It’s been nearly 6 sets since Zendikar, but I’m back to standard with a pretty competitive Standard deck. As you could probably guess, that deck is Kuldotha Red. In a 40 person FNM, after only a week of testing/tweaking and at most $50 invested, I placed 10th, going 4w-2l-0t. In this article, I’m going to go through this journey from start to this past FNM. That being said, if you don’t like boring details, don’t care about standard, or just plain don’t like the color red, this article will not be for you. With that, lesson #1…
Lesson #1: KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STUFF
This seems like a pretty basic rule regardless of what format you play, where you play, or what colors you like. However, everyone makes this mistake at one point or another. For instance, people getting their cards stolen at a tournament. It’s tragic yes, and while everyone should be able to simply leave their cards at their table without worry, that is not the case, and at least part of the blame lies on the person who lost their cards. In this lesson, I am that person. I wouldn’t even be playing Kuldotha if I hadn’t have lost both my Vampire and Jacerator decks when they were prevalent (the former with a full playset of Nocturnus in it). Hence, when I go to any event nowadays, I almost always only bring the the deck I’m playing with, and not a whole lot else. Sure, it’s nice to trade, etc, but if you absolutely need to, a) make a list of what you are looking for before the event (I know this doesn’t work all the time, particularly with EDH), and b) leave anything extra you have with you in your car, or another safe location. With all the moving that goes on at an FNM (checking rounds, changing tables, etc), even one extra box of cards can be a lot to keep track of. If you’re fearful that some people may drop and leave without trading or selling to you, ask them if they need anything specific between rounds, go to that safe location where the rest of your cards are, see if you have them, then come back. I don’t always go about this that exact way, but even if you don’t either, a general rule of thumb for me is “if you can’t hold what you have with you in one hand, and the pockets of your pants, don’t bring it into the event; leave it somewhere safe until after the commotion has died down.” After losing well over $200 worth of cards at a single event, you’ll start seeing things this way (if you haven’t already). Speaking of money, lesson #2…
Lesson #2: STANDARD IS EXPENSIVE
This might come as a shock to you, but Magic actually costs money to play! Now, that’s not to say you can’t spend a meager $50 on a deck, and still be competitive. It is much more important though, that you have a very knowledgeable understanding of a) how your deck works and what it can/can’t do, and b) how every other competitive and “developing competitive” deck works (I coin the latter from MTGSalvation, which is where I do most of my reading). I’m by no means saying that anyone can pilot any deck. What I am saying though, is that if you know how a deck works, what cards to expect, etc, and your opponent doesn’t, you will always have the advantage in that matchup. If you don’t know these things, no matter how much you spend, you will likely lose more than you win. In any case, if you are on a budget, and still want to be competitive, Kuldotha is probably the deck for you. But before I get too much more into the deck itself, lets move on to the next portion of this article…
KULDOTHA RED: Putting sad faces on expensive decks everywhere.
I might’ve gotten a little ahead of myself in giving you some notes on the deck before actually describing what it is, or who this deck is for. Without further ado…
Kuldotha Red is…
- For people who like Red.
- The fastest deck in standard right now.
- Good against a wide variety of decks.
- For people on a budget.
- Well equipped to side well vs. the mirror.
- For people who like watching their opponents sad-face.
- Card for card, able to run off of a 2 land hand.
- Able to mulligan very well.
- Good on the play.
- Flexible to a degree, on making the deck “your own”.
- Did I mention it is the fastest deck in standard?
Kuldotha Red is NOT…
- For people who don’t like Red.
- The best deck in standard (IMO).
- For people who are not on a budget.
- The most consistent at times.
- Always the most consistent of decks.
- Able to recover easily after over-extending (depending on the variant).
- Always able to deal with decks which main and/or side hate.
- Running optimally on the draw.
There’s not much more to it than that. I will say however, these are my notes after just one week of testing and information gathering from various sources, and so, my opinion on these lists might change in a couple weeks. I mention the deck is the fastest in standard because, well, it really is. If you’re looking for numbers, I have dealt as much as 16 damage in a matter of three turns. It also makes very good use of its cards if used properly, and in my list, runs a number of cards which can often 2-for-1 my opponent, and if they can’t, are an additional source of damage (read: burn). On those numbers, I can easily deal that 16 damage utilizing only 5 cards, not taking into account draws. Kuldotha can also be a meta-breaker. For instance, in a recent extended tournament at my LGS, it took first place in a field of Fae and other decks. This was surprising even for me, as I could’ve run this deck just a week sooner and been the best deck at the tournament. That is how fast this deck can be.
Before I get into the details, I’d like to list what I consider the basis for KRed.
- 4x Kuldotha Rebirth
Obviously this is what the deck is named after. If you aren’t running 4, you probably don’t have the artifacts to support it, which means YOU NEED TO ADD MORE ARTIFACTS. 12 is generally considered the bare minimum regardless of variant, which I will get to later.
- 4x Memnite
Arguably the perfect card to run alongside Kuldotha Rebirth. It’s a cheap easily pumpable body that is also a target for Rebirth.
- 4x Goblin Bushwhacker
This card is what helps you get there all. Day. Long. After a Davastating Summons or a turn 3 rebirth, this helps you launch heavy-handed surprise alpha strikes that will leave your opponent on the defense, which is right where you want them.
- 4x Goblin Guide
This deck helps prove why his “drawback” doesn’t matter. KRed is the fastest deck in standard right now. Unless your opponent is playing ramp with Explores, the one land a turn they play is almost never going to be enough to catch up to your damage.
This is a must for any KRed deck, in my opinion. Here are cards which every KRed deck should have, but can vary the numbers on.
- Devastating Summons
I’ve been told this is not that great in the mirror, but I find that untrue, particularly against the artifact variant, which is generally accepted as the faster of the two. In any case, in my deck which has 20 land (I’ll get more to my performance at FNM and list later), this has produced anywhere from 3/3 Elementals, to 7/7 Elementals. That second one is no joke. On the heels of this, a Bushwhacker can end games.
- Signal Pest
Another great card, this serves as a sort of ongoing Bushwhacker that a) can’t be blocked easily, b) is generally expendable, and c) is another target for Rebirth.
- Contested War Zone
Much like Signal Pest, this is a sort of ongoing Battle Cry or Bushwhacker. On games where you stall out on CA, this can help put on an extra (on average) 6 damage a game.
- Lightning Bolt
Honestly, I’m not sure if this should be a 4 of or not. On one hand, it’s a great amount of damage for nearly no mana. On the other hand, it doesn’t 2 for 1 like many other cards KRed (or red in general) is able to run. Still, since I have seen many more than 1 game come down to a difference of 2 life, this is definitely a card you should have in, probably at least 3.
- Mountain
This is partially a joke, but I’ve seen decks run with as few as 18 and as many as 22. With your highest CMC being 3 mana (if you play Chieftain), this doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. The two builds generally seen are goblins and artifact, that latter of which can afford fewer lands due to early Mox Opal activation.
Now that you know the basis for the deck, it’s time to get a little more specific. As far as I’m aware, there are two variants on Kuldotha that you could run, and still have the deck be Kuldotha (with the above restrictions, obviously). First, there is a Goblin version. As the name implies, you run more goblins than you do artifacts. This can be useful as Rebirth can produce 2/2 creature tokens with haste if you have Chieftain out. Here’s the three cards generally run in that variant.
- Goblin Chieftain
As I said, this in conjunction with Rebirth can be very nasty. Even in the event that you simply Rebirth one turn, and cast Chieftain the next only to alpha strike and have Chieftain die, it basically just became your 5th-8th bushwhacker. If it doesn’t die right away, rest assured your opponent will.
- Goblin Wardriver
I tend to find Wardriver too slow. A Grizzly Bear for 
is bad enough, and the fact that by itself is a Signal Pest that can be blocked (read: can be easily killed) makes it more a liability in my opinion. The slots you have in KRed need to be set up just right. As I said, you need to make the most of every single card you have.
- Warren Instigator
I’ve actually considered this guy for no other reason than he has double strike. Personally, I could care less about the other ability, but a 1/1 double strike that can be Battle Cried into a 2/1, then CWZ’d into a 3/1, will not only kill almost everything in its path even if it dies, but if unblocked can net you a lot of damage very quickly (6 in this example). I will admit I haven’t tested him out yet, but I think he shows promise.
After Goblins, theres the second build: Artifacts. Like the Goblin variant, this one implies running a LOT of artifacts. Generally speaking, this will increase the cost of your deck between $20 and $100, depending on how many Mox Opals you run (which is generally a required card in order to go this route). Here’s some of the cards you will need to consider for that build.
- Ornithopter
Personally, I don’t care for this that much. Yes it has evasion. Yes it costs 
. What does it do other than that? In my experience, not a whole lot other than get sacced to Rebirth. If you are running Flayer Husk next this, it might get in for 1 damage here or there, but by the time you need to equip Flayer Husk, you are likely very much hurting for a burn spell which could’ve occupied this slot.
- Mox Opal
This card is a MUST for an artifact version of this build. Why? It allows you to dump your hand and swing for lethal a turn sooner than is possible without it. With a hand full of cards, the most damage you can deal on turn 1 or 0 with only one mountain in hand can be 10 damage. That’s before your opponent has ANYTHING on the board. The downside to this is that in general, the artifacts you would run to enable Metalcraft all are easily killed, which could make this a dead card. If you run multiples, you will run into dead draws. If you haven’t noticed what I’m getting at, the artifact build trades consistency for explosiveness.
- Galvanic Blast
An extra instant speed burn spell is nice. An extra instant speed burn spell that is sometimes better than Lightning Bolt for the same mana is better. However, much like Mox Opal, if you don’t have Metalcraft, this is just worse than Forked Bolt in my opinion.
Here are some other cards to consider when rounding out your deck.
- Arc Trail
This guy 2-for-1’s all day long. Only 1 target? Shoot the rest of the damage at the player. This can easily wreck Vamps, the mirror, Eldrazi (or other ramp decks), and even Knights.
- Forked Bolt
Very similar to Arc Trail but at only , this can save you a ton of damage in the mirror, and is still a Shock if you need to clear a tough dude, or shoot it at someone’s face for the win. I haven’t tested it much yet, but I think it shows as much promise as Arc Trail which is why I’m leaving it here.
- Searing Blaze
A pseudo 2-for-1er in my opinion, this neat spell is basically two Lightning Bolts glued together… at its best. At its worst, it is a more restrictive Forked Bolt, which is NOT worth it. I’d only run this if you have fetches, and even then, with the super low curve that Kuldotha has, and the potential of 2 life meaning the difference between life or death in the mirror, you need to be careful that this isn’t a trap.
- Panic Spellbomb
I started out liking this card, but in the end, I think it just takes up space. Some people swear by it though, as it does have merit vs. Wall of Omens as well as Overgrown Battlement, even Phyrexian Vatmother and Crusader. It also replaces itself, so that is nice as well. In my experience however, you should be more concerned about overrunning your opponent so that their blockers don’t matter.
- Flayer Husk
I was very skeptical about running this when I went to FNM, but it turned out to be a great addition. It’s a) a 1/1 for 
, b) essentially a Black creature, which means it can block Phyrexian Crusader if need be, and c) a buff to your creatures which can help you make some favorable trades against opposing creatures, as well as equip to your Ornithopters or Signal Pests for a constant source of evasion damage. Perhaps more importantly than all of those things is that it’s an artifact that comes with a creature which, when destroyed, still leaves you with an artifact which can be sacrificed to Kuldotha Rebirth. All of these things in mind, it’s showing a pretty good amount of promise, so I’ll be running it again.
- Perilous Myr
Most people will probably consider this a sideboard card, but even MD, it can 2-for-1, and otherwise, it can be a source of damage even if it gets wiped from the board. The reason it might be considered a sideboard card is due to its high cost for no initial results. Personally, as the deck is built for speed first, I would keep it in the side, but I have tested it MD with acceptable results (by this I mean, the speed you lose is made up for by the damage it is almost always guaranteed to hit for, as your opponent doesn’t want to get 2-for-1d).
- Chimeric Mass
I’m very on the fence about this guy… It can be cast for as a Rebirth target if need be, other than that, it’s a essentially a creature that will survive mass removal, and also is able to deal with Crusader. Why I’m on the fence then? It is actually rather slow. If you cast it for 1, you don’t get anything out of it. If you make it to 3-5 mana, you are probably on the defense which is not where you want to be. Depending on how many Devastating Summons you run, you could’ve already sacced all your lands, which makes activating it hard, let alone getting it out for anything other than a Rebirth target. I’ll be testing it further to determine its worth.
- Goblin Ruinblaster
I haven’t tested Ruinblaster out enough to know much of how it actually runs in Kuldotha. On the plus side, it’s a goblin. On the minus side, it costs 3 for a 2/1 and not a lot else making its mana cost without kicker extremely inefficient. With kicker, it gets put at the highest CMC in the deck, at 4. Much like Chimeric Mass at that cost, the deck is built for speed first, everything else second. I tend to think it’s much too slow to run regardless.
- Tuktuk the Explorer
Now, this will probably contrast my thoughts on Ruinblaster a bit… In my opinion, this is almost an auto-include. At FNM for me, this definitely played MVP. It can trade in the mirror VERY well, it can get around Phyrexian Crusader (either by your opponent not wanting to block and getting in damage, or by them blocking, and giving you a 5/5 artifact creature that can kill Crusader or Vatmother). If you find yourself running out of gas, throw a Forked Bolt at it, and at your opponent. A legendary 5/5 artifact creature and 1 damage to your opponent for is pretty good in my opinion. Like Devastating Summons, the massive body this guy makes when he dies went the distance for me during testing and FNM. More on that in a bit though.
Now that you know what cards you should be looking at, what shouldn’t you be looking at? Well, those would be the following.
- Any card at CMC >= 4.
Why? Well, Kuldotha should have the winning position within 3 land drops (or three turns depending on how you look at it). Anything at this CMC is too slow. That includes Hero of Oxid Ridge mostly, as there honestly aren’t a whole lot of other cards I can think of that would even fit in Kuldotha.
- Any card that doesn’t do anything to change your board position.
By this, I mean Crystal Ball. First, in order to use it right away, it basically costs 4 mana. It doesn’t deal damage to anything. It takes up a slot that could’ve improved your odds of drawing something (which is what it does in your deck).
- Board Wipes
Sure, against certain decks, wipes can be quite good. Unfortunately, they are also very good against your own. Even 1 damage to everything can wipe your field. VS. 
and 
, they will probably not do anything, and wind up a dead card. Arc Trail and Forked Bolt can both do the job just as well, and also be slung at someone’s face.
- “Innovative” cards
If there’s anything not already covered by the above, then it falls under this category, and just don’t do it. Unless a set is brand new, with no cards spoiled, there’s a good chance someone else has already tried it, and found out whether or not it worked. Do some research and you’ll find that out without having spent money on some new mythic rare, and then time testing it, when it doesn’t even work in your deck. I’ve fallen prey to this as well, so don’t feel bad if you have (if that’s any consolation).
Well now that we’ve “built the deck”, lets see what it looked like for me at the end of FNM…
- 19x Mountain
- 1x Contested War Zone
- 4x Goblin Guide
- 4x Memnite
- 4x Goblin Bushwhacker
- 3x Flayer Husk
- 3x Arc Trail
- 4x Lightning Bolt
- 3x Devastating Summons
- 3x Signal Pest
- 4x Kuldotha Rebirth
- 1x Tuktuk the Explorer
- 3x Goblin Chieftain
- 1x Slagstorm
- 2x Searing Blaze
- 1x Spikeshot Elder
Sideboard…
- 2x Tunnel Ignus
- 2x Act of Treason
- 2x Jinxed Idol
- 3x Chimeric Mass
- 3x Perilous Myr
- 1x Tuktuk the Explorer
- 2x Slagstorm
I was expecting a lot of aggro, but since Kuldotha is the fastest of all of them, I tried to get a mix between both the goblin and artifact version, sacrificing a little early game speed for more consistency.
On to matchups…
- Mirror
That’s right, first match VS the mirror… Arc trails in the main helped keep his board position down, wiping out his artifacts for Rebirth, and making way for my dudes. Game 1 was no contest. Game 2, assuming he had the same board as me, we were both going to slow down a bit. Tuktuk and Perilous Myrs go in, Searing Blaze (which performed terribly) goes out, along with Slagstorm and one bolt (the 2f1’s seemed more important to me than straight up damage). Tuktuk plays MVP here after I kill one of his dudes and Arc Trail him for 1, giving me the 5/5, who swings relentless into his newly rebirthed tokens. Eventually he’s forced to use a bolt on my token, so the 5/5 goes down. I still have a board position, we go into topdeck mode, and its nothing but gas. Bushwhacker and Devastating Summons get in for the win.
- Mirror Again (M:1-0/G:2-0)
Yeah… Mirror again. The difference is, this guy is running the artifact intensive build. Game one he goes Opal, CWZ, Memnite, Memnite, Memnite, Pest, keeps one card in hand. I actually kept my hand with Slagstorm as we played a few games before the tournament actually started. Unfortunately, by the time I get it out, the damage is done. I’m down at 3, and IIRC, he just overruns me FTW. Game two, I’m hot out the gates and curve out damn near perfectly. T1 Memnite, Mass for 
, Rebirth, pass turn. I think he goes land, pest. I bushwhacker kicked for 10, and its all downhill for him there. Game 3 was where it was at for me, for sure. Basically, it came down to “will he get the burn?!” as I was sitting pretty with two 5/5 summons and a Flayer husk (with token). Unfortunately, he topdecked Galvanic blast with no board presence. I was at two life.
- Infect (M:1-1; G:3-2)
Game one here was a no contest. He keeps a one land hand, and doesn’t draw into land. With nothing impeding my army, I just swing swing swing. Game two and three make me think this will be my worst matchup for as long as I play KRed. Phyrexian Crusader wrecks me, and without a way through, he’s able to throw Vatmother out. The 5 toughness kills me next to Crusader…
- Vamps (M:1-2; G:4-4)
This guy was playing kind of a janky build to be honest… No Highborns at all IIRC. It was more the aggro route than midrange, and as I said, nothing beats Kuldotha for speed.
- Mirror… AGAIN (M:2-2; G:6-4)
This guy also didn’t have all he needed for the deck… No guides. He also seemed to draw pretty bad, and didn’t have anything like Arc Trail or Forked Bolt main or side. Well, I did, and 2f1ing a deck that needs every single card it has to win is all I needed.
- Eldrazi Elves (M:3-2; G:8-4)
I wasn’t sure if this thing was just jank, or if he was drawing poorly. G1, Arc Trail does its job getting rid of mana dudes, he can’t cast anything as he apparently isn’t running Cultivates or other non-creature ramp. With nothing in my way, I get in there after about 4 turns. Game two I get worried when I see Overgrown Battlement… I swing and bolt the Battlement hoping he doesn’t have another. He doesn’t. He also doesn’t block using his mana dorks, and I bolt for the win.
End Result: 10th place out of 39 people. M:4-2/G:10-4.
After this experience, my deck looks like this…
- 3x CWZ
- 17x Mountain
- 4x Goblin Guide
- 4x Memnite
- 4x Kuldotha Rebirth
- 2x Tuktuk the Explorer
- 3x Devastating Summons
- 4x Lightning Bolt
- 3x Forked Bolt
- 4x Goblin Bushwhacker
- 2x Chimeric Mass
- 4x Signal Pest
- 3x Goblin Warchief
- 3x Flayer Husk
Sideboard…
- 3x Arc Trail
- 2x Tunnel Ignus
- 2x Act of Treason
- 3x Jinxed Idol
- 4x Perilous Myr
- 1x Chimeric Mass (Might be changed)
The whole extra turn I have to wait to cast Arc Trail really mattered, especially in the mirror. VS ramp decks, its still able to kill just about every mana dork, it doesn’t require two targets, etc. Overall, seems just to fit better main than Arc Trail. Jinxed Idol and Myr I upped for Infect. You need to draw these to clear the way of their dudes. When you generally play more creatures than them per game, getting rid of theirs isn’t a problem. Idol is either going to kill them, or their creatures. Changing the burn around a little bit (Arc Trail > Forked Bolt) will probably help as well. Here, Tuktuk will also shine, as the 5/5 he makes is an artifact, and will get around a single crusader if blocked. I also noticed that much of the time, I had rebirth in hand, but nothing to sac to it, so the artifacts in the main were increased a bit. I’m still not sold on Chimeric Mass, but only testing will tell.
I know the match report here was a little lack-luster, but as you can tell by the time of posting, it’s been a few days, and I didn’t take notes. The general idea is there though, so until next FNM, enjoy roasting some opponents faces off.
Walking Planes 