Mono-Red Demigod (Competitive Budget Deck)

Modern Aggro Burn Competitive Mono-Red Reanimator

500destinies

Creature (27)

• 4x Demigod of Revenge
• 4x Flameblade Adept
• 3x Flamewake Phoenix
• 3x Harsh Mentor
• 1x Hazoret the Fervent
• 4x Hollow One
• 4x Insolent Neonate
• 4x Street Wraith

Land (18)

• 2x Canyon Slough
• 2x Memorial to War
• 10x Mountain
• 4x Ramunap Ruins

Instant (4)

• 4x Lightning Bolt

Sorcery (9)

• 2x Cathartic Reunion
• 4x Faithless Looting
• 3x Infernal Plunge

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance

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Sideboard

Instant (5)

• 3x Magma Jet
• 2x Searing Blood

Creature (1)

• 1x Captain Lannery Storm

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Anger of the Gods
• 2x Exquisite Firecraft

Artifact (2)

• 2x Ratchet Bomb

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This deck is my baby. The card:Infernal Plunge + Demigod of Revenge is just too much fun to play on turn 3. Honestly, this should be illegal. In a world where modern decks cost at least $500-$700, I wanted to play competitively with just $150. I can't promise anything, but at my LGS filled with GW Company, Bogles, UW Control, and Mardu Pyromancers, this deck has been able to 4-0! It's a mono-red discard/aggro/reanimator deck built to make big and evasive threats very early on in the game.

I'm currently looking for suggestions on the sideboard!

Isn't this just a budget rip-off of BR Hollow One? Show

This is the question I most often get when I play at my LGS. It's true, I can get a Hollow One out on turn one, but the entire deck isn't built around it's power. I'm not playing Burning Inquiry or Goblin Lore for maximum RNG. I'm not even playing the big delve creatures like Tasigur, the Golden Fang. Obviously with the phoenixes, our graveyard is important, but it's not vital for our gameplan. Instead, we go for explosive turns with Infernal Plunge, which allows us to play a Demigod of Revenge on turn 3 (possibly getting back up to 3 copies from our graveyard) or sometimes an Avatar of Discord on turn 2.

TLDR: No, this isn't BR Hollow One.

Cards that may look stupid Show

There are a few cards in this deck that may not be ideal, but I've found to win me games.

First off, we're playing two black sources with Canyon Slough and Dragonskull Summit. This is a mono-red deck, but every so often I find that the ability to actually cast a Street Wraith is helpful. Also, Canyon Slough can be cycled to cast a Hollow One or buff a Flameblade Adept

We're also playing two copies of Memorial to War. Yes I know, I'm not supposed to play tapped lands in modern, but we can't play any Ghost Quarter because we have to have 5 red or black sources to cast our Demigod. It's just a fringe way of having land destruction in the mainboard, which has won me games against Tron and Mono-White Martyr.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance is super good. It acts as reach and removal in a deck that only runs Lightning Bolt as a source of direct damage. It's the most expensive card in the deck, but arguably the most powerful in a longer game. Even though it doesn't necessarily have synergy with discard, it's just too good. Plus, it gets back Chandra's Phoenix, which is a bonus.

Ramunap Ruins is another controversial land. One of the major upsides of playing a mono-colored deck is the lack of shock lands and fetches. It's like starting with 5-6 extra points of life. Why, then, would you play a pain land? This is an aggro deck, but the top end of our curve still allows us to play a longer game. Ramunap Ruins is a way of representing damage for 'free'. It's great, shut up.

Strategy guide Show

This isn't an intuitive deck. There's not a set curve, because blowing your own stuff up with Infernal Plunge is often the most valuable play to make. Path to Exile is your absolute worst enemy. This deck wethers any number of 3-damage red spells and dodges Fatal Push, but white exile crap deletes everything.

The graveyard is your friend, but it's not the only way to win. I've had countless games where my opponent sided heavily into graveyard hate, but got destroyed by cards I cast from my hand. Again, this isn't BR Hollow One.

Lingering Souls is also a pile of crap. Most of our threats fly, which makes winning against GW Company or Humans super easy, but when an opponent can constantly make 1/1 chump blockers, punching through is problematic. We don't really go wide enough with this deck.

Turn 2 is the most important turn. It's when you'll most often be able to cast a Hollow One (hopefully while pumping up a turn 1 Flameblade Adept. It's also home to some degenerate synergies. Faithless Looting discarding a Chandra's Phoenix followed by a Lightning Bolt to the face gets you a hasty 3 damage to your opponent and a 2/2 body in your hand. Casting Infernal Plunge on an Insolent Neonate for an Avatar of Discord can also be game-winning. Unless your opponent is running bolts, 5 damage in the air on turn 2 is just as good as a Delver of Secrets  .

Updates Show

v1.1 - Updated description of Chandra's Phoenix - Took out Dragonskull Summit for another Canyon Slough

v1.2 - This update takes out Avatar of Discord and Chandra's Phoenix, two very budget and not very impactful cards, and replaces them with one copy of Hazoret, a Lannery Storm (believe me, this card is so good with Demigod of Revenge), and two Harsh Mentors to fill the curve and burn out our opponent.

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Splash colors	B
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 16 - 6 Rares 14 - 5 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.62
Tokens	Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Treasure
Folders	Modern Ideas, Fun Deck Ideas, Favorite Modern Decks, Resources, Budget, Interesting Modern Decks, deck ideas, Modern demigod, Modern