Is Skred red viable in the current meta?
Modern forum
Posted on March 15, 2015, 2:28 a.m. by tyforthevenom
I just been hearing a bit of chatter about this deck lately and wondering if it's any good for the meta (only heard of it 3 weeks ago)
I don't think I've ever seen the deck anywhere other than the 0-3 bracket at PTQs. I wouldn't touch it.
March 15, 2015 2:50 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #4
xlaleclx honest question, have you seen it since the last bannings? The deck definitely deals with amulet bloom at the very least
March 15, 2015 3:28 a.m.
It has a good matchup against amulet for sure but even though amulet is very good it's still not popular. The deck is hard to play and not many people want to try it so it still gets pretty low numbers at most events.
March 15, 2015 3:31 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #6
Yeah but that is beside the point of "is it good against the meta"
March 15, 2015 3:50 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #7
I've played against it. Haven't lost to it yet. Then again, I play Bant Blink and Affinity Voltron Storm and those aren't exactly meta.
March 15, 2015 4 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #9
Someone I pl against did 26 to my face with 2x Boros Reckoner 1x lightningbolt and an eot Dictate of the Twin Gods
March 15, 2015 5:54 a.m.
however 90% of the games that deck plays are more like you play a boros reckoner and then you lose because your deck doesn't really do anything
March 15, 2015 6 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #11
Plays blood moon smiles and your new found mono red mana base
March 15, 2015 6:03 a.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #12
Sorry to be rude, But you ask if people think the deck is well positioned and then when they tell you that the deck does nothing and is a fringe strategy you disagree.
Doesn't make much sense to me and the same attitude is present on a large majority of your forum posts.
Not a complaint just an observation.
March 15, 2015 6:10 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #13
I'm just joking, no comments against others, though "fringe" and "not good can easily be the opposite sides of a spectrum amulet bloom to my knowledge was a "fringe" deck....
March 15, 2015 6:21 a.m.
The deck doesn't do 'nothing' thats bullshit. Mono red control, or Skred Red top 8d a large event relatively recently. I have it in a private deck; will copy and paste here.
Look, it's not fantastic but it certainly doesn't do nothing. It has all kinds of answers against the most popular decks. It's great. It's just not THAT great.
March 15, 2015 6:32 a.m.
March 15, 2015 6:37 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #17
Skred Red is definitely an actual deck which you can force competitive play with. It's not some land destruction shitty deck which accomplishes nothing.
Like all T2 decks, playing it is often a meta call.
March 15, 2015 6:47 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #18
And with that comment we loop back to "is it good in the current meta"
March 15, 2015 7:14 a.m.
Honestly? With Abzan around - No. Red can't deal with high toughness creatures. It's FANTASTIC against affinity, delver, and other aggro but really poor against midrange. If you play Boros and splash for Path to Exile you have some chance, but not a lot.
Skred red does well against weenie strategies, and poorly against anything else. The only tools you have to combat Abzan are a first striking Boros Reckoner which is usually not enough, Koth making 4/4s (again not enough), Roast (untested at the moment!), and Blood Moon
March 15, 2015 7:17 a.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #20
Roast is gonna see play in Twin, I already maindeck 2 Flameslash but still struggleto deal with Rhinos and Goyfs efficiently.
March 15, 2015 7:24 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #21
Combust in the board vs abzan then, maybe sideboard 2 Stuffy Doll?
March 15, 2015 7:31 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #23
Dragonslayer Stuffy Doll is a brick wall to tasigur and goyf and with your "damage all creatures" wipes it's a wincon of it's own unless they're using Golgari Charm game 2, I'm gonna design a list I tink
March 15, 2015 7:50 a.m.
The thing about Stuffy Doll is it costs too much. Against a T2 Tarmogoyf, T3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang and/or T4 Siege Rhino, a T5 Doll is hardly going to save you. Not to mention its indestructibility doesn't save it from Liliana of the Veil.
March 15, 2015 9:08 a.m.
dragon_slayer says... #27
It's also vulnerable to many other removal spells, namely Path to Exile and Dismember, and it doesn't provide any offensive power.
March 15, 2015 9:31 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #28
square711 I get what you're saying but Koth of the Hammer is ramping into things of the same mana cost often anyway if not he'll allow you to swing a mountain over their head
March 15, 2015 9:37 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #29
I like Scrying Sheets in the mana base myself but I think ChiefBells list is about the best you can get.
March 15, 2015 10:27 a.m.
Koth does give Skred some firepower and helps with the ramping, yeah, but he's a 4-drop. So, even with him on board, you still won't cast Stuffy Doll any sooner than you normally would (T5). And as good as his +1 is, the 4/4 Mountains still die to all the bigger Abzan threats - and if they die, it's one less Mountain on the board, so by playing Koth you're effectively getting behind on the mana race.
Don't get me wrong, I love Skred and I do believe it has a good matchup against several top tier decks. I'm not saying Koth is a bad card either - he's amazing. But we're talking about the current meta and the current meta is all about Abzan, a deck that will crush Skred 10 out of 10 times they face each other. So, to answer your first question, as long as Abzan is a thing, Skred will see very little competitive play.
March 15, 2015 10:33 a.m.
Not necessarily with Roast and Combust in the board. Also Stormbreath Dragon does work.
Skred is pretty bad right now against Abzan but it could do fairly well with some tweaks.
March 15, 2015 10:35 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #32
Splash blue for Quicken and cast 1 mana Blasphemous Act vs the twin player who didn't see it coming and tapped out (I know it's janky, but I hate twin and this thought made me smile)
March 15, 2015 10:48 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #33
Also Simian Spirit Guide is sometimes played to get early Blood Moon down
March 15, 2015 10:49 a.m.
Wouldn't the deck rather play Anger of the Gods over Volcanic Fallout? I find decision that interesting.
March 15, 2015 1:49 p.m.
tyforthevenom says... #35
instant speed can't be countered and it's hilarious having twin combo off with Pestermite and in response to declaring attackers you say "Volcanic Fallout"
March 15, 2015 2:02 p.m.
jandrobard says... #37
It isn't built to beat abzan. It's good vs WW, and sometimes delver, but abzan runs it over.
March 15, 2015 3:42 p.m.
tyforthevenom says... #38
So basically it's like EVERY deck, meta dependant with good and bad matchups no matter what the meta is anyway and so just needs a good player in the drivers seat making sure to use the correct ammunition in the list/sideboard so to kill the decks they will likely meet
March 15, 2015 4:15 p.m.
Oh, I somehow missed on the fact that Fallout is instant speed. That was the very simple answer I required. Thank you.
@ChiefBell, I don't understand your comment about delver...
March 15, 2015 4:29 p.m.
tyforthevenom says... #40
he's saying it's good vs delver decks especially coz of Young Pyromancer
March 15, 2015 4:32 p.m.
Okay I get that now. I don't get the 3 weeks ago part but now that I know it's and instant it all makes more sense.
March 15, 2015 4:37 p.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #42
I'd rather play Boros than Skred Red. You get access to path, Elspeth 1.0, wrath effects that aren't damage based (Which is important against Abzan and other midrange decks) and all the powerful sideboard cards that white offers. While you probably aren't playing Skred, you can still run any number of blood moons between the main and side, and you have access to an extra color, which (almost) always improves a deck.
March 15, 2015 5:08 p.m.
tyforthevenom says... #43
Blasphemous Act is good vs abzan especially if they run souls
March 15, 2015 5:13 p.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #44
I like the idea of W/R skred. you would have access to boros charm, path, and (wait for it) Valorous Stance. u can make your reckoner indestructible or u can kill there rhino/tarmoghoyf/tasigur/deciever/ensouled artifact/ large creature made by arcbound..... the list goes on.
March 16, 2015 10:25 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #45
Trouble with 2 colours is skred relies heavily on snow covered lands going so far as to not run fetchlands in some cases meaning adding a colour also means either weakening the namesake card or weakening the entire deck down to "you're lucky you top decked that"
March 16, 2015 10:38 a.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #46
u could easily get away with running sum snow covered plains. reckoner is 
and every thing else isn't to red intensive. and u won't get hurt by your own blood moon.
March 16, 2015 10:56 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #47
yes you could run snow covered plains and without fetchlands you're praying that you hit your other color that you splashed for, also some lists run Demigod of Revenge as a finisher, it's heavy on red but it's good vs control coz they must path it or they're stuck with it coming back each time they fail to path it, counterspell all of them and you'll still end up with them on the board at some point
JexInfinite says... #2
It's a fringe deck. You could probably do well with it if you play it a lot.
March 15, 2015 2:40 a.m.