Breaking Dawn - Blightning Aggro
30 Apr 2010 | Jack Ding
Rise of the Eldrazi is finally legal and everyone is hoping that Standard will be less of a Jundfest as a result. Most of the articles on the new format have been centered on awful janky combo decks such as Open the Vaults or Polymorph. If that is your cup of tea then by all means drink it but I happen to dislike playing jank of any form. Up till now that has meant that I have been playing Jund and Bad Jund (aka Naya) almost exclusively. However, with the introduction of RoE I have been playing with this list and have been very happy so far.
Lands: (24)
8 [ZEN] Mountain (2)4 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
4 [M10] Dragonskull Summit
4 [WWK] Lavaclaw Reaches
4 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
Creatures: (13)
4 [ALA] Hell’s Thunder1 [ZEN] Obsidian Fireheart
4 [ROE] Kargan Dragonlord
4 [ZEN] Plated Geopede
Spells: (23)
4 {R} Lightning Bolt
4 [WWK] Searing Blaze
4 [ALA] Blightning
3 [M10] Earthquake
4 [ZEN] Burst Lightning
Perhaps more relevant than analysing what I’m running is to focus on what I am not running.
The easiest way to put it is that this card is obsolete. With Wall of Omens now in Standard, you cannot afford to run a two drop which not only does represent a board presence but also cannot attack through your opponents 2 drop. This card was already horrible against Knight of the White Orchid, Sprouting Thrinax and Wall of Omens is the final straw. If Wall of Omens does not get picked up by control decks (slight possibility) then he may find his way back into the deck.
Time for some controversy. This card is one of the best red one drops of all time and sees extensive play in all formats (vintage does not qualify unfortunately) and yet does not make a Standard Red Aggro deck. Wall of Omens does have something to do with it but is not the main reason by far. You see, Goblin Guide is just bad in this deck. Firstly, we have 8 lands which ETBT on turn 1. Turn 1 Goblin Guide is fine against every deck even if they run Wall of Omens because he will do at least 2-4 damage and stay on the board. However, when you are casting Goblin Guide on turn 2 a third of the time it becomes much less attractive. Secondly, the card is awful with Blightning. Giving your opponents land to discard to Blightning defeats the purpose of either card. Why are you even playing Blightning in the first place? Of course you could argue that if you cut Blightning then both of these problems will be solved and you are correct. However, we are not talking about Mono Red. Playing black gives you access to a slightly less all-in game plan as well as giving you access to answers to Kor Firewalker in the sideboard (insurance against those awful players who like to start their sideboards with 4 Kor Firewalker because they think it makes them l33t and who you would rather not lose to). Finally, I would just rather cast Blightning than Goblin Guide if I have to choose between the two which is what I am doing. If you do wish to be all in with Mono Red try running Devastating Summons with Goblin Bushwhacker and push for a turn 3 goldfish.
Now we are onto the cards which are in the list. This one is frankly a bit of a joke. Feel free to replace this with whatever pet card you wish to run in this slot. The optimal replacement is probably Swamp (which is currently in my sideboard).
Best red two drop ever printed. OK that is a slightly exaggeration. More accurately put as best red two drop ever printed that is not a burn spell in disguise. Unfortunately, this does not mean as much as it might seem as in any format that is not Standard your red two drop of choice would be Tarmogoyf but that is going off on a tangent. This card is stupidly good. Generally you will want to play Plated Geopede before this if you have the choice to maximise damage velocity. Any time your opponent taps out for something punish him by levelling him up to the next level. Although he is a two drop there will be inevitable comparisons with Figure of Destiny. This card is better at every single level than Figure of Destiny. What Figure of Destiny has going for it is that it is a one drop and is more forgiving on the manabase. That being said, he is still better than Figure of Destiny. Oh and he is not a dragon at his third stage.
I will answer the obvious question first: why play this over Ball Lightning. While Ball Lightning is certainly the manlier card, Hell’s Thunder is just better. A lot of decks will leave Lightning Bolt open against Red Aggro and hope to buy some tempo and save some life. Playing Hell’s Thunder into that one mana is just a huge blowout the other way. It does more damage than Ball Lightning in total and this deck easily gets to 5 mana in almost every single game. I can’t think of a single matchup where I would prefer Ball Lightning.
This deck is solid deck and even if you do not choose to run it (because you have an aversion to mountains) you should have a copy of it in your gauntlet.
For discussion.