The Thing About Red

I haven't written anything about magic in a while, for various reasons.  Figured it was about time to do so.


Red has strong early game and can dominate in many two-player formats.  Unlike other colors, red has few options later in the game and a lack of consistency in multiplayer.  

As far as tribal decks, Goblins are strong early but weak afterward, and can't compete well against multiple targets.  The mountainwalk ability of Goblin King is arguably the worst tribal ability, as red has no way to change land type.  Soldiers, Slivers, Merfolk, and others have an edge over goblins in games with several players.

As to abilities, Red's favorite is haste.  Haste is unique compared to other static abilities.  Haste is potentially useful once per creature, while other abilities can give an ongoing advantage.

Red has decent weenies, but not the best.  Red has big flying dragons, but, except for green, every color has big flyers.  I have had success with dragon-themed decks, when I had mana to cast them.

Red has some neat global enchantments, and I have had fun using Manabarbs, Confusion in the Ranks, Power Surge, Smoke, and Mudslide (often paired with global artifact abilities).  These decks were fun but unreliable.  These types of utility global enchantements aren't seen in red much now.

Red occasionally has a presence in mass destruction.  These usually cost a great deal of mana, and are rarely competitive against alternatives.  While red makes a show of land destruction, black's Sinkhole and white's Armageddon have lower mana costs.

There are a few sets that seemed to specifically shaft red.  The Mirage block gave every color except red a tutor for one mana.  Years later Urza's Saga finally gave red a one-mana tutor (Gamble) requiring a random discard afterward.  Ouch.

Urza's Saga had a legendary land for each color.  Three could generate huge amounts of mana, and are still popular in type one.  The lands for red, and black, were crap by comparison.

I conclude.  Red is good at two things: being fast and dealing direct damage.  Chaos is mostly a thing of the past.  This focus really limits my options for reliably successful mono-red decks in 3-4 free-for-alls, and I wish there was more variety in the color.  As it stands, I almost always pair red with other colors (most often with blue) to build the kind of decks that work for me.