Magic: The Gathering Deck Types: Red Burn

Magic: The Gathering, more commonly known as simply Magic, is the first collectible trading card game.  It was released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993.  A player can create his own deck using cards he obtains through booster packs, etc.  He is then able to play against other players, who will have a deck of their own.  This is what makes a trading card game so interesting.  It allows for each player to customize their own deck to suit their play style or utilize the cards they have in the best possible way.

In a game, each player has a deck of at least 60 cards.  There can be more than 60 in a deck but 60 is recommended as it helps you to draw your best cards.  One cool thing about Magic cards is that they are made to work together, unlike Yu-gi-oh, which focuses on the power of individual cards.  Each cards requires mana to cast, which is obtained mainly from land cards.  Each land card has a specific color, which can only be used to summon certain cards.  This means that you will need to fill your deck with cards that can use that color.  This is a direct cause of themed decks, which are much more interesting than packing a deck with as much power as you can manage.

A common deck type is red burn.  This deck is almost always purely red, as this color plays well towards the direct damage cards this type of deck is known for.  The red burn deck doesn’t play for defense at all.  Instead it plays incredibly aggressively, using direct damage cards like lightning bolt, flame slash, and incinerate to do massive damage to the enemy player and creatures alike.  With them out of the way both smaller creatures with attack increasing auras and some of the more powerful creatures like Charmbreaker Devils and Fire Servant can deal a lot of damage quickly.

By combining damaging spells with creatures like Stormblood Berserker who have bloodthirst, you can get some beefy creatures onto the field quickly.  I was playing against someone playing green.  My first turn I played a mountain and Goblin Arsonist.  The opponent didn’t play any creatures so my second turn I played another mountain, attacked for 1 damage and then played Stormblood Berserker who became a 3/3 creature that could only be blocked by two or more creatures.  The opponent got out a creature and I destroyed it with lightning bolt.  I was able to keep my opponent from getting any kind of defense on to the field and I attacked for all I was worth, winning very quickly.

That is the point of the red burn deck, to hit hard and fast.  Don’t worry about defense.  A great card that fits into this type of deck is the inquisitor’s flail, which is an equipment card (so it doesn’t require a specific color) that causes the creature that it’s equipped to to cause and receive double damage.  I think that card describes the red burn deck perfectly, to do as much damage as quickly as possible and not worry about defense or protection.  Cards like Goblin Grenade that sacrifice creatures for damage, creatures like Lightning Elemental that have high attack power, haste, and awful defense, and creatures that reward you for casting instant and sorcery spells like Kiln Fiend, Charmbreaker Devils, Chandra’s Spitfire, and Chandra’s Phoenix are perfect for this deck.

If you’re able to shut down the enemy defense after the first few turns, odds are they will never be able to actually put something together to stop your attack.  Of course, if they’re able to stop your spells or get big enough creatures on the field so that your damage spells can’t hurt them, you may be in trouble.  Whatever the case, if you like to be aggressive, then this deck is for you.

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