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1 year ago ::
May 01, 2012 - 12:49AM
#431
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Date Joined:
Apr 19, 2012
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furnace scamp  deals 4 damage on the second turn with one mana on the first turn. It is actually better than vexing devil  because it will trigger bloodthirst for a potential berserker. How come nobody runs furnace scamp ? Because it sucks. People need to stop looking at vexing devil as a 4/3 because its not, its a sorcery speed bolt that 90% of the time hits for 4, the rest of the time for zero. The only place I would run a vexing devil is in a straight burn deck.
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1 year ago ::
May 01, 2012 - 2:43AM
#432
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2003
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It's really not even about giving niche cards to black.
It should be about giving black cards to Niche.
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1 year ago ::
May 01, 2012 - 6:38PM
#433
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Date Joined:
Apr 29, 2012
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I tested out my deck after adding Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded  today, I found that giving him counters was easier than expected, espescially because of Volt Charge  . I think that if I want to keep him in I might want to add Reforge the Soul  to get a new hand, that way I don't have to just mill cards to use his +1 after using up my hand.
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1 year ago ::
May 01, 2012 - 11:58PM
#434
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2003
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This is my current list, partially inspired by Islands'. // Lands
4 [SOM] Copperline Gorge
15 [ON] Mountain (4)
2 [INN] Kessig Wolf Run
1 [M10] Rootbound Crag // Creatures
4 [TO] Grim Lavamancer
1 [DKA] Hellrider
4 [INN] Stromkirk Noble
4 [M12] Stormblood Berserker
2 [M12] Goblin Fireslinger // Spells
4 [NPH] Shrine of Burning Rage
4 [AVR] Pillar of Flame
3 [NPH] Volt Charge
2 [INN] Brimstone Volley
2 [NPH] Gut Shot
2 [AVR] Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
2 [SOM] Koth of the Hammer
1 [INN] Devil's Play
3 [SOM] Arc Trail // Sideboard
SB: 2 [AVR] Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
SB: 4 [AVR] Bonfire of the Damned
SB: 3 [M12] Chandra's Phoenix
SB: 2 [NPH] Vulshok Refugee
SB: 2 [TSP] Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 [NPH] Act of Aggression I had 2 Vexing Devil originally, but he's just not that good so I ended up cutting him down to 1, then to 0 for Devil's Play. Tibalt has been okay so far; I don't love him, but I haven't hated him. This build is much more burn heavier than most of the builds I've played, which leads to some strangely Control-like plays against Aggro decks like Humans - you just keep burning them out, then drop a Stromkirk Noble like Turn 4-5 and ride it to victory. It also makes Shrine do a bit more work; sometimes you'll get hands where you just want to start burning their face by about Turn 3 because you know you can find enough gas to kill them off the Shrine. Bonfire of the Damned has been a monstrous blowout from the board, like seriously. Topdecking it completely changes the direction of an Aggro matchup.
It's really not even about giving niche cards to black.
It should be about giving black cards to Niche.
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 5:17AM
#435
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Date Joined:
Apr 19, 2012
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Why bother? You're just turning on their creature removal that otherwise can't be cast?
LoL I was trying to half full the glass.... Personally, I'd never use him. As a die hard red player, I so want him to be good, but after testing him he is just not unfortunately.
4 [NPH] Shrine of Burning Rage
4 [AVR] Pillar of Flame
3 [NPH] Volt Charge
2 [INN] Brimstone Volley
2 [NPH] Gut Shot
2 [AVR] Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
2 [SOM] Koth of the Hammer
1 [INN] Devil's Play
3 [SOM] Arc Trail
IMHO I'd drop the Brimstone Volley  and Gut Shot  and +1 the Volt Charge and +3 Geistflame  .
I also have noticed that I've been playing distinctly less agressive magic than I would like to be, and seem to be taking the control approach agains't just about anything except Venser, the Sojourner  control. I don't think that right now red is quite as explosive as it used to be, but has that balance that it can respond to just about any threat; or play extremely agressive if need be.
What do you guys do about Geist of Saint Traft  or his hexproof cronies.
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 6:01AM
#436
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2003
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Why bother? You're just turning on their creature removal that otherwise can't be cast?
LoL I was trying to half full the glass.... Personally, I'd never use him. As a die hard red player, I so want him to be good, but after testing him he is just not unfortunately.
4 [NPH] Shrine of Burning Rage
4 [AVR] Pillar of Flame
3 [NPH] Volt Charge
2 [INN] Brimstone Volley
2 [NPH] Gut Shot
2 [AVR] Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
2 [SOM] Koth of the Hammer
1 [INN] Devil's Play
3 [SOM] Arc Trail
IMHO I'd drop the Brimstone Volley and Gut Shot and +1 the Volt Charge and +3 Geistflame .
I also have noticed that I've been playing distinctly less agressive magic than I would like to be, and seem to be taking the control approach agains't just about anything except Venser, the Sojourner control. I don't think that right now red is quite as explosive as it used to be, but has that balance that it can respond to just about any threat; or play extremely agressive if need be.
What do you guys do about Geist of Saint Traft or his hexproof cronies.
Gut Shot is better than Geistflame here. Whether it's spending 0 mana to add an extra counter to Shrine, pinging manadorks on the play, or setting up Bloodthirst Berserkers, anything Geistflame can do, Gut Shot can do too. Tempted to run the extra Volt Charge over a Brimstone Volley, but I'm 3-2 splitting for now because baiting an opponent into chump+5 damage is convenient when you're burn heavy.
I used to splash black with SB Tributes to deal with Traft and Stalker; now I just rely on Bonfires.
It's really not even about giving niche cards to black.
It should be about giving black cards to Niche.
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 7:52AM
#437
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Date Joined:
Apr 19, 2012
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gut shot  is better than geistflame  until turn 3 maybe 4 at most. As explosive as our decks are, I have yet to see a game finish that early. If you want to poke their mana-dorks turn one-two (a good idea) back off and play a bit more controlly, instead of dropping that Berserker. Mono-Red is definitely not the fastest deck in standard right now; so it can actually slide (quite comfortably) into a control role, which has definitely been working a lot for me, and something you admitted you found yourself doing more and more. Keep in mind, geistflame can add 2 counters to shrine, kill 2 mana-dorks/tokens, or do all of those things once if gets pitched to Tibalt, the fiend-blooded  . The only reason gut shot is so strong in other decks is because it doesn't require red mana. You (hopefully) have red mana. Have you tried geistflame ? I thought the same way until I started using it and was flashbacking left, right and centre.
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 9:01AM
#438
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Few questions. Any one been happy with vexing devils in testing? They are stupidly overpriced and I don't feel like buying/trading for them if they aren't worth it. How many Tibalts maindeck and sideboard? Haven't acquired mine yet and wondering if I'll need a playset or less.
I have tried geistflame and was unsatisfied with it. The reason is that it is so much less relevant than gut shot turns 1-3. Especially turn 2 when you can . play a shrine get a counter on it, and kill a blocker or alternatively kill a blocker and drop a tibalt, berserker, or 2 1 drops. I can't think of many situations where I would flashback a geistflame. Maybe against control where I would prefer Devil's Play or against a deck that uses a lot of 1 toughness creatures where I'm probably fine against with gut shot,arc trail, grim lavamancer, and pillar of flame or probably would still prefer Devil's Play. Geistflame is basically stuck in the middle of gut shot and devil's play. Gut shot is way more relevant early game and Devil's Play is way more relevant late game. If you're the aggro deck you want gut shot, if you're in more of a control role you want Devil's Play(better at finishing games by damaging players and better at killing 2+ toughness creatures).
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 9:22AM
#439
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Date Joined:
Apr 19, 2012
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so you found you were lifecasting gut shot more often than hardcasting it? I found that on average, about 30% of the time gut shot hit the graveyard (discarding, casting anything) I was using life cast. The rest of the time was because it was either getting mana-cast or discarded.
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 4:18PM
#440
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Date Joined:
Apr 23, 2012
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Great write up. Will you be updating this for AVR?
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