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Main » Articles » The Problem with Mono-Red in Lost Caverns Standard

The Problem with Mono-Red in Lost Caverns Standard

Michael Flores
Posted on January 9, 2024
 Reddit

Part I: The Azorius Empire

The Internet - my personal Internet anyway - was abuzz after last week's article, and of course the compulsory deck pic:

As it's the holiday season, the college-aged members of Hot Dog State University are in town. With the "town" in question perhaps a disservice to New York City. Everyone is excited to prepare for Standard RCQs (some of them even, inexplicably, passing on Premodern events this week) to summon the hottest new Fantastic Creatures in Magic's premiere rotating format, for example The Wandering Emperor, Play With Fire, or Cut Down.

As you can see, I made some changes to Roman's deck list.

Most notable was in the mana base. Roman cautioned against four copies of Seachrome Coast in particular... Come the late game you might want 7 mana on demand, so a land that enters the battlefield tapped is a potential long game liability. My theory is you usually have so many excess lands at that point you are likely to just have a spare Plains or whatever.

I feel pretty strongly about four Restless Anchorages, though, even respecting Roman's point. You do ultimately need some hitters; especially since I didn't play Chrome Host Seedshark main deck.

Here's my thinking around the basic lands: Seven is probably enough resilience even against a maniac that has eight Field of Ruin and Desolation Field. I didn't actually own a second Mirrex, or that would probably have been Island #4. Setting aside the Seachrome Coast argument, my basic lands position might ultimately prove foolhardy... Though not for the original reason. More on that in a bit.

So I'd be on (mostly) Roman's uw deck; POG had my Mono-Red cards; and Etai needed to borrow a Sulfurous Springs... But asked when I was already on the train (sorry grandson).

Part II: Crossover Event

I was pretty happy the LGS was able to muster three - even legitimately four - rounds of Standard on a random Thursday night. But I guess 4/10 were us.

The Companion app announces the round and POG gets up to find his table. It turns out he's playing Rebell. I get the most storied member of Hot Dog State University, MTGVegas Top 8 competitor, Etai Kurtzman.

"Good luck, guys!" says POG.

"You can't wish us both luck, Patrick," replies the LobsterCon finalist.

"Okay then, good luck to Etai. Mike, I hope you get manascrewed."

Round One: Etai with Rakdos

"Grandfather."

It is a friendly weekly Standard; but Etai is cold stone at best. More like a bespoke ice cream vendor than a passionate Texas Rattlesnake. His veins course with the ice water that allowed him to execute his own teacher in the Top 4 of the North American Premodern Championship:

I ask my "grandson" if he can recall if I've ever beaten him. He claims I must have but neither of us can summon up a time.

Conversely, I have a vague recollection of high school Etai casting Mass Manipulation against my Mono-Green Planeswalkers deck some random Saturday tournament in 2019, and a more specific one when he beat be down my Burn with gw in a Modern RCQ. I sideboarded for hardcore Gear Two when I could have won a close one if I had tried to force Gear One. But you know, Collected Company for nothing but Kitchen Finks spoiled all Our Hero's fun.

On this night, I was foolish enough to post a pre-tourney deck pic, whereas I don't know what he's playing.

Worse, Etai won the roll.

The first play of the game was a Bloodtithe Harvester.

"Oh, I guess you did ask to borrow Sulfurous Springs!"

LOLs all around.

Etai followed up with Preacher of the Schism.

"Is that even good?"

"I like it."

Aside on Precher of the Schism:

It's weird that this card is good, let alone a Staple across multiple Standard color combinations, isn't it?

I think my objection to Preacher of the Schism might just be that it's a "Baneslayer Angel" even though it, at least potentially, makes some Titanic claims once it gets going. The card is kind of a lump when it comes down... Not particularly imposing on offense (2 power only for three mana); but admittedly kind of a great blocker.

Anyway, it's medium return is as kind of an Ophidian that can fight better. And that's not bad at all.

End aside.

I met Etai's first flurry with a Sunfall; and then a bunch of Get Losts for Sheoldred or whatever. We played about fifteen minutes but Etai eventually conceded.

I'm not sure if uw is an overwhelming favorite against Rakdos or just pretty good, but it seems like if they don't have you under a ton of pressure - if all they're doing is trying to eke out a little creature value - they're not likely to win. You just have too many boom booms that recoup the card advantage and then some. Come the late game they're completely outclassed on card power. For Rakdos to triumph, they have to put uw under legitimate pressure... Either raw points of damage or what might prove an insurmountable volume of card advantage. The nickel-and-dime game they can play in other matchups with a little tempo, a little 187, and a little Discover isn't going to hold up as well.

Someone recently asked me why I like uw so much, and I think the honest answer is in this matchup? Sheoldred is just another guy instead of a de facto duel winner unanswered.

Sideboarding:

Etai had early Red drops, but I wasn't actually that interested in Change the Equation. Jace seemed like he was a little out of position, even if he technically had text. I think Temporary Lockdown might not be THAT bad... But it didn't seem actually "good" to me against a deck with a lot of 3- and 4-drops.

I think you can plausibly bring in MORE Temporary Lockdown and hit the lottery sometimes. There are 1/1s, 2/2s, and 3/2s for two in Rakdos; not to mention all the tokens that both of you are putting on the battlefield.

Game 2 Etai shipped to five and I kept my seven... There was a slight problem in that both the lands in my opener would come into play tapped (but the hand seemed good enough). Even with no Seedshark, Our Hero smelled blood.

With two copies of Make Disappear I thought I'd be okay... but Etai showcased just why you might want to go to five. His turn two play of the most important card in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan took one, and when my second land came into play tapped, he was able to resolve Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor.

Eep!

In a couple of turns, Gix easily drew past Etai's two mulligans. I set up to recover, but he played a Cavern of Souls naming "Phyrexian".

I grumbled, obviously.

"It's your fault," he retorted. "This was supposed to be your Sulfurous Springs."

This informed me to not grab Dissipate on a Memory Deluge. I took care of quite a few creatures with a sweeper, but knew a Sheoldred was going to resolve thanks to my not providing an additional Sulfurous Springs.

Sheoldred was just a guy... The first Sheoldred that was. Geological Appraiser? Now that's not just a guy. And Gix had filled Etai's hand with Duress and so forth. At some point my Valkyrie's best destiny was just to chump. On to Game 3.

I finally went first in the decider. It was about that interesting.

1-0 / 2-1

Round Two: Rebell with Legends

This match would have actually been kind of an awesome camera match, I think. A lot of nuance to the interactions between decks, and a wild comeback that I didn't see coming. I'm sure a Patrick Sullivan or Brian David-Marshall would have had a riot with it.

In the first game, the cool interaction came on turn three. Rebell passed with just a Rona, Herald of Invasion on the 'field. I took the opportunity to draw two with Quick Study.

Bang!

She responded Faerie Mastermind. Now the tenor of the game changed dramatically.

Quick Study
Faerie Mastermind

The free card draw sucked; but on top of that, I was from that point under constant pressure to discard to hand size. I started playing things out main phase to manage cards to seven. This gave Rebell some good opportunities to give her cards context where I might have been able to nickel and dime otherwise. Make Disappear resolved repeatedly. Two-for-ones became one-for-ones. I wasn't sure what was more dangerous between Rona and Faerie Mastermind.

But Roman's deck has a ton of one-for-one removal that can pick fights at inopportune times, so despite keeping up on a material basis, Rebell wasn't really advancing her battlefield position. After a ton of back and forth, I got Game 1.

"Should I have been more aggressive?"

"I think you maybe had to be. At the point that uw is two-spelling you [back] I think it's inevitable that you're going to fall behind. Your advantage is that you can two-spell me while keeping up on card advantage. But if I can two-spell you, the sheer quality of my second spell is going to spell doom."

Sideboarding:

I was kind of torn on Temporary Lockdown again. Here was a matchup where it clearly has purchase... But the breaker cards are going to be Raffine and Sheoldred, more.

In any case, Rebell both took my advice to heart and immediately made me regret siding out the Negate.

I was quickly up against both a clock and a Liliana of the Veil in Game 2.

Managing the creature attack against a Make Disappear deck was one thing, but I'd also have to avoid flat-out losing to a Liliana Ultimate.

My first sweeper took care of the first problem, but Bang! It was a Liliana and Sheoldred tag team, and I was running low on cards.

But for her part, Rebell was running frustratingly low on lands. She kept missing, so her Liliana activations were taking a chunk out of her available cardboard instead of pressing her advantage. Sheoldred was going to have to do it without a lot of additional help.

I had five lands and ripped a Get Lost as my only card.

I let Rebell go to her upkeep and sent Get Lost at Sheoldred. Predictably, she used her Plaza of Heroes to save the Phyrexian and bash me for basically six.

No cards.

I ripped... March of Otherworldly Light. And five lands! Did we have daylight?

Rebell gained two and went to pre-combat main phase. She had not drawn a land. Liliana up forced her to discard her only spell, but I responded with the March I had just drawn.

She was now down to only three lands (and, admittedly, a Planeswalker with a bunch of dice on top).

I was able to manage with one of the FOUR Restless Anchorages I had put in Roman's deck. Rebell kept not drawing lands, so at some point stopped ticking up Liliana. She just couldn't throw away what slim material she was accumulating. Between Anchorage and some Map tokens, I was able to take down her dangerous Planeswalker before it went Ultimate.

It was really surprising, but I was able to complete a comeback... But mostly because my opponent was still stuck on three at the point she conceded.

This one really just came down to my drawing Get Lost followed by March of Otherworldly Light consecutively. I got a little extra card advantage out of the missed Liliana up-tick, and stayed out of lethal Sheoldred range for just long enough to stabilize.

Better lucky than good?

2-0 / 4-1

Round Three: Bill with Mono-Red

"I think it's your turn to win," says Bill as we saddle up.

"I'll gladly give you this one," I retort. "If it means I get it back next weekend."

Bill and I have been exchanging wins in basically every tournament for the past six months. He opened our relationship by humbling me on LandStill with - believe it or not - Lanny Rock. But we've been kind of tit-for-tat since. Most recently he got me at Store Championships, breaking serve with Mono-Blue over Mono-Red.

We'd talked about it since, and despite my LAST PLACE finish with Mono-Red, he actually jumped on the basic Mountain train and switched monochromatic allegiances for the Standard tournaments upcoming.

In case you're wondering, "next weekend" (now THIS weekend) is a $1,000 Premodern tournament at a volleyball court in Queen, NYC. Our Hero would obviously love to win it.

So anyway, last round of the Standard local...

Game 1:

Bill gets a super close one by beating me with Witchstalker Frenzy.

We go back and forth, with Bill reducing YT to one measly life point before all is stable. I tap for Memory Deluge. All is well. I tap for the flashback on Memory Deluge. Somehow, still alive.

Finally - finally - after several turns of just passing, Bill summons a Monastery Swiftspear. Now's my chance! I mouth to myself.

I had been sandbagging The Wandering Emperor for several turns... But Bill spoils my "gain two life" fun with a Witchstalker Frenzy! Of course he was holding the powerful removal spell! No wonder he had been passing without killing me for several turns! The [-2] misses, I'm still at one, and we're back to draw, go; I, of course, am still at one.

On the final turn of the game, Bill draws and plays Lightning Strike to my face.

I make the Cool Thing play and activate a tapped Restless Anchorage, cast The Wandering Emperor... And go to three, dying at exactly zero.

"It really was a cool play," Bill concedes.

I smirk, and concede the game, though.

Sideboarding:

My thought process here was to cut all the more powerful (if flexible) cards for faster impact. There are relatively few creatures that don't get swept up in Temporary Lockdown, and three is way, way, cheaper than five. Farewell isn't great (six versus five) but it does have text against the most dangerous card in their deck after sideboarding, which is what I was aiming for.

Dennick is built-in card advantage; and even the back half is pretty good with The Wandering Emperor. An uncontested front-side Dennick with The Wandering Emperor is potentially just game by itself.

Game 2 everything went according to plan.

I got to go first, and immediately started trading aggressively.

Per a comment above, I did make a small mistake that cost me two points. I'll tell you about it now so you won't:

If at all possible, play out two basic lands as quickly as you can, while still being able to make your plays. I randomly played a Deserted Beach around turn six when I could have played a basic from my hand, and took two damage from a Furnace Punisher that Bill played the following turn because of it. The current build of uw has "enough" basic lands, especially if you're mindful. Just make sure you realize they get to sideboard, too.

Game 3 could have gone either way; but this article wouldn't be entitled "The Problem with Mono-Red" if we didn't have some respect for the most underrated 1-drop in the history of Magic: The Gathering and company, now would it?

Bill came out furiously on the play.

I had a Dennick, so deployed it immediately on turn two.

Bill followed up with a Wicked Role on an Adversary he had played the previous turn, making a 3/3.

I had semi-planned for this. Either he was going to Lightning Strike Dennick (which I kind of assumed he would) or he'd do something to try to get over the top of him (like this +1/+1 play)... Or I'd just win. I always planned for Dennick to die (somehow) this turn, so was happy to chump block and gain two, with everyone but the 3/3 Vampire staying home.

Temporary Lockdown!

See? I actually wanted Dennick dead, otherwise he'd be exiled!

Lockdown also exiled the Wicked Role, so I didn't take a free point there, either.

Then all the lands in the deck, whether contested Restless Anchorages or Seachrome Coasts or basics just came out. At some point I flashed back Memory Deluge and flipped over six lands and a flaccid Make Disappear. I even showed my opponent!

To be fair I wasn't 100% sure what I'd want, because I had sided out all the Dissipates... but the game was getting to a point where Make Disappear was less and less relevant.

Meanwhile a lone Phoenix Chick and some leftover 1/1 creatures whittled me low.

On the last turn of the game Bill drew a Bloodthirsty Adversary. It kind of had to be that card, which pinned my life total three different ways - an additional haste attacker, direct damage to the face, and the Chick that would have killed me if I had done nothing.

I responded with a Memory Deluge with three mana left over. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, exactly. Had it been something other than the Adversary (or, I suppose just a big enough burn card) I think I would have stabilized because I got the Knockout Blow. Not enough to "win" against the Chick, but enough to keep playing.

As it was, I didn't keep playing.

2-1 / 5-3

POG also went 3-0, so it was a perfect night for same-sixty Red Decks. Bill and POG both played the same starting decks (two Monastery Swiftwpear) with Furnace Punishers, et al in the sideboard. Something like this:

Mono-Red Aggro | LCI Standard | merses, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge 1/7/2024

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Part III: The Problem with Mono-Red

Have you figured out "the problem" yet?

The default sideboard strategy for uw - or at least the model I used - is one of the core elements of Barbarian Class: faster Faster FASTER. Cut out five casting cost Sunfalls for more three casting cost Temporary Lockdowns. Upgrade three-mana interaction with more focused two-mana interaction. Add life gain in the form of Knockout Blow or even Dennick; knowing full well Dennick is on a short leash himself.

This is all well and good if you assume Red Deck is playing Gear One.

It's a relatively safe assumption to start, because their Gear One is so good in Game 1. If they get anything resembling a workable draw, they can pressure you with mana efficiency, or even solo you in the first few turns if they curve and you didn't know what was coming.

The problem is that if you sideboard solely against their Gear One you're going to lose the sideboard war.

What are you going to do with no Dissipates and relatively slim artifact interaction against four copies of Urabrask's Forge?

According to POG, Urabrask's Forge is THE reason to play Mono-Red in Standard. It's inevitable. Mono-Red gets to take out its worst card (Witchstalker Frenzy, which has almost no text) for a card that solidifies Gear Three for them.

I mean, they have Gear Three in Game 1 (Bill put me in a one life point spot where a huge number of cards in his deck were all lethal, and I had relatively few ways to keep from dying on the spot). Urabrask's Forge is like that, depending on how uw sideboards. If it resolves early? You're just dead. Just not dead yet.

The more you play to the battlefield - I was siding cards like Farewell - the worse you get against their default Gear Three cards. Farewell versus Lightning Strike?

I'm not actually sure how to resolve this. I think Knockout Blow might just be bad. More Change the Equation gives you some relevance early, plus some extra text against Domain, while being able to interact with all their Stage Three / Gear Three cards no matter what Stage of the game you're in.

We discussed playing as many as four copies of Dennick, but I'm a little apprehensive only insofar that Dennick is actually out-classed by Urabrask's Forge depending on when each of them resolves, unless you also have a The Wandering Emperor. As we said above, both of them together are already game, so that's not actually super interesting to think about.

Here is a super preliminary build, accounting for specifically The Red Deck.

U/W Control | LCI Standard | Mike Flores

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For me, right now, The Red Deck is my primary point of concern. Though uw is a severe dog against Slogurk Legends, also. Hopefully no one can afford the overwhelming mana base of Slogurk Legends, though.

Have you seen the Pirate-Dinosar-Vampire-Merfolk-Millstone combo deck yet? RCQs this season are going to be wild.

LOVE

MIKE

TAGS articles, standard, metagame, constructed, analysis, decklist, mono-red, michael flores, blue-white control, lci standard, 01092024

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