Drafted RW and went 3-0*. The asterisk comes from Match 3 where I let my opponent take back a bad block which ended up costing me the game, but my opponent kindly gave me the win in the end because of said takeback. It was a fun draft. I’ve heard RW “go-wide” is good and I’ve done well with aggro slanted decks in the past AND I was hoping to draft RW, so it was cool to end up drafting it. I think my deck was pretty dang powerful, one of the best ones I’ve drafted. But I think that is in large part to the newness of the format, people don’t know how good RW is yet and are still trying out crazy things. Pack 1 pick 1 was Angel of the Dawn and pick 2 was Pegasus Courser, so things started out really nice. By the end of pack 1 I was firmly RW and the deck was already looking good. Pack 2 pick 1 was Vivien Reid, but I was sad to pass a foil Star-Crowned Stag. I even picked up a Timber Gorge and a Manalith to prepare for a possible splash, but was able to stick to pure RW. I think nearly any other color combo should have splashed for Vivien Reid provided you could get a couple more green sources. Pack 2 was going well and then the unthinkable happened, the foil Star-Crowned Stag came back to me! I picked it and it was one of those moments where you know things were going well. Pack 3 pick 1 was a foil Runic Armasaur. The deck was insane because I had 3x Heroic Reinforcements, 2x Angel of the Dawn, 2x Pegasus Courser, 2x Star-Crowned Stag, 1x Knightly Valor, and 1x Inspired Charge with some other good stuff. Yes, that is 6x mass-pump effects, 5 of which come along with creatures. I had so many playable cards that I cut many things that I would have definitely played in other circumstances like Havoc Devils, Guttersnipe (I strongly considered this, because of how many spells I was running), 2x Daybreak Chaplain, Act of Treason, and an extra Mighty Leap. There was also a potential turning point with a pretty late Regal Bloodlord sometime in pack 1, but there was also a strong white card so I took that, stayed RW and was rewarded.
MATCH 1 vs UW control-fliers (2-0)
Game 1 was weird. I went Pegasus Courser into Star-Crowned Stag so his lone Aven Wind Mage wasn’t doing any blocking. My opponent did counter a Angel of the Dawn as well as a gallant calvary and stalled one turn with Uncomfortable Chill, but just lost to my on-board creatures.
Game 2 was similar. I went turn 1 Rustwing Falcon, t2 Rustwing Falcon, t3 Militia Bugler missed off trigger, t4 gallant calvary, t5 Heroic Reinforcements got countered, t6 Heroic Reinforcements got countered, t7 Angel of the Dawn got countered and Uncomfortable Chill stopped most of my damage. But my opponent only had out a lone Star-Crowned Stag so I was attacking like crazy in the meantime while all my spells got countered by Essence Scatters and Cancels. Any one of the mass pump spells resolving would have ended the game, but I still got it done with just relentless mass attacks.
MATCH 2 vs RG dragons (2-0)
Game 1 wasn’t close. My opponent mulled to six, and kept Lathliss, Dragon Queen and 5 lands and drew all lands. And I went t1 Rustwing Falcon, t2 Cavalry Drillmaster pump the bird, into like t3 Pegasus Courser, into t4 Heroic Reinforcements, so they were either dead or effectively dead before they could even cast Lathliss, Dragon Queen.
Game 2 was also lopsided. They got down a Goblin Motivator and eventually a Manalith and a Sparktongue Dragon then a Volcanic Dragon, but they were dead by that point. I forget exactly what I had in play, but I’m pretty sure Boggart Brute and a couple others were unopposed due to Star-Crowned Stag, tapping down dragons. I think a mass-pump helped seal the deal.
MATCH 3 vs UBw artifacts with Chromium (2-1)*
Game 1 went as well as I could have hoped with turns 1 and 2 Rustwing Falcon into t3 Pegasus Courser into turns 4 and 5 Heroic Reinforcements for lethal. Sole Skyscanner didn’t stand a chance.
Game 2 my opponent boarded in a lot of Wall of Mists and I had a pretty slow start, but still had some fliers chipping in damage. It took me too long to get going so my opponent’s artifact value engine went wild with Skyscanners and Scholar of Stars’s drawing cards like crazy and Gravediggers rebuying creatures. I mounted a couple attacks, but eventually got blown out by a flashed-in Chromium, the Mutable which killed me soon after.
Game 3 was rough and was my asterisk game. I was on the play and had a powerful start, some number of early creatures into a t5 Rustwing Falcon and Heroic Reinforcements (gave falcon haste). On that turn my opponent blocked my pumped Militia Bugler with scholar of the stars thinking they would trade. They asked for a takeback after I told them Militia Bugler didn’t die (4 toughness at that point) during the damage step, which I gave them and their new block caused scholar of the stars to trade with Gallant Cavalry instead putting them to 3 life. Me having one less attacker made the difference as my assault was now blunted and they drew tons of cards and put creatures onto the battlefield faster than me. However, even with the takeback, the game was still winnable for me. I drew my Sparktongue Dragon with 6 lands in play and no other lands in hand. I did not cast it thinking I could just wait until I had 8 lands in play to win via Sparktongue Dragon’s ETB trigger. I was sort of worried about Mind Rot, but had not seen one. Next turn I drew Heroic Reinforcements and mentally kicked myself for not deploying the dragon earlier so it would be out already for the mass-pump effect. BUT, I should have just stuck to my plan, because I cast the dragon that turn and it got immediately cut down by Strangling Spores. The dragon’s ETB ability doesn’t care about removal, so it was stupid of me to cast it early, especially into a board that still would not have been favorable to me anyway. I flooded out pretty hard this game and my opponent eventually got about 12 creatures out. In the end I was able to cast a desperation Angel of the Dawn and Heroic Reinforcements the same turn, but Chromium, the Mutable flashed in to dominate again, not that I was winning anyway. I died on the crackback. It was still a good learning experience for me. I won’t make that same mistake again about not holding back the Sparktongue Dragon.
I think after seeing how Game 2 ground to a halt I should have sideboarded in Thud for Game 3. I did not see any counterspells from my opponent and any sort of direct damage at the end of the game would have won it for me. It maybe could have been in the maindeck as a bit of reach to close out games.
THOUGHTS
I love RW, because I love beating down in draft. The biggest improvement for this deck would have been to lower the curve a bit with some two-drops so that you could go down to 16 lands, be more aggressive, and use the various mass-pump effects as top-end finishers. Sometimes I just didn’t have quite enough creatures in play to get the best value from my mass-pumps. I liked being able to pick the power cards like Angel of the Dawn, Heroic Reinforcements, and Star-Crowned Stag highly and wheel less powerful, but still crucial cards like my 2x Rustwing Falcon, and 2x Cavalry Drillmaster all of which I wheeled. I did not face any hate against one toughness creatures, but there is a lot in this format with Skeleton Archer, Plague Mare, Nightmare's Thirst as well as efficient blockers like Dryad Greenseeker, omenseeker, blessed chaplain and more.
3x Heroic Reinforcements was insane. It often won or nearly won me the game and is especially backbreaking back-to-back. Not great when you’re behind, but this deck doesn’t want to be.
2x Angel of the Dawn was also insane. No haste, but vigilance is no joke. You can just freely attack with no fear of crackback.
2x Star-Crowned Stag was the best creature in my deck and I would have loved even more of these even with them raising my curve. They just shut down the best blockers and help you punch through so much damage. I love this card and I hope I’m always playing these.
2x Pegasus Courser was nice. They really shine when they Jump giant creatures, but the extra evasion is so helpful no matter what. They were usually just Jumping 2/2s for me, but that actually helps a lot. Not great attackers on their own though, which happened to me a couple of times.
Inspired Charge is nice, but I think you’d always rather have the creature versions. Instant speed is nice for surprise wins or dominating combat.
Militia Bugler was not great for me, though I thought it would be. I think I resolved it like 5 times and only hit once, despite having 7 targets. Often sending my best cards (spells and big creatures) to the bottom of the deck. I probably was not built properly to best benefit from it’s effect.
2x Rustwing Falcon seems unimposing, but a great card when you want early evasive bodies to get maximum value from max pumps.
2x Cavalry Drillmaster was really great. It helps punch through blockers or send in extra damage. Amazing when following a Rustwing Falcon and a pretty nice play at most points of the game, especially if you are aggressive. I would have loved more copies of these because they are early bodies for mass-pumps and they just help your attacks by so much. They might not shine as much in the face of a lot of one toughness hate like those I mentioned earlier.
Sparktongue Dragon will haunt me a bit, but it’s a great card that’s even more powerful in ramp strategies that can consistently use the ETB ability.
Knightly Valor was good, the stats boost and the free knight token are great, but most of my creatures were not quite large enough to outgrow a lot of the common removal such as
Strangling Spores or Electrify when enchanted. I do like this card though, can turn a lame creature into a must kill threat.
Take Vengeance was very medium for me. I was so aggressive that my opponents’ creatures were only infrequently attacking (and tapping). Might have been better for me to play a second
Mighty Leap in place of this. I could see an aggro deck wanting Take Vengeance if facing down fatties like Colossal Dreadmaw, but if you already have stuff like Luminous Bonds I could see this getting cut.