--THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. DECKLIST SUBJECT TO CHANGE DURING PLAYTESTING--
This deck is based on John Galli's idea, as mentioned in Red Deck Podcast Episode 41. His decklist can be found here. All credit for the basic idea goes to him.
My take on the list is a bit more traditional aggro. I cut the blue/colorless splashes entirely, and lowered the curve. The result is a deck that, while not having a terrific late game, is fast, mean, and gets out of hand very quickly.
Before I go over individual card choices, let me address the elephant in the room: Never at any point during playtesting have I melded Hanweir Garrison and Hanweir Battlements together. I suppose it's an option in the late game if you're somehow not dead, but those cards are individually good and aren't included for each other.
The Menacers
Most of the creatures in this deck have the Menace keyword, which means they must be blocked by two or more creatures. This makes blocking weird for your opponent, and oftentimes if you control their creature numbers in some way (combat, burn) it makes them completely unable to block sometimes. Very useful when you're trying to win through the redzone.
At 1 CMC, we have 8 cards: 4 Insolent Neonate, and 4 Village Messenger. Insolent Neonate is an excellent early game attacker that can be sacrificed for a draw later on if need be. Village Messenger is a Raging Goblin that conditionally has Menace depending on what your opponent is doing.
We also have 8 Menacers at 2 CMC: 4 Deranged Whelp, and 4 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider. Deranged Whelp is nothing special; just a 2-power Menacer, but otherwise vanilla. Kari Zev is pretty amazing; she's a 1/3 with First Strike and Menace that also puts a 2/1 body on the battlefield attacking until end of combat. On the attack, she represents 3 power across 2 bodies, meaning your opponent has to block with 3 creatures just to stop her. In practice, that's quite difficult. I still have some concern about running the full playset, but so far the legend rule hasn't been an issue.
On 3 CMC, we have a playset of Sin Prodders. A 3-power Menacer for 3 is already a good deal, but his triggered ability is fantastic. We either get an extra draw or we get to burn our opponents most of the time. Worst-case scenario he hits a land, but at least that's filtered out of our draw for us. With Reflector Mage absent from the format, I expect this guy to be an all-star.
The Other Creatures
Sad to say, we're about tapped on low-curve creatures with Menace. Fortunately, there are other creatures that are hard to deal with in combat that we can pad the list with. We'll start with a playset of Borderland Marauders. A 3/2 for 2 on the attack, this card is not evasive at all but makes up for it with sheer power, allowing it to trade up with bigger creatures. To be honest, this is sort of a flex slot, but Marauder does the job admirably so far. Later in the curve we have 4 Hanweir Garrisons. A 2/3 for 3 is not impressive, but it drops attacking soldiers every time it attacks. If your opponent is unprepared, this can get disgustingly out of hand. Overall it acts sort of as Kari Zev 5-8, but with its own set of pros and cons.
The Burn
This is where mono-red strategies really suffered recently in Standard. Fortunately, Aether Revolt gave us a few toys to play with. Shock needs no introduction; it's a strange format indeed where it's a favored burn spell, but it being instant speed and versatile enough to hit creatures or go to the face gives it a leg up on its otherwise sad competition. It's complemented by Incendiary Flow, which is sorcery speed but otherwise does a decent Lightning Strike impression. The exile effect is also relevant in a couple of matchups. Adding to the package is Hungry Flames, which isn't quite Searing Blaze, but I'll certainly take a spell like it in this format.
The Lands
This deck's land base is obviously simple. 20 lands, mostly Mountains. I do want to call attention to Hanweir Battlements, however. Being able to sink mana into hasting your creatures works pretty well, allowing you to ramp up the pressure in the mid-game. Ratcheting up the speed just that little bit makes the difference in a lot of games.
The Sideboard
I have a rather vague idea about what I want to do with the sideboard, but I think I have a good start. Galvanic Bombardment is meant to supplement Shock against other aggressive creature-based decks. Burn from Within is for graveyard-based strategies; it can help Flow keep Prized Amalgams off the field. Release the Gremlins is good artifact removal that also gives you an extra creature; it's also scaleable for multiple targets if you have the mana. Finally we have Kari Zev's Expertise; I always make a point to board in threaten effects for use against midrange, big creature decks, but this one is perhaps the best I've seen. Being able to steal a creature/vehicle for a turn and also cast another spell is huge.
Conclusion
This deck is still very much in the prototype stage, but initial playtesting is very promising. I think the idea has legs, and I'm excited to see where it goes as Standard continues to develop. Comments/suggestions are always welcome.
