Hi, I’m Chad Kay – I’m a competitive MTG player who enjoys playing Red-based aggro decks across many formats. My most recent success was winning the most recent Pauper Championship Series 1K with the Rally Red deck, which I also took to the finals in the previous 1K, making me the current points leader. This latest finish makes me feel more confident that I’m capable with the deck and my success may be somewhat sustainable.
WHY DID I CHOOSE TO PLAY RALLY RED?
In addition to loving Red decks, I’m an Arclight Phoenix enjoyer in other formats, so I thought the Mono-R Madness deck would be right up my alley. In practice, I found the amount of air in the deck and the play patterns with Guttersnipe unappealing, and the matchup against Terror felt poor. In contrast, I’ve enjoyed the play patterns of the Rally Red deck and it has good matchups into Terror decks (foreshadowing), as well as Madness and Elves. Grixis Affinity and Jund Wildfire are a problem (mostly thanks to Krark-Clan Shaman) but even in unfavorable matchups, the deck’s best draws can steal any game, and the fail rate of the deck is low compared to most of the format.
On its surface, the best draws of the deck are very apparent.
On Turn 1, play a Great Furnace into Goblin Tomb Raider and swing for 2.
On Turn 2, cast any number of Burning-Tree Emissary (BTE) into Rally at the Hornburg, then turn all your creatures sideways.
On Turn 3, play any creature into a kicked Goblin Bushwhacker, then attack and likely win the game. Those sequences are how you draw it up, but how do you win the games that are a little more difficult? My goal is to offer a little bit of insight on how to win those tougher games.
The core of Rally is extremely tight. Ideally, the deck is as consistent as possible at assembling its best draws in Game 1, so playing mostly 4-ofs is imperative. With that being said, there are a few flex slots, so let’s dive into my choices for those.
- 4 Reckless Impulse – The best option to keep the gas flowing. Having an extra turn to use both cards makes it MUCH less awkward than Experimental Synthesizer, and its 1R mana cost works great after casting BTE. Try to avoid casting Impulse after playing your land drop if possible, but sometimes you’ll be light on action or trying to hit a land drop and need to play it beforehand, even as early as Turn 2. Impulses are often trimmed in combo matchups, where you aren’t planning to play a longer game.
- 2 Chain Lightning – Having access to a couple extra burn spells provides you a little more reach and interaction, but these often get boarded out – they can be awkward in Red mirrors, are worse interaction than more targeted sideboard cards, and the sorcery speed is sometimes a liability.
- 2 Experimental Synthesizer (most common is 3) – I think Synth is one of the worst cards in the deck, but it being an artifact is nice, and it can be useful when flooding. When played/activated without having 2 unspent mana in play, there’s a real chance you miss the opportunity to use the card revealed, due to having 16 2 drops (counting a kicked Bushwhacker) in the deck, so be wary of casting it too early in the game.
- 2 Gingerbrute (most common is 0) – These little cookies have consistently proven to me that they are capable of their inclusion. While fairly low impact, Gingerbrute has pseudo-evasion to provide reach through board stalls or larger blockers, while also being an artifact and castable off the green mana generated by BTE. It avoids Blue Elemental Blast effects and Prismatic Strands thanks to being colorless, and can even block and gain you 3 life in a racing situation. That all adds up to quite the package if you ask me.
I’ve seen a few lists with 17 lands, but highly recommend playing 18 lands. The deck has access to many powerful draws, so I’d prefer consistently having enough mana to make them functional.
For this event, I kept most of what worked for the previous 1K, but took some inspiration from the lists I saw online the week before. After some brief discussion with my teammate Nick Sobczak I ended up with the following:
- 4 Pyroblast – When I made the finals in the prior 1K, I was on 6 Red Elemental Blast effects total. This time around, I trimmed on them to make room for some extra cards, matching the lists I saw. In practice, diversifying my interaction against the Terror decks felt great and allowed me to be proactive rather than just waiting with a pile of Blasts in my hand.
- 2 Cast into the Fire, 1 Suplex – I decided to play an extra artifact removal spell (Shatter) this time around, and it paid off big in my finals match against Affinity. I noticed most lists were playing a split between the two spells, and thought having access to a Suplex would line up well into Red mirrors and most creature matchups. I think it’s key that all your Shatters can exile a Bridge, so I prefer either of these choices over Smash to Smithereens.
- 2 End the Festivities – I think this card’s stock has gone down a bit, so I trimmed a copy from the last 1K, but it’s still very useful against Elves, Faeries, the mirror match, and White Aggro.
- 2 Relic of Progenitus – I was advised to include these in my sideboard this time around. It played out amazingly into all of the Terror decks I faced, and also helps buy time when racing graveyard-based combo decks and Madness.
- 2 Searing Blaze – One of the weaker sideboard cards which can be awkward at times (not being able to cast it cleanly off BTE hurts), but it’s still impactful in most creature matchups.
- 2 Mine Collapse – Courtesy of Nick, I would find it hard to leave home without them as long as Writhing Chrysalis and Tolarian Terror are pillars of the format. It’s not pretty, but rather than chump attacking to push damage or spending 2 burn spells, clearing a large blocker with a single card for 0 mana has the potential to give you a huge advantage. I’m afraid of drawing multiples, as sacrificing your lands obviously has a downside, but I think this card is majorly slept on after playing with it.
My path to winning the tournament was as follows:
Round 1: Guac and Marshmallow Pizza Combo w/Devoted Druid – W 2-1 (play)
Round 2: Dimir Terror – W 2-0 (play)
Round 3: Mono-Blue Faeries – W 2-0 (play)
Round 4: Dimir Terror – W 2-0 (play)
Round 5: Infect – Intentional Draw
Round 6: Grixis Affinity – Intentional Draw
Top 8: Dimir Terror – W 2-1 (play)
Top 4: Dimir Terror – W 2-0 (play)
Finals: Grixis Affinity W 2-1 (draw)
I was very fortunate to be on the play every round other than the finals. I think I had a favorable matchup spread as well, playing against 4 Dimir Terror decks, with Affinity being the only truly bad matchup.
In a vacuum, a good opening hand with the deck contains 2-3 lands, with multiple threats. Depending on the matchup, you may need to prioritize having either a very aggressive draw, or access to interaction (usually a burn spell), especially on the draw.
In my opinion, you need to have a very strong reason to keep a 7 card hand with only 1 land. As stated earlier, ~ 40% of the spells in the deck cost 2 mana. In addition, the ability to cast multiple spells on a turn early in the game is part of what helps put your opponent on the back foot. Using the heuristic of mulliganing every 7 card hand with 1 land will likely increase your win rate with the deck. I would consider keeping a 1 land hand only if one or more of the following is true:
- The hand has extremely high upside when hitting its second land – usually this is some sort of BTE/Rally draw, or a bunch of creatures plus a Bushwhacker. Note that these are the most punishing to miss a land drop with, as you are likely to fall behind quickly with a bunch of 2 drops stuck in your hand.
- The hand is mostly 1 drop spells – this ensures even if you miss your second land drop, you will still cast a spell the first several turns and have a fighting chance.
- The hand is decent upside with a second land in an unfavorable matchup and has the tools to win.
On the flipside, hands with 4 or more lands are usually mulligans unless you think the spells are quite impactful. Despite all I mentioned above, mulliganing with the deck is somewhat punishing due to most of your cards being fairly low impact on their own. I’ll often keep some more threat-light hands with interaction/card advantage, especially after already taking a mulligan.
The Pauper format is extremely diverse, so I can’t possibly guide you through every matchup you may see at an event, but here are some tips on how I approach playing against some of the more popular decks in the format.
In most matchups, I trim on copies of Rally and/or Bushwhacker, which on the surface may seem wild. In sideboarded games your opponent often will have some sort of sweeper to punish your go-wide strategy, which can make these cards less impactful. Like with other formats/decks, expect your sideboarded games to drag out a bit longer than in Game 1 due to both players having relevant interaction to set each other back.
+2 Searing Blaze, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +1 Suplex; -2 Rally at the Hornburg, -2 Gingerbrute, -1 Voldaren Epicure
Key Cards: Kessig Flamebreather, Guttersnipe, End the Festivities, Cast into the Fire
Overall you are the beatdown, as they have inevitability here with the amount of burn in their deck. Things should go well here as long as you apply enough pressure to force their burn spells to be fired at your creatures. That being said, Flamebreather and Guttersnipe staying on the table are how things get out of hand. Especially on the draw, I’d consider mulliganing a hand that can’t deal with one. Try to hold on to your burn spells until they either win the game or are needed to interact. Sneaky Snacker can be annoying, but dealing with it even once can be punishing for them, since it will come back tapped the turn they bring it back. Cast/End can set you back a lot, so be wary of overextending too much with 1 toughness creatures. For this reason, your threats with 2 toughness are best here.
The Rakdos matchup is more difficult due to all the incidental lifegain they have access to. The upside here is their deck is a little clunkier and doesn’t have quite the damage output as Mono-R, giving you a little more time on average before they can burn you out.
DIMIR/MONO-U TERROR – FAVORABLE
Dimir: +4 Pyroblast, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Mine Collapse; -2 Experimental Synthesizer, -2 Burning-Tree Emissary, -2 Chain Lightning, -1 Rally at the Hornburg, -1 Goblin Bushwhacker
Mono-U: +4 Pyroblast, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Mine Collapse; -2 Experimental Synthesizer, -2 Chain Lightning, -2 Burning Tree Emissary, -1 Reckless Impulse, -1 Rally at the Hornburg
Key cards: Non-Delver Threats, Blue Elemental Blast effects (also Suffocating Fumes, Arms of Hadar, and Unexpected Fangs in Dimir)
The goal here is to stick cheap threats early, make their interaction as awkward as possible, and out-tempo them. Percussionist is one of your better cards against Dimir to help punish their spot removal spells and sweepers. Trying to answer their larger creatures using burn spells other than Mine Collapse is difficult, so plan to fire them upstairs at their end step unless they’ve tapped out and give you a window on your own turn. In the late game, you may need to be patient and try to stockpile a couple threats/burn spells to try to overload their mana/resources, rather than just casting one as soon as you draw it.
Both matchups are fine, but I think Mono-U is slightly worse. Mono-U has a higher threat density (and gets them out much quicker), has access to Murmuring Mystic and more counterspells, and usually gives you a lot less time to work with before they turn the corner. The downside is that it has much worse interaction for your creatures and no life gain. Dimir has taplands and is slower, but has access to sweepers and life gain in the form of Unexpected Fangs.
GRIXIS AFFINITY – UNFAVORABLE
+2 Cast into the Fire, +2 Pyroblast, +1 Suplex; -2 Rally at the Hornburg, -2 Chain Lightning, -1 Goblin Bushwhacker
Key cards: Krark-Clan Shaman (KCS), Reckoner’s Bargain, Myr Enforcer
I’ve really struggled with this matchup – KCS (even without Toxin Analysis) is supremely annoying to have to grind through, and they also have inevitability in a late game as they just have more powerful cards. You can put them on the back foot with pressure early, as it often takes them a few turns to set up, but that leaves you cold to KCS. Other than KCS, things get tricky once they have an Enforcer down, as you need a full-powered Galvanic Blast to clear it out of the way. Be careful if they’ve left up the mana for a Bargain, as it’s a huge blowout if you try to deal with a creature and in response they sacrifice it to gain a pile of life and draw 2 cards. Unless you have a reason to play it, try to hold at least 1 land in the late game to discard to a Refurbished Familiar.
I’ve tinkered with different sideboarding in addition to the Shatter effects – options I’ve tried include Blaze, End, and Pyroblast. I think the latter of those is the best, especially when on the draw. Aggressively taking them off mana with your Shatters early to slow their development can swing games in your favor. Please learn from my mistake on stream – avoid playing your Furnace in postboard games until you need it in order to avoid it getting exiled early with their own Casts.
+2 End the Festivities, +2 Searing Blaze, +1 Suplex, +2 Mine Collapse; -2 Reckless Impulse, -2 Voldaren Epicure, -1 Rally at the Hornburg, -2 Experimental Synthesizer
Key Cards: Priest of Titania, Timberwatch Elf, Masked Vandal, Vitu-Ghazi Inspector
You are mostly the control deck here as their explosive draws can outpace yours, but their late game is powerful, so you do need to work to close the game. More recently, I’ve prioritized playing to the board early if I can and ignoring their first accelerant in order to make sure I’m not cold to a Priest. Vandal and Vitu-Ghazi have good sizing to win combat with your creatures, so don’t be afraid to take them off the board if it allows you to push a lot of damage.
JUND WILDFIRE – UNFAVORABLE
+2 Mine Collapse, +2 Cast into the Fire, +1 Suplex; -2 Chain Lightning, -2 Rally at the Hornburg, -1 Goblin Bushwhacker,
Key Cards: Krark-Clan Shaman, Writing Chrysalis, Breath Weapon, Weather the Storm
There are some similarities to the Affinity matchup here as well as some differences. Once again their late game is superior to yours, so you have to push damage while still contending with KCS (and Breath Weapon after sideboarding). Mine Collapse is narrow, but helps deal with Chrysalis, which often bridges them to the late game (or just wins the game). Prioritize keeping them off green sources with your Shatter effects if possible to slow them casting Chrysalis or Weather the Storm. Be mindful if they’ve left up mana for Weather, sequencing carefully to make it as awkward for them as possible.
+2 End the Festivities, +2 Cast into the Fire, +2 Searing Blaze, +1 Suplex; -2 Chain Lightning, -2 Rally at the Hornburg, -2 Gingerbrute, -1 Goblin Bushwhacker
A classic red mirror where the goal is to keep their board as clear as possible while developing your own. Generally the player on the play will look to push damage while the person on the draw acts as the control deck, but these roles are not static, and figuring out which you need to assume at any given time is critical to winning. Always consider how much damage they can do with a Bushwhacker the following turn and plan accordingly. Percussionist is super awkward to deal with – you can either choose to take a bunch of chip damage from it or trade it off in combat and give them an extra card; which one is correct to do will depend on the game. Overextending with Rally could run into End, so sequence carefully. Note that Casts are best used here to deal with creatures (often minimizing the impact of Bushwhacker turns) rather than trying to take them off Furnaces, and might feel a little worse on the play.
CLOSING THOUGHTS/SHOUTOUTS
- RIW Hobbies – I’ve had a blast becoming part of the thriving Pauper community at RIW and playing in these events. Thanks Brian for asking me to write this article!
- Michael Russo – For constantly loaning me red decks for Pauper events until I acquired all the cards, and for always happily sharing his knowledge and experience with the format.
- Nick Sobczak – Nick and I have collaborated on red decks for almost a decade now, resulting in some of the most successful results in both of our MTG careers. His success with this deck previously gave me the confidence to play it, and he’s always a willing ear for theorycrafting lists and gameplans.
- Midwest MTG – The testing community I’ve been a part of. It’s been a pleasure collaborating with them as we collectively work to reach our MTG goals.
If you’ve gotten this far, thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading the article and that it provided you with some of the knowledge needed to pilot Rally Red at a high level. I’m happy to answer any further questions on Twitter X at @detsportsfan92. Happy Bushwhacking!
