An updated deck list followed by a couple of matches with All-in Red, including two mini-You Make the Plays!
I have been playing mono The Rock lately but some discussion on my mailing list has put me off The Rock for the moment. I decided to play the other Extended deck I like tonight, All-in Red.
This is my deck list:
4 Chrome Mox
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Deus of Calamity
2 Manamorphose
4 Blood Moon
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Rite of Flame
4 Seething Song
4 Simian Spirit Guide
18 Mountain
sideboard:
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Firespout
4 Gutteral Response
4 Shattering Spree
Basically I reversed the numbers on Manamorphose and Empty the Warrens from the pre-Pro Tour Berlin version. Manamorphose really just improves Warrens; and Warrens was the best threat. I don’t know if Manamorphose will ultimately make the prime time version of the deck list, but I like it quite a bit because I have some gamble to me and have been known to play it just to see what happens. What usually happens is that I reveal a Demigod of Revenge or some such.
In this deck, versus Standard, I actually prefer Deus of Calamity more than Demigod of Revenge. In All-in Red in Extended, you don’t actually get to play multiple Demigods in a single game very often because you simply don’t have the mana (you usually use a lot of the Red Dark Ritual cards and don’t tend to have a lot of staying power); if you can play Deus of Calamity on the first turn on the play, there are really very few ways for you to lose. At the least you usually get to play The Abyss for a while until they can deal with the Deus, at which point you can often clean up with a medium Empty the Warrens or some other threat, exploiting the, you know, calamity that the Deus wrecked.
I originally only wanted to play about three matches but they went relatively quickly and ended up playing about five. Everyone I played tonight was very nice. Thanks for the games all.
ONE
Game One:
My opponent led off on Darksteel Citadel, pass.
Now no Affinity deck will ever do that so I put him on the Lightning Bolt deck. I kept this hand.
YOU MAKE THE PLAY ALERT. What do you run (answer in the forums)?
Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox
Seething Song
Empty the Warrens
Magus of the Moon
Demigod of Revenge
Mountain
Mountain
We can discuss this in future, but what I actually did was to play both the Moxes, imprinting Demigod of Revenge and Magus of the Moon to play turn one Empty the Warrens, burning to 19.
The other option is to play Demigod of Revenge; however as I put my opponent on Lightning Bolt deck, I assumed that he would have a hard time dealing with eight Empty the Warrens tokens whereas he might be able to just Shrapnel Blast the Demigod out of the sky if need be.
He played Keldon Marauders, putting your hero to 18.
I sent all my Goblin tokens and put him to 13.
He counterattacked and put me to 15, then played Sulfuric Vortex.
I looked at his board… Darksteel Citadel and Great Furnace, eh?
I will be on 12 on upkeep. If he hits a land, that Sulfuric Vortex is gonna… well you gotta play the cards that they give you!
He had the double Shrapnel Blast, but sadly (for him), no fourth land. Huzzah!
Sideboarding:
I decided to side in 3 Umezawa’s Jittes and 1 Shattering Spree for 4 Blood Moon. Magus of the Moon is no great shakes but at least he has a body for the Jittes I sided in.
Game Two:
He opened on Spark Elemental.
I responded with turn one Deus of Calamity.
Pause.
Yep. That’s a concession.
1-0
TWO
I played a very nice player with medium Red whom I have played a couple of times before with my version of The Rock.
Game One
He shipped to five and kept a one lander. It wasn’t a competitive hand against my second turn Demigod of Revenge.
Sideboarding:
I sided four Firespout and 3 Jitte for seven Blood Moons and Magus of the Moons (leaving a Magus, obviously).
I had to use the first Firespout on his turn one Slith Firewalker. There were no Seething Song for Arc-Slogger heroics in this one and All-in Red beat medium Red in unspectacular fashion.
2-0
THREE
Game One
I kept two Moon cards versus Lightning Bolt deck. Luckily I drew eight Mountains off the top. So at the end of the game, my spell count was a Mox, Blood Moon, and Magus of the Moon. No, I didn’t get there.
Sideboarding
I sided identically to the first match, above. I probably should have sided in more Shattering Sprees.
Game Two
Turn two Deus of Calamity was deployed, but he blocked to stall and played Ensnaring Bridge! Good gravy. I wasn’t sure what to do and played a naked Demigod of Revenge, which did nothing. Then I topdecked a Jitte. He ran out a Pyrostatic Pillar. I decided I didn’t want to mess with that with my no-acceleration hand and just made two Warrens tokens with the outlook of hopefully getting something online. However he had a Mogg Fantatic to keep the tokens off.
I played some dorks, took Pillar damage; he had to burn every one and take Pillar damage to keep Jitte off him. Eventually it was 5-7 my lead but he had this card Shrapnel Blast and saved it for when I foolishly summoned a Simian Spirit Guide.
I am not sure how I should have played it differently. Possibly I should have waited for another Warrens, but I think waiting too long I would have just died to multiple burn spells.
2-1
FOUR
Game One
He opened on a tapped Steam Vents.
I was on the play and answered with turn two Deus.
Concession!
Steam Vents? What is that? I assumed Fae but didn’t do anything on account of possibly being wrong.
Game Two
I got Spell Snared as a two-for one (I had already committed Rite of Flame)… so that prevented a turn two or three Empty the Warrens for six.
Then I resolved some Moon-ish spells, and the race was his Vendilion Clique versus my Magus of the Moon.
Following I got in Empty the Warrens for eight; this survived the aforementioned Vendilion Clique, which took my other Empty the Warrens.
He kept sending the Clique and used Threads of Disloyalty to mise one of my tokens.
Then he showed me Venser, which executed two tokens, and Vedalken Shackles.
I thought I had enough gas because of holding a Deus of Calamity back, but he had Flashfreeze as well.
Luckily I had gotten him to two life at this point.
So basically I could win on a storm Warrens or a Demigod of Revenge, but probably be frozen out by anything else. Unfortunately I knew there was one of my remaining three Warrens on the bottom of my deck, meaning I only really had two Warrens left…
But luckily one was on top.
So Mox for nil got me four tokens… possibly enough to win.
But no! Engineered Explosives ate all my guys and suddenly the fae was off to the races. He even made a Spellstutter Sprite for no value.
On his main phase he Shackled my remaining 2/2 dork to get in with Venser and the Clique. Okay… Shackles tapped. Sprite tapped. YT on two.
I could smell the demigod on top.
Yep, topdeck city!
That’s match. Thank you top of my deck!
3-1
FIVE
Game One
I was on the draw.
He ran out turn one Overgrown Tomb.
I answered with turn one Deus of Calamity.
He was honored to be able to eat a Tarmogoyf.
Oblivion Ring! No fun.
Main deck Jitte? Even less fun; then Dark Confidant.
I basically had to play a Warrens for two just to keep the Confidant / Jitte from running me over.
Check and check plus… but he still had a Jitte with a counter.
I sprang into action with a hasty 5/4.
But he had another Oblivion Ring!
I was waiting for that and played another Deus. Whew.
But he answered with Mogg Fanatic, now wearing the Jitte.
He trades, but greviously, including a Seal of Fire.
Now it’s Spirit Guide beatdown.
But no! Kird Ape.
I play Magus of the Moon.
A terrible battle ensues, killing everyone and soaking up all the Jitte counters.
Nothing from him…
And I Mox for nothing, and play four tokens from Warrens.
And finally I get by a Jitte!
Sideboarding:
I sided out 1 Magus of the Moon and two Manamorphose for three Umezawa’s Jitte. Magus is okay-plus, but I figured he had Red removal and Jittes (which are colorless) as well as Plains for Oblivion Ring… So not that good.
Game Two
This is the hand I kept:
Simian Spirit Guide
Simian Spirit Guide
Mountain
Deus of Calamity
Blood Moon
Seething Song
Magus of the Moon
He opened with Windswept Heath for Wooded Foothills.
I ripped a Mountain.
YOU MAKE THE PLAY ALERT: What do you do?
I elected to play first turn Blood Moon using both Guides.
He answered with a turn two 1/2 Tarmogoyf, which made me think maybe I should have played the Magus instead.
My next two draws were Deus and Seething Song, so little direct improvement, especially as he mised Plains.
Next turn I made Deus with Rite of Flame and Seething Song.
He swung…
I blocked and he finished off the Deus with a Tribal Flames.
He ripped and played Oblivion Ring on my poor Blood Moon.
I ripped and played Deus.
He played Confidant into Confidant…
But your hero picked up Jitte.
Uncontested Jitte did what uncontested Jitte does.
4-1
So 4-1… Not conclusive but certainly a fine record for the night.
Please address how you would have dealt with those opening hands in the comments below.
LOVE
MIKE
10 comments ↓
I agree with both plays. In the first example, a case could have been made for a turn-1 Deus if you had that, but Empty is still probably right. Against a deck with multiple ways of killing a 4-toughness guy, Demigod is clearly wrong, as you could just lose the game right there if he has Shrapnel Blast (and it turns out he did). There’s probably nothing terribly wrong with a turn-1 Deus in the second example, but as you had 2 Mountains and a Song, there’s not much risk involved in waiting. If his only removal was O-Ring, I guess you should have played Magus, but I’m guessing you didn’t know. In any case, I don’t think either decision was too agonizing. As a deck, All-In Red is terrifying. But there’s that old axiom, as true in Magic as it is in poker: “All-in works every time except once.” And Conflux apparently has the ace I was missing to deal with first turn shenanigans.
You didn’t lead Magus because he’d have killed it. You should have because that’s sort of the point.
In the first You Make the Play, I’d have agreed on the Affinity read, and the subsequent method of dealing with them.
In the second, I think the right play is Deus, with Moon follow-up. This establishes your clock first, and attempts to lock your Zoo opponent out of valid answers after. By doing this, you require the Zoo player to play defensively. And with the Deus that happened to follow, you’d have likely buried your opponent before your uncontested Jitte even came into the picture.
I also think you were incorrect in blocking with the Deus. Tribal Flames gives the Zoo player much more reach on his own turn. By not blocking, you give yourself the chance to neuter your opponent unless he actually has another sacrificial creature or double burn spell (and the mana to cast them), as there are few options for him to block and burn effectively.
The first play doesn’t involve a read. Warrens isn’t going to lose many games against decks that open Citadel, go, especially games in which said decks actually do open Citadel, go. Demigod isn’t the other option or even an option. Mountain, go is the play against an affinity deck that can’t kill Magus, but I really don’t see the profit in trying to make that kind of read here.
I agree with the first play. As a “Lightning Bolt deck” player, I can tell you it’s real easy to kill a Demigod(especially if you run multiple Seals), so the Empty play is definitely correct. As for the second play, Deus vs. Moon vs. Magus, I think Deus might be the correct play. You’re on turn 1, so it’s unlikely they have a removal spell for the Deus on turn 2… however, if they do have the O-Ring(which they did) you’re praying for another accelerant to play the Magus or the B. Moon. Actually… in the same situation I might go land, go on turn 1, see the Tarmogoyf, then play the Magus on turn 2 off of a Guide, then Deus on turn 3, but that pretty much results in the same thing as the original…
I’ve been known to be overly aggressive so take this for what it’s worth. The first play seems correct. In the second one Deus then a moon seems correct. He has to have a plains and a third turn O-Ring to stop it. .
Also, what do you think of the Serum Powder plan? It seems a little too cute but who knows.
First play I think is correct, especially if you made the read of him being the Burn Deck. I would have played the Deus. According to what I read he didn’t drop a creature turn 1. He doesn’t have anything on turn 2 that can kill the Deus and he will have to put a blocker in the way of Deus… which still tramples.
He also has to have O.Ring (3 in his deck at most). He is going to be chump blocking until he gets the O-Ring but still taking trample damage. Your one more mountain, ritual away from dropping blood moon or Magnus.
If I am playing AIR then I think you need to take the aggressive approach. I am not sure why you would have blocked the Goyf. Don’t you win the race? Why would he have swung unless he has a way to finish you off?
Even though there are more than a dozen outs to get the Moon/Magus turn 2 if you run out the Deus first, there are just as many non-outs. Deus does put him on his heels pretty quickly, but Moon might just shut him out completely. Zoo might just get caught with 2-point Tribal Flames and 1/1 Kird Apes for the whole game. If you run out the Deus and can’t immediately follow with Moon (and as it turns out, Moon would have been a few turns down the road), that might give the Zoo player a chance, no matter how improbable, to get back in the game. I hope I’m not misassigning roles, but isn’t All-In Red the control deck here? Certainly it’s not Zoo.
“He opened with Windswept Heath for Wooded Foothills.”
Magical! I assumed this meant Stomping Ground.
As for the actual play, I think fewer decks have outs to turn one Blood Moon than to turn one Magus of the Moon, so that’s often the more reasonable play. That said, I’ve been testing AIR out and it’s really obnoxious trying to read when you should go for Moon rather than trying instead to go for a threat. There are an uncomfortably large number of decks around that aren’t actually locked out of the game in any meaningful way by a Moon effect, and a misread there means that you’re spending several turns trying to build up to one of your (solid!) topdecks while they get to keep playing.
I agree on both plays. However I might put the “Darksteel Citadel, go” guy on playing Affinity instead of Burn from that spot. Somehow “Darksteel Citadel, go” seems worse to me for a burn deck than a Affinity deck. He could be slowroling ‘thopters etc if he was playing Affinity…
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