Mono Red is a staple of every standard format since the launch of MTG Arena and that still remains true today. And you can bet your Wild cards that Mono Red will be an MTGA metagame deck come rotation.
On September 17, MTGA’s Standard format will rotate more cards than we can count and the hype is building with the recent Zendikar Rising Teaser Trailer:
Zendikar will rise. September 1st, 8:00 AM PT on https://t.co/nUzYF5lf0v. Be there. #MTGZendikar pic.twitter.com/pgN6StXcxC
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) August 24, 2020
Win Quickly, Rise to Mythic!
Until rotation, we can enjoy the color red.
READ MORE: MTGA: Standard's 'New Best' Deck?
Red is the color of Haste and Direct Damage spells and a sure way to quickly climb the Mythic ladder and get more matches per hour than any other deck on the ladder. The strategy is to win before the Control or Midrange decks set up, and leave them with a handful of useless cards. Buyers, beware: if you don't win fast, you might just be drawing dead yourselves!
There are a few variations on the deck but this recent version placed third in the Redbull Untapped Qualifier V that had an impressive 890 players attending the online event. The deck goes by the simple name of Red Deck Wins:
Red Deck Wins' plan is simple – you cast a creature card every turn of the game! You curve out a board of aggressive creatures and attack the opponent before they have a chance to mount a defense. Finish it all with a 1-2-3 punch ending with the powerful card Embercleave.
If you run out of cards, you reload with a Light up the Stage. The deck plays a lot of x4s of the same card with the same casting cost. This is done to make sure you always have a 1, 2 and 3-mana cost creature card in your opening hand. Check out a link to the deck here.
A Flurry of Deadly Creature Cards...
At 1 Mana:
- Tin Street Dodger
- Fervent Champion
- Scorch Spitter
At 2 Mana
- Rimrock Knight
- Runaway Steam-Kin
- Robber of the Rich
At 3 Mana :
- Phoenix of Ash
- Anax, Hardened in the Forge
- Bonecrusher Giant
The deck is nearly all creature cards and you win by attacking with them but it is a skillful act to know when to attack, block or hold back a creature in hand for a board sweeper like Extinction Event.
On September 17, these cards will rotate out of the deck:
- Tin Street Dodger
- Scorch Spitter
- Runaway Steam-Kin
That means it loses 1-mana and 2-mana creature cards but as you see, most of the deck will survive rotation and Zendikar Rising will surely have some replacements. The deck costs 18 Wild Rare cards and 8 Mythic Wild cards to make on MTGA – the rest are common and uncommon Wilds. Definitely not the most expensive MTGA deck in the current meta, so it's not a huge investment to play this mean red winning machine.
If you like winning, gaming or other esports action, please check out EarlyGame! If you enjoy MTGA, read up on Historic: MTGA Tier List: Competitive Historic Decks