Standard: Big Red deck—competent and satisfying to play

For some reason I’m obsessed with [[Razorkin Needlehead]], and with some of the new big red creature additions to Standard recently, I figured there must be a semi-competitive “Big Red” list. This is the result:

Big Red | 50-36 mythic BO1/BO3 | 58% WR, 60% play 50% draw

4x [[Burst Lightning]]

4x [[Hired Claw]]

1x [[Kellan, Planar Trailblazer]]

2x [[Bulk Up]]

4x [[Razorkin Needlehead]]

2x [[Scorching Dragonfire]]

4x [[Ball Lightning]]

2x [[Furnace Reins]]

4x [[Screaming Nemesis]]

1x [[Defiler of Instinct]]

2x [[Koth, Fire of Resistance]]

2x [[Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might]]

1x [[Sunspine Lynx]]

2x [[Witchstalker Frenzy]]

1x [[Twinflame Tyrant]]

1x [[Rogue’s Passage]]

1x [[Crawling Barrens]]

22x Mountain

SB:

1x [[Basilisk Collar]] (experimenting)

2x [[Ghost Vacuum]]

2x [[Lithomantic Barrage]]

2x [[Pyroclasm]]

1x [[Untimely Malfunction]]

1x [[Furnace Reins]]

4x [[Urabrask’s Forge]]

2x [[Rampaging Raptor]]

The deck performs better in BO1 unfortunately, but for whatever reason (maybe it’s just a personal thing), the deck is immensely satisfying to win with.

Piloting tips:

Hit your own Nemesis with Burst Lightning asap and get the emblem—demoralizing and many decks in the meta have some form of lifegain.

The presiding synergy involves the pings from Razorkin and Hired Claw getting boosted by Ojer. You can use Bulk Up on Ojer to close games, or Bulk Up on Ball Lightning if mana allows.

Twinflame Tyrant is kind of like red’s [[Bloodletter of Aclazotz]], and is a fun top end/closer who can double our pings and let us transform a slain Ojer with just a 1mv Burst Lightning.

Sunspine Lynx has closed games for me with a single slam, top ended late against an opp with a ton of non-basic lands. If there’s any main deck it belongs, it’s certainly in big red, and you could definitely make a case for an additional in SB. However, 4x Screaming Nemesis are already a great threat against lifegain.

Furnace Reins steals their big blocker, and is often a win con. Good against demons, Slashers, Voltrons, other Nemesis’s, Obliterators, etc.

Ball Lightning is an old classic that’s pretty gd strong, but doesn’t seem to have a meta home yet. Works great with Bulk Up, if you can afford, + Burn Together if you’re running a prowess list.

Defiler of Instinct let’s us build up our board faster while ideally synergizing with Ojer for 4dmg pings for each spell cast.

Kellan is a nice late top deck, underrated imo. Once fully upgraded he’s a nice target for Rogue’s Passage too.

As far as SB:

Mostly pretty obvious uses, but Raptor is good to bring in against planeswalkers because of its ability, and is also just a high value big red threat.

Untimely Malfunction probably isn’t optimal, but it’s used here for either artifact hate, or a supremely satisfying and unexpected form of counter spell that can turn games.

Basilisk Collar I’m trying against aggro and other decks that can do a lot of damage fast.

PS—Don’t be afraid to Witchstalker your own Nemesis! I’ve closed out games with that.

While this deck certainly isn’t tier 1, for some reason it’s really fun to play. It feels very much like classic/pure magic. There are some terrible matchups that feel pretty hopeless, but 58% WR in mythic is still respectable.

Anyone else messed with a Big Red style brew? What have you found?

For some reason I’m obsessed with [[Razorkin Needlehead]], and with some of the new big red creature additions to Standard recently, I figured there must be a semi-competitive “Big Red” list. This is the result:

Big Red | 50-36 mythic BO1/BO3 | 58% WR, 60% play 50% draw

4x [[Burst Lightning]]

4x [[Hired Claw]]

1x [[Kellan, Planar Trailblazer]]

2x [[Bulk Up]]

4x [[Razorkin Needlehead]]

2x [[Scorching Dragonfire]]

4x [[Ball Lightning]]

2x [[Furnace Reins]]

4x [[Screaming Nemesis]]

1x [[Defiler of Instinct]]

2x [[Koth, Fire of Resistance]]

2x [[Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might]]

1x [[Sunspine Lynx]]

2x [[Witchstalker Frenzy]]

1x [[Twinflame Tyrant]]

1x [[Rogue’s Passage]]

1x [[Crawling Barrens]]

22x Mountain

SB:

1x [[Basilisk Collar]] (experimenting)

2x [[Ghost Vacuum]]

2x [[Lithomantic Barrage]]

2x [[Pyroclasm]]

1x [[Untimely Malfunction]]

1x [[Furnace Reins]]

4x [[Urabrask’s Forge]]

2x [[Rampaging Raptor]]

The deck performs better in BO1 unfortunately, but for whatever reason (maybe it’s just a personal thing), the deck is immensely satisfying to win with.

Piloting tips:

Hit your own Nemesis with Burst Lightning asap and get the emblem—demoralizing and many decks in the meta have some form of lifegain.

The presiding synergy involves the pings from Razorkin and Hired Claw getting boosted by Ojer. You can use Bulk Up on Ojer to close games, or Bulk Up on Ball Lightning if mana allows.

Twinflame Tyrant is kind of like red’s [[Bloodletter of Aclazotz]], and is a fun top end/closer who can double our pings and let us transform a slain Ojer with just a 1mv Burst Lightning.

Sunspine Lynx has closed games for me with a single slam, top ended late against an opp with a ton of non-basic lands. If there’s any main deck it belongs, it’s certainly in big red, and you could definitely make a case for an additional in SB. However, 4x Screaming Nemesis are already a great threat against lifegain.

Furnace Reins steals their big blocker, and is often a win con. Good against demons, Slashers, Voltrons, other Nemesis’s, Obliterators, etc.

Ball Lightning is an old classic that’s pretty gd strong, but doesn’t seem to have a meta home yet. Works great with Bulk Up, if you can afford, + Burn Together if you’re running a prowess list.

Defiler of Instinct let’s us build up our board faster while ideally synergizing with Ojer for 4dmg pings for each spell cast.

Kellan is a nice late top deck, underrated imo. Once fully upgraded he’s a nice target for Rogue’s Passage too.

As far as SB:

Mostly pretty obvious uses, but Raptor is good to bring in against planeswalkers because of its ability, and is also just a high value big red threat.

Untimely Malfunction probably isn’t optimal, but it’s used here for either artifact hate, or a supremely satisfying and unexpected form of counter spell that can turn games.

Basilisk Collar I’m trying against aggro and other decks that can do a lot of damage fast.

PS—Don’t be afraid to Witchstalker your own Nemesis! I’ve closed out games with that.

While this deck certainly isn’t tier 1, for some reason it’s really fun to play. It feels very much like classic/pure magic. There are some terrible matchups that feel pretty hopeless, but 58% WR in mythic is still respectable.

Anyone else messed with a Big Red style brew? What have you found?