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Black Red Make Things Dead

Standard BR (Rakdos)

Whiskerbro


Sideboard


Currently, the standard metagame is looking to be quite midrange focused, with decks like BG constrictor, Mardu Vehicles, Zombies, RG Gods, and Always Watching looking to be solid contenders. This deck looks to prey on midrange creature based strategies by simply killing absolutely everything, then playing huge and potentially game-winning threats that each get guaranteed value. It plays somewhat like a control deck, but runs a significant amount of creatures so that it can more quickly close out a game instead of relying on card draw to go late into the game. I am by no means a master deckbuilder, and would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

3x Fatal Push is some of the best removal in standard. It kills most early threats that this deck cares about, giving us time to draw our own threats and removal for bigger creatures. Revolt will rarely be on in this deck, but it's still a great card without it. Really, not much more needs to be said. It's Fatal Push.

2x Magma Spray hits mana of the same early plays as fatal push, although it misses a few key cards, such as Gifted Aetherborn, boosted Inventor's Apprentice, Sylvan Advocate, and most prominently Heart of Kiran. It makes up for this by hitting a few less relevant 3-drops, such as Tireless Tracker and Thalia, Heretic Cathar, and by exiling, making it a fantastic card against Mardu and Zombies, by keeping Scrapheap Scrounger and Dread Wanderer out of the graveyard entirely.

4x Grasp of Darkness is heavy on black mana symbols, but is still an excellent card. Not only does it hit the same early plays as Fatal Push, it can take out Glorybringer, Archangel Avacyn, Hazoret the Fervent, and Noxious Gearhulk, all of which are looking to be at least somewhat relevant in the standard metagame.

2x Cut is another very good card. Sorcery speed is quite irritating, meaning it can't kill Heart of Kiran, and that Glorybringers get in a hit before the Cut comes down, but the Ribbons side of this card makes up for it. Early game this is decent removal, but lategame it can help you surge up and gain life to get out of a sticky situation, or in some cases close out the game on its own.

3x Never//Return on the other hand, is not a great card. Sorcery speed, again, sorta sucks, and Return is pretty abysmal. However, with planeswalkers everywhere in the current meta, Never is our best means to deal with them. And while the previously mentioned Return is bad, it is a very mediocre mana sink for when we have no cards in hand. Never is also some of our only unconditional removal, which is needed to deal with a few cards such as Verdurous Gearhulk that cost too much to be pushed and are to beefy to be cut or grasped.

3x Sweltering Suns is the wrath of this deck. It kills a large part of the metagame, but leaves most of our creatures, besides Bone Picker alive. The cycling is very expensive and will not frequently be used, and the fact that this does not exile is quite problematic against decks like Vehicles and Zombies, but this pseudo-Anger of the Gods is still a very good card that synergizes quite well with the rest of the deck. Normally, it will only kill 2-3 creatures, but that's really all you can ask out of a 3 mana card.

This deck is fairly light on what I would classify as utility, as most of the deck is dedicated to either killing the opponent or killing the opponent's creatures. There are a few exceptions to this.

1x Transgress the Mind is ran mainboard as a precaution, just to give us some chance against such cards as Rhonas the Indomitable that this deck has almost no shot of killing. It also gives us something to flash back with Goblin Dark-Dwellers if our opponent has no creatures on the board.

3x Bone Picker could be classified as a threat, but generally falls more under the utility blanket. Although swinging for 3 every turn is a decent clock, he's also frequently used as a blocker and tempo play. Although not a super typical control card, being able to fatal push a Toolcraft Exemplar or the like t2 and follow it up with a Bone Picker is fantastic, and even late in the game he can just be dropped for full price to block something bigger. All in all, a fantastic card.

2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is one of the lower mana cards in the deck i would classify as a threat. Although he isn't huge on his own, this vampire has a lot going for him. Lifelink is great on him, as it gives us much needed relief when we're dealing with super fast aggro. His second and third ability are also great. This deck has tons of removal, so we have lots of opportunities to get value out of it, and before long have a massive zombie swarm. We can then sack zombies so we gain even more life off Kalitas. One thing to note is the tokens off of Return are zombies, so Kalitas can eat them as well.

2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance is one of the two planeswalkers in the mainboard of this deck. She hasn't seen quite the level of play some expected she would, but Chandra ToD is still a great card. Her first +1 is great for this deck lategame, as it prevent us from running out of steam. In the worst case scenario, she exiles a land or something we can't cast, but then we get in free damage. The other +1 is used only in fringe situations, but it sometimes allows us to drop an additional threat or removal spell in a turn. Her -3, like Cut, kills most relevant threats in standard. I'd prefer not to use Chandra's -3 if i can, as I'd like to keep ticking up her loyalty to threaten our opponent with the ult, the -3 is a great tool for when you have no removal in hand and need to kill something so that you or Chandra won't die. The -7, finally, basically auto-wins the game. And at only 4 turns away, it's not completely unreachable. In grindier matchups, especially those where our opponent doesn't have the means to deal with a planeswalker, this can easily win games. However, it's not quiiite an autowin like some other ults, as if we're super low, and don't draw enough spells, our opponent can still smash through a bit more and win. Still, Chandra ToD is a great card for this deck.

4x Goblin Dark-Dwellers is basically Torrential Gearhulk lite. It loses the flash and can only cast spells 3 or less, but it more than makes up for it with evasion and a cheaper cost, and the fact that this deck has no spells that cost more than 3 anyway. The Dark Dwellers are typically used to flash back removal, getting us way ahead on board, not only with a massive body, but by replacing itself. Menace is a great evasion ability, as this deck kills so many creatures our opponent will rarely have enough to block these Goblins. Finally, Sweltering Suns is great with this dude, as it lets us clear the board of all small creatures while leaving him alive. Just be wary that your opponent may have Magma Spray and be able to kill the Dwellers if you do so.

3x Glorybringer is actually quite similar to the Goblins in this deck. Both come down around t5, and typically trade with a creature while doing so. The Glorybringer's effect doesn't trigger on ETB, meaning that if he gets hit with removal instantly, we don't get much value out of him. However, haste and flying makes him both faster than the goblins and sometimes harder to block. He also has to attack to get any value out of his ability, meaning you can't leave him as a blocker and still kill something, but he makes up for that too by his effect being repeatable. All in all, I like him about as much as the Goblins in this deck, but run 1 less Glorybringer because of the Goblins versatility in being able to bring back different types of removal.

2x Ob Nixilis Reignited is another fantastic planeswalker, who is similar to Chandra ToD in many ways. His +1 constantly refills our hand, although the life loss can be somewhat irritating in games where we are behind. Ob Nixilis's -3, similarly to Chandra's, is a removal spell. However, Ob Nixilis gets an unconditional removal spell, allowing him to get rid of some creatures this deck struggles with. Finally, his ult, like Chandra's ult, is very good, is reachable, and can do a lot of damage, but is not quite gamewinning. Again, Ob Nixilis is great for grindy matchups, but can provide removal in faster matchups.

2x Combustible Gearhulk straight up wins games. 6 mana for a 6/6 with first strike is already crazy. There's very few cards in the standard meta that can trade with this guy, most will just die or survive but not kill him, besides Rhonas the Indomitable and Verdurous Gearhulk. His ability is what makes the card though. Sure, our opponent does get a choice between a ridiculous amount of damage and a ridiculous amount of card advantage, but we're normally happy either way. Because of the expensive threats in this deck, it's pretty common to get around 6-7 damage of this dude, which is certainly not too shabby at all.

In this section, I'll outline the cards that can give this deck quite a bit of trouble, mostly ones that we have trouble removing or can just kill us very quickly.

Scrapheap Scrounger is problematic for the deck. While he isn't too big, and we can take quite a few 3 damage punches, it adds up over time. We have 2 mainboard Magma Spray, 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and 2 Incendiary Flow sideboard to deal with this dude, but he's still very very annoying.

Prized Amalgam is even more annoying than the Scrounger. We have almost no ways to permanently deal with him mainboard, besides proposing a trade then 2 for 1-ing ourselves with Bone Picker or removing him while Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is on the field. Thankfully, Incendiary Flow off the sideboard does help us greatly.

Aethersphere Harvester is not very common in Mardu decks anymore, but this thing gives us a whole lot of trouble. Unlike Heart of Kiran, which dies to Fatal Push and Grasp of Darkness, Aethersphere can only be killed by Revolt+Fatal Push, Using Grasp of Darkness/Magma Spray along with a blocker, or killing it with sorcery speed removal after it is used as a blocker. Ultimately, I don't see too much of this thing, and am not particularly scared as a result, but we do have some Release the Gremlins sideboard to deal with this.

Rhonas the Indomitable is possibly the most difficult early card for this deck to deal with. Indestructible+5 toughness, means we have only one way of dealing with him. Two Grasp of Darknesses. The only other way to deal with Rhonas is to kill all other creatures your opponent controls constantly, as we can't stand to take 5 damage many times in a game. However, the problem with this is that we have lots of sorcery speed removal, and lategame, if our opponent even draws a one drop, they can instantly pump it up and swing in for 5 with Rhonas. Deathtouch and Indestructible also means he kills Combustible Gearhulk, making it even more annoying to try to deal with a Rhonas. Out of the sideboard, we have a few ways to deal with Rhonas, namely using Harsh Scrutiny or Transgress the Mind to simply never have to deal with the Rhonas at all.

Oketra the True really any other gods besides Hazoret could fit into this category, but I don't expect to see too much of them, so I'm not particularly worried. We have the same answers to them as to Rhonas.

Verdurous Gearhulk is a 5 drop that can easily beat up our 5 drops, as it can come in at 8 power and 8 toughness. Even more problematic is a Gearhulk that distributes counters around a team that already has a few creatures, making all of them live through Grasp of Darkness. The Gearhulk himself lives through all our damage and -N/-N effects, dying only to Ob Nixilis Reignited or Never//Return. Similarily to Rhonas, our hand disruption can deal with a Gearhulk, but we also Unlicensed Disintegration out of the board as extra removal against beefy creatures like the Gearhulk.

Torrential Gearhulk is another gearhulk that is very prevalent in the meta. Because he's a 5/6, he lives through many of the same removal spells as Verdurous Gearhulk. Thankfully, he at least dies in a fight with Combustible Gearhulk. Being able to bounce back another counterspell is of course difficult for this deck to deal with, but of our sideboard plan goes well it won't be too awful.

Sphinx of the Final Word if used in some control decks for slow matchups. We have no way to get this thing off the table, besides 2 Sweltering Suns, and it's just the right size to block Glorybringer and kill him without dying. Normally, we should try to win before this thing hits the table, or just race it with Goblin Dark-Dwellers/Combustible Gearhulk.

4x Dread Wanderer makes our matchup vs control much better and gives us an early recursible threat that cannot be countered from the grave

1x Harsh Scrutiny helps v Ishkanah, Grafwidow and Rhonas the Indomitable, creatures we struggle with.

2x Incendiary Flow is chosen over additional Magma Spray because it can kill not just Scrapheap Scrounger, but also the occasional Prized Amalgam.

2x Release the Gremlins is great vs Mardu to destroy Heart of Kiran and any other stray artifacts we encounter.

1x Sweltering Suns for when we're up against a more traditional aggro deck where most of the deck gets wiped by this.

3x Transgress the Mind, similar to Harsh Scrutiny, is used when we're against decks with several problem cards we have no other answers to.

1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is used in very slow games as a finisher vs slow control decks that counter everything we try to do. Even if he gets countered right away, he can take some manlands or a Gearhulk with him.

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is not Standard legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 1 Mythic Rares

25 - 7 Rares

7 - 7 Uncommons

6 - 0 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 3.83
Tokens Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Gremlin 2/2 R, Zombie 2/2 B
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