Most of my readers know that I love Red aggression. So, naturally, I’ve been searching for ways to make good Red aggro decks using cards from New Phyrexia. While there isn’t a new Goblin Guide, Lightning Bolt, or even Plated Geopede, I do think there are some cards in New Phyrexia that might be helpful to Red aggression.

I started by looking at the RDW deck that I played the last few times I’ve played in big Standard tournaments to see if there was anything I could do to help it with New Phyrexia. Interestingly, the card I decided would be the best fit was neither Red nor an Artifact:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

3 Kargan Dragonlord

3 Spikeshot Elder

4 Goblin Guide

4 Kiln Fiend

4 Plated Geopede

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

3 Staggershock

4 Burst Lightning

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Mutagenic Growth

3 Forked Bolt

[/Spells]

[Lands]

12 Mountain

4 Arid Mesa

4 Scalding Tarn

4 Teetering Peaks

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

Obviously, I can’t hardcast Mutagenic Growth. In a deck like this, I doubt I’d even usually want to, however, even if I did have Green mana—much like I’m playing with eight fetch lands even though they hurt my life total and I don’t need them for color-smoothing, I’m happy to use my life total as a resource in this deck. In the current metagame, I expect most of my opponents to be playing either some version of Caw-Blade or Splinter Twin. In these matchups, they spend the early game trying to stabilize and then gradually taking control. If my life total becomes an issue against them, the game may very well already be out of reach for me.

Sure, paying life to play Mutagenic Growth is a drawback against other aggro decks if I run into them, like RDW, Vamps, and Boros, but it compensates by being a great card in the matchup. Being able to protect my creatures from burn even if I’m tapped out is great in these matchups, which often become all about creature control.

Mutagenic Growth is also great in creature combat situations. Without it, if I attacked and my opponent played a Deceiver Exarch before blockers, I would need to tap out for burn or have my attack blunted and my opponent still have a 1/4 in play. Now I can make whatever creature he blocks bigger, to kill his Exarch without even spending any of my mana, allowing me to avoid losing any precious tempo and denying him a target for his Splinter Twin.

When I had my best finish with RDW, I was playing with Assault Strobe in this slot. Unfortunately, it was basically a gimmick card that was terrible after sideboarding. The fact that it was a sorcery and it didn’t make the target’s toughness higher made it hard to use if my opponent was untapped or had a blocker. Yes, it was awesome when it worked, but that was rare, especially after he sideboarded in more creature kill.

The creatures in this deck also have really good synergy with Mutagenic Growth. If I tap out on turn one to play a Goblin Guide and my opponent has a Vampire Lacerator or a Glint Hawk, I can win the fight even though I’m tapped out. Spikeshot Elder is now definitely good enough to make the cut here. I’ve wanted more 1-drops in this deck, and it’s already good with Teetering Peaks, but it’s really good with Mutagenic Growth. Before, if I attacked with an Elder with only 3 mana available, my opponent could block with a 2/2 and basically trade it for my Elder, with me spending all of my mana. Now, I can make my Elder survive the fight and kill a 3/3 while I’m at it!

Kiln Fiend loves Mutagenic Growth. If I burn my opponent to make my Kiln Fiend bigger and he tries to punish me by Bolting my Fiend, I can save it and make it hit for 5 more damage even if I’m tapped out. It makes for an incredible reversal in my favor and makes Kiln Fiends much nastier against decks with instant burn for removal. I also really like it with Kargan Dragonlord. I hate spending 4 mana trying to make my Dragonlord bigger only to have him Bolted as I’m tapping out for nothing. Mutagenic Growth to the rescue! Not only did he fail to get rid of my Dragonlord, but now he’s taking 6 damage from him. Having First Strike makes Mutagenic Growth great with Plated Geopede in combat. It’s also great for saving Geopede from burn that comes in response to a Landfall trigger.

I also decided to try making a completely different Red aggressive deck:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

4 Goblin Guide

[/Creatures]

[Planeswalkers]

4 Koth of the Hammer

[/Planeswalkers]

[Spells]

4 Burst Lightning

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Searing Blaze

4 Staggershock

4 Volt Charge

3 Forked Bolt

4 Shrine of Burning Rage

[/Spells]

[Lands]

21 Mountain

4 Arid Mesa

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

As you can see, this is pretty much a purely direct-damage deck. The key to making a deck like this successful is to have some form of pressure that you can combine with your burn. In this case, that pressure starts with Goblin Guide, but Shrine of Burning Rage, and Koth of the Hammer both represent further pressure. Control decks that hope to protect themselves by dealing with creatures may find themselves hard pressed to survive against this deck.

Goblin Guides will typically hit for at least 2 damage before they get removed, and Koth can be used strategically to get around creature removal. Resolving an early Shrine or Koth against control is a huge problem for them. If you get a turn-two Shrine of Burning Rage and then play either Staggershock or Volt Charge on turn three, you could play a 1-mana spell on turn four and be able to blow the Shrine for 5 damage already. Never mind that you could wait and it’s just a ticking time bomb that they don’t have a really good answer for. If you start to build up counters on one, just leave 3 mana open so you can blow it in response to any attempt to get rid of it. The combination of having so many 1-mana Red spells and having eight cards that will give Shrine of Burning Rage more than one counter can make it a big threat in a hurry. Volt Charge is also excellent in this deck. Not only is 3 damage for 3 mana at instant speed reasonable once you’re already loaded up on cards like Lightning Bolt and Burst Lightning, but the Proliferate is good with both Shrine of Burning Rage and Koth of the Hammer.

Not only will this deck be likely to give control decks fits, but it’s great against aggressive decks as well. Every card in this deck except for Koth, Goblin Guide, and land can be used for creature control. While they’re desperately trying get a creature into play that might survive, your Shrine can be building up and their virtual life total steadily declining. It doesn’t help their cause that cards like Searing Blaze, Staggershock, and Forked Bolt can be eliminating their creatures while also taking away more of their life total.

In order to have the ability to maximize Searing Blaze on an opponent’s turn, I have Arid Mesas in the deck. It also may help lead your opponents to assume that you’re playing either Boros or RDW. Unlike RDW, I don’t need fetch lands for Plated Geopede, and it’s not quite so urgent to thin the land out of this deck, so I’m not also using Scalding Tarns. With eight 3-mana spells, four Koth of the Hammer, and needing mana for activating Shrine of Burning Rage, this deck has a heavier mana requirement than RDW. Among other things, RDW can stall at two land and still have game by spitting out cheap creatures. That isn’t really an option for this deck, so mana-stalling is more dangerous. It does help that without Teetering Peaks, this deck is invulnerable to Tectonic Edge. Another cool feature of the deck is that planeswalkers aren’t a big concern, either, given the massive quantities of burn in the deck.

So on the one hand, New Phyrexia doesn’t seem to have a large number of cards that are going to have a massive impact on Red aggressive decks in Standard. On the other hand, the few cards that I’ve mentioned here could be really good for them, especially Mutagenic Growth and Shrine of Burning Rage (although probably not in the same deck as each other.) While neither of these cards are actually Red, I think they’re both suited to having their best impact on Standard in mono-Red decks. I’m looking forward to seeing if either of them actually ends up making an appearance in the Top 8 of a big Standard tournament.