Standard Mono-Red Aggro Concepts After MKM

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Introduction

Recommended reading: A New Approach to Standard Mono-Red Aggro. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest reading that article first and then continuing with this one.

After Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM) came out, the biggest impact on the Standard environment was of course the new Boros Convoke deck. But I think Mono-Red Aggro also gained three pieces: Pyrotechnic Performer, Fugitive Codebreaker, and the familiar Shock, which is returning to Standard too!!

Deck Construction

Decklist link

Changes After MKM

A two-mana haste prowess creature with more explosive power than Monastery Swiftspear. Its disguise ability can refill your hand in large amounts in the mid to late game. The cost looks high, but when Mono-Red Aggro has emptied its hand in the mid to late game, the graveyard will also hold 3-4 instants and sorceries, and in testing it’s very easy to draw those three cards and win the game. If the opponent has single-target removal, paying the two for ward easily costs them tempo.

The downside is 1 toughness: the opponent can easily trade any random 1/1 creature with it, and even when you went first and played Kumano Faces Kakkazan on turn 1, it is still within Cut Down’s range.

A rare two-mana creature in red with a 3/2 body. Paired with Kumano Faces Kakkazan on turn 1 it becomes a 4/3. The downside is that it has no haste and is easily removed by single-target removal. Its turn-face-up ability deals at least three damage, so in practice it feels a lot like a Lightning Strike and easily makes the opponent misjudge your lethal range. If two of them are on the battlefield and you turn both face up, the total damage reaches as high as 9. Some people say that four mana total to deal three damage is poor value, but if you break it apart, it’s just one Lightning Strike that can only hit the face; it doesn’t have haste, so paying one more mana to cast it face down is actually a bit safer.

Yes!! You read that right, Mono-Red Aggro running a sweeper.
Boros Convoke currently floods the board too fast in Standard. When Mono-Red Aggro is on the play, the opponent can already be within lethal range but has too many creatures to get through, and when on the draw, the opponent already has a row of creatures before Mono-Red Aggro has done anything, and End the Festivities, which only deals 1, may not clear the board. This is where you really need a sweeper.

Here is a short list of the situations where I sweep without losing card advantage:

If you have the sweeper in your opening hand, don’t commit too many creatures.
Feldon, Ronom Excavator can still avoid card disadvantage when swept.
Monastery Swiftspear has already triggered prowess once before, or has a +1/+1 counter.
After the sweep, you can follow up with a face-down Fugitive Codebreaker and refill in the mid to late game.
Don’t worry when the sweep leaves both you and the opponent with no creatures; most of your creatures have haste, and their bodies won’t lose trades.
When the opponent is Bant Toxic, you can choose to destroy an artifact with mana value 3 or less.

In addition, because so many people asked why, with Play with Fire already in the deck, I still run Shock, I’d like to answer once and for all:

More one-mana deal-2 spells trigger prowess multiple times, giving more explosive power and more flexible turns. They also pair better with Fugitive Codebreaker’s disguise ability, stock the graveyard with instants and sorceries faster, and let you deal with the opponent’s Deep-Cavern Bat more easily and with higher probability. The opponent may also be forced to spend their removal on Shock rather than on their other powerful cards.

The Cards I Replaced

Here’s a meme image I made myself to go with this:

Charming Scoundrel is a strong choose-one-of-three card, but its weakness is too obvious. Usually, when you aren’t stuck on lands and your hand isn’t too bad, you’d attach the Wicked Role, but if the opponent responds at instant speed and removes it, you gain nothing. If you choose the other two modes instead, it’s just a 1/1 creature with little threat. And when used for discard-and-draw, it doesn’t draw as much as a flipped Fugitive Codebreaker.

I replaced Invasion of Regatha with Pyrotechnic Performer. Pyrotechnic Performer is both a creature and a card that can burn the face directly, so its flexibility is much better, while Invasion’s extra 1 damage to a creature hits fewer and fewer things these days.

2024 3/9 Standard Prize Side Event Report

15 players, five Swiss rounds, top eight cut.
Unfortunately stopped at the top four! Prize: 100 USD!!

Round 1: Bye (already halfway there!?)

Round 2: 2-1 vs. Boros Convoke

Game 1, on the draw, I mulliganed to six, and later Pyrotechnic Performer burned them out directly.
Game 2, on the draw, I was stuck on two lands for a turn; on turn 3 the opponent played Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to set the table and cost me tempo, and I was then pushed over by a mass of creatures.
Game 3, on the play, I had Kumano Faces Kakkazan + two Fugitive Codebreaker + Monstrous Rage + Play with Fire, and won directly by prowess damage.

Round 3: 1-2 vs. Domain

Game 1, on the draw, because I was on the draw I couldn’t get the damage through later.
Game 2, on the play, the opponent had little removal for my creatures, and I won directly with the creature land + drawing a haste creature.
Game 3, on the draw, Temporary Lockdown locked down two Kumano Faces Kakkazan + a disguise creature, and later Archangel of Wrath hit me in the face to end the match. (A Mono-Red Aggro player getting burned out by an Angel is super embarrassing.)

Round 4: 2-1 vs. Bant Toxic

Game 1, on the draw, the opponent played two Skrelv’s Hive and hurt themselves to death from the life loss each turn.
Game 2, on the play, I had a bad opening hand and then flooded and died.
Game 3, on the draw, the opponent and I fought until we had almost no resources and I flooded again; afterwards I refilled with Fugitive Codebreaker, then topdecked a godly Goddric, Cloaked Reveler and won directly with damage.

Round 5: Intentional Draw

Swiss record 3 wins, 1 loss, 1 intentional draw, second place.

Top 8: 2-0 vs. Mono-Red Aggro

Game 1, on the play, the opponent played Phoenix Chick on turn 1 so there wasn’t much pressure, and I happened to be able to remove their important creature and won directly.
Game 2, on the draw, the opponent had Kumano Faces Kakkazan on turn 1, Monastery Swiftspear on turn 2, and Squee, Dubious Monarch on turn 3. I happened to have two Shocks + Lightning Strike in my opening hand, and the two Shocks directly dealt with Squee +
the creature Kumano flipped into. (Luckily the opponent didn’t have Goddric, Cloaked Reveler, or I might have lost this game.)
In the mid to late game I used Fugitive Codebreaker’s turn-face-up ability to refill my hand and won on the resource gap.

Top 4: 0-2 vs. Domain

Game 1, on the play, the opponent mulliganed to five. I kept a hand of one land + Kumano Faces Kakkazan + Monastery Swiftspear + Play with Fire and miraculously topdecked a land on turn 2, but the opponent played Temporary Lockdown right on time on turn 3, and I lacked the damage to win.
Game 2, on the play, I mulliganed to six and was again locked down right on time by Temporary Lockdown, and the opponent then called down Archangel of Wrath; I conceded.

Post-Match Review:

In Game 1 of the top four, although after looking at my opening hand I had a feeling the top of my library was a land and was willing to gamble on it,
I didn’t realize the opponent might be using an aggressive mulligan strategy, and throughout the whole day’s matches I never realized the opponent might be waiting for the moment to play Temporary Lockdown.

Conclusion:

In this round of Standard changes, Pyrotechnic Performer exceeded my expectations; I only realized its explosive power the day after release. Fugitive Codebreaker’s disguise ability allows for many plays. And when the opponent runs into a disguised creature, it also makes them agonize over how to respond!