Yes, many times she sits in your hand...but it's only one card, and when the game becomes somehow stalled or slowed down (for example, 2 jadis and one kazhandu...), those few times, she becomes invaluable. And when it's neither one nor the other, she's just fine as stinger

The Raider probably is worse than the Denizen in that deck, yep

Also, it's maggit tnx my self-steem isn't that low...

I like your Dragon Warrior-ish green slime tho. When i think about all the grinding I did back then with those initial levels, the grind for Duels gold doesn't seem that bad.

Yours certainly looks like he loves slime, erry shade...

Foundry is; most of the time, a 2/1 for one mana. I'd rather be playing that than the 1/2 which will never get pumped due to mana constraints and tapping out regularly. Arsonist is the only other choice and again it's always a 1/1 that can only do one additional damage after it's killed (this is all based on the exclusion of pumps/enchants). Foundry just has the potential to do more damage regularly. If we get better one drops in the future, this will be the first to go.

Chandra - again, folks are looking at her like a PW that you need to hold cards for to activate/flip, not just a 2/2 you swing and get additional plink damage with. You play her on curve (if you can) and if she survives long enough to swing, do so. Pump her, enchant her etc just like any other body and fire her in (taking advantage of the additional plink). Just like trample in this deck, it's another card that can get direct damage through to the player as a creature or a tap or a PW. Now if she's actually cast T3 to try and flip on T4, you can potentially generate 7 damage from her swinging, activations and +1. That's excluding the damage you get when you cast to get the activations (although in that scenario it's 2 one drops and a two drop with 4 mana or 3 one drops). I'm just flabbergasted that folks are considering that potential slow. Even if she swings as a 2/2 and plinks 2nd main phase, she's done 5 damage with her +1 ability. If she's tapped 3 times and then +1, that's 5 damage. Those are all PW flipped scenarios, but still good damage. If she plinks first and swings as a 2/2 later without the chance of flipping, she's still a 3 damage option (minus pump/enchant). That's still good. It just seems like a hard card to ignore/exclude.

Bloodlust doesn't need a 4th copy. You will rarely get to a point where you need to draw the 4th copy and even if you do, you probably won't have any gas to put it on (at that point you're probably looking for top deck burn anyway). I'd rather have the 4th twin bolt and to a lesser extent the 4th touch of the void.

I would love more land to ensure consistency but the variance from 21 to 22 is fairly negligible (although I think 22 would be ideal). This deck/curve wouldn't want to go too much higher than 22 though. If there were more 3CMC and 4CMC drops, I'd be looking to go to 23 or 24 lands. Having said that, it's a matter of threat density and when you want to cast these cards. In a similar fashion, it can be viewed like colored mana sources and when you want to actually cast the card(s). The majority of 3CMC and 4CMC cards typically aren't played on curve and don't need to be. You just need the 3rd and 4th lands to show up in enough time to be useful (T5 'ish'). Yes there are times you get stuck on 2 land but the deck can absolutely operate there. There are times you draw 3CMC or 4CMC card(s) but the 6 in 53 odds are acceptable (assuming you don't have one in your opening hand). There are times that you want to be casting multiple cards per turn too but again I don't think the difference between 21 and 22 will greatly effect that outcome. Now it may be that dumping a card for another land could be the right call down the road but mana screw hasn't been enough of an issue to consider the change (yet).

Maybe by posting the deck, I'll get a handful more testers who will run numerous games (versus the standard 5-10 games followed by the 'your deck is pooh' response) and provide tangible feedback? Guess we'll see.


elk

It's not that Chandra is bad, it's just with this type of deck, my experience has been that there are better options in my hand to play for damage right now instead of something next turn. Also, when that next turn happens where I didn't play Chandra, I'm still playing some really good cards for moar damage instead of Chandra.

You're right that 7 games isn't enough yet. I'll keep playing it. Because of the low land, I often playing Looming Spires on T1 when I don't have a 1-drop cuz the 2-drops are SO important in this deck that it's risky to drop foundry and then nothing on t2 cuz Spires comes into play tapped. If Foundry ends up getting dropped, I can safely drop Spire on t1 if I don't have a Glory chaser

I also think Foundry is the second best 1-drop available to RDW; being a 2/1 on a regular basis and sometimes a 3/1 or even 4/1 has a lot of merit for the few turns he's alive. Also the added damage works extremmely well with CotFM.

Also agree on Chandra. The moment she sticks she needs to be dealt with or she deals explosive damage to the opponent.

I'd always run the 4th copy of Bloodlust. Giving something haste is amazing; and the self-tutor is very relevant up until the very last copy. Though running out of creatures to put it on seems a possibility in your deck.

21 lands seem perfect for your deck; especially since you are not running Molten Vortex to counteract flood (which you would be slightly more prone to with 22 lands). You should generally have the 2 lands your deck needs early.

Here's my version:

3 goblin glory chaser
4 foundry street denizen
2 titan's strength
2 abbot of keral keep
1 ember hauler
2 makindi sliderunner
4 mage-ring bully
4 infectious bloodlust
4 twin bolt
1 Chandra, fire of Kaladesh
2 thopter engineer
2 exquisite firecraft
2 touch of the void
1 Akoum firebird
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

17 mountains
2 looming spires
3 foundry of the consuls
2 rogue's passage

Infectious bloodlust is in my opinion the best card in the game (yes, better than Jace, Gideon and company) and with the unlimited availability of mass removal that we now find in the card pool, as far as I can see the only way to build a successful aggro deck is to splash red in order to play these.
It's great against removal, but it turns out to be good in every matchup; it's also surprising to see how few people are playing claustrophobia which is IMO a contender for best removal spell in the game (which displays a bizarre representation of the color pie).

Foundry of the consuls is another fantastic card and one of the main advantages of a 1-color deck is that you can play 3 (plus 2 rogue's passages which are great to finish off the opponent) with little repercussions. It's great against control decks since you can activate it at the end of turn to dodge mass removal and at that point of the game the opponent probably already used any twin bolt he had in hand.

As you see I'm playing 24 lands, which seems about right given the low number of 1-drops and high number of 2-drops: basically if I don't have 4 mana by turn 4 the deck functions at half speed. Cards like bloodlust, abbot, the phoenix and sometimes the Nalaars are big mana sinks, so the deck makes full use of its mana all the way to the 6th land, when you can start activating the foundries. For that reason I decided to cut avaricious dragon, since I found the deck never really runs out of gas.

I have 2 thopter engineers, even though they are not impressive on their own it's very good to have one in play when you start playing Pia and Kiran and the foundries.

The 2 looming spires are here mostly to support the glory chasers and Chandra, but they are pretty bad in other situations so I'm not sure if they should stay in the deck.

I'm also not sure about the 2-drops: I cut 2 ember haulers because the double red cost can sometimes be a problem (with 5 colorless lands and the omnipresent acid-moss), the sliderunners have been impressive so far, but the bullies are a bit safer against twin bolt and blocking them when I have open mana is a big guess.
All I know for sure is that I don't want dragon fodder, I think the advantage you get from the additional pumps on denizen and bully is going to be lost the next turn when you find yourself attacking with two crappy 1/1s. Also, casting bully or sliderunner plus bloodlust on an empty board lets you attack for 5, whereas with fodder you'd be attacking for 3.

I'm 14-3 with Elk's deck. Losing to Gemini mirror match, orzhov ally life gain, Jund running the greenwarden and necromantic summons loop. I've had Chandra in hand a lot but only played her once and she got twin bolted immediately. I used to hold off on titans strength until lethal but now I think getting that damage in with scary is too important. Your top decks are too important based on your situation. If sliderunners are out and about , land is fine. If abbot and bully are online, u need that sorcery, instant.

I'm starting to have more success going tall rather than wide. I had double calls and stuff on a dude and often opponent has no answer

Boh, I like the write up. With two nalaars and 3 foundries, you need three engineers to get that curve u want.

I think we can do better than those denizens. Arsonists, Myrs, call of full moon, inferno fist, moar ember haulers... I like all of those better.

You don't need two rogue's passage. Make one a mountain or spire

I'm really not impressed with Chandra lately. She doesn't get along with touch of void either

So you would cut Chandra for the third engineer? I understand the idea but it still sounds crazy, she almost wins the game on the spot if the opponent doesn't kill her immediately, and my earlier creatures provide sufficient bait for removal.

The denizens have been fine, I don't mind trading one for an elvish visionary (it's a good trade in terms of mana) but if at some point every green deck starts running a full set of blisterpods I'll cut them immediately.
Arsonist and myr are great at defense and I'd hate to see them in a mirror match but they only attack for 1 (and they are still incapable of trading with a blisterpod in battle ).

That third engineer is going to be important in your build. You want the Nalaar creations online immediately.

Elk and I had a really good debate about Chandra privately but let's try drawing in some of you mathy types into this. Chandra does nothing on T3 and does a dream max of seven on turn four, however unlikely that is, it doesn't matter. Now, let's look at what your deck can do on T3 and t4 (for the permanents you cast on t3) as an alternate to Chandra. For SURE we're doing better than seven damage, no? On an empty board, I think Chandra is better, but we're not looking at an empty board often. So t3 can be used to help our t1 and t2 drops do more on both t3 and t4

I still play Chandra in burn but fast aggro decks that have denizens don't really want her I think. Not sure tho..

Well, a turn 3 engineer that gives haste to the Nalaar thopters on the next turn will have effectively dealt 4 damage in the air by the end of turn 4 (5 damage if we assume the engineer herself gets to attack); Chandra will deal 5 damage if you have 2 spells to play (which is an easier requirement than having Pia and Kiran) and then she threatens to deal 2 more damage every turn until she is dealt with. Also, she can kill creatures.
So yes, if we assume the opponent can't kill her it's safe to say she is better than the engineer.

Nono, let's not compare those two cuz one engineer makes five of your cards better, Chandra doesn't make any of them better. My argument against Chandra isn't that engineer is better, it's more that you will often have better t3 plays other than engineer


..Pure's burn deck ran Chandra and Engineers and Gearcrafters and she was devastating in that deck. In these aggro decks I often have two Foundry denizens in hand by turn four. Which typically sucks but after a turn three Chandra, it wouldn't be that bad. She can help make up for those weenie draws you get sometimes

That's a weird argument, since nobody forces me to play Chandra on turn 3 either.
If I have a better play, I'll play her later when it's even more likely that the opponent will have run out of removal - but ideally not so late that I'm empty-handed and can't cast spells to flip her. That's still a pretty large window.

OK that’s a good point. I'm only analyzing her as a three drop but you're right. She's plenty sexy later

Btw, guys, nobody use Act of Treason for flip Chandra? I did it a bit of times, where there wasn't anything worth stealing on the board
Tap, cast on her, untap-tap, resolve, untap-tap, flip, ping for 2, 5 damage Didn't saying always go this way, but sometimes could be usefull.

Yeah I've been dying to give her haste but you're talking t6 play at the earliest. I need to win by then

Now 19-4 with elks list

Chandra has won me one of those games. One

So consider the ways we can win:
Curve aggro
Aggro burn
Aggro enchant
Aggro enchant burn

Can Chandra contribute to any of these? Is she a win condition with just the burn? Does she add another way to win? If the answer is yes to any of them, is she not worth keeping?


elk

wrt Chandra, I think I've been misplaying her up until recently. I tried putting her into decks, and then doing whatever it takes - even if the play looks stupid - to flip her. For example, one time I flipped her by targeting her twice with fiery impulse. I've won every single time I've gotten her into play as a PW. I think possibly this kind of aggression is actually worth it with that card. I'm still testing it, but I'd be interested to find out if other people have similar results. Like a full on approach - if you can cast her, flip her no matter what, kind of thing.

I play what's best at the time. If it's trying to flip her, then I do but I don't do it at the expense of my hand or the board. If she's not the right play, its probably because my hand is already strong or she'll be better after they answer my other threats.

elk