Hello everybody,
today I'm going to talk about one deck that I'm currently testing in this new format: Mono Red Blitz!
Idea of the deck
Sometimes, in modern, I've played Mono Red Prowess, that is a deck that relies on Prowess creatures and cheap spells to close the game. I like the idea of that deck because it can play longer game thanks to Bedlam Reveler, so I thought that I can take the same idea and brew something similar in Pioneer. Let's check!
Core of the Deck
Here I will explain which cards I will always sleeve when I play this deck.
Creatures
The creatures in this deck must have prowess, so these are the core creatures:
You really want to play a Turn 1 threat, so we (obviously) play 4 Soul-Scar Mage and 4 Monastery Switfspear. Moreover, we play 3 Blistercoil Weird, because I always want to play a Turn 1 creature, and it has a pseudo prowess trigger. Lastly, we have Bedlam Reveler, that makes this deck playable. I play 3 of them, but the number can fluctuate from 2 to 4.
Instant & Sorceries
As instant and sorceries, I want to play cheap spells that let you draw a card, then I want to play some burn spells to clear the path or to kill my opponent, so these are the core spells:
So, I play a full set of Crash Through and Warlord's Fury because for a single mana they pump your creature, make you draw a card and give trample or first trike to creatures. Moreover they are gas on graveyard for Bedlam Reveler.
Then I play 4 Shock and 4 Lightning Strike because they can kill your opponent creatures or can burn the face. Moreover, they pump your creature and trigger spectacle!
Lastly, I play Light up the Stage. A card that virtually makes you draw 2 cards for 3 mana is good, but draw 2 for a single mana in absolutely great! I play 4 of them.
Lands
Because we are monocolor, the manabase is pretty straightforward:
16 Mountains and 4 Ramunap Ruins for extra reachability. Probably you could go down on number of lands (I suggest at least 19 lands) but I prefer playing 20 land to increase the odds of having 2 lands in starting hand.
Flex Spot
Now we have 6 flex spots, that I invested in these cards:
4 Bomat as extra drop 1, we can easily manage to draw 2/3 cards with this little construct. Moreover, if your opponent has a full board and you want to draw, you can just attack and then sac it before damages!
The lastly 2 slots are for Magma Jet. It's not very efficient in damage output, but scry 2 could really help in digging for the right card at the right time!
Sideboard
Well, not having access to archetype's number makes the choice of sideboard really hard. By the way, from my experience in MTGO, you're going to face deck like:
UWx Control, Abzan Midrange, RW Heroic, BG Delirium, Burn, Mono-U Devotion, Mono-B Devotion, so I tuned the side in this way:
We have 2 Spite of Mogis against big midrange dude like Siege Rhino, Grim Flayer, etc...
Then, we have 2 Abrade as artifact hate, plus it can deal against a lot of creatures!
After that, we have 2 Searing Blood against aggro decks, to keep the board clear and push your opponent life.
1 Kozilek Return against go wide strategies. Against that type of decks, we can side Rampaging Ferocidon, too.
1 Exquisite Firecraft against U based control and against midrange, because it can kill a lot of creatures too!
After, we have 1 Hazoret, against all the decks that don't have manner to remove her.
3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer in matchup that you want to grind and finally Insult//Injury against creature decks.
Variation
If you want to splash a color, i think that you've to add blu, for these cards:
With Pteramander you've a really sinergic card with the graveyard, and it could be difficult for your opponent to manage a 5/5 with flying.
Moreover, we've access to Opt! You know, I'm not a fan of Opt, but in this deck it can really shine because:
It's an instant, so it can pump your creature during combat;
Scry 1 it's fine in low lands decks;
It increases instant/sorcery count in your graveyard .
In order to play this card, you've to play all the twelve ur lands for sure, probably I would play 2 islands too.
I think that the cards to remove are:
3 Blistercoil, 4 Warlord's Fury, 4 Ramunap Ruins and 11 Mountains.
We're removing a land because we're playing a full set of Opt!
The problem of splashing U is that you lose the manabase consistency and explosive start for a more consistent mid game!
Final Thought
Here you can find my decklist. I really appreciate this deck, because it's capable of very explosive start, but it can play longer games thanks to the mix between cantrips and burn spells.
With the sideboard you can change your plan, transforming to a more midrange deck thanks to Saheeli, to a control deck, adding more spot removal other than Saheeli.
And you, what do you think about this deck? Do you like this?
Regards
Vito
#Pioneer #MTG #Prowess #monored #Mentor #MTGMentor #Swiftspear