This is a primer for big-mana mono-red EDH. While I have the most experience with Bosh, Iron Golem as a general, it is conceivable to use any mono-red general that allows you to sink mana into some sort of profit (usually damage). Off the top of my head I can think of Ashling the Pilgrim, and Kumano, Master Yamabushi.
Bosh's advantages include:
- He's an artifact, so its possible to avoid paying his death tax by utilizing some recursion:
- When played right, he can't be targeted by worse-than-removal cards. I very seldom run him out unless I have an extra four to keep open. In these cases he not only blanks swingers like treachery or removal like condemn, he also acts like a super-rattlesnake as you can threaten eight damage to whoever is considering removing him.
- He's a decent-sized beatstick with trample. Though he comes out rather late due to his effective mana cost of 12, he wins in combat against a large number of high-powered fatties such as Primeval Titan, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and consecrated sphinx. Trample means he can't be profitably chumped either.
----
So to keep me from forgetting anything important, I am going to start by posting my decklist an explanation of the cards. Then I will have another section detailing other cards that could be included in the same archetype but I am not running for whatever reason.
Right, so lets go into the different sections: Keep the lands coming! Basic lands!
Valakut is an incredibly powerful card and one of the greatest advantages to going mono-red. So naturally you are going to want to get Valakut online, and to keep making land drops. Not only does this translate to free damage, but it also gives you more mana to abuse with the other cards available (and if nothing else, Bosh himself).
Glaciers by its self is not all that strong a card, but this deck includes a large number of tricks that can turn it into a mountain every turn, or even ramp:
Glaciers plus...
...deserted temple means a card every turn
...liquimetal coating + voltaic key is the same way
...Walking Atlas is a card every turn
...rings of brighthearth is two every two
...And any combination of the above allows for ramping.
Additionally, it is very important to keep the nonbasic count very low. I try to have no more than 10 nonbasics in my deck at any time (clearly with this current decklist I am failing horribly at that), not just for Valakut, but also for... Mana doublers!
Of the above, I am not running Mana Flare because the safest way to use it is to play it exceptionally late in the game as a mana boost to win the game, and that's a bit narrow. Depending on the playgroup it may be safe to run turn three, but in my experience the amount of benefit it can give a single opponent with a good hand far outweighs the fact you likely also have plenty of ways of abusing it.
Mana doublers are the most card-efficient way to get a huge mana advantage over your opponents. With the exception of Primeval Titan shenanigans, there's really no other way to suddenly jump in mana by such a large amount while only spending a bit of mana and a card.
They are also an effective way to tax your opponents' noncreature removal capabilities. Players who are familiar with the silly things mono-colored big mana EDH decks can do will automatically place any active mana doubler in the top priority in terms of threats to deal with, which is a pretty good deal when its all done at the cost of 4 mana, 5 mana, or 3 mana and a land. In the late game, if you can untap with a doubler, any big-mana deck worth its salt can almost immediately begin building an insurmountable board position to keep up with the game of archenemy that evolves.
Acceleration
There will be two types of acceleration looked at here: Rocks and lands.
There are a lot, a lot more that can be run, but this is what I run both due to a combination of budget (no Mana Crypt for me), and because this is a long-term deck, and having a highly viable post-swept board state is much more important than exploding into a winning position and forcing others to sweep. Perhaps this is in part due to the prevalence of decks with explosive early games in my group; the game state often demands a sweeper every game, so it pays to build your deck assuming sweepers.
The point is, with this deck demanding so much mana, any cards spent to accelerate should so by more than just one mana. Additionally, having many mana rocks that tap for more than one also gives more utility to voltaic key. The only exception I chose to this is darksteel ingot, because of it's ability to survive sweepers.
Tomb and temple are very effective at what they do: get you to six mana as soon as possible on slow starts so you can duplicant or shattering pulse+buyback something before somebody starts winning the game. They also increase the chances that you will have the eight mana needed to Warp World after a sweeper has hit, one of the most devastating times to resolve it.
The atlas and generator are particularly good at getting more value out of Valakut, broadening its removal capability to include six-toughness targets like Consecrated Sphinx. Also, since all the pieces involved are quite innocent-looking, its entirely possible for a long game to end with everybody out of gas but you somehow still have a combination of rings of brighthearth, journeyer's kite, terrain generator, thawing glaciers, and/or deserted temple, mopping up with up to 12 damage a turn.
The numbers are low and the mana costs high because of how important card efficiency is for a mono-red deck. Without any ridiculous card-advantage engines like future sight or greater good, it is very important to ensure that I can lean on each of these cards to carry me through to the next big threat I draw when I'm down to two cards in hand. The only exception to this is Shattering Spree, simply because of how devastating it is to have in my opening hand (people keep their hands based off the mana they are able to produce. If their path to six mana and primeval titan is suddenly cut short at two lands, they'll be waiting for a while to get the mana they need).
Naturally the artifacts can be recurred as necessary, and if you haven't noticed it yet, Spine of Ish Sah is sorta sexy with Bosh, especially when you have lots of mana to burn.
Karn can turn any artifact into a creature, which is then able to be burnt thanks to Bosh. Additionally, he can unequip creatures from equipment by turning equipment into creatures (try saying that ten times fast!). There are a few other interactions that make Karn fun to have around, including being able to put noncreature artifacts under Mimic vat or return with nim deathmantle. He can also instantly kill 0-cost artifacts such as Mana Crypt, and with the aid of liquimetal coating, he can kill one land a turn.
Speaking of liquimetal coating, this card is useful because it turns any artifact removal into a vindicate. It may seem a bit narrow of a card to include when you consider I run only three cards that directly remove artifacts, but let me restate: It turns any artifact removal into a vindicate. I have had plenty of games where a player has a Seal of Primordium on the table, but doesn't use it against any of my medium-priority artifacts because the third player might play a high-priority permanent (like, say, cabal coffers), and so together we could remove a must-deal-with threat that would normally go unchecked. This is a really big political card, but played right it has never let me down.
There are certainly lots of other good spot removal cards to consider; Hateflayer springs to mind as repeatable removal attached to a big body. Its one of the few cards that can tangle with a blightsteel colossus and (mostly) win, and when there are no more creatures left it can hasten the defeat of your opponents.
Sweepers
Again, I don't run a whole lot, but in this case I have a number of way to get to them in a roundabout way if I have a turn or two to prepare.
Oblivion stone is obviously the MVP both because of its timing flexibility and because it is an artifact that can be searched for and tutored for. Through hoarding dragon + sac outlet, kuldotha forgemaster, or some of the ever-popular recursion thanks to Junk Diver and friends, while I do sometimes feel I wish I had a sweeper in hand, its not as often as the low number of sweepers would lead you to believe.
With the kinds of mana this deck can produce, Comet Storm can easily be considered a one-sided sweeper against creatures that aren't immune to damage. Plus a bunch of burn to the face of all players involved for good measure. Simply put, its an excellent card to catapult you into the final stages of the game where you are mopping up what's left of your opponents.
Warp World is.... a sweeper I guess. Though it can backfire, the odds are in your favor as long as you keep the nonpermanent count low. Generally, the way I see it is if an opponent has established an insurmountable board position, there's not really much to lose by rolling the dice here. Most of the time it stabilizes the board to some extent, and sometimes it just hands you the win (like with Akroma's Memorial + any number of creatures, or Valakut plus lots of mountains). Its also a tuck effect in disguise, which can offer the benefits of semi-permanently dealing with problem generals, with only a fraction of the ire!
Another sweeper that is really high on the list (but I haven't included partially because I don't want to throw more money at it, partially because many of my threats are colored, and partially because my nonpermanent count is high enough and I don't want to bother fiddling with things too much) is All is dust. In more artifact-heavy builds this can easily turn into an one-sided sweeper. Be careful of mana rocks though! It doesn't do much to de-wind the sails of opponents who spend their first few turns dumping rocks on the table.
Card advantage!
Its few and far between, so take what you can get.
In my deck, I run these cards to keep me full of gas:
The recursion cards I have already mentioned. Additionally there is arcbound reclaimer, scarecrone, and trash for treasure. The reason I don't run them is largely because my card-advantage slots are pretty full as it is. Scarecrone in particular is a good choice if the deck includes more artifact creatures (mine doesn't).
If there is any archetype that can successfully take advantage of the sheer draw power Tower of fortunes produces, its a big-mana archetype. I often just drop this for 12 mana and refill my hand.
Citanul Flute is great when the deck has a large focus on creatures (my build tends to channel the beatdown rather well). Another reason to run scarecrone is that it can be tutored by the flute.
The hedron is a curious beast. Most of the time it acts as a mana rock, but occasionally somebody will play a sweeper while I have mana up, or I will get my fill of mana whilst having a Rings of Brighthearth in play, and cash in for six cards. Its really a sub-par mana rock, but its the card draw that earns its place in my list.
Kozilek, while a game-ending beater on his own, was actually included in this deck as a powerful draw card. Most of the cards in the list do so much and require so much mana, I don't really need to use Tower of Fortunes twice. For that reason Kozilek acts as a Tower of Fortunes for two less mana, who also baits out removal from opponents. The only downside is you have to be careful when playing him (don't walk into annihilation by running him out when an opponent has a mimic vat in play!).
These are the cards that you shouldn't expect to win you the game, but can make the path to victory much easier, or if the table is out of steam, will seal the deal.
Dragonmaster Outcast is a really gnarly little guy. Generally what I do is either run him out as part of a 6R sequence that is citanul flute, search for one, play it. It effectively means I can set up an excellent card-advantage engine (flute) while still advancing my board presence. In addition, he's a great guy to play in tandem with other threats, as he creates a "wrath or waste cards" situation.
Because of how mana-efficient he is, you always end up with the advantage when all is said and done; you pay one mana and a card, an opponent pays five or more mana to tutor for a removal spell and cast it, likely foregoing any board development in the process.
Muse vessel is an incredibly narrow card, but it does what it does very well. I essentially run it as a way to limit the options my opponents have, as it forces them to expel all colorless and red cards from their hands or else I will eventually nab them. Additionally, its a great colorless way to hate on hands while saying "no" to graveyard shenanigans. Its an incredibly underwhelming card to have in your hand in the early game, but once peoples' hand resources are starting to get stretched thin and you have the mana to support it, it can give a great amount of advantage.
Godo is a powerful threat that has an insane amount of utility depending on what equipment you run. In an empty board he can come down swinging for six damage by fetching lightning greaves, or he can seal the deal by grabbing grafted exoskeleton if your opponents appear to be out of answers. With Akroma's Memorial (or other ways to untap your creatures such as voltaic key for artifacts) he can give your whole team two attack steps. Watch out though; there's no main phase between combat steps, so you can't move equipment around between them.
The Battlesphere has a great amount of utility, while still being able to really hurt, especially when combined with Akroma's Memorial; declare the sphere and its tokens as attackers, then tap them when the ability goes off. That's eight damage from the attacks, plus five damage from tapping the team, plus five damage added to the sphere. Its all first strike trample damage too, in case an opponent somehow has a creature that can block it all. In addition, when you have Kuldotha Forgemaster out and unopposed, you can set up a somewhat-reliable tutor engine with the battlesphere. The myr tokens can also be clamped for up to eight cards.
As mentioned before, Kozilek can set you incredibly ahead so long as you don't run him into any traps. And when nobody answers him? Its a short clock.
Engines! (and other shenanigans)
There are a few cards that really carry their weight off the backs of other cards. In my deck this includes:
The rings are just all-around awesome no matter what situations they're used in. At worst I am using it with expedition map or armillary sphere for extra lands (though yes, Valakut and Thawing Glaciers is a great setup for late-game relevance). Otherwise? Well for starters a 16-damage Bosh rattlesnake really makes people regret targeting him with removal, and Kuldotha Forgemaster? At that point, even if you drop an oblivion stone I will still be getting anynumberof good cards back thanks to Myr Retriever, junk diver, and nim deathmantle.
Mirrorworks is filled with plenty of shenanigans as well. At its worst I'm getting double the mana rock production (or, if a situation ever arises that demands it, I could play Bosh, in response to the trigger, sacrifice him for eight damage, then pay the trigger to have a Bosh token in play that doesn't deal general damage). But when I have the Forgemaster active? Its a whole nother story. Depending on how many turns I have to setup, I could come out with double steel hellkites, double battlespheres, double spines... The list goes on. Its not that strong of a card if things aren't going your way, but when it works, it really works well.
Deathmantle is another card that works well with the forgemaster, allowing me to return sacrificed dudes like the battlesphere or Solemn Simulacrum. It also goes without saying, its a real boss when it comes to keeping your game-winning threats on the table.
As for the forgemaster its self... Well I have already gone through all the major interactions with it. Not much else to say.
Land engines!
So because I only have ten nonbasic slots in my deck, the nonbasics have to be really good, right? Here are some of the interactions they have:
deserted temple is like the rings of brighthearth for lands. Every tap ability these lands have can be doubled with the temple. Quadrupled with temple + rings and lots of mana.
dust bowl is easily one of the best nonbasic land killers. Period. Its re-usable; useful to hit that Maze of Ith player A is playing, while still being the responsible player and taking care of that cabal coffers player B just played before it gets out of hand. And because you don't have to sacrifice the card to use its ability, you can take advantage of Deserted Temple to get multiple uses a turn, slowly taxing an opponent's resources late in the game.
High Market is a great sac outlet because it doesn't take a lot of deck space. Aside from sac outlets being good ways to stop worse-than-death removal like control magic effects, it also turns cards like hoarding dragon into a hard tutor, conquering manticore into hard removal, and myr retriever into a hard regrowth effect. It can also be used to take advantage of recursion cards like Nim Deathmantle and Mimic Vat.
Mystifying Maze, while not a whole lot better than Maze of Ith, taps for mana. Also, since the creatures come back tapped, it makes the choice of whether or not to attack much more difficult to make.
Tower of the Magistrate is largely a metagame call. There's a lot of voltron generals out there and being able to keep Omnath or Skittles off a sword or whispersilk cloak is really good. Its also a cute little trick to use in conjunction with liquimetal coating (is there anything this card can't do?)
Kher Keep is great as a defensive card in those slow starts, but the tokens can also be clamped for cards, sacrificed to Helm of Possession, or even given a sword in a more equipment-heavy build. With liquimetal coating they also make that first activation of kuldotha forgemaster less painful.
I also play artifact brown.. splash red deck.. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. It is pretty strong.
Some cards to think about adding to your list:
Goblin Welder
Fetch Lands (Great with Rings of Brighthearth)
Crucible of Worlds
All Is Dust (You only play a few red permanents.. it also getting cheaper in price)
Vesuva (Two Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is better than one.. also a good to copy Thawing Glaciers)
48 Tormod's Crypt
49 Helm of Possession
50 Oblivion Stone
51 Mindslaver
52 Tawnmoss Coffin
53 All Is Dust
Artifact Accelartion
54 Sol Ring
55 Mana Vault
56 Mindstone
57 Coldsteel Heart **
58 Darksteel Ingot
59 Thran Dynamo
60 Gilded Lotus
61 Everflowing Chalice **
62 Extraplanar Lens
63 Gauntlet of Might
64 Gauntlet of Power
Lands
65 Deserted Temple
66 Vesuva
67 Mouth of Ronom
68 Eye of Ugin
69 Great Furnace
70 Darksteel Citadel **
71 Ghitu Encampment
72 Tower of the Magistrate
73 Deserted Temple
74 Strip Mine
75 Ghost Quarters **
76 Dust Bowl
77 Thawing Glaciers
78 Scalding Tarn
79 Arid Mesa
80 Bloodstained Mire
81 Terramorphic Expance
82 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
18x Snow-Covered Mountain
Cards to think about adding
Kher Keep
Mishra's Workshop
Mishra's Factory
Shattering Pulse
Carnage Altar
Bogardan Hellkite
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Spine of Ish Sah
Dreamstone Hedron
More Snow-Covered Mountain
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
I'll add the cards you suggested to the primer later.
As for the cards you're thinking about cutting...
Wild Ricochet is an awesome, amazing card... in playgroups that are big on back-breaking instants and sorceries. Its probably best in a U/R/X kind of deck whose game plan involves leaving mana open for instant-speed interactions. In an artifact-heavy red deck, you might as well be waving a flag around shouting "I HAS RESPONSE IN HAND!" because its so incredibly detrimental to board development to keep four mana open in the early midgame, the time when a wild ricochet can really hurt.
coldsteel heart doesn't advance your mana by much. Only one. Unless you really need that +1 really early, I would cut it in favor of rocks that give at least +2.
everflowing chalice is actually a solid mana rock. The only reason I don't run it is because my deck does so much land ramp, there's really not much need for so many rocks, and its one of the weaker ones when the list is that short. I would drop mind stone before Chalice (that's what I did).
Your manabase should definitely be looked at. I would consider leaving only 14 nonbasic slots available (10 utility lands, + 4 fetches), as it drastically improves Valakut and your mana doublers. Also 35 lands might be a little low, but obviously our decks are different so maybe its not such a problem for you.
What I do is only use the utility lands that have a crazy level of interaction with the rest of my deck. Things like manlands are a waste of a nonbasic slot imo, and I would advise against doubling up on lands that fulfill the same purpose, such as your land-destruction lands (unless nonbasic lands are a real problem in your meta, of course).
Mad_hatter, I took a quick look at your deck, there are a few cards that stand out to me as first to go on the chopping block: brittle effigy - How is it working for you? I have always kept my distance from the card because I never really liked how it was a one-shot deal. If I wanted to pay six mana to stop a blightsteel colossus, I would opt for icy manipulator or mystifying maze first. That way you can get some political action in and have it attack other people first.
Nevinyrral's Disk - In my experience, when I want to wipe the board, I want it wiped this turn. I am aware darksteel forge forms a nice combo with it, but the forge its self is a really expensive artifact that only helps you out if you already have some board presence. Also the presence of the combo sorta puts players in one of those positions: "Well, I can't deal with anything on your board because of the forge, the only way any other player has a chance at winning is if we kill you before you get your disk combo going". Sure if you don't mind turning the game into an irretractable game of Archenemy, go right ahead. I prefer to keep my options open, though.
Glimmervoid - what is that doing there? There's no reason I can think of to run that card
Yikes. Formatting issues galore. This is really hard to read. Try using Spoiler tags to divide up the different sections, and sort your decklist by type:
This is my current EDH deck I am using. It is influenced by your primer; thank you for the ideas. Basically, I made this deck because I found that I didn't like a combo Arcum Daggson EDH deck. I still love my artifacts though, so here is my deck.
Any ideas for helping my deck? I'm on a fairly small budget, and don't really want to spend an extra 8 dollars to pick up Duplicant and Sculpting Steel, both of which I know would be suggested if left unaddressed.
Originally Posted by Galspanic
#1 - What's the dumbest idea you ever had?
#2 - 15/15 for 15?
#1 - Make it dumber.
#2 - Give it protection from removal and counter?
#1 - DUMBER!
#2 - Add Timewalk?
#1 - DAMN IT MAN; I SAID DUMB! DUMB! DUMB!!!
#2 - It destroys everything when it attacks.... And wait, I have a friend who plays mill decks... I want to beat him too.
#1 - Excellent! Recess is over, go back and learn sex-ed with the other 6th graders.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Bosh's advantages include:
- He's an artifact, so its possible to avoid paying his death tax by utilizing some recursion:
0 Junk Diver
0 Myr Retriever
0 Scarecrone
0 Trash for Treasure
- When played right, he can't be targeted by worse-than-removal cards. I very seldom run him out unless I have an extra four to keep open. In these cases he not only blanks swingers like treachery or removal like condemn, he also acts like a super-rattlesnake as you can threaten eight damage to whoever is considering removing him.
- He's a decent-sized beatstick with trample. Though he comes out rather late due to his effective mana cost of 12, he wins in combat against a large number of high-powered fatties such as Primeval Titan, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and consecrated sphinx. Trample means he can't be profitably chumped either.
----
So to keep me from forgetting anything important, I am going to start by posting my decklist an explanation of the cards. Then I will have another section detailing other cards that could be included in the same archetype but I am not running for whatever reason.
01 Bosh, Iron Golem
0cc, non-mana producing lands:
02 Thawing Glaciers
03 Tormod's Crypt
1cc:
04 Shattering Spree
05 Sol Ring
06 Expedition Map
07 Mana Vault
08 Skullclamp
09 Dragonmaster Outcast
10 Sensei's Divining Top
11 Voltaic Key
12 Greater Gargadon (effectively)
2cc:
13 Myr Retriever
14 Ichor Wellspring
15 Walking Atlas
16 Armillary Sphere
17 Nim Deathmantle
18 Lightning Greaves
19 Liquimetal Coating
20 Shattering Pulse
21 Journeyer's Kite
3cc:
22 extraplanar Lens
23 Junk Diver
24 Sculpting Steel
25 Mimic Vat
26 Darksteel Ingot
27 Viashino Heretic
28 Worn Powerstone
29 Pilgrim's eye
30 Rings of Brighthearth
31 Grafted Exoskeleton
32 Flametongue Kavu
33 Solemn Simulacrum
34 Muse Vessel
35 Gauntlet of Might
36 Nova Pentacle
37 Helm of Possession
38 Tower of Fortunes
39 Thran Dynamo
5cc:
40 Citanul Flute
41 Karn, Silver Golem
42 Mirrorworks
43 Gauntlet of Power
44 Gratuitous Violence
45 Kuldotha Forgemaster
46 Mind's Eye
47 Predator, Flagship
48 Hoarding Dragon
6cc:
49 Duplicant
50 Dreamstone Hedron
51 Conquering Masticore
52 Steel Hellkite
53 Godo, Bandit Warlord
54 Planar Portal
55 Akroma's Memorial
56 Spine of Ish Sah
57 Myr Battlesphere
8cc
58 Warp World
59 Insurrection
60 Oblivion Stone (effectively)
10cc:
61 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Xcc:
62 Comet Storm
Nonbasic land:
63 Dust Bowl
64 High Market
65 Mystifying Maze
66 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
67 Terrain Generator
68 Deserted Temple
69 Tower of the Magistrate
70 Kher Keep
71 Ancient Tomb
72 Temple of the False God
Right, so lets go into the different sections:
Keep the lands coming!
Basic lands!
Valakut is an incredibly powerful card and one of the greatest advantages to going mono-red. So naturally you are going to want to get Valakut online, and to keep making land drops. Not only does this translate to free damage, but it also gives you more mana to abuse with the other cards available (and if nothing else, Bosh himself).
The cards I run to accomplish this are thus:
0 Expedition Map (to get the glaciers)
0 Armillary Sphere
0 Journeyer's Kite
0 Pilgrim's Eye
0 Solemn Simulacrum
0 Warp World (it should be noted this can randomly warp into Valakut and lots of mountains)
Glaciers by its self is not all that strong a card, but this deck includes a large number of tricks that can turn it into a mountain every turn, or even ramp:
Glaciers plus...
...deserted temple means a card every turn
...liquimetal coating + voltaic key is the same way
...Walking Atlas is a card every turn
...rings of brighthearth is two every two
...And any combination of the above allows for ramping.
Additionally, it is very important to keep the nonbasic count very low. I try to have no more than 10 nonbasics in my deck at any time (clearly with this current decklist I am failing horribly at that), not just for Valakut, but also for...
Mana doublers!
Mono-red's available mana doublers are:
0 Gauntlet of Power
0 Extraplanar Lens
0 Mana Flare
Of the above, I am not running Mana Flare because the safest way to use it is to play it exceptionally late in the game as a mana boost to win the game, and that's a bit narrow. Depending on the playgroup it may be safe to run turn three, but in my experience the amount of benefit it can give a single opponent with a good hand far outweighs the fact you likely also have plenty of ways of abusing it.
Mana doublers are the most card-efficient way to get a huge mana advantage over your opponents. With the exception of Primeval Titan shenanigans, there's really no other way to suddenly jump in mana by such a large amount while only spending a bit of mana and a card.
They are also an effective way to tax your opponents' noncreature removal capabilities. Players who are familiar with the silly things mono-colored big mana EDH decks can do will automatically place any active mana doubler in the top priority in terms of threats to deal with, which is a pretty good deal when its all done at the cost of 4 mana, 5 mana, or 3 mana and a land. In the late game, if you can untap with a doubler, any big-mana deck worth its salt can almost immediately begin building an insurmountable board position to keep up with the game of archenemy that evolves.
Acceleration
There will be two types of acceleration looked at here: Rocks and lands.
The rocks this deck runs are:
0 Mana Vault
0 Voltaic Key (effectively)
0 Sculpting Steel (effectively)
0 Darksteel Ingot
0 Thran Dynamo
0 Dreamstone Hedron
There are a lot, a lot more that can be run, but this is what I run both due to a combination of budget (no Mana Crypt for me), and because this is a long-term deck, and having a highly viable post-swept board state is much more important than exploding into a winning position and forcing others to sweep. Perhaps this is in part due to the prevalence of decks with explosive early games in my group; the game state often demands a sweeper every game, so it pays to build your deck assuming sweepers.
Other rocks that could be considered are:
0 mana crypt
0 everflowing chalice
The point is, with this deck demanding so much mana, any cards spent to accelerate should so by more than just one mana. Additionally, having many mana rocks that tap for more than one also gives more utility to voltaic key. The only exception I chose to this is darksteel ingot, because of it's ability to survive sweepers.
The land ramp I am running include:
0 Ancient tomb
0 Terrain Generator
0 Walking Atlas
0 Solemn Simulacrum
Tomb and temple are very effective at what they do: get you to six mana as soon as possible on slow starts so you can duplicant or shattering pulse+buyback something before somebody starts winning the game. They also increase the chances that you will have the eight mana needed to Warp World after a sweeper has hit, one of the most devastating times to resolve it.
The atlas and generator are particularly good at getting more value out of Valakut, broadening its removal capability to include six-toughness targets like Consecrated Sphinx. Also, since all the pieces involved are quite innocent-looking, its entirely possible for a long game to end with everybody out of gas but you somehow still have a combination of rings of brighthearth, journeyer's kite, terrain generator, thawing glaciers, and/or deserted temple, mopping up with up to 12 damage a turn.
That about sums up the mana base.
Pinpoint strikes
For this deck I include a few cards that act as removal by themselves:
0 duplicant
0 shattering pulse
0 viashino heretic
0 spine of ish sah
0 flametongue kavu
0 Predator, Flagship
0 Steel Hellkite
0 Helm of Possession
The numbers are low and the mana costs high because of how important card efficiency is for a mono-red deck. Without any ridiculous card-advantage engines like future sight or greater good, it is very important to ensure that I can lean on each of these cards to carry me through to the next big threat I draw when I'm down to two cards in hand. The only exception to this is Shattering Spree, simply because of how devastating it is to have in my opening hand (people keep their hands based off the mana they are able to produce. If their path to six mana and primeval titan is suddenly cut short at two lands, they'll be waiting for a while to get the mana they need).
Naturally the artifacts can be recurred as necessary, and if you haven't noticed it yet, Spine of Ish Sah is sorta sexy with Bosh, especially when you have lots of mana to burn.
There are also a couple of cards that enable removal:
Karn, Silver Golem and Liquimetal Coating
Karn can turn any artifact into a creature, which is then able to be burnt thanks to Bosh. Additionally, he can unequip creatures from equipment by turning equipment into creatures (try saying that ten times fast!). There are a few other interactions that make Karn fun to have around, including being able to put noncreature artifacts under Mimic vat or return with nim deathmantle. He can also instantly kill 0-cost artifacts such as Mana Crypt, and with the aid of liquimetal coating, he can kill one land a turn.
Speaking of liquimetal coating, this card is useful because it turns any artifact removal into a vindicate. It may seem a bit narrow of a card to include when you consider I run only three cards that directly remove artifacts, but let me restate: It turns any artifact removal into a vindicate. I have had plenty of games where a player has a Seal of Primordium on the table, but doesn't use it against any of my medium-priority artifacts because the third player might play a high-priority permanent (like, say, cabal coffers), and so together we could remove a must-deal-with threat that would normally go unchecked. This is a really big political card, but played right it has never let me down.
There are certainly lots of other good spot removal cards to consider; Hateflayer springs to mind as repeatable removal attached to a big body. Its one of the few cards that can tangle with a blightsteel colossus and (mostly) win, and when there are no more creatures left it can hasten the defeat of your opponents.
Sweepers
Again, I don't run a whole lot, but in this case I have a number of way to get to them in a roundabout way if I have a turn or two to prepare.
0 Comet Storm
0 Warp World
Oblivion stone is obviously the MVP both because of its timing flexibility and because it is an artifact that can be searched for and tutored for. Through hoarding dragon + sac outlet, kuldotha forgemaster, or some of the ever-popular recursion thanks to Junk Diver and friends, while I do sometimes feel I wish I had a sweeper in hand, its not as often as the low number of sweepers would lead you to believe.
With the kinds of mana this deck can produce, Comet Storm can easily be considered a one-sided sweeper against creatures that aren't immune to damage. Plus a bunch of burn to the face of all players involved for good measure. Simply put, its an excellent card to catapult you into the final stages of the game where you are mopping up what's left of your opponents.
Warp World is.... a sweeper I guess. Though it can backfire, the odds are in your favor as long as you keep the nonpermanent count low. Generally, the way I see it is if an opponent has established an insurmountable board position, there's not really much to lose by rolling the dice here. Most of the time it stabilizes the board to some extent, and sometimes it just hands you the win (like with Akroma's Memorial + any number of creatures, or Valakut plus lots of mountains). Its also a tuck effect in disguise, which can offer the benefits of semi-permanently dealing with problem generals, with only a fraction of the ire!
Another sweeper that is really high on the list (but I haven't included partially because I don't want to throw more money at it, partially because many of my threats are colored, and partially because my nonpermanent count is high enough and I don't want to bother fiddling with things too much) is All is dust. In more artifact-heavy builds this can easily turn into an one-sided sweeper. Be careful of mana rocks though! It doesn't do much to de-wind the sails of opponents who spend their first few turns dumping rocks on the table.
Card advantage!
Its few and far between, so take what you can get.
In my deck, I run these cards to keep me full of gas:
0 Myr Retriever
0 Skullclamp
0 Sensei's Divining Top
0 Ichor Wellspring
0 Solemn Simulacrum
0 Tower of Fortunes
0 Citanul Flute
0 Mind's Eye
0 Dreamstone Hedron
0 Planar Portal
0 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
The recursion cards I have already mentioned. Additionally there is arcbound reclaimer, scarecrone, and trash for treasure. The reason I don't run them is largely because my card-advantage slots are pretty full as it is. Scarecrone in particular is a good choice if the deck includes more artifact creatures (mine doesn't).
Wellspring is largely a filler card. It is occasionally nice to get an artifact sign in blood through greater gargadon, and it certainly helps get kuldotha forgemaster online.
If there is any archetype that can successfully take advantage of the sheer draw power Tower of fortunes produces, its a big-mana archetype. I often just drop this for 12 mana and refill my hand.
Citanul Flute is great when the deck has a large focus on creatures (my build tends to channel the beatdown rather well). Another reason to run scarecrone is that it can be tutored by the flute.
The hedron is a curious beast. Most of the time it acts as a mana rock, but occasionally somebody will play a sweeper while I have mana up, or I will get my fill of mana whilst having a Rings of Brighthearth in play, and cash in for six cards. Its really a sub-par mana rock, but its the card draw that earns its place in my list.
Kozilek, while a game-ending beater on his own, was actually included in this deck as a powerful draw card. Most of the cards in the list do so much and require so much mana, I don't really need to use Tower of Fortunes twice. For that reason Kozilek acts as a Tower of Fortunes for two less mana, who also baits out removal from opponents. The only downside is you have to be careful when playing him (don't walk into annihilation by running him out when an opponent has a mimic vat in play!).
Creatures to come next!
Marginal win-cons
These are the cards that you shouldn't expect to win you the game, but can make the path to victory much easier, or if the table is out of steam, will seal the deal.
My deck runs the following:
0 Muse Vessel
0 Steel Hellkite
0 Godo, Bandit Warlord
0 Myr Battlesphere
0 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Dragonmaster Outcast is a really gnarly little guy. Generally what I do is either run him out as part of a 6R sequence that is citanul flute, search for one, play it. It effectively means I can set up an excellent card-advantage engine (flute) while still advancing my board presence. In addition, he's a great guy to play in tandem with other threats, as he creates a "wrath or waste cards" situation.
Because of how mana-efficient he is, you always end up with the advantage when all is said and done; you pay one mana and a card, an opponent pays five or more mana to tutor for a removal spell and cast it, likely foregoing any board development in the process.
Muse vessel is an incredibly narrow card, but it does what it does very well. I essentially run it as a way to limit the options my opponents have, as it forces them to expel all colorless and red cards from their hands or else I will eventually nab them. Additionally, its a great colorless way to hate on hands while saying "no" to graveyard shenanigans. Its an incredibly underwhelming card to have in your hand in the early game, but once peoples' hand resources are starting to get stretched thin and you have the mana to support it, it can give a great amount of advantage.
Godo is a powerful threat that has an insane amount of utility depending on what equipment you run. In an empty board he can come down swinging for six damage by fetching lightning greaves, or he can seal the deal by grabbing grafted exoskeleton if your opponents appear to be out of answers. With Akroma's Memorial (or other ways to untap your creatures such as voltaic key for artifacts) he can give your whole team two attack steps. Watch out though; there's no main phase between combat steps, so you can't move equipment around between them.
The Battlesphere has a great amount of utility, while still being able to really hurt, especially when combined with Akroma's Memorial; declare the sphere and its tokens as attackers, then tap them when the ability goes off. That's eight damage from the attacks, plus five damage from tapping the team, plus five damage added to the sphere. Its all first strike trample damage too, in case an opponent somehow has a creature that can block it all. In addition, when you have Kuldotha Forgemaster out and unopposed, you can set up a somewhat-reliable tutor engine with the battlesphere. The myr tokens can also be clamped for up to eight cards.
As mentioned before, Kozilek can set you incredibly ahead so long as you don't run him into any traps. And when nobody answers him? Its a short clock.
Engines! (and other shenanigans)
There are a few cards that really carry their weight off the backs of other cards. In my deck this includes:
0 Karn, Silver Golem
0 Mirrorworks
0 Nim Deathmantle
0 Kuldotha Forgemaster
The rings are just all-around awesome no matter what situations they're used in. At worst I am using it with expedition map or armillary sphere for extra lands (though yes, Valakut and Thawing Glaciers is a great setup for late-game relevance). Otherwise? Well for starters a 16-damage Bosh rattlesnake really makes people regret targeting him with removal, and Kuldotha Forgemaster? At that point, even if you drop an oblivion stone I will still be getting any number of good cards back thanks to Myr Retriever, junk diver, and nim deathmantle.
Mirrorworks is filled with plenty of shenanigans as well. At its worst I'm getting double the mana rock production (or, if a situation ever arises that demands it, I could play Bosh, in response to the trigger, sacrifice him for eight damage, then pay the trigger to have a Bosh token in play that doesn't deal general damage). But when I have the Forgemaster active? Its a whole nother story. Depending on how many turns I have to setup, I could come out with double steel hellkites, double battlespheres, double spines... The list goes on. Its not that strong of a card if things aren't going your way, but when it works, it really works well.
Deathmantle is another card that works well with the forgemaster, allowing me to return sacrificed dudes like the battlesphere or Solemn Simulacrum. It also goes without saying, its a real boss when it comes to keeping your game-winning threats on the table.
As for the forgemaster its self... Well I have already gone through all the major interactions with it. Not much else to say.
Land engines!
So because I only have ten nonbasic slots in my deck, the nonbasics have to be really good, right? Here are some of the interactions they have:
deserted temple is like the rings of brighthearth for lands. Every tap ability these lands have can be doubled with the temple. Quadrupled with temple + rings and lots of mana.
dust bowl is easily one of the best nonbasic land killers. Period. Its re-usable; useful to hit that Maze of Ith player A is playing, while still being the responsible player and taking care of that cabal coffers player B just played before it gets out of hand. And because you don't have to sacrifice the card to use its ability, you can take advantage of Deserted Temple to get multiple uses a turn, slowly taxing an opponent's resources late in the game.
High Market is a great sac outlet because it doesn't take a lot of deck space. Aside from sac outlets being good ways to stop worse-than-death removal like control magic effects, it also turns cards like hoarding dragon into a hard tutor, conquering manticore into hard removal, and myr retriever into a hard regrowth effect. It can also be used to take advantage of recursion cards like Nim Deathmantle and Mimic Vat.
Mystifying Maze, while not a whole lot better than Maze of Ith, taps for mana. Also, since the creatures come back tapped, it makes the choice of whether or not to attack much more difficult to make.
Tower of the Magistrate is largely a metagame call. There's a lot of voltron generals out there and being able to keep Omnath or Skittles off a sword or whispersilk cloak is really good. Its also a cute little trick to use in conjunction with liquimetal coating (is there anything this card can't do?)
Kher Keep is great as a defensive card in those slow starts, but the tokens can also be clamped for cards, sacrificed to Helm of Possession, or even given a sword in a more equipment-heavy build. With liquimetal coating they also make that first activation of kuldotha forgemaster less painful.
Some cards to think about adding to your list:
Goblin Welder
Fetch Lands (Great with Rings of Brighthearth)
Crucible of Worlds
All Is Dust (You only play a few red permanents.. it also getting cheaper in price)
Vesuva (Two Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is better than one.. also a good to copy Thawing Glaciers)
** Cards I might cut
General
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Under 5 mana Kiki-Jiki Targets
2 Goblin Welder
3 Imperial Recruiter
4 Viashino Heretic
5 Manic Vandal
6 Flametongue Kavu
7 Cyclops Gladiator
8 Junk Driver
9 Pilgrim's Eye
10 Myr Retreiver
11 Solemn Simulacrum
Over 6 mana Kiki-Jiki Targets
12 Inferno Titan
13 Kuldotha Forgemaster
14 Duplicant
15 Triskelion
16 Wurm Coil Engine
17 Myr Battlesphere
18 Triskelavus
19 Sundering Titan
Draw / Card Selection / Card Advantage
20 God, Bandit Warlord
21 Sensei Divining Top
22 Wayfarer's Bauble
23 Skullsclamp
24 Expedition Map
25 Armillary Sphere
26 Scroll Rack
27 Rings of Brighthearth
28 Journeyer's Kite
29 Crucible of Worlds
30 Mimic Vat
31 Sword of Fire and Ice
32 Citanul Flute
33 Mind's Eye
34 Memory Jar
35 Mirrorworks
Legend
36 Karn, Silver Golem
Utility
37 Goblin Bombardment
38 Voltaic Key
39 Thornbite Staff
40 Lightning Greeves
41 Liquimetal Coating
32 Sculpting Steel
43 Darksteel Forges
Artifact Disruption
44 Shattering Pulse
45 Rack and Ruin
Disruption
46 Insurrection
47 Wild Ricochet **
48 Tormod's Crypt
49 Helm of Possession
50 Oblivion Stone
51 Mindslaver
52 Tawnmoss Coffin
53 All Is Dust
Artifact Accelartion
54 Sol Ring
55 Mana Vault
56 Mindstone
57 Coldsteel Heart **
58 Darksteel Ingot
59 Thran Dynamo
60 Gilded Lotus
61 Everflowing Chalice **
62 Extraplanar Lens
63 Gauntlet of Might
64 Gauntlet of Power
Lands
65 Deserted Temple
66 Vesuva
67 Mouth of Ronom
68 Eye of Ugin
69 Great Furnace
70 Darksteel Citadel **
71 Ghitu Encampment
72 Tower of the Magistrate
73 Deserted Temple
74 Strip Mine
75 Ghost Quarters **
76 Dust Bowl
77 Thawing Glaciers
78 Scalding Tarn
79 Arid Mesa
80 Bloodstained Mire
81 Terramorphic Expance
82 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
18x Snow-Covered Mountain
Cards to think about adding
Kher Keep
Mishra's Workshop
Mishra's Factory
Shattering Pulse
Carnage Altar
Bogardan Hellkite
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Spine of Ish Sah
Dreamstone Hedron
More Snow-Covered Mountain
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Bosh, the Iron Golem
Creatures
1 Goblin Welder
1 Myr Retriever
1 Junk Diver
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Scarecrone
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Hoarding Dragon
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Duplicant
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Kodo, Bandit Warlord
1 Pentavus
1 Sundering Titan
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Mycosynth Golem
Planeswalkers
1 Koth of the Hammer
Artifacts
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Expedition Map
1 Mana Vault
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Mimic Vat
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Sword of Fire and ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Lux Cannon
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Tower of Fortunes
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Blinkmoth Urn
1 Citanul Flute
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Guilded Lotus
1 Lifeline
1 Myr Matrix
1 Predator, Flagship
1 Argentum Armor
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Planar Portal
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Shattering Pulse
Sorceries
1 All Is Dust
1 Trash for Treasure
1 Braid of Fire
1 Mana Echoes
1 Gratuitous Violence
Lands
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Arena
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Urza's Mine
1 Urza's Power Plant
1 Urza's Tower
1 Glimmervoid
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
I like your ideas for mana ramping since getting mine up takes some time. I'll have to rework it a bit with some of your ideas and try it out.
Mono
Guilds
Shards WUB Oloro|GWU Roon|RGW Jurassic Park|UBR Nekusar|BRG Kresh|
Clans RWU Narset|WBR Vampires|BGW Doran|UBG Muldrotha|URG Animar|
4-Colors GWUB Atraxa|BRGWSaskia|RGWU Hydra Hug| UBRGYidris|WUBRBreya|
5-Color WUBRG Super Friends
Extra Decks
I'll add the cards you suggested to the primer later.
As for the cards you're thinking about cutting...
Wild Ricochet is an awesome, amazing card... in playgroups that are big on back-breaking instants and sorceries. Its probably best in a U/R/X kind of deck whose game plan involves leaving mana open for instant-speed interactions. In an artifact-heavy red deck, you might as well be waving a flag around shouting "I HAS RESPONSE IN HAND!" because its so incredibly detrimental to board development to keep four mana open in the early midgame, the time when a wild ricochet can really hurt.
coldsteel heart doesn't advance your mana by much. Only one. Unless you really need that +1 really early, I would cut it in favor of rocks that give at least +2.
everflowing chalice is actually a solid mana rock. The only reason I don't run it is because my deck does so much land ramp, there's really not much need for so many rocks, and its one of the weaker ones when the list is that short. I would drop mind stone before Chalice (that's what I did).
Your manabase should definitely be looked at. I would consider leaving only 14 nonbasic slots available (10 utility lands, + 4 fetches), as it drastically improves Valakut and your mana doublers. Also 35 lands might be a little low, but obviously our decks are different so maybe its not such a problem for you.
What I do is only use the utility lands that have a crazy level of interaction with the rest of my deck. Things like manlands are a waste of a nonbasic slot imo, and I would advise against doubling up on lands that fulfill the same purpose, such as your land-destruction lands (unless nonbasic lands are a real problem in your meta, of course).
Mad_hatter, I took a quick look at your deck, there are a few cards that stand out to me as first to go on the chopping block:
brittle effigy - How is it working for you? I have always kept my distance from the card because I never really liked how it was a one-shot deal. If I wanted to pay six mana to stop a blightsteel colossus, I would opt for icy manipulator or mystifying maze first. That way you can get some political action in and have it attack other people first.
Nevinyrral's Disk - In my experience, when I want to wipe the board, I want it wiped this turn. I am aware darksteel forge forms a nice combo with it, but the forge its self is a really expensive artifact that only helps you out if you already have some board presence. Also the presence of the combo sorta puts players in one of those positions: "Well, I can't deal with anything on your board because of the forge, the only way any other player has a chance at winning is if we kill you before you get your disk combo going". Sure if you don't mind turning the game into an irretractable game of Archenemy, go right ahead. I prefer to keep my options open, though.
Glimmervoid - what is that doing there? There's no reason I can think of to run that card
1 Squire
1 Chimney Imp
1 Herbal Poultice
1 Sorrow's Path
It definitely looks like you put a lot of effort into this though.
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
01 Bosh, Iron Golem
Mana Acceleration/Fixing
02 Armillary Sphere
03 Blinkmoth Urn
04 Caged Sun
05 Cloud Key
06 Coalition Relic
07 Dreamstone Hedron
08 Everflowing Chalice
09 Gemstone Array
10 Geosurge
11 Gilded Lotus
12 Journeyer's Kite
13 Palladium Myr
14 Sol Ring
15 Solemn Simulacrum
Recursion
16 Myr Retriever
17 Trading Post
18 Trash for Treasure
19 Myr Welder
Card Advantage/Tutors
20 Citanul Flute
21 Expedition Map
22 Eye of Ugin
23 Godo, Bandit Warlord
24 Knollspine Dragon
25 Kuldotha Forgemaster
26 Planar Portal
27 Serum Tank
28 Skullclamp
29 Tower of Fortunes
30 Helvault
31 Lux Cannon
32 Red Sun's Zenith
33 Spine of Ish Sah
34 Tower of Calamities
Mass Removal
35 Balefire Dragon
36 Blasphemous Act
37 Chain Reaction
38 Comet Storm
39 Molten Disaster
40 Scourge of Kher Ridges
Equipment
41 Argentum Armor
42 Loxodon Warhammer
43 Nim Deathmantle
44 Whispersilk Cloak
Useful Artifacts
45 Clock of Omens
46 Druidic Satchel
47 Mimic Vat
48 Mirrorworks
49 Myr Turbine
50 Platinum Emperion
51 Prototype Portal
52 Rings of Brighthearth
53 Shimmer Myr
54 Unwinding Clock
55 Voltaic Key
56 Karn Liberated
57 Koth of the Hammer
Finishing Out the Game
58 Bludgeon Brawl
59 Hellkite Igniter
60 Kuldotha Phoenix
61 Myr Battlesphere
62 Precursor Golem
63 Steel Hellkite
Lands (Mana Producing)
64 Buried Ruin
65 Darksteel Citadel
66 Great Furnace
67 Kher Keep
68 Mystifying Maze
69 Phyrexia's Core
70 Spinerock Knoll
71 Temple of the False God
72 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
28 Mountain
Any ideas for helping my deck? I'm on a fairly small budget, and don't really want to spend an extra 8 dollars to pick up Duplicant and Sculpting Steel, both of which I know would be suggested if left unaddressed.