Up until the June 1 ban announcement and companion mechanic change, it felt like registering any deck without Agent of Treachery was a mistake. Jeskai Lukka featuring Fires of Invention and Yorion, Sky Nomad as the companion was the clear frontrunner in the field and I was confident at least half of the players in the Players Tour would play it. Beyond that, I would not have faulted anybody for playing Winota, since the deck could easily race Jeskai Lukka and win before Shatter the Sky could even be cast. Every other deck in the format felt completely outclassed. The power level of Jeskai Lukka was through the roof and could out-grind any deck in the format. Winota had the ability to provide immense pressure early while also stealing your lands and making it impossible to stabilize. Both things were true only because Agent of Treachery was legal.
With Fires of Invention and Agent of Treachery banned and the companion mechanic changed so that you must pay three mana at sorcery speed to put the companion into your hand, the format received an enormous shakeup. With the Players Tour starting June 13, there just was not much time and limited data to figure out what decks were best positioned. Naturally, I anticipated players to gravitate either towards decks that lost little to nothing from the bans or towards the companions that were impacted the least, and these became the initial frontrunners of the new format, all of which seem like reasonable options to register.
Tier 1 Options
Temur Reclamation - This deck put up results even before the June 1 announcement, and given that it lost nothing, it is no surprise this deck is performing extremely well. With Fires of Invention out of the picture, Wilderness Reclamation is the next best option for generating absurd amounts of mana. Part of what held the deck back was that everyone playing Jeskai Lukka had four copies of Teferi, Time Raveler which could singlehandedly beat the deck, and is much less of an issue now.
Jund Sacrifice - Much like Temur Reclamation, this deck lost nothing due to the bans. This deck is both very grindy and surprisingly resilient, and the synergies between sacrifice outlets paired with Claim the Firstborn and Mayhem Devil makes this a dominant strategy against small creature decks like Mono Red and Cycling.
Yorion Decks - While Azorius Control, Esper Control, and Bant Ramp are different archetypes, they function similarly in what they try to accomplish: prolong the game and beat your opponent in a resource battle. While the companion change did weaken Yorion, it weakened the aggressive companions significantly more. Curving out with Obosh or having Lurrus readily available immediately after your board is wrathed have proven much more difficult, while finding a window to pay 3 mana for Yorion in a control deck over the course of a long game is much less difficult.
Embercleave Decks - Mono Red and Gruul both plan to put creatures onto the battlefield quickly and shut the door on the opponent. Gruul has more midrange elements like Questing Beast, but is less explosive than Mono Red. Both decks are much more resilient than they may seem, and Embercleave makes blocking a nightmare.
Boros Cycling - While Lurrus did get a lot worse, casting Lurrus was always “Plan B” for this deck anyway, and it does not gain much of anything from not running Lurrus, since the restriction is very easy to meet. It is more vulnerable to Shatter the Sky and Flame Sweep, but the combination of turn 1 Flourishing Fox and Zenith Flare can still be a winning combination.
While there are other playable decks like Temur Adventures, Rakdos Sacrifice, and Sultai Midrange, I believe the decks above are more prevalent, and I felt like registering one of them was the safest.
Choosing Mono Red
I will admit, I do tend to lean towards playing aggressive decks as a playstyle preference and feel they match my biggest strengths as a Magic player the best. But it is significantly harder at the Pro Tour Level to gain significant edges by skill level alone. In other words, I will not get as many wins by just outplaying my opponent regardless of the deck I bring.
Reid Duke described a very similar experience when he first started playing in Pro Tours. He stated that he was used to showing up to Grand Prixs playing Jund regardless of whether it was well-positioned in the meta or not, with the intention of simply navigating midrange games better than his opponents. But when he got to the Pro Tour, he had significantly worse initial results because he did not focus hard enough on the metagame around him and figuring out what deck and card choices best suited him for each particular tournament.
Mono Red, however, feels like an excellent deck to exploit the metagame. Of the Tier 1 decks I listed, I felt favored against all but one in testing: Jund Food. Mono Red felt too fast for Temur Reclamation and the Yorion decks in most games, and as long as I sequenced my plays in a way to provide pressure but not lose to Shatter the Sky, I felt like I was favored. Jund food has a very good game 1 against Mono Red, but packing lots of creature removal that exiles in the sideboard and some answers to witch’s oven made the matchup very winnable. A lot of the individual cards in Jund food are not very powerful, and by breaking up the synergies and removing the payoffs like Priest of Forgotten Gods and Mayhem Devil is still a recipe for success. This requires me to load my sideboard with Lava Coils and Scorching Dragonfires, but I felt as though my matchups against control decks and Temur Reclamation were good enough that I could sacrifice some sideboard cards and still be fine. Furthermore, all the removal spells are excellent both in the mirror and against Cycling, where game 1 is very close. There is no matchup that I felt like Mono Red could not win. With Temur Reclamation and Jund Food seeming like the decks to beat, it made sense gunning hard for the food matchup, which dictated a lot of my decision regarding flex slots and sideboard cards.
The Deck: Core & Flex Slot Decisions
These are the cards that I did not even consider cutting from the deck:
17 Mountain
This leaves us with 12 flex slots. Below are the cards I chose and why I chose them:
4 Robber of the Rich - The deck needs more two drops, but this competes with Rimrock Knight for the slot. I went all in on Robber for a couple reasons. First, any haste threat is especially useful in a metagame filled with Shatter the Sky and Flame Sweep, and this haste threat has a nice triggered ability that punishes people for trying to play a resource battle. Second, Rimrock Knight having one toughness felt too vulnerable in the face of Cauldron Familiar and Mayhem Devil.
2 Tin Street Dodger - I wanted another couple one drops, and this one pairs nicely with Robber of the Rich, since it’s a hasty rogue. Grim Initiate pairs better with Rimrock Knight, as giving +2+0 to a first strike creature in combat can be helpful.
2 Shock - This card is a hedge against Mono Red, Cycling, and Priest of Forgotten Gods out of food decks. The card is very weak against Temur Reclamation, which is why I did not want to run more than two.
1 Bonecrusher Giant - Bonecrusher Giant is a shock that is reasonable against Temur Reclamation and Yorion decks. Having four power means I get to draw a card off Shatter the Sky, and it dodges Flame Sweep out of Temur Reclamation. Playing all four copies seemed best.
1 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell - Torbran is a little clunky and not great in multiples, but it is extremely powerful. The reason I added a third copy is that it is the only creature that cannot be targeted with Claim the Firstborn. Torbran plus Embercleave can steal games against Jund food I wouldn’t otherwise win.
1 Light Up the Stage - I don’t love the fourth copy of Light Up the Stage, but not running out of gas against wraths was important enough to warrant all four copies.
1 Phoenix of Ash - I went back and forth on whether I wanted Phoenix of Ash or the fourth copy of Embercleave in this slot. Embercleave is significantly more powerful, but it’s clunky, not good in multiples, and very awkward with Light Up the Stage. I found myself sideboarding out an Embercleave often since I was sideboarding in 4-8 non-creature spells in every matchup and my opponents almost always increased their removal count after sideboard. I decided to play one Phoenix as a card to catch opponents off guard. Having a creature that flies, can pump itself, and can be escaped after a wrath is extremely useful in enough games that I didn’t mind having one copy.
Sideboard Decisions:
4 Lava Coil, 2 Scorching Dragonfire - I wanted a decent amount of extra removal that exiles against Jund Food. Exiling Mayhem Devil, Woe Strider, and Priest of Forgotten Gods on sight is very important. Any games where my opponent gets to untap with one of those cards I typically lose. The exile is also very nice against opposing copies of Anax. I chose to load up on Lava Coil rather than Scorching Dragonfire to have more answers to opposing copies of Torbran and Questing Beast.
3 Embereth Shieldbreaker - Only comes in against Witch’s Oven decks typically, but that is important enough on its own to warrant three copies.
2 Unchained Berserker - Lines up very well against Glass Casket, Omen of the Sun, and Flourishing Fox. Given the companion change and the inability for people to slam Yorion on turn five on curve to blink Omen of the Sun makes it less important for me to play more than two copies.
2 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator - Stopping Cauldron Familiar and Uro from gaining life is huge, and the card is great as a resilient threat. The tokens also line up well in the mirror.
2 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame - While narrower than Tibalt, it’s the best card against opposing wraths. It’s an army in a can that can’t be hit by typical removal. I wanted at least a couple copies and settled on two.
Hopefully my decisions pay off this weekend!
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