Because of how Red is essentially robbed of traditional ramping options, it leaves is with the hard lean into impulsively for long lasting action. We really can't afford to miss a land drop, so we'll keep the curve really low.
Otherwise, I think this build has the capability to keep a large state from overpopulation too soon, with the likes of End the Festivities and Anger of the Gods, as well as artifact schemes (see Dockside Extortionist and Vandalblast.)
Draw & Impulse
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Cathartic Reunion is arguably the worst of these type of effects for being at sorcery speed.
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Faithless Looting is still a golden slot for draw capability in red, and always will be. Maybe one day it'll return to Modern as well. (2024)
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Demand Answers has only recently been printed in Murders at Karlov Manor (2024), and is a breakout draw favorite pick.
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Thrill of Possibility is a great choice and has seen several iterations over the years.
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Wheel of Fortune is a great addition to the deck, and would only be served better alongside a slot for Valakut Awakening
, if we have the space.
"Ramp"
Ramp traditionally would mean more lands ahead of curve but unfortunately for the color red, it doesn't receive any love in that department, so it gets wicked cool bonuses for the impulsiveness of the playstyle.
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Pyretic Ritual is one of the Golden boy cast members for Storm builds and serves its purpose here as a quick means to extra mana.
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Rite of Flame does what other stuff here does, but for cheaper, which is always a positive.
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Braid of Fire is the best bottle of wine you've ever bought. Ages wonderfully, because Mana burn no longer exists.
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Urabrask
is such a great card for this list, doing literally everything you need him to do in any facet. Flavor win, full send.
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Birgi, God of Storytelling
is a junior scale Urabrask, but does such a good job of facilitating small spells into bigger ones.
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Dockside Extortionist gut checks a lot of players and is on everyone's shit list for good reason.
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Desperate Ritual does what other Storm boosters here do, and serves to be another way to do it all faster.
"Pings"
I gave the title I did here because it refers to how each one of these will trigger a small amount of damage to your opponents, most dialogue I've heard regarding these small bits of damage are called Pings.
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Cemetery Gatekeeper is a utility choice for the ping damage.
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Defiler of Instinct does a great job of heavy-lifting those spells into being cast faster and pinging for more damage.
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Electrostatic Field does a simple job and at a simple Mana value.
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Erebor Flamesmith is able to provide some redundancy to our efforts with their ping damage.
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Firebrand Archer also provides some utility the way Erebor does above.
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Kessig Flamebreather can continue our trait of having "burn-bears" filling up the list.
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Sardian Avenger has a hefty amount of utility and is a perfect pairing alongside Dockside. Whether for or against your opposition, this card provides considerable value.
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Scab-Clan Berserker is a niche choice but still provides the work that we need done.
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Spear Spewer is a cheap way to see damage hit your opponents in the face.
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Scytheclaw Raptor is kind of frightening for its efficacy. Maybe stear clear.
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Tunneling Geopede will provide some sort of value assuming we are hitting our land drops. In the face of fetchlands, we find a great way to ping our opponents again and again.
Removal
In truth, there's a lot of stuff within my list that is capable of being detailed as 'hey, that's removal'. or a burn effect, or this or that.. because that's kind of what Red can do. So I'll do my best to detail the nuance between each.
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Blasphemous Act should definitely be considered removal since it's a scaling board wipe effect, and serves to dish out the best wipe damage we have access to.
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Volcanic Fallout makes this list because of the fact it cannot be countered. That's pretty reliable at only total casting cost. So alongside Anger of the Gods, you have access to great early wipe capability.
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Lightning Bolt would be a crime NOT to include when it's a Mono-Red deck focused on burn capabilities.
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End the Festivities is like other cards detailed above, but provides more scaling value since it costs only mana in order to cast.
