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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Pyroling deck
February 19, 2007

Planar Chaos gave us a lot of cards that will really excite deckbuilders by giving theem abilities in colors that have never had it.  And fortunately for deck mechanics, many of these cards have been featured in decks of different colors for years, so it's not hard to figure out how to fix these decks.

Lo BMoor, could you please please *please* help me with my red deck.  To make things a bit harder I set myself the personal challenge of only using the Time Spiral block.  The aim is ultimately to use the deck in Standard matches, so cards from Ravnica are obviously allowed, but pls keep them to a minimum!  

The deck works reasonably well (I've been play-testing it with proxies), but against 'control' archetypes it doesn't fair well at all.  Wrath of God equals The End.  Unfortunately, where I play, there's lots of people who enjoy playing control ... and I know some of them already have plans for B/W "Damnation of God" (that's what I call 'em) decks.  I've been told the only way for most decks to beat control is to race them and beat them to pulp before they chain you down and grill you.  So maybe the deck needs to be faster (currently, not much is playable on turn 1 and turn 2). 

Anyhow, here's the card list:
<pre>
"Pyroling"

4x Keldon Marauders   1R
4x Blood Knight       RR
4x Aether Membrane    1RR
4x Wildfire Emissary  3R
4x Avalanche Riders   2RR
4x Torchling          3RR

4x Brute Force        R
4x Fire Whip          1R
4x Seething Song      2R
4x Pyrohemia          2RR

20x Mountain
</pre>
And here's a brief explanation of the deck ideas:
>I really like Pyrohemia, and really love Torchling ... their abilities' mana costs are the only reason the deck is monored.  By all means splash in another colour if you think it's a good idea. 
>There are two methods of laying out large damage.  Fire Whip + Torchling (ie the age old "hermetic studies + horseshoe crab" combo), and Pyrohemia. 
>Most of the creatures either don't stay on the board for very long or have high toughness, thus maximizing the board clearing potential of Pyrohemia. 
>Rather than putting in creature removal I decided to use the brand spanking new red Giant Growth (ie Brute Force)... if I can keep Torchling/Pyrohemia alive for long enough the theory is that they will do all the creature removal I need. 
>Seething Song accelerates me that little bit faster to 4 mana and if I top deck it, it's probably still going to be useful given the Pyrohemia/Torchling. 

Other cards I've thought about are:
Aetherflame Wall
Magus of the Scroll
Mog War Marshall
Thick-Skinned Goblin
Wheel of Fate

Thanks!!!
Jonny C

Ah, Pyrohemia.  Pestilence decks were always popular, and the best methods of building around them are well-documented, so let's get right into it.

First, you need creatures resilient enough to handle a few hits from the 'hemia.  Currently you have AEther Membrane to deal with that, but Thick-Skinned Goblin would be an excellent choice as well, especially in a deck with Avalanche Riders.  You could then replace Keldon Marauders with another Echo creature, like Basalt Gargoyle for example, whose toughness-pumping ability works excellently with Pyrohemia.  Of course, Torchling can take a few hits as well, so you may not need another creature who needs mana to have a high toughness.  If "Wramnation" is making it hard on you, you may want to consider Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII-- so if it looks like you're going to end a turn creatureless, you can pop out a token to appease Pyrohemia's "sacrifice me" trigger.  If it's naturally high toughness you're looking for, you may also want to try Junktroller, or even Stuffy Doll for its indestructibility, and of course its pinging ability doesn't hurt either.

(A quick aside here-- the Stuffy Doll contest currently has almost 20 entries, and as I write this (Saturday the 17th) you've got 11 more days to submit your entry.)

Now, for your mana base-- a crucial consideration for a deck with both Torchling and Pyrohemia.  Twenty Mountains looks good-- I can't think of any other land you'd want to use.  Seethign Song is a good thought, too. It's just a shame you're so reluctant to venture outside of Time Spiral block, because this looks like the perfect deck for Braid of Fire.  Braid of Fire's one weakness is that it gives you the mana on your upkeep, where you can only play instants and abilities.  But since the majority of your mana concerns are going towards abilities, that really doesn't matter to you, so Braid would be perfect.  And remember, if you have no use for that mana, you can always choose not to pay the upkeep.

Aside from that, everything looks fine here.  You've really put a lot of thought into your card choices, and the result is a highly synergistic deck.  It doesn't hurt either that your choice of echo and vanishing creatures lends itself well to a quick weenie rush that will soften up an opponent for when Torchling or 'hemia hit.  Planar Chaos becomes Standard legal on Feb. 20, so good luck!

~BMoor
 


 

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