TappedOut's Second Modern Moot

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ChiefBell

11 December 2015

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TappedOut’s Second Modern Moot

The Second Modern Moot

Modern moot is an article series about modern decks, written to appeal both to those who enjoy playing Magic, and those who enjoy talking about the game. A moot is a word from old or middle English that refers to a meeting or discussion between people about a particular topic, and that is what this article series aims to recreate. Consider these write-ups as casual discussions about decks in the Modern format.

In each article I will focus specifically on one single deck archetype and analyze how the core of the deck is constructed, whether any variations of the deck exist, how it plays, its strengths and weaknesses, and finally whether any similar decks exist.

Last time we explored the archetype Tooth and Nail, which utilises its namesake card to cheat huge creatures into play both consistently and quickly. If you would like to go back and read that article you can find ithere. For those of you who have been testing the deck over the last few weeks, I would love to hear any thoughts or interesting play-by-plays you may have!

The Deck For Today: Skred Red

For the second deck of the series I wanted to explore something that was more controlling, and felt very different to play than Tooth and Nail.

What Does It Do?

Skred Red is commonly referred to as the mono-red control deck. It utilises very efficient creature removal in Lightning Bolt, and Skred, along with sweepers such as Anger of the Gods in order to pave the way for strong win conditions. The deck is notable because in order to power Skred the manabase almost entirely consists of Snow-Covered Mountains. Due to the simplicity of the manabase it is common practice for this deck to include at least three copies of Blood Moon in the mainboard.

Skred Red has actually evolved in recent years into two different decks, and given that the deck is not "solved" (ie. there is no agreed upon, best list), there is a large amount of variety in the maindeck choices that you will commonly see. The two prevailing subtypes of Skred are "Big Skred" and what I will call "Traditional Skred". Big Skred aims to utilise ramp through Mind Stone and Koth of the Hammer to play huge threats such as Wurmcoil Engine or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Traditional Skred includes threats that cost less mana such as Boros Reckoner or Stormbreath Dragon, and makes use of the Boros Reckoner + Skred combo to reflect huge amounts of damage from the creature to the opponent.

Example Decklists

Spend some time getting the rough idea of the deck with these two lists before moving onto the next sections which discuss the specifics.

The Deck In Detail

Control

Skred wants to control the game, which means disrupting plays that the opposition makes. Red is a fantastic colour for this because it has access to multiple creature removal and mana denial cards that cost very little mana to cast. Both aid in this goal:

Note that the frequencies given above are not definitive. They are rough estimates indicating how many copies are usually seen, if the card is included at all.

There are two main goals Skred Red has with its suite of control cards. The first is to remove troublesome threats, which it does through the use of burn spells. The second is to restrict the opponent from casting cards at all, which it achieves with mana denial cards.

In regards to the first goal it should be abundantly clear that Skred preys particularly hard on weenies decks. Tokens, and Zoo, and to a lesser extent Affinity, Infect, and Merfolk can all be easy matchups, most of the time, due to the ability Skred has to remove most creatures for a mere 1 mana. Lightning Bolt and the decks namesake card, Skred, are most notable here. Furthermore, for just two or three mana, the deck can clear out whole swathes of small creatures with sweepers such as Anger of the Gods. This nets huge card advantage against creature-based aggro and leads to decisive wins.

However, the deck can struggle against creatures with toughness values that are particularly high, such as Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Siege Rhino. Skred goes some of the way to answering this with its ability to deal greater amounts of damage, but note that it will take 5 turns at a minimum to have the required number of Snow-Covered Mountains to do that kind of damage. Sideboard options do exist such as Rending Volley or Combust, but these are not applicable against every threat.

The second goal of the deck, mana denial, synergises nicely with the first because it is an effective way of addressing the drawbacks of burn spells. Burn spells cannot effectively remove creatures with a high toughness. Where do we typically find those creatures? Multi-coloured decks. By punishing the greedy manabases associated with the decks that typically play larger creatures, Skred Red has a natural way to combat them. A turn two Blood Moon can spell death against a variety of opponents, particularly when it is followed next turn by a robust win condition such as Koth of the Hammer. Some Skred Red decks increase the number of Blood Moons they have access to by also playing Magus of the Moon. Others opt for Molten Rain. These cards give Skred an elegant way to deal with Abzan, Jund, and Tron. Decks that would otherwise be impossible to deal with using tools like Lightning Bolt alone.

Card Advantage

No control deck can exist without card advantage. It is absolutely necessary to keep your hand stocked with the spells you need to disrupt the opponent. Skred is no different to any other control deck in this regard, though without access to the colour blue the card advantage engines are a little less efficient:

Skred can not play Serum Visions, Remand, Cryptic Command, or even Sphinx's Revelation. Instead it opts for cards that present some kind of utility, and can also be used for card draw if necessary. Note that although I have included Abbot of Keral Keep and Outpost Siege as examples, I have not seen either in any decklists. Skred is an unsolved deck and there are therefore options that have not been tested yet. These are theoretically sensible inclusions but through testing it may emerge that they are not suitable.

The card advantage selection is where the deck is particularly clever. All of the above cards have multiple uses, and are not purely used for deck cycling. Relic of Progenitus, for example, is a key card when battling Living End, Goryo's Vengeance, Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze. However if you get to the late game and draw a land when you need a threat instead, then Relic of Progenitus can be sacrificed in order to draw another card. Similarly, Mind Stone is a ramp engine that can also be turned into another draw, and Pyrite Spellbomb is a burn spell or deck cycling depending on the needs of the player at the time. Scrying Sheets is another interesting example of the versatile card advantage philosophy because in this particular deck it serves around three obvious, yet different, functions. Scrying Sheets is a snow permanent and so powers up Skred. Scrying Sheets is itself a land and therefore does not need to take up a precious nonland slot. It also does what most lands do and produces mana. Finally, its second activated ability allows you to turn a topdeck that would be a land into something else, which lends strong late-game advantages.

Chandra, Pyromaster is hugely important to Skred because she acts as removal, a win condition, and a card advantage engine all at the same time. Her +1 ability is particularly powerful because not only does it damage the opponent, but also a creature they control as well. One damage is not a lot, but it can hit tokens, and Dark Confidant, and it is therefore well appreciated. It is also essential to be aware that her +1 ability prevents the creature from blocking that turn, which is relevant if the opponent owns a threat that you would not ordinarily be safe to swing into. Chandra’s 0 ability is also extremely powerful in this deck, because it stacks up with all the other sources of card cycling to ensure that every turn a good card is drawn.

Red does not have strong pure card advantage, but Skred has improvised and found ways around this. All of these cards are interesting because they do not only exist to draw cards; they have specific functions against a variety of decks, be that damage, graveyard exile, or ramp. In the future it is probable that more aggressive versions of Skred may play Abbot of Keral Keep. This card synergises very nicely with our burn spells due to prowess and also allows the player to dig a little deeper into the deck when it enters the battlefield. On the other end of the spectrum, Outpost Siege seems more appropriate in Big Skred decks that can ramp up quickly and potentially drop this card on turn two or three. A constant source of card advantage throughout the entire game seems exceedingly useful for any deck that expects the game to go long.

The Threats

Skred decks come in two types, as explained in the introduction. Some have chosen to emulate Tron through their selection of threats that cost huge amounts of mana. Others have instead decided to keep their threats a little easier to cast.

The win conditions are split into two categories. Those that are Big: Wurmcoil Engine and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and those that are Traditional: Boros Reckoner and Stormbreath Dragon. Koth of the Hammer is necessary in all versions of the deck due to his ability to both provide threats and ramp into larger win conditions.

The traditional deck is surprisingly fast when it needs a quick win. With four Lightning Bolts, four Boros Reckoners, four Koth of the Hammer, and some number of Stormbreath Dragon, a large amount of damage can be done in a small space of time.

For example:
Turn 1 Lightning Bolt (3 damage)
Turn 2 Mind Stone
Turn 3 Koth of the Hammer and animate a land (4 damage, total dealt is 7)
Turn 4 Stormbreath Dragon and swing with the dragon and a Koth land (8 damage, 15 dealt total)
Turn 5 win.
Clearly this is not an aggro deck but it certainly has good tempo and the mana-curve flows very nicely from one threat to another. From Boros Reckoner to Koth of the Hammer to Stormbreath Dragon and a potential win, the cards seem to almost sequence themselves. Though it is of course worth remembering that the main structure of the deck wants to play a controlling game, not an aggressive one.

The true value of the traditional build is the synergy that Boros Reckoner provides with the rest of the deck, and its blocking potential. The key to this is that Boros Reckoner bounces all damage it takes onto a target creature or player. Therefore it can trade with huge threats in combat, such as Primeval Titan because it will deal three combat damage when it blocks and then can bounce the six damage it takes back to the titan. Boros Reckoner can also easily deal with smaller threats due its ability to gain first strike. Furthermore, if targeted by a Skred it can bounce huge amounts of damage onto the opponent, and if hit by Volcanic Fallout it can bounce the 2 damage it takes to kill a creature with 4 toughness, or onto the opponent. Do not even get me started on the Blasphemous Act + Boros Reckoner interaction. The Boros Reckoner + Skred combo is the heart of Traditional Skred, and the key to that interaction is this wonderfully versatile creature.

Big Skred relies more heavily on ramping artifacts and Koth of the Hammer to do its best impression of Tron. The aim here is to play a turn three Koth of the Hammer in order to produce eight mana on turn four which results in a Wurmcoil Engine or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon staring at the opponent from your side of the board. There is more inherent risk to this strategy because the deck can be slower to start if it fails to produce any sources of ramp (such as Mind Stone, Koth of the Hammer, or Solemn Simulacrum). It also suffers from poor top decks where the card you want is a ramp piece but the card you draw is an uncastable win condition. However, compared to the traditional deck, Big Skred handles the late game better by producing more robust threats that are harder to handle with removal spells and have a larger impact on the game.

Any Other Business

Skred is not solved. Do not be afraid to work on the deck yourself, and take risks. Try colour splashes. Test alternative win conditions. Experiment!

I have seen white included in Skred decks for Lightning Helix and Soulfire Grand Master. Soulfire Grand Master allows the player to cast spells over and over again, whilst turning board sweepers into hefty sources of lifegain. Another option with white would be Ajani Vengeant which lends more removal options with the repeatable Lightning Helix ability, and land destruction with his ultimate. Black splashes are sometimes present for stronger removal in cards such as Terminate, and win conditions such as Demigod of Revenge. Blue splashes can give Snapcaster Mage for further card advantage, and Stubborn Denial could work nicely in a deck alongside Koth of the Hammer and dragons. All of these can be powered by swapping Mind Stone which only taps for colourless for Coldsteel Heart which taps for a colour of your choice.

There are also options for completely changing Skred into new subtypes.
- What about land destruction Skred which features Deus of Calamity and Fulminator Mage alongside the Blood Moons?
- Or how about an aggressive version with Monastery Swiftspear, Goblin Guide, and Eidolon of the Great Revel? Such a deck could curve into Boros Reckoner as a finisher. However any aggressive Skred deck would be better off removing many of its control options, and would thus slowly transform into a traditional red aggro list such as Burn.
- There’s also the possibility for a dragon heavy list because Thundermaw Hellkite, Stormbreath Dragon, Avaricious Dragon and Thunderbreak Regent are all legal in Modern.
- Conversely there’s also the possibility for a planeswalker heavy version with Chandra, Pyromaster, Koth of the Hammer, Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, and Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded all being playable. Well, perhaps not Tibalt.
- More recently I saw a list that proposed swapping some removal spells for Ensnaring Bridge and Magus of the Moon. A deck with up to 8 copies of Blood Moon along with Ensnaring Bridge would have access to cards that hate extremely effectively on the vast majority of the Modern metagame. It could, and probably would, accrue a lot of free wins from opponents scooping to turn 2 Blood Moon or Ensnaring Bridge.

How Do We Play This Deck? (overview, specific tips, and synergies)

It is very important to remember that the main structure of the deck is made up of control cards. Any Skred player is going to find themselves drawing into control options more frequently than they draw into threats, and therefore attempting to rush quick wins is not an effective strategy. Aiming all your Lightning Bolts and Pyrite Spellbombs at the opponent and ignoring the creatures they play is doomed to fail as soon as you topdeck that Relic of Progenitus and lose tempo. Take the game slowly, and if the opponent does nothing just enjoy accruing a good selection of cards in hand. Play a win condition when the chance arises and use your removal spells to clear out blockers. Victory will come with patience and correctly assessing when to unload your hand, and when to hold back.

Remember to consider carefully how you sequence your spells. Particularly Lightning Bolt and Skred. Skred has the potential to do far more damage in later portions of the game, however Lightning Bolt has the potential to squeeze through a bit more direct damage. Consider what the opponent is playing and choose carefully. Will you need that Skred later to kill a four or five toughness creature? Or can you use it now and save the Lightning Bolt for a surprise win?

Do not underestimate Boros Reckoner and the huge impact first strike can have. You can clear out creatures with six toughness with just a Lightning Bolt, if you play it in response to combat/blockers and then activate Boros Reckoners first strike. Use this both offensively and defensively. Swing with your reckoner and dare them to not block. If they do then you remove their threat. If they do not block then try to follow up with a Lightning Bolt or Skred aimed straight at the opponent (or in the case of Skred at your own reckoner and then redirected to their face). Often this constitutes six or more damage, which is pretty huge in a format dominated by fetchlands and shocklands. You can remove blockers with seven toughness if you utilise Volcanic Fallout in a similar fashion. Volcanic Fallout is an instant. Let me repeat that: it is an instant. Declare reckoner as an attacker or blocker. Activate first strike. Play Volcanic Fallout. Everything takes two damage from fallout. Bounce two damage from reckoner to the threat. Allow combat damage to occur. You have just done three first strike damage, plus two from volcanic fallout, plus two from volcanic fallout bounced from reckoner: seven.

Use Scrying Sheets properly and remember it synergises with Chandra. Without the presence of Chandra you want to activate Scrying Sheets at the end of the opponents turn, just before they pass to you. A lot of your removal spells are instant speed so keeping that mana up can sometimes make the opponent hold back. If you do have a Chandra on board then I prefer to activate Scrying Sheets in my own turn. Draw your card for the turn and then activate Scrying Sheets to peek at the top card of your deck. If it is a land then you get to draw into it. If it is not then you can accurately decide whether or not you want to +1 Chandra or activate her 0 ability. Depending on this choice you may or may not want to swing in with a win condition. If you see a Lightning Bolt with Scrying Sheets then you know, for example, that you can do an extra three damage this turn with Chandra’s 0.

This is rarely relevant but remember that Koth of the Hammer turns mountains into creatures. Any mountain. With Blood Moon out you can activate Koth on an opponents land into order to make sure they cannot stabilise even if they do remove your Blood Moon by using Skred or some other means to kill it. Against any deck that plays lots of natural mountains this can be useful from time to time. Maybe you want to disrupt Scapeshift or Twin, for example.

Finally, aim to ultimate Koth whenever you can, and as soon as you can, even if it kills him. It is literally the best thing you can do in this deck whether you are ahead or behind. The emblem it provides allows your lands to tap for damage at instant speed, which effectively means that the opponent is not allowed to have creatures anymore, and if you have nothing better to do you can aim some absurd amount of damage at their face.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Thoughts?

Hopefully I have demonstrated in this article that Skred Red is more than able to handle a variety of creature based decks, and can have come fantastic matchups at times against a few surprisingly strong contenders such as Abzan. Whether it is through mana denial or targeted burn spells this is a deck that is very able to keep the board clear and produce game-winning threats. The trick to being most successful lies in sequencing your plays correctly, keeping options in hand (avoiding the temptation to empty your hand immediately), and playing sensibly.

One of the weakest aspects of the deck is, ironically, Skred itself because as a removal spell it is very slow and takes a long time to reach full potential. Decks that play early combos or threats may sometimes be out of reach. For example, Twin going off on turn four cannot be interacted with through either Lightning Bolt or Skred if you went second. Abzan or Jund playing Tarmogoyf on turn two is extremely hard to interact with at all, and a turn one Thoughtseize can quickly turn a fantastic hand into a very poor one. As I said before, Combust and Rending Volley are sideboard options, but by no means do they solve the matchups completely. Furthermore Tron is basically unwinnable without an early Blood Moon and a good amount of luck, because Oblivion Stone will always be bothersome. Having said that, both Molten Rain and Crumble to Dust exist are are viable sideboard cards.

One other deck to be particularly careful around is, oddly enough, another essentially mono-red deck: Burn. Skred relies on a large number of creatures to remove with its spells, whereas Burn does not need creatures to win at all. Furthermore all versions of Skred fail to put down their own win conditions until late into the game, giving Burn ample time to do critical amounts of damage. It is common to see Dragon's Claw in the sideboards of Skred to combat this menace.

Sibling Decks

In terms of style Skred Red plays somewhat similarly to some very accomplished decks. Traditional Skred is reminiscent of Abzan or Jund with its flexible mixture of control spells and impressive win conditions, whilst Big Skred is akin to mono-blue Tron, a deck that utilises ramp and control spells to play, and protect, huge threats. There is also a reasonably unheard of deck called Moonwalkers which is almost identical to Skred but swaps many of the control spells for further ramp such as Desperate Ritual or Simian Spirit Guide. It uses these to power out Blood Moon or Koth of the Hammer as early as turn 1. It could be considered an "all-in" Skred deck.

Outro

I have been playing Skred for a reasonable amount of time because it is full of interesting interactions and can perform very highly with practice and care. It is one of those rare decks that is reasonably cheap but also hugely flexible because it does not completely rely on one set game-plan. There are multiple ways to approach each game and many avenues to victory. That is the joy of control for me. One of the things I particularly like about Skred is that whilst it functions as a control deck for many portions of the game it has win conditions that can end games quickly and effectively. Many control decks previously have been less proactive and contain weak end-game threats which means games drag on, and for some, can get boring.

I hope you enjoyed this article about Skred Red and I hope that it can stimulate some discussion. Perhaps you even want to go out and test the deck yourself. If you do I would love to know your thoughts!

As always I welcome any comments and criticisms you may have. I’d especially love to see any game replays you record with a Skred deck so we can see it in action! Feel free to let me know what you enjoyed here and what you didn’t like as well. Maybe you have a request for next time? Maybe you have a question? Let me know below!

ChiefBell