Behold the latest iterration of my Rw Dragons project, and potential deck for Grand Prix Milwaukee.
This deck has been doing decently well for me, both at the LGS and MTGO competitive leagues, but I'm always looking to improve, to do better. To have the exact 75. The biggest challenge with this is the sideboard, but I'll touch on that a little bit later. First things first, let's talk about the main deck!
Creatures - 20
4x Runaway Steam-Kin - The little elemental that could! This deck is one of the more "fair" uses of this card, instead of actively seeking to exploit it for everything it's worth like Experimental Frenzy-style RDW decks. It attacks, it blocks, it gets a +1/+1 counter off every spell we cast after it with few exceptions. If it survives long enough to give us mana, it could fuel something big and scary...or just continue being a 2-mana 4/4 for punching face.
2x Dire Fleet Daredevil - Aka: Swipecaster Mage! This isn't really a two-drop, unless we're desperate for action against an opponent that isn't likely going to have good targets. The floor here is a 2/1 first strike for two, which is very similar to the floor of Knight of Grace, except that it dies to Chainwhirler. Would much rather hold onto it if possible though, nab a lightning strike and kill the Chainwhirler by playing DD second. It is a very good blocker early on though, and a great topdeck in attrition wars when you can steal something impactful like a Find/Finality, Assassins's Trophy, or something that draws cards. It won't always get to do these impressive things, but it does double-duty of being both early and late game. Very tempted to go up further in the main.
Also, it's a Pirate.
3x Captain Lannery Storm - I stumbled across this little gem while gatherer searching 3-drops in Red and white, and I remembered testing her previously. She got cut from that build, likely in favor of a green option like Jadelight Ranger or something, but here she's given a chance to shine. And shine she does, the captain is 100% on point for this deck's game plan. Attacking and ramping at the same time, creating mana for potential instant speed removal or leaving it around for big dragons on subsequent turns. Plus haste is very relevant when it comes to dealing with certain annoying Planeswalkers that occasionally tap out and tuck our single big threat on the board.
Yes, it dies to nearly everything. But the opponent only runs so much removal and Steam-Kin at two is already a kill-on-sight for most people, myself included, even before they realize I'm not one to lean too heavily on Steam-Kin.
Also, Pirate!
4x Rekindling Phoenix - We should all know how amazing this card is by now. It saw maindeck play alongside Torch of Defiance, Hazoret, and all the other high impact cards of laSt season's Rb midrange deck. It hasn't gone anywhere, and people aren't running quite as many Contempts. Make no mistake this card IS killable, but it will often put your opponent in a tough spot to do so, while it's just another threat for us to play. Full four in the main, always.
4x Demanding Dragon - Yes, yes. This is a dragons deck. And we can't very well be a dragons deck without a few dragons. And since we're not touching blue or black, that means no Niv-Mizzets, no Nicol Bolas. Glorybringer this is not. But it's still a perfectly fine card that will usually get something out of its ETB trigger. Tokens will shrug it off, but I'm still happy with a 5/5 flyer that we can ramp into with Sarkhan. If we didn't have Sarkhan there would be a much bigger case not to run these, but c'mon... we gotta put that ramp ability to USE!
1x Lathliss, Dragon Queen - A personal indulgence really. She's down to a single copy at this point, and should honestly probably just be a third copy of our next creature. But I love the threat of casting this turn four off Fireblood, and is a great way to break the late game board stalls.
2x Verix Bladewing - The seven-drop that masquerades as a four. This is the payoff for the ramp in the deck, having several avenues to kicking this by turn five. Turns out Broodmate Dragon is still a pretty good magic card, even being legendary, when we don't need three colors of mana to cast it. And right now, I do NOT want to be Jund without Gruul or Rakdos from Ravnica Allegiance.
Planeswalkers - 4
4x Sarkhan, Fireblood - The rockstar of the deck, the centerpiece. And one of the biggest advantages over the obvious comparison to the Boros Angels decks. I want one every game, preferably on turn 3. Being able to sculpt our hand is very important for this deck, finding land, pitching excess, looking for the right answer/threat we need, all while building towards a game-winning ultimate that means the opponent can't just ignore him forever. Running the full four copies in the main, that's just how important he is. And extra copies are high on the list of cards to pitch as long as the one in play is safe. Don't fuss too much over protecting him though, never risk a dragon's life to protect his unless he's about to ultimate. Sarkhan understands.
Enchantment - 1
1x Ixalan's Binding - Basically just a catch-all, very likely to get cut from the main at some point, especially with all the incidental enchantment-hate floating around right now.
Instants - 10
3x Shock - Ahh yes, the staple. Running this over Shivan Fire for the ability to go upstairs/Planeswalkers. If we weren't white I would definitely lean more towards Fire, but since we are Boros, we have plenty of removal to cover bigger creatures without spending the five kicking it.
3x Justice Strike - Case-in point, RW Terminate. Sure there's a number of things this doesn't actually hit, but of those... how many do I actually CARE about killing? It kills Ghalta, Doom Whisperer, Lyra, Steel Leaf Champion, Ferox, Bolas, Niv-Mizzet, the list goes on. It won't kill a Wildgroth Walker on its own, but paired with a shock or the first strike damage of a Daredevil it'll get the job done. Aurelia and Shalai are among the notable exceptions.
2x Response / Resurgence - I LOVE this card. It's basically an Immolating Glare with an "I win" alternate mode on it. And the front can be cast regardless of how our lands line up in the early turns. Double-red, sure! Double-plains (why did I keep this hand, seriously?) but that works too!
2x Fiery Cannonade - Remember what I said about Daredevil and Lannery being pirates? This is why that matters. I love Deafening Clarion, but I haven't found what to do in the early game that doesn't get swept up by it myself if I suddenly find myself reaching for the sweeper. Where-as Cannonade kills basically nothing on my side with the bonus of being instant speed for milking extra value. The only things it MIGHT kill on my side are Phoenix Eggs and 1/1 Steam-Kin (which gets a +1/+1 counter before Cannonade resolves, so even a 2/2 will survive it).
Lands - 25
Not going to go over the choices here, should be pretty obvious that the manabase of this deck is BUTTERY smooth. I'm not stretching it for Chainwhirler, just a clean and simple 19R, 14W which covers not only the maindeck Sarkhan, but all the spicy tech to pull out of the sideboard. Could likely swing one Field of Ruin over a mountain, but that's about the length I would go with it. Twenty-five feels like the right number, despite the ramp potential. Plus we have Sarkhan to pitch any extras, starting with Foundries left over in the hand.
Overall I feel the deck is fairly solid running lots of powerful cards at every point of the curve. It's a lot like the Boros Angels deck, except that they are VERY vulnerable to the whims of their library not lining everything up. Their 2s and 3s are fine, but they don't actively push towards their late game. Our 2s and 3s are decent attackers and blockers early on while Steam-Kin and Lannery threaten to ramp into the dragons. Sarkhan is just the MVP of filtering/smoothing our draws whether we need land or action, and he'll win the game with his ultimate. Daredevil is fine on two and potentially amazing later on. Verix can be cast turn four unkicked if I don't have a Phoenix.
Great removal, solid threats, a solid 3-mana Planeswalker. What more could we want? How about some sideboard tech!
Cleansing Nova - A big argument against Chainwhirler is the ability to cast white spells with decent consistency, and that includes double-white spells at 5+. Having the hard wipe is AMAZING with the added bonus of punishing enchantment-based removal if they've shackled too many of my own threats. Phoenix can often survive this, and then we just hold the other threats to play after we're done cleaning up.
Deafening Clarion - Once a maindeck card, relegated to the side. Sometimes you just need more early sweepers, and sometimes you want the added bonus of being able to gain a bunch of life with the stuff that survives it.
Lyra Dawnbringer - I can run Nova, why not Lyra? Baneslayer Angel is a very powerful card even without angelic sisters around to buff.
Lightning Mare - For an uncounterable threat that can put a quick clock on any pesky blue-based control decks running around. Also works great against mono-blue tempo.
Remorseful Cleric - I really like these for fighting the Golgari decks. And it's less about the activated ability and more about having a 2/1 flyer for two that can just chip in for the first few turns, then try to deny them a little value out of their recursion when they go to kill it.
Banefire - We play lands, we make mana. We want a finisher against control. Winning from behind since the day it was printed!
