This deck is being built for a friendly competition within my playgroup we've called Proxy Series. For each new Proxy Series game night we randomize a new general and build a deck around it without knowing each others' decks. And man, did I draw the short straw this time.
Brothers Yamazaki
is possibly one of the most useless generals available outside of some very situational Two-Headed Giant set up. For that reason, any data EDH Rec and other sites have for this general are skewed for me. Since that's not what we're doing, I have to make the most out of it and the Two-Headed Giant way is not the one for my current need.
The way I see it there were two possible ways to go: Either Voltron with lots of equipment and just a couple of ways to actually use the brothers' buff ability by myself, or the best EDH mono red deck I could put together within the 99, disregarding my general.
I decided to go the certified mono red way, with some incidental use of my general. 3 mana for a 2/1 general is not only a poor use of my mana but also a frail one. The few ways I might end up using it are Blade of Selves or Splinter Twin, and even so I will likely find better uses for any of those cards in most game situations.
Honorary Generals
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is probably the better half of our biggest win condition, and so it would be one of the best suited generals for this deck.
Krenko, Mob Boss since we are not fully goblin tribal, is more underwhelming in here than in its traditional shell. Krenko is still a token machine and would probably be one of my main choices for a mono red deck, just not necessarily in this shell.
Purphoros, God of the Forge is brilliant with Krenko, the fact that it is indestructible and this is a mono red deck, makes it an indestructible creature most times, it's one of our better choices for an alternate (I should say improved) general.
Fumiko the Lowblood isn't better than any of the previous legendaries, but if I could switch out the Yamazaki Bros for something that felt alike but somewhat playable, Fumiko would be my choice. She is not in the deck anymore because even though she is splashy and a cool card, I felt like I needed more consistent draws along the game and Fumiko would usually work poorly with our overall plan.
There are a few other good legendary creatures in the deck, but these are the ones I'd favour, considering that they are the ones that I would probably want to play in most game situations.
Controlling Threats
First and foremost, probably the biggest advantage for being on mono red is the ability to run Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon without any sort of setback. Most multicolored decks will struggle with these cards and since monored isn't too versatile at removing all kinds of threats this is a way to help delaying those threats from coming into play.
Mono red also means that at some point in the game Braids of Fire will provide all the mana you need, so massive land destruction is one way we can stop our opponents from doing anything else. I'm not too heavy on MLD, but given that mono red lacks a lot in answers its too big a temptation not to run some forms of MLD besides its friendly cousin Blood Moon.
The interaction between Goblin Sharpshooter and Basilisk Collar is very well known and hilarious, a repeatable one sided board wipe until someone finds a way to get rid of it.
We also run the usual staples in Vandalblast, Chaos Warp and Blasphemous Act. I considered including Scour from Existence, Spine of Ish Sah and such as additional ways to deal with enchantments and Planeswalkers, but ended up deciding those would be too metagame dependant and for the kind of matchups I expect, not that worth their cost, nor the exclusion of any card currently included.
Running Away with the Game
I'm used to build a lot of combo decks in EDH, trying to go infinite in any way I can without harming the overall balance of the deck. Mono Red way to combo off is a Gamble: It might work, but it might not. Since we have few ways to protect our combos and they're all pretty frail, I consider these strong interactions that might win the game, rather than assured game winning combos and will approach each of them as such:
The main win condition of this deck is definitely Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker plus something else. Zealous Conscripts makes infinite tokens, untapping Kiki Jiki each time; Combat Celebrant makes for infinite combat phases. Even when you are not straight up winning with Kiki Jiki, there's immense value to be had there, copying Fanatic of Mogis, any token generator with Purphoros on the battlefield, Combustible Gearhulk too is awesome value
Splinter Twin with Zealous Conscripts and sometimes with Combat Celebrant will also make for a similar outcome.
Krenko, Mob Boss with Umbral Mantle and Mana Echoes has a huge potential to go infinite, maybe one shot someone and leave infinite tokens on the battlefield for next turn, or kill everyone on the spot with Purphoros, God of the Forge
I've been focusing the deck on goblins a bit more, and even though I don't run any goblin lord, I have a very high goblin synergy within the deck, and usually a bunch of goblin tokens will be the way we finish out the game, so Shared Animosity makes that a legitimate win condition, much more reliable than the previously included Gratuitous Violence (which was still in the deck from my initial tests with Heartless Hidetsugu)
Grafted Exoskeleton obviously fastens up the clock, but Purphoros, God of the Forge is probably the best suited target for the infect enabler.
I'm also still thinking of including Heartless Hidetsugu since I already run Basilisk Collar and Loxodon Warhammer wouldn't hurt, making Hidetsugu a potential win con on himself. I just don't know if that is a worthy standalone inclusion. Also Feldon of the Third Path is the one way I have to deal with removal for my main win conditions, since none of them are my general, and therefore, if I lose one, the deck might limp a bit and lose for lack of overall ability to interact being in mono red.
PLEASE HELP!
Please send any comment, experience or idea my way, every insight you share is a huge help for me to build a better deck. I know the deck would be better off with a different general, but given that constraint, I'm trying to make the most out of it.