Magical Study: A Take On Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block *Red Deck* "Wins" (Magic: The Gathering)

[Keoni]

Hi, for those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Keoni Davey, and I'm currently the #1 Constructed player in Hawaii. I'm going to write a series of articles to help YOU have the best shot at qualifying for this season. I have been playtesting this format for the past 3 months, so I am very experienced in LWR/SHM Block Constructed. My main two reasons for writing these series of articles is 1) I've always wanted to write articles, and 2) I want magic to grow in Hawaii. For those of you who don't know, we almost lost our PTQ. I want to make our magic community stronger so that things like this won't happen. Note: Any References to Red Deck will be changed to RDW throughout the article. RDW is often referred to as "Red Deck" or "Demigod Red" or "Gouger Red".

In this article, I'm going to be examining the block deck Red Deck "Wins". Since I have a Star City Games premium membership, I'm also going to be using some material from there in my article. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via private message, wall post, or my email: [e-mail]

First, what is Red Deck "Wins"? Red Deck Wins, or RDW, is your classic Red Deck dating back to the first pro tour. It features creatures and burn. Why is it called Red Deck "WINS"? Unfortunately, the "Wins" isn't because it wins in the current metagame. Rather, it is a name that has been stuck to aggro decks over the past however many years (Red Deck Wins, Boros Deck Wins, Zoo Deck Wins, etc.). Well why do people play RDW? Simply put, it has has the best matchup against inexperienced faeries players out of all the decks in the current environment. However, just because you play RDW doesn't mean you instant-beat faeries. A pro player running faeries said in an interview: "RDW is a bad matchup for the faeries player that picked up the deck at the last minute just because it's the best deck. Experienced faeries players who know how to outplay their opponents often find it easy to win. It's not hard to outplay RDW, because It's a completely mindless deck. The problem lies in the fact that RDW often relies on luck to win, i.e. topdecking that 3rd demigod or that last flame javelin. It's not something either player can control."

Zvi Mowshowitz, a Magic: The Gathering Legend, said "I don't know why the call it Red Deck Wins. It simply doesn't." I couldn't agree more with his statement. While RDW has a reasonable matchup against the dreaded Fae, they have a horrible matchup against almost the entire rest of the field. Let's take a look.

Toast: Extremely awful matchup. There are too many things in this deck that beat RDW. Toast is the other Tier 1 Deck (Faeries is the first). RDW is simply dead cold to Runed Halo. Kitchen Finks is a nightmare for RDW, and a mannequin on a Kitchen Finks is the end of the world. Archon of Justice easily deals with RDW's biggest threats, and at worst will always get you a 2 for 1.

Kithkin: If you think the toast matchup is bad, this one is worse. Kithkin absolutely DESTROY RDW. It is the tier 1.5 deck. For Kithkin, they have better creatures and better curves. They have more power, and lifegain. Spectral Procession on turn 3 is usually GG for RDW, as that's at least 3 turns against Demigod AND activation for Windbrisk Heights. RDW is simplky outclassed by Kithkin in every single way. I honestly feel there is almost no reason to pick RDW over Kithkin.

Doran: RDW also has a bad matchup against Doran. Their only answer to Doran is a combination of several burn spells. Also, Doran decks often run Primal Command and Cloudthresher which shuts down all of RDW's tools. However, the matchup is better against Doran than it is for toast. That, however, is not saying much.

Merfolk: There are two different types of merfolk decks. RDW has bad matchups against both of these. For Paulo Vitor's Merfolk, PV has primal command, finks, and countermagic at his disposal. Basically, it's a Toast deck that cuts black and white in favor of more countermagic. For the Blue/White merfolk deck, it has the ability to explode out of nowhere. Their low drops are simple better than RDW's low drops. Countermagic will keep RDW for putting enough pressure on to win the game, and Sygg hoses pretty much everything that's not Demigod of Revenge.

That pretty much sums up RDW's matchups against the major decks in the format. Moving on, this past Saturday, Paula's Sports and Cards held a block constructed tournament. Exactly 8 players were in attendence, and I have the final results reported to me by some one who played in the tournament. I am not 100% sure on the results, however I am certain of the top 2 places and some matchups that were being played. Here is the final results:

1) Kithkin
2) Toast
3) RDW
4) Kelpie
5) Faeries
6) *Unknown Deck*
7) RDW
8) RDW

As you can see, there were 3 RDW present, and two finished last. As I was told, Kithkin beat out Toast in the 3rd and final game of the finals. Along the way, Kithkin and Toast played against RDW. As I was told, both Kithkin and Toast absolutely demolished RDW.

On August 23rd, nine PTQs took place, and every single decklist was posted up on www.starcitygames.com. I took the trouble of counting how many decks placed in the top 8 to get a better representation of the metagame. Here are the results:

Kithkin: 20 (Also named Mirror Master)
Faeries: 17
Toast: 16
Merfolk: 6
Doran: 4
RDW: 3 (Also named Demigod Red)
Kelpie Control: 2
Furystoked Tokens: 2
B/W Aggro: 1
Mono Green Aggro: 1
Elementals: 1
Quillspike: 1

From these results, we can gather a few things. First, the best beatdown deck is: KITHKIN! I'm not surprised by this as sheer power Kithkin possess can destroy any deck. Next, we have (as usual), Faeries at the top end of the list. You may shrug it off as nothing, but this is actually very important. Over the course of the past few weeks, Demigod Red has been growing in popularity. However, we still that a great number of Faeries decks make top 8 despite this. This may be due to Faeries players being able to outplay RDW, or other decks that simply dominate RDW (Kithkin, Toast, Doran, Merfolk) simply destroy RDW and keeping them in the losers bracket. I suspect it's a health mix of both. Close behind faeries we have Toast! This is the deck that won a Grand Prix and has since then become very popular. In fact, numerous pros, including Adrian Sullivan and Patrick Chapin (both SCG premium writers) believe it to be the best deck in Block.
At the very bottom of the "Regular Decks" lies RDW. Out of 72 top 8 slots, only 3 managed to make it on. Why RDW remains a popular deck is beyond me, as these results are extremely poor. Doran is definitely played less than RDW is, as more Doran players opt for a variation of Toast, yet Doran decks still beat out RDW in number of top 8's.

If you would like to check out the decklists or see the results from the PTQ's, here are the links:

Augusta
Austin
Boise
Minneapolis
Pittsburgh
Sacramento
Winnipeg
Munich
Oldenburg

Wrapping up, I must conclude that RDW is definitely a poor choice to make for the PTQ. Personally, the two decks I hate the most in the format are RDW (I hate relying on luck to win), and Faeries (I hate Bitterblossom). I truly do not understand why people would play this deck, unless they are that afraid of playing against faeries. If you are looking to win the PTQ, or at least perform well, I would place my money on either Kithkin or a Toast deck. Hopefully this article has helped you, and your feedback is greatly appreciated. Comments are always welcome!

For my next article, I will be taking a look at Kithkin. After that, I will give an in-depth study of Toast, and how to play it. Expect to see it up in a few days. In the meantime, spread the word, and tell people to READ MY ARTICLE! :D
If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or see any errors I have made, please let me know.

Keoni Davey
[e-mail]

PS: If you are trying to build a deck that is NOT RDW or Faeries, I will personally go out of my way to help you build it. I am willing to lend you cards, do not hesitate to ask. I can be reached through www.da-planet.com or through email (listed above). Also, it pains me to type RDW so many times, because Red Deck doesn't Win.

[The Dane Train]

I like the fact that you wrote something readable, but I don't agree with: If you are looking to win the PTQ, or at least perform well, I would place my money on either Kithkin or a Toast deck.

If you really want to win the PTQ, play Faeries. Most of the time you just want to play the best deck for a PTQ, and Faeries is it.

5-color would be my preferred second choice, although it costs about a billion dollars to build so gl with that.

It kind of seems like you are trying to convince people to not play RDW as a misdirection/angle-shooting play. Hopefully people don't play it so you can crush them with whatever deck you're trying to protect :).

Keep writing, kid.

[Keoni]

I have toast built, so I can always play Toast if I need to. Personally, I agree with Chapin when he says that Toast is better than Faeries. Although Faeries does get hands where it just wins, which is why it's unfair (along with bitterblossom).

When it comes down to it, I'd prefer Toast largely because I know how to play it against every other deck, and I know how to play the mirror. While the Faeries mirror does require skill, sometimes you just lose no matter how good you are (Bitterblossom + Thoughtseize = gg).

Also, I really hate Faeries, and I really hate RDW. People will play Faeries because it's unfair, but I don't know why people will play RDW. It's just bad, which is why I hate it. I also like playing control decks :P

When it comes down to it, I want to play (and see people play) good games of magic. No one wants to lose because you ripped your last burn spell, and no one wants to lose to T2 Bitterblossom, T3 Spellstutter, T4 Scion (Or some other broken draw). Both of those decks don't play good games of magic (in my opinion), and that's why I hate them.

[The Dane Train]

actually i think the reasons you stated are reasons why people WILL play those decks. beatdown decks are the hardest decks to play, no matter how much anyone tries to deny it or think it's a lot of luck. those people are probably the same people who think they always lose because their opponents got lucky or they got mana screwed or something equally not their fault/unjust.

i got knocked out of contention this weekend playing 5 color against alex sittner playing faeries. he's clearly a good player (on tour for the last few years), but not necessarily better than i am. given the matchup, however, i had probably less than 40% to win. first game he drew the nuts, second game he drew average and i was never in either game.

for a story with a happier ending, i beat a red/black beatdown deck in game 3 while he had 20 creatures in play, all covered by runed halos and i was at 35+ life thanks to primal command reshuffles. I was planning decking him, but managed to put together a bunch of cryptic commands to attack him dead with finks and maws.

believe me. people will play whatever deck they like or have cards for. there's really nothing you can do about it but play your best. good luck :)

[Matty the Squid]

Clearly Faeries is a better deck than Toast, because a) Faeries are cool and b) Toast is a silly name. Don't get me wrong, I like it more than "5 color control," but whatever is clever about that monicker is just going right over my head.

What's really disappointing to me is that red cards right now are better than they have been in along time. Look at Adder-Staff Boggart. It's a Goblin Piker that occasionally turns awesome. Compare Suq'ata Lancer to Inner-Flame Acolyte. Which is better, flanking, or a free +2/+0 the first turn you jump in the red zone? And these are the guys that are NOT making the cut.

With all the hybrid madness in Shadowmoor, red is getting guys that are much better than it deserves. Tattermunge Maniac, Figure of Destiny, just about any triple-hybrid three drop or Diety. You even get sick burn like Flame Javelin. I mean, if this squad can't get it done in BLOCK, then I don't know what to say. Times sure are a changin'.

I'm actually kinda sad that U/R hasn't panned out as a deck, mostly because of Clout. Giant Strength for half the price, AND you get haste? Wowzers!

[Sean Pottenger]

I think that a UR deck actually made top8 of a PTQ somewhere...

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/1

[The Dane Train]

UR seems miserable. why not just play monored with hybrid spells instead of playing stupid islands so you can lose to fish?

[Charli Toratani]

funny. i was just eating a toast for breakfast...

btw, RDW wasn't always named RDW...the old name for it was "Sligh." Just thought I'd correct your magic history there.
I'm usually a aggro-control player so Faerie would be a deck that's soooooo meant for me....but too bad each card costs like $50 a pop.

[Todd Ozawa]

By the way, RDW (as the term is commonly used) is actually more cloesly related to "Deadguy Red' than "Sligh". Just thought I'd correct your Magic history there.

The names of red decks similar in build makes for an interesting read, if anyone is interested.

First summary that came up on a search does fine:
http://hem.passagen.se/angryzealot/Lasbart/davemeddish.htm

[The Dane Train]

Whatever the names are, I usually find that red decks test well but are typically something I will not play in a real tournament. I'm not saying that I would never, because I have, but in general there is a lot of hate for red decks. There are some people who love to burn their opponents out, so it makes sense that there is an equal or greater amount of people who make sure their opponents will not burn them out.
This might be especially true in this block, with Runed Halo, Kitchen Finks and Primal Command all being great cards.

On a slightly different note, there are definitely times when red is right. Usually these times come at the beginning of a format, and are progressively less valuable as the format advances. There is much more value in aggressively outplaying someone early on when they are unprepared.

As I said before, aggro decks -- especially red ones that have very fragile creatures -- are the absolute hardest to play. I would expect only very good players to be able to play them anywhere close to 100% effectively on a consistent basis. Most average pilots will probably be flying at 65-80% with random wins due to red's fiery nature. Below average players should just abort.

[Keoni]

While some players do play the cards they have, a great number of other players make an effort to play a deck that they believe is the best choice for them. While a player may think the best choice for them is, for example, mono-green aggro because they have the cards for it, another player may choose to run say Faeries because they believe that Faeries will give them the best chance to win. This is my point here, if you are looking to win, you should definitely not be playing RDW. I personally have seen people trading for Toast cards. Are they as competitive as me? Maybe, maybe not. However, it is safe to say that the players I saw trading for toast cards feel that Toast is the best choice for them, and therefore it is safe to assume that those players want to win. Players that want to win will go out of their way to ensure they have the best chance of doing so. My first competitive constructed tournament was JSS. I wanted to win, and in order to give myself the best chance to win, I tried to figure out what deck would give me the best chance to do so. I saw Magnivore (yes, Dane hates me for it) winning PE's online, so I decided to go with Magnivore. I had exactly 19 cards for the Magnivore deck. Those were 19 basic lands. I bought the rest with cash, and what happened? I won my JSS.

While it's true that RDW has access to some of the best red cards ever printed, it all revolves around the current format. Dane listed cards that shut down RDW, such as Runed Halo, Kitchen Finks, and Primal. In addition to these cards, there are a great number more that hurt RDW a lot. Austere, Hallowed Burial, Beckon Apparition, Archon of Justice, Mannequin on Archon or Finks, Puppeteer Clique (Which is my favorite answer to Demigod and random dorks)... The list goes on and on. A deck with no card advantage besides Demigod (which doesn't really count) will be destroyed by decks that are able to gain constant card advantage against it. Finks can be a potential 3 for 1, trading for 2 creatures, and gaining 4 life (which in theory nullifies 1 Javelin). If a simple 3 mana creature can do this against RDW, imagine what all the other specific hate cards can do.

As for the history of RDW, I do recall Deadguy Red with the Ironclaw (or was it Brassclaw) Orcs, and that lone, uncastable Grizzly Bear in the sideboard. I stand corrected on that. However, I really never understood where "sligh" came from. Perhaps I wasn't playing competitively during that time?

Yes, there are times when red decks are the right choice. I was a huge fan of Boros during Rav-Timespiral Standard. Dane is right though, in aggro decks, you have to optimize everything that you do, which means playing close to perfectly. I recall Brian David-Marshall saying "The reason why Craig Jones always performs well with aggro decks is because he's like a surgeon with them. The deck is a fine tool that is utilized with precision that leaves no room for error." However, in a metagame like this, no amount of optimization can overcome all the card advantage and hate. In order to find answers to all of the hate, the deck itself will become too weak to win. Red's anti-hate cards do not win the game against hate, it simply prevents another deck's hate cards from making you lose the game. Example: Guttural Response will stop you from getting wrecked from Cryptic Command and Consign to Dreams. However, without a Consign or a Cryptic present, Guttural is useless. However, without Guttural, you lose to Consign or Cryptic.

You make ask why Kithkin is better than RDW. Here is an abridged explanation, which I will expand on more tonight in my Kithkin article. Kithkin holds superior creature drops in every casting cost compared to RDW and arguably every other deck. They have inherent card advantage: Mutavault, Windbrisk, Spectral Procession, Cloudgoat Ranger. They have ways to get around hate: Mirrorweave, Rustic, Surge, Forge-Tender, Reveillark. Kithkin is simply a superior deck to RDW in this format. It is also easier to play Kithkin than it is to play RDW, simply due to the sheer power of the deck.