A Thousand Burns

Standard Aggro Arena Budget Casual Mono-Red Weenie

Sedohr

Creature (19)

• 4x Scorch Spitter
• 4x Tin Street Dodger
• 4x Tibalt's Rager
• 4x Chandra's Spitfire
• 3x Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Light Up the Stage

Instant (9)

• 3x Shock
• 3x Chandra's Pyrohelix
• 3x Slaying Fire

Planeswalker (3)

• 3x Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

Land (21)

• 4x Castle Embereth
• 17x Mountain

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Cavalcade of Calamity

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Maybeboard

Creature (10)

• 3x Electrostatic Field
• 4x Immolation Shaman
• 3x Anax, Hardened in the Forge

Instant (3)

• 3x Chandra's Triumph

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Originally branched off from the mono red deck given in arena. I wanted to synergize creatures with 1 power for Cavalcade of Calamity, and noncombat damage for Chandra's Spitfire when they are on the field or spectacle for Light Up the Stage. Otherwise as a backup the deck will just whittle the enemy down over a few turns and use burn spells to finish the opponent when they are low on life. It is purely coincidence (if you consider strong card combos in a set being found by multiple people a coincidence?) this is similar to the "Cavalcade Charge" deck from the recent tournaments as I don't follow the professional scene too much.

I pulled out high CMC cards for cheaper ones so I could lower the average cmc and reduce the lands in the deck. I put in Torbran, Thane of Red Fell as a mid-late game option. Just a general good card for mono red with weenies. In an ideal setup would have a power 1 creature like Scorch Spitter attack for 6 (1+2 from ability, then 1+2 for combat damage), on top of Cavalcade of Calamity for another 3 for 9 total damage.

Other than that, I moved around some noncreature spells to focus on direct damage. It has allowed me to help clear the field, burn a player directly to trigger noncombat damage, or just outright kill them. I will go into more detail for each card in the deck below.

Card details and combos... (will probably clean this up a bit better later so it is easier to read)

Non-Creature Spells

• Shock General low cost burn spell. Kills creatures with toughness 2 or less, and 4 or less with Torbran, Thane of Red Fell on the field. It can also directly burn the player for general damage, trigger spectacle cost on Light Up the Stage, and trigger the buff on Chandra's Spitfire.

• Chandra's Pyrohelix Almost didn't make the cut and would consider cutting in the future. While it costs 1 more than Shock, it is much more versatile. For example I could kill two creatures with 1 toughness where Shock would only kill 1. I can also use it to hurt a creature on the field and combo noncombat damage for spectacle costs on Light Up the Stage as well as the buff on Chandra's Spitfire. Lastly if Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is on the field, this can do up to 6 damage! 1+2 on a single target, and 1+2 on another target.

• Slaying Fire is a bit tough since it is a bit expensive, but since I'm mono red I am guaranteed the 4 damage. This is more for creature removal with higher toughness, or to try and race to the finish with burning a player directly. If Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is on the field, this becomes 6 damage as well which can be scary. As by turn 4-5 this deck should already have taken big chunks or at least nibbled a decent amount at the opponent's life, so with 1 or 2 of these it could easily end the game at that point.

• Cavalcade of Calamity This is an essential engine piece to the deck. Since all creatures except one are 1 attack, this will trigger off any creatures. If you don't draw this in the game it doesn't mean you can't win as it is still a strong aggressive deck with other engines. It will just be A LOT easier if this is on the field, especially if you can get 2+. In this example of 2 on the field and just 2 1/1s, each turn of attacks is doing 6 damage if they don't block! Even if they do block, it's 4 damage they can't stop easily. That's where burn spells and other abilities come into play to burn blockers or outright avoid being blocked. Looking at you Tin Street Dodger.

• Light Up the Stage With the deck running hot (aggressive) and being mono red, there are not many options for card advantage but this works perfectly. There are so many ways in the deck to guarantee damage to the opponent, so 99% of the time you will only spend 1 mana on this card due to the spectacle cost. For example, just a creature doing damage will trigger if they don't block. If they do, Tin Street Dodger can avoid blockers, Scorch Spitter has the ability that triggers on attack, and if Tibalt's Rager is blocked and dies his on death trigger can hit the opponent. There are also all the burn spells in the deck that can directly target the opponent Shock, Chandra's Pyrohelix, and Slaying Fire.

• I wanted to also touch on how I use Light Up the Stage. I will try to be very greedy with it most times unless I am worried about the opponent specifically. This gives me a bit more flexibility on what cards I can cast and keeping some things hidden from opponent until the end of my turn. For example I might have 2 lands in play, some creatures in play, another land in hand, and Light Up the Stage. Instead of playing the land for turn I might try to attack first to make them think I have less land/options and trigger spectacle, then play Light Up the Stage during 2nd main phase. This gives me the option to play a land for turn from this exile instead of my hand. This means the opponent still doesn't know the card in your hand is a land. This also may just be more "Edge case" for me, but I've had a few times where I play Light Up the Stage at end of turn only to pull 2 lands, then next turn I play another Light Up the Stage and pull another land or even two in real unlucky situations. Basically I just try to hide my options from the opponent and make sure I can use cards exiled before they are gone for good, but sometimes it is worth it to lose a card to keep a combo on tempo.

Creature and Planeswalker Spells

• Scorch Spitter Hits a lot of combos in the deck, and even by itself if left unblocked does 2 damage per turn at minimum. Since he has 1 power he will always trigger Cavalcade of Calamity if on the field. The damage ability is great to trigger the buff on Chandra's Spitfire and spectacle cost for Light Up the Stage, even if he is blocked. If Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is on the field, he can help this creature do up to 9 damage! 1+2 from his ability being triggered on declaring attackers, 1+2 from Cavalcade of Calamity, and 1+2 from his own attack if not blocked.

• Tin Street Dodger While not as impressive in single damage potential, it has evasion. Being power 1 and able to guarantee hits unless they specifically have defenders means I can always trigger Cavalcade of Calamity and spectacle costs for Light Up the Stage. I've had some games where I have 3-4 of these guys on the field and I just keep using their ability with Cavalcade of Calamity to whittle the opponent down. If Torbran, Thane of Red Fell shows up, they are get buffed to 3/1s with this evasion option to bring the opponent life down even faster.

• Tibalt's Rager Honestly this will likely be replaced with Immolation Shaman as I get more wildcards in arena to dedicate to this deck. It fit the 1 power theme for Cavalcade of Calamity, and as the game goes on I can buff the creature with excess mana or instead of casting more spells to either trade with a more powerful creature or do more damage during attack. As a bonus when it dies I get to do 1 damage to any target, which has helped clean up a creature with 1 toughness less after combat or direct damage to trigger spectacle cost on Light Up the Stage and the buff ability for Chandra's Spitfire.

• Chandra's Spitfire This acts as one of the other "secondary" engines in the deck. With all the options for direct player damage in the deck it makes it easy to trigger the buff ability. Additionally if Cavalcade of Calamity is on the field it will trigger during attack phase to buff itself. If you have other creatures on the field to trigger Cavalcade of Calamity as well, this can spiral out of control real quick and end the game in a single attack. Otherwise all the burn spells can theoretically trigger it if chosen to attack player Shock, Chandra's Pyrohelix, Slaying Fire, as well as some creatures through their abilities such as Scorch Spitter and death effect for Tibat's Rager (RNA)

• Torbran, Thane of Red Fell While not a specific "engine" for starting combos, this will help push you to victory no matter what is on the field and can potentially provide lethal on turn 4 from the buff. If Cavalcade of Calamity is on the field with a bunch of weenies, this can outright kill people in a single turn since each trigger goes from 1 damage to 3 damage before any real combat happens. Scorch Spitter is a good one here, since it would do 1+2 damage on the ability trigger, 1+2 on Cavalcade of Calamity trigger, and then 1+2 on actual combat damage for 9 total. Even if you just have weenies on the field, they are now at 3 power. All burn spells jump up in damage, letting me kill the opponent faster or allowing me to remove toughness 5+ creatures. Chandra's Pyrohelix is a fun one here too, making the total potential damage up to 6 if split between two targets.

• Chandra, Acolyte of Flame Works so well with many parts of the deck. If Cavalcade of Calamity is on the field, the elementals from her +0 will trigger. If Chandra's Spitfire is on the field too, this can help spiral the buff for massive damage. Include Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and that combo could end the opponent in a single turn. The -2 works nicely as well, since later on I'll have more lands and/or running out of cards to play. Since all my sorceries and instants cost 3 CMC or less, they can all be replayed.

Land

• Castle Embereth Since the deck is mono red I'll always have mountains in play to make sure it comes into play untapped. Otherwise it can be used as the game progresses and I have excess mana to buff my creatures. This can still be used with Cavalcade of Calamity by declaring attackers first, and then using the buff on the land after.

• Mountain It's land, it plays spells! Honestly though I wanted to put this here because I feel the deck still runs a little lean on land, and mana droughts are possible. In most games I'm able to limp on 2 land but likely won't win unless I get some real good draws. Otherwise at 3 land it makes it tough that you can't combo much or play Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, but can still win due to the aggression of the deck. With the 3 land situation I usually end up drawing that 4th land before turn 4 or a Light Up the Stage to try and dig for one.

Maybe board

Immolation Shaman slots in nice at 2 cmc, triggers Cavalcade of Calamity, can damage and give menace later, and can punish players with lots of spells/abilities. The only thing stopping me from testing it currently is lack of wildcards in arena since it is rare. Could just be a good side deck card against players with lots of spells/abilities but would likely replace Tibalt's Rager when I get copies.

Anax, Hardened in the Forge for the 1/1 satyrs it creates when my creatures die since those would stack with Cavalcade of Calamity even though he would not, but being mono red ensures a decent amount of devotion to buff his attack.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.03
Tokens	Elemental 1/1 R
Folders	Constructed Decks, Standard, Interesting Decks, Burn Decks, Mono Red Decks, Decks