The Sinister Rouge

[josephhancock]

Often times when I find myself stumped building a deck, I will look at how the problems of my current deck are resolved through other decks of at least somewhat similar nature. I found myself in this situation with the last two decks I tried to build, a mono red aggro deck, and a mono black discard deck. Both were failing to impress me, regardless of what configuration I was running. The red deck scooped too many times due to running out of gas, and the black deck seemed able to keep my opponent's hand under control, but even in topdeck mode they seemed to always find a way "out" against me.

Truthfully, these decks were both flawed at their very foundation due to the fact that... well, I'm not an aggro player. I don't like aggro; it's far too limited for me to enjoy. Play creatures, turn them sideways, repeat until you win. I've always enjoyed control more, and the most "aggressive" deck I feel comfortable with is midrange. I only decided to play aggro since it was a "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality sicne I wasn't going to shell out to buy any Baneslayer Angels or rebuying Cryptic Commands in order to play UW Control. With no t4 sweeper anymore, it seemed like aggro was the only logical choice for me to remain competitive.

I went back to my old BR Aggro deck for a bit to see what could be done with the new cards that red aggro and black aggro couldn't do alone. During the elimination process, I started to see some synergies that I had missed before, and when I was done, I was left with a deck that wasn't aggro at all, but could actually hold back the game and deplete my opponent's resources to the point where I could win. Yes, while building an aggro deck I somehow stumbled upon a BR control deck that I feel could be a real contender if the format remains as aggressive as it is.

Gentlemen, I give you The Sinister Rouge.

The Sinister Rouge
//Creatures (10)// 4x Demigod of Revenge 4x Nyxathid 2x Magma Phoenix //Support (26)// 4x Lightning Bolt 4x Duress 4x Sign in Blood 4x Terminate 4x Blightning 3x Volcanic Fallout 3x Bituminous Blast	//Lands (24)// 4x Dragonskull Summit 4x Graven Cairns 8x Mountain 8x Swamp	//Sideboard (15)// 4x Flame Javelin 4x Doom Blade 3x Infest 3x Thought Hemorrhage 2x Pithing Needle

At first glance this deck is unimpressive, and I'll admit on paper it looks rather bland. But once you start playing it, you realize there's more here than you think. Your strategy is to control the board with your burn, removal, and sweepers while you pick apart key card in their hand with discard. Once you have established the control, you play your finishers and hope they get there.

Like I do with most of my serious decks, I'll break down each card and their roles in the deck.

//Creatures//

Spoiler:

Demigod of Revenge - Your classical finisher, and a card i'm personally going to miss when rotation hits. Each one of these guys represents a quarter of your opponent's life, and the fact that they're evasive and have haste only makes them better. Even better still is how they rape other control decks since even if they're countered, they still have a chance to bring back a copy or two from the graveyard. Seriously needs to be considered in any deck able to hit constantly.

Nyxathid - This card hasn't seen too much play, and up until now I can see why. It's not a curve card (casting cost vs power-wise, it's not something you'd drop turn 3 since it'll probably only be a 4/4 at best.), has no evasion, and if your opponent is running card draw, they can essentially kill it that way (ex: Howling Mine). That being said, with Duress and Blightning both in the deck, this card can be a sleeper to an unsuspecting opponent. I usually drop it turn six or seven with some lands open for removal so it can get through, and will usually stay at around 5/5 or 6/6 the whole game. The great part about this card in conjunction with other creatures in the deck is that if your opponent tries to do anything but remove it, they're going to make it bigger. Worse case scenerio with this card is it acts as a decoy for removal.

Magma Pheonix - One of my favourite cards from the new set, this has control written all over it, and I think it's going to be the next big thing for red creatures. First, the obvious. It has evasion, and if you kill it, it will sweep for three damage to everything, including players. That makes it on par with Caldera Hellion, except the Hellion's sweep is instant and doesn't hit players. After that, you start to see how much better this card is then the Hellion. It. Can. Recur. Let me say that again in case you missed something. A 3/3 flyer for that sweeps for three when it dies, deals three damage to each palyer when it dies, and can recur for it's casting cost. And it's recursion is instant-speed. Technically, you can win the game with just this card. the casting cost might be a bit steep, but totally worth it. Try it out, you won't be disappointed. With all the removal in this deck as well, you can do some nutty combat tricks with it as well. Opponent alpha-striking and no Fallout in hand? Hit this guy with a removal spell of your own and voila! You just turned a Terminate into a Firespout.

//Support//

Spoiler:

Lightning Bolt - Three damage, one mana, instant speed, can hit players or creatures. No need to explain why it's good. It's reach and crowd control.

Duress - Superb turn one play, and good at any time in the game, really. While the discard is great, and something this deck needs for sure, the real power of it is letting you see what your opponent has in their grip, much like Thought Hemorrhage. this can be very important when you start playing your threats. For example, you can Duress them turn six to see if they're holding any removal for your Demigods.

Sign in Blood - Another great card from the new set, it's your typical black draw spell. Pay two life and draw two cards. Despite what some people have said, this card is needed in this deck. Even though it's more controlling then other BR decks, it still needs gas. I wouldn't play it after you hit 10 life against aggro, though, as it's always a shame to lose to your own greed.

Terminate - Stock removal in the format right now. Terminate could easily be Doom Blade in the main, but with such a large portion of my meta being black, Terminate is a better choice. If yours isn't showing much black, Doom Blade is better main for sure.

Blightning - This deck wants to force discard and force damage though. This card does both. This was originally Mind Rot until I remembered that I was playing red, so I had access to Blightning, which deals three damage extra for the same cmc.

Volcanic Fallout - Every deck these days needs a sweeper if they want to stay competitive, here's mine. Between this and the Phoenix, you should have no problem holding back those weenies. I was going to run Pyroclasm over it, but my 2 slot was already full.

Bituminous Blast - I know, nine 5cc spells is a bit high, but since this card acts as removal and Cascades into another spell, it's totally worth it. I love seeing some cocky kid play a Bloodbraid Elf and cascading into a Ram-Gang just to have me Blast his Elf during attack phase and cascading into a Terminate for the Rammer The only bad news about this card is sometimes you'll cascade into a Phoenix and send it to the bottom of your library. With only two in the deck, that is sucksville.

Sideboard is a bit wacky with the Javelins, but let me explain. This deck has two problems: Chameleon Colossus and Burrenton Forge-Tender. The sideboard is built specifically to handle these threats. Against Colossus, you side in Javelins, Hemorrhage, and Needles, and against BFT you side in Blade, Infest, Hemorrhage, and Needles.

Still working out a few bugs in this deck, and could use the input from you guys. Right now I'm debating dropping Nyxathid all together in favour of another Phoenix and the fourth Blast and Fallout, maybe even two of something else (Anathemancer? Banefire?). Any insight to this?

[rabbit]

I think I would drop the Magma Phoenixs all together. You already have a good sweeper with Fallouts and I think the 3 damage everytime it goes to the graveyard will take its toll on you with Fallout. Now I think the biggest problem you're going to run into is control. You already have enough creature control in there to take care of aggro, and a sideboard option for the mid-range aggro. So out of Anathemancer and Banefire I'd have to go with the Banefire.

I do want to get your opinion on getting in some type of Artifact/Enchantment control. I like Thought Hemorrhage a lot, but I think your mana curve is already pushing it a little bit. Maybe drop those out for some good ole Naturalizes should do the trick. There really shouldn't be any creatures you can't deal with.

[Maniak]

Naturalize in a BR deck?

[josephhancock]

Originally Posted by rabbit

I think I would drop the Magma Phoenixs all together. You already have a good sweeper with Fallouts and I think the 3 damage everytime it goes to the graveyard will take its toll on you with Fallout. Now I think the biggest problem you're going to run into is control. You already have enough creature control in there to take care of aggro, and a sideboard option for the mid-range aggro. So out of Anathemancer and Banefire I'd have to go with the Banefire.

I do want to get your opinion on getting in some type of Artifact/Enchantment control. I like Thought Hemorrhage a lot, but I think your mana curve is already pushing it a little bit. Maybe drop those out for some good ole Naturalizes should do the trick. There really shouldn't be any creatures you can't deal with.

Control isn't such a bad matchup actually since Duress and Blightning are both really difficult to deal with. The only thing I need to watch for against control is the excess ofremoval they're packing, which is more reason to run the Phoenix in my opinion. Siding in the Hemorrhages and Javelins helps the matchup a lot as well.

I'm starting to agree that the Magma Bird might be a little too deadly for this deck, and might swap it for 2 main Hemorrhages instead and move it to the sideboard. I don't see Hemorrhage being a problem to cast with 4cmc and 24 lands, though. We'll see how it runs after that.

You are right that I don't really have anything in terms of artifact/enchantment control, but really the only thing I see in regular play that would cause me to want to side in hate would be Bitterblossom or the new equivalent of Glorious Anthem, forget the name right now. Neither of these are particularly bothersome, though, so I'm not concerned.

Originally Posted by Maniak

Naturalize in a BR deck?

They'll never see it coming