M
Mur
Guest
A black/red deck can be designed to (at least) two different archtypes:
The idea is that if the R/B deck can destroy every creature played, preferably with reusable damage sources, then it can deliver a knockout punch with burn. Meanwhile the burn acts as "counterspell" to the early creatures, and the reusable damage as backup "punch" if the opponent can't or doesn't play creatures. I call such decks "hostile environments", because the idea is to create an environment where life just doesn't get a chance to take root unless it is *very* tough. One early attempt at such a deck involved things like AEther Flash (WL enchantment) and Pestilence. The problem with those was always that they did nothing once the creature count dropped to zero.
Here's something I started kicking around on MTGO recently. It isn't going to win any prizes, but it does get annoyed mutterings from anyone playing with */1 creatures as their base. Like many of my casual decks, it doesn't involve any critical rares!
Crushing Your Head, V1.0
Qty,Card Name
10,Swamp
12,Mountain
4,Wayfarer's Bauble
1,Panoptic Mirror
2,Pyroclasm
2,Honden of Night's Reach
3,Honden of Infinite Rage
3,Hideous Laughter
2,Granite Shard
3,Earthshaker
4,Ragged Veins
2,Inflame
4,Glacial Ray
4,First Volley
4,Crushing Pain
It's a bit of a combo deck, although I have won games without seeing the Crushing Pain/Ragged Veins combo show up. The ideal situation is to get out a Granite Shard early to control small creatures, then a pair of Hondens which strips the opponent's hand of larger stuff before he can cast it AND adds a couple more repeatable damage. Once you make it up the mana curve, Earthshaker is a pretty tough customer backed up with a red Honden and/or a Shard, and an Arcane spell. The "style points" combo is to attach a Ragged Veins to an opponent's creature, ping it, and then inflict Crushing Pain for a total of at least 7 points to the head (and usually a dead creature).
At the moment the deck is trying to be a "splice onto Arcane" deck, too, which I think may be trying for too much. Barbed Lightning belongs in here, but since it's not Arcane, I have resisted. Hideous Laughter is a reset button that I don't always like to see, since sometimes I *want* an opponent's creature to stick around for a while. I wanted to add Talon of Pain, but I think it's too slow. I'd love Earthshaker even more if it was a non-creature; with only three creatures in the deck, it won't live long against a Black deck. There's no card-drawing or tutoring, which makes for a wild ride in terms of consistancy. Duplicate Hondens in your hand are pretty annoying; I don't have any Mirror Galleries on- or off-line, and besides they are a little costly in this deck.
But the deck shows some promise, at least by being a Scissors in a world of Paper, so I'll continue to tinker with it. Comments invited.
- Aggressive creatures: such a deck tries to deliver 20 points in a hurry, using efficent (usually small) creatures and burn
- Anti-creatures: disrupts other creature-based strategies to change the playing field.
The idea is that if the R/B deck can destroy every creature played, preferably with reusable damage sources, then it can deliver a knockout punch with burn. Meanwhile the burn acts as "counterspell" to the early creatures, and the reusable damage as backup "punch" if the opponent can't or doesn't play creatures. I call such decks "hostile environments", because the idea is to create an environment where life just doesn't get a chance to take root unless it is *very* tough. One early attempt at such a deck involved things like AEther Flash (WL enchantment) and Pestilence. The problem with those was always that they did nothing once the creature count dropped to zero.
Here's something I started kicking around on MTGO recently. It isn't going to win any prizes, but it does get annoyed mutterings from anyone playing with */1 creatures as their base. Like many of my casual decks, it doesn't involve any critical rares!
Crushing Your Head, V1.0
Qty,Card Name
10,Swamp
12,Mountain
4,Wayfarer's Bauble
1,Panoptic Mirror
2,Pyroclasm
2,Honden of Night's Reach
3,Honden of Infinite Rage
3,Hideous Laughter
2,Granite Shard
3,Earthshaker
4,Ragged Veins
2,Inflame
4,Glacial Ray
4,First Volley
4,Crushing Pain
It's a bit of a combo deck, although I have won games without seeing the Crushing Pain/Ragged Veins combo show up. The ideal situation is to get out a Granite Shard early to control small creatures, then a pair of Hondens which strips the opponent's hand of larger stuff before he can cast it AND adds a couple more repeatable damage. Once you make it up the mana curve, Earthshaker is a pretty tough customer backed up with a red Honden and/or a Shard, and an Arcane spell. The "style points" combo is to attach a Ragged Veins to an opponent's creature, ping it, and then inflict Crushing Pain for a total of at least 7 points to the head (and usually a dead creature).
At the moment the deck is trying to be a "splice onto Arcane" deck, too, which I think may be trying for too much. Barbed Lightning belongs in here, but since it's not Arcane, I have resisted. Hideous Laughter is a reset button that I don't always like to see, since sometimes I *want* an opponent's creature to stick around for a while. I wanted to add Talon of Pain, but I think it's too slow. I'd love Earthshaker even more if it was a non-creature; with only three creatures in the deck, it won't live long against a Black deck. There's no card-drawing or tutoring, which makes for a wild ride in terms of consistancy. Duplicate Hondens in your hand are pretty annoying; I don't have any Mirror Galleries on- or off-line, and besides they are a little costly in this deck.
But the deck shows some promise, at least by being a Scissors in a world of Paper, so I'll continue to tinker with it. Comments invited.