Didley

I hear ya. I think I will drop the Blitz Hellion and leave the bloodbraid. This deck is directly from my mono-red deck that you can see from my profile. I just wanted to do some play testing to see how much better the deck could be with the bloodbraid. The deck does very well without it, and the idea that I can drop a 3/2 haste and possibly cascade into a ball lightning or hellspark is pretty promising, but only time will tell.

No Rafiq?

I really don't think this deck would be fast enough. Drop the fireballs for fallouts to control the field from small creatures. Drop the lava axe entirely. It's pretty terrible. An easy and very good trade if you want that 5 damage to your opponent is Unstable Footing. R: Damage can not be prevented this turn. Kicker 4: Unstable Footing deals 5 damage to target player.

Prodigal pyromancer is just awful in my opinion. The wall isn't necessarily bad, but I don't like it much either. Check out my mono-red. It's similar and very fast. Not to mention it took second place in a Legacy tournament as a standard mono-red deck.

Thanks, Riley.

thanks for the comment. I'll have to playtest it a bit to see which is more helpful.

drop a doom blade for another terminate. You have an even dispersion of black/red mana and a "destroy target creature. it can't be regenerated" is better than a "destroy target non-black" creature.

Also, I would drop the piranha marsh for something taps for black and red.

tweaked it some more. Added electropotence to the sideboard in case I'm playing a control deck. Essentially turns all of my creatures into burns for late game...

You guys think electropotence or manabarbs would be a better side board?

Manabarbs costs 4 to put out, but is then free for it's effect. Electropotence has the ability to really smack someone in the face, but requires 3 to activate. So we're looking at turn 4 drop, 5 just for activating with hellspark. Turn 6 for ball lightning... usually this deck wins by turn 5 depending on the deck I'm playing.

I considered electropotence, but in all honesty it really slows the deck down. Hellkite charger is even slower. I might consider electropotence as a sideboard card if someone somehow had a deck fast enough to absorb the ball lightnings and elemental appeals as fast as I could cast them, but it hasn't been the case so far.

Didley

I'm all about having a good, competitive deck. Played a sudden-death tournament last week with it as it was first posted and placed in the top 3. We didn't decide first, second and third because the host had leave early that night and couldn't wait for another 2 games, but the deck definitely showed me it's potential. Now I'm on the hunt for those lands. Thanks, riley.

think of running swerve?

made some changes... gonna have to wait a bit for all those pain lands. They're pretty pricey at the moment. I've only been playing for about a month and a half. I quit back when Mirrodin came out (not because I didn't like the set... just didn't have anyone to play with when I moved).

Bah... hit refresh and it reposted my post.

Riley, thanks for the tips. I was looking at yours and I think the fetch lands would help it out a lot. The plated geopedes are nice, but I wasn't running them for the simple fact that they do not have haste (which every other of my creatures do... except for the bushwhackers which can kick for it and give +1/+0 to all my other creatures. I'm not currently running the zektar shrine expedition for the 7/1 elemental, but if I get ahold of the fetch lands, I will probably throw that in there.

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Ahh yes. But this is type two (standard). Any suggestions while keeping it type two?

Ahh yes. But this is type two (standard). Any suggestions while keeping it type two?

You absolutely need to run the goblin guides. Believe me when I tell you that the slight disadvantage of them maybe putting a land into their hand is way offset by the fact that you get to see what they're drawing.

Personally, I would drop the phoenix. It costs too much. I agree with Zeny about the Hell's thunder. I would drop the zektar shrines for Quest for pure flame. I was iffy about that enchantment (QFPF) until I ran it in my deck. It performs really well with goblin guides. Turn 1, Goblin guide, swing for 2. Turn 2, 2nd goblin guide (preferrably) and a QFPF. 2nd turn you've hit them for 6 and have 2 out of 4 charges on the enchantment. I usually set mine off on turn 4 for lethal or near it.

I don't know if you've had good experience with Pyro. A., but I tried running it and it slowed my deck down A LOT. I took them out entirely and have done considerably better.

In summary: Nix the Phoenix, Pyromancer Ascensions, side board atleast two banefires, throw in the quest for pure flame, and goblin guides.

Best of Luck!