[GRN] Mono Red Burn

Standard* Aggro Burn Competitive Mono-Red Red Deck Wins

nerz101

Creature (21)

• 4x Fanatical Firebrand
• 4x Ghitu Lavarunner
• 3x Goblin Chainwhirler
• 2x Rekindling Phoenix
• 4x Runaway Steam-Kin
• 4x Viashino Pyromancer

Instant (16)

• 4x Lightning Strike
• 4x Risk Factor
• 4x Shock
• 4x Wizard's Lightning

Enchantment (3)

• 3x The Flame of Keld

Land (20)

• 20x Mountain

---

Sideboard

Sorcery (9)

• 3x Banefire
• 3x Hijack
• 3x Lava Coil

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Experimental Frenzy

Creature (3)

• 3x Legion Warboss

---

Since the full spoilers for GRN came out I've seen surprisingly little mono red decks in this sub-Reddit. Of course the red architypes have lost some vital pieces such as Bomat Courier, Ghitu Lavarunner, Chandra and Ahn-Crop Crasher. However new cards such as Risk Factor, Lava Coil and perhaps Legion Warboss are quite promising to some extend (tough they do not replace the lost cards).

Risk Factor, to my opinion is one of the best cards in GRN and perhaps the best red card in standard (at least for aggro and burn decks). But the card I found most interesting is Runaway Steam-Kin. Together with The Flame of Keld this card is just insane. Effectively It can mean turn 3 or 4 is a turn where you empty your entire hand and play The Flame of Keld without discarding anything. Risk Factor fits perfectly in this plan, where you either keep burning or draw additional cards (to keep burning).

This is my take on Mono Red Aggro/Burn for GRN

So the idea behind this deck is to burn down the opponents life total as fast as possible. This is achieved by:

1. Burn spells - Shock, Lightning Strike and Wizard's Lightning are straightforward burn spells. On top of this there's Risk Factor. Risk Factor can go two ways. You could play it out early, and it will usually resolve in 4 damage. Later on, you could jump start it to force your opponent to let you draw. Drawing leads to more burn spells which leads to a life total of 0.
2. Creatures - Fanatical Firebrand and Ghitu Lavarunner are both nice 1-drops. Fanatical is usually at least good for 1 damage but can also serve to clear out Llanowar Elves and alike. Ghitu Lavarunner is a tougher one drop, which comes in handy for Wizard's Lightning. Viashino Pyromancer is a great 2 for 2 damage with a 2/1 body to it (also a wizard). Rekindling Phoenix is just a proven monster, which likely still be the case. Goblin Chainwhirler, a 3/3 with First Strike dealing 1 damage and potentially clearing tokens or other small creatures still turns out to be quite good. And last but not least, Runaway Steam-Kin. This creature is a 1/1 which grows to a 4/4 and basically says "cast 3 spells and get 3 mana". It's just a great card if you want to burn and cast your entire hand.
3. The Flame of Keld - Whenever you run out of cards, The Flame of Keld can help to refill that hand and provide a +2 damage on all damage from red sources the turn after. Drawing into anything which deals face damage is nice and usually ends the game.

Sideboard

The sideboard is yet to be refined. As I've played mostly on MTG Arena I haven’t used it all too much but this will be crucial on MTGO and paper. I've added Banefire as an extra finisher or to remove creatures and planeswalkers. Guttersnipe is there to do some extra damage for when the board turns into a cold war (blocking and non-attacking situations). Hijack is the card versus big creatures, stomp decks and the like. Lava Coil is a nice card versus any nasty creature (such as Rekindling Phoenix). Vance's Blasting Cannons is for those long matchups where everything gets removed and/or countered, the long game plan.

Top Ranked	Achieved #36 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 11 - 9 Rares 11 - 3 Uncommons 16 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.08
Tokens	Elemental 0/1 R, Goblin 1/1 R
Folders	decks, aggro red, Reference