RC Thailand 2024: Tournament Report + Deck Tech [Mono Red Aggro Guide]

 Article by: Paulo Achacoso

              It’s time for Regional Championships again, and kicking things off this year is RC Thailand. The formats for the weekend were Modern for the main event and Standard for the Thailand Open on day 3. There was also a big Duel Commander (DC) event scheduled as a side event. Suffice to say we had a lot of card slinging ahead of us.

(From left to right: Jerson Po, Paulo Achacoso, Erickson Borabo, Craig Garces)          

              We arrived a day before the event, giving us ample time to rest and adjust to the new environment. Thailand is much like the Philippines so aside from the obvious language barrier and the awkwardness of being on right-hand drive streets, that didn’t take too long. Last minute adjustments and testing were the agenda for the day once we were recharged. I even had to ask Erickson to pick up a few cards at the last minute (he was coming in the next day, which turned out to be in our favor).

              Modern was the first format that we were going to tackle since we were going to battle it out on the LCQs (Last Chance Qualifier) and try to secure an invite on for the main event. Craig already had his invite from his top 8 finish in the Singapore Open, but the three of us had to work for it. Erickson and Jerson eventually had to stop trying since the DC event was going to start (I mean, if I had a DC deck and there was a Taiga up for grabs, I would probably do the same thing) while I was able to secure an invite. At the end of the day they were able to make it to top 8 cut and were going to continue tomorrow, while Craig and I were going to prepare for the Championships.

              We were both high on Living End especially because it had a good winrate against Rhinos, which we expected to make up most of the field. The open decklist format also worked to our advantage as we were able to predict what sort of hate our opponents would bring in. We decided to follow separate paths, Craig going with MeninoNey’s version while I went with Sodek’s. The beauty of this is that we were able to converge and consolidate what we both learned from different approaches and come up with more perspectives and strategies. We didn’t end up playing the exact 75 but we had enough in common by the end of it. Here’s the list I used.

              At the end of the day, we barely missed getting a money finish. However we were very happy with the results, aside from some really polarized matchups the deck was well positioned in the metagame. I had a 100% winrate against both Temur and Domain Rhinos, which went all according to plan. We wanted to keep running this deck moving forward; however we became collateral damage to the banning of Violent Outburst on Monday. Guess we’ll have to wait and see if the deck would still be viable. We’ll be focusing on standard for now.

              The last day of the event was the Thailand Open, a Standard format tournament that gave invites for the next RC in Manila. Craig decided to use his tweaked Esper Midrange, while Erickson went with Domain Ramp. Both were well-positioned in the metagame and I could have easily picked up one of those decks up also. Jerson and I decided to go on another route instead:

              This list was inspired by ITA_Land’s trophy-winning list on MTGO. During discussions with other Mono-Red players (Solidsnake408, O_danielakos, deleon91) and a ton on testing, I came up with the following conclusions:

1. The stock list had a problem with card advantage. The deck runs out of gas quickly.
2. #1 is especially true considering the amount of board wipes most decks slot in nowadays (thank you, Boros Convoke). 3 for 1 trades are common against Domain and Control decks.
3. Spot removal is very strong against the stock version (looking at you, Squee. 3 mana vs 1 mana Cut Down is back-breaking).
4. Other decks still win out in a war of attrition.
5. Deck loses out when it floods.

And also, I present to you the solutions to each of these problems:

1. Case of the Crimson Pulse - basically a “draw 3 cards every turn” once it flips. Demands an answer with wider removal spells, which could have helped in stabilizing the board instead. Immune to board wipes.
2. Fugitive Codebreaker – probably the best 2-drop available right now. Only downside to this card is the 1-toughness, which the Prowess ability can easily counteract. Can also help out on card draw duty during mid-late game.
3. Monstrous Rage – has been in and out of lists, but works best for this list. Can dodge some removals (Cut Down and all the damage based removals) and can dish out damage really fast. Works really well with the Prowess creatures.
4. 21 lands. Lower curve = less flooding.

We ended up securing invites for all four of us, with Erickson getting a top 4 split finish, me with a top 16, and Craig and Jerson both in the top 32.

Sideboard Guide

Esper Midrange:

              Any 3-color deck gets punished heavily by Furnace Punisher. This card can end the game by itself if left unanswered, plus the menace really helps get the damage in. We bring in a bunch of removal to take care of all the big threats. Try to exile Aclazotz with Obliterating Bolt or Kumano’s ability. Case is out because of Sheoldred.

Bx Midrange:

              All of these decks are built similarly and play almost the same with Esper, except that Furnace Punisher and Lithomantic Barrage are no help here. Shave on the Chicks or Monstrous Rage.

Domain Ramp/UW Control:

              Both play similarly against us nowadays. Try to manage your resources while maximizing removal. Leave 2 Witchstalker Frenzies in case they have a blocker like Seedshark or Archangel.

Boros Convoke:

              Board control is the name of the game. Don’t let them go wide or go tall. Kill Warden on sight. If you keep the creature count low, they shouldn’t be able to do much. Case in unnecessary in aggro mirrors, and you’re usually holding up removal instead of dumping all your cards.

Mirror:

              This is all about who controls the tempo and who controls the board, which is usually decided on T1. The first one to cast Kumano is the beatdown. Bring in all the removals and try to end it fast while controlling the board. Codebreaker helps a lot late game to reload.

Bant Toxic:

              Plays similarly to Convoke. Don’t let them get you to 3 poison as Skrelv’s Hive will end the game for you. Remove Rotpriest as soon as you see it. Don’t let them get more than 1 on board.

UW Midrange:

              Similar to other Midrange but you can bring Case in. Adjust to what threats they show you.

4C Legends:

              There are several versions going around nowadays, from combo kills to control versions. Remove their blockers and finish the game quick. It’s better if Slogurk dies early while the GY isn’t full of lands yet.

              This should hold up until the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Hopefully we get to pick up some upgrades with the new set. See you in Manila!