Strike first and strike hard.

This is the creed of the Red deck players. These decks are built for speed and aggression, while other decks may focus on the slow methodical aspects of building up an army, these are designed to get you in a position to do damage as quickly as possible. Bringing a Red deck to the table lets everyone know that you aren’t there to mess around and that you’ll be a threat in both the short and long phases of the game. So if you need both speed and firepower, then you’ll want to take a look at this list.

10. Rakdos Aggro

Lilliana of the Veil

It should be no surprise that we’re starting this list with a very solid Red and Black Aggro Deck. The top Meta for this deck style has climbed rapidly up the charts since the recent release of the Murders at Karlov Manor set. It marries together the rapid-fire speed style of a typical Mono Red, with the slow burn of the graveyard-based tactics of your typical Black Mage. This set plays the two colors off of each other beautifully, allowing you to not only get some quick hitters on the battlefield but also to increase your damage and mana pool through the cards you put into your graveyard.

Deck Strengths

• Speed - This deck consists of several lower-cost cards that allow you to get creatures onto the battlefield early
• Graveyard Control - As is with many black decks, the main focus is being able to manipulate your graveyard to your advantage for an increase of damage counters, mana, life, or even additional draws, that is the case in this Deck 
• Board Control - A few of the cards in this deck allow you to force your opponent to sacrifice permanents or life in the name of your victory, not least of which is the planeswalker Liliana of the Veil that can seriously damage your opponent’s army building capabilities. The top meta for this deck style has climbed rapidly up the charts since the recent release of the Murders at Karlov Manor set. It married together the rapid-fire speed style of a typical Mono Red, with the slow burn of the graveyard-based tactics of your typical Black Mage. This set plays the two colors off of each other beautifully, allowing you to not only get some quick hitters on the battlefield but also to increase your damage and mana pool through the cards you put into your graveyard. 

Card List

• Creatures
  • 2 Tenacious Underdog
  • 4 Bloodtithe Harvester
  • 4 Stalactite Stalker
  • 4 Faerie Dreamthief
  • 3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
  • 2 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
  • 4 Geological Appraiser
• Instants
  • 3 Bitter Triumph
  • 2 Go for the Throat
  • Enchantments
  • 4 Corpses of the Lost
  • Blood Splatter Analysis
• Planeswalkers
  • Lilliana of the Veil
• Land
  • 3 Swamp
  • 4 Sulfurous Springs
  • 3 Mountain
  • 2 Restless Vents
  • 4 Haunted Ridge
  • 2 Mishra’s Foundry
  • 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance

9. Four Color Legends

Fblthp and Borborygmos

Using more than two or three colors when building a deck is always somewhat risky because the mana gets spread quite thin, usually meaning you either need to increase the amount of mana you bring to the game, lower the number of creatures, or pick cards with lower costs. Either way, it can be a gamble, but what's a reward without a little risk? This deck combined aspects of the Red, Blue, Green, and Black play styles, and is truly designed for those “jack of all trade types”. Strike fast with red, control the field with Blue, keep the graveyard under your thumb with Black, and rule the land with Green. If all else fails, at least get a laugh watching the confused and horrified expressions of those who would oppose you, trying to read and pronounce the name of the mighty “Borborygmos and Fblthp” card.

Deck Strengths

• Speed - This deck is built with lower-cost cards in mind of every color, so you can quickly get down creatures even if you are having some trouble in the mana department which is often the case in multi-color decks
• Variability - There is a little bit of everything in this deck, which means you don’t need to come into it with a committed strategy. The game can change on a dime, and luckily with this many options so can you.
• Life Gain and Drain - The inclusion of Black in this deck is clever, as it is less about the graveyard than it is about controlling the hit points you and your opponent are allotted. If you can passively, or even actively gain life then you are automatically in an incredibly advantageous position.  

Card List

• Creatures
  • 4 Rona, Herald of Invasion
  • 4 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
  • 4 Slogurk, the Overslime
  • 1 Glissa Sunslayer
  • 3 Titania, Voice of Gaea
  • 2 Ertai Resurrected
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Lazav, Wearer of Faces
  • 1 Borborygmos and Fblthp
• Artifacts
  • 4 Relic of Legends
  • Instants
  • 2 Cut Down
  • 3 Go for the Throat
• Land
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 2 Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 1 Cavern of Souls
  • 2 Darkslick Shores
  • 3 Deathcap Glade
  • 4 Otawara, Soaring City
  • 4 Plaza of Heroes
  • 1 Shipwreck Marsh
  • 1 Swamp
  • 4 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 2 Xander’s Lounge
  • 4 Ziatora’s Proving Ground
  • 1 Argoth, Sanctum of Nature

8. Gruul Counters

Gruul Spellbreaker

Red and Green are a tried and true combination, designed to essentially batter your opponents into submission. This deck lets you get off those crucial quick shots that are so often the specialty of a red player, while you build up your mana pool to them drop the hammer with some seriously big threats. Additional combat phases, first and double strike, and added damage bonuses are all features of this deck that could end the game with just one solid attack phase. These beasts are hungry for blood.

Deck Strengths

• Damage Focused - The cards in this deck are selected with damage in mind. The cards are meant to quickly build up massive amounts of damage with heavy-hitting creatures, damage counters, and additional combat phases.
• Balance - This deck has the best balance of a dual deck that we have recorded on this list. It has a nearly equal amount of cards from both colors that display each side's unique battle tactics and gifts.
• Consistency - This deck has a set of cards focused really on being able to play the same strategy over and over again even if you lose a few creatures or other spells along the way. This lets you keep on a steady track without having to switch up your tactics, potentially becoming unsteady with what you try next, as the saying goes, “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.”

Deck List

• Creatures
  • 4 Citanul Stalwart
  • 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan
  • 3 Rubblebelt Maverick
  • 4 Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard
  • 3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
  • 4 Quirion Beastcaller
  • 4 Reckless Stormseeker
  • 4 Voldaren Thrillseeker
  • 4 Anzrag, the Quake-Mole
• Artifacts
  • 3 Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
• Land
  • 5 Forest
  • 4 Mountain
  • 4 Karplusan Forest
  • 4 Copperline Gorge
  • 3 Rockfall Vale
  • 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 1 Mirrex

7. Boros Aggro

Voldaren Epicure

This deck is what the MTG community usually refers to as a loop deck. Loop decks are built specifically so that the cards play off one another, over and over again to pull you into a seemingly endless loop of buffs. This Red and White deck does that perfectly, it's packed full of creatures with static abilities that build up life, damage, and the population of your army, and once you trigger one? Well, depending on your set up, it's pretty much game over for the other side.

Deck Strengths

• Token generation - when building up an army, it's always great to have tokens to burn, and these cards can very quickly get you a massive pool of tokens
• Life Regeneration - In terms of value? Your own life is the tip of the pyramid. This deck provides you with plenty of opportunities to recover lost life, making damage done to you pretty much inconsequential.
• Damage Build - The beauty of having cards that can build damage over time, is that they are usually low-cost. They may start small, but the creatures in this deck are quickly able to build up their toughness and power through counters. So you'll have a powerful army in no time without extra mana strain.

Deck List

• Creatures
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran
  • 4 Voldaren Epicure
  • 4 Warden of the Inner Sky
  • 4 Resolute Reinforcements 
  • 4 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
  • 2 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
  • 4 Roaming Throne
• Artifacts
  • 1 Brass’s Tunnel-Grinder
  • Urabrask’s Forge
• Sorceries
  • 3 Gleeful Demolition
• Enchantments
  • 4 Skrelv’s Hive
  • 4 Warleader’s Call

6. Gruul Aggro

Goddric Cloaked Reveler

Once again a Red and Green deck combo makes it high on our list, demonstrating that in terms of raw power, you should never underestimate this duo of speed and strength. However, as opposed to our earlier view of this combination, this play style is markedly different. This deck utilizes very few Green cards, and they are brought on to enhance the natural raw power that a Red deck already has, acting as embellishment rather than a partner as far as dynamic goes.

Deck Strengths

• Abilities - This deck comes packed full of cards with conditional abilities, meeting these conditions gives you a huge advantage as they most frequently employ a mic of tremble, haste and even flying. 
• Damage - The cards in this deck are specially picked to provide pathways to get the most damage done, in the shortest amount of time possible. They utilize a series of low-cost creatures, and damage-boosting instants for this it has one of the highest counts of instants of all the decks in this list, despite having only 3 different types.
• Enchantment Strength - This deck utilizes two different types of enchantments, saga, and Aura, and both are perfectly selected to provide more than one advantage in their usage, making them slightly different as most enchantments are selected to curse your opponent with negatives, as opposed to giving you significant benefits.

Decklist

• Creatures
  • 4 Monastery Swiftspear
  • 4 Kumano Faces Kazzakan
  • 3 Yavimaya Iconoclast
  • 4 Cacophony Scamp
  • 3 Goddric, Cloaked Reveler
  • 4 Picnic Ruiner
  • 4 Questing Druid
• Instants
  • 3 Giant Growth
  • 4 Monstrous Rage
  • 2 Witchstalker Frenzy
• Enchantments
  • 4 Audacity
• Land
  • 4 Mountain
  • 2 Forest
  • 4 Karplusan Forest
  • 4 Copperline Gorge
  • 2 Rockfall Vale
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 2 Thran Portal
  • 2 Mirrex

5. Jund Midrange

Glissa Sunslayer

Here we have another four-color set, that takes contradicting skills and turns them into complementary assets. This deck also has a heavy emphasis on the Phyrexian card types, which are well known for being more than a little troublesome. As you may expect this deck is packed with incredibly powerful creatures that bring some seriously crippling powers with them into battle. Death touch is most prevalent in this deck, a common addition with Phyrexian cards, that can leave your opponent feeling unable to defend or attack without risking losing their valuable creatures. With the army of Black death touch creatures out front taking down the enemy lines, your powerful Red and Green beasts can swoop in and deliver one crushing blow after the other. I don't see the need for the addition of the White, as it only applies to one card in the set, but, hey, if the placement of this Deck on the list is anything to go by, it’s definitely a formula that is working.

Deck Strengths

• Deathtouch - This deck is heavy-handed with death touch cards, an undeniable nuisance to any opponent, as it means any time they attack, they risk losing their creature regardless of how strong they are
• Life Control - a few cards, specifically Sheoldred, bring with them the damaging static ability that causes you to gain life whenever you draw, and your opponent to lose it when they draw. This turns a very important aspect of the game, draw quantity, against your opponent while you get a reward
• Board Wipe Potential - Being able to board wipe without use of a Blue deck, is pretty incredible, but the sorceries and instants this deck loads in, bring some serious potential for you to set the game back to square one if you don't like how it's going

Deck List

• Creatures
  • 4 Armored, Scrapgorer
  • 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
  • 1 Glissa Sunslayer
  • 1 Preacher of the Schism
  • 1 Urborg Scavengers
  • 2 Phyrexian Dragon Engine
  • 1 Mishra, Claimed by Grix
  • 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 3 Decadent Dragon
  • 3 Geological Appraiser
  • 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machine
  • 1 Bonehoard Dracosaur
  • 1 Vorinclex
  • 1 Kogla and Yidaro 
• Instants
  • 2 Cut Down
  • 1 Tyvar’s Stand
  • 2 Infernal Grasp
  • 3 Sheoldred’s Edict
  • 2 Tear Asunder
  • 1 The End
• Sorcery
  • 1 Path of Peril
• Land
  • 3 Blackcleave Cliffs
  • 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 3 Cavern of Souls
  • 3 Deathcap Glade
  • 1 Forest
  • 2 Llanowar Wastes
  • 1 Mirrex
  • 2 Mountain
  • 1 Restless Cottage
  • 2 Rockfall Vale
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 1 Swamp
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 3 Ziatora’s Proving Ground

4. Jeskai Control

Chandra, Hope's Beacon

The initial lineup for this deck really seems shocking. I have never seen a deck built with a creature count as low as this one, but this instant-heavy deck has been sweeping the charts! Bringing this Red, Blue, and White deck to the table with only three creatures and a Planeswalker, seems a little bit like bringing a knife to a gunfight, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The spells in this deck are designed to quickly blow your opponent out of the water, with the ability to stop your opponent's army before they can even start it, while simultaneously filling your hand and hammering them with damage from almost every cast. If you believe in coming into a game ready to get right to the battle? Then this aggressive spell-slinging deck is one you want to try.

Deck Strengths

• Board control - This deck showcases one of the best things about Blue cards, the ability to control the board, repeatedly stopping your opponent's efforts to build up their army. Control the board, control the game
• Quick Damage - Many of the instants in this deck sit around only 2 or 3 for a mana cost, and a few low power shots, pretty quickly add up when your opponent can't stop them
• Planeswalker - This is undeniably a huge advantage, and this particular Planeswalker is even stronger than several of its equally legendary cousins. This Planeswalker can create an Emblem, that essentially does 5 points of unlockable damage every turn, and Emblems can't be destroyed once they're created. Technically by then it would only take four turns to secure your victory without active steps, letting you protect yourself while you passively batter the enemy

Deck List

• Creatures
  • 1 Chrome Host Seedshark
  • 2 Zurgo and Ojutai
• Artifact
  • The Celestus
• Instants
  • 1 Quick Study
  • 2 Fires of Victory
  • 1 Faithful Mending
  • 2 Vampires’ Vengeance
  • 1 Intrude on the Mind
  • 2 Memory Deluge
  • 2 March of Otherworldly Light
  • 4 Lightning Helix
  • 1 Galvanic Iteration
  • 1 Dissipate
  • 2 Get Lost
  • 2 Deduce
  • 3 No More Lies
  • 1 Disruption Protocol
  • Sorceries
  • 1 Depopulate
  • 1 Farewell
  • 1 Ill-timed Explosion
  • 1 Sunfall
  • Land
  • 2 Restless Anchorage
  • 2 Shivan Reef
  • 2 Seachrome Coast
  • 1 Elegant Parlor
  • 2 Stormcarved Coast
  • 3 Battlefield Forge
  • 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
  • 1 Otawara, Soaring City
  • 2 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 Thundering Falls
  • 1 Plains
  • 2 Sundown Pass
  • 3 Deserted Beach
  • 2 Cavern of Souls
  • 1 Mirrex

3. Rakdos Midrange

Sheoldred the Apocalypse

Red and Black, the duo that can not only kill you but smile while it happens. This deck is designed for one thing and one thing only, damage. It is packed with heavy hitters that will lay waste in their wake. Every card is selected with the suffering of the enemy in mind. It doesn't utilize speed as much as other Red-based decks typically do, but instead plays a longer, far more sinister game, biding their time until it's far, far too late.

Deck Strengths

• Heavy Hitters - Beasts with incredible power and toughness scores, along with abilities like fly and trample fill this deck. It has some of the heaviest hitting, still legal, cards in the game to date
• Blood Price - Your life is valuable, but it's also a valuable bargaining chip. This deck allows you to get around some of the higher mana costs, in exchange for the simple matter of a few hit points. This ability used wisely is incredibly advantageous for the early game when you have the health to spare, and need extra mana, but, tread with caution.
• Mill and Steal - Forcing an opponent to place chunks of their library into their graveyard is already pretty damning, but this deck is styled so that you can take a few of those lost cards, and bring them over to your side. Victory is sweetest when it is also at its most ironic, and destroying an opponent with their beloved cards is beyond compare.

Decklist

• Cards
  • 1 Sheoldred
  • 3 Trumpeting Carnosaur
  • 1 Incinerator of the Guilty
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Bonehoard Dracosaur
  • 2 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
  • 3 Geological Appraiser
  • 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayer 
  • 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
  • 3 Preacher of the Schism
  • 3 Bloodtithe Harvester 
  • Instants
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 Sheoldred’s Edict
  • 2 Outrageous Robbery
  • 2 Long Goodbye
  • 1 Bitter Triumph
  • 2 Cut Down
  • Sorceries
  • 1 Breach the Multiverse
  • 1 Deadly Cover-up
  • 1 Virtue of Persistence
  • 1 Extract the Truth
• Enchantment
  • 1 The Cruelty of Gix
• Land
  • 2 Haunted Ridge
  • 1 Restless Vents
  • 1 Demolition Field
  • 1 Sulfurous Springs
  • 1 Bloodfell Caves
  • 7 Swamps
  • 6 Mountain
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 4 Cavern of Souls
  • 1 Mirrex

2. Red Deck Wins

Monastery Swiftspear

Red and Green in another style once again, maybe we should have a ship name for this color combination. I'm in favor of the title “Greed”, but I digress. This deck style has sat near the top of the charts for quite some time, basically regardless of the meta. It goes to show that, unruly confidence and trust in the power of Red, while enhancing it with a few boosts, is a solid way to go for those who demonstrate an aggressive, somewhat chaotic play style. This deck will leave your opponent’s head spinning by the time your end step comes around.

Deck Strengths

• Speed - This deck utilizes the advantage of Red having low-cost cards to get you out ahead of the game, doing damage early and often
• Static Damage - the creatures and other spells in this desk can be utilized to guarantee that you're able to do a little bit of practically unstoppable damage every turn. Don't sneeze at a few points here and there, they stack up, and this deck is designed for just that.
• Mana distribution - with really only one exception, this deck functions as essentially a mono-Red aggro deck, with a fairly equal emphasis on both creatures and instants. This means that it won't take you long to acquire the mana you need to start taking over the game. In two plays, you can really start firing off your spells without needing to wait for build-up.

Deck List

• Creatures
  • 4 Cacophony Scamp
  • 2 Feldon, Ronom Excavator
  • 4 Monastery Swiftspear
  • 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan
  • 4 Questing Druid
  • 4 Fugitive Codebreaker
• Instants
  • 4 Monstrous Rage
  • 4 Play With Fire
  • 4 Witchstalker Frenzy
• Sorceries
  • 4 Ancestral Anger
• Enchantments
  • 2 Case of the Crimson Pulse
• Land
  • 11 Mountain
  • 4 Copperline Gorge
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 4 Karplusan Forest

1. Boros Convoke

Aurelia the Warleader

For our final deck, the number one spot in red decks, and second in an overreaching analysis of all current decks as of March 4th, is the Boros Convoke. A White and Red Pairing that has been proven to be nearly infallible. The ‘convoke’ ability is a key feature in this deck, and nearly every spell in the deck comes with this feature, meaning that you don't even need to acquire a bunch of mana, and instead can tap the lower cost creatures. This means that theoretically, you can cast a high-cost card for practically nothing. This deck also brings plenty of opportunities to build up a token army and load up on damage counters. It is truly the perfect combination of the no-nonsense damaging speed of the highly offensive Red, with the game-changing powerfully defensive capabilities of White. You get the best of both worlds with which to enact your brand of fiery justice upon the world.

Deck Strengths

• Population control - you will have a significant advantage by being able to quickly pop out red cards, and keep them safe with the well known healing and shielding tactics of white.
• Cost Control - These cards play off another in a waterfall style effect to constantly bring down those higher mana costs, meaning you can strike harder and faster, your opponent will never see it coming.
• Fire From Above - Combining the fire power of Red with the flying abilities that your White cards are able to wield and bestow means that blocking will be almost impossible for your adversary, sending your damage right to the mark to end the game quickly.

Deck List

• Creatures
  • 4 Knight-Errant of Eos
  • 4 Imodane’s Recruiter
  • 2 Lunarch Veteran
  • 4 Novice Inspector
  • 4 Resolute Reinforcements
  • 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
  • 4 Warden of the Inner Sky
  • 2 Sanguine Evangelist
  • 4 Voldaren Epicure
• Sorceries
  • 4 Gleeful Demolition
• Enchantments
  • 4 Case of the Gateway Express
• Land
  • 3 Plains
  • 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
  • 2 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
  • 2 Sundown Pass
  • 3 Thran Portal
  • 1 Mirrex
  • 3 Mountain
  • 4 Battlefield Forge
  • 2 Cavern of Souls

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