Red Deck Wins FNM

 I've decided to take my red deck wins deck to the next few Friday Night Magic tournaments. Tonight we had a tournout of about 12 people which meant 4 rounds top 4. Here is what happened:

First the deck:

• 18 mountain
• 4 Tattermunge Maniac
• 4 Bloodhall Ooze
• 4 Figure of Destiny
• 4 Stigma Lasher
• 4 Vexing Shusher
• 4 Boggart Ram-Gang
• 2 Ashenmoor Gouger
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Tarfire
• 4 Lash Out
• 4 Flame Javelin

SB

• 2 Earthquake
• 4 Volcanic Fallout
• 2 Chandra Nalaar
• 3 Spitebellow
• 2 Everlasting Torment
• 2 Mana Barbs

Round 1:  Vs Progenitus

Deck basicly used polymorph on a token (bitterblossom token from what I saw) or on a mutavault.

Both games were very uneventful, all I saw him do was draw cards. he was dead in 5-6 turns both times. 2-0.  Sideboarded nothing as first game I only saw an island and a mutavault.

1-0 match 2-0 games

Round 2: vs RB aggro

Aggro beatdown, used alot of unearth and blasted me with some Blightnings. also ramped up to use nalaar and has vess too.

Game 1 - Everything I played he found a way to kill (terminate, lightning bolt, doomblade) Everything he played I killed (tarfire, lightning bolt, lashout). Eventually we got into a topdecking war where he topdecked a nalaar and I topdecked a land, 2 turns later he used the 10 damage ability.

Game 2 - I played first and played a tattermunge, he played a FoD. I tarfired the FoD and played an ooze 18. He played a hellspark elemental attacked for 3. 18-17. I played Ram Gang attacked for 7  11-17. He played a Shambling Remains. I attacked for 7 and flame javelin for the win.

Game 3 - He played FoD. I thought for a min between killing his FoD and playing my own. I decied to Tarfire his FoD. He played another. This time the choice was easier as a lightning bolted his and played my own. He followed it up with a sign in blood drawing first blood on himself. (18-20). I attacked with my FoD and freshly played Ram Gang (14-20). He played a hellspark, (14-17) I attacked with my 4/4 FoD and ram gang (7-17) he played a blocker which I lightning bolted and attacked for the win.

2-0 Match  4-1 games

Round 3: Vs Time Sieve / Open the Vaults Combo

Basic idea is to get Time Sieve out, draw a lot of cards with 2 mana cantrips, take extra turns with time sieve and open the vaults (time warp too). Play and empower Tezzeret the Seeker to make all your artifacts 5/5 to attack for the win.

Game 1- I put on too quick of a rush for him to deal with, he took a few extra turns but couldnt come up with the combo.

Game 2- He played turn 2 howling mine against my turn 1 tattermunge. This wasnt the right move, but it payed off for him. I drew my second land 4-5 turns later. by that time he had a blocker in play blocked my ooze (3/3 at the time) then my tattermunge. I made a play mistake: he had 4 life left I had 2 mana and 2 tarfires. I decided to play them right away (hoping he couldnt counter) instead of waiting for him to tap out during his turn. he countered the 2nd and went off the next turn.

Game 3 - My deck was once again too fast. He stalled me out for a few turns with Fog effects but I was able to finish him off.

3-0 rounds 6-2 games

Round 4: Vs Bant aggro

A UWG deck based around the word exalted. one key card is Rafiq of the Many another is Shorecrasher Mimic. can be brutal weak to burn.  At this point we could draw in but we played it out.

Game 1: I killed his first turn Noble Hierarch and basicly kept his board clear. He used bant charm to throw a couple guys to the bottom but couldnt do much else.

Game 2: I let him play out his mana dudes just to get his bigger guys get shot out of the sky. I had 2 oozes 1 ram gang and 1 4/4 FoD out at one point. He played an angel that only lets me untap one guy. I chose my 5/5 ooze and the angel had to block it to keep him alive. Next turn I finished him off with my 8/8 FoD

4-0 rounds 8-2 Games:

Top 4: vs RB aggro

Same RB as round 2.

Game 1 He went first played a land and lightning bolted me  20-17. I played Fod. He played a guy, probably a FoD. I Tarfire and attacked for 2. he played a hellspark attacked 3 18-14. I played a ram gang attacked for 5. 13-14 he played a Shambling remains with a mountain open. I attacked for 5, he took it  I showed him my 3 lightning bolts in hand. He showed me his lightning bolt that should have killed the ram gang before it attacked.

Game 2- Boring game due to his mana screw. He got no black mana.

5-0 rounds 10-2 games

Shop was closing so we called it here. The bant guy took his match as well.

Tips:

Dont burn your opponent unless you are killing him. Too often I see players Lightning bolt or Flame Javelin their full life opponents. Unless you have 20 damage worth of burn in your hands it's more likely to be better used on your oppoents blockers or even attackers keeping you alive.

Go for the kill. Dont hold back attackers just becouse one will die. I often see people not attack when they have 3 attackers just becouse they will lose one. well if you arent attacking with any then you've already lost them all. At least if you attack 2 will get though. Im not saying trade all your guys pointlessly but dont be afraid to turn your guys sideways just for fear of losing one.

Go for the kill part 2. The time to burn your oppoent is when you can kill him with the burn in your hand or the spells you can cast next turn +your attack. For example I had my opponent at 8 and a ram gang in play. I had 3 mana untapped at the end of my turn. my options were hold my flame javelin or play it. (no other land in hand, lets say it was my only card) I needed 1 more damage then the ram gang + the jav would deal. I waited til his eot when I played my flame jav. I now have 4 cards in my deck that I'll draw to kill my opponent, if I would have held the javelin I would have the cards still but not the mana to use them. In this situation I drew another ram gang and attacked for 6.

From here:

Hopefully I'll be able to play again tomorrow (I guess it's tonight at this point). I'm going to make sideboard changes though. The biggest change is I'll be adding in 4 Hellspark Elementals. It's a card I think can deal alot of damage when I come up against creatureless/creature light decks basicly taking out 4 lash out for them.  Im not happy with my sideboard to say the least, good thing I didnt use it much tonight. The deck is solid as it is right now. I wouldnt change anything in the main deck.