Magic 2012 (M12) Red Non-Creatures

Here they are in no particular order.

In Depth of Ral Zarek Fun Online Deck

This deck has several really great cards that I have on my way to redemption.

[follow this link for the post with the decklist]

Here is the mana curve.

Here are seven sample beginning hands. This first hand requires a mulligan.

This second hand is a great start. Turn 1 play a plains and Boros Recruit. Turn 2 play Clifftop Retreat and Boros Charm.

Too much mana here: mulligan

Turn 1 play plains. Turn 2 play Glacial Fortress....slow start but not quite a mulligan.

Mana flood and two miracles: mulligan.

Close call: enough mana to play out the hand but from Turn 2 onwards.

Good hand: Plains and Boros Recruit on Turn 1.

Here is a first game against a more casual blue black deck. I got battalion to go off multiple times for the win.

Here is the second game of the match, which I also won, but with much more work for the win.

Here my opponent plays a heartless summoning (his second!). I kept drawing and dropping with Mercurial Chemister and the Ravenous Rats had nothing to get me to discard because I could empty my hand easily.

The occassional +1/+1 from Ajani can be a big help!

Dragons in Modern

I pulled a Dragon out of a Return to Ravnica pack and am considering a deck build for this tribe. I will need smaller creatures in red.... I am still thinking about this build.

Ral Zarek is a fun Planeswalker

Someone posted on one of the forums asking how a play set of Ral Zarek could be built-around. Responses were negative to the effect of 'what do you plan to do with one, let alone a play set?' I thought it a good challenge and got me one from the bots. I went to Gatherer to find suggestions on how to play him, and Goblins seemed to make sense. I tried that and it didn't work. Krenko and the other Goblins are too slow against Evolve Simic and Battalion Boros combos. The Goblin Izzet build evolved to Grixis but there the deck still wasn't working.

Then I turned it into White Blue Red with 4 of Frostburn Weird, 4 of Firemane Avenger, my lone Hellrider, my lone Vexing Devil, and lone Hound of Griselbrand. With these powerful creatures I could get Battalion to work. I also added my two Silverblade Paladins to use Soulbond. This deck is a lot of fun. Zarek's + ability isn't that great, but his -2 is just plain awesome.

As I get close to redemption I am planning to use every useful card I have in some build. This deck is one of those builds.

[follow this link for the mana curve, sample hands, and example of plays]