Rabble Red based on Todd Anderson's 0th Place at Test deck on 1/29/2015 (Standard)

I can already hear the groans. "A red aggro deck being good again? What changed from last time?" To be honest, I don't think that aggressive red decks were ever actually bad. I think that it just cycles in and out to when they're good and when they're not. For a time, decks would sideboard 3-4 Anger of the Gods or Drown in Sorrow. Decks would lower their curve so that they could interact with the aggressive decks long enough to slide past them without worry.

But with such an upward trend of Abzan Aggro, a deck that usually deals itself six or more damage per game, as well as the other decks in the format being glacially slow, I think that an aggressive red deck could be in a prime position. When people are fighting over cards like Ugin and (vomit) Worst Fears to see who can get bigger, it seems like you'll have a significantly high number of easy Game 1s.

Mardu Scout, aka Surf Goblin, aka BROblin, seems like a phenomenal addition to the archetype. Three power for two mana isn't easy to come by in a red deck, and Mardu Scout even has the ability to gain haste at a moment's notice thanks to dash. He's great at almost every part of every game, which isn't something you can say about many two-drops. He also has built-in protection from End Hostilities and Crux of Fate, which is glorious when you want to apply more pressure to the board without leaving yourself vulnerable.

Valorous Stance, and the white splash in general, could be a bit too much for the manabase to handle. Lands entering the battlefield tapped puts a huge tax on a deck like this, but having answers to Siege Rhino and other large idiots is pretty solid. Is that worth dealing yourself some damage or being a turn slower? Perhaps not, but only some testing will tell.

I'm excited to try Outpost Siege in this deck, or any deck for that matter. Both abilities seem great at different points in each game, though it isn't quite as good here as it is in Danny Goldstein's R/W Aggro deck, as we don't have a plethora of token generators. But what this deck lacks in tokens, it more than makes up for it in speed. Monastery Swiftspear and Akroan Crusader work well together, giving you massive benefits from all of your non-creature spells. They give you a good reason to play Hammerhand, which just seems bananas against any midrange deck.

A potential flaw in this deck design is the lack of direct damage aside from Stoke the Flames. Playing cards like Chained to the Rocks is awesome against a creature-based deck, but you will feel a hole in your strategy when you have one or two of them stuck in your hand while your opponent starts to cast Dig Through Time. Suffice it to say that playing an aggressive red deck without Lightning Strike makes me feel a little naked, but I'm hoping that it doesn't end up biting me too often. Chained to the Rocks is too good against the plethora of big, dumb creatures running around right now.

This could end up being a worse version of Danny Goldstein's deck, but I'm almost positive that Mono-Red is going to make waves in a big way once everything has settled.

Scouting the Field

So we've deduced that Aggro Red is possible, and Danny's deck is probably awesome, but there is likely one other R/W deck that could be just as good, if not better. It isn't as fast, but it is a bit more flashy and a bit more splashy.

--- Just a note

I Dislike Firedrinker Satyr generally and specifically