Who else should write up the mono-red primer but me?
Well, I guess your probably thinking that mono-red is such a no brainer that it doesn't need a primer... Well, the fact is anyone can play a RDW deck and win a lot, but skill and good deck building will you win even more. Disclaimer: My decks are built for best-of-1. I rarely play best-of-3 and usually don't bother with sideboards, so take my opinions with that in mind.

So I'll start by posting my favourite build of RDW:

4 Ghitu Lavarunner (DAR) 127
20 Mountain (RIX) 195
4 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Lightning Strike (M19) 152
3 Runaway Steam-Kin (GRN) 115
4Viashino Pyromancer (M19) 166
4 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129
4 Risk Factor (GRN) 113
4 Wizard's Lightning (DAR) 152
3 The Flame of Keld (DAR) 123
2 Rigging Runner (XLN) 157

RDW basically builds itself in the current meta. My only non-obvious choice is Rigging Runner, which hasn't been getting the love it deserves. While it's impact in this deck isn't huge, it does give an extra 2 1-drops and can survive a chainwhirler or block lifelinkers without opp gaining life (although they're your last choice for playing on T1, you should always play them if you have no other play).
The other choice that is less typical is Flame of keld over experimental frenzy. Why? Frenzy is a 4-drop and with 20 lands, your not likely to get there T4 most games. Flame of keld on the other hand is a card that lets me just start dumping my hand and throwing burn at the face with abandon, with minimal risk and a pretty big pay-off. Risk Factor is at it it's best in this kind of deck, because it can really force your opponent have to choose between a bad and much worse option. Finally, the reason for only 3 steam-kins is two-fold, firstly I only have 3 and secondly they're a HUGE removal magnet. 80% of the time they will just die next turn, if they don't, your opponent is probably in a big jam. Playing an obvious kill card can slow you down and we don't want to cram the 2-drop slot.

So the curve is:
1cc - 14
2cc - 14
4cc - 12

So that's perfect for a 20 land deck. Any hand with 2 lands is usually good to go, as are some 1 lands (mull hands with multiple flames of keld).

How to play this version:
First up, there is the question of who is control and who is the beat-down. You have to learn how to tell to be a really good red mage. This point is especially important in the mirror match. My win-rate against mono-red is 66% atm. I can safely say this build is good in the mirror, but you always have to keep in mind that chainwhirler is going to show up. These decks have a lot of 1 toughness creatures and that's where the card advantage is. It'll make or break your games.
Most games are a basically a race to do 20 damage before your opponent can even get started, so being aggro is usually the way to go. If you find your playing against anything slow and controlish, keep up the pressure and start burning the face, risk factor and flame of keld are there to keep drawing the gas. Playing against aggro is mostly about who is on the play and who is on the draw. Use chainwhirlers to clear pesky 1/1s, but killing llanowars is usually a priority. Clear blockers with your burn to chip away at their life totals and always try to keep the damage coming. The deck has lots and lots of burn to draw into for those last few points of damage, to getting life totals to below 10 is a priority and will force opponents into making bad choices.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this deck likes to take risks, it's kind of red's theme and something I really enjoy about the deck. It's built for a blitz so keeping up pressure is usually a good strategy.


On the other spectrum of the mono-red decks is Big Red.
I've played big Red quite a bit, but I find it has a ba match-up agaist the all so popular golgari decks (they can out grind you and out value you in a long game).

Here's my build:

2 Shivan Fire (DAR) 142
24 Mountain (RIX) 195
3 Lightning Strike (M19) 152
4 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129
2 Fight with Fire (DAR) 119
4 Rekindling Phoenix (RIX) 111
1 Demanding Dragon (M19) 135
2 Siege-Gang Commander (DAR) 143
3 Banefire (M19) 130
4 Treasure Map (XLN) 250
3 Karn, Scion of Urza (DAR) 1
2 Shock (M19) 156
3 Lava Coil (GRN) 108
2 Legion Warboss (GRN) 109
1 Star of Extinction (XLN) 161

There are plenty of ways to build Big Red. The main idea and what I like about the deck is that it likes to flood. Most wins come from big uncounterable banefires to the face. Treasure Maps are huge in this deck, because they will smooth out your draws and provide a big ramp boost to play your big spells under curve or leave up mana for an emergency. Karn is solid with the maps too and provides a diversification of threats and extra card advantage. Chainwhirler is also fundamental to survive early aggro and provide a fantastic blocker and a decent threat.

To be continued...

creatures
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Ghitu Lavarunner
4 Viashino Pyromancer
non creatures
4 Risk Factor
4 Wizard's Lightning
4 Lightning Strike
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Schock
20 Mountain
4 missing slots, hope we get 1 more good wizard(it is unlikely though) - otherwise Runaway Steam-Kin probably

No chainwhirler?

Love seeing all these primers, keep them coming Would love to see a comparison between the two different red archetypes as well.

Not running the 4th Steam Kin sounds crazy to me. If you don't have the card then yeah, but I think you should get it, because it's the best card in your deck. Dying instantly is a sign of how important it is for the opponent to kill it - they're willing to stop developing their board to kill it.

Have you considered playing e.g. a single Experimental Frenzy (as opposed to 4)? The card's strong but bad in multiples, so a single copy might work well. Of course the objections you wrote to the card remain true, but it's possible the upsides compensate.

Thoughts on monored in the RNA:

- Spear Spewer is quite mediocre. If you're in an aggro mirror you might not be able to activate him at all. Meanwhile he doesn't really block anything except Fanatical Firebrands out of other monored decks.
- Experimental Frenzy is very powerful. I don't know about running four copies since drawing multiples is very awkward, but frequently around turns 4-5 it's the card I most want to draw.
- Goblin Chainwhirler is not so impressive now. It's not terrible, and killing Llanowar Elves / Dauntless Bodyguard / Viashino Pyromancer is very nice, but matched against the gameplan of "burn opponent to death", it's a 3-mana do-1-damage card. For it to do more, it not only needs to survive, it needs to be able to attack, and there are lots of creatures that match up well against it. On the other hand, if you are under pressure from another aggressive deck, it's one of the best ways to stabilize. I'm not sure it's worth 4 slots, but I'm not sure it's worth 0 either.
- The Flame of Keld is a bit awkward with Experimental Frenzy. It's also somewhat slow. Chapter 3 is great but if you're in a bad spot and are hoping to topdeck lethal burn, having to wait two turns to get there is a big deal.
- I've not been impressed by Risk Factor. It feels like The Flame of Keld and Experimental Frenzy are better ways to refill your hand.

Not sure what optimal build is right now, but I think the super low to the ground, 19-land version Turbo posted in the metagame thread is too all-in, at least for my tastes.

For inspiration for which direction this might take, the top 16 of last weekend's SCG tourney had 2 differently build RDW decks:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1613359#arena
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1613362#arena

Do take into consideration though that Bo1 is a different beast.

And yeah I agree that deck I posed before isn't balanced enough.

Couple more thoughts:

- I get why Haven didn't like Runaway Steam Kin now. It needs to live one turn, otherwise it's just a 2-mana 1/1. This card is one of the weakest in the deck in the mirror. You can't even play it turn 2 on the draw lest it gets Chainwhirler'ed.
- Speaking of which I'm not convinced that 4x Chainwhirler is the best build. As mentioned before, it's a 3-mana-do-1-damage card. Right now, I'm running two.
- On the other hand, Runaway Steam Kin is superb if it lives, and the combo with Experimental Frenzy is real.
- I'm also running a single copy of Rekindling Phoenix which has overperformed. It's just a hard card to deal with. In two separate games, it was able to chump a Lyra / Doom Whisperer long enough for Experimental Frenzy to pull through. Phoenix is also a 2-for-1 against other red decks, not to mention soars over ground blockers against Sultai.
- Shockingly, I seem to be able to get away with 19 lands in spite of having 4 four-mana cards in the deck (3 Experimental Frenzy, 1 Phoenix). My instincts tell me to run 20, but I've been able to get away with 19. Maybe it's a BO1 shuffler thing.

This is what I´m playing ATM
Testing Burning Prophet in a monor Red Wizards shell... The rest is the usual RDW top of the end is a split between Chandra and Frenzy, I gave the axe to Firebrands and with 4 more Wizards I went for the 4 copies of WIzards Lightining.

Prophet shines in this deck, she can be insane devastaning with Frenzy.

2 Chandra, Fire Artisan
20 Mountain
4 Ghitu Lavarunner
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Viashino Pyromancer
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
4 Light Up the Stage
2 Experimental Frenzy
4 Wizard's Lightning
4 Burning Prophet

4 Legion Warboss
2 Experimental Frenzy
2 Rekindling Phoenix
4 Lava Coil
1 Chandra, Fire Artisan

Help, when do you jam Frenzy? Say it's turn 4 against another monored opponent, and the board is clear. He goes for Frenzy. I still have 3 other cards in hand. Do I play Frenzy? Or say I'm against a Bant midrange opponent and again the board is clear. My hand is Pyromancer, Chainwhirler, and Frenzy. Do I play Frenzy?

I've been just jamming the Frenzy because it's mana efficient, but I really have no idea if that is correct.

If you are on the mirror and he already casted frenzy... with a no removal hand I think you should go for Frenzy but overall I try to avoid casting Frenzy on 4 mana...
At 4 cmc yeah frenzy is mana efficient and with the cards you have in hand I think is the right call...

Anyone seen the mono-red deck that won the SCG Open? It runs Chandra's Spitfire. Wow. I tried it out, it's actually really strong if you're focused on a burn build - with a Spitfire on the board, you effectively double each of your burn spells. Further, Ember Hauler & Fanatical Firebrand, which are fine curve-fillers, shoot up in value late-game.

Only concern is a slight lack of staying power (since only one Experimental Frenzy maindeck now) but otherwise it seems strong. Maybe in BO1, play Risk Factor and trim to 19 lands.