Hey Mods: Because of the age of the other mono-red thread here I am starting a new thread here at the behest of the little popup message that came up when I hit reply to that thread. Please feel free to move close or otherwise guide this thread there if need be!
In parallel to my post about fringe decks and with all of the ideas rumbling around in the Blood Sun thread, I wanted to ask some noob questions about Mono-Red Hate. Just for stating-the-obvious reasons I'm talking about the blood moon decks along the lines of Dragon Stompy:
4 Null Rod
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Chandra, ToD
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Goblin Rabblemaster (in most that I've seen)
4 Fiery Confluence
4 Blood Moon
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
11 Basic Mountain
1 Chalice
X Ensnaring Bridge
X Eidolon of the Great Revel (or sometimes not)
For myself, I just like having an easy to assemble paper vintage deck that can be added to the bag of tricks. Mono Red adds some really nice variety to play and is refreshingly fun! It seems that this kind of deck is just on the verge of good, unique and powerful against many other decks...but I have questions...
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Is Ensnaring Bridge with Cage in the side really good enough against the new generation of techy Inferno Titan style Oath?
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In the Rivals of Ixalan SMIP Kevin noted that Blood Sun would be the kind of card that red hate players might just want as an automatic 4 of, almost just out principal, plus the replacement draw effect. Does Blood Sun strengthen these lists substantially? If so, how many and where? Is there a way that these lists could abuse the new rules to do proactive things with drawback lands (lotus vale and pals) and Blood Sun? Seems like not exactly where you'd want to be with this deck but I figure the big brains here might have more illumination on why this is either possible or an abominable idea. I as a mere scrub have trouble seeing either option clearly. I have a feeling that the too-cute factor of a kitchen table brew like a dark depths/lotus vale blood sun deck full of Despotic Scepter or Crack the Earth with ANY consistency would be a little much...but still...shenanigans!
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Finally, for players who have enjoyed this deck, how do you like it, how are the matchups ranked best to worst?
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Is there a way to bring this deck from a fringe position to a playable midrange deck that delivers consistently? Is it already there, but just quietly?
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Is Blue Moon just a better deck if you're going to muck around with Blood Moon/Magus in the first place?
Thanks in advance for explaining, as you would a child, why or why not these decks are actually worth exploring. It just seems like such a nice change of pace! Especially to attract new players who see all of the blue deck nuances as Homestyle vanilla vs French vanilla...