Mono Red - Next Steps

So, after testing, there were a few slots that either didn't seem to pull their weight, or whose worth was quite variable, so we should look at those, and figure out what to do with them.

The biggest question in my mind is the one drops.
Currently, I'm playing:
4x Stromkirk Noble
3x Reckless Waif
3x Geistflame
1x Gut Shot

The purpose of these cards is to get in early pressure, deal chunks of damage, while enabling Stromgarde Berserker.  Berserker was pretty bad with more of a two-drop centered game, which is not what we're looking for.

Most Questionable One Drops:

Reckless Waif: (Currently 3x main, 0x side)
+++++
3 power on turn 1 does quite a bit of damage.
Mana screwed opponents took a ton of damage
Forced them into action
Led to many easy wins when several one-drops were drawn
Punished Tap-lands
Very good on the play
Instants can let you skip a turn and flip it, while still doing something.
+++++

------
Hard to flip later in the game.
Not great in creature combat, tended to trade instead of get through for damage.
Bad against Timely Reinforcements, Snapcaster, Viridian Emmisary.
Not so great on the draw.
-----

Overall, this guy just does alot of damage early, and can block to save Koth or your life total while your mana ramps, but any other 1-drop could do that as well.  I often sided several of these out, and had to take out a Berserker or two as a consequence, against control, but maybe that was not right.

The main purpose of this guy is to pump up a Berserker, so if he gets replaced (and Berserkers stay), the replacement cards need to fill that role.

Alternatives:

In theory, cards like Grim Lavamancer, or Spikeshot Elder fill this same role, but in actuality they do not, because the purpose of these guys is to apply semi-unblockable damage, in order to bloodthirst the Berserker, or force your control opponent into action.  Lavamancer and Elder are fine cards in their own right, but neither really stands up to these options, or Waif.

All of them do less damage than the Waif in their best-case scenarios, but what they gain over the Waif is consistancy. 

Fireslinger is straight up unblockable, and they would have to kill it on their turn, to prevent Bloodthirsting a Berserker.  But otherwise it seems to do a reasonably weak version of Curse of the Pierced Heart.  Unfortunately, the curse does the damage on their turn, so it can't trigger bloodthirst.

The Arsonist is "unblockable" in that it gets in there for one damage either way, and can in theory ping mana creatures, planeswalkers, etc.

Gut Shot is a way you can bloodthirst on turn 2, so it does count in this category.  (Geistflame enables on T3, but that's not T2)

The impact on all of these is very minimal compared to the sheer bruising power of the Waif.  Noone would argue for Curse of the Pierced Heart or Mons Goblin Raiders in a deck like this, and Curse has some advantages over each of them.  (Not a creature, overloads O-Ring, similar to Shrine, has "haste", etc). 

GerryT advocates Fireslinger and Arsonist over Noble(!), because they are less blockable, but that sort of logic is clearly out of bounds for this deck.  Gut Shot is very inteteresting here, because it doubles as a removal spell, in those critical (for Waif, Noble) early turns.

Most Questionable Removal Spells:


















Gut Shot: (Currently 1x Main 0x Side)
+++++
Manaless damage can really work well in some situations:
+1 damage with Koth Ultimate
+1 damage with koth Ultimate on 5 lands -> Titan/Wurmcoil
+Kills flash Creatures that threaten Planeswalkers (Snapcaster)
+Turn 1 kill (mana creature) + Play 1-drop is a very strong play. (esp on the draw)
+Put a charge on Shrine, and keep mana up to activate it
All of these happened at least once in the test game, with only one copy of Gut Shot to allow them to happen.
Life payment is rarely a factor given the aggressive nature of the deck.
+++++

-----
Pretty low impact in killing people, and threats in the later game.
Doesn't exactly take down big threats that well.  Too much 1-damage effects are problematic when the opponent plays a Titan.
-----

Geistflame: (Currently 3x Main, 1x Side)
+++++
Reusable damage, kind of like a delayed, instant speed Arc Trail, when Shrine is considered.
1 damage kills alot of early threats.
+++++
-----
Rarely got flashed back as anything but "to the head" to put a counter on shrine(s).
Sided out commonly against control.
Never wanted the 4th Geistflame, when Arc Trail was available out of the side.
-----

I don't need the 4th Geistflame for sure.  I might want to do something like 2x Geistflame, 1x Arc Trail main, with 3x Arc Trail side, which would open up two sideboard slots at virtual zero cost.

It is a realistic possibility to count Gut Shots as Waifs, for the purpose of powering up Berserkers, but I don't think I would want to go over something like 2 Gut Shots total, unless omni-Illusions was rampant.  (Geistflame is pretty rocking there too...)

"Finisher"/"Utility"/??

As I mentioned in the previous testing report, Chandra 3.0 was mostly a counterspell-drawer, or a 4-mana Gut Shot in these games.  I never doubled a proliferate spell, and I did kill quite a few one-toughness creatures, but I did side her out for games 2-3 quite often, to bring in random other stuff.

I'd really like these two spell slots to have some strong synergy with the deck's proliferate effects, and be a game-winning possibility, but I'm not sure what to do about that.

There are some options I can think of, some of them good, some of them... Well, some might not be an upgrade to Chandra.  Let me know what you think, there is certainly room for some of these to shine here....

 

For three-drops, Metamorph could provide an undercosted threat if the opponent has a reasonable deck.  (Mirran Crusader, Hero, Titan).  Kurin Outlaw does a ton of damage, and is hard to block (and has some Synergy with Waif).  Chandra's Phoenix flies, and overcomes some of the problems of being a creature.  Druidic Sachel provides you with a stream of creatures, action, and life, to race the control decks.

For four-drops, Gorehorn is "in-theme", but not quite big enough to take down titans on his own, and is pretty blockable.  Lux Cannon is also "in theme", but pretty glacially slow.  It does deal with planeswalkers, O-Rings, and Titans alike....

At 5, we have Urabrask, who makes blocking quite difficult for the opponent (but who combos poorly with Berserker).  We don't have a metric ton of creatures, so he may be outclassed by Falkenrath Marauders, who hit for 2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate?  Batterskull is a fine control creature, but it may not be at it's best in our aggro deck.  People are already bringing in artifact removal spells to deal with Shrine, but Batterskull would be an interesting one-of, perhaps moreso than the other options at this level.