This time I want to present a well known archetype. My goal was to show some unique decks on the blog but I thought it would be nice to have some classic builds for people which are new to the format. So here is my version of MonoR-RDW which get 2nd in the current Highlander season (Season X).
As you can see there are a lot of obvious choices but of course as always there is a lot of space to implement personal favorites. The good thing about RDW is that you can easily modify it to your local meta. If there are many WW-Decks you can add Sulfur Elemental/Ghost Fire/Pyrite Spellbomb if your meta is dominated by control decks you can add The Rack and land destruction spells etc.
I would say that this kind of deck got a lot of good matchups. Sometimes its insanly fast and is able to kill an opponent on turn four. And even in a game where an opponent is able to stabilize you can end the game with spells like Price of Progress or Ruiniation/Blood Moon/Magus of the Moon
Against straight Aggro Decks like Gx Elves, WR Boros or Rx Goblins this deck is also performing very well. Its able to burn the small dudes which are essential since they use a lot of synergies and finish them off with his own haste creatures which are “immune” to spot removal or at least generating card advantage. I added in my build spells like Volcanic Fallout and Breath of Darigaaz for this kind of matchups.
Midrange Aggro Decks like GWR Naya, UGW Bant/UGWB Dark Bant or 5C Aggro Decks are the “worst” matchups. Since they got a lot of good cards against RDW. They play all the good removal + lifegain creatures and got counterspell backup. Sometimes you can mess with their manabase but if they are playing their second Kitchen Finks which got revived by an Eternal Witness or a Baneslayer Angel the deck simply cant beat this.
Against Control Decks you got a good chance since they need their anti-aggro cards right on time and dont have much time to develop their board. Some player add cards like Tangle Wire or Frost Bringer to get a better matchup against control/combo decks but In my build is no place for this kind of cards. I think its a viable strategy to add more mana denial to the deck but my deck is a hybrid between sligh and aggro so its crucial to have enough mana. Cards like Avalance Riders and Fulminator Mage are also a good option to think about.
As you can see my build is missing any artifact removal. This is a meta game call but if you whish to implement some cards against artifacts I would suggest those Pillage / Smash to Smithereens or Hearth Kami.
This type of deck is in my opionion a good benchmark for any deck which want to survive in the Highlander meta. Its an insanly fast deck and can check if the opposing deck is stable enough to stay in the meta. As far as I know its a very popular deck on MTGO and a lot of players mix it up with a goblin strategy or even more burn so if you planing to create a new deck check if its able to catch up with this kind of archetype.
so far~
I’m really happy to read a new blog entry! It would be a shame if this blog would quit. So first, thank you very much for your effort.
About the card choices a can’t say really much, because I’ve never play the deck. Because of this it’s a good and first overall look on this deck. I’ll start play more HL and I think MonoR is a constant part of the metagame, so I can test with/against your list.
Nice overview over this “evergreen” Archtype…
Btw I think you mean Black Vise and not the Rack to improve the control MU
How good are this x-spells in my lists they never were in the top 100 because I think they are to slow and whats the english word for “klobig”?!
@Alexander: I will post more lists in the next few days.
@Peeler: You are right, Black Vise. The x-spells…well I was always satisfied with demonfire and earthquake. I think you can cut one of the spells but I thought in this heavy aggro meta its necessary to have some “wrath” effects.
…talking about “wrath”-effects:
Is it safe to play “wrath”-effects against other Aggrodecks with the possibility of your opponent recovering first?
Besides, why don’t you play “Jinxed Choker”?
Thanks a lot (especially for contiuing this blog!)
Nice work Tabris. Its good to see some new decklists on this blog.
@Passenger
I dont see how Jinxed Choker could be any good for the deck. I see it as a card if you getting flooded and there are enough better cards for this funtion.
Also: any card which generates card advantage in a monoR deck is appreciated. If I can kill two creatures + dealing damage to my opponent thats fine with me.
Thank you for the responses I will post more lists soon.
Hi!
What do you think of RDW-highlander as a multiplayer deck? Is it completely impossible to make it work?
I think you can easily build a big red version of this, which would also work in a multiplayer game. The problem would be to persist against control decks.
Why no Tectonic Edge in the manabase? Sure, it’s not as good as Wasteland, but you still have a ton of coloured sources and Edge can randomly colourscrew the opponent or kill problematic utility lands (stops an opponent from Volrathing a Finks back to the field constantly etc.).
It should be a bit more viable than it was before, too, because we can shave off an R requirement from Flamebreak’s cost with Slagstorm. Just random thoughts, haven’t played that much red in Highlander thus far.
Why not play Banefire in this deck…… Banefire in any mono red deck I think is a must especially for Highlander since its a 1 of….. think about it 6 mana to do 5 damage that cant be countered and in late game if you have all tons of mana its for sure a big time FINISHER.
Wow, this list has been very helpful to me. I would like to know what you think of Genju of the Spires in this deck.