Lightning Never Strikes the Same Place Twice
Modern Aggro Burn Competitive Enchantment Mono-Red Red Deck Wins
Instant (16)
Sorcery (8)
Enchantment (4)
Creature (13)
Land (19)
Sideboard
Instant (5)
Enchantment (5)
This deck is the greatest evidence against that myth.
This is your classic DW deck. Revised and edited to become SUPREMELY powerful, all thanks to KTK. What is the main thing that KTK gave modern? Fetches, the ally fetches. Thanks to these fetches, I can have a massively effective deck in being able to utilize graveyard mechanics and landfall to a much greater extent then what normally would have been possible with only 8 fetches. And because of this, I have included something that I used to be INCREDIBLY dead set against.
Let us start with the DW creatures~! First, we shall take a look at Goblin Guide. We all know what Goblin Guide does and is used for. He comes out as soon as possible to deal 2 damage every turn. Racking up the points, he has the potential to do 4-8 damage in total. The damage offsets the potential draw on the opponent, and you can plan ahead for the card that is revealed if it isn't a land.
Up next is the famed Grim Lavamancer ! Reusing everything I have spent to give an extra beating to the opponent. Like Goblin Guide, it deals 4-8 damage throughout its life on the field. Unlike Goblin Guide, it doesn't have the potential to allow the opponent to draw a card. Nor does it have haste though, so that is offset. In another comparison, it constantly costs mana to use, but I am free to target anything I want. So it can either be a wonderful control function or another resource to pettle my opponent with. Normally Grim Lavamancer would be a bit of a weak link here, but thanks to KTK, I've got access to 2 more playsets of fetches, so instead of 8 fetches, I know have 12~! I pick this number because if the opponent has tutoring hate then I can still rely on one or two mountains I'm guaranteed to draw, that and the ability to have enough mountains to cast some of my heavier spells even if they destroy some.
Monastery Swiftspear is the other KTK contribution, and this little lady can easily surpass Goblin Guide, as the playtests have aptly shown. I can either use my instants and sorceries to have her swing for massive every turn, or if I get stuck in the defensive stance against a more aggressive aggro build, I can use my bolts on their turn to power up my Monastery Swiftspear for a superior defense. Same situation can be done if they target her with their own bolts. Since the nature of an DW deck is very "bolt heavy", meaning very instant and sorcery heavy. In this build, I have made sure that my instants and sorceries are a little more abundant than usual to take advantage that is the DW version of a meeting between Goblin Guide and Tarmogoyf. Yeah that's right, I just compared a one drop prowess woman to Tarmogoyf. That is how powerful she has shown to be in playtests.
Ball Lightning and similarly Elemental Appeal are both here for a finisher. As a turn 4-5 finisher, they are the 2nd last thing I dump onto the field. They help get through any board presence thanks to their superior power, and if against an aggro build it means I can save myself a few more turns to build up some firepower. It also serves as a very important purpose in getting past Leyline of Sanctity, as I use my instants and sorceries to destroy the opponent's creatures to allow my own creatures through.
Oh look! It's our damage spells! We all know what Lightning Bolt and Lava Spike do. So let's look at something different. Let's look at Rift Bolt . Rift Bolt is an unusual form of damage spell that WotC tried to balance in terms of making sure that it wasn't just another Lightning Bolt. It can either be cast for the whole three mana late game, or it can be exiled for use in the next turn. The bonus Rift Bolt gives is that it allows me to basically cast more burn than I would normally be able to on the next turn. This is especially useful if I need a little boost of damage to get a creature within killing range. I have Rift Bolt as a 2 of because it is really awkward with Monastery Swiftspear in that it isn't what you want it to be in the start of the game thanks to her haste. You can't even drop Rift Bolt down before her because of the casting right on the upkeep. It does however work good if you need to store some damage for the next turn, hence it is better to use later in the game and thusly is the reason why I only have 2 of them.
Skullcrack is pretty simple. It helps against game one life gain, and gets through any protection grant. Magma Jet is also quite easy to explain. Simple Shock with a scry function added. The scry is really quite important in a DW deck as it means that I can filter through my next two turns to remove any redundancies to make sure that each turn is a perfect play of always drawing into steam.
Imagine if modern got a red Standstill. Now obviously red would never be allowed a draw function like that. However it still has a mini-burn equivalent in Seal of Fire! Playing this really throws off your opponent, because the average modern player does not know how to deal with a Standstill, and that is too set it off as soon as possible. However this is really hard to do with Seal of Fire, as I get to choose when to set it off, so the opponent is stuck trying to decide whether or not they should wait or play some creatures in hopes that they kill those lesser ones. Seal of Fire is also really useful in stocking up some control, as having one or two of them in play means that I can kill a creature for free, or use them to help reach the more toughness heavy creatures. The best thing is, is that they can't destroy it, because I can just sac it in response to whatever removal they have. The only thing that can destroy it is Krosan Grip, and that isn't used too often.
Magma Jet is really important in a DW build because of the superior abilties of scry. With scry I can make sure I am always drawing into gas. By preparing my next two turns I am making sure that my draws are always consistent for a much faster finish.
Searing Blaze is the one card that I was incredibly dead-set against, until now. With the release of KTK and the plethora of fetches, the consistency in which I can get a landfall proc on Searing Blaze is really high. I can always store an uncracked fetch on the field to use for use of either preparing for a potential Searing Blaze draw until I need to crack the fetch, or just preparing one so I can crack it for the landfall trigger on my opponents turn.
For the final piece of the puzzle for this DW deck, we have our draw function. With the three most important words in magic being "Draw a card" there is no reason for that not to apply to a DW deck. In this case, I have chosen to use Dangerous Wager here over Browbeat or Wild Guess. The reason for this is that A) Browbeat can work against me because my opponent chooses whatever I don't want, and B) Wild Guess requires me to discard a card in which I may want to use that card. For both of these cases Dangerous Wager is superior because I'm guaranteeing myself a draw, AND I can use it when I have no cards in my hand for a 2 mana draw 2. C'mon, that's better than Divination! On the other side of the spectrum, I can use Dangerous Wager for when my hand has cards I'm never going to use or are useless in that situation. Like Lava Spike against Leyline of Sanctity, Searing Blaze against creatureless-ish builds, Elemental Appeal when I don't have enough lands, far too many Grim Lavamancer s in my hand, etc etc. Basically, I can just cast Dangerous Wager to populate my graveyard by discarding all those unwanted cards. The bonus for this is that it fuels any Grim Lavamancer s I have on the field at that time. Dangerous Wager doesn't just supply me fuel, no, it supplies me fuel on multiple levels. That's Dangerous Wager !
Let us burn some lettuce by going through the sideboard choices now shall we?
Blood Moon is a really common choice for any DW deck, hence why it is $20. It helps to shut down any tron, control and multicoloured build just by being there. So why is it only as a 2 of? Well for a variety of reasons. The main one is that KTK kinda made Blood Moon a lot weaker as now everyone as they fetches they need, meaning early game fetch into a basic land is a common play. Number 2 is that having multiple Blood Moons just hinders me, as I don't want to draw another one after I already have played one. It would be a dead draw and in DW you need really consistent draws to burn your way over your opponent.
Eidolon of the Great Revel is an extremely good addition to any DW deck. It allows me to burn my opponent without having to spend anything on them~ But the reason why it is in the sideboard is because it is only really good against aggro builds. Being able to deal 4-6 damage a turn because the aggro build is pumping out a hell a lot of creatures means I have really pulled far ahead them in terms of life. Eidolon of the Great Revel also shuts down Jeskai Ascendancy and storm completely, as they have to cast a tonne of spells each and every turn, and just casting five of them leads them to their death. But this doesn't work against midrange or control builds as they are slower, so I'm dealing more damage to myself than I would be dealing to them, and that paired with all of my fetches actually spells my doom more often than I would have liked. Finally, Eidolon of the Great Revel is another form of getting through Leyline of Sanctity, making my games against those much more resilient.
Grafidigger's Cage and Tormod's Crypt are here to use against the opponents graveyard interactions like, Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, all of 's and 's graveyard interactions as well. Grafdigger's Cage also is really useful against the direct to board tutoring spells like Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling.
Leyline of Punishment is here to deal against the lifegain. Lifegain is the bane of every DW deck, and I generally just can't win against them. As Skullcrack can only do so much.
Pyroclasm is to help get by those token builds or other aggro builds. Pyroclasm was chosen mainly because it only deals 2 damage to each creature, letting me keep Monastery Swiftspear on the field so that I can swing freely after casting it without any worries.
Finally, we have Smash to Smithereens , helping me get through the onslaught that is affinity and dealing with other artifact goodies like Aether Vial, Batterskull, the swords and Birthing Pod.
Suggestions
Updates Add
Comments View Archive
Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!
Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax
Please login to comment
Revision 13 See all
(9 years ago)
| +1 | Blood Moon | side |
| +2 | Combust | side |
| +2 | Everlasting Torment | side |
| -1 | Grafdigger's Cage | side |
| -2 | Leyline of Punishment | side |
| +2 | Relic of Progenitus | side |
| -1 | Tormod's Crypt | side |
| Top Ranked |
|
| Date added | 10 years |
| Last updated | 9 years |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 26 - 8 Rares 17 - 4 Uncommons 10 - 3 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 1.63 |
| Tokens | Elemental 7/1 R |
| Folders | Modern Decks, decks i want , Possible decks, New Modern Ideas, RDW browses, Modern, Modern, Modern, Potential decks, deckks |
| Votes | |
| Ignored suggestions | |
| Shared with | |
| Views |