[Deck] Red black control

[beder]

Hi all,

Here is the deck I am working, that has pretty interesting results up until now.
To sum up, right now it is :
- pretty efficent against tezz/blue and shop
- ok against fish,
- "to be tested more seriously" against oath and storm.

It is based around few cards :
- bazaar, cause i like this uncouterable draw engine that does not care about spheres,
- welder, cause this is welder
- painter/stone cause this is a pretty easy combo to set up,
- red blast for sure,
- and ancient grudge cause in today's meta, this is one of the most efficent "hate+card advantage" option.

Here is the build i play and tested during the last 2 weeks :

// Red black control V1.0

// Lands x18 (4 of them being bazaar)
    4 Wooded Foothills
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    3 Taiga
    3 Badlands
    2 Mountain
    4 Bazaar of Baghdad

// Creatures
    3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
    4 Goblin Welder
    4 Painter's Servant
    1 Duplicant
    1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

// Spells
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Sol Ring

    3 Grindstone

    1 Tormod's Crypt

    4 Ancient Grudge
    3 Lava Dart

    4 Red Elemental Blast
    3 Pyroblast

    2 Thoughtseize

    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Consultation
    1 Demonic Tutor

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Nature's Claim       
SB: 3 Deathmark           
SB: 1 Pyroblast             
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt     
SB: 2 Pithing Needle       
SB: 2 Extirpate             

// Some thoughts about the deck or card choices that may look not so evident

- the deck is all about redundancy, tutors are there to improve it, not to find a specific solution (except artifact creatures).
- the deck works with few mana, discarding lands to bazaar while keeping 2 mana on board is generally sufficent
- 3 grindstone : again, redundancy and welder target
- 3 lava dart : this card won me many games. "3 of them" helps to have quickly access to it, to kill a welder, a dark conf, a noble, or even any painfull x/2 creature (and there are a lot of them). In this deck which can sacrifice a mountain, it is definitely better than darkblast
- 4 ancient grudge, less would be a mistake. It is obviously excellent against shop and tezz, can be discarded to bazzar AND it is your best anti hate card (pithing needle, null rod, tormods, chalice, ...)
- mana crypt and sol ring : even if the deck does not have any spell which casting cost is more that 2CC, those 2 cards are good to operate under spheres, to quickly cast a painter (and have blast online), to activate grindstone and as welder targets. I first build the deck without them, it was really not as good as it is right now.

Then, the slots I am not so sure about :
- 2 thoughseize and 1 tormods : didn't find a really better option for those slots. Those are pretty generic cards that helps controling game.
- 7 blasts : 8 or 6 could also be options...

// Some thoughts about the side

SB: 4 Nature's Claim        => oath and shop
SB: 3 Deathmark            => nice tech against oath and fish : this kills almost any creature you would like to kill for just . Given today's meta, I feel like this card is excellent
SB: 1 Pyroblast              => blue
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt      => dredge and storm
SB: 2 Pithing Needle       => dredge and ...
SB: 2 Extirpate              => dredge and ...


Feel free to react!

[tezzajw]

I'm not 100% concentrating right now...  so I'm happy to look like a moron.  But I have to ask:

How are you planning to cast your Sphinx - just by using the Black Lotus for white/blue mana?

[Phele]

I guess he is planning to welder Sphinx in

[beder]

I guess he is planning to welder Sphinx in

3 points for Phele

Duplicant and Sphynx (sundering titan  could also be a contender for those slots) are a B-Plan, to be welded.
Most of the time, I win through painter/stone. Sometimes, I am happy to be able to win through another path, when disruption is too strong (or when I have an active welder but no part of the combo).

[Spacebalzz]

Not using Dark Confidant w/ Bazaar?  In my trials in using Bazaar as a draw engine, the combination of 4x Squee and 4x Confidant is the best way to retain card advantage while using Bazaar.  Also, with the amount of graveyard hate resulting from the prevalence of dredge, I feel that only 3x Squee will not fill this role in a deck.  I understand that the concept of the deck is to weld things in from the graveyard/cast grudge with FB, but unfortunately still, most of the spells in the deck need to be cast from your hand.  I've found that without having a good engine to retain cards in your hand, decks like this tend to "peter-out" when faced with hate.