Ranger Danger

Hey guys, Mike (@Bonkarooni) here, bringing you another fun little brew.  The idea here might be a little simple, compared to some of my Troll Tuesday posts, but I think the little number I've come up with here is quite a powerful deck.

I present to you...Ranger Danger!

4 Lightning Bolt 4 Boros Charm 4 Vexing Devil 4 Goblin Guide 3 Grim Lavamancer 2 Lightning Helix 2 Rift Bolt 2 Skullcrack 4 Searing Blaze 4 Ranger of Eos 1 Goblin Bushwhacker 2 Figure of Destiny 1 Legion Loyalist 1 Soul Warden 4 Arid Mesa 3 Marsh Flats 3 Scalding Tarn 4 Sacred Foundry 1 Clifftop Retreat 4 Mountain 4 Plains SB: 2 Skullcrack SB: 2 Flames of the Blood Hand SB: 3 Stony Silence SB: 2 Rest in Peace SB: 3 Wear // Tear SB: 3 Pillar of Flame
When I started playing Modern, I was on an extremely tight budget.  Because of this, the first two decks I put together were a really cheap mono red gobos build, and Soul Sisters.  When playing goblins, I quickly learned that it's biggest problem was simply that it could run out of juice.  If you were top decking with a red deck, and your opponent was at over five life, things usually weren't looking very good for you.

Soul Sisters was a different type of deck, but one of the things I quickly learned from it was that cards like Ranger of Eos and Squadron Hawk were very, very good.

It's like a white Birthing Pod..sort of.  Not really :(

Nothing felt better then top decking Ranger, and being able to refill your hand with cards.  After doing this a couple of times, I quickly came to the conclusion that this what exactly the kind of thing a red deck needed to put it over the top.

So I figured, screw it, let's put them together.

In my head, this deck is sort of broken down into two 'packages'.  The Ranger package, and the Burn package.  The Burn package is pretty obvious.  Things like Lightning Bolt, Boros Charm, and Searing Blaze are all very good at...well...hurting people.  After you've done that for a few turns, and put the fear of God into your opponent, we get to have a little more fun..

A match made in heaven.

This is the most straight forward combo to bring out of the deck with Ranger, and I also think it's the funniest.  Vexing Devil had a short visit in an earlier version of Dave's goblin build, and while it didn't seem strong enough on it's own, watching the pain on your opponents face when they let a Vexing Devil stick, then take 5 from it because of a follow up bushwhacker, was priceless.  The fact that they get to see you put them both into your hand is slightly worse for you, but if your opponent is at <10 Life when you cast Ranger, I don't think that really matters.

Of course, this isn't the only thing you can dig out of your deck with Ranger.  Legion loyalist is there, in case you need to swing through some pesky tokens.  Figure of Destiny could also be a decent choice, if the board looks like it is being stalled out.  I am even running a one of Soul Warden, for a little bit of life gain. Whatever your choice is, hopefully it will be enough to put you in the drivers seat for the rest of the game.

The biggest problem I see with the deck is that it is a little slower then your average burn deck.  You could end up doing no damage on turn 4, and that might be enough to let your opponents squeak out a win. There could also be some cases where you draw too many Rangers, and you just get yourself stuck.  For this reason, I am still debating whether or not to cut down to three in the deck.  Only time and testing will tell what the right answer is here.

For the lands, I feel like you could cut back on the fetches somewhat if you needed to drop the price of the deck, but Grim Lavamancer will always work better with more stuff in your graveyard, so be careful.

For sideboard, you really have a lot of good choices.  I feel like Skull Crack is a must, as well as Flames of the Bloodhand.  You really can't have people gaining life vs you, and the extra land in this deck supports Flames of the Bloodhand nicely.  Other then that, your options are pretty much endless.  Depending on your meta game, things like Molten Rain, Tempest of Light, Combust...it all depends on what you think you're going to run into at the store you play at.

As a final note...I tried to play this deck once at an FNM, and it failed miserably.  At the time though, I had a completely different build.  It ran 4x bushwhacker, which I quickly learned was not as good if you drew him by himself, and it also had another super secret tech in it which cannot be named (It will be the subject of a future Troll Tuesday :) ).  I think this deck is much more streamlined now, and I am excited to see where I can take it.

If you get a chance to play with it before I do, please let me know!
-Mike