I have been playing a lot of Standard lately. I think the current format is both fun and skill-testing plus there are several viable decks. For some reason, my local meta is bubbling over with various unoptimized control decks. Given that information, I’ve been tinkering around with Red/White Aggro and even went as far as making a list of my own (instead of Net-Decking). I wouldn’t say I have gone as far as making a brand new deck as mine indeed contains most of the cards that the popular lists are running, but I saw this more as an opportunity to tinker given that my local player-base is also attacking the format that way. In some regard, this is exciting because more often than not local standard tournaments consist entirely of tuned deck-lists that more or less follow the MTGO meta and Pro Tour Top 8. If you want to stay competitive, it can be intimidating to brew with a list of your own as you are likely to make a mistake or not have the required time to test properly. At this point, most of the deck is figured out and I am still working on the sideboard.
The other primary reason pulling me towards this deck is the opportunity to play several of my favorite cards in Standard: Monastery Mentor, Goblin Rabblemaster, and Stormbreath Dragon. The deck can apply a ton of pressure and threaten to overwhelm your opponent with tokens before they have the opportunity to stabilize. In many situations Stoke the Flames will help you close the game out by delivering the remaining needed damage, and Stormbreath Dragon provides a similar role not to mention it can Block everything from opposing mentors to (more importantly) Siege Rhino.
I found that Magma Jet is performing a lot better than Lightning Strike as the scry ability is highly beneficial. Since most creatures out there that you want to hit with a burn spell have 2 toughness, there is almost no downside to running Magma Jets over Lightning Strike. I’m still playing with the deck’s creature count, and the current spell package has been able to pump out a lot of tokens via Monastery Mentor. Other lists run even fewer creatures to capitalize on the card’s token generating ability through cards like Raise the Alarm. The problem I have found with that approach is that these lists are sacrificing aerial strategies by omitting cards like Ashcloud Phoenix and Stormbreath Dragon. My deck often closes out long matches by flying over a crowded board and Stormbreath Dragon’s protection from white is continually paying dividends.
Download: R/W Aggro (Fate Reforged Standard)
| Creatures (18) 4 Goblin Rabblemaster 4 Seeker of the Way 4 Stormbreath Dragon 2 Ashcloud Phoenix 4 Monastery Mentor Spells (18) 4 Stoke the Flames 4 Hordeling Outburst 4 Chained to the Rocks 2 Outpost Siege 4 Magma Jet | Lands (24) 11 Mountain 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Temple of Triumph 1 Mana Confluence 4 Plains Sideboard (15) 2 Glare of Heresy 1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker 2 Valorous Stance 2 End Hostilities 1 Chandra, Pyromaster 1 Soulfire Grand Master 2 Circle of Flame 2 Erase 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos |