That might not be a bad idea Hakeem. I am packing up my stuff for the house move this weekend but will test a 1 of each of the following.

Darksteel axe
Quest for the goblin Lord
Skullcrack
4th inferno fist

If anyone can test this in the mean time that would be great.

I'm not sure Skullcrack would have any effect on Resolute Archangel's ability because it isn't actually gaining life. It just simply "becomes" 20. Still, doesn't sound like a bad idea.

It counts as gaining life even though it doesn't explicitly say "gain" on the card.

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/564680-resolute-archangel-and-life-total-reset

Also, as I mentioned, it also cancels the damage prevention of protection abilities. There's not a lot in the cardpool on it's own (although Stormbreath Dragon feels like a needless kick in the teeth against white), but you should keep it in mind if you face (or use, yourself) Guard Gomazoa and Gods Willing.

A note on the archangel, keep in mind that Rhox Faithmender doubles the lifegain, so you end up above your starting life total.

I think Quest is bad. The natural psychological tendency is to overvalue combo cards because the mind imagines best-case scenarios well but handles probabilities poorly. Against a good player and deck, (i.e. when it matters) Quest won't have a large or early enough impact, and forces the awkward decision between dropping a 1-mana creature on turn 1 (which is what you really want to do) and dropping Quest to try to get it to trigger faster. Keep in mind, on the turn you make that decision, you're only seeing 7 or 8 cards - and the dream scenario requires Quest, 5 goblins, and 3 lands, so in most scenarios (especially since cutting a land will leave you even less likely to have 3 lands in the opening hand) you're gambling in the dark by playing a turn 1 Quest and hoping to draw into a combo early, that may not materialize in time.

I'd probably go with Skullcrack, but obviously you should test in empirically. It does 3 damage as a base, which is essentially the exact goal for RDW (turn 4 = 11 cards; if 7 are spells, 7*3 damage = 21). The time it does the minimum 3 damage, coincides with the time you need the least help (the opponent isn't gaining life), while the time it does the equivalent of more damage is the time you need the most help (the opponent is gaining lots of life).

I ran Monk's build for about 5 matches. It was superb.. only blue gave it any trouble, largely because of the 12 available unsummon cards.

That's stupid that the Resolute Archangel counts as lifegain. I'm almost certain it's a bug, most likely an intentional one by the devs so they didn't have to code a new effect. Why have text that specifically uses the word "set" instead of "gain" if not to circumvent life gain effects? Honestly an astonishing lack of effort, even for a DotP game.

Why bother telling the difference between exile and graveyard, too, then? If we're going to be indiscriminate...

Just read the link that I provided. It makes sense, because you can't go from 1 to 20 without gaining 19 life. The weird thing is that Magic is usually so language-specific that people don't expect this.

It's counter-intuitive when you compare it to cards like Forbidden Alchemy. This wouldn't trigger a Chasm Skulker because it doesn't say "draw" anywhere on the card. When you condition players to be this specific about language, that's why you get misunderstandings about the Archangel.

Thanks mega. Against blue or black it is usual correct to play out all of your creatures before the enchantments as them going one for one removal is not that good for them. Against green or red going for furor is often correct (unless they have shock mana open and white you have to make a judgment based on whether they look like they could be playing banisher priest/ arrest.

I'm glad you like it.

I agree, usually that slight change in wording means a world of difference. Oh well, lol.

I did get tricked with the Guard Gomazoa and a Skullcrack in a game a while ago that basically lost me the game. I could have bounced the goblin coming at me and saved the guard in response but didn't even think about it. ;( I have not been tricked so since, lol.

I'm thinking Monk's deck is pretty much the tops. I was running a higher-curved RDW with Paragon of Fierce Defiance factoring in pretty heavily, but I incrementally realized he wasn't necessary. The build I ended up with is only two cards off.

RDO (Red Deck Owns) (60)

Creatures (24)
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Shortcutter
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Cunning Sparkmage

Noncreatures (17)
4 Shock
4 Furor of the Bitten
3 Coordinated Assault
2 Inferno Fist
4 Krenko's Command

Land (19)
19 Mountain

So, as you can see, I opted to go to 19 lands (and it's still been smooth) and am running one less Inferno Fist so I can fit in 2 Cunning Sparkmages. What this deck wants the most (besides having a s***-ton of efficient, low casting cost creatures on the board obviously) in getting damage through. Sparkmage often comes as a big surprise to your opponent and is very useful in the mirror and in other decks focused on low casting cost creatures in contributing towards that. After barely eking out a victory against an anti-goblin goblin deck that had those guys and Act of Treason and Fling, I have realized how good they are. The fact that they have haste and can take out a blocker the turn they come in is so good. I really think they fit very well in this deck.

By the way, I played this deck (or iterations very close to it) last night about 20 times, and the only loss came from a lifegain deck, and even then it was because of a play mistake on my part. I didn't put the Sparkmages in until somewhere around halfway through.

Also, is it worth discussing Hall of Triumph as a possible include? That could be used as a finisher of sorts. Or would Trumpet Blast be strictly better for that usage?

Oh, and everybody should be aware that there is a bug where if you kick a Bushwhacker and your opponent bounces it before its ETB trigger resolves, the trigger doesn't resolve. Somewhat similar to the countering Genesis Hydra bug, I'm thinking. The triggers getting confused when the card changes zones in a way it doesn't expect.

I actually am now at 18 land, take my original list and add 2 skull crack, it has been very good vs pelakka wurm and resolute archangel

That's nothing, I'm at 17 lands!

I wouldn't run Sparkmages outside of a mid-range or control deck, since you're generally not getting value out of them in an aggro deck. At CMC 3, they're basically at the top of your curve, and you're generally looking for burst damage there, not sustain or persistence. Only exception would be if X/1 creatures become so prevalent that you're effectively pre-boarding the mages into the matchups.

I think I would personally go for 2xBloodcrazed Neonate and 2xHall of triumph in addition to the 19 lands and 37 auto include spells.

But X/1 creatures are very prevalent, and that's exactly why I have them. With tokens, white weenies, and other goblin/RDW decks out there, I have gotten a lot of use out of my Sparkmages so far.

If you're getting use out of it in your meta, that's fine then. Personally, I've rarely been in a situation where the Mage helps me more than, say, a Bolt of Keranos. I'm always the more aggressive deck, and while I face tokens, WW a fair amount, I still face lifegain, and other misc decks often enough that the Mages aren't helping me enough. I'm also missing premium cards, so the synergy and interactions will, of course, be altered.

I'll do some testing without them, with probably either Skullcrack or Bolt of Keranos in their place. But honestly at this point I don't think it matters what those last cards are in the flex spots that Monk outlined. This deck will wreck no matter what lol. It's great.

So this is the red deck I've been using:

23 x mountain
3 x coordinated assault
4 x foundry street denizen
4 x goblin bushwhacker
4 x satyr hoplite
4 x furor of the bitten
4 x goblin shortcutter
4 x krenko's command
2 x goblin rabblemaster
2 x ogre battledriver
3 x paragon of fierce defiance
1 x stormbreath dragon
2 x hall of triumph

I think this is a decent list for something with a bit higher mana curve, but the thing is that monored doesn't need a higher mancurve. The deck is so insane topping out at 4 or even 3 that there really isn't a good reason to go beyond that. Plus, it needs Shocks to destroy blockers and get damage through, and to go to your opponent's face to finish him off in a pinch if need be. If you're set on a somewhat higher curve though, I would still take out the Dragon, a Paragon and two lands for the full playset of Shocks. But otherwise I would advise to follow pretty closely what Monk laid out.

Monk's build is vicious. I've won with that build with only 2 lands in play multiple times, lol. I do like to see other higher-curved mono-red builds though.