Just playing around with Electrostatic Pummeler. I liked my extreme budget mono-green build, but I wanted to see what the fuss was about with Red/Green. Seems legit.
There's several cards that are not typically used in these builds from what I can see, so I thought I'd give several of them a try.
The first one is Dynavolt Tower. Why not? Sure there are things you'd rather tie your mana up into for 3 mana, like a Pummeler, but if every game ended in 4 turns you're probably cheating. Games that go into turns 5-8 need a little something extra and this is just one of many options I've thrown in. This basically gives every spell the same little energy buff that Highspire Infusion does, except you can keep the Trample enablers like Larger Than Life and Invigorated Rampage. Harnessed Lightning gives you 5 energy which is sweet.
Aetherworks Marvel
is a whole deck type on it's own, but I think it would be really cool and unexpected to use it here. There's a ton of ways to stop a Pummeler in it's tracks, so I thought there should be another use for all that energy. Hitting something big like Aetherwind Basker on turn 4 could be huge. It's a nice big creature that can't just be Fatal Pushed like almost everything you'd find in the regular builds. It's also a great energy outlet since you can spend as much as you want to buff it up until end of turn. Cultivator of Blades is a really undervalued card in my opinion. It REALLY shines in two headed giant because it would buff your partner's creatures as well. Here, it can be useful by Fabricating Servos to get a little wider before buffing the Cultivator with a spell to give your whole field a huge damage boost.
Lightning Runner
is another cool but underutilized creature that could give you an extra combat. Double strike can make this guy hit for a ridiculous amount of damage, especially since Invigorated Rampage and Larger Than Life both give Trample and four extra power (that's up to 12 damage by himself with either one of these if unblocked). Since buffs are kept until the end of the turn and not the end of combat, attacking again with Cultivator even without extra buffs would buff everything a second time when declared an attacker, and all surviving creatures that were blocked should have killed their blockers and can now hit back again even harder. You really don't even need that many creatures to make this especially lethal. A Voltaic Brawler alone with the Cultivator and Lightning Runner would hit rather hard. Give it another turn or two when you could have more and it just gets even more out of hand. From the sideboard you could bring in
Decimator of the Provinces
and since you still get the cast trigger even off of Marvel you'd buff your board and then get to go to combat to do all the cool stuff mentioned above, except now everything has trample.
Another odd choice that works well here is the
Hanweir Battlements
. Cheating in an expensive creature like the Basker, Cultivator, or Lightning runner and then giving it Haste right away can be pretty clutch. You'd be looking at a turn 5 massacre, but that's still pretty sweet. If you need to go wide to compete with Zombies or whatever,
Hanweir Garrison
melding into Hanweir, the Writhing Township helps you get wide and pairs really well with the Cultivator and Decimator plan. It also ramps up the amount of energy you'd gain from the Basker, which is even more energy that you can spend to pump up and go for the kill shot with the Basker.
When looking for good sources of energy in red, I found the
Aethertorch Renegade
. It's a small body for 3 mana, but four energy is a big bump. The other two abilities can be awesome, two energy to pick off a Combat Celebrant (or something scary) or eight energy to dome your opponent for 6 could just win the game. Most of the time that energy will go towards other things, but it is a decent back up finisher.
I like
Commencement of Festivities
for the aggro mirror match. Blow everything you've got trying to kill me in one shot? Fog.
Sometimes you just need another turn, and Glorious End is a fantastic way to do that. Time it right and you're opponent could really be caught in a rough spot. Attack me with everything? Nah, I'll just end your turn. Cast a big creature or spell? Nah, take that off the stack and give me another turn. It's awesome. Risky, but awesome.
Fling is another solid backup plan if your damage just isn't getting through. Best reprint ever.
Heroic Intervention might just save you from an early board wipe. Doesn't save you from Yahenni's Expertise, but there's a lot of other things in red that could really suck.
Need more creatures?
Lathnu Hellion
is a card that used to be popular in these builds, but doesn't see as much love as it used to from what I've seen. I still think it's a solid turn 3 drop to attack for 4 and just let it die. It's true that it might invest too much energy to keep around, but it's adaptable to the situation.
A fun twist is the Approach of the Second Sun slipped in there as a two turn setup with the
Aetherworks Marvel
. If you hit one you can cast it and put it down as the 7th card. As long as you have the energy to spend on another activation on your next turn you will draw a card and now it's the 6th card which you will reach with Marvel and can cast a second time for the win. An unexpected victory if the aggro approach isn't getting online. I think it's wonderful.
The rest of the deck seems pretty standard, and it is still entirely possible to Pummel your way to a 4 turn victory. I think the rest of the changes are big enough to throw off your opponent and keep them guessing. It's definitely got some janky little combos, but that's the way I like it :)
