23 lands would probably be fine.
24 would be too much. You don't really want to hit a land every turn, most of your deck is 2-3 CMC. The 5 & 6 drops are finishers that you want to play when you are getting out of steam.

Plus, with Bolt of Keranos you get to filter stuff

I've continued playing the flood deck with good success, and made some minor refinements:

1 - Added in 3x Young Pyromancer. Combos well with Foundry Denizen.
2 - Added in 2x Resounding Thunder. The 3 damage is very helpful against specific creatures.
3 - Added in 2x Wrecking Ogre. Ability to turn your 1/1 token into 8 damage is a huge game winner, repeatedly.

To make room, I smoothed out a number of cards from 4 to 3, which resulted in a smoother spread of cards per hand. Less 'bunches' showing up and it's the combination of things that really wins the games, so it's performing even better now.

Here's the revised deck:



I've tried a few other decks from recent postings on these great boards (always fun and lots of creative implementations) but this deck remains the most consistent and highest % winner for me at this point, so hope it will work well for you.

20 land and wrecking ogre seems brave. How often do you stumble on 3 or 4 mana?

Also galvanic arc over extra thunders and shock seems wrong with young pyromancer?

Hi Monk,
Thanks for the feedback.

Re: ogres and 20 lands - haven't really stumbled with it yet though that does not mean that it won't in the future. Often the game is already won w/o ogre and with only 3 or 4 mana, but if it goes long, then so far in my experience, you'll usually get the 5 you need. That said, it's a valid concern and I will try and play around with the mana count and see if that helps speed it up further.

Re: galvanic arc - it doesn't spawn a token for pyromancer as you note, but you often won't have a pyro available either. Assuming you do, I usually apply it to pyro b/c the first strike means pyro can much more safely attack/block without trading him away vs. normally I have to leave him behind since his 1 toughness means any blocking/attacking takes him out.
The strong advantage with arc is the first strike and the 3 damage is a nice bonus imo - makes a big difference to apply to rabblemaster or a maniacal rage enchanted token, pyromancer, etc. b/c you are usually no longer trading creatures when the opponent blocks, but cutting a path instead.
Same reason sigiled paladin or attended knight can be a hassle to deal with.

In general, I think this deck runs very well b/c it has a strong 'average' spread combined with overall fast attack - you've usually got or at least have a good chance to get some direct damage, some enchantments, some creatures, some creature reversal, some token creation, some 'gain life' suppression, etc. In other words, usually some kind of answer for most scenarios and enough attack speed that they can't catch up/recover on average.

That's why I've largely ended up with 3 out of 4 for many cards rather than 4/4 of some and entirely cutting others, because it produces smoother average hands.

I'm reading a book on probability right now actually, and at least this professor emphasizes that the 'average' is the key to focus on in most gaming scenarios. That certainly meshes with my experience playing this deck.

Let me know if you get a chance to play it and definitely welcome any further feedback!

Here's how I would build mine. Pretty similar to yours with a few changes:

Ah, yeah. Cutting 1xBolt and 1xCharmbreaker for the rabblemasters.
It's a pretty good card indeed that synergies with the Ogre.

I still think 23 lands is a bit too much when ~50% of your deck is 3CMC or less.
Basically the curve looks like this :


With 22 lands, on average you need to draw 8 cards to be able to play 85% of your non-land cards.
On average, you'll get your 4th land on turn 2-3, 5th on turn 5-6 and 6th on turn 8-9.
Seems good enough for me.

Yeah, but I keep getting stuck on 4 mana with Charmbreaker and/or Titan in my hand. I want to run 24, but you're suggesting 22, so I went with a happy medium

Weird. You should not run out of steam so fast.
Do you use your burn spells on your opponent face ? Because it's better use as a removal, i only use it on the face as a finisher

Not necessarily. Sometimes I just burn a Bolt when I've been stuck on three lands for four turns, in hopes to scry into a land the next turn. But I don't play dumb, and just Bolt or Resounding Thunder their face turn three because I can. I'm good at Magic, it's just in a deck with 22 lands, I don't like playing a bunch of 6 drops because a lot of the time they're just stuck in my hand. 22 lands or less is good for aggro decks that use a lot of 1 and 2 drops. I feel like having 23 or 24 lands is perfect for a deck with a lot of 3 drops, and a few top end bombs.

Here's a mono-red dragon deck - I was trying to create a deck where I used Seismic Strike, and it ended up turning into this. It has worked extremely well so far. I was 16-4 with it online today; two losses due to mana problems, 2 losses due to play errors that were definitely winnable.



Choices -

26 land. This is a recent adjustment and not tested beyond a handful of games, but it seemed to work well. I had mana issues - always wanting the 5th or 6th land and having to wait too long for it - throughout when I was playing with 24. The top end of the curve is mana intensive, but the burn spells and Seismic Strike all like mana too.

My main strategy in playing this is spending the early game playing must-remove threats like pyromancers, rabblemasters, sparkmages and battledrivers; ideally by the time you get to 5-6 mana they are out of removal, then you can swing with a bomb, hopefully. With 14 cheap removal spells and a lot of early cheap threats, aggro and token decks don't stand much of a chance (though I lost a game to Beastmaster Ascension because I wasn't counting correctly; it was completely preventable due to the removal I had).

Dragons - it wasn't really my main plan, but I realized that Shivan Dragon is a beast in this meta. This deck's removal means they'll be unlikely to have flying blockers, and if it swings once, it's probably game given that firebreathing means you're swinging for at least 11. I have yet to draw or cast the Hellkite; it's there because it is probably fun to play.

Charmbreaker Devils - red's only source of card advantage that I'm aware of. If it sticks, you'll always get a removal spell back, since there are no non-removal spells.

This deck can sometimes win very fast due to pyromancers, rabblemasters and the removal suite (I had one salty person berate me for playing a goblin deck...lol) but most games last a lot longer and are finished with either a burn spell to the face or one of the 6 drops swinging in. It's been pretty fun.

The idea of Ogre Battledriver with Utvara Hellkite is pretty intriguing.

Giving it haste to attack and trigger the turn it comes into play is not at all a bad idea.

Makes me wonder if something like Paragon of Fierce Defiance could work out. Having to pay for the haste is pretty much bleck since Utvara costs 8, but an extra isn't completely infeasible (Goblin Bushwacker on the other hand seems like it is pushing it at )

I think in all of my games today, the battledriver only lived to give a bonus to tokens, which still worked out pretty well. I'd love to see it with the hellkite in play but honestly if the battledriver survives until you have 8 mana, you've probably already won. As much as I like the idea of the Hellkite, if I had to remove one card, it would be the one. I'm keeping it in for the fun factor though and someday I'll live the dream of battledriver fueled dragon rage.

I ran dh50's list for 5 games and went 5-0. Really solid list. LOVE Seismic Strike. The early game creatures have been underperforming though.. namely Young Pyromancer. Rabblemaster didn't do anything but make a token then die everytime I cast him except once where he and his little friends won the game while I cleared the board. Sparkmage has been excellent.. I stuck two of them at once in 2 out of my 5 games and boy did they put in work. Shivan Dragon is an underrated card IMO. When you attack with him, if you only have 6 mana.. he's an 11/5. That's game ending damage right there.

I was up against a Gruul opponent and I powered through 3 Pelakka Wurms and a very late Arbor Colossus which blew up my Hellkite, but I still got a token off of it bc Shivan was on the board and attacked.

I only played Charmbreaker once and he was great before he got Ground Assaulted.

I'd love to see Krenko's Command in here.. but I don't know what I'd cut.

I think 26 land is right. As you said.. when you wanna cast your 6+ drops.. you REALLY want to cast them. I haven't flooded.. yet, but I'm sure it'll happen. I won one game where I semi-flooded where it worked out thanks to an end step 6 damage Volcanic Geyser followed up by a big fat game-winning Banefire.

Galvanic Juggernaut has been mediocre.. but there's not much to do at the 4 and 5 mana spot.

Battledriver has been removed everytime I've cast him.. which is a good sign.

I'm glad you like the deck! If you don't think Pyromancers are working out, I think the most suitable replacements are either Kiln Fiend, Rockslide Elemental, Guttersnipe, or Bolt of Keranos / Resounding Thunder (though I think sorcery speed scry is better in a deck without draw). For me the Pyromancers have been great but with only 14 spells in the deck, they aren't used to their maximum potential. I played with both Rockslides and Guttersnipes in an early version of the deck and they were pretty good; I haven't tested the rest. The downside is removing the pyromancers means no 2 drops unless you switch them with Kiln Fiend.

You could also replace the Juggernauts with Krenko's Command or any of the above, although the Juggernauts have been pretty important in the games I've played. It's been pretty rare that I haven't been able to get them to untap (though sometimes I've had to use a Sparkmage to execute a token or commit suicide; but it's worth it in some situations, especially to create an instant-speed 5/5 blocker).

I think the deck could definitely be improved but it will require a fair amount of additional testing.

Is this Monk's latest version of his RDW? I found it on page 4 or 5 and wasn't sure if it was the most current revision.

I've got his deck saved (well depending on if this is current) and play it a decent amount (it's great to get out and stomp face when you've had a bad run/ night) but I had been wondering if it had been updated at all since the DLC. Specifically was thinking of Young Pyromancer and if it would be worth cramming it in here somewhere. I'm not sure the deck needs it since the games are over so quick but figured I'd check to see if the deck got a facelift.


elk

hmmm... i can't remember inferno fist being in there so maybe it's not his most recent version. I just can't remember.

Here it is elk

Thank you sir!

So then about my Young Pyromancer question.... Is it worth it? You've got 11 triggers for it. Could this replace say Hellspark Elemental? Or is it actually too slow for this deck ?!?!

Didn't the deck use to carry Skullcrack? I always found that important for denying hp gain and of course reach. Having said that, the deck is fast as <bleep> so maybe its just not worth worrying about?

elk

edit - duh...the version I posted shows Skullcrack...... where's the epic fail smiley?

Hellspark replaced skullcrack. I don't think pyromancer fits here. You could add it by cutting satyr hoplite and furor of the bitten. In their place you can add 3 pyromancer, 3 skullcrack and 2 trumpet blast. But after testing I think the original list is better.

it's your username