Machinehead II

[Machinus]

Whether or not it matters to anyone, I enjoyed R/B control before Tom stole my ideas and won a bunch of money with them. In addition, making red control viable has always been a quest of mine. I was reading some discussion in the card creation forum about how LD sucked and was not viable bla bla bla, and dandan reminded me of a card which I really like but has never been good enough to play. While I still think it is a situational card, I broke down and finally decided to develop some strategy. So here we have a deck (by the way, the card was Ruination).

I wanted to annihilate the opponent's manabase. So I started with

4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

That was not enough, and it became clear that I would be adding some artifact acceleration, so I would have an advantage in permanents in the early game.

4 Pillage
4 Tangle Wire

This gave me much more control over my opponent's mana. I realized that these spells were kind of slow, and in order to incur a serious advantage, I would need more acceleration. I thought about just adding the off-color moxen later, but there were a lot of problems with that. Also, I already had a card in mind that I thought would fill a good hole in this deck. In addition to acceleration, I thought about adding some really solid disruption to the deck.

4 Talisman of Indulgence
4 Duress
4 Shrapnel Blast
1 Mind Twist

This allowed me to make first turn plays while still building acceleration for later, and gave me permanent advantage. Also, it is an artifact, which would become important. This gave me some versatility and speed. But this deck does not run blue, and I needed some consistency and more power for the late game.

4 Nights Whisper
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Burning Wish
1 Demonic Consultation

Only later did I add the consultation, when I noticed that all the singles were sorceries and the deck was packed with four-ofs.

Now, originally I was really skeptical about this deck because I did not have a solid win condidion. I was considering Fledgling Dragon (sorry guys). But one look through my database yielded a nice answer, which I am happy with for the moment.

4 Covetous Dragon

Originally I was not going to use any nonbasics other than fetches because I wanted to be able to cast Ruination, but I realized that four badlands was all that I would be putting in, and I doubted that I would maindeck Ruination. I came up with the numbers for the basics after I did the rest of the deck.

1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Badlands
4 Mountain
1 Swamp

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt

With eight ways to save myself from the crypt, I welcomed the off color moxen replacement. This gave me a nice chance of turn 1 talisman, which I could cast other things off. The turn after that, I would be in good shape to get things rolling, attacking my opponen'ts mana and hand with my disruption, and laying a dragon ASAP and beating. So here is the complete decklist:

1 Mind Twist
4 Covetous Dragon
4 Pillage
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Tangle Wire
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Night's Whisper
1 Burning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Duress
1 Demonic Consultation
4 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Badlands
4 Mountain
1 Swamp

I know this is kind of janky, but really if it seems completely horrible, I would honestly like to know if there is a better way to approach R/B, or if there is even a good way at all. Thanks for any input.

EDIT: I completely forgot to add my sideboard and the cards I considered.

Sideboard:

1 Anarchy
1 Ruination
1 Boil
1 Chainers Edict
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Vampiric Tutor

The top two can destroy large amounts of permanents in the right situation. They are there to be wished for if you get the wish and you can use it. The edict is there for untargetables and flashes back (This deck has a lot of mana). REBs are for drains, togs...do I really need to explain this? Rack and ruin to supplement or replace the pillages, and the crypts are mean. The Vampiric is because burning wish is restricted, and you could take it out and put in the vamp and one of those huge sideboard bombs if you want to cast it.

Cards I thought about:

Off-color moxen - not as good as land since the deck has a low land count.

Magma jet - blast gets the nod over this becase its FIVE damage (I am still really amazed blast even exists).

Terminate - I was trying to think of a situation where I would need this and not be able to use either R&R, Blast, or Edict, and while it is really a solid card, it does not fill as many roles as these and therefore does not deserve space.

Decompose, Rapid Decay - I wanted to maindeck some graveyard removal, but I didn't feel good about Rapid Decay. I was going to leave Decompose in the sideboard but I didn't have space, and the crypts are better.

Overmaster - REB owns this, duh.


I think that's about all. Thanks for the feedback.

[Methuselahn]

Perhaps you could explain how this deck is better than Crucible of Worlds.dec.  Or, have you tried the Crucible?

As far as a win condition goes, Fledgling Dragon flies and is relatively cheap for a control deck, also potentially huge.  That seems like a solid choice for such a deck.

In the end, it has to beat '4cc' as the top control deck at the moment.

[Jacob Orlove]

I know this is kind of janky, but really if it seems completely horrible, I would honestly like to know if there is a better way to approach R/B, or if there is even a good way at all. Thanks for any input.

The problem is that you just die to combo decks, and you won't have much fun versus workshop decks either. Also, aggro will probably be too quick for you. Tangle Wire, Shrapnel Blast, and Pillage are your only real answers to anything they actually cast, and that's just not going to be enough against Welder, Mongrel, Lackey, Exalted, Tog, or most of the other threats your opponents will drop. Control in type one really needs counterspells.

Moved to casual.

[Matt]

I hope this was meant to be in casual to begin with - Boiling Seas is not type one legal.

[Machinus]

Wow, I don't know what I was thinking. That is definitely supposed to be just "Boil". Fixed.

[Matt]

Okay, but Boil is not Burning Wish-fetchable.

[AngryPheldagrif]

Haven't really considered anything B/R in a while. You'd probably want to approach it with an eye to beating combo while racing control. In a two-color deck like this, your mana base will rarely be a problem against Wastelands, so I would consider pulling the basics for artifact lands to better support your Shrapnel Blasts and Covetous Dragons. This does leave you more vulnerable to maindeck Null Rods, but your Pillages should be able to keep that under control. Cut the Burning Wish, a single copy is rarely going to help all that much. With your color choices, having a strong sideboard will most likely outweigh the advantages of using spots for wish targets. Without Mana Drains or Dark Rituals I would cut the Mind Twist for something that works earlier and more efficiently. Look at either maindeck REBs or maybe Lightning Bolts (as spot Welder and weenie removal).

The main problem I can anticipate is that by attacking your opponents hand and manabase you are trying to accomplish what Suicide Black does, but trading out the rock solid mana base and the limited choices for a broader array of removal and a better sideboard. I think your deck has potential, though perhaps not Tier 1, but how much success you have will depend not only on the metagame but also on a strong sideboard.

Choices for your board should allow you to throw a wrench in combo enough to make the match more respectable, rather than a virtual bye for draw-7. Good choices would be Damping Matrix (perhaps boarding out your Shamans to use this against Slaver), Coffin Purge (for Dragon, in addition to giving you another weapon against Slaver and random Rector stuff), and of course REBs for Tog as well as combo. Definitely avoid the wishboard path; your board is your strongest point, without it the combo matchup will eat you alive.

Good Luck!

-Dan