After struggling to be competitive with an Rakdos Aggro deck as a new player, I have slowly constructed my Red Deck Wins with three things in mind.
- Is it competitive? (can it win consistently?)
- Is it cheap?
- Does it rotate?
For the cheapest deck that can win local tournaments with the fewest rotating cards, I have come up with this RDW.
So far I have Top 4'ed 3 times in a row, and then Top 2'ed. So that is 4 top 4s consecutively now. These tournaments have had between 12-28 people depending on the day and a large portion of the players are very competitive playing things like top tier Jund, America, and Gruul decks.
I know there are cards that I could use that are better than some I am currently using who will rotate soon. Boros Reckoner is an amazing card in particular who doesn't rotate that should be in this deck but isn't simply because I dont have the dollars presently.
How it plays: There isn't much complexity to RDW. One thing to note is the importance of the 1 drops Rakdos Cackler and Stromkirk Noble because of how strong they become when you turn two a Madcap Skills or Volcanic Strength. The strongest hands will have a one drop and an aura in them. Otherwise Skullcrack is there to stifle all of the Sphinx's Revelation and other lifegain as well as break protection. And the rest is swing and burn for the most part.
The sideboard: is fairly straight-forward. Burning Earth should be sided in and out depending on the mana base of the other player. Generally it is very strong against tri-colored control decks. Electrickery is for any decks relying on mana-dorks, tokens, and weenies. Mindsparker is for any control match-ups and Volcanic Strength is for any mirror/Gruul matchups. Mizzium Mortars can be sided in and out depending on the size and quantity of creatures the opponents deck is playing.
I would like to hear any ideas or suggestions and I'll update as I get results from playing it in tournaments at least until rotation.