Here's the problems with mono red that you're going to have to overcome:

1. Most of their creatures have haste which allows them to quickly put the pressure back on after a board wipe. In fact, most board wipes aren't effective for this reason and others because by the time you board wipe, they already have you at around 10-13 life. The best board wipe is Kozilek's Return because of the instant speed. However, it's not effective vs most other decks IE zombies and b/g delirium or energy.

2. 8 of their 23~ creatures prevent blocking, so early control creatures like Thing in the Ice  ^Flip won't do much and/or will get burned out by one of their 8-12 burn spells.

3. They flood the board early with creatures so counterspells aren't as effective, but you need to use counters or you will die.

4. By making yourself effective against mono red, you weaken yourself considerably vs the other top decks of the format because mono red seeks to go under you while the others will beat you in the mid-late game. b/g will grind you out if it can and zombies will put pressure until you buckle.

I would say Kalitas Traitor helps to stop the beat face as well as well as Nimble obstructionist to flash in for blocks and stop the "cant block" ability. Or since you are casting spells riddle form might be a viable option as well just to have a 3/3 blocker at instant speed. Of course champion of wits is a great addition as well to be able to throw down and get cards and also possibly block....just some ideas.

champion of wits isn't that great because most of the burn from mono red also exiles (magma spray and flow). Kalitas is an option but if you tap out to cast him on turn 4 you're almost guaranteed to have a bad time. Preventing him from blocking isn't that hard. Burning him isn't that hard. He's good in zombies because you already have tons of other creatures to occupy the mono red removal. In a control shell like this one where you have no creatures other than manlands, that removal will be very happy to see your kalitas. And from there frankly you probably lose. Nimble suffers from the 1 toughness issue even with flash. riddle form does nothing when you cast him and dies to abrade anyway once activated AND you have to cast a spell to activate meaning you might not have enough mana to do something else in response... Remember, you have basically 5 turns to stop mono red before you die.

What about something like Weaver of Lightning? Giving an extra point of damage for all our spells seems pretty good. Dies pretty easily to Chandra, Torch of Defiance or Glorybringer though. Spot removal like Essence Extraction might be decent too.

I remember back when we had to face Atarka Red and such, during those times (at least from my experience) we really just hoped to draw A LOT of removal, and we dedicated a few sideboard slots solely to helping us beat it. So if Mono Red is becoming a problem again, we need to give up some slots to help us fight it. Personally I'm sideboarding 2 Chandra's Defeat. Because it's instant speed and kills everything they play, including Chandra, Torch of Defiance.

Weaver of Lightning is alright against mono red, but it still gets hit by all their panic effects (Creature can't block effects).

Essence Extraction would require us to tweak the mana base a bit I think, as we've moved more into double red/blue territory.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Champion of Wits these lose too much tempo in the mono red matchup when they get removed, and we have no tempo in the first place.

@Osmlol This decklist doesn't have a "rotation-proof" mentality behind it, this list is supposed to be an efficient control list that can fight against the meta correctly, regardless of having to use soon to be rotating cards.

Yea I think Chandra's Defeat in the side is probably a good idea. Might look at Collective Brutality too. Sorcery speed and having to discard parts of our hand isn't ideal, but all three effects are valid against mono-red. We could probably mitigate the discard with are card draw spells a bit.

What do you think about Kefnet Turn three against aggro and against control it can make a comback with draw.

Kefnet against aggro is kinda bad, as you will be using cards in your hand to remove their creatures which makes it so kefnet cannot block, and you will most likely not have time to use kefnets ability while they are smashing your face in.Against control though, it can easily win the game by itself if unanswered.

Collective Brutality is a card I forgot about till now, that's something we could even mainboard a one of, because of its versatility.

This is the current list I have built currently and will most likely be bringing to Game Day this weekend. Decklist

MadLuckKingI really like that deck I am taking this one https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/718771#paperTo game day Last fnm I went 3-1 with it so I think it's pretty good

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/718771#paper

Here is the real link Sorry

Where's da Kozilek's Returns guys?! lol instant speed boardwipe is so valuable right now.

@Vampire_Lord Interesting list, seems like blue/red control with a splash of black for Lord Bolas and The Scorpion God. I don't agree with the Chandra, Torch of Defiance though. It's sorcery speed abilities don't interact well with instant removal spells, or counter spells either. I think the only upside to it is casting a turn five Bolas. How's your matchup vs control? I feel like 3 magma spray mainboard is bad in control/midrange matchups, though it prolly greatly increases your aggro matchups.

@Noctem I really don't kozileks return is that good over sweltering suns.

Pro's

REALLY good against mono red.

Instant speed.

Decent against zombies.

Less mana intensive.

Cons

Doesn't cycle in control matchup, making it basically a dead card.

If zombies do get a Lord down it becomes much worse than sun's.

Not good against B/G constrictor or energy.

Is less efficient than sweltering sun's overall in the meta, kozileks return is really only good vs aggro. And the meta definitely isn't all aggro, there are plenty of midrange and a few control decks still out there.

Feel free to add in any pros/cons I missed.

MadLuckKing Control matchups are difficult but I can get there game 1 but what do you recommend?

Chandra, Flamecaller would be very good, if control can't counter it becomes pretty hard to remove.

I'm highly considering mainboarding Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet considering I think the meta will be full of mono-red and zombies trying to beat mono-red.

Also sorry EastsideRock, didn't really mean to take over your comments section.

I think Kalitas is an awful card to run in the main and the side. You want to play him on curve or close. Your goal is get him to start making zombies and give you back life. So you want to use him to stop yourself from dying. This means you tap out. Which means the opponent can do whatever they want including (most likely) killing Kalitas with their burn or making it so he can't block and kill you anyway. Zombies and mono red have no problem killing him or getting around him. He's effectively USELESS. The zombies deck use him because they have a bunch of creatures to eat the mono red burn anyway, so he has an easier time being played and doing what he needs to do even though he's not a zombie himself. Again, in control decks he's USELESS right now.

I disagree that he is useless...Seems decent against smaller creature decks where lifelink and the exile clause matter imo. I would say he is probably better out of the sideboard when everyone sides out their creature removal (other than Abrade, ooph). Honestly, we just have a pretty bad matchup against mono-red and don't have a ton of great options to deal with it. I think the best plan of attack is probably just to load up on sweepers and have an answer for Hazoret the Fervent. To the Slaughter can take out both Hazoret and Chandra in one fell swoop, which is pretty sweet.

MadLuckKing

How should I put Chandra into this deck?

I know this sounds kind of janky, but what about Harsh Scrutiny? One black sorcery isn't too bad, and against creature decks it would hit most of the time. And the scry 1 shouldn't be underestimated either.

@Vampire_Lord You could probably switch Chandra out for Chandra.

I don't think Kalitas is very good right now either, he loses too much tempo against the decks we want to side him in the current meta.

I've never liked harsh scrutiny personally but I guess doing some testing with it wouldn't hurt.

MadLuckKing That new Chandra is way to good forMe in my deck Also I just dropped 40$ on her soI am not to keen on letting her go just yet

@vampire_Lord I'm not too sure then as I haven't played your deck before. Try figuring out the least useful card and switch it out for Chandra, Flamecaller.

You could alternatively just swap it for a card in the sideboard.

I've fixed up my decklist for game day, I also added a description. (also linked EastSiderock as a user in the description, because the list is based off of this deck and he deserves credit).

For those interested, Grand Prix Mini is happening this weekend. There's some pretty cool grixis control lists, including one that is at least 4-0. https://www.twitch.tv/magic