card].

What about lifegain creatures? This would apply to [card]Baneslayer Angel[/card], [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card], [card]Kitchen Finks[/card], among others.

Please note, [card]Kor Firewalker[/card] wouldn’t apply here, nor would [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card]. [card]Kor Firewalker[/card] is a specific hoser against Red, while [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card] should be considered a hoser against aggro specifically, and is particular effective against Red because aggro decks with burn are generally designed to deal 20 points of damage. You trade the ability to deal continuous damage for a short burst that hopefully wins the game. If it doesn’t, you will generally find yourself out of gas staring down threats you never intended to deal with.

Cards like [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] or [card]Leyline of Sanctity[/card] don’t mention Red specifically, but they nullify one of its main strategies. If you are familiar with the Philosophy of Fire you will understand how both Leyline and Finks generate card advantage against Red. If not, I recommend that you Google “philosophy of fire”, and check out Michael J. Flores’ article, and then read Zvi’s. Please note- the credit for the term and concept should go to Adrian Sullivan.

I suppose the opposite of the Philosophy of Fire would be [card]Splinter Twin[/card]. Of course, that deck used Blue creatures, Blue cantrips to find the Twin, and Blue countermagic to protect the combo, but sure, that was a Red deck. Also, yes, I am an asshole, thanks for asking. 🙂

Recently Mark Rosewater was kind enough to do an AMA on Reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/s6iw9/ama_with_mark_rosewater_head_designer_of_magic/

The basic theme of the AMA can be summed up as:

www.memegenerator.net/instance/19553950

The truth is it isn’t really Mark’s fault that Red has become fairly weak. Mark notes that his focus is on design, not development. He goes on to note “As an example, red still has the ability to destroy lands. What has changed is R&D’s willingness to aggressively cost land destruction.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki0KCQAC5Wg (NSFW)

Side note: I am looking forward to the reboot.

Alright, I suppose now would be a good time to talk about the new Red cards and judge them on their own merits. Here goes:

[card]Aggravate[/card]:

Four things:

1. Anje Falkenrath is an asshole.
2. “They” were the ones playing with fire? I’m guessing one of your barbarians fibbed to shift the blame.
3. This card is crap.
4. The “Each creature must attack if able” effect is inherently weak.

[card]Archwing Dragon[/card]:

I felt like I’d seen something like this before, but the closest cards I could find were [card]Viashino Cutthroat[/card] and [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card]. Cutthroat lacked evasion but hit a little harder. Hero seems… better.

[card]Banners Raised[/card]:

Last pick in the pack.

[card]Battle Hymn[/card]:

Theory: You have four creatures, this pops out a Titan on turn four.

Practice: You’ve got to be shitting me. You’ll never see this in a serious deck. [card]Geosurge[/card] has the same problem. Rituals work because they accelerate out threats in the first few turns. This forces you to spend those turns developing, which is actually fine on its own, but requiring it makes this too inconsistent, and frankly, too weak. Also, rituals are inherently inconsistent, so this exacerbates the problem.

[card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card]:

For five mana we get two damage to target player and each creature he/she controls. Meh. It scales up, and is useful for as little as three mana. It will generally be pretty awesome when played for its miracle cost, but that is inconsistent. If you need to stop a weenie rush I’d much prefer [card]Slagstorm[/card] or [card]Whipflare[/card]. I’m on the fence with Bonfire. I don’t like how much it will usually cost.

[card]Burn at the Stake[/card]:

The Red [card]Overrun[/card]? If I have 4 creatures untapped, this deals 12. That’s pretty sweet. You wouldn’t want too many of these in a deck, but if you can creature a small army and have triple Red (or single Red and [card]Battle Hymn[/card], oy vey!) you can play a few of these. Think about it this way. If you have seven men, this is lethal. A very powerful card.

[card]Dangerous Wager[/card]:

Upsides: if you really needed to fill your graveyard, there ya go! Works very well if you have no hand as it saves one mana off of [card]Divination[/card]. Potentially useful if your hand includes [card]Griselbrand[/card] and [card]Unburial Rites[/card].

Downsides: You have to discard your hand! For an effect that is one mana cheaper than [card]Divination[/card]?! Instant speed is nice, but it isn’t that nice.

[card]Demolish[/card]:

Reprint. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1996-04-20/

We don’t want this to be splashable. We want it to cost three.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3178

Enough with the dancing dogs.

[card]Dual Casting[/card]:

  1. If this were Blue would it include “You control?”
  2. This is pretty good, but Red generally lacks hexproof creatures, so the creature having to live to make use of this might be a problem.

Overall this is a fairly powerful card. Doubling spells for a single mana is the kind of thing that wins games. Fast.

Addendum: I was wrong. Doubling spells for simply tapping an enchanted dude wins games. The additional mana cost slows this down far too much given you already needed to find this, a hexproof guy, and a spell you’ll cast afterwards. Oh well.

[card]Falkenrath Exterminator[/card]:

Interesting card, but a two mana 1/1 creature without haste needs to be a lot more dangerous than this guy to be relevant.

[card]Fervent Cathar[/card]:

Elegant. I have haste and you can’t block. Nowhere near as good as [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card], but what are we expecting from a humble Red common?

[card]Gang of Devils[/card]:

[card]Inferno Titan[/card] is laughing at you. This is a shameful excuse for a six drop.

[card]Guise of Fire[/card]:

Well, it can remove a one toughness creature, and annoy some larger men, or in a pinch, can help you deal some extra damage. For one Red mana, that’s fine for an occasional sideboard card to deal with a one toughness pest.

[card]Hanweir Lancer[/card]:

I know one card is splashable and the other card isn’t. I know one card is rare and the other is a common. I don’t care. [card]Silverblade Paladin[/card] is White and this is Red, and that is just the way it is right now. Having said that, this guy is pretty good in draft, but I think you know that isn’t where my focus is regarding Red.

[card]Havengul Vampire[/card]:

I misread this. At first I thought it said “Whenever any vampire deals combat damage to a player.” My comment was “Sneaky good, which seems a very vampiric thing.” Now that I reread him, notsogood.

[card]Heirs of Stromkirk[/card]:

Got it, Red is about four mana 2/2 creatures that can grow bigger.

[card]Hound of Griselbrand[/card]:

Of course, some four mana 2/2 creatures are worth it. Doublestrike plus undying is a lot better than that other crap, but there are rarity difference to consider (I’m not being snide here; this guy would be unbalancing in draft as an uncommon). So, are they good enough for constructed? Doublestrike means they combo very well with equipment and other pump effects. A lack of ETB or haste means they have no immediate impact; ergo they fail the [card]Vapor Snag[/card] test. Does that doom them? I’m not sure. My gut says they are a little worse than Koth or [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card], but they do have potential so I’m keeping them on the short list.

[card]Kessig Malcontents[/card]:

Red seems to have a theme of building an army and then profiting. That won’t end well if the format reacts and creates a theme of sweeping the board. As for the Malcontents, they don’t seem priced for constructed. A decently annoying card in limited.

[card]Kruin Striker[/card]:

In limited cards like this get outclassed very fast. It might be different if it gained first strike. At least it pairs well with [card]Hanweir Lancer[/card].

[card]Lightning Mauler[/card]:

A decidedly odd form of soulbond. A 2/1  two drop benefits from haste, but then it needs to pair with a one drop. Alternately you can wait for a big guy and pair them, but there the Mauler doesn’t gain from the bond. Thematically odd to me. Powerwise I feel like [card]Crimson Mage[/card] is more useful despite requiring 1 mana.

[card]Lightning Prowess[/card]:

If I need to ping someone/something to death, I’ll play this, preferably on a non-Red creature since I’ll want some chance of it living.

[card]Mad Prophet[/card]:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/192

To quote Mark: “Rule #1) Red discards before drawing. Red is reckless, blue is methodical. One way to allow looting in both colors was to change how they did it. The fact that red is throwing things away not knowing what is coming felt very red, while blue wanting to know everything before making a decision felt more blue.”

A long time ago Mark and I had a conversation about what color Buffy would be. We’ve both been interested about the nature of the colors since the inception of the game. So, let me present this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K3E5tLoado&feature=related

Yes, Robot Chicken referred to him as the Whitest dude they’d ever seen, but that isn’t what I’m referencing. I’m thinking that the Joker is a Red mage. He loves chaos and fire and destruction. That doesn’t mean he isn’t cerebral. I’d suggest he is a sick twisted genius. What does this have to do with our [card]Mad Prophet[/card]? Simply put, looting with no hand is an entirely Red thing to do. This guy can’t. Tossing the card away before drawing the new card is obviously significantly worse than the reverse, and justifying that because Blue is methodical is bullcrap. You know what Blue is? Blue is the color of Kai Budde and Jon Finkel. Blue is the color of making decisions and controlling the game. Blue is the color of winning. You know what Red is? Red is the color of hoping. Trying a reckless gambit that might turn out great and might backfire in your face. In the short run that might work, but it doesn’t win tournaments in the long run.

Quoting Mark again: “Rule #2) Red cannot get card advantage through looting. What this means is that sometimes we make looting cards where the player is up cards. These cards are half looting/half card-drawing. We decided that those don’t make sense in red, so we’ve chosen to keep them out.”

Y U NO LIKE RED? You’ve decided that Red cannot get card advantage. You’ve decided that Red will avoid Type I error (too powerful), so either it will get cards that are just the right power level, or too weak.

I suspect it is not a coincidence that [card]Faithless Looting[/card] was printed before WotC had time to decide what exactly they wanted Red looting to be. And now we know, they want it to be awful.

Of course, Mark addressed that concern: “But wait, you say, don’t both of these rules work in blue’s favor? Isn’t blue getting the better version each time? Yes, but two things. One, we will be costing them accordingly, so red gets a little cost saving for its recklessness. Two, looting is actually very synergistic with red’s style of play. Getting that last piece of direct damage can very often win the game for red, so getting looting will be good for red overall.”

I’m going to go in LIFO order for these. Two: Looting is synergistic with every color’s style of play. Every color wants to draw cards and discard chaff. Looting is particularly synergistic with a color that wants cards in the graveyard, so perhaps Blue and Black benefit most. Getting the last point of direct damage is not a reason to play with bad looting, and looting has no particular synergy with direct damage. That leaves the point that you will be costing them appropriately, with Red getting a cost savings.

Let’s talk about that for a second. Remember [card]Memnite[/card]? [card]Memnite[/card] showed something. Specifically, Memnite showed that without any particular synergy, a 1/1 creature is worth less than 0 mana plus a card. [card]Memnite[/card] was very useful in a deck with a double anthem for 1WW, and a desire for metalcraft, or perhaps in a deck that wanted 0 mana artifacts to sacrifice, but had no real applications beyond that. In other words, we never loved [card]Memnite[/card] for its body. Sorry. 🙁

Back to those cost savings. You can cut the mana cost of something to 0, but if it still costs a card we won’t buy it. [card]Mad Prophet[/card] costs four mana. Traditionally Blue has paid two for its looters. The most recent one printed has cost three mana and has never sniffed constructed viability. The addition of haste is a nice touch, but [card]Mad Prophet[/card] is an order of magnitude worse than [card]Faithless Looting[/card]. If he is indicative of the power level Red should expect from its looting, the future is bleak.

Addendum: Having said ALL of that, if you absolutely need a discard outlet you can trust, and need more than [card]Faithless Looting[/card] and [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card], he is useful and you always get one use out of him. I’m still not taking back what I said Re: Red vs. Blue.

[card]Malicious Intent[/card]:

No thank you.

[card]Malignus[/card]:

A multiplayer beast. In Standard it seems poor. It costs five, no ETB effect, no haste, and is only huge if you’ve been durdling all game. In other words, it likely tops out as a [card]Ghoultree[/card], and like [card]Ghoultree[/card], it has no evasion. Fun card, but it has its place.

[card]Pillar of Flame[/card]:

A shock by another name. Target Delver is removed from the game. These rhymes are pretty lame. I’ll hang my head in shame.

[card]Raging Poltergeist[/card]:

Fragile, but combos well with [card]Hanweir Lancer[/card]. Not taking these too highly.

[card]Reforge the Soul[/card]:

[card]Wheel of Fortune[/card] comes back again. Paying five mana for this seems a bit sketchy. Paying two mana is worth it. Patrick Chapin and Gabriel Nassif ran [card]Wheel of Fate[/card] at Worlds, but, that was a little different. They used it as a sideboard card that would usually win the game when it resolved. You usually won’t get that kind of planning time with [card]Reforge the Soul[/card]. You might try to use it as a sideboard card if you are planning on emptying your hand and need to reload. I guess the multiple layers of randomness with RtS are making me doubt it.

[card]Riot Ringleader[/card]:

OK, sure, battle cry for humans, got it.

[card]Rite of Ruin[/card]:

You lost me at seven mana. Remember [card]Wildfire[/card]? [card]Jokulhaups[/card]? Those were chaos and destruction. This is awful.

[card]Rush of Blood[/card]:

I preferred this when it cost one mana and said doublestrike, instead of +X/+0.

[card]Scalding Devil[/card]:

[card]Spikeshot Elder[/card] looks upon thee with disgust.

[card]Somberwald Vigilante[/card]:

[card]Karplusan Wolverine[/card] looks upon thee with disgust.

[card]Stonewright[/card]:

This is my favorite Red one drop in the set. Firebreathing is a great ability a drop, and giving it to a friend is nice too. A very nice package for one mana.

[card]Thatcher Revolt[/card]:

More from Mark: “Thatcher Revolt was 1R for much of design and it was bonkers. Development rightfully changed it to 2R.”

Remember what I said about Type I and Type II error?

[card]Thunderbolt[/card]:

Reprint. I once topdecked [card]Thunderbolt[/card] to beat Eric Kesselman and qualify me for a pro-Tour. As such, I will never speak ill of it. The ability to hit a flyer for four might come in handy in this era of angels. Otherwise, three to the dome is fine.

[card]Thunderous Wrath[/card]:

I’ve paid five mana for [card]Beacon of Destruction[/card], so even for six mana you are getting a decent return. At one mana this straight up kills opposing creatures, planeswalkers, and magicians. Combos incredibly well with [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card], although that’s true for almost all miracles. It’s hard to know just how good this is before playing with it, but it looks very good.

[card]Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded[/card]:

Anger. Confusion. Disgust. Not the reactions you want for one of your signature cards in the set. Here are a few of the problems:

1. He does not generate card advantage. It may be unfair to compare him to Liliana or [card]Jace Beleren[/card], but the fact is Jace is a slow motion [card]Concentrate[/card], while Liliana is a [card]Diabolic Edict[/card]. Furthermore, with the Liliana discard you can choose what you are discarding, providing much more value for a graveyard strategy. Liliana and [card]Jace Beleren[/card] are and were tournament quality cards. Tibalt’s value has to come from his +1 ability, as the [card]Sudden Impact[/card] (-4) is unreliable, and the [card]Insurrection[/card] (-6) is a pipe dream.

2. His +1 ability is awful. How do we know? Do you remember [card]Goblin Lore[/card]? Of course not, why would you? Red was given his +1 ability x3 + card replacement for two mana. It was even splashable. Are there any other +1 abilities that would be costed so cheaply? Certainly not Liliana’s.

Let’s compare him to something more recent, [card]Desperate Ravings[/card]. Ravings is a very good card. First, it provides card advantage. There doesn’t need to be a second reason, but if you need one, it allows you to either use it when your hand is lousy, or wait on it when your hand is good. Now, try that with Tibalt. When you have a good hand, fine. If you have a bad hand, you get to (maybe) see an additional card a turn. The lack of card advantage means that you are treading water, and if he dies in combat you are -1 on the count. That is the opposite of card advantage, and is absolutely terrible.

3. Can we really believe his +1 ability would be that bad if he were Blue? Let’s say his starting loyalty was 1, and the +1 ability was [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card]. We’d have an actual bona fide Magic card. As is, we have another absolutely awful Red planeswalker that can join the various incarnations of Chandra. Only Koth avoided the curse, and he did it by basically being a 4/4 haste creature for four mana. That provided a devastating emblem on his third turn was a sweet bonus.

4. Between [card]Faithless Looting[/card] and [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card] we have good Red looting. We don’t need Tibalt for that, and, quite frankly, don’t want him for that either.

5. Michael Flores wrote a defense of Tibalt here:

http://fivewithflores.com/2012/04/underwhelmed-by-tibalt-the-fiend-blooded/

The money quote: “Here’s the thing about Tibalt: He costs you so little, then he costs you nothing at all. Do you know how unbelievably awesome a two mana Planeswalker can be? NEITHER DO I. Because we’ve never had one. Some players might be underwhelmed by this one, but the last thing WotC wants is a casual player (or Spike) Affinity disaster.”

I’ll assume he meant “That he costs you nothing at all.” Either way, he costs you a card. Remember, [card]Memnite[/card] wasn’t free. He also costs you tempo if he was your turn two play. However, the key is the last line. The last thing WotC wants is an Affinity disaster. Well, if WotC needed to make certain it wouldn’t be overpowered, then there was a very good chance we’d end up with something underpowered, which is right where we are. How can I be so sure? Well, apart from my own lying eyes and fallible reason, try this:

Gavin Verhey rebuilt a U/R Burn deck with Avacyn Restored cards in an article on the mothership. What did he add? Tamiyo, [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card], [card]Temporal Mastery[/card], [card]Pillar of Flame[/card], [card]Thunderous Wrath[/card] and, if you include the sideboard, [card]Lunar Mystic[/card]. That wouldn’t be so bad except that Tibalt was the poster-card for the article. Gavin couldn’t even pretend that Tibalt belonged in a competitive deck!

People have been suggesting that Tibalt is a potential sideboard card against U/B. Perhaps in an alternate universe without [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] that is an excellent plan, but somehow I doubt it. As for the [card]Life from the Loam[/card] plan, if your mana works, go for it. Let me know how it goes.

Addendum: Seriously, people keep trying to use Tibalt. They want to be cool, and make the awful two mana planeswalker work. Let him go, bad cards are printed all the time.

[card]Tyrant of Discord[/card]:

Step 1: Put 11 mana in my mana pool.
Step 2: Cast [card]Armageddon[/card].
Step 3: Cast [card]Tyrant of Discord[/card].
Step 4: Laugh and laugh!

But seriously, this can either be a mediocre [card]Acidic Slime[/card], or absolutely devastating. It costs seven, and has no additional abilities or evasion. You won’t pay retail for him, but is he worth it in a reanimation deck? I don’t think so, at least not maindeck. [card]Griselbrand[/card] is simply too good, as is Elesh Norn. It may be worth a sideboard slot as something the can save you in an otherwise hopeless game. I guess I am skeptical, but it can kill absolutely anything, so there is potential.

[card]Uncanny Speed[/card]:

I liked this more when it cost one mana and had flashback.

[card]Vexing Devil[/card]:

Tibalt pissed me off, but nowhere near as much as [card]Vexing Devil[/card]. Let me provide a somewhat similar card:

Vexing Demon
Casting cost: R
Power/Toughness: 7/7

Text: When Vexing Demon enters the battlefield, any opponent may have it deal 3 damage to him or her. If a player does, sacrifice Vexing Demon.

Instead of being a wimpy 4/3, Vexing Demon is 7/7! All for one measly Red mana! Isn’t that great!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_selection

If you get a 7/7 Demon, you wanted to deal three. Much more often, you want a 7/7 Demon, and deal three damage. In other words, Vexing Demon is STRICTLY WORSE than [card]Lava Spike[/card].

Now, back to [card]Vexing Devil[/card]. You get to deal one more damage than [card]Lava Spike[/card], and in the Philosophy of Fire, you get four damage for a card and one mana, which is a fine deal. However, turn one [card]Lava Spike[/card] is an awful play unless your deck can deal the remaining 17 in the next few turns. That might be the case in Modern, but it isn’t the case in Standard. When people start playing with [card]Vexing Devil[/card] they will rapidly start realizing why the punisher mechanic (where an opponent can choose to take damage or give you a cheap spell) never took off. The only thing I actively like about [card]Vexing Devil[/card] is that you can use it to activate morbid. It isn’t worthless, but it should be compared to [card]Lava Spike[/card]. You deal an additional damage in return for the adverse selection effect. Not a terrible trade, not a great trade, just a decent trade. Which means it is roughly as good as [card]Lava Spike[/card]. Which means it is nowhere near as good as it looks.

As I said previously, I wish I could short [card]Vexing Devil[/card]. Same with Tibalt.

[card]Vigilante Justice[/card]:

I need three humans to come into play just to get an [card]Arc Lightning[/card] out of this. If this cost two it might pair nicely with [card]Thatcher Revolt[/card]. As is I’ll pass.

[card]Zealous Conscripts[/card]:

Has Red ever been able to steal any type of permanent before? It has been able to steal men at instant or sorcery speed, and lands and sorcery speed, but planeswalkers? Artifacts? Enchantments? This is new. The addition of [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] makes it uncounterable, so attempting to go ultimate against any Humans deck or Red deck is a very dangerous proposition. Even beyond that you have a 3/3 haste creature for five mana. That’s nothing special, but adding the temporary theft you have a very sweet card. There are also potential [card]Birthing Pod[/card] tricks as you can untap a permanent you control.

So, after all my comments, how did Red do overall? Actually, not that bad. Red gained a pair of useful four drops, a firebreathing one drop, a pretty efficient miracle, a highly unusual finisher that might compare favorably to [card]Overrun[/card]. An excellent conscription creature. A funky enchantment that copies spells.

Here is how I’d rank the top 5:

5. [card]Archwing Dragon[/card]
4. [card]Hound of Griselbrand[/card]
3. [card]Dual Casting[/card] (Sick with [card]Invisible Stalker[/card])
2. [card]Thunderous Wrath[/card]
1. [card]Zealous Conscripts[/card] (Partly due to [card]Cavern of Souls[/card])

I wonder if I am underrating the [card]Vexing Devil[/card]/[card]Brimstone Volley[/card] combo. Shrug. Moving on to Green, the most controversial color in AVR.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments