I came here looking for this comment. I laughed at their little name subtitles every time too haha. I could live with it if they did away with them but I did like them very much.
I play lightning bolt in my kykar spellsljnger/storm deck and I was never disappointed because of all the creatures it can kill for just one mana: hullbreachers, opposition agents, random dude that makes me lose a life every time I get a creature, ... It's also very cool with thousand year storm.
Story time: Purphoros. I love my Purphoros deck, it was feared in my playgroup, they considered to Ban it in our group but ultimately had to go by the rules and allow it. Now the story: Purphoros almost never was a creature because devotion was purposely low, this time it was because I had just played a permanent, Nory the wary, well known at my group. My opponent's eyes widened in surprise seeing the opportunity to use his Path to Exile as soon as he untapped. He untapped and, savoring the moment, he casted Path to Exile targeting the seldom-legal target Purphoros, knowing that that would set me back a lot. I said slowly "Well… I have a triggered ability... Norin... he leaves the battlefield..." His face changed to confusion "Ok..." (thinking what's the harm? 2 damage? well no because Purphoros won't be there). So I go on "My devotion is now 4 and Purphoros is stops being a creature". His face changed from confusion to supreme confusion, to shock, to internal turmoil". I loved it. I will always cherish a story of when I almost made a friend throw the table in rage. Ahhhh Magic! ❤️
Love deflecting swat!! A guy tried to beast within Kess, so I defecting swatted it into his only island. The shock on his face that I blew up a land was priceless lol
@@Uefeti I want to play them in my red decks but every time I do it just never does anything. Games in my play group are always 3-4 players and there just isn't enough blue decks to make them good. What ends up happening is it just punishes a player who isn't even winning because they happen to have blue and its a dead card unless I use it on them. I'd rather just play tibalt's trickery honestly, at least it will counter any spell.
@@ellatgrasso2096 Well, that applies specifically to your playgroup, any hight-power-competitive groups will always have blue at the table. Tibalt trickery is also good, but some decks will need all in-the-stack interactions they could get. So getting pyro/red is must
Underworld Breach singlehandedly pulled my Rielle, the Everwise deck from jank into a serious contender at Mid-level tables. If you were looking for a deck which discards and pulls cards back with Breach, that would be one.
Fire Diamond is so high up because mono-red is more popular than most other mono-colors, except maybe mono-green, who obviously isn't running diamonds. People love their goblins, dragons, and trying to make burn work in Commander. (Which I suppose is a whole lot easier these days than it used to be!) Also, izzet and boros have a lot of really popular commanders, and those colors don't have too many ramp options.
Hear me out, I personally would put deflecting swat at A+ just because it also hits abilities. The gotcha moments with that card are almost always big blowouta
Dudes Deflecting Swag is such an A+. The versatility is mindblowing. The floor is usefull jank like retargeting a merens revive so she cant Spore Frog you on your next turn. The ceiling is blasting someone with their own Aetherflux reservoir. Its also a Free counterspell Counter. It is also the first redirection spell That redirects Spells and abilities That have more than one target. You could easily fill one of those Shorts of yours With all the absurd shenanigans you can accomplish With Deflecting swat. ;)
I think you're undervaluing Magus of the Wheel. I play it often and no one ever bothers to kill it. In their minds, my opponents', don't want to use their removal on it. I've seen mono red runaway with this card with Neheb. I'd give it a C+
If the deck wants to wheel it is a great option. Notice how most of the cards they gave low grade to work well together. That might tell you something about how red is generally used in commander. Throughout this series there are cards I think they undervalue. I would like to know what their group's meta is like. For example, Lightning Bolt will go in a storm deck or Obosh. It is awesome in those decks, but they don't mention that. I wonder if they play against those decks.
@@SirPoonga I think lighting bolt is actually just pretty good tbh. How many different commanders are there that are 6 mana 3/3s? or 5 mana 2/2s. It also kills all those really good stax-y creatures.
@@HomeCookinMTG Lightning bolt is the best damage you get per mana spent. Yes what they say about 40 life also has merit ... 3 damage vs 20 life is more impactful. That being said: it kills a lot of creatures, is supercheap to cast and Torbran loves it ;)
@@Morrodin182 I pretty much use it exclusively as a red swords to plowshares lol. One Mana in instant speed is pretty big. And like I said it kills a lot of commanders a lot more than people give it credit for. Every year there's a new Commander set where they release some new five Mana 2/2
Your videos are very insightful. I'm starting with a Krenko Goblin EDH and this video is helping me a lot. Thanks for your videos, you are an awesome duo! Greetings from Perú!
@@NitpickingNerds true. I think it's a must play in every red deck that doesn't run blue. You can get rid of any spells you don't want and keep the cards you do want and then draw that many. Its instant speed so you can do it on your opponents end step. Then if you have a Crucible of Worlds you get it right back as a land. So good
Deflecting swat is so strong and flexible. Can also redirect a strong card draw spell at you or something. It protects and steals a lot of great EDH cards.
Reb/Pyro is very good. Even if you don’t like it, you will go against a blue player 80% of the time. It’s great interaction for 1 mana. The only way I could understand if you play only in low power play.
Best way to play pyroblast and red elemental blast if you are in a high power meta is rummage cards. That way if they're dead, just cathartic reunion them
I've realized that I run or tested a ton of the cards in the list and I agree with most of your grades. The only card I slightly disagree is Lighting bolt (Maybe C instead of D) because although in paper indeed it feels meh, in practice can effectively kill pretty much any of the best utility creatures in the format from beast whisperer or zulaport cutthroat to hullbreacher, or kill a relevant creature after an opponent combat. It's not the best removal by any means but it's stil really efficient for just 1 red mana
Totally agree with you guys on lightning bolt ,but i love it ,it's "the red card" in my eyes ,I run it in all my red decks If anything the idea of casting a lightning bolt is what brought me to magic in the first place actually and because of that I love me some spell slinging
What would also be interesting is what cards you believe should be staples, but aren't. So far, the only card that I know would be on that list is grave titan?
Red elemental blast, pyroblast, and anarchy have always served me well in mono or rakdos. They're auto-includes for me even in power-level 8+. I can't interact with problematic enchantments as enchantments, but by playing these things I can at least remove them based on color. Moreover, being able to kill or counter many of the best commanders for one mana is always very nice. Finally, if the table is actually completely devoid of blue, I really don't care about the dead card because I can combo off without the interference of countermagic.
I had a game where someone went to kill me with aetherflux with like 2 health left. Killed him with lightning bolt on the stack. With that said lightning bolt still sucks.
One time my opponent took my big creature with The Akroan War, and what I did was Chaos Warp the creature so that he lost a creature and I could get a bonus! I think I got a Mountain from it though :P
Reforge the Soul is on there because Wheel of Fortune is ridiculously expensive. BUT! I did manage a turn 4 win playing my Kenrith deck with it. Reforge the Soul and cast Hullbreacher, played Kenrith, Visera Seer, Dockside extortionist. Win 🏆✌💪
I think you could easily make an entire video just on what spot removal in mono red is playable. I've tried everything from building a mana base around Skred (which when compromising your lands is still not much better than flame slash, which is also pretty bad) to now experimenting with magmatic sinkhole. Chaos warp is the only one I get excited about, abrade feels just okay, but there are better ways to deal with artifacts like viashino heretic. Idk, think its an overlooked issue and would love your all's input!
Lightning bolt for a mono red is great, being able to destroy a creature witg 3 or less toughness with also being able to kill plainswalkers for one mana. Opening hand killing someone's mana dork is also so much value.
It’s so hard for me to get behind because the ceiling is so low. The other cards in my deck can do so much more but this well best case it kills some creatures sometimes
@@NitpickingNerds best case scenario is you kill a player sometimes. It’s versatile removal which that can hit players, creatures, and planeswalkers. For the PW it does not have to kill it in order to be relevant. The proliferation of creatures being reprinted with potent effects increases its value with time too. Tell me you’re not happy to have it if looking at the likes of Hullbreacher, Dranith Magistrate, or Collector Ouphe.
I understand the ranking because it's based on the card in general not Just in a mono red. In my mono red decks I just have such a hard time justifying removing this card. Besides artifact removal having low mana cost spot removal Is just not there besides chaos warp. The worst case scenario with this card is you destroy a 2-3 mana cost utility creature. Which in my mind is still worth 1 mana and a card. If I am running anyother colours it becomes much easier to take out.
I've been playing lightning bolt in my kraark and sakashima deck. It's fun casting bolt 5 times in a row, and getting 2 or 3 copies every time. I also just like the one mana instant spells to keep the deck feeling like a real spell slinger deck.
I have an etali deck and I average get it out turn 4 and it’s a budget deck. Just A LOT mana rocks with haste abilities. Fill it with instant buffs and removals. And it’s a fun casual deck.
I got a Krark/Sakashima whose main goal is to copy a ritual a bunch then cast a giant X spell like Crackle with Power. Mana geyser is an all star there, but occasionally I’ll get lost in the rush of making 50 mana and realize too late I don’t have an X spell to cast. Then just awkwardly pass the turn with 46 red mana floating.
Only thing I'm surprised about regarding red elemental blast and pyroblast evaluation is that it wasn't mentioned that pyroblast can go in storm decks. I think then it should have a higher rating, even if only slightly
Ok Joe since you always mention your Godzilla deck: I took a look at the list and I noticed you're not playing Wilderness Elemental. It seems like it would be a perfect fit for it!
17:57 the deck you are talking about is ghen arcanum weaver. I’ve been running all the looting effects and underworld breach. Working Pretty good for me
PS. I like lightning bolt in Niv Mizzet, Parun. It triggers Niv so it draws a card, and as such it is 4 dmg for 1 mana. It is also good as instant sorcery synergy, particularly if you want some consistency on this effect (ie you can run it with abrade not instead). Not top 20 card good of course, but I can see decks were it is an A, and many decks were it can be C+/B- so giving it a D is kinda mean.
My buddy was murdering the table the other night with Purphoros until I Chaos Warped it and fixed the game lol. He hit his least favorite permanent in the deck and it gave me the opportunity to turn the game around for the win.
Great video, I’d say give lightning bolt a chance, it hits the cars you really need to hit for one mana, drannith magistrate, hullbreacher, aven mindcensor just off the top of my head.
Been watching a very long time I appreciate your takes on the format and you've recently inspired me to dump necropotence for the sake of variety and I'm really glad I did, so thank you for that. Pretty harsh on Red Elemental and Pyro. I love them both. There's always someone in blue at my tables, feels like blue is everywhere and if you're a rakdos player like me I'd rather have a dead card in 5% of my games than forego my only way to interact with someone stopping my big turns. Keep it up fellas!
I have them in a red combo deck I have that is only really vulnerable to countermagic, so they’re pretty good there as some of the few ways to protect the combo.
They didn't really mention the fact the creature deals the damage not the enchantment. Death touch wiether or infect its amazing. But in most decks it sucks compared to others
I think what I have come to realize is that Ham Sandwich must be the most powerful card in Magic. So many cards go infinite with it, and it is so ubiquitous that it is never even put up on the screen. I've never been lucky enough to pull one. Or is it a token from sacrificing some sort of Boar? I'm surprised it wasn't reprinted in Strixhaven with a Gyome tie-in.
@@maxheath1158 You definitely don’t see any Ham Sandwiches at the table now that most games are running through Spelltable. Just not part of the current meta.
I agree about not putting cards in your deck that might do something instead of surely can do something. I believe there should be a sideboard in Commander and my group plays that way.
In etali's defense, you are in red, the color of haste. Though you are right, it does need a lot of synergy as I'm not just jamming every haste effect into my red decks. It being a staple is definitely... interesting, I'm not playing it in a lot of my red decks (and I have a lot of them).
When I was new to commander I loved lightning bolt, just because it's cheap removal and I was a standard player, then as I got into higher power commander I noticed it was so bad because it wasn't enough to take out powerful creatures people should cheat in with atla, kallia etc. Now as a cedh player bolt is S+ tier because my birgi deck needs to take care of certain 2/1 creatures with 1st strike that hose my game plan, also esper sentinel, archivist of ohgma, sanctum prelate, stoneforge mystic drannith magistrate all get beamed by it.
Question: can you play Deflecting Swat on a spell or an ability that has nog target? Nothing would happen, but could you technically cast the card this way?
Underworld breach in mono red madness is absolutely busted. Red and rakdos madness decks are so underrated they make so much better use out of cards like gamble and faithless looting and stuff.
Lightning Bolt, I think, finds its home mostly in decks that copy it an extreme amount of time with Kalamax, the Stormsire being the first one I think of even if there are better options for cards to use in spellslinging deck.
oh i actually pulled it off to go infinite with my opponents clone legion (i think its the name, the spell that copys every creature you control) using dualcaster mage. was pretty funny :D
Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast, had a game yesterday where Carpet of Flowers was discarded from a discard effect because the only person at the table with blue was an Oloro deck who didn't have any Islands on the field (and doesn't need to play their commander) Deflecting Swat is a meme at our table, my cousin at some point tried to Deflecting Swat and not 100% know whether it worked or not, so now he just goes "can I deflecting swat that" like a bluff Hmm Etali plays super similarly to Pako from C20 as well, run em both in the same deck together to maximize exile effects (Pako also gets Haste too) Warstorm Surge - I play it in exactly one deck, my Omnath, Locus of Rage, so each landfall, I can ping for 4 - primarily using it to blast creatures on both, it's kinda meh overall
so you all knock thrill and faithless pretty hard... what do you recommend for monored decks as far as draw and getting through more of the deck? EDIT youve basically knocked every red draw card - what do you propose red uses lol
Impulsive draw can actually net you cards, there’s some pretty good ones from jeska’s will to valakut exploration, though some depend on your deck. But, there are quite a few mono red strategies that can produce their own sort of card advantage, like zada or storm
Personally I like thrill of possibility I play it in my krark and sakashima deck yeah I know if it fails I just end up discarding a card but I copy so much in that deck that it usually goes well enough
The problem my opponent in my area, really likes Blue Cards.... there will be alwyas at least two people use commander with blue color... Thats why i always put rel element blast and Pyroblast.
Value Yawgmoth will is still regrowth on steroids and the same is true for Underworld Breach, but i maybe don't even notice the problem because how i deck build i'm not even going to think over those cards if they are not going to be insane. not like i'm not abusing that people play to little grave hate and all my deck can fill graves fast no matter the color so i rarely can't abuse those cards. ps.: you forgot that we have guttersnipe with magecraft, they are called called ral storm conduit, professor onyx and witherbloom apprentice.
But lightning bolt is great though in cEDH it kills people too greedy with their necropotence, kills most of the hate bears that stuff like massacre cannot get, including your draniths magistrates and hullbreachers and also kills many hatewalkers, (My pet names for planeswalkers with powerful static abilities)
I would agree with your opinion pyroblast and red elemental blast if 60 of the top 100 commanders on edh (the resource you're pulling from) didn't contain blue color identity. Blue is 100% the best color in edh. Saying a card that helps against that color is unplayable or extremely niche is simply incorrect. Obviously, if you're in a pod where nobody plays blue, then yeah, you shouldn't be playing them. But if you're playing against random or at an event or something, then you should be preparing for as much of the larger edh meta as possible.
I'm really enjoing this series, hope ot goes on to 2 color combinations
It is going to gold for sure!
Agreed 100 percent
The grade isn’t the cherry on top. Joe is the cherry on top.
Please make the subtitles under your names return. They always make me laugh
Yeah!
Yes please.
I came here looking for this comment. I laughed at their little name subtitles every time too haha. I could live with it if they did away with them but I did like them very much.
Agreed!
Yes please 👍😁
Bolt Bend is Deflecting Swat if you control a commander with power 4 or greater. But it does cost 1 mana. I think that's alot better than you suspect
It’s basically free. You can exile a simian spirit guide for it. I love it
I play lightning bolt in my kykar spellsljnger/storm deck and I was never disappointed because of all the creatures it can kill for just one mana: hullbreachers, opposition agents, random dude that makes me lose a life every time I get a creature, ... It's also very cool with thousand year storm.
same, it can even target some annoying planeswalkers like Narset,
I killed two people in one turn by going bolt, underworld breach, escape boros charm(kill one person), then escape boros charm again to kill the other
I play it in my Veyran deck and it’s always either a useful interaction with the board or my storm victory.
@@surfinggarchomp2820 Bolt looks like the least important part of that sequence tbf lol
@@soleo2783 it was in a superfriends deck
Story time: Purphoros.
I love my Purphoros deck, it was feared in my playgroup, they considered to Ban it in our group but ultimately had to go by the rules and allow it.
Now the story:
Purphoros almost never was a creature because devotion was purposely low, this time it was because I had just played a permanent, Nory the wary, well known at my group. My opponent's eyes widened in surprise seeing the opportunity to use his Path to Exile as soon as he untapped. He untapped and, savoring the moment, he casted Path to Exile targeting the seldom-legal target Purphoros, knowing that that would set me back a lot. I said slowly "Well… I have a triggered ability... Norin... he leaves the battlefield..." His face changed to confusion "Ok..." (thinking what's the harm? 2 damage? well no because Purphoros won't be there). So I go on "My devotion is now 4 and Purphoros is stops being a creature". His face changed from confusion to supreme confusion, to shock, to internal turmoil".
I loved it. I will always cherish a story of when I almost made a friend throw the table in rage. Ahhhh Magic! ❤️
Love deflecting swat!! A guy tried to beast within Kess, so I defecting swatted it into his only island. The shock on his face that I blew up a land was priceless lol
red elemental blast needs a new version with cycling
Now that is a card I can get behind!
It would have been amazing on a MDFC, even at more than 1MV
Red and Pyro are almost autoincludes in cedh decks what includes red. The card doesn’t need a buff, its really-really good enought.
@@Uefeti I want to play them in my red decks but every time I do it just never does anything. Games in my play group are always 3-4 players and there just isn't enough blue decks to make them good. What ends up happening is it just punishes a player who isn't even winning because they happen to have blue and its a dead card unless I use it on them.
I'd rather just play tibalt's trickery honestly, at least it will counter any spell.
@@ellatgrasso2096
Well, that applies specifically to your playgroup, any hight-power-competitive groups will always have blue at the table.
Tibalt trickery is also good, but some decks will need all in-the-stack interactions they could get.
So getting pyro/red is must
“I’m not asking that much of my one mana board wipe” 😂 agreed
Underworld Breach singlehandedly pulled my Rielle, the Everwise deck from jank into a serious contender at Mid-level tables. If you were looking for a deck which discards and pulls cards back with Breach, that would be one.
In certain decks it is great just feel you need to make sure the deck can us it well.
Yeah my friend just wrecked us the other evening with Underworld Breach in his Rielle deck
Fire Diamond is so high up because mono-red is more popular than most other mono-colors, except maybe mono-green, who obviously isn't running diamonds. People love their goblins, dragons, and trying to make burn work in Commander. (Which I suppose is a whole lot easier these days than it used to be!) Also, izzet and boros have a lot of really popular commanders, and those colors don't have too many ramp options.
Hear me out, I personally would put deflecting swat at A+ just because it also hits abilities. The gotcha moments with that card are almost always big blowouta
Dudes Deflecting Swag is such an A+. The versatility is mindblowing. The floor is usefull jank like retargeting a merens revive so she cant Spore Frog you on your next turn. The ceiling is blasting someone with their own Aetherflux reservoir. Its also a Free counterspell Counter. It is also the first redirection spell That redirects Spells and abilities That have more than one target.
You could easily fill one of those Shorts of yours With all the absurd shenanigans you can accomplish With Deflecting swat. ;)
It is a great card but not an A-plus in our opinion.
I think you're undervaluing Magus of the Wheel. I play it often and no one ever bothers to kill it. In their minds, my opponents', don't want to use their removal on it. I've seen mono red runaway with this card with Neheb. I'd give it a C+
If the deck wants to wheel it is a great option. Notice how most of the cards they gave low grade to work well together. That might tell you something about how red is generally used in commander. Throughout this series there are cards I think they undervalue. I would like to know what their group's meta is like. For example, Lightning Bolt will go in a storm deck or Obosh. It is awesome in those decks, but they don't mention that. I wonder if they play against those decks.
@@SirPoonga I think lighting bolt is actually just pretty good tbh. How many different commanders are there that are 6 mana 3/3s? or 5 mana 2/2s. It also kills all those really good stax-y creatures.
@@HomeCookinMTG Lightning bolt is the best damage you get per mana spent. Yes what they say about 40 life also has merit ... 3 damage vs 20 life is more impactful. That being said: it kills a lot of creatures, is supercheap to cast and Torbran loves it ;)
@@Morrodin182 I pretty much use it exclusively as a red swords to plowshares lol. One Mana in instant speed is pretty big. And like I said it kills a lot of commanders a lot more than people give it credit for. Every year there's a new Commander set where they release some new five Mana 2/2
Jaces Archivist and Magus of the wheel are delicious in my locust god deck
I love dropping Vigor and then Blasphemous Act. 15/15 zombie tokens ftw!
Your videos are very insightful. I'm starting with a Krenko Goblin EDH and this video is helping me a lot. Thanks for your videos, you are an awesome duo! Greetings from Perú!
Krenko is so fun. Goblins go brrrr.
Valakut Awakening is my favorite self wheel in commander. Not even counting the land on the back, the front is amazing
I mean the back makes it playable in a lot more decks
@@NitpickingNerds true. I think it's a must play in every red deck that doesn't run blue. You can get rid of any spells you don't want and keep the cards you do want and then draw that many. Its instant speed so you can do it on your opponents end step. Then if you have a Crucible of Worlds you get it right back as a land. So good
Deflecting swat is so strong and flexible. Can also redirect a strong card draw spell at you or something. It protects and steals a lot of great EDH cards.
Are you going to do colorless and multi-color staples?
I goddamn better be on the colourless list if they do
You bet ya!
@@NitpickingNerds I'm currently 12th on the colorless list 😊
@@WayfarersBauble you will get a decent grade 😜
Reb/Pyro is very good. Even if you don’t like it, you will go against a blue player 80% of the time. It’s great interaction for 1 mana. The only way I could understand if you play only in low power play.
Prediction: Red Elemental Blast gets a low rank
Edit: Correct, and you guys do a good job explaining
You nailed it!
Best way to play pyroblast and red elemental blast if you are in a high power meta is rummage cards. That way if they're dead, just cathartic reunion them
I don’t know if anyone has said this ….you guys have great audio. Love your sm7b’s.
Thank you for the kind words :)
I've realized that I run or tested a ton of the cards in the list and I agree with most of your grades.
The only card I slightly disagree is Lighting bolt (Maybe C instead of D) because although in paper indeed it feels meh, in practice can effectively kill pretty much any of the best utility creatures in the format from beast whisperer or zulaport cutthroat to hullbreacher, or kill a relevant creature after an opponent combat. It's not the best removal by any means but it's stil really efficient for just 1 red mana
The number of 3 toughness or less gamebreaking utility creatures, or commanders, is immense, LB always finds a good target.
Great timing, Nerds! I'm trying to craft a Rionya deck now.
Totally agree with you guys on lightning bolt ,but i love it ,it's "the red card" in my eyes ,I run it in all my red decks
If anything the idea of casting a lightning bolt is what brought me to magic in the first place actually and because of that I love me some spell slinging
Red Elemental blast and similar effects are usually great if you have consistent access to card filtering.
What would also be interesting is what cards you believe should be staples, but aren't. So far, the only card that I know would be on that list is grave titan?
Really great idea IMO
Red elemental blast, pyroblast, and anarchy have always served me well in mono or rakdos. They're auto-includes for me even in power-level 8+. I can't interact with problematic enchantments as enchantments, but by playing these things I can at least remove them based on color. Moreover, being able to kill or counter many of the best commanders for one mana is always very nice. Finally, if the table is actually completely devoid of blue, I really don't care about the dead card because I can combo off without the interference of countermagic.
Love the channel, you guys are incredible.
One of my favorite EDH channels on youtube
I had a game where someone went to kill me with aetherflux with like 2 health left. Killed him with lightning bolt on the stack. With that said lightning bolt still sucks.
Thank you for the new awesome series
We did it just for you!
I once chaos warp just for the creature I warped to be on top
One time my opponent took my big creature with The Akroan War, and what I did was Chaos Warp the creature so that he lost a creature and I could get a bonus! I think I got a Mountain from it though :P
Ooohhh YEAH, Hulk Hogan you CANT STOP my flying Dockside Extortionist off the top rope.
Reforge the Soul is on there because Wheel of Fortune is ridiculously expensive. BUT! I did manage a turn 4 win playing my Kenrith deck with it. Reforge the Soul and cast Hullbreacher, played Kenrith, Visera Seer, Dockside extortionist. Win 🏆✌💪
I think you could easily make an entire video just on what spot removal in mono red is playable. I've tried everything from building a mana base around Skred (which when compromising your lands is still not much better than flame slash, which is also pretty bad) to now experimenting with magmatic sinkhole. Chaos warp is the only one I get excited about, abrade feels just okay, but there are better ways to deal with artifacts like viashino heretic. Idk, think its an overlooked issue and would love your all's input!
Mono Colors are so hard to work with
These vids are so extremely useful to new players
Lightning bolt for a mono red is great, being able to destroy a creature witg 3 or less toughness with also being able to kill plainswalkers for one mana. Opening hand killing someone's mana dork is also so much value.
It’s so hard for me to get behind because the ceiling is so low. The other cards in my deck can do so much more but this well best case it kills some creatures sometimes
@@NitpickingNerds best case scenario is you kill a player sometimes.
It’s versatile removal which that can hit players, creatures, and planeswalkers. For the PW it does not have to kill it in order to be relevant.
The proliferation of creatures being reprinted with potent effects increases its value with time too. Tell me you’re not happy to have it if looking at the likes of Hullbreacher, Dranith Magistrate, or Collector Ouphe.
I understand the ranking because it's based on the card in general not Just in a mono red. In my mono red decks I just have such a hard time justifying removing this card. Besides artifact removal having low mana cost spot removal Is just not there besides chaos warp. The worst case scenario with this card is you destroy a 2-3 mana cost utility creature. Which in my mind is still worth 1 mana and a card.
If I am running anyother colours it becomes much easier to take out.
Reforge the Soul goes in my Boros deck with Land Tax and Scroll Rack (and that new goblin that combos with Kiki-Jiki on the top of your library).
The snoop?
@@pauljimerson8218 yes, that one
I've been playing lightning bolt in my kraark and sakashima deck. It's fun casting bolt 5 times in a row, and getting 2 or 3 copies every time. I also just like the one mana instant spells to keep the deck feeling like a real spell slinger deck.
I have an etali deck and I average get it out turn 4 and it’s a budget deck. Just A LOT mana rocks with haste abilities. Fill it with instant buffs and removals. And it’s a fun casual deck.
I got a Krark/Sakashima whose main goal is to copy a ritual a bunch then cast a giant X spell like Crackle with Power. Mana geyser is an all star there, but occasionally I’ll get lost in the rush of making 50 mana and realize too late I don’t have an X spell to cast. Then just awkwardly pass the turn with 46 red mana floating.
I’m doing it, I’m doing it... pass the turn
Good list! My only nitpick is with Warstorm Surge is that it can hit any target, which is a plus over Tremors and Purphoros
Only thing I'm surprised about regarding red elemental blast and pyroblast evaluation is that it wasn't mentioned that pyroblast can go in storm decks. I think then it should have a higher rating, even if only slightly
LB is one mana commander removal (for commanders I’m actually afraid of). I run it in Kalamax and Torbran and it’s always better than you’d expect.
Good in my Mizzix deck too where it also works as part of combo win con.
Ok Joe since you always mention your Godzilla deck: I took a look at the list and I noticed you're not playing Wilderness Elemental. It seems like it would be a perfect fit for it!
17:57 the deck you are talking about is ghen arcanum weaver. I’ve been running all the looting effects and underworld breach. Working Pretty good for me
Also Rielle the Everwise does pretty well, turning discards into draws
Magus of the wheel works very well in a Chainer, Nightmare Adapt deck. Wheel every turn
That’s a nice combo if you can pay it off
PS. I like lightning bolt in Niv Mizzet, Parun. It triggers Niv so it draws a card, and as such it is 4 dmg for 1 mana. It is also good as instant sorcery synergy, particularly if you want some consistency on this effect (ie you can run it with abrade not instead). Not top 20 card good of course, but I can see decks were it is an A, and many decks were it can be C+/B- so giving it a D is kinda mean.
My buddy was murdering the table the other night with Purphoros until I Chaos Warped it and fixed the game lol. He hit his least favorite permanent in the deck and it gave me the opportunity to turn the game around for the win.
Card is great!
Some of the magus (that are wizards) also have some use in inalla
Great video, I’d say give lightning bolt a chance, it hits the cars you really need to hit for one mana, drannith magistrate, hullbreacher, aven mindcensor just off the top of my head.
Sad when they said Wheel of Fortune isn't a budget card...reprint the Reserved List WotC!
Yes please
Proxy!!
Red elemental blast / pyroblast - for when your friend has cyclonic rift in every deck.
Been watching a very long time I appreciate your takes on the format and you've recently inspired me to dump necropotence for the sake of variety and I'm really glad I did, so thank you for that.
Pretty harsh on Red Elemental and Pyro. I love them both. There's always someone in blue at my tables, feels like blue is everywhere and if you're a rakdos player like me I'd rather have a dead card in 5% of my games than forego my only way to interact with someone stopping my big turns.
Keep it up fellas!
I have them in a red combo deck I have that is only really vulnerable to countermagic, so they’re pretty good there as some of the few ways to protect the combo.
About Gamble, have you ever tutored for a a echo of eons when you top decked gamble and refilled your hand with its flashback cost? Cause i have
Warstorm surge is indeed nice in a red infect deck
They didn't really mention the fact the creature deals the damage not the enchantment.
Death touch wiether or infect its amazing. But in most decks it sucks compared to others
I think what I have come to realize is that Ham Sandwich must be the most powerful card in Magic. So many cards go infinite with it, and it is so ubiquitous that it is never even put up on the screen. I've never been lucky enough to pull one. Or is it a token from sacrificing some sort of Boar? I'm surprised it wasn't reprinted in Strixhaven with a Gyome tie-in.
Wizards would have to be *insane* to reprint A Ham Sandwich now. Last time it passed through standard, it clogged up the whole format.
@@maxheath1158 You definitely don’t see any Ham Sandwiches at the table now that most games are running through Spelltable. Just not part of the current meta.
I can tell when joe was explaining purphoros....he had a real hard time not saying “this card is absolutely insane” 😂
I agree about not putting cards in your deck that might do something instead of surely can do something. I believe there should be a sideboard in Commander and my group plays that way.
"I'm living in a nightmare" - Randy Savage in the infamous cream of the crop interview
The fact he has one of those little creams is what mashed it great.
In etali's defense, you are in red, the color of haste. Though you are right, it does need a lot of synergy as I'm not just jamming every haste effect into my red decks. It being a staple is definitely... interesting, I'm not playing it in a lot of my red decks (and I have a lot of them).
Love the content guys
When I was new to commander I loved lightning bolt, just because it's cheap removal and I was a standard player, then as I got into higher power commander I noticed it was so bad because it wasn't enough to take out powerful creatures people should cheat in with atla, kallia etc. Now as a cedh player bolt is S+ tier because my birgi deck needs to take care of certain 2/1 creatures with 1st strike that hose my game plan, also esper sentinel, archivist of ohgma, sanctum prelate, stoneforge mystic drannith magistrate all get beamed by it.
Dockside extortionist is the cream of the crop. And the cream will always rise to the top.
Thrill of possibility is an auto include in any boros or mono red deck. Same goes for tormenting voice, seething song, Mana geyser, etc...
On the topic of underworld breach, i have seen it used in a mono red dragon storm deck to good effect, but still generally only a combopiece
Question: can you play Deflecting Swat on a spell or an ability that has nog target? Nothing would happen, but could you technically cast the card this way?
Do you guys feel the same way about cards like Insight and Carpet of Flowers as you do about REB or Pyroblast?
The overwhelming theme of this video series is that these guys don't play spellslinger decks and don't know what is good in them.
Thank you! You can tell what their meta is just by these videos. 😂
Underworld breach in mono red madness is absolutely busted. Red and rakdos madness decks are so underrated they make so much better use out of cards like gamble and faithless looting and stuff.
Ha! I kept hearing Chaos Warp as Chaos Orb in other videos.
Comboing with lightning bolt in underworld breach feels great
Bolt is probably high due to cedh as it hits almost every creature in that format
Nobody plays bolt in cedh
I love the miracles with elsha and i love redirect spells with sunforger
Lightning Bolt, I think, finds its home mostly in decks that copy it an extreme amount of time with Kalamax, the Stormsire being the first one I think of even if there are better options for cards to use in spellslinging deck.
In My Mizzix deck Fireminds Inisght finds bolt, reiterate and a ritual for infinite mana and then inifinite bolts.
Etali plays so nicely in the new prosper precon
I'd love to see a short on all the spicy things Lightning Bolt can kill for it's 1 mana 😀.
oh i actually pulled it off to go infinite with my opponents clone legion (i think its the name, the spell that copys every creature you control) using dualcaster mage. was pretty funny :D
Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast, had a game yesterday where Carpet of Flowers was discarded from a discard effect because the only person at the table with blue was an Oloro deck who didn't have any Islands on the field (and doesn't need to play their commander)
Deflecting Swat is a meme at our table, my cousin at some point tried to Deflecting Swat and not 100% know whether it worked or not, so now he just goes "can I deflecting swat that" like a bluff
Hmm Etali plays super similarly to Pako from C20 as well, run em both in the same deck together to maximize exile effects (Pako also gets Haste too)
Warstorm Surge - I play it in exactly one deck, my Omnath, Locus of Rage, so each landfall, I can ping for 4 - primarily using it to blast creatures on both, it's kinda meh overall
I use 'Bolt' as a one mana Murder for small utility creatures in my deck.
I think the difference from Grave titan and Etali, is that one attack with Etali can mean the game. And Grave titan is just more zombies.
In this episode, Joe and Beezy hold the red pen.
If you have ever use lightning bolt against a laboratory maniac, it feels pretty fantastic
so you all knock thrill and faithless pretty hard... what do you recommend for monored decks as far as draw and getting through more of the deck?
EDIT youve basically knocked every red draw card - what do you propose red uses lol
Impulsive draw can actually net you cards, there’s some pretty good ones from jeska’s will to valakut exploration, though some depend on your deck.
But, there are quite a few mono red strategies that can produce their own sort of card advantage, like zada or storm
Also, there are several reasonable wheels in red, like wheel of misfortune, at least when in the right strategy.
Does chainer count as crazy synergy for filtering?
You guys are the Eric Clapton and Van Morrison of MTG.
Dang that is some high praise
@@NitpickingNerds I re-tweaked my slimefoot deck based on your average cards per cmc recommendation. Wrecked the play group.
@@josephhyde8387 we got you homie!
What video is that?
@@salfontana5712 how to build a commander deck, middle part
If you play pyroblast in niv mizzet parun it is at least a 1 mana cycle + ping if it is a dead card.
For artifact removal in red I'm a big fan of Meltdown
Purphoros in my krenko deck is just 👌
Personally I like thrill of possibility I play it in my krark and sakashima deck yeah I know if it fails I just end up discarding a card but I copy so much in that deck that it usually goes well enough
The problem my opponent in my area, really likes Blue Cards.... there will be alwyas at least two people use commander with blue color... Thats why i always put rel element blast and Pyroblast.
Lightning bolt is decent in my Neheb deck with a bunch of damage doublers. 12 mana gain in main phase two off one spent for a bolt feels good. 🤷♂️
Lightning Bolt is better than you think in EDH but... Skred is where it's at if your 1 or 2 colors in red 😎.
The cream rises to the top OH YEAH
Tragically, I (at least in my most recent incarnation) do die to Blasphemous Act
The old you would survive but you have gotten soft!
@@NitpickingNerds Invading multiple planes takes a toll on you, on the outside and on the inside
@@emrakulofficialaccount5960 you have been to 2 planes in 3000 years calm down.
@@NitpickingNerds what a drama queen eh?
@@tomerick28 I know seriously 😳
thrill of possibility is awesome in kalamax. 2 mana draw 4 is awesome
Value Yawgmoth will is still regrowth on steroids and the same is true for Underworld Breach, but i maybe don't even notice the problem because how i deck build i'm not even going to think over those cards if they are not going to be insane. not like i'm not abusing that people play to little grave hate and all my deck can fill graves fast no matter the color so i rarely can't abuse those cards.
ps.: you forgot that we have guttersnipe with magecraft, they are called called ral storm conduit, professor onyx and witherbloom apprentice.
But lightning bolt is great though in cEDH it kills people too greedy with their necropotence, kills most of the hate bears that stuff like massacre cannot get, including your draniths magistrates and hullbreachers and also kills many hatewalkers, (My pet names for planeswalkers with powerful static abilities)
We mentioned in the video we aren’t talking about cEDH 😊
Lightning bolt is planes walker control and that’s good enough for me
I would agree with your opinion pyroblast and red elemental blast if 60 of the top 100 commanders on edh (the resource you're pulling from) didn't contain blue color identity. Blue is 100% the best color in edh. Saying a card that helps against that color is unplayable or extremely niche is simply incorrect. Obviously, if you're in a pod where nobody plays blue, then yeah, you shouldn't be playing them. But if you're playing against random or at an event or something, then you should be preparing for as much of the larger edh meta as possible.