Post Rotation Decks Episode 11: Mono-Red Part 2

I was poking around the archives of SCG premium (all articles posted 1 month ago or longer are available to us who don't pay for premium) and found an article of epic porportions by Patrick Chapin called "Sixty". I didn't take time to actually read it, but at the worst it's just a great way to think of potential decks. However, not only did I pour over some old Chapin, but some Zvi stuff too. One article he was talking about how he came to design Beastmaster, his Zendikar block deck that did insanely well, and in the process he mentioned a hyper aggro mono-red deck he thought of, which included a couple cards I forgot about and found to be the perfect replacement for Ball Lightning and Hellspark/Hell's Thunder. Those cards being Zektar Shrine Expedition and Elemental Appeal.

This token can bring a world of pain for your opponent. Boom! I just took a third of your life! Here is the deck he originally proposed (for Zendikar Block):


4x Burst Lightning
4x Forked Bolt
4x Searing Blaze
4x Staggershock
4x Zektar Shrine Expedition
4x Elemental Appeal
4x Goblin Guide
4x Plated Geopede
4x Kargan Dragonlord
4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
16x Mountain

Since this decklist was posted, we have received M11 and Scars to add to the fun, although there really isn't much to add aside from Lightning Bolt and Koth. Also, I am a fan of the Devastating Summons/Bushwacker package, so I will throw that in my version too.

4x Goblin Bushwacker
4x Goblin Guide
4x Plated Geopede
4x Kargan Dragonlord


4x Lightning Bolt
4x Forked Bolt
4x Elemental Appeal
2x Devastating Summons

4x Koth of the Hammer


4x Zektar Shrine Expedition

4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
14x Mountain

This build is incredibly aggressive, and can be incredibly fast, like a turn 3 win!
t1 - Goblin Guide, attack 18
t2 - Lightning Bolt, attack 13
t3 - Devastating Summons, Goblin Bushwacker kicked, attack 0

That being said, Devastating Summons is a very risky card. Only play it if you can win that turn, aka you have the Bushwacker. Having too many Devastating Summons is really awkward so I have 2 in the deck. Enough to draw it a good amount of time, but it is also unlikely to come in pairs too often. Zvi said that Devastating Summons is really bad with Kargan Dragonlord, and while I agree, I also believe that you should only use Devastating Summons if you will win that turn immediatly. Once again, Koth is a champ by providing Day of Judgement-proof attackers and can make a kicked Elemental Appeal come down on turn 5 for the win. Did I mention how good Zektar Shrine Expedition is? With our 8 fetchlands, it is entirely possible for this to go off on turn 4. The main problem with mono-red is that it can have some inconsistant draws, but I think this may be better by having less dependance on curving out and instead just bringing the heat from all angles.