Turbo Red - Top 50 Mythic

Hadn't Arena Laddered since WWu in March so I had to start from Bronze 4 like a pleb.

40-8 with the first deck I picked up. Trying to turbo the rest of the climb so I can fully verify results and blog in time for other people to care.

Ferocidon is really good yo.

— Ari Lax (@armlx) September 8, 2019

This entire run took me around 85 matches, with a 75% win rate.

Since my deck was 18 Land Mono-Red, each match took me 5-10 minutes.

Turbo to blog post successful. 

Credit for this list goes to wordy333 on Magic Online, who Top 8ed a recent PTQ with it. I've changed 2 cards since that first list, and I've come to the conclusion that maybe I should change a 3rd. Maybe.

4 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
4 Ghitu Lavarunner (DAR) 127
4 Scorch Spitter (M20) 159
4 Viashino Pyromancer (M19) 166
3 Rampaging Ferocidon (XLN) 154
3 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129
4 Light Up the Stage (RNA) 107
4 Shock (M19) 156

4 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149

4 Skewer the Critics (RNA) 115
4 Wizard's Lightning (DAR) 152
18 Mountain (XLN) 273

1 Mountain (XLN) 273
1 Rampaging Ferocidon (XLN) 154
2 Act of Treason (M19) 127
3 Fry (M20) 140
4 Lava Coil (GRN) 108
3 Risk Factor (GRN) 113
1 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129

The Play Philosophy of Fire

For those who haven't been following Magic content since the Myspace era, The Philosophy of Fire is the concept for your strategy being centered around converting each card you draw directly into damage.

That's the entire goal of this deck. 

That doesn't mean you toss spells around irresponsibly. You need to maximize the damage you deal per card, and also aim to not sequence in a way that sticks you with cards in hand. Get the most attacks from your creatures, play your Spectacle cards or Wizard's Lightnings right before they risk being non-Spectacled, do the math on when burn is better as removal.

Good thing I'm here to tell you how to do that.

Tips and Tricks

As much as I hype Rampaging Ferocidon, I'm fairly sure Scorch Spitter is the card that makes this deck possible. The other 1 drops we have seen in Red decks for a while aren't enough to support an 18 land curve, you needed another card for the redundancy to operate off only 2 lands.

But often your hand has multiple one drops. Which do you lead on of Ghitu Lavarunner, Scorch Spitter, and Fanatical Firebrand?

In general, Scorch Spitter > Fanatical Firebrand > Ghitu Lavarunner.

Scorch Spitter first is obvious. It's two damage per attack, doesn't have haste.

Fanatical Firebrand beats out Ghitu Lavarunner largely because it sequences better into Light Up the Stage. If your Turn 2 is Light Up the Stage, then land drop after seeing the flips, then your other 1 drop you would rather get the haste damage off Fanatical Firebrand than play it after combat and your 2nd land. Ghitu Lavarunner will just have haste for immediate damage later anyways.

Ghitu Lavarunner is the most conditional lead off. If you want to block a 1 power creature against other Red decks or Vampires, you can play the 1/2. It also can make sense if you want to Wizard's Lightning on Turn 2, but can't lean on playing the Ghitu Lavarunner that turn. This comes up most if you have 1 land on the draw against Wildgrowth Walker.

I still don't know if I'm playing this card correctly, but it's felt better as I got better at timing it.

You are aiming to cast Light up the Stage when you have access to two mana after and your next plays don't diminish in damage if delayed. 

I try not to fire off Light Up the Stage on Turn 2 unless I kept a 1 lander trying to Light into a 2nd land. Too often you hit multiple cards you can't cast. Or worse, you have a 3 drop in hand you really wanted to cast and suddenly script yourself out of max Rampaging Ferocidon value. The 3 drop thing is usually the biggest gate on Light Up the Stage, why give yourself more cards to cast next turn when you have the thing you want already?

On the subject of 1 land hands, my keeps are fast and loose. Raw card density matters so much to this deck. 1 land with a 1 drop and a Light Up the Stage is a keep. 1 land with 2 one drops is a keep.

4 lands is when you start thinking about a 6 card hand, especially if there isn't a good aggro curve involved.

Not having a 1 or 2 drop creature is more of an issue than lands. Occasionally you can keep a hand with a couple lands, some burn, and 3 drops, but it's matchup specific. Twelve of your spells are gated by Spectacle or a Wizard, and that usually means controlling a creature to cast them effectively.

When should you kill a blocker, outside of the obvious case of something like Wildgrowth Walker?

Think about it from how much damage the attacker deals. 

Obvious one: They have a 1/1. You have Scorch Spitter and Shock. Shock deals 2. The attack deals 2. If you Shock the blocker, you get that Shock of damage immediately and more later if you attack more.

Less obvious: Same on Turn 2, but you have Viashino Pyromancer. What is your alternate play, and what is your Turn 3 play? If you are playing Rampaging Ferocidon Turn 3 and have another 1 drop to go with Shock, kill it now. If your Turn 3 looks more like some burn spells, get the extra body down.

Even less obvious: You have Ghitu Lavarunner and Lightning Strike. They have a 2/1 Merfolk Branchwalker. The attack is only 2 damage, the spell is 3 damage, and they may or may not have a blocker to follow up.

How much burn do you have relative to their life total? If it's 1-2 points away from lethal that's an easy top deck. 3 is unfavored but not horrible odds. 4 means you need multiple spells. The further you are, the better killing a blocker is since they might fail to block more times and let you get more damage.

Do you need to leave up the burn as removal for a bigger issue, like Wildgrowth Walker?

Is there some clear end game they are likely hitting soon that bricks Ghitu Lavarunner forever?

Do you want them to use removal on Lavarunner so you can stick Rampaging Ferocidon?

If the board is more complicated, does this bring them from 2 to 1 blocker so you get more repeat attacks even if you are throwing something away in combat?

I can't list all the angles to consider here, but hopefully this gets some of the right wheels turning.

Sideboarding Basics

-Don't cut small creatures unless something is horribly skewed.

-Trim Shock if it doesn't kill creatures.

-Often Rampaging Ferocidon or Goblin Chainwhirler does nothing. Cut them when that happens.

-Trim Skewer the Critics when you want more removal as it's hard to use it to clear a blocker.

-Act of Treason won't show up in the sideboard guide. You want it 5% of the time, but that 5% is Gruul or Dinosaurs that are close matchups where the card is 3 mana auto-win.

-The last slot debate is 4th Fry over the Mountain or 3rd Risk Factor.

-Similar to my Azorious Aggro primer, I'm going to describe a lot of matchups in medium ways. Just remember that a lot of this is prefaced by "the games they get to participate in", and you just dunk on them a reasonable percent of the time. While this deck is 55% in games your opponent stands a chance, it's +10-15% because they literally died before casting spells.

-My details here are going to be less specific than those for the Azorius Aggro deck. Your plays end up way more fluid based on exact life total numbers and cards in game, so it's hard to preempt a ton of play patterns. The ones you can are largely "GO FACE", which isn't as nuanced as white creature sequencing and lineups.

Matchup - Esper 

Of the major matchups, Esper is definitely the worst but still winnable. Their life gain cards (Oath of Kaya, Basilica Bell-Haunt) are huge issues. 

Sideboarding:

-1 Shock

-2 Goblin Chainwhirler

+1 Rampaging Ferocidon

+2 Risk Factor

Risk Factor is generally good, but drawing multiples is a huge risk against Narset, Parter of Veils. Goblin Chainwhirler isn't amazing, but sometimes it clearing a Teferi that bounced a creature is great. Almost no one plays Hero of Precinct One anymore making Shock dead.

-Don't attack planeswalkers if they control Oath of Kaya. I've made this mistake.

-If you Shock your own creature in response to Oath of Kaya's trigger targeting it, that stops the gain 3 making Shock into Lightning Bolt.

-You can only really play around Legion's End with Shock your own duplicate. Accept that you get got sometimes.

-If you can deal 2 to a 3 loyalty Narset, that is usually worth it. Dealing 3 is closer.

Matchup - Kethis

This matchup is favorable but loseable. They still have some of the problematic elements of Esper and a fast kill, but your burn as disruption is a huge deal and they draw a bunch of nonsense non-interaction every game.

Sideboarding:

-1 Shock

-3 Rampaging Ferocidon

+3 Fry

+1 Goblin Chainwhirler 

Ferocidon doesn't have much life gain to stop and just gets bounced by Teferi if they care about it in a combo setup. Fry is absolutely your best card as instant interaction. The Goblin Chainwhirler-Shock swap is kinda whatever, but Goblin Chainwhirler free rolls Fblthps.

-Kill their Diligent Excavator on the spot. Plan your burn to be able to do this, such as the previously mentioned Ghitu Lavarunner plus Wizard's Lightning starts.

Matchup - Any Ramp Deck

You are massively favored. By far the most common matchup I faced up the ladder and I think I lost twice.

Sideboarding:

-3 Goblin Chainwhirler

-1 Shock

+3 Risk Factor

+1 Rampaging Ferocidon 

(Note: Wilderness Reclamation-Nexus of Fate is a different sideboard plan, Rampaging Ferocidon is bad, multiple Risk Factors are bad, just max out on Goblin Chainwhirlers and jam)

-Time your Rampaging Ferocidon well. On curve it's a good threat, but if you are already clocking them and have it in hand often have a window to cast it after they would Time Wipe on curve but before Field of the Dead triggers.

-The reason these matchups are easy is they lack interaction for your early attackers. Your best hands involve multiple fast creatures.

Matchup - Mono Red

Shockingly skill intensive. Think a lot about how you position against Goblin Chainwhirler and how your plays line up with their open mana. You actually beat Experimental Frenzy by just turboing through it. If they stabilize, have 4 lands, and cast it yea that's good, but often they have the wrong land count, a blank Frenzy instead of an early play, something that just lines up wrong and you go under them.

Sideboarding (draw):

-1 Rampaging Ferocidon

-1 Skewer the Critics

-1 Scorch Spitter

+1 Goblin Chainwhirler

+2 Lava Coil

Sideboarding (play):

-2 Skewer the Critics

+1 Mountain

+1 Goblin Chainwhirler

Only 2 Lava Coils come in because they can be a liability in multiples when your plan is racing Experimental Frenzy. The extra Mountain slightly balances out having seven 3 drops that you really need to hit on time on the play. 

-Don't waste removal on x/1s if you are going to Goblin Chainwhirler them.

-Don't run multiple x/1s out until it's clear you aren't getting Chainwhirlered.

-Kill their creatures unless they are in lethal burn range.

Matchup - Feather

The Feather matchup is close. I've won more than I've lost, but I've lost in fairly definitive ways. This is another removal centric matchup, so don't keep non-interactive Skewer the Critics and creature hands on the draw.

Sideboarding:

-1 Shock

-4 Skewer the Critics*

-1 Goblin Chainwhirler

+4 Lava Coil

+1 Rampaging Ferocidon

+1 Fry

Skewer being awkward to sequence as interaction is a deal breaker. Fry not killing Legion Warboss or Dreadhorde Arcanist is a deal breaker, even if it does hit Gideon Blackblade. The 1 Fry I'm trying here is a hedge against that, and I'm not even sure it's better than the last Skewer the Critics. Goblin Chainwhirler is staying in largely because you need to kill them with continuing beats as you hit their creatures, the ability only matters against Legion Warboss tokens.

-Their Gods Willings are fairly telegraphed. Don't run whole turns into them.

Matchup - Vampires

Another matchup where I've won more than I've lost, but I'm convinced this is bad. They have so many cards that you struggle to beat. The more recent lists without Sanctum Seeker are a bit easier, since that card both immediately gains life and clocks super fast.

Sideboard:

-4 Scorch Spitter

-3 Skewer the Critics

+4 Lava Coil

+1 Rampaging Ferocidon

+1 Goblin Chainwhirler
+1 Mountain

These jerks play so many 1 mana 1/2s. How can your 1 mana 1/1 that needs to attack compete? At least Fanatical Firebrand can team up with Goblin Chainwhirler to kill stuff. The Mountain is a must have with eight 3 drop creatures. Fry doesn't kill most of their stuff, don't bother with it.

-You are really incentivized to have them enter Turn 3 with no creature or you having a kill spell up to mitigate Sorin. If they have to -3 Sorin you can easily mop it up and win, especially if Champion is just a 4/4 cantrip.
-Save Lava Coil for the x/4s if possible. Vona is a giant pain if you don't have it, a joke if you do.

-Similar to Red mirrors, try to max value Goblin Chainwhirler and not kill x/1s if you can. Sometimes you die to Sorin, but sometimes you need to get greedy.

-Fanatical Firebrand messes up Adanto Vanguard big time with pings in response to the activation. They can sometimes pay 4 life to keep it around, they can basically never pay 8.