Red Deck Wins. Seriously.

As some of you may have heard, I took 8th at Star City Kansas City in the Legacy portion of the event. It was pretty exciting for me, as I, as of now, have played 16 games of legacy. Yes, my first time playing Legacy was when I sleeved up the red cards that I had shipped to site-awesome service but more on that later. This post will not actually be about my time at Kansas City but as that time was very influential, I feel like I need to mention a few people that helped shape that event for me.

First, a big shout out to Daniel Dusang, one of my travel companions and fellow blogger. He top 16ed the Standard portion of the event and ended up 22nd in the Legacy Open. I was very impressed by his showing over both days and if we are lucky, he may share some of his tech with us in the coming days. Secondly, I got to meet Gavin Verhey, who is one of the reasons why I am writing this very moment. Thirdly, I got to play against Star City Writer and Pro Gerry Thompson. He is an immensely skilled player and was very cool. He and I actually got a feature match which you can find here. I intend to buy premium just to see what this man has to say and honestly, you might want to as well. Will Craddock took down the first draft open, which is kind of a big deal. And a special thanks is owed to Kyle for convincing me to fit 3 Figure of Destinies into my list, which you can find on the Star City Top 16 deck lists. Those puppies ate the turn one Force of Will just like they were supposed to, clearing the way for a ton of sweet burn. Lastly, but certainly not least, a big shout out goes to Ryan Daly. This young man is a talented player, no doubt, and despite what many people think, Dredge takes no small amount of skill to pilot, as I found out. I hope to see him on the top 16 deck list page more often!

Before I move on to the main event, I must talk about the Star City Ship to Site set-up. It is possibly one of the best things that Star City offers. Having the ability to go to an open and easily acquire your cards is fantastic. I literally had to do next to nothing to get them. The exchange went as follows:

Me: "I have an order to pick up. How do I make this so?"

Helpful Star City Employee: "Show me your I.D. and I can find your order."

Me: *Shows I.D.* "Should be a bunch of red cards."

At this point the man wanders away for about 15 seconds and then returns, my cards in hand.

Helpful Star City Employee: "You had a whole box! Here you go."

It was the most painless process I have had with online ordering as it felt like I essentially called in my order to a Chinese place and showed up a bit later to get it. And they gave me free egg rolls. It was awesome. If you need something you can't find at your local store (because you should support that place where you play, seriously guys) and intend on going to an open any time soon, I highly recommend this!

Now lets get down to some sweet burn spells! I am going to focus on Standard for this entry and then perhaps take a step into Legacy for my next entry.

I faced down a Red deck in Kansas City, round one of Standard. While he took the victory from me, there was one card that he was not playing main deck that I think would have vastly increased his win percentage across the day. This card is Gut Shot.

Gut Shot has about 1 trillion uses. They mostly involve dealing one damage to things, obviously. It takes care of a turn one Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elf, clearing the way for your one drop while slowing the tempo of Wolf-Run Ramp or any Pod list, and making it even harder to find those two mans needed to stop the inevitable march of your Stormblood Berserker. It can also make sure that the Lashwrithe  of Mono Black Infect never makes it to any of their 1/1 fliers that wreck your day.

Speaking of that blood crazed man, Gut Shot can be the 1 drop you need to make sure that Stormblood is a thirsty fellow when he enters the battlefield. Going turn one Mountain-Go can lull your opponent into an incredibly false sense of security that can be shattered quickly as they find themselves facing down a 3/3 with an ill equipt hand and an empty board.

Now Red can easily handle everything with Toughness 1-3, but once that rear end hits 4, red gets mighty awkward. Hero of Bladehold can make even the most experienced player sweat when you only have-as red so often does-2 mountains on your side of the field. In the glory days of Lightning Bolt, this was no problem, but now that we are paying two to make 3 damage happen, the free Gut Shot looks a lot better than taking a minimum 7 from a Hero swinging at the face.

As far as red goes, we have no end of things that target, forcing that pesky Phantasmal Image to take a rest in the graveyard. However, pointing an Incinerate at him can feel a tiny bit wasteful, knowing you could send it to your opponents face, making the game vastly more winnable, if it weren't for that silly Image in your way. Gut Shot again comes to the rescue you are now using it as "Pay 2 life: destroy target giant threat" which can be a massive advantage for red in games that can seem entirely unwinnable.

The last reason to be playing Gut Shot is possibly the strongest. Shrine of Burning Rage. I am going to let that sit for a moment. This card grows your shrine at instant speed. For free. Activating Shrine costs 3 mana. That is practically infinity, especially when you want to keep playing things to keep that pressure up and make your opponent feel the burn. Now you can leave that 3 open, not worrying about a huge blow out to artifact destruction, and still maintain an ability to respond to potential threats as they might come up. More importantly is the reach that they give Shrine in the mid game. Having a shrine at 5 and an opponent at 10 makes your opponent feel like they have a few turns to draw an answer. Get in for 3, even if you have to make bad attacks, puts your opponent at 7. Gut Shot drops them to 6 and grows your Shrine to 6. Wait. Those are the same number. And you won another game.

The fact that this card is almost never a disappointing top deck should be a huge indicator that you should be playing it in your monored list. It is a hugely versatile card and it forces your opponent to do nearly impossible guestimations on combat math that make even the most experienced control player very uncomfortable. Gut Shot offers creature control in multiple ways, tricky midgame and combat choices for your opponent, and the ability to kill your opponent out of no where. It is exactly what Red wants in a 1 mana burn spell (that isn't Bolt).

Thanks for reading! You can contact me on Twitter to enjoy more of my wit. If you would prefer to just sit back and listen to the soothing sound of my voice, check out the podcast in which I partake. Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your shipping free!