Pioneer: Mono Red Prowess - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Outlaws of Thunder Junction brought a piece that has helped to revitalize the red aggressive archetypes in practically all competitive formats, placed back in the spotlight thanks to Slickshot Show-Off.

From Boros Heroic to the new versions of Gruul Prowess, the card has proven to be an excellent motivator for playing Aggro in Pioneer - and one of the decks that has returned to the competitive scene since its launch is Mono Red Burn, now with a total of twelve wizards to run Wizard's Lightning!

In this article, we analyze Mono Red Prowess and present a Sideboard guide for the current Metagame!

This list follows the pattern I've found in Magic Online Leagues and Magic Arena ranked matches where, naturally, Mono Red remains a solid and common choice in the Best of One format.

Some versions forego Ghitu Lavarunner and Wizard’s Lightning in favor of more attrition with Chandra, Dressed to Kill or to include Rampaging Ferocidon in the maindeck to have more Sideboard slots.

The version above is very much aimed at playing under, which has advantages in speed and the time it takes to identify the direction it is taking and whether we have the means to get back into the game - on the other hand, it is more vulnerable to a Metagame prepared to play better against Aggro, being a good Meta Call for when the format is focused on non-interactive games and/or specific matchups.

Maindeck

Our wizards.

Ghitu Lavarunner is easy to enable in this list in the first three turns, it is a 3/3 if played after Kumano Faces Kakkazan and helps to establish pressure early, in addition to partially disrupting the blockers' math.

Soul-Scar Mage grows with our spells and helps our Burns to permanently reduce creatures' toughness, being a complementary threat alongside Monastery Swiftspear.

Slickshot Show-Off is the reason this deck has grown and complements the Wizard package in addition to being the main threat on our list, capable of winning the game in up to two turns with the right sequencing.

Monastery Swiftspear and Kumano Faces Kakkazan are our threat priorities for the first turn, and both interact with the base of our list, helping our creatures grow and/or increasing their own power as we play more spells.

Our burn.

Play with Fire deals with small threats and enables Spectacle for cards like Light Up the Stage or Skewer the Critics, as well as triggering our creatures' Prowess.

Wizard’s Lightning and Skewer the Critics can reproduce the effects of Lightning Bolt under the right conditions, and Mono Red has an easy time triggering either of them naturally during the game.

Monstrous Rage helps our creatures get past blockers, while we can also use it as a combat trick, either to disrupt the opponent's math or to protect our creatures from damage removal and/or trades with blockers.

Light up the Stage helps us keep our steam up, offering two more cards to use during two turns, in addition to interacting, at a low cost, with our creatures.

Den of the Bugbear and Ramunap Ruins help us get more traction in longer games, despite only having 20 lands. They offer more reach during the game, or even the possibility of playing around sweepers.

Spikefield Hazard is a land that interacts with our game plan, either to increase the number of spells cast in the turn or to enable Spectacle.

Sideboard

Mono Red is, naturally, a deck that has problems dealing with life gain. Therefore, we need cards to mitigate this problem.

Rampaging Ferocidon works best against Amalia, punishes Boros Convoke for playing too many creatures and also increases the pressure we put on the board, while Roiling Vortex is better in games where there are plenty of removals, as well as coming into play one turn earlier.

Rending Volley is an option to answer Amalia Benavides Aguirre and other white creatures from decks like Humans without many problems, in addition to working against Spirits, Selesnya Company, among others.

Tears of Valakut is an anwer against Vein Ripper, but it can also be used against Izzet Phoenix, Spirits, and other archetypes with a relevant amount of flying creatures.

Witchstalker Frenzy is our default response against Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and deals with any other threats we need to resolve in the medium term. Four mana is a high cost in games with a lot of removal, but we usually have at least one creature in play to reduce this value.

Magebane Lizard is an excellent sideboard piece against Izzet Phoenix and Lotus Combo, as well as dealing with other less common archetypes in the current Metagame such as Jeskai Ascendancy.

Case of the Crimson Pulse helps us maintain our steam up in longer, attrition games, where focusing on speed will naturally be met with removals and sweepers.

Hazoret the Fervent gives us more reach while also being very difficult to deal with, ideal for games against Midrange and Control.

Rakdos Vampires

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Abzan Amalia

IN

OUT

Lotus Combo

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Waste Not

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!