Yes, its a lot different than the one that has fanatical firebrand, the curve is sweet and can afford those big drops, it still wins fast, besides with the Chainwhirlers all those 1 toughness creatures gotta add more value.
The Soul scar mage got a lot better with the Chainwhirlers also, together they shrink all your opponent creatures.
The Bomat currier is odd to me too, especially if you are not running black for unlicensed.
I have read a lot of bitching around the current meta, I guess some people just wanted that control could take some time on the rock. Once KLD hits Arena the meta is going to be full standard so I guess we will be seeing a lot of Rakdos and Mono-Red...
Even me that I like those colors and those decks... can see that it can be awful to just play over and over against them, if they just keep prolonging the daily wins... you are not going to be able to have a break from Tier 1 decks and that is just bad.
I guess they need to create someplace where you can play Janky builds and tier 2 decks just for the fun or this game will not keep casual no-professional players.
Standard is just an awful place man.
And yes eternalize copies all the text of the creature it just changes the power and toughness to 4/4

I love Rdw, but not when everyone is playing it. I'm sick of it too and what's worse is that everybody is sick of it and knows all of the deck's tricks and how to play against it, so its not much fun atm.
Sure, I'm gonna try out the pro-decks but I'll get tired of them real quick.
I'm actually having fun blowing stuff up with orzhov control and I can win quite a bit against aggro and control. It's a toolbox deck with answers for just about everything and I've even added mastermind's aquisition to use silly win-moar cards.
Only problem is the deck is slow...

1. Playing aggro decks is disproportionately rewarded in F2P games due to how fast they can grind compared to slower decks.

2. The strongest non-aggro deck (UW control imo) is oppressive on the opposite end of the spectrum.

3. It takes 2-3 months to make a deck and jank is just as expensive as Tier 1 net-decks.

4. All of the game's major rewards are win-based.

5. We are just coming off (less than a year since) one of if not the worst Standard cycles in recent memory.

It's the perfect **** storm.



Most F2P card games have been trying to find a solution to this since their inception. If MTG implements a good solution I'll be impressed.

Hey gang! I remembered this site from my Duels days and today I wondered if there was an MTGA sub. There is and here I am!

So I've been keeping a log of all my Quick Constructed (QC) matches. So far, out of 29 matches 12 were Pro Tour RDW (41%). I thought it'd be fun to play a deck exclusively built to win vs these decks. I don't care if I lose to other archetypes. I tried doing a mono-black discard/removal with Torment Hailfire/Scarabs win cons, but got mixed results.

Any ideas to pursue?

Bigger butts, generally. You also need cheap, instant speed removal. RDW is a pain right now.

Definitely consider running 3-4 aethersphere harvester
Also, check out the PT mono green decks.

The problem is that a lot of the best answers are also in Red.

Midrange with life gain maybe?

I haven't spent a single dime in MTG Arena and I have 5 viable decks. You don't need to spend money to get ahead in this game.

I have my doubts, but maybe. There is no lack of solid 4-5 drops in white, the hard part is what to do about red’s early game.

I tried doing something like that with an orzhov lifegain/liche's mastery concoction, but results were mixed. When it worked, it won, but Rdw is very consistent and really hard to stop with a slow draw.

I think G/w has the right tools to beat the red deck but it folds to UW control.
Shalai, Harvester, Lira and seal away + stompy green, is what I have in mind.

That’s encouraging cuz I’m not planing on spending money either. What’s your trick? Keeper drafts or the other one?

Yeah, that’s probably fine though. RDW is most of the meta, beating the meta is the goal.

There probably won’t be a deck that beats RDW and UW consistently, or we’d already know about it.

I haven't played this weekend, but I had success with Monowhite Tokens/lifegain. 1 drop is just the Vampire Enchantment. 2 Drop is Anointed priest. 3 Drop is Sunscourge, Benalish Knight or the Knight Enchantment. I think I am running some more 2 drops, but not the cats because they die to Chain Whirler. I think it is Knights, but that spot has been in flux. Generally I get to T5 with just a few life and stabilize from there with a Zombie Suncourage or horde of cats.

I was not satisfied with it in the current meta, but if you are looking for anti RDW, it can be further tweaked to really hurt RDW. Weak vs a few other decks though (Mono Green, Dinos with Forerunner out and sometimes merfolk), and further RDW tuning would make other match ups even worse.

Have you tried just going all out vamps (or mostly vamps anyway)?

I built a pure tribal when just Ixalan and RIX were the only game. I was quite happy with it. I posted it up and others morphed it into a less "vampire pure" token deck but it was still pretty damn good in it's original state and very fast. It might hold up now but honestly I haven't been playing so much since the warm weather hit so I really don't have a snapshot of the meta other than even with the bans in place RDW is surely still the majority.
I didn't rebuild after the wipe but it's a consideration. I really wanted to invest in an Izzet Wizard deck but alas..... I haven't hardly played and haven't even done a draft yet where I planned on picking up the DOM cards I need. When I do sit to play I usually shy away from deck building because no matter what anything I really want to build will cost me in one way or another and I'm not ready to sink any money in. I usually play a couple of games with my Drake/Fling or Power Kitties just to get a taste.
You've got me thinking though.

It’s just that vamps have access to a solid removal package and obvious 2 drops that come out before chainwhirler and negate its effect. I figure it may be a decent option - midrange though, probably not as Aggro.

I have considered it (Or Knights, but no lifehgain there) but just enjoy the long game with Procession. My guess is that RDW has enough removal to neuter Vamps lifegain since it is all lifelink. Of course with Push in the mix now, maybe Vamps can return the favor and neuter RDW early aggression?

Generally, T1 Vamp gets killed by Fanatic. T2 Priest gets killed by Abrade/Lighting Strike. T3 Knight/SunScour gets killed or evaded by Crop. T4 I bring back a Sunscour/Play Anointed Procession/Exile Chainwhirler and start to stabilize. I can generally miss one step and pull it out, but if I miss two, like T1 and T2 drops, I am probably going to lose. Honestly, one of the key cards is Anointed Priest. It can give enough incidental lifegain to keep out of the dangerzone vs RDW. I will say that RDW was almost a bye until the new set hit. Courier is an issue, as silly as that seems. With no cheap direct removal, the card advantage pushes gives them the edge they need. May swap Bindings for cheaper removal, but again, makes the deck weaker vs other decks.

I don't think my deck is 'the answer' by any means, and it has gotten weaker with the new sets, but some of the components work well vs RDW.

I tried the vamps approach, before the pro-tour I had excellent results against RDW but after the Chainwhirler weekend the RDW changed and now the deck can`t come back from the Whirler & Scar combo.
I think Knights are the better approach on the Orzhov midrange, Vamps want too much tribal commitment if they remove a few key pieces the deck crumbles, knights can work with less and first strike is problematic for aggro.

Here is what I am running. The seal aways are a test, and the 5 mana spot changes. Some combo of Cats, Angel and Mythinc Horse. 4 slots. I used to run a single Helm, but it was a win more care in most cases. It COULD break open a stalemate, (Late game with 2-4 Processions out, it would absolutely win you a game.) but it was more 'fun' than powerful.

Creature (16)
2 x Angel of Sanctions
4 x Anointer Priest
4 x Benalish Marshal
2 x Regal Caracal
4 x Sunscourge Champion

//Enchantment (20)
4 x Anointed Procession
4 x History of Benalia
4 x Ixalan's Binding
4 x Legion's Landing
4 x Seal Away

//Land (24)
1 x Arch of Orazca
2 x Field of Ruin
4 x Memorial to Glory
13 x Plains
4 x Shefet Dunes


Just did a quick constructed and went 5-3, which is about right for the deck. Beat 3 Red, 1 mono green and 1 mono black. Lost to a RDW (still 3-1 overall), UW control (expected) and a Knights deck (Slow start, and 2 Black knights early were too much)

Fun deck though, and good vs most RDW.

(played a few more rounds. 1-3 (lots of control and merfolk) and 7-1 (including 2-0 vs RDW) Not sold on the Seal Aways, so still tinkering with it. They just don't do anything vs control, and too many players that have good targets play around it)

If all you want to do is beat RDW just go boros control? Magma spray, sweltering suns, lightning strike, seal away, settle etc + couple angels as finishers?
Rakdos or orzhov in the same spirit probably work too. Mardu is probably most powerful if the mana base works.

....just insta-concede if opp plays an island.