Red Deck Wins

Every point matters.

*Ash Zealot* illustrated by Eric Deschamps

Red Deck Wins attacks early with quick creatures before burning their opponent out with direct damage. Let’s take a closer look at the cards that get the job done at blazing speeds.

Decklist

Fast, Constant Damage

Quick creatures chip in to keep up constant pressure.

At the core of RDW is the idea of flooding the board with creatures and turning them sideways. The deck hopes to spend all of its mana deploying threats on its first three turns, as these early creatures can hit the opponent multiple times before they’re dealt with. With an ideal curve, the Red Deck Wins on turn four.

Everything starts on turn 1, with the ideal starters Rakdos Cackler and Tattermunge Maniac swinging with two power. The Maniac’s “must attack” clause often leaves it vulnerable to opposing blocks, but it can be paired with a Shock or an Invigorated Rampage to remove larger creatures.

Turn 2, Ash Zealot and Rakdos Shred-Freak enter the battlefield with haste. This lets them to slip past sorcery-speed removal and get some damage in while the opponent is tapped out. They also surprise opponents that don’t leave behind enough blockers for themselves or their planeswalkers. These haste creatures are perfect after an opponent’s boardwipe, as they don’t have to worry about blockers getting in the way and keep the pressure on without a moment’s respite.

Continuing with two-drops, the first strike on Ash Zealot and Kari Zev, Skyship Raider makes them risky to block, letting them push damage into the midgame. The token created by Kari Zev also has some neat interactions against planeswalkers— Ragavan will not get shrunk by Jace, Architect of Thought’s uptick and can take the punishment from Vraska the Unseen’s uptick instead of Kari Zev herself.

On turn 3, the deck looks to play a Boggart Ram-Gang. This card’s wither ability does a superb job at shrinking walls and large blockers to let RDW’s smaller creatures get through. If the opponent doesn’t want to shrink its creatures by blocking, the Goblin Warrior will land damage turn after turn. The card’s most impressive interaction lies with Kitchen Finks, where the two will trade with each other 1-for-1.

Burn when Creatures Fail

RDW has enough to burn its opponent out twice over.

While creatures can get a lot of damage in quickly, they tend to get outclassed in the midgame once the opponent has deployed a few larger creatures. This turning point is when the deck focuses on defending itself with its creatures to buy time to cast its direct damage spells. Burn Trail’s conspire ability takes full use of RDW’s stonewalled creatures, squeezing out that extra bit of reach damage to finish off an opponent.

Rarely should these spell be pointed at opposing creatures, but sometimes that leads to more damage in the long run. Four toughness creatures can be tough for RDW to attack through, so using a Flame Javelin to take care of Wall of Blossoms, Loxodon Smiter, Plumeveil, or Tamanoa may be necessary. Shock deals with many of RDW’s problems efficiently, taking out most planeswalkers after they downtick, most creatures with first strike, mana dorks, and Deathrite Shaman.

Impactful One-Ofs

You usually don’t want to see these, despite them often winning you the game.

Some cards are very powerful, but are only effective in specific situations. Their infrequent play amplifies their potency, as opponents either play slightly less optimally to respect a card that statistically isn’t in RDW’s hand, or they don’t play around them and get blown out.

When in a tight damage race with the opponent, Final Fortune turns the tide in an instant. Taking an extra turn with three creatures out can easily represent six or more damage. When combined with Kari Zev’s Expertise, a blocker is removed for both turns— since the creature is returned tapped after it attacks— pushing through a surprising amount of damage. Despite the synergies, RDW runs only one copy, as an extra turn doesn’t do much without a board presence and any copy of Final Fortune beyond the first won’t get you another turn.

Red Deck Wins doesn’t always draw what it wants and risks flooding out like any other deck. To mitigate this, Lightning Storm shows up to turn a hand flooded with lands into a hand filled with potential Shocks. The discard cost makes it difficult to successfully cast subsequent copies at the opponent, so there is only one copy in the deck. Lightning Serpent also reduces the cost of drawing too many lands, though it can be used earlier on if needed.

Sometimes, RDW wants to lock the game up before their opponent turns the corner. Ruination punishes slower decks that play many nonbasic lands, stymying them before they can stabilize. The card is much less effective against creature and artifact ramp, or strategies similar to RDW that are mono-colored or play to the board quickly, but is devastating enough to others that it warrants playing.

Transformational Sideboard

Many burn cards provides RDW the flexibility to play more controlling.

Transformational sideboards are rare, but RDW utilizes the concept well. Against aggro and midrange decks that stonewall the board while pressuring RDW’s life total, this deck sides into a more controlling strategy. It stalls aggression with removal before landing an Ensnaring Bridge and inevitably burning out its opponent.

The transformation is effective for multiple reasons. The deck still empties its hand as it pressures its opponents, straining removal for Ensnaring Bridge. Cards like Abrupt Decay and Detention Sphere might be used on a creature to save life instead of breaking the bridge, and more specific cards like Disenchant can’t stop the RDW creature onslaught. The opponent needs to race, but that could lead them to overextend into Martyr of Ashes or cost them too much life before an Ensnaring Bridge comes down. Yet if they attempt to stay defensive, Mizzium Mortars and Shock can remove key creatures for some chip damage, and RDW will eventually draw enough burn to go over the top anyways. The final insurance for this strategy is Hammer of Bogardan, solidifying the idea of inevitability.

Conclusion

Historically the concept of Red Deck Wins has had slight variations throughout the years, but all focus on reducing the opponent to zero life quickly. The plan may be simple, but there isn’t much room for error when every point of damage matters. While other decks may overwhelm with shear resource advantage for a landslide victory, RDW tends to live on the edge and win with a top-deck.